Masterclass - Lesson 7: Condemn, Condone, or Calling?

The following blog post is the written manuscript from Masterclass Lesson 7 on 1 Corinthians 5:1-13 taught by Pastor Kyle Davies on Sunday, November 21, 2021.

Can you hear me now? The wandering ad man famously asked as he traverses wherever the phone company placed him. As competing cellular companies jockeyed for your loyalty or tried to sway you from one to join the other—the message was simple. We have better clarity and strength on your call. Meaning there is less likely to be interference with the signal between your phone and another.

Underneath Paul’s addressing of behaviors of the Corinthian Church is the call to become what you are. Just like that Corinthian Church, we have all kinds of things that want to run interference. Especially, interference between God’s desired relationship with us. If we want to improve that relationship then we must increase the clarity of signal by continuing the conversation even when there seems to be interference.

As we get into today’s test, it’s important to remember that relationships are a series of conversations. Paul’s letter to the Corinthian Church would have been read out loud to the gathered church. Further, the letter was likely circulated between many of the Corinthian churches. Now, this isn’t the first time Paul has written to this church. I had Jon read the section of chapter five for this exact reason. I’m going to go back to verse one of chapter five, but its super important to know that there has been prior correspondence. It’s like exchanging text messages but you only see one side, not only that, you’ve missed the first half of the conversation.

With this in mind, let’s deal with the situation Paul is referring to. “It’s actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you that is not even tolerated among the Gentiles—a man sleeping with his father’s wife.” As if that isn’t the whole issue, Paul continues “How arrogant!” Paul’s response to how to deal with this guy is to have him removed. He names an issue and then proposes a solution. There are three issues at hand: the sexual sin itself (I’m not going to deal with that explicitly today, we will see this in the coming chapters), the pride of the people, and the misunderstanding of their purpose.

At a first glance, I think there are two reactions to Paul’s proposed solution. (1) Ah ha! That’s why I don’t like the church. They are judgmental, critical, and don’t really love. They kicked him out. (2) Good! Paul is standing up to morality. God is judge therefore the person should feel the wrath.

Both of these initial responses miss the nuance and care Paul has taken and even takes in his proposed solution to dealing with this situation.

First, the letter assumes Paul has tried other measures. But, this lends itself to a discussion that I don’t particularly find helpful.

At the onset of his letter, Paul has attempted to argue that the Corinthians have put their wisdom ahead of Gods. In doing this, the church has shifted its center away from Jesus to the charisma of a leader. Here is a situation that exposes this reality. Rather than be grieved by such distortion of sexuality, the are proud. [I’ll return to this in a moment.]

Paul’s motivation for calling out this sin is not to condemn nor condone but to recenter the man, the church, and their public witness on Jesus. Paul’s more interested in them living up to their calling.

The man’s sin affects himself, the church, and their witness.

Paul writes, “Your boasting is not good. Don’t you know that a little leaven leavens the whole batch of dough? Clean out the old leaven so that you may be a new unleavened batch, as indeed you are. For Christ, our Passover Lamb has been sacrificed. Therefore, let us observe the feast not with old leaven or with the leaven of malice and evil, but with the unloved bread of sincerity and truth.”

The image is of mixed meaning: Passover land and unleavened bread. Leaven was not the same as yeast. It was fermented dough left over to be used as a rising agent with the next batch of bread. Unleavened bread had special meaning, for it was used a special time every year to remember God’s rescue from Egypt. God had rescued them.

Paul notes that they are already unleavened bread. They have already been rescued. If they refuse to deal with the old way of living, leaven in this instance, the result is sabotage of divine calling. They were to live in relationship with God, display his image, and care for creation. In tolerating, nay approving, of the sin they were settling for a lesser version of humanity, community, and world. Just for clarity, In Christ, they already had received the power of the Spirit to do this.

There are three layers that are affected: Personal, corporate, and public witness.

Application 1: Seek to understand the calling you have in Christ—become what you are. NOT, take advantage of what you are. I’m perfect in Christ therefore I can do whatever I want now.

Point 1: Personal - Sin does not happen in isolation. Personal sin always results in collateral suffering. And personal holiness always results in collateral benefit. Living an increasingly cleaned life demonstrates and awareness of divine calling.

The point of the illustration is that tolerating this immorality could tempt others how far they could push things.

I think of old conversations I used to have with my students in student ministry. We would occasionally through a difficult topic on the table and discuss. The question they always wanted to know: Where is the line?

Usually, the reasoning came because they wanted to do everything they could to get right up to it. Or, just go to the other side in their rebellion to see if the relationship could withstand that act. Or, they wanted to make sure they could put all these things in place so that they could never get close to the “moral line.”

The man is proud of his sin. I’m on the other side of the line. It’s okay because I’ll be welcomed back. Reality is, of course, you can be forgiven, but your focus in on the wrong target. The focus is on the line.

If you focus on the moral line of course you’ll get it right or move it. In focusing on the line though you’ve actually missed the target.

Matt Emmons was one trigger pull away from winning his second gold medal at the 2004 Olympics. In the lead position of the fifty-meter, three-position rifle competition, Emmons was so far ahead that his last bullet needed only to hit the target—anywhere. With unwavering calm and unbelievable precision, he fired his bullet and watched it pierce yet another bull’s-eye. But a few seconds passed, and no score lights appeared on the board. When three red-jacketed officials approached, Emmons was sure that the scoreboard was just broken. But it wasn’t. He was in shock, when the officials informed him that he had hit the wrong target. While standing in lane two, he had fired at the target in lane three. That day, the officials awarded him a zero, and Emmons didn’t even place in the competition.

At some point, we will all aim at the wrong target.

Point 2: Public witness - The church was to be the beautiful alternative to the world. In doing so, the ethic needed to be distinct.

Paul’s solution is not automatically kicking everyone out of the church who sins, nor zero in on this particular sin as greater than others. His point: no one would be left. He gives the list to help them not fixate on a particular behavior. There aren’t levels to sin. Sin is an equal opportunity offender. Such an act may need to be had so that the person can recognize the depth of their calling.

Risk this option—fall at the mercy of God.

Your public witness isn’t about getting it right all the time. You public witness is having a “because of Jesus” reason that brings change and produces a life that represents the calling. 

Your identity is not in what you can get away with or how moral you are but in the beauty and grace of Jesus.

Point 3: Corporate - Communal and mutual mercy

The underlying assumption in Paul’s proposed solution is that when this man is cast out that he will no longer have a place to belong or experience the amazing work of God. If we take this at face value, to view the church as a business or social club, then someone can go right down the street. However, if the church is something more, then when he is removed from the community of people that are pursuing a way of living distinct from the world then the death of his way of sin, because he wouldn’t belong elsewhere would potentially lead to life. His whole way of life would be altered.

The relationships within the church were to be so robust that they can handle the addressing of sin.

Application 3: This is the point of application for us—pursue relationships representative of your calling. If you only see someone on Sunday — then 1) the relationship will not be able to handle conversations about blind spots, and 2) there won’t be enough trust to be vulnerable to ensure deep change.

This is why we have our value story over sin - “cultivating lasting relationships that discover how Jesu shapes our identity, our past, and our future rather than being defined by others of ourselves.”

If you have not exhausted the effort of the relationship, before addressing the sin then you should not rush to judgment on the sin. Especially, if you do not know the salvation status of another. Why? Even if this man is cast out and dies, in his Spirit, he may return to God and be saved.

Herein lies the bigger image: It’s less about the sin and more about the story of Jesus.

In a passage like this, it’s easy to flaunt or fight the judgment of God. The outside world passes judgment too. God provides a way for the judgment of God to be fulfilled—the Passover lamb.

In that Lamb and through that Lamb, we are able to know what love is. Over the next few weeks, we are going to take a break from Masterclass. Focus on preparing for Advent.

Here’s my ask: Prepare to celebrate Jesus — Pray & Participate. 

I understand that you may not have the right words, I’m not asking you to profess all knowledge. Share & show up. Risk something.