Daily Devotion with Pastor Tong Liu: Today's Passage

1 Corinthians 5:1-5

It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that does not occur even among pagans: A man has his father's wife. And you are proud! Shouldn't you rather have been filled with grief and have put out of your fellowship the man who did this? Even though I am not physically present, I am with you in spirit. And I have already passed judgment on the one who did this, just as if I were present. When you are assembled in the name of our Lord Jesus and I am with you in spirit, and the power of our Lord Jesus is present, hand this man over to Satan, so that the sinful nature may be destroyed and his spirit saved on the day of the Lord.

When a man commits a crime, his first reaction is typically to run away. We do not want to face the problem we should face, and we do not want to face the consequences of the evil we have committed. As such, Adam's first reaction after he sinned was to go into hiding. When God asked, "Adam, where are you?", God obviously knew where to find Adam. Adam thought that by hiding, the evil will leave him. However, hiding for a period of time would not really solve the problem. This is true in our lives as well. Sometimes we know that we have to find courage to face something, or change someone, but often times, we end up running away. When we take communion, we cannot think of any sins to confess because we are running away from it in our hearts as well. We do not want to change ourselves. As such, we do not come before God to seriously consider what it is that we need to change.

Similarly, the church often runs away from the problem it should face. There was someone in the Corinthian church who had illicit relationship with his stepmother. However, the church did not deal with. Why? Perhaps they were afraid of the consequences of dealing with this matter. They were afraid that some people may get upset, and in the process of dealing with this matter, there may be changes in the status or the authority for some people in the church. However, the truth is, we have neglected one thing in all of this: we should not fear man, but God

Pray that the Lord will help us, to have the courage to face up to our sins and to be willing to confess and change. Let us have the courage to face up to the consequences of sin, to repent and to be restored. Therefore, in verse 5, Paul teaches us, when rebuking sin, the purpose is not to ruin the person, but to bring the spirit of the man back to God so that he may be saved. Pray that God will give us such a mentality, so that we can please God within the church.

Pray with Pastor Tong

Lord, once again we thank you because you are a God of compassion. When you rebuke us of our sins and deal with our sins, your purpose is to have us turn back to you. Pray that you will help us respond to your grace and walk in purity. We thank you and pray in the victorious name of Jesus, Amen!