Tolerance and Church Discipline
Read the Text: 1 Corinthians 5
Memorize the Text:
Don't you yourselves know that you are God's temple and that the Spirit of God lives in you? If anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy him; for God's temple is holy, and that is what you are.
(1 Corinthians 3:16-17, CSB)
Consider the Text: 1 Corinthians 5
The topics of tolerance and church discipline carry an amount of frustration, anger, confusion, and opinions. In the church, people often call for tolerance based on a misunderstanding of genuine love and condemn church discipline because they believe it lacks love. However, in God's economy, tolerance flow from a love that does not authentically care about the soul of an individual, while church discipline demonstrates a great love for one's soul. In 1 Corinthians 5, the apostle Paul spoke about the acceptance of sin by the church, practicing tolerance, and the genuine need to enact church discipline. Let us notice six critical statements that flow from this chapter.
First, believers must NOT TOLERATE SIN. The apostle spoke about the grievous sexual sin the church in Corinth chose to overlook and tolerate. Ignoring this sin sent a message of acceptance to the world around the church. The message appears to justify an action that even the non-believer understood as wrong. Thus, the apostle stated with clarity that a follower of Christ does not need to tolerate or ignore the reality of the presence of sin. The same truth exists for believers today. The message of Paul to the church in Corinth resounds through the generations and charges the twenty-first-century church not to support sin through the presence of tolerance.
Second, believers must NOT TOLERATE PEOPLE AWAY FROM JESUS. The activity of tolerance by the church turns people away from Christ. This happens for two reasons. First, tolerance turns people from Christ because such an approach by the church makes the body of Christ hypocritical. When the church states they believe the Bible and ignore or tolerate sin, the message becomes diluted, and the truth becomes unbelievable to the people of the world. Second, tolerance turns people away from Christ because it accepts their sin and loves them to eternal separation from the Lord. The Lord cannot tolerate one's sin; apart from salvation, hope does not exist. When the church tolerates sin, they allow the individual to continue down a course of eternal death.
Third, believers must NOT EQUATE TOLERATION WITH LOVE. People often state that true love tolerates sin because true love does not judge others. This mindset flows from flawed love because this form of love would rather a person face the judgment and wrath of the Lord instead of facing the reality of sin. When love drives us to practice sinful tolerance, we become agents of destruction because we no longer point people to the cross but point them down the path away from the Lord at their crossroads of decision. Thus, false love extends tolerance because this love rests on the here and now and ignores the great love of God.
Fourth, believers must PRACTICE CHURCH DISCIPLINE BECAUSE OF LOVE. Church discipline is a painful and messy activity. This even occurs when unrepentant sin becomes evident in the church. When a member of the local body rejects the truth of God’s Word and chooses to live in opposition and sin, then the most loving response from the church is to practice church discipline. Church discipline exists not to respond in harshness to an individual but for the expression of love that calls them to return to Christ. This love is greater than the love that leads to tolerance because church discipline happens when one desperately is concerned with the eternal destination of another.
Fifth, believers must PRACTICE CHURCH DISCIPLINE TO POINT PEOPLE TO JESUS. Church discipline points people to Christ because the basis of the action flows from the truth of God’s Word and the Lord. The church disassociates with the one trapped in sin to treat them as a lost individual in need of a Savior so that their sin becomes apparent. This points them to their life before Christ and their lack of repentance. Church discipline is an activity to bring hope and restoration and to rescue the wayward from the path of destruction. When correctly viewed, church discipline exists as part of God’s corrective path for those associated with the church.
Sixth, believers must PRACTICE CHURCH DISCIPLINE TO DEAL WITH SIN. God established church discipline to deal with sin that becomes known and present in the church. The activity exists for purity within the church and the ability to promote spiritual health. Church discipline leads to an opportunity for restoration, redemption, and return that tolerance does not. God gave the church discipline as a means to deal with sin in a restorative manner instead of falling prey to the destructive nature of tolerance.
In 1 Corinthians 5, the apostle Paul addressed the need to practice church discipline because of the sin that entered the church. He warned the church to stop tolerating what they know is sinful and to act in a way that brings one back to the place of repentance. He called the church to practice true divine love and not the love defined by the world. The same statement comes to the church and believers today. We must not tolerate that which the Lord calls and defines as sin and must be ready not to judge but to practice proper church discipline in the hope of leading the wayward to the place of repentance and returning home.
This blog is part of the Coffee and Quiet Time with Jesus Devotional Series found at equippingfaith.com. Join the journey of reading through the New Testament this year. More information can be found at equippingfaith.com.
