Judging Ourselves
For what have I to do with judging those also who
are outside?
Do you not judge those who are inside?
But those who are outside God judges.
Therefore "put away from yourselves the evil person."
(1 Cor. 5:12-13)
For
if we would judge ourselves, we would not be judged.
But when we are judged, we are chastened by the Lord,
that we may not be condemned with the world.
(1 Cor. 11:31-32)
The Bible clearly
teaches that we should judge ourselves, and not others. "Ourselves"
hereby refer to the members within the local church. We are to judge
those inside the church, and God will judge those outside. We are
exhorted not to condemn those in the world about their sins.
In 1 Corinthians
5, the apostle Paul addressed and exposed the sins within the
church:
"Everyone is
talking about the terrible thing that has happened there
among you, something so evil that even the heathen don't do
it: you have a man in your church who is living in sin with his
father's wife.
And are you
still so conceited, so "spiritual"? Why aren't you mourning in
sorrow and shame and seeing to it that this man is removed from
your membership?
Although I am
not there with you, I have been thinking a lot about this, and
in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ I have already decided what
to do, just as though I were there.
You are to call
a meeting of the church-and the power of the Lord Jesus will be
with you as you meet, and I will be there in spirit- and cast
out this man from the fellowship of the church and into Satan's
hands, to punish him, in the hope that his soul will be saved
when our Lord Jesus Christ returns.
What a terrible
thing it is that you are boasting about your purity and yet you
let this sort of thing go on. Don't you realize that if even
one person is allowed to go on sinning, soon all will be
affected? Remove this evil cancer-this wicked
person-from among you, so that you can stay pure. Christ, God's
Lamb, has been slain for us.
So let us feast
upon Him and grow strong in the Christian life, leaving entirely
behind us the cancerous old life with all its hatreds and
wickedness. Let us feast instead upon the pure bread of honor
and sincerity and truth.
When I wrote to
you before I said not to mix with evil people. But when I said
that I wasn't talking about unbelievers who live in
sexual sin or are greedy cheats and thieves and idol worshipers.
For you can't live in this world without being with people
like that. What I meant was that you are not to keep company
with anyone who claims to be a brother Christian but indulges
in sexual sins, or is greedy, or is a swindler, or worships
idols, or is a drunkard, or abusive. Don't even eat lunch with
such a person.
It
isn't our job to judge outsiders. But it certainly is our job to judge and deal
strongly with those who are members of the church and who are
sinning in these ways. God alone is the Judge of those on the
outside. But you yourselves must deal with this man and put him
out of your church.
Very evidently,
Paul exhorted the Christians to judge the insiders and not the
outsiders. And he made his spiritual reference to Deut. 17:6-7:
Whoever is
deserving of death shall be put to death on the testimony of two
or three witnesses; he shall not be put to death on the
testimony of one witness. The hands of the witnesses shall be
the first against him to put him to death, and afterward the
hands of all the people. So you shall put away the evil
person from among you.
Herein are three
important lessons we can learn:
-
If sin is tolerated within the
church, it will be like a cancer spreading inside. If not dealt
with properly, the church will soon become unhealthy, and the
work of God will be hindered. The transgressors and their sins
must be properly dealt with, while the other members of the same
body must pray for forgiveness from God. If one suffers, all
suffer. If one rejoices, all rejoice.
-
Godly discipline must be exercised
within the church. Without which, the church will soon differ
little from the world. The church leaders have to be the doctors
also. If they are too easy and tender, they may permit the
spiritual gangrene to remain until the whole flock is infected
with it. But if they are too hard and rigid, they will destroy
everything. They need to have a balance of justice and mercy.
Like the surgeons, they must destroy the cancers without killing
their patients. Similarly, the church leaders must deal with the
sins without destroying the sinners.
-
Sometimes, the church has to exercise
the final resolution to expel some Christians from the flock if
they refuse to repent. When they are outside, God will judge
them. Their last state is worse than their first. Dogs returning
to their vomit, and clean pigs wallowing in their mire again
(2 Peter 2:20-22):
For if, after they have escaped the pollutions of
the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus
Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome,
the latter end is worse for them than the beginning.
For it would have been better for them not to have
known the way of righteousness, than having known it, to turn
from the holy commandment delivered to them. But it has happened
to them according to the true proverb: "A dog returns to his own
vomit," and, "a sow, having washed, to her wallowing in the
mire."
Sin is not just
spreading outside the church, it is very much alive inside! The
Church and Christians in the West have been condemning their world
of sins such as abortions, homosexuality, fornication, adultery,
idolatry etc. But behind the walls of their churches, the same named
sins are crouching within. The light of the gospel is dimming in
America. In early 2006, some renowned charismatic leaders gathered
at the annual meeting of the Charismatic Leaders Council. Steve
Hill, a revivalist, asked a woman sitting at the back of the
conference room to dim the lights. After speaking for a few minutes,
he asked her to dim them even more.
"This is what is
happening in today's church," Hill told the council included Benny
Hinn, Peter Wagner and Dick Eastman. "There is a dimming of the
gospel taking place in America. We've got to start preaching the
Cross again," Hill said.
The Church in
America is facing a depressing fact that only 4 percent of their
teens today are evangelical Christians - the lowest percentage of
Christians in any generation of American history. They are currently
losing in this battle of the souls! Many of their children and
grandchildren have no godly examples to follow! Many charismatic
church leaders lack integrity, failing to disciple faithful men who
will be able to teach others also. Many of the American churches are
watering down the gospel, and making their messages politically
correct in order to attract crowds.
Our current
generation are now self-seekers instead of God-seekers! Most worship
services are tailored to make the people happy, and not God happy!
Worship has only one Audience - God Himself! The rest are
participants! But this is not so in many churches. The church
members have become worship service audiences.
It is time to
return to our Father, following the ancient paths (Jeremiah
6:16):
Thus says the
LORD:
"Stand by the roads, and look,
and ask for the ancient paths,
where the good way is; and walk in it,
and find rest for your souls.
But they said, 'We will not walk in it.' "
Let's begin from
the inside out!
Written on:
7 February 2006