LIVE LIKE JESUS' FOLLOWER
Sakkie Parsons
Translated from Afrikaans: “Leef soos Jesus se volgeling”
Someone wrote to me and asked the following question:
"1 Corinthians 5:9 – is this basically about people in the church?"
Let us read 1 Corinthians first:
1COR 5:9 When I wrote to you before, I told you not to associate with people who indulge in sexual sin.
As an introduction, I would like to share with you the following as a matter of interest:
The letter known as 1 Corinthians is indeed 1 Corinthians in the Word – but this is not the first letter Paul wrote to the Corinthians.
That is why we read here in 1 Corinthians 5:9 about a previous letter:
1COR 5:9 When I wrote to you before….
His previous letter is then actually 1 Corinthians who went lost.
Many writings were going around in the beginning of Christianity, but how wonderful to know that because the Word/Bible is Holy Spirit inspired, all that Paul and the other writers wrote that are meant to be for our Lord's followers of all times, is included in His Word for us.
2 TIM 3:16 All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right.
2 TIM 3:17 God uses it to prepare and equip his people to do every good work.
Back to the question namely:
"Is this basically just about people in the church?"
Then the answer is – Yes, surely this is about the people in the church.
Let me explain:
At the time Paul started the church in Corinth, it was an extremely evil city.
The temple of Venus was the goddess of love in Corinth and immorality has, to put it this way, reached unprecedented levels.
For example:
Part of the religion of Venus involved a thousand prostitutes in the temple who, let's call it, ‘did service”.
Now the immorality and religious conviction of Venus also manifested in the church of Corinth and now Paul writes:
1COR 5:9 When I wrote to you before, I told you not to associate with people who indulge in sexual sin.
Then Paul goes on to explain what he did not mean in the previous letter, the one that is lost to us:
1 COR 5:10 But I wasn’t talking about unbelievers who indulge in sexual sin, or are greedy, or cheat people, or worship idols. You would have to leave this world to avoid people like that.
Paul says that he is not talking about the unbelievers living around them. No, he is talking about people in the congregation who call themselves Christians, who live even more evil than the unbelievers around them.
We read:
1 COR 5:1 I can hardly believe the report about the sexual immorality going on among you—something that even pagans don’t do..
No, he says – He did not talk about the unbelievers. He speaks of them – the church in Corinth:
1 COR 5:10 But I wasn’t talking about unbelievers who indulge in sexual sin, or are greedy, or cheat people, or worship idols. You would have to leave this world to avoid people like that.
Then Paul goes on to explain to us what he meant in the previous letter (the lost letter for us):
1 COR 5:11 I meant that you are not to associate with anyone who claims to be a believer yet indulges in sexual sin, or is greedy, or worships idols, or is abusive, or is a drunkard, or cheats people. Don’t even eat with such people.
Our Lord does not want me to condemn other people in the world.
Condemn their sin – but preach to them the gospel of Jesus Christ.
However, it is my duty as a child of our Lord to help people in the congregation who do not live by Christian standards and to address them in love – after of course I have first prayed about it – so that I may acquire the right wisdom to share with them and if they still do not want to repent of that evil way of life, then there comes a time that I should distance myself entirely from them.
You see, if you do not warn/approach your fellow brother or sister who lives wrong as a Christian, satan is going to aggravate things in the church more and more. As it also happened then and as it does today under the Christian community – it is likewise happening more and more.
Sin is like a contagious disease and similar to a contagious disease – if you do not make immediate work of it, it becomes a deadly epidemic.
In the case of sin, it then becomes a spiritually deadly epidemic.
The church in Corinth did not address things in the church that went wrong and when Paul finally heard about it, it was already so bad that he had to write to them in shock about their way of living:
1 COR 5:1 I can hardly believe the report about the sexual immorality going on among you—something that even pagans don’t do…
So far concerning 1Corinthians 5: 9 and the church in Corinth.
Today, in the time we live, and I'm not talking about the non-Christians – after all, we were told in advance that the world was going to become more and more evil – I'm talking about Christianity. Because more and more we find among most Christians today the same tendency that manifests itself in the congregation of Corinth.
People like my hero Paul who gave the lead at the start of Christianity, would be stunned if they could see what goes through as custom today for most Christians.
Therefore, let me and you who are Christians, live like Jesus' followers, so that people in this way can see the difference between us and the world.
Because my friend, we read:
1THS 4:7 God has called us to live holy lives, not impure lives.
1THS 4:8 Therefore, anyone who refuses to live by these rules is not disobeying human teaching but is rejecting God, who gives his Holy Spirit to you.
ROM 12:1 And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him.
ROM 12:2 Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.
Someone asks:
"What is the standard by which I have to live that you would recommend?
Then I would like to answer as follows for Christians who have read up to the end of this writing:
PHIL 4:8 And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise.
Then, my fellow pilgrim on the way to eternal life where we are going to be with Jesus –
If you believe what you have just read – then simply what you need to do is:
Live it out.
Greetings,
Sakkie