Church Discipline: God's Grace for Sinners

If you have your Bibles, please open them to 1 Corinthians 5.

We are continuing our time in 1 Corinthians, in our series called Messy Church. If there was ever a church with huge problems where sin was rampant, it was the NT church in Corinth. Through the course of 1 Corinthians, Paul lists out four major problems that threatened the Corinthian church.

We have spent the last four weeks addressing the first of those problems. Who can tell me what the problem was?

Division.

This week, as we continue, Paul introduces the second problem that threatened the Corinthian church, that is sexual immorality.

Let’s hear how Paul begins to address this mess in the church, and as we do every week, let’s stand for the reading of God’s word.

1 Corinthians 5:1–5 ESV

1 It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that is not tolerated even among pagans, for a man has his father’s wife. 2 And you are arrogant! Ought you not rather to mourn? Let him who has done this be removed from among you. 3 For though absent in body, I am present in spirit; and as if present, I have already pronounced judgment on the one who did such a thing. 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.

Let’s pray.

I wonder how many of you have ever heard of or even have seen church discipline take place? Another word for church discipline is excommunication. Maybe you’ve heard of it maybe you haven’t, but let me tell you a little bit about it.

Excommunication is the action of excluding someone from participation in the sacraments and services of the Christian Church due to sin

You can hear what excommunication is in the word itself

Ex - exclusion

commun - that is communion

Church discipline is the act of removing a person who is in unrepentant sin from the church. It is cutting them off from the gathering. Church discipline is done so that the sinner might recognize that not just cut off from the church, but they are also cut off from Christ.

I am guessing that most of us think church discipline, or excommunication, sounds a bit harsh. In fact, there are times where I even struggle with practicing church discipline, because I want to extend grace towards sinners!

In fact, it is God’s grace towards sinners that gives us reason to rejoice! This is what we believe, and this is what we preach… that all of us are sinners who rightly deserve death! But God is gracious to us sinners and grants forgiveness to all who turn in repentance faith in Jesus.

But what do we do, when a person who has faith in Jesus refuses to repent of their sins? What do we do, when a believer refuses to turn away from their sins, but insists that their current practice of sin is still covered by grace, even though they do not repent of it? Are such sins still under the grace of God? Well the Corinthians certainly believed that their sins were still covered by grace. We will see this more next week, but hear what they were proclaiming to those who have faith in Jesus…

1 Corinthians 6:12 ESV

12 “All things are lawful for me,” but not all things are helpful. “All things are lawful for me,” but I will not be dominated by anything.

The Corinthians were boasting in their gospel freedoms saying that all things were made lawful because of Christ… And while we all ought to boast in Christ make no mistake, the Corinthian’s boasting had gone too far… For in their boasting of their freedoms, they thought that they were free to do whatever they wanted.

This is what Paul picks up on in chapter 5

1 Corinthians 5:1–2 ESV

1 It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that is not tolerated even among pagans, for a man has his father’s wife. 2 And you are arrogant! Ought you not rather to mourn? Let him who has done this be removed from among you.

A man is having ungodly relations with his stepmom…the relationship was so bad, Paul says, even pagans would not have put up with it. Yet in this sin, the church is arrogant and puffed up with pride regarding this matter. While they are celebrating their freedoms, Paul corrects them and says they ought to mourn over their this sin…

For while they are celebrating their so called freedom, the reality is this: This man is living in sin and such sin is incompatible with being a Christian. So Paul tells them to remove the man from the church, as he truly is no longer a part of Christ.

Here is what I want us to see:

1. Gospel freedoms do not give Christians the liberty to sin.

Think about it for just a moment…

Even as Americans we have all kinds of freedoms…

we have freedom of the press

we have freedom to bear arms

While we have great freedoms, we also know that our freedoms don’t liberate us from the law

These freedoms that we have as Americans does not mean we can do whatever we want

While we have freedom of the press… there are still laws regarding slander

And while we have the freedom to bear arms…

there are still laws about how they are to be carried and used

For freedom to bear arms doest not permit murder

So too, and in a far greater way, we have freedom in Christ

Freedom from the penalty of sin, and freedom from the power of sin… but such freedoms from sin do not give us the license to sin.

Paul continues:

1 Corinthians 5:3–5 ESV

3 For though absent in body, I am present in spirit; and as if present, I have already pronounced judgment on the one who did such a thing. 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.

There are two things I want us to see here:

Paul says that they are to deliver the man to Satan for the destruction of the flesh…

Paul means, when they kick the man out of the church, they are saying in effect, that this man does not belong to Jesus, but instead he belongs to Satan.

This is the reality of those who call themselves Christians while they go on practicing unrepentant sin

Those who live in habitual and unrepentant sin belong to Satan

For Christ dies so that you would be delivered from the power of sin! But he did not die so that you would have permission to sin.

Here is the second thing I want us all to recognize: Paul presents us with the purpose of Church discipline in v 5. Church discipline is done so that the sinner may be saved in the day of the Lord.

The day of the Lord, is in reference to the final day of judgement that each and every one of us will face…

Church discipline is practiced so that the sinner can repent and be saved by the grace of God that covers all who turn from their sin!

Which leads us to the next point:

2. Church discipline is for the good of the sinner and the saints.

There are two parts of this that I want us to consider… that Church discipline is good for the sinner, and the second that it is good for the saints. Let’s take each part one at a time…

First of all, how is church discipline good for the sinner?

Well remember what Paul said ain v 5

1 Corinthians 5:5 ESV

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.

Why deliver him to Satan… well you give him to Satan, because he belongs to Satan, not to Christ… And while all things belong to Jesus, those who are in the church belong to Jesus in a special way because they have been redeemed by him.

But make no mistake, the person who is living in habitual and unrepentant sin and is in bondage to sin belongs to Satan.

So Paul says that the church is to hand the sinner over to Satan, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord. Church discipline is practiced so the sinner can rightly see where they stand before the Lord.

Furthermore, it is a gracious and loving thing to go through church discipline, because it is better to be judged by the church than it is to come under the eternal judgment of God’s wrath on the last day…

Make no mistake, church discipline is a loving act towards the person who is caught in unrepentant sin.

Listen:

If my son was a climbing up on a bookshelf, I would discipline him… because it would be better for me to discipline him than it would be for the entire bookshelf to come crashing down upon him…

So too, church discipline is a loving act towards the sinner

But Church discipline is not just for the sake of the sinner, it is also for the good of the saints! And who are the saints do you know? It’s the church! It’s those who have been redeemed by God!

Listen to how Paul puts it:

1 Corinthians 5:6–8 ESV

6 Your boasting is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump? 7 Cleanse out the old leaven that you may be a new lump, as you really are unleavened. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. 8 Let us therefore celebrate the festival, not with the old leaven, the leaven of malice and evil, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

In these verses, Paul uses imagery that most modern readers probably miss.

It’s imagery that Paul borrowed from the Jewish festival of Passover

Every year during Passover, the Jews would get rid of the leaven that they used their bread… leaven is the agent that makes dough rise.

But Jews didn’t use yeast like we use most of the time for our bread, rather what they would use for leaven was old fermented dough. And every time they made a new loaf of bread, they would keep a part of the old dough to add to the new lump of dough… And over the course of the year, the dough would ferment more and cause the dough to rise more and more. But eventually, that fermented dough would make people sick if they ate it, and so as a part of their worship and celebration to God, they would get rid of the old leaven during Passover… This is what Paul is referring to in these verses… but what is talking about is not simply getting rid of leaven, but also getting rid of sin

V 6, a little leaven leavens the whole lump…

Just a little part of that old fermented dough would cause the entire new lump of dough to ferment as well.

So too, just a little bit of sin in the church will infect the rest of the body. We see this all the time in the church. When sin starts in the church, it spreads throughout the church.

A little bit of gossip, turns into a church that is full of slander

A little bit of sexual immorality, turns into a large sum of people who are all immoral together

A little bit of anger, turns bad really quick if it goes on unchecked without repentance

So Paul says in v 7 cast out the old leaven…

Get rid of the sin, and sometimes that even means getting rid of the sinner who is habitually sinning without repentance.

Paul continues,

7 Cleanse out the old leaven that you may be a new lump, as you really are unleavened.

Get rid of the sin… as you really are sinless

and why are we sinless?

For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. 8 Let us therefore celebrate the festival, not with the old leaven, the leaven of malice and evil, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

we are without leaven, because of Christ is our Passover lamb

The passover lamb, was the lamb that was killed in the place of the firstborn sons of the Jews in the book of Exodus, if you remember that story. The lambs were killed and their blood was put over the doorposts of the Israelites home so that their sons would not be killed with the rest of the Egyptians sons

So too, Jesus blood was poured over us to forgive our sins so that we would not face eternal death with all those who do not believe in Jesus for eternal life

Paul is saying, since Jesus died to forgive us of our sins, let us therefore cast out our sins!

when we practice church discipline it is for the good of the church…

This is what I mean when I say that Church discipline is for the good of the sinner and the saints.

We cut ourselves off from unrepentant sinners, so that we might not fall into their sinful behaviors.

But some of you might be indignant at the idea that we are to cut ourselves off from sinners…

We might think:

What of the great commission, doesn’t Jesus tell us to go into all the world, even among sinners who don’t know God so that they might hear, believe, and repent?

And don’t forget, Jesus too was called the friend of sinners… so what business do we have with judging sinners

Well hold on for just a moment… Paul addresses this:

1 Corinthians 5:9–12 ESV

9 I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people— 10 not at all meaning the sexually immoral of this world, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters, since then you would need to go out of the world. 11 But now I am writing to you not to associate with anyone who bears the name of brother if he is guilty of sexual immorality or greed, or is an idolater, reviler, drunkard, or swindler—not even to eat with such a one. 12 For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Is it not those inside the church whom you are to judge?

Paul is not contradicting the great commission in this chapter…

He isn’t telling us to cut ourselves off from the rest of the world. If anything, Paul himself went out into the world and obeyed the great commission and we should do the same!

We should be around sinners, we should walk with sinners, we should even sit down with them and share a meal with them so that we might have opportunities to share the gospel with them.

Yes, Jesus was a friend of sinners, and we should be too…

Paul’s point isn’t to cut ourselves off from sinners in the world

Rather the key to understanding what he is saying is in v 11

11 But now I am writing to you not to associate with anyone who bears the name of brother if he is guilty of sexual immorality or greed, or is an idolater, reviler, drunkard, or swindler—not even to eat with such a one.

Paul says not to associate with anyone who bears the name of a brother in Christ… if they call themselves Christians, but they do not repent of their sins, but instead if they go on sinning and insisting that it is all covered by grace. Paul tells us that we are to not associate with them anymore.

Does that make sense?

Listen, I don’t want you thinking that church discipline is a contradiction to the gospel and a contradiction to grace

3. Church discipline is a demonstration of God's grace.

Normally, we would think that church discipline is a demonstration of God’s wrath… and to be clear, it certainly is to an extent. For God will not take any part in sin. God does not wink at our sin and laugh at it like its some sort of joke.

No in fact, it’s quite the opposite, God hates sin… and he sent is Son to die because of sin… So in a way, church discipline is a demonstration of God’s wrath towards sinners who are cut off from him. But in a far greater way, church discipline is a demonstration of God’s grace.

For one, it is a demonstration of grace, because that sinner is being given an opportunity to repent. This is one of the primary objective’s of church discipline.

The goal of church discipline is so that the sinner might be saved in the day of the Lord… v 5

Church discipline not done to simply shame the sinner and embarrassing them

It’s not even done in a celebratory way as if we are finally rid of them…

for Paul says we are to mourn such sin in the church v 2

And if you are worried about being called out for your sins in public don’t worry, Matt 18 gives us more clarity as to the steps that are to be taken when we call a person to repentance

If you or anyone is in sin, you are to first I go to you in private. If they don’t repent then you talk to the then before the elders, that is the pastors and they then go after that person in sin. and if that person continue in your sins after that without repentance, then, and only then does it result in church discipline.

But in all this, where is the grace? where is the good news of forgiveness? Where do we see the goodness of God who is slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love in church discipline?

Well let’s look at the last verse:

1 Corinthians 5:13 ESV

13 God judges those outside. “Purge the evil person from among you.”

How many of you see the grace demonstrated here?

Let me help you just a bit… look at the quotation in that last sentence… Paul here is quoting from the OT book of Deuteronomy. It’s a phrase used 7 times in Deuteronomy and another time in the book of Judges… Except when the phrase is used in the OT it has nothing to do with excommunication.

Listen to how the phrase is used in the OT

Deuteronomy 17:6–7 ESV

6 On the evidence of two witnesses or of three witnesses the one who is to die shall be put to death; a person shall not be put to death on the evidence of one witness. 7 The hand of the witnesses shall be first against him to put him to death, and afterward the hand of all the people. So you shall purge the evil from your midst.

What is the penalty of sin like sexual immorality in the OT do you know?

It’s death… and the reason why the penalty is of sin was death in the OT is because the penalty of all sin is ultimately death.

Romans 6:23 ESV

23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Make no mistake, excommunication as the form of church discipline is a gracious act… for by it you sinners still have the opportunity to repent and turn to Jesus for eternal life.

If being cut off from the church seems too harsh, then you need to better understand just how sever your sin is against God…

And if bing excommunicated off seems all too unloving, then need to better understand what it would be like to be cut off from the goodness of Christ for all eternity....

Is church discipline a hard thing, you bet it is. But it is far better to be cut off from the church for a time until we repent, hen it would be to be cut off from Christ for all eternity.

Sure, when Adam and Eve ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, their punishment was severe…

they were put under a curse

they were banished from the garden

and cut off from the presence of God

But if you think that punishment was too severe do not forget, that what they deserved was death.

for God said, that in the day that they eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, they would surely die.

When you consider what they actually deserved, you see just how gracious God was towards them. And in the same way we also see just how gracious and slow to anger God is towards us when we sin against him.

Oh that we would be people who take our sin seriously.

That we would be mourn over our sin… and I’m not talking about just moments of regret when we get caught, but I’m talking about weeping over our sins knowing that it is our sin that put Jesus on the cross. And it is our sins that keep us from delighting and enjoying him here and for all of eternity.

But for those of us who do repent of our sins… may we too rejoice in the grace of our God! For death will not be our final outcome. Instead those who believe and repent will have eternal life with Jesus! And it’s all because of God’s amazing grace.