Protect the Church

Read 1 Corinthians 5 thru 11:16
 
1 Corinthians 5:12 It isn’t my responsibility to judge outsiders, but it certainly is your responsibility to judge those inside the church who are sinning.
 
THERE was some serious sexual immorality in the Corinth church. But it seemed to be a point of pride for the church to say, “We still accept the person who is committing the sin.” Is that the right response? After all, we are taught to “love the sinner and to hate the sin”.
   To a point, that is a view of grace. We do not judge people in general for their sins because the LORD God is the ultimate judge. But Paul teaches from the Old Testament law that the church needed to pass judgment on the sins within the church. In Genesis 3 and many other Scriptures, God teaches he does not tolerate sin in his presence.
   Return to the Passover, and you will read of God’s instructions to purge all yeast from the Passover household. This was to emphasize sin’s power to infect a household and a community. Yeast is small, but it grows to affect the entire batch of dough. So it is with sin.
   The new covenant is established on Jesus’ blood pouring out for the forgiveness of our sins. This is to purge all affects of sin from our souls. All sin, then, is to be purged from God’s house. Jesus’ blood is the cleansing agent. The church has the responsibility and the instruction to remove people who outwardly and deliberately sin. They are rejecting Jesus’ covenant sacrifice. “For I pass on to you what I received from the Lord himself. On the night when he was betrayed, the Lord Jesus took some bread  and gave thanks to God for it. Then he broke it in pieces and said, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this to remember me.” In the same way, he took the cup of wine after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant between God and his people – an agreement confirmed with my blood. Do this to remember me as often as you drink it.” (1 Corinthians 11:23-25)
   Yes, remember Jesus paid it all. And we must honor his sacrifice. Sin tolerated is sin accepted. Sin accepted is Jesus rejected. To dismiss sin is to dismiss the cross. To work to correct the sin is to fulfil Christ’s mission on earth.
   Yes, it is difficult to confront an unrepentant sinner. But this is on the church’s “Must Do” list. After all, that is what Jesus has done. He has come to tell us, “Repent of your sins and turn to God, for the Kingdom of Heaven is near.”  (Matthew 4:17) Jesus did this because he loves us. The same is true for the church. Correcting a sinner is loving that person so much you will, in the faithfulness of God, keep him/her from perishing into death.