Fellowship | Church Discipline - 1 Corinthians 5 | February 4
INTRO
Hey Family.
Glad to be with you all again. We are starting a new series in 1 Corinthians. What!? How can that be? You ask. Didn’t we just finish a series in 1 Corinthians? Why, yes we did. And we only got to the end of chapter 4. There are still 12 more chapters left. And you know what? We’re probably not going to get to the end of the book in this series either.
In the first series, we examined who we are called to be in light of the Gospel and a life lived for Christ Jesus. Does anybody remember what some of those callings are? Who are we called to be? (Saints, Together, Foolish, Dependent, Extra Ordinary, Faithful, Secure, and Different). And these are all powerful identities that we are called to. That’s what they are, identities. None of that stuff we tend to build our life upon matters much at all. But when we build our life upon the firm foundation of Jesus, this is who we are. This is who you are. You are saints. Can you believe that? You are Dependent on God and Secure in Him. Can you believe that? You are Extra Ordinary. And yes, you are Foolish and Different. But at least we’re different Together.
This calling will continue to be important as we enter our new series looking at the concept of Fellowship. Fellowship is essentially the “oneness that Disciples of Christ experience in true [relationship], oneness with one another, with Christ and with the Father. Just as the Father is in Jesus, so is Jesus in us, and we have unity with one another because of the uniqueness of that relationship” (John 17:23, 1 John 1:3).
Christian fellowship is more than a mutually beneficial relationship. It’s more than companionship. Some people have traded the term and substituted it for the more disciple-focused adaptation–“followship”. But that’s something different. You see there is a depth to fellowship that I don’t want us to miss out on. It’s a much deeper commitment than a friendship or shared interest. If I were to offer any change to the word to make it more meaningful in our modern era the closest thing I can come up with is family-ship. There is a real and true family-ship to Chrisitan fellowship.
There is also an order and ideal for this fellowship to truly exist. John 17 speaks of unity and oneness (as we should know by now so does 1 Corinthians). Acts 2 speaks of holding all things in common. Fellowship goes beyond family-ship into a one-bodiedness. There’s a narrative circulating our culture surrounding identity and preferred pronouns as I’m sure you are all well aware. If I could hijack this narrative for just a moment, I would use it to argue that as a Christian I am a we/our. I am a you/your. Hear me out. I know it’s a bit tongue and cheek. There is a togetherness that exists in Christian fellowship where our lives are inextricably woven together under the headship of Christ.
And so, as a result, there are also all these things that can interrupt and ultimately destroy fellowship. This is the context of the next several chapters of 1 Corinthians. There are some serious things destroying the fellowship of the Church in Corinth. And we must be on our guard as well so that we do not fall victim to a false fellowship and so destroy the calling of the Church.
I encountered this paragraph about the calling of the Church in a sermon from a church Jenny and I were members of.
“The call of the church is that we would help people meet Jesus and that we would help people be shaped into the image of Christ. To model with our culture, with our teaching, with our words, and actions this is what it looks like to follow Jesus. This is how we handle money. This is how we handle relationships. This is how we handle sex. This is how we handle conflict. To model and implement and teach those things. And when someone rebels against that Jesus says that we are to engage…” We are to press in and pursue. We are to press in and confront. We are not to ignore a break in fellowship because it is a poison that spreads throughout the body.
This concept of Church Discipline is a difficult topic. Let’s just get into the Scripture for this morning. 1 Corinthians chapter 5…
SCRIPTURE
1 “It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that is not tolerated even among pagans, for a man has his father's wife. 2 And you are arrogant! Ought you not rather to mourn? Let him who has done this be removed from among you.
3 For though absent in body, I am present in spirit; and as if present, I have already pronounced judgment on the one who did such a thing. 4 When you are assembled in the name of the Lord Jesus and my spirit is present, with the power of our Lord Jesus, 5 you are to deliver this man to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord.
6 Your boasting is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump? 7 Cleanse out the old leaven that you may be a new lump, as you really are unleavened. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. 8 Let us therefore celebrate the festival, not with the old leaven, the leaven of malice and evil, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.
9 I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people— 10 not at all meaning the sexually immoral of this world, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters, since then you would need to go out of the world. 11 But now I am writing to you not to associate with anyone who bears the name of brother if he is guilty of sexual immorality or greed, or is an idolater, reviler, drunkard, or swindler—not even to eat with such a one. 12 For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Is it not those inside the church whom you are to judge? 13 God judges those outside. “Purge the evil person from among you.”
BACKGROUND
These are some strong words and this is a bit of a tough topic so I want to make sure we have a little more context to what’s going on than we might usually spend during this time on a Sunday morning. There is a man within the congregation of Corinth that is carrying on a sexual relationship with either his own mother or his step-mother. A majority of scholars tend to interpret this as his step-mother because of the phrase “a man has his father's wife”. Perhaps his mother had passed, the father was remarried and now the father too has died. This speculation really doesn’t matter all that much. What matters is that it is an ongoing relationship. It’s not a single occurrence in which sorrow and repentance has taken place. It is sinful. It is so bad to the extent that even the pagans in all of their hedonistic, debauched ways had laws against incest. So bad that Paul says things like “you are to deliver this man to Satan for the destruction of the flesh” and “purge the evil person from among you”.
Isn’t all sin equally bad? You may ask. Yes. For sure. Paul even writes in verse 11, “I am writing to you not to associate with anyone who bears the name of brother if he is guilty of sexual immorality or greed, or is an idolater, reviler, drunkard, or swindler—not even to eat with such a one.” Sin is serious and should be taken seriously within the church.
Ok, but doesn’t the Bible say not to judge? Well, sort of yes and sort of no. Certainly there are verses that have been taken out of context and used to shame others and put on an air of humility and false pretense to justify unrepentant sin. The Bible warns against judging people in an incorrect way and out of a judgmental heart. Matthew 7 comes to mind. It flat out says “Judge not, that you be not judged.” Right? How could it be any more clear? But then the rest of the verses speak as though judgment is expected to take place but in a healthy life-giving manner, “how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when there is the log in your own eye? …first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye.” It’s not comfortable to have a speck in your eye and in the context of brotherhood it is life-giving for us to help each other remove those harmful specks as long as it’s done rightly. That’s what Paul says as well. “Is it not those inside the church whom you are to judge? God judges those outside.” In the next chapter he even writes, “Do you not know that we will judge angels?” (1 Corinthians 6:3). But now we’re getting ahead of ourselves. “Is it not those inside the church whom you are to judge? God judges those outside.”
So, what about outside the Church? That’s a fair question. Verse 9 says, “...not to associate with sexually immoral people— not at all meaning the sexually immoral of this world, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters, since then you would need to go out of the world.” We are not to judge those whom we should have no expectation to live lives of holiness unto the Lord. We can’t hope to regulate morality of those in the world who have no inclination to live in relationship and in line with the Spirit. And we can’t disassociate with them since then we would have no ability to continue the mission of Christ to seek and save the lost. But there is an expectation for those within the church who are growing in maturity to fight the desires of their heart–of their flesh and seek to live lives wholly pleasing to the Lord. Living sacrifices of a sweet and pleasant aroma to God.
What if I sin? I think you mean not what if but what happens when I sin. What we’re not talking about is a believer who at times loses the fight. We are all sinners saved by grace. We are all going to sin. What is in view is unrepentant and persistent sin. This is an unrepentant sin that says, “no I’m still going to do this. I’m not going to stop. I want to do this.” And so it is not about people who simply sin. We all sin. If you are fighting that sin, though you may still lose from time to time, daily if we’re honest, it’s not talking about that.
Perhaps the biggest question yet to be answered is why is sexual sin so called out? It seems like the Bible has a lot to say about how we should and perhaps more accurately how we should not use our bodies in relationships with others. We’re going to see more of this in the chapters to come so there will be more to be said. But I want you to consider this at this moment in time, we so easily justify sexual sin for the sake of pleasure or desire. It seems good in my eyes and it’s not hurting anyone. It’s the original sin at the fall in the Garden. It seems good in my eyes and desirable, so I’m going to take it and enjoy it. But the challenge is to trust God’s definition of blessing and curse rather than our own. Sex is a good thing. So it’s not inherently sinful, but when we don’t trust God’s limitations on sex we are sinning in our pride to insist that we know better. I want you to understand that good things can be sinful. In fact, the categories of good and bad are all but meaningless with regard to sin. Sin is not the bad things we do. Sex is not a bad thing but it becomes sinful when we insist that we take this good thing on our own terms.
The truth is sexual ethics are not only about individual choice and consent. They actually have full community impact whether done privately or not. Your sex life affects the health of this community. It affects our fellowship. Isn’t that weird.
I also don’t want to focus on sins that are not apparent or affecting this congregation. I’d much rather you not check out because incest is not an issue in your life and instead be challenged by the teaching of God’s word for us who are here today. The same could be said about any number of sins that you don’t struggle with. In other words let’s focus our attention away from the accusatory they and them and their sins or even the more passive we and our and let’s get real about the I struggles. What sins are you dealing with at this season in life? Are there any that are unrepentant? Are there any that you’re like, you know what, I’m going to keep doing this. I’m not going to let God change me. Paul says “to deliver such people to Satan for the destruction of the flesh…” The euphemism we use for this is church discipline. Delivering over to Satan seems too harsh, so we try to soften it–church discipline. There are some of us who probably don’t even like those words.
But that’s what I want us to focus on. Is that, though it is difficult and uncomfortable, church discipline as a practice is a good thing. It is good for you. It is good for the Church. It is good for the world. And I want us to hold that tension and embrace what’s difficult because it is good.
Here’s why, “the goal of discipline is always redemption (1Cor. 5:4), protecting other sheep (v. 6), and honoring the name of Christ (v. 1).”
IT’S FOR YOU
Church discipline is good for you, if and when you require discipline.
Verse 4, “When you are assembled in the name of the Lord Jesus and my spirit is present, with the power of our Lord Jesus, 5 you are to deliver this man to Satan for the destruction of the flesh,”
And here’s the important part, “so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord.” The goal of discipline is always redemption. We are jumping ahead quite a lot. It’s not 0 to Satan. We are arriving at a bit of a last resort situation here. Handing over to Satan is absolutely not the first step in church discipline.
Jesus teaches in Matthew 18, “15 “If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother. 16 But if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, that every charge may be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses. 17 If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church. And if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector.”
So the progress is a bit more gradual than we might observe from 1 Corinthians. We are witnessing more of a coming to a head moment where other measures had been spurned by the offending party. Jesus says start with a one on one conversation. If that doesn’t work, bring some others with you. If that doesn’t work, bring it before the church as a whole. And if they refuse to listen, if they are intent to continue in their pursuits away from God, then hand them over to Satan.
“Turning a believer over to Satan thrusts the believer back into the world on his own, apart from the care and support of Christian fellowship. That person has forfeited his right to participation in the church of Jesus Christ, which He intends to keep pure at all costs.”
IT’S FOR THE CHURCH
For that reason church discipline is not only for you, it is also for the Church.
Verse 6, “Your boasting is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump? 7 Cleanse out the old leaven that you may be a new lump, as you really are unleavened. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. 8 Let us therefore celebrate the festival, not with the old leaven, the leaven of malice and evil, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.”
Sin, unconfronted, is a cancer that will destroy the Church from the inside out. Pride destroys fellowship. Church discipline is for the sake of fellowship. And it is indeed pride that we are confronting. Pride that tells God how to be gracious instead of the humility which “listens and tries to obey with fear and trembling.”
Pride is Paul’s accusation, not against the man living in sin, but against the church. “you are arrogant!” He says, “Ought you not rather to mourn?” It’s the pride of the church destroying fellowship by leaving sin unconfronted.
I read this observation regarding these verse, “Today when discipline doesn't happen the diagnosis is often that we are too humble to discipline a person: Who are we to point our finger? Who are we to judge? Who are we to cast the first stone? And so a supposed humility is made the basis of tolerance of unrepentant immorality in the church… It's a theology that misunderstands the power of grace, and turns it into license. It's a theology that misunderstands freedom and uses it as "an opportunity for the flesh… In your supposed knowledge of grace and freedom you are destroying the church." They would have never dreamed that by boasting in grace and freedom they were corrupting and destroying the church from the inside out."
“True Biblical brokenness does not say, "I could never judge a brother like that." True Biblical brokenness submits to the painful, risky, time-consuming, often oppressive process of church discipline.” It is difficult, but it is worth it and it is at times necessary for reconciliation, for the integrity of the Church, and for the world.
IT’S FOR THE WORLD
Ok, I get how church discipline promotes fellowship by seeking salvation and reconciliation for the believer and how it builds up the church and removes the leaven from the lump of the Church, as it were. But how can church discipline be good for the world? After all verse 12 says, “For what have I to do with judging outsiders?”
It’s clearly not about those outside the Church, right? Isn’t it though?
Though we are not to judge the world, the world observes and critiques how seriously we take sin and judges us for it, not because we judge them too harshly but because we do not judge ourselves harshly enough. The amount of sin and abuse that occurs within the church and is swept under the rug is deplorable in the eyes of the world. It is a misunderstanding of the work of grace and even the world can see it.
There are churches that are so wrapped up in this misunderstanding that they will say they don’t want to become known for what they are against but what they are for. Listen, I understand that desire for those outside the church, but when we don’t speak out against sins among ourselves, then we are abusing grace and destroying the Church. The world is watching and waiting to see if we truly believe what we say, what this book says, what God says. And being a hypocrite is a lot easier than the messiness of accountability and discipline, but it stinks and is offensive to God and the world as well. It may be the one thing the world has correct in its estimation of the Church. I don’t have to agree with you, but at least agree with yourselves and the God you supposedly serve.
Church discipline is for the world which is in such need of the intimate fellowship believers are supposed to have. The intimacy and fellowship I long for us to continue to grow in.
OUTRO
Listen, I wish I could say that I hope we never have to perform church discipline but we’re probably going to have to. I’m not so naive to believe we’ll be able to avoid it. So my prayer is that we’ll discipline well in love and humility and broken hearts that cry out to God for the redemption of that person.
The honest truth is that most people living in unrepentant sin are going to get offended, leave, and go to another church where they don’t have to be uncomfortable, they don’t have to mature, and they aren’t expected to change and grow in holiness. I have that expectation for myself. And I have that expectation for you. Desire holiness.
And please, please, please do not leave because you are offended. Please, please, please, stay and grow. The early church didn’t have a choice. They couldn’t church shop until they were comfortable and unconfronted.
At the very least, leave because I’ve offended you and not because the Bible makes you uncomfortable. Even then, even if I have offended you, stay and call me out on it so that I may grow too. Do not deny me the opportunity for growth because it’s too uncomfortable. It will be difficult but I will love you for it in the end.
I want to leave you with one final thought from the same sermon I mentioned at the beginning.
“Friends are people who are going to say the hard things to you whether you’re going to want to hear it or not. A friend will be there for you when the bottom drops out on your life. A fan will not. A fans relationship is built on you keeping your distance and not bothering one another. A friend will be there when the bottom drops out… if you have people who love you enough to be honest with you don’t push that away.”
I love you guys!
Resources (*the views expressed within the following content are solely the author's and may not necessarily reflect the opinions and beliefs of Mountainside Church):
https://midtowndowntown.com/sermons/covenant-breaking
https://www.gotquestions.org/Christian-fellowship.html
https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/essay/church-discipline/
https://www.desiringgod.org/messages/how-satan-saves-the-soul
https://www.gty.org/library/bibleqnas-library/QA0140/what-does-it-mean-to-be-handed-over-to-satan