Our Response to Sin and Sinners 1 Corinthians 5:1-13 You may have heard the expression, love the sinner and hate the sin. I believe that is precisely what Jesus did and in so doing, he set the standard for all his followers. Jesus always showed love toward sinners. That was what motivated Him to leave heaven and come to earth to die on the cross for our sins. Because he loved people, he always pointed them away from sin, which destroys a person and towards obedience to God which always results in blessings. The problem is as his followers, we have a hard time separating the two. We often reject the sinner along with his sin. We are actual guilty of throwing out the baby with his dirty bath water. Oftentimes, we have very little to do with those that are far from Christ. We have few, if any, people we know and spend time with that do not know Christ. I think that one of the reasons we do this is because we forget that we all started out far from God and needed someone in our lives to lovingly point us to Christ so we could be set free from slavery to sin. We also tend to forget that we are still sinners, struggling to overcome sins in our own lives. I know that when we distance ourselves from people that need Christ it breaks God s heart. God loves every person on the planet and wants to see them delivered from destructive sinful lifestyles. He wants them in heaven with him and he has called each of us to befriend those around us who have not yet come to Christ as their Savior. We will only fulfill our calling to be salt and light as we spend time with those that are far from Christ.
In the process of loving people and reaching people, we also don t want to slip into the other extreme. We don t want to start accepting destructive sinful lifestyles among church members just to avoid hurting someone s feelings or being called narrow minded or judgmental. *1 Corinthians 5:1 It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that does not occur even among pagans: A man has his father's wife. 2 And you are proud! Shouldn't you rather have been filled with grief and have put out of your fellowship the man who did this? *3 Even though I am not physically present, I am with you in spirit. And I have already passed judgment on the one who did this, just as if I were present. 4 When you are assembled in the name of our Lord Jesus and I am with you in spirit, and the power of our Lord Jesus is present, *5 hand this man over to Satan, so that the sinful nature may be destroyed and his spirit saved on the day of the Lord. NIV Let s pray. T.S. What is that passage teaching us about how we as followers of Christ are to respond to sin and sinners? Let me give you three things that we are not to do. Then I will give you two positive actions we are to take. *1. Do not be judgmental. Paul is not advocating in this passage that believers be judgmental. Too many people in our world view churches and church members as judgmental. This is what Jesus is warning us against in
* Matthew 7:1 "Do not judge, or you too will be judged. 2 For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. NIV Jesus is not saying that we are not to judge what is right and wrong according to God s word. He is admonishing us not to be habitually critical or condemning of others sins when we have our own that we need to take care of. When we judge others and condemn them for their actions with a desire for retribution, we are storing up judgment for ourselves. When we think to ourselves something like Just look at what that person is doing! God, you need to get them, we are being judgmental. When we hold resentment towards someone, we are being judgmental and violating Christ s command. The Christian s default stance toward others is to be one of forgiveness, mercy, and grace. We are not to be quick to criticize, but we are to be as gracious to others as God has been to us. We have been freely forgiven and we are to freely forgive. Another way we violate Christ s command not to judge others is when we think, we are better than others. When we judge people to be worse than ourselves, we are being judgmental and arrogant. Listen to this story that Jesus told in Luke 18:10 "Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11 The Pharisee stood up and prayed about himself: 'God, I thank you that I am not like other men robbers,
evildoers, adulterers or even like this tax collector. 12 I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.' 13 "But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, 'God, have mercy on me, a sinner.' 14 "I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted." NIV Who was judgmental in that story? The Pharisee was obviously judgmental. He thought he was better than others. He was arrogant and looked down on the tax collector. He failed to recognize his own sinfulness and as a result, he failed to receive grace and forgiveness. So, we are Not to be judgmental, but gracious, humble and forgiving. T. S. What is the second way that followers of Christ are not to respond to sin and sinners? *2. Do not disassociate yourself from those that are far from Christ. *Look at 1 Corinthians 5:9 I have written 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. NIV People that are not following Christ are going to have sinfilled lifestyles. So, if we separate ourselves completely from those with sin-filled lifestyles, we would have to leave this world. This is what some Christians have tried to do by forming monasteries or Christian communities. But, this is a misinterpretation of God s Word.
We are to go into all the world and proclaim the Good News to all people (Mark 16:15). We are to be salt and light in the world. We cannot shine the light of the Good News into people s lives unless we are around them. We can t have the saving quality of salt unless we are touching the lives of people that are far from Christ. *Look at 1 Corinthians 5:12 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 NIV It is not the Christian s job to point out the sins of those that are outside the church. If a nonbeliever is living an immoral lifestyle, it is not the responsibility of the believer to tell them they are living in sin. They are not members of the church and they have not submitted themselves to be accountable to the church. When you join a church, you are submitting yourself under the authority of that church and therefore you become accountable to it. It is not the church s responsibility to hold those outside the church accountable for their actions. Our responsibility is to tell them how Christ can save them. If a person uses profanity or tells a dirty joke, it is not the Christian s responsibility to correct them. We are not to give people the impression that we think that we are better than them. Instead of critiquing a person s lifestyle or conversation, we are to try to find common ground with them so that they will let us tell them about Christ and let Christ save them. (1 Corinthians 9:22 TLB)
Ill. One night my neighbor came over to our house to check on us after we had been robbed. He was drunk and used profanity. I did not point out his drunkenness and profanity. I thanked him for his concern. T. S. What is the third way that followers of Christ are not to respond to sin and sinners? *3. Do not make judgments regarding disputable matters. In this passage, Paul is not dealing with a disputable matter. *Look at 1 Corinthians 5:1 It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that does not occur even among pagans: A man has his father's wife. NIV There was a church member that was acting in a way that was clearly contrary to Scripture. But many times Christians do not make the distinction that Paul does between matters that are clearly contrary to Scripture and matters of conscience where there is not a clear Scriptural admonition. *Look at Romans 14:1 Accept him whose faith is weak, without passing judgment on disputable matters. NIV The context of this verse is a dispute over eating meat or eating only vegetables. This is obviously not something that the Scripture speaks to. So, there is not a right or wrong action here. Believers are admonished not to quarrel with each other about matter of opinions. In a situation where believers have different opinions about matters that are not clearly defined in Scripture neither believer should judge the other or
look down on him for participating in or not participating in a particular activity. Disputable matters are areas where Scripture does not give a clear right or wrong answer. Some examples in the time of the New Testament are: -eating meat offered to idols -considering one day more sacred than another -to drink wine or not to drink wine Some of these are still issues today and there are others like: -Women wearing pants -Men having long hair -The role of women in church ministry -The order of the events surrounding the return of Christ. And there are many more. Paul gives the reason we are not to judge and look down on a fellow believer over disputable matters in *Romans 14:4 Who are you to judge someone else's servant? To his own master he stands or falls. And he will stand, for the Lord is able to make him stand. NIV Paul here is continuing Jesus theme that it is NOT our job or our role to judge and condemn people for their opinions and accompanying actions on such disputable matters - matters of conscience. T. S. Now we have come to the two positive actions we are to take. *4. Do be discerning of what is right and wrong.
Jesus admonition in Matthew 7:1 "Do not judge is not to be taken as a prohibition against discerning what is right and wrong. Paul makes that clear in *1 Corinthians 2:15 The spiritual man makes judgments about all things, but he himself is not subject to any man's judgment: 16 "For who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct him?" But we have the mind of Christ. NIV Christians are to use the mind of Christ that we have been given through the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit to make judgments about all things. The spiritual person, who is empowered by the Holy Spirit lives life constantly seeking to do what is pleasing to Christ. The spiritual person knows what is right and wrong because he is guided by the Holy Spirit. The problem is we are not always spiritual people and when we are not spiritual, we usually are very slow to recognize it. That is one of the reasons we need to be a member of a church. We need accountability and correction from time to time. We are to discern what is right and wrong and to seek to do what is right. T. S. Now we have come to the final positive action we are to take. *5. Do judge unrepentant church members. This is what this passage of Scripture is all about. Paul is admonishing the church to take action to put the unrepentant church member out of the fellowship of the church.
*Look at 1 Corinthians 5:3 Even though I am not physically present, I am with you in spirit. And I have already passed judgment on the one who did this, just as if I were present. 4 When you are assembled in the name of our Lord Jesus and I am with you in spirit, and the power of our Lord Jesus is present, 5 hand this man over to Satan, so that the sinful nature may be destroyed and his spirit saved on the day of the Lord. NIV In this situation, a member of the church is engaged in an ongoing sexual relationship with his stepmother. Such an action is clearly prohibited by Scripture. Paul had apparently written one letter before the letter of 1 Corinthians in which he admonished this man to discontinue this sinful lifestyle. The man had refused to change his behavior. The church rather than deal with the man in a proper loving way had condoned his behavior. 1 Corinthians 5:2 and your are proud.. There are churches today doing the same thing. They are actually condoning sexual immorality among its members. This is a sign of the last days and an indicator of Christ s soon return. A church that condones sexual immorality will fall under the judgment of Christ. When a person voluntarily joins our church, they become accountable to the church. Therefore, if a member begins to live in a way that is clearly contrary to the Scriptures, the church must take loving action to try to bring that person back into fellowship with Christ and his church. By living a lifestyle that is contrary to Scripture, the person has broken fellowship with Christ and His church. The goal of the action of the church is to restore the person to a right
relationship with Christ and His church. It is never, never, ever punitive. This is what Paul is saying in verse 5, hand this man over to Satan, so that the sinful nature may be destroyed and his spirit saved on the day of the Lord. He is saying since the person had refused to change his behavior, the church must put him out of the fellowship and back into the world (which is the realm of Satan). He cannot be a member of the church until he discontinues his immoral conduct. If he changes his conduct, the church is to immediately welcome him back with open arms and show their love and acceptance of him. Why must the church take this action? *Look at 1 Corinthians 5:6 Don't you know that a little yeast works through the whole batch of dough? 7 Get rid of the old yeast that you may be a new batch without yeast as you really are. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. NIV Sin in the church works like yeast does in a batch of dough. If one person s sin is condoned, it soon spreads throughout the whole church. The action of the church is always motivated by love. If you love someone, you don t want to see them live in a sinful lifestyle because it hurts them and others. Even the lost world understands the concept of not letting a person do something that will hurt themselves and others. You have heard the expression friends do not let friends drive drunk. If you love someone, you try to stop them from doing something that will hurt them and others.
Conclusion: As believers, we are not to be judgmental and distance ourselves from those that are far from Christ. We are not to criticize their behavior. We are to show love to them and point them to Christ and let Christ save them from sin. When a person has been set free from slavery to sin and has voluntarily become a member of the church, then all the church members have a responsibility to him. As members of the same church, we are accountable to each other. We are to lovingly care for one another and to help each other live lives that honor Christ and his church. When one of us begins to live in a way that is clearly contrary to Scripture, we must take action to restore that person to fellowship with Christ and his church. It is the most loving thing that we can do. *Do you want a family that loves you and cares about you that much; then you need to be a member of this church.