Friday, October 18,
2013, 7:58 a.m. – the Lord Jesus woke me with the song “Jesus is All the World to Me” playing in my mind. Speak, Lord,
your words to my heart. I read 1
Corinthians 5 (NIV).
It
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. And
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? For 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. So when you are assembled and I am with you in
spirit, and the power of our Lord Jesus is present, hand this man over to Satan
for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved on the day of
the Lord. ~ 5:1-5
Paul was addressing the church. A man within the church was
involved in an incestuous relationship with his mother or with his step-mother.
Even the non-Christian world did not tolerate such a thing, to the church’s
shame. And, yet the church was proud. Most likely they were not proud of the
sin, but were rather proud of their own sense of spirituality or standing in
the community, or of their own religious heritage or forms of worship. The main
situation I see here is that the church was evidently unaffected by this man’s
sin, and so they went on ahead with their religious meetings and ceremonies as
though this sin did not exist among them, and so they did not address the sin.
I believe this is a HUGE problem in today’s church. Tolerance
rules over loving confrontation. The teaching and philosophy of many of today’s
churches in the USA is one of non-judgmentalism, so as to make people comfortable,
so they will want to come back. Certainly we are not to judge people falsely,
condemningly, or hypocritically, but it is the church’s responsibility to judge
unchecked and unrepentant sin within the church in order to turn the sinner
from the error of his or her ways, and to bring him or her back into fellowship
with the Lord. Yet so many churches practice tolerance instead, and they are
proud of their meetings, their “worship” services and their religious
activities. And, this only serves to hurt the testimony of the church and its
effective witness for Jesus Christ.
The loving and Biblical method for confronting willful,
continuous and unrepentant sin within the church body is first of all to
confront the individual with his sin and to give him, or her, the opportunity
to repent. If that proves ineffective, then others should be brought along, and
if the person sinning still does not respond to correction, then it is to be
taken before the whole church. If the individual still refuses to listen, then
he or she is to be put out of the church (See Matt. 18:15-17). Yet, very few
congregations follow this Biblical model. Many ignore it all together. Others
misuse it for their own purposes. Either way the church is hurt. Rather than
ignoring known sin within the church, we should follow this Biblical method for
dealing with unrepentant sin, not hypocritically, not falsely, and not
condemningly, but always with a humble spirit, grieving in our spirits over the
sin and over those being led astray by the sin, and always for the purpose of
spiritual restoration and renewal.
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. ~ 5:6-8
The reason this Biblical model for dealing with unrepentant
and willful sin within the church should be followed is not just for the
spiritual restoration of the ones sinning, but it is also for the spiritual
well-being of the church congregation as a whole. Jesus Christ died on the
cross for our sins, not just so we would be positionally saved and given the
hope of eternal life in heaven, but so we would be free from slavery to sin while
we still live on this earth. He died to free us from the control of sin over
our lives, and to free us to walk in obedience; in the Spirit; and in loving
fellowship with our Lord day-by-day. Our old lives of living in slavery to sin
is the old yeast. Yet, he bought us with a price and thus freed us from this
old yeast, and he made us a new batch of dough, so we need to walk in the
freedom he provided for us, stop believing Satan’s lies, and be the people of
God that we are in Christ Jesus.
If we allow this old yeast to remain within the body and we
do nothing to remove it, then it works its way through the whole batch of
dough, i.e. if the church allows known and willful sin and rebellion against
God to go on within the church unchecked and not dealt with, then eventually it
works its way through the congregation, and then the church, as a whole, begins
to be on a spiritual decline and people get the idea that God’s grace is a
license to continue in willful sin. The church begins to adopt the ways of the
world, and more and more sin is accepted and tolerated, all in the name of “grace”
and “love.” But, this is not how Jesus loves. He does not teach tolerance of
sin. If we don’t address sin, and we allow it to go unchecked, then it will
impact the spiritual growth and maturity of the church, as a whole, and it will
affect their witness for Christ to the negative. So, instead of ignoring sin,
we should practice speaking the truth in love, for the benefit of the whole
church.
I
wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people— not at
all meaning the people of this world who are immoral, or the greedy and
swindlers, or idolaters. In that case you would have to leave this world. But
now I am writing to you that you must not associate with anyone who claims to
be a brother or sister but is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or
slanderer, a drunkard or swindler. Do not even eat with such people.
What
business is it of mine to judge those outside the church? Are you not to judge
those inside? God will judge those outside. “Expel the wicked person from among
you.” ~ 5:9-13
I believe this is one of the most difficult of directives
for believers in Christ to follow. This is speaking to the congregation as a
whole. We, as the body of Christ, should not remain in fellowship with those professing
Christians we know are willingly living in sin. Why? I believe it is for two
reasons: 1) Bad company corrupts good character, i.e. it goes back to the issue
of the old yeast working its way through the batch of dough; and 2) It gives
the persons sinning the idea that we are ok with what they are doing, i.e. it
gives the message that we are somehow approving of their sin. Yet, I believe we
should follow the Biblical model of Matthew 18 first. In other words, many will
just ignore someone they think is caught in sin rather than lovingly
confronting the individuals, or else they will still hang out with them. Either
way, they are not addressing the sin, or they are not helping their brothers
and sisters in Christ to turn from sin and thus to be renewed. So, whether we
just reject the person sinning or we show acceptance and approval, we are not
acting in love.
The main issue here, I believe, is whether the church is
being led by the flesh of man or by the Spirit of God; whether they are
following the word of God, or they are following humanistic teachings and
philosophies; whether they are more concerned with being liked or whether they
are willing to be hated in order to speak the truth in love to a brother or
sister in Christ caught in sin. Is Christ truly on the throne, or is the flesh
of man? We are the body of Christ, therefore our goal should be to honor our
Lord, not the flesh of man.
Jesus is All the
World to Me / Will Thompson
Jesus is all the world
to me,
My life, my joy, my
all;
He is my strength from
day to day,
Without Him I would
fall.
When I am sad, to Him
I go,
No other one can cheer
me so;
When I am sad, He
makes me glad,
He’s my Friend.
Jesus is all the world
to me,
My Friend in trials
sore;
I go to Him for
blessings, and
He gives them o’er and
o’er.
He sends the sunshine
and the rain,
He sends the harvest’s
golden grain;
Sunshine and rain,
harvest of grain,
He’s my Friend.
Jesus is all the world
to me,
And true to Him I’ll
be;
Oh, how could I this
Friend deny,
When He’s so true to
me?
Following Him I know
I’m right,
He watches o’er me day
and night;
Following Him by day
and night,
He’s my Friend.
Jesus is all the world
to me,
I want no better
Friend;
I trust Him now, I’ll
trust Him when
Life’s fleeting days
shall end.
Beautiful life with
such a Friend,
Beautiful life that
has no end;
Eternal life, eternal
joy,
He’s my Friend.
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