Would you keep an old rotten apple in a bowl with all of the other good ones? Or how about something like a wet, dirty, used napkin; would you put one of those back into the package with all of the good ones? Obviously not, because those things just do not belong together, as the corrupted thing may affect and spread to the others.
This should be similar in manner in the church of God as well, because in the church we are called to separate ourselves from the sins of the flesh. Just as you would separate spoiled fruit from the rest of the other good ones, sinful behavior needs to be separated away from the church. Paul commanded that those who claim to be Christian but willfully and actively live in sin, without any desire to change, that they be removed from the church and separated from the congregation.
1 Corinthians 5:11-13 But now I have written unto you not to keep company, if any man that is called a brother be a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolater, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner; with such an one no not to eat.
For what have I to do to judge them also that are without? do not ye judge them that are within?
But them that are without God judgeth. Therefore put away from among yourselves that wicked person.
It is not because of a lack of love towards sinners that this needs to happen, because we need to remember that Jesus loves sinners and died so that they might be saved. But it is the unwillingness to change in a person that is the reason that they will need to be removed from the church. Sin has zero place in the Kingdom of God, and it needs to start right here, right now, in the church.
There may be times when someone in the church falls to temptation or otherwise sin somehow, but when this happens it needs to be immediately acknowledged and put in check. Sin is not pleasing to God in any way, and while those outside of the faith of Christ may live in their sins, sin is not something that is acceptable in the life of a Christian. For this reason, unrepentant, sinful behavior must be separated from the rest of the church.
As Christians, we are called to come out of the world. We are called to repentance, not to sin. Jesus came and died for us, not so that we can continue to live in our sins, but so that we could be saved from them. Sin will only lead to destruction and damnation, if left unrepented of. Sin needs to be thrown away like an old, rotten piece of fruit. We must get it out of our lives and completely distance ourselves from it so that we do not get caught back up in it again.
If this kind of action needs to happen in the church where someone will not repent of their sins, we must follow the commands of the Lord, and remove them from the church, with the hope that they will finally recognize their error someday. We serve the Lord, not sin. We must all come to that place of repentance before the Lord if we want salvation, but for those who don’t it will be like the separating of the sheep from the goats spoken of in Matthew 25.
Matthew 25:31-34 When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory:
And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats:
And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left.
Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world:
When the Lord returns, be certain that you are among the sheep, and not the goats.
In Christ
Andrew
Teufer Lake King James Bible Church 