{"id":16894,"date":"2021-08-04T22:00:31","date_gmt":"2021-08-05T05:00:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/1corinthians-4_9-21-copy\/"},"modified":"2021-07-27T15:21:00","modified_gmt":"2021-07-27T22:21:00","slug":"1corinthians-5_1-13","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/1corinthians-5_1-13\/","title":{"rendered":"Confronting Sin with Wisdom and Love"},"content":{"rendered":"

1 Corinthians 5:1-13 \u00a0Click here for Bible Verses<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Hi GAMErs,<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is 1 Corinthians 5:1-13.\u00a0 Let\u2019s go!<\/p>\n

1 Corinthians 5:1-13 (NIV)<\/em><\/strong>
\n1\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that does not occur even among pagans: A man has his father’s wife.
\n2\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0And you are proud! Shouldn’t you rather have been filled with grief and have put out of your fellowship the man who did this?
\n3\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Even though I am not physically present, I am with you in spirit. And I have already passed judgment on the one who did this, just as if I were present.
\n4\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0When you are assembled in the name of our Lord Jesus and I am with you in spirit, and the power of our Lord Jesus is present,
\n5\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0hand this man over to Satan, so that the sinful nature may be destroyed and his spirit saved on the day of the Lord.
\n6\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Your boasting is not good. Don’t you know that a little yeast works through the whole batch of dough?
\n7\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Get rid of the old yeast that you may be a new batch without yeast–as you really are. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed.
\n8\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Therefore let us keep the Festival, not with the old yeast, the yeast of malice and wickedness, but with bread without yeast, the bread of sincerity and truth.
\n9\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0I have written you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people–
\n10\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0not 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.
\n11\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0But now I am writing you that you must not associate with anyone who calls himself a brother but is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or a slanderer, a drunkard or a swindler. With such a man do not even eat.
\n12\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church? Are you not to judge those inside?
\n13\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0God will judge those outside. “Expel the wicked man from among you.”
\n<\/em>
\nOn verses 1-13:\u00a0 In 1 Corinthians 5 Paul deals with the problem of sexual immorality in his church in Corinth.\u00a0 In particular, there was a man in the church who had been sleeping with his stepmom (v1).\u00a0 That man would not listen to any warnings or admonitions from his local church leaders to stop this not only adulterous but also incestuous relationship.\u00a0 In addition, it appears that other members of the church were not just tolerating this behaviour, but boasting about it and thus encouraging it (v2, v6).\u00a0 So Paul as the church founder must step in.<\/p>\n

Paul tells the church that they have no choice but to “hand this man over to Satan for the destruction of his flesh, so that his spirit may be saved on the day of the Lord” (v5).\u00a0 What does it mean to “hand this man over to Satan”?\u00a0 Was Paul giving up on this man?\u00a0 Was Paul himself worshiping Satan?\u00a0 No.\u00a0 The act of “handing this man over to Satan” means to not allow this man to continue to join the church’s meetings until \u201cthe destruction of his flesh\u201d, that is, until such time as he has repented of his sin and is no longer carrying on the incestuous relationship.\u00a0 Paul tells them to do this \u201cwhen you are assembled together\u2026and the power of our Lord Jesus is present\u201d (v4)?\u00a0 In other words, they are to exercise this church discipline by making a public announcement while the church is gathered in an atmosphere of worship and prayer.<\/p>\n

The goal of this kind of church discipline is to protect everyone involved.\u00a0 First, it’s to protect the church against any further harm that the sin might cause and to make clear right from wrong.\u00a0 Second, it’s to protect the man who sinned in that hopefully by taking this disciplinary action, he would come to his senses, discontinue his sinful behaviour and come back to God and the church.\u00a0 Third, it’s to protect new Christians and even non-Christians in the church who might be confused, distracted or even emboldened by the behaviour of the man who sinned.<\/p>\n

By exercising this church discipline, the leaders of the Corinthian church would allow a new, healthier culture to rise up.\u00a0 As verse 7 says, \u201cGet rid of the old yeast, so that you may be a new unleavened batch \u2013 as you really are.\u00a0 For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed.\u201d\u00a0 Instead of a worship culture that was tainted by the yeast of \u201cmalice and wickedness\u201d (v8), they could start to worship Jesus in a culture that was filled with \u201csincerity and truth\u201d (8b).<\/p>\n

What can we learn from this?\u00a0 In the great majority of circumstances where a person in the church sins there is no need for any public discipline by the church.\u00a0 Rather, that sin is a private issue between that person and God and between that person and anyone whom that person sinned against. \u00a0However, in certain (hopefully) rare circumstances, sometimes a sin is so serious, the impact so public, and the harm so far reaching that\u00a0not<\/em>\u00a0engaging in some form of public church discipline would cause even more harm to the church.\u00a0 Paul believed the incestuous relationship described in 1 Corinthians 5 was one of those situations.<\/p>\n

Paul is careful to clarify that they should exercise this church discipline because the person who sinned claims to be a Christian and yet refuses to repent of sin.\u00a0 If the person who sinned was not a Christian and was not in the church, he would not be held to the same standard (v12).\u00a0 As Paul writes in verse 9-10:<\/p>\n

1<\/strong>\u00a0Corinthians<\/strong>\u00a05<\/strong>:9-10 (NIV)\u00a0<\/strong>
\n9\u00a0<\/sup>I have written you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people–
\n10\u00a0<\/sup>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.\u201d
\n<\/em>
\nHere Paul is showing that\u00a0we must be very careful what kind of Christians we get close to, lest they influence us in the wrong way<\/strong>.\u00a0 As Paul writes in verse 11, \u201cBut now I am writing you that you must not associate with anyone who calls himself a brother but is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or a slanderer, a drunkard or a swindler.\u201d\u00a0 In other words, don\u2019t become very close friends with someone who claims to be a Christian but who lives like anything but.<\/p>\n

In our families, our homes, our workplaces, and teams, we will occasionally face situations where sin must be confronted and dealt with in a loving but firm way.\u00a0 May God give you wisdom and courage to deal with those situations in a way that most honours God and best protects all who are affected by the situation.<\/p>\n

Finally, it is worth noting that the reason Paul gives in verse 7 for why we should \u201cGet rid of the old yeast\u201d, that is, get rid of our sinful habits, is \u201cFor Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed\u201d.\u00a0 In other words,\u00a0Christ\u2019s death on the cross does not give us an excuse to sin more, but a reason all the more to want to live free from sin\u2019s control and effects and to live a life that gives honour and glory to God<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Heavenly Father, please give me wisdom to know what people to get close to and what people I need to love only from a distance, since I will inevitably be affected by those I am closest to.\u00a0 Please also give me and those reading this GAME sharing wisdom to know how best to deal with sin when its impact is very public.\u00a0 In Jesus\u2019 name, AMEN!\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div><\/section><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hi GAMErs,<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is 1 Corinthians 5:1-13.\u00a0 Let\u2019s go!<\/p>\n

1 Corinthians 5:1-13 (NIV)
\n1\u00a0\u00a0It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that does not occur even among pagans: A man has his father’s wife.
\n2\u00a0\u00a0And you are proud! Shouldn’t you rather have been filled with grief and have put out of your fellowship the man who did this?
\n3\u00a0\u00a0Even though I am not physically present, I am with you in spirit. And I have already passed judgment on the one who did this, just as if I were present…….<\/p>\n

On verses 1-13:\u00a0 In 1 Corinthians 5 Paul deals with the problem of sexual immorality in his church in Corinth.\u00a0 In particular, there was a man in the church who had been sleeping with his stepmom (v1).\u00a0 That man would not listen to any warnings or admonitions from his local church leaders to stop this not only adulterous but also incestuous relationship.\u00a0 In addition, it appears that other members of the church were not just tolerating this behaviour, but boasting about it and thus encouraging it (v2, v6).\u00a0 So Paul as the church founder must step in.<\/p>\n

Paul tells the church that they have no choice but to “hand this man over to Satan for the destruction of his flesh, so that his spirit may be saved on the day of the Lord” (v5).\u00a0 What does it mean to “hand this man over to Satan”?\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":16896,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16894","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gametime-sharing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16894","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16894"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16894\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16895,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16894\/revisions\/16895"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16896"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16894"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16894"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16894"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}