Let's turn them into first Corinthians chapter 5 verse 1. Let us pray. Father, we belong to your church We're your people We make huge mistakes, but church grace is greater And we want to know more about it this morning Because we need to know there's correction and there's forgiveness and there's restitution and there's a place and A way to come home. We just thank you that you make a way for us We ask it as we read your word. We may discover again how gracious you are Not only to save us but to keep us Speak, O Lord, for your servants, listen, come in First Corinthians 5 verse 1. Hear the word of God It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you and Of a time that does not occur even among pagans a man has his father's wife and you are proud Shouldn't you rather have been filled with grief and have put out of your fellowship the man who did this even though I am not physically present I am with you in spirit and I have already passed judgment on the one who did this Just as if I were present When you are assembled in the name of our Lord Jesus and I am with you in spirit and The power of our Lord Jesus is present Hand this man over to Satan so that the sinful nature may be destroyed and His spirit saved on the day of the Lord Your boasting is not good Don't you know that a little yeast works through the whole batch of dough? Get rid of the old yeast That you may be a new batch Without yeast as you really are For Christ our Passover Lamb has been sacrificed Therefore let us keep the festival Not with the old yeast the yeast of malice and wickedness But with bread without yeast the bread of sincerity and truth I Have written you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people Not at all meaning the people of this world who are immoral or the greedy and swimmers or idolaters In that case you would have to leave this world But now I'm writing you that you must not associate with anyone who calls himself a brother But is sexually immoral or greedy an idolater or a slanderer a drunkard or a swindler With such a man do not even eat What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church? Are you not to judge those inside? God will judge those outside Expel the wicked man from among you All men are like grass and all their glory is like the flowers of the field the grass withers and the flowers fall But the word of our God stands forever Amen This is a very difficult Chapter for us to deal with It is difficult for me to preach it Some of you know that my first job out of university was as a salesman and I think that job probably fit me pretty well I don't like things like this. It's not much fun. It causes conflict. It gets people angry It upsets people. I don't enjoy it and I do not enjoy quite frankly the work of church discipline that goes on week after week in Second Presbyterian Church It is not fun. It makes people angry people think that you are legalistic and self-righteous and it creates a money stir in the church I do not like it. I'll be honest and I admit that it's not that I'm boasting about it It's a confession because anything God has given I should like I have learned however through the years in a certain way to appreciate discipline. I remember when Allison and I were First married and before we had children we were living in Pennsylvania and we had some friends Who had a little four-year-old boy named Alex a calling Max from the first service His name was actually Alex my wife tells me and She couldn't forget Alex was a true wild man and his parents and those of you from Massachusetts Nothing guessed you but they were from Massachusetts and I think they over read on Dr. Spock and When Alex would do his thing screaming telling his parents were to get off tearing things out of people's houses They would say oh Alex now we need to talk need a little chat Well, I thought he needed something else, but that was none of the issue But Alex was uncontrolled his parents talked a lot but never really showed any discipline for young Alex Well one famous night Another dear couple who were originally from North Carolina and she was the sweetest Southern Belle. You better met in your life Pretty little blonde 22 years old. She was hosting a candlelight dinner for Allison and me and for our other friends and Alone comes of course Alex and Alex is everywhere in the apartment and sweet Mary the Southern Belle hosts us for the evening wouldn't say an unkind word wouldn't correct either was just oh it's fine Alex was tearing everything up Finally, we were sitting down having the main course and no one had seen Alex for just a little while And Alex went in to the master bedroom where he rummaged through the drawers and Alex came back with some of his findings Some of you know what Fredericks of Hollywood is all about for those of you who don't is the equivalent of Victoria's secret and Alex had Farms and things from Fredericks of Hollywood folks. I didn't look very closely, but it was small red and translucent and there was embarrassment throughout the table That was the kuda growl the kuda growl and all of us understood that night this boy needs some help Well later on in life I became a Christian and you know what I found out we're a whole bunch of Alex is in the church And miss Alex and mr. Alex and we all need help and My twenty four years as the Christians suggest to me we need a lot of help and They Christ has given it to us. There are three ways in which he helps us He not only saves us by the gospel and brings us into the church I'm talking about the the organism of the church not the organization, but brings us into the body of Christ He does it by his word first of all and his word which we listen to on Sunday mornings and we listen to in Sunday school and Winfrey nights and small groups and whenever we can read our Bibles on our own His word is a corrective for us Secondly, we read in the Bible that afflictions can correct and We had wished that Alex's mom and daddy had afflicted him just a little bit Maybe he would have received some correction in our afflictions We learn from the Bible or intentional. We don't understand them all ways But they are meant to turn our hearts to Jesus Christ in every single case no matter what the afflictions and Thirdly Christ has given us the church in fact John Calvin and the other Magisterial reformers said that the there are three essentials for the church Number one to be a real church. There must be the true preachy of the word Secondly, there must be the right administration of the sacraments and Thirdly, there must be church discipline in the body of Christ for what is a foundation Intellectually if that foundation is not implemented in real life What difference is it made for Alex's mommy and daddy to think he should be a good boy if they don't help him be a good boy You will know as I do it makes no difference at all what you say if you put no actions behind it and The Bible teaches us that the church is one of God's means for preserving us You wonder how God hangs on to you you know in the Bible promises if you come to him You're born again. You are in Christ. Nothing can separate you from the love of Christ You're going to have him is God has to kill you to get you there. He'll do it. He's gonna get you there What are the ways in which he gets you there his word of flictions and church Encountering God's people and taking them seriously now. We saw last week That one of the reasons that people get into moral problems is that for a long long time They've never received discipline from anybody. They don't appreciate someone talking to them and They have no desire to enter into anybody else's life They want to live and let live Dear friends, I discovered a long time ago that if you live like that you are going to get into trouble People always do and there's a tendency in our lives to want to escape Mutual interaction and mutual discipline and mutual Exploration. I mean, why do people want to be rich? Why do people want to climb the corporate ladder? But why would people like to be pastors and big churches? They can't master it yet. That's why and we do all these things in our lives to kind of build Our place so that we can be independent we can do what we're going to do and not listen to the word Not properly interpret our afflictions and not receive discipline from the church. Some people say Sandy, you know, it must be difficult to be a pastor because you live in a glass house You know a goldfish bowl and I say praise the Lord for the goldfish bowl I need it and as we grow closer to Christ we get to know how bad we really are And I suppose there's not any stand in this book. I had at least thought about and I've done most of them And I know that I need correction. I'm very thankful for that As I get older in Christ. I realize how important it is and I just returned from my own accountability group I told you about before They're four of us who are senior ministers and churches Similar to second and we ask each other three questions. How's your devotional life? How's your marriage and family and how's your ministry life? Any question goes? You don't have to answer, but if you don't you're probably going to be a health and suspicion Any question gets an answer and then we pray for each other. Do you have accountability in your life? Are you looking for informal discipline as well as the formal discipline of the church? Now the apostle Paul is here speaking primarily about formal discipline That is the discipline of the church as an institution But you know from Matthew chapter 18 that our Lord Jesus Christ teaches that when we discipline one another the most important Discipline is one-to-one relationships It's simply knowing someone well enough and loving someone well enough to receive from them their correction and to give to them loving correction And I'll tell you the only people who have really influenced me through correction are People that I knew loved me And I love them and I've received a lot of correction in my life But I have to admit to you that I've responded positively to the correction from people that I knew loved me So if we're not building loving relationships, you can forget this It's not going to work. The word Jesus said in Matthew 18 that we go to one another one on one and then two on one and if that Doesn't work and the person's still in trouble Then we go to something like first Corinthians chapter five as Jesus said you tell the church now Let's look at first Corinthians five. We've got about 15 or 20 minutes and I have about six points I'd like to make out of this text the first thing is we're going to look at the problem and we've really been looking at it Secondly, we're going to look at Paul's prescription And that'll be verse two the problems in verse one Then thirdly, we're going to look at the power that is behind church discipline verses three and four and Then we're going to see what the Bible teaches us is the purpose of church discipline in verses five through eight and Then in verses nine through 13 we're going to see the special parameters or scope of Church discipline and then I want to close with some pointers First of all the problem the church is capable of outrageous behavior. You see it here a Man is sleeping with apparently what is his stepmother and the Bible? Absolutely forbids that in the Vitticus 18 here's a case folks fellow Presbyterians those of you who Affirm what our confession of faith says that the Old Testament moral law is relevant for today here You have an instance here's the Old Testament law that's being broken and it's outrageous in this case however It's not only the Old Testament has been broken. It's the Pagan's consciences themselves all the Pagan's say This is impossible Cicero is quoted is saying This is an unbelievable crime and he's only heard of it once in his life The Pagan's thought this was outrageous. So obviously there's a huge problem here The church is breaking God's law and they're being an absolute embarrassment in the entire neighborhood of unbelievers, but the real problem is when Paul says and you are proud Inverse to that's the real problem. Now why are they proud? Let me give you four reactions that we normally have to sin in the church and These four reactions are derived from two concerns that almost everybody would have if they're Christian two concerns First concern is a concern for moral purity The second concern is a concern for people Now if I put this on a scale with this being the scale for moral purity and this being the scale For loving people or liking people or want to be popular with people Well, let's look at four different Approaches to this problem if sin occurs in the church. Let's take the one up here, which has a high concern For purity and a very low concern for people and it's not over here. It's way over here Low concern for people high concern for purity. What do you call that judgmentalism? Legalism moralism. Well, is that so I can't believe so I'm told you that and Then of course you get the other legal approach. Well, I can't believe the church responded like that Don't they love people? And so you get people who are able to morally pring and posture themselves and Explain about moral impurity, but they really are not doing anything to help the people So high concern for purity, low concern for people. What about down here at the bottom, low concern for people Low concern for purity. Well, this is the famous whatever Just totally indifferent. I don't care about parity. I don't care about people. Totally indifference. What about over here on this scale? Low concern for moral purity. High concern for people. What do you get out here? Well, you get usually a self-defense of this and a rationalization or In the case of the Corinthians. This is where they are high concern for people low concern for purity. Here's where they are. They're busting Here's how they boast. Hey, we're saved by the gospel God loves us Listen, I don't want you're eating this law stuff. I don't want you're eating about correction I just want to hear about how much Jesus loves me and I know he loves me and he's saved my soul He's giving me everything in the universe doesn't matter what I do with my body moral purity doesn't matter because I belong to Jesus everything's forgiven Doesn't matter So don't bother me with this stuff. As a matter of fact some of us are born this way Self-amaried Old gay rights movement. This is exactly where they are high concern for people low concern for moral purity now What about over here? High concern for moral purity high concern for people Here's where it is This is the Christian response and it's called grieving grieving The Apostle Paul says in verse two. He says, shouldn't you rather have been filled with grief This is the answer for the Christian when sin attacks us. We are greed Christ often the great Silverton preacher of the 4th century said that we ought to respond like those who have been hit with a pestilence and you've ever been in a situation where the entire community was In drought for month after month after month and people finally gather from all the churches to pray I've been in one of those situations People are grieved. They're looking for God's answer. They're humbling themselves before the Lord This is the answer grief That's the reason the Apostle Paul says in Galatians 6 when we restore one another we should do so gently why because we're in mourning We're all in mourning together That keeps us from indifference That keeps us from self-righteousness and that keeps us from boasting or simply being rationalistic or defending ourselves When we are involved in sin the Apostle says you should have been filled with grief Now you'll notice that the prescription that includes this attitude bereavement But the prescription also includes an action and in this case the Apostle says the action is this man has been doing this This is the assumption anyway repetitively. It's a gross immorality It's a shame to the entire community. You must ex-communicate him that is put him out of the fellowship You find that kind of phrase four or five times in this chapter over and over again In fact at the very end he quotes the Old Testament Expelled a wicked man from among you now you say I thought our business must be and bring people under the church not put them out of the church Yes indeed it is and Once they come in our business is to help them to come more like Jesus Christ and remember We're going to see this under the purposes of discipline the purpose is to restore people to the likeness of Christ If they are impenitent, if they will not be restored, then that is their choice But the business of the church is to bring them in and then to help them conform to the likeness of Christ and that is love isn't it parents? Isn't that law to teach our children to love and encourage our children? And to correct them now let me give some just basic warnings about The action of church discipline and by the way your elders are striving in our own Way to help people who find themselves in moral or spiritual difficulties and some of you may be aware of the restoration teams They've been involved in one case or another and in fact there have been several cases where this has happened It would be just simply give some some pointers about church discipline First of all if we're to do this effectively we've got to be an encouraging church Is I say you can't be corrected by someone who doesn't like you? Psychologists tell us the imperative there should be seven words of encouragement for every word of correction How we do in parents? How we do in church? There should be many many many more words of encouragement in words of correction There's a man who came to church one time. I think it was a press theory church. He was wearing a hat He sat right on the front row One of the others came to say sir, do you mind removing your hat? It is a house of worship He just shook his head The usher went back and got the head usher Came back and told the man sir you really need to remove your hat He said I like my hat and I want to wear my head so the head usher didn't always do He went back and got the steady clerk Stated clerk came up and said sir this is a press theory church We believe in Jesus in order and we really think it's it's advisable remove your hat to show respect for the creator The man said Well, I think you know in different parts of the world they show respect in different ways I'd like to leave my hand on the court of the station didn't know what to do He didn't know about other parts of the world so he goes and gets the senior minister Senior minister slits out he goes to the man said sir I'm on the senior minister We really think it's distracting for you to wear that hat in the front row and he said Well, he said sorry He said I've been here for two years. No one's ever said hello to me I wear a hat and I get to meet the usher They had usher the steady clerk and senior minister And so sometimes you see in the life of the church you only get attention You only get attention when you do something weird Gigi And are we able to be giving each other all kinds of attention all the time dear friends get the attention and give the attention We need to be a healthy family. This is the reason we constantly encourage Everyone to be involved in congregational units and in small groups Secondly listen very carefully Jesus said that we should go one-on-one and when we go one-on-one go with your hat and your hand Go with an awareness of your own sin and failure and need Desperate need of the grace of God and that this is your fellow brother center Go with your hat in your hand and ask questions before you make decorations One time little boy came into the house and his pants were all torn up and the mother had just son and they before She said son you go in your bedroom and you saw your own pants today So she went in there in about 10 minutes and she saw the pants hanging over the chair And she saw the door in the basement open So she goes the basement says are you run around down there without your pants on And she heard a voice that said no ma'am just checking the gas meter You have to be very careful That you ask the right questions and listen very carefully so that you know what is going on Thirdly when we are confronting and encouraging one another we must be very very specific It's not right to say, you know, I think you're living an undoubtedly life Well, hey tell me something. I don't know Tell me something tell me that I'm you know a center had the really news I had an herb before no tell me something specific What is the specific speech or behavior or symptoms of an attitude that you see That's the kind way to help someone repent you give them what you've seen Reveal to them the very specifics with the biblical principles that's in mind. This is exactly what the apostle does here He's very very specific He doesn't say to them. Well, I think you've got a man in there that really doesn't know God very much now He says this is the issue the viticus 18 he's breaking the law of God and this needs to be dealt with I like the mother had two kids and she gave them their Breakfast and said it out and she called them to the table the problem was both these kids had a foul mouth both of them And she was trying to correct them She asked the first one. What do you want for breakfast? And he said I want some blankity blankity blank post-tenses and she took a big Swat hitting across the face. He went sprawled out all over the floor And then she said to the other son now what do you want son? She and he said well, I don't know but it's not gonna be post-tosties and So you have to be very specific. What are you talking about? Give the person a chance to understand what he did wrong Maybe very obvious to you what they did wrong, but you need to tell them it's specifically what it is So we have the right attitude Which is grief and we have the right action which is to go in love and listen and help And then if there is a problem and it's an hour pennant of we know what to do We're supposed to go to the next step as in Matthew 18 now firmly. What's the power of it all? Will you say what difference does this make pastor? All we do is make people mad And if they don't get their way and they still told that they're doing something wrong They just leave and go to another church difference. I know that That's nothing new But the apostle Paul surely had that happen to him too Although in this case in 2nd Corinthians it seems very clearly this man turned back in chapter 2 In chapter 7 of 2nd Corinthians Paul then teaches them how to receive him back warmly Not to be legalistic toward him, but receive him warmly as a brother But we know that happens, but see what the apostle says in verses 3 and 4 He said when I'm with you that is I'm praying for you. I'm thinking for you about you I've got you in my heart, but more importantly when you assemble Jesus Christ is present Do you remember the phrase Where two or three are gathered in my name there. I am in the midst of them We often use that to apply to prayer Dear friends, the context is church discipline in Matthew 18 Where two or three are gathered in my name there. I am so we Do not say that when we Finally come to the end of church discipline and someone decides to leave the church That they couldn't possibly be saved. We don't know that for sure All we do is exercise discipline within the body and leave the judgment to the Lord himself But If we are exercising it according to the word in the way that Jesus in his apostles told us he tells us he is there And it is his power that is at work Now fourthly you see the purposes of church discipline in verses 5 through 8 now I simply want to go to the very heart of the matter Which is in verse 7 b and 8 for Christ our Passover lamb has been sacrificed Therefore let us keep the festival now that phrase is often quoted at the Eucharist or communion Where the minister will say christ our pastoral lamb has been sacrificed therefore let us keep the feast and the feast of courses the Lord Suffer I want to suggest you that's not really what the apostles say. It's okay to use it that way You'll hear me use it that way some But what the apostle is saying is look There's a Passover feast or a Passover day When the pastoral lamb is sacrificed you remember in excess 12 the blood was put over the lentil of the door So the death angel would pass over and not take the firstborn child in that home Then what happened was they got up and were delivered out of Egypt In order to celebrate the deliverance out of Egypt they had passed over to remember the first Passover And then they had the feast of the unleavened bread and they were to get all the leaven out of the house All the yeast and there may have been some medicinal purposes for this But sacramentally it was get the old yeast out Eat the bread of affliction for seven days to remember how you were delivered through affliction for seven days out of Egypt Going through the red sea and so remember celebrate the feast Here's what Paul is saying there are three purposes for church discipline first of all the restoration of the sinner You see he's given over to Satan for the destruction of his sinful nature so that his spirit will be saved Sometimes the only and last thing you can do is to give your children over and say if that's the way you will walk You will go in it and you will suffer the consequences and I'll be here waiting for you when you come home like the waiting father And that's exactly what Jesus does there may come a time when someone may say I don't believe this anymore Or I'm going to live like the devil and so we are caught out of the fellowship and the waiting father continues to wait for us to come home The purpose even of excommunication is love to restore people who need the ultimate discipline in order to get their attention But secondly the apostle says get the yeast out because you know what yeast does You put it in a lump of dough and it spread throughout the entire love It's like one bad apple will make the whole lot rotten And he's saying be very careful because if you do not deal with sin at this level Then you'll deal with it here here here and here because it multiplies. That's our very sinful nature But thirdly and most importantly you say look it's your heritage You had a lamb who died for you Who took away the penalty of sin for you so that you don't have to die and your firstborn son is not taken Don't you remember this an agent and don't you remember that after that the Lord said get rid of your yeast and you traveled through the wilderness Don't you remember how he saved you it cared for you? And what the apostle of saying is Jesus Christ is died for you now Sound right what it means to have one who delivered you from the bondage of sin This is the festival Being in a family that's functional and not dysfunctional dysfunctional family sweep things under the rug functional families deal with business Being in a functional family is a celebration Our Paschal and the Lord Jesus Christ has died for us Therefore keep the festival of holiness enjoy it And we all mean help in order to enjoy it Now fifthly there are parameters in verses 9 through 13 The apostle says look I don't want you to misunderstand me I'm not saying don't deal with adulterers, idolaters and swindlers and and all the rest of them Hey folks those are my best friends. I mean go out there and deal with those people They they need the gospel He said the only ones I'm talking about are people who are standing up professing to be consistent Christians and living like the devil those are the ones who to confront and ultimately if they do not repent They are to be excluded from You giving them the privilege of being considered brother and sister So that you maintain The reputation of the church the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ and the the pressure of persuasion upon his soul He said that's all I'm talking about people out there in the world that do all those things We expect them to do it go out there make friends with him and love them into the kingdom of God And when they come to him they will enter the discipline that we share is a special household now some closing pointers Let me suggest three things that we should do with this First of all Every single one of us needs to resolve today That we will submit to the government and discipline of the church And I'd like you simply to renew your covenant that you made it membership When you said that you would submit to the government and discipline of the church of the Lord Jesus Christ And I asked you before the Lord today to renew that covenant Submit to him And submitting to him includes submitting to his church It always has Old Testament and New Testament and there's no other way around it You don't have to join any particular church But if you're a Christian you will join a church and you need to join a church that takes very seriously family life So first of all let us all submit secondly We need to support those who are exercising the formal discipline in the church and I mean elders Dear friends in our restoration process we have some of the most tender-hearted men and women serving in that role And I have heard today and I have heard in weeks past and I've heard in years past Some fairly awful things said about what they have said or what they have done And I know they have made some mistakes They have told me so and I have watched them make some mistakes But I do not believe that they have done 80% of what I have heard Let me tell you what happens When people are in moral trouble and their brothers or sister love them well enough to confront them They get very angry That's probably the reason they're in trouble in the first place And then when they get confronted they get angrier And then they go tell other people what someone said and there's always a spin on it Not always but often And I suggest you as you hear things like this in the years to come Don't believe everything you hear it's not that anybody's necessarily a liar But they're just like me And if I'm mad I have a spin on what just at place I tell you things from my perspective and it's not the whole story You need to know that now in case I get in trouble But support your elders They are good-hearted people They're not perfect They're sinners In fact some of them are pretty bad sinners But they're forgiven by Jesus And there's resolve to live a holy life And they are truly trying to be a help And when you hear rumors and gossip Send the person back to the place where the Discussions are taking place That's all the only place you'll ever find reconciliation And peace and truth and love Is to go back to the original scene of the Restoration Group Then lastly, submit, support, lastly, share in the discipline yourself Help Jesus said in Matthew 18 This is for all of us Every single one of us You not only have a stake in your getting to heaven safely You've got a stake in my getting to heaven safely You've not only got a stake in your life being a holy life You've got a stake in my life and everybody else's life That's what it means to be in the family In our family, if we've got problems We want to talk about it Why? Because we love each other And we know the name Wilson with two Ls and dot the I Is on everybody's forehead And we're going to deal with Wilson business Now dear folks, let me tell you something more important than that When I come to Second Presbyterian There's an even greater obligation Because the name of Jesus Christ is on my forehead just like yours And we're all in the family together You know what? It's exciting It's an adventure It's real love It's where the action is And it's where attitudes Of bereavement can take place in real joy and love Dear friends, there's no place like it There's no other family like it Because there's no other God And there's no other way to be saved And there are no other means to be saved But the word and affliction and discipline God is good Is really good Gracious God, we thank you for Your loving discipline in our lives And we find it easier to take If you would just speak out of a cloud from heaven Instead of speaking through a fellow sinner Like those in this room It's hard to take correction from someone who needs it Forward we pray that you will humble our souls, our bodies, our minds And enable us to submit to the loving care of our Father Who works through your church Lord help us to be the real thing The real family We pray that you will continue to bless us With words and deeds of encouragement Which absolutely abound As second pressed here in church And Lord we thank you for all the fathers and mothers Who have blessed us in this place We thank you for all the brothers and sisters Who have encouraged us and spurred us on to good deeds We thank you for the tremendous heritage In Jesus Christ Which has been received by our older members And passed down to the next generations We thank you, O God And we pray that in the midst of the love and encouragement Which can only be explained by Jesus Christ That we will also be a discipline family Encouraging each other To keep walking toward the celestial city Keep celebrating the feast of unleavened bread The feast of holiness Until we see our holy savior face to face And then we shall truly rejoice With joy unspeakable And fullness of glory And these things, O Lord we pray In the matchless In the holy and the merciful name Of Jesus Christ our Savior Amen