David Platt Messages
David Platt Messages is a podcast that highlights sermons from teacher, author, and pastor David Platt.
David Platt Messages
Covenant Discipline and Restoration – Part 2
God intends for the church to be a display of his glory, which means the church’s holiness, or lack thereof, has a massive effect on its witness. It’s no wonder, then, that Scripture commands church discipline. In this message from Matthew 18:15–20 and 1 Corinthians 5:1–13, David Platt urges the church to take seriously its responsibility to address sin in the congregation. As we hold one another accountable, we are aiming for the purity of the church and the eternal good of one another.
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You are listening to David Platt Messages a weekly podcast with sermons and messages from pastor, author and teacher David Platt.
Speaker 2:We started diving in last week to Matthew, chapter 18, and this week we're going to be in Matthew 18 again and then be in 1 Corinthians, chapter 5 some. These are the two really primary texts on church discipline, and I want us to look. Here's where we're going. We're spending three weeks here, and this is the second of three, so we're in the middle. The goal today is to spend time in Matthew 18 and 1 Corinthians, chapter 5 and get biblical foundations. Let's see what Scripture says. What's going to happen today, though, is these biblical foundations are going to probably provoke a lot of different questions around this room. Well, how does that look in the context of church today? How does that look in the context of this church? How does this look at Brook Hills? We're going to dive into some of that next week. We'll see some practical things, but there's probably going to be a lot of questions left over. But the goal is let's see what Scripture teaches, understand what Scripture teaches and then look at how to implement it. I included in your notes there. I wanted to just kind of review where we've gone real quickly, especially if you weren't here last week.
Speaker 2:We talked about why we don't talk about church discipline and why many churches have nothing to do with it, ignore it almost why not church discipline? And many say, well, we're not going to do that, because church discipline is legalistic. And obviously it can become legalistic If we start imposing non-biblical or extra-biblical regulations or rules on one another or if we confront one another in sin in a way that is not gentle and Christ-like and loving with humility. Obviously church discipline can become legalistic, but scripturally church discipline is not legalistic, it is loving, and we know. We know we're going against the grain here. We live in a culture where it's not even popular to discipline children and we don't even see the love in that and sort of talk about discipline in the church. This is a challenge. Church discipline is challenging, but it is loving. That's what Scripture teaches. Some people say well, what about Matthew 7 and 1? Don't judge, or you too will be judged. What we said last week is keep going to Matthew chapter 7, verse 5. What Jesus is teaching in context there in Matthew chapter 7 is that we look at sin in our own lives so that we can see and help a brother who is struggling with sin in his life. That's the whole point. Matthew chapter 7, verse 5 takes us to, though, what Jesus is teaching there here in Matthew 18,. It's all over the New Testament. We help one another grow in holiness. That's what church discipline is about.
Speaker 2:Now some might say, well, people will leave. We talked about how church growth or church discipline is not the sharpest church growth tactic You're not going to see this one on TV very often or on the best seller list in the Christian bookstore. Your best discipline now, that doesn't bring in the money. But here's the deal. What we've said is this is God's church to grow, not ours. And we are foolish to think that we know the best way to grow the church. When God has given us His Word, we need to align with His Word and trust God. To add to our number, that's the picture you see all over the book of Acts, and we looked at Acts 2, acts 5.
Speaker 2:Some say, well, we don't know how to practice church discipline, and what we're saying is let's learn how then. Now what is it? We talked about holistic, and both these facets of church discipline are huge. First, formative church discipline. We define that as continual training that we receive from the Word and the body of Christ as our lives are transformed into Christ's likeness. We are in the church. All of us are disciples of Christ. That implies we are under discipline. Even the fact that we're sons and daughters of God we have a Father. Hebrews chapter 12 teaches our Father disciplines us because he loves us. None of us is the finished product. We are all being transformed more and more and more into the likeness of Christ. That's discipline. It's happening in our lives all the time.
Speaker 2:Now, part of that is restorative church discipline, corrective care taken by the body of Christ in matters of unrepentant sin in a brother or sister's life. This is key. If we are left to ourselves, we will wander into sin. Every single one of us has a sinful nature still in us. It wars against the spiritual nature, the nature of Christ in us. It's Galatians, chapter 5. It's the war between the flesh and the spirit.
Speaker 2:And part of the purpose of the church, of the community of faith, is to guard us, to help us spur one another on toward Christ. That's why Christianity cannot be lived in isolation, because we have a tendency to sin. Now Christ has forgiven us, he's empowered us over that, and the whole point of the community of faith is to help one another avoid sin. And so what we're seeing in restorative church discipline is when we start to wander, which any one of us does I do, you do. We all have a tendency to do that. We want a brother or sister who is there by our side who will say stop. We don't want a brother or sister who's going to wait until we have gone this much farther in sin. We want someone to stop us here. And this is the picture when it comes to restorative church discipline, which is what Jesus is addressing in Matthew, chapter 18. And we talked about how the foundation in this whole picture of discipline is the grace of God. There's a great book by a guy named Jerry Bridges that I would recommend if you want to dive in deeper. It's called Disciplined by Grace and the whole point of the book is there's a picture here of grace and discipline that come together in a beautiful relationship, and we saw that grace expressed in the whole context surrounding Matthew, chapter 18, verse 15 through 20.
Speaker 2:We talked about approaching church discipline. How does Jesus approach church discipline? He tells us we need childlike humility. One how does Jesus approach church discipline? He tells us we need childlike humility. It takes a great deal of humility to confront one another in a way that honors Christ in their sin, and then it takes a great deal of humility to receive correction from one another. We need childlike humility. We need a deep concern for holiness. We need to be serious about sin. We have become so casual with sin. We today are so flippant with the holiness of God and we need a deep concern for holiness. We need to see sin not like our culture sees it, but like a holy God sees it, such a way that we would not be surprised to hear Jesus say if your right eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. Sin is that serious. We need a deep concern for holiness.
Speaker 2:Along the way, we need a passion for the herding Picture in the parable of the lost sheep. The whole point of church discipline is not to kick people out. The whole point of church discipline is to keep people in, to keep people close to Christ, and the picture here is a father who runs after a shepherd, who runs after sheep, a father who runs after us and uses the after sheep, a father who runs after us and uses the church to do that. And along the way, we need forgiving hearts. Obviously, we need to forgive as God has forgiven us, and so all of that leads up to Matthew 18, 15 through 20, applying church discipline. So what do you do? Look at Matthew, chapter 18, verse 15.
Speaker 2:Jesus says if your brother now follow along, you'll see four steps here. See if you can identify them. If your brother sins against you, go and show him his fault, just between the two of you. If he listens to you, you have won your brother over. But if he will not listen, take one or two others along so that every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses. If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church. And if he refuses to listen even to the church, treat him as you would a pagan or tax collector. Then Jesus says I tell you the truth whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven. Whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. Again, I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything you ask for, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven. For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them. Okay, step one applying church discipline Private correction. Step one private correction. If your brother sins against you, go and show him his fault, just between the two of you Now, side note here, some of you in your Bibles, I'm guessing most of us where it says in verse 15, that first phrase if your brother sins against you. Now, side note here, some of you in your Bibles, I'm guessing most of us where it says in verse 15, that first phrase if your brother sins against you. I want you to look down in your Bibles there and you probably have a little note, a little footnote in your Bible that takes you to the bottom and it says something along the lines of some manuscripts do not have the words against you. And this is what this is going to be kind of a tangent, but I hope a valuable tangent. Real quickly, this is what New Testament scholars would call a variant, and what that means is in the earliest manuscripts we have, there are variants. There are slight differences between those earliest manuscripts. This is the in this case. Some of those early manuscripts don't have the words against you. Some of them do, and so if you're translating the Scriptures then you say, well, do you include it or not? And some people will say, well, this is why you can't rely on the Bible, because it's not even true. You don't even know what the original manuscripts are. This is where I want to encourage you, take heart. Ninety-nine percent of variants are practically totally insignificant. They are one letter missing here or there, or maybe word order switched around, not in a way that changes meaning. In that one percent that are maybe a little more significant than that, none of those, none of those affect central doctrines or tenets of Christianity, even in this picture. This would be one of those one percent where, if your brother sins against you, the reality is, when you take this whole picture in light of the entire teaching of the New Testament, some would say well, this is only when somebody directly sins against you. But the reality is Galatians, chapter 6, verse 1, teaches us that when a brother is caught in sin, we should restore him gently. It's not specifically specified there. Well, if it's against you, and so the pictures the New Testament gives us is if you've been directly sinned against. If your brother's caught in sin, this is what you do. You go and show him his fault, just between the two of you. So here's the principle that we're going to see kind of unfold in these first two steps especially, keep the circle as small as possible, as long as possible. Jesus says don't go and talk to somebody else about your brother's sin, which, let's be honest, is the first thing that we are prone to do and that we do all the time. And Jesus is saying Scripture is teaching that that is sinful. It is sinful, it's Ephesians 4, 29 through 32. To speak about a brother or sister in a way that does not build up their needs, their character in Christ, that's the picture in Ephesians 4. We looked at that a couple of weeks ago. Our tendency is to go and maybe even to fish around and find out if anybody else knows about this brother's sin. Jesus says don't do it. Go to your brother, go to your sister. Just between the two of you, resist the temptation to gossip, because then you need to be confronted. Now. This is one of those points where I'm convinced we could do so much at this small, simple point to save the reputation of Christ in each other and to guard against division of the church. If we just did this one little simple part of church discipline correctly, then it would save one little simple part of church discipline correctly. Then it would save what I'm guessing scores of people around this room know as heartache in the church. Let's guard this, let's implement that right there. This is not, this doesn't involve some major church organization, church discipline stakeout team. This is just in the context. This whole picture, this first step, is in the context of our relationships with one another all the time. We're always doing this. We're always helping one another in individual ways like this and we're making sure that. I've seen it happen. You've seen it happen over and over and over again. The more people know about a brother, know about a brother or sister who's struggling in this sin, the more the case is built, so to speak. The more people know about that, the harder it is going to be for that brother to be restored, because a root of bitterness is going to grow in that brother. It's going to be very difficult as opposed to you going to him and saying this is what, and even being open hey, did I misunderstand this? Oftentimes we've got totally wrong information. We've read a situation wrong, we're talking to all these other people about it and brother over here has done nothing wrong. And so, for his sake, for your sake, not to fall in sin and for the sake of the glory of Christ, keep it just between the two of you. Go to your brother or sister. Jesus says if he listens to you, you have won your brother over. I'm convinced 95% of church discipline happens right here, something we do talk now. Nobody likes that kind of conversation. That's why we go talk to everybody else, because it's easier to talk to other people than to talk with each other about sin and struggle. But do the hard work from the very beginning and just go to your brother, love him, care for him in humility Same picture that Matthew 7 teaches. You've looked in your own life. You're going to help your brother with a speck in his eye. Go to him, love him enough to care for him. Go to him and not be talking to everybody else about this and in the process you'll win your brother over, gain your brother. I'm convinced we do step one right here. We've done the majority of church discipline in the church. No team necessary, no official organization. Just live among one another and care for each other enough to help each other avoid sin. Step one private correction. But what Jesus says, verse 16, is if he will not listen I want to pause here before we go to step two If your brother will not listen, will not listen to the word, will not receive correction. That's when you go to step two. If your brother turns from sin at that point and the whole church discipline picture here in Matthew chapter 18 is not in play anymore. Now there might be follow along here. There might be situations where maybe a brother or sister has some relationships that need to be restored. As he's turning back. There's some things that you're going to help walk with him or her through in the process of restoring and the consequences of those sins. That's a whole other picture. But what the rest of Matthew 18 is dealing with is unrepentant sin in the church. A brother who will not listen to the word, a sister who will not listen to correction from the word in the body of Christ and continues unrepentant in sin. If they don't listen, then you go to step two. Step two small group clarification. Small group clarification. And by small group Jesus says one or two others, take one or two others along so that every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses. He quotes there from Deuteronomy, chapter 19, verse 15, picture pattern from the Old Testament where others are brought in to testify to the truth of something and again the picture here is to keep this circle small, to gather together one or two other believers who are gentle and humble and loving and caring to go with you. They can, in the process there's all kinds of things. Those one or two brothers can help you understand. If you're imposing some non-biblical or extra-biblical legalistic regulation on somebody, that's good. Brothers and sisters. Say that you don't need to be confronting this. Say that you don't need to be confronting this, but if it needs to be confronted in a brother sister's life, now you've got two or three people who are saying we love you and we care for you and we want you to experience abundance in Christ and so we're talking about you with this, about that. For that reason, two or three brothers or sisters doing that. Again, this doesn't necessarily have to involve a church leader or a pastor. In fact I mean it could. But I think the best context is to involve someone or a couple of people who know that person, who are involved in that person's life, who know what they're walking through and who will walk with them through that struggle. So here we've got the majority of church discipline in these first two steps. The goal is keep this thing small in these first two steps and then it widens in step three. Jesus says if he refuses to listen to them, in other words, if he will not receive correction, if he continues unrepentant in sin, then tell it to the church. Step three church admonition. Now church is involved. Well, what does that mean? Well, the word here tell it to the church is ecclesia. It's the word we see all over the New Testament for the gathering of believers, the assembly of believers, and the picture is the local church, the assembly, the gathering, and that looks different in different contexts. But now the circle has widened to involve the church. Tell it to the church. Now, I know that as soon as we see that, we think okay, so you go from three to 4,000. How does that look in the context of the church in Brook Hills, the church that we are a part of? And those are some of the things we're going to dive into next week. Let's just see what Jesus is saying here. He says tell it to the church. The gathering of believers, the assembly, the local body, tell it to the local body. And the picture here. I've wondered at this point, man, that seems to get large. Quick, why, why would it be necessary? Why would Jesus say go to the assembly of believers and tell them about this brother or sister and their sin, why and this is the picture. This is one of those times in the study for me over the last couple of weeks that just came alive in a way I had not realized before in this text what's going on here. And I think part of the reason I hadn't realized is because even when I've seen churches that practice church discipline, I think this is something that's missed out on churches that practice church discipline. I think this is something that's missed out on Oftentimes. The time when it comes to the whole church, the whole gathering, when a brother or sister sin who's going to be who's under church discipline is brought before a whole gathering, is oftentimes when that brother or sister is being excommunicated or removed from membership in the church, which we're going to talk about in just a second. But that's not what Jesus is saying here. It may get to that point, but he says tell it to the church and listen to the very next phrase if he refuses to listen even to the church. So the picture is the point of telling it to the church. The whole gathering of believers is so that now you have an entire local assembly of believers out of love and grace and mercy and humility is going after that believer, saying we want you to turn to Christ, we want you to trust in Christ. Is loving them enough, caring for them, showing the mercy and grace of God to them in order to draw them back to Christ? And the picture here I love the picture here of a God who does not leave us alone to wander off into our sin, but who gets to a point where he says I love you so much I'm going to send my people to show you that love, and my people are going to be an expression of that. And so the picture here is the church expressing the grace and the love and the mercy of God in order to bring this brother back from his sin. Grace and mercy all over this deal. It leads to step four. If he refuses to listen even to the church, then treat him as you would, a pagan or a tax collector. Step four church excommunication. Excommunication, removal from the church. And the imagery here is Jesus saying treat him as if he were not a brother in the church, treat him as if he were outside of the church. He's no longer treated as a member of the body of Christ, excommunicated, expelled from the church, which is the language we'll see in just a second in the New Testament. I want us to see here in Matthew, chapter 18,. This is not an option. This is a command from Jesus to treat a brother or sister in unrepentant sin as if he were not a member anymore, as if he were not a brother or sister. That's a command from Jesus, which means to not obey. This is to sin. Ladies and gentlemen. We are in sin, we are in disobedience as a body if we do not do this Now. Let's pause here for a second and let's just be totally honest with each other. This doesn't seem right, does it? This is tough. This is certainly tough to implement, but this is tough to understand. Doesn't this go against the grain of all of our thinking? Isn't the church supposed to be the people and the place where everyone is welcomed? Why would the church say to someone you cannot be a member here, you are excluded from membership here. Why would the church say that? Doesn't that seem to go against every picture of the church that we have in our minds? Why would Jesus say this and why would the New Testament church actually do it? Take a right with me to go to 1 Corinthians, chapter 5. 1 Corinthians, chapter 5. I want you to see how the New Testament church was obedient in this. They were living in disobedience by not paying attention to this whole picture and God, through Paul, called them to obedience. First Corinthians, chapter 5. As you're turning there, quick, quick setup the city of Corinth, a city of loose living, sexual immorality, I'm convinced, in many ways very similar to our culture today, where sexual immorality was rampant, hardly even noticed. You don't have to sit through one round of commercials on TV or sit through five minutes of a movie today to know that sexual immorality is just accepted as rampant and it's no big deal. We're desensitized to it, just accept it as rampant and it's no big deal. We're desensitized to it. And the picture in Corinth is that it infiltrated the church. And I'm convinced the picture is the exact same today, exact same today. And so what happens is Paul writes this letter to the church. Here in chapter five, he addresses a situation which I wish I could clean this up some, but there's just no way to clean it up. The situation is there is a brother, there's a member in the church who is sleeping with his stepmother. That's the picture. And he is a member of the church and Paul addresses them, and I want you to hear what he says 1 Corinthians 5, verse 1. It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that does not even occur among pagans. A man has his father's wife, which the original language. There is a picture of his stepmother and you are proud. Shouldn't you rather have been filled with grief and have put out of your fellowship the man who did this? Even though I am not physically present, I am with you in spirit and I have already passed judgment on the one who did this, just as if I were present. When you are assembled in the name of our Lord Jesus and I am with you in spirit and the power of our Lord Jesus is present hand this man over to Satan. Your boasting is not good. Don't you know that a little yeast works through the whole batch of dough? Get rid of the old yeast that you may be a new batch without yeast, as you really are. For christ, our, our passover land has been sacrificed. Therefore, let us keep the festival, not with the old yeast, the yeast of malice and wickedness, but with bread without yeast, the bread of sincerity and truth. I have written you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people. Then paul says not at all, meaning the people of this world who are immoral, or the greedy and swindlers or idolaters. In that case you would have to leave this world. Paul just gets honest. Listen, this is talking about the church here. If you were avoiding the sexually immoral in the world, you couldn't go out of your house, you'd go somewhere else, another planet. But now I am writing you that you must not associate with anyone who calls himself a brother but is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or a slanderer, a drunkard or swindler. With such a man do not even eat, don't even sit at the table with him. What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church? Are you not to judge those inside? God will judge those outside. Expel the wicked man from among you. I want you to notice the forceful language Paul uses here. Four times what he says to do. Verse two, he says put that brother out of your fellowship. Verse five hand him over to Satan, which we'll talk about in a minute. Verse seven get rid of that brother, member of the church. And verse 13, expel the wicked man from among you. This right here pretty much rules Paul out of being on the front cover of church growth magazines. He's just lost his right to the ever, and not just Paul. Jesus tells us this in Matthew 18. Paul talks about it here in 1 Corinthians 5. The Word of God is telling us to remove a member from the church, to remove a brother or sister from the church. Why? This doesn't make sense to us. So why and I think 1 Corinthians 5 gives us the answer in a variety of different ways. You've got this in your notes. First, do this for the purity of the church, for the purity of the church. This, I'm convinced, is the primary issue, as we're going to see in a minute. This is good for the brother or sister who is in immorality, but the primary issue here is the effect on the church. The purity of the church is at the forefront of 1 Corinthians, chapter 5 in a variety of different ways. Look at these truths that rise from 1 Corinthians, chapter 5. First, church members are accountable. Church members are accountable. I want you to notice that Paul, in 1 Corinthians, chapter 5, is not confronting the brother who is in sexual immorality. Who is he confronting? He's confronting the brother who is in sexual immorality. Who is he confronting? He's confronting the church. He's not rebuking the brother who is caught in sexual immorality, he is rebuking the church. And the picture here is the church being told that they are disobeying God for the way they are responding to this brother. The issue in 1 Corinthians 5 is the church's toleration of sin. And he says to them you are accountable, church first before God. 1 Corinthians, chapter 3, verse 16 and 17, just a couple of chapters before this talks about how the people of God are the temple of God. And Paul is saying you're the temple of God and you're not guarding the holiness of that temple. All throughout the Old Testament you didn't let idols hang out in the temple. You cleansed the temple. In the same way, now you're the temple. You do not let impurity reign in the temple and you're accountable before God for that. But not just accountable before God. Church members are accountable for each other. This is the point of 1 Corinthians, chapter 5. The church, the body of believers. The church is responsible for the sin of its members, is responsible for the sin of its members. Did you catch that? The church, the body of believers, is responsible before God for the sin of its members. We do not think this way. We think of sin. We think about sin individualistically, don't we? We think, well, that's that brother's problem, that's that sister's struggle, and that's exactly what they were doing in 1 Corinthians, chapter five, and Paul rebuked them for it. He said it's not that brother's business before God, it's your business before God that he is living in unrepentant sin. You are accountable for God and for each other. That's the whole picture and it makes sense in light of what we've seen all the way up to this point over the last three or four months. As members of the body of Christ, we belong to one another, right, we belong to one another in the way that and that's what this whole yeast and dough is about. One member's sin doesn't just affect them. One member's sin affects the entire body of Christ. We saw this a year ago when we looked at sin in the camp Achan's sin. Joshua, chapter 7,. One man's sin affects the entire people of God. We have no clue how serious sin is. We have no clue how serious sin is. We have no clue how serious sin is in the community of faith. And we are responsible before God for each other. Do you realize? Let this soak in. You are responsible for the holiness of the brothers and sisters that are sitting around you at this moment, brothers and sisters behind you, beside you, in front of you. You're responsible for their growth and holiness. And if there is a brother or sister sitting around you, a member of this body sitting around you that is unrepentant in sin, is continuing on in unrepentant sin, then God holds you responsible. God holds us responsible. I mean you in a plural sense, you, people of God, us. We are responsible for each other's sin. It's even this picture verse 2, when he says you're proud. Shouldn't you rather have been filled with grief? That word there, it's a great word. It's a sorrow over sin and the picture is it's to experience sorrow and grieving over someone else's sin in the same way that we would experience sorrow and grieving over our own sin. It's to grieve over other sins as if they were your own. That right there in and of itself, you think about it. Maybe this is why we don't do church discipline and why we're not grieving over each other's sins, because there is so little grief in our own hearts for our own sin. Don't miss the connection. If we are casual with sin in our own hearts, then we will be casual of sin in other people's lives. When we are serious about sin in our own lives, then we will have deep sensitivity to sins in the community of faith. That's the picture here, and so the lack of church discipline in our culture and in contemporary church today is a reflection on our casual, flippant attitude towards sin. We don't think it's a big deal towards sin. We don't think it's a big deal. 1 Corinthians 5 says it's a huge deal. One writer said a church that does not mourn over sin, especially sin within its own fellowship, is on the edge of spiritual disaster. When we cease to be shocked by sin, we lose a strong defense against it. Church members are accountable. Church members must be humble, must be humble. What is the sin of the church at Corinth here in 1 Corinthians, chapter 5? What's their sin? That Paul points out? Look at verse 2. And you are what? You're proud. You're proud. What does that mean? Proud, were they proud of this guy who is committing this sexual immorality? Are they boasting about that? Certainly not necessarily boasting about his exact sin. But follow closely here. Do not miss this, his exact sin. But follow closely here. Do not miss this. I want you to see with me what Paul is identifying as pride in 1 Corinthians, chapter 5. Don't miss this Pride. 1 Corinthians, chapter 5, it's being addressed here. Pride is toleration of unrepentant sinners in the church. That's pride. Paul says Pride, toleration of unrepentant sinners in the church. It's not necessarily that they were boasting about how great this man's sin was, but they were boasting about the fact that they welcomed him, that they were open-minded to use our terms today that anyone, including someone in such heinous sin, could be a member of this church, and they were proud of it. Look at our grace and our freedom. You can do anything you want and be a member of this church, and Paul rebukes them for it. Church, and Paul rebukes them for it. Now, key words there unrepentant sinners in the church. This is not talking about the way we approach those who are unbelievers outside the church, in sin. It's not talking about those in the church who are hungering and thirsting for righteousness and growing in holiness and struggling with sin along the way. This is unrepentant sinners in the church. Language here is a man has his father's wife. It's present, continual action. He is living in immorality and you are saying he is welcome here as a member of this body, and Paul says that's pride. Your boasting is not good. Now, the alternative is obviously what? The alternative of pride is humility. What's humility? In 1 Corinthians, chapter 5, then, humility is exclusion of unrepentant sinners from the church. That's humility. Paul says this is what you should do Turn from your pride and exclude him, and exclude is the right word. We saw the forceful language Paul used in verse 9. He says don't what you should do Turn from your pride and exclude him, and exclude is the right word. We saw the forceful language Paul used In verse 9, he says don't even associate with him. Verse 11, he says don't even eat with him. And this is not the only place Paul talks like this. This is not just Paul waking up in the morning and having a bad day and writing 1 Corinthians, chapter 5. He says it's in other points too. 2 Thessalonians 3, verse 6. He warns the church to keep away from a brother. 2 Thessalonians 3, verse 14 and 15. Take special note not to associate with this particular brother. 2 Timothy 3, 5. Titus 3, 10. 2 Timothy 3, 5. Titus 3, 10. Having nothing to do with this brother, I want us to realize something. This is the exact opposite of what we think, isn't it Like? We think this is totally reversed. We think it is humble to welcome everyone as members of the church. We think it's a sign of humility to say it doesn't matter what you continue to do in sin, you can still be a member. We think that's humble. In fact, we think it's prideful to do anything different. We would certainly call any church that's casting out members because they continue unrepentant in sin. Who do they think they are Holier thanthan-thou? People Talk about legalism. That's what that church is all about. They're removing members. Don't gloss over this. We can't miss this. If, by God's grace, we are obedient to Him in Matthew 18 and 1 Corinthians 5, and God forbid that we would get to this point with a brother or sister. But if we did and a brother or sister was removed from this body, mark it down from the start that will not be perceived as humble. It will be perceived as prideful, arrogant legalism. But the picture that 1 Corinthians 5 is teaching is exactly the opposite. Church, it is pride to tolerate sin among each other like it is no big deal. It is pride and it is sin against God. Toleration of sin is sinful and it is humility to address sin in a brother or sister's life, even to the point of expelling them from the church if necessary.
Speaker 2:It is pride to sit back and, under a banner of grace and freedom, welcome everyone as members, no matter what they do. That is pride, 1 Corinthians 5 says. And it is humility to care about each other and to care about the holiness of God such that you would confront each other in sin and, if it gets to this case, that you would expel someone from church. We choose the first option, toleration, because it's a lot easier, isn't it? You talk about hard work. Humility here is the hard work.
Speaker 2:Think about the pain involved in 1 Corinthians 5. Maybe not even just the pain, but the risk involved here, in a culture of honor and shame in the first century, to shame a brother and think about it even more Now. We don't know the details. This is hypothetical speculation, but even if it wasn't the case here, it could certainly be the case in our day. What if it's a brother who is particularly influential? What if it is a brother? This brother is extremely generous. What if this is a brother? This brother is extremely generous. What if this brother has influence, power in the community?
Speaker 2:One writer said to lose the favor of a key benefactor, for example, would have been unthinkable in Greco-Roman society and would invite hostility. It would have been more expedient for such a leading figure to be protected from criticism which might lead to his excommunication. There may be, in other words, a situation where some have chosen to ignore the sinful actions of another rather than lose the favor of so prominent a person. Think about a fledgling church at Corinth in a time of persecution, where it was difficult to be the church and be followers of Christ, to have this leader carried away in the immorality in the city and to expel him from the community and to bring that reproach upon yourself. There's an easier way to do church in Corinth. In the same way, there's an easier way to do church in Birmingham.
Speaker 2:But Paul says no matter what it costs, you guard the holiness of God's temple. You promote the purity of the church. You're accountable for God for that, and this is humility. Humility does not tell God how he should be gracious. Humility obeys God with fear and trembling and gentleness. Humility obeys God no matter what it costs. Church members are accountable, must be humble and church membership is essential. We've talked about this before. We'll just hit on it briefly.
Speaker 2:But the implications here for what it means to be a member of the body of christ are huge. Most people read the story today and think, okay, removed from the church, big deal, what does that really matter? And it shows how far we've come, how much we have minimized what it means to be a member of a local body of Christ, to think that this would be not a big deal. It was a huge deal in that day. This was severe, and don't miss what the Bible's saying here about what it means to be a member, a part of a local body of Christ. The church, that local body, defines who is a member. This is not up to the individual here, it's up to the body, because the body of Christ is responsible for defining who is members in the community of faith.
Speaker 2:That's the picture here. And on a deeper level, don't miss what Matthew 18, 1 Corinthians 5 are both teaching Isolation from the church reflects separation from Christ. Whether it's this picture hand this man over to Satan, which we'll talk about in just a second or Matthew 18, treat him as you would. A pagan or a tax collector. To be excommunicated, expelled outside of the body of Christ was to be recognized as someone who's not even a believer, not a brother or sister. This is why, again, if we minimize devalued church membership, what it means to be a member of the body of Christ and we live Christian lives that are just kind of floating all around, not connected to a local body, then we're going completely against the New Testament.
Speaker 2:The New Testament has no understanding of a follower of Christ who is not a committed member of a local body of Christ, who is not a committed member of a local body of Christ, who is committed to that gathering. We've talked about that before and so the picture here is is Paul saying excommunicate someone, first for the purity of the church, second for the salvation of the individual, salvation in a holistic sense here the good of the individual. Salvation in a holistic sense here the good of the individual. Hand this man over to Satan so that the sinful nature may be destroyed and his spirit saved on the day of the Lord, verse 5. Now there's tons of debate on this and we're not going to have time to dive into all the different interpretations here. The point here don't miss the purpose, because even different ideas, thoughts on hand this man over to Satan, sinful nature may destroy what do those things mean? They all lead to his spirit being saved on the day of the Lord. So the picture is this is for this man's good, day of the Lord, day of judgment. So, whatever it means, hand this man over to Satan so the sinful nature may be destroyed, it is for his good, for his salvation. Now we think how is that possible? How can you hand a man over to Satan for their good? And this is where this is like three or four sermons down to 30 or 40 seconds.
Speaker 2:In a nutshell, there's precedent all over Scripture for Satan. Satan, the ruler of this world, god of this world, lowercase g. God of this world is still not sovereign. God is sovereign over Satan and over everything Satan does. And we see in Scripture God using Satan to accomplish God's purposes. It's the whole picture we saw in Job, right, god uses Satan to bring Job 40 chapters later to say I repent in dust and ashes and I see the glory of God. God used Satan to accomplish that.
Speaker 2:2 Corinthians, chapter 12, verse 7 through 10. Paul, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of who? A messenger of Satan. Given to me a messenger of Satan to drive me to trust in the strength that God provides. God used Satan to teach Paul to trust in his grace and his sufficiency. One more example 1 Timothy 1, verse 20. Hymenaeus and Alexander they have been handed over to. Satan uses the same language. I have handed them over to Satan so that they would be taught not to blaspheme. God has a purpose in this and there's a lot of questions there. That's for those three or four sermons. There's a lot of questions there. That's for those three or four sermons. There's a lot of questions there. It's mind-boggling to say the least.
Speaker 2:But the picture is God is sovereign over Satan and God is first ultimate picture here is the purity of the church. But this is for the good of an individual that being cast out of the church he would see the severity of sin. He would feel the consequences of not being united to the body of Christ. And just think about even that right there, if we just stopped right there, even that that being out of the church would be a picture of the severity of sin, that he would see the consequences of being separated from the body of Christ, of sin. That he would see the consequences of being separated from the body of Christ. 1 Corinthians, chapter 5,. This whole picture only works if there is a distinction between the church and the world that he's cast out into right. If there's no distinction between the church and the world, which is where we are today in so many ways, then this picture makes no sense to us, because it really looks pretty much the same to be outside in the world and inside in the church. God, help us to change that. God, raise up a church that is distinctively unique, that is distinctively holy, in the same way that Acts, chapter 5, says awes the world and draws the world to Christ. This is the picture here. For the salvation of the individual, I pray that God would make us a community of faith. That is in and of itself and who we are. We are a gracious deterrent from sin, gracious deterrent against sin. The thought of being separated from this body is in and of itself a gracious deterrent against sin. No, I don't want to be separated from the body of Christ. For the purity of the church, for the salvation of the individual. And you know this was coming for the glory of God.
Speaker 2:Paul starts this whole picture and he says this kind of sexual immorality, it doesn't even occur among pagans. Not even the world condones what you are now condoning in the church. Can I be honest? This is where this journey began for me as a pastor in this body. It was not long after I came when the elders and I were contacted by a woman in this community. Her husband had committed adultery against her and was with another woman living with her, in the process of divorcing his wife. And she contacts us and she says my husband has come and he's joined your church while he's living with this other woman. And she said I don't get it. How can a member of your church be sleeping around on me and you all do nothing about that? That pierced me and we address that individual situation specifically.
Speaker 2:But it was clear how is that possible? And it's possible because we have ignored Matthew 18 and 1 Corinthians 5. We have ignored Matthew 18 and 1 Corinthians 5. And I'm not sure that we were ready at that point to dive right into this, and so this has been a long time coming, but we need to dive into this. We need to implement this For the glory of God not to be compromised in the world. We need to implement this in church. Questions abound how that looks, questions abound. But let's be firm in this one thing we do not want to compromise the glory of God in the world around us when they see the church, and we certainly don't want to use justifying explanations that we're proud of in the process.
Speaker 2:God is doing so much across this body. One of the things we need to work on and we are working on is how to celebrate better all of the victories around this room, this body of believers. There are scores and scores and scores of small groups all across this body that are taking on this city for the glory of Christ, starting ministries, plugging into ministries, infiltrating communities all across the city for the glory of Christ, starting ministries, plugging into ministries, infiltrating communities all across the city with the gospel. There are dozens, dozens of individuals and families in this faith family who right now are either praying seriously about or in the process of giving their lives to go to another nation that does not have access to the gospel, of giving their lives to go to another nation that does not have access to the gospel. There are stories of community and grace and mercy all across this faith family. God is doing awesome things and I'm convinced that the adversary would like nothing more than to undercut that with sin in the camp here or there.
Speaker 2:And for us to think it's small and it's not a big deal and it's not worth addressing. And so let's say, as a people, we're going to be obedient here. Show us how, god, we're going to be obedient. We're not going to have time to finish, of course not, but here's what I want us to do I want us to pray and I want us to pray obedient. We're not going to have time to finish, of course not, but here's what I want us to do I want us to pray and I want us to pray together in response to this word, in light of Psalm 24. Let me read it to you.
Speaker 2:This is a psalm. This is a psalm that was written when people were journeying. Follow this, follow this. When people were journeying to the temple for worship, a place where the glory of God dwelled. This is what they would say who may ascend the hill of the Lord, who may stand in his holy place, he who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not lift up his soul to an idol, he will receive blessing from the Lord. Such is the generation of those who seek him, who seek your face, o God of Jacob. That's what they would say. They would look inside. Do we have clean hands, do we have a pure heart, before we even go to the temple? Now, here's the picture. Not Old Testament anymore, we are the temple, and so the question is church. Do we have clean hands and a pure heart?