SPEAKER_00: Good morning, church fam.
SPEAKER_00: It's good to be with you.
SPEAKER_00: In case you don't know me very well, my name is Drew Littweiler.
SPEAKER_00: I get the privilege of being able to work as a part of the staff here at Cross Point.
SPEAKER_00: Um, usually get to work as the pastor of student ministries, and um I I think that a lot of what my job entails is directing energy, hopefully in the right direction.
SPEAKER_00: But to be fair, there's a lot of good reason to have um a lot of energy and excitement around student ministries these days.
SPEAKER_00: Fall kickoff is around the corner.
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, school starts back up, but fall kickoff is around the corner.
SPEAKER_00: And I just want to highlight that parent info meeting.
SPEAKER_00: If you are a parent of uh rising fifth graders or just don't really know a whole lot about the student ministry, would love to connect with you next week, share our vision and values and how we want to partner with you in helping guide students into an authentic faith of their own.
SPEAKER_00: But on the student front, September 2nd is our actual kickoff event, and we're doing Nerf Wars.
SPEAKER_00: And so really excited about that.
SPEAKER_00: Um, part of it is a selfish decision.
SPEAKER_00: I just want to do Nerf Wars, and we would like students to be there.
SPEAKER_00: No, I'm kidding.
SPEAKER_00: It's gonna be a really great thing for students.
SPEAKER_00: Um yeah, so well, I'm I'm excited to be in this capacity with you this morning up here.
SPEAKER_00: I do want to give a bit of like a parental discretion is advised for this sermon.
SPEAKER_00: And no, I'm not joking around.
SPEAKER_00: Um, we are gonna be in the passage of the Bible, the first Corinthians chapter five.
SPEAKER_00: And just as a brief overview, this has to deal with a man and his probably his stepmom.
SPEAKER_00: Um, and so and so we're gonna be talking about uh some pretty scandalous stuff for a while and how that does apply to us, the mess that was going on in 1 Corinthians.
SPEAKER_00: But so middle school, high school students, not really worried about you.
SPEAKER_00: We're gonna keep it about PG 13 level.
SPEAKER_00: However, parents, if you have any elementary age kids in here, I'll leave that up to your discretion.
SPEAKER_00: We are gonna be talking, um, facing what the text has to say and how that applies to us, and using the appropriate language for that while not shying away from it or making it more than what uh we ought to.
SPEAKER_00: So just want to let you know.
SPEAKER_00: And if uh you need a moment to look up 1 Corinthians chapter 5, I have a bit of an extended intro so you can do that and decide for yourself.
SPEAKER_00: I promise it will not take you very long to see what we're talking about in that passage.
SPEAKER_00: So keeping about PG 13.
SPEAKER_00: Just want to let you guys know about that.
SPEAKER_00: Well, if you don't know me very well and want to get to know me better, um you need to know that I am the living embodiment of two things that generally don't mix well: high interest in football and emotional sensitivity.
SPEAKER_00: It it does it.
SPEAKER_00: And in rural Indiana, where there's a lot of hometown pride and not a whole lot else going on, our coaches yelled at us a lot.
SPEAKER_00: And I did not handle that very well.
SPEAKER_00: Um, but I had to work through it, and all at the end of the day was good for me.
SPEAKER_00: But many times they told us they yelled at us because they cared.
SPEAKER_00: And I actually believe that um because um after one of the worst mistakes I made in my brief high school football career, my coach just gave me a confused look and then moved on, and that was by far worse than getting yelled at.
SPEAKER_00: Um, they yelled because they cared.
SPEAKER_00: And now I see this as an example, maybe an imperfect one, but as an example of a biblical truth, Proverbs 3 uh kind of tells us that God also brings about discipline to his children, like a good father, in order to grow them into maturity.
SPEAKER_00: And we are in this series called Maturing in the Mess, walking through the letter of 1 Corinthians, and there's a lot of mess in this one letter in this one particular church.
SPEAKER_00: And today, in particular, today's passage, there's a lot of very strong language.
SPEAKER_00: And so I want to do a bit of a reminder that, hey, a sermon is a snapshot.
SPEAKER_00: Um, it was, it's been my pleasure to actually study and get into this passage, one that has got had me scratching my head for years.
SPEAKER_00: But I won't be able to address every single detail with you this morning, even if I have been able to read on it.
SPEAKER_00: That's why when the fall comes around, sermon discussion groups are so important.
SPEAKER_00: It's been a huge encouragement for me and my family to be part of one this last year and to go a little bit deeper into what the sermon, uh, maybe where the sermon couldn't go or didn't go.
SPEAKER_00: Um, but also I just want to say I'm gonna be right here after the sermon, and I can have a brief conversation with you in case there's any holes that need to be filled, or talk to our preaching team or our leadership team would love to talk to you more about what God might be doing in your heart through this passage.
SPEAKER_00: Anyway, the church in Corinth, similar to my situation, was an embodiment of two things that don't mix well: holiness and arrogance.
SPEAKER_00: Back in 1 Corinthians chapter 3, 16 and 17, Paul describes the Corinthian church as God's holy temple.
SPEAKER_00: Now, from that idea, he starts taking their current conduct and flipping it on its head to illustrate really how upside down their thinking is, especially about themselves and their own giftedness, their own position, about their community and who's in and who's out, and about the leaders in the church.
SPEAKER_00: But at this point, in keeping with the theme of the church as the holy temple, Paul begins to address specific community issues such as this one.
SPEAKER_00: And there's several moments in this passage where you're kind of like, what?
SPEAKER_00: And so I will be interjecting my own what throughout this passage, especially as I started studying this.
SPEAKER_00: I was like, I have no idea.
SPEAKER_00: I don't know why they gave this one to the youth pastor, but here we are.
SPEAKER_00: Um, I'm actually really excited about this passage.
SPEAKER_00: But hey, 1 Corinthians chapter 5.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, follow along with me as I read it.
SPEAKER_00: It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and the kind of sexual immorality that is not even tolerated among the Gentiles.
SPEAKER_00: A man is sleeping with his father's wife.
SPEAKER_00: What?
SPEAKER_00: And you are arrogant.
SPEAKER_00: Shouldn't you be filled with grief and remove from your congregation the one who did this?
SPEAKER_00: Even though I am absent in the body, I am present in spirit.
SPEAKER_00: As one who is present with you in this way, I have already pronounced judgment on the one who has been doing such a thing.
SPEAKER_00: When you are assembled in the name of our Lord Jesus, and I am with you in spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus, hand that one over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh.
SPEAKER_00: What?
SPEAKER_00: So that his spirit might be saved in the day of the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: Your boasting is not good.
SPEAKER_00: Don't you know that a little leaven leavens the whole batch of dough?
SPEAKER_00: Clean out the old leaven so that you may be a new unleavened batch.
SPEAKER_00: And at this point, I'm kind of like, wait, what are we talking about?
SPEAKER_00: Hey, as indeed you are.
SPEAKER_00: For Christ, our Passover lamb has been sacrificed.
SPEAKER_00: Therefore, let us observe the feast, not with old leaven or with the leaven of malice and evil, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.
SPEAKER_00: I wrote to you in a letter not to associate with sexually immoral people.
SPEAKER_00: I did not mean the immoral people of this world or the greedy and swindlers or idolaters.
SPEAKER_00: Otherwise, you would have to leave the world.
SPEAKER_00: But actually, I wrote to you not to associate with anyone who claims to be a brother or sister, and is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or verbally abusive, a drunkard or a swindler.
SPEAKER_00: Do not even eat with such a person.
SPEAKER_00: What?
SPEAKER_00: For what business is it of mine to judge outsiders?
SPEAKER_00: Don't you judge those who are inside?
SPEAKER_00: God judges outsiders.
SPEAKER_00: Remove the evil person from among you.
SPEAKER_00: What in the world is happening here?
SPEAKER_00: I think asking questions of the text is actually the most appropriate way to go about exploring this.
SPEAKER_00: So we're navigating today's passage will look like asking three questions.
SPEAKER_00: What exactly is going on here?
SPEAKER_00: Why is the whole community involved, and why are we called to this?
SPEAKER_00: And how does this actually apply to us, assuming we're not in the same situation?
SPEAKER_00: So the questions are what, why, and how.
SPEAKER_00: But y'all, let's pray first.
SPEAKER_00: All right, let's pray first.
SPEAKER_00: Will you pray with me?
SPEAKER_00: Heavenly Father, we come before you grateful and humbled, um, and want to give you all the credit and glory because you are the God who makes all things new.
SPEAKER_00: And that includes us.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you for the renewal on life that you offer to each and every one of us.
SPEAKER_00: Lord, for those of us who have not leaned in and accepted that renewal yet, would you move in hearts and minds to give about, to bring about courage and conviction to trust you more than any other narrative in their hearts?
SPEAKER_00: Lord, for those of us who proclaim your name already and take your name as part of our identity, would you continue to open our eyes to how we might live into that renewal?
SPEAKER_00: Lord Jesus, in your mercy, would you grant me clarity of thought and concision of speech today?
SPEAKER_00: And in the midst of a very high challenge, show us the encouragement and hope that is there and the love that surrounds everything you do.
SPEAKER_00: We love you, Lord Jesus, and we do so because you first loved us.
SPEAKER_00: And it's in your name that we pray these things.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: Alright, ready?
SPEAKER_00: Here we go.
SPEAKER_00: So a man who calls himself a Christian, fellow Christian, is sleeping with his father's wife.
SPEAKER_00: And not just sleeping, yes, we're talking about having sex with his father's wife.
SPEAKER_00: The Greek term used for this is the word pornea, which is a very general term that could include a lot of different things, but it's a general term for sexual immorality, um, and is which is often linked with idolatry or worshiping other gods, but definitely includes cases of incest like we have right here.
SPEAKER_00: Now, in doing some research, uh commentators think that this man is likely, or this man, this this lady is likely the man's stepmother.
SPEAKER_00: Okay?
SPEAKER_00: Not that it makes it any better, um, but that might be the situation.
SPEAKER_00: And that she is not actually a believer, not part of the church, uh, because Paul really has nothing to say to her or say about her.
SPEAKER_00: And most people think that this is an ongoing relationship, one that this man is refusing to turn away from.
SPEAKER_00: Because the more the literal Greek here is it is a man has his father's wife.
SPEAKER_00: Has being something that is ongoing and present even to today.
SPEAKER_00: So, this is not a case of a one-night stand or a drunken mistake.
SPEAKER_00: Not that those things are good, but this this is this is bad.
SPEAKER_00: This is bad.
SPEAKER_00: So bad that even the culture around them would frown upon something like this, which is very scandalous, because Jews and Christians, for really most of history, have always been in the minority when it comes to their views on sexuality and marriage.
SPEAKER_00: And we've always had this, historically, we've always had this higher vision for what marriage and sexuality is for and can be, and a very high call toward sexual expression according to God's way.
SPEAKER_00: But what was happening here, not the Gentiles around them, they they they even would have been like, oh my goodness, what is going on in the church?
SPEAKER_00: And Paul is flabbergasted by this, and three times very explicitly, and a couple other times throughout the passage, more indirectly, Paul gives instructions to remove this man from the church.
SPEAKER_00: So that means that when the church gathers, they were supposed to have an official sort of removal process, shunning, excommunication service, whatever you want to say, to the point of not even being allowed to eat with him in more private company.
SPEAKER_00: The term here is keeping close or intimate company with.
SPEAKER_00: And apparently this had become a community-wide issue.
SPEAKER_00: This had grown and inflated due to the church's arrogance or their boasting, literally their swollenness or inflatedness.
SPEAKER_00: The man sleeping with his father's wife was contributing to a division in the Corinthian church community.
SPEAKER_00: And I don't know, we don't get it from Paul exactly what that looked like to how how that spread, other than boasting, but if I had to put myself in their shoes in that time, I would imagine this could look like a range of things, like perverse locker room type jokes, or maybe just the fact there's intrigue around a scandal.
SPEAKER_00: It could look like blatant promotion, like, yeah, go for it.
SPEAKER_00: Um, it could just be people rolling their eyes and settling into apathetic contentment, just appalled gossip, whatever it is, I don't know.
SPEAKER_00: But it is a difficult moment for the family of God when we allow our arrogance to shape us to look more like the culture, or worse, than like our Savior Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: And Paul doesn't really deal with this individual very much.
SPEAKER_00: Actually, the vast majority of his instructions here are for the community at large, not just the person committing the sin.
SPEAKER_00: And that's because Paul is concerned about the reputation that God's people have with the outside world.
SPEAKER_00: Because this issue is undermining and compromising the message that's supposed to be living within God's people, that we are made new.
SPEAKER_00: We are holy, we are like Christ, we are the temple where the Spirit of God lives.
SPEAKER_00: And so sometimes love requires confronting sin in the church in order to protect the witness, holiness, and health of the community.
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes love will require us to confront sin among us in order to protect our witness, our holiness, and the health of our community.
SPEAKER_00: And in this example, Paul has very strong language and calls for very strong action here.
SPEAKER_00: Now, the first thing Paul actually exhorts the Corinthians to do is mourn.
SPEAKER_00: And I hope that whenever we hear any kind of church scandal today that divides and devastates communities, I hope that as Christians, our first response really is grief.
SPEAKER_00: Hope it's grief.
SPEAKER_00: Because we live in a culture of failure intrigue, right?
SPEAKER_00: Where we we find a sort of secret, sometimes not so secret, delight when others have moral missteps.
SPEAKER_00: So we can be, I don't know, comforted, or maybe just feel a little bit better about the little mistakes in our life.
SPEAKER_00: So whether these people are politicians, celebrities, religious leaders, CEOs, public educators, or stars on reality TV, there's an energy around watching a drama and a disaster play out, right?
SPEAKER_00: At least I think so.
SPEAKER_00: But even among those who call themselves Christians today, there's a market and money to be made around church scandals.
SPEAKER_00: There's articles that can be written, podcasts that can be sold, documentaries featuring the failures of the church.
SPEAKER_00: But as we seek to mature in the mess, I hope that our first response is grief, because grief can provide a humbling of our spirits as we see reflected our own inadequacies before our holy God.
SPEAKER_00: Grief as a sense of loss as we mourn that our fellow brothers and sisters are suffering.
SPEAKER_00: And grief as a season to pause before practicing discernment and even judgment.
SPEAKER_00: And Paul does call the church community to judge the sins within its own house.
SPEAKER_00: And this judgment is supposed to be a collected and gathered effort to distance themselves from the culpability of one whose allegiance is currently compromised.
SPEAKER_00: This man wasn't allowed to gather with the Corinthian church for a time.
SPEAKER_00: Nor were they allowed to even eat with him.
SPEAKER_00: And this is very strong action, and I don't think this is meant to be imitated as disconnected individuals, but as a whole community.
SPEAKER_00: And the person on the receiving end of this community action is likely in an unrepentant state.
SPEAKER_00: This is not just, ah, this is the imperfections within all of us.
SPEAKER_00: This is a very high degree of stubbornness, pride, and community-wide division.
SPEAKER_00: But Paul is using strong language.
SPEAKER_00: He even quotes a passage in Deuteronomy toward the end of this chapter about how to deal with somebody who in the ancient Israel was guilty of violating God's sacred covenant by worshiping other gods, and that was a public execution by stoning.
SPEAKER_00: He quotes, remove the evil person from among you.
SPEAKER_00: And we kind of have to, this is one of those what moments where scratch our head.
SPEAKER_00: Isn't the church about forgiveness?
SPEAKER_00: Well, yes, yes.
SPEAKER_00: And here's where that starts to come in.
SPEAKER_00: There's a connection, if you guys are at all uh triggered in your memories or um what you know about the Bible, Matthew 18, when Jesus talks about uh trying to deal with conflict or sin within the community.
SPEAKER_00: Here's verses 15 to 20 of Matthew 18.
SPEAKER_00: So this is Jesus talking.
SPEAKER_00: If your brother sins against you, go tell him his fault between you and him alone.
SPEAKER_00: If he listens to you, you have won your brother.
SPEAKER_00: But if he won't listen, take one or two others with you, so that by the testimony of two or three witnesses, every fact may be established.
SPEAKER_00: If he doesn't pay attention to them, tell the church.
SPEAKER_00: If he doesn't pay attention even to the church, let him be like a Gentile and a tax collector to you.
SPEAKER_00: Probably interpreted as some level of distancing and shunning here.
SPEAKER_00: Truly I tell you, whatever you bind on earth will have been bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will have been loosed in heaven.
SPEAKER_00: Again, truly I tell you, if two of you on earth agree about any matter that you pray for, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven.
SPEAKER_00: For where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them.
SPEAKER_00: I think Matthew 18 passage in the 1 Corinthians 5 passage actually lines up way more than there's any tension.
SPEAKER_00: First off, we're talking about a presence there, the presence of the Lord in dealing with conflict.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus says, I'm going to be with you in that.
SPEAKER_00: Paul is also similarly saying, Hey, I'm with you in this, but more importantly, so is the Lord Jesus when you go to enact this sort of discipline.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is all his first goal here in these conflicts is always about restoration.
SPEAKER_00: And I think that's Paul's too.
SPEAKER_00: We'll get to that in a minute in the why section.
SPEAKER_00: But I do think that these passages do uh line up more than they don't.
SPEAKER_00: Mainly because Paul is dealing with, if if Jesus gives like three levels of how to deal with conflict, Paul's dealing at somebody, something that's already at level three.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, he's not dealing with like there's something going on, there's a private thing that only a few people know about.
SPEAKER_00: Oh nope, now now he's just not listening.
SPEAKER_00: This is community-wide, this is unrepentant, he's closed off to listening or any kind of correction, and drastic action must be taken for the sake of the church.
SPEAKER_00: So I do think this is following in Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: However, if you're feeling any tension about anything I have said today, or about this passage being a very high and hard call to deal with sin in ourselves and among our community, let's transition to the why behind this passage, which I think illustrates the grace that has been present throughout this entire ordeal.
SPEAKER_00: So why?
SPEAKER_00: Why is the community involved and why are we doing things like this?
SPEAKER_00: So looking back to the man who's sleeping with his father's wife, Paul calls to remove him from the church so that in verse 5 his spirit might be saved.
SPEAKER_00: Paul does have a striking call to hand this man over to Satan for the destruction of his flesh.
SPEAKER_00: Now, this is not talking about Paul making a declaration about this man's eternal destiny, nor is it a call for the death penalty, because there's clearly about eating with other people afterward.
SPEAKER_00: And I think flesh here is referring to the sin, the arrogance of sin, the desires of sin as the opposite of what our holy calling is in Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Now, the whole point for this action is aimed toward restoration, just like what Jesus teaches in Matthew 18.
SPEAKER_00: Paul's hope for the man is to feel the distance between how far he has wandered and the path that his community is on, so that this removal allows the man to fully embrace his sin in order that he reaps all the consequences of it to incentivize him back toward the way of Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: I think better put uh was a quote from a guy named Gordon Fee, he was a theologian, and he wrote a lot of um commentaries, including one on 1 Corinthians, and this quote uh really struck me as in my reading.
SPEAKER_00: It said, Maybe the most significant thing we can learn from such a text is how far many of us are removed from a view of the church in which the dynamic of the spirit was so real that exclusion could be a genuinely redemptive process.
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, because once uh once I've experienced the Holy Spirit moving, I don't want to be a part of that, or apart from that, excuse me.
SPEAKER_00: And also speaking of distance from our culture and their culture, this this term church discipline has often been used, I should say misused to shame, control, and target others.
SPEAKER_00: But I think this passage is actually calling us to explore how we might find restorative ways of protecting the church.
SPEAKER_00: Because even though we're called to confront sin within the church, I think church discipline should always be aimed toward restoration.
SPEAKER_00: Church discipline should always be aimed toward restoration.
SPEAKER_00: And at the basic one on one level, I think those conversations have three structures.
SPEAKER_00: It's I love you and I'm concerned for you, and I'm committed to journey with you.
SPEAKER_00: I love you, I'm concerned for you.
SPEAKER_00: For you, and I'm committed to journey with you.
SPEAKER_00: Even though apparently this man was not willing to do the work.
SPEAKER_00: But he is a brother in Christ, and we want to be aimed toward restoration because we want our family to be whole again.
SPEAKER_00: Not to shame others and parade them as examples of sin that we can not even relate to, but because we want to be one family again.
SPEAKER_00: So instead of arrogance or complacency toward a divisive sin issue, the church community is called to mourn and judge the offender toward restoration.
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: Because a little leaven goes a long way.
SPEAKER_00: Or as we might say, a bad apple spoils the bunch.
SPEAKER_00: One person's sin has the potential to create ripple effects that others will feel at varying relational distances and at varying times.
SPEAKER_00: How many of us know that to be true?
SPEAKER_00: Of like, oh man, the consequences of what I did back then is rearing its head again.
SPEAKER_00: But also more than that, a little arrogance spreads through a community fast.
SPEAKER_00: I think that's what leaven is getting at here, this boasting, this arrogance through the community.
SPEAKER_00: So Paul employs the Passover to illustrate his point, especially talking about this unleavened bread.
SPEAKER_00: As God's temple, we are to practice Passover living.
SPEAKER_00: And central to the Passover was the removal of leaven from the house.
SPEAKER_00: How many people like how many guys make your own bread at home?
SPEAKER_00: How many people?
SPEAKER_00: A few?
SPEAKER_00: Okay, I'm seeing some shy hands.
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
SPEAKER_00: If you actually make your own bread, can I can I see your hands?
SPEAKER_00: I'm very curious.
SPEAKER_00: Oh my, oh, you guys, you guys are holding out on me.
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, yeah, awesome.
SPEAKER_00: Uh that this is one of the cool trends I think that came out of COVID.
SPEAKER_00: People actually wanted to make their own bread.
SPEAKER_00: Um I'm very fascinated by this, and I want to try it myself when I have time, right?
SPEAKER_00: Um, because I've had some of y'all's homemade bread, and it is so good.
SPEAKER_00: And so I want to see if I can do it too.
SPEAKER_00: Now, leaven is not quite the same thing as yeast that we would know about in our day.
SPEAKER_00: Leaven is a rising rising agent for bread, uh, as I've looked into it, but it's actually the fermented leftovers of like last week's bread that's used in the new batch, the new dough, uh to help make that rise and make more bread.
SPEAKER_00: Now, Paul is transporting our imaginations back to the first Passover.
SPEAKER_00: If you'll recall in the Exodus story, when God has declared the Israelites to be his people, but Pharaoh has declared them to be his slaves.
SPEAKER_00: So Paul begins, or excuse me, Paul, God starts a rescue mission from slavery in Egypt, and he tells them about the Passover, and God's people listen to God's voice.
SPEAKER_00: They they get rid of any kind of leaven in the house, all the old dough, all the old bread, they eat the unleavened bread, they sacrifice the Passover lamb and paint its blood on their door frames, making a very bold statement about their allegiance to God rather than Pharaoh, who then delivers them from slavery in that last plague.
SPEAKER_00: So today, God has already promised salvation into a new life through the blood of his Son Jesus Christ, demonstrating his power by raising him from the dead.
SPEAKER_00: So now let all of us who call on the name of Jesus continue to live, discerning the leaven from our old way of life, what we could call our first formation, and grow into a renewed identity that God has already declared us to be.
SPEAKER_00: And so our bottom line for this morning is this maturing in the mess looks like living into who God has already made you.
SPEAKER_00: Maturing in the mess looks like living into who God has already made you.
SPEAKER_00: And if God has made you new, the arrogance of your old life just doesn't fit anymore.
SPEAKER_00: Even if there are some remaining tendencies there.
SPEAKER_00: And this arrogance is actually inappropriate for those of us who are called Jesus followers, where God's Spirit is dwelling as a holy temple.
SPEAKER_00: This is the bridge to how.
SPEAKER_00: How do we talk about this?
SPEAKER_00: How do we think about this now?
SPEAKER_00: We are still God's holy temple as we gather because the Spirit is here.
SPEAKER_00: The Spirit is moving.
SPEAKER_00: We just have to open our eyes.
SPEAKER_00: So how?
SPEAKER_00: How do we do this?
SPEAKER_00: How do we actually live out this passage?
SPEAKER_00: Well, first I would say uh mourn.
SPEAKER_00: Mourn.
SPEAKER_00: Is there any hurt or scandal in us personally or as a church, especially church hurt, that has been left ungrieved?
SPEAKER_00: I also think part of mourning will be to be asking God in reflective prayer, hey, which sins are we proud of?
SPEAKER_00: Which sins are we content to live with?
SPEAKER_00: Or maybe are apathetic toward.
SPEAKER_00: Hebrews 12, 1-2 uh talks about, hey, we're supposed to cast aside what isn't true of us anymore, all the sin that easily entangles in this race, and fix our eyes on Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: He's the author and perfecter of our faith.
SPEAKER_00: He started it, he finished it, now it's ours.
SPEAKER_00: We just get to live it.
SPEAKER_00: And since we are God's temple, we can actually face the sins that we've been arrogant about and practice Passover in our lives.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus, our Passover Lamb, has already been sacrificed, delivering us from sin, death, and darkness.
SPEAKER_00: So now we are made new.
SPEAKER_00: So remember who you are.
SPEAKER_00: To illustrate better how this connects with Jesus, we'd have to go back to Matthew chapter 3, verses 16 and 17, Jesus' baptism.
SPEAKER_00: When Jesus was baptized, he went up immediately from the water.
SPEAKER_00: The heavens suddenly opened for him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming down on him.
SPEAKER_00: And a voice from heaven said, This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.
SPEAKER_00: God declared this about Jesus before Jesus even did anything.
SPEAKER_00: But after this, Jesus took this declaration of his identity, that he is the Father's beloved, overcame the devil's temptation in the wilderness, and lived out his identity through the ministry given to him by the Father.
SPEAKER_00: So if you don't believe in Jesus this morning, you can actually start that today and begin a relationship of one where your primary identity is that of beloved.
SPEAKER_00: Beloved.
SPEAKER_00: That can be yours.
SPEAKER_00: God's offering it to you today.
SPEAKER_00: All we have to do is receive it.
SPEAKER_00: But let me say this: if you do believe in Jesus today, if you walked in already believing in Jesus, you already have Jesus' position before the Father.
SPEAKER_00: You are my daughter.
SPEAKER_00: You are my son.
SPEAKER_00: With you I am well pleased.
SPEAKER_00: So similarly, you can take your new identity of beloved, overcome the devil's temptation, and discover the life that God has for you.
SPEAKER_00: It's kind of like that scene in The Lion King where Mofasa shows up in the clouds, right?
SPEAKER_00: And that James Earl Jones voice, which I can't actually do, but I think I can.
SPEAKER_00: Where he's like, you have forgotten me, and Simba's like, no, I couldn't forget you.
SPEAKER_00: Come on.
SPEAKER_00: He's like, you have forgotten who you are, and so have forgotten me.
SPEAKER_00: You are actually more than what you have become.
SPEAKER_00: I think the Corinthian church is more than they've actually become.
SPEAKER_00: This man in this sin is actually more than what he has become.
SPEAKER_00: And in the midst of that, uh Simba's kind of freaking out.
SPEAKER_00: Back to the Lion King, sorry.
SPEAKER_00: Uh Simba's kind of freaking out.
SPEAKER_00: He's like, what am I supposed to do about this?
SPEAKER_00: How do I go about this?
SPEAKER_00: How am I supposed to face my past?
SPEAKER_00: All these things.
SPEAKER_00: And Mufas's final words are just remember who you are.
SPEAKER_00: You are my son.
SPEAKER_00: Remember who you are.
SPEAKER_00: So maturing in the mess looks like living into who God has already made you.
SPEAKER_00: Maturing in the mess looks like living into who God has already made you.
SPEAKER_00: I think that's what we get from this passage.
SPEAKER_00: And if we if I take a look at verse 11 and I kind of see Paul's vice list there of people we're not supposed to be, I think taking that, seeing where we are tempted in those ways, but then applying our identity as the Father's beloved is the solution to maturing.
SPEAKER_00: So if we have a history of fulfilling our sexual desires however we might please, if that's you, you have some things that you're ashamed about in your past, whether things you have done or people have done to you, I just want also just say that that is not the most important thing about you anymore.
SPEAKER_00: Remember who you are, you are the father's beloved.
SPEAKER_00: If you have a pattern of stepping on or over people in the workplace in order to achieve that next bonus or promotion and are okay with leaving people in the dust behind you, you don't have to live that way anymore because remember who you are, you are the father's beloved.
SPEAKER_00: If you have a tendency of syncretizing your political preferences to be so elevated in your heart that they're just as holy as the Lord Jesus, woo, we're missing out on either the truth or the compassion needed to follow Jesus, but you don't have to live that way anymore because remember who you are.
SPEAKER_00: You are the Father's beloved.
SPEAKER_00: And if you are using your words on Sunday mornings to say that you love Jesus, but you're also quick to use your words to demean and degrade others who also bear God's image, you don't have to live that way anymore.
SPEAKER_00: Remember who you are.
SPEAKER_00: You are God, you are the Father's beloved.
SPEAKER_00: And if we are in the habit of cleaning up on Sunday mornings, or maybe we might have a legal record here in the state of Wisconsin, or we're content with our current patterns of misusing or abusing substances, remember who you are.
SPEAKER_00: You don't have to live that way anymore.
SPEAKER_00: That is not the most important thing about you.
SPEAKER_00: You are the Father's beloved.
SPEAKER_00: Maturing in the mess looks like living into who God has already made you.
SPEAKER_00: I kind of see this as similarly to being a dad.
SPEAKER_00: I know that's kind of an easy uh comparison to make, but seven years ago, on August 7th, um so just had a birthday in our family, uh, my son Judah was born.
SPEAKER_00: And at that moment, my active role as a dad began.
SPEAKER_00: I began a relationship with him in a whole new way that I just couldn't during pregnancy, right?
SPEAKER_00: I became a dad.
SPEAKER_00: And everything that is true about being a dad, that was me in that moment.
SPEAKER_00: And yet, if I look back on the last seven years, I know I've had a long way to go, and I've had to learn a lot about trying to be a good dad.
SPEAKER_00: And I I'll be honest, we we all have growth, room to grow, right?
SPEAKER_00: But being a dad was who I was right then, and yet I had a long way to go and to grow into that new identity of being more patient, being okay with being tired, being more self-sacrificial, and maybe yet less screamy when I'm mad.
SPEAKER_00: Maturing in the mess looks like living into who God has already made you.
SPEAKER_00: I think uh if I could categorize action steps, like really practical action steps from this sermon, this passage, I would say it falls under the umbrella of practicing Passover.
SPEAKER_00: Let's practice Passover together.
SPEAKER_00: What I mean by that, uh well, we do communion together, which is a very direct image and metaphor there, and one in which the Spirit of God is uniquely experienced.
SPEAKER_00: But as we gather as a community, practicing Passover looks like find discerning that next step that God is calling us to grow out of our old ways and into our new ways.
SPEAKER_00: Individually, I think it looks like taking responsibility for our own spiritual journeys.
SPEAKER_00: You can't wait for a mentor to just fall into your lap, even though it's great when God does that.
SPEAKER_00: We have to take responsibility for our own journeys and trust that what God says about us is more important than any other narrative and then living according to that.
SPEAKER_00: And I want to be clear here, not because how we live earns the identity God has declared for us.
SPEAKER_00: Just the opposite.
SPEAKER_00: What God has declared us to be, this new unleavened bread, we already are.
SPEAKER_00: We just get to live into that identity now.
SPEAKER_00: So let your who define your do.
SPEAKER_00: So let's discern the old leaven together.
SPEAKER_00: If you need, if you're looking for a challenge, want to take a step of courage, ask a trusted friend or if you're married to spouse, hey, which parts of my life still look like the old me?
SPEAKER_00: And then just don't argue it.
SPEAKER_00: Just sit and listen and take it as reflection.
SPEAKER_00: Or, hey, which sins am I prone to just be okay with?
SPEAKER_00: I think as a congregation, and I think this passage is meant for congregations as a whole, not just individuals.
SPEAKER_00: I think as a congregation, it looks like taking verse 11, that vice list there, and asking, hey, which of these is our congregation as a whole kind of complacent toward?
SPEAKER_00: I think also a practical next step in pr and practicing Passover is, hey, let's maybe reach out to a person that God might be calling you to initiate a restoration with.
SPEAKER_00: And again, that conversation looks like I love you, I'm concerned for you, and I'm committed to journey with you, even though there's hurt there.
SPEAKER_00: So if you are feeling friction in your life because somebody from our church comes up to talk to you about maybe something going on in your life, you start to feel that emotional pull, that defensiveness, if I can suggest anything, if God is, if you know what God is telling you to do out of this sermon, this passage, please go do that.
SPEAKER_00: But if I can make a suggestion, lean into that friction, because that could be the step that changes your life from mere potential to maturity.
SPEAKER_00: One factor present to us in the Corinthian church, or excuse me, present to us that wasn't in the Corinthian church was the presence of many local churches.
SPEAKER_00: And so when we feel friction with our current church, there's a tendency to want to hop somewhere else in order to satiate our own desire for comfort.
SPEAKER_00: But instead of doing that, or instead of being defensive, what if we ask God, hey, how do you want to work in this situation?
SPEAKER_00: That's what leaning into that friction looks like.
SPEAKER_00: Maturing in the mess looks like living into who God has already made you.
SPEAKER_00: So, church, let's grow into that together.
SPEAKER_00: Let's pray.
SPEAKER_00: Oh, Heavenly Father, thank you for being a good father.
SPEAKER_00: Not just because you declare it, but because we've experienced it, we've tasted it, we've seen it, we believe it in the name of your Son Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you for being a good father that get that whose love encompasses a call to grow and the encouragement to do so.
SPEAKER_00: Lord, as both as individuals and as a church community, would you please open our eyes to discerning the old ways, the things that don't fit anymore, and remind us of who you've already made us, and let that be the primary lens in which we relate to you, relate to each other, and go about our lives.
SPEAKER_00: Help us, God.
SPEAKER_00: And give us the humility, Lord, to grieve the hurts and the courage to follow your call, even in the mess.
SPEAKER_00: It's in Jesus' name that we pray these things.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: Thanks for hanging in there with me, y'all.
SPEAKER_00: I appreciate it.
SPEAKER_00: Go in peace.