Pauls Dealing With Sin

Every fact is to be confirmed by the testimony of two or three witnesses. I have previously said, when present the second time, and though now absent, I say in advance to those who have sinned in the past and to all the rest as well, that if I come again I will not spare anyone. Now, this is a very straightforward statement from Paul. It is, in fact, a warning. The key is the last phrase in verse 2, I will not spare anyone. Paul is pledging to come to Corinth, and he is warning them that if he finds sin there, he will deal with it firmly.

Now, before we look at the text itself, I want to kind of get us into the importance of the subject and the importance of the attitude of the Apostle Paul here by sharing with you a perspective that I think exists in the church today. Many people are concerned about the state of the church. The condition of churches today has caused a myriad of seminars and conferences and books to be written. There are constant calls for renewal in the church, for better understanding of the culture, for changing the style of the church to fit the style of the 90s, replacing preaching of the scripture with more interesting methodologies and technologies.

All across our country, in fact all around the world, there are these efforts being made to reinvent the church. The fear is that the church is not speaking to the time. People are not listening. The church has somehow become irrelevant. It has become obsolete. Self-styled experts are saying that the future of the church is in the balance, and the church may not survive in the West if it doesn’t become culturally relevant, if it doesn’t learn how to package its message better, if it doesn’t target felt needs, if it doesn’t employ more popular and efficient communication devices that it currently uses.

All of this comes into focus in a new book that came onto my reading list. It’s one of those books that you could pick up and read rather rapidly. I read it fairly rapidly. I couldn’t put it down. It just kept compelling me to read. It was sort of like enjoying the pain, actually. It was like there’s something redeeming in this self-flagellation that I’m going through and I’m going to carry it all away to the end. The book pained me deeply, and every page added more to my pain, but I couldn’t put it down because I was so startled by what the book was saying.

It is a book that calls for the church to do what I just said, reinvent itself, and it says, on the cover of the book, today’s church is incapable of responding to the present moral crisis. It must reinvent itself or face virtual oblivion by the mid-21st century. So the book says that if the church doesn’t reinvent itself and put itself in better cultural relevance, it’s going to go out of existence in 50 years. That statement alone was overwhelming for me. Do you mean to tell me that the Eternal God who determined in the councils of the Trinity before the foundation of the world, before time began, who he would redeem and how he would gather his own to himself and bring them to eternal glory, is somehow going to find his whole plan coming unglued in the next 50 years? Do you mean to tell me that the church which Jesus Christ purchased with his own blood is somehow going to escape his purposes for redemption and atonement? Do you mean to tell me that the church which Jesus said he would build, and the gates of Hades could not prevail against it, is somehow going to become victimized by its own ineptness? That is a brash and irresponsible statement, to say that if the church doesn’t reinvent itself, it’ll face oblivion by the mid-21st century.

The only thing that could possibly obliterate the church on earth by then would be the end of the age and the return of Jesus Christ and the glorification of the church. That’s a very irresponsible thing to say. And the author of the book, fearing, and I think he probably genuinely fears, that the church might go out of existence, suggests that there are some ways to save the church. And these are the suggestions. Develop cyber churches, virtual churches, on the internet. Secondly, develop house churches which appeal to people because they have low control, low authority, and operate without historical tradition, I might add, or theology.

Eliminate congregational churches, like this, for more congenial, less confrontational, and more dispassionately interactive forums. Preachers must be replaced by presenters who have no notes and don’t hide behind pulpits, and who generate a more positive response for their listeners. We must get rid of sermons because one-sided communication is ineffective, and eliminate series and Bible exposition, because everybody’s attendance is sporadic, and people really get irritated coming in and out of series that they can’t consistently hear, so we need to play to their sporadic attendance. And every sermon should be a unit in itself, because most of the folks will miss the next two weeks before they decide to come back.

You say, well, where did he get those ideas? They were the result of a survey. If you ask unbelievers outside the church what they want, you can get answers like that. If you ask unbelievers inside the church what they want, you can get answers like that. If you ask believers in the church, ignorant of scripture, what they want, you can get answers like that. But if you were to survey biblically literate believers, you wouldn’t get answers like that. So, who is it that determines the character of the church? You go to the lowest possible source.

Unbelievers outside the church, unbelievers inside the church, or ignorant believers in the church. What is the hope of the church? Is this really it? If we can just disband congregational churches and develop a virtual church on the internet, will that solve our problem? Will that dramatically affect the church’s ability to confront the moral crisis of our day, as if that was somehow our reason for existence? And it’s not. Ours is not a moral agenda. Ours is a spiritual one. Thank you for joining us in this exploration of Paul’s dealing with sin.

Until next time, remember to keep the faith, stay strong, and continue to shine your light in the world. To hear these daily devotions of your daily bread, please log on to goddessgovernment.com. Goodbye, and may your faith always lead the way. [tr:trw].