WEBVTT 00:00:08.960 --> 00:00:17.359 The question I want to answer tonight is one that maybe you have asked, maybe you haven't asked, but I have heard it asked a lot recently. 00:00:17.440 --> 00:00:24.960 And that question is why do we as a church practice church discipline at communion? 00:00:25.199 --> 00:00:32.079 Why don't we do it some other way, like in a members' meeting or in a uh a letter or something like that? 00:00:32.320 --> 00:00:42.960 But if you've been in Emmanuel for any number of years, I'm sure you've seen that when we have put somebody out of the congregation, we do that at a communion service. 00:00:43.200 --> 00:00:46.399 And people have asked why that is, and so I want to answer that tonight. 00:00:46.479 --> 00:00:49.439 But I want to start with what church discipline is, and that's Matthew 18. 00:00:49.600 --> 00:00:56.159 We're gonna be in probably four different passages tonight, but we're gonna begin in Matthew 18, verse 15. 00:00:57.439 --> 00:01:00.240 This is Jesus' first instruction on the church, by the way. 00:01:00.399 --> 00:01:02.560 Chronologically, it's his first instruction on the church. 00:01:02.640 --> 00:01:10.719 He hasn't used the word church in his life until Matthew 16, where he declared that he would build his church and the gates of hell wouldn't overcome it. 00:01:10.879 --> 00:01:17.040 And then he finishes off Matthew 16, Matthew 17, Matthew 18, he begins to teach on the church. 00:01:17.200 --> 00:01:19.439 The church did not exist in the Old Testament. 00:01:19.680 --> 00:01:24.159 There were believers, of course, in the Old Testament, but God was working through the nation Israel. 00:01:24.400 --> 00:01:26.959 The church does not exist when Jesus teaches this. 00:01:27.120 --> 00:01:29.200 Remember, he said, I will build my church. 00:01:29.280 --> 00:01:30.159 It's a future event. 00:01:30.239 --> 00:01:31.599 He's looking forward to it. 00:01:31.920 --> 00:01:44.239 He builds his church by sending his Holy Spirit after his ascension, after his death and resurrection, he ascends first to the earth, where he teaches about the kingdom for 40 days, and then he ascends into heaven. 00:01:44.480 --> 00:01:47.439 And when he's at in heaven, he sends his Holy Spirit. 00:01:47.519 --> 00:01:49.359 The Father and the Son send the Spirit together. 00:01:49.519 --> 00:01:53.840 The Spirit fills the disciples, seals their spirit, their hearts. 00:01:53.920 --> 00:01:59.200 They had been regenerate before, but now the Spirit seals them, gives them spiritual gifts. 00:01:59.280 --> 00:02:04.640 That's what Paul describes in Ephesians 4, that the one who ascended on high sends his spirit giving gifts to men. 00:02:04.799 --> 00:02:09.360 And then Peter, filled with the Spirit, preaches the first sermon in church history. 00:02:09.520 --> 00:02:12.080 Thousands get saved, and the church is launched. 00:02:12.400 --> 00:02:19.120 Jesus here in Matthew 18 is giving instruction for the future church that will be realized in the book of Acts. 00:02:19.199 --> 00:02:23.520 And his first instruction on the church is on the subject of church discipline. 00:02:23.680 --> 00:02:28.800 He says in verse 15, if your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. 00:02:28.960 --> 00:02:30.479 If he listens to you, you've gained your brother. 00:02:30.639 --> 00:02:31.520 That's the first step. 00:02:31.680 --> 00:02:38.000 If he doesn't listen, take one or two others along with you, so that every charge may be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses. 00:02:38.080 --> 00:02:46.240 And I've taught in Matthew 18 many times, including last year, but you remember this isn't two witnesses to the sin, this is two witnesses to the confrontation. 00:02:46.879 --> 00:02:53.520 And so they can attest to how the confrontation went, and so their testimony about the confrontation would uh would bear truth. 00:02:53.599 --> 00:02:57.840 If he refuses to listen to that group, then tell it to the church. 00:02:57.919 --> 00:03:02.719 And if he refuses to listen to even the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector. 00:03:02.960 --> 00:03:11.360 And so the way we follow that at Emmanuel is you know, if somebody is living in open sin, in rebellion, they're confronted. 00:03:11.439 --> 00:03:26.960 If they refuse to repent, witnesses, usually two elders are involved, and if they refuse to repent, the full elder counsel is brought in, and if they refuse to repent, even when appealed to by the full group of elders, and their name is read at a communion service, and they are put out of the church. 00:03:27.039 --> 00:03:27.840 There it is, fellowship. 00:03:28.159 --> 00:03:32.400 Jesus says it this way in verse 17 tell it to the church. 00:03:32.800 --> 00:03:38.159 If he refuses to listen to even the church, then let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector. 00:03:38.400 --> 00:03:44.800 That phrase, tell it to the church, as I mentioned, that's the second use of the word church in Jesus in the Bible, in Jesus' whole preaching. 00:03:44.879 --> 00:03:51.120 And it's in the context of church discipline to keep the church pure as best as you're able. 00:03:51.360 --> 00:03:53.360 And he gives more instruction about the nature of this. 00:03:53.439 --> 00:04:00.639 Whatever you bind on earth is bound in heaven, whatever you loose on earth is loosed in heaven, wherever two or more of you are gathered, he's there. 00:04:00.719 --> 00:04:01.280 They're with us. 00:04:01.360 --> 00:04:03.120 This is all in the context of church discipline. 00:04:03.280 --> 00:04:11.439 He's telling the elders and the church that when you remove someone from your congregation on earth, you're reflecting your heavenly reality. 00:04:12.319 --> 00:04:19.439 You're not saying that this person is not saved for sure, but you're saying as best as we're able to determine, he's not. 00:04:19.519 --> 00:04:24.959 And so we're disfellowshipping him, we're excommunicating him, putting him out of the church. 00:04:25.519 --> 00:04:26.959 So that's the teaching. 00:04:27.519 --> 00:04:30.240 Now, why do we do that at communion? 00:04:30.720 --> 00:04:41.040 And the answer is because there's so much to the answer, but I think the short and simplest way to address it is to think about what the church has at their disposal. 00:04:42.399 --> 00:04:44.399 What's happening at church? 00:04:44.639 --> 00:04:47.680 When we come together together, what's really going on? 00:04:48.240 --> 00:04:51.120 And it's the corporate expression of the body of Christ on earth. 00:04:51.199 --> 00:04:53.360 There's fellowship, there's the means of grace. 00:04:53.519 --> 00:04:57.439 The means of grace is a phrase that just covers things the church does corporately. 00:04:57.600 --> 00:04:59.120 That's how people grow spiritually. 00:04:59.279 --> 00:05:01.040 So the means of grace include fellowship. 00:05:01.199 --> 00:05:06.800 As Christians are talking in the hallway and talking before and after the service, there's fellowship, that's a means of grace. 00:05:06.959 --> 00:05:14.079 You grow spiritually by life-on-life conversations and interactions that provoke spiritual growth in your life. 00:05:14.240 --> 00:05:22.800 If you're not part of a church, you're not regularly fellowshipping with a church, you see yourself withering spiritually because you're absenting yourself from the means of grace. 00:05:23.600 --> 00:05:25.279 There's the preaching of the word. 00:05:25.680 --> 00:05:31.279 There's something that happens when you sit under the preaching of the word that's different than you know podcasting sermons. 00:05:31.600 --> 00:05:35.519 There's an authority to the Bible and the pulpit and the gathered congregation. 00:05:35.600 --> 00:05:38.240 That's the way the Lord designs the church. 00:05:38.560 --> 00:05:39.600 There's singing. 00:05:39.759 --> 00:05:43.040 You can rock out in your car to Caleb all you want. 00:05:43.680 --> 00:05:51.279 But it's not the same thing as what's happening at church when you gather and you sing the kind of songs that we just sang with other people, and you know, you sing better than you believe. 00:05:51.360 --> 00:05:54.399 You're singing truth that's deeper than you would say. 00:05:55.040 --> 00:05:56.079 But it's true. 00:05:56.240 --> 00:06:00.240 And so those words kind of pull you up, and singing them with a group of people pulls you up together. 00:06:00.399 --> 00:06:02.160 That's a that's a means of grace. 00:06:03.439 --> 00:06:04.959 There's a couple others. 00:06:05.199 --> 00:06:17.360 There's a baptism, as you watch a believer who's baptized and raised from the water in newness of life that encourages you, it reminds you of your salvation and of your conversion, and in that sense, it gives you grace. 00:06:18.079 --> 00:06:28.240 And there's the Lord's table where we all come together, we drink one cup, we eat one bread, and we proclaim the Lord's death until he comes. 00:06:28.399 --> 00:06:32.560 It reminds you of the real, tangible nature of what the Lord has done. 00:06:37.199 --> 00:06:41.920 When we church disciplines someone, what are we removing them from? 00:06:43.040 --> 00:06:46.319 What are we saying they're no longer welcome to participate in? 00:06:46.399 --> 00:06:51.199 It doesn't make sense to withhold baptism from them, although that's what Jonathan Edwards ran into. 00:06:51.360 --> 00:06:57.279 If you're familiar with Jonathan Edwards' life, and last time I taught him Matthew 18, I talked about this in kind of the introduction of it. 00:06:57.360 --> 00:07:06.639 If you remember Jonathan Edwards, the uh American theologian and pastor, he church planted among the Indians, president of Princeton University, etc., etc. 00:07:06.879 --> 00:07:17.279 But most well known for his pastorship in Northampton, Massachusetts, where uh the Great Awakening took place under his ministry, yet he was fired from his church over this issue. 00:07:17.439 --> 00:07:27.279 He saw people who were unregenerate, who were giving no claim of profession and faith in Christ, and Edwards taught that you should withhold baptism from their children. 00:07:27.439 --> 00:07:32.639 He's working in an infant Baptist context where people baptize their children into the covenant. 00:07:32.720 --> 00:07:42.399 And so Edwards said, if you're not leading a saved life, if you're not even claiming the name of Christ, if you're not professing a conversion, then I won't baptize your children. 00:07:42.560 --> 00:07:48.560 Now, for the Baptists in here, which I would assume would be almost all of you, we kind of chuckle at that. 00:07:49.120 --> 00:07:51.120 But you understand the dynamic, don't you? 00:07:51.279 --> 00:07:54.319 In the infant Baptist world, that's what Edwards has at his disposal. 00:07:54.399 --> 00:07:58.319 He's saying you're not responding to confrontation in your sin. 00:07:58.480 --> 00:08:01.120 You're not professing a Christian life. 00:08:01.279 --> 00:08:06.000 So I'm not going to baptize your children into a covenant that you by your life deny. 00:08:07.360 --> 00:08:09.040 And the church fired him. 00:08:09.920 --> 00:08:11.920 But what about for Baptists? 00:08:12.399 --> 00:08:20.480 We wouldn't say that we're going to withhold baptism from babies if their parents aren't regenerate because we just withhold baptism from babies, period. 00:08:22.879 --> 00:08:24.720 And that's where communion comes in. 00:08:25.199 --> 00:08:33.200 Communion is the public profession of the unity of the body that we are celebrating the reality of the death and resurrection of Christ. 00:08:33.279 --> 00:08:36.720 We proclaim, as Paul says, the Lord's death until he comes. 00:08:38.559 --> 00:08:45.919 It's an interesting question that has marked a lot of church history that we take for granted, but who has the right to withhold the Lord's table from somebody? 00:08:46.799 --> 00:08:51.120 Even the word excommunicate, it literally means ex out of. 00:08:51.759 --> 00:08:53.919 Communicate is from the word for communion. 00:08:54.080 --> 00:08:59.919 What the word excommunicate means is to remove somebody from the presence of communion, from the Lord's table. 00:09:00.080 --> 00:09:04.320 Now, in the Catholic Church, this is what they did to maintain control of their population. 00:09:04.480 --> 00:09:10.480 The Catholic Church would withhold all of the sacraments, all seven sacraments from people that were in rebellion against the church. 00:09:10.639 --> 00:09:13.279 They would withhold baptism or the efficacy of baptism. 00:09:13.360 --> 00:09:14.879 They would say it doesn't do anything. 00:09:15.039 --> 00:09:24.639 They would withhold the ordination of priests in a certain parish or a certain geographical area if their king was in rebellion, so the priest couldn't even give the sacraments. 00:09:24.799 --> 00:09:31.039 They would uh nullify marriages, they would deny last rites, and the Catholic Church knows the seven sacraments, including communion. 00:09:31.200 --> 00:09:32.559 They certainly would remove communion. 00:09:32.639 --> 00:09:37.440 And it was not the local priests that did this, but it was the government that did it. 00:09:38.080 --> 00:10:09.279 And so the Protestant Reformation comes along and Luther renounces the authority of the Pope in different areas from Zurich, Switzerland under Zwingli to Geneva under Calvin, Scotland under John Knox, even London under the brief time of the little boy King Edward and the nine days of Lady Jane Grey and the ministry of Oliver Cromwell and others, they too wrestled through this issue. 00:10:09.440 --> 00:10:14.480 If you deny the Pope's authority, who then has the authority to remove somebody from the church? 00:10:14.639 --> 00:10:16.320 And the answer was not very clear-cut. 00:10:16.559 --> 00:10:19.360 This is what where the idea of separation of church and state came from. 00:10:19.840 --> 00:10:24.159 They would argue that the government had the authority to withhold the Lord's table from somebody. 00:10:24.240 --> 00:10:29.039 If you reject the Pope, then it's the government that can say this person can or cannot take communion. 00:10:29.440 --> 00:10:33.440 After all, it was the local governments that were saying we're no longer under the Holy Roman Empire. 00:10:33.519 --> 00:10:34.399 We reject the Pope. 00:10:34.559 --> 00:10:37.919 So the government gets to decide who can and cannot take communion. 00:10:38.240 --> 00:10:50.240 And then you had pastors that were pushing against that and saying, no, we reject King Charles's authority to say who can and cannot take communion, and the Puritans said, we are taking that for ourselves. 00:10:51.840 --> 00:10:56.960 And I'll bore you a blow-by-blow analysis of how this played out in church history, but it's fascinating. 00:10:57.039 --> 00:10:59.600 And note that I could give it to you if I wanted to. 00:11:00.639 --> 00:11:10.559 But to skip to the ends, kind of the truce that they settled on was that the church had the authority to label who the heretics were. 00:11:11.200 --> 00:11:14.799 And the government had the authority to punish them. 00:11:15.120 --> 00:11:18.000 Heresy in many places was a capital offense. 00:11:18.879 --> 00:11:26.720 The first person that was executed under Calvin's Geneva, for example, was executed for leaving him death threats on his pulpit. 00:11:27.679 --> 00:11:32.879 And so the church turned that man over to the government, and the government executed him. 00:11:33.279 --> 00:11:37.039 Or in Europe, people were, or in England, people were executed for heresy. 00:11:37.120 --> 00:11:41.919 But John Owen, for example, rejected the idea that the king would get to decide who a heretic was. 00:11:42.080 --> 00:11:47.919 John Owen insisted that the church decided who the heretics were, but he was very clear the church doesn't get to kill them. 00:11:48.080 --> 00:11:52.080 So this is when the Puritans talked about separation of church and state, this is what they meant. 00:11:52.240 --> 00:11:56.559 The church says this person's the heretic, so government, we give them to you, you kill him. 00:11:56.720 --> 00:12:00.000 Or the government says, I don't know if this guy's a heretic, what do you say? 00:12:00.080 --> 00:12:03.519 And the church would say, yeah, heretic, and give him back to the government. 00:12:03.679 --> 00:12:06.639 That was, in their world, separation of church and state. 00:12:07.039 --> 00:12:10.159 Have that in your mind when you think of the Salem witch trials, by the way. 00:12:10.320 --> 00:12:14.320 You think, how could pastors be involved in executing so-called witches? 00:12:14.480 --> 00:12:22.399 Understand that this was their version of separation in church and state, where the legal system said, we're not going to wait into who does and who doesn't have a demon. 00:12:22.559 --> 00:12:24.399 We're going to let the pastors do that. 00:12:24.639 --> 00:12:28.639 And the pastors tell us that person has a demon and then we'll kill them. 00:12:30.240 --> 00:12:34.159 Obviously, we have moved on from that form of separation in church and state. 00:12:34.320 --> 00:12:34.960 Amen? 00:12:36.320 --> 00:12:37.759 But what remains? 00:12:39.200 --> 00:12:44.960 What remains is this basic question who has authority over the Lord's table? 00:12:45.840 --> 00:12:47.039 Does it the government? 00:12:48.000 --> 00:12:49.200 Or do churches? 00:12:50.399 --> 00:12:51.360 The elders. 00:12:52.240 --> 00:12:59.440 So from Matthew 18, I want you to flip over to Mark chapter to 1 Corinthians chapter 5. 00:13:00.320 --> 00:13:05.039 1 Corinthians chapter 5 is where we pick up this theme here. 00:13:09.279 --> 00:13:15.039 1 Corinthians chapter 5 is Paul's really his first teaching on communion in his epistles. 00:13:15.360 --> 00:13:22.960 He's writing the Corinthians, and the Corinthians are leading allegedly in chapter 5, verse 1, sexually immoral lives. 00:13:23.120 --> 00:13:24.159 Many of them are. 00:13:24.480 --> 00:13:29.039 Extreme sexual immorality in chapter 5, verse 1, the kind that's not even tolerated among pagans. 00:13:29.919 --> 00:13:34.720 Verse 2, he says, the person who does this ought to be removed from you. 00:13:34.879 --> 00:13:43.679 And so you have to ask yourself, when Paul says the person leading an unrepentant and immoral life should be removed from you, what does he mean by that? 00:13:43.840 --> 00:13:47.519 Is he using a new phrase that he's just come up with right now? 00:13:47.679 --> 00:13:49.519 Is he saying that you know trespass him? 00:13:50.799 --> 00:13:51.519 I don't think so. 00:13:51.919 --> 00:13:54.879 Much of what he describes in 1 Corinthians is drawn from Matthew's gospel. 00:13:55.120 --> 00:14:05.919 In fact, in chapter 7 of 1 Corinthians, he says very expressly that some of this was told to him from the Lord's teaching, namely the Gospel of Matthew, is where he's quoting from in 1 Corinthians 7. 00:14:06.080 --> 00:14:13.759 And so it's likely here that he's borrowing language from Matthew's gospel when he says, remove this person from you, he's borrowing the concept, I would say, from Matthew 18. 00:14:13.919 --> 00:14:19.279 When he uses the language at the end of verse 2, remove this person from you, he's talking about church discipline. 00:14:21.519 --> 00:14:27.039 He even echoes Matthew 18 in verse 3, though I'm not there, I am there in my spirit. 00:14:27.600 --> 00:14:29.039 And Paul's not omniscient. 00:14:29.120 --> 00:14:36.320 He's saying that when the church acts in this way, it's as if the whole body of Christ is acting, just like Jesus himself said, that I'm with you. 00:14:37.360 --> 00:14:40.000 Paul says, I've already pronounced judgment on the one who did such a thing. 00:14:40.320 --> 00:14:45.039 Paul says, if the elders of the church look into this and remove the person, Paul says the judgment has been pronounced. 00:14:45.120 --> 00:14:47.200 It's very much an echo of Matthew 18. 00:14:48.080 --> 00:14:59.519 Verse 4 When you're assembled in the name of the Lord Jesus, and my spirit is there, with the power of our Lord Jesus, deliver this man to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved on the day of the Lord. 00:14:59.679 --> 00:15:01.120 That's Paul's teaching in church discipline. 00:15:01.200 --> 00:15:04.879 He says, Do it when you're gathered, when you're assembled in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. 00:15:04.960 --> 00:15:08.960 Well, my friends, that is the corporate gathering of the church he's talking about. 00:15:09.120 --> 00:15:19.440 When the church comes together, assembled with the power of the Holy Spirit, the power of the Lord Jesus, to proclaim the gospel, that is the Lord's Day gatherings he's talking about. 00:15:20.000 --> 00:15:25.679 He's not talking about some members' meeting, he's not talking about, you know, a mail-in letter here. 00:15:25.759 --> 00:15:31.759 He's talking about physically gathering, the same gathering where you take communion, the same corporate gathering. 00:15:31.840 --> 00:15:32.799 That's what he's addressing here. 00:15:32.879 --> 00:15:35.039 He's going to get very specific in a second. 00:15:35.360 --> 00:15:39.200 Verse 6 a little leaven leavens the whole lump. 00:15:39.360 --> 00:15:42.240 That's an analogy out of nowhere, it seems. 00:15:42.480 --> 00:15:43.919 It's a food analogy. 00:15:44.399 --> 00:15:46.159 A little leaven leavens the whole lump? 00:15:46.240 --> 00:15:47.200 What is he talking about? 00:15:47.360 --> 00:15:52.799 It's an Old Testament image here of leaven going in, it works its way through the bread, it becomes an image of sin. 00:15:52.879 --> 00:15:55.200 If you allow sin in the camp, it defiles everybody. 00:15:55.360 --> 00:15:58.320 And so the instruction here is to remove sin from the camp. 00:15:58.559 --> 00:16:05.360 Paul is taking that Old Testament analogy, making it a New Testament reality here about church discipline. 00:16:06.559 --> 00:16:12.080 And he says in verse 7, Cleanse the old leaven that you might be a new lump, as you really are unleavened. 00:16:12.159 --> 00:16:15.120 For Christ, our Passover lamb has been sacrificed. 00:16:15.519 --> 00:16:20.799 Now he's taking the leaven analogy and connecting it to Jesus, our Passover lamb. 00:16:21.120 --> 00:16:29.200 Passover is the Old Testament annual celebration of how the Lord led the Israelites out of slavery with the blood on the doorpost. 00:16:29.360 --> 00:16:31.120 Passover is not celebrated in the church. 00:16:31.279 --> 00:16:33.440 What's celebrated in the church instead is communion. 00:16:33.519 --> 00:16:38.399 It's not annually, Paul's going to say later on in 1 Corinthians, but as often as you do it. 00:16:40.639 --> 00:16:47.519 Therefore, we celebrate that festival, he says in verse 8, not with the old leaven, malice and evil, but with sincerity and truth. 00:16:47.759 --> 00:16:52.480 Now, verse 9, I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people. 00:16:52.639 --> 00:16:56.000 Not at all, meaning the sexually immoral of this world. 00:16:56.960 --> 00:16:59.200 Because then you'd have to go out of the world. 00:17:05.279 --> 00:17:06.160 And what would you do? 00:17:06.319 --> 00:17:07.279 Where would you go work? 00:17:07.519 --> 00:17:08.960 Where would you live? 00:17:09.599 --> 00:17:11.359 What sports teams would your kids play on? 00:17:11.519 --> 00:17:12.480 What country would you go to? 00:17:12.640 --> 00:17:13.759 What state would you go to? 00:17:14.160 --> 00:17:15.519 Some of you all want to move to Florida. 00:17:16.079 --> 00:17:17.039 Let me let you know something. 00:17:17.119 --> 00:17:19.680 There's sexually immoral people in Florida too. 00:17:22.000 --> 00:17:25.599 If you can't remove yourself from that, you'd have to leave the world. 00:17:28.160 --> 00:17:29.359 What's he talking about? 00:17:29.680 --> 00:17:41.039 Verse 11, I'm telling you not to associate with anyone who bears the name of a brother, if he's guilty or of sexual immorality or greed or an idolater, reviler, drunker, or swindler, not to even eat with such a one. 00:17:42.799 --> 00:17:43.839 Now let me be clear. 00:17:43.920 --> 00:17:45.440 There's a lot of confusion on this verse. 00:17:45.599 --> 00:17:51.519 He is not talking about having lunch with somebody who's not a Christian. 00:17:53.039 --> 00:18:02.000 He is talking about celebrating the Lord's table, proclaiming the death and resurrection of Christ with the sexually immoral person. 00:18:02.160 --> 00:18:04.079 He says, you may not do that. 00:18:04.240 --> 00:18:16.559 He's talking about Christians in the gathering of the church eating in a way that harkens back to the unleavened bread of the Old Testament and Christ our Passover lamb. 00:18:16.720 --> 00:18:19.279 I mean, that pretty clearly is communion. 00:18:19.519 --> 00:18:25.279 And he's telling you, do not celebrate communion with those who are leading sexually immoral lives. 00:18:25.440 --> 00:18:29.680 Unless you say, well, it seems like he's elevating sexual immorality above other kinds of sins. 00:18:29.920 --> 00:18:30.880 He's not. 00:18:31.119 --> 00:18:33.920 He's dealing with it, because that's the sin presenting itself in Corinth. 00:18:34.000 --> 00:18:35.440 But notice what he says in verse 11. 00:18:35.519 --> 00:18:48.799 He's also talking about greed, idolatry, a reviler, a drunkard, a swindler, and sexual immorality. 00:18:49.119 --> 00:18:50.880 There's six sins for you right there. 00:18:51.039 --> 00:18:53.440 He's talking about broad categories of sin. 00:18:53.599 --> 00:19:04.640 In other words, he's saying if there's somebody who is claiming the name of Christ, but is leading an immoral life, do not take the Lord's table with such a person. 00:19:06.880 --> 00:19:09.039 Well, how would you apply that? 00:19:11.920 --> 00:19:18.319 How would you who maybe know the people in the row in front of you and behind you and to your left and your right? 00:19:19.119 --> 00:19:26.400 Maybe know the people over in that corner, and maybe know the people in that corner, but we don't know who's here. 00:19:29.920 --> 00:19:43.839 It falls then to the people who are receiving this to follow Matthew 18, which this is in the context of confronting people in their sin and bringing them to the elders, and the elders putting them outside of the church. 00:19:44.880 --> 00:19:49.440 Specifically for the purpose of withholding the Lord's table. 00:19:49.920 --> 00:19:51.359 He makes that clear in verse 12. 00:19:51.440 --> 00:19:53.519 What do I have to do with judging outsiders? 00:19:53.839 --> 00:19:56.720 It's those inside the church that we're talking about judging. 00:19:56.880 --> 00:19:58.559 God will take care of those outside the church. 00:19:58.640 --> 00:20:01.759 You, however, are to purge the evil person from among you. 00:20:02.000 --> 00:20:06.400 So again, how are you supposed to purge the evil person from among you? 00:20:06.559 --> 00:20:09.119 What tools has God given us to do that? 00:20:09.279 --> 00:20:10.960 And the answer is pretty straightforward. 00:20:11.119 --> 00:20:14.240 It's Matthew 18, it's confronting somebody in their sin. 00:20:14.400 --> 00:20:15.920 Paul repeats this in Galatians 6. 00:20:16.079 --> 00:20:21.680 You who are spiritual, when someone's caught in a trespass, you who are spiritual, restore them with a spirit of gentleness and meekness. 00:20:21.759 --> 00:20:23.680 I mean, that's the whole concept here. 00:20:23.920 --> 00:20:27.599 2 Corinthians 7, I confront you in your sin and I hope that you repent. 00:20:28.720 --> 00:20:30.960 That's what he's driving home to them. 00:20:31.519 --> 00:20:37.279 He wants the church to put out from its congregation those who are leading immoral lives. 00:20:37.440 --> 00:20:39.359 It falls to the elders to do that. 00:20:39.519 --> 00:20:41.440 This goes back to Matthew 18, verse 17. 00:20:41.519 --> 00:20:46.160 If you refuse to listen to him, treat him like a Gentile and a tax collector, treat him like someone who's unclean. 00:20:46.319 --> 00:20:48.160 You wouldn't eat with such a person. 00:20:48.720 --> 00:21:03.759 I remember being so confused about this when I was invited to somebody's house who was leading an immoral life, calling themselves a Christian, and they invited me to their house for a meal, and this passage was just like it was giving me problems. 00:21:04.400 --> 00:21:08.319 I was a seminary student, I knew enough to be dangerous, not enough to be helpful. 00:21:09.839 --> 00:21:17.279 And I was so vexed, like, should I eat at this person's house, or is that violating this passage? 00:21:18.319 --> 00:21:23.200 I eventually told him, listen, if you stop calling yourself a Christian, then I'll eat at your house. 00:21:23.839 --> 00:21:30.799 I didn't have the MacArthur Study Bible to look up at the answer key at the bottom and know the right understanding of the passage. 00:21:31.279 --> 00:21:39.920 It's not talking about having a meal at somebody's house, it's talking about, in this sense, extending Christian fellowship to somebody, particularly in the context of the Lord's table. 00:21:41.680 --> 00:21:49.680 Treating somebody as if they're a believer when their life denies Christ in the context of taking the Lord's table with the gathered church. 00:21:49.839 --> 00:21:51.839 Paul has makes it very clear in chapter five. 00:21:51.920 --> 00:21:59.519 He's talking about when you if you go back to chapter four, he's talking about when or to chapter five, verse four, he's talking about when the church is assembled in the name of the Lord Jesus. 00:22:00.799 --> 00:22:02.160 This is corporate worship. 00:22:02.319 --> 00:22:05.440 In fact, that's what the word excommunicated means, is removed from communion. 00:22:05.599 --> 00:22:09.279 You can skip over to 1 Corinthians chapter 10 now. 00:22:09.599 --> 00:22:12.880 Skip right a few chapters. 00:22:13.440 --> 00:22:15.759 Paul has more to say about communion. 00:22:17.200 --> 00:22:20.720 First, he tells them in verse 14 to flee from idolatry. 00:22:21.519 --> 00:22:23.680 In other words, repent from your sin. 00:22:24.160 --> 00:22:28.880 Verse 16: the cup of blessing we bless is participation in the blood of Christ. 00:22:29.039 --> 00:22:32.319 The bread we break is participation in the body of Christ. 00:22:32.559 --> 00:22:34.799 I love the way he renders it here. 00:22:35.279 --> 00:22:40.720 The bread does not become the body of Christ, but you eating it participates in the body of Christ. 00:22:41.680 --> 00:22:53.519 This denies the idea of transubstantiation, so often taught, especially in the Catholic Church, that the bread physically changes into the actual body of Christ, that of course would deny the real humanity of Christ, wouldn't it? 00:22:53.759 --> 00:22:58.000 I mean, the humanity of Christ means that he's localized in one place. 00:22:58.240 --> 00:23:02.480 The human nature of Christ is in one place at one time because it's a human nature. 00:23:02.640 --> 00:23:11.359 If the bread could be ubiquitous, if it could be everywhere all over the world at the same time, that denies the humanity of Christ, which is, of course, a heresy. 00:23:11.599 --> 00:23:15.119 So Paul doesn't say when you take the bread, you're taking the actual body of Christ. 00:23:15.279 --> 00:23:20.400 He says when you take the bread, you're participating with the body of Christ, meaning the church. 00:23:20.720 --> 00:23:25.599 The bread represents his body, the church taking it as a participatory act of the church. 00:23:25.759 --> 00:23:27.519 So that's what he's talking about. 00:23:28.079 --> 00:23:35.759 Because verse 17, there's one bread, we who are many are one body, even though we all partake of the one bread. 00:23:37.119 --> 00:23:42.799 He uses a reference in verse 18 to Israel and how they functioned, even in the wilderness. 00:23:43.519 --> 00:23:47.839 Verse 19, he makes fun of the uh the contrast between God and idols. 00:23:48.000 --> 00:23:49.759 Idols can't really corrupt food, of course. 00:23:49.920 --> 00:23:51.920 Idols have no actual power. 00:23:52.720 --> 00:23:55.680 But then he says in verse 20, this is the key part. 00:23:56.559 --> 00:23:59.200 Pagans sacrifice to demons and not to God. 00:23:59.359 --> 00:24:00.720 Don't participate with demons. 00:24:00.880 --> 00:24:05.119 Verse 21, you cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons. 00:24:05.279 --> 00:24:06.880 This is an ontological statement. 00:24:07.039 --> 00:24:13.680 You're either participating with the body of the Lord or you are celebrating the immorality of the world, a demonic activity. 00:24:13.839 --> 00:24:16.559 You cannot partake the table of the Lord and the table of demons. 00:24:16.640 --> 00:24:19.119 You cannot do both at the same time. 00:24:20.559 --> 00:24:22.559 So that's the gauntlet he's throwing down. 00:24:22.720 --> 00:24:27.039 When the church gathers together to celebrate communion, be clear about what you're doing. 00:24:27.519 --> 00:24:30.079 Is this a whoever wills, let him come? 00:24:32.160 --> 00:24:39.519 And Dider and I went and visited my brother, actually, uh in Albuquerque and his church. 00:24:39.599 --> 00:24:52.880 He's part of a church plant, and they were uh renting a building from an Anglican church in downtown Albuquerque, and that's where they met in the evening service for their evening worship in that Anglican massive cathedral. 00:24:52.960 --> 00:24:54.880 It was a beautiful beautiful building. 00:24:55.039 --> 00:24:56.960 Uh just an incredible experience. 00:24:57.119 --> 00:25:01.599 I think it was we were there for Christmas, they were singing Christmas songs, and it was really a wonderful, wonderful time. 00:25:01.759 --> 00:25:13.359 But then in the hallway afterwards, I saw flyers on the wall for the next communion service, not of my brother's church, but of the church that met there in the morning. 00:25:13.680 --> 00:25:18.319 And it was a bring your pets to communion service Sunday. 00:25:18.640 --> 00:25:26.559 And there were pictures on the flyer of the previous year's pets to communion service, and you got like people with chihuahuas and stuff. 00:25:27.119 --> 00:25:31.359 Lying in the aisle, I don't know the mechanism. 00:25:32.319 --> 00:25:34.559 Normally in Anglican, they use the shared cup. 00:25:34.640 --> 00:25:37.039 I don't know if the dogs drink from the same cup, I don't know exactly. 00:25:37.200 --> 00:25:38.480 What if you had like a parakeet? 00:25:38.720 --> 00:25:40.319 I don't know how it how it would work. 00:25:42.880 --> 00:25:45.359 Paul's asking a very basic question here. 00:25:45.759 --> 00:25:54.720 When you come together at the Lord's table, is it to celebrate the death and resurrection for those who have professed Christ and have the Spirit of Christ? 00:25:55.680 --> 00:25:58.160 Or is it an open invitation for the world? 00:25:59.920 --> 00:26:01.359 It can't be both. 00:26:03.039 --> 00:26:05.839 You know, churches, different churches have different approaches to communion. 00:26:05.920 --> 00:26:11.680 Some churches practice open communion, which is the and Emmanuel's probably pretty close to this. 00:26:11.759 --> 00:26:15.680 That's the declaration that any believer in Christ can participate in communion. 00:26:16.319 --> 00:26:19.039 Other churches practice what's called closed communion. 00:26:19.200 --> 00:26:19.839 This is most Baptist. 00:26:20.079 --> 00:26:28.559 If you go to Baptist, Baptist churches practice that form of communion where they say any baptized believer who's a member of a church can celebrate communion. 00:26:28.720 --> 00:26:36.000 In other words, you have to be baptized, you have to be a member of a church, not necessarily our church, but any church, those can celebrate communion. 00:26:36.079 --> 00:26:37.279 And there's closed communion. 00:26:37.519 --> 00:26:43.519 Closed communion is where you say only members of our church or a church in our denomination can celebrate communion. 00:26:45.279 --> 00:26:47.359 A like-minded denomination. 00:26:48.079 --> 00:26:50.480 But notice that those are the three approaches to communion. 00:26:50.640 --> 00:26:54.240 All three of them have this idea that is for believers only. 00:26:56.960 --> 00:27:06.319 It's not whoever wants to, but whoever is saved, professing faith, whose life does not deny their testimony. 00:27:06.880 --> 00:27:13.839 And if they're not doing that, it falls to the church to remove them from the celebration of communion, or you're profaning the Lord's table. 00:27:14.000 --> 00:27:17.680 You cannot say that Christ is Lord except by the Spirit of Christ. 00:27:18.640 --> 00:27:24.720 And if you deny Christ, you deny the presence of Christ in communion at the very least. 00:27:38.480 --> 00:27:40.799 Parents, and the parents say, Oh, we've never, what is that? 00:27:40.960 --> 00:27:41.759 What is that in your backyard? 00:27:41.839 --> 00:27:42.559 And you said it's a pool. 00:27:42.880 --> 00:27:44.960 Like, oh, is that water? 00:27:45.680 --> 00:27:46.240 Yeah, water. 00:27:46.400 --> 00:27:48.240 Oh, we've never seen a pool before. 00:27:48.880 --> 00:27:50.000 Have you guys swam before? 00:27:50.079 --> 00:27:52.400 And they say, no, no, we've never swam before. 00:27:52.799 --> 00:27:53.839 What's swimming? 00:27:54.240 --> 00:27:59.519 Oh, it's where you go in the water and you close your eyes and hold your nose and kick, kick, kick. 00:27:59.839 --> 00:28:01.440 Like, oh, wow. 00:28:01.680 --> 00:28:03.599 All right, we're gonna do it right now. 00:28:05.920 --> 00:28:08.799 What's the most loving thing you could do for that family? 00:28:09.039 --> 00:28:12.799 A little two-year-old, a little four-year-old, a little eight-year-old, parents. 00:28:13.119 --> 00:28:15.839 What's the most loving thing you could do for them right there? 00:28:16.720 --> 00:28:18.640 You'd say, No, you're not. 00:28:19.359 --> 00:28:22.640 It's actually electrified, and you'll zap yourself if you touch it. 00:28:22.880 --> 00:28:24.160 Stay away. 00:28:24.799 --> 00:28:32.000 You have a duty out of Christian love to warn them that if they go in the water, they might die. 00:28:32.240 --> 00:28:38.880 Now I know there's like the old adage of, you know, you can teach a two-year-old to swim by chucking them in the pool, but yeah, probably not your pool. 00:28:41.680 --> 00:28:45.119 You have a duty out of Christian love to warn such a person. 00:28:46.079 --> 00:28:47.920 It won't go well for you. 00:28:49.119 --> 00:28:52.319 That's where I want you to flip to 1 Corinthians chapter 11. 00:28:53.839 --> 00:28:54.720 We'll jump in. 00:28:54.960 --> 00:28:58.240 Verses 17 forward is more instruction about communion. 00:28:58.400 --> 00:28:59.839 Paul is certainly talking about communion. 00:28:59.920 --> 00:29:05.359 If you look at the heading in the ESV in verse 17, he's talking about the Lord's Supper, he's talking about communion. 00:29:05.920 --> 00:29:15.519 When the church comes together for communion, you come together, verse 18, as a church, it's the gathering of the church. 00:29:16.319 --> 00:29:22.880 Now, I'm not going to get bogged down the details of how the Corinthians celebrated communion, which is different than how we celebrate communion. 00:29:22.960 --> 00:29:24.160 Many other churches celebrate communion. 00:29:24.240 --> 00:29:28.240 It appears to be more like a, you know, an actual meal. 00:29:29.279 --> 00:29:33.440 Because Paul says in verse 22, hey, why don't you just eat at home rather than profaning the Lord's table? 00:29:33.599 --> 00:29:36.480 But then verse 23 is where I want to draw your attention to. 00:29:36.799 --> 00:29:38.160 This is where it gets significant. 00:29:38.319 --> 00:29:41.920 I received from the Lord that which I also pass on to you. 00:29:42.160 --> 00:29:44.480 He's again quoting from the book of Matthew here. 00:29:49.039 --> 00:29:53.839 When he gave thanks, he broke it and said, This is my body, do this in remembrance of me. 00:29:54.000 --> 00:29:57.279 In the same way, after supper, he took the cup. 00:29:57.359 --> 00:29:59.359 This is the new covenant of my blood, do this often. 00:29:59.519 --> 00:30:06.960 As you drink it in remembrance of me, he's telling them, practice communion as the Lord instituted it that night. 00:30:09.519 --> 00:30:11.680 In the same way, he says. 00:30:12.799 --> 00:30:14.079 So what happened that night? 00:30:14.240 --> 00:30:16.079 Dog your mind back to that night. 00:30:16.319 --> 00:30:17.839 A lot went on. 00:30:18.319 --> 00:30:21.359 John 13 to 17, there's a lot going on in there. 00:30:21.680 --> 00:30:24.559 But one specific thing happened that night. 00:30:24.799 --> 00:30:30.720 Before the Lord instituted communion, he removed somebody from the presence. 00:30:30.880 --> 00:30:33.119 He removed somebody from fellowship. 00:30:33.599 --> 00:30:36.079 He told Judas, You gotta go, man. 00:30:36.240 --> 00:30:37.039 You gotta go. 00:30:37.279 --> 00:30:44.240 What you do, do quickly, took the bread, dipped it in the wine, handed it to him, and kicked him out. 00:30:46.640 --> 00:30:52.720 Judas went away to betray Christ, and then Jesus instituted communion. 00:30:55.440 --> 00:30:56.799 It's always struck me. 00:30:57.039 --> 00:31:04.720 I think Pastor Tom was the first person who pointed this out to me, that Judas was there for Jesus to wash the feet. 00:31:05.599 --> 00:31:09.039 But he was kicked out when it came time for communion. 00:31:09.839 --> 00:31:12.000 Jesus served him until the end. 00:31:14.000 --> 00:31:16.720 And then he went away with his heart hard. 00:31:17.759 --> 00:31:26.079 That becomes Paul's model in 1 Corinthians 11 to remove the impure person from among you. 00:31:27.599 --> 00:31:30.319 So he ties his teaching on communion back to that in verse 23. 00:31:30.400 --> 00:31:31.440 This is what the Lord did. 00:31:31.759 --> 00:31:32.960 Do this in remembrance of me. 00:31:33.119 --> 00:31:33.920 Verse 26. 00:31:34.160 --> 00:31:39.359 As often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes. 00:31:39.440 --> 00:31:40.880 That's what you're doing here. 00:31:41.839 --> 00:31:50.799 Whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty concerning the body and the blood of the Lord. 00:31:51.039 --> 00:31:54.160 That's why I like the swimming pool analogy I gave you earlier. 00:31:54.319 --> 00:32:00.480 I mean, you keep guilt on yourself if you take communion in an unworthy manner. 00:32:01.119 --> 00:32:04.880 Let a person examine himself and then so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. 00:32:05.039 --> 00:32:08.720 Forever eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself. 00:32:08.799 --> 00:32:12.880 This is why so many of you are weak and ill, and some have died, Paul says. 00:32:14.480 --> 00:32:15.839 So it is like the swimming pool. 00:32:15.920 --> 00:32:22.640 Yeah, there might be the one or two people that have been chucked in and learned to swim first try, but sometimes people die doing that. 00:32:22.799 --> 00:32:24.319 The same thing is true at communion. 00:32:24.400 --> 00:32:28.559 Yeah, people can take communion in an unworthy way, and nothing bad happens sometimes. 00:32:29.039 --> 00:32:31.920