Stopping Sexual Immorality in the Church

1It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that even pagans do not tolerate: A man is sleeping with his father’s wife. 2And you are proud! Shouldn’t you rather have gone into mourning and have put out of your fellowship the man who has been doing this? 3For my part, even though I am not physically present, I am with you in spirit. As one who is present with you in this way, I have already passed judgment in the name of our Lord Jesus on the one who has been doing this. 4So when you are assembled and I am with you in spirit, and the power of our Lord Jesus is present, 5hand this man over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved on the day of the Lord.

Thoughts: Christianity is a religion of love- so why not allow any kind of love?  Jesus was all about love, but this passage seems so mean.  I have heard these things.  But we need to hear scripture, and be willing to bend our thoughts to it instead of ignoring scripture- or picking and choosing our morality.  Christianity and Jesus are all about love- loving neighbor and loving God.  But sometimes, believe it or not, loving someone means saying no.  Incest is wrong because God says so; because it causes huge family problems and family tension; It can destroy the community and the church because of its animosity to others and God; incest can bring harm in many cases to the children through birth defects.
     In the Corinthian world, there were no moral sexual taboos.  Adultery was wrong in that it caused tension but it was not forbidden.  All of Corinth stood under the shadow of the high mountain with the Temple to Aphrodite (the goddess of love) over them.  Today you can go to the museum in the ruins of Corinth and see statues of growths caused by Sexually Transmitted Diseases- that were offered to the gods to stop the pain and disease (they didn't work but spread).  Paul was preaching something new- self control.  He was encouraging to not behave like animals- giving into their natural inclinations and instincts but to go a different way.  In our culture we have confused erotic love with God's love.  This was a previous battle in the Old Testament- when people worshiped the fertility God, Baal, by having sex with a temple prostitute.  In scripture sex is important, but it is holy.  It is a gift of God that has high emotions, high consequences to it.  Therefore the boundaries around sexuality were marriage and the commands of God.  We would do well to heed this today.
     The discipline of Paul seems harsh.  But to ignore this would mean the church would fester with immorality, and divisiveness (especially between the father and son) would result.  To "Hand over to Satan" seems so esoteric to the western Christian who downplays evil and only focuses on the good.  But there are evil spiritual consequences to being exiled from the church.  The hopes are that this exile would be temporary and that this person would repent and come back.  There is always room to come back to Christ no matter what we have done- but we need to repent.  

Prayer: Lord, may my life be loving toward you.  Help me to listen to you above my own instincts and the voices who say my behavior doesn't matter.  

 Temple to Aphrodite on top of mountain over Corinth; Below VD statues.