The Everyday Prayer

Like us, the ancient Corinthians had questions about marriage.  They were particularly interested in knowing how faith changes the relationship between a husband and wife.  Paul’s first answer is that faith in Christ makes marriage equal.  Ancients were very familiar with the idea that a husband had authority over his wife’s body.  That the wife would also have authority over her husband’s body (1 Corinthians 7:4) was revolutionary!  The Bible teaches that marriage is a mutual relationship between people of equal dignity and value.  Occassionally I hear people say that Paul is anti-women.  I’m convinced that people who make this claim have never read his words for themselves.  “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female, for you are all ONE in Christ Jesus.” (Galatians 3:28)  These are words that changed the world and they came from God through the pen of Paul.

Years ago, before I met Holly, I was very concerned to be married.  I didn’t like being single.  I thought that marriage was necessary–something I needed to “get on with my life”.  It was a consuming concern.  Paul’s letter to Corinth was a turning point for me.  The Lord used it to convince me that marriage was good, but so was singleness.  True success and happiness has nothing to do with marital status.  It is a function of knowing Christ.  In 1977, James Dobson founded “Focus on the Family”.  I have great respect for his radio program and ministry.  I wonder, however, whether the scripture ever lets us FOCUS on the family as the real answer for life’s questions.  While the Bible speaks to marriage, singleness, divorce and sex, the central issue for us all (whatever our circumstance) is the Lord.  The time is short, says Paul in 1 Corinthians 7:29.  Not marriage, not sorrow, not joy, not possessions is the center and secret to life.  Christ is.

“But I say to the unmarried and to widows that it is good for them if they remain even as I ” (1 Corinthians 7:8)  “and this I say for your benefit. . .to promote what is seemly and to secure undistracted devotion to the Lord.” (1 Corinthians 7:35)  The Scripture gives a high place of honor to Single Adults.  1 Corinthians 7 is one indication.  The lives of Jesus, John the Baptist, Paul, Jeremiah, and Mary Magdalene (just to name a few) are another.  One thing that Singles bring to Kingdom service is undistracted devotion.  Paul uses a word (aperispao) which literally means “to draw a sword and wave it around in a circle”.  It paints a picture of folks who have so many battles that they don’t know which one to fight first!  Being single (for the follower of Christ) can make life simpler.  As a Pastor, I have seen firsthand the contribution of godly Single Adults.  Paul had seen it too.

A new insight for me this week in 1 Corinthians 5 is Paul’s perspective on the Christian life.  He sees it as a celebration!  Taking a page from his Jewish upbringing (vs 8), Paul describes, with obvious fondness, the search for leaven that Jewish families did  in preparation for the Passover.  What a beautiful and joyful tradition!  What a powerful children’s sermon!  Following the search, the Passover lamb was slain and the family entered into 7 days of feasting (using only unleavened bread).  The Christian life is a fulfillment of this symbol and shadow.  Followers of Christ (the true and eternal Lamb of God) are not negative, morose, uptight people.  By being serious about sin we do not squeeze the joy out of life, we find it!  The fruit of the Spirit is love and joy and peace. . .In a few hours, we will meet for worship.   “Let us pursue holiness without which no one may see the Lord”  (Hebrews 12:14)  Joy to you, dear friends!

One of the values of the scripture is it’s relevance.  Since human nature never changes (nor God’s), at some level every story is about us and our relationship to the Lord.  Where are you in 1 Corinthians 5?  Are you the Christian who knows that something should be confronted but is reluctant to do so for friendship’s sake or distaste for conflict?  Are you the person who loves Christ but has surrendered to private sin only to find that it isn’t private anymore and your church is experiencing the weakening effect of your life?  Are you the leader with a clear conscience, willing to act but aware of the danger involved with any act of church discipline?  Long before the church acts in corporate strength, God intends a series of individual encounters which warn and plead for repentance.  (cf Matthew 18)  We are called to this courageous love by Christ Himself.  Where are you in this picture?  I will see you tomorrow morning in worship.  My love to you, dear friend.

Don’t expect a Max Lucado book on this subject, but material would not be hard to find.  One chapter could be the Jerusalem Conference (Acts 15) where the church discerned the invitation of grace to the Gentiles.  1 Corinthians 5 could be chapter 2–the day the church at Corinth gathered to remove a man from fellowship for public and unrepentant sin.  It was a tense and difficult meeting that worked eventually for good.  (cf 2 Corinthians 7:8-12)  One of the things that I like best about being Baptist is our emphasis on congregational government.  “In the name of our Lord Jesus, when you are assembled”(1 Corinthians 5:4) has the sound of strength–of important/difficult decisions being made by the people of God.  Have you been to a business meeting lately?  Sept 25 will be a GREAT opportunity.  Part of the agenda will be a “State of the Church” address.   I have so many things to tell you.  I am counting on the Lord’s help and your support, just like 1 Corinthians 5.

“I have decided to deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of his flesh, so that his spirit may be saved.”  (1 Corinthians 5:5)  Let us admit that sincere Christians disagree on the meaning of these words.  Some believe that Paul (and the other Apostles) had special powers to inflict disease or death on people who opposed the gospel.  (see Acts 5, 13–Ananias and Sapphira and Elymas).  Others believe that Paul was expressing the idea of Romans 1.  God “gives them over” as an expression of His wrath.  He “steps aside” and allows sinners to have what we say we want.  The consequences of sin are often lesson enough.  Like the prodigal son,  the only way that some of us can come home for good is to see what “not home” really is.  A painful lesson, but a lesson all the same.  Is it God’s love when He lets go of us?  Stops pretending?  Stops speaking?  Refuses to be an enabler?

Reading 1 Corinthians 5 (Paul’s courageous stand against a man living an immoral lifestyle while being a member-in-good-standing of the church) has caused me to reconsider John 8.  A woman caught in adultery is dragged before Jesus.  When challenged to give his opinion re. the “death sentence”, He hints strongly that none of those present had the moral authority to carry it out.  “Let him who is without sin be the first to throw a stone” (John 8:7)  I often hear people use this story to “prove” that Jesus wants us to be non-judgemental toward others (I agree) and NEVER INTERVENE in someones else’s life unless we can demonstrate a kind of unattainable perfection as a prerequisite ( I wonder).  Was Christ questioning the moral challenge or the death penalty?  Was he saying that we should never get involved or that our motive (checked and rechecked) should be to redeem and not to destroy?  The last line is the desired outcome.  “Go and sin no more.”

1 Corinthians 5 is an assault on the secular mind (and the Christians who have imported it into the church).  It “figures” morality from the perspective of God’s holiness and the church’s full surrender to it.  It assumes we accept/embrace the Biblical standard, “You be holy because I am holy”. (1 Peter 1:16)  We may fail this standard but we NEVER challenge it.  As we read Paul’s instructions to the Corinthians (withdraw fellowship from the man who is living in blatant and unrepented sin) we squirm under the not-so-subtle- challenge to our modern substitute virtue, “Mind your own business”.  Is someone else’s sin my business?  Yes, if he is my brother!  “If your brother sins. . .go to him”  (Matthew 18:15)  Ultimately the secular and the scriptural viewpoints are irreconcilable.  Either we are autonomous with the right to privacy(secular outlook), or we are family with shared responsibility and destiny(scripture outlook).  Only one of these two options can be true.  Which is it?  Are we family or should I MYOB?

“Remove the wicked man from among yourselves.”  (1 Corinthians 5:13)  We will need to think carefully about this passage.  At the end of the week we may still have some unanswered questions.  What we will be clear is that public, scandalous, defiant sin cannot be tolerated in God’s family.  The Lord will require us to confront it.  It was not a new idea.  Paul quotes Deuteronomy 13:5 which commands corporate courage in the face of evil.  It is similar to Revelation 2:20 where Christ challenges the church at Thyatira “because you tolerate the woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess and leads my bond-servants astray so that they commit acts of immorality.”  When public and scandalous sin begins to impact others, the Lord will require of us an unfamiliar courage.  It may be unpopular to draw a clear line, but quiet tolerance is not always the path of Christ.  Read carefully, dear friends.  Ask God to guide your thinking.  More tomorrow as we walk this week together.