They had been boasting about sexual indiscretions in the church.  It should have shamed them.  But they were somehow proud. No comes Paul’s rebuke.

“Your boasting is not good. Don’t you know that a little yeast leavens the whole batch of dough?  Get rid of the old yeast, so that you may be a new unleavened batch—as you really are. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed.  Therefore let us keep the Festival, not with the old bread leavened with malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.”

Paul makes a solid point.  If we tolerate evil among us, it will become accepted and spread to others.  This does not mean we harm someone.  It does mean we may need to confront in gentleness, love, and truth.

We must deal with the “old yeast.”  That means lovingly calling people to repent. Walking with them.  Discipling them.  But if they persist in refusing to repent, we need to remove them from our fellowship.

This is not easy.  Also, it has been done so poorly in the past, and without love.  There’s been judgment, harshness, speed of dismissal, and everything that does not invite people into repentance.  It is God’s kindness that leads people to repent, and that also means our kindness as well.

The other side of the coin is that people have done nothing about sin.  It is tolerated and acceptable to have people in the church living together, being sexually involved, and the church leaders never speaking to them privately about their actions.  People see it is accepted and follow along.  Then there’s another pushing of the boundaries and now we have whole churches celebrating sin instead of repenting from it.

Then we come to this part:

“For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed.  Therefore let us keep the Festival, not with the old bread leavened with malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.”

Why include this in keeping the old yeast out of the batch of dough?

First, when we remember the Passover Lamb, we also remember the bread that was made without yeast.  God’s deliverance was so dramatic and so quick that the people had no time to make proper bread.  They ate bread without yeast.  This would have been triggered in the memory of the Jewish people when Paul mentioned the Passover lamb.

Second, for us after Christ, Jesus is our Passover Lamb.  He is the one who rescued us forever from death and destruction.  He delivered us from sin.  Therefore we should no longer live in it.  The old way of life was with malice and wickedness.  The new way of life is with sincerity and truth.  Therefore let us keep the festival.

What is the festival?

The Passover festival was a 7 day celebration of the Lord’s deliverance.  In Christ, we continually live in the celebration of deliverance.  In fact, every Sunday when we take communion, we celebrate this deliverance.  And with it, we live in holiness and righteousness, having been delivered from the old way of life.

Freedom from the prison of sin is a great gift.  It is a point of celebration.  Why would we walk in it any longer?  Why return to prison when we can be free?

It does mean that we have to live a different way.  We must live responsibly and not in self-indulgence.  We can’t have it both ways.

So let’s live freely.  Celebrate that freedom.  And walk into the responsibility it requires.