“Creating Healthy Church Culture”

Week 5
Main Point and Overview:   

Is our church a “country club,” or is it the “pure bride of Christ?” Many churches are filled with people who “show up” but don’t “stand up” to sin, either theirs or the sin of others. Have you ever heard the phrase: “They want their cake and to eat it too?!” They want the “blessings” of Jesus, but they are not truly committed to following his clear expectations. In American culture we call that being “two-faced.” On the outside, we “look the part” - Dressing nice, carrying our Bibles, and singing the songs; on the inside, we are filled with unrepentant sins. What makes this scenario even sadder is when other church members are unwilling to lovingly confront their brothers and sisters in Christ who are living in sin. In fact, in many scenarios, they even celebrate it. How is this possible? It’s called spiritual immaturity. This was indeed the issue in Corinth. Coming from a culture that was saturated in sexual immaturity, the Corinthians had a hard time making the transition from haughty to holy. They were used to celebrating the grossest and most extreme kinds of sexual immorality, and when many of them came to know Jesus Christ as Savior, they still had a difficult time making the change. One particular problem in the church revolved around a man who was having an affair with his father’s wife (presumably his stepmother). Was he lovingly confronted over his sin? No. Instead, the “good old boy club” gave him “high fives” and “atta boy” praise! The Apostle Paul was infuriated, so much so that he demanded the immediate action of removing this arrogant man from their church congregation. There has been a lot of misunderstandings in recent years about the love of God. In fact, people tend to see it as inclusive, making tolerance their battle cry. They claim that the Bible says to “judge not,” yet this is exactly the opposite of what Paul was demanding. He is in fact demanding holy judgment for the purity of the church. Of course, this kind of judgment must be meted out from a broken heart and the hope of restoration. Thankfully, this arrogant man seemingly came to his senses and repented of his actions. So, are you a “healthy” church member? Are we a “healthy” church? One litmus test of these questions is how we deal with sin.