97. Thursday after Fifth Sunday after Epiphany.
O God, may we be vessels of gold
and silver in thy house. Amen.
1 Corinthians 5, 9-13. I wrote unto you in an epistle not to company with fornicators: Yet not altogether with the fornicators of this world, or with the covetous, or extortioners, or with idolaters; for then must ye needs go out of the world. But now I have written unto you not to keep company, if any man that is called a brother be a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolater, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner; with such a one no not to eat. For what have I to do to judge them also that are without? do not ye judge them that are within? But them that are without God judgeth. Therefore put away from among yourselves that wicked person.
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When in the pursuance of our vocation it becomes necessary for us to associate with ungodly persons, we must not withdraw from them, although we find their company unpleasant; but neither should we unnecessarily run headlong into the company of wolves. Christians have no spiritual fellowship whatever with the ungodly; their hearts do not belong together, and they shall not cultivate the society of one another. If any man be a drunkard or fornicator, covetous or idolator, reviler or extortioner, and the Christians have brotherhood with such a one, the body of Christ is defiled, the holy name of the church is befouled, and the Lord himself is dishonored. It is a leaven that leavens the whole lump, a foul spot that eats as does a canker. We are not to judge; that is: 1) We do not assume to decide how many there be of the members of the church who are true believers; but in charity we think as well as possible of all, though many of them may exhibit various traits which we do not like. 2) We are to hope that the wicked, also, may repent; and we should remember that in the glory of heaven they may, perhaps, stand nearer than we to the throne. We are not to judge; yet it is our duty to pass judgment on those who give offense in the church by reason of their ungodly life. It is our duty to help the erring and wicked to mend their ways; and this is the very reason why it is our duty to discipline them and exclude them from communion with us at the Lord’s table. We know that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God; and we shall let them know it and feel it, in order that they may repent. — By the help of God we will exercise discipline, both for the purpose of keeping the church pure, and for the purpose of saving the ungodly. Charity demands this. The decay of church discipline, as well as sectarianism and separatism, has its origin in want of true charity. The church, mark you, the church society, the congregation, sins against God and against the souls when it fails to judge them that are within, and to rid itself of the wicked. God give us the Spirit of love, strength and wisdom. Amen.*
How helpless guilty nature lies,
Unconscious of its load!
The heart, unchanged, can never rise
To happiness and God.
O change these wretched hearts of ours,
And give them life divine!
Then shall our passions and our powers,
Almighty Lord, be thine.
[suggested tune: Azmon, TLH 281; listen here]
* Here the head of the family says a short morning or evening prayer in his own words, and closes with the Lord’s Prayer and the Benediction. This is to be done every day. If the stanzas are not sung, they may be read in their proper place before the impromptu petition and the Lord’s Prayer.