•I Corinthians 5:1-8
•A Moral Responsibility
9 I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people— 10 not at all meaning the sexually immoral of this world, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters, since then you would need to go out of the world. 11 But now I am writing to you not to associate with anyone who bears the name of brother if he is guilty of sexual immorality or greed, or is an idolater, reviler, drunkard, or swindler—not even to eat with such a one. 12 For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Is it not those inside the church whom you are to judge? 13 God judges those outside. “Purge the evil person from among you.”
(I Corinthians 5:9-13, ESV)
•Main Point
• These verses set the Corinthians on the correct understanding of Church polity
• The Church is called to be holy
• Should one live in a continual lifestyle of unrepentance, of immorality, then it is the responsibility of the Church to separate those who choose such a lifestyle
• “Purge the evil from your midst.”
Application Points
• A Moral Responsibility
• We see a deep struggle between two concepts
• The first is freedom, and the second is responsibility
• We have a hard time understanding both can be equally true at the same time
• This has caused one of two things
• The first is a libertarianism on par with Marquise De Sade
• That there is no moral responsibility and simply lives our “best” lives now
• In this we look like the Corinthians
• Where does this stem from?
• For the Corinthians it came from the Stoics
Application Points
• A Moral Responsibility (2)
• In our time we have a different source
• I know I am a sinner, therefore I should not judge anyone around me
• We have allowed our guilt to become such the focus that we forget…our congregations are called the holy temple of God together (See I Corinthians 3:16-17, “Ya’ll are God’s temple”)
• Yet because of our own individual failings we fail to chastise those in our Christian circles
• We argue about baptism, meanwhile allowing all sorts of immorality to come into existence in our midst
• We worry about being perceived as hypocritical
Application Points
• A Moral Responsibility (3)
• When we tackle on the fact that we are cowards who care not for any confrontation it ends up leading to a people who have no desire for holiness
• Where the Bible is to be followed when convenient
• We could criticize such things, and we certainly should
• On one side is the complete libertarian freedom found in Corinth
• The other side is the legalists
• They do care about what is written
• Those who would say sexual immorality is a sin and should be rejected
• In the same breath they will swindle their neighbor in the name of capitalism
Application Points
• A Moral Responsibility (4)
• The Church itself will reject homosexuality
• While at the same time accept the greedy and swindler
• They see one aspect of the Law but turn a blind eye to the others
• Sins are worse than others even though the Law forbids both equally
• They have failed to understand the Law and its nuances
• They pick and choose which are “really” bad not realizing God has already done this
• If sexual immorality occurred it would mean driving the person out of the community/capital punishment
• If someone touched a corpse they would be unclean and need to washed
Application Points
• A Moral Responsibility (5)
• The same is true of modern law theory
• If I take a pack of gum the has different consequences than murdering my neighbor
• Interestingly enough whenever we come to a list like this in the New Testament it always had the highest consequence in the Law
• We do not want this to be the case
• Consider what Jesus says in Matthew…
“1 Judge not, that you be not judged. 2 For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you. 3 Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? 4 Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when there is the log in your own eye? 5 You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.”
(Matthew 7:1-5, ESV)
Application Points
• A Moral Responsibility (6)
• Does this contradict Paul?
• Jesus is saying do not be hypocritical with your judgments
• If I were to say, “You shouldn’t swindle!”
• Meanwhile I am in an adulterous relationship that would be hypocritical (same Law condemns both)
• Or let’s say you steal a pack of gum and I say, “Stealing is bad!” Meanwhile I am laundering money
• Such legalism can lead to this kind of hypocrisy where we allow certain kinds of sin because they are the sins we are supposed to struggle against
• Meanwhile we do not allow certain kinds of sins because we do not struggle against them
• It is easy to say “no” to something that is not a temptation
Application Points
• A Moral Responsibility (7)
• We should not condemn homosexuality meanwhile tolerating the greedy, idolater, reviler, drunkard, or swindler
• When we fail to be moral and ethical it only leads to our own hypocrisy
• The response to, “I am a sinner too” is not to allow sinning to continue because we are all failures
• It is struggle against sin, and be on guard as a community
• To put equal weight on that which God detests and detest the same thing
• This does not mean we will not fall or struggle
• These things are lifestyles without repentance
• Who continually commit these sins without remorse
Application Points
• A Moral Responsibility (8)
• Does this mean we do not chastise?
• If a brother or sister were to come to me weeping informing of a sin they committed
• Such a person is already being chastised by the Holy Spirit
• Let’s say there is a person who is sinning with no guilt or remorse and they do not care or justify their sinful behavior
• In the first case we pick up, dust off, and walk with them to encourage them
• In the second, we separate from if there is no evidence of repentance
• We are to be watchful over one another
• We should not allow cultural justifications to allow immorality in our midst
• This takes wisdom and guidance from the Holy Spirit
Application Points
• A Moral Responsibility (9)
• The other thing to touch on is when Paul says he doesn’t judge those outside of the Church
• We have allowed this verse to mean that we are not to be prophetic to the culture
• This is not Paul’s understanding
• By the Church seeking a holier lifestyle it automatically leads to judging the outside world
• Let’s consider the Scriptures
• The greater meaning of this is found throughout the Old Testament
• God through the prophets condemns all nations
• Indeed, the Law condemns other nations for their failure to uphold the Law (See Leviticus 18-20)
• Finally, there is an interesting quotation from the Gospel of John…
16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. 19 And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. 20 For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. 21 But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.”
(John 3:16-22, ESV [Emphasis Mine])
Application Points
• A Moral Responsibility (10)
• The one who does not believe is condemned already
• God has already judged the world and its ways
• It is not the responsibility of the Apostles to round up all the sinners and cast stones at them
• The responsibility of the Apostles and Church leaders is to focus on the members of the Church
• Paul would reject the notion that because one owns a secular business that they can do whatever they want with that business
• All because it isn’t “ministry” doesn’t mean we can do whatever we want with it
Application Points
• A Moral Responsibility (11)
• This verse does not give us a free pass to be utterly silent
• We prophetically speak to the people around us
• We do this through verbal communication and showing them the fruits of following God
• We do not kick people out of the greater society for acting as the secular law declares, but we do chastise those in our Christian community for not following the Law we are bound to in Christ
• We can also conclude that those who are outside the Church are condemned already, judged already
• If legislatures choose what is evil, their judgment is assured
Application Points
• A Moral Responsibility (12)
• Some will wonder if Christian legislatures should seek legislation that is associated with Christian morality and ethics
• We need to remember that morality and ethics does not mean salvation
• Anyone can be told to do what is good and right and not be a Christian the same way the pagan nations could be told to do what is good and right but weren’t Jewish
• No matter what we have a responsibility to God to honor Him with our lives
• Let’s do this as we called to do as individuals and also a community
• It doesn’t matter what kind of immorality this yeast is, all that matters is that we should seek to let go of the immorality we cling to
• We are called to be free, but let’s not neglect our moral responsibility
Application Points
• The Gospel of Christ
• Origins
• Fall
• Redemption
• Glorification
