1 Corinthians 5 - Part B

They, the Corinthian Church, patted themselves on the back for what is, I think today, considered to be the biggest, most important moral value in American culture. Tolerance. They were tolerant. They patted themselves and, oh, we're so tolerant.

Really? You're proud about that? You're proud of being tolerant of this, of incest? He said you should be mournful over this. Paul doesn't call it tolerance.

He calls it pride. The world tries to influence believers to live like them. But today on Connect with Skip Heitzig, Skip shares why living according to God's commands in Scripture leads you to the greatest freedom and joy. But first, did you know that Skip shares important updates and biblical encouragement on social media? Just follow him on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram to get the latest from him and this ministry.

That's at Skip Heitzig, at Skip, H-E-I-T-Z-I-G. Now, we're in 1 Corinthians 5 as we dive into today's teaching with Skip Heitzig. Whenever you relinquish your life to the Lord, there are no guarantees of safety or it being well with your health or well with your relatives or well with your school or well with whatever, but there's a guarantee it'll be well with your soul. So he said, Lord, what do you want me to do?

A lot of times we are reluctant to ask the question and give God carte blanche. Lord, I want to surrender my life to you, but first tell me what you have up your sleeve. And if it sounds good enough to me, then I'll surrender. So if you are thinking the Lord is telling me Hawaii, Maui, Fiji, yes, Lord, I hear your voice by your spirit, I'm going.

If it's Albuquerque, oh, Lord, Lord, it can't be you. I bind that spirit. Lord, speak to my heart. Hey, I had that conversation with the Lord. I was walking near my home in Huntington Beach, and I was saying, Lord, whatever you want me to do, just show me what it is. I had no clue, and I am so glad I surrendered to his will.

Being in his will is better than being in Maui, not in his will. So Paul the Apostle ended up in Corinth, then ended up in Ephesus, then ended up in Rome, then ended up getting beheaded by the will of God for the glory of Christ and for the honor of his name. So he was persecuted. He said we endure it, but now look at verse 14.

I do not write these things to shame you, but as my beloved children, I warn you. Now all of this sarcasm is leading up to Paul kind of giving both barrels to another issue, and the issue is the church of Corinth was very tolerant of certain kinds of behavior, evil behavior, and instead of being ashamed over their tolerance of evil behavior and their myths, they were actually proud of it, and he mentions that. Verse 18 of chapter 4, now some are puffed up or proud, puffed up as though I were not coming to you, but I will come to you shortly if the Lord wills, and I will know not the word of those who are puffed up, again prideful, but of power. Now that leads us to the third problem that he addresses in the book of 1 Corinthians, and that's chapter 5 and 6, the problem of sexual immorality. So look at verse 1 of chapter 5. Now we begin the chapter. I had prepared to cover a couple chapters tonight.

Yeah, right. So this is short enough that we can cover one chapter. He said it is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, you being the Christian church at Corinth, and such sexual immorality as is not even named among the Gentiles that a man has his father's wife, and you are puffed up. There it is again, third time he uses it. Now he zeroes in on what made them so prideful. He alluded to it in chapter 4. Now he just spells it out. You're proud about this.

You're puffed up, and have not rather mourned that he who has done this deed might be taken away from among you. I told you in our introduction to 1 Corinthians that the city of Corinth was a very permissive city in moral terms. Anything goes. Any kind of sexuality, any kind of homosexuality, any kind of prostitution, and almost anything that goes along with it. It was so debauched that the reputation of the Corinthians was everywhere. There was even a term coined in Greek by a single Greek word, Corinthiad Zestai. Corinthiad Zestai is a Greek word that means literally to play the Corinthian or to act like a Corinthian. So if you really wanted to chop a person down, to really cut him down, to really slur him, you go, you men, you act like a Corinthian. That's like saying you're like a sodomite, or you're from like Gomorrah. I mean, they just had such a bad reputation. And in the Greek plays, when anybody played a Corinthian in a Greek play, they always played a drunk.

So it had quite a reputation that that phrase could be coined. And one of the problems was immorality that was part of a worship system. One of the goddesses that was worshiped was the goddess of love called Aphrodite. And there at Corinth, just outside of the city was a little hill called the acro-Corinth, or this little monument hill. On top was a walled enclosure, and there was a temple to the goddess of Aphrodite. On top of that hill, a thousand, quote-unquote, priestesses lived. They were essentially prostitutes.

They would come down in the evening to the city when there was a new group of sailors coming through town, new group of soldiers coming through town, people selling their wares and their ships coming around. And those women would ply their trade, collect the money to support the goddess Aphrodite in her temple. Corinth was famous for that, and there was another saying that went around where people said, not every man can afford a trip to Corinth, because the prostitutes were, you know, were costly.

They'd come every night and solicit you, and these guys would pay for it. So not everybody could afford that was the going theme of that town. Evidently, that kind of culture is influencing the church rather than the church being in that community to influence that community. Now, indeed, some of those people were influenced because they're Christians in that church. And though there were Christians in that church who were indeed truly saved people, after a while, because the culture was so strong, you get used to it.

Instead of being salt and light, instead of being a strong witness, it's just easier to go with the flow and to accommodate the thinking and the values of the world around you. And if they smoke, you smoke. If they drink, you drink.

If they cuss, you cuss. If they say this is okay, you say that is okay. So instead of exerting an influence in the culture, the culture was exerting its influence in the church and it was becoming problematic. But now, not only is there immorality, but it's next level immorality. This is the case of incest.

A man is having sexual relations with his father's wife, probably a reference to somebody's stepmother. And the church is saying, well, you know, you can't judge people. We're not supposed to do that. And you know, we can't like be a policeman to everybody. Let them do what they want.

Just love on them. Paul said, you should be ashamed of yourself. You should be mourning that. It should drive you to tears. He says, you're proud about it. You're puffed up.

Now, a couple of things to notice. Incest was forbidden by the Old Testament. I think that you know. But did you know that even according to Roman law, secular law, it was outlawed? To have your stepmother in a physical relationship like this, according to Cicero, who is a Greek philosopher, statesman, and lawyer, it was against Roman law for this to happen. So Paul is saying, even pagan cultures don't allow this and you guys are allowing this to happen in your church.

You should be mourning this instead of being puffed up. Now, I want you to notice a word. It's actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you and such immorality as is not even named among the Gentiles that a man has his father's wife. The fact that it's put in the present tense shows that this is an ongoing relationship, not a one-time fling.

It's not like, well, he fell into sin with his stepmother, but there's a relationship that is acknowledged as being official. It's being talked about. It's been reported all over town. That's what is meant by it is actually reported that there is sexual immorality.

So everybody knows about this. It's an ongoing relationship. And probably because the apostle Paul is indicting the church and this man for doing it, but says nothing about the woman, I would infer that this woman is an unbeliever because he will say, we're, as the church, not called to judge the unbelieving world. God will do that. But we are called to judge Christians in the church to make discriminatory callings and judgments of people who professed to be Christians. The fact that Paul doesn't do that with the woman would lead me to believe that we have a man in the church claiming to be a Christian with a woman who is not a believer.

So you have a two-fold problem. He's hooking up, maybe even marrying an unbeliever, which will become an issue later on in this book. And it's an incestuous relation that the church is winking their eye at.

He said, you're puffed up and have not rather mourned that he who has done this deed might be taken away from among you. They, the Corinthian church, patted themselves on the back for what is, I think today, considered to be the biggest, most important moral value in American culture. Tolerance. They were tolerant. They patted themselves and, oh, we're so tolerant people.

Really? You're proud about that? You're proud of being tolerant of this, of incest? He said, you should be mournful over this.

Paul doesn't call it tolerance. He calls it pride. You're puffed up. Why does he call it pride? Because you are saying you're smarter than God, even though God forbade it in his book, the Bible, and even pagans forbid it. You're above pagan theology and even Old Testament theology. You're puffed up.

You're proud. Then, now he unleashes. Wait a minute, before he unleashes, I want you to look at something with me. And if you want to, you can turn to the book of Revelation, chapter 2. That means turn to Revelation, chapter 2, in your Bibles. There. Now I can hear those Bible pages.

So watch this. Here's Jesus speaking to the church at Ephesus, Revelation 2. To the angel of the church of Ephesus write, these things, says he who holds the seven stars in his right hand, who walks in the midst of the seven golden lampstands, the churches. I know your works, your labor, your patience. Now he's commending them.

He's saying I see you. I know what you're doing right. And what you're doing right is that you work hard, you're patient.

Now watch this. And that you cannot bear those who are evil. Jesus is commanding the church at Ephesus, not for their tolerance, but for their intolerance. He's saying the fact that you do not tolerate evil, I like. You can't bear those who are evil. And you have tested those who say they are apostles and are not and have found them liars.

So he gives that church at first straight A's. Now go down to verse 18, chapter 2, Revelation. To the angel of the church in Thyatira write, these things, says the son of God, who has eyes like a flame of fire, his feet like fine brass. I know your works, your labor, your patience. I know your works, love, service, faith, your patience. And as for your works, the last are more than the first.

So good marks on their report card until now. Nevertheless, I have a few things against you because you allow, see that word? You could translate that, you tolerate, you allow that woman Jezebel who calls herself a prophetess to teach and beguile my servants to commit sexual immorality and to eat things sacrificed to idols. Paul said you should have mourned. And it's a strong word to grieve for somebody, to grieve for the dead.

You should be weeping over this. Now back to our text. First Corinthians chapter 5, now he unloads. For indeed, I indeed, as absent in body, but present in spirit, have already judged as though I were present. I'm not even there, I'm writing you a letter, but my spirit is there.

It says, you can count, this is my vote. Concerning him who has so done this deed, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when you are gathered together in your next church meeting, making an official church meeting, 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 how many times have you heard people say when you bring up something that is wrong or something that you notice is false, in error, false doctrine, a position that is against scripture, a moral stance that is against a biblical value? How many times have you heard people say, well, Jesus said, judge not, lest you be judged. And that verse is butchered by so many people. It's the only verse they know in the Sermon on the Mount. Don't judge. All that means is, I'm going to memorize that verse because I want to do whatever the heck I want to do.

Don't tell me I can't. Judge not. First of all, Jesus was talking about a spirit of censoriousness, that you are playing God and excluding people away from fellowship with God.

You're being awfully censorious. He's not saying you can't think, you can't discern, you can't discriminate, or you can't judge at all. Later on, Jesus will give his disciples a command. He'll say this, judge ye a righteous judgment.

It's a command. Judge ye a righteous judgment. By the way, in that passage, when he says, judge not, lest you be judged, he says, if your brother has a speck in his eye, you know, you don't go up and say, hey, take that speck out of your eye. First, remove the beam from your own eye.

That's another one that's butchered. So that you'll be able to see to remove the speck. He doesn't say, take the beam out of your own eye, so you can walk away and say to each man his own beam or his own speck. No, remove it so that you can help remove the speck that is in his eye. That takes the judgment. You're still meddling in that person's life. You're still saying, you know what, I notice there's a speck in your eye. Yep, I had a huge old beam. Got rid of that, got that taken care of.

Now I can help you out. But that has been just far too maligned as a scripture. If judge not, lest you be judged, means never speak up against evil, never use discernment, never think discriminatorily, then Elijah the prophet was out of line when he confronted Ahab and Jezebel. Paul the apostle was out of line when he confronted Ahab and Jezebel. Paul the apostle was out of line when he confronted the Judaizers who were legalistic in Jerusalem. And for that matter, Jesus was out of line when he unloaded in Matthew 23 and said, woe unto you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites. Can you just picture some little Christian over on the side going, Jesus, judge not, lest you be judged.

So Paul says, count me in. I'm going to make an adjudication. I'm going to make a judgment. Kick him out.

Somebody who is living immorally and unrepentant of it, kick him out. Deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of the flesh. Now, go back to chapter two for just a moment. Chapter two, I remind you of verse 14. The natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God. They are foolishness to him. Neither can he know them because they are spiritually discerned. But he who is spiritual, what does he do?

It says it right there. He who is spiritual judges all things, yet he himself is judged by no one. Do you know there are times when a judgment is not only legitimate, it's mandated?

It's mandated. Paul wrote to the Galatians and said, you know what? Though we or an angel from heaven preach to you any other gospel than the one that you have received, let him be accursed. Well, that sounds pretty judgmental to me.

I'm not going to say sounds pretty judgmental to me. So, what does Paul tell him to do? To excommunicate them when you're gathered together in the power of our Lord Jesus. 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. What I think that means is cast the person out of the protective umbrella of Christian fellowship to the sphere of the world, the domain of Satan. Jesus called Satan the god or the prince of this world. Paul called Satan the god of this world or the god of this age.

The world is his sphere. There is a certain protection that happens to believers within the fold of the church to isolate somebody from the flock of God. Isolation is never good.

Never good. It's always against what Jesus had in mind for his church. So, to take a person to say you are no longer welcome within the protection of the body of Christ, all of the gifts that hold us accountable and strengthened us, when you are living in that isolated realm and your choice in sin has made its full effect in your life in that realm.

What we hope happens is that the flesh is destroyed, the flesh that controlled you, the fleshly nature that dominates you, that you were given over to, that that gets dealt with and that grip on you gets destroyed so that you can be reunited in restoration with the body of Christ and with the Lord. That's Skip Heiting with a message from the series Expound First Corinthians. Now, we want to share about a resource that will help you strengthen your trust in God so you can live with more peace and confidence. Forbes.com recently published an article with 22 tips for how to completely change your life in one year.

Sounds complicated. The Bible tells a different story about how to change your life. The Bible says, repent and return to God, and it reminds us we need to always insert but God into every situation.

Here's Skip Heitzig. But God is a phrase that appears 45 times in Scripture. It's a game-changing phrase. It means that no matter who you are, no matter what you have done, no matter how you may have failed, the truth is God can make things different for you from now on. But God. Discover the power of but God in Scripture and why it's a game changer for your own life with the But God teaching series from Pastor Skip Heitzig. Our thanks when you give $35 or more to help keep this Bible teaching ministry on the air. Get your CD collection today.

Call 800-922-1888 or give online securely at connectwithskip.com slash offer. Tune in tomorrow as Skip Heitzig shares how you can influence others around you for Jesus instead of letting the world influence you. Jesus never intended that we as Christians live cloistered lives away from the pagan world. He knew that we would be surrounded by people who have a different value system, and we would always be tempted to want to be as cool and hip and fit in as they are, even though he said, be holy, be different, don't be like them. He never wanted us to remove ourselves and live in a monastery. Connect with Skip Heitzig is a presentation of Connection Communications, connecting you to God's never changing truth in ever-changing times.