1Corinthians 5:9-11 “I wrote you in my letter not to associate with immoral people; I did not at all mean with the immoral people of this world, or with the covetous and swindlers, or with idolaters, for then you would have to go out of the world. But actually, I wrote to you not to associate with any so-called brother if he is an immoral person, or covetous, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or a swindler--not even to eat with such a one”. (NASB)
Can you believe it? Can you believe there would be a person or persons in a church body that in spite of his claim to be a Christian would participate in gross sin? Openly participate in gross sin? That is exactly the situation Paul learned of in the midst of the Corinthian church. In this case Paul says it is the kind of sin you don’t even see unbelievers engaged in and yet here it is right in the church. He says earlier in Chapter 5 that “Someone has his father's wife”. It is widely agreed this was a step son engaged in a sexual affair with his step mother, his father’s wife. And while he is openly engaged in this immoral relationship he is participating in fellowship with the other church members.
Paul is beside himself! He likens this practitioner of evil in the midst of the congregation to a leavening agent in a batch of dough. He says a little leaven affects the whole batch. So the implication is clear. Having a practitioner of evil in and among the flock is bad news for the flock. Paul wants them to do something about it. He says to get rid of the bad leaven and replace it with new. There isn’t room for wondering what he means then is there? He is saying get this guy out of your church. If you don’t his behavior is going to rub off on you and before you know it you’ll have a disaster on your hands. There will be more and more evil running amuck if you don’t nip this thing in the bud.
How does Paul suggest this happen? He says get him out! He says don’t, “Associate with immoral people”. And he goes on to clarify that he’s not talking about lost people in the world who need to hear the good news of Jesus Christ. He’s talking about this, “So-called brother”. He’s saying that when this kind of wickedness is seen blatantly in your midst you need to get it out and isolate it from the body.
So what does Paul mean by “Associate”. I think he is clear once again. Paul says to, “not even to eat with such a one”. Paul says don’t break bread with this evil person, this carnal Christian. So the initial thoughts of this process were about protecting the church body but now Paul seems to be moving into the personal relationships of the believers with this immoral man. Don’t have a meal with him.
Again I think the implication is pretty obvious. Paul is saying not only to get him out of your church but don’t have anything to do with him. Leave him alone; don’t continue business as usual with this guy. Let him twist in the wind for awhile, he needs to know he can’t just continue in his sin and everything will be fine. It’s not fine!
Ultimately we know that Paul’s message on Church discipline is consistently about restoration. And there is no reason to believe this section of Scripture is advocating anything else. But we must remember that a key prerequisite of restoration is confession followed by repentance. Confession is admitting what was done; agreeing it was sin. Repentance is turning from sin and behaving honorably.
So how does all this tie together? Leaving that guy out twisting in the wind with fellowship broken will allow the Holy Spirit (assuming he really is a believer) to work in his life. It’s sad but true that we sometimes have to reach rock bottom before we are willing to look up. Being broken is sometimes where God needs to take us in order to help us. Being broken may be what is needed to bring about our admission and our turn-around. That seems to be what was needed in this case. The implication of Paul's instruction is that if the Corinthian believers were to continue in relationship with this evil man they might interfere with God’s plan to break him.
What is the take home for us? There may be times in the life of the church when chronic unrepentant evil is the reality in a brother’s life. When the initial steps of going one on one then as a group to confront his sin fail to bring confession and repentance then the next steps must follow. They must follow for the health of the church and they must follow for the potential restoration of the brother. Pray this doesn’t have to happen in your local church but do not fail to act if it is necessary.
To God be the glory in His Church. AMEN!
This type of restorative action by the church is tough, but as you said, we must "not fail to act if it is necessary." Such is the God-ordained, , God-authorized, & God-empowered means to see a sinning brother/sister restored to the fellowship. A restoration Godward and manward. This whole disciplinary process gives clarity to the otherwise enigmatic words of Jesus in Matthew 18:18-20: "Truly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. Again I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them."
ReplyDeleteWow! Now that's serious stuff.