1 Corinthians 5

Introduction

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Beyond Scared Straight was an American reality television series that aired on A&E from January 13, 2011 to September 3, 2015 running for 9 seasons. The series followed troubled teenagers who spent a single day touring a jail or prison to learn from the inmates about the realities of being incarcerated. -wikipedea

Need

We cannot motivate our members by screaming at them or motivate them by fear to obey God’s commands. We need to carefully, fearfully, and even mournfully show the body of Christ the damage of unrepentant sin which culminates in church discipline.

Referent

1 Corinthians 5

Organization

Church Discipline

the What?

the Who?

the How?

Sermon in a sentence:

Christ’s sacrifice demands our sanctification.

David Prior

The Message of 1 Corinthians 1. The Problem Stated (5:1–2a)

We recall that Corinth was a sex-obsessed seaport. Hardly a Corinthian convert would have been left uncontaminated, directly or indirectly, by sexual immorality of one kind or another. Its tentacles would have clung tight and its poison run deep.

The What?

Church Discipline is sanctifying (separating/holiness/consecrating)

(vs. 1-3) “Let him who has done this be removed from among you.” and (vs. 13- purge the evil person from among you)

(vs. 6) Sin spreads like wildfire in a drought.

It is Corrective

(vs. 4-5) The man is delivered to Satan in the hopes of this man’s reconciliation.

Matthew 18:15 “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.”

Church discipline is not vindictive or spiteful. It is to reconcile, heal, and edify.

2 Corinthians 2:5–7 “5 Now if anyone has caused pain, he has caused it not to me, but in some measure—not to put it too severely—to all of you. 6 For such a one, this punishment by the majority is enough, 7 so you should rather turn to forgive and comfort him, or he may be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow.”

It is Formative

The church is formed, taught, and instructed by church discipline (or its lack).

They are arrogant (vs. 2) because they have tolerated sin. This also allows the sin to grow like the leaven in a dough until it completely takes over.

Church discipline positively demonstrates to the people of God an example of reconciliation, confession, unity, and much more.

Belgic Confession 29th Article

The true church can be recognized if it has the following marks: The church engages in the pure preaching of the gospel; it makes use of the pure administration of the sacraments as Christ instituted them; it practices church discipline for correcting faults.

The Who?

Church discipline is the responsibility of the entire church.

(vs. 1) this sexual sin is “among you (all)”

(vs. 4) “When you are assembled in the name of the Lord Jesus and my spirit is present” the church is gathered with the apostolic blessing. We don’t have apostles, but God has seen fit to appoint elders in each church.

Matthew 18:15–20 “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. 18 Truly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. 19 Again I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. 20 For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them.””

Church discipline is for the benefit of the church member.

vs. 2 “Let him who has done this” vs. 5 “you are to deliver this man to Satan”.

Paul doesn’t address the women. It would seem as though the woman isn’t a member.

vs. 12-13 Paul is reminding the people that God’s discipline and chastisement begins with the Lord’s people.

1 Corinthians 11:28–32 “28 Let a person examine himself, then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. 29 For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself. 30 That is why many of you are weak and ill, and some have died. 31 But if we judged ourselves truly, we would not be judged. 32 But when we are judged by the Lord, we are disciplined so that we may not be condemned along with the world.”

Saints, can I please give yo some wisdom to think about in the life of the church. (1.)Not everything has to be church discipline. There can been sin in someone’s life that is being addressed. (2.) This is one of the reasons church membership and church covenants are so important.

The How?

Church discipline is to be done with sorrow. (vs. 2 - “Ought you not rather morn?”

Sin is never a joking matter. This is something that should grieve God’s people.

There should be much prayer, weeping, and fasting when church discipline must be done.

It is to be a public and congregational event. (vs. 4)

Just as the entrance into the visible body is public, so is the removal.

3. As we have already seen in Matthew 18, it must be done with opportunities to repent and graciousness.

Conclusion

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7783688/

Juvenile awareness programs, such as Scared Straight, remain in use despite the finding that these programs provoke rather than prevent delinquency. 

Pastoring with fear, manipulation, and control are not biblical, Godly, or beneficial. I don’t want to scare our people into something. I want to rightly show you the danger of unrepentant sin. I want to loving and proactively show you how to guard against it. I also want to to encourage you to kill sin or it will kill you.

Application

Come to Jesus and live!

Pray for two things: the strength to grow in your holiness as you put to death the sin in your life AND the boldness to lovingly address sin in the life of the church.