Judging Within | 1 Corinthians 5:6-13

Well, good morning once again. I'm going to start

our time together this morning in kind of an

unusual way. I want to share with you a testimony

that I read online this week. It's from an anonymous

woman who wrote a testimony of her experience

with this thing we call church discipline. And

it was posted on a well -known Christian blog,

and I thought it would be a good way to sort

of get our hearts and minds rolling on this difficult

subject. And by the way, if you're joining us

this morning for the first time, sorry to be

talking about church discipline, but it's an

important part of Scripture. It just might be

a difficult morning for you to try to catch up

with where we've been, but God's sovereign over

that as well. But let me read this testimony.

It's a little bit long, but I think it's worth

our time to understand the issue we're going

to talk about this morning. Here's what this

woman wrote. In 2006, I sat at a conference table

with men from my church and I heard words I never

wanted to hear. Church discipline. I was in the

middle of an affair with a married man and the

life that I had tried to keep buried was now

being exposed. My sin had found me out and now

I felt like I was being dragged out into the

street. Hard words for men who weren't afraid

to say to me, What you're doing is sin, and this

is the way out of it. I had no real defense,

but in that moment, I was blind. I was persistent,

and I was impetuous, and I was willing to give

up family, friends, and my reputation for what

I wanted. So I opted for defense strategies.

These men were the bad guys. They didn't understand

grace. I should be free to be me. As we sat around

that conference table, their faces were somber,

and I felt the weight of what was coming. They

laid out my sin. They addressed my wrong choices.

They contrasted Scripture with my actions and

gave me a plan for restoration. I had to repent,

they said. I had to leave the man I was actively

sinning with and cease any and all contact with

him, and he would be encouraged to seek reconciliation

with his wife. I thought about the date we had

planned for the next day, our visit home for

Christmas, our plans for the new year. I pictured

him in my mind. We have only each other now in

this cold, hateful world, I thought. I can't

do it. It's not possible. We're too far down

this road, and I will not turn back. Our love

is stronger than this. Deep down in my gut, what

these men were doing felt cruel. It felt unjust.

They continued to talk to me about how to find

healing and restoration. There was hope, they

said, and a way to find freedom. But their voices

were a drone of truth and I wanted to cut my

ears off. The discipline was already doing its

work, revealing my rebellion, helping me feel

the weight of sin, and it was heavy. Oh, so heavy.

And there I sat, now sobbing. This was breaking

me and there was a small distant voice somewhere

on the outskirts of my mind screaming at me to

repent. I heard the voice like a distant bell

in the dark telling me this is the way out. But

I pushed it away. When the elders told me I had

a few days to consider what they'd said, what

I heard was this, an opportunity. I had a few

days to run. I scanned the faces of everyone

sitting around that table. These were men who

were like family to me, but on this day they

felt like thieves. I thought this will be the

last time I ever sit across from them as a friend

and a sister. After that meeting, I did run.

I ran from New York in the midst of my affair,

and I was sure I had found a safe haven in North

Texas. No one would find me there. No one knows

my name. No one knows my face. We had run off

into the proverbial sunset, and I was sure we

were going to find our happy ending. Until I

got the phone call that letters had arrived on

the desk of one of the pastors at the new church

I was attending. I shuddered as he read the names

of the elders back in New York. Why were they

following me? I thought. Can't they just leave

me alone? I was furious. How quickly friends

become enemies as soon as they get in the way

of what we want. Fast forward four years. Once

my life had imploded and I found the bottom of

the pit, I heard that voice once again. This

is the way back home. And I found myself. I don't

know why. I don't even know this woman, but I'm

getting emotional. I found myself walking back

into that church in New York, now as a single

mom with very little to my name. Waking from

my spiritual slumber, it felt like seeing the

light of day for the first time in years, and

then seeing the wreckage of my life. It was devastating.

The only thing left standing were the arrows

that pointed me back to where the gospel had

first broken through my heart and mind. And one

of the biggest arrows was now pointing me back

to my old church family. I desperately hoped

that it hadn't been too long for me to say to

those elders, I was wrong and I'm sorry. I need

Jesus, will you forgive me? And praise the Lord,

I found that I wasn't coming home to a scolding

finger, but to forgiveness. Church discipline

had revealed to me the weight of my sin, but

it also provided a way back home. When I said

I can't do this anymore, I was met with a family

that said, finally. And we wept together. Sinner

to sinner, brother to sister, a messy, snotty

welcome home on the dusty road to redemption.

The goal of church discipline is to reveal sin.

And when it's done well, it has the potential

to be a rescue boat in the middle of a raging

sea. What seems like harshness at first, calling

out a fellow believer is in fact not unkind.

Instead, it's a marker in their life that may

someday remind them that God was always at work,

that they were being pursued and loved, and that

there's always a way to be restored. It is a

work of love to see someone running towards a

cliff and do all you can to stop them from falling

off. I'm thankful for those who were faithful

to follow through with my church discipline.

I'm thankful for their words that didn't deviate

from the truth. I'm thankful for their hearts

that never gave up on me. And I'm thankful for

the way back home. Let's grab our Bibles. Sorry

about that. That testimony did that to me during

the week too. And it did it to me again this

morning. 1 Corinthians chapter five. Last Sunday,

we looked at verses one through five and we teased

what was coming this morning. Really, this is

part two of a single message because this entire

chapter, all 13 verses, relate to one incident

in the life of the Corinthian church and how

it's to be dealt with. So let's back up to verse

one. We'll read it from there. Again, this is

all one, what we call pericope in scripture,

one incident that we need to cover. Verse 1 says

it's actually reported that there is sexual immorality

among you. An immorality of such a kind as does

not exist even among the Gentiles that someone

has his father's wife, meaning stepmother. You

become arrogant and have not mourned instead

so that the one who had done this deed would

be removed from your midst. For I, on my part,

though absent in body but present in spirit,

have already judged him who has committed this

as though I were present. In the name of our

Lord Jesus, when you are assembled and I with

you in spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus,

I have decided to deliver such a one to Satan

for the destruction of his flesh so that his

spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.

Verse six, your boasting is not good. I want

you to stop there for a moment and consider what

Paul said already. I know this was last Sunday,

and maybe you need to go back and listen to it

online. In a state of shock over the perversity

of the situation there in Corinth, Paul says,

look, your response to this is the exact opposite

of what it should be. You're proud of how you

tolerate sin. You're boasting in this deviant

version of grace that allows for sexual sin to

stay in your body and fester there when you should

be ashamed at the lack of concern that you have

for the purity of the church and the testimony

of the church. It's the exact opposite. As we

go through the rest of the text, I'm actually

going to go a little bit out of order. I know

that's strange, but if you track with me, you'll

see the logic in this. Let me give you an outline

of where we're headed here. First, we're going

to see how Paul corrects the church's understanding

of a previous letter he wrote to them. That's

verses 9 through 11. Then we're going to see

him lay out this really important principle about

who we in the church are supposed to be judging

and who we're not supposed to be judging. And

then we'll come back to verses six through eight,

where Paul exhorts the Corinthian believers to

take the right steps, the right actions toward

becoming who God already declared that you actually

are. Make sense? So drop down to verse nine.

Let's start there with Paul's correction. Look

at verse nine. He says, I wrote to you in my

letter not to associate with pornois, is the

Greek word, sexually immoral people. Now, this

is a reference here to what scholars call Paul's

lost letter. It was written probably sometime

around the year 52 or 53 to the church there

in Corinth. But outside of this little comment

we have in verse 9, we have no idea what else

Paul wrote about or what became of the letter.

It's lost to the dustbin of history, which tells

us God saw fit not to preserve it for us so that

we could read it today. By the way, there's another

letter also. that we don't have today that was

written between our 1 Corinthians and our 2 Corinthians.

In fact, I'll give you a little diagram because

you know how I like timelines, right? The third

letter is actually mentioned. So you see there

the lost letter, then comes 1 Corinthians. That

third letter is mentioned in 2 Corinthians 2,

2 Corinthians 2:4

verse 4, where Paul talks about having made a

painful visit. to the city of Corinth, and then

having written what he calls a tearful letter

that caused the Corinthians sorrow. But what's

interesting, when you get to chapter 7 of 2 Corinthians,

you find out that Paul's actually, he hears news

from Titus, and he's actually filled with joy

because that tearful letter, while it did create

sorrow on the front end, it ends up being godly

sorrow that produced repentance in that church.

So he's actually grateful for it. So if you do

the math, our 1st and 2nd Corinthians are actually

2nd and 4th Corinthians. But I don't want to

confuse you on that. But when you step back and

look at all the things that Paul wrote to this

one church, you start to realize how complex

his relationship was with this congregation.

And for those of you in ministry, you know how

hard it must have been to shepherd a congregation

like this with so many problems. And we're going

to see that throughout the rest of this letter.

So Paul writes this first lost letter to the

church and he says, do not associate with sexually

immoral people. Now in verses 10 through 11,

he's going to clarify what he meant by that.

Look at verse 10. He says, I did not at all mean

the sexually immoral people of this world. Or

with the covetous and swindlers or with idolaters.

For then you would have to go out of the world.

But actually, he says, actually, I wrote to you

not to associate with any so -called brother.

In other words, a person, a man or woman who

identifies themselves as a Christian. Don't.

associate with them if he is a sexually immoral

person or covetous or an idolater or a reviler

or a drunkard or a swindler, look at that last

phrase, not even to eat with such a one. Now,

don't get lost in the list of sins that Paul

lays out here. Typical of the writing of that

day. What he's providing for us is a whole series

of categories of sins. It's not intended to be

an exhaustive list or to cover every possible

sin that should be avoided. These are general

categories. Sexual immorality, greed, thievery,

idolatry, drunkenness, slander. And if you break

down that list, it's interesting. What you see

is these are sins against three different parties.

They're sins against one's own body. There's

sins against other members of the church, and

most of all, sins against God himself. So it

covers the whole gamut. And Paul says, don't

get mixed up with people like this. Do not enter

into fellowship with them. What did the Corinthians

hear? They heard what they wanted to hear. They

basically said, okay, fine, then we will cut

ourselves off from all the unbelievers in our

city who do these things. And Paul responds in

verse 11, no, no, no, no. It's not what I was

talking about. I was not talking about unbelievers.

If you were to cut yourself off from all the

non -Christians who practice these things, I'd

have to take you out of the world completely.

You just have to leave the entire world because

guess what? The things I just listed for you,

those are the fleshly deeds of people who don't

know God. And they're all around you there in

the city of Corinth. And by the way, this raises

an important principle, not just for the Corinthians,

but for us. You know, we said it before. We live

in a city kind of parallel to Corinth in the

first century right here in Los Angeles. And

this is the phrase that often gets cited under

this concept of we're to be in the world, but

not of the world. Right. And that is sort of

a conglomeration of a whole bunch of. passages

from the New Testament and the Gospel of John

and 1 John, we put that together and we come

up with that important phrase. And there's truth

to it. As Christ followers, we are citizens of

a new kingdom, a whole new realm governed by

King Jesus. And that means we are not of the

world in the sense that we no longer belong to

its virtues, no longer belong to its loyalties

or power structures. And yet, and yet, we're

called to remain in the world. True. And for

a purpose. When Christ saved us, when we gave

our lives to him, we're told he called us out

of the world, but then he put us on mission within

the world, which sounds kind of strange, right?

I'm going to call you out of the world, but then

I'm going to send you right back in to be on

mission in the world. So Paul says to the Corinthians,

you can't just cut yourselves off from the sinners

around you. If you did that, you would forfeit

the mission that God has you on in that city.

Make sense? To win the lost, you have to spend

time with the lost. And that is the harvest field

that God has given you specifically to walk into.

Now, it's a whole different situation with people

who live an openly sinful life while at the same

time claiming to be a brother or sister in Christ.

That's a different situation. In that case, Paul

says, you're not to rub shoulders with them.

You're not to hang out with them. In fact, you're

to cut off fellowship with that type of a person.

Don't even eat with them, he says. Why? Because

they claim they're telling the world publicly,

I'm under the authority and lordship of Jesus

Christ, but they're living in opposition to that

claim, which makes them a liar and a deceiver.

And that is not somebody you want representing

Jesus in your community. Now, we'll flesh that

out a bit more as we go along. And I know at

first glance it sounds harsh, right? But don't

get the wrong impression. We don't cut off fellowship

from this type of person out of anger or out

of hatred or out of vengeance. There is a great

purpose to Paul's instruction here. And it's

actually rooted in both truth and love. And we'll

get to that as we go on. First of all, Let's

go to verses 12 to 13 and look at what Paul says

about this very important principle, which the

world cannot seem to understand, and that's the

issue of judging. Who are we to judge and who

are we not to judge? Look at verse 12. Paul says,

what have I to do with judging outsiders, people

outside the church? Do you, Corinthians, not

judge those who are within the church? But those

who are outside, God judges, you guys remove

the wicked man from among yourselves. This is

a surprising verse for people who claim to know

what the Bible says but don't really know. And

part of that is because we as Christians often,

we make the mistake of running around judging

everybody out there. We kind of have a reputation

for that, so we've got to be aware of it. So

people we call natural men and women. Those who

don't know Christ, don't profess to know Christ.

It is not our role to go around judging them.

And I know that's a hard thing for Christians

to grasp, right? Because, again, I said it earlier

this morning, we see so much wickedness out there

in the world, and our immediate reaction is to

get really upset about it. This temptation, this

inclination to run around pointing fingers at

everybody. Paul's point is the church should

not focus its energies there at running around

pointing to the world and saying, look at all

the sin. Of course there's sin. Of course. What

else would you expect from fallen people living

in the flesh without the Spirit of God? What

else would you expect? And I know it could be

hard to look at social media or look at news

clips without saying to yourself, my goodness.

It is so bad out there. The world is spiraling

down so fast. Guys, when you feel that, first

of all, take a deep breath. And remember two

things. First of all, that God is still sovereign.

He's still in control. And number two, remember,

that's what you used to be before God plucked

you out of that life. True? So we can't get on

our high horse and judge everybody else out there.

That's who we used to be. And because these outsiders,

as Paul calls them, don't claim to know Christ

and they haven't submitted themselves to the

word of God, we can't hold them to standards

that we've accepted. They've not submitted themselves

to the word of God. We can't hold them to that

and then judge them for not doing it. They don't

have the spirit of God. How could they know?

So we let God handle that. Those on the outside,

God judges, Paul says. But within the church,

it's different, right? Paul says we are to judge

one another. Now let me qualify that. We're not

to judge wrongly. We're not to judge quickly.

We're not to judge hypocritically. We're not

to judge pridefully. We don't judge each other

in anger or resentment. Our judgment within the

walls of the church has to be motivated by a

heart of love. and concern for unity, concern

for purity, and for one another's spiritual condition.

So we're to judge, but with the right heart motive.

Therefore, Paul concludes, because of this, he

says, the Corinthians have to take action against

this unrepentant, sexually immoral man. He's

to be judged by the body and removed from the

congregation. Remove him from among yourselves,

Paul says. Interestingly, that is a citation

from the Torah. So Paul reaches back into his

Jewish heritage, and he quotes from Deuteronomy

17. Now remember, in Old Testament times, in

that day, God manifested his presence in pretty

spectacular ways in the midst of his people,

in the camp of Israel. And because of his holiness,

it was required that the Israelites cleanse the

camp from all sin. Well, guess what? Paul recognizes

that similar principle under the new covenant.

God is still... among his people, now indwelling

believers in their hearts through the presence

of the Holy Spirit. And that means, yes, within

our camp here at this church, under the new covenant,

we too have to expel that sin from among our

body. So the parallels are similar, aren't they?

Are you tracking with me? Okay, good. This is

important. So here's what I want to do now. We're

going to do a little excursus for a second on

the issue of church discipline. Let's pause and

let's talk about the process because this is

important. This matters, guys, both for life

here at Oak Hill and life at any church you might

go to in the future, to understand the process

of church discipline. It's important to realize,

first of all, that the situation we're reading

about here in 1 Corinthians 5 is not typical.

of how most cases play out today, typically they

start out privately and informally. That is not

the situation here. Remember, Paul says, look,

I'm hearing reports. It's publicly known about

what's going on there. Typically, it doesn't

start out like that today. It's usually private

and informal. But like the 1 Corinthians 5 scenario,

in its final stage, church discipline, even today,

involves removing the sinner from membership

in the local church. and barring him from participation

at the Lord's table. This is why we guard the

table here at Oak Hill. It's important that elders

do that. By the way, this is just one of the

reasons why, I'm just going to say this, one

of the reasons why membership matters here at

our church or any church. Membership should matter

no matter where you go in the future, any church

you're a part of. If a church is going to practice

church discipline, it first has to have membership.

Because when a believer commits himself to membership

in a local church, he makes a series of vows.

He makes vows to other church members. He voluntarily

places himself under the authority of the elders,

and he puts himself under church discipline of

the entire church body. How does he do that?

Well, he says, look, I'm signing this covenant

membership agreement, making these promises and

saying, yes, please, I want accountability. Every

church talks about accountability. And we always

want it until we don't. Right? But this is the

reality. When you become a covenant member, you

say, I desire accountability. I want to be put

under the discipline of the entire church body.

So membership is essential to this whole process.

Now, backing up for a moment. By the way, let

me just say, churches that don't have membership,

they really don't have standing to discipline

their members. Why? Because unrepentant sinners

from the body who haven't first been affirmed

as believers through that membership process,

folks who haven't asked for that accountability,

guess what? We don't have a standing to really

discipline them out. That's why we continue to

encourage you guys to come into covenant membership.

All the beauties of membership, but also this

issue of your saying to one another and to the

world, I want that accountability. And maybe,

I say this often, maybe that's why our church

remains small. Because not everybody wants it.

They say it, but they don't want it. They don't

actually want it. And so sometimes people go,

you know what? This is a hard church to belong

to. Okay, praise the Lord. Because we're living

biblically together. Okay, back up for a moment.

So the process of church discipline has to happen

in stages. And of all people, guess who laid

out those stages for us? Jesus, yeah, that's

a good answer. That's the Sunday morning answer.

Jesus did, right? In the Gospel of Matthew, he

tells us exactly how this should play out. Stage

one is found in Matthew 18, verse 15, where Jesus

Matthew 18:15

says, look, if your brother's in sin, here's

where we start. Take it up with him privately.

Privately. It says, go and tell him his fault

between you and him alone. The idea is that we

handle the situation privately so as to not broadcast

it and create unnecessary gossip that circulates

around the church. Now, there might be times

when the situation is complex and you need to

get counsel from an elder before you go to your

brother, but the goal is the same. At the outset

of this, you want to keep the circle as tight

as possible, as few people involved as possible.

So you go humbly to your brother. And you have

this confrontation about sin. By the way, how

many of you guys like confrontation? It's hard.

It's hard, isn't it? But it's biblical. This

is one of those things, man. Christians say,

I don't want to get involved. You're not given

that option. If you follow biblical truth, you're

not given that option. So we go humbly and we

confront our brother. Humbly, right? Not with

a big giant log sticking out of our eye, but

we go humbly. We don't accuse him right out of

the gate. We give him the benefit of the doubt.

And we ask clarifying questions. And we ask him

to explain. Say, look, I'm having a difficult

time reconciling your profession of faith with

the way you're living. The lifestyle that you've

chosen doesn't seem to line up with your profession

of faith. And then you give your brother an opportunity

to explain. It's possible that you've misunderstood

something. Or you didn't see what you think you're

seeing. So give him that opportunity. And the

vast majority of the time, if the confronter

approaches with that right motivation, the sinner

is going to respond well because he feels that

you're here out of love and concern. And Jesus

says that is the goal. He says, if he listens

to you, Jesus says, you have gained your brother

or you've won your brother over. Amen and amen.

We move forward, right? Your motive is always

love. It's love for the sinner. It's love for

Christ. It's love for your fellow members. And

it's love for the testimony of the church that

we get this thing cleared up. Amen on stage one.

Now, if things go poorly and you are convinced

that your friend is living this sinful lifestyle,

you might want to go and have multiple conversations

with him privately first to try to win him over.

But if he's unresponsive, you have to take it

to stage two. And that's to bring another believer

with you, somebody else who cares about this

person, someone from the church family. Maybe

bring one or two other people. And you try to

persuade the sinner to own that sin and to turn

from it and repent. Jesus says in verse 16, 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. Catch

that now. This is a very important courtroom.

principle. Church discipline is not mob justice.

Church discipline is established by due process

and a multiple sets of eyes and ears on the situation

so that it's properly evaluated. Make sense?

Now, if the sinner still digs in his heels and

you've had multiple opportunities now to break

through, it goes to stage three. And Jesus says

in verse 17, if he refuses to listen to the two

or three witnesses, Tell it to the church. Okay,

this is the 1 Corinthians 5 stage, right? Tell

it to the church. And this is where it gets really

serious because it goes from private to public.

Now the sin has to be laid out before all of

the members of the church. So you don't want

to get to stage three. Repent of sin, right?

Repent of sin. Typically, members of the elder

team who have oversight responsibility in the

body, they're the ones who lead this step, but

they should never stand up in front of the congregation

and speculate about what's going on. They should

have done their due diligence, gotten the agreed

upon facts, and then lay the case out before

the members. Now, that doesn't mean that every

single gory detail about the sin has to be revealed

or exposed, but enough needs to be said. Enough,

and it's a difficult line, enough to be said

so that the members can grasp what's really happening

in this situation and feel comfortable with the

fact that we are voting now to remove this person

from membership. So not all the gory details,

but enough so the body understands the situation.

And this public revelation then kicks off a whole

nother stage, a time of prayer. and a time of

more aggressive confrontation of the sinner.

Now it's not just those two or three witnesses,

it's the entire church family. We're going to

go after this person strongly because we love

him, because we care about his soul. We're all

going to go after him and plead with him with

tears to turn from the sin and come back. And

this is part of the process that cannot be rushed.

Adequate time needs to be given for people to

go to the center. Adequate time has to be given

for God to work through those multiple conversations.

So that can take months. But if after enough

time has passed and the center just appears he's

not going to turn from his ways, then the elders

of the church step into the role that Paul has

here in 1 Corinthians 5. They express their judgment

and they ask the members to follow that lead.

And this is the heartbreaking point, right? And

we've gone through it at Oak Hill, and it's the

hardest thing we have to do as a church family.

This is the heartbreaking point. Again, Jesus

explains the final step in verse 17. If he refuses

to listen even to the church, could you imagine?

If he refuses to listen even to the church, let

him be to you as a Gentile. and a tax collector.

Or as Paul said in 1 Corinthians 5, do not associate

with him, do not even eat with such a one. Rather,

he said in the beginning of the chapter, deliver

him over to Satan for the destruction of his

flesh so that his spirit might be saved in the

day of the Lord Jesus. So this is where the local

church, through tears and sorrow, says to the

unrepentant believer, you cannot stay here with

us while you insist on clinging to this sin.

We are grieved to tell you we can no longer affirm

your profession of faith. We can no longer say,

yes, you're a born again believer. This is what

I described last Sunday as the wielding of the

keys of the kingdom. The binding and loosing

process that we see in Matthew 16, we see in

Matthew 18. And this is a heavy responsibility

that a church body has. The members of the church

together bind a believer as they affirm his profession

of faith and his baptism as he comes into the

church as a member. And we then invite him to

come to the Lord's table. That is the binding

process. And then the loosing process is when

we remove that person from membership in the

church and we prevent him from coming to the

Lord's table because we can no longer affirm

his profession of faith. Binding and loosing.

It's been given to the local church. We have

jurisdiction over these things. Heavy, heavy

stuff. Now, it's important to understand that

this final step of discipline does not mean that

the church is assigning this person to hell,

eternal hell. We don't have that power. Right?

The final step doesn't even mean that we're saying

with certainty that this person isn't a believer.

That gets tested in the discipline process. What

we're saying again is, look, we don't have x

-ray vision to look at a person's soul. We can't

be certain, but we can say this. Based on your

lifestyle, based on the fact that you will not

repent, we can no longer affirm that you're a

believer. That's the extent of our power. And

according to what both Jesus and Paul say in

Scripture, At that point, all personal relationships

in the church family have to change. We can no

longer spend casual time together with this person

as if things are okay because they're not. They're

not any longer. We can't just hang out with them.

Any time we spend with this person now has to

be about asking them, pleading with them to repent

and return. And the point of cutting off a fellowship

is simple. There is a point to this. The reason

we cut off fellowship. Once this person is removed

from the community of God's people, the hope

is that he or she will go out into the world

and be miserable. That they will find life intolerable,

unbearable. That he'll look at his sin at some

point and like the prodigal son say, what am

I doing? Look what I've lost. I'm going back.

I'm going back to my church family. That's what

we heard in that testimony I read at the beginning,

right? Her life became unbearable, and she went

back. That's the process. That's the process.

Now, one of the questions that often comes up,

and it's a good question, is, all right, well,

what sins? What sins warrant this Matthew 18

process? Does every single sin that we commit

warrant this type of process? Practically, the

answer is no. Right? We'd be so busy. Aren't

you glad? We'd be so busy if we treated it that

way. And Jonathan Lehman, if you know him, author,

Nine Marks author, uses a funny example to make

this point. He says, my wife might privately

rebuke me for selfishly eating all the ice cream

in the freezer, and I might even continue in

that pattern without repenting, but that's probably

not the kind of sin which would warrant public

discipline. You get the point. It's good to categorize

the things which would require the whole process

to be carried out. So our best understanding

is these three words. Any sin that is outward,

significant, and unrepentant. So church discipline

is necessary when first a sin becomes outward

in the sense it becomes common knowledge. Even

among unbelievers, they know what's going on.

That's what we see in 1 Corinthians 5, right?

Paul says it's being reported everywhere that

this is going on. It's an outward sin. Right?

They're living in such a way that causes a disconnect

between what they claim and what the world sees.

It's out there. So, you know, it's got to be

visible, at least with the eyes or the ears.

But then it's got to be significant, meaning

it's serious enough that members of the church

say, okay, I can't reconcile that person being

a believer in the way they're living. It's got

to be that serious. So again, eating ice cream

is probably not going to go, I'm not sure you're

a believer. Because you're eating all the ice

cream in the house. But there are other sins

as well. Things like fear and worry, even bouts

with lust that we struggle with. Those things

are not outward and probably not serious enough

to where I look at you and say, oh, you're struggling

with fear? You're not a believer. Right? So it

wouldn't rise to that level. So it's got to be

outward and it's got to be significant. And then

finally, most importantly, as we looked at last

Sunday. It's only when a person refuses to repent

of that outward significant sin that Matthew

18 becomes required. Does that make sense? So

this is a wisdom principle, right? It's something

that the church body needs to discern in each

unique situation. It's never going to be just

black and white. By the way, the church discipline

process is never just cut and dried black and

white. It requires wisdom on the part of leadership

and wisdom on the part of the body. I said this

last Sunday, I'll say it again. If you didn't

grow up in a church that practiced discipline

like this, or you've never seen it practiced

as an adult, I know this is hard. I know this

is a difficult teaching, but you should know

that this was once a very common practice in

Protestant churches. It's only over the last

50 years or so that we seem to have grown tired

of holding each other accountable to Christian

living. Or perhaps other principles have gotten

in the way. Now it's all about, well, we don't

want to offend people or we want to grow our

church. And so we've laid aside a biblical command

because we just don't want to rock the boat.

I've shared this before. I'll say it again. Our

spiritual ancestors, the Protestant reformers,

literally defined a church by three things. Here

they are. Number one, that apostolic doctrine

is rightly taught. Number two, that the sacraments

of the church are rightly administered. And number

three, that church discipline is rightly carried

out. They saw those three things as necessary

to define a church. So what happens today when

a church, first of all, begins to water down

its doctrine in order to please people? Number

two, stops treating the Lord's table as sacred

as it should be. And number three, just shelves

the whole idea of church discipline. Because

it's offensive to some people. What happens?

The church becomes powerless. Are we not seeing

that? The church as a whole in this country becoming

powerless, losing its credibility even in the

eyes of God because we're not doing the things

that God commands us to do. And so we'll do this

at Oak Hill. With tears, it's hard, but we will

continue to be faithful to what Scripture says.

Okay, let's keep going. Go back up to verse 6b

now. This is the final piece to this passage.

Paul says to the Corinthians, don't you know

this? Don't you know that a little leaven leavens

the whole lump or the whole batch of dough? Do

you not know this basic principle? Now, why does

he use leaven? Well, there's two reasons he uses

leaven. One, there's a... A really important

Old Testament connection, which we'll get to

in a moment. But secondly, consider the properties

of leaven. What does leaven do? Cooking people,

right? Come on, chefs, right? It's the yeast,

right, that makes dough rise into bread. And

what's interesting, it has a, get this big word,

permeating property to it. What that means is

leaven first mingles with the dough. then it

works its way throughout the entire batch, and

then it actually modifies the finished product.

It mingles with the dough, it works its way through

the whole lump, and it modifies the dough itself.

Now think about what sin does, unrepentant sin

does when it's injected into a local church body.

It has that same internal spreading influence

that modifies the condition Of the body itself.

That's why he's using this as an example. It's

brilliant. So failing to deal with sin in the

church is catastrophic. Just a little bit of

leaven, right? Goes all the way through the dough.

Just a little bit of cancer in the human body

can kill. Just a little bit of poison dropped

into your food can do its work. A little hole

in the bottom of a boat can sink a ship. A little

bit of corruption, a little bit of false teaching,

a little bit of moral compromise, all those little

amounts have dire consequences. It cannot be

allowed to stay. And because leaven was used

back then as what we call a starter, how many

of you guys do sourdough? Okay. It was a starter

to produce a new loaf of bread. It carries a

whole other idea, and this to me is so profound.

It carries the idea of bringing something from

the past into the present. Something that hangs

around from the past that's brought into the

present. Now consider that principle in terms

of the sins of your past life. Talk about the

old man, the new man, the desires of the old

man that once dominated your thinking. Paul says,

don't bring that old leaven into your present

life. Don't do it. You're a new creature born

by the spirit. Leaven represents what you once

were, but not anymore. Your new life, he says,

is unleavened. Isn't that cool? Don't bring the

old leaven of sin into your new creature life.

You're now unleavened. That's the basis. Look

at verse 7, the basis of Paul's command. He says,

clean out the old leaven so that you may be a

new lump or a new batch. He says, just as you

are, in fact, unleavened. He's screaming at the

Corinthians. You are in fact unleavened. This

is what God says you are. So get rid of that

starter from the past. That sin from your past

that you've been nurturing and holding on to.

You don't need it. You don't want it. Don't let

those old patterns of your unsaved life remain.

Old things have passed away. Let them go. Become

who God says you are. You are in fact unleavened.

Unleavened in Christ, he says. So become that.

When you were justified by God's grace alone,

he declared this to be true. You are unleavened

in my son. Wow, it's beautiful, isn't it? And

when that old leaven seeps back into your life,

because it does, right? We're all in the battle.

None of us are perfect. What do we do? Well,

God has told us what to do. Confess it to the

Lord. repent of it, turn away from it. You trust

in his promise to cleanse you of unrighteousness,

and then you move forward again without guilt,

without shame, because that's not part of your

identity in Christ, and you live by the power

of the Spirit once again. Amen? Continuing in

verse seven, we see Paul reach back into his

Jewish past. He says, for Christ our Passover.

has also been sacrificed. Now, when you first

read that, you're like, that's kind of an obscure

reference, right? But he's connecting it back

to Levin in the Passover festival. Do you remember

what God commanded the Israelites to do in the

Passover? Whoa. I jumped ahead. Was that you,

Casey? Casey. Do you remember this command? To

the Israelites, sacrifice to the Lord your God

a Passover lamb from the herd and do not eat

leavened bread with it. For seven days you're

to eat unleavened bread, which is the bread of

hardship because you left the land of Egypt in

haste. No leaven is to be found anywhere in your

territory for those seven days. The sacrifice

of the lamb now, get this, symbolizes the separation

of Israel from the land of Egypt. The Israelites

were leaving that old way of life. They were

being freed from slavery. So he's like, don't

bring that leaven with you when you leave Egypt

and you go to the promised land. Don't bring

that stuff from your past into your present.

And in the same vein, the sacrifice of Christ

is what separates us from our old way of life

and the present. We too are freed slaves. Do

you realize that? The imagery of this, we are

freed slaves, free from being a slave to sin

and to death. The Exodus has so many applications

to our lives. You start digging into it, it is

rich. A once for all sacrifice has been made

for us. Therefore, Paul says, remove the leaven

from your life. Don't harbor it, don't nurture

it, don't bring it with you. It's in your past.

And when you find leaven, What do you do as a

Jew? You identify it and you remove it. Identify

it, remove it. This is what God has commanded

us to do in our lives as New Testament believers.

By the way, on this Sunday night, tonight, our

covenant members will gather around the communion

table. And this is what we will remember, this

very statement, that Christ, our Passover lamb,

has been sacrificed. And as a church family committed

to living life together in purity, you know what

we're going to do tonight? Once again, we're

going to cleanse the camp of sin. By self -examination

and by confession, we will come together and

we will rid the camp of all sin. And then we

will come to the feast. The parallels are amazing.

We'll celebrate the cross. We will enjoy the

bread and the cup as a sign and a symbol of the

grace that's been poured out upon us. And that's

what we see in verse eight, last verse. This

should be a regular celebration in the life of

the believer. He says, therefore, let us celebrate

the feast. Not with the old leaven, nor with

the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with

the unleavened bread of sincerity. And what a

beautiful summary of the life that we're to live

now that we're found in Christ. A continuous

celebration that says, out with the old and in

with the new. Old things like malice and wickedness

and hatred and division, they go out. And over

time, as the Spirit of God works in us, new things

like sincerity and truth and compassion and humility,

they come in. Friends, our life as followers

of Christ is a continuous process of leaving

behind the old leaven and delighting in who God

says we are and living that life. New creatures

freed from the burdens of the past, free from

slavery to sin. Therefore, let us keep celebrating

the feast. Make church membership a top priority

in your life. Commit to a church family. Ask

for accountability. Voluntarily place yourself

under the authority of the elders and the discipline

of the entire church and come to the Lord's table

in celebration. There's nothing more important

than this. Don't be afraid to come under the

discipline of the church. It is the best thing

for you. It's the best thing for me to know that

you guys will hold me accountable. Let me just

close with just a small snippet from that testimony

where we started. Listen to it again. With all

that we've now walked through, listen to it again.

This is what that woman wrote. The goal of church

discipline is to reveal sin. And when it's done

well, it has the potential to be a rescue boat

in the middle of a raging sea. What seems like

harshness at first is in fact not unkind. It's

a marker in their life that may someday remind

them that God was always at work, that they were

pursued and loved and that there was always a

way to be restored. I'm thankful for those who

were faithful to follow through with my church

discipline. I'm thankful for their words that

didn't deviate from the truth. I'm thankful for

their hearts that never gave up on me and I'm

thankful for the way back home. Beautiful, isn't

it? Is God's design for the church not amazing?

If we would just embrace it and say, yes, Lord,

that's what we want. Let's pray together. Father,

these things can be difficult for us. And really,

Lord, it's only because we live in a culture

that no longer likes hard truths, no longer is

willing to offend for the sake of what you have

said is true. And so Father, as an elder team,

we don't take credit for being more courageous

than anyone else. We just praise you that you've

saved us and that you've given us the conviction

that we need to be faithful to your word. And

so we thank you for that. We thank you you didn't

leave us to guess how to handle these situations.

given us this process so clearly in your word.

Help us, Lord, to continue at this local church

to be faithful, to do the things you've asked

us to do. Because we trust you. We know you're

sovereign. We know you're good. We know that

your design for the church is far better than

anything we would ever dream up. And so, Lord,

thank you for your word, and thank you for your

instructions, and thank you for this church body

who continues to press hard into the truth that

you've given us. Lord, as we study this hard

thing, now we get a chance to respond by singing.

Singing praises to you. So help us to do that

in both spirit and truth as a body together today.

Lord, we thank you for this time. And we praise

you in the name of our Savior, Jesus Christ.

And we all said what? Amen.