Straight from the Holy Spirit

When I wrote to you before, I told you not to associate with people who indulge in sexual sin. But I wasn't talking about unbelievers who indulge in sexual sin, or who are greedy or are swindlers or idol worshipers. You would have to leave this world to avoid people like that. What I meant was that you are not to associate with anyone who claims to be a Christian yet indulges in sexual sin, or is greedy, or worships idols, or is abusive, or a drunkard, or a swindler. Don't even eat with such people. It isn't my responsibility to judge outsiders, but it certainly is your job to judge those inside the church who are sinning in these ways. God will judge those on the outside; but as the Scriptures say, "You must remove the evil person from among you." (1 Cor. 5: 9-13 NLT)

I'd forgotten how high of a standard people ought to be held to within the church. We ARE definitely supposed to be different from the world. Somebody forgot to tell the church in America about this verse. I'm not even sure how people would preach on this in the States. I ran across this tonight (technically this morning) during my quiet time. Really made me take notice about the standards that God has for holiness. It seems that we are literally to shun those who claim to be Christians and commit these sins. "Don't even eat with such people." That's extremely harsh! Wow! Maybe we forget how holy God is, and how greatly God desires for His people to be holy. I don't know. But this is a high standard to maintain, and there isn't much room for error. I take this to mean that if one truly is a Christian, then one will act in a certain manner. The Holy Spirit's role in our lives is too powerful for us not to act in the proper manner. Loss of fellowship is the most harsh punishment that a believer can receive. Obviously the church in Corinth had problems, but is the church in the U.S. much different?