Handed Over To Satan
“Was that wrong? Should I not have done that? I tell ya, I got to plead ignorance on this thing, because if anyone said anything to me at all when I first started here that this sort of thing was frowned upon….” George Constanza, a character on the ‘90s hit TV show Seinfeld, tried to get out of being fired from his job for having sex with the cleaning woman in his office by using this “ignorance” excuse. The plea of ignorance is funny for television, but try it in life and there won’t be many people laughing, yet it’s something we try all the time. We want to minimize our sin or find some kind of way that makes it not our fault.
“For ever since the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky. Through everything God made, they can clearly see his invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature. So they have no excuse for not knowing God.” (Romans 1:20)
Paul makes it clear that no one will have an excuse for not knowing God. His evidence is all around us. But as the modern American church allows for more and more sin to enter and flourish in the church in the name of tolerance or acceptance or progressivism, I wonder if we are raising up a bunch of George Constanzas in our American churches. By the time the Lord returns and we are headed for judgment, will we have Christians trying to plead ignorance, claiming that if only someone told them that was wrong then they would have never made that choice? Paul saw this problem with the church in Corinth as they were bragging about a man living in sexual sin with his stepmother.
“I can hardly believe the report about the sexual immorality going on among you—something that even pagans don’t do. I am told that a man in your church is living in sin with his stepmother. You are so proud of yourselves, but you should be mourning in sorrow and shame. And you should remove this man from your fellowship.” (1 Corinthians 5:1-2)
We see this still today, churches being proud of their acceptance of sin instead of mourning it. Paul went on to give his solution to this problem, instructing that the man should be removed from their fellowship. For some, this seems like too harsh of a punishment, but it’s an act of grace when compared to the eternal punishment that awaits for doing nothing and allowing the sin to continue.
“Then you must throw this man out and hand him over to Satan so that his sinful nature will be destroyed and he himself will be saved on the day the Lord returns.” (1 Corinthians 5:5)
It’s all or nothing. Paul is making it very clear that the church can’t let this person, who is choosing to live in sin, continue to think they are right. By allowing the sinful lifestyle and even bragging about it, the church was sending the message that sin is okay, that you can have Jesus and your sin. That’s not how it works. Each person has to reach the point where they are faced with a choice: either your sin or your Savior. By throwing this person out of the church, by handing him over to Satan, you are giving them that choice and making the choice crystal clear. It’s an act of grace and mercy to give someone the choice of Satan or Christ before it’s too late to choose. C.S. Lewis once wrote: “The instrument through which you see God is your whole self. And if a man’s self is not kept clean and bright, his glimpse of God will be blurred.” If we allow sin to continue in the church as if it’s no big deal, then we are guiding people in our church to have a skewed picture of God. If our leaders are pursuing a sinful lifestyle then their view of God is skewed and they cannot accurately lead their church. Our western, American churches as they allow for more and more sin, are giving people blurred glimpses of God.
“Your boasting about this is terrible. Don’t you realize that this sin is like a little yeast that spreads through the whole batch of dough? Get rid of the old ‘yeast’ by removing this wicked person from among you. Then you will be like a fresh batch of dough made without yeast, which is what you really are. Christ, our Passover Lamb, has been sacrificed for us.” (1 Corinthians 5:6-7)
If sin is allowed in one area, it will spread to others. When churches turn a blind eye when couples move in together before marriage, when they see an addiction to nicotine or food as not as bad as an addiction to porn or harder drugs, when they celebrate the hiring of openly gay and trans “pastors,” these are all examples of churches allowing sin to spread. The excuses are always the same: “if all sinners were thrown out of the church there’d be no one left.” There are plenty of Christians who are not living in sin, who are not choosing their sin over God, and who understand that you can’t choose both Jesus and your sin. And yes, Jesus spent time with those cast out and looked down on by society (prostitutes, tax collectors, fishermen), but once they met Jesus, they didn’t continue in those sinful lifestyles—they choose Jesus. Jesus didn’t say to them, “Follow me and keep pursuing your life of sin.” No! He said, “Leave your life of sin.” That’s what we are called to do if we want to follow Jesus. The old sinful ways cannot continue if we choose to follow Him. When the church turns a blind eye to sin, they provide an environment for sin to grow and flourish, and if that sin is never called out, if repentance is never required, then we will have churches filled with people who believe they can choose Jesus and their sin—and when the time comes, ignorance won’t be an option.
May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.
