1 It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that is not tolerated even among pagans, for a man has his father’s wife. 2 And you are arrogant! Ought you not rather to mourn? Let him who has done this be removed from among you.
3 For though absent in body, I am present in spirit; and as if present, I have already pronounced judgment on the one who did such a thing. 4 When you are assembled in the name of the Lord Jesus and my spirit is present, with the power of our Lord Jesus, 5 you are to deliver this man to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord.
6 Your boasting is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump? 7 Cleanse out the old leaven that you may be a new lump, as you really are unleavened. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. 8 Let us therefore celebrate the festival, not with the old leaven, the leaven of malice and evil, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.  9 I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people— 10 not at all meaning the sexually immoral of this world, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters, since then you would need to go out of the world. 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 or greed, or is an idolater, reviler, drunkard, or swindler—not even to eat with such a one. 12 For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Is it not those inside the church whom you are to judge? 13 God judges those outside. “Purge the evil person from among you.”
— 1 Corinthians 5:1-13, ESV

Sex Education has been a hot topic for a hundred years.  The controversy began in 1919, the year the first sex education course was offered as part of a college curriculum.  Our government declared the need and designed the course due to the large number of young men retuning home from World War I with sexually transmitted diseases.  In the ensuing decades, secular courses on sexual intercourse were gradually introduced into high schools, then middle schools, and at present the subject is taught in many elementary schools.  

Much debate has been expressed concerning the when’s and where’s of sex education.  When, or at what age, should sex be discussed with children or adolescents?  Where should such talks take place, the school, the church, or the confines of the home?  Christians and non-Christians usually come up with contrary conclusions.  

Sex education shall be taught in church today, using the pivotal fifth chapter of Paul’s first canonical letter to the Corinthians as our textbook.  It addresses a singular subject with a double standard, one for Christians in Christ’s church, the other for non-Christians in a lost world.  I will try not to be graphic, so hopefully there will be no need to cover the children’s ears.  But, some of you might have some explaining to do when you get home!?

Sex

1 Corinthians 5 is one chapter within a larger epistle, which resides in the greater canon of the New Testament, which along with the Old Testament completes the entirety of the Bible, the word of God.  Virtually everything God has ever said on the subject of sex can be encapsulated in one word found in verse one of our chapter.  It is the Greek word “porneia” (found a total of  24 times in the New Testament), from whence comes our English word “pornography.”  

No English version of the Bible translates it as “pornography,” though.  Such did not exist in the first century, at least not in the way we understand it and are inundated by it in the twenty-first century.  Photography, magazines, and films were not available to incite lust among the people of Paul’s day, although some voyeurism did occur (as depicted in the opening scene of Martin Scorsese’s “The Last Temptation of Christ”).  So, this text does not condemn pornography in the way we understand it, although please note that I would still classify such as a sin to produce, procure, or proliferate in any way.

A better translation of “porneia” is found in the English Standard Version (and the New International Version), “sexual immorality.”  Perhaps the best one word for one word translation is found in the old King James Version, “fornication,” a word that has virtually disappeared from our modern vernacular, except for an occasional jest (ref. scene in O Brother, Where Art Thou?).  But fornication is no laughing matter with the Lord.

“Sexual immorality” or “fornication” is taking the holy, biblical, moral gift God gave us of sex, and experiencing it in an unholy, unbiblical, and immoral way.  God, who is supremely holy, has given us Holy Scripture to tell us what is moral and immoral, what is right and what is wrong.  If Scripture is your authority for faith and practice, then you understand the sex sanctioned by God is for one woman and one man in one holy covenant of marriage.  Therefore, any sexual intercourse outside of marriage, be it premarital or extra-marital, is sinful and to be avoided, according to the word of God.

Consider Paul’s summary on the subject in 1 Thessalonians 4:3-8, 

For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from sexual immorality; that each one of you know how to control his own body in holiness and honor, not in the passion of lust like the Gentiles who do not know God; that no one transgress and wrong his brother in this matter, because the Lord is an avenger in all these things, as we told you beforehand and solemnly warned you. For God has not called us for impurity, but in holiness. Therefore whoever disregards this, disregards not man but God, who gives his Holy Spirit to you.

On the subject of sex, God is quite clear.  God’s people?  Not so much.  The world?  What are you talking about?!

Christianity

God’s people have always struggled with God’s will concerning sex.  In the Old Testament, Abraham had a harem, David had the infamous affair along with multiple wives, and Solomon was fornication squared.  

The New Testament church was born during a sexual revolution.  The gods of the Greco-Roman culture surrounding them were lusty beings who had all kinds of sex all kinds of way with all kinds of people.  “Anything goes” and “If it feels good, do it” were the mantras of the day.

It was Christianity that ultimately tamed the sexual ways of the wild, wild western world.  As the centuries unfolded, Christians and non-Christians adopted a biblical worldview of sex, encouraging chastity for the unmarried and fidelity for the married.  There are always exceptions to the rules, but the rules held fast for centuries until Pandora’s Box was opened in the 1960’s.  The ancient Roman Empire of licentiousness had been revived and old mantras had returned.

One thing remains, however.  True Christianity takes the truth of God’s word on sexuality seriously.  We know that it is in our best interest and for our best witness to be faithful to God and follow His mandates on sex.  And when one of us breaks the rules, there should be heaven to pay.  

Look at this test case in the text of Corinthians.  A member of the church was involved in an ongoing sexual affair with his step-mother.  The news actually shocked the unchurched people of Corinth (the “pagans”), but the church did nothing, until Paul told them to get off their high horse and hop on the bus of biblical church discipline.  

A Christian church owes it to the Lord, to one another, and to the watching world, to discipline or excommunicate any member who willfully, stubbornly, and unrepentantly spurns God’s teachings on sexuality.  Paul’s words could not be more plain.

We must do it for the offender.  Up until modern times, to be a non-church member was considered equivalent to being a non-Christian, a non-citizen of the kingdom of God.  Being put out of the church and delivered back into the world (“to Satan”) is meant to sober the sinner up in order to bring about real repentance and real faith, “so that his spirit may be saved.” 

We must do it for our members.  “A little leaven (sin) leavens the whole lump.”  What we tolerate among us will spread among us.  To keep the church pure and our witness powerful, we have to discipline those among us who blatantly break God’s laws on sex and other serious moral matters.  We should not be nit-picky (pharisaically using extra-biblical rules), but we cannot sweep sin under the rug, either, for eventually it will stink up the whole house.  Furthermore, knowing you are part of a church body that takes sex seriously, and will hold you accountable, is a good incentive to stay faithful to your spouse.

We must do it for the world.  They are watching.  If they see us being hypocrites about moral matters, like sex, they will not hear us speak of spiritual matters, like salvation.  And it is the spiritual matters, chiefly the gospel, that we are to share with the lost world, without judging them on their moral manners.  

The World

The last paragraph sets a double standard to govern our relationships with excommunicated church members on the one hand, and every day, run of the mill, lost, non-church members on the other.  We are actually to shun a non-repentant, excommunicated church member, “not even to eat with such a one,” in order to bring about conviction and conversion. But the rules are different for the lost.

Let me illustrate by pointing out some of the false teachings I heard as a young Christian.  I’ll follow the homiletical approach Jesus used in His famous “Sermon on the Mount.”  

I heard it said, “You can’t be friends with lost people, you must keep separate.”  But God’s word says to “associate,” have friendships, with immoral people in the world.  Sure, there is a fine line between what Paul has written in 1 Corinthians 5 and 2 Corinthians 6:14 (“do not be unequally yoked”).  But there is a clear difference between friendship and partnership.  We must embrace friendship with lost people while trying to avoid improper partnerships (although, “missionary” dating has succeeded in some cases, even by my one of my own daughters).  How else will lost people come to Christ, if Christians do not offer them love, friendship, and an opportunity to connect with a person who believes the word of God and the gospel of Jesus Christ?

I heard it said, “You have to call sin a sin, and confront sinners with their sin.”  God’s word does say we should confront our fellow Christians, but when it comes to the unchurched Paul writes, “What have I to do with judging outsiders.”  Lost people do not have the Holy Spirit nor align their lives with Holy Scripture.  Telling them to change their morals to match ours is akin to preaching salvation by works.  The only thing a lost person needs to repent of at first is unbelief.  If spiritual regeneration occurs, a moral reformation will follow.  Don’t tell them about their sin, tell them about the love of God, the sacrifice of our Savior, and invite them to church.  

I heard it said, “Church is only for the saints,” and, I’ve heard it said, “Church should be a place where lost people feel comfortable.”  But God’s word says to go to the highways and hedges, and compel the lost to come in; and, God’s word prescribes regulative principles for God’s people in worship, and when they are followed, the seriousness of the service should bring about a most uncomfortable but hopefully convicting experience for a non-Christian. 

I dream of a Sunday where the sanctuary is filled with both redeemed saints and rotten sinners.  The saints would be holy, in spirituality and morality, good worshipers and good witnesses in word and deed.  The sinners would feel welcome and loved, yet become so uncomfortable about their sin they beg for mercy, and find it in the cross of Jesus Christ.

At the end of the day, sex is who we are, male and female.  Sex is what we do, either righteously or sinfully.  And, if Freud was right, sex is what we think about, Christians and non-Christians, all the time.  Temptation ensues, and only faithfulness to God can keep us faithful to one another.

So for the church, let us think God’s thoughts on the matter, and conform ourselves to God’s word, with loving discipline for those who don’t.  But let us look outside the church with mercy, looking at lost people not as bodies to be shamed, but souls to be saved.  

A new sexual revolution is upon us.  How were respond will determine the purity and power of our church.  It will also determine the effectiveness of our evangelism.  We have to get this right.  And we will, when we get our sex education from God.