1 Corinthians 5
Recently an American preacher was arrested in London. His
crime? Preaching that sex outside of marriage is sin, and speaking specifically
to homosexuality as a sin. (If he had been arrested for being obnoxious I could
understand that.) It seems society has gotten to the point where a person
cannot even confront the idea that sexuality matters and that God has a word
that speaks to our sexual purity.
Please don’t get me wrong. This is no
Westboro Baptist hate speech we are talking about. It is important to talk
about sin, even sexual sin, in a loving manner, especially when dealing with
those who are outside of the church. Why should we expect people who do not
believe God’s Word to behave as He calls us to? It is far more natural,
according to our sinful nature, to rebel against God’s design for marriage.
(See v. 10)
In Corinth, Paul was dealing with sexual
immorality of a sort that is shocking; a man was having sex with his step-mother.
But the people of Corinth looked at this as something to be proud of. One can
only guess that some within the church saw this as a matter of freedom and
living by grace so that such behavior did not matter. Paul, however, under the
guidance of the Holy Spirit proclaims that the man should be removed from the
congregation – that is excommunicated – so that in shame at his behavior he
might repent and be forgiven.
There is much for us modern Christians
to take to heart here. Sexual immorality is still a plague to God’s people. Sex
before marriage, living together without marriage, homosexuality, and pornography
are modern day forms of immorality that we have often turned a blind eye to,
handled in unloving ways, or embraced with sinful pride as expressions of our
freedom in the gospel. This should not be so.
Perhaps it is time for us to look again
at Church discipline and begin to lovingly and firmly call people to
repentance, support pastors who make hard decisions to call Christians to
faithfully follow God’s Word, and to look closely at what sexual sin is that we
may lead sexual pure and decent lives as God calls us to. This isn’t a matter
of oppression, but a matter of living in God’s will and being transformed from
the pattern of the world by the sacrifice Jesus made for our forgiveness.
O God, help me be sexually pure and
encourage others to be so too. Let me faithful hold to Your Word and
forgiveness for my life. Amen.
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