“Your glorying is not good. Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump?” (1 Corinthians 5:6).
TEXT — 1 Corinthians 5:5-8
Message
Leaven and yeast are similar. But there is a little difference between modern yeast and the leaven used in Bible day. The yeast we use today is a single-celled fungus often sold in a sanitary dry powder form. When added to bread dough, the yeast grows, producing gases that cause the dough to rise and become light and fluffy before it is baked. Yeast was rare in Bible day, but leaven was a much more common ingredient for baking bread.
Apostle Paul, in our text, directed the church to separate the immoral sinner from their midst as a form of church discipline. This means that they would no longer treat him as a believer, but as a heathen who needs salvation. Paul rebuked the leaders of the church sharply for treating the matter of immorality with levity.
Dealing with the sins of members of the church differs from those of people outside the faith. The church evangelizes the unbelievers in the world, but edifies the members of the church. The church has no right or power to judge or punish sinners outside of her fold. They are not under church authority. But if professing believers in the church wilfully commit sin, the leaders of the church are obligated to handle the situation by meting out swift discipline to the offender. Otherwise, evil will spread in the church and God will withdraw His presence and power.
There are various ways of enforcing church discipline. The erring believer can be warned and reproved. “But a man that is an heretic, after the first and second admonition, reject” (Titus 3:10). Sometimes, depending on the gravity of the sin, a church member can be placed on discipline or excommunicated from the church altogether.
This will tell society that the church is different from the world. Love and truth, mercy and justice must go hand in hand, in line with God’s word.
Listed among “500 most powerful people on the planet” by the Foreign Policy magazine in 2013, Pastor (Dr.) William F. Kumuyi is the founder and General Superintendent of the Deeper Christian Life Ministry (DCLM) headquartered in Lagos, Nigeria. DCLM started in 1973 as a 15-member Bible study group right in Kumuyi’s apartment at University of Lagos where he was a lecturer. His revolutionary Bible teaching on personal holiness and commitment to evangelism soon gained so much traction and resulted in a widespread revival.
