Last week, we opened the new series called Forged by reviewing our alternative worldview presented by Paul in the statement “we preach Christ crucified” and I would add resurrected, ascended and scheduled to return again to collect his adopted sons and daughters.
This week we continue the discussion of this alternative worldview by looking at the role of the body of Christ and our response to developing character in our lives that reflects Jesus to the world around us. To begin, let’s open our primary textbook to the first letter Paul wrote to the Corinthians. Please turn to 1 Corinthian 5. We will be reading the chapter. While you are pulling it up on your app or finding the book which comes after Romans, let me give you a little background. The apostle Paul wrote this roughly 3 years after his extended stay with the new church plant. The letter was written during his second missionary journey and he is trying to get this band of believers to stop their infighting, misunderstanding and creating of factions to return to a church of unity.
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.”
While the sexual sin is the catalyst for this section of the letter, there is a larger “forging” concept being extolled here. The action Paul is suggesting seems harsh. Why cast him out? How does that show love? It seems cold and callous. Some of you are thinking if they cast him out, will you cast me out if they know all my secrets? It doesn’t seem correspond with all loving being. However, we need to keep the context of this situation in the forefront of our minds. This man wanted the benefits of being called a Christian but didn’t actually want to change his life or his activities. Obviously, there is a much larger point on display.
The world outside the doors of the church always lives to a different standard. It’s been this way since man began relating with God. Today, it has become more individualistic than almost any time in the past. The singer/songwriter James Taylor wrote a line from years ago, “if it feels nice don’t think twice.” All is acceptable as long as nobody gets hurt. What’s good for you is fine as long as it doesn’t impact my life. Unfortunately, this is not God’s way. The Godhead, a theological term which means the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit always works in perfect unity. It is the model for all of us to live as one community with a single purpose. Paul makes it clear that anyone who claims to be a Christian and acts inappropriately affects the whole body.
To fully understand the concept, We have to remember that the early Christian community was the minority. It was the primary place of all social and economic relationships. Survival and reputation were determined by the group you primarily hung out with. Who you associated with mattered. It still matters.
Paul was calling the church to expel the incestuous man from the group because he would not repent. He saw nothing wrong with his actions. Actions the society at large also found offensive. Paul’s direction in this matter was to discipline the individual. Discipline is a word we in America have a problem with, isn’t it?
I really wrestled with this term for years after becoming a Christian. I was brought up in a home where if you didn’t behave as my parents demanded there were 3 consequences. The paint stick, my dad’s hand and/or grounding. The words “Wait until you father comes home” created hours of anxiety. However, that’s not what discipline is. According to Webster, it is “the practice of training people to obey rules or a code of behavior.” A synonym is, “to teach.”
When I first came back to Christ, I didn’t fully understand this. Due to my upbringing and maybe some of my early the Catholic Church’s teaching, I feared any discipline. And then, early on in my journey back to Christ a friend asked me to define my God. He asked me to share the characteristics of God that I had experienced that I could believe in. After some soul searching, we determined that all the times I thought God were punishing me; he was actually showing me his love. How do I know it was love? It always turned out to be for the best. (story of William in the street at 3 years old.) My discipline was out of love because I didn’t want him to die. It was right then I understood God’s purpose for discipline.
Paul’s words in this passage and his direction are to serve a larger purpose of saving this man’s life and the life of this new church.
? First, Paul knew and wrote in Romans that “we all fall short of the glory of God.” He knew there was no ranking system for sin and that sin can never be lifted up as good. Incest is just wrong. Not everything is acceptable to God but everything is forgivable, if we repent.
? Second, the ultimate reason for being set apart was corrective, not punitive or even judgmental. The hope all along was to bring the believer back into unity with the Christian beliefs. The interesting part is that the woman must not have been a part of the group. Paul doesn’t judge because she is outside the body.
? Thirdly, Paul was concerned that the actions of one person could be overly corrosive that they often effects the ability for the group to reach others for Christ. People become associated with hideous behavior are often shunned. (story of friend who has a Christian brother who dated a teenager when he was a youth minister).
? Finally, the ultimate reason for Paul’s suggestion was to remind the group that their practice of the faith needed to reflect Christ’s so that they could achieve their ultimate purpose, to glorify God in their everyday lifestyles.
Love what is right in God’s eye and we are will often put us at odds with the culture around us. Have you seen the movie, “Remember the Titans?” The movie is based on the 1971 true story the segregated T. C. Williams High School, a black head coach Herman Boone (Washington) is hired to lead the school's football team. Boone takes over from the current coach Bill Yoast (Patton), nominated for the Virginia High School Hall of Fame. Black and white football team members frequently clash in racially motivated conflicts at their football camp, including some between Captain Gerry Bertier (Hurst), and Julius Campbell (Harris). But after forceful coaxing and rigorous athletic training by Boone, the team achieves racial harmony and success. Subsequently, the Titans go through the season undefeated while battling racial prejudice, before slowly gaining support from the community. The scene that makes the movie for me is when Bertier comes to coach boon and tells him a friend is not giving all he’s got to the team because the racial divide and the coach responds with, you are the leader you make the call. To which Bertier kicks his friend off the team. The scene reminds me of the type of unity, shared expectations and accountability Christ is calling us to in His church.
Let me be clear: We are all saved by faith. It’s not about what you do. It is out of His great love - love that took Him to the cross, death, resurrection and ascension – and our response in trying to conform to Christian standards and practices that ultimately develop personal character to reflect Jesus to the world. Does your life reflect Christ in your heart?
