Handling Scandal and Immorality in the Church

Correcting Ills and Immorality Correcting Ills and Immorality How to Handle A Scandal - 5:1 13 Week Week 57 5 July 5 July 2023 57 2023

1 CORINTHIANS INTRODUCTION In our continuing study of First Corinthians, we are reminded that the themes of this letter revolves around Christian Conduct in the local church and how it influences unity, discipline, andspiritual growth. The major problem in the church at Corinth was worldliness. Paul s main objective in this letter is to make Positional sanctification Progressive. Therefore, the corrective here is behavior rather than doctrine. In this thirdsection (4:1-6:20), Paul outlines the principles and process of church discipline needed to purge and purify the church of its immaturity and immorality.

1 CORINTHIANS - LESSON OVERVIEW Swindoll opens this study by making an observation about Christian behavior saying As Christians living in a lost and fallen world, we often act like we re living on tiny Christian islands surrounded by a polluted sea beating upon our shores. Or we act like we dwell in airtight spiritual ecosystems inside a Bible bubble, shielded and protected from the outside world. Yet this kind of isolationist mentality presents a problem for biblical Christianity. Jesus called us to be in the world but not of the world (John 17:11, 14-16).

1 CORINTHIANS - LESSON OVERVIEW Meaning, we should be insulated from the morally corrupting influences of our times, but not be isolated from the people of the world. All of us can appreciate the tension this creates as we feel ourselves stuck in the center of a tug-of-war between running from the world and falling into it. Some relieve this tension by building social walls around our holy huddle to keep us and our communities safe. Too many, however, have given in to the other extreme. They have let go of the purity of life presented in Scripture and empowered of the Holy Spirit, only to slide into the cesspool of moral depravity.

1 CORINTHIANS LESSON OVERVIEW In chapter 5, Paul addresses the problem of a member of the church who had surrendered to corruption s seductive call and walked headlong into scandalous sexual sin. It should not strike us as odd that Paul rebukes not only the sinner s repugnant acts, but also the church s tolerant attitude toward the sin. Like many modern-day Christians who carry the name of Christ, but tolerate lifestyles and behaviors in direct conflict with biblical standards; the Corinthian church was proud of its hands-off approach to the sins of others. Paul shows them the seriousness of their complacency and teaches them how churches are to handle a scandal through church discipline.

1 CORINTHIANS 5:1 1It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and such sexual immorality as is not even named among the Gentiles that a man has his father s wife.

1 CORINTHIANS 5:1 Like poisonous pollution seeping into a city s water supply, moral pollution had crept into the Corinthian church and threatened to poison the entire congregation. Without cushioning his readers for the sudden impact of this issue, Paul directs their attention to three significant observations regarding this sin and the terribly destructive situation it presents in Corinth. In 5:1, Paul makes these comments about the offensive sin being committed in the church . . . 1. The sin was well known. 2. The sin was revolting. 3. The sin was ongoing.

1 CORINTHIANS 5:1 FIRST Paul says The sin was well known. Stating it was actually reported (5:1). We can almost hear the disgust in Paul s tone. Nobody should hear the kind of report he had heard about a church whose members professed to be followers of Christ. The most troubling part of this sin was that it was being broadcast far and wide. This was no secret sin, concealed with a cover-up to keep people from discovering the truth. The news had come easily to Paul, perhaps through members of Chloe s household, or through others who had come to him. Or maybe, the bad news, was so scandalous it that had swept like a raging fire from church to church until it reached Paul from a number of sources. It was well known!

1 CORINTHIANS 5:1 SECOND Paul says The sin was revolting. This isn t to say that some sins are acceptable; here, the emphasis is on the kind of sin being reported. Paul says this kind of sin does not exist even among the Gentiles (5:1). In other words, even non-Christian pagans would be shocked at the type of sexual immorality being tolerated by the Corinthian Christians. What was the sin? A member of the church, presumably a young man, was engaged in sexual immorality with his stepmother. Since Paul refers to the woman as wife not widow implies the father is still married to the woman. This was considered to be an incestuous relationship between what amounts to a son and his step-mother.

1 CORINTHIANS 5:1 THIRD Paul says The sin was ongoing. He wasn t merely expressing his surprise that some young adolescent had fallen for his father s new younger bride and caused a bit of an embarrassing uproar in the church. No! Paul describes the sin as a permanent fixture among the church. It was a case of immorality among you the church in your midst, right before your eyes, under your noses. In other words, they knew all about the relationship, yet did nothing at all about it. It s this third point that bring the greatest rebuke from Paul.

1 CORINTHIANS 5:1 Swindoll quoting John White and Ken Blue says . . . Unless someone in the church decides to go lovingly to the person involved in the scandal with the object of establishing the truth, effecting righteousness and seeking to bring about reconciliation, every single member in the church who is aware of the situation is sinning every moment is in fact a participator in the sin of the identified sinner in one way or another. The church is sinning by avoiding corrective church discipline. Every church must deal with sin among it members. Therefore, no church should shirk its responsibility to confront it. But the Corinthians were doing just that.

1 CORINTHIANS 5:2-3 2And you are puffed up, and have not rather mourned, that he who has done this deed might be taken away from among you. 3For I indeed, as absent in body but present in spirit, have already judged (as though I were present) him who has so done this deed.

1 CORINTHIANS 5:2-3 Not only had the Corinthians failed to confront the sin of incestuous immorality in the church, but they even went to the other extreme: They became arrogant about it, as if the grace of Christ made them exempt from obeying His commands. To put it bluntly, they sinned that grace might abound (Romans 6:1-2). They had been wading in the stagnant waters of pride for so long that it blinded them to the filth of the situation. In response to their I m okay, you re okay approach to sin, Paul confronts them for their passivity, corrects their attitude toward sin, and then instructs them about the proper approach to the situation.

1 CORINTHIANS 5:2-3 FIRST Paul rebukes the Corinthians saying You have become arrogant (5:2). He holds the entire congregation responsible for the individual engaged in the sin. This word for arrogant literally means puffed up and it is only used seven times in the New Testament and six of those uses is in First Corinthians. The church had been inflated with a destructive view of grace. Salvation in Christ they thought, permitted them to do whatever they wanted. But Paul tells them that instead of this arrogant approach to sin, they should have mourned the loss of the church s purity, as if it were over the death of a loved one.

1 CORINTHIANS 5:2-3 Sadly, the Corinthian church had succumbed to the false teaching about grace that is still growing fast today. That once a person is justified and saved by God apart from any good works, that person may then do whatever is desirable because saving grace covers everything. Paul says in Romans 6:1-2, Are we to continue in sin so that grace may abound? May it never be! Salvation by grace through faith alone does not logically lead to an anything goes lifestyle. When we fully understand the work of God in salvation, we know, that the Holy Spirit seals us permanently by His grace, and indwells us, moving us to submit to His will and obey His commands (Eph. 1:13, 2:2:8-9).

1 CORINTHIANS 5:2-3 This means that the indwelling Spirit, by His grace alone, continues to work in us, both to desire and to perform good works not to earn salvation, but as an outworking of our salvation (Eph. 2:10; Phil 2:12-13). The result is a holy life. The Corinthians, puffed up by an aberrantview of grace that gave license for immorality, tolerated even gross sin. They should have removed the perpetrator from the church. This would have marked their abhorrence of the sinful act, concern for the purity of the church, and their desire to move the sinner toward repentance and restoration (Gal. 6:1-2). Instead the church remained polluted and the individual unrepentant.

1 CORINTHIANS 5:2-3 So, Paul takes a bold stand against the majority opinion in Corinth. His disciplinary intervention from afar demonstrates just how low the Corinthian church had sunk. The leadership present in Corinth, had neither the moral compass nor the skill to navigate what should have been a clear, open-and-shut case of church discipline. Paul realized that for the good of the sinning brother and the purity of the church, someone must take a stand. If the congregation and its leadership lacked the power to do so, Paul would have to pull rank and pass judgment himself. Having sized up the situation, Paul pronounced his apostolic judgment against the sinner, and an authoritative verdict binding on the local church (5:3).

1 CORINTHIANS 5:4-5 4In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when you are gathered together, along with my spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ, 5deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.

1 CORINTHIANS 5:4-5 Now! In the remainder of the chapter, Paul gives the Corinthians specific instructions for carrying out the judgment he issued as an apostle. By his apostolic authority, Paul taught that God has vested the church with the authority to pass this kind of judgment, and he expected the church in Corinth to have already taken proper action against the unrepentant sinner. Only because they failed to carry out proper church discipline did Paul step in as an apostle. All churches, following proper biblical principles for church discipline, have both a responsibility and the authority to protect the purity of the church and to hold unrepentant sinners accountable with a view toward restoration.

1 CORINTHIANS 5:4-5 Verses 5:4-5, spells out the results of Paul disciplinary actions, and gives specific instructions on how to carry out the verdict of his judgment. FIRST they were to pass judgment notwiththeir own authority the authority of the pastor, elders, bishop or the words of a church s constitution or bylaws but rather on the moral authority of Our Lord (5:4). By gathering in the name of the Lord Jesus, they were to exercise His authority in obedience to his commands (Matthew 18). Having carried out the discipline by the proper principles, with firmness and humility, they could have full confidence that they had the Lord s approval and were functioning with His authority.

1 CORINTHIANS 5:4-5 SECOND they were to carry out this discipline when they were gathered together referring to the official gathering of the congregation (5:4). This judgment was not to take place secretly or behind closed doors. At this point this incestuous relationship had been broadcast far and wide. It has been implied that the entire congregation not only knew, but they approved of the immoral relationship. To reverse this perception and to communicate to the whole church the seriousness of the offense, church discipline needed to be public. This doesn t mean that every confrontation of sin should start as a public matter.

1 CORINTHIANS 5:4-5 Private sin should be dealt with privately; however, the principle seems to be that the more public, prominent, and unrepentant the sin, the more public and official the discipline (1Tim. 5:20). THIRD they were to deliver such a one to Satan (5:5). In other words, the Corinthian church was to ex-communicate the sinning Christian from the fellowship of the church. This involved official removal from membership, so one was no longer regarded as a brother or sister in Christ (5:2), removed from the blessings of the Lord s Table (10:16), from receiving the churches benevolent help (Eph. 4:28; 1John 3:17), and from the spiritual protection offered through the presence of the Spirit in the congregation (2Thes. 3:3).

1 CORINTHIANS 5:4-5 The excommunicated believer would be ejected into Satan s domain, the world, where he would be outside the spiritual protection of the church and unable to repel the attacks of Satan (1Pet. 5:8). Excommunication of this unrepentant believer would result in one of two outcomes. First If he continued without repentance and restoration, he could suffer physical death, either as built-in consequences of a destructive, sinful lifestyle (Rom 1:26-27), or as the results of God s discipline against unrepentant believers (Heb. 12:5-11; 1John 5:16). Second The sinning believer s fleshly desires would be defeated and after a fruitless and futile life of debauchery he finally comes to his senses and repent (Luke 15).

1 CORINTHIANS 5:4-5 In either case, the purpose of church discipline is not merely punitive, nor should it be the external damnation of the sinning believer. The goal of church discipline is always restoration, that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus (5:5). Swindoll quoting William Barclay says . . . Always at the back of punishment and discipline in the early Church there is the conviction that they must seek not to break but to make the man who has sinned . . . Discipline should never be exercised for the satisfaction of the person who exercises it, but always for the mending of the person who has sinned and for the sake of the Church. Discipline must never be vengeful; it must always be curative.

1 CORINTHIANS 5:4-5 Paul commands churches to lovingly correct, not vindictively punish members who persist in sinning. So, that once a change of mind and heart are gained, congregations should welcome prodigals home with open arms (Luke 15:20-24; 2Cor. 2:6-9). In this way, ultimately the sinner, either by the Lord s hand of discipline or by repentance before the church, would be saved from a sinful lifestyle (3:15).

1 CORINTHIANS 5:6-8 6Your glorying is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump? 7Therefore purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, since you truly are unleavened. For indeed Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us. 8Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

1 CORINTHIANS 5:6-8 Now, Paul moves from the discipline of the sinner for the purpose of repentance and restoration to the purification of the church. Even if the perpetrator does not repent, the moral purity of the church requires the expulsion of the unrepentant from its midst. As representatives of the body of Christ, we directly affect each other for good or bad. Just as yeast invades every part of a lump of dough, so one Christian s unrepentant sin corrupts an entire congregation (5:6). Just as one microscopic virus can infect and cripple the entire body. One hole in a tire can stop the entire car. One F on a test can lower your GPA. So it is, that a small amount sin is enough to contaminate the whole congregation.

1 CORINTHIANS 5:6-8 So Paul, using an analogy for their old lifestyles, that were, characterized by impurity and immorality, and firmly admonishes them clean out the old leaven. Meaning they were to be in their daily practice what they were in their position before God: pure and holy figuratively, unleavened. In 5:7, we have all the ingredients of Paul s doctrines of justification and sanctification. As believers in Christ, the moment we believe we are justified and declared righteous by God, while still in our sinning state. Yet we also are called to a life of sanctification becoming progressively more righteous in our daily lives, as we are gradually renewedand conformed to the image of Christ.

1 CORINTHIANS 5:6-8 So when Paul tells the Corinthians that they truly are unleavened (5:7), he refers to being positionallyunleavened their legal righteous standing before God (2Cor. 5:17). When he urges them to clean out the old leaven that you may be a new lump (5:7). He refers to being progressively unleavened their practical transformation toward spiritual maturity (Rom. 12:1-2; 2Cor. 3:18). Both PositionalandProgressive righteousness is because of the person and work of Jesus Christ, not our own. Paul says, For indeed Christ our Passover, was sacrificed for us. Christ s sacrifice for our sins, purchased not only freedom from the penalty of sin (justification), but also from the power of sin (sanctification). By embracing Christ as our Passover sacrifice, we will find forgiveness and cleansing.

1 CORINTHIANS 5:6-8 Paul continues with the Passover analogy by calling the Corinthians to do as their forefathers did: to hunt down every sin that might infect the church and purge it from the community through genuine repentance (5:7). They were to rid themselves of the old leaven of malice and wickedness (their former practices as unrepentant pagans) and replace them with the pure, unleavened bread of sincerity and truth (5:8).

1 CORINTHIANS 5:9-13 9I wrote to you in my epistle not to keep company with sexually immoral people. 10Yet I certainly did not mean with the sexually immoral people of this world, or with the covetous, or extortioners, or idolaters, since then you would need to go out of the world. 11But now I have written to you not to keep company with anyone named a brother, who is sexually immoral, or covetous or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or an extortioner not even to eat with such a person. 12For what have I to do with judging those also who are outside? Do you not judge those who are inside? 13But those who are outside God judges. Therefore, put away from yourselves the evil person.

1 CORINTHIANS 5:9-13 Paul s instructions here about church discipline may come as a shock to the judge not advocates in our culture. These words may also fly in the face of the judge the world Christians who shake their fingers at sinners on the outside while overlooking the sin of fellow believes in their midst. previous letter sent to the Corinthians where he instructed them not to associate with immoral people (5:9). In response to these erroneous views, Paul refers to a Apparently the Corinthians had taken this as an admonition to isolate themselves from the immoral people of the world the non-Christians. But, to do this, they would need to literally leave this world.

1 CORINTHIANS 5:9-13 To clarify his intention Paul says, I meant that you are not to associate with anyone who claims to be a believer yet indulges in sexual sin, or is greedy, or worships idols, or is abusive, or is a drunkard, or cheats people. Don t even eat with such people (5:11, NRSV). While these words may sound harsh, Paul s point is just as vital for us in the twenty-first century as it was for the Corinthians in the first century. We are not called to force our biblical standards of righteousness on those outside the church who have never been taught and never committed themselves to a life of Christian discipleship. In fact, because they never received the Spirit, they lack the ability to subject themselves to God s laws (Rom. 8:7).

1 CORINTHIANS 5:9-13 Instead, we are called to hold one another accountable, stimulating one another to love and good works (Heb 10:24). So when it comes to defiant believers who habitually and unrepentantly engage in a worldly lifestyle of sin, we are told to remove them from the fellowship (5:11). This removal includes even withdrawing the most intimate form of fellowship in the ancient world enjoying a meal together. Swindoll says this meal reference may be specifically about the Lord s Supper, which was often accompanied by a charity meal that provided intimate fellowship as well as provisions for the poor.

1 CORINTHIANS 5:9-13 In other word, believers under church discipline were removed from both the spiritual and physical sustenance the local body of believers offered to its members. The authorityandresponsibility of the church to remove the wicked man from among the congregation might seem brutal to our tolerance-sensitive ears (5:13), yet such church discipline is necessary. The church must leave the world of unbelieving sinners to the judgment of God and exercise discipline among it own members (5:12-13).

APPLICATIONS OF THE LESSON Judge For Yourselves

APPLICATION JUDGE FOR YOURSELVES Swindoll closes this lesson by encouraging us to . . . Judge for Yourselves. Saying. . . Years ago, if you asked people to quote their favorite Bible verse, you might hear Psalm 23:1, The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want or John 3:16, For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him shall hot perish, but have eternal life. Nowadays, he believes many people would respond with, 1John 4:8, God is love or Matthew 7:1, Do not judge so that you will not be judged. The biblical presentation of a God who is our Master and Shepherd and who saves believers from hell through the death of His Son, used to be the common understand of even the most nominal Christians.

APPLICATION JUDGE FOR YOURSELVES However, in the last two decades the general perception of God has dramatically changed. Now God is more likely to be seen as a gentle father figure who loves people so much that He would never think of judging anybody for anything. With this picture of God comes an ideal image of the loving, tolerant church that embraces all people regardless of their beliefs and practices. Thou shalt tolerate everybody s lifestyle has become the new unwritten commandment that trumps anything negative the Bible might say.

APPLICATION JUDGE FOR YOURSELVES Paul s brief discussion of church discipline, in chapter five, challenges that notion of tolerating unchecked sin in the Church. In response to these vital truths. Swindoll shares these fourapplicationpoints to bring clarity and balance to our understanding of this important topic. 1. Overlooking the sin is not loving but dangerous. 2. Confronting the sin is not optional but essential. 3. Dealing with the sin is not to be penal but remedial. 4. Correcting the sin is not external but internal.

APPLICATION JUDGE FOR YOURSELVES 1. Overlooking the sin is not loving but dangerous. We often hear people say that how other people in the church live their lives is between them and God, but in 5:1-13, Paul refutes that idea by having the unrepentant man removed from the fellowship. Yet, if you apply these verses in our church culture you would probably be called a legalist, even worst, you could be slandered, persecuted, or even sued, not only by the person involved, but by observes who just don t have the stomach for doing the right thing. Waiting in the wings of many graces-preaching churches are people ready to call us legalist whenever we takes a stand against unrepentant sin. But we must be willing to do what s right even when it s unpopular.

APPLICATION JUDGE FOR YOURSELVES 2. Confronting the sin is not optional but essential. There are clear guidelines to follow that ensure this process conforms to God s standard. Matthew 18:15-17, provides the biblical guidance for handling unrepentant sin in the church. Read it, study it, mediate upon it. Then, apply it cautiously. Swindoll says The text make no room for backing down from confrontation or backing out of the process. For the sake of the church s health and the sinner s restoration, we must all engage in the process when wisdom dictates.

APPLICATION JUDGE FOR YOURSELVES 3. Dealing with the sin is not to be penal but remedial. James 5:20 says, He who turns a sinner from the error of his way will save his soul from death and cover a multitude of sins. Invariably, there are these self-proclaimed Christian bouncers who feel it s their duty to snatch sinners from churches, escort them to the door, and rough them up enough to guarantee they never show their faces in the sanctuary again. Yet, the purpose of church discipline is not to humiliate, infuriate, or aggravate wandering saints. But to urge them to see the error of their ways and to shepherd them back to repentance and fellowship.

APPLICATION JUDGE FOR YOURSELVES 4. Correcting the sin is not external but internal. Church discipline is to be carried out by believers and for believers. Here Swindoll reminds us that, Church discipline would never ever have to occur, if Christians kept their private worlds centered on the Lord Jesus Christ rather than themselves. This is a perfect time for us to do an inventory of our lives and determine if there are any secret sins that could potentially grow up or blow up into open scandals. If so, turn away for those sins, repent, and save yourself from the humiliation of discipline, either from the Lord or from His people.

How To Handle A Scandal

NEXT CLASS 12 July 2023 Before next class, read the below chapters in Before next class, read the below chapters in the the NKJV NKJV and in one other versions of the Bible, and in one other versions of the Bible, i.e., i.e., KJV KJV, , NRSV NRSV, , NIV NIV, , CEV CEV, , etc etc Chapter 6:1 11 To Sue or Not To Sue