We come to chapter 5, and I will tell you plainly: this is the chapter most churches would rather skip. Here is the question Paul answers in it, and it is as delicate as it is important: what should a church do when a believer chooses to persist in a life of sin?

Not stumbles. Not struggles. Not falls and repents. Persists — settles in, decides, and stays. Chapter 5 is Pauls answer, and it is not comfortable. But I want you to hear the heart behind it before we hear a word of it: Paul is not trying to punish anybody. He is trying to save a man and protect a church.

So let us walk through it in four movements, and then land where Paul lands — on a church grown up.