Sunday, February 18,
2018 am
NT CHURCH (47)
Keeping the Church Pure
As we continue examining the church, today we begin addressing our need
to keep the church pure.
Today we want to talk about the purity of the church.
Next week we will address the need for discipline.
This will be followed by a brief study of worldliness and the
church.
a.
Purity
- When we speak of purity, we need a desire to keep the church
unpolluted and undiluted as to what God intends for her to be.
A pure church is one that has not been corrupted by worldly
influences, either from without or within.
b.
Christ died to purify
the church
- Ephesians 5:25-27 – the church is described as His bride and compared
to the husband/wife relationship.
Jesus gave Himself for the church.
He died to sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by
the word, that He might present her to Himself a glorious church,
without spot or wrinkle. This
implies a pure body.
c.
2 Corinthians 11:2,
Paul’s laboring with Corinth was to present them “as a chaste virgin to
Christ.” The idea of
chaste, is pure. The NASB
and ESV both use the word “pure” here.
The word is also translated pure in other passages – Philippians
4:8, James 3:27, 1 John 3:3.
d.
1 Corinthians 5:6-8
– a little leaven, leavens the whole lump.
Paul is concerned with the immorality they were failing to deal
with at Corinth. He warns
them to deal with it lest the “whole lump” be influenced by the
immorality in their midst.
a.
Members have a
responsibility
– by living pure lives.
i.
Remember that we ARE
the church.
1 Corinthians 12:27. Ephesians 5:30, in the midst of Paul’s
analogy of the church as Christ’s bride he notes, “We
are members of His body, of His flesh and of His bones.”
ii.
We are where purity
begins.
Matthew 5:8 speaks of the pure in heart.
2 Timothy 2:22, it is with a pure heart that we call on the Lord.
This is done by fleeing youthful lusts and pursuing
righteousness, faith, love, and peace.
1 Peter 1:22, as we obey the truth through the Spirit in sincere love of
the brethren, we have purified our souls.
1 John 3:3, because of our hope of the resurrection, we purify
ourselves, “as He is pure”.
iii.
We have been cleansed
– In becoming Christians we are made pure before God.
The idea of washing away our sins demonstrates this (Acts 22:16).
1 Corinthians 6:9-11, Paul reminds them of their former conduct, “but
you were washed…”
1 John 1:7 – even as Christians, when we sin, the blood of Jesus
cleanses us.
Romans 6 – one of the points Paul makes here is that having obeyed the
gospel and put on the new man, we are now different and cannot continue
to live in sin.
iv.
We need to be seeking
to live lives of purity.
Think of the word “holy”.
A word that means we have been
set apart. We are to live
holy and pure lives so that we can be in God’s presence.
1 Peter 1:15-16 reminds us to be holy in conduct, just as God is
holy.
2 Corinthians 7:1,
Therefore, having
these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all
filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the
fear of God.
v.
Churches affected by
the impurity of its members.
1.
The church (i.e. the
brethren) at Corinth was rebuked by Paul, because of their failure to
live pure lives AND to keep the church pure.
That is specifically addressed in 1 Corinthians 5:1-8 where they
were tolerating adultery in their midst.
2.
In Revelation, among the
churches the Lord rebuked we find, Pergamos that had those who held to
false doctrines, specifically mentioned are the doctrine of Balaam and
the doctrine of Nicolaitans (Rev. 2:14-15).
This affected the purity of the church and endangered their
standing before God unless they repented (vs. 16).
3.
Thyatira allowed
“that woman Jezebel” to teach and seduce “My servants” to sexual
immorality and acts associated with idolatry.
(Rev. 2:20-23), There was a call
for repentance. Again, you
have a church that is NOT pure.
And it was not only those in error, but those who allowed it.
NOTE: There were some who did
4.
Laodicea, described
as lukewarm. NOTHING good
was said about this church.
Described as lukewarm, wretched, miserable, poor and blind (Rev.
3:15-17).
Then in vs. 18 they were challenged to buy refined gold and white
garments and eye salve to make themselves whole (pure).
They were called upon to “be zealous and repent.” (vs. 19).
5.
These churches were
not pure and needed to take measures (along with other congregations) to
remedy their conduct.
The answer was in its MEMBERS repenting and doing what they ought to do.
vi.
James 1:27 – pure and
undefiled religion, … to keep oneself unspotted from the world.
vii.
The purity of the
church has a direct correlation to our purity as its members.
If we as members see no need to live pure and separate (from the
world) lives, it will be reflected in the congregation.
And if we collectively ignore it, in time we will be influenced
by their impurities.
b.
Preachers must preach
the whole counsel of God.
i.
Preachers have a
responsibility to impart the word of God.
Their job is to help the flock know what is pure and what is
impure.
ii.
As a preacher he must
preach the word in season and out of season – 2 Timothy 4:2-3
He must expose the
unfruitful works of darkness – Ephesians 5:11
When he knows of sin
and impurity in our midst, he needs to expose and warn about it
When he knows of
dangers that are facing us (false teachers, etc.), he warns against it.
etc.
iii.
He is to be an
example of purity – 1 Timothy 4:6 – exercise yourself to godliness;
4:12-16 where Paul notes that Timothy’s good example would both him and
those who heard him. In making
accusations, etc. “Keep yourself pure” (1 Timothy 5:22)
iv.
NOTE: IN all of this,
what he says must be done with love – Ephesians 4:15, 1 Timothy 4:12,
6:11; 2 Timothy 1:7, 13, 2:22, 3:10, etc.
The attitude with which a
preacher approaches the message has an effect on the demeanor of the
congregation. He needs to
temper what he says with grace and tact.
HOW you say something is as important as WHAT you say!
v.
Far too many today
just won’t deal with the issues that are divisive and controversial.
Or equally concerning, they defend impure practices and
teachings.
They are more fearful of the members than they are of God’s judgment.
They are guilty of what Paul warned against in 2 Timothy 4:3 –
appeasing those with “itching ears”.
c.
Elders must ensure
that the truth is not being corrupted and compromised
i.
They are of proven
character and experience that they can lead – shepherd the flock. (1
Timothy 3:1-7, Titus 1:5-9.
ii.
Acts 20:26-31, Paul
charged and warned the Ephesian elders to shepherd the flock and be
aware of wolves both without and within.
He was concerned about the purity of that flock.
iii.
Titus 1:9-11 – one of
their tasks is to be able to identify those who contradict God’s word,
those insubordinate, idle talkers and deceivers.
iv.
Far too many today,
as with preachers, fail to take adequate measures to ensure the purity
of the flock. They may
ignore sinful conduct, forbid that certain subjects be preached on, or
value harmony over truth.
They may fail to GROUND the flock with adequate and balanced preaching.
Some elders fail to practice discipline thus leaving the leaven
to influence the whole flock.
d.
Discipline
– when we have those teaching error or living in immorality or impure
lives, we need to mark them.
Titus 3:10-11 – after adequate warning, we must reject the
divisive man. 1 Corinthians
5:1-7 warns to deliver the immoral person to Satan that he may repent.
Romans 16:17 calls for us to note those who cause divisions.
Etc.
This is a CRUCIAL step in keeping the church pure.
And it is not an easy thing to do.
More on this next week as we address the subject of discipline in the
body.
e.
Zeal
–
i.
We need to be “on
fire” for the Lord. Serving
God needs to be something we genuinely care about and are enthusiastic
about.
ii.
When there are
problems we seek to resolve and deal with them - 2 Corinthians 7:10-11
described how the brethren in Corinth dealt with some of the sinful
issues Paul addressed in 1 Corinthians.
iii.
Titus 2:14 describes
God’s people as zealous for good work.. We need to ALL be zealous for
the Lord’s cause.
iv.
I think of Jesus
cleansing the temple in John 2:13-17 where the disciples remembered that
it was written, “Zeal for your house has eaten me up” (Psalm 69:9).
v.
Complacency and
indifference can cause us to let our guard down and in time that can
lead to impurities creeping into our midst.
It can also cause us to not vigorously strive to keep God’s word
which will corrupt the body.
As always, our goal in this study has been to encourage us to respect
God’s pattern and let the church (congregation) be the one we can read
of in scripture. Jesus died
to make the church pure.
What are WE doing to keep her pure?