Hubby and I were working out in the forest this past weekend pulling up invasive Himalayan blackberries by the roots, and invasive holly plants by the roots.
We worked ‘til we wore ourselves out then we came inside to get cleaned up.
It was then that I noticed a sudden sharp pain in my left index finger … lo and behold … I had a blackberry thorn embedded in my finger. It was something along the lines of one of these. It hurt.
Considering that I have been pondering the book of 1 Corinthians recently, the first thing to immediately pop into my head was: “Expel the immoral brother!” Get it out! Get the thorn out of the finger!
“Expel the wicked man from among you.” – 1 Corinthians 5:13
Curiously, when I opened up my Bible to look at the passage, written into the margin of my Bible next to this particular verse were a few other references:
– Deuteronomy 17:7 … “You must purge the evil from among you.”
– Deuteronomy 19:19 … “You must purge the evil from among you.”
– Deuteronomy 21:21 … “You must purge the evil from among you.”
– Deuteronomy 22:21 … “You must purge the evil from among you.”
– Deuteronomy 22:24 … “You must purge the evil from among you.”
– Deuteronomy 24:7 … “You must purge the evil from among you.”
The brand-new Christians in the church of Corinth were a jumbled mixed-up group of people. They lived in a city where sexual promiscuity was pervasive. Many of these new Christians had been saved from a background of sexual promiscuity.
In teaching the people of Corinth (in the letter of 1 Corinthians) Paul has a lot to say about issues of sexual promiscuity.
“It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that does not occur even among pagans: A man has his father’s wife. And you are proud! Shouldn’t you rather have been filled with grief and have put out of your fellowship the man who did this?” – 1 Corinthians 5:1-2
It seems the people of Corinth were so accustomed to living in a society so full of sexual promiscuity that it didn’t even occur to them that anything was wrong with this situation.
Paul instructs them:
“When you are assembled in the name of our Lord Jesus … and the power of our Lord Jesus Christ is present, hand this man over to Satan, so that the sinful nature may be destroyed and his spirit saved on the day of the Lord.” – 1 Corinthians 5:4-5
Paul is instructing the people of Corinth – and likewise, through this letter of 1 Corinthians God is instructing us today – repentance is the goal!
Hand the sexually immoral person over to Satan so that their sinful nature may be destroyed … and as a result, they will repent of their sin and get rid of the sin!
Or … in the case of a blackberry thorn in my finger … get rid of it! Get it out of my finger! As soon as possible!
The blackberry thorn in my finger was causing pain in my body.
God describes the Church as being similar to a body (1 Corinthians 12:12-27 … “Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.”). If someone in the church claims to be a Christian, yet is living in sexual immorality, this behavior causes the entire body/the Church to be unwell and unhealthy. Get rid of the sin!
Paul instructs the Christians at church of Corinth how to deal with this situation:
“I have written you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people – not at all meaning the people of this world who are immoral, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters. In that case you would have to leave this world. But now I am writing you that you must not associate with anyone who calls himself a brother [a Christian] but is sexually immoral, or greedy, an idolater or a slanderer, a drunkard or a swindler. With such a man do not even eat.” – 1 Corinthians 5:9-11
Get rid of the sin. Get the thorn out of the finger! It hurts. It is causing pain.
By expelling the immoral person [who claims to be a Christian] the goal is repentance. This is not petty judgmentalism or ostracism. This is church discipline with the intent that the person who claims to be a Christian will see and recognize the sin in their life. And that they will repent of their sin! And get rid of the sin!
Get the thorn out of the finger! Get the sin out of the life! Completely gone! No more!
Repent … so that healing and restoration can occur.
