Being Handed Over to Satan
Download MP3And I'll read all of chapter 5, reading from the English Standard Version. It is actually reported that there is a 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. Aren't you not rather to mourn? Let whom 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.
Joel Brooks:When you 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 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.
Joel Brooks:Let us therefore celebrate the festival, not with 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 the 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?
Joel Brooks:Is it not those inside the church with whom you are to judge? God judges those outside. Purge the evil person from among you. Pray with me. Lord, we ask that you would speak, that we would hear you clearly.
Joel Brooks:We believe this is your word, so give us ears that can hear you and a mind that can understand and a heart that is open to receive your truth. I pray that my words would fall to the ground and blow away and not be remembered anymore. Lord, let your words remain, and may they change us. I pray this in the strong name of Christ. Amen.
Joel Brooks:This passage of Scripture is a little shocking when you first read it. Some might say it's even a little juicy, you know, it certainly gets everybody's attention when you read about a sin such as this. It's something that you might expect, you know, when in the grocery line to see on the little tabloid newspaper about a a a person, maybe some celebrity or something, sleeping with her stepmom. Church decides to deliver such man over to Satan, you know, and it's just it has that that quality to it. If ever our church here has problems, I'll I'll probably always go to 1st Corinthians 5 and and and think, well at least, you know, we're not struggling with things like this.
Joel Brooks:And I would be mistaken if I did that actually, because we do struggle with things like this. It might not be this type of sexual immorality, but it might be the willingness to look the other way when people we know are falling into sin. And I'm sure as a church we're going to struggle with this. This sin is outrageous enough just on its own, but what is more remarkable here, or just as remarkable, is that the Corinthians are boasting about this. They are boasting.
Joel Brooks:They're proud. And now the very first thing that you you have to address is what exactly are they being proud about? Is it the fact that they're proud of this sin? You know maybe they're just, I mean, really, really excited this person's sinning this way, and I don't sense that. The Corinthian church hasn't gone that bad yet, and actually Paul's responding to a report.
Joel Brooks:So there, there's some people who are saying, Paul, you got to look into this. We need you to say something something about this. And so there's people in the church who are looking down on this. That's not what I think they're they're boasting about. They might possibly be proud that there is someone of such status in their church that they could get away with pretty much anything.
Joel Brooks:They could do whatever you want and nobody's gonna say anything to them. And we see this in churches. Maybe, maybe a church has a famous athlete in it. You know, an athlete who is known for his, sexual prowess out there. Nobody's gonna go to that person and say, Hey, I I know what you're you've been doing and it's wrong, and we need to talk about this.
Joel Brooks:No, that person's an untouchable. And so at one point you, you know that what they're doing is wrong, but at the same time you're proud to have someone of such high status go into your church. Or maybe it could be the CEO of a really big company, and that you know he's having an affair, but you know, really not gonna say anything, and you're actually kind of excited. The world's looking at you thinking, wow, so and so goes to your church. That might be what's going on.
Joel Brooks:Or Paul might be picking up on just the theme or the the discussion that he's had for the previous 5 chapters, that these are an arrogant people. And what he's saying is, you you think you're so spiritually, you know, mature that you have spiritually arrived, that you are full of wisdom, that you're this great church. But look what you allow to go on. It might be that, and it's that's kind of where I lean. I think here that Paul's picking up his discussion and these are people who are pointing to their gifts, saying, We're somebody.
Joel Brooks:Look at all of our spiritual gifts, look at all of our wisdom, look at our fantastic speakers. We have arrived as a church. And Paul says, You've arrived? You've arrived? You should be mourning if you allow this to go on in your church, not boasting.
Joel Brooks:Not boasting. And Paul says, although you are reluctant to judge this person, I have already made judgment. Now this passage is actually easier to understand if you do not live in America. It's easier to understand if you live in the East or if you're in the 3rd world, because for an educated Western Christian, we have a lot of obstacles that we need to acknowledge when trying to understand this passage. For starters, Western societies have a very hard time saying anything is wrong anymore.
Joel Brooks:We're moral relativists. What's right for me is right for me, what's right for you is right for you. Who am I to judge? And this is prevalent in the the West. The important thing is tolerance, and that's our boast that we're a very tolerant society.
Joel Brooks:But even more prevalent in the churches than moral relativism is something I would call moral individualism. Moral individualism. And this is when you do believe there's a right and wrong. You know that there is such a thing as sin. But if it's another person, it's none of your business.
Joel Brooks:As long as you keep yourself pure, your relationship with God right, that's all that matters. You don't get involved in other people's affairs. And so even though you might not agree with what somebody is doing, you're not gonna get involved. And the way this might flush out, let's say you're a Blockbuster video, you're getting a video there, and you see somebody from this church getting a video that nobody should be getting. They're, they're, they're in the, the adult section.
Joel Brooks:I don't know if Blockbuster has one, maybe some other video story. They're in the adult section, and you see them pick up the video and checking out, And you look at it and say, that's wrong. Now are you gonna go up there and say something? Or you could be morally individualistic, Well that is wrong, but it's really none of my business. And you just actually try not to be seen, because you don't want the person to feel uncomfortable.
Joel Brooks:You know, you hide. I don't want for the person to feel ashamed. We're morally individualistic. And so we have a hard time understanding how Paul can be kind of angry at a community for allowing this one sinner here. And a lot of it's because we live in an America in which we hold up individual rights above all else.
Joel Brooks:And you would not find any historian or any moral philosopher who would argue against this statement, that we live in the most individualistic society that has ever existed. Ever. We are radically self centered, and it has creeped into the way we relate to God. And as long as we're okay, that's all that matters. But Paul says something that the rest of the world accepts a little bit easier, and that is other people's sins taints you, that you are somehow included in the guilt if that sin happened within your community.
Joel Brooks:And there's a lot of biblical examples that we can give. If you can look at number 16, 16, the sin of Korah, in which it was just Korah who sinned, yet God judged his entire family, women, children, everybody, servants. In Joshua 7, you have the sin of Achan, in which the the people of Israelites there, laying siege to Jericho. And the Lord said, now don't take any of the silver or gold for yourself. Achan did.
Joel Brooks:Secretly, he took it and he hid. And the Lord judged all of the community. You had it was something like 20 something people died Because of 1 person's sin, he held the community responsible. As a community of believers, if we have people in our congregation who are living in a blatant, unrepentant sin, and we do nothing, we are responsible. We share that burden.
Joel Brooks:When someone sins and we say nothing, what we're doing is we're allowing the culture of the world to come into our midst, instead of us going out and setting and changing the culture of the world. We're letting Corinth in. We're letting America in. It's really no wonder that you don't see church discipline today when you live in a society where there's moral relativism, when there is moral individualism, there is not going to be any church discipline. It doesn't have any legs to stand on.
Joel Brooks:And yet Paul sees here that it is church discipline, not tolerance, that is the sign of a healthy church. That is the sign. Or a sign of a healthy church is if it is exercising discipline. Now there's some people who would object to this and think, Well, discipline, that's really arrogant, you know, to say, you know, from your high horse, what you're doing is wrong. And Paul says, Actually no, it's one of the most humble things you can do.
Joel Brooks:The arrogance is if you do nothing and you set your law above God's. That's the arrogance. Humility is acting in faith, and going forth and confronting the sin. That's true humility. Don't hide behind the banner of tolerance or humility and say, That's the reason I'm not going to confront my brother.
Joel Brooks:David Prior, he's a biblical scholar who's, pastored churches in England and South Africa. He says this about the Corinthians in this text. He says, The Corinthians were not simply being lax about Christian standards of behavior, they were actually arrogant about their tolerance, and about their broad mindedness. From the perspective of 3rd world Christians, the church in the West today is equally guilty, not just of moral laxity, but of smugness. There is a culpable blindness about the seriousness of certain sins, coupled with a perverse refusal to recognize the close link between sinful compromising and the ineffectiveness with the gospel.
Joel Brooks:This leads to a continued spirit of patronization towards Christians overseas. Visiting Christians from Africa, Latin America, Asia, they are deeply hurt and shocked by our apparent lack of concern. And Paul would be shocked as well at the things that we let go, in the name of humility, when it's really our arrogance. Paul says that we must not allow these unrepentant sinners to stay in our midst, that we have to kick them out. Everybody here shares in the guilt.
Joel Brooks:Verse 6 compares this to letting a little bit of leaven into a lump of dough. You let in a little bit and the whole thing is leavened. It's the same argument that he picked up in 1 Corinthians 3 when he says, You are the temple of the Holy Spirit. That you is plural. It should be, y'all are a temple of this Holy Spirit.
Joel Brooks:Y'all are. That means collectively the Spirit of God is in our midst. We all are the building, therefore if one person has unrepentant sin, we're all sharing in this, and the Spirit of God, his work is hindered because of 1. That's what being in a community of faith does. We like to focus on being individual temples, which is good, but collectively we're a temple of the Holy Spirit.
Joel Brooks:And let's look at how we're supposed to practice church discipline. Look at verse 5. Verse 5 says, You are to deliver this man to Satan for the destruction of the flesh. Delivering 1 from Satan, or to Satan, is the same thing as, removing the leaven from your midst. It's get rid of this person, set them outside of your fellowship.
Joel Brooks:It's excommunication. Now please remember, we're not kicking somebody out because you you sin. If I find out, you know, you you had a lustful thought or you were angry at somebody, I'm not gonna say, out of the church, otherwise we're all gone. And there's gonna be nobody here. We all have sinned.
Joel Brooks:This is continued, unrepentant, uncaring about it sin. No willingness to change. That person needs to be removed. And Paul uses this strong language of to deliver this person to Satan, and when he says that, that tells us something profound about the nature of the church. Something very profound.
Joel Brooks:And what he is saying is within this community, within this community, there is power to resist Satan. Within this community, you are safe from harm. Within this community of a church, you are protected. And when we remove you, we have handed you over to Satan, and there is no longer protection. That says something astounding about the nature of the church and what true fellowship among believers provides.
Joel Brooks:The fellowship of believers keeps you safe from the enemy, safe from all of his schemes. This is huge. This means you cannot grow as a Christian. You cannot keep away from temptation or falling a temptation unless you are part of a community of faith. Last week, we looked at, I believe in the church or the Apostle's Creed.
Joel Brooks:I do believe in the church. It protects us from the evil one. And by using this language of removing leaven from your midst, Paul is actually bringing to mind, the Passover in Exodus. If you remember, during the Passover they had to remove all the leaven, but before that that holy night. And what he is saying is the church is like that holy night being in the house that is covered by blood.
Joel Brooks:And when the destroyer comes, he will pass over that house. But if you were to be taken outside of the house, there is no protection. It doesn't matter your background. It doesn't matter what you believe. It doesn't matter what you pray.
Joel Brooks:If you were taken out, the destroyer will get you. No protection, safety within the walls, safety within the fellowship, destroyed by the devil outside of it. Think of the church as a fallout shelter. You're safe within, outside there is no protection. Paul compares the church to this.
Joel Brooks:Being part of the church is for your protection. Well, what does excommunication look like? It doesn't mean that you kick a person out, literally, you know, we have bouncers at the door and we throw them out. They used to do that some. Charles Wesser, John Wesley's wife, used to heckle him as he preached, and he would have her removed.
Joel Brooks:And just, I mean he'd say, Her, get her out right now. I wouldn't do that. Well maybe, some of you. It depends what what you said. When you don't physically kick them out, you actually hope they would still come to hear truth.
Joel Brooks:You hope an excommunicated person still comes to your church worship service to hear truth. Verse 11 says you're not to associate, you're not to even eat with this person, but this does not mean to cut off all communication. 2nd Thessalonians 3 says that we still counsel these people. We don't treat them as an enemy. We still give them words of encouragement, encouraging them to repent.
Joel Brooks:We don't cut off all ties there. We do deny them what we we would call table fellowship, which is a lot different Hebrew society than it is now. It was a very intimate, very relational thing to have someone over for a meal. And that's where the Lord's Supper was taken, was in meals in people's homes. And certainly we would deny the Lord's Supper to someone who has been excommunicated.
Joel Brooks:But the real specifics are not laid out here, but there does need to be some type of separation, some type of distinction between that person and the rest of the church. Now this is what I want us to hear. Let me ask you a question, and I've been chewing on this question all week. What would excommunication look like in your life? What would it look like in your life?
Joel Brooks:What would being handed over to Satan resemble for you? What could this church here deny you, and you would feel it? And think hard about this. Could the church deny you all of the small group prayer times that you have been attending? All of the fellowship gatherings that you have worked so diligently to to pull together, to get to know and to love one another, could the church deny you of that?
Joel Brooks:Could they deny you the chance, maybe, to serve in children's ministry? What is it that the church could deny you, in which you would feel excommunicated? Many Christians, many Christians, particularly in the Western church, actually have already voluntarily excommunicated themselves from the church, and they don't even know it. They've already done it by their own will. They've been handed over to Satan, and they're unaware.
Joel Brooks:I mean, many people feel so powerless against temptation, against the schemes of the devil, and there so, they wonder why they don't have any joy in their life. And the reason is, they voluntarily have excommunicated themselves from true Christian fellowship. They're not continually devoting themselves to fellowship. Many Christians, all they do is attend church on Sunday, and then apart from Sunday, they're an island. All that, all that's necessary is my personal Bible study, my personal prayer, my personal quiet time, and then they wonder why their lives are falling apart, They wonder why they're still struggling with sin.
Joel Brooks:They wonder why they don't have any joy, and it's because they have voluntarily excommunicated themselves. Remember, even an excommunicated person can be allowed to come on a Sunday morning or Sunday evening and hear the gospel, hear the Bible being taught. What is it that we as a church could deny you in which you would feel it? Church is so much more than a Sunday service. So much more.
Joel Brooks:It's praying together. It's sharing meals with one another with continual, sacrificial devotion. It's being known, letting your guard down, and letting people know you, and letting people love you. Just coming on a Sunday service offers you no protection from the evil one. And this is really hard for us to understand in such an individualistic culture.
Joel Brooks:We can't really understand what it is to be denied Christian fellowship because so few of us have actually experienced Christian fellowship. You know, the reality is more of us in this room probably know what Britney Spears was wearing this week than if a person worshiping to a next to us has had an affair, or is in a sexually immoral relationship. We worship among strangers. What is it you could possibly be denied that would make you feel like you've been excommunicated, that you haven't already denied yourself now? So this passage isn't so much about us finding out the centers and kicking them out, it's about holding up a mirror to ourselves and asking us, Are we really committed to the body?
Joel Brooks:Are we really committed to the fellowship of believers? Why have I for so long denied myself the protection of the church? And Paul would argue that when we deny ourselves this, we don't deny just protection, we deny ourselves joy. He says that we are, in verse 8, real quick. He says, Let us therefore celebrate this festival, not with the old leaven, the leaven of malice and evil, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.
Joel Brooks:And he sees this as a celebration, like the celebration of unleavened bread, but now our entire lives are this celebration. And when we were radically committed to one another, and to each other's purity, each other's holiness, there is a tremendous joy and celebration that comes with that. Celebration that can only come through Christian community. This is one of the reasons that we are doing community groups, in which we do have sign ups out there. It's a way of us getting in homes, and smaller units, and so we can be known, and so we can be loved, and so we can invest in one another.
Joel Brooks:The community groups is how we're where we're going to draw volunteers to serve in our children's ministry. The community groups are really gonna be the heartbeat of who we are as a church, something I would love for every person to be committed to. So community is more than just the middle name, Redeemer Community, Church. It's actually a reflection of who we are. Pray with me.
Joel Brooks:Lord, we do believe in your church. At the same time, I feel like I say, we believe, help our unbelief. Because if we truly believed in her, we would commit ourselves to her. We would commit ourselves to one another, truly getting to know one another, serve one another, confess to one another. I pray that you make that a reality here.
Joel Brooks:I pray that church would begin once we leave these walls, and that you would build us up all week for your glory. And we pray this in name of Jesus. Amen.
