The fifth chapter of 1 Corinthians deals with a problem of immorality that existed in the Corinthian church. In this chapter, Paul gave enlightenment concerning the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread.
It is actually reported that there is immorality among you, and immorality of such a kind as does not exist even among the Gentiles, that someone has his father’s wife. Verse 1. This verse shows how times have changed since New Testament days. Since the days of the Corinthians, society has introduced many innovations concerning sin. In fact, it appears that people stay up nights trying to think of things to do that will be even more shocking. Paul said that such immorality was not even named among the Gentiles, but that is not true of this age. Today there are not only names for it, but there are also instructions. Never has there been a time when the sexuality of the human animal was exploited as it is now, yet it is completely separated from the true feelings of love and from the purpose for which God gave it.
Paul continued, And you have become arrogant, and have not mourned instead, in order that the one who had done this deed might be removed from your midst. For I, on my part, though absent in body but present in spirit, have already judged him who has so committed this, as though I were present. Verses 2–3. In those days of limited travel, Paul was able to communicate in the spirit.
In this age we have many types of communication, such as the telephone, telegraph, and television; but in Bible times it was not so. If a person wrote a letter, he had to find someone to deliver it; and travel was slow. However, a way of communication still was not lacking, for Paul said, “Though I am absent in body, yet I am present in spirit.” How could that be? Through a projection of the consciousness of his spirit, Paul could determine the spirit of a person or the spirit of a certain situation.
This does not mean that he was practicing astral projection or something similar. After he heard about the problem that existed in the church, he “tuned in” by the Holy Spirit to the situation and became aware of the problem. There must have been a high degree of accuracy in what he was doing, for he said, “I have already judged him who has so committed this, as though I were present.”
In the name of our Lord Jesus, when you are assembled, and I with you in spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus, I have decided to deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of his flesh, that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus. Your boasting is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump of dough? Clean out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, just as you are in fact unleavened. For Christ our Passover also has been sacrificed. Verses 4–7.
The Feast of Passover was followed by the Feast of Unleavened Bread, which was observed for seven days; and in the New Testament we discover deep teaching of what the Feast of Unleavened Bread actually was to mean. Let us therefore celebrate the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. Verse 8. This is what Paul determined. When he “tuned in,” he found that the report was true concerning the sin of immorality in the church; and so he judged the guilty man. But he also sensed that there was arrogance in the people, that there was no state of mourning or repentance over the sin. Of course, it is logical to wonder why those who had not sinned should be expected to mourn; but in his teaching Paul emphasized the power of contamination. A little leaven leavens the whole lump.
A spiritual condition existed in the whole of the Corinthian church because of the spirit of just one man. Hebrews 12:16–17 gives this warning: “Beware that there be no fornicator or profane person, such as Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright. Afterwards he found no place of repentance, even though he sought it carefully with tears.” The previous verse points out just what such a situation could create: “Beware lest a root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled.” The example of Esau and that of the man in the Corinthian church both illustrate how one man can have the power to contaminate an entire body of believers.
Whatever exists in the human spirit has a permeating quality. If you are around someone who is defeated, that spirit of defeat will permeate to you before you realize it. Likewise, if you are around someone who is rejoicing, and you are one with that person, it is easy to start rejoicing with him. For this reason when one or two members in a church are defeated or are having a problem of some kind, the entire church experiences the same kind of problem.
During a time of serious illness or some other crisis in a church, generally every member is drawn into a common grieving and into prayer that has a deep desperation in it. Then as the crisis passes, their focus will be even more toward the Lord than it was upon the need. The Lord intends that when one member suffers, we all suffer with him. When one member rejoices, we all rejoice with him. We have the same care one for another (1 Corinthians 12:25–26).
The interrelationship that exists between members in the Body of Christ is wonderful if it is guarded; but it is dangerous if it is not guarded. Since the qualities of spirit are highly contagious, anyone who breaks through to a blessing will bless the whole Body, causing everyone to rejoice. Conversely, when anyone murmurs and complains, his bad spirit can permeate throughout the entire Body. It is a little root of bitterness springing up whereby many will be defiled. That quality must be watched very carefully, and for this reason Paul cautioned, both in 1 Corinthians 5, and again in Galatians 5:9, that a little leaven leavens the whole lump.
Sweeping out the leaven was an important factor in the Old Testament Feast of Passover. At the Passover, when the Israelites came out of the land of Egypt, they left hurriedly. They carried the mixing bowls of unleavened dough on their shoulders, because there was not time to let it rise. Whenever they stopped along the way, they could build a fire and bake a little lump of the dough.
In one sense, it appears that God’s end-time walk in the Spirit is moving rather slowly, but in another sense it is moving rapidly—perhaps more rapidly than most of us anticipated. We are changing more rapidly now than people have in the entire history of the Church. God is filling His churches with miracles; and it is happening fast. However, if we think this is haste, we must remember that the Lord will bring His people out of today’s Babylon even faster than He brought them out of Egypt—and they were thrust out! They were on their way, making haste to leave the land of Egypt; and because God was delivering them in haste they did not have time to corrupt what He was doing.
That is what we believe for today. In the past, a number of denominational movements moved so slowly that their efforts were corrupted even before their foundations were laid. Believe that God will move us so fast that there will not be time for anything that He has established to be spoiled, or for any of the wonderful truths and the beautiful spirit to be set aside by a corrupting futility in actions or expediency Let us refuse anything that could make us reach out to the world and take into our very beings things which must not be there. At this time, we are an unleavened lump; and we must remain that way.
The teaching of the Lord Jesus, found in Matthew 16:6–12, will help us explore this subject of the leaven. And Jesus said to them (the disciples), “Watch out and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.” (Most of us do not know what Jesus meant by the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees, and neither did the disciples.) And they began to discuss among themselves, saying, “It is because we took no bread.” But Jesus, aware of this, said, “You men of little faith, why do you discuss among yourselves because you have no bread? Do you not yet understand or remember the five loaves of the five thousand, and how many large baskets you took up? Or the seven loaves of the four thousand, and how many baskets you took up? How is it that you do not understand that I did not speak to you concerning bread? But beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.” Then they understood that He did not say to beware of the leaven of bread, but of the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees.
This warning appears also in Mark and Luke. In Luke 12:1b Christ said, “Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.” In Mark 8:15 He said, “Watch out! Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod.” Apart from the addition of small varying details, each Gospel contributes virtually the same warning.
What is the leaven of Herod? It is a god complex that is so easily assumed by governments. It is found in every level of government. In politics and programs of diplomacy, our government is immature. Most of its policies are not really constructive; a great deal of money is spent supporting corruption in other nations, where millions of dollars are used by leaders to buy and sell on the black market. When we see this, we are reminded of Jesus’ words, “Beware of the leaven of Herod”; and we say, “Beware of the leaven of today’s government.” What about the religious world? “Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees.” Beware of anything that puts on a religious front. Religiosity is to be hated! For this reason, the pastors whom God is raising up from among us do not assume any professional dignity. Instead, they joke with one another in a good-natured way, sometimes in a calculated way, in order to break any religiosity. Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees! Beware of it! Some may prefer to attend a service where they can sit quietly in a corner and become very religious, but that will not accomplish the will of God in the earth. A spiritual man is quite different from a Pharisee.
The Pharisees have a certain religious way about them. We will find that those who persecute what God is bringing forth in the Spirit are very religious people. Our persecution will not come from the harlots and the publicans. They were not the ones who came against Christ. The religious leaders, who were always meeting behind closed doors, plotted to kill Him because He was a threat to them. Why was the high priest so concerned about Jesus’ activities? Caiaphas, the high priest, and his entire family were in charge of the money-changing tables, where the people changed national currency to temple currency. They had to use temple currency when they bought sacrifices. The high priest also had the concession where doves and lambs were sold for sacrifices. We know that they must have made a large sum of money, for at the Passover, when Christ was crucified, almost a quarter of a million lambs were sold. Everything that was precious and dear to the Passover was turned into a commercial scheme. One of the first things Jesus did in His ministry was to overturn the tables of the money changers in the temple. He was exposing their operation when He said, “You have made this a den of thieves.” They were actually robbing the people; but the people could not go anywhere else, because the high priest had the concession. He and his children made their wealth by selling sacrifices to people.
Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees! Beware of big business systems! Beware of big-money religious programs that do not invest totally in trying to produce the ministry and to send the word out. Anything that is building out—bless it. Anything that is building up is the tower of Babel—stay away from it! These are good guidelines for believers to follow.
The leaven of the Pharisees is hypocrisy. Religion can create an image of something that does not exist. Jesus told the Pharisees that they were like whited sepulchres—beautifully white and shining on the outside, but full of dead men’s bones (Matthew 23:27). Death was on the inside. We do not want that kind of illusion or image of something that does not actually exist internally. Let us believe God to keep us pure in everything He is bringing to pass.
Now it came about at midnight that the Lord struck all the first-born in the land of Egypt, from the first-born of Pharaoh who sat on his throne to the first-born of the captive who was in the dungeon, and all the first-born of cattle. And Pharaoh arose in the night, he and all his servants and all the Egyptians; and there was a great cry in Egypt, for there was no home where there was not someone dead. Then he called for Moses and Aaron at night and said, “Rise up, get out from among my people, both you and the sons of Israel; and go, worship the Lord, as you have said. Take both your flocks and your herds, as you have said, and go, and bless me also.”
And the Egyptians urged the people, to send them out of the land in haste, for they said, “We shall all be dead.” So the people took their dough before it was leavened, with their kneading bowls bound up in the clothes on their shoulders. Now the sons of Israel had done according to the word of Moses, for they had requested from the Egyptians articles of silver and articles of gold, and clothing; and the Lord had given the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians, so that they let them have their request.… Exodus 12:29–36. They went out in grandeur instead of looking like slaves! They went out with all the plumes, the jewels, and the finery of Egypt.
And a mixed multitude also went up with them, along with flocks and herds, a very large number of livestock. Verse 38. Perhaps an Egyptian boy had married a Jewish girl. What could they do? They decided to go along with the people of the Lord rather than to work out some kind of a separation. They were the half-breeds, the mixed multitude. They were not really convinced that they should go, for they did not think that they had a word from God to go. It was among the mixed multitude on the outskirts of the camp where all the murmuring began; and the fire of God fell upon them.
Face it—you must have a word from God and a dedication in your heart before you start out. If you do not have a good motivation in your heart, somewhere along the line you will start drawing back.
And they baked the dough which they had brought out of Egypt into cakes of unleavened bread. For it had not become leavened, since they were driven out of Egypt and could not delay, nor had they prepared any provisions for themselves. Verse 39. They were to eat the Passover with unleavened bread. In keeping the Passover, the Jewish people were to sweep out the corners of their houses. An orthodox Jew who keeps the Passover knows that there must be a thorough housecleaning. Paul explained the symbolism of this in 1 Corinthians 5:7–8. Clean out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, just as you are in fact unleavened. For Christ our Passover also has been sacrificed. Let us therefore celebrate the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.
The leaven mentioned here is a picture of malice, of wickedness, of Pharisaic hypocrisy, of insincerity, and of the tendency to create a false image. Everything that is ostentatious, everything that is wicked, everything that is carnal—all is depicted here in the leaven. The Israelites did not have leaven in their bread because they did not have time to let the dough rise. This principle is one of the greatest symbolical truths that a believer can lay hold of. It makes real to us the fact that those who walk in a more sanctified life are those who walk rapidly. Those who are constantly overtaken by the leaven are people who do not move very fast, or who are at a standstill. The secret of making haste, of getting with it and moving out, is one of the greatest secrets in appropriating the purity of the blood of the Lamb. Do you want to partake of Jesus Christ? Get on the move! Walk with God as fast as you can!
The man who eliminates the corrupting influences within his nature is the man who moves rapidly in the course that God sets before him. He does not linger behind because he knows that if he does hold back, those influences will have time to ferment, to permeate his life and to bring forth fruit. It pays to move out for God. Those who are not involved or not really dedicated to do a job for the Lord always have problems. In contrast, others have problems that sooner or later could rise up and consume them; yet they walk beautifully before the Lord because they move rapidly into a place of service. They find what God wants them to do and they do it. There is no inactivity and idleness in their lives. It has been said that idleness is the devil’s workshop, and that is true. Satan reaches people in their idleness. Do you have a problem? Do not sit and brood over it—get busy!
Philippians 2:12–13 instructs you to work out your salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who works in you, both to will and to do of His good pleasure. This does not mean that you are working to be saved; it means that once you have your salvation you are to work it out with fear and trembling. You are to press in as fast as you can, because God is working in you to will and to do! Set your focus and then do it.
When you receive a Word from the Lord about something you should be doing, it is dangerous then to stall for six months before doing it. If this happens, you will experience more problems during that six months than you can imagine. God has a way of giving you directives that not only accomplish His will in the Kingdom as a whole, but which also accomplish His will within your own heart. Be an instant repenter, an instant obedient servant, one who responds quickly to every directive the Lord gives. Look to God for a witness, get the witness, and when it is confirmed to your heart, then take a step.
When you fail to apply a sermon, it is lost and you have to wait until God brings that certain Word again before you really lay hold of it. When the Word comes, do you say, “Oh, that was a good Word; I really liked it!” Or do you take notes, meditate over them, and say, “Yes, that Word is important right now! What is the first step I should take to see it fulfilled in my life? Where can I begin today?”
Every Word that God gives points to the distant objective which is in the mind of the Lord for you; but it also provides the key, showing you how to take the first step. The mountain will not come to you—you must go to it. The objective is always there, but you have to be in motion if you want to reach it.
The present phase of the restoration of the Church has been referred to as a walk with God, and rightly so. As we walk with the Lord, we are a people in motion, reaching for all that He has for us. Sermons would be more effective if after hearing the message everyone would be motivated and reminded by the elders, “You heard the Word; now get with it!” By nature, the human being is rather passive. It is one of the most serious traits of the flesh. And for that reason we need something to jar us.
As we worship the Passover Lamb, the potential of purity is infinite. We want to reach that potential of purity, where half of the congregation will not be struggling with problems, while the other half is busy in every service ministering to people and praying them out of a hole. Some people are the problem, while others are the answer to the problem; and those who are the answer to the problem generally are the ones who are busy doing the will of God. They get a Word and they move into it as fast as they can. The people who are problems are the ones who continually ask for a Word. What did they do with the last Word?
Act on what God says. The man who acts upon the Word keeps that Word alive in his spirit; it keeps working. What will complete God’s work in your life? The miracle of the Word in you, because it is a creative Word. As you look at it and start moving toward it, the truth of it becomes vividly etched upon your heart. You keep it, and you walk in it!
God forbid that we preach works. We repent of dead works. In no way are we preaching penances. We are saying, “Act like a believer! Act like a believer! Act like a believer! It is time to leave Egypt! Get busy, throw the dough in a bowl, put the bowl on your shoulder with some clothes over it, and go! Be ready to move!” When the Passover came, the Israelites stood with their loins girded, with a staff in their hand, and with shoes on their feet. They had the jewels of Egypt and were ready to move. Can you picture those Israelites, dressed in Egyptian finery and eager to leave Egypt?
“Are you ready?”
“No, I just have to chew on this bone a little more because the Lord said to eat it all, every bit of it, and not let any remain until morning. We intend to go the full trip. The blood of the lamb averted judgment from us, and we have the strength of the lamb within. Soon we will be going down the road as fast as we can, saying, ‘Good-bye Egypt. We are moving out!’ We will make it now, because the strength of that lamb within us will sustain us!”
This illustrates our walk with God. Every step we take is taken by His grace. Every step is made possible by the strength that the Lord has provided. We leave the leaven behind—all the leaven of religiosity, all the leaven of hypocrisy, and all the worldly pretense. As we do this, a cry comes up, as it did from Peter at the Feast of Pentecost: “Save yourselves from this generation. Come on, pull out of it! Let us get out of its thinking, let us get out of its ruts, let us get out of its put-on and move into something real! Let us move in haste!” In your desire to do that, in a sense you become a new lump, an unleavened lump.
Remember—idleness and passivity give the devil an opportunity to infect you with criticism, rebellion, lust, and everything else that is natural to your flesh. Once those things begin to fester, it is difficult to get rid of them.
The contamination mentioned in 1 Corinthians 5:6—a little leaven leavens the whole lump—warns us to be diligent to remove from the Body every contact of a fleshly influence. That does not necessarily mean that we must remove the physical presence, even though in this case Paul did so. He saw that the young man mentioned in this chapter was guilty and vile; therefore he made the decision to turn him over to Satan to see his flesh destroyed, so that his spirit could be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus. In effect, Paul was saying, “We will put him out of the church. We will excommunicate him. If you leave him in that congregation for a while, the whole church will fall apart. Everyone will be committing the same sin.”
What Paul was saying is true. If a spirit of lust hits a person and it is not detected and repented of, soon the whole church will be battling the spirit of lust. Even the most upright people will be contaminated. Because they are thinking thoughts that are not their own, they will become indignant and utterly disgusted with themselves. Everyone becomes contaminated and breaks out with the same disease when a carrier of it is running loose.
Paul’s measure of excommunication may sound cruel, but in reading the conclusion of the story we find that after they excommunicated the young man, he started repenting (2 Corinthians 2:1–11). When Paul saw that he had repented, he said, “Now restore him, lest he be swallowed up by overmuch sorrow.” The young man was forgiven, cleansed of the sin in his life, and taken back into the church. Paul firmly believed that a little leaven cannot be allowed to destroy the whole lump. Can you see that the rule of love was still there? Paul loved the church and was concerned about its purity.
Church discipline should never consist of a panel of Pharisees sitting in judgment on someone who has offended. The situation should carefully be determined by keeping the spirit of the Body pure. The Word gives no other motivation than to keep the Body pure, so that the whole Body will not be defiled by the leaven. The leaven could destroy the whole lump. The Body of Christ is unleavened, and so we keep the Feast of Passover with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.
The word sincere as used in our text is translated from the Greek word which means “pure” or “unadulterated.” The actual English word sincere comes from the Latin, sincerus, meaning “without decay.” Its common usage also meant “without wax.” Many times when the Romans bought a beautiful statue and had it imported from Greece, they found that it would fall apart. It had previously been broken and then very carefully sealed together with wax. Because of this, the Greeks eventually had to guarantee that the statue was “sincere”—without wax—meaning that it had not been broken and patched up to look like something that it was not. To be sincere is to be “without wax,” open and genuine. God wants us to be the unleavened bread of “no wax.” So many people have a cover-up, but He wants us just as we are.
What is the unleavened bread of truth? Do you love the truth? Are you willing to face the truth concerning yourself—not with unbelief, but with faith? When you look at your need, do you see it with faith? Can you look at your own need without giving yourself a wax job? Or do you try to look as if you do not have a need so that everyone else will think that you are sound and whole? When you see a need do you cover it over, or do you love the truth? Do you hold that truth without unbelief?
Look at yourself, and see what you are. If you are discouraged, that is the wrong attitude. Do not be discouraged; the Passover Lamb was crucified so that His worthiness takes away your unworthiness. Look at your need and then keep the Feast of the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. Believe for all that the Lamb is to become. Possess all that He died for. Appropriate it! See your need, but do not cover it up with hypocrisy. Believe with all your heart that God will meet that need. Harbor no guile, no unbelief. Do not stagger at your own need. Do not proceed to cover it over or whitewash it—trust God with all your heart.