“A LITTLE LEAVEN”

6 “Your boasting is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump?”

1 Corinthians 5:6

Even the most biblical churches can go through seasons of friction. Since we have a relentless enemy, we cannot afford to put our guard down and become defenseless.

In our previous blog, we learned that the church is not just a group of religious people, but the household of the living God, the pillar and foundation of the truth.

In the next part of this series, we will go over three sources of conflict in the church.

Overview

Conflict can happen due to many reasons, but they can be sorted into three categories. First, open sinning among the members; second, leadership issues, and third, conflict between members.

Let’s unpack the first category.

Open Sinning

Church members who are living in sin can create conflict within the church. One good example is the one found in 1 Corinthians 5.

In this chapter, Paul confronts the church in Corinth because they have failed to discipline a professing believer who was having a sexual affair with his father‘s wife. The Greek term “has” suggests an ongoing sexual relationship, not a one-off affair. This is a clear case of incest, a sin strictly forbidden in the Jewish Law (Leviticus 18:8). The sin was so bad, that even in the generally immoral Greco-Roman world, it was relatively rare and completely condemned.

Paul tells them to remove the man from their community, meaning, deny him participation in the church and instead, he should be “delivered to Satan.” The phrase likely refers to the death of the man’s physical body.

Quoting a popular proverb, Paul clarifies that sin of this gravity can infect the whole congregation. As such, the church should decide to disassociate themselves from this licentious man and preserve their collective testimony.

I can only imagine the heaviness in that church’s services, knowing that there was someone among them who lived in blatant sinning. Despite the leadership's tolerance of sin, I’m sure some members loved the Lord and fought for the purity of the church at Corinth. Thankfully, Paul was there to give them clear instructions on how to deal with this conflict.

Likewise, open sinning can be a serious problem and cause conflict within the local church. But are we willing to follow biblical guidelines on church discipline when we identify someone who claims to follow Christ but lives a wicked, corrupted life? Are we more concerned about preserving purity, or keeping the numbers up?

Pursue the Savior today!