"Friends don't let friends___"

I Cor. 4:21, 5:1,7 “What will ye? Shall I come unto you with a rod, or in love, and in the spirit of meekness. (5:1) It is reported commonly that there is fornication among you, and such fornication as is not so much as named among the Gentiles, that one should have his father's wife. (7) Purge out the old leaven, that ye may be anew lump. . .”

On Sunday Mr. Albaugh mentioned that the Corinthians were a trouble church. I've been working in II Corinthians and some of the passages weren't making sense. The first two chapters talk a lot about Paul's joy and the Corinthian's joy and it didn't seem to tie in with what he was saying. However, when I was reminded that Paul's first letter to the Corinthians was a letter of rebuke, the second letter made a lot more sense.

II Cor. 1:23-2:4 “Moreover, I call God for a record upon my soul, that to spare you I came not as yet unto Corinth. Not for that we have dominion over your faith, but are helpers of you joy: for by faith ye stand. But I determined this with myself, that I would not come again to you in heaviness. For if I make you sorry, who is he then that maketh me glad, but the same which is made sorry by me? And I wrote this same unto you, lest, when I came, I should have sorrow from them of whom I ought to rejoice; having confidence in you all, that my joy is the joy of you all. For out of much affliction and anguish of heart I wrote unto you with many tears; not that ye should be grieved, but that ye might know the love which I have more abundantly unto you.”

Paul's purpose for reprimanding the Corinthian Church was that he might have joy when he saw them. He didn't rebuke them for the fun of it or just because he could – in fact he is careful to say that he doesn't have dominion over them – rather Paul rebuked them so that he could have good fellowship with them when he came. He wanted his visit to bring joy and not sorrow. This means two things. First it means that the Corinthians were Paul's friends (on his part at least) and he wanted their fellowship, but more importantly it means that even though they were his friends, he knew he couldn't really enjoy their fellowship if they persisted living in sin. Sure, he could have pretended that all was well and dandy and overlooked their sin and kept them happy for a while, but he knew that in the long run it would destroy their relationship. Tolerance is a buzzword today, everybody is saying tolerance is the only way people can get along and be happy, but tolerance really doesn't work well among friends, at least not when sin is involved. Tolerance of sin will either drive friends apart or wear them down until they are both stuck in the same pit. Either way, it's not pretty. Paul knew this type of tolerance doesn't work, and that is why he confronted his friends and urged them to repent. How often do we ignore sin in our friends lives and make all sorts excuses for them in an attempt to keep them happy so we can enjoy the pleasure of their company? It doesn't work. Sure, if you confront a friend on a big issue you may lose a friend, but chances are you would have lost them anyway unless you had soon joined them. In II Corinthians, God gives us an example of a man who loved his friends too much to turn a blind eye to their sin. That is why “Friend's don't let friends ____” When was the last time you told a friend that God has a problem with something they're doing? It's been way to long for me.

Mike