1Co.04-1

We’ve made it all the way to chapter 5 in 1 Corinthians, which means we’re at the first major turning point in the letter. So far, we’ve seen how the Corinthians’ selfishness and devotion to their culture has brought division in the church. They’ve prioritized comfort, power, and loyalty to certain leaders over caring for each other. 

As we move into chapter 5, we’ll see that the core issue among the Corinthian people is still the same. They’re still self-centered. We’ll find out how their selfishness infected the church in more than one area. 

Paul tackles a specific problem within the church in this chapter—sexual sin. While we might be tempted to brush this chapter off as only applying to that ancient church, we’ll see that it’s more relevant to us than we might think. 

Paul argues that Christians should take habitual sins seriously because not only are they toxic to us as individuals, they’re also toxic to the church. That’s what we’ll unpack in this session. 

Let us turn to 1 Corinthians 5

¹I can hardly believe the report about the sexual immorality going on among you—something that even pagans don’t do. I am told that a man in your church is living in sin with his stepmother. ²You are so proud of yourselves, but you should be mourning in sorrow and shame. And you should remove this man from your fellowship. ³Even though I am not with you in person, I am with you in the Spirit. And as though I were there, I have already passed judgment on this man ⁴in the name of the Lord Jesus. You must call a meeting of the church. I will be present with you in spirit, and so will the power of our Lord Jesus. ⁵Then you must throw this man out and hand him over to Satan so that his sinful nature will be destroyed and he himself will be saved on the day the Lord returns. ⁶Your boasting about this is terrible. Don’t you realize that this sin is like a little yeast that spreads through the whole batch of dough? ⁷Get rid of the old “yeast” by removing this wicked person from among you. Then you will be like a fresh batch of dough made without yeast, which is what you really are. Christ, our Passover Lamb, has been sacrificed for us. ⁸So let us celebrate the festival, not with the old bread of wickedness and evil, but with the new bread of sincerity and truth. ⁹When I wrote to you before, I told you not to associate with people who indulge in sexual sin. ¹⁰But I wasn’t talking about unbelievers who indulge in sexual sin, or are greedy, or cheat people, or worship idols. You would have to leave this world to avoid people like that. ¹¹I 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. ¹²It isn’t my responsibility to judge outsiders, but it certainly is your responsibility to judge those inside the church who are sinning. ¹³God will judge those on the outside; but as the Scriptures say, “You must remove the evil person from among you.”

We live in a sexualized culture. So much so that the church has started to have the same attitude towards sex as those outside Christianity. We can look a lot like the world.

The same was true for the Corinthian church—but to a worse degree. Not only were they accepting sexual practices that were outside God’s boundaries, but they were also praising a man for incest. They were tolerating a kind of relationship that even pagans rejected.

The church didn’t just resemble the world. It was worse than it.

This week’s study in 1 Corinthians 5 will ask us to confront the sin in us and in the church. We’re not always used to tackling sin head-on in the way Paul describes in this chapter. But before we go any further, let’s ask why. Why do we avoid confronting sin? 

Maybe because it’s unpopular in our society to tell someone that what they’re doing is wrong. We’re told to tolerate people and their choices. Confronting sin in another Christian is also risky. It could cost you a friendship. It could be painful. It could also mean giving other people permission to confront your own sin. And that’s scary.

How do you feel about letting other Christians confront you about your sin?

What are you risking?

If you’ve already allowed other Christians to do that, how did you respond the first time? 

It feels safer to let sin lurk in our lives and the lives of other Christians. That way, no one has to really know us and we don’t look intolerant.

But as Paul said, we can’t afford to let sin roam free. We have to deal with it. Not just for the sake of the people outside of Christianity looking in, but also for the sake of each other. Living the backward-to-the-world life Jesus invites us into means we’re members of a new family. And we need to take care of each other.

The point of this week’s study isn’t to leave us wallowing in our sin. Whenever we confront sin in our lives, it should draw us closer to Jesus who died to free us from that very sin.

So, let’s start this week by spending a few minutes praising Jesus for what He’s done for you through his life, death, and resurrection. Listen to a worship song, journal a prayer, or simply spend a few minutes in silence with God. What would you want to say to God about His rescuing you from sin?

Text your response to the above prompting questions to your group and/or share it as a comment below