July 03, 2023 | Be On Mission
Proud Sin vs. Repentant Sin
Scripture: 1 Corinthians 5(NIV)
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.”
Devotional
Recall that Corinth was a corrupt, sex-saturated city. It had a number of temples to Greek gods and goddesses, but the most influential was the Temple to Aphrodite (goddess of sexuality). It is believed that the Temple to Aphrodite employed up to 1000 prostitutes. This only increased Corinth’s popularity as a pass-through for merchants and a destination for eager travelers. Corinth itself became a synonym for sexual immorality and the phrase “Corinthian girl” meant being a prostitute.
At the beginning of this letter of 1 Corinthians, Paul reminded the believers that they were “sanctified in Christ Jesus and called to be his holy people” (1 Cor. 1:2), they did “not lack any spiritual gift,” and God would help them “be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Cor. 1:7-8). Oh the tension of being called to a life of holiness in such a corrupt culture!
Beginning with today’s reading, in the next several chapters of 1 Corinthians, Paul addresses the sexual sin among the sanctified servants. Apparently, some of the people of God were caving to the culture around them. Nothing has changed.
Every society has its weak spots. Corinth was known for sexual immorality and temple prostitution. Paul seems shocked when he writes to the Corinthian believers, “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” (1 Cor. 5:1). He bluntly says that the Corinthian Christians should “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” (v. 5). It is better for his sexual sin to be exposed than his eternal salvation to be lost!
Paul recognizes that every society has its weak spots. He acknowledges that the Corinthian culture was sexually corrupt, and tells the believers that they are to continue their relationships with non-believing people who engage in unbiblical practices. We are not called to leave the world. The Church is a hospital, not a fortress.
But being in the world is not being of the world. Just before His crucifixion, Jesus prayed this prayer for believers: “I have given them your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world. My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world. For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified” (John 17:14-19).
Poem
Sin’s Pride Parade
My daughter, excited, received internship great
A vocalist’s dream seemed to land on her plate
A job in New York at the Carnegie Hall
She felt like a princess attending first ball
Yet when she arrived, it was not what she dreamed
The culture was different, sin’s sharks circling teemed
Phone calls came with sighing, tears heard in her voice
The blatant corruption could not be her choice
“Mom, Dad,” she said, “I think I need to come home.
It’s different here, seemingly God’s ways unknown
I know where we live, sin is truly alive
But at least we still blush and don’t hail it with pride.”
My mind quick remembered the Bible’s true line
How one day as sin grows there will be a sad time
When not only excepted but openly staged
As people cheer wildly at sin’s pride parade
