Welcome back to all of our listeners! I’m BJ Sipe, and you’re listening to the Set Your Mind Above podcast – where everyday ordinary events teach us extraordinary eternal truths. I’m so glad that you’ve tuned in today, I am excited to share my life and my faith with you, and I sure hope that you’ll do the same with me along the way.
To quote Gandalf from the Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, “If in doubt, Meriadoc, always follow your nose.” Wise words to live by, and words that clearly told us there was a problem for the past several days going on in our pantry. It started over the weekend, where we opened up the pantry and immediately were hit with this strange, musty smell that just wasn’t right. I looked around and couldn’t see anything, so I asked Kylie to investigate. She pulled out the sweet onions and discovered that one of them was sprouting, though we had just bought them, so she separated it and threw it away and we had hoped that was going to be the end of the problem. Well, it wasn’t. Several more days went by and the smell was getting progressively stronger. What could it possibly be? Finally I got a call from Kylie while I was here in the office yesterday morning. I answered the phone and said, “Hey sweetie, what’s going on?” “Trying to keep myself from throwing up all over this house,” she said, “Babe…it was the grossest thing. I found the source of the smell, apparently it was one of the potatoes that had gone bad – but it was in the middle of the bag so we couldn’t see it. It had rotted from the inside out and was secreting liquid everywhere. When I went to move the bag…it exploded. I got it all over me, it went all over the pantry…I was doing everything I can to not get sick. It ruined so many things – the onions are done, all the potatoes are done, it got over other things, it’s just a mess, and it smells worse now.” I felt so bad as she continued to tell me the story over the phone, that is just horrible. I got home yesterday and saw several cords running into our pantry – she had the ozone machine running in there as well as having sprayed it and cleaned it as best as she could. Despite all of that, even walking across the kitchen it smelled like death. I opened the pantry door and immediately gagged as even the smell of what had taken place hours ago was still lingering strong. We have never had a problem with the potatoes we buy from Sam’s Club, but in this instance we somehow got a bad batch. Well, not even a bad batch. We had one bad potato that was rotting from the inside out. But because we didn’t know it or recognize it, as it was hidden among the rest of the good potatoes, the situation got worse and it ended up destroying everything else around it. That’s the way it goes sometimes, I guess we’ll just have to keep a little bit of a closer eye on our produce. Until then, I’ll be following Gandalf’s advice and staying as far away from the pantry as possible until it completely airs out.
Rotten potatoes can certainly be a bit of a bummer or even an inconvenience if you were planning on using them, but the damage that can be done by someone that has a rotten heart is something that we have to take very seriously. When we talk about church discipline, it is never one of those topics that is fun or uplifting to discuss – but it is absolutely necessary to protect the rest of the church. I want us to consider several segments of 1 Corinthians 5 today, where Paul deals with a matter of discipline that needed to be done within the church at Corinth. He writes, “It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that is not tolerated even among pagans, for a man has his father’s wife. And you are arrogant! Ought you not rather to mourn? Let him who has done this be removed from among you. For though absent in body, I am present in spirit; and as if present, I have already pronounced judgment on the one who did such a thing. When you are assembled in the name of the Lord Jesus and my spirit is present, with the power of our Lord Jesus, you are to deliver this man to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord.” (1 Corinthians 5:1-5) What had been reported to him was unspeakable: there was a man who was committing sexual immorality in such a horrendous way that not even the pagan nations around them would have approved of his actions. And yet the worst part of the mater was that this action that would not have been tolerated even in the world was being tolerated among the church. They took no action against him, and Paul condemns them for this. There needed to be immediate action to remove this vile individual from among them, and Paul explains why. “Your boasting is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump? Cleanse out the old leaven that you may be a new lump, as you really are unleavened. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. Let us therefore celebrate the festival, not with the old leaven, the leaven of malice and evil, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.” (1 Corinthians 5:6-8) The longer that you tolerate sin, the more it’s damaging effects will spread to others. When some see that his actions were not disciplined, what would stop them from doing the same thing or other vile things like it? Just as evil companions corrupt good morals, a rotten heart in the Lord’s body can corrupt the rest of the body. Now some might at this point raise their hand and try to say something to the effect of, “Who are you to judge? Jesus says don’t judge?” Well, actually you have to read the rest of Matthew 7 – Jesus’ point is not to make judgments full of hypocrisy. But concerning this matter, look what Paul writes next to the church at Corinth. “I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people— not at all meaning the sexually immoral of this world, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters, since then you would need to go out of the world. But now I am writing to you not to associate with anyone who bears the name of brother if he is guilty of sexual immorality or greed, or is an idolater, reviler, drunkard, or swindler—not even to eat with such a one. For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Is it not those inside the church whom you are to judge? God judges those outside. “Purge the evil person from among you.”” (1 Corinthians 5:9-13) While we have nothing to do with making judgments concerning those outside of the body of Christ (for Jesus himself will be their judge), we are called to make judgments regarding those who profess to follow Christ and worship among us. When there is sin in the camp, it cannot be ignored or tolerated, it must be dealt with and done away with. If it is allowed to persist, then the church will be on the precipice of destruction. Now, allow me to make some clarifications. First, we must give those caught in sin time to repent and realize what they are doing is wrong after we have approached them. Second, we are to approach those caught in sin with love, gentleness, and patience. Lashing out at someone in anger or malice because of their sin only further complicates matters and creates even more issues that now must be dealt with. Finally, we ought to pray for restoration in their lives to bring them back to us. There is no “three strikes and you’re out” in the Lord’s church. We all are going to fall and make mistakes, and sometimes someone might go through a season of unbelief and rebellion. Pray for them. Love them. Reach out to them. And if they turn again and come back to the Lord, reaffirm your love for them.
Thank you so much for listening to today’s episode. Tune in, Tuesday-Fridays, as a new podcast episode will be uploaded each day. Also, be sure to follow the Facebook page for the Set Your Mind Above podcast for future announcements and video sessions that are uploaded on Saturdays. As you have the opportunity, share these thoughts with your friends and family, and share with me what important lessons you are learning from every day, ordinary events. Until next time know that I love you, that God loves you, and may we all each and every day set our minds above.