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.
(1 Corinthians 5:7)
Read: 1 Corinthians 5
Devotion: How are we supposed to view the commands of Christ? Some view them as requirements that must be met in order to be saved. In other words, obedience is a prerequisite to becoming a child of God. Under this view, when we finally do feel like we’re a child of God, our status as a child of God is dependent on our consistent obedience. This view is called legalism. We must obey, not only to be saved but also to maintain our salvation. However, this view is to be destroyed as Paul does throughout his letter to Galatians. As he writes in Galatians 2:16, “yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified.”
While many Christians would mentally affirm this verse, they may be tempted to operate in contraction to it in practice. They would acknowledge that they have been saved wholly by the grace of God through faith in Jesus Christ. They believe their sins are forgiven not on the basis of anything they have done, but on the basis of Christ’s perfect, substitutionary sacrifice on the cross (Heb 2:17). And they also believe they have eternal life because of Christ’s indestructible life (Heb 7:25). At the same time, however, they can at times view the commands in Scripture through a legalistic lens. This most often occurs at the time of conviction over sin.
When our conscience is burning and the weight of our guilt is heavy upon us, it is in those moments when we can think of God as an angry father who is eagerly waiting to bestow punishment. We can become fearful and think that if we don’t get on the right track right away that our status as one of His children will be lost forever. When we think this way the commands then become a burden, and a heavy burden at that because our eternal life depends on it! But that’s not why Christ has given His commands. He hasn’t freed us from the bondage of our former life to put us into even heavier bondage (Matt 11:29-30). No, Christ’s commands are not a burden at all. They are actually the means by which we can live the most free and joyous lives imaginable.
Addressing the Corinthians in chapter five of his first letter to them, he rebukes and corrects them of a pretty big sin in their midst. We would think that the big sin would be the sexual one that a member is committing. That in itself is shocking and heinous, and as Paul tells the Corinthian church multiple times in the chapter, it has to be dealt with (5:2, 5, 7, 13). But if you read closely, this chapter isn’t directed at the man who was living such an obviously sinful life. It’s directed at the church as a whole who has pridefully allowed this man to live this way with no consequences. To Paul, that is the bigger concern. How could believers tolerate such blatant sin in their midst by those who also claim to love and follow Christ? What needs to happen to the man is clear (vv. 3-5), but the question that Paul lays before the church is, “Are you going to obey?”
But why should they obey? To address the question Paul employs a metaphor: “Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump?” (v. 6). It’s pretty easy to understand; the leaven illustrates sin and the lump illustrates them as the church. A little sin that is allowed in the dough to fester will soon corrupt the entire lump. Therefore, they need to get rid of the leaven so that they can function as a new lump (v. 7a). However, if Paul had just stopped after giving the command that would have naturally catered to the legalistic heart: “I need to do this so that I can become a new lump. I’m not truly saved until I do this.” Oh, burdened heart, keep reading! Paul continues, “as you really are unleavened. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed.”
Why are believers to obey the commands of Christ even though they’ve already received God’s grace and forgiveness and have been adopted into the family of God? We obey precisely because we are members of the family of God! Christians don’t believe to become. We obey because we already are. Thus, the commands that Christ gives us aren’t burdensome, but are freeing as they guide us to the life that reflects who we actually are.
In Christ we are freed from sin (Rom 6:22), from the fear of death (Heb 2:15), from needing to work out our own righteousness (Gal 2:16), from the fear of condemnation (1 John 4:18), and have been set apart as “a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that [we] may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light,” (1 Pet 2:9). When we sin, the joy and peace that comes with that reality can be greatly hindered. As Paul puts it, it ruins the party (1 Cor 5:8). When we sin, or when we obey out of mere, heartless obligation, we’re living inauthentic lives contrary to who we are. We are deprived of the joy of being Christ’s follower.
Therefore, don’t view the commands of Christ as a burden that you need to bear to get back into God’s good graces. View them as gifts of God meant to lead us into the joy of being able to fully savor what Christ has done for us.
Ponder and Pray: Consider why you are so prone to turn Christ’s commands into burdens. How can you better understand Christian obedience without overcorrecting and veering off into licentiousness? Finish by praying for the Lord to give you a heart that sees His commandments as not burdensome, but light.
