“Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.” I Corinthians 5:8 NKJV
Reflection: what is polluting your walk with Christ that you need to remove from your life?
In our current culture and environment, some churches have allowed all sorts of deviant behavior into their midst. Not addressing it as sin as they should, but instead calling it something like being tolerant and accepting. Even more so, actually celebrating worldly behavior. The truth is that it takes a lot of courage for a church to follow the Bible, to preach purity in the flock, to deal with sin, and to root out evil in the midst. It is not easy, or popular. Some members might even leave, hurting the “bottom line” for the church.
Paul wrote to the church in Corinth about a situation of deviant behavior, that they had allowed in their church. He starts out “It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and such sexual immorality as is not even named among the Gentiles—that a man has his father’s wife! And you are puffed up, and have not rather mourned, that he who has done this deed might be taken away from among you.” I Corinthians 5:1-2 NKJV. This would raise eyebrows even in today’s “progressive” churches, so you can see why Paul was appalled. And not only was the church allowing this to be in their midst, they were celebrating and even boasting of their tolerance.
And Paul is calling it for what it is – sin, and it must be removed from the church. “Your glorying is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump? Therefore purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, since you truly are unleavened. For indeed Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us.” I Corinthians 5:6-7 NKJV. And, because this man was clearly destructive to the body of Christ, Paul was not just calling for the sin itself to be removed. No, he says the man who has done this must be removed from the flock. “God judges those outside. “Purge the evil person from among you.”” 1 Corinthians 5:13 ESV. Certainly not a very “tolerant” message. But we are not called to be tolerant of the world. “You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.” James 4:4 ESV
It is not a popular message to many churches and congregations in today’s culture. But it is a necessary message, in a time when so many people are looking for direction in life as an alternative to tic-tac or instagram. And it is a message also to us individually, to look at our own lives. What are we tolerating for ourselves and our families? What are we watching, listening to, and consuming? Which “friends”are we keeping? Brothers and sisters in Christ, we need to hear this, and humble ourselves before the Lord. To reject and remove all evil poisoning us, to repent before the Lord. And encourage our church leaders to take a tough stance on sin, and to remove it from the church body. As Paul said in the focus verse “Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.” I Corinthians 5:8 NKJV.