A church that tolerates sin cannot worship God acceptably.  Purity is a major emphasis in the teachings of our Lord.  It is attained when a person, by the grace of God, obeys the gospel of Christ.

1 Peter 1:22 (ESV)
²²  Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart,

The word “purified” is in the active voice, telling us that we became pure by the action that we took when we obeyed the gospel.  This does not mean that we saved ourselves, or even that we deserve any credit for our salvation.  The truth we obeyed was the gospel of Christ, which points to the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus.  Without Jesus dying on the cross for our sins, there would be no truth to obey.  We were, and continue to be, saved from the wrath of God by the blood of Christ (Romans 5:9).  This being said, no one is saved without obeying the gospel, for it is the power of God unto salvation (Romans 1:16).

The moment one contacts the blood of Christ, which takes place in the waters of baptism (Romans 6:3-4), that person is sanctified, purified, and reconciled to God, and then has the responsibility of maintaining fellowship with God by walking in the light (1 John 1:7).

When a person stops walking in the light, he loses his fellowship with God, and the local church (of which he is a member) must withdraw its fellowship from that person.  We have an example of this in 1 Corinthians 5.  In that passage, we see a man who was guilty of committing fornication with his father’s wife (1 Corinthians 5:1), a sin so grievous that even the Gentiles frowned upon it.  What was the church to do with this man?  Paul tells us.

1 Corinthians 5:5 (ESV)
⁵  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.

The “flesh” is not referring to the physical body, but to the inner man that has become corrupted by sin (Galatians 5:16-24).  This man was walking after the flesh and action had to be taken.  Why?  First, to save his soul.  This is what Paul meant when he referred to the spirit being saved.

The restoration of this sinner was not the only reason for the church to act.  It was also to keep the church pure.  While the scriptures emphasize the importance of the individual Christian remaining pure, it also places importance upon the purity of the local church.  How can a church be pleasing to God when there is sin in the camp?  The answer is it cannot.  Thus, a person determined to live in sin must be delivered to Satan, meaning the church must disassociate itself from that person (1 Corinthians 5:11).  Paul tells us why this must be done.

1 Corinthians 5:6-7 (ESV)
⁶  Your boasting is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump? ⁷  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.

Our assemblies should be made up, not of morally perfect people, but of people who have no ongoing sin in their lives.  Then our worship services are a sweet-smelling savor to God.   If, instead, a local church tolerates members living in sin, their relationship with God as a local church is threatened.

Revelation 2:5 (ESV)
⁵  Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent.

As you wind down for the night, think about these things.