There was a moral crisis in Corinth that prompted expelling one of the members of the church. Read 1 Corinthians 5:1-13. My vision for the church is moving away from a "shame-based" church to a "grace-based" church. A shame-based church tells people they are bad, focuses on sin, and excludes people. A grace-based church focuses on mercy, love, forgiveness, restoring relationships, and including people. A shame-based church focuses on “the wages of sin is death,” while the grace-based church emphasizes “the gift of God is eternal life.” Both phrases can be found together in Romans 6:23. Paul spent 18 months in Corinth sharing the gospel and leading the church. Paul’s letters warn against legalism and emphasize grace. So when we come to 1 Corinthians 5, we see Paul encouraging the leaders to kick out one of their members for sexual immorality. The man in question calls himself a Christian but is having sex with his father’s wife and bragging about it. This feels like a shame-based church. One of the difficult tasks in ministry and in life is setting healthy boundaries around behavior and interacting with people who cross the boundaries. Faithfulness in a relationship is a relationship boundary. Adultery crosses the boundary and must be addressed. Bragging about adultery adds insult to injury. Confronting sin is an important part of the accountability process. The goal of accountability is not to expel a person from the church, but to restore the person to healthy relationships. We know that the Corinthians took Paul’s advice and did, in fact, throw the man out of the church. We know that because Paul addresses the matter in his next letter, written later that year. In 2 Corinthians 2, Paul urges the Corinthians to restore the man back into the fellowship. Evidently, he had asked for forgiveness and changed his ways, but he was still shunned from the congregation. Paul’s second letter was a grace-filled approach, focusing on mercy, love, and including people. God sent Jesus to restore us into a healthy relationship with God and one another by dying on the cross for our sins so that we might be forgiven and included. I will continue to strive toward creating a culture of grace, while keeping healthy boundaries for all of us to grow in faith and love.

God of grace and God of truth, empower us by your Holy Spirit to live holy lives that are pleasing to you. Help us to manage grace and truth in our relationships and in our church. Help us to work toward restoration when healthy boundaries are crossed. Amen.