Dennis Swanberg was pastor of FBC Rogers, Texas outside Temple when I was a young pastor in a neighboring county. My roommates knew him, but I knew of him. In one of his comedy sketches, he tells of a revival preacher in his childhood church asking the question, “What are we going to do about sin?” In a perfect imitation of the evangelists from my childhood memories, he raises his voice to a high pitch, and then a sad pitch asking the same question. He says he answered in his best Barney Fife, “Nip it in the bud.”
Paul and preachers for two thousand years have preached about sin. Until recently, they were uniformly against it. As a pastor and teacher of preaching, I have become aware that the times are changing. In a return to the ethic of the 1960’s, even ministers are saying we should do whatever feels good to us. As long as there is mutual consent, one should feel free to behave however one chooses. As important as consent is, the scriptures advocate for a higher standard of covenant. The New Testament tells us Jesus upheld the original design of marriage, “For this cause, a man will leave his father and mother and be united with his wife and they will become one flesh” (Genesis 2:24, Matthew 19:4-6).
In Corinth, one of the members had somehow become involved with his own father’s wife. Paul was appalled at this thought, not because he was concerned someone was enjoying life. Paul believed that the effectiveness of the church’s ministry was directly influenced by the members keeping God’s standard of holiness in relationships. Here he told the Christians not to associate with other Christians who were living in immorality. He did not tell Christians to stay away from immoral non-Christians. But he called for specific accountability within the body of Christ.
What if we practiced this today? Would we be seen as judgmental? We know that we all sin. Surely we do not all say, “My sin is good.” In Christian community, we are always changing our minds, aligning ourselves with Christ, and turning from sin to him. What do we do about sin? “Flee from sexual immorality,” Paul says (1 Cor 6:18). For two thousand years, the people of God have been unconfused by this standard. God has not changed his mind to accommodate a new generation. Neither should we.
