When Things at Church are Really Bad

Introduction

What a difference a year makes. In March of 2020, our lives changed. Maybe an understatement. Our lives changed not just because there was a virus and because the health officials imposed upon us certain restrictions and guidelines, but there’s been additional fallout from that. And additional things that just happened coincidentally in that same time period.

But it was one year ago, this Sunday, March 22nd, 2020, when we heard the last sermon as a full-time evangelist of our Greg Klein. Hard to believe it’s been a year. I don’t know about you, but I miss him.

Y’all don’t know where I’m going. Don’t laugh till I say something funny. Y’all miss him because since he’s been gone, you get a double dose of me.

But as I was reflecting upon this one year anniversary and thinking about Greg, it made this sermon title come to mind. When things at church are really bad. And I’m kidding, of course, it wasn’t Greg that made me think of that. It was our Bible reading. And so get ready. Here’s our plug for our Bible reading program. I hope you’re doing that with us. If not, it’s not too late to pick up a copy of our Bible reading chart. And if you’re watching us online, if you just email us at Southbumbee at gmail.com, we’ll email you a copy, a PDF copy of this Bible reading chart. In this Bible reading chart, we have one Bible reading per month. And you remember that’s intentional. It’s intentional because it gives us time to spend in that text.

This past week we read two chapters, 1 Corinthians 5 and 6. There’s your hint of where you need to turn in your Bible for this morning’s lesson. We read 1 Corinthians 5 and 6, that those two chapters, hopefully, spent some time in your life this week, that you read those maybe multiple times. Or you went on our website and you listened to one of our men read that passage for you. And hopefully you’ve studied that passage and meditated on those scriptures and prayed about those things. That’s the whole purpose of our Bible reading. And so we’ve been trying throughout this, and we’ll continue to try throughout this year to correspond some lessons, not every Sunday, but some lessons that would correspond to our particular Bible reading at that time.

And so that’s really what prompted this lesson, 1 Corinthians 5 and 6. And a lesson again that we’ve entitled, When Things at Church Are Really Bad. I’m going to say this just once in the offset of this lesson, and hopefully you’ll remember it as we go throughout the discussion of this. This lesson was prompted by our text, not based upon conditions on the ground. I don’t think things are really bad here. They were at Corinth. We’re going to talk about that. But that does not mean that there aren’t lessons that we can apply, even though we may not be in those dire circumstances that we view the church at Corinth as being in. I think there’s a greater value rather than solving our problems and our divisions.

1. Churches Have Problems

That’s so important. But can’t we see that it’s equally important, maybe even more important, to live and worship and work and serve in such a way that we stop those problems and divisions before they ever raise their ugly head. And so we can go, when things are good, we can go and talk about when things are bad. To hopefully preemptively stop those things from getting the way that they can get. And so let’s talk about the conditions, maybe not here, but in Corinth, of when things at church are really bad. The first thing I want us to think about this morning is that churches have problems. Now that’s not a new revelation to you, I hope.

Or they may be, like in the first century church at Corinth, gigantic, enormous problems. Our text in 1 Corinthians 5 and 6 deal with just two of those problems. I think you could probably, as you flip through your Bible in the book of 1 Corinthians, starting at chapter 1, going through the end of the book, that probably every opening of your Bible as you flip through would be a new problem. Isn’t that kind of the case in 1 Corinthians? In chapters 5 and 6, in chapter 5, the problem was that there was a fornicator in their midst. One who had his father’s wife. That’s problem enough, but compounding that problem was that the church was doing nothing about it. Not trying to help that person be restored to faith.

Compounding that, as strange as it might seem, Paul accuses the congregation of actually being proud under those circumstances.

That brethren were taking other brethren to court.

And he uses the term plural, so there must have been more than one lawsuit of brethren who had, as brethren will, disagreements, but they couldn’t reconcile those disagreements. That they had to go out into the judicial system and actually, using modern day terms, serve papers against the other and sue one another in court. That’s just two of the many problems at Corinth. But as you know, being a student of the scriptures, Corinth isn’t necessarily unique. It may be unique in the degree of problems, but it would be easier for us this morning to go through the New Testament epistles that were written to these first century churches. It would be easier to list the churches that didn’t have problems than it would to be list the ones who did.

The churches of Galatia had problems. It was false teaching that was risking their souls. Whatever church diatrophies attended that John speaks of in his third epistle, they had problems in the person of diatrophies. When we get to Revelation chapters 2 and 3, the letters to the seven churches of Asia, at least five of those seven had problems. And I don’t know that we can assume that just because two of the letters were glowing, that they didn’t have problems. They just weren’t talked about. The church at Thessalonica had problems. They had so much confusion about the second coming of Christ, some of them had just decided to quit their jobs and do nothing. Even what we could arguably say is the most positive, joy-filled epistle of the New Testament, even the church at Philippi seemed to have problems.

Euodia and Syntache were encouraged to be of the same mind and to get along. And then there’s today.

Guess what? Churches still have problems. We have things that can separate us and divide us and cause contentions. There are earthly temporal things that can divide us, and there are even spiritual biblical things that can divide us. And we think about the things, the long list of things that we could talk about that do cause problems. There are those differences. Think about how many differences, if we just went throughout our congregation here, of how many differences there are between us. And if we’re not careful, if we’re not spiritually focused and God focused, those things, even the minor differences between us, can become a but can become a major rift and divide us. There’s worldliness that can always be a source of not just discouragement and digression, but can be a source of division.

And maybe top of that list is there’s always selfishness. Of doing the opposite of what the New Testament enjoins upon us by saying, look out not for your own interest, but for the interest of others. Sometimes there’s bad leadership. Sometimes there are elderships who abuse their power and seek to become dictators, pushing their own selfish will and ways upon the congregation. Sometimes the other end of that spectrum is true. There’s ineffective leadership who sit around and do nothing. And sometimes that leadership makes decisions that rile the congregation, and decisions that just simply are not biblical and scriptural. Sometimes there’s just bad teaching and poor preaching. Of preachers who preach just a watered down gospel. There’s never a challenge to our faith and to our understanding of the scripture.

Even worse than that is sometimes there’s not just ineffective teaching and preaching, but there’s wrong teaching and preaching. And then there’s sin. There’s sin that seeks to upset us and divide us and sometimes even disband us.

2. Recognize That Churches Do Have Problems

Well, there’s a lot we can do, but for sake of time, I’m just going to talk about two things this morning. Number one is recognize that churches do have problems. That doesn’t mean that we just accept it and we’re okay with it. But it should maybe challenge our faith a little less to realize I’m not the only one who’s facing these issues. Every Christian everywhere throughout time has. What’s amazing and at the same time encouraging to me is that in all of these churches we read about in the New Testament that have problems, there’s always hope. In Paul’s second letter to this church at Corinth, he begins in 2 Corinthians chapter 1 by saying, our hope for you is unshaken. And at first glance we say, Paul, did you write that to the wrong people?

3. Don’t Let Church Problems Drive You From the Lord

I read 1 Corinthians. My hope for them was shaken. But Paul, by inspiration, says, my hope for you is unshaken. The second thing is that I see so many times that Christians allow these church problems to drive them away not just from their local church, but to drive them away from the Lord. And my heart breaks. My heart breaks for the circumstances that drove them away, but also from just their individual misunderstanding of their relationship with God. That’s the only thing I can determine. That if you let church problems, if you let bad preaching or bad leadership or church divisions and disagreements and arguments drive you from the Lord. What a shame. Look with me, turn with me to put your finger here, or a bookmark in 1 Corinthians chapter 5.

We’ll be coming back. But go with me to the Old Testament in Psalm 106. And I want us to very quickly think about the story of Moses. Moses, the leader of God’s people. A man who had invested his life, again, an understatement, and had invested his life in taking God’s people to the promised land. He hadn’t looked forward to this day for 40 years. You look at the story of Moses, he had looked forward to this day for 80 years. He wanted to rescue God’s people and put them in better circumstances. He comes to find out later that through the promise of Abraham that that’s going to be in the land of promise. And he works and he toils and he leads and he sweats and he bleeds to get those people there.

But you know the end of that story, don’t you? Moses did not cross over the Jordan with the children of Israel. He missed out on the promised land. And you remember why. Notice how the psalmist says why Moses missed out. Psalm 106, will you read with me verses 32 and 33, the psalmist retelling the history of Moses missing the promised land says, Psalm 106, verse 32, they angered him, speaking of the people of Israel. They angered him also at the waters of strife, so that it went ill with Moses on account of them. Because they rebelled against his spirit so that he spoke rashly with his lips.

But the psalmist says, and actually Moses will say himself in the historical record, he did it because of the people. The people got to him and they caused him to sin. And he missed out on the land.

That causes you to miss out on the promised land. To defiantly say, Well, that church, I’ve just had it with them. That preacher, those elders, I’ll show them. I’ll lose my soul.

Don’t do that. Don’t let anyone or your reaction to anyone cause you to lose your faith. Look with me in the New Testament, in the book of Ephesians, in Ephesians chapter 6. In this familiar passage, it’s talking about putting on the armor of God and why we put on the armor of God in the battle that we’re engaged in. He says in the conclusion of this, in Ephesians 6 and verse 13, why we arm ourselves with the armor of God, the armor that God Himself possesses and wears. He says, here’s the reason. Ephesians 6 verse 13. Take up the whole armor of God that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, having done all to stand. It’s the whole purpose of the armor of God and us possessing and wearing it.

Is so that we might be able to stand. Having done all to stand.

4. Maintain Unity in the Lord’s Body

And remain faithful and in a committed relationship with God and Jesus Christ. That includes not letting others drag you down. And not letting others drive you from the Lord. They’re problems. And we have to face those problems. But don’t let those problems drive you away from the Lord. The next thing is we go back to 1 Corinthians chapters 5 and 6, and the main point of this text, and by the way, the main point of so many passages in the New Testament is that we must do all that we can to maintain unity and faithfulness in the Lord’s body. Let’s look just briefly at 1 Corinthians 5 and 6, and I want to do them in reverse order. Let’s look at chapter 6 first. Because chapter 6 was the greatest threat to unity of the two chapters.

Again, as unthinkable as it was might be to us, that they were actually taking each other to court. We don’t know the details of the lawsuits, but they were taking brethren, taking each other to court. You imagine how awkward that would be on the next Sunday? After those papers had been served, or after the court date, or the judgment had been rendered. And forget the awkwardness. Imagine how difficult it was to worship on that day. To do as Tom encouraged it this morning to truly examine ourselves and to focus spiritually. And it had to have been virtually impossible to do. But notice the solution. In chapter 6, verses 6 and 7. He says, but brother goes to law against brother. And that before unbelievers. Now, therefore, it’s already an utter failure for you that you go to law against one another.

Why do you not rather accept wrong? And why do you not rather let yourself be cheated? Now, in our mentality, that may be just as unthinkable as taking somebody to court who’s a brother in Christ. To let myself just be cheated. To let myself just be wronged and not do something about it. And to not even the score. We’re kind of brought up that way, aren’t we? I was, I can’t remember in my family, whether this was a law instituted by my parents or whether me and my two brothers just came up with this law ourselves. But there was a law in the Chapman household growing up that if one of your brothers hit you, you got to hit them back. That was the rule. And somewhere along the way, we had a constitutional convention and we amended that that if he hits you, you could hit him back twice.

Because that’s right. That’s fair, isn’t it? You don’t get to hit me and just walk away with no consequences or no bruises on your arm. That’s not the American way. You come back here and take your beating. That’s our mentality, isn’t it? And in some arenas, that may be a correct mentality. That’s what the judicial system is for.

But Paul makes the bold recommendation. Instead of getting even, instead of making it right, instead of punishing somebody who needs to be punished, why don’t you accept the wrong? Why don’t you just let it go? It’s a novel concept, isn’t it? To maintain unity. And understand unity was important, wasn’t it? This whole book, chapter one, begins with the idea of why are you so divided? Why do you call yourselves after this one and that one? Chapter 5, chapter 6, chapter 11, he talks about the disagreement and the disunity even brought about by the Lord’s Supper. In chapter 12, it was spiritual gifts that were dividing them. Unity was important, and the lesson of all of that is the responsibility for maintaining unity lies with us. We quoted that passage from the book of Philippians, chapter 2, where it says, look out not for your own interest, but for the interest of others.

5. We Must Maintain Faithfulness

Here’s a real concrete way to do that. It is possible for me to be wrong. And for me to accept it. And not to call you over and hit you back. We must also seek to maintain not just unity, because unity in and of itself isn’t necessarily a noble idea. Let me explain. We could be united. We could be in 100% unanimous agreement. But we’re wrong. Unity then is not really a good thing, is it? And so we have to, so we’re backing up to chapter 5 now. We have to not only maintain unity, but we must maintain faithfulness. I don’t, and maybe you correct me if you see it differently, I don’t see the fornicator in their midst in chapter 5 as a unity problem.

It seems like there may be something going on, I don’t know about it, but it seems like they didn’t have a problem with it. They were probably united in that. But it was still a problem, even though it wasn’t maybe not a threat to their unity. It was a threat to maybe even a more important issue, and that was their faithfulness.

And so here’s what you need to do. Deliver, verse five. Deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord. If I understand that, he’s saying you have to enact some kind of punishment, temporal punishment, with the goal that his spiritual side, his soul, might be saved. And you know the text he tells them what to do, that they need to withdraw their fellows. They need to don’t eat with him. Let him know that what he’s doing is not right. Unity is achieved by caring more for the other person than I do my own selfish interest. Faithfulness is achieved by caring for the will of God more than I do my own selfish interest.

And unity is achieved, and we don’t like this word. But unity is achieved through discipline. There’s two forms of discipline, broadly speaking. There is instructive discipline. That’s the positive side. When we say, here’s the way you need to live your life. Here’s what God says we need to do. That’s discipline, but it’s instructive, what we call positive discipline. But there’s another form of discipline, and it’s the negative side, or we might term it as corrective discipline. And that corrective discipline is not exercise for me to get my way, and for me to shame somebody, or for me to be mad at somebody because you got to do something that I didn’t get to do.

It’s so that the Spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus. And if I understand the reading in 2 Corinthians, praise be to God, it worked. The brother returned and repented. And so Paul in his second epistle says, take him back. The first epistle he says, push him out. In the second epistle, he says, welcome him back. And again, the responsibility for faithfulness lies with us. Things can get bad at church. If you were in Corinth in the first century, they can get really bad. But unity can be achieved. Paul didn’t write to this church saying, close the doors, give up. It’s lost. He said, let’s just start problem number two, three, four. Let’s fix these problems so that we can maintain unity and faithfulness.

Conclusion

And Paul would urge you, don’t leave the Lord over these problems. Maintain your unity, maintain your faithfulness, and individually maintain your faith. Would you become a Christian this morning and become a part of this body? A body of imperfect people, but imperfect people serving a perfect God and having a perfect head, Jesus Christ. Would you come to him this morning and help us to maintain faithfulness and unity in the body of Christ, but most importantly, to help yourself get in a right relationship with God and have a hope of heaven when this life is over. If we can help you, if we can encourage you in any way, why not let it be known right now as together we stand and sing to that before we comfort?

We share mues, all mute birth.