1 Corinthians 5
"Cleanse out the old leaven that you may be a new lump, as you really are unleavened. For Messiah, 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" (1 Cor 5:7-8).
Paul commands the Corinthian church to publicly discipline a believer among them who has committed a horrible sin. This man has done something not even unbelievers do and has brought shame upon the local church. The church is to remove this man from the church until he repents of his actions and confesses his sins.
We all must be willing to be disciplined in our local church if we are openly sinning or living a life that is bringing shame upon the church. We are to be pure as individuals but also as a collective body. D groups, to me, are the best way in the local church to hold one another accountable and to provide pastoral care to one another in a decentralized way. During our six month time of transition, we won't have a regular church body to be part of. So it is really important for me to be part of an online D group. I want to live a holy, pure, godly life during this season of transition.
Father, thank you that Jesus, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed, and that we really are unleavened. Given those facts, may we cleanse out the old leaven and be a new, unleavened lump. May I be a sincere man and a truthful man. Forgive my sins in thought, word, and deed, and lead me in the way of purity and holiness. In Jesus' name, amen.
- Jeff Coleman