I can hardly
believe the report about the sexual immorality going on among you … You
are so proud of yourselves, but you should be mourning in sorrow and shame. And you should remove this man from your fellowship.
(1a-2)
You must call a
meeting of the church. I will be present with you in spirit, and so will
the power of our Lord Jesus. Then you must throw
this man out and hand him over to Satan so that his sinful nature will be
destroyed and he himself will be saved on the day the Lord returns. (4-5)
Paul
condemns the church’s pride over their acceptance of this man who is in obvious
sexual sin and continues in it as he participates in the church body. He says in verse 6 that the church was even
boasting in how they had accepted such a person. Oh my how this pervades our church today with
regard to homosexual sin, so much that it allows such as ministers of this very
Word which condemns the presence in the church of such a person! Oh my how this pervades Christian families
who boast in their acceptance of one another and do not confront one another
who claim to be a believer but who engage in sexual sin actively without repenting
in truth and opening discussing such when asked. We believers should be mourning the loss of such a person and heart-broken that they would choose the ways of the world and themselves over God and even us.
Your boasting about
this is terrible. Don’t you realize that
this sin is like a little yeast that spreads through the whole batch of dough? Get
rid of the old “yeast” by removing this wicked person from among you. Then you will be like a fresh batch of dough
made without yeast, which is what you really are. Christ, our Passover Lamb, has been sacrificed
for us. So let us celebrate the festival, not with
the old bread of wickedness and evil, but with the new bread of
sincerity and truth. (6-8)
Paul is very
clear what to do with someone who claims to be a believer but refuses to remove
sexual sin in their life. You remove
them from your church and from being among you.
Why? So they do not ruin the
group. A little accepted sin, make the
whole meal unacceptable to Christ. We
are cleaned completely from sin. If we
accept any sin from an unapologetic person because they believe they can do what they believe to
be right, which makes them God, we all are unacceptable and are ruined as we
allow their words to overrule God’s Word.
Therefore, this person must be removed from among us.
You are not to
associate with anyone who claims to be a believer yet indulges in sexual
sin, or is greedy, or worships idols, or is
abusive, or is a drunkard, or cheats people. Don’t even eat with such people. (11)
I don’t see
how this isn’t crystal clear.
It isn’t my
responsibility to judge outsiders, but it certainly is your responsibility
to judge those inside the church who are sinning. God
will judge those on the outside; but as the Scriptures say, “You must remove
the evil person from among you.” (12-13)
– 2 Corinthians 5:(selected)
And yes, if
such people claim to be a believer, we are allowed to judge their actions
inside the church. This is quite
contrary to what the world would want us to believe. Yet it is written very clearly. The only reason us Christians even accept any
alternate position is because we do not read the Bible so we do not know it or
we select the parts we want to believe and therefore do not have a full
faith. Both are unacceptable.
2 comments:
Satan's lie of political correctness is succeeding in bringing the whole church down. It's not unique to Methodists, but the whole church. We've got to stand on Biblical principles regardless of how unpopular. Easy to say about homosexuality as I don't suffer from it, but what about obesity? I really struggle with how to stand firm when I know I'm imperfect myself. The only difference I can stand on is that I'm not asking anyone to endorse my sin.
Well, the way I read it is: 1) If I ask you if you are a believer in Jesus as your Savior who is Son of the one true living God and do you trust in Him alone to forgive your sins - and you say yes. 2) Then if I ask are you living in sexual sin willfully and purposefully? And you say yes. Everything this chapter says has to apply. There are many ways to answer the 2nd question that show a heart that doesn't want to be sinning but can't beat it. A person with that kind of heart wants help. However, a person who is in the sin and doesn't think they are in any wrong, but you are if you don't accept them, that person must be removed from the family because they will ruin the family.
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