Our Lord Jesus, died, that we might live. He made an end of sin, so that we would be purified.  Every breath we take is the grace of God, undeserved.  What then should we do when someone neglects so great a salvation?  What if we ourselves find ourselves in a season of being far from God, at peace with our sin, rather than trusting in God and pursuing freedom from it?

1 Corinthians 5:9-13 “I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people— not at all meaning the sexually immoral of this world, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters, since then you would need to go out of the world.  But now I am writing to you not to associate with anyone who bears the name of brother if he is guilty of sexual immorality or greed, or is an idolater, reviler, drunkard, or swindler—not even to eat with such a one.  For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Is it not those inside the church whom you are to judge?  God judges those outside. “Purge the evil person from among you.”

Paul here is referencing a situation in which someone “has” his father’s wife.  It’s very important to note that the verb tense “has” vs. “had” tells us that this is not a previous event that has been repented of, but this is ongoing, unrepentant sin.  All of us have sin in our past, all of us have sin today, but we should fear an unrepentant heart that is at peace with sin.  I’m writing this message specifically after a message about the love of God, because what I want us to see is both the fear we should have of God as righteous judge, but also the love of God in the hope of salvation.  

1 John 3:9 – “No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God’s seed abides in him; and he cannot keep on sinning, because he has been born of God.”

Christian, every one of us has sin in 1 Corinthians 5:9-13.  If we’re honest, we have all of the sins listed.  We should never rest in our sin though, we should be resting in God.  So when we approach sin, especially seemingly unrepentant sin in others, we must do so humbly, with tears of concern, in love and honest desire for the person to be reconciled to God in repentance.  Each of us must be honest with ourselves and God as to whether there is a legitimate ongoing fight against sin through repentance (turning from sin to God in 100% submission/dependence) and faith (trusting in the goodness of God through Jesus Christ to free us from sin through His death, and provide a greater promise of joy in Him for eternity in His resurrection).  This is how all of us were saved, and this is how all of us walk with God daily and are “being saved” in sanctification.

My exhortation is that we all take serious the freedom we have in Christ from sin, and not neglect or trivialize how great a salvation we have in Him.  Moreover, this passage is a reminder of how desperately we all need Bible saturated, God-loving, servant-minded brothers and sisters in Christ in our lives.  Get involved with your church, be involved with a small group of fellow believers, and start running the race with people who God will use to strengthen your joy in Him.  The people of God are God’s ministry for us, and God’s grace towards us.  If you have no idea how to start, let me know, and I’ll give you easy suggestions.  Sin is always crouching at our door, trials/suffering are always just around the corner – no one stands alone, but we are meant to be helped by and a helper for our brothers and sisters in Christ.

Grace and Peace,

Adam