Back to Corinth: 1 Cor. 5:1-13

Verse 6: “Your glorying is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump?”

A male church leader and a female church pianist once confessed to the pastor of an affair with each other (both were married to other spouses). The church was shocked; the pastor, with the support of the deacons, took appropriate action. The church leader stepped down from his leadership role as did the pianist from hers. They were both genuinely repentant and sought help in mending their marriages. In this manner, the church had to defend against the corruption of sin into its membership, and two families were ultimately restored.

Paul had an opposite problem here; it was reported to him that a brother in the Corinthian church was guilty of active sexual immorality. The difference here is, not only had the brother not repented of it and was still sinning, and not only had the Corinthian church not acted to discipline him, they actually were proud to the point of acceptance of it! (The verse quoted above is NKJV; NIV translation uses the phrase above “Your boasting is not good”.

Paul couldn’t believe his ears! Corinth historically was a city that had an open acceptance of loose and open sexual lifestyles (page 80, Deeper Discoveries, A. Sexual Immorality (5:1), in Holman’s New Testament Commentary of I & II Corinthians). Paul reminded them that the church, although ministering to sinners and unbelievers, is supposed to be different from the world. When people see the church tolerating sin that they supposedly are against, they cry “hypocrite!” It hurts the ministry of the Gospel when the church tolerates sin, worse when it brags about it! When ministering to a member about their sin, if they are unrepentant, the church has to take action. Sometimes that action is to dismiss them from the fellowship (in verse 5 of this passage, Paul calls on the church to “deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus”). Hopefully when the fallen member comes to repentance, then we should be faithful to welcome them back.

Reading that passage about historical Corinth calls forth comparisons to the modern world and some churches we have today. We don’t need to let Satan poison the whole church with one little piece of bad “leaven”. We should always confess our sins to God and seek our church family’s help in repenting of that sin.

Something to think about.

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Back to Corinth: 1 Cor. 4:16-21

Verse 16: “Therefore I urge you, imitate me.”

Chief Martin Brody had had a hard day. Between dealing with the mayor of Amity and the politics of not hurting the island’s tourist business and the more serious matter of convincing people that they had a shark problem on their hands (after the deaths that had occurred), he was worn. At home, after supper while his wife was putting away dishes, the chief sat at the table with his young son, Sean. He took a drink from his glass, and so did Sean. He put his head in his hands, and so did Sean. His wife paused at the kitchen door, watching this interplay. Brody then finally cut his eyes toward his son and realized he was imitating him. He interlocked his fingers, and Sean followed suit. He flexed his fingers and so did Sean. Then he slowly made a mean face with his hands and Sean, in his little boy way, tried to do the same…the result was a funny little face. The chief leaned over to him and said “Come here.” Sean leaned over and the Brody said “give us a kiss”. “Why?” Sean asked innocently. After a pause, the chief said, “because I need it.” Sean kissed his daddy on the cheek, and shortly thereafter was sent up to bed. Despite the weary load he carried, Brody knew he was still a hero in his son’s eyes…all because of his imitation of him.

The above scene was from the blockbuster movie Jaws, directed by Steven Spielberg. While watching the clip on Youtube, I read a post from someone who claimed that this scene took place between shots, and was not even in the script at the time. Spielberg, when he saw it, filmed it and put it in the movie. (Again, this was from an unsubstantiated post, but it would be neat if it was true).

An oft old axiom goes, “Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.” For children who love their parents, it is normally a sign of their love that they imitate what they do. Paul here was urging the Corinthian church, who he called “his children” to imitate him…not imitate false leaders. He wanted them to adhere to the true Gospel and more, to adopt the humility that he showed, not the false pride they seemed to be displaying. Of course, this meant they would be called “fools” by the world, but that was what Paul was called for the sake of spreading the Gospel (references here from my Holman Concordance on I & II Corinthians, and my Holman Bible footnotes).

So whom are you imitating today?

Something to think about today.

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Back to Corinth: 1 Cor. 4:8-15

Verse 11: “To the present hour we both hunger and thirst, and we are poorly clothed, and beaten, and homeless.”

I was recalling the first time I went through the Corinthian books, and I saw a small notation on this passage. I did a series before on the 4-1-1; verses of the New Testament that were chapter 4, verse 11. But God struck me with some insight on all those references He led me too.

As much as we don’t like to repeat ourselves…well, I’ll put it the way a Christian brother put it to me through a devotional one time. He detoured off the main point to “chase a rabbit…but this is a good rabbit to chase”! This was the post from the 4-1-1 series, and is even more appropriate today.

Paul above is describing what he and his fellow apostles are going through in proclaiming the faith. Many Christians were persecuted in the days of the Roman Empire, not just by the Romans, but by the religious leaders who rejected Jesus.

Well, yeah, that’s way back then…that doesn’t happen in the 21st century now.

In the words of the stereotypical addicted gambler, “want to bet?”

Ask the Christians in northern Iraq today who are being hounded out of their homes by Islamic militants.

Ask the Christians in heavily Muslim countries who are targeted and martyred just because they are Christians.

Ask Christians in the United States: have someone make a statement that is somewhat derogatory toward any other religion and watch the outrage and backlash on the news…let the derogatory remark be about Christians and listen to the silence or the apathy.

Persecution still happens today to Christians. Take heart; Jesus said in Matthew 5:10-12: “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, For theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake. Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”

Something to think about today.

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Back to Corinth: 1 Cor. 4:6-7

Verse 7: “For who makes you differ from another? And what do you have that you did not receive? Now if you did indeed receive it, why do you boast as if you had not received it?”

There once was a little boy who lived on a farm. When he began attending elementary school, his mom (like most parents) made his lunch and put it in his lunchbox. Every day, he’d open his lunch to discover as the main entrée, a small Thermos container with a hot vegetable that his family grew on the farm (sometimes it might be butter beans, or black-eyed peas, or even homemade soup). The little boy later on noticed that all his other classmates seemed to have sandwiches, and he began to feel…different.

He asked his mother and she explained it was more nutritious for him to eat something that they grew on the farm rather than have to buy sandwich meat and the fixings to go with it from the store. Finally he confided in his friends one day, that he wished he could have a sandwich like they had. Astonished, his friends told him that they wished they could have hot vegetables like he had!

Now, he could’ve bragged about having hot vegetables, but what would have that have gained? He didn’t fix the lunch, his mother did! Having a hot meal didn’t make him any better than his classmates. All that he had in his lunchbox had been prepared for him; he didn’t fix his own lunch (granted, I know this is a small child we’re talking about!)

Paul was admonishing the Corinthian church along the same lines. Apparently, they were feeling a little “superior” to non-believers, and that wasn’t good! (I think about the old Church Lady character of Dana Carvey’s on Saturday Night Live, doing her “superior dance”). Paul reminded them that what they had was by grace given; they didn’t possess it from the start. Rather than brag, they needed to reach out to the unbelievers and tell them of Jesus’s gift of God’s grace, that they could have it too! The church is not an exclusive club in this case; everyone is welcome to join.

Something to think about.

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