If you’ve never been a ministry leader who had to make the hard call of letting another leader go from serving because of their unrepentant sin, it’s harder than you might imagine. What Paul is asking the church to do here, while Biblical, is not at all easy. Relationships are at stake. But so are salvation and allegiance to the truth. There is a reason that Scripture prescribes this type of purging in our fellowship of believers.
Paul uses the perfect example for his day when he refers to yeast. Bread would have been a huge staple in their diets, and the use of yeast and understanding of how it expands the dough would be clear. You wouldn’t want tainted yeast to infest your batch of bread, so why would you want an unrepentant sinner to be part of your circle of faithful ones?
The first thing we may hear others say is, “It isn’t fair” to exclude someone like this for their sin. Isn’t a church meant for sinners like a hospital is made to heal sick people? The rub is in the intention. It wasn’t like this man was doing anything about his sinfulness, like repenting or changing his lifestyle. And it was the “boasting” of the church leaders that truly offended Paul.
To let such behavior go unchecked within a community of faith will only give it power. If other believers see that such behavior is being overlooked and thus tolerated, what’s to stop them from pushing the boundaries of sin? When we normalize sinful behaviors, they tend to spread and flourish, just like bad yeast would affect the whole batch of delicious bread.
Paul warns us to keep our communities of faith pure. He isn’t concerned with people outside the church. There’s no way to control the whole world or those that don’t know any better. Paul said about them, “You would have to leave this world to avoid people like that.” What matters is those in your community who should know better. As devoted believers, don’t we desire to please God rather than anger him?
Paul is instituting a critical plan for church discipline. Most of the churches I’ve attended during my life have such expectations in place for those in leadership roles. When those lines blurred, or when sinful practices became tolerated and even applauded, we knew it was time to leave our denomination and seek a more Biblically based church body. Paul warned the Corinthians all those years ago, and still churches today seem to have ignored the message. Why do you think that is?
People may say, “we don’t want to be judgmental.” As believers, we know who the ultimate judge is, and it is not us. When we stand on Biblical truth to point out sinful behavior and tendencies, we are only stating what God has already proclaimed. We are not judgmental; we are intentionally standing on the truth. Pointing out sin may make us unpopular, and it may be extremely painful, but Paul would encourage us to do our duty to keep our communities pure.
This passage may be difficult to read, especially if you can think of sins in your own life which you cling to or tend to repeat over and over. Is it your intention to be better? Do you want to live your life in a way that pleases God? Thankfully, we have Jesus to refresh us and wash away all our sins. We simply have to let go of our sins and let God do his thing.
Romans 3:23 calls it out like this: “For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard.” That is a true statement! Never forget what Jesus had to do, the price he paid, so that your sins are washed away. When we minimize sin, are we disregarding Jesus’ sacrifice for us? Be thankful for the psalmist’s words in Psalm 103:12, “He has removed our sins as far from us as the east is from the west.”
Let’s pray. Thank you, Lord Jesus, for the ultimate sacrifice you made for me and each one of my sins. I am so grateful for such love and mercy. Your grace abounds and astounds me. I pray for communities of faith who have failed to listen to Paul’s counsel here. I pray for communities that I am part of, that they be strengthened by the power of your truth. May I stand on the truth of Scripture and not give in to the pressures of society. You and your precious blood are too precious to me. Guide me and accept my repentant heart. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
