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Lie # 6: Living Together Just Makes Sense

1 Corinthians 5:9-13

I. Living together doesn’t make sense to God
because it is sexually immoral.

A. 1 Corinthians 5 describes an unusually perverse living arrangement. In verse 1 we read about a man in the church who has his father’s wife. In verse 1, Paul calls this behavior sexual immorality. And in vs. 9 he says that this couple is sexually immoral. In the Bible, sexual immorality is any sex outside of the boundary of marriage – including sex before marriage by those who are living together.

B. There is so much immorality that you can’t avoid it as you relate to people in this world (vs. 10). But here’s what you can do, Paul says. You can tell a sexually immoral man that he cannot be part of your church. You can tell such a man, “We refuse to be associated with you. The church of Jesus is a pure and holy church. And you are not living a pure and holy life. You have not repented of your sin. So, we cannot have you as part of our church.”

II. Living together doesn’t make sense to God
because it hurts your church family.

A. Notice the family word that Paul uses in vs. 11: “But now I am writing to you not to associate with anyone who bears the name of brother if he is guilty of sexual immorality.” This man who was living with his stepmother was calling himself a Christian brother. But Paul said, “You have to make clear to your community that this man is not acting like a Christian. He is hurting your church family’s witness. Remove him from your church family until and unless he changes.”

B. Jesus talked about what a church family should look like in Matthew 5:14-16: “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.”

III. Living together doesn’t make sense to God
because it calls for judgment.

A. Paul speaks about God’s judgment on those who live together in vs. 12-13: “For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Is it not those inside the church whom you are to judge? God judges those outside. “Purge the evil person from among you.” The people in the church have escaped God’s judgment. And we want other people to escape God’s judgment as well. That is why we tell people within the church who are living together before marriage, “Don’t do it. Get married as soon as possible so that you can escape the judgment of God.”

Application:
Be pure in your sexual behavior so that you might be a light in the world.

Sources:
The Bible
“Pure” by Dean Inserra and “Married for God” by Christopher Ash

Sermon Discussion Questions

1) What does the Bible consider to be sexually immoral? How should a church respond to people within the church acting in a way that is sexually immoral?

2) How does living together before marriage hurt a church’s witness? How is living according to the Bible’s sexual ethics a beautiful and attractive thing?

3) What is the goal of removing someone from church membership? What was the outcome in the case of the Corinthian church? See 2 Cor. 2:5-11.