The Danger of Tolerating Sin in the Church

“You must not associate with anyone who claims to be a brother or sister but is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or slanderer, a drunkard or swindler.” – 1 Corinthians 5:11

Like a parent who desperately wants to correct someone else’s wild child who’s acting up in public – that must be the way the Apostle Paul felt when he observed the Church in Corinth. One of their members was WAY out of line, and the entire Corinthian church had failed to discipline him.

 

Sadly, many Christian churches today are equally bad at carrying out church discipline. But there is hope for us in 1 Corinthians 5. Here, the Apostle Paul teaches the Corinthians, AND us,  how to more effectively carry out church discipline. I’d like to share three important implications of his advice from verses 9-11:

 

IMPLICATION #1: For Christians, sin INSIDE the church is much more dangerous than sin OUTSIDE the church. John MacArthur puts it this way: “No church is healthy enough to resist contamination from persistent sin in its midst, any more than the healthiest and most nutritious bushel of apples can withstand contamination from even a single bad one. The only solution in both cases is separation.” Now, if someone were to ask you, “Is it okay for Christians to discriminate?” I’m guessing that your kneejerk response would be “No!” But notice what Paul clearly implies in verses 9-11:

 

IMPLICATION #2: When it comes to close fellowship with other Christians, we must discriminate between believers who sin and repent and those who sin and don’t repent. Preben Vang puts it this way: Christians “are to discriminate within the church for the sake of their identity as a Christ community…. What Paul encourages is not isolation from the world but identification with Christ.” Each Christian should find their true identity, first and foremost, as a follower of Jesus. That being the case, we can’t ignore unrepentant sin in our church family. We are not to be a church full of active sinners; we must be a church full of reformed sinners.

 

IMPLICATION #3: Disfellowship isn’t only for Christians who are engaged in gross sexual sins. Disfellowship is appropriate for ANY Christian who refuses to repent and persists in their sin. In verse 11, Paul mentions six lifestyle sins that are grounds for disfellowship: sexual immorality, greed, idolatry, slander, drunkenness and swindling. Most of the time, when a Christian needs to be rebuked, it’s not because of a gross sexual sin. There are plenty of other sins that defile you and those around you. ALL of these sins need to be rebuked and purged from the church.

 

But every church has been tempted to compromise its holiness by caving in to the sinful culture around it. Chuck Swindoll writes: “In [recent] decades, the general perception of God has dramatically changed. Now He’s seen as a gentle father figure who loves people so much that He would never think of judging anybody for anything…. Paul’s brief discussion of church discipline in 1 Corinthians 5 challenges head-on the notion of unchecked tolerance for sin.”

 

As Christians we must be intolerant of unconfessed, unrepentant sin in ourselves AND in each other. At that same time, if we rebuke a fellow Christian, it should be done out of love for our sinning brother or sister, in prayer, and with clear support from Scripture. Ultimately, a loving, biblical rebuke demonstrates a deep love for God, His Church and His Word.

Dane Davis is the pastor of Impact Christian Church, meeting Sundays at 8:45 a.m. at 17746 George Blvd in Victorville. For more information, visit www.GreaterImpact.cc.

How to Handle Sin in the Church

“If they will not listen, take one or two others along, so that ‘every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.’” – Matthew 18:16

In 1 Corinthians 5, Paul finds himself forced to address a big problem in the Corinthian church: Tolerance of gross sexual sin.

 

A member of the Corinthian church was involved in an ongoing, incestuous relationship that, as Paul says in verse 1, “does not occur even among pagans.” But even worse, the rest of the church was turning a blind eye to the moral cancer in their midst.

 

Unrepentant sin in the church is like severe gangrene or a cancerous tumor in your big toe: You can either cut off your toe, or you can ignore it and lose your whole leg – or worse. If only the Corinthians had known that the Bible provides a procedure for rebuking and disciplining sinning Christians in the church before it’s too late.

 

Here is God’s 5-step process:  

 

Step #1: One-on-one: The Holy Spirit rebukes a sinning Christian discreetly (Heb. 4:12, 2 Tim. 3:16). Each of us must attend a church that faithfully teaches God’s Word, and we must allow the Holy Spirit to do through His Word what He does so well: to expose our sin, teach us, rebuke us, correct us and train us in righteousness. And if you listen to the Holy Spirit, allow Him to rebuke you, and repent in response to His rebuke, you don’t have to suffer the embarrassment and pain of other Christians needing to rebuke you.

 

Step #2: One-on-one: A fellow believer rebukes a sinning Christian discreetly (Matthew 18:15). Most of us HATE confrontation. But biblical confrontation is often the most godly way to show love to a fellow Christian. If you see another believer sinning, pray about it, find the appropriate Scripture to share with them, then talk with them – one-on-one. If the sin isn’t addressed swiftly, it will likely get bigger and cause greater harm to both the Christian who’s sinning AND to the rest of the church.

 

Step #3: Two or three believers rebuke a sinning Christian (Matthew 18:16). If a sinning brother hasn’t responded to Step 1 and Step 2, it’s time to bring in some reinforcements to speak with him. This follows the biblical principle: “Let every matter be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.” Make sure the witnesses are believers—ideally, mature Christians who care about the person. Go to the sinning Christian, open God’s Word and pray together. Then rebuke the sinning brother or sister together.

 

Step #4: The church leaders meet with the sinning Christian to rebuke and discipline him/her (Matthew 18:17). If a sinning brother doesn’t respond humbly to the rebuke of the Holy Spirit or his concerned brothers or sisters, it’s time for the pastor and/or elders to speak with him. If the sinning Christian truly repents at this point, the leaders should lead him through the repentance process. In most cases, the brother can continue to attend church, but he’ll need to step down from any ministries he’s involved in so he can focus on receiving God’s Word and living a holy life.

 

Step #5: As a last resort, the sinning Christian is disfellowshipped from the church (Matthew 18:17 & 2 Cor. 5:1-5). This step should only be taken when the previous four steps have failed to convince the sinning brother or sister to repent.

 

Remember, Hebrews 12:5-6 says: “My son, do not make light of the Lord’s discipline, and do not lose heart when He rebukes you, because the Lord disciplines those He loves, and He punishes everyone He accepts as a son.” Whether in the family or in the church, rebukes CAN be very loving. In fact, when a Christian brother or sister is caught up in a sin, a biblical rebuke is one of the most loving gifts that you OR the Holy Spirit could ever give them.

Dane Davis is the pastor of Impact Christian Church, meeting Sundays at 8:45 a.m. at 17746 George Blvd in Victorville. For more information, visit www.GreaterImpact.cc.