Church Discipline Part 1
Lessons In 1 Corinthians • Sermon • Submitted
0 ratings
· 1 viewNotes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
Greetings…
Theme: Lessons From 1 Corinthians.
Hope: To learn more of God’s word through the large breath and vastly different doctrines taught throughout this great letter.
Over the last several weeks we took the opportunity presented by the apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 5:1-2 to take a closer look at “sexual immorality.”
In fact, we spent that last three sermons on this specific topic.
Having looked at that, we now turn our attention to Paul’s response to sexual immorality being tolerated in arrogance by the church and what should be done about it.
These few verse are some of the most expansive on the subject but are by no means exhaustive as we will see.
So, with this in mind let’s examine our lesson for today.
To properly study “Church Discipline” we must first have a proper understanding of…
Biblical Fellowship
Biblical Fellowship
Defining Fellowship.
Defining Fellowship.
The word fellowship has taken a beating over the years in the world of “Christendom.”
It has come to mean “an agreement based solely on a singular belief.”
Hence, one group can be in fellowship with another group even though they have completely different doctrines but because they believe Jesus is their Savior, they are all in fellowship.
From a biblical perspective this simply is not the case.
The word fellowship comes from the Greek word “κοινωνία” and is found 19 times in the New Testament.
In context it can mean three specific things and is seen such in the way it is translated.
2 Corinthians 6:14 (ESV)
14 Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness?
Philemon 6 (ESV)
6 and I pray that the sharing of your faith may become effective for the full knowledge of every good thing that is in us for the sake of Christ.
2 Corinthians 9:13 (ESV)
13 By their approval of this service, they will glorify God because of your submission that comes from your confession of the gospel of Christ, and the generosity of your contribution for them and for all others
The reality is when we put all three together, we get a perfect idea of biblical fellowship.
It is a single-mindedness that seeks to share in the company of like-minded ones who each contribute to the needs of each other toward their common singular goal.
1 Corinthians 1:10 (NKJV)
10 Now I plead with you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment.
Romans 15:6 (ESV)
6 that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Philippians 1:27 (ESV)
27 Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving side by side for the faith of the gospel
Summary
Summary
I think the Lexham Survey of Theology properly defines church discipline as…
“Church discipline is divine authority delegated to the church by Jesus Christ to maintain order through the correction of persistently sinning church members for the good of those caught in sin, for the purity of the church, and the glory of God.”
With that being the meaning of fellowship, we can then grasp that fellowship is not…
“An association based upon the sharing of something in common.”
Knowing this helps us to better understand church discipline because church discipline is…
Biblical Disfellowship
Biblical Disfellowship
Who Is To Be Disfellowshipped?
Who Is To Be Disfellowshipped?
It’s unfortunate but the reality is even those that have had their sins washed away and made a new creation are still susceptible to sin.
By that I mean, as you all know, that even after we become God’s child, adopted into his family, we will still find ourselves sinning.
Romans 3:23 (ESV)
23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God
8 If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
10 If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.
Because of this reality even God’s children are in danger of “falling from grace.”
4 You have become estranged from Christ, you who attempt to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace.
Does one fall from grace every time they sin?
NO!!!! One does not fall from grace because they sin it is only when one “continues in sin” that they can end up falling from grace.
Hebrews 10:26 (ESV)
26 For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins
15 Forsaking the right way, they have gone astray. They have followed the way of Balaam, the son of Beor, who loved gain from wrongdoing,
We see this perfectly illustrated by Jesus himself in Matthew 18:15-17.
Matthew 18:15–17 (ESV)
15 If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother. 16 But if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, that every charge may be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses. 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.
So, the one who finds themselves deserving of church discipline is the one that has continued “sinning deliberately” and “ignored” the plea of their fellow brethren.
Knowing “who is to be disciplined” is one thing but what is…
The Purpose Of Disfellowshipping?
The Purpose Of Disfellowshipping?
Because flippant sin is such a serious matter and considering how God thinks of sin “as an abomination” it behooves us to understand what it is meant to do.
Disfellowship is meant to destroy the flesh so that the spirit may be saved.
1 Corinthians 5:4–5 (ESV)
4 When you are assembled in the name of the Lord Jesus and my spirit is present, with the power of our Lord Jesus, 5 you are to deliver this man to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord.
Disfellowship is meant to produce godly grief and then repentance.
2 Corinthians 7:9–10 (ESV)
9 As it is, I rejoice, not because you were grieved, but because you were grieved into repenting. For you felt a godly grief, so that you suffered no loss through us. 10 For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death.
Disfellowship is meant to restore the one who is out of fellowship with God back into fellowship with God.
1 Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted.
Summary
Summary
Church discipline is not something that is to be distributed mindlessly.
It is a serious matter that takes a lot of prayer, great care for the soul of the individual in sin, dedication to God word, and a love for Almighty and one’s fellow man.
When we have exhausted all other means to helping our brother or sister escape the defilements of this world, they have become entangled in again we must enforce God’s will and discipline our beloved brother or sister.
The reality is, when one has gone this far down the rabbit hole of sin, they need that disfellowship to see the what they are missing out on.
Conclusion
Conclusion
Therein lies the rub however.
If a brother or sister has no fellowship with their brethren disfellowship is pointless because it will not be effective.
How can one loose fellowship with those they never had fellowship with?
This is why fellowship is so important.
Without fellowship between us we are eliminating the only God’ authorized and delegated ways to correct one in such a state.
There is no other “last resort” given, church discipline i.e., disfellowship is the last move the church has at helping this lost soul.
Let it never be said of us that we did not garner a good enough relationship with our brothers and sister so as to be ineffective when they need us most.
Invitation
1 Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save, or his ear dull, that it cannot hear; 2 but your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not hear.
6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.
17 So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.
6 And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.
30 The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent,
32 “Therefore whoever confesses Me before men, him I will also confess before My Father who is in heaven.
8 in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus.
1 Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, 2 and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain. 3 For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures,
3 Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. 5 For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.
7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.