As we move out of the book of Acts and into Paul's Epistles, the instructions get much more specific and in depth. Many of the Churches Paul wrote to were Churches He had been to and worked with. He had a personal relationship with the people of these churches. Because of this he was able to give more specific instructions and deal with more personal issues. And so with that let's look at Paul's instruction to the Church out of 1 Corinthians 5.
Verse 12 is where we find the word "church" in this chapter, but for this one we really have to look at the whole context of the chapter. The biggest thing to note with this chapter is that it is talking about dealing with sin in the life of someone who is part of the body of Christ. This isn't about condemning/judging the person who comes three times a year for Christmas, Easter, and for some special family event. This is about dealing with sinful behavior in the lives of Christians, pretty much to the situation Jesus mentions in Matthew 18.
Here Paul is addressing a sin of immorality that has taken place in the Corinthian church. But instead of dealing with the problem, it has been over looked, and the man in question has been allowed to continue both in sin and as an acting member of the church, even though his actions are publicly known. Paul says that the church must deal with this sin, they cannot ignore it. "Your boasting is not good. Do you knot know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump of dough? Clean out the old leaven so that you may be a new lump, just as you are in fact unleavened..." (1 Corinthians 5.6-7b).
Sin cannot be allowed to take place in the Church. When a member of the body of Christ, one who has proclaimed Christ as Lord and accepted Him as Savior, openly lives in violation to the standards of holiness set by God, that person must be dealt with. If sin, any sin, is given a foothold in the Church, it will work like a cancer through all of it. It will infect it, and kill it, and so it must be cut out. Again, this is exactly what Jesus said to do in Matthew 18, sin has no place among God's people, and it must be dealt with.
But again, this is in reference to those who are members of the Church, those who have decided to follow Jesus and live according to His standards. Paul says, "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. For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Do you not judge those who are within the church? But those who are outside, God judges. Remove the wicked man from among yourselves" (1 Corinthians 5.9-13).
The expectations are different. Those in the Church are expected to know better, they are no longer ignorant. It is the job of the Church to teach Holiness and help those within the Church live holy lives. It is the job of the Church to reach out into the world with the love of Christ to bring others into it. And at the same time, the Church is to uphold Holiness. It must deal with sin in order to save the person who is sinning, to protect others in the Church, and to show the rest of the world that those within the Church are different.
Those who have become part of the Church, must live like it. This "organization" has its standards and rules, just like any other organization does. Ours are holiness and righteous living, not sinless perfection, but striving towards Christlikeness. Sin and immorality have no place in this pursuit, and are unacceptable for a member of the Church.
And Paul also says that we are not to judge those outside of the Church. We are not to condemn them or look down upon them. We aren't to hold them to our standards because they don't have the same standards, and constantly shoving them in their faces will not help. Instead we are to love them and reach out to them. We are to share with them the life, love, and fulfillment that is found in Christ. As they seek more about it we are to share and show what this life looks like. It is not our place to judge and convict them, that is the Spirit's job. And when someone enters the Church as a believer in Christ, we help them strive to become like Him, and lovingly hold them accountable to the standard of holiness.
"I have been young and now I am old, yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken or his descendants begging bread."
To God alone be the Glory!
Peace be with you
No comments:
Post a Comment