When Bad Things Come In: Sin

Okay, how we doing?

After that passage, really good?

So, you know, I'm like, oh my gosh, you know, I was at this wedding reception last night too,

and about 10.30 I've been praying through this sermon and the implications of it,

and I was like, what am I doing teaching on 1 Corinthians 5?

It's craziness.

Usually people skip these passages.

These are kind of like the hot potato passages in Scripture.

We're about to hit a whole bunch of hot potatoes.

I mean serious hot potatoes in Scripture and theology,

and I have realized over the years of being married to my wife

that I'm not as good of a communicator as I thought I was.

And so I'm sure that I might bother some of you in my communication.

I'm sure and hopefully that Scripture will bother you also.

And so this is just a beginning, an introduction.

Hopefully you will continue to discuss these things in your community group

and talk to each other.

And if I say something that really offends you, please come up and talk to me

because, again, these are huge topics, right?

And so you're studying these and you're reading these,

and we're going to talk for about 30 minutes.

And I've been thinking about this, you know, for weeks

and trying to figure out what's going on here and how do we do this

and how do we teach this well.

And so I think maybe I should just start off by asking,

is there anybody in here sleeping with their dad's mom, dad's wife?

Anybody?

Okay, maybe we should just close the sermon then and say amen and we can go home

because we don't want to think about this because it's too crazy.

But then I started thinking about verse 11.

Is there anybody in here who's a Christian

and they're struggling with pornography or immorality?

Are there anybody in here who's a believer and they're struggling with greed and covetous?

Or is there anybody in here who's struggling with idolatry,

that we've made idols and we've worshipped them instead of God?

Is there any of us in here who struggle with drinking too much?

Is there anybody in here who struggles with swindling

and being greedy and vicious with their words?

And is there anybody in here who's a reviler, that they gossip,

they use their words abusively to people and they hurt people,

especially those above them in leadership or their spouses?

Are there any of us in here struggling with those things?

And I realized that I have to say yes to many of these things.

You know, and I wanted to talk about that today.

What does it look like for us as a church to go on a journey?

When we started this church, we prayed that we'd be a church

that would open up and share everything with everybody

and that we would not hold things back,

realizing that if we keep things in the dark,

in our soul, in our brain, and in our heart,

that Satan destroys us, right?

So one of the things we pray about as staff and elders all the time

is that we would be a church that would realize that

and realize that we've been hiding in the dark too long

and it's time to bring these things into the light

and let God and the Holy Spirit heal us from these things.

And so I wanted to start to talk about this passage

by sharing a story that I remember really well.

It was October 25, 2010.

And the reason I remember that is only two weeks after we started Watermark.

And the story and the true story, what happened was that

in the Indian Ocean off the coast of Sumatra,

there was this massive earthquake that hit

and it rumbled everybody about 9.45 at night.

And this earthquake triggered this massive tsunami

that just kept building up and building up.

And it started pushing and it started heading towards these

Mitanawe Islands and towards these areas.

But this wasn't the first time the earthquake had happened.

And so in 2004, this huge earthquake hit and caused a tsunami

and it wiped out half of India.

And so what they did is they placed these buoys, these NOAA buoys,

these dark buoys all around the islands to act as a warning sign.

And so that whenever the water level went up,

these buoys would go, you know, alert, alert, alert.

And they would send out this warning to all the villages and all the islands.

And so people would be aware that this huge wall of water is coming

and we need to get away.

And so this water of wall is coming.

But over time, those buoys that they had placed in there in 2004,

it's, you know, it's 2010 now, they were just neglected.

I mean, no one checked up on them.

No one bothered to check them out and make sure they were functioning properly.

No one tested them.

No one even went out and said, hey, are they still there?

They just assumed that these buoys were still there

and they were going to be protected by it.

And when this big wave of water hit these buoys,

instead of saying, alert, alert, alert, nothing happened.

I mean, there was no warning and the people were sleeping

and this huge tsunami slams these islands.

And in an instant, 4,000 homes are destroyed

and 20,000 people's lives are upturned

and hundreds of people are washed out to the sea,

all because this system that they had designed and put in place

didn't function properly because we neglected it

and we didn't talk about it.

We didn't discuss it amongst ourselves.

It's terrifying, isn't it?

It's terrifying to think if you were one of those people

and you're thinking that you were going to go to sleep

and you were safe because people were taking care of you

and in an instant, you're wiped out.

And that's kind of what's going on in this church in Corinth.

We've been studying about this church in Corinth

and this church started in this city that is very much like Hong Kong.

It's all about power and it's all about money

and it's all about education and it's all about relationships

and it's all about idols and it's all about image.

I don't know if you've realized it, but in Hong Kong it doesn't really matter

how well you're doing.

It just matters that you look like you're doing well, right?

And that's what we struggle with in the church all the time

because we come in and we wear these masks

and it looks like we're doing well, but inside in our soul we're not doing well.

We're really getting beat up by these tsunamis

and this is what's happening to this church in Corinth.

These tsunamis are hitting

and what we're going to see is the problem that it causes is

that people just become arrogant.

The people become prideful and they've become just like their city, the church.

This small group of 150 people who've been struggling and fighting

to walk with the Lord and to be good businessmen

and to be good husbands and to be good wives and be good children.

They've just become complacent and they've become prideful

and they've just stopped thinking about what it means to walk with God

and instead of having this protective barrier of buoys

around their families and their church and their community,

these things have been wiped away

and now their lives and their hearts and their families

and their churches are at risk.

I mean, there's this huge disconnect in these people's lives.

They don't realize what is going on and what the church is all about

and they've separated their spiritual life from their physical life.

Have you ever done that?

I struggle with that often that we separate what we do with who we are.

We forget what the church is about.

We just come in and most of us struggle with thinking about

whether the church is just a club that we come on Sunday

and that we leave.

And we struggle with this idea of sin entering into our midst

and what does it look like and why we're here as God's people.

What do we do with these things as we get buffeted by these waters

that continually beat us and beat us and beat us?

I mean, there's a lot of stories in the Old Testament

about this happening to God's people.

I was reading one rabbi's commentary

and I know you're going to think I'm incredibly boring.

I told one of the staff that.

He goes, well, you got a lot of free time.

And I was reading this commentary about this guy

talking about these Old Testament stories

and he was talking about the community of God and the people.

And he said that, you know, most people don't understand

what the community of God is all about.

And he says it's kind of like you're on this boat.

And you're on this boat that's going on this journey.

And all of a sudden you turn over and you look down

and there's this guy on this wooden boat

and he's drilling this hole underneath his bed.

And he's drilling it through the wood of the boat.

And you look at him and you say, what are you doing?

He goes, don't worry about it.

It's just my area.

It's just my area.

It's not going to affect everybody else.

It's just me.

It's just me.

It's my area.

And this rabbi said that's how we think of the community

and that's how we think of sin in our lives.

We think that we can just drill holes in the bottom of the boat

and it's not going to affect anybody.

It's just going to affect us.

But what he says is that you and I are here

and we're in this journey.

If you're God's people, you're in a ship

and you're on this journey.

And everything you do affects everybody in God's family.

I mean, I think we don't.

And I struggle with this, right?

We come in and we don't realize that the person next to you

and the person next to you,

these are people that are going to be in heaven with you.

You don't realize that the person next to you

and the person next to you,

they might need the gifts, the talents, the care, the love,

the personality that you have.

And if you just get up and leave

and never communicate with people or never serve,

then that means that that person next to you

and the person next to you,

they're worse off

because the hand or the leg or the foot

just walked out the door

and they really need a hand or a leg or a foot

or a heart

or an ear.

And the story says that we don't realize it

because we don't realize also

that we're sitting in here in this community

and that we actually need the person beside us.

And that person beside us

might be the person that we need to talk to

because we're really struggling with something.

They might be a little further along

in their journey in business

and in marriage and family and singleness

and we're just getting beat up by the storms

over and over and over

and we get up and we leave

and we don't realize that the answer to this

is what God has said all along

and the answer is the church

and the community and the people of God.

But we don't realize that

and so we teach our kids

that it's okay not to value those things

and we might not say it

but we do it by our actions and our words

and so our kids learn

and so what we do

is we pass on this crippledness

from our generation

to our kids' generation

to the next generation.

But you and I

are meant to be in this ship together

and we're moving in this direction

and whatever we do

affects everybody else.

Does that make any sense whatsoever?

I hope I'm not getting too heavy

but for me it's just a burden

because I feel like I struggle with this a lot

and the people of Corinth struggle with that a lot too.

There were things going on in their church

that were out of control

and in fact

the problem in this passage is intense

and it's leaven, it's sin

and the idea about leaven

is that when you put the leaven

in the dough

you put the yeast in the dough

it permeates everything.

Okay, so I have a confession to make.

I've tried to stop drinking Diet Coke.

There's something in me

I just, okay

so I went to Christina's parents' mom's funeral

and there was something in me

like you need to just cut down

and stop it

so I've tried to stop drinking Diet Coke

and so I've been drinking tea instead

and so I've been boiling tea

and making tea

and drinking tea like a madman

because I'm addicted to caffeine

I'm sure

and the thing I've learned about

the tea pot

and the kettle

is if I don't boil it well enough

or if I leave it sitting

just for a little while

that the sugar in it

starts to ferment

and if I don't handle it just right

I mean I can go out of the room

and studying

and I can come back

in an hour and a half

and the tea starts to get cloudy.

Have you ever noticed that?

And then if I just leave it

for like three hours

that the tea is undrinkable, right?

It's like in some of those restaurants

you're going in

and you take a drink of tea

and you're like

oh wow this is really bad

you need to clean out the leaven

out of this thing

and the guy goes what?

And but it's

but that's how sin affects us, right?

And that's what goes on

and that's what's happening

in the church

because we forgot

what the church is about

we forgot that we're God's people

we forgot we're hands and feet

and we're in a ship

and everything we do

affects each other

and the sin that we do

affects each other

and so Paul writes this letter

and it's not the first letter

he wrote to this church

and this church is struggling

with this guy

and he is actually

he's sleeping

he's shacking up

with his dad's wife

and so it's not his

probably his mom

but it's his dad's wife

and we know that it's

a continual thing

that it's happening

over and over

because Paul wrote about it

in a letter that we don't have

maybe a year or two before

and so he's readdressing it

here again

and the thing that surprises him

as he talks about this

is that this sin

isn't even what the Romans

would do

if you read Roman law

and you read the Greek law

this thing is like

out of control

most Greeks and Romans

they believed in everything else

and everything else is good

but what you don't do

is you don't sleep

with your dad's wife

because that's

that's like the Oedipus syndrome

right

Oedipus the boy

who falls in love

with his mom

and the Greeks

have a whole tragedy

about that

and so you just don't

do that

but they were doing that here

and Paul is just

freaking out over that

and the biggest thing

that concerns Paul

in verse 2

is not that this guy

is doing it

but the biggest thing

that concerns Paul

is that people

aren't doing anything about it

and so they just look at him

and they kind of smile

maybe they say things like

well you know

that's a personal matter

maybe we shouldn't be

too involved

or you know

this is just the age of tolerance

we need to be tolerant

and we don't want to be

intolerant

or intolerant

or we don't want to be harsh

we don't want to be mean

maybe if we say something to him

and a lot of commentators

think that this guy

was probably a very wealthy person

in the church

that he's probably

a very well to do person

that he was donating

a lot of money to the church

the church might have

even been meeting

in his home

and so there's a sense

that they didn't

they were afraid

to say anything

because they would lose

this money from this patron

and so instead

they let this yeast

just continue in his heart

and it just became deferment

and get more difficult

and more difficult

and people in the church

were saying

you know it's grace

and God has freed us

and Christ has freed us

and who cares about

what we do sexually

and it's okay

we can do anything

and Paul's looking at this

and he goes

what are you doing

this guy's been drilling holes

in the bottom of the boat

for two years

and you haven't done

anything about it

you gotta do something

about it guys

because it's not good

I mean in the Hebrew culture

you know what they would have done

they would have taken

the guy and the girl

and taken them outside the city

and they would have

stoned them to death

I mean it would have

happened just like that

there wouldn't have been

no discussion over the sin

and the blatantness of it

but as Christians

we struggle with that

we don't know

what to do

and Paul was talking to them

and we struggle with this idea

well that's not loving

because Jesus wouldn't do that

right

but Jesus

did do that

and it's my fault

because I didn't put it

in your bulletin

but I put Matthew 7

which talks about

before we go to talk to people

we guard our hearts

we ask our hearts

we take the logs out of our eye

before we talk to our brother

but in Matthew 18

Jesus lays out

these very specific

strict guidelines

for how we deal

with people in sin

and so I'm going to read it to you

this is what he says

if your brother sins

and go and reprove him

in private

and if he listens to you

you have won a brother

and you just mark over that

love

because that's what love is

he goes

but if he doesn't listen to you

take one or two more with you

so that by the mouth

of two or three witnesses

every fact may be confirmed

love

and if he refuses

to listen to them then

tell it to the church

and if he refuses

to listen even to the church

then let him be

as a Gentile

sorry tax guys

but as a tax gatherer

that's the worst thing

you could be

in Jesus' day

was a tax gatherer

IRS

Ed

back there

you had the worst profession

in Jesus' day

sorry about that buddy

anyway

but he

Jesus said really clearly

hey this is

this is what we do

and this is how we treat people

and this is what we do

when our brother sins

and we follow these rules

and we follow this pattern

and if we don't do that

we don't love them

because he says

the problem is

that with Christians

we see something happening

in a person's life

we see a person walking around

and they have a booger

hanging right on their nose

right here

and we think

if we don't say anything

about the booger right there

that the booger will go away

am I freaking you out

little BT

and so there's

little BT hanging there

and so

but you're not saying anything

to the people

it's just hanging on there

and that person's walking around

and they have a booger

hanging on their nose

and we look at those people

and we say

wow we love them so much

we're not going to tell them

that there's a booger

hanging out their nose

but Jesus

but Paul says no

and he says

the problem with the church

is that by the time

we get to say something

to somebody

all the holes

have been drilled

in the bottom of the bolt

all the damage

is done

and the person's heart

who's struggling

with the sin

their heart

has become so hard

because no one's

loved them enough

to say to them

at an early age

dude you have a booger

hanging out of your nose

but they just walked around

for years

with a booger

hanging out of their nose

and I'm probably

going to stop right now

because my wife's

going to talk to me

about that afterwards

but it's kind of like cancer

right

we don't want to go

to the doctor

because we're afraid

he's going to tell us

we have cancer

and that's crazy right

you think you have cancer

you go to the doctor

so he can tell you

and so you can get it fixed

but most of us

live in the church

and we just ignore

those signs

and those things happening

and so Paul says

you know I can't ignore it

anymore

because I've been talking

to this guy

and we've gone through

this process

and he says

this is what I'm going to do

because it seems like

they're waiting for him

to come make a decision

and Paul says

you make the decision

even though I'm not there yet

because I'm coming

but this is what

I'm going to tell you

we're going to do

we're going to push

this guy outside

because we love him

because if we don't

push him outside

he's going to be destroyed

and if we don't

push him outside

he's going to not only

destroy himself

but he's going to destroy

the people around him

and if he don't push

him outside

he's not going only

destroy himself

and the people around him

he's also going to destroy

the name of Christ.

That's love.

And so Paul says, make him out, push him out there,

give his body over to Satan.

It's very strong words in verse 5.

There's a lot of controversy over what it means,

but what it basically means is you're in this boat,

and this guy's acting up, and you stop at the next island,

and you drop the guy off at the island,

and you keep sailing.

You put him out into the world.

Sometimes we don't do that because we want to love people,

but what happens when we keep people in the church

is that they just get into this atmosphere,

and there's sin in their life, and things are eating their lunch,

and they're getting hit by tsunamis,

but they're in other Christians,

and so they don't ever think about it.

They don't take it as a serious thing.

And so sometimes you can do really well in a church surviving, right,

even when you're struggling with things.

And that's why people, when they get kicked out of churches

or when their sin gets found out,

they go to other churches right away

because they realize that the church is this safe place

because there's grace and there's love,

and they can just keep doing what they've always been doing,

drilling holes in the bottom of the boat.

And Paul says, no.

I mean, if you love that guy, you go to him.

If you love that girl, you go to him,

and you tell them what's going on

because their soul's at stake, their heart's at stake.

It's going to hurt them.

The buoys are going off all around them,

and you're seeing those buoys flashing,

but you're not telling them about those buoys.

And so they're just going to get drowned and drowned and drowned.

He goes on and he says,

he gives three reasons why we, as God's people,

we must talk to each other about this sin.

We must allow people to speak to us and talk about these things.

And the first reason he gives is in verse 5,

he says it's for that person, for their soul.

That if you don't love that person enough to talk about

the struggles they're having and their lives they're having.

And again, I'm not talking about just sin, right?

I'm not saying, okay, the guy messed up,

you saw him yelling at his wife.

But you're seeing this pattern of things happening in people's lives,

and you love that person enough,

you want to go to them and talk about,

yeah, I see this pattern happening.

What's going on?

How are you doing?

Are there holes being driven in your boat?

Are you drowning?

Do you need help?

How can I help you?

You know, one of the things I think

why the church doesn't want to talk about these things,

about disappointing people and sin and things like that,

it's because we also don't do a very good job

when people need us, do we?

I mean, there's people sitting right beside you

who need you.

And they're struggling.

They need you to pray for them.

They need you to ask how they're doing.

They need you sometimes to give them money

because they can't make it to the next paycheck.

They need you to help them with their kids.

They need you to a billion different things

that we all have needs as a body and as a family.

And sometimes as a church,

we just don't do very well with that, do we?

I mean, I remember when my mom was going through a divorce,

my dad left our family, you know.

All the guys in the church, the elders and the leaders,

when a divorced woman comes walking in the house,

man, they'd step away and get away from her.

They didn't want to come and minister to her and help her.

And a lot of us do that.

I do that, guys.

We're so busy.

We're so focused on our own worlds and our kingdoms.

And there's people around who are drowning.

And so if we have a hard time encouraging people

when they need it,

for sure we're going to have a hard time encouraging people

when there's sin in their life

and they're drowning and they're struggling.

And so Paul says we do it for that person

because we want to save them.

And we're hoping that as they go forth into the world

and Satan beats them up

and they look at what they're going on,

that there's this wake-up call

and they wake up and go,

what have I done?

Where have I left?

You know that most of the men I counsel

who have extramarital affairs with their wives

and they leave their families,

within three months,

there's this huge sense of regret for doing it.

Because it's almost like they've woken up

and they've realized what they've done,

what they've given away,

the choices they've made,

and there's this huge sense of regret.

And they've had this wake-up call.

And that's kind of what Paul's talking about here.

That when you put people outside of the church

after this process that has gone through,

that there's this wake-up call

and that people see,

what have I done?

And the Holy Spirit starts to soften their heart

and they come back.

Now the amazing thing about this guy

is that eventually the church does this.

And in 2 Corinthians 2,

we read about this guy coming back

into the church family.

But it's taken them a long time

and as they've done it,

the damage has been done.

The second reason we do it,

Paul says is found in verses 3 through 8.

It's this idea of leaven

and the sin coming into our lives.

And basically what he says is that

if you don't remove people who struggle overly

and they don't have any desire to get better,

they don't have any desire to get fixed,

that this sin, this leaven,

goes into everything.

It affects everybody.

And you know that.

If you have a really bad performer in your work,

they have a terrible attitude,

do you leave them in your workplace?

I mean, you don't, do you?

Because if you do,

then everybody's going to start grumbling.

Everybody's going to be angry, right?

If you're on a sports team

and you have one selfish player,

you don't leave that selfish player

on your sports team.

Because that leaven, that sin,

that disgruntledness spreads out into everything

and it affects everything.

And Paul's saying as Christians,

one of the reasons we deal with sin,

one of the reasons we talk to people,

one of the reasons that we might ultimately

have to remove people from church

for a period of time.

And again, the heart is that they always repent.

They always come back.

But one of the reasons we do that

is because the sin in their life

affects everybody.

And it will start to tear up the church.

And then after a while,

everybody's going to start drilling holes

in the bottom of the church.

And the boat is going to start to sink

because everybody has a bad attitude.

And it's happened throughout

the history of the church.

And there's a lot of stories about it in the Bible.

There's a lot of stories about people who said,

this is my sin, it's only going to affect me.

And they go out and they do it

and it decimates the whole family of God.

David did it.

Moses did it.

There's a story after story

of people who think it's just my sin,

it's just me.

But what we realize is that we're in the same boat

and everything affects it.

And the reason we don't think that

is because we're prideful.

We've stopped listening to God's spirit.

The final reason that Paul says,

we have to do it, we must do it,

we must let go of these people,

we have to deal with these things.

And he talks about some serious things there.

When you go back to verse 11,

you look at that, he's talking about,

hey, if there's people who are dealing

with sexuality, sensuality,

they're struggling with pornography,

prostitution, extramarital affairs.

If they're, and you know,

what I've come to learn is,

it's not bad to struggle with these things.

I mean, we struggle with these things.

We're all broken, we're all sinful.

The problem comes is when we stop

struggling with these things.

The problem comes when we start saying,

that's okay, because God's going to forgive me.

Well, that's okay if I do this,

because it's going to be okay,

because God's going to forgive me.

And that's where the sin starts to grow

and starts to multiply

and starts to affect everybody.

And Paul says, you have to be careful of that.

And he finally says,

and the last thing he says is,

the number one reason,

I think the number one reason

we deal with sin and issues in our life,

the reasons we put up these buoys

in our community group,

and we put up these buoys

around our relationships,

and our marriage,

and around our church,

and these buoys are called community.

And these buoys are called elders.

And these buoys are called fellowship.

And these buoys are called the word of God.

And Sunday gathering,

and wherever else you gather,

and prayer,

and all these buoys we put around ourselves

to protect ourselves.

And Paul says that when the person

finally steps out from those buoys,

the number one reason we talk to them

about these things is that

their sin,

their sin,

and I know people hate to use that word today,

their brokenness,

they're not doing what God has called them to do,

that their sin not only affects them,

and not only affects the church,

but it affects everybody.

I mean, people who are not Christians now

look at the church,

and they see that this church

is allowing a guy who's sleeping with his dad's wife

into the service.

People don't want to go to church anymore.

I mean, how would you feel

if you're sitting right next to somebody

and they swindle you out of millions of dollars?

And the church continues to allow them to do that.

How would you do in your communion time

when you're sitting down

and the person next to you

has stolen your wife away,

or your husband away,

or your boyfriend away?

How would you do

if you know that that person next to you

is totally unethical?

And the elders have looked at it

and they've just kind of smiled

and go, yeah, it's okay,

but we're a different type of church.

We're not going to talk about those things.

What would that do

to your feeling about the church?

What would that do

to your feeling about God?

I have many friends

who don't come to church

because of the way their friends

acted to them as Christians.

And what they say to me is,

well, you know,

they're acting no differently

than my friends.

The only difference is

they use church as a cover

for their lives.

And Paul says,

if we don't deal with these things,

Christ is hurt.

And the body of Christ

is made the less.

I'm not talking about sinlessness.

And I'm not talking about perfection.

And I'm not talking about

never stumbling.

Because if you know me,

you know that I stumble.

We all stumble.

All the elders,

all the leaders.

Watermark is a place

for broken and sinful people

in God's word,

the gospel.

But what I'm talking about

is people who sin

and then they don't repent.

People who sin

and don't ask for forgiveness.

People who sin

and hurt people

and don't make things right.

People who sin

and say,

yeah, I understand that,

but they just keep doing it

over and over and over.

That's what he's talking about here.

And he's saying,

we need each other.

I need people in my life

who care enough about me

to come alongside

and say,

how are you doing

in these areas?

And you need people

in your life

who care enough about you

to come alongside with you

and ask you,

how are you doing

and what kind of holes

are you drilling

in the bottom of the boat lately?

And are your buoys connected?

And how are the warning signals

happening in your life?

But the church in Corinth,

they didn't listen.

And so because of that,

God's name was made worse

and things were hurt.

And so Paul is writing this letter

and he's urging them

and he's urging you

and he's urging all of us

to take church seriously.

To take sin seriously.

To take loving

your brothers and sisters

next to you

seriously.

You guys don't understand

and I don't understand

but what we have here,

what you have

and the people around you

is God's gift to you

while you're on this journey.

And the question is,

how are we going to use this gift

and how are we going to build this gift

and how are we going to make

this gift stronger?

Does that make sense?

We need to hear this guys

because there are waves

that are going to hit you this week

and they're going to mow you over.

And you might get up

and reset those buoys

but you might not.

And you might let those waves

just keep drowning you

and drowning you

and if you don't have somebody

in your life

who's going to come alongside of you

and loves you enough to say,

how are you doing?

What's going on?

How can I pray for you?

How can I help you?

If you don't have people

in your life like that,

you're going to be lost.

And in the same way,

if you're not one of those people,

if you're not one of those people

who come alongside of people

and you're not one of those people

who are helping them

patch up those holes

as quick as they drill it,

you're trying to patch them back up

and you're trying to help them

understand what it's doing

to the whole community.

If you're not one of those people,

then you're not being

who God meant for you to be.

And the church is the less.

And God is the less.

God's people are the less.

So how are your sin buoys?

What are the things in your life

that warn you?

Alert, alert, alert.

I want to end with three questions

or three thoughts

that have been going through my mind

these last couple weeks.

The first one is this.

is there someone around you right now

who's being torn up

by sin

and struggles?

Bad choices they are making?

Is there somebody around you right now

that you've been ignoring

for a long time?

And you know in your heart

there's something going on.

You know in their heart

that they're not doing that well.

You know in their heart

that maybe they're struggling

with their finances

and how they're using them.

Maybe they're struggling

with pornography.

Maybe they're struggling

with being a little too nice

to people who aren't

their spouses.

And you've watched these things

but you haven't said anything

because you're in your mind

you might be saying

you know that's not loving

for me to judge

and to come into their life.

Or you might be saying

I'm just too busy

to help them.

Who is that person?

My prayer for you this week

and for all of us

is that we would ask God

to come into our hearts

and to give us the courage

to talk to them.

Now don't go to them

and say

Tobin

Pastor Tobin told me

you're a sinner

and I gotta tell you

about these things

and that's not the process.

The process is

you're praying

you're talking to them

you're coming alongside

and you're saying

hey can you help me

I want to help you

what's going on in your life

because I want us to be

on this journey together

and I want the boat

to be healthy

and I want you to be healthy.

Usually after I do

a talk like this

there's a lot of people

going out there

and be careful

because you might have

people come to you.

I mean if people love you

at Watermark

and in your family

hopefully people will come

to you sometime

in your life.

And they'll ask you questions

they'll ask you

how are you doing

and how are your

how are your sin buoys doing

and are they up

are they working perfectly

and how they ask you

might really offend you.

You might really get angry.

But the passage says

that they're doing it in love

and even if they don't do it

totally the way

you would like for them

to do it

my prayer is that

you would realize

that they love you

and they care for you.

And even if there's

20% truth

in what they're saying

even if there's

5% truth

in what they're saying

the message

that they're giving you

is God's message to you

to wake up

and to check the things

in your life.

So who's struggling

around you?

What does it look like

for us to go to them

this week

and pray for them?

And finally

this is the one

that we need to

really look at

is

are there areas

in your life

that you're ashamed of?

Are there areas

of your life

that you

don't want

the buoys around?

Are there areas

of your life

that you realize

that if people

look deeply

into these things

they would see

holes

drilled

all over your property?

Or maybe it's

with your relationships

and how you're treating

people in your office

or your helpers

or your spouses

or your children

maybe it's

your ethics

at work

maybe it's

your money

and how things

are happening

maybe it's

your sexuality

maybe you're

an immoral person

and you're struggling

with pornography

and these other things

and they

they're killing you

but you've put up

this facade

and this face

and this wall

that looks like

there's 10 billion

buoys protecting you

but in reality

there are 10 billion

buoys

but they're not

connected

they're not saying

warning warning warning

and the waves

just keep kidding you

my prayer for us

right now

and this week

is that we

as God's people

would get our lives

right before him

the passage says

that we celebrate

the Passover lamb

what it means is

that Christ died

for you

it means that

God takes sin

so seriously

that he sent

his only son

to die

for you

and in response

to that

as God's people

our response

is to clean out

the leaven

clean out the sin

clean out the things

that entangle us

and slow us down

and ask for forgiveness

and help

and repent

and hand those

to the Lord

and walk

in newness

the words

he used

is truth

and integrity

again it doesn't

mean perfection

it means

truth

and integrity

my prayer for us

as a church

is that we

wouldn't forget

this message

of the church

of Corinth

that we wouldn't

allow our lives

to go so long

until we get swamped

and that we'd realize

that people around us

need us

and we need them

because we're not

going to make it

on our own

a lot of us

in here

think that

church

is you

in a little dinghy

going by yourself

but the reality

is

according to

God's word

it's this large

ship

and if you're

in deep sin

you're swimming

beside the ship

the passage

is about

getting back in

amen

the amazing thing

about the gospel

is that Christ

and God

is a God

of second chances

my prayer

is that we

as a people

would remind people

about this

and be involved

in each other's lives

father thank you

for this day

thank you for your word

that is living

and active

thank you for

your spirit

that comes into

our lives

and prompts us

father I thank you

for this community

the people of God

I pray that we

would not be

like the church

of Corinth

I pray that we

would not become

prideful and arrogant

and self-sufficient

but that we would

realize that we

need you

and that we

would need each

other

I pray that we

would realize

that we are in

a world that is

hostile to us

and wants to

destroy us

and the only thing

that will save us

is you

sometimes you do

that through your word

sometimes you do

that through your spirit

but your word

says you always

do that

through community

may we be a people

who understand that

and know that we're

in the same ship

going in the same

direction

worshiping the same

Lord

father I pray for

my brothers and

sisters in here

right now who

aren't in that ship

who think that

they're doing well

and they're

basically

not doing well

I pray that they

would ask the

people around

them who brought

them today

or me

or somebody

here

what does it

really mean

to be a

Christian

what does it

look like to

be a person

who is a

saint but a

sinner at the

same time

what does it

look like a

person who

struggles with

these things

instead of

allowing them

to overwhelm

us and to

control us

what does it

look like to

be a person

who understands

grace and

mercy

most of all

an awesome

savior and

God

and what I

pray for us

as a church

that we would

never forget

why we're

here

that we're

not here just

to start a

club and to

make it look

really nice in

our boat and

have everything

we need in

our boat for

ourselves but

we're here to

reach people who

aren't in the

boat

we're here to

be real and

authentic and

honest to

challenge each

other to

encourage each

other to

point each

other to your

son

what I

pray that we

would never

forget

that we

would never

allow the

waves to

sink us

that we'd

always trust

in you

father we

love you

we desperately

need you

we pray these

things in your

son jesus name

amen