July 26
2 Chronicles 33-34
Psalm 84:8-12
Proverbs 19:3-4
I Corinthians 5
In Our Midst
“I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people—not at all meaning the sexually immoral people of this world, or the greedy or swindlers, or idolators, since then you would need to go out of the world. But now I am writing to you not to associate with anyone who bears the name of brother if he is guilty of sexual immorality or greed, or is an idolator, reviler, drunkard, or swindler—not even to eat with such a one. For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Is it not those inside the church whom you are to judge? God judges those outside. Purge the evil person from among you.” I Corinthians 5:9-13
In these verses, Paul gives us very clear instructions about how to deal with people within the church who are living in sin. To avoid confusion, let’s just say up front that we all sin. We all have sinful thoughts and act in ways that are less than perfect. That is not what Paul is referring to here. Paul is referring to willful, intentional sin. He is referring to a pattern of behavior that is contrary to God’s Word. He is talking about someone who knows better and yet chooses to act in ways that are not pleasing to God. As Christians, when we are saved, we are freed from the consequences of our sins. Jesus took our punishment on the cross so that we do not face eternal damnation. This, however, does not give us license to continue in sin. We are not only freed from the consequences of sin, but we are also freed from the bondage of sin. We have the Holy Spirit living in us giving us the ability to resist temptation and flee from sin. The Holy Spirit gives us power over sin, and He convicts us when we do sin so that we can immediately confess that sin and turn from it. But He does not take away our free will. We are not robots or puppets being controlled by a higher force. We can choose to ignore His leading and continue in a pattern of sin. This is the person Paul is referring to in these verses.
The list he chooses to include is interesting. Sexual immorality and drunkenness seem obvious, but Paul also chooses to include greed, idolatry, reviling, and swindling. A reviler is a person who uses words to damage, control, or insult someone’s character or reputation. That includes gossip, slander, angry outbursts, and foul language. Paul tells us not to have anything to do with fellow believers who do these things and to purge them from among us. Paul does not want us to become complacent about sin. When we see unbelievers doing these things, we do not have the right to judge them. God is their judge. We are to welcome them and love them. But when believers behave in these ways, Jesus Himself tells us how to deal with them in Matthew 18. We lovingly confront them. If they refuse to listen, we bring one or two others to talk to them and if they still refuse to listen, we bring them before the church for discipline. This is extremely uncomfortable, but if we do not deal with sin in our midst, we cannot expect a holy, righteous God to dwell among us. We should examine our own lives first and ask God to reveal to us any sin that we need to repent and turn from. Then we have a responsibility to hold our fellow believers accountable. We are to come alongside and help our brothers and sisters, encouraging them to seek God and to turn from their sins. We cannot have the attitude that we don’t want to get involved, or it’s none of our business. We need each other. This must be done with much prayer and humility allowing God to lead us in the best approach and above all it must be done in love. If I am confronted by someone who I know loves me and has my best interest in mind, I am going to listen to what they have to say. God will give us the right words if He leads us to be the one to confront. God takes sin seriously and so must we.
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