Problems Plaguing a Local Church,
Part 11
In our message, ANYONE NAMED A BROTHER (1 Cor. 5:9-13) we finished God’s directions to Christians to exercise church discipline when dealing with persistent, unconfessed immorality within their fellowship (1 Cor. 5:1, 2, 5, 7, etc.). At this point, Paul references a letter he wrote to them before the book of 1 Corinthians was penned, in which he also addressed this problem telling them “not to keep company with sexually immoral people” (1 Cor. 5:9). We do not have a copy of that “epistle” today as God sovereignly chose to not include it in His Word (1 Cor. 5:9), however, the Lord repeats this command to them (and us) here in the Bible. For example, 1 Corinthians 5:11 reads, “But I have written to you not to keep company with.” That means to exclude fellowship from and “not even to eat with such a person” (1 Cor. 5:11b).
A misunderstanding, however, arose at the church in Corinth over what Paul meant by not keeping company with the sexually immoral in that initial letter. Apparently, many in Corinth were making the huge mistake of trying to apply this to non-Christians which was NOT what God had in mind at all. The Holy Spirit explains to us, “… I certainly DID NOT MEAN THE SEXUALLY IMMORAL PEOPLE OF THIS WORLD!” (1 Cor. 5:10a, caps my emphasis). Indeed, if the church applied this to lost people we would then “have to leave [the] world” altogether because such sin is everywhere (1 Cor. 5:10 NLT; Rom. 3:23, etc.). Also, not associating with lost people would prevent us from fulfilling the very mission Christ has called us to: sharing His everlasting Gospel so people can be saved! (Matt. 28:18-20, etc.).
Christians are NOT called “to go out of the world” but to influence the world for Jesus by being His light, reflecting His truth and life- shining brightly into the darkness (Acts 1:8; Phil. 2:14-16; 1 Pet. 2:14-16, etc.). But to remain “the salt of the earth” He has called us to, the Lord requires we judge sin not only in our own lives, but also at times within our church (1 Cor. 4:18-21; Matt. 5:13-16; 6:21-23; John 17:15-18; 1 John 2:15-16; Gal. 6:1-5, etc.). That is why the Bible says here, we are “NOT to keep company with anyone named a brother, who is sexually immoral” as was the case with the Corinthian brother who clung to immorality with his step-mother (1 Cor. 5:1, 11).
“ANYONE NAMED A BROTHER” means we are to apply this ONLY to Christians (i.e. people who profess faith in Jesus Christ- 1 Cor. 5:11). Notice the woman in 1 Corinthians 5:1 is not addressed here because she is not a Christian and not a member of God’s church in Corinth (1 Cor. 5:12). We are to treat believers differently than non-believers declares the Word of God (1 Cor. 5:1-13, etc.). And the church, as Christ’s bride, is responsible for taking care of the body by helping its members (as much as we are able to) be ready for Jesus’ return (1 Cor. 3:13-15; 5:13; Heb. 10:23-25; 1 John 2:28, etc.). This can mean exercising tough love for an unrepentant member by excluding fellowship with him or her after all other avenues have been pursued (Matt. 18:15-17; 1 Cor. 5:2, 5, 7, 11, 13; 2 Thes. 3:14, etc.). Once again, this is done to protect the church and also for the well-being of God’s child trapped in sin (Gal. 5:1; Rom. 8:28, etc.). Letting a person continue in their sin shows you do NOT really love them, because GOD IS LOVE, and to love His way we must do what He says (1 John 4:8; Rom. 6:23; 12:9; Matt. 10:37; John 14:21; James 1:22; Heb. 11:6, etc.).
- “The failure of many church leaders to discipline professing Christians who practice these things today is a sad commentary on the carnality of the modern church.” -Dr. Tom Constable founder of Dallas Seminary’s Field Education department (1970) and the Center for Biblical Studies (1973)
- But those who are outside God judges. Therefore ‘put away from yourselves the evil person’” (1 Cor. 5:13).