(audio cuts out) - Then to 1 Corinthians 5, I'm gonna read the passage for us. And, you know, if you, what's really interesting is, you know, there are parts of scripture where it's awesome to slowly and methodically go through every phrase and every word. And then there are parts of scripture where if you do that, you just feel like you're getting beat up, you know?

And there's a sense in which we've been together studying now for over 10 weeks, this is our 11th week. And for the vast majority of it, it's been like, you prideful, you know, like arrogant people competing with each other. How dare you do this to the house of God, you know, like the temple of the Lord.

And it's been really heavy. And just to give you a heads up, it's gonna be like that for a little bit, okay? But there's a sense in which I always felt like there are different parts of the scripture that's like that. There's a sense in which sometimes we have to go through that experience, not just so that, you know, we feel ashamed, but through the whole experience of like really seeing how heavy and how weighty some of the words of scripture are.

Really seeing then also by implication how heavy and weighty the sin and theological topics are. It helps us appreciate all the more the kind of conviction we get and also it helps us appreciate all the more the kind of transformation that results from the end of that kind of conviction, okay?

I just wanted to say that 'cause there are parts, for me too, as I'm studying, I'm like, man, he's laying on thick, you know? And just wanted to mention that. Now let's read this passage, chapter five, verse one through 13. It is actually, and you know what, actually, you know what I'm gonna do?

I'm gonna start in verse 21 of chapter four. What do you want? Okay, what do you desire? Shall I come to you with a rod or with love and a spirit of gentleness? It is actually reported that there is immorality among you, an immorality of such a kind that 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 has so committed this, as though I were present.

In the name of our Lord Jesus, when you are assembled, and I 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, also has been sacrificed. Therefore, let us celebrate the feast, not with 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 to you not to associate with any so-called brother if he is an immoral person, or covetous, an idolater, a reviler, a drunkard or swindler, not even to eat with such a one.

For 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. Okay. So let's begin taking a look, a closer look at this passage that we've seen. Pretty heavy hitting rebuke.

We look at verse one and two, and I would like you just to do a quick exercise. In verse one and two, where it says, it is actually reported that there is immorality among you, an immorality of such a kind as that 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.

What I'd like you to do is just simply underline the most important concepts in verse one and two. Okay. Okay. So as you guys do that, remember all the things that we've been kind of, again, rehearsing with you guys and reviewing. Main verbs are very important. Significant broad terms.

Main phrases that he's getting at, those are important, okay? Repeated words are important. Okay. Now, after you've done that, basically, if you've underlined the most important terms in those first two verses, you're pretty much getting at what is the problem Apostle Paul is addressing, okay? So my first question to you is, what is Apostle Paul, oh, I wrote it like, what is Apostle Paul upset about?

He is pretty upset, okay? But what problems is he addressing? Anybody? Immorality, okay? So the first term you should have underlined is probably just immorality. He says, this exists among you, and then he starts defining immorality, okay? So for your letter A, just write in immorality. And how does he describe this?

Just asking you to look at the passage and just throw out the, these are just, you know, face value observations. So how does he describe their immorality? Sorry? - Arrogant? - Does he describe the immorality as arrogant? In verse one, the little kind of dependent clauses that are there, the little phrases that are there.

- So bad, not even the pagans do it. - So bad, not even the pagans do it, okay? So think about this immorality. It's weird to think about that, right? That the church that's comprised of individuals who are supposed to be set apart, drawn out from the world, set apart as holy to God, they're now practicing such things that aren't even named among the world, okay?

And that namely is incest, okay? Now there's sometimes disagreement about, okay, does this young man have a woman that's like a stepmom? Maybe this is the father's second wife, maybe the original mom died, or is he actually having sexual relations with his birth mom? Kind of crazy, right? A lot of, yeah, sorry, I saw your, yeah.

The cringe, like, ugh, it's nasty. Well, the thing about it is, if you guys remember, like, in that culture, it wasn't uncommon for a man to marry like multiple times, okay? Secondly, in that culture, it wasn't uncommon for, let's say, a man to have a wife that's super young, right?

'Cause you got these older men, and in that culture, the men had such kind of authority and power and say and all that kind of stuff, and women were so dependent, they didn't care. Like, in our generation and culture, it's kind of like, you know, we have an option.

The ladies can say, well, you don't fit the bill that I want, you don't fit the height, financial income, the look, and all that stuff. It's like, forget you, you know? But back then, it was like, if you had a guy who owned a lot of property, but he just happened to be older, that wasn't like a deal breaker.

So you would have a scenario where, let's say, because of certain reasons, the father divorced the first wife, he marries a second, but the second wife happens to be the same age as the son. You know what I mean? So in this kind of scenario, number one, a lot of commentators, again, I'm not like, just pulling this out of, oh, hypothetic, I guess.

A lot of commentators are saying, this family is probably a family that's pretty well-to-do, and it could be a scenario where the mom actually is like similar age as the son, okay? Now, I bring that kind of stuff up because I'm just kind of saying like, this could be a real scenario.

Okay, it could be a real scenario. But the thing about it is, even in that culture, though, that was not only just no good, it was incredibly shameful. It was shameful. Not only was there a culture like that, but also, let's put in some more details into that culture.

That culture is an incredibly high honor society. Everything is about honor. Everything is about prestige. Everything is about that kind of sense of nobility. For a son to do that, that's incredibly shameful, okay? And so, Apostle Paul is sitting here like, flabbergasted. And he's saying, blah, this stuff is happening in the church that's pagan to the pagans.

How can this be, right? And really, that kind of shows to us the church can find itself very, very, very far from the holy standards that God has called us to, okay? Now, someone mentioned the other one. What's the other thing that Apostle Paul is really upset about? So, step one, he's really upset about the fact that there is sexual immorality amongst the people who are supposed to be holy.

But what's the second thing that he's really upset about? Arrogance, okay? He is upset about arrogance, and there's a sense in which you can say maybe he's even more upset. How many of you guys have the NIV translation? You guys work off NIV? Okay, cool. Do you mind reading verse two for us?

(audience member speaking indistinctly) Okay. Thank you. Sorry, yes, that's right. I'm remembering it a little wrong, I think. But there's an exclamation after you are proud, right? Okay, so that's what I'm remembering, all right. So, the point I was trying to make was, Apostle Paul might be very well more upset at the fact not so much that there is sin, but that the people are arrogant about it, okay?

Not so much that there's sin, but the way that they respond to the sin is arrogant. And in the NIV, it kind of captures what the Greek is trying to show. And I'm not saying, again, you guys have to be like masters at Greek or whatever, but sometimes comparing the translation just helps us.

Is there any kind of difference or things that we should note? And he is like saying, you're so proud, you know? You're so arrogant. And there's an exclamation at that. Now, my question to you is, what is Apostle Paul identifying as pride in this scenario? Okay? Take a look at the verses surrounding it.

Take a look at verse one and two again. What are some hints, what are some things that could perhaps shed some light for us as to what is he calling arrogant in this scenario? (pages rustling) Yes? - Is it like their response to that sin? - Good. It's their response to the sin.

Now, my question to you is, can you put into more detail, how did they respond that would make them now be called arrogant? - They didn't do anything. Just accepted it. - Interesting. They didn't do anything and they just accepted it. Now, is that something you would call arrogant?

What do you think has to happen in the mind and the thought that all of a sudden, just like, I'm not gonna do anything about it, and all of a sudden that's arrogant? Wouldn't that be just called like apathetic? Maybe insensitive? Yes? - Like the absence of the fear of God is often a sign of being arrogant.

- Excellent, okay. That could definitely, did you guys hear that? She says, when you don't do anything about something, when the law of God clearly says to do something, then by that sin of omission, all of a sudden you've relegated God's law and you've placed your standard now above his.

'Cause essentially, you could be telling God like, God, this is okay, don't have a cow. And that's something very arrogant. What else? - Somebody in our people pointed out that there's an arrogance in thinking that it won't hurt us, which fits later with the idea of the leaven affecting the whole batch of dough.

- Okay. - So, they think that having a sin in the church won't hurt them, it won't hurt the church. And that's arrogant, because it will. - Right. Not having a sense of fear of like, oh, this is dangerous, right? It's kinda like a kid who just doesn't think he's gonna ever get hurt, even though he's riding around with no helmet, no nothing, you know?

He thinks that although this exists in the church, it's not gonna affect us anyway, so we're fine. That's arrogant. Is there anything else, maybe? - Well, so you read the last verse from chapter four, in the last, it's kind of like how last week you were talking about, like in verse 18, chapter four, it says, "Some are arrogant, "so I will not curse you, but I will not curse you, "for I hold it in my heart with fear of Satan.

"If they were aware that he's not there "to be overseen and watch him and check, "they claim I do whatever they want, "so they feel like they know what's best, "and they feel like they're not standard." - Okay, good. Absolutely, there is arrogance in thinking, no consequences, we're gonna do what we wanna do, we're gonna let's lie what we wanna let's lie, because Apostle Paul, or nobody, can say nothing.

Okay, that's arrogant, too. What about maybe something from this passage, if you look at verse two, he says, "You have become arrogant," and then he ties that by saying, "and have not mourned instead." Okay? So, all those things that you guys mentioned, I appreciate you guys mentioning those things, because that kind of mentality and thinking is arrogant before the Lord.

But then, Apostle Paul adds here, basically, "You have become arrogant, "and your arrogant thinking caused you not to mourn." What's mourn? You, so then, here it is, like progress, right? You're arrogant, so you didn't mourn, and so the end result didn't happen, which is you should have dealt with this and removed him.

Okay? So what does that kinda imply to us as what he views as arrogance? (silence) Brokenness of sin. Okay, do you wanna elaborate on that a little bit? - Sin doesn't really affect that as much, or doesn't really-- - What kind of sin? Trying to push you to what I personally want, but think about this.

Apostle Paul sees them as his children, you know? And when you see your children, at least just one of them, okay? When you see them, even just one of them hurting, and then one of your kids comes up, after, let's just say, hypothetical scenario, you have a bunch of kids, they all playing together, and with little kids, what always ends up happening is someone hurts their head, you know?

They're playing around, and then they run into something, they're playing around, they fall, they hit their head, and they're hurting bad, and they're crying, and stuff like that, you know? You come running in, and you're like, "What happened?" And it's like, "Well, so and so, you know, "Johnny hurt his head, he fell on the ground." It's like, "What'd you do?" It's like, "Nothing, how could you, nothing?

"It's not my problem." What do you say to the child who says, "It's not my problem"? Well done, selfless little man. He's like, "Ugh," like, you just reek of selfishness, right? It's like, "Your brother's hurting on the floor, "he hurt his head, you didn't even call for me, you know?

"You didn't go to see if he's okay, "you just said, 'It's not my problem.'" Right? So really, when you're saying, like, there's no brokenness over sin, what's really interesting, it says there's no mourning, but there's no grieving in the sense that there's no grieving in that kind of sympathetic, this is our sin kind of way, you know?

Like, there is no hurting together, that Apostle Paul so many times has commanded the church, "I want you to hurt together, I want you to cry together, "I want you to rejoice together." Why? "Because you guys are together." But when somebody who's supposed to be together all of a sudden says, "But it ain't my problem," it's prideful for a community person to think individualistically.

Does that make sense? It's prideful for a brother to think individualistically. So he says, like, "Ugh, that's gross, "you slept with your stepmom? "It's not my problem, I don't want anything to do with you." That's arrogant, right? He just judges that person and says, "Ew, you're gross, "but not my problem." That's arrogant.

To think in that kind of individualistic way is arrogance before Apostle Paul and the Lord. And so what he says is, and so when you don't have that sympathy, you're not gonna do anything about it, right? You're not gonna do anything about it. When you don't have that personal association and say, "This is our guilt, this is our sin, "and we grieve together, we hurt together," then you're not gonna do anything about it.

And so what Apostle Paul is essentially saying, in the A and in his B, he says, "Oh, this is what I wanted you to read, sorry. "Can you read verse," wait, never mind. Can you read verse two again? I feel like I'm totally missing something here. Can you read verse two one more time?

NIV. Yeah. - And you are proud. Shouldn't you rather have been filled with grief and sadness out of your fellowship than man to resist? - Thank you, okay. So in the A and A and S and B, it reads like, you became arrogant and you have not mourned so that the one who did this would be removed.

In the NIV, Apostle Paul is direct and says, "You're proud, shouldn't you have mourned?" You see the difference? Apostle Paul is making an exhortation, saying, "Shouldn't you have mourned with your brother?" Okay? I'll tell you from a personal experience. I remember in college, I think I've shared with you guys a lot of times that I struggled a lot with various things in college.

And I felt like I struggled with all kinds of arrogance and I felt like I also struggled with immorality. I felt like I struggled with lack of self-control. I'm not gonna say who because it could be potentially embarrassing and whatnot, but I remember there was a point where I was just really broken because in my college years, I felt like, oh, so frustrated with myself.

I kept sinning over the same thing again and again and again. And every small group time we had, week to week, it was like the same old story. And I felt guilty, ashamed, and embarrassed that I had to say the same prayer request again and again and again. And so at one point or another, I pulled aside this brother and I just made one of those really awkward moments where I just started crying.

And I just started crying and I said, it sucks that I just can't win. It sucks that this sin is beating me up every week. And this brother looked at me and all of a sudden, he just cried with me. He just started crying with me. And I remember crying together and after that, feeling so motivated.

It hurts to wrestle with sin to this degree, but feeling his sympathy made me all the more motivated. I'm gonna keep persevering. I wanna, in this moment, just think about that for a moment and move on. Apostle Paul is not simply saying, hey, you were supposed to get rid of this guy, what's up?

'Cause that's not exactly what he was upset about. His first statement in saying to, addressing the church wasn't, he should've been gone. Right? Essentially, his exhortation to them is, how could your heart be so selfish that you didn't care to mourn with this brother? Right? Like, he is addressing the issue of the heart.

How could you be so careless? Yeah? Let's move to the next verses. Okay, let's move to the next verses. And what I'd like you to do really quickly, oh, you know what, I didn't give you the section heading. Well, I actually wanted you guys to do that on your own.

Okay, so take a moment, summarize verse one and two. What is Apostle Paul doing there? And just give it a little title, okay? And then after you're done with that, go to verse three and four. And what you're gonna do is, this sentence, it's like actually one big, long, run-on sentence, is complicated because it has many dependent clauses attached to independent clauses.

What I'd like you to do is just circle the main independent clauses that you see in English, okay? Just so that you get what's the gist, what's the main point. And then you're gonna see that when you do that, you'll notice how the dependent clauses attach to the main one, okay?

How many of you guys don't know the difference between independent and dependent clauses? (laughs) I just started seeing people smirking, like, "Hey, I'm just gonna circle something." (laughs) - That was a PSL. (laughs) - Eric, I'll give you a bye on this. Someone lean over and help him. (laughs) All right, so, it's just exactly what it sounds like.

Dependent clauses cannot stand on its own, otherwise, grammatically, it'll sound very awkward. After going to the mall, period, that's a dependent clause. It cannot stand on its own. An independent clause has both subject and predicate, and it can stand on its own, okay? A dependent-- (laughs) It's like, it's, no, it's easy, just do it.

(laughs) All right. (laughs) (clippers buzzing) (clippers buzzing) (clippers buzzing) (clippers buzzing) (clippers buzzing) (clippers buzzing) (clippers buzzing) (clippers buzzing) (clippers buzzing) (clippers buzzing) So again, it's verse three and four together, sorry, verse three to five together is actually kinda one section, indicated in your Bibles by, again, the numbers, when they're bolded in your Bibles, show you paragraph markers, okay?

So that's one section together, and it is a little complicated because it's like a big run-on sentence with lots of little dependent clauses. I'll tell you a funny story while you guys do that. So when I started seminary back in 2006, I had a roommate who I believed to be a genius.

He was one of those guys who could read a book in an hour. He's actually a, he has a doctorate in Greek and he's teaching on the East Coast right now. But when we started seminary, we had to take a grammar exam because we work with languages so much, right?

I was so scared, I was like, oh my God, his name is Sean, I was like, Sean, I'm totally a fob. Like, you know, I was born in Korea, my English sucks, like I don't even read a lot, I don't write a lot and stuff, so I was like sweating and I studied so hard.

He's like, don't worry about it, be easy. He failed. (laughs) And I passed. And I went, blah! Anyway, it was pretty funny. Everybody kinda, you know, grammar's like nobody's best thing, best subject, so. Anyway, did you guys get the main clause? What'd you guys get as the main clause?

How about somebody from the guys table right in front of me, right here? By the way, we have some-- (audience member speaks off mic) - For I have already judged him. - Okay, so in verse five, I have, wait, what? Oh, verse three. - For I have already judged him.

- Good, for I have already judged him. Good, that's one little segment right there. What's the other one? - I have decided to deliver such a way. - Great. I have decided to deliver such a one to Satan, okay? So, if you were to simplify this, you would kinda put it together by saying, Apostle Paul says to them in the first section, this is what you guys are doing.

You're allowing sin and immorality to exist among you, and you are arrogant, why? 'Cause for I, I have already judged him, right? That's essentially what he's saying. Now, as he's saying that, though, we have to now ask the question, but what does that mean? There are several interpretive ways that you can go about this, but in your own words, what do you think he means by what he, so the first question I have for you is, what is he saying that he has already done?

Okay? Yes? - I think he has already identified that what that action is is sinful, so he cannot follow that church's principles. He has already addressed it as that. - Great, okay, good. So did you guys hear him? He's like, although I'm not there, I have already spiritually assessed what that person has done, right?

So he's given a verdict about the whole situation. Now, looking at all the little dependent clauses around that, well, how would you summarize all those dependent clauses? What is he saying? , Yes? - He's one with them, even though he's not there and is acting in the power of Jesus for everyone's good.

- Okay, great. He's acting in the power of Jesus for everyone's good. Although I'm not there, this is what I'm doing, okay? All right, so as I thought about, what is Apostle Paul saying? What is Apostle Paul saying? He's kind of, you know, when you want to convince somebody they need to do something, you know, you can use a lot of different argumentation as to why they need to do it.

Apostle Paul is stacking up the reasons why they need to do it, essentially, right? And in so doing, he's saying, you need to do this because this is in the authority of Christ, right? You need to do this because this is in the authority of Christ. So as he's talking about this scenario, here's a guy doing some heinous act and they haven't done anything about it yet.

He's saying, you have to do something about it and you have to do this because it's in the authority of Christ, okay? So he's adding that authority to the exhortation that they need to remove such an individual. Now, as we continue thinking about this, you know, that's, question number two, why would he talk about his spirit being with them?

That's what I'm saying is, he's talking about his spirit being with them because it adds that element of weight, of authority of Christ, giving both the foundation and the motive behind taking such an action, okay? And you gotta realize that the action is difficult. Apostle Paul says that he's delivered such a one to Satan for the destruction of his flesh.

And as he's saying that, he is far, okay? He is far. So, you can think that as he is saying, I am sending one out to Satan for the destruction of his flesh, he is desiring that the church execute that plan and idea. Okay? Now, for your, because there's sometimes so many questions about that verse, like what does it mean?

I wanted to note that there are several meanings that some people have concluded to. There are commentators who would say, one, Apostle Paul literally wants to cast him out so that he would die, like literally die. Because this isn't so far removed from other scenarios where Apostle Paul said, for example even, even within this book when Apostle Paul starts talking about the communion in chapter 11, you do realize Apostle Paul warns him, saying because people don't take the communion seriously and in a holy manner, they're gonna die, okay?

The other thing, they think all he's doing is sending him out into Satan's sphere of influence. He's gonna be no longer protected in the boundaries of the church, but he's going to send him out into the, you know, into the arena or kingdom of Satan, so to speak. And the other one is to say that Apostle Paul is saying literally he wants that person to physically suffer, why?

Because if that person doesn't have the community, he's bound to suffer, okay? Will the other people, the pagans outside, will they receive him well? Somebody who is even rejected by the Christians? Christians weren't so popular back then. They were like, oh wow, Christians, you know? And so a lot of people are saying Apostle Paul wants this person to feel physical, literal discomfort and suffering, okay?

Now, for me, obviously, I don't, from the passage, I don't think that he is talking about literal death here. Although, yes, in the Bible, there are cases of literal death, why? Because even in the context in verse 11, it doesn't sound like the guy is gonna die, right? But if somebody is cast out, that individual is just simply going to be cut off from the brotherhood of Christ.

'Cause in verse 11, he says, don't associate with such a one. Don't have fellowship with such a one, right? He's not talking about somebody who's going to literally die. And so what's more, in this passage, in that specific verse, in verse five, he says he's going to deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of his flesh.

The NIV passage, the translation, does some of the interpretive work for us and interprets it for the destruction of sinful nature. And so in doing that, basically, NIV is taking a position saying we're talking about something spiritual here. We're not talking about the Apostle Paul wants that person to physically go hungry because he doesn't have the Christian community.

He's gonna be lonely, he's gonna be persecuted by the pagans. No, he's talking about something spiritual, right? And so I definitely, for me, I take the position to saying Apostle Paul, he is saying what we kind of naturally would think about this passage. If Apostle Paul is saying you need to mourn over this man's sin, remove him from your midst, he is doing that call of Christ to say take him out of your community and no longer treat him like a Christian.

But consider him someone still bound underneath the reign of Satan. Okay? Question. - What does it mean by that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus? Is that Jesus is a creator of the world? - Right. So Eugene asked, what does it mean though like that his spirit may be saved in the day?

Why does it have this forward-looking aspect to it? I think it's because Apostle Paul, he says what he can say and then he sometimes prevents himself from saying what he cannot say. He's gonna send this guy out like a pagan. This guy is not a Christian. He don't have a spirit within him, right?

But there's a sense in which could God, could God use this means of excommunication to eventually restore his soul and save him? He could. Not only that, but we could ask the question what is the goal of the excommunication here? From that little phrase that Eugene just kind of highlighted now, what do you think would be then the goal of excommunication?

- Restoration. - Restoration. You guys should write that in. That there's a sense in which even in the casting out of the pagan, like the sinning individual, this guy who is sinning like heinously against his father and mother and the church, the goal is still redemptive. The goal is still redemptive.

But I wanna read you a passage in 1 Timothy chapter one, verse 19 through 20, okay? 1 Timothy chapter one, verse 19 through 20. I believe I have it in your packets. And this is another passage of Apostle Paul, again a church letter to Timothy. He says, "Keeping faith in a good conscience, "which some have rejected and suffered shipwreck "in regard to their faith.

"Among these are Himenaeus and Alexander, "whom I have handed over to Satan "so that they will be taught not to blaspheme." Okay, they will be taught not to blaspheme. "I just finished asking you what is the goal "of excommunication, and we said redemption. "From that passage in 1 Timothy, "what is the goal of excommunication?" Sorry?

From the 1 Timothy passage. - Yeah, being taught not to blaspheme is there a lesson, hopefully we're learning that lesson. - Right, right, right. So, in looking at both, absolutely. There's a side of redemption, restoration. But one of the things I want us to write down is both. One is redemptive, but excommunication has to have its effect of the destruction of that sinful habit.

Okay? Excommunication has to have its effect of stopping the sin that's existent in the life of the individual in the church. Okay? And so to the degree, I wanna read to you guys some passages in the Old Testament, because in this section, it has an Old Testament flavor. Later on, Apostle Paul is actually going to quote a passage from the Old Testament.

But I wanna read to you a passage in Numbers chapter 15. You don't have to turn there just for the sake of time. I'm just gonna read it for us. It says, "While the Israelites were in the desert, "a man was found gathering on the Sabbath day." Now, God has given commands not to work on the Sabbath day, 'cause the Sabbath day is to be meant holy.

In verse 33, it says, "Those who found him gathering wood "brought him to Moses and Aaron and the whole assembly." So this guy gathers wood, and then he gets caught, and he gets brought before the whole congregation, the leaders and the whole assembly. "And they kept him in custody, "because it was not clear what should be done.

"Then the Lord said to Moses, 'The man must die. "'The whole assembly must stone him outside the camp.' "So the assembly took him outside the camp, "and the assembly stoned him to death "as the Lord commanded Moses." That's one of these crazy stories in the Bible where if you don't understand what's happening, it's like, what the, the guy was carrying wood.

Not only that, but if the whole assembly gathered together, you're talking about not just like 10 people, but this one guy, he must have then had what? The whole tribes of Israel come together and stoned the man outside. Now, I tell you the story because back then, we know that sin was taken seriously.

And when sin was taken seriously, God made sure that the whole congregation knew it was serious by making sure that not only just the leaders, but the whole assembly was involved in the execution. Okay? There are more passages, just jot these down for your reference for later. Numbers 35, verse 24 and on.

Basically, there's a case of homicide, but it's accidental. And then Moses essentially instructs the people. Again, there is this community aspect where the assembly has to get together and carry out the punishment. In Leviticus chapter 24, verse 13 through 16, another case where the assembly is gathered together and the assembly executes a man for blasphemy against the Lord.

Why do I talk about this? It's because we realize one of the implied aspects of biblical truth that we see here is that there is a community that needs to be kept in mind in the whole process of discipline and purity, right? That this is not the act of Apostle Paul.

This isn't the expectation of just the leaders. But Apostle Paul says, "When you gather together," okay? Apostle Paul tells them that when they gather together, this is when they are to carry this out. And so that needs to be kept in mind, okay? Now, in consideration of the community, we talk about the next section.

Let's read verse six through eight. He says, "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, also has been sacrificed.

"Therefore, let us celebrate the feast, "not with old leaven, nor with the leaven "of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread "of sincerity and truth." Okay, sincerity and truth. So we're on section three, and I ask you this question. Apostle Paul gives one of these, you know, metaphorical, parable-like universal principles.

"When there is some leaven, it leavens the whole dough." Okay, what's the principle, like spiritual principle, that we're supposed to draw from that? And it's a pretty obvious one, but just, let's verbalize it and summarize it in our own way. (pages rustling) Anyone? From verses six through eight, what I just read, he gives one of these, like, well-known Old Testament and New Testament teachings, Jesus Christ used it too.

Basically, you know, "When there's leaven, "it leavens the whole lump, don't you know it?" So what's the spiritual principle for the church that they're supposed to understand there? - A little bit of evil, rough, simple. - Good. That, earlier we mentioned how it's arrogant to think like, "Eh, it's a little bit, "it's not gonna really affect me." That's arrogant, right?

To be wise was to realize a little bit of leaven affects the whole lump, right? To be biblical, to be God-fearing, to be humble would be to realize this principle that sin, there's a sense in which in no way is it ever small. That sin, by nature of what it is, in no way is it ever, just a little bit, okay?

That's the kind of principle they're supposed to learn. And we're supposed to learn that this, the leaven, and do you guys know what leaven is? Or the yeast and all that stuff? I didn't know what that is, so I looked it up on Google. It's actually a fungus, okay?

And just like, you know, lately, like, yogurt's really big, and the culture and bacteria, and how it mixes the thing and all that kind of stuff. Likewise, yeast is just fungus used to ferment the dough. And in so doing, it causes the dough to rise. The yeast is also used in a lot of different scenarios where the yeast is used for, let's say, brewing alcohol, alcoholic drinks and stuff, and all that kind of stuff.

But the whole picture you're supposed to get is, like, when you have that, let's say, dough, or when you have, like, the brew, the yeast doesn't just, like, stay in its little culture, and then it just kind of floats around in there. It affects the whole thing, right? It permeates.

And so the whole picture you're supposed to get is, there's a sense in which we're supposed to look at the church as a collective whole. And sin within the church is not just sin in one individual. It permeates. That's the kind of lesson we're supposed to learn, right? And so there's a sense in which, many times in the Bible, the implications of that are taught.

So if there is sin in you, then there is sin in y'all. And if one individual is culpable, y'all are culpable. And so many times in the Bible, failure to deal with sin in an individual's life meant the incurring of God's displeasure upon the whole community. And I talk about this a lot in BCC.

And the story, to me, is always profound and kind of crazy, is Joshua chapter seven. In Joshua chapter seven, it tells of the story of the sin of Achan. There was a ban, okay? Joshua, you know, you imagine him as the conquering guy after Moses, he's entering into the land of Canaan, defeating all these enemies and foes.

But then God makes a clear command, "I don't want you taking any of the spoil, the plundering of the pagans, and taking all their riches. 'Cause you have to realize that God is the one enriching you, not the pagans, right? And in so doing, God says, "There's a ban.

"I don't want you touching any of that, "because I want you both to understand "that I'm the one blessing you, "and secondly, I want you to be pure, "because much of the whole pagan land's wealth "is all idolatrous." But what happens? I mean, dang, these little idols, they're nothing.

But they're made of gold. They're made of precious jewels. They're beautiful, they're handcrafted, they're rare, they're precious. So Achan takes something. But what's crazy about the whole scene is, God in the morning says, "Moses, bring out everybody." So everybody, not just one tribe, but like every tribe has to get together.

And then God says, "Moses, bring out that one tribe." And so that one tribe comes out. And then in front of everybody, God says, "Bring out that one family." And the whole family comes out. And the next thing you know, you think, and bring out Achan, but he ends up judging the whole thing.

And then you kind of realize, like, dude. And then his immediate family, they get judged to death. And you're just like, dude. And you just realize, God is not seeing us as like distinct individuals, so to speak. Although God loves us individually, and he knows us individually, he cares for us individually, he knows everything about us, everything that's unique about us, right?

But you just realize that God sees us as a heavenly father, as a family. As a community. And we, I think, in our individualistic American culture, need to just scrap that and adopt the way the Bible views us. So, the failure to deal with serious sin in our members is a major failure to deal with sin in our collective whole, okay?

Just think about that for a moment, that so far, just in the first couple chapters of 1 Corinthians, we had the analogy of the body, the building and the temple, now we have the analogy of the dough, and the lump of dough, you know, the bread. And all that is like kind of Apostle Paul teaching, like, you guys are one.

And this is your identity, you know what I mean? And so again, he's giving a perspective, he's giving the right perspective on how we're supposed to think about sin in our membership. Now, you guys can give another section title to this one. If you want the first couple ones, I just, you know, wanted to show you that there's a flow of Apostle Paul's reasoning and thought.

And in the beginning, I just labeled that as identifying their errors, okay? And then in the second, I just said this was, what did I title it as? My notes. Oh, I put Paul's authoritative support, okay? And number three, I labeled this as, why do you need to do this, okay?

Why do you need to do this? Why do we need to take the hard road of like excommunicating somebody? That's so harsh, it's so difficult. Just correcting somebody is hard, you know? Sometimes, you know, when you talk to people in a casual setting and sometimes they like kind of mispronounce your name or they kind of forget which school you went to, sometimes you're kind of like, eh, is it worth correcting them?

And you're just kind of, eh, whatever, you know? Correcting somebody even in a casual setting is hard. Going through the process of excommunicating somebody, why do that? 'Cause he's teaching us. A little bit of yeast, a little bit of leaven, leavens the entire dough. Ruins the whole batch, right?

I want us to think about what he's saying and specifically also think about the seriousness of sexual immorality. If you notice, in the next couple passages, let's take a look at section four, or the next section, in verses nine through 13. It says here, 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 of the covetous and swindlers and idolaters, for then you would have to go out of the world. But actually I wrote to you not to associate with any so-called brother if he is an immoral person or covetous, idolater, reviler, drunkard, or swindler, not even to eat with such a one, okay?

I'm gonna read the next verses a little bit in a moment, but I want us to take a moment in this occasion as we're talking about sexual immorality to think about sexual immorality. Apostle Paul, in his perspective about sexual immorality, in this portion, he is classifying sexual immorality as just as wicked and vile as the idolaters, revilers, drunkards, and swindlers, isn't he?

Not only that, take a look at verse eight. In verse eight he says, therefore let us celebrate this feast not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice, wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. So how would Apostle Paul, in challenging this specific sin, see the sin of sexual immorality?

He would think it as same as malice and wickedness. He would see it as same as insincerity and falsehood. You see my point? Now the reason why I wanna talk about this a little bit is because we have definitely become a culture that has desensitized sexual sin, diminished the weight of sexual sin.

Now, the specific case that we're looking at in this chapter is incest. But, but, although as kind of like vile and disgusting that is in our eyes, sexual immorality is sexual immorality. And in an age and culture where sexual, like physical intimacy has been so romanticized, I definitely think that in the way that Christians and young people think about sexual immorality, it hasn't equated to biblical standards.

What do I mean by that? 'Cause I feel like even for me when I was younger, there's a sense in which if you crossed boundaries with a girl, you would call it that. I crossed boundaries with a girl, I'm sorry. If you lusted, you would call it just kind of like I lacked self-control.

If you had a girlfriend or a boyfriend and you were involved in sexually immoral behavior, you might think that as like, oh, that was just being romantic with each other. You might think that as just being intimate with each other. You might think that as just building up your companionship with each other.

But what I'm saying is, that's not the way Apostle Paul would see it. You know what I'm getting at? One of the things that Apostle Paul is doing in this section is he is trying to address them and having them think differently about what's happening. First, think differently about their own attitudes towards the person, but think differently about the sin itself as well, right?

Apostle Paul's like, I want you to worship with sincerity and in truth. The existence of a sin is complete contrary to that. So, for us, the question is, are we seeing sin with the same kind of weight and same perspective that we need to be? Do we see sin as truly destructive to me and my church?

Or do I see sin as like, yeah, but amongst dating people this happens, or amongst guys this happens, amongst girls this happens, amongst X, Y, and Z, this just happens. Right? We have to challenge our perspective on the sin. It's not just romance. It's not just, oh, I felt strongly, all this kind of stuff is not right.

And I wish that I would, you know, as a, for me, when I was younger and stuff like that, I wish I had this kind of conviction, even at an early age. I feel like this is the kind of stuff that we should teach and convict people at an early age to accurately portray sin the way it ought to be.

Right? 'Cause our minds are always playing tricks to diminish it. Okay. So, in thinking about that, we have that said. Now, in verse nine through 13, in verse 12, he says this question. For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Do you not judge those who are within the church?

And I remember asking you this question as part of your homework and your discussion at the beginning. Are we to treat and judge outsiders differently or equally as insiders? And why would you say what you say? What did you guys discuss and say? (water dripping) What did you guys discuss?

Let's see. I'm calling on girls' table. How about Mel, Christine, Carrie, or Jessica? What did you guys discuss about, are we supposed to judge and deal differently with outsiders versus insiders? - I would say yes, to the answer. - Okay, why? - He said, within the church, it's, there's an accountability there.

And especially within the world of church, if you're signing on to the church, you have to ask for accountability in that sense. It's more of a, it's more of a discipline. And the work that's been done within the church or outside of the church, ultimately, there's a sense of they don't really know what the standard is.

So the level of the standard is different outside of the church. And ultimately, both groups are accountable to that, but especially the non-believers, because in a sense, they don't know what is the standard. So, like the way that, I just don't know what judgment, in regards to factors, should look completely different.

- Right, okay, good. So she says yes, should look completely different. Different accountability, different standards, different resources, everything, right? Yes? - This is a question I've been meaning to ask, it's a follow up from what you just said. - Okay. - This whole Supreme Court ruling that make this applicable.

- Yeah. - The whole Supreme Court ruling that seems to discourage, should Christians, should us Christians be, how should we respond? According to this past story. - Yeah. - Christians don't know the standard. - Yeah. So he just kind of asked, how should we respond to recent political news?

It was a huge kind of momentous decision. How should we respond? Obviously I can't give a thorough answer to that, but I think definitely, both parts. One, I think we all should care a lot. And actually we should all voice our opinions a lot. Why? Because you live here.

Because you have the privilege. So exercise your privilege. Thank God we don't live in a country where the government says, be quiet, we're gonna do what we do, you can't say anything. But we live in a country where actually the opinion, vote, and the perspective of the people matter a lot.

One person asked me, oh no, but there's separation of church and state, and you can never cross boundaries and stuff. And it's like, that's foolish. Because to tell you honestly, the vast majority of the laws are laws that are simply, in my mind, dependent upon what's enforceable. Every law is moral, every law is ethical, and one of the major factors as to why it exists or doesn't exist is the question of, is it enforceable or not?

So in either case, so that's one side. But the other side is, the Bible taught us we don't wage war against flesh and blood. Our battle is spiritual. Our battle is truly a battle of eternal trajectory. There's a battle for the glory of the Lord. And so we have to keep those two things in balance.

Where I don't think that, do I think that you should give up your careers and go fight this battle just on the grounds of homosexuality? No, I think you're wasting your life. Because again, our battle is spiritual. That's a brief summary, I think, of what I would say. But obviously there's so much more to be said about it.

But in line with that, actually what does matter is I've been reading a lot of articles about that subject to Christians. Where some people have written articles and said, hey Christians, the world's gonna do what it's gonna do, but how come you're celebrating this? Right? I think that's a legitimate question.

A letter addressing the Christians, like how come you don't have an opinion? How come you haven't thought about it? How come you don't care about it? Or how come you are on their side? Right? 'Cause that's kind of the gist of what this passage is saying, huh? It's like, now, Apostle Paul obviously has taught this church before and said, you need to be pure.

Your church needs to be holy, you know? And he has said, don't associate with these pagan people who drink all the time, who celebrate in pagan ways, who swindle people, who are covetous and are adoratrous and all that kind of stuff. And then he says, let me clarify your responsibility.

So that's the way I titled section four. Let me clarify your responsibility, okay? He says, you're responsible for your church. You're responsible for your brothers and sisters, right? So there's a sense in which I ask you this question in the section four, like, what does he mean by I don't associate and what's the overall command here?

How would you summarize his overall command? How about, I'm gonna call on Hannah Michelle. (Hannah laughs) Okay, don't associate with the so-called brother who is an immoral person. Think about that for a moment, okay? This is truly a challenge. You know, I'm gonna admit to you guys, I am not a confrontational person.

I always lean on the side of being patient with people, giving them time to come around, understanding their situation, and that's all necessary. But Apostle Paul is so concerned with the righteousness and holiness of the church. He says, if there's an individual who calls on the name of the Lord and considers themselves Christian, then what is he saying?

You need to go to the extent of not associating with them. Like, whoa, is that not a kind of like a wake-up call for us? For me, it is. He says, if a brother, so-called brother, is sexually immoral, greedy, idolatrous, slanderous, drunkard, or swindler, he says, don't associate with that person.

And you guys understand what don't associate with that person means. It's like, don't have regular fellowship, don't just shoot the breeze with that person, don't have social just like, oh, let's have fun together, that kind of stuff, right? But at the tail end of it, he would even give an extent over in verse 11.

Don't even eat with such a one. Don't even sit down and do what is so common, you do three times a day, eat, right? And so, this is the part where I do wanna talk a little bit about church discipline, because this is actually one of the longest segments in the Bible about church discipline.

Casting someone out, removing them from your fellowship, okay, this is a passage that has so many implications about how we practice church. In order for us to say, hey, leave us, there has to be a us, and that's part of the reason why we practice membership, right? And the way we practice membership, we have committed here at Berean that we will do everything that the Lord commands to the extent that we will cast out somebody and go all the way to the point of excommunication, right?

Well, in this, he says, what that looks like is, if you come to a point where you have to excommunicate somebody, don't even eat with such a one. There was a time in our church history where we had to go through this entire process, for those of you who are new at our church, we have done this process at our church, you know?

And we had to encourage the church to be strong in this, to have the right perspective in this, to have a redemptive, corrective, transformative agenda with this. But we also had to challenge people, but don't take this lightly either. Don't be like, oh, yeah, the church excommunicated you, but do you wanna watch a movie on Thursday?

You can't do that. Why? Let me read you a passage here in 2 Thessalonians, chapter three, verse 15. We hear that some among you are idle. There are people who are not working, who are just bumming it. They are not busy, they are busybodies. Such people we command and urge in the Lord Jesus Christ to settle down and earn the bread they eat.

And as for you, brothers, never tire of doing what is right. If anyone does not obey our instruction in this letter, take special note of him. Do not associate with him in order that he may feel ashamed. Okay, so he says here, do this practice of not associating with that individual so that he might feel ashamed.

He has to feel things are not right. He has to recognize I am not right with God and I'm not right with God's people. Does that make sense? But if a church says, hey, church, congregation, membership, we're gonna get together, we've prayed about this, we've talked to the individual, we've gone through the process, we're excommunicating this individual, and members of the church are like, yeah, that's what the leaders are saying, but he's my friend and I'm gonna go hang out with him.

We're gonna go play golf. We're gonna go bowling. You can't do that because what you're saying is the spiritual reality that does not matter. That's what you're saying. So again, I don't wanna belabor this point because we're not in the process right now, but the whole idea is, in thinking about the weight of sin and all that we've, oh, I just realized I've gone really long, all right.

In thinking about this whole idea, you just realize the weight behind it, right? To call every single member in the church to adhere to this, to call every single member in this church to be careful in how you interact with that person, you just realize the weight of sin, right?

The other passage that we have to read because it's so important to us is this in Matthew 18. If your brother sins against you, go and show him his fault just between the two of you. And so there is that principle. You always wanna keep it as small as possible.

Why? Because if the person repents, you've won him over. You don't need to go tell everybody. You don't need to go overly shame the guy when he's repentant. So keep it in the smallest possible, just the two of you. If he listens, you have won your brother. But if he will not listen, take one or two others along so that every matter may be established by testimony of two or three witnesses.

If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church. And if he refuses to listen to each, even to the church, treat him as you would a pagan or a tax collector. I tell you the truth, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.

Again, I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything you ask for, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven. For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them. Okay? So, in this passage, we just think about, in talking about like, what needs to take place in the church, I wanna say something to you guys as an important application.

Sin is just as bad now as it was in the days of Moses. Think about that, okay? I read to you guys passages where someone sinned, and because of their sin, they were stoned outside the camp by people's, essentially, hands. People picked up stones and they actually partook in the judgment of that sin.

The execution of the punishment for that sin. But you realize, just because we're in the New Testament, it has not diminished the severity of sin. Because, literally, Apostle Paul is quoting Old Testament scripture and saying, remove the wicked man from yourselves. And so, if you go with me in your Bibles to, let's say, Deuteronomy chapter, just let's do a quick run through of some of these passages.

I'm gonna wrap up here with this. If you look at Deuteronomy 17, verse seven, he talks about this. Verse six, actually, he says, well, I'll start from those first five. "Then you shall bring out that man or that woman "who has done this evil deed to your gates, "that is, the man or the woman, "and you shall stone them to death.

"On the evidence of two witnesses or three witnesses, "he who is to die shall be put to death. "He shall not be put to death on the evidence "of one witness. "The hand of the witness shall be first against him "to put him to death, and afterward, the hand of who?

"All the people. "So you shall," what? "Purge the evil from your midst." That's repeated in the next verses. I'm gonna, let's go over to chapter 21, verse 21. And it says here, I'm gonna start reading from verse 20. "They shall say to the elders of the city, "this son of ours is stubborn and rebellious.

"He will not obey us. "He is a glutton and a drunkard. "Then all the men of his city shall stone him to death, "so that you shall remove the evil from your midst, "and all Israel will hear it and fear." And fear, okay? There is a sense in which, at our church, in any Christian church, we shouldn't create an environment where people are afraid to be open and vulnerable, to be real and honest, right?

But also, we shouldn't create an environment where people are not afraid to sin. Right? We should not create an environment when people, if they sin, they're too afraid to come out with it because you're just gonna destroy them and plaster them on the wall with rebuke and embarrassment. But neither should you create a community where it's so lax, they're not afraid to sin anymore.

And so anybody who comes into our church, if they are dedicated to their sin, they should not feel okay being at our church. We should care so much about their well-being that they should realize it's just not okay. I don't feel comfortable with these people if they're committed to their sin.

But if they're committed to change, if they're committed to transform, if they're committed to be sanctified, then they should feel absolutely, like perfectly fitting into this community. Does that make sense? So today we're thinking about this topic, Apostle Paul is addressing a scenario where there was sin in the church and the sin was heinous and he was upset.

But he was also livid about the way that people were so insensitive, they did nothing about it. It's a challenge for us that we care enough about the standard of God and God's holiness that regardless of the way we make people feel, God's standard might be upheld. What's more, we should love the brother so much, we should mourn with him in his sin.

This is our sin, this is our pain. Any questions about this passage or the process of discipline and stuff? Yes. - I have one. So when you pick a church discipline, it's clear what happens with somebody who's a member. What happens hypothetically with somebody who is involved in the church but doesn't go through the membership process yet and then they leave because somebody confronts them about a sin?

- Yeah. - So in your perspective, is that still more or less the same situation in terms of like there's such a person who do not even eat? - Right. - So he professes to be a Christian, they just didn't go through the membership process. - Yeah. So two parts.

One, because if that person is coming into the church as a visitor or someone who's a regular attender and says that they're a Christian, there's still our responsibility. So we should still go and address the individual. And maybe even go to the extent of saying, I don't know if you are a Christian, and help that person think through it.

And let's say they just bounce to another church. Our elders have talked about this and said, you know it's our responsibility to contact that church if we find out. And so we have to tread carefully because when you talk about people and stuff like that, it's always kind of touchy, you know?

So we're trying our best to again, to keep that principle of people who kind of need to know and should know and care enough to know. And then, but typically then it's the leaders of the next church that they've gone to. And continue just to follow up on that person if at all possible.

So, but obviously we can't like practice that kind of excommunication. If the sin itself happened to be so detrimental that we felt like, so case by case, we felt like we had to address that to the church, then we would, yeah. So, yeah. Other questions or? - I have a quick question.

- Yeah. - You know how like there's a whole positive church discipline for someone who like after meeting up with them, like they still don't turn away from the person that you're still living with, but they don't see a problem in it. And you're saying to like not even associate, right?

- Yeah. - Through like not hanging out with them at all. And the purpose of that is so that they can, they'll be ashamed and so that ultimately maybe that will be restored, right? But, so are you, I guess in that situation, are you saying like to kind of just leave them alone so they kind of deal with it themselves, that you're not allowed to like support them or give them like, I don't know, just like pray for them or?

- Oh, okay. So his question is like, so let's say he's gone through the whole process of church discipline. What does that leave him alone look like? Does that mean just like literally just leave him alone and hope that he comes around? So the whole idea of that individual being excommunicated is that he cannot partake in the life of the church anymore.

So that person can't just come into service. That person can't just come into Bible study. And when we have church fellowship and stuff like that, that person is not just, hey, come on in, we're gonna have dinner together, right? So what's kind of expected of the church members is that if they have contact with that person, since the goal is redemptive, that the church member then continues to try to instruct and win that person over.

I'm pleading with you, man, just humble yourself and repent. Like, I don't know why you're being so defensive, you know? And just talk with the individual, plead with them. Like, I'm not sure if you feel it, but you're hardening yourself and, you know, look at all the consequences and stuff like that, you know?

So, yeah. Yes. Sure. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. All right, okay. All righty, then I hope you guys have a good discussion time. I just try to think of some questions here about, you know, was there anything that was convicting and stuff? Just to kind of explain one of the questions, I kind of phrased funny.

It's the, when do you warn a brother or reason with him as a parent or treat as a pagan or tax collector? So, what's really interesting, obviously, is like, like, yes, it does matter at what process of church discipline you're at, but also the Bible kind of teaches us, it's like in different scenarios and circumstances, you just like talk to people differently.

So, how do we exercise wisdom to say, hey, in what context do I become harsh, not harsh, but like strong, and say, hey, I'm treating you like, I'm talking to you like you're an unbeliever, like we're not on the same page, or at what times do we warn them as a brother and stuff like that, okay?

So, that's what I mean, it's just like, there's different scenarios that we function or try to win them over differently, okay?