Striving for Holiness in Church Discipline: The Need

Intro:

Where we have been:

1 Corinthians chapter 1-4 dealing with division in church due to arrogance and pride over man’s wisdom and knowledge

Last two weeks:

Paul defines gospel ministry for himself and all believers in the church

Paul demonstrates the example of gospel ministry in admonishing the church over their sin

Where we are going:

The Need for Church Discipline: 1-5

The Picture of Church Discipline: 6-8

The Practice of Church Discipline: 9-13

Sin Cannot Remain Vibrant In the Body(v1-2)

God’s sovereignty always has a way of finding out the sinful desires and practices of humanity. In his omniscience, God sees and knows all that we think and do that honors and dishonors his name. Starting with the garden, we are made aware that God sees all and although our first parents thought in those moments of temptation that God would not know of their rebellion, which they displayed in hiding from God in shame, God still knew and was aware. Do not think for one moment that when God asked “where are you?” to Adam and Eve, or “what have you done?” o Cain that the Lord is displaying some limited knowledge or understanding about all that occurs in this world.

Instead, the doctrine of God’s omniscience reveals that God is infinite in every way and his level of unlimitedness helps us apply that to other areas of his deity. Therefore, in His infinite nature, we can see that he is infinite in knowledge. He knows all things in himself and all things in his creation.

Hebrews 4:13 NASB95

13 And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are open and laid bare to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do.

Psalm 139:1–4 NASB95

1 O Lord, You have searched me and known me. 2 You know when I sit down and when I rise up; You understand my thought from afar. 3 You scrutinize my path and my lying down, And are intimately acquainted with all my ways. 4 Even before there is a word on my tongue, Behold, O Lord, You know it all.

In our own lives, we must see and understand that God will not find our our sin eventually, He already knows the sinful thoughts and actions of our lives.

I am reminded of the time I got angry as a teenager and punched a hole in my sheetrock of my bedroom. I covered up the hole with a Michael Jordan poster, thinking my parents would never think to look there. They actually didn’t until years after I had moved out of that room and my brother moved in. I got away with covering up the rage of my heart from my parents but the Lord knew my heart already. Nothing can be hidden from him.

God uses circumstances in our lives to reveal that sin to us. He uses circumstances to reveal what is within. Maybe someone else’s road rage on I-40 reminds you of the anger in your heart. I know your children’s struggle with sin is like looking in a spiritual mirror as you see your sin manifested in them as they grapple with that same sin in their lives. Last Sunday, we learned that other believers also play a role in helping us see sin in us that we have overlooked or don’t see. All these ways God is providentially working in such a way to bring that to the surface for us or others to discover so that radical action could be taken against our sin.

Paul, as an authority to the church in Corinth has discovered this sin in Corinth and he makes clear that “Sin among them cannot remain vibrant in the body of Christ” From afar, Paul addresses the sin that has gone unaddressed as he pleads for them to remove such corruption from among them.

Notice with me the sin that needs correction.

Man’s sexual immorality (v1)

This chapter’s purpose is not what you might think. There are greater warnings against sexual immorality that Paul will give in 1 Corinthians than what is found here. This chapter deals with sexual sin in the church but the greater message is how the church is allowing sin to remain within them. This message is more about the failure of church discipline in the church than it is about the failure of this man to be practice sexual purity.

Nonetheless, Paul addresses the sin that we writes about to the church at Corinth.

1 Corinthians 5:1 NASB95

1 It is actually reported that there is immorality among you, and immorality of such a kind as does not exist even among the Gentiles, that someone has his father’s wife.

Notice how Paul learns of this issue in the church. It was “reported” to him in ways that we are not told. Paul was not in Corinth, but this church had allowed this sin to exist within her midst and therefore, word traveled to Paul. Look at what he says in verse 9

1 Corinthians 5:9 NASB95

9 I wrote you in my letter not to associate with immoral people;

Paul states that he has already written a letter to them addressing sexual immorality which makes 1 Corinthians the second of 4 letters that Paul wrote to Corinth. There could have been more than 4 but Paul references two mystery letters in 1 and 2 Corinthians which makes a total of 4. For a quick overview, Paul writes a “PREVIOUS LETTER” to them from Ephesus addressing issues of immorality among them. It appears that three men , Stephanas, Fortunas, and Achaiacus delivered that PREVIOUS LETTER from Paul to them and then brought their response to Paul. In their response, it is believed that the Corinthians challenged Paul’s authority over them and heraled their own wisdom. This would be the reason Paul addresses the pride of Corinth in chapters 1-4.

Therefore, 1 Corinthians, is the third letter of correpondence between the apostle and the church. Stephanas, Fortunas, and Achaicus (1 Cor 16:15-17) would have then delivered Paul response after bringing the letter from the Corinthians to Paul.

What I want us to see is the time that this sin existed among them. The time it takes for Paul to have already addressed this type of issue in one letter, then Corinth responds to Paul and then Paul responds agin to them in our recorded 1 Corinthians. That amount of history not only sets the stage for our understanding but it is a glowing red light of the indwelling sin that has encamped in the body of Christ. It is a growing and festering sin that has not been dealt with in a long time.

Paul uses the word PORNEIA which means sexual sin of any kind outside of the marriage covenant. For the Greek culture, the word was used simply of prostitution but as the Jews were hellenized by the Greek culture, they began to use the term more broadly to speak of not just prostitution, but incest, extramarrital affairs, homosexuality, etc. Porneia became the key term for any sexual thought or act outside the marriage relationship.

For this unnamed man in Corinth, His porneia was the sexual relationship with his step-mother. It is unclear as to where his father’s is, but this man, who is clearly professes Jesus Christ as Lord, is living in an incestuous relationship with his mother by marriage.

In the OT, God told Israel that such a blatant sin of incest would result in stoning.

Look at Lev 18 with me. Notice how the Lord states that the warning against immoral relationship begins with his name…I am the Lord your God.” This is the foundation of our striving for holiness in our sexual relationships. They are bound to the Lord and therefore should live holy as he is holy. Secondly, look at the distinction stated in Lev 18:3. The immorality in Egypt and Canaan was blatantly obvious to Israel. They are to live distinct in holiness from the sexually immoral cultures of the other nations. From v 6-23, areas that the Lord prohibits includes all detestable areas of sexual immorality including:

incest (6-17)

adultery (18-20)

child sacrifice(21) **Molech, god of Amalekites- sacrifice to temple prostitution instead of sacrifices to burned by fire

homosexuality(22)

bestiality (23)

God, who never changes, has clearly stated in these passages in Leviticus what he defines as sexual immorality. It is disgusting and reprehensible to his holiness and it doesn’t belong in his creation. We have grown so accustomed to seeing it that we forget that it doesn’t belong in this world. It is a rebellion against the natural order of God’s creation and therefore it doesn’t belong among any of humanity. But the corruption of sin led to humanity rebelling against God and his plan for sexual relationship to be enjoyed in a healthy marital relationship between husbands and wives.

That corruption led to discontentment in marriage in the form of sexual relationships or impatience and therefore that immorality progressed to the lust and fulfillment of that desire for other heterosexual or homosexual partners, multiple partners, animal partners and adolescent partners. All of it is gross and an abomination to God.

Paul addresses this in 1 Cor because this man is having an ongoing sexual relationship with his step-mother. We are not told if this man is married and he is committing adultery with this woman Lev 18:8 clearly teaches that having sexual relations with your father’s wife is an abomination before God and an attack on your father, if he is alive. The Lord literaly says “it is your father’s nakedness.” In other words, a wife’s body belongs to her husband to enjoy and her husband alone.

Let me admonish you church to flee sexual perversion and immorality in every way. Flee :

thoughts that encompass these areas

TV shows that encourage it

music that promotes it

jokes that encompass it

internet pictures that expose it

daydreams that magnify it

companies that sponsor it

friends that indulge in it

Flee these things because the Lord has called his people to separate themselves from it. He is our Lord and such sin is an abomination to his holy name. God’s people are under constant attack with temptation to live like the world in this way and God will judge them. He will judge these heterosexual immoralities in the church.

Church’s neglect of the spiritual well-being of its people (v2)

In a Jan 2021 article, Micheal Chancelor stated that:

68% of churchgoing men and more than 50% of pastors view porn on a regular basis. Of young Christian adults 18-24 years old, 76% actively search for porn.

We are all aware of the 700 victims named in a 2019 Houston Chronicle article that were sexually abused over the last 20 years by authenticated Southern Baptist clergy or leaders in SBC churches.

This is not just an atrocity for these victims and for the SBC, this a great sin among people who call themselves Christians that for many of these issues, believers failed to admonish with God’s word, hold people accountable and the Lord’s great name is greatly shamed.

This is why Paul addressed the church as also falling into sin.

The church is silent on sin and therefore guilty before God for not caring for the spiritual well-being of its people. Paul has written about it, they responded and now Paul is writing again. The believers in Corinth have allowed this man to live in sin and instead of admonishing him, they are aiding and abetting his crime against God.

The church and its leadership are called to shepherd and care for this man and they are ignoring this spiritual well-being by allowing him to live in such a way. This is Paul’s second rebuke.

1 Corinthians 5:1–2 NASB95

1 It is actually reported that there is immorality among you, and immorality of such a kind as does not exist even among the Gentiles, that someone has his father’s wife. 2 You have become arrogant and have not mourned instead, so that the one who had done this deed would be removed from your midst.

The church has allowed a wolf to make its bed next to the sheep and now the church is in danger of being corrupted. Again notice in v 1 that the “arrogance” or pride of Corinth has led them to this place. Their pride led to their silence on this matter, possibly as if they knew better or had rationalized this man’s sin away. But Paul takes them back to what God’s word states, reminding them of who they serve and what he has commanded them to do with sin. We will look at that process in a minute.

Church’s witness in the world was also polluted (v1)

Finally, look at the effects of sin and how it was corrupting the church. individual sexual immorality----pride in church and silence on sin---corruption of the church’s witness in the world.

Paul writes in verse 1,

“an immorality that doesn’t even exist among the Gentiles”

This point is made by Paul becauase this immorality that was occuring was even considered detestable in the pagan nations around Israel. They were live in such way that they were a light to the darkness in those nations. Instead, they were living as a darker darkness than the pagan nations around them.

The word Gentiles references not just the Greeks, but all unbelievers that lived with no limits to their sexual immorality. Paul makes note that as the church, who is called to be a holy nation, were instead allowing a more grotesque sin, was a clear abomination from God.

How can the church give a clear witness to the world when sin reigns in is midst? I am so grieved for the victims of this sexual abuse in SBC churches and I wonder how any Baptist Christian would have an audience to share Christ’s love with them. They have lost trust with SBC and I pray that they haven’t lost trust with the Lord and His church.

The Lord has put in place the necessary process to deal with sin within its midst and we will look at this now.

Sin Must Be Amputated In the Body (v3-5)

The authority of the church to shepherd your souls (v3-5)

1 Corinthians 5:3–5 NASB95

3 For I, on my part, though absent in body but present in spirit, have already judged him who has so committed this, as though I were present. 4 In the name of our Lord Jesus, when you are assembled, and I with you in spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus, 5 I have decided to deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of his flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.

Paul comes into verse 3 with authority as the apostle over these churches that he has planted. The Lord gave him and others authority in the church. His authority also came as he planted and fathered these spiritual children in Corinth. He has put in great work in the church to establish holiness for the sake of the glory of Christ.

Now observing the name of Christ being defamed, he steps in and makes judgment from afar on the matter. This apostolic authority is not superseding the authority of the church itself. Instead, this apostle has stepped in only when the church failed to be faithful to shepherd the people correctly. Paul now has to step in and render a judgment that the church should have already made with action that should have already been taken.

This is clearly a passage not only on sexual sin, but on the purity and holiness of the church that is preserved in the practice of church discipline.

Look back with me at Matthew 18:15-18

Matthew 18:15–16(NASB95)

15 “If your brother sins, go and show him his fault in private; if he listens to you, you have won your brother. 16 “But if he does not 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.

This is the process the Lord has given the church so that reconciliation can occur between the Lord and his people as well among the membership. In v 15, notice that you should have some subscript or notation near the words “against you.” Some early manuscripts don’t contain “against you” meaning that this verse could mean, “if a brother sins, go to him privately.” Whether this referencing general sin, or sin against you, the purpose is clear that the church is involved in reconciliation. Sin should be exposed in a private setting first. If the sinning brother does not repent, you take two or three witness to give evidence of the reality of the offense. If they still do not repent, take the matter to the authority of the church.

This final sentence is the place where Paul finds the Corinthians. This is a state of dire circumstances and so the sinning brother is facing the final state of church discipline. Clearly, there is no measure of repentance with this man and so Paul enacts the final step....excommunication. This step may seem harsh to an unbelieving world that does not understand the holiness of Christ, but to the true church, sin must be amputated from the body.

The Lord says, “

Matthew 18:17–18 NASB95

17 “If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector. 18 “Truly I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven.

Jesus states and Paul obeys the final step in the church discipline process as a necessary separation from the body of Christ. Just like in the OT, the Israelites living in sin would be “cut off” so that the people of God would not be corrupted. The church similarly must move against sin so that the body will not be corrupted. The final step of church discipline is a necessary amputation.

Notice also in Jesus’ words v 18 that what is “bound on earth is bound in heaven and what is loosed on earth is loosed in heaven.” Jesus is giving the church authority to make decisions based on their guidance from God according to his words. Therefore they are serving as God’s agents of spiritual sanctification for God’s people. They are not doing the work of sanctification but are being used in the process to bring it about by the Holy Spirit.

Leon Morris writes,

The Gospel according to Matthew 4. Life in the Messianic Community, 18:1–35

Jesus is not giving the church the right to make decisions that will then become binding on God. Such a thought is alien from anything in his teaching. He is saying that as the church is responsive to the guidance of God it will come to the decisions that have already been made in heaven.

1 Cor 5:4-5

1 Corinthians 5:4–5 NASB95

4 In the name of our Lord Jesus, when you are assembled, and I with you in spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus, 5 I have decided to deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of his flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.

Paul makes his judgment public, much like the church should have done as they assembled as the church. They failed and so Paul stepped in to make such an important spiritual assessment.

The church would make the judgement in “name of Jesus Christ” but Paul makes the judgment from afar “with the power of our Lord Jesus.” Both decisions are made in His authority and not an authority that rests in the church alone.

The final say is “deliver this one to Satan for the destruction of his flesh.” To deliver means to hand over a prisoner to the prison to where he belongs. This man is clearly not a believer in Paul’s eyes to dwell in sin for such a time. To deliver him is simply to escort to over to His real master. In that delivery, Satan will continue to tempt this man to indulge in his flesh which leads to destruction. But in that destroying process that Satan leads out in, the soul is crushed and in turn repents and believes in Christ. This is Paul’s prayer for this man, that his soul would be saved, but until then, he is to be deliver to Satan which means removed from God’s people.

This removal as Jesus calls it, is to identify him as an unbeliever and Gentile, considering him as no longer belonging to the body. This is done with love because the truth of God is worth bringing hurt and pain to someone’s life. It is not loving to coddle this man’s sin to spare his feelings. It is loving to speak truth and call him to repentance before his sin destroys him and he is eternally separated from His creator.

This message ends in v 5 with hope. Hope that those who still live even under the church’s excommunication will clearly see their sin, repent and believe in Christ before its too late. Excommunication is always about restoration to Christ and his body. Whether someone rejects the gospel their entire lives or they are excommunicated under church discipline for rejecting the gospel after a confession of faith,

2 Peter 3:9 NASB95

9 The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.

Let me encourage you brothers and sisters, to first examine your life and heart to see if sin remains in you like this brother in Corinth. Have you allowed sexual immorality or some other abomination to God to dwell within you. Let me encourage you, whether public or private, confess your sins to God and he will heal you through his Son. Do not let sin reign in your members. It dishonors the King to whom you have swore allegiance. Your repentance brings him great glory.

Church, submit yourself under the authority and helpfulness of church discipline. If someone comes to you about sin in your life, do not shun them, or reject such a action of grace. It is for your well-being for that brother or sister to admonish you according to word of God in them. It is chastening from the Lord but it is one of love.

Church, when you admonish someone, do it with a arsenal of grace, humility and GOd’s word. The Lord has not placed you in that situation to make you prideful, but to use his humble servants to maintain the purity of his church.