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.”
Woah! I've included this whole chapter today because it simply needs to be read all together -- some of the most powerful and convicting pieces to me are at the end, which I may not have time to get to today, but I wanted you to see all of this in context. So, here we go...
After the first four chapters of 1 Corinthians, where Paul has basically written broad brush-strokes about what is going on in Corinth, he now begins to confront specific issues. The first issue being that a man is sleeping with his mother (or perhaps a step-mother according to come of my notes).
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?" Something that even pagans don't do or tolerate. Wow. That should shock us, because though we are not perfect, our lives should look drastically different than the rest of the world as Jesus continues to change us and make us more like Himself. More loving, more humble, more pure...to name a few. If we don't see that fruit, we should have cause to be concerned about people who are Christians.
But in these two verses, Paul seems to be concerned with something other than the man and his mother. He says, "And you are proud!" He's appalled at the Corinthians. Paul's teaching here is not meant to teach us how to condemn one another, but here Paul wished his church had gone into mourning for the sake of the man who is living his life this way. Their hearts should have broken that he was not living how God intended, but that he had decided he knew a way that would be better and more fulfilling than God's design. But they weren't sad for this man and his choice of actions; instead, they were proud.
Why would the people be proud? That's a strong word. Well, we know from the last couple chapters that they thought they knew it all, had it all together, didn't need Paul to teach them. They were focused on all the wrong things.
1. Maybe they are proud of themselves for being so accepting of this Christian brother and his choices, and how they would never interfere into something that isn't their business?
2. Maybe they are proud that at least it isn't them doing it, and it gives them something about which to talk amongst themselves -- that will make us proud in a heartbeat, won't it?
3. Or maybe they are so above this, thinking about other things, that it doesn't even faze them! Do you know what I'm talking about? The first R-rated movie I saw had such a shocking impact on me, but sadly, now with all that I see in our culture, it takes a lot more to shock me these days. More than ever, we have to guard what we let into our hearts and minds SO THAT we don't become accustomed to and impacted by the darkness, destruction and death we see all around us.
A friend of mine who studied Psychology was telling me how we humans would rather change our VALUES before we'll change our ACTIONS. Can you believe that? Hearing those words shocked me, but then I thought about my own life, and it's true. If I want to do something, and my conscience tells me not to, I would rather seek the pleasure than listen to my conscience....so I decide that I don't believe what I used to believe. Then suddenly, I don't feel badly about what I'm doing because I have a "new" thinking now. We take the easy way out, don't we?
I am only three steps away from being this man. A few more decisions to change my values instead of my actions, and I could be right where he is. And what does Paul say to do with this man? Verse 2 says that he should be put out of the fellowship or removed from the church! Now, it is Biblical to say that the man must not be wanting to change his actions or repent, because a changed heart would be the best solution here, and we as Christians are all about granting forgiveness. But a Christian who wants to continue to live in flagrant opposition to God's plan and design...that's a different story, and the further down we read, the more we will understand why Paul says what he says here.
For now, I'd like to ask us...why do our hearts not BREAK over the sins of others, especially other Believers? Perhaps one of the three reasons above strikes a chord with you, or perhaps you know of another reason. Instead of judging, talking about, or feeling prideful when others stumble, I want my heart to break for them
And how are your values and actions lining up these days? You know what His Word says...are you doing it? Or are we changing our belief systems so that we can do what we want without as much guilt?
There are no fingers pointing here! I am guilty in both of these areas. But rather than allow myself to go on in that way, I want to look at my heart honestly, and ask God to help me change the dark places He sees in me.
Hmm...only got through two verses...I was planning for much more today. Well, that must be enough to think about for now.
Hopefully, this takes us one step closer to loving God and loving others.
No comments:
Post a Comment