DCLM Daily Manna 2024: DCLM Daily Manna 26 November 2024: Stop It From Spreading
Text: 1 Corinthians 5:5-8 (KJV)
5 To deliver such an one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.
6 Your glorying is not good. Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump?
7 Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us:
8 Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.
KEY VERSE: 1 Corinthians 5:6
“Your glorying is not good. Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump?
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.
THOUGHT FOR THE DAY:
Sin spreads when sinning members are spared.
BIBLE IN ONE YEAR:
Ecclesiastes 8-12
Daily Manna 26 November 2024
Comments 1