Live Christ in Your Culture #12 - Sin in the Church & Tough Love (1 Cor. 5:1-13)

Paul writes First Corinthians 5 with a hard word for a church that had gotten puffed up in the wrong place. Paul has already dealt with the disunity and arrogance in Corinth, but the text now gets very specific. Sexual immorality is not just “out there” in the pagan city. Sexual immorality has come right into the church, and the church leaders are not mourning over it. Paul says a man has his father’s wife, most likely his stepmother, and even the pagans knew that was wrong.

Misplaced pride is the first problem. Paul is not amazed only by the man’s sin. Paul is flabbergasted that the church is arrogant about it. The church may have thought it was loving, modern, tolerant, or open-minded, but Paul calls it sin. Tolerance of sin can turn into pride over sin, and that is exactly where a church can start calling evil good.

Church discipline is the next hard but loving command. Paul says the man must be removed from among them and “delivered to Satan,” not because the church hates him, but so that his spirit may be saved. Church discipline is meant to restore. The protection of the church body, the Word, accountability, encouragement, fellowship, and love, is real protection. If a man is affirmed in open sin, repentance may never come. If he is removed, the hope is that he comes to his senses like the prodigal son and is welcomed back with forgiveness and comfort.

Leaven is Paul’s picture for the second purpose of discipline, protection. A little leaven leavens the whole lump. Sin does not usually stay small, quiet, or private. Sin spreads through a church like yeast through dough, pushing boundaries and making room for more compromise. Christ, the Passover Lamb, has been sacrificed, so the church is called to be an unleavened people marked by sincerity and truth, not malice and evil.

Proper Christian judgment is also part of the text. Paul is not calling the church to judge unbelievers. God judges those outside. Paul is calling the church to judge those inside who bear the name of brother and refuse to repent. Jesus gives the perfect balance in the woman caught in adultery: “Neither do I condemn you,” and also, “Go and sin no more.” Tough love must carry both grace and truth, because grace without truth is not love, and truth without grace is not love.

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Key Takeaways

• 1. Misplaced pride can baptize sin Misplaced pride turns patience into permission and tolerance into celebration. The Corinthian church was not simply dealing with a sinner in pain, but with leaders who were puffed up when they should have been mourning. A church can become so eager to look loving that it loses the courage to call sin what God calls it. [15:28]
• 2. Discipline aims at restoration Church discipline is not spiritual revenge or religious meanness. Paul’s stated aim is that the man’s spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord. Removal from the church is severe, but the severity serves the hope of repentance, not the pleasure of punishment. [21:46]
• 3. Leaven spreads through the whole lump Leaven is quiet, but it does not stay contained. Paul’s image warns that tolerated sin does not merely affect one person, because it teaches the whole body what is acceptable. A church that refuses to cleanse out the old leaven slowly trains itself to live with malice and evil instead of sincerity and truth. [35:38]
• 4. Judgment belongs inside the family Proper Christian judgment starts with those who bear the name of brother or sister. Paul does not call the church to police unbelievers, because unbelievers will act like unbelievers and God judges those outside. The harder obedience is inside the church, where love must confront unrepentant sin for the sake of the person and the body. [42:43]
• 5. Grace and truth stay together Jesus’ words to the woman caught in adultery hold together what people often split apart. “Neither do I condemn you” is real grace, and “go and sin no more” is real truth. Tough love becomes Christian only when both are present, because grace without truth avoids healing and truth without grace crushes the wounded.
  
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Youtube Chapters

• [00:00] - Welcome
• [01:56] - Sin in the Church and Tough Love
• [02:48] - Corinth’s Problems and Paul’s Context
• [05:46] - First Corinthians 5 Read Aloud
• [10:45] - The Sin of Misplaced Pride
• [15:28] - Love the Sinner With Nuance
• [20:41] - Restoration Through Church Discipline
• [32:29] - Protection From Spreading Leaven
• [41:56] - Proper Christian Judgment
• [46:55] - Hard Questions About Sexual Morality
• [52:20] - Jesus, Adultery, Grace, and Truth
• [53:53] - Trusting the Right Savior

Bible Reading

1 Corinthians 5:1-13
“It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that is not tolerated even among pagans, for a man has his father's wife. And you are arrogant! Ought you not rather to mourn? Let him who has done this be removed from among you. For though absent in body, I am present in spirit; and as if present, I have already pronounced judgment on the one who did such a thing. When you are assembled in the name of the Lord Jesus and my spirit is present, with the power of our Lord Jesus, you are to deliver this man to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord. Your boasting is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump? Cleanse out the old leaven that you may be a new lump, as you really are unleavened. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. Let us therefore celebrate the festival, not with the old leaven, the leaven of malice and evil, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people— not at all meaning the sexually immoral of this world, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters, since then you would need to go out of the world. But now I am writing to you not to associate with anyone who bears the name of brother if he is guilty of sexual immorality or greed, or is an idolater, reviler, drunkard, or swindler—not even to eat with such a one. For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Is it not those inside the church whom you are to judge? God judges those outside. ‘Purge the evil person from among you.’” [06:03]

John 8:10-11
“Jesus stood up and said to her, ‘Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?’ She said, ‘No one, Lord.’ And Jesus said, ‘Neither do I condemn you; go, and from now on sin no more.’” [53:07]

Matthew 18:15-17
“If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother. If he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, that every charge may be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses. If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church. And if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector.” [28:21]

2 Corinthians 2:6-8
“For such a one, this punishment by the majority is enough, so you should rather turn to forgive and comfort him, or he may be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow. So I beg you to reaffirm your love for him.” [30:00]

Observation questions

1. In 1 Corinthians 5, what seems to trouble Paul more than the man’s sin itself, and what does Paul say the church should have been doing instead? [11:25]
2. What two pictures does Paul use in 1 Corinthians 5 to explain why the church must deal with open, ongoing sin: removal from the church and leaven in the dough?
3. In Matthew 18:15-17, what steps are given before someone is finally treated as an outsider? [28:21]
4. In John 8:10-11, what two things does Jesus say to the woman caught in adultery, and how do both parts matter?

Interpretation questions

1. Paul says, “your boasting is not good.” Why might a church become proud or casual about something it should be grieving? How can patience slowly turn into permission? [19:11]
2. Paul says the man should be removed “so that his spirit may be saved.” What does that show about the goal of church discipline? Why is this different from punishment for punishment’s sake? [21:46]
3. Paul says, “a little leaven leavens the whole lump.” How does tolerated sin teach a whole church what is acceptable, even when only one person seems directly involved? [35:38]
4. Paul makes a distinction between judging outsiders and judging those inside the church. Why is that distinction important, and what confusion happens when Christians reverse it? [42:43]

Application questions

1. Misplaced pride can show up as calling compromise love. Where is the strongest pressure in life right now to soften or rename what God calls sin? How can a believer stay tender and loving without becoming affirming of what is wrong? [20:41]
2. Church discipline is meant to restore, not to crush. Has there been a time when loving correction from another believer helped bring real repentance or protection? What made that correction easier or harder to receive? [32:09]
3. A little leaven spreads through the whole lump. Is there any area of tolerated sin that has started to feel “normal” in life, in the home, or in Christian community? What would it look like to deal with it early instead of waiting for it to spread? [36:19]
4. Christians are not called to be the sin police, but they are called to care about holiness inside the family of God. Is there a tendency to judge the world more quickly than the church, or to ignore sin in the church while being bothered by sin outside it? What might repentance look like there? [44:42]
5. Jesus holds grace and truth together: “Neither do I condemn you” and “go and sin no more.” Which side is harder to hold onto personally right now—grace or truth? How does that show up in conversations with friends, family, or fellow believers? [53:07]
6. Hard situations often require prayerful wisdom, not quick reactions. Is there a real relationship or situation right now that calls for grace, truth, patience, and courage together? What would it look like to respond in a way that is both faithful and loving? [53:53]
7. The church is meant to be a place of protection, accountability, encouragement, and love. In what ways has being part of Christ’s people protected and strengthened faith, and where might deeper honesty with other believers still be needed? [23:36]