Addressing People in the Church

Recently, the focus of our Bible study at church has been on the book of First Corinthians. Last week we studied chapters five and six. As I read these chapters, I realized that despite the years since these words were penned, it almost sounds like something written for the folks in churches today.

You see, in these chapters Paul is addressing folks in the church, not outside the church. Many times in the church we are busy pointing fingers at folks in the world, perhaps to make us feel better about ourselves and our sins inside the church.

The issue in this particular church in Corinth was that someone was living blatantly in sin and continued to be in the Corinth church and no one seemed bothered by it. The problem was that no one loved this person enough to confront him about his sin and help bring him into a right relationship with God. This is what irritated Paul.

Have you ever been in a church where people overlook the blatant sinning going on in the church? Maybe the blatant sinner is someone who is a good giver, i.e. someone with deep pockets, and so no one wants to upset the finances of the church and risk losing this person’s giving.

Maybe someone in your church is having an affair and everyone knows about it, but no one thinks anything about it or about confronting this person in order to draw him or her back to the Lord’s way. Maybe the person among your congregation is a blatant liar and no one is willing to confront him or her.

Of course, it could be that this person is full of pride and looks on others as if their gifts to the church are not as important. Yet no one is ever willing to step up to the plate or step forward and confront these type of persons in a loving way so as to make the church more of what God intended it to be. Instead, many times, the only thing that happens is simply put, gossip.

Years ago I was in a worship service. A member of the church had been arrested for drinking and driving the previous week. The pastor asked the man to come forward. The man shared what he had done and asked forgiveness from the congregation. He also asked for the church to pray for him and to support him to be a better Christian. It was a humbling experience to see this happening in a church setting. As I read first Corinthians this week, I felt like this was probably what Paul had in mind.

If you are like me, I find this difficult. It would be difficult for me to ask someone to come forward and be admonished in front of a congregation. The words that go through my mind are “ye without sin cast the first stone.” Despite my struggle with this, I understand where Paul is coming from. If we are to be a light unto the world, we need to make sure the lights within the church are pure and bright.

This week many of us saw a super moon. The moon is not a light. It simply reflects the light of the sun. As Christians, we must reflect to the world Christ. Sinning in the church eclipses us from being that reflection.

May God help us all be better Christians inside the church before we point fingers to folks outside the church.