Some years ago the senior pastor of South Africa’s largest church got mar­ried. It was a highly ornate and lavish affair. No expense was spared. After all, the ceremony was going out live via Christian television channels. He was a man who had made his mark. Starting with a handful of follow­ers, he now had the nation’s biggest congregation. He was looking good! And then there was the bride. A beau­tiful bride. A woman who had been a beauty queen and was a well-known model. Well, what an advertisement for marriage — and a marriage be­tween two Christians! Two Christians deeply in love.

There were lots of famous people there. Sportsmen, politicians, and other Christian pastors. They all en­dorsed this ceremony by their pres­ence and the wishes they publicly ex­pressed to the couple, as did thou­sands of Christians there and else­where.

What a wicked thing! How could they ever get to that point? Now you’re wondering. What could I be going on about? The scene I’ve pictured couldn’t be more positive and uplifting. Why the harsh reaction? Well, it was that man’s second mar­riage. His first wife was still very much alive. And she was a Christian. In­deed, she had been a confessing be­liever before he married her. She had even been the ‘senior pastor in the Church with him!

That’s why that wedding was a dis­graceful thing. It was a mere display of selfishness — the greed that re­veals the corruption of power. But it was especially sinful because of the large number of Christians who looked on and praised it, blessing it with their presence. They had fallen for the line of this being the right thing. Well, how could it be wrong when they were so obviously in love? It’s the Christians who condone the sinful situation that Paul takes to task in the fifth chapter of 1st Corinthians. For while he’s clear enough about the incestuous activity being wrong, he’s especially clear about how it has to be thrown out. He must have been really furious when he said that particular sin didn’t even happen among the pagans. And so should we be to know that the divorce rate amongst Chris­tians in some countries is even higher than it is with non-Christians!

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.'1 Corinthians 5:9-13 (NIV)

This is about a Particular Kind of Sin⤒🔗

Verse 9 is clear that this is about a particular kind of sin. There isn’t an issue over the wrongness of this sin. And while the word for ‘immoral cov­ers a range of sins, this is in a field of its own.

It is demonstrated by considering the list of sins in verse 11. What do sex­ual immorality, greed, idolatry, slan­der, drunkenness and swindling have in common? They are sins committed against other people. Another name we call them is ‘public sins’. They are sins that are quite obvious, and from what we know of the Corinthian church this sin was particularly so! The example at the heart of this chap­ter is a clear example of this sin. The Corinthian Christians all knew about it. Verse 2 says they were even proud of it!

But Paul is also saying that this sort of sin applies to any member of the Church whose behaviour was not consistent with commitment to Je­sus Christ. The fact that he has to write about it again, as verse 9 says, shows that they had either misunderstood what he had written or had misrepresented it. And know­ing the way Paul writes, we can be pretty sure they had misrepresented it!

Therefore, Paul is going to tell them all over again. While they may think that ignoring Paul’s first letter will make the sin’s evil go away, they’ve got another thing coming! That is what we read in Ephesians 5 verse 11 — because this deed of dark­ness must be exposed to the light. But first, let’s define this particular sin a bit further, because what other types of sins are there other than ‘public ones? Well, there are ‘private sins’. You don’t get to know about them. That’s because they don’t come out into the open. For example, someone thinks about how they could kill someone. They are so frustrated with a particular person that they dwell on how it would be like if he were dead. But they don’t go and do it. That’s a pri­vate sin.

If they were to actively plan and murder that person then it becomes public, for it involves other people. Still, we can define this generic group of ‘immoral sins even further; because it’s behaviour that either hurts others or blocks you from the needs of others. It goes right against the love that Christians should have for each other. It’s the opposite of what is held up as the ‘most excellent way later on in 1 Corinthians, chapter 13!

This was shown through a very penetrating television documentary about gambling shown recently. It pointed out quite clearly the way in which this addictive lifestyle twists basic human relationships. This sin destroys families!

When someone is entangled in sin like that, you can’t trust them. In fact, you have to stay right away from them. If you place your trust in them, then before you know it they’ve taken you for a ride!

This is not about that Sin being Practised in the World←⤒🔗

So this is the type of sin Paul is talk­ing about. The most destructive type. Paul defines it for what it is. Then he goes on to say that this isn’t about that sin being practised in the world. This is an important distinction Paul is making here in verse 10, because right throughout the Church’s history there have been those who said that we shouldn’t have anything to do with this world as it is so immoral. They think that by withdrawing into some monastic-type situation, we can keep ourselves from being affected by sin. Of course, that leaves total depravity aside altogether; but it especially for­gets why the Church of Jesus Christ came here in the first place! We are here to witness to the good news about the Saviour. People have to be saved from their sin. We are to be in the world, but not of it! No wonder Paul ends verse 10 by making it obvious how stupid they are to think they can retreat from this world, because how can you leave it literally! Fly into outer space? You’d still be in the physical world.

You can’t help but meet people like this in our community. That’s why Paul adds more to the list in verse 10. Not only are there the adulterous — and how many aren’t there today of those? — there are also the greedy, swindling and idolatrous. Who hasn’t had someone do a dirty on them in business? Which one of us hasn’t been deliberately short-changed? And as for those worshipping other gods, the world is teeming with them! You can’t withdraw from this world. And Jesus said that. In His High Priestly prayer in John 17 verse 15, He prays to His Heavenly Father:

My prayer is not that you take them out of the world, but that you protect them from the evil one.

In verses 12 and 13, Paul comes back to this point. It’s not about us some­how judging or avoiding that type of sin in the world. That’s for God to sort out. We have to leave that side of things to Him.

This is about that Sin in the Church←⤒🔗

But there is an area that we very much have a responsibility for. As Paul shows next, he is writing about incestuous sin in the Church! Verse 11 shows this. The apostle charges the Corinthians with having become a cult — a cult of free love! That is indeed what he is saying. Us­ing Paul’s first letter to keep right away from the world means that they’ve really lost the plot.

You can almost imagine how those pagans in Corinth were speaking about the Christians. When they heard of this particular situation, the man having sexual relations with his father’s wife, it only confirmed their prejudices regarding the Church. It’s at times like that you discover the non-Christian world has moral standards! We read all about that in the newspa­pers every time a cult hits the head­lines. Whether it’s Jonestown or the Branch Davidians or the abuse of chil­dren by a more local cult, they let you know how truly perverted Christians are. And, indeed, when ‘Christian´ cult members are like that, that’s what they are: truly perverted!

But let’s see how those groups got to the point of being so cut off in this fashion, as they had already con­demned that sin in the world. In fact, they condemned it so much that they thought they had beaten it.

And when you think that where you’ve got to is too good to be true, you soon find that you’re living a lie.

By devious twisting, cults manage to fool their followers into thinking that the terrible sins happening within are actually God’s will; telling their members that it’s according to God’s word. They’re always ready to pull out some oblique scriptural reference. It’s a false profession, though. ‘By their deeds you shall know them’ — and boy, isn’t that true!

By using the word ‘now’ in verse 11, Paul drives this home. He makes it absolutely clear that the Church has to stand apart from those commit­ting this crime. His reason for straightening out this misunder­standing is that the Corinthian Christians have tolerated this inces­tuous man in their midst. There’s only one way to deal with him. The way that’s exactly the opposite of what they’re called to do ordinarily — because he is not to be loved. That person is to be treated in the same way as he has been treating the Lord. And so, while he continues to abuse God by being addicted to his own selfish lifestyle, he has to be left to that. He’s already voted with his feet — so let him walk!

Oh, you’ll hear cries of ‘That’s unloving!’; ‘How un-Christian is that!’; and, ‘The gospel’s all about forgive­ness, isn’t it?’ but who is it that’s being unloving and un-Christian and unrepentant? Like very difficult chil­dren, these people are well prac­tised in what they do. And often that’s because we let them get away with it. In fact, elders have been told by members about to be excommu­nicated that they have never felt closer to the Lord!

Can you see why this man has to go? Someone so filled with a delu­sional belief is going to drag away those who are weak in the faith. Ac­tually, sometimes it almost seems people like this prey on the weak.

This is about the Church Dealing with that Sin←⤒🔗

If the eldership doesn’t act for the sake of Christ, His cause will be terribly shamed. That’s how a church can get to the desperate situation that Paul attacks in verse 1 of this chapter — this man wasn’t tackled for his sin early on. When another Church member saw him looking that certain way at his fa­ther’s wife — probably his step mother and quite a bit younger than his father — that other member didn’t challenge him. Perhaps that other member was looking at the wife the same way! We know the Corinthians had come out of quite an immoral so­ciety and perhaps that was still affect­ing them.

But, regardless, he wasn’t talked to then. And when someone else in the Church saw them holding hands, that person didn’t ask what was going on. ‘I mean, he’s so sharp!’ He would have put her down verbally and she knew there was a lot he could accuse her of. He probably had already done that!

When someone becomes increasingly difficult, you go out of your way to stay out of his way. How many parents don’t know that with a child? Or what about you boys and girls? How do you handle a friend you know who gets really moody? You don’t like to hang around with them when they’re like that. And because you’re not sure when they’re like that, you keep your distance.

The thing is, though, the less believ­ers are actually involved with some­body who is sinning in this way, the more he gets wrapped up in that sin. For the elders of a faithful church, though, these people have to receive more attention. When Paul in verse11 speaks about not associating with this person and not eating with him, meaning that you don’t invite him into your home, he means what the fellow­ship is doing as a whole. About this John Calvin comments, ‘The point is that no believer ought to enter into friendly relations with anyone whom the Church has excommunicated.’ And we could apply that in our day, to people who remove themselves from the membership of the Church. Now, if you meet that person in a pub­lic place, you may well end up sitting next to them. You will talk to them. But as they have gone out of their way to keep out of the Lord’s way, so you have to keep out of their way. For the sake of the Lord!

While we may take the reference to the expelling the wicked man in verse 13 as meaning the incestuous man Paul speaks about above, could it not also be addressing the devil himself? For isn’t it Satan who sets up his throne in the Church whenever this kind of sin is allowed? He’s reigning when evil men are allowed to do what they like.

I think it was Edmund Burke who said, ‘Evil triumphs when good men do nothing.’ And isn’t evil triumphing in the Church today? When has there ever before been a time in Church history when the Church calls good ‘bad’ and trumpets out bad from the rooftops as ‘good’? Just like that South African pastor.

You take a good hard look at the state of Christendom today. Take this type of sin — the sexual immor­ality, greed, idolatry, slander, drunk­enness and swindling. You could almost say the Lord Jesus has to come and clean out the temple again!

But He is here. Because when we are assembled in His Name and His Spirit is with us, this evil is being handed over to Satan. Sin is ex­posed for what it is.

By such Church discipline we pray that the sinful nature may be de­stroyed. And perhaps that person’s spirit will be saved on the day of the Lord. But whatever the case, it’s all very clear. You become who your friends are. The circle you mix with is what makes you.

Friend, let Jesus be your best friend. What He makes of you is what matters most of all. Then the Church is built up. Then the glory goes all to God.