The Corinthian Correspondence, Part 10: 1 Corinthians 5: 1-13; "The Worldy Church and the 'Churchy' World"

The Corinthian Correspondence, Part 10; 1 Corinthians 5:1-13 The Worldly Church and the Churchy World I’ll never forget the time I heard this. My good friend Lou and I were preparing for the military chaplaincy. We were at a church where he had the opportunity to deliver the evening message. He began it this way, “The church has become too much like the world and we are trying to make the world like the church.” In other words, the church has become too worldly and the world too “churchy.” And this, to a large degree is what Paul addresses in 1 Corinthians 5:1-13. This is a short, powerful, passage that packs a lot of punch. It is on the heels of Paul asking the question and basically giving the Corinthian Christians a choice: when he visits them, do they want him to come to them with love and gentleness, or with a rod of correction? Remember how he wanted to visit them to find out who the “arrogant ones” were, who were speaking against the authority God gave Paul as an apostle. He reminded the Corinthians that the kingdom of God comes in power, especially the supernatural power to change lives even in the realm of their morality. So, in this chapter I find something strange. In the first 4 chapters of this letter, Paul chided them over and over for their lack of unity and tells them in no uncertain terms to stop boasting in their spiritual leaders. The one who they should boast in is the one who loved them enough to save them: the Lord Jesus. But in this chapter, Paul finds that he has to chide them, this time for their unity—with the world. As we will see, the Corinthian Christians were seemingly proud of their moral progressivism; we would call it gross immorality. They were unified over something they should have divorced themselves from when they began to follow Jesus. This gross immorality was an incestual relationship between “a man and his father’s wife”. This sin is bad enough even in our day, with all of its moral looseness. I don’t about you, but I have never heard of anybody actually engaging in this kind of behavior. What about you? But in First Century culture, it was really bad—even among the pagans. It was one of those “unwritten rules” that no one even talked about. Eventually it was actually outlawed. We are going to look at the situation in this passage, and then apply it to our day. There are those in the church who seem to be proud of their moral progressivism. On the other hand there are those who seem to want to fix the world, by telling the pagans to straighten up and fly right. As we will see, neither way is proper for the church of Jesus Christ. In other words, we need to guard against worldliness in the church and at the same time, avoid trying to make the world “churchy.” We know the issue. Let’s explore the backstory. This incident, obviously involves a man and his father’s wife, most likely his stepmother. Either way, this was a real ick factor. So who were these people and why in the world would they engage in this kind of behavior? Those who study Scripture for a living have come to some conclusions about these people. The woman was definitely not a Christian, not a member of the Corinthian community. In v.12, Paul says that the church has no responsibility to judge those outside the church. So, he left her alone. As we know, when non-Christians sin, they are acting normal. So, he did not deal with her. She may have been a widow, perhaps rich with a large dowry. Or she may have been a prostitute. From the scholars who made comments about her, this was pretty much what they came up with. These are important points to keep in mind as we talk about the guy and what he’s up against. So, who was the guy? Unlike her, he was connected with the church community. They had an ongoing sexual relationship. And quite possibly he was married to the woman. And more than likely he was a man of means and influence, either in the city of Corinth, or in the church, or both. He might have been one of the noble, powerful people Paul talked about in 1 Corinthians 1. The Scripture tells us that the heart is deceitful, and desperately wicked. Who can know it? In other words, sin knows no bounds! And so let’s try to put a piece or 2 together regarding this couple. One scenario is, as I mentioned, stepmom, may have been a widow with a large dowry. Her son may have married her to keep the dowry in the family—so the relationship could have been financially motivated. Or the relationship could have been one of the guy enjoying a privileged status in the pagan community or in the church. Being a man of wealth and influence, it may be that he continued in the relationship “because I can.” Perhaps he had recently understood the gospel, how that Christ loved him and saved him by his grace. And because of God’s grace, he may have felt, “I have true freedom now. Since all my sins are forgiven, I can do what I want”—which of course was NOT what Paul taught the Corinthians for the 18 months he was there establishing the church. So whether it was financial, or influential or a total misunderstanding of his responsibility before God as a Christian, this man continued a sexual relationship with his stepmother, and perhaps even married her. As I said, “ick factor.” Having set up the backdrop of this sordid tale--and it had to be true--for how can you make this stuff up? we are going to see how serious this was in Paul’s mind to have the church in Corinth take care of things. We’re going to look at the indictment in vv.1-2; Paul’s procedure to remedy the situation in vv.3-5; his reminder of who the Corinthians were in vv.6-8; and finally a re-education of how the Corinthians were to relate to outsiders, as he calls them in vv.9-13. So, let’s go to 1 Corinthians 5:1-2 and read Paul’s indictment against the Corinthians and how it was ruining the church’s witness to the community: 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. The indictment is straight forward: sexual immorality of the most vile kind, the kind that even pagans did not do! Incestual relationships like this just were not done in Corinth, which says a lot! To “Corinthianize” was another way of saying sexual immorality. Notice something else. Paul caught wind of it—which seems to say that it was not exactly an in- house secret. This was out in the open. And Paul was livid! Can’t you “hear” between the lines as to how upset he was? This was NO way for God’s people to behave! And to make matters worse, if it could get any worse, was the way the church was totally ok with this. As I mentioned, whether there was a financial motivation, or that the man had influence and power, or even something else entirely, the church boasted about this. Remember how Paul was upset that the Corinthians boasted in spiritual leaders threatening the disunity of the fellowship. Now, they were at it again—only this time boasting in the sin of this relationship of the most vile kind. It was as though the Corinthian church was in a competition with the world to see who could be the most wicked. So here, Paul takes them to task. Through his righteous anger, he makes 2 statements. First, instead of boasting, their eyes should have been flooded with tears of mourning over this sin. Second, they should have removed this man from among them immediately if not sooner. And for the sake of several serious issues, Paul urges the Corinthian church to take action. No debating. No discussion. For the sake of the church’s witness to the pagan community—Corinthians take action! Because of who they were—and should have shown their new nature by mourning rather than boasting in this behavior—Corinthians take action! And for the sake of this man, who called himself a Christian—in order to show him the seriousness of this sin—Corinthians take action! Having looked at the indictment, now let’s look at the remedy Paul directs: that of running the guy out of the assembly. In other words, church discipline. 1 Corinthians 5:3–5: 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. Now we can spend an entire message on these verses right here but let me just hit the highlights. Let’s start with what the Lord Jesus said regarding sin in the church and what to do about it. Matthew 18:15–20: “If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother. But if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, that every charge may be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses. If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church. And if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector. Truly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. Again I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them.” And as an aside, I find it interesting that in v.20 we often understand that Jesus is with us in small gatherings. It is true that he is. But what is he saying here? He is present in the church discipline process. In other words, his authority is present as the church exercise church discipline. But notice that church discipline needs to be exercised over actual sin—blatant violations of Scripture, which the standard by which we all must live. We can have differences of opinion over things—even heated discussions. But when sin is committed, that’s when it must be dealt with. And it should be handled one-on-one first—a good management principle! Resolve things at the lowest level. Only when it can’t be resolved is when things are to be elevated. So, 1-on-1, then if things are not resolved, bring along 1 or 2 others. Why? So that everything will be established by 2 or 3 witnesses. In other words, sanctified peer pressure needs to be placed on the sinning party. And if things don’t get resolved at that level, it goes before the entire church. And if that level of peer pressure does not result in resolution, then show the individual the door, “treating that person like a Gentile and tax collector.” In other words, we cut off fellowship with the sinning party. It may sound harsh. Judgmental. But it is supposed to be. Sin is destructive. And this is what Paul mandated for dealing with sin. Notice the presence of 2 witnesses in v.4: the spirit of Paul and the power of the Lord Jesus in the midst of the church assembled to do this solemn business. What business is that? Handing this person over to Satan. Sounds unthinkable, especially in 21st Century American Christian’s ears. But if we understand that all Scripture is breathed out by God, then 1 Corinthians 5:5 carries with it just as much truth and authority as John 3:16. So, let’s not dodge it, but embrace it. What to make of this? It makes sense when we consider the mindset of the early church. Simply put: inside the church, there was light. Safety. Protection from the evil one. Life. Mercy. And so much more. And we will see that in Paul’s mind there was a Grand Canyon’s worth of division between inside and outside the church. Paul calls the world the domain of darkness in Colossians 1:13, and in 2 Corinthians 4:4, Paul calls Satan the god of this world. So, when Paul tells the Corinthians to hand this man over to Satan, he means that the leadership show him the door out of the light and into the domain of darkness, where Satan rules now. The place where Satan steals, kills and destroys as Jesus tells us in John 10:10. But notice what Paul hopes to have happen by handing this man over to Satan: that his flesh be destroyed so that his spirit be saved in the day of the Lord. Well, this seems to be problematic as well. For the church leadership to actually hope that this man’s flesh will be destroyed? A possible answer can be found in what we said earlier. Remember I pointed out that some of the scholars suggested that his stepmom could have been a prostitute. If so, then it makes sense. And it could work this way. As the church leadership releases the guy into the darkness, it’s as if they are asking the Lord to take his hand of protection off of him, and that he will suffer the consequences of his sin in a much deeper level than otherwise. If stepmom was a prostitute, how many partners would she have? And what would be the chances she would contract a sexually transmitted disease? But before we go any farther let me make this comment. This is not, as I see it, to be used as a blanket “punishment” for every person who is released from the fellowship. Notice how Paul made it specific: this man. He could have made things much more broad but he made it very narrow. And with that said, let’s go on. If stepmom was a prostitute and say, the guy contracted an STD, then as his flesh was being destroyed, perhaps he would realize something was dreadfully wrong with him and conclude that God was punishing him. And perhaps it would be there that the guy would repent and either come to the Lord or come back to the Lord. Either way perhaps the destruction of his flesh would bring him to repentance and salvation. In other words, the man would live with the consequences in this life but it is that very lifestyle which would bring him to repentance. And how often does God work that way? Solomon writes in Proverbs 14:14 that the backslider in heart will be filled with the fruit of his ways. I have turned that statement into a prayer: that the ones I love who are living in blatant sin will become sick of their sin, will be filled with the fruit of their sin. And when they do, that the Lord will mercifully bring his conviction to bear on their soul that the miracle of salvation will happen! We can praise the Lord nothing is ever wasted, even when those we love sin grievously! Of course, that does not mean that everybody will be saved, but it gives me at least the motivation to pray all the more diligently for them. So, we have seen Paul’s indictment and remedy about this incestual relationship of this man with his stepmother in the first 5 verses. Now in vv.6-8 Paul reminds the Corinthians who they are, and the reason why they need to exercise church discipline and run the unrepentant one out of the church: 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. Paul gives them 2 points to ponder as he pointedly tells them to follow through with what they need to do. First he says what they are to stop doing: “Your boasting about the lifestyle of this man is not good. You should not be doing that.” Later on in his writing ministry Paul would even be more specific about living a holy lifestyle, pleasing to the Lord who saved them. Here’s what Paul writes in Ephesians 5:3 But sexual immorality and all impurity or covetousness must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints. Not a hint of this, guys! Paul says. Having told the Corinthians what to stop doing, Paul now tells them what to do, and it begins with a proper orientation. We are very familiar with how devastating viruses can be. According to many, the Coronavirus has literally brought the entire planet to its knees. Multiplied thousands have contracted it and over 11,000 have died after having been diagnosed with it. To make a more complete picture, in the U.S. alone, in just this this present flu season, 36 million have gotten ill and over 22,000 have died after having been diagnosed with seasonal flu. So, I think we can say a virus is a pretty serious thing. Consider sin as a virus of the soul. Paul did. He described it as leaven—introducing a fermentation process that makes bread rise. Given enough time in bread dough what happens when yeast is there? Delicious bread! Nothing like freshly baked bread, hot out of the oven! Though yeast in fresh bread is a great thing, leaven of the soul is a bad thing. And given enough time, without stopping it, unchecked leaven in just one soul will produce deadly results in the life of a local church--Christ’s body. Sin, left unchecked, will make the whole body sick. So, what to do? Apply social distancing. Paul told the Corinthians in v.7: Cleanse out the old leaven that you may be a new lump. Pretty straight forward here. Using bread dough analogy, Paul in essence said, “if you want good flatbread, do not allow any leaven to enter the recipe.” Get rid of the leaven, Paul said. “But to get rid of the unrepentant sinner is so harsh!” we say. “Since there is no one righteous, who are we to judge? And besides, this person might repent by being around us” we say. There is one primary reason why Paul told the Christians in Corinth to do this: you are changed people. The rest of v.7 reads this way, “you really are unleavened.” What was Paul doing? Reminding the Christians that they were, indeed, Christians. Little Christs. This was not a friendly nickname when it was first coined. In the town of Antioch, non-Christians in the First Century called Christ followers “Christians” because they acted so much like Christ. And Paul reminded them of the changes the Lord made in their lives, both individually and as a church. Remember what church means: “called out ones.” They were called out from the world. They were called into fellowship with God through Christ. This fellowship is characterized by holiness. Separation unto him by his grace. But not sinless perfection. 1 John 1:7 tells us if we walk in the light as he is in the light we have fellowship, one with another and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. This man who lived in unrepentant sin claimed to have fellowship with God but deliberately lived as though he did not. The Corinthian Christians needed reminding as to who they were. And because they were holy they needed to create some social distancing from this man who insisted to live in ways that even pagans thought were disgusting. What they needed to understand was that for the sake of the purity of Christ’s body--the church in Corinth--they needed to cleanse the temple so to speak, so they could be who God has made them to be--unleavened. Without yeast. Not puffed up. Just good old, flatbread. Paul then goes on and reminds the Corinthians about the sacrifice of Christ. It cost Christ his life to bring an unleavened reality to them. And it always comes back to that--to him--doesn’t it? Here really is the heart of the issue, not only when we are dealing with sin in our own lives, but as importantly, sin in the life of another Christian. Paul already laid out the attitude they needed to have over the sin of the unrepentant man: to mourn. And the mourning comes out of a broken heart over sin, remembering it was sin--even the sin of incest--that put Christ on the cross. With that said, notice as well how Paul referred to the Corinthians—it was who God declared them to be: “no leaven”. But with this man in an unrepentant sinful relationship what was happening to the Corinthians? They were beginning to leaven. Spiritually speaking, they were beginning to be characterized as those who were living in malice and evil. And when the leaven becomes noticeable, catastrophic things begin to happen, such as what happened in a college classroom a few years back: Dr. Stephen L. Anderson, a professor in Ontario, Canada, had what he called a moment of "startling clarity" while teaching a section on ethics in his senior philosophy class. He needed an "attention-getter"—something to shock his students and force them to take an ethical stand. He hoped that this would form a "baseline" from which they could evaluate other ethical decisions. Here's how he explained what happened next: I decided to open by simply displaying, without comment, the photo of Bibi Aisha. Aisha was the Afghani teenager who was forced into an abusive marriage with a Taliban fighter, who abused her and kept her with his animals. When she attempted to flee, her family caught her, hacked off her nose and ears, and left her for dead in the mountains … She was saved by a nearby American hospital. I felt quite sure that my students, seeing the suffering of this poor girl of their own age, would have a clear ethical reaction …. The picture is horrific. Aisha's beautiful eyes stare hauntingly back at you above the mangled hole that was once her nose. Some of my students could not even raise their eyes to look at it. I could see that they were experiencing deep emotions. But I was not prepared for their reaction. I had expected strong aversion; but that's not what I got. Instead, they became confused. They seemed not to know what to think. They spoke timorously, afraid to make any moral judgment at all. They were unwilling to criticize any situation originating in a different culture. They said, "Well, we might not like it, but maybe over there it's okay." Another said, "It's just wrong to judge other cultures." I wondered, "How can kids who have been so thoroughly basted in the language of minority rights be so numb to a clear moral offense?" …. No matter how I prodded they did not leave their nonjudgmental position. I left that class shaking my head. It seemed clear to me that for some students—clearly not all—the lesson of character education initiatives is acceptance of all things at all costs. While we may hope some are capable of bridging the gap between principled morality and this ethically vacuous relativism, it is evident that a good many are not. For them, the overriding message is "never judge, never criticize, never take a position." These students were unable to take a stand for righteousness. They were afflicted with an inability to distinguish good from evil. What Paul was getting across here was that malice and evil has a way of permeating the entire church body--to its shame and ineffectiveness as a witness to the unbelievers around them. But God’s people can celebrate Jesus--as our Passover Lamb. We are freed from our sins! And that is a reason worth celebrating! The writer to the Hebrews tells us that Christ put away sins by the sacrifice of himself! So, now we can live in perpetual celebration and we can demonstrate this by living our lives in sincerity and truth. Paul’s indictment. His remedy. His reminder of who God created the Corinthians to be. Now let’s see Paul’s re-education of a gross misunderstanding of how they were to interact with the pagan world around them and this is found in vv.9–13 Let’s dive into it. Paul had written a letter to the Corinthians before this one, instructing them to live holy lives before the non-Christians in Corinth. And in spite of the apostle’s clear teaching, apparently they got confused. V.9: “I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people.” What they got out of that instruction was to live in isolation of all sinners. It was as though the Corinthians believed Paul was telling them they could only hang around people who were cleaned up. That they could not touch the world, lest the world would contaminate them. That is doctrine in some places, isn’t it? For fear of being stained by the world and its ways, it is believed by many, that Christians cannot interact with sinners. So one of two things often emerge. First, Christians are on a mission--to clean up the world. To “help” the non-Christian be better. Like confronting them about their language. Or helping them in better lifestyle choices, such as the modern version of AA. Not that these things are bad, as far as they go. I mean, for a person to stop abusing alcohol and other drugs is a good thing. For anybody to strike salty language from their vocabulary is good, too. But without the power to change what this often does is produce only “cleaned up sinners,” who still have stony hearts. Living in rebellion against the Lord. Paul was not concerned about God’s people contracting a virus of the soul when it is carried by sinners. What he was concerned about was sinners dying without a cure for their sin--the cure that Christians have. Paul’s instruction was for Christians to spread the gospel, as he gave his life doing, and as the Lord commanded for all of his disciples to be about as Paul explains in 1 Corinthians 5:10: 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. In other words, if it was God’s will for Christians to not associate with sinners, where would the witness be? The truth is that we as Christians cannot avoid non-Christians, and neither would we want to. The cure for sin is in our lives. And it can only be transmitted to the terminally ill by our contact with them. And in v.11, Paul clarifies his stance: 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. What was Paul saying? Have no contact with the one who claims to be a Christian but deliberately lives as though he or she is not. We are not to try to win them back. We are not to consider them merely out of fellowship with God. We are to consider them as living in Satan’s domain. But we might object, “That is so harsh. So judgmental. So holier than thou.” Let’s deal with this. Once again, if all Scripture is given by inspiration of God, then this statement is included. The raw truth is that Paul told the Corinthian Christians they were to have no dealings with a person who claimed to be a Christian but was unrepentant-not even to share a meal with him or her. Social distance is the key here. Why is that? Look at v.12 and it is seemingly even more harsh than v.11 For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Is it not those inside the church whom you are to judge? This verse literally reads, For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Is it not insiders whom you are to judge? Paul makes a definite distinction between Christians and non-Christians: insiders and outsiders. Paul’s instruction is to judge insiders. How to reconcile that with 21st Century American Christian culture? The short answer is--we don’t. That does not mean we hate them. But it does mean that we let them go. Obviously we pray for them. Obviously we witness to them, treating them like the outsiders they now are. We still love them, as we love all people. But we are to treat a person as a non-Christian who claims to be a Christian but deliberately lives his or her life as if he or she is not. We are to give them the gospel, not the right hand of fellowship. And in v.13, we see the part God plays in the lives of all outsiders--all non-Christians: God judges them. We don’t have the right or responsibility to do that. The solemn responsibility the Corinthians had and we have by extension is to pronounce a mournful judgment on them and cut ourselves off from the evil person--the one who claims to be an insider but who deliberately lives as though he or she is an outsider. But what do we often find ourselves doing? Just the opposite of what Paul told the Corinthians then and us in 21st Century America. How often are we busy about judging non-Christians, getting them to clean up their act, while we give those who say they are Christians but living in unrepentant sin a pass? And what is the result of that? Through our neglect of helping our brother and sister improve their personal holiness we allow the church to become worldly. And through our usurping of God’s prerogative of his judging outsiders, we seek to make the world “churchy”. The bottom line here is simply obeying what the Lord said through Paul: we are to lovingly confront our brothers and sisters, carefully and solemnly exercising church discipline: an indispensable function of a disciple of Jesus. Incidentally, that is why church membership is important. It is only through church membership where the local church has authority to exercise church discipline. See, unless one has agreed to place himself or herself under the authority of spiritual leadership, in our case it is myself and the CAT--Church Advisory Team—there is no the authority to lovingly call out an unrepentant person. And because that person is not under spiritual authority he or she is in spiritual danger. Because along with spiritual authority comes spiritual protection. Those who are not under spiritual protection leave themselves open to the enemy’s attacks. And the other side is true as well. A Christian does not have the authority or responsibility to call out a non-Christian for what he or she is doing. And the danger for the non-Christian when a well-meaning Christian does that often results in the non-Christian getting the wrong idea about salvation. If I tell a non-Christian to clean up their act, then they will think that it’s not God’s grace he or she needs for salvation but good works. “If I only have enough good works”, he or she would say, then surely this is what God requires. But as we know it is by grace we are saved through faith--as in faith in Jesus, and this is not our own doing. It is the gift of God. Not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.” Ephesians 2:8-9. In other words, it is not our job to churchify the world. It is our privilege to love the non-Christian that they may become holy in Christ and to lovingly help our brother or sister to become more holy in their walk with the Lord. Because when it is all said and done, what is it all about? God describes his Son as a bridegroom. We as his church make up his bride. When he returns, he is coming for a radiant bride, holy, without spot or wrinkle. Tim Keller tells the story of Dorothy Sayers who wrote a series of detective novels focused on her fictional character Lord Peter Wimsey. Sayers' creation, Wimsey was an aristocrat detective from the 1930s who solved all kinds of crimes. She wrote a whole series of stories and novels about Lord Peter. Then about halfway through her “Wimsey” detective series, a woman suddenly shows up in the novels. Sayers’ new character is named Harriet Vane, a female mystery writer and one of the very first women to get through Oxford. Harriet and Peter fall in love. Until that point in the series, Wimsey was an unhappy, broken bachelor, until Harriet Vane shows up and her love starts to heal his broken soul. This is an interesting backstory because Dorothy Sayers, like her fictional creation, was one of the first women to graduate from Oxford. Like Harriet Vane, Dorothy Sayers was a writer of mystery novels. Dorothy Sayers looked at her character, Lord Peter Wimsey, and saw that he needed someone to help him out. So who did she put in there? A detective novelist, a woman, and one of the first women to go through Oxford. In other words, Sayers put herself into her own stories. She looked into the world that she had created and she fell in love with the chief character, Peter Wimsey, and she wrote herself into that story so she could heal him. And isn’t this the great news in a nutshell? God creates the world, we've turned away from him and have died because of our sin. But God looks into this world and he loves us and he writes himself into his own story. Only he really writes himself in, he really puts himself in there in Jesus Christ, and he comes and he gives us life and takes us to be his bride. And for the sake of our witness, may we, as the bride, and soldiers of Christ, be about two things: to love righteousness and to fight against wickedness in the church. And may we have the endurance to give outsiders what they need: the gospel, while refraining from judging the outsiders. May God help us to prevent the church from becoming worldly and stop trying to make the world “churchy” for the glory and honor of Christ.