Transcription
[Music] Will the Lord be with you? If you have a Bible, and I hope you or someone around you does, would you turn with me? We're going to be looking at 1 Corinthians chapter 5. And we're going to be covering actually the whole chapter this morning. 1 Corinthians chapter 5. Which means we're going to continue working through our series that we've been working through the past month or so.
Um, but I do want to just share something just quickly as we are moving from Easter and as we've been through the season of Lent, there could be a tendency to kind of maybe fall off or to maybe lose our intensity for Christ. And if that may be you or maybe you're more prone to once you know you kind of get past the holiday you kind of maybe start to revert back to some, you know, regular habits. I do want to encourage you to to press on to continue to pursue Christ with the same intensity that we were pursuing him this past week in this past month. Because the reason we can come to the Lord this morning and the reason that we can read this and and actually call this God's word, the reason that we can affirm these things is is because Christ is still risen. Christ is just as much risen today as he was last Sunday. And so if you were amped up celebrating, telling people he is risen last week, don't lose that intensity. Continue to press on because Christ is risen. And that is why we can read this word and have confidence knowing that it is lifegiving and that it's authoritative for our lives.
So as we come to 1 Corinthians chapter 5 this morning, we see that there's actually going to be a shift now in focus. So Paul has been writing to these Corinthian Christians. This is a church that he actually founded on one of his own missionary journeys. And now while Paul is on on another missionary journey, he's been hearing reports of what's been going on in the church. And there's a lot of issues going on in this church. And we've really just kind of scratched the surface with some of the issues. And what we find is that they've been asking Paul questions. And so he's been writing them some letters in response. And actually though we get the term first Corinthians here, this is actually most likely his second letter to the Corinthians. And you actually notice that in this chapter because he mentions in this specific chapter how he's already written to them previously. But of course through God's sovereignty only certain books have been preserved for for divine scripture.
But what we see here is that he's addressing these issues. And one of the major issues is that that the city of Corinth, its culture is infiltrating the church. Is that they are valuing the things that the culture are valuing, that they are seeking status. They're prioritizing wealth and education over Christ and his gospel message. And so through the first four chapters really what Paul has been doing is he's been trying to remind them of the gospel, remind them of who Jesus is. And so he's been saying, "You need to believe this gospel. You need to live out this gospel and you need to grow in the gospel." Really, that's what he's been kind of framing for us because we've seen that the church because of their emphasis on status, on wealth, on education and and and basically dividing among themselves different factions, he's really been calling out this division in the church. And so that's been really the first focus is all of this divisiveness, all of this debating and arguing and fighting within the church. And hopefully calling them back to the gospel that will unify them in Christ.
And so, as he's been addressing these things in chapter 4, we saw that he was reminding us that he was saying some hard things. He was having some hard conversations and he was addressing some of their sins, but it wasn't to shame them. It wasn't because he didn't love them, but rather he was doing this because he cared for them. And so I want to just keep that in mind as we now move to chapter 5 because you're going to notice there's going to be some harsh language in this chapter. And in fact, um I don't know if we have any younger ones here, but I did want to kind of just make a disclaimer that this is kind of a PG-13 sermon today. So, uh just take that with, you know, under advisement as we kind of work through this.
But what we're going to see is that um Paul starts to address another issue in the church, something that many of them would be fully aware of what's going on. And he starts to specifically address the topic of sexual immorality. And I think what we find in this chapter is that sexual activity outside of marriage is sinful. Sexual activity outside of marriage is sinful. Because in verse one, what it says is it 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. So this is pretty shocking. So what he's saying is I've been hearing what's going on in your church and not only is there division, but there's actually sexual immorality going on in your congregation openly. People know that this person is committing sexual immorality. And it goes on to explain that a man in the church is having sexual relations with his father's wife. Now, we pray that this is not his mother. I think most believe that this is probably his stepmother. But either way, just think how profane this is that this man is coming to church and he's in good standing in the church as he has an incestuous relationship with his father's wife, taking his father's wife and her, you know, cheating on her husband. And what Paul notes here is that this isn't even known among the Gentiles. So, it was against the law to do this in the Hebrew scriptures, right? The Old Testament, it condemned this type of action. This sexual immorality would have been viewed as sinful. But even to the pagans, the the Gentiles wouldn't even do this. They would actually have viewed this to be wicked and evil. And he says that you, the Corinthians, are being worse than the pagans in what you are approving.
And I think it's really important that we see this as just a case study for what we can see in our own churches today. Now, hopefully we do not have someone having this type of relationship in our local congregation, but I think that we all would probably recognize that we see other types of sexual sin in the church today and maybe even in our own congregation. And I do think it's interesting that he uses the term sexual immoral uh sexual immorality at first and then he addresses the specific incestuous relationship that's going on because incest is just one form of sexual immorality. Sexual immorality is really a catchall term. And that's why I actually said sexual activity outside of marriage is sinful because sexual immorality means anything that you do sexually. Any act outside of the sacred covenant of marriage. And so that would include promiscuity, just being a promiscuous person. That would be infidelity. That would be cheating on a spouse. That would be homosexuality, seeking someone that cannot be in marriage covenant with you based on how God has ordained it through scripture and bestiality, you know, seeking something that is lower than being an image bearer of God. These are all examples of sexual immorality. And Paul is making it very clear that this is sin.
But in Hebrews 13:4, it says this. It says, "Marriage is honorable among all and the bed undefiled, but fornicators and adulterers God will judge." And so, we as the church are called to hold marriage in high esteem. We must honor marriage and what it represents. And therefore, we must keep what it says, the bed undefiled. That is the marriage bed. What marriage what it sanctifies, what it um what it um stands for and what the the blessings that come with marriage, these things are meant to be protected and preserved. And it even gives a judgment in Hebrews 13:4 saying that these individuals who do not honor marriage and those who do not keep the bed undefiled, they will be judged.
In the text it says, so we see that there is sexual activity outside of marriage that is sinful. But we should go even one step further because we know what Jesus Jesus's teaching is on sexual immorality, specifically our sexual thoughts. Because what we find is that even our thoughts can be sinful if we allow lust to take over. Because in the sermon on the mount in Matthew 5:28, Jesus says, "But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart." Now, committing adultery is against one of the ten commandments. And what Jesus is doing in the sermon on the mount is he's saying, "You've heard that it was said. You you saw that it was written, but I say unto you." And what he's saying is that here is the true intention of God's law, of God's character, and we are not to commit adultery. But then he goes on and says, "But if you are someone that even if you're not committing a sexual act with your your physical organs, you still can be committing adultery in your heart, with what's going on in your your mind, the things that you're you're fixating on, the things that you're you're dwelling on, the things that you're looking at." And so what he's actually reminding us then is that all these different forms can take place and they all are sinful. And sexual sin, as we think about not only the act but the thoughts, they dishonor God. They damage people and they defile the church. And that's why it's so serious. That's why in 1 Thessalonians 4:3-5 it says, "For this is the will of God, your sanctification, that you should abstain from sexual immorality, that each of you should know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor, not in passion of lust like the Gentiles who do not know God."
And so as we think about this seriousness of of of of sexual immorality, of of sexual sin, we need to then think about our own personal lives and see, does this affect me? Am I maybe hearing this and being convicted by this? And maybe you're someone who is single. Maybe you're the to the unmarried, I want to encourage you to remain chaste. That is until the Lord brings someone to you to be married. And and maybe you have the gift of singleness for for life. You are to remain chaste. But for the marrieds, you are called to remain faithful. So if you are in a marriage covenant, then you are called to remain faithful to your spouse. And for us to do that, for us to abstain from sexual immorality, for us to to war against lust, to to do these things that God is calling us to, that requires action. There's actually a passage we'll read later that says that we must flee from sexual immorality. That you actually have to actively do something to get away from these temptations, from these vices, from these these circumstances.
And so for us this morning as we think about this and we know that we live in a sex-saturated culture today where pornography is just rampant. Not only is it easily accessible through different devices but also it's literally being displayed on just regular entertainment today. You will find pornography all over the place. And it's sad because when we look at some of the studies and as as you see numbers, studies can always be, you know, the numbers can be just shifted or moved a little bit here and there. But when we think about the numbers, it seems as if it says that 60 to 70% of men are currently addicted to pornography and these are the people that are admitting it. And then likewise, the women are around 30 to 40% of women are now addicted to pornography. So if we're looking and the once again, these are just the people that are being honest in the study, you have around 70%, 40%. You can't imagine that it's not happening also within our churches that there are people that are struggling with these types of sins. And if that's you, I want to encourage you to get away from those things that are tempting you. Don't be living with someone that is not your husband or wife. Don't be around people that are tempting you to fall into sexual temptation. Maybe you need to get off of TikTok. Maybe you need to get off these certain social media platforms that are constantly throwing this in your face. Maybe you need to stop watching certain movies, listening to certain songs. Maybe you need to get an accountability partner. Get someone that will actually walk with you in life and actually will address some of these things because Paul is concerned for this church. God is concerned for us and he does not want us to be bound by these sins. And these sins, I know they can be easily kept in the dark, kept secretive. And what it does is it enslaves us. And so Paul is calling it out and he's bringing it out in the open. And he wants us to truly understand that sexual activity outside of marriage in all of these different forms is sinful. It dishonors God. It damages us. And it will defile the church. And so we need to be actively opposing and fleeing from these temptations.
And I think this also then leads to the fact that we must understand that license is not love. What is license? Well, license is the opposite of legalism. So maybe you've heard that term before. Legalism is where you basically start to add all of these different rules and you start to say all of these things that the Bible doesn't teach as sinful. We're making this a new law, a new tradition. We're going to say this is now a sin. And so what you do is you become really restrictive and you start to say like so many things are sinful. You become a legalist. Well, license is on the flip side. Rather than saying all of these things are sinful, a a someone that that is taking license is saying nothing is really sinful. Or at least what the church might say or what the Bible says when it says that that's sinful, I don't believe that. So what this really is doing then is license is the abuse of grace. It's recognizing that God has offered us grace. He's offered us freedom. But then what we do is we take license with it to abuse that good gift that God has given us. So once again, legalism is basically restricting grace and saying that grace isn't really there. Whereas on the flip side, it's saying that we have grace to such an extent that it doesn't matter how we live our lives.
And the reason I bring that up is because that the Corinthians were boasting in their license. They were saying, "We have grace in Christ. We are free in Christ." And so they are boasting in their openmindedness when they should have been mourning over the sin. Think about that. They're boasting. They're saying, "We are such a loving, affirming congregation that even someone who is sleeping with his father's wife can feel comfortable here." And that's why Paul addresses this. And he does it in verse two and he does it again in verse six. He says, "And you are puffed up." He says, "That's you're prideful. You're you're boastful here and have not rather mourned that he who has done this deed might be taken away from among you." He says, "You're puffed up about this sin." Rather than mourning over this person and this circumstance, you're saying, "Look how awesome we are. Look how loving we are." And then likewise in verse six, it says, "Your glorying is not good." So they're they're puffed up. They're boastful. They're glorying in what's going on in this church. Once again, the Corinthians, they really thought of themselves as high and spiritual. They they were they were thinking they were the great ones, right? They had the the wealth, the status, the the power, the education. And so what he's saying here is that you in your boastfulness, in your puffed upness, he says that you are endorsing sin. This license that you are embracing is not true authentic biblical love.
So we need to understand this is that when we think about affirmation and acceptance, affirming and accepting is is sin. It's not loving or kind. Affirming and accepting is sin. It's not loving or kind. It is hateful and evil. And and this is the sad reality is that I literally was seeing on my social media this week that people were posting in some of the local Carterville pages and some of them, and I see this very often, they're they're asking about local churches in the area. And usually they kind of give their little their little list of all the little shopping items they want for their next church. Like, does it have this program? You know, does it have this type of pastor? Is it located here? All the the different things that they're asking. Is it this type of music? Right? Well, this time what they were asking is, is there any good churches in the area that are affirming and that accept LGBTQ lifestyle? So, out of all of the things that I would be looking for in a church, that wouldn't be even near the top of the list of the things that I would be wanting to know about this church. But there are many people. And then not only that, but then I was curious to see how many churches would even insert themselves there. I'm like, cuz I wouldn't want to boast in that. Even if that was something that maybe we taught, I wouldn't want to be throwing that out there as like that's our main pitch as a church. But then all of a sudden I start to see people at these churches that are very proud that their church is is affirming and accepting of these different sexual sinful lifestyles. And so they start to start to post. I'm seeing and I'm not even I mean I knew there were some in the area, but I didn't see and realize how many that they're actually right here in just the the few towns right around us. And and so the the point is is that we see that this wasn't just an issue 2,000 years ago with with the with the Corinthians. This is an issue that we see throughout church history and we will continue to see these churches that will say, "Well, we love you. We affirm you. We accept you." But what they're really doing is they're saying, "We embrace license." I'm telling you right now, just because they say that they affirm you and accept you, that does not mean that they really love you. When you look at the words of Christ, when you look at the words of Paul, these are people that really care about these congregations and they will not always affirm you. Now, of course, Christ loves you. He died for you. He offers you salvation, forgiveness, no matter what you have done. But that is not the same thing as saying live however you want. You were born this way. Embrace whatever baser instinct, any lustful thought or desire you have. That is completely different. Tolerance of sin diminishes the gospel's beauty and the church's witness. Think about this. If we were to say, "Yeah, it's okay that you're doing all of these things. We don't care. You're welcome to do whatever thing, whatever makes you happy." That completely obliterates what the gospel is about. The gospel is good news because we understand the severity of sin. If you don't recognize how how dark and black and wicked sin is and the consequences of sin is death and ultimate separation from God, if you don't really, you know, wrestle with that and feel the weight of sin, then you'll never truly appreciate the good news of the gospel that God loves us despite our sins and that Christ demonstrated that love dying for us while we were still sinners. We have to understand that it it completely diminishes the the the beauty of the gospel. But likewise, the church's witness. Paul is already noting here that the pagans, the the Gentiles, the Greeks, they wouldn't even accept this type of lifestyle. And so if the lost world is now judging us on morality, we have really missed the mark. What type of light, what type of witness, what type of freedom are we offering if we are encouraging people to enslave themselves to sin?
So we think about the gospel, we think about good news and we think about grace. How should we understand grace? Grace has freed us from sin. It has not freed us to sin. That is so important that we understand the difference. See, license is saying do whatever you want. Love is saying do what is good and beautiful and true. Grace is freeing us from the bondage of sin. It is not freeing you to go be enslaved. See, when Jesus came, he came to take the prison doors and rip them off. He came to take the chains off of your body and and leave them to the side and say come and follow me. But when we say license, when we say grace is so that we can do anything we want, what that's really like is saying, "Yeah, we have the door. It's been ripped off its hinges. We have the chains. They're over there, but I'm going to still sit in my prison cell and I'm going to play with the chains for the rest of my life because I'm free, because of grace." Do you see the difference? That's what it is when we think about sin. Are you free to just hang out in that prison cell and play with the chains? Or are you free so that you can get out of that prison cell, never look at those chains again, and that you can help other people become free? That's what grace is. And that's why when we see these other passages in Romans 6:1 and 2, it says, "What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Certainly not. How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?" See, when we accept Christ, when we follow Christ, we die to self. We deny the flesh. We deny sin. We die to these things. We die to that old life of sin and bondage. And then we rise in newness of life in freedom. So in Galatians in Romans um 6:1-2 we we clearly see how it offers us these things. Likewise in in in Galatians 5:13 it says, "For you brethren, you have been called to liberty. Only do not use your liberty as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another." So he's saying you've been given liberty. You've been given freedom, but we are to use our liberty, to use our freedom to love others, to serve others, not for license, not to just embrace any type of sinful lifestyle. So, we see clearly here how grace is counterintuitive to living in sin.
And so, we see that Paul has a heart for these people, and he's willing to tell them this because he loves them. True love tells the truth. In fact, we know that it says that love rejoices in the truth. So what that means is if we really love people, you know what we must do? We must call sin what God calls it. And we need to fight what God fights. That's our responsibility. And when we see our brothers, when we see our sisters, when we see others who are enslaved or who are struggling with these sins, we should mourn. We should weep for them. We should care about them and we should hope that they will be restored and freed from these things. I think about Ezra as we just recently went through secret church. In Ezra 9:6 it says, "And I said, 'Oh my God, I am too ashamed and humiliated to lift up my face to you, my God, for our iniquities have risen higher than our heads and our guilt has grown up to the heavens.'" You just hear his heart and he didn't even commit the sins that he's talking about here, but he personalizes them because of how much he cares for his people. Likewise, I think about Galatians 6:1-2. It says, "Brethren, if a man is overtaken in any trespass, you who are spiritual, restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness, considering yourself, lest you also be tempted. Bear one another's burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ." So, we are called to restore, to help those who are being overtaken by these certain things because that is what love demands. So sexual activity outside of marriage is sinful, but license is not love. True love tells the truth and it calls sin out.
And that then leads to the final thing and probably one of the most shocking verses in this passage in verses four to five where we see some must be sent to Satan to be saved. Now that is a shocking statement and seems maybe sometimes counterintuitive to our understanding and thinking about Christ and the gospel. But let's just read verses four and five again. It says in the name that is in the power and the authority of our Lord Jesus Christ when you are gathered together, that means when you come together again for worship in the in the the church, the assembly, along with my spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ, deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of the flesh that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus. Now once again, this is Paul, an apostle, speaking in the name and the and the power of our Lord Jesus Christ. And he is saying for this individual, this man in this church who is now sleeping with his father's wife, he must be sent out of the congregation. Church discipline is what's going on in this context. In church discipline though it is hard and sometimes we don't like it and it can make us uncomfortable, we we have to understand that it is holy. Discipline is hard. I never like having to do anything when it comes to these controversial, you know, conflicting accounts where sometimes you have to address something like this. But we have to understand that it's holy. It's good, not only for the person but for the congregation at large.
In Matthew 18:15 to 17, Jesus actually even talks about discipline. He says, "Moreover, if your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. If he hears you, you have gained your brother. But if he will not hear, take with you one or two more, that by the mouth of two or three witnesses, every word may be established. And if he refuses to hear them, tell it to the church. But if he refuses even to hear the church, let him be to you like a heathen and a tax collector." So Jesus gives us a very helpful model. Now, of course, this isn't meant to be a binding thing for every single specific circumstance all under the sun, but it's a helpful guide for how we should generally try to deal with someone who has sinned against us or done something wrong that has become public. And what he says is that first you should seek to go and bring um the truth to your brother or sister in private. And if they are not receiving the truth and if they're continuing to persist in sin, then you bring two or three more that are also within the local assembly or those who are brothers and sisters that are trusted and respected. And they also then will try to establish the words and try to bring that person to repentance. And then if they continue to refuse to receive this counsel, then you bring it to the church. And if the church as a local gathering in its authority still cannot persuade that person, they say, then Jesus says, you are to treat them like a heathen or a tax collector. That is, you are to send them outside, to leave them apart from God's covenant people.
And so I think that's exactly what we see Paul calling them to do here. He wanted to encourage this church to put this person outside of the assembly, which thus what that would do is it would put their flesh or their life at risk because what happens there? You are no longer under the protection and the blessing of God and his covenant community. And so now you are on the outside, fully at the whim of the enemy because we know that outside of the church and God's protection, we know that the enemy, that Satan, he rules. We actually know it says that in in the text in scripture, it says that he is the god of this age. And so he has power and he has capabilities. And so what it says is there might be a time in which someone is persisting in this habitual unrepentant public sin. And in this case, you need to send them out so that they would really feel the weight of their actions and that they would see how dangerous it is to live in a world ruled by Satan without the protection and protective covering of Christ and the gospel. And so he's saying that we must do this hopefully so that they would repent.
And so as we think about church discipline, we need to understand that it's not punitive. That it's not it's not just meant to punish you because we want to punish you, but rather church discipline is redemptive in nature. That is the goal. The reason that we send people out of the congregation if they persist in sin is that they would encounter Satan and they would recognize how horrible it is so that they would then repent and be saved. So that once again it says so on the day of the Lord Jesus Christ when he returns, that individual would be in right standing with God so that he would trust in Christ, pursue Christ, and that he would no longer be pursuing these things that lead to death. And so once again, this is this is all redemptive. This is working through it's being grounded in the redemptive work of Christ here. And I think what's powerful about this is this also reminds us that Jesus is Satan's ruler. Jesus could even use Satan to save and sanctify his people. Now that doesn't mean Satan is good. Satan is evil. He is he is the father of lies. He is a destroyer. But Christ is his ruler. And Jesus can even use Satan and and his works and his power in this world. He can even use that as a way to show someone how dark this world is. To show someone the weight of their sin, the consequence of their sin, so that they would then come back and experience grace. That's how good our God is. In fact, we see that that God has done this before with Satan that he can use Satan to bring good. In fact, I think about the story of Job where Satan thinks that he's pulling all the strings and he knows what he's doing. And we see how God uses that to craft the story through Job and how it's blessed Christians and believers for generations because of what he has done through that account. And so what we need to understand is that when we hear the words, "send some over to Satan so they must be saved," is the goal is restoration, not rejection. I know it's hard and and and some people will say that that church is so judgmental. They're so horrible. They're so hateful because they kicked them out of the church. We didn't kick you out of the church because we gave up on you. We're kicking you out of the church because God says that's the best way that we have a chance of you repenting and being saved to experience grace. We want you to experience Satan so that you can come back and truly understand the Savior. That's the difference. That's why we do this.
But the thing is, you have these churches today, once again, who will never preach this message. You will not hear this sermon in certain pulpits because they don't want to lose members. They don't want to offend anybody. And what that ultimately means is that they don't really love you. They don't respect you. They won't tell you what God's word says. But we are to purge the evil out of our congregations. And in verse 11, it actually explains that this is more. And if you've been feeling the weight, if you maybe are wrestling with sexual immorality, it's not just for that person that's struggling with that. This is addressing all different types of sins. Because in verse 11 it says, "But 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." So what he's saying is this isn't just about this one man. This is about how we just view the church as a whole. We need to purge the church of evil. We need to allow ourselves to eliminate these certain threats within the church. And now once again, very clarifying statement. This is what we're talking about. These are people that are persisting in unrepentant public sin. These are not those who are humbly struggling with sin. It's so important that we understand that. This is not someone who's wrestling with an issue and they know that they're messing up and they're trying to do better and they're trying to seek Christ in it. This is not the person we're talking about. But we're talking about the person like this man who is okay with his sin and he doesn't want to repent. Once again, when Jesus says you come to your brother and they don't receive your counsel, that's who we're talking about. So, I'm not trying to make anyone feel like that we don't want them in this church. We want all people in this church. We want all people to know Christ and his love and his grace. But once again, this is talking about those individuals who are persisting in evil. For these groups, it says that we are to purge them out of our assembly. And we're not even supposed to eat with them. Here's another thing we as Christians sometimes don't do very well. We're like, "Oh, yeah. Well, I know they had some issues with our church, but I'm still going to go and and hang out with them on the weekends." That's not what Paul says. You have to let them feel the full weight of what excommunication really is. You have to understand that when you have broken fellowship with your congregation, you are no longer with that fellowship. And the only reason that you would get together with them would be if there's hope for restoration. If they're thinking, "I'm actually reconsidering what I was doing. Would you help me work through this?" And by the way, it's really encouraging that as we think about this specific example, it worked. This man is mentioned again in 2 Corinthians, the next letter to these people. And guess what? He has been restored. He did feel the weight of Satan. And he came back and he says, "Now minister to him. Show him love. Show him mercy. Let him understand what grace is really like." That no matter what he did just then in the past, no matter how much shame or or or anything he feels, he is now fully restored. Now see this man, he he felt this weight and then he understood and he came back to the assembly.
But not only do we purge the person or purge the evil for their own good, but as I mentioned, it's also for the good of the congregation because if you notice in the text, what he does is he in verses six and seven, he compares sin to leaven. Now for those who bake or or you know who do some things like that in the kitchen, you understand that leaven, yeast, it it like sin, it spreads widely and quickly and eventually it it affects the entire lump, the entire entire loaf. In fact, that's why Paul even uses that that that Jewish idiom there where he says, "A little leaven leavens the whole lump." Meaning, a little sin in your congregation, unaddressed and affirmed and accepted, that will corrupt eventually the entire congregation. We we have a kind of an idiom kind of like that today where we say um a bad apple spoils the bunch or maybe a rotten apple spoils the barrel, whatever you're maybe used to or hear. But basically, if you have one bad apple and you allow them to to to continue to fester within that group, it's going to affect and spread. It's like a cancer. If you don't cut it out, it will corrupt and kill everything around it. And so, what this means for us then as we're thinking about this severe warning for this individual and for us as Christians that are that are considering what sin does in our lives, we need to see that a church without purity is a church without power. Which endangers not only our effectiveness but our very existence. That is if you do not embrace church discipline. If you have leaders who were unwilling to do what Paul calls the church to do here, not only will that keep you from being pure, that it will eliminate your power and that means that you're not going to be effective as a church. And what this also means as we think about the churches in Asia in the book of Revelation, if you are a church that is unpure, that impure, that you don't have power, and the fact that you're not being effective, this actually threatens your existence as a church because he says that there will be some churches that I will take your lampstand. This church is not guaranteed to be here forever. Now we know that the universal church will prevail. The gates of Hades will not prevail against it. But that doesn't mean that fellowship in Christ Christian Church will be here forever. And if we do not hear these words, we can fall into this trap and we can be like many of those churches in Asia who they did not hear the words of John and their lampstands were taken out and now we don't see those churches anymore. And so we need to understand that the these are serious consequences if we do not hear this.
One final thing on this. In verses 9 to 10, as we hear this strict warning about how we are to treat these Christians in our churches, these these professing brothers and sisters in our churches, it there's a different expectation for those in the world. Because in verses 9 to 10, he makes it very clear that I wrote to you in my epistle not to keep company with sexually immoral people, yet I certainly did not mean with the sexually immoral people of this world or with the covetous. And then it goes on with that list again. What he's saying is that you would have to basically get outside of the world if you're not going to surround yourself with lost people who were living like this. So what the point is is that we are not to eliminate our contact with the world, but we are to pursue the lost. So we we treat brothers or those in the church differently than we treat those in the world. Those in the world, we want to come to our services. And that's actually why membership in the church is so important. So you can understand that. Are you a visitor in our church? Are you someone that you might be a believer, you might not be a believer. You could be a lost person that's just visiting a church. Or are you someone that is actively a part of our covenant family committed to holiness? See, that's the difference here. And so what he's saying is that I'm not saying don't spend time and don't pursue the lost. Don't don't try to reach out to those who who don't know Jesus. But for those who do and still live against him, those are the ones we are called to disfellowship with.
And then finally to maybe end on on maybe an encouraging thing on an encouraging note in verses 7 to 8, the reason that this is so good and he's actually using as he uses yeast and the loaf and this imagery, it's meant to make us think of Passover. That Passover meal that ultimately was fulfilled in the Lord's supper. And what he reminds us is that Christ is our Passover. Christ is the Passover lamb who died for our sins, shed his blood, and so that his blood would purify us from our sin. That is so that you would actually, as it says in the text, that you would um that you would um live as unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. That's his desire for us. The unleavenedness, that's what he wants for us. Not only does Christ because of what he did for us at the Lord's supper, right? What he did for us on the cross, did he die for our sins, did he purify us from our sins, but he also gave us the ability so that we could be separated from sin. See, the Christian life, life in Christ is a feast. It's joy. It's it's a party in Christ because it keeps us away from these things that destroy and enslave us. And so, that is the hope this morning. And that is what we are called to embrace this morning is that grace is available for all of us regardless of what we struggle with. But what we are called to do is continue to pursue him, to rejoice in him as our Passover, as our lamb, as our deliverance, as the one who purifies us and protects us from sin. That is why we see these sharp hard words in this passage. It's because God wants us to experience holiness.
Final verse that I'll read in 1 Corinthians 3:17. "If anyone defiles the temple of God, God will destroy him. For the temple of God is holy, which temple you are." That's what Christ wants for you. He wants you to be holy. He wants you to experience good, abundant life. That's what he wants for us. So, I pray that we would do what we see in this passage. That we would recognize sin for what it is. That we would love one another in truth. And that we would at times when necessary send those to Satan in hopes that they would be saved.