GOD Morning! August 22 / Bad Apples

GOD Morning! August 22

Bad Apples

1 Corinthians 5 Amplified Bible

5 It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, impurity of a sort that is condemned and does not occur even among the heathen; for a man has [his own] father’s wife.

² And you are proud and arrogant! And you ought rather to mourn (bow in sorrow and in shame) until the person who has done this [shameful] thing is removed from your fellowship and your midst!

Proud and arrogant. Such is the case with blatant sin in the body of Christ. Why? Because unrepentant sin is evil. And bold. And right in your face.

³ As for my attitude, though I am absent [from you] in body, I am present in spirit, and I have already decided and passed judgment, as if actually present,

⁴ In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, on the man who has committed such a deed. When you and my own spirit are met together with the power of our Lord Jesus,

⁵ You are to deliver this man over to Satan for physical discipline [to destroy carnal lusts which prompted him to incest], that [his] spirit may [yet] be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.

“Unfortunately, many have misunderstood this text. Some have used it as a pretext for a physical purging of the church of ungodly members (e.g., in the use of the death penalty). Roman Catholic history is saturated with the blood of those whom it considered “heretics.” Some Protestant reformers were equally ruthless on occasion.

It is amazing at the number of scholars who have advanced the position that the “destruction of the flesh” here refers to physical death. This view is at variance with the very spirit of the passage, which suggests the reclamation of the wayward brother’s soul by means of the “destruction.”“Deliver such a one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.”The destruction of the flesh is a remedial procedure, the design of which is for the man’s salvation. There is no redemptive value in mere death! A man put to death hardly has the opportunity for reformation.”  Wayne Jackson, Christian Courier

 ⁶ [About the condition of your church] your boasting is not good [indeed, it is most unseemly and entirely out of place]. Do you not know that [just] a little leaven will ferment the whole lump [of dough]?

⁷ Purge (clean out) the old leaven that you may be fresh (new) dough, still uncontaminated [as you are], for Christ, our Passover [Lamb], has been sacrificed.

How does this relate to me, personally? I must start with my own heart. I must clean out anything that’s even slightly differing from what God’s word teaches.

I once thought that the Bible was too hard to live by. I wanted to be a Christian, yes, but I fooled myself into believing that I could have a little leaven in my dough. Not so. I must constantly be cleansing my heart.

⁸ Therefore, let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, nor with leaven of vice and malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened [bread] of purity (nobility, honor) and sincerity and [unadulterated] truth.

Purity. Transparency without shame. Sincerity. Unadulterated truth.

The following verses give one of the keys to living a life of purity.

⁹ I wrote you in my [previous] letter not to associate [closely and habitually] with unchaste (impure) people—

¹⁰ Not [meaning of course that you must] altogether shun the immoral people of this world, or the greedy graspers and cheats and thieves or idolaters, since otherwise you would need to get out of the world and human society altogether!

¹¹ But now I write to you not to associate with anyone who bears the name of [Christian] brother if he is known to be guilty of immorality or greed, or is an idolater [whose soul is devoted to any object that usurps the place of God], or is a person with a foul tongue [railing, abusing, reviling, slandering], or is a drunkard or a swindler or a robber. [No] you must not so much as eat with such a person.

We were all one of these people in our past. Verse 11 is not referring to our past lives. This verse is referring to people who call themselves Christians and are currently one of these types of people.

Let’s look at the list again.

Guilty of immorality

Guilty of greed  “selfish and excessive desire for more of something (as money) than is needed” Miriam Webster

An idolater [whose soul is devoted to any object that usurps the place of God]

A person with a foul tongue [railing, abusing, reviling, slandering]

A drunkard  

A swindler

A robber

You must not so much as eat with such a person!

¹² What [business] of mine is it and what right have I to judge outsiders? Is it not those inside [the church] upon whom you are to pass disciplinary judgment [passing censuring sentence on them as the facts require]?

Paul is clarifying that he is not referring to folks who are outside the body of Christ.

¹³ God alone sits in judgment on those who are outside. Drive out that wicked one from among you [expel him from your church].

We are not to tolerate this behavior within the church.

This seems to be a tough one at times. Doing the right thing and separating ourselves from these types of people can be hard.

Maybe these are our dear friends. Maybe these are the only friends we have in the church.

Well then, we must be lonely for a time. Eventually we will make new friends who love the Lord with a pure heart.

“Dear Jesus, thank You for Your word. We don’t have to wonder exactly what You mean. You don’t leave anything to the imagination. You clarify everything for us. All we have to do is obey. That is the hard part. Doing the right thing is hard. But incredibly rewarding. And freeing. And doing the right thing will lead us to like minded people who want to do the right thing! How I love Your word. How I love You, Jesus. AMEN.”