Sermon Transcript:

We could have gone a couple of different ways today, we could have had a standalone sermon on Father's Day, but I decided to stick with our series on First Corinthians, we're gonna be in First Corinthians five. But before I get there, I do want to say a little thing about dads, I am a father, I'm a father of three, I have young children in the household, 610 and 13. And I would just say, you know, from the get go, that you and I, as dads as Father, your father figures, we're gonna get little to no encouragement to be a good father from the world. You can just kind of feel it or sense that in the air that we breed, much less a biblical father. Most of us stumbled through father who was whatever we got, or whatever we observed in our own lives for good or for ill. But I want to take just a few moments to encourage you, as I encourage myself and what is encouragement, it's to impart literal courage. In these days, we've already sang about it. We've already prayed. We've already celebrated I think, in appropriate ways. But I just want to say one more thing about fatherhood, that you and I, we can walk in the straight and narrow of good fatherhood in a time when healthy manliness or masculinity is in short supply. I think that's so key you and I, we can walk in healthy manliness or masculinity when it is obviously in short supply. And we can do that by avoiding kind of two main ditches that I see we can fall into in the modern day, quest for manhood and fatherhood. First is the machismo or macho ism, right? We're all familiar with that. That's the idea that I'm a man, hear me roar that we can power up over those in our life, you may have had portions of that and your own dad or grandpa or a boss that you've had. But that's how we get things done. Right, this sort of overbearing attitude to those around us. That's the first ditch I want us to avoid, because I don't think that's biblical manhood at all. So avoid machismo, but just as much, it's kind of the horse of truth is to fall off on either sides and fall off into one ditch which is machismo, the other ditch you and I can fall off into his passivity. And passivity is quite simply whatever happens is going to happen. And you're just going to accept it without any sort of active response, or push back or resistance. But biblical authority, which is just a fancy word about saying that to walk in the power that God's supplies, it requires a kind of humble strength. And that's what I want to call all of us to as men and fathers, whether you're a father figure whether you're maybe a man who has influence on others, I think about Chris up here and I think about Rick in the back and all kinds of guys who are around the room who may not be a father yet, either by consequences or choice but but nevertheless have such an influence over young people. Avoid machoism.

Avoid passivity, strive for humble strength. What is along those lines? As you're sitting here thinking like, wait a second pastor, I'm a man. And I do stupid things at times, or I continue to do stupid things at times. Well, that's good news. That's why we're staying in Corinthians this week. That's what we're saying in the scriptures. Because he's going to address all of that. And I want to tell you, hang on. Like, you know, one of the things I told you about Corinthians is the reason why I wanted to go through a book like this is that it really speaks not only to the first century church and coins, but it really speaks directly to us. And so if you hear things today, and you're like, Well, I'm not sure I like that, or I'm not sure I believe that, take it up with Paul in the Scriptures because all I'm going to try to do is explain and maybe bring illustration or application to what I think is very clear here in First Corinthians chapter five. So let's get into it. Beginning in verse one, says this right here, I can hardly believe the report about the sexual immorality going on among you. Something that even pagans don't do. I am told that there's a man in your church is living in sin, right? Sexual immorality, with his stepmother. Man, that's bad. So this is how bad off the church has gotten. You are so proud of yourselves, but you should be mourning and sorrow and shame. And you should remove this man, from your fellowship. Even though I am not with you in person, I am with you in the Spirit, because the very spirit of God the Holy Spirit lives in Paul lives in this church and among the people. And as though I were there I have already passed judgment on this man in the name of the Lord Jesus, you must call a meeting of the church, I will be present with you in spirit, and so will the power of our Lord Jesus, you must throw this man out and hand him over to Satan, so that his sinful nature will be destroyed and he himself will be saved on the day the Lord returns. So I want to talk about this and, and really talk about what I see is the key issue here which is really right from the second verse. The

problem here is not necessarily I mean, it's an issue. The issue is that in the Korean church, they're so off in their sexual ethic, their sexual immorality that they're doing things that even people around the world think is kind of a little bit off a little bit shady a little bit weird, which is that a man is now sleeping with his stepmom. And you can see right here that the problem is not that sin occurs sin is going to occur in a church all the time. Paul knows that. What is the problem? This leads our first point this morning. The problem is the pride when there should have been grief. Did you notice that in the passage? Because if the problem was the pride when there should have been grief, why are they so proud? Why are they not willing to deal with this issue? They knew it was wrong, right? So that doesn't seem to be the issue. They knew it was like wrong, because even the people in the culture even the people in first century Corinth, right, yeah, this is too far for us. And yet y'all are allowing this to go on, even in your own church. One of the things that is going on here, that word of of pride is the same word from last chapter, that whole idea of puffed up with ego and pride, you remember how I had that balloon last week and we deflated the balloon. That's what Paul wants to do. He wants to deflate our ego and pride in the same way he's calling him out. He's calling him out on the pride of not dealing with sin in their minutes. Now, we have to surmise a couple of things. And I don't think it's too far off to think this way. Number one is that they just had a wrong view or a distorted view of Christian freedom. And we all get there and start there. And this is really the air that we breathe. It's just like, hey, let's I don't want to offend anybody. I don't want to battle anyone, I don't want to deal with this kind of thing. And God's grace can cover everything. And so therefore, it's just kind of a distorted view of Christian free him to say, just let that behavior go, that we can just, we can just kind of let that behavior go for whatever reason that they thought that that was okay. Maybe they were just lacking in a good biblical sexual ethic. We're going to teach about that in the coming weeks because Paul's going to hit that head on in chapter six and chapter seven. Or maybe they were just thinking, you know, this person is they're important in our community in our town. They couldn't do what John the Baptist did. So this isn't new, right? You remember, John the Baptist. And we've talked about this passage maybe several weeks ago that, that there was some Hanky Panky going on there. And you know, someone else is taking his brother's wife, and John that was preaching against that. And she didn't like that. And so that's how his head got cut off. It's obvious that the Corinth church was not able or willing to do what the prophets of old were willing to do. Now, I want to be very clear about who we're talking about. And it's going to become clearer as we keep going through a passage, but I just want to set it up right here for us, because he's gonna make this real clear later on. When we're talking about this, we're talking about the actual true believers, the the inner Church, the actual church, people who have claimed the name of Christ and say, I'm a believer, that's what we're talking about, it's gonna be real clear that he's not talking about people who are just onlookers. Maybe you're here today, and this is your first time in church the first time in a while you're just kind of kicking the tires and considering Christianity. That's not who he's talking to. He's talking to those who are serving who are giving who know better, who are part of the ecclesia, the actual Church, the actual fellowship, and that's gonna become, I think, more clear later on. Also, the problem, I just want to say real clearly, the problem is not that you and I are gonna mess up. I mean, what a sermon for Father's Day to talk about something so kind of icky and shady like this. But but that the you know, you and I were gonna mess up in all kinds of way as as men and women alike. That's not the issue. The issue is how we think about it, and how its dealt with by our brothers and sisters in Christ, it is the response. Do you see that's what he's getting onto him for pride when there should have been sadness when there should have been regret over our faults and over our sin? This is so key to interpersonal relationships, right? I mean, how many of you all if you're in a spousal relationship, or, or a serious relationship like that, you and I, we have to come to the conclusion that man, I have to lay down my pride and admit that I was wrong sometimes, if you and I don't, and we just kind of dig in our heels and continue to what kind of give our side and give our side that won't make for a very good marriage for very long. Think about this with a child and parent relationship. God set it up to where the parent has authority over the child until they're kind of gone and 18 or so in our culture. And so what if, you know, we just we just don't have ways in which we can reconcile and when we're trying to talk to our children, if they continue to sort of pump themselves up and dig their heels in that they're right. How can we really help them to grow? What are we supposed to do instead of being puffed up with pride? Paul's trying to deflate that and say, No, all you have to do is just grieve of your sins. See it for what it is be sad that he sinned against God and Heaven Earth and

then you are able to move on. Think about this with a supervisory employee relationships. Man, it is so hard out there in the workforce these days to find anybody who's going to admit anything wrong when something hits the fan, right? Nobody wants to do that we all just want to shift blame, or it's his fault or her fault and just be like, Hey, listen, I messed up. This is what happened. That's how we can move forward in our product or in our work environment. What we need to cultivate is a humble strength of I mentioned that for men in our day and age, it's really true for all of us, that we have this sort of resilience, we have this sort of strength, this power that comes from the Lord. It's real, it's there. But it's clothed with humility that only comes from Christ, the people of Corinth aren't there yet. Maybe you're not there yet, either. But Paul believes in them. He's giving this letter because he believes they can rise up. He's saying, Listen, I know there's going to be sin, but But you got to deal with it in an appropriate way and not just let it run like this. We're gonna talk about what happens if we don't deal with sin. But Paul believes in them. He believed in Corinth, I believe that God has not done with you and me yet we can get there we can have. And we can clothe ourselves with humility and strength that only God supplies. That's the first point. Let's look at the second half of the passage this morning, beginning of verse six of st chapter, you're boasting about this is terrible. Alright, just that you're not dealing, don't you realize that this sin is like a little yeast that spreads through the whole batch of dough, get rid of the old yeast by removing this wicked person from among you, then you will be like a fresh batch of dough made without yeast, which is what you really are. Christ, our Passover lamb has been sacrificed for us. So let us celebrate the festival, not with the old bread of wickedness and evil, but with a new bread of sincerity and truth. And you guys know that I love illustrations. And I love object lessons if I can do them, because I know this about myself. And I know this about many of you that you'll remember things. So I made some playdough this morning, okay. And maybe here on the stove, you know, it's like cheaper and easier. And so what you do is, is you think about this, just like regular dough. And what happens, what happens here is that when we just add a little bit of lemon or food coloring or whatever, that what ends up happening is as as we as we need it as we continue to have that just little bit, just that little bit of food coding in there. What ends up happening, we all know what happens here. And as I continue to press on it and and to work the dough, the playdough go, I'm sorry, I just don't I don't bake. It's not 1800 Sorry, I don't have a local baker, maybe you do. But um, but I couldn't make some playdough this morning. And so what we do, and what we know is that eventually, whatever color I put in there, it will permeate the entire dough.

And so what's happening here is that for good or for ill, whatever is in here, this is just the color red, it'll go throughout the entire dough. Listen, the second point, goodness, or wickedness will permeate. Now if you're like me, when you even see the word like wickedness, even though you know it's in the scriptures, and you know, God's trying to use words like that for our good young

pastor that's a little bit strong. Like cannot Can't you just say goodness, or neutral. He just say like goodness or cruise control. I mean, I really want to do good. But can this just be the day where I just kind of kind of lay around? It's like, No, the Bible doesn't allow us to get away with that kind of thing. Because did you not see this from the text? So let us celebrate the festival we're going to talk about that is the Passover meal, not with the old bread of wickedness and evil. So that wasn't even my word is straight from the scriptures, but with the new bread of sincerity and truth. Again, Paul is being so loving here because what I would do, and you and I might do this, sometimes we have a brother or sister caught into sin, we just want to quote the quote the law term, whatever it is, and you might say, you know, don't steal, don't, you know, sex for marriage, or whatever it is, you're going to try to say to them and sort of shake them out of it. That's not what he does. He doesn't just quote the law. He brings up Passover, he goes all the way back to the Exodus account. And other people of God are brought out of Egypt and they leave so quick. If you remember, they don't put leaven in their bread. That's why we celebrate Passover with unleavened bread and we break it in front of each other and eat it. And we know that was redefined as communion when Christ came in his sacrifice. And that's even clearer from these verses and later on in verses that we'll see. But one of the things that we have to be okay with is we have to be okay with the fact that there is no neutrality in this life. That we are either sowing good seeds of the spirit, or we are wilting and dying and succumbing to the wickedness and the evil of this world. Goodness is the quality of being virtuous. This is just straight Webster's Dictionary folks. Goodness

is the quality of being virtuous? Does anyone in this room want to be virtuous? I do. Does anyone want that for their children and their spouses and their household and their church? I do. And that's what he's calling us to. He's calling us to virtue and to goodness. No one wants to be a bottom dweller, who wakes up in the morning says, Man, I just want to kind of waste my life away, how can I waste today away?

Whatever the wasting of your life plan is, nobody wants to do that we don't get on that intentionally. That's what I'm trying to say. When we think we're just gonna sort of buying time and kicking the can till tomorrow, to get right with God or to pursue goodness, or to pursue virtue, or to pursue what we know as a healthy sexual ethic. We're fooling ourselves, because we're really just what we're just like just a little bit, just a little bit of laziness, just a little bit of wickedness. And we don't realize that it's permeating our entire lives. And in this case, it can permeate the body of Christ, the church itself. That is why communion is reserved for believers. We do this here in our church. And there's other communities where you go through some sort of confirmation are steps but but we ask that listen, if you become a Christ follower, whether an art tradition or another, it's fine, the tables open to you. But if you're not yet a believer, what would be the point of communion because there's nothing to commune to or with not with each other, not with God himself, because by your own profession, or lack thereof, you got nothing there yet. And so that's why we understand that communion is reserved for what believers and that again gives us a good indication of kind of the insider outsider perspective, right? He's gonna make this real clear in the last section, if you don't know what I'm talking about. But even in our context, we have those of y'all who are here, you're all in, you're giving, you're serving, you're coming every week, you have already made a profession of faith for Christ. And so, man, you are a believer, and you have found your home and your place at Life Church, whether it's for nine months, nine years, or 90 years. But then I know at any given week, there's 1215, families, maybe more, who are just what observers they're part of, of the crowd, just you're just kind of looking in, you're kind of considering the claims of Christ. And that's fine, too. But you can see the distinction here, in this scripture in this passage, if you don't see yet it's gonna become real clear on the last passage, but we can be people of sincerity and truth, or what I said, goodness, not wickedness and evil. All right, last section told you we were kind of leaving here and what's it say? says when I wrote to you before So Paul, evidently, even though this is called the first letter to the Corinthians, he had written to them multiple letters. But he says, When I wrote to you before I told you not to associate with people who indulge in sexual sin, even though he knew that's where the culture is that that's where the people are out, but I'm trying to help you be a pure body. But it wasn't talking about unbelievers who indulge in sexual sin, or are greedy or cheat people. So why people lie, steal and cheat or worship idols who have other gods or gods, you would have to leave this world to avoid people like that. I meant that you are not to associate with anyone who claims to be a believer yet indulges in sexual sin or greediness, or worships idols or is abusive, or is that a drunkard or cheats people, he says, don't even eat with such people. That's where I get that word of fellowship. I'll talk about that here in a minute.

It isn't my responsibility to judge outsiders, but it is certainly in your responsibility. So it's not Paul's responsibility. It's not the preachers responsibility, it is the church's responsibility to judge those inside the church who are sinning, God will judge those on the outside, so he will take care of them. But as the scripture say, you must remove the evil person from among you. And we've already seen what happens with a little bit of love and in the entire dough. So what's going on here? What are we meant to, to learn from all this? First of all, let's just back up with the because sometimes these can be really charged because I know some people have had bad experiences in churches or they've heard of bad experiences, or they've heard words like excommunication and church discipline, this all sounds, you know, horrible at some level, but I just want to talk plainly with you here for a minute. We are okay, with standards, protocols and repercussions in so many other areas of our lives. Okay, let's just be honest with that. Let me say it again. We're okay with standards, protocols, and repercussions in so many other areas of our life. And we get squeamish when we start talking about church and standards and holding the line. That's more on us than than the Bible in the church. But I just want you to talk about that. But think about this in terms of travel or competitive sports for our youth. So if y'all are a part of that, right, you're part of a travel, baseball team or cheer

You're a volleyball or whatever it is. And you and I both know that there are high standards to those leagues, you can only miss so many games or you get kicked off. And to even get on those leagues, you have got to have some sort of skill. I'll never forget, this just tells you how bad your pastor was a basketball, I'll never forget that. I was gonna, I was gonna get on this, this basketball team and I was in sixth grade. And so I went to the tryouts. And he was just like, drove around the cones. It wasn't that hard. Shoot a couple shots. I was in sixth grade. So you think, Man, this is easy, good. They're gonna let everybody in. So I remember my dad like writing the check for whatever it was to get on League handed to them in that little box. And I remember that when I dribbled. I just kicked everyone to me cones cast will be honest with you. And I can remember because it's traumatic to this day, I can remember the lady giving the check back to my father and saying you can take the boy home now. And so it was just like they had already decided they had said he doesn't have whatever it takes whatever we're looking for. He ain't got it. Take him home. Okay. And he did. And he got his check back. So we're okay with that. Think about this in terms of jobs, especially jobs, where things when things go wrong, people die. I don't know about you, but but I don't want a pilot, who on the flight simulators over and over and over again, keeps crashing. Okay, now I'm talking about, there's Oh, well, you know, you I don't want to I just put their arm around, like, hey, you know, you keep crashing the simulators, but we're gonna put you up in a couple of helicopters and airplanes and see how you do that. We're gonna throw some people in the back too, and just see if you can do it. Okay, because we believe in you. Okay, none of that stuff's gonna happen. We don't do this with our doctors. I don't want my doctor or their teachers to like, push them through. Yeah, you don't know how to do any of these exams or doing surgery, but we're gonna push you through, or your lawyer. I don't want the ones you only know how to like, put it in chat GBT. And all the sudden you're going to jail in the waters like, well, I don't even I didn't really pay attention or study that much. I just find it in jet. GBT, whatever popped out is what I, we don't want that. Even the Catholic Church. I'm not Catholic at all. We're an evangelical church. But they understand a little bit of holding the line. And this isn't a political statement. But you guys are aware that that people like Nancy Pelosi and Joe Biden, there are different dioceses and parishes around the country that will not serve them communion because of their stances with the life and abortion issue. That's just showing you that we accept this at some level in other areas of our life, and even in some of our religious understandings. So if we can accept that, in other areas of our life, can we at least give the scriptures a chance and scriptures are true and, and beautiful. And for our good to realize this last and final statement, that is it is our job to maintain the purity of the fellowship. I think this is so important. And I've chosen each word carefully. And I think it's straight from this last section of the scriptures that really goes to the whole, which is that idea of of course, we're not. We're not judging or worrying about people who are just considering the claims of Christ, if you've just come for the first time, but I'm here to tell you that if you claim to be a Christ follower, and you are an insider, we have ways in which we ask once a year for people to sign a covenant membership. And we have that too, when you begin to serve in our various ministries. So there's things that we try to do formally for you to be able to say, yeah, man, I'm in I'm all in. Obviously, we have baptism. And that's just a way to say, Yeah, I'm all in with Christ. So we, we have certain things like that. But you and I understand that, that our job as a church, and you want to be real clear, so the priests job or the pastor's job, but it's the church itself, because we care enough to what to maintain the purity of the fellowship. Guys, this is just normal. I mean, this is just normal. I mean, think about this right now. What if this was your friend, and you knew your friend, this guy who this this was talking about in this passage, and you knew he was sleeping with his stepmom? And y'all kind of knew each other in the neighborhood and in the church? I mean, dinner is just gonna be weird. I mean, isn't it I mean, when they come over to your house, and you guys have had this before, you've had this before, where, where you've had friends who have gone off the deep end and their business practices because they've, what they've been greedy, they've stolen, you've had friends who have gone off the deep end in their relationships, and they begin to have perpetual adultery, and they just go off the deep end and their sexual ethic. And you know, that it's very weird at a minimum, to kind of pull them back at your table. Because you can't have fellowship with them the way you used to before because maybe they they, they went off the deep end. That's what he's saying here from the church perspective. He's saying that they are now showing by their actions, that they're not one of you. Now, we don't judge hearts. We don't know if this guy is a believer or unbeliever. Paul's not making that assumption, either. He's saying that when you turn them over to Satan, which is just a way to say when you turn them over to the wilderness when you turn them over to the world. When you give them over to the chaos of their life. God will use that situation to either bring them back to him

them, or to allow them to keep going headlong in their sin. And you guys know this over and over again, how many of y'all have prodigal brothers and sisters? Or? I hope not. But daughters and sons, would you understand that sometimes you just gotta let them go. And that's what he's saying here to maintain the purity of the church, the purity of the fellowship. Now, they have to still come to church every once awhile and sit in the back and maybe be part of the crowd. But they're not going to be able to be the insider that they once enjoyed, they're not going to be able to sit at the table, enjoy the fellowship until they get right with God. That's what he means by saying, put them outside the camp.

This goes back all the way to an Old Testament principle and also a New Testament principle. Now, why are we doing all this? We're doing this for the sake of the kingdom. Because guess what, we actually have something here that special. Don't you want to go to church and experience something different from the world? Why even gather if I'm just gonna say the same thing you can hear anywhere else and everywhere else. But here, we're gonna lift you up. We're gonna encourage you, we're gonna turn your eyes and your gaze heavenward. And we're gonna say, Senator, though you are, you are accepted here. It's okay to not be okay. But it's not okay to stay there. That's the point of the scriptures. That's what Paul's trying to say, and that you and I should be ashamed that we don't grieve over our own sin. And we should be ashamed if we don't grieve over the sins of our brothers and sisters in Christ. That's what he's saying, because we have something here. If not, we'll look just like the world. Or be some form of a club, right? Some sort of club is you kind of pay your dues, or you walk in the door, nothing special here. We're all just kind of here. But you and I understand that the exclusivity that comes with, with full on membership, or full on commitment and fun jumping in to who Christ is and what He has for us. And what we're saying here is that we're not a perfect people, but that we're a people who fight sin. That when when sin is is crouching on our door and wanting to to overpower us and overpower our brothers and sisters in Christ. We're saying fight that. That's why we're making such a big deal here at Father's Day. If I could, if I could find in the budget ways to lavish dads with more stuff I would, because I just want you to know, man, we love you here. We love men here. We want real good, healthy biblical masculinity here. We want real good, healthy femininity here. Those kind of words that kind of talk. It's just not happening right now. So we want to be a refuge, a strike, we want to be life, we want you to come in the store and Life Church and and just feel it man, I walk away change because of who God is, and what God's done. And there's something there. But there wouldn't be anything here. If all of us live just like the world, then you'd be like, I don't think there's anything appealing there. I think it's just like anywhere else I've ever been. So that purity the job of us is to love each other enough to maintain some sense of accountability, accountability, impurity, in the fellowship. Last kind of thing I would just say on all this is we got to grow up sometime.

Man who wants to be in perpetual adolescence? I don't I adolescence was fun. But it had its disadvantages. Because you remember when your adolescence you didn't you know how much money you got kind of kicked around, you only kind of went where you were accepted, right? You kind of move from one house to another or one club and other whatever you and I did were young. But don't you I want to be men and women who make a difference in the community because our roots go deep, that were planted deep and who God is. And we have some substance. The only way that's going to occur is if we really step into this humble strength.

Why not today? I mean, let's not just do it sometime come on Life Church, let's be beat men and women who have humble strength today that will step into that, that by the power of God not in our own strength, because you and I ain't got it in a centers that we are but that we lean on God in His Spirit, say, God, I want more virtuous living, I want more goodness in me. I want to care enough about the people who sit to the left and right of me that when I see them struggling and when I see them fall down or when they're not here, I'll get their number or text him and say, Where are you I miss you. I care about you come back. We love you.

We want you to be part of the fellowship that can only occur if you and I decide today. That's what I want to do.

And I want to put it in neutral zone of you know your man, I'm sure to witness wickedness and I need to repent of that. That's fine. That's you. But for many of us, we have been Lord to sleep. I think it's okay and that we're doing okay, just because we're in neutral. We don't we're not as bad as someone else. We're not as wicked as someone else in the scriptures are constantly warning us to say no, it's not just the absence of bad and wickedness that you and I mean in our lives, but it's the presence of God in His goodness. Let's be men and women who do that. Can we do that? Let's pray.

Father, you're so good to us. You care about us.

A much. I pray for those under the sound of my voice and those who may listen later that you would encourage them. I pray a special blessing and encouragement on dads this morning, who just desire to be men who either keep the trajectory of Christian tradition going for their family, or create a whole new path of life and love and leadership and safety and strength as they come up under the strong branches of a godly family.

Pray for those in the room who struggle because of a broken relationship with their dad or desire to be a dad out there or a single mom who would love to have a godly dad, anybody who's just kind of hurting in this brokenness. Father, you are enough. So draw near to us wherever we're at. As we draw near to you when asked us in Christ's name, Amen.