Dinner Reservations

He likens the Corinthian church
to a leavened loaf of bread. And that in and of itself would
not be such a bad thing. But he appropriately challenged
them, challenges them in their ignorant and boastful attitudes
and behavior by characterizing them further as a leavened lump. We were reminded last week that
leaven or yeast is that agent that thoroughly permeates flour
and water mixture and chemically infuses the lump so as to cause
it to rise. That image we get. Paul’s image
regarding the church, though, is that of sin permeating the
church through and through leavening the whole lump. Paul’s point,
of course, is that sin, sinful attitudes, together with a refusal
to deal with them, had so infiltrated and permeated
the Corinthian church that, in essence, it was like a puffed-up
loaf of bread. They had become so proud that
they could no longer see their own sinfulness. Their view was obstructed by
the beam in their own eye. The Corinthians pride was manifesting
itself far beyond just factiousness, which Paul addresses in the opening
chapters of this epistle. There was also this horrible
case of unaddressed sin in their midst. They were focusing on
all the wrong things, nitpicking about minor technicalities, all
the while ignoring the need for real godliness in their witness
to the world. They had completely set aside
the responsibility to watch out for sin in their midst so as
to deal with it decisively. which words we echoed just now,
even in receiving new members. The Corinthians had watched this
disgusting affair unfold. And they were arrogant and boastful
about how accepting they were about this alternative lifestyle. And although they should have
dealt with such a sin issue firmly, they had not. And so Paul declares
his plan to visit Corinth, if needed, with the rod of discipline. We can only assume that Paul
knew things about this situation that we did not, details that
Paul did not disclose. We’re literally dropped into
the middle of this situation in the beginning of chapter five.
We assume that gentler appeals to this young man had failed,
But his sin is so scandalous that it must be dealt with and
decisively, not only for the sake of the offender, but for
the purity of the church and the glory of God. Paul knew that
he must confront this church’s pride in order to stop the spread
of wickedness in their midst. The leaven that was already introduced. Last week we looked at the goal
of eliminating the sure spread of wickedness. Once wickedness
is introduced into the church, it will spread. We saw it in
verse six, the gateway for leaven is their boasting. That was the
entrance point for the leaven into the lump called the church.
And then we saw the leaven’s course. It’s inevitable. It’s
going to permeate. Do you not know that a little
leaven, tiny little pinch of yeast is going to leaven the
entire lump? No wonder Paul urges it’s purging
in verse seven. Clean out the old leaven. Get
rid of it completely. hearkening back to Israel’s preparation
for the Passover, where they would search high and low with
a candle in every nook and cranny, looking for even the slightest
measure of leaven. Paul says, get rid of it, purge
the leaven in your midst. Get rid of all known sin. And
then he gives us this picture in verse eight of what a church
would look like. What a beautiful image of the
church. in Levin’s absence. What if it
were completely removed? Well, they would be able to worship
in purity. Let us celebrate the feast, Paul
says. And so in the pursuit of holiness,
through the process of corrective discipline, where a faltering
believer is confronted and, if necessary, removed from the church,
The church is able to continue on in the worship of God as the
church was designed. This is the only way of removing
the deadly leaven from the lump and thereby purifying the church.
It’s an unpleasant task, but it’s absolutely necessary. So
Paul has dealt squarely with a sinful man in verses 1 through
5, as well as the sinfully tolerant church in verses 6 through 8. What remains? Well, Paul moves to address the
mindset that got them to this low place. How did they come
to begin to embrace, allow, tolerate, put up with sin of this severity? How could they have misunderstood
his clear commands? How could they have turned things
almost completely upside down? As we’ll see in a moment, this
is Paul’s concern in verses nine through 13. And here Paul turns
to bring about some clarity to correct an obvious misunderstanding
to something that he had previously said. If you have your Bibles
and you’re in chapter five of first Corinthians, I’m going
to take it in its entirety this morning just for the sake of
the context. Beginning in verse one, if you
would, it is actually reported that there is immorality among
you and immorality of such a kind as does not even exist among
the Gentiles. That someone has his father’s
wife. You have become arrogant. and
have not mourned instead so that the one who had done this deed
would be removed from your midst. For I on my part, though absent
in body but present in spirit, have already judged him who so
committed this as though I were present. In the name of our Lord
Jesus Christ, when you are assembled and I am with you in spirit with
the power of our Lord Jesus, I have decided to deliver such
a one to Satan. For the destruction of his flesh
so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus. Your boasting is not good. Do
you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump of dough?
Clean out the old leaven so that you may be a new lump, just as
you are, in fact, unleavened. For Christ, our Passover has
also been sacrificed. Therefore, let us celebrate the
feast, not with the old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice
and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity
and truth. I wrote you. in my letter not
to associate with immoral people. I did not at all mean with the
immoral people of this world or with the covetous and swindlers
or with idolaters, for then you would have to go out of the world.
But actually, I wrote you not to associate with any so-called
brother if he is an immoral person or covetous or an idolater or
a reviler or a drunkard or a swindler, not even to eat with such a one. What have I to do with judging
outsiders? Do you not judge those who are
within the church? But those who are outside, God
judges. Remove the wicked man from among yourselves. Some of
you may have noticed last Sunday, I took some time to circle back
and clarify a few things about church discipline. Remember?
It’s such a delicate topic and there’s so much wrong thinking
about church discipline and we had only skimmed along the surface
of the subject in the previous week that I thought that it might
be appropriate to take a few minutes to bring about a little
clarity on the subject. You’ll recall that we were first
reminded that there are two kinds of church discipline, formative
discipline, which discipline we’re all under. In our pursuit
of sanctification, it’s the discipline that comes from sitting under
the teaching or preaching of the word or even a faithful brother
coming alongside with an open Bible. Formative discipline. But the second was corrective
discipline. And sometimes we need that too.
This is the discipline that becomes necessary when an individual’s
pursuit of sanctification ceases, at least in some particular area.
And you’ll recall that we also reviewed the process of discipline,
Matthew 18. When there’s so much misinformation
and misunderstanding, we must seek clarity. And that’s exactly
what Paul does here in the closing verses of chapter five. he seeks
to provide some clarity. In verses nine through 13, he’s
trying to clarify an obvious misunderstanding of his own words,
telling them first what he did not mean, and then addressing
their warped and misguided misunderstanding, and then unfolding for them the
real teaching on the matter. We need clarity. And from time
to time, we need to clarify things that we’ve said, especially when
it becomes clear that others have misinterpreted or misapplied
them, and that’s exactly what Paul does here. I’ve titled our message this
morning, Dinner Reservations, and I would like to provide some
clarity even on my title. And I do this knowing full well
that if you have to explain your title, it’s not a very good title.
That’s okay, I can live with that. It isn’t where I put the
emphasis of my time, but I think the explanation of the title
may actually aid in understanding of the concern that Paul is addressing
in this passage. By the word reservations, I’m
not talking about the idea of call ahead seating. I’m not talking about dinner
reservations at some restaurant. By the word reservations, I’m
referring to misgivings or doubts that there were actually doubts to be entered into with regard
to having dinner with a brother. In this case, misgivings or doubts
about this dinner, taking a meal with a particular brother. Just
that image should arrest our attention. You mean there are
some people that I shouldn’t go and even eat with? Yes. Yes, that’s the case. We all
know the joy, don’t we? A fellowship over a meal with
a fellow Christian. Is there anything sweeter? The
early church knew how valuable it was. Remember Acts 2, day
by day, continuing with one mind in the temple and breaking bread
from house to house. They were taking their meals
together with gladness and sincerity of heart, praising God and having
favor with all the people. There’s just something about
fellowship over food. Whether it’s a potluck or a quiet
meal with a believer or two, Even if there’s contention or
strife, I believe that you can, if you can get two brothers to
put their feet under the same table, I’ve rarely seen it fail,
but they don’t find peace. So we find it alarming here to
hear Paul suggest that enjoying this simple act of fellowship
over a meal is at times to be forsaken. that there are times
when dining with a professing brother in Christ is not such
a good idea. In fact, Paul points out here
to do so would be problematic. It would muddy the waters and
possibly even be sinful. Before we throw ourselves headlong
into this passage, there’s one other feature that I want to
share. There are two nearly identical what I call word swarms. the
passages really that use many of the same exact terms found
in this passage. In these parallel passages, this
list, or at least a good portion of it, is reproduced. One of
them is Ephesians 5. If you wouldn’t mind turning
there, keep a finger in, 1 Corinthians will be right back. In Ephesians
5, This one will be particularly instructive for us. Here in this
practical section of Paul’s epistles, he’s urging the Ephesian believers
to walk in purity. Listen to the echo of some of
the same words we just read in Corinthians. Verse three, but
do not let immorality or impurity or greed even be named among
you as is proper among the saints. and there must be no filthiness
and silly talking, coarse jesting, which are not fitting, but rather
the giving of thanks. For this you know with certainty,
that no immoral or impure person or covetous man who is an idolater
has an inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God.” That’s a
pretty strong statement. The bottom line, This is not
how a Christian lives. No person who lives like that
is a child of the king. Back, if you would, to 1 Corinthians,
there’s another place where this largely reproduced list is found,
and it’s actually here in Corinthians, only one chapter ahead, chapter
six. This is where we’ll be in a few
weeks. But let’s consider it briefly this morning, chapter
six, and jump down to verse nine. Do you not know that the unrighteous
will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived, neither
fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor
homosexuals, nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards,
nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. It
couldn’t be any more clear. This is Paul’s whole underlying
concern in chapter five. But his conclusion is here. You
see what he does in verses one through eight of chapter six.
He basically, I don’t want to minimize it by saying that it’s
a rabbit trail, but he does address something that’s only related
to what he’s talking about. It’s not his main point. At the
end of chapter five, remember, Paul introduces the subject of
judging. Judging those outside of the
church and the subject of judging those inside the church. And what he does here in the
immediate following first eight verses of chapter six is to address
the very related subject of taking a case with a fellow Christian
to a heathen law court, unbelievers. Why would we let them judge anything? But then Paul comes right back
to the subject at hand in verses 9 and 10, which verses we just
read. And as I said, we’ll get back
to that portion of scripture soon. But for now, let’s go back
and turn our attention to the passage at hand, knowing that
this is Paul’s underlying concern. Let’s go back to verse nine of Chapter five,
if you would. What Paul provides here in these
closing verses of chapter five is really clarifications on separation. You want us to be separate from
sin, Paul? That’s great, but right now we’re
struggling a bit. We need a little clarity. So
would say the Corinthian church. The first thing that Paul points
out in verse nine in his attempt to clarify is He refreshes his
insisted separation from immorality. They weren’t imagining that he
had said this. Verse 9, I wrote you in my letter
not to associate with immoral people. Paul zeroes in on the
principle in question, that of abstaining from interaction with
immoral people. And the interesting thing is
that this is a principle that Paul had previously communicated. He says it in a previous letter. Well, that should raise your
eyebrows, a previous letter. Because I was certain that this
was 1 Corinthians, you might argue. And it should do no harm to our appreciation and esteem
of the Bible to hear Paul say that there was a previous letter We have exactly what God wanted
us to have in the New Testament, his entire revelation. Some scholars, though, unable
to bear the idea of an absent epistle, have tried to mold and shape
Paul’s words here to be referring to something that Paul has already
said in this epistle, that that’s what Paul was really referring
to. And they suggest that he’s even referring to things that
he is only immediately said, like he does in verses one and
two. Paul talked about immorality there, right? Paul does speak
disparaging of immorality there and the need of purging it from
their midst, but it could hardly be stretched to say that that is what Paul is referring to
here. It’s almost universally maintained by sound scholars
that there was indeed a previous letter, now lost. And it shouldn’t
come as any surprise that Paul’s produced correspondence plentifully. And according to God’s providence,
some of these were lost and therefore not included in scripture. That
shouldn’t come as any surprise. Some people, sadly, have spent
their entire life’s energy searching high and low for such documents. They’ve spent far more time looking
for these kinds of writings than they have embracing and studying
the scriptures that we know God has given as revelation. In the
27 books of the New Testament, we have the complete revelation
of God for the church. Nothing is missing. Nothing is
to be added. God’s revelation to humanity
is complete. And so Paul alludes to something
he said in his previous letter, something that led to quite a
misunderstanding among the Corinthians. Paul warned the Corinthians not
to associate with immoral people. And at least on this occasion,
they evidently took the admonition seriously. They just misapplied it. Just
for clarity here, the word immoral, the Greek word pornos, again,
the word from which we get our word pornographic, it refers
to sexual immorality. And the Corinthians understood
that part of it. So far, so good. And the word translated not to
associate with is a long dynamic word soon on a mignumy. It’s a combination of three Greek
words. Mignomi, the root, means to mix
or to mingle. But when you add soon, with,
and honor, among, you have an intensified do not mix and mingle
with immoral people. It speaks of a deep, ongoing
friendship. Don’t hang out with such people.
Don’t keep yourself on friendly terms with these It’s a rarely
used word, but Paul does use it again in his second epistle
to Thessalonians. And in that passage, yet another
passage which addresses the subject of church discipline. Just listen
briefly. In 2 Thessalonians 3, 6, remember
there’s the man who is really just a bum. He’s not doing much
of anything, leading an unruly life, meddling in other people’s
affairs. Paul sets forth his example in
the ensuing verses, and then he comes back to this in verse
10. If anyone is not willing to work, he’s neither to eat
either. Calls him a busybody, and he
admonishes him to work and eat his own bread. And then at the
end of that, this is where he uses that rarely used word. If anyone does not obey our instruction
in this letter, take special note of that person. and do not
associate with him. So on the face of it, not associating
with immoral people was a fairly easy command to grasp. They get
it. Avoid sexually immoral people. Got it, Paul. But it was the
application of that principle over which the Corinthians stumbled. And so it was imperative that
Paul clarify to the Corinthians the real significance of his
admonition. We have that in verse 10. Not
only do we have the insisted separation from immorality, secondly,
we have the inevitable interaction with immorality. You say you
just contradicted yourself. No, I didn’t. It’s inevitable
that we are going to interact with immoral people. This is
what Paul addresses in verse 10. I did not at all mean with
the immoral people of this world or with covetous and swindlers
or with idolaters, for then you would have to go out of the world. They understood the command correctly,
but they misapplied the command. They’d begun to ostracize unbelievers
in the community to stand off and stand aloof from them. To
ignore them all the while, embracing ungodly behavior in the very
gathering of believers. They had a completely upside
down. This is not what Paul meant. And Paul intensifies the correction
when he adds not at all. I did not at all mean the immoral
people of this world. The furthest thing from Paul’s
mind, in other words, was the idea of abstaining from interaction
with unbelieving people, even if they were immoral. They are
the ones that most needed the gospel. Paul was not urging them to abstain
from interacting with the ungodly of this world. Paul was not asking
them to pull back from these people. And quite surprisingly,
Paul begins to describe these people almost as if to rub it
in. He first utilizes these four
descriptive terms to refer to the people of this world. The
first term is immoral. We’ve seen it. We’ve interacted
with this word already. The word is used three times
in this little section, nine through 13, where we have the
command to avoid immorality, the command misapplied, and then
the command corrected. The second term he uses to describe
those of the world is the term covetous, an unsatiated thirst
for more. They never can have enough. The
man, said one, who sacrifices duty to the acquisition of wealth,
who makes gain the great object of his pursuit, is a covetous
man, Charles Hodge. The word is used again by Paul
in that passage we read a moment ago, Ephesians 5, where he equates
it there with idolatry. Ephesians 5, this you know with
certainty, no immoral, impure person or covetous man who is
an idolater has an inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and
God. That’s pretty strong stuff. The third term that he uses is
swindler. This is the covetous man who takes matters into his
own hands and defraud someone or in order just to get more,
more money, more things they take. They steal really what
is not rightfully their own and often even by violence. Though it is most often translated
as swindlers, it’s quite appropriately translated in Matthew 7 15 as
ravenous. Jesus said, beware of the false
prophets who come into you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly
are ravenous wolves. The Bible is explicitly clear
on this sin. It’s a consuming evil that God
especially hates. Not surprisingly then, the fourth
word that Paul uses to describe people of the world is idolaters.
Those who worship false gods through man-made images or metaphorically,
who elevate something to the level of God. What an evil situation. Paul must have observed to employ
this word for the first time in all of Scripture. In fact,
many scholars think that he invented the word. Idolaters. Such was the worship of the heathen
world, immorality, greed, and fraud. That was their God. Such, Paul says, are the people
of the world, but such people, he insists, quite surprisingly,
were not the people about whom he warned. If that were the case,
if Christians were supposed to have no interaction with people
so described, the only way a believer could do that would be to go
out of this world. Not even extracting oneself to
go live as a hermit. Would work. Since inevitably
there would come some interaction, some point with others, other
hermits, the only way that you could really do this, Paul says,
would be to file for early withdrawal to heaven as believers. This
would be contrary to that for which Jesus prayed in his high
priestly prayer, wouldn’t it? John 17, I do not ask you to
take them out of the world. It would be completely contrary
to the church, the purpose and function of the church. And so
the Corinthians had everything upside down. They’d allowed immorality
into the church, all the while avoiding or at least greatly
minimizing their interaction with the people of the world. Remember that saying? We are
to be in the world, but not of the world. That saying is not
a biblical verse, but it does express a biblical ideal in the
world, but not of the world. And so if Paul was not speaking
about abstaining from interaction with the people of the world,
the people who live like this, then who? Paul speaks to that in verses
11 through 13. not only the insisted separation
from immorality and the inevitable interaction with immorality,
but the third point here that Paul provides is an absolute
exclusion from immorality. Verse 11, but I actually, I wrote
to you not to associate with any so-called brother if he’s
an immoral person or covetous or an idolater or a reviler or
a drunkard or a swindler, not even to eat with such a one. Paul’s admonition not to meet
or not to associate with immoral people was not referring to the
immoral people of this world. Then to whom was he referring?
Paul immediately explains that he was referring explicitly here
to any so-called brother. There is intentional irony here.
He’s called a brother. Not only would he refer to himself
as such, but he would welcome even insist that others call
him as such. But that’s as far as Paul’s willing
to go. He’s just he’s called a brother. He’s a so-called brother. He doesn’t refer to him as a
brother. He’s the man who wants to be
called brother, but not a man who wants to live like one, and
that that’s the problem. He’s a practical atheist. He
says one thing but lives another. His walk, as the young people
say it, does not match his talk. He prances and parades about
under the banner of Christianity, even Christ himself. But even
the most casual inspection shows himself to be more a man of the
world than a child of. Christ Kingdom, with this alone,
this command not to associate with any so-called brother would
have startled the Corinthian believers because they had been
doing just the opposite, avoiding the world all the while granting
a free pass to those who professed Christ even if they lived like
the heathen. And note, Paul breaks out the
same list, the same list that he had just applied to the people
of the world, immoral, covetous, idolater, swindler. But then
to that list, he adds a few, reviler, drunkard. These last two words, the only
time they’re used in the Bible is in this section, which we
just saw continues into chapter six. The word reviler just speaks
of one who rails at others rudely and harshly. The word drunkard
could not be easier to describe. A drunkard is one who gets drunk. And note what assorted company
are these listed here. One sin is no worse than the
next. Morally corrupt, greedy, thieving,
idolatrous, foul-mouthed, and drunk. Paul is focusing in on the lurid
behavior that was not only allowed but even being applauded in the
Corinthian church. And it’s here that Paul issues
his clearest limit yet to what should and should not be allowed
by way of interacting with such a one. Don’t even eat with such
a one, Paul warns. And this drastic measure is really
no different than other descriptions of church discipline. 2 Thessalonians 3.14, take special
note of that person and do not associate with him. Reject a
factious man, Titus 3.10. Let him be to you as a Gentile
and a tax gatherer, said Jesus in Matthew 18. And we should
be very clear here that ultimately such a person is removed from
the fellowship Even though that’s what it’s talking about, this
eating cannot possibly refer to the Lord’s table. Disallowing
an unrepentant sinner from the Lord’s table is a given. That’s the starting point. But
Paul takes things here to refer to social interaction after an
individual is removed from the fellowship. His point is that
if he’s living like the world, we do not legitimize his Christian
profession by treating him like a brother. Even over a meal. And at that
point. Christian fellowship, even taking
a meal together would be forbidden. You will recall that Jesus was
often criticized for eating and drinking with tax collectors
and sinners, you say, what’s the difference? Well, when Jesus
did so, those individuals were not professing believers. Jesus was living out essentially
what Paul is talking about here. Paul’s point is that the person’s
profession of faith is everything. You name the name of Christ,
everything changes. If they name the name of Christ,
they must seek to walk as Christ would have them to walk. Not
like the world. Eating with an unbeliever is
fine. Eating with a believer who lives like the world is not. This, of course, is a reiteration
of Paul’s earlier admonitions regarding church discipline,
even in this chapter. That the one who had done this
deed be removed from your midst, clean out the old leaven. This
is just the extreme to which it goes. Paul provides the logical
support for this in verses 12 and 13. And he reasons here, watch this.
He reasons, what have I to do with judging outsiders? Why would
I enter into judgment over those who do not have the gospel, who
are not saved? Outsiders, as he calls them.
Outsiders just refers to unbelievers, those outside the church. Paul
urged the Colossian believers to conduct themselves with wisdom
toward outsiders. To the Thessalonians, he urged
that they behave properly toward outsiders. Paul’s point here
is that we as believers have no business or jurisdiction judging
unbelieving sinners, those outside. God takes care of that. Those people are under his Jurisdiction. Glance, if you would, at verse
13. Those who are outside, that is outside of the church, God
judges. Why then were the Corinthians
effectively engaged in that? They were judging unbelievers
by their refusal to interact with them, while at the same
time refusing to judge, as they ought to have, those who were
inside the church. Next time you hear of some individual
criticizing the idea of church discipline by the age old retort,
Oh, we’re not to judge. Tell them that’s nonsense. We
are to judge. We’re to judge one another in
the church. We are to practice loving discipline of one another.
And if need be, we must cease fellowship in order to turn a
wayward individual back to himself, that he might come to see what
others can so easily observe in his life. Paul comes back full circle,
doesn’t he? In this chapter about church discipline in verse 13,
when he says, Remove the wicked man from among yourselves. That’s
a quote from a recurring declaration in Deuteronomy. You shall purge
the evil from you. False prophets, Deuteronomy 13,
15. Idolaters, 17, 7. False accusers, 19, 19. Rebelliousness, 21, 21.
Adulterers, 22, 21. Remove, God says, the evil from among you. As Peter
says it. In closing. As obedient children
do not be conformed to their former loss, which were yours
in ignorance. We must have a mindset to be
free of sin, to yearn and long for righteousness and holiness.
And Peter concludes with this. But like the holy one who called
you, be holy yourselves in all your behavior. Because it is
written, you shall be holy. For I am holy.