Years ago when Knute Rockne was the football coach at Notre Dame—there was a ghostwriter who would write a weekly column in Notre Dame’s school newspaper under the title “Old Bearskin.” And this columnist—whoever it was—was always critical about the football team. For example, if one particular player or a group of players were starting to get big heads, the writer would say that player was on a big ego trip. If a player fumbled the ball or missed a pass or if a lineman missed a tackle—this mystery columnist would rip into them for their mistake. And—whenever these articles came out the players would go and complain to Coach Rockne. They’d say things like, “Can you believe this columnist!? Somebody’s got to do something about this person!” And the coach would always reply: “Guys, the only way we can do anything about it is on the football field. We’ve just got to go out and prove Old Bearskin a wrong by doing the best that we can.”
Well, when Coach Rockne died suddenly in a plane crash, the column suddenly stopped appearing in the paper. Can anyone guess who was the writer of the column? Right—those critical, disciplinary words came from the coach himself. Rockne was the mystery columnist. And the columns weren’t intended to destroy his players; no it was just Rockne’s creative way to motivate them to improve—to get them to play better. I mention this because today we are looking at one of the most scathing, critical, disciplinary—uncomfortable—chapters of the entire Bible—as Paul deals with flagrant sin being committed by a member of this problem church.
And I am convinced Paul’s purpose in writing was not to destroy the individual—or the church—but rather to motivate them to improve—he was lovingly trying to get them to turn from their sin and get back in the game spiritually speaking.
Okay—take your Bibles and turn to 1st Corinthians 5 and follow along as we read the entire chapter. Brace yourselves. Paul doesn’t pull any punches.
1 – It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that even pagans do not tolerate: A man is sleeping with his father’s wife.
2 – And you are proud! Shouldn’t you rather have gone into mourning and have put out of your fellowship the man who has been doing this?
3 – For my part, even though I am not physically present, I am with you in spirit. As one who is present with you in this way, I have already passed judgment in the name of our Lord Jesus on the one who has been doing this.
4 – So when you are assembled and I am with you in spirit, and the power of our Lord Jesus is present,
5 – hand this man over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh—so that his spirit may be saved on the day of the Lord.
6 – Your boasting is not good. Don’t you know that a little yeast leavens the whole batch of dough?
7 – Get rid of the old yeast, so that you may be a new unleavened batch—as you really are. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed.
8 – Therefore let us keep the Festival, not with the old bread leavened with malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.
9 – I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people—
10 – Not at all meaning the people of this world who are immoral, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters. In that case you would have to leave this world.
11 – But now I am writing to you that you must not associate with anyone who claims to be a brother or sister but is sexually immoral or greedy—an idolater or slanderer, a drunkard or swindler. Do not even eat with such people.
12 – What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church? Are you not to judge those inside?
13 – God will judge those outside. “Expel the wicked person from among you.”
Are those harsh words or what?! I bet you could have heard a pin drop in that church the day this letter was read. I wish I could have been a fly on a wall so I could see firsthand how the people responded.
Okay—let’s back up to make sure we all understand what prompted this chapter. You may remember the culture of the city of Corinth was sexually-charged. There were very few limits when it came to sexual behavior in that city. In fact, the leading religion was one that actually promoted prostitution—as a way of worshiping the false goddess, Aphrodite. Do you remember what I told you about the temple prostitutes who would wander the streets at night inviting men to have a “religious experience?” Well, in this culture—it would have been common for the Christians to be tempted in this area. I mean, it was all around them all the time. Let me put it this way: there was no red-light district—the entire city was of a red-light caliber.
Speaking of sexually-charged cultures, I read this week about a hearing that was held in the Las Vegas city council a few years ago. A car dealer there had a huge American Flag that he flew above his dealership—kind of like the one on Rockville Pike. But the people of Las Vegas complained about it for some reason. And as sadly unpatriotic as that may be—sadder still is the fact that no one was concerned about the huge billboard across the street from the auto dealership—a billboard with a naked woman on it. Now—that doesn’t surprise us because that’s the culture of Las Vegas—and the same kind of culture was in Corinth during the first century—only it was far worse. In any case, that’s what Christians in Corinth faced—so I guess it’s not surprising that the constant pressure of sexual temptation had led to sin in the church.
And—speaking of that kind of sin, here’s the deal. A man and a woman were having a sexual relationship. As Paul says, they were sleeping together. But it was worse than the fornication that has become so common place in OUR culture. You see, the man was sleeping with his stepmother. I get the impression the woman had left her husband for her stepson. Understand—this kind of behavior was absolutely forbidden in the Old Testament. Plus—as Paul says—their relationship was not even tolerated in the “anything goes” culture of Corinth.
You know, I was thinking that if something like this happened today, the couple would be on Jerry Springer—which shows how bad our culture has become—but in ancient times a relationship like this was against both Jewish AND Roman law—not just because of the weirdness of the relationship—but because even pagans saw the harmful social effects it could have on a family. Think of it—if these two had children their mom would also be their step-grandmom! Cicero, a pagan Roman historian spoke of this kind of thing as an incredible crime which he had only seen once in his lifetime.
So—to summarize—-a sexual behavior that was condemned in the sexually-charged culture of Corinth was being practiced within the church. Sin was worse in the church—than outside of it! In fact, the couple apparently remained in good standing with the congregation. They were probably in leadership. So, in my mind, the greatest scandal wasn’t their “Jerry Springer Relationship”—It was the church’s lack of response to it all—for they apparently didn’t see the need to confront this sin.
And it’s also clear from the grammar of this verse that it’s not just a one-time event where somebody made a horrible, sinful mistake, came to their senses—and then fell on their knees in humility before God. No—Paul says there IS sexual immorality among them. A man HAS his father’s wife. And of course, these words ‘is’ and ‘has’ communicate ongoing action.
So this is a huge unbelievable sexual scandal in the church—but nobody is doing anything about it. Nobody cared enough to address the issue. Nobody loved the individual enough and nobody loved the church enough to confront this problem. If they had, Paul never would have written these scathing words. If the immorality had been confronted, if the man had turned from his immorality and changed his ways, this hard-to-read chapter wouldn’t be in the Bible. But no one said anything and because of that there is no indication that this man involved in the inappropriate relationship with his father’s wife ever attempted to make a change. With congregational approval, he was repeatedly and deliberately living in an ongoing pattern of sin.
Makes me think of the little kid who was told by his dad one day, “Don’t go swimming in the neighbor’s pool.” The kid said, “I won’t, Dad.” And when the dad came home, the kid’s hair was all wet. His dad said, “I thought I told you not to go swimming.” The kid said, “I didn’t.”
The dad asked, “Then how’d your hair get all wet?” The boy said, “Well, I fell in the pool.”
The dad said, “Well, how come your clothes aren’t wet.” And the boy said, “Well, I had a feeling I might fall in the pool, so I took them off.”
Well, this guy in Corinth didn’t just fall in either. The immorality being addressed is deliberate. It’s flagrant. It’s repeated. It is without regret. It is without remorse. How many of you have had someone close to you—dive headfirst into an ongoing pattern of sexual sin? Perhaps you know a married woman who had repeated affairs—or had a friend who left his wife for another woman.
I’ve had friends who did things like this—and if you have as well then you know what that painful experience is like. I mean, you lovingly confront the person. And you talk. And you pray. And you plead. And you’re patient. And you have lots of difficult conversations. And you pray some more. And, as the days and weeks go by, and you feel like you are talking to an impenetrable wall of steel, a heart that is completely calloused.
Well, what do you do when this happens? What do you do when a brother or a sister in the family of God lives in ongoing, scandalous sin—despite your repeated appeals? Well, you don’t do what the Corinthians did. As Paul says in verse 2—they became PROUD. In other words, they weren’t just tolerating something that even the pagans of Corinth wouldn’t. They were actually delighted about it all. Why this response? Well, perhaps the man had a lot of wealth. Maybe he had prominent social standing, clout, and influence in the community—-so much that the Corinthians were afraid to confront—afraid to do anything that would ruffle his feathers.
But I think it’s more likely that the members of the church were proudly saying they were so full of love in their church, so full of acceptance, so full of grace and forgiveness, so tolerant—that they just accepted this guy and his mom—I mean wife—no matter what they did. In short, they were proud of their open-mindedness!
I hate to condemn our Methodist brothers but I’m reminded of their slogan, “Our doors, our hearts, our MINDS are always open.” To me this says they are like the Corinthian church in that they are proud to accept behavior that God’s Word clearly condemns. Their minds are open to new behaviors—new perspectives. Listen. There is nothing wrong with your hearts and your doors being open. That’s a good thing. We should be compassionate and caring—even to non-repentant sinners. Let me put it this way. An equally wrong approach to the sinners of this world is a stern, rigid, self-righteous condemnation like that of the Pharisees. But ignoring sin by proudly claiming to be tolerant—is just plain wrong because it ENCOURAGES sin to continue.
Well, what should your attitude be when there’s an ongoing pattern of immorality, when there’s a cancer of sin growing in a community of Jesus followers? The answer to my question is in verse 2 Paul where says, “Shouldn’t you rather have…” Now, look up from your Bibles and think. How would you EXPECT Paul to finish that sentence? How about this: “Shouldn’t you rather have been outraged? or Shouldn’t you rather have been aghast? Or Shouldn’t you rather have been disgusted that this is going on in the church? But that’s not what he says. Now—look back at the Scripture. Paul says, “Shouldn’t you rather have GONE IN TO MOURNING?” I mean, Paul can’t figure out why their hearts aren’t broken and why their hearts aren’t grieving and mourning, because this was what God’s heart was doing over this. God’s heart was broken. God’s heart was grieving. God’s heart was mourning. God ALWAYS mourns when we turn away from Him by breaking His loving law.
So Paul can’t figure out why as sinners who know the effects of sin—he can’t understand why they aren’t in shock and hurt at the damage going on in the soul of this man and this woman that he’s involved with—-not to mention all the other people who are affected by their behavior. Think about it: his dad, his brothers and sisters, her family. Paul can’t figure out why there isn’t mourning and grief for the church, for the damage that’s being done to them and to that church in the eyes of the world. Friends, when one of us is caught up in sin, when there’s a cancer in the community of faith—the right attitude is not passive indifference like the Corinthians were showing. It’s not righteous indignation or spiritual smugness where we pride up like the Pharisees who prayed, thanking God that they weren’t like the other guys who were robbers and evil-doers—and adulterers and dishonest tax collectors.
No—our attitude should be one of deep, broken, soulful mourning. We should love one another enough to hurt for them when they continue in sin—and that love and mourning should lead us to discipline them. As Paul says in verse 2, “Shouldn’t you rather have gone into mourning and have put out of your fellowship the man who has been doing this?” Now—why do that? Why DARE TO DISCIPLINE the people involved? Why is discipline a good thing?
(1) Well, as I have inferred, it is good for the CHURCH.
I mean, a church is to stand out—it is to be different from the fallen world around it. There are times when—due to the fact that they are saturated in God’s Word—our minds are CLOSED to the world’s new “morality.” I mean, as Jesus’ body—we are to set the example of a people committed to living righteous lives. So when we ignore that and embrace sinful behavior—when we become like or even worse than the world around us—we lose the power of our witness. In essence the light we shine in this dark world goes out! Now—many times people don’t discipline a brother or sister who has fallen into sin because they think, “It’s just one person—it’s his business—it’s not going to affect the rest of us.” But Paul reminds us that this is not true. Sin spreads—it’s like leaven. All it takes is a little to influence the entire loaf.
Do you remember the episode of I Love Lucy where Lucy decided to bake bread and she ignored the recipe that called for a little yeast—and instead put in a ton? Do you remember how it turned out? Perhaps this picture will stimulate your memories. Well, the same is true of sin—like leaven, sin grows and spreads. Before you know it others are sinning in the same way—justifying their behavior by that of the first.
And then in short time you have a LONG “loaf” of rebellion. This cooking principle is why the Jews used leaven as a word picture for sin. This is why they ate UNLEAVENED bread on the Passover. It was to remind them that to keep it from spreading, they must purge sin from their lives.
Another, more current word picture would be a computer virus. It’s a little thing but it spreads and before you know it your e-mail is hacked and spreading spam to everyone on your address book. Sin does spread—and as it does it hurts more and more people so it has to be dealt with for the good of the church. Ecclesiastes 9:18 puts it this way: “One sinner destroys much good.” And it does. I mean, sin is never isolated. Private perhaps, but never isolated. Sin, to some degree, always affects others. As I hinted earlier, I have seen more than one example of one person’s “private” sin breaking the hearts of his or her family and friends and even hindering the work of an entire church. As a nation we have seen more than one president’s “private” sin corrupt an administration. And, how many churches and even entire ministries have we seen become powerless and ineffective because of the sins of their leaders? How many kids grow up to be bitter, selfish, greedy, unforgiving, or dishonest because that’s the example their parents set for them? How many third world nations go hungry because of the greed and opulence of the dictator that rules them with an iron fist? I know this may not be PC, but how many hundreds of thousands are suffering from AIDS because of the sin of others? How many children are born with this illness because of the sexual indiscretion of their parents?
How many people don’t have retirement because of the greedy actions of sinful executives like Bernie Madoff? You know, we are living in an age of hyper-individualism in which we think, “What I do is my business. What you do is your business. Let’s just mind our own business.”
But that is impossible to do because our lives are intricately intertwined. We can either bring strength to one another or we can bring weakness. We all pay a price when one of us sins—even in the church. As 1st Corinthians 12:12 says, “If one part suffers, every part suffers with it.”
Listen. You are not an island You don’t live to yourself. Your life can give other people strength and confidence and courage and the ability to be much more successful in life. Or, your life can weaken them and cause them to fail. You make an impact everywhere you are. You’re connected with other people. We are not just individuals. If we make bad decisions individually then we create weakness in those around us. So when tempted to sin we should all ask ourselves: “What will the impact of my sin be? How will I hurt my kids, my spouse, my church, my witness, my Lord?”
For fifteen months, journalist Sebastian Junger followed a single platoon of U.S. soldiers stationed in a dangerous part of Afghanistan. Living and working in the midst of a warzone made Junger realize how much the soldiers had to rely on each other. What you do or don’t do as a soldier affects everyone else in your platoon. Junger writes: “Margins were so small and errors potentially so catastrophic that every soldier had a kind of de facto authority to reprimand others—in some cases even officers. And because combat can hinge on [small] details, there was nothing in a soldier’s daily routine that fell outside the group’s purview. Whether you tied your shoes or cleaned your weapon or drank enough water or secured your night vision gear were all matters of public concern and so were open to public scrutiny. Once I watched a private accost another private whose bootlaces were trailing on the ground. Not that he cared what it looked like, but if something happened out there—and out there, everything happened suddenly—the guy with the loose laces couldn’t be counted on to keep his feet at a crucial moment. It was the other man’s life he was risking, not just his own. There was no such thing as personal safety out there; what happened to you happened to everyone.”
The same is true of a church—if we do nothing—say nothing—the blatant sin of one will spread and affect the entire body. This is why Paul says the person involved must be cast out. I’m saying discipline is a difficult thing—but it is a good thing—it’s something we MUST dare to do because it is good for the church to do so—it is good for all the people involved.
As an aside—I need to point out that many times we judge the sin of the world—but we soft-pedal it in the church We don’t say things to people on the inside because we’re afraid of making things awkward. But we have no problem condemning those on the outside for the same behavior. This is sad because it makes us look judgmental to the people on the outside—plus it’s just plain hypocritical.
In verses 13 and 14 Paul says, “What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church? Are you not to judge those inside? God will judge those outside.” In other words, it’s not our place to judge the world—but it is our place to judge—to discipline those within our church. Now—let’s be clear exactly what Paul is saying here when he talks about disciplining the man by removing him from the fellowship. By the way the fact that Paul doesn’t mention the stepmom here probably means she was not part of the church—she was not a Christian—so it was God’s job to judge her.
In any case, in verse 2 when Paul talks about not having fellowship with the man—he’s saying they can’t share the fellowship of the LORD’S SUPPER. Remember, before we share communion we must examine our hearts and confess known sin. And this guy was not open to that—he was determined to continue to sin—so it would not be right for him to partake. As Paul puts it in 1st Corinthians 10 “You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons too; you cannot have a part in both the Lord’s table and the table of demons.”And in chapter 11 he warns, “So then, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord. Everyone ought to examine themselves before they eat of the bread and drink from the cup. For those who eat and drink without discerning the body of Christ eat and drink judgment on themselves.” This “no fellowship deal” referred to communion.
And—it wasn’t saying you should give this person the cold shoulder and cut all ties. No—the image here is of a vine weaving around and attaching itself to the trunk of a tree. That kind of relationship is what was to be avoided. You see, when relationship gets that intertwined it’s hard to be objective. Let me put it like this. When someone sins, we cut them off so they won’t influence US—we still try to influence them. And that leads to a second reason we must dare to discipline each other when we sin.
(2) It is good for the PERSON.
Look at verse 5. Paul says, “Hand this man over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved on the day of the Lord. Now—before I explain exactly what Paul is saying here I want to point out that there are three times in the Bible that call for this kind of loving but courageous discipline. Immorality as we’re discussing here is one of them. Another one is false teaching. Paul warned the elders of the church at Ephesus to guard the flock from the savage wolves, the false teachers, who would come in among them. Sometimes you have to put a false teacher outside of the community. And the third situation would be over divisiveness. In fact, Paul says in Titus 3:10-11: “Warn a divisive person once, and then warn him a second time. After that, have nothing to do with him. You may be sure that such a man is warped and sinful; he is self-condemned.”
In spite of these other examples, when you read Paul’s words there in verse 5 to hand this man over to Satan, you may thing this sounds a bit extreme. Why would Paul say to expel him and hand him over to Satan? Well—one thing I want to point out is that this discipline—like all discipline—is intended to HELP the person not HURT. When our kids were little and they would misbehave there were times I would come home from the church at the moment Sue had reached the end of her patience and energy—I’d walk in the door after a “tough day of Bible study and prayer in a quiet office”—and she would hand the kids over to me. I don’t think she thought of me as Satan, but it was her way of saying, “They won’t listen to me. You deal with them now.”
My point is that handing over someone means you are putting them in the control of another. In this case, it’s handing over to Satan this person who has demonstrated by their behavior they’ve really never left Satan’s control. They’ve never really left Satan’s kingdom. And if you take the non-repentant person out of the protective community of the church and you leave them to fend for themselves, it’s like allowing them the opportunity to hit rock bottom. It’s allowing them the opportunity to be jolted enough for them recognize their need. This is true for many of us. Until we experience a level of pain in our lives, until we find ourselves with our backs up against the wall, until we find ourselves hurting—we don’t usually have the motivation to change. I mean, PAIN can be a good thing. It can signal us that something is WRONG.
That’s how it was for the Prodigal Son. It was at the point where the food the pigs were eating started to look good that he came to his senses and decided to repent and go home. This may sound harsh, but sometimes—and some of you know this with firsthand experience—sometimes the most loving thing that you can do for someone—for a hard-hearted, unfaithful husband or wife, for a rebellious son or daughter—sometimes the most loving thing to do is to let them hit rock bottom. When loving, tearful, patient words of admonition have not worked and when confrontation and interventions have all failed—sometimes the best thing you can do is let that person fall flat and hard on their face. Sometimes only then are they motivated to look up. Only then are they motivated to change. And so Paul says for the benefit of this guy’s soul, turn up the heat and hand him over to Satan—“for the destruction of the sinful nature so that his spirit may be saved on the day of the Lord.” This kind is not done with vengeance to punish the guy. It isn’t done to humiliate him. It’s done to help him wake up and turn from his sin. I’m reminded of Proverbs 27:6 that says, “The kisses of an enemy may be profuse—but faithful are the wounds of a friend.” In other words, a friend LOVES enough to dare to discipline you when you need it.
And do you know what? There is every indication that the Corinthians followed up on Paul’s advice in this hard to read chapter and expelled this brother—and also that it worked. The man hit bottom, eventually repented, was humbled, and was forgiven and restored to their community.
I say this because many scholars think that in 2nd Corinthians 2 Paul is writing about this same man when he says, “The punishment inflicted on him by the majority is sufficient. Now instead, you ought to forgive and comfort him, so that he will not be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow. I urge you, therefore, to reaffirm your love for him.” (2 Corinthians 2:6-8).
Now—I know this has been a hard passage to study—but I want to ask you to think of what I’ve said and ask yourself: Is there someone I need to have a difficult conversation with? Maybe you need to go to a trusted friend and confess some sin. You need to ask for help—for prayer—for accountability. Or—maybe you’re the person who’s sinning—and you realize you need to find a friend to pray with you and help you repent and turn from your wickedness.
Let’s pray.