Staying Alive; The Church's Response to Sin

2 Corinthians 2:1–11 NASB95

But I determined this for my own sake, that I would not come to you in sorrow again. For if I cause you sorrow, who then makes me glad but the one whom I made sorrowful? This is the very thing I wrote you, so that when I came, I would not have sorrow from those who ought to make me rejoice; having confidence in you all that my joy would be the joy of you all. For out of much affliction and anguish of heart I wrote to you with many tears; not so that you would be made sorrowful, but that you might know the love which I have especially for you. But if any has caused sorrow, he has caused sorrow not to me, but in some degree—in order not to say too much—to all of you. Sufficient for such a one is this punishment which was inflicted by the majority, so that on the contrary you should rather forgive and comfort him, otherwise such a one might be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow. Wherefore I urge you to reaffirm your love for him. For to this end also I wrote, so that I might put you to the test, whether you are obedient in all things. But one whom you forgive anything, I forgive also; for indeed what I have forgiven, if I have forgiven anything, I did it for your sakes in the presence of Christ, so that no advantage would be taken of us by Satan, for we are not ignorant of his schemes.

Today, we celebrate God’s blessing of 184 years of ministry for LRBC. In so doing, we have celebrated longevity, buildings, ministries, etc. These are all good and wonderful blessings. But fundamentally, our identity is none of these things.

We are the body of Christ that gathers in this location in order to bring glory to Jesus Christ through worship, service, and proclamation of the Gospel.

I want to ask you something: IF we are the body of Christ, how should we present ourselves the world?

Should we be weak and lethargic?

Should we be complacent and un-offending?

Should we be ever-changing in our core beliefs to align with the culture around us?

NO! We are the church upon which the gates of hell will not prevail! But this is only true of LRBC if the church is alive. And we can only stay alive if we are healthy.

ILL: It doesn’t take much imagination to think about our human bodies getting sick- perhaps with a virus or an infection of some sort. We all can relate. What happens when you are sick?

You first recognize the symptoms- maybe a fever, aches, other discomforts.

But your body is already at work to fight off said illness!

Your white blood cells are attacking the foreign virus, your energy is diverted to these efforts

You rest and drink plenty of fluids so as to fuel the war raging inside.

And eventually, usually, you become well. Your color returns to your face, your temperature goes back to normal, your appetite returns and you are ready to get back to life. BONUS: Now you have antibodies to ward off future attacks from this virus.

But what would happen if your body did not respond? Well, you’d likely die.

As Christ’s body, un-repentant sin is the disease that causes a healthy church to become sick. And just as our human bodies respond to illness, so must we respond to the sin that has caused the church to become unhealthy. If we do not respond, we are surrendering ourselves to death.

In the church, this response is called discipline. We use discipline in our homes as we shape our children, in the workplace as we form a successful company, and on the athletic field when putting together a championship team. Yet, sadly, many churches have decided that discipline has no place in their gatherings.

Now you might be thinking, “Why on earth are we talking about this on Homecoming?” Well- 2 reasons: 1- it’s where we are in our study. 2 - I love this church. It’s my prayer that we can celebrate Homecoming for another 184 years. To do that, we have to be alive.

So, as we continue through 2 Corinthians this morning, I want to shed some positive light on discipline. Namely, I want to show us how discipline, like our body’s immune system, is both a necessary and positive response to the sin disease which enables the church to “Stay Alive”.

Let’s learn together. If you picked up a bulletin, I invite you to use the enclosed sermon guide to follow along. The sermon is entitled “Staying Alive; A Church’s Response to Sin”

The first thing I’d like to show you is that

Discipline Is The Loving Response To Sin (1-4)

If you remember the context, Paul chose not to come visit the church in Corinth in order to spare them from further discipline. The first couple verses here carry over that idea. The discipline had already taken place from Paul to the church.

But it was Paul’s love for them that prevented him from coming to them again, knowing that their sin persisted even as the elders there were addressing it. Thus, here Paul reminds them of his correction to them.

Look at verse 4 (READ)

Paul wrote in anguish- their sin and the need for correction was painful to the Apostle Paul! For him to enact the discipline upon the church was not easy. In fact, he said that he was weeping as he wrote.

ILL: How many of you ever said, or heard your parents say to you as they were about to bust your rear-end in discipline, “This is going to hurt me more than it hurts you.”

Well, essentially, that’s what Paul is saying here.

The easy thing to do would be to ignore your sin. It would be much more fun if we just hung out, had dinner and pretended that these issues did not exist.

But Paul understood that this sin is a disease. To ignore their sin would be unloving and cruel.

Paul understood that we are called to love our neighbor as ourselves and that the marker to the world of God’s people would be their love for one another!

What would you think if you went to the doctor and he, having seen a deadly, but curable disease in your body, decided that it would just be easier if he didn’t have to tell you about this. You’d go along like everything was ok until WHAM! Death.

That’s not loving. And neither is it loving, Christian brothers and sisters, to ignore sin in the life of the church.

Paul tells the Corinthians that he wrote not to cause sorrow, but so they might know the depth of love and care he has for them- for their souls, for their joy in the Lord.

Church, if there is sin in your life and you are being convicted of it- perhaps just being in this gathering you feel the shame of that sin, it is being brought to light not out of a heart of condemnation, but out of love and concern for your soul. Nobody desires for you to suffer- but rather my desire and the desire of Christ is that you would acknowledge your sin, repent, and be made whole.

God takes sin very seriously. And It is only when we understand our sinfulness that we can grasp the love of Christ who paid the highest price for our sins. Thus, discipline is a loving response to sin.

Discuss: God takes sin seriously (Rom 6:23). How seriously do we take sin and our call to love one another if we refuse to address sin through discipline?

Next, I want to show you that

Discipline Is The Appropriate Response To Sin (5-6)

Let me read verses 5-6 again (READ)

Discipline is an appropriate response to sin in two ways:

First, in v. 5 Paul is reminding the church that sin in the church has an impact on the whole body.

Now, I’ve heard it before- “Pastor, I ain’t hurting nobody. We’re both consenting adults, there’s no harm to anyone but us”

But here’s the thing- Consent is not God’s standard. Desire is not God’s standard. Happiness is not God’s standard.

Church, we would do well to recognize that God has called us to be HOLY as He is holy! We are called to forsake the worldly pleasures and pursue first the Kingdom of God!

When we grow tired of seeking His Kingdom and righteousness and become content in our complacency and satisfied in our sin, we send the message that we are no longer a church that exists for God’s glory.

When we refuse to confront sin, we lower God’s standard and cheapen the Cross of Calvary. Thus, as redeemed believers, the only appropriate response to sin in the church is discipline.

Secondly, discipline is appropriate because is encourages repentance. (6)

In Corinth, the church acted on Paul’s correction and exercised discipline against an individual in the body. And you know what happened? He didn’t get mad, take his tithe money and go to another church.

No, he recognized the life that God has called him to and turned from his sin. This is how discipline is supposed to work!

ILL: Parents, you can relate here, right? You don’t just discipline your kids to be mean or to exert some sort of authority. No, you love them and want God’s best for them. You recognize that without discipline, they will likely go on making the same stupid mistake over and over again! You discipline your kids with the hope and expectation that they will recognize the wrong action, rebellion, etc. and learn from their mistake.

That’s Paul’s point here. Church, we cannot expect sin to just go away on its own. That doesn’t work when your in-laws drop in for a surprise visit at home, and it won’t work to purify God’s Church!

We must grasp that discipline is the loving and appropriate response to sin.

Discuss: Why does ignoring sin NOT solve the problem?

Finally, I’d like to show you that

Discipline Is The Restorative Response To Sin (7-10)

Let’s read 7-10 again (READ)

Discipline, Paul reminds us, has a point. That point is to restore the one to a right relationship with God and His church.

Look down at v. 7-8. The church carried out the discipline, but they weren’t really sure what to do next. Thus, they were instructed to FORGIVE and to COMFORT him.

Let’s think through this.

Forgiving someone means that we no longer hold that debt upon them. If we enact discipline as a church and that person turns from their sin, they should be allowed back into fellowship, worship, etc. We might remove temptations or opportunities for them to relapse, but we aren’t giving them the stink-eye or cold-shoulder every time we see them.

Instead, we embrace them.

I love the picture given in Jesus’ parable of the prodigal son. You know that story? This boy messed up bad. And yet, when he returned in repentance, the Father embraced him and celebrated the restored relationship with a feast… like homecoming!

Look, If we refuse to forgive and restore, then whatever ‘discipline’ that was enacted was not discipline, but vengeance. That belongs to the Lord alone, church.

Excessive discipline becomes abuse. And that will not bring people into a right relationship with God, but rather will push them from Him and His church.

Instead, like the Corinthian church, we are being tested to see whether we will be obedient in all things. (9)

That is, will you hold a grudge? Or Will you celebrate a changed heart in the presence of Christ?

Discipline is the loving, appropriate, and restorative response to sin. The reason, look with me to v. 11 (READ)

Satan’s is scheming to take down this church. That’s why there are temptations for us to argue over silly things and to gossip about one another rather than confront the sin head on.

1 Peter 5:8 NASB95

Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.

Church, this Homecoming Sunday, I want to encourage you to take the steps to ensure that, if Christ tarries, LRBC will be strong and healthy for another 184 years. And not just alive, but thriving in the work that God has called us to.

So I want to leave you with the words of Moses, spoken to the Israelites as they prepared to take possession of the promised land. Although written to them, there is a similar decision before you today:

Deuteronomy 30:15–20 NASB95

“See, I have set before you today life and prosperity, and death and adversity; in that I command you today to love the Lord your God, to walk in His ways and to keep His commandments and His statutes and His judgments, that you may live and multiply, and that the Lord your God may bless you in the land where you are entering to possess it. “But if your heart turns away and you will not obey, but are drawn away and worship other gods and serve them, I declare to you today that you shall surely perish. You will not prolong your days in the land where you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess it. “I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. So choose life in order that you may live, you and your descendants, by loving the Lord your God, by obeying His voice, and by holding fast to Him; for this is your life and the length of your days, that you may live in the land which the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give them.”

Let us walk in God’s ways- addressing the sickness of sin in our lives and rejoicing in the healing that our Savior brought on that old cross.

[Pray]

Discuss: How do you restore a person whom you’ve had to discipline? (child, employee, church member, etc.)