On Unity And Purity; Luke 17:1-4

Delivered during the Sunday Morning Worship Service, 8/18/2024. In this beautifully simple and concise passage, Jesus turns to His disciples to warn them of the reality of temptation in their own lives, and therefore the reality of temptation within the church. He logically concludes that because temptation is inevitable, there will be those within the church who will fall into error, moral sin and apostasy. Knowing this will be a problem that will plague the church from its inception, He provides a simple formula of church discipline designed to lead to repentance, forgiveness and restoration. Although Christ was insistent that the church remain unified-- He never taught it should be at the expense of the doctrinal and moral purity essential for the church to remain the body of Christ. We will explore what must happen when temptation, sin and error enter the church. And after that how the church should react when the sinner(s) are repentant and when they are not. Ultimately we will realize that as important as unity is, it was never designed to be maintained at the expense of purity.