A Hard Conversation

1 Corinthians 5:1-12

"It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that is not tolerated even among pagans, for a man has his father's wife. And you are arrogant! Ought you not rather to mourn? Let him who has done this be removed from among you. For though absent in body, I am present in spirit; and as if present, I have already pronounced judgment on the one who did such a thing. When you are assembled in the name of the Lord Jesus and my spirit is present, with the power of our Lord Jesus, you are to deliver this man to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord. Your boasting is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump? Cleanse out the old leaven that you may be a new lump, as you really are unleavened. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. Let us therefore celebrate the festival, not with the old leaven, the leaven of malice and evil, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. 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?"

Have you ever had a hard conversation coming with a person and you put it off and put it off and avoided them because you just had no idea what you were going to say? That as been me with this post. I'm sitting down to a conversation with my readers about church discipline. A conversation I have stayed away from because this passage really kicked me in the pants. Even now, as I begin to write, I'm not really sure where this is going to go. But it is getting in the way of moving on. So here we go:

I think that it is very hard to ignore the practical application of this passage in corporate worship. What I mean it that, though some churches do not touch this with a thirty-foot-pole, when you read this there is not doubt that a person who is unrepentant of their sin should no longer be allowed to worship as part of the family. Some churches, like the Corinthians, do not like this idea. They would rather love everyone. They would rather be accepting and not judge. They don't want to seem closed minded so they they close their eyes instead. But, I was reminded in a sermon by John Piper that, Christ is not divided. Titus 2:13-14 tell us that "[Jesus] gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works."  You can not separate the pardoning of Christ from the His purifying. 

Now for the hard part. Let's apply our personal life today. In a world of cell phones and social media. Where you don't have to see a person daily to call them friend. You don't have to attend church with them to be aware that they claim to know Christ. You don't have to take communion with them to be their brother. How does this play out? Do we personally cut off association with them, loving them enough to say may God open your eyes? Or do we love them from afar, preaching the gospel when possible as often as possible, hoping the Spirit moves? I don't know. I don't have an answer. I sit here and my heart is like a pendulum. Back and forth. Back and forth. I'm a part of the global church, but how do you carry this out without a local body? I will continue to be in prayer on this one. Maybe I'll have an encouraging update to it soon.... May the Lord reveal His will on this one. For our good and His glory. 

Conquering: Revisited

It has come to my attention that (again) I have been neglecting this blog. Although a crazy work schedule, involvement in my local church, keeping up a social life and planning a wedding may be justification enough for blowing off my blog, all of that is not reason enough to neglect time with the Lord. I have let an inconsistent schedule be my excuse for pushing aside my Bible for the last two years. Now that things are starting to quiet down, I can hear the Lord prompting me to return to His Word and deepen my knowledge of Him. 

As I thought back on school and the sweet times I had in the Word, some of my favorite times were during the course I took on preaching. I loved spreading my books out on the floor of my dorm room and diving deeper into a passage of Scripture. When I began this blog I wanted it to be a reflection of what I was studying. I am determined to do that now.  

So... here is the plan. 

Once a week I commit to writing a sermon on the passage I am studying. Not  a long one, more of a devotion really. And I am going to post a summary or my favorite thoughts here. Not that I believe I have something to teach the world, but more because I know God has something to teach me. I am motivated by deadlines, so Fridays by noon with be my due date. And the book I will be going through for the next probably year of my life is going to be 1 Corinthians. 1) because I have study materials on it and 2) because I love both the Gospel truth and the life application found in Paul's letters. 

Friday, September 7th will be my first post. An introduction to 1 Corinthians and Paul's greetings to the church. If any of you feels the desire to keep my accountable I would love some gentle (or not so) nagging if I miss my deadline. I am so excited to see what God teaches me. Thanks for supporting me as I study His Word for my good and His glory.

UPDATE: 
It's been over 2 months since I began this project. I found out that the deadline, the goal, the study wasn't enough of a motivator for me to be daily in God's Word. But finally I think the Lord is revealing to me my true heart. I have spent so long trying to fill my day with things that I wanted to satisfy me. But none of them were enough. And the more I fill myself with these things, the less room I left of the Spirit to move in me. What is enough to motivate me to change is the Cross. Jesus died so that we could live in Him. He gave His life because only He can satisfy our needs. I'm doing some practical things to help redeem my days. Like organizing my day and week and pulling out my old prayer journals to keep things tangible. But my hope and prayer is the Lord keeps my need for Him ever before my eyes and I would labor after Him first. (updated 11/26/12)

EUREKA!

The last few post-college months have been a time of self-discovery for me. I knew this would be the case, as per the forewarning from multiple of my elder friends. And, as new discoveries tend to be historic events, I felt I would take note of a few of the memorable ones here for you:

1) It is the taste of coffee not caffine that I am addicted to.
I find this quite exciting because now I can partake of my daily cup (or 3) of coffee without guilt or fear of dependency

2) I find working out enjoyable. 

Mustering the motivation to get up off my couch and go to the gym is difficult, but the actual act of  working, sweating, and the inevitable soreness I experience is not nearly as loathsome as I once imagined it to be.

3) People are my hobby.
Not in the creepy, stalker, gossipy way. But in the "I am motivated by and find worthwhile the act of investing into eternal souls for the glory of the Kingdom" kind of way. I don't enjoy crafting, cooking, reading, shopping or any "normal" hobby past times the way I enjoy being with people

4) I am unfortunately NOT  a blogger. 

This does not mean I will stop blogging. Mearly, that I have found taking time to stop and record my mind is not a priority to me. This blog is in many ways cathartic and edifying, but I have difficulty  setting aside time to make sense of my muddled mind in order to post. And, I still feel that there are many people far more interesting than myself and I prefer to read their blogs rather than write my own.

I began this blog to document the things I am learning during this time of transition. #4 on my list of self-discoveries is a bit of a hidden lever for me. Pull on it and a secret passage into the deep underlying issued of heart creeps open and down into the rabbit hole we go. For, I find that is really symptom of a lack of self-discipline.  It is not just blogging I fail to set time aside for (on the grand-scale of life, blogging is not the important). I fail to spend quality time with the Lord daily, to pray for the people and things important to me, to do the projects I have committed,  and to pour into the lives of those who matter to me. I give half-baked effort to the things in my life that are most edifying, encouraging and honoring to the Lord because it is far easier to focus on me, money, fun, food, sleep, and leisure.
Still, I am encouraged as I process in writing this inward reflection. When I was younger I committed to memory 2 Timothy 1:7 which says, "for God gave us as Spirit not of fear but of power, love and self-control." What a beautiful verse to recall as I dwell on my failings in discipline. The same God that chose me, died for me, called me, and saved me. Gives me His Spirit of power, love and self-control in order to live in a manner worthy of being His disciple for my good and His glory.