Sin in the Church

How easy it is for us as Christians to look at others outside the faith and compare ourselves to them. Calling it what it is, it is judging them. Jesus tell us to not judge lest we be judged. For me this means judging someone else's actions without having all the facts or making judgements based on your ideas etc. But either way how do you compare that to what Paul is saying here. He is telling them to judge the immoral man and"You must then hand this man over to Satan. His body will be destroyed, but his spirit will be saved when the Lord Jesus returns."Okay what exactly does that mean. I don't think it means kill him, but really what is Paul talking about.
Before delving further, we must remember that this is a man who is a member of the church. He is professing to be a follower of Jesus and yet he is having an immoral relationship with his stepmother. In addition, Paul is having a problem with the fact that this church has allowed it to happen and no one is addressing it. - We are clearly told by Jesus not to judge lest we be judged and I believe many in the church then and even now, turn a blind eye on the wrong of brothers and sisters out of fear. Yet we look at the outside world full of sinners and judge away. I think we have it backwards. We judge those who do not know God and do not live by his laws when in actuality, we should be judging those who are part of the family. I am not saying that we should not be able to stand up for our beliefs. But we need to understand, that if we judge and condemn, we will never see anyone come to Jesus. Our call is to love him and love them to him. The people in our church, have often been given a free pass that is just as obviously wrong. As a believers, we are to come along side our fellow believers and hold them accountable, and if they fall away, then we are to send them away. I think this is what the "hand over to Satan" means" they have made the choice in how they choose to live and it does reflect on the church body. Doing nothing hurts our testimony. Of course if the man repents then he is to be welcomed back and his past forgiven by us just as God does.
The biggest thing I see here is that the people know this is happening and they are proud of it. They are allowing sin to infiltrate their church and it is hurting them. Paul is telling them to leave their evil sinful ways behind and be pure and truthful.
I love how this version puts it.
"Why should I judge outsiders? Aren't we supposed to judge only church members? God judges everyone else."
Unfortunately today, we have it wrong - we allow sinners to lead and serve in our churches without questioning or "chasing them away". Allowing sin to infiltrate all levels of our family and yet we look to the outside world that God is to judge and condemn them. I believe if we all took a really good look at our own lives, and worked at fixing the areas we have trouble in, we would spend less time condemning others. I can't throw the first stone, because I am yet to be without sin.

Created 7 months ago