Hear the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, according to Luke, the 15th chapter, and beginning at verse 1. Then all the tax collectors and the sinners drew near to him to hear him, and the Pharisees and scribes complained, saying, this man receives sinners and eats with them. So he spoke this parable to them, saying, what man of you having a hundred sheep if he loses one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness, and go after the one which is lost until he finds it. And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbors, saying to them, rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost. I say to you that likewise there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine just persons who need no repentance. Or what woman having ten silver coins, if she loses one coin, does not light a lamp, sweep the house, and search carefully until she finds it. And when she has found it, she calls her friends and neighbors together, saying, rejoice with me, for I have found the peace which I lost, likewise I say to you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents. The gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, thanks be to the Lord. Let us pray together. Lord we ask again that you would come by the power of your spirit and minister to us. O Lord, it is when your word and your spirit come together that our lives may be changed, that you may be glorified, that our hearts may be glad. And so come to us and give us eyes to see and ears to hear and hearts to believe this your word and seal it to our hearts by your spirit. We ask in Jesus' name, amen, you may be seated. Well, you know, you wonder how you can proceed after an event like that. That was just a blessed, blessed time. And I hope you all know that you'll not be forgotten. We may not write you letters and make phone calls and we won't be sending you any checks. But we will be praying for you continually. In my garage, there is a filing cabinet. It's tucked back sort of in the corner. It's a four drawer file, one of those steel things with a lock on it. In the bottom drawer of that filing cabinet hidden behind a lawn mower and rakes and various and sundry other kinds of yard tools and implements, there is a stack of correspondence. It's about that thick, a bunch of letters. And the last I looked, there was still a rubber band around it, but out in the heat and the humidity of my garage, it probably has deteriorated, but I think the correspondence is still there. And in the bottom drawer of that filing cabinet for almost 18 years and about 20 years ago, the 20 years ago this coming December, that correspondence began and it began to grow. And what is described in that correspondence is the evolution of a relationship. It's really kind of staggering to think that I've had the same girlfriend now for almost 20 years. And that's what's described in that stack of correspondence is the relationship that began almost 20 years ago and which continues today. And in that correspondence, there are names and there are places and there are events that are referred to and there are subtle disclosures of hopes and dreams and aspirations. And as the relationship grows, as you read that correspondence, you realize that more and more windows are opened up into the soul and the two people involved in that correspondence peer into one another's souls. Now, Barbara and I were to sit down with that correspondence and were to read through it, we'd remember those places and those events and we'd laugh to one another and we'd say, oh yeah, remember that and remember when we did this and remember that we went eight weeks without seeing each other and remember all the money we had to spend and paying those phone bills and because she was in Pittsburgh and I was in Boston. Correspondence. Now if you sat down to that correspondence and tried to piece it all together, there'd be more mystery in it for you than there would be reality or knowledge. For those of us who participated, those of us who were the writers of that correspondence, it's reminders and we know what it all means. But when you come to Paul's letters to the Corinthian church, you come to something like that. You come to a correspondence, a correspondence between a pastor and a congregation. He loves very much, a congregation in which he finds great delight. And throughout these letters, there is an expression of all of that affection and all of that delight and all of that joy and there are references to events and circumstances and that sort of thing but we're outsiders to those events. That's what the scriptures are, you know, in many cases. They are the real communications of real people living in a real place in real time and we're removed from those circumstances and it's not always easy for us to get at what really is going on but that's the business of exegesis. That's what these seminary students have gone to seminary for. They've gone to learn about archeological findings and historical backgrounds and they've gone to learn languages and they've been sitting at the feet of professors for two or three years so that they could get into this stuff and get a better understanding of what it was that transpired so that the things which God was doing there and which are of eternal value and significance and application for the people of God may be rightly applied to us. It's hard work sometimes but it's the work that is done. Now all of that is to provide you with a little bit of background to the background that I want to present to you regarding this relationship which the Apostle Paul had with these current unbelievers. He was their pastor, he was their father in the faith. He did plant this church and he does love these people and he's concerned for their well-being and knowing the background helps us to understand better what it is that he's saying and doing as he writes these letters to them. So here is what transpired. In the fall of 52 AD the Apostle and his second missionary journey went to Corinth and preached the gospel in Corinth and Corinth by the way was a notorious city. It was a city with a reputation for sexual immorality. In fact there was a term that was coined to describe life in Corinth. It was called to Corinthianize and if you were one who Corinthianized you were one who was engaged in immoral practices. For those practices as a part of the local culture were celebrated and people took pride in them and Paul had gone to this place and had preached the gospel there and in preaching the gospel people had been converted. But is this true with us? Conversion doesn't eliminate all of the problems, it doesn't eliminate all of their own thinking, it doesn't eliminate all of the bad behavior, it doesn't represent an immediate and entire transformation at every level. It represents a transformation at the core of one's being. Life is a working out of what God has worked in at the center of our lives and that takes time. That takes patience. God's patience with us, our patience with one another takes time. And so Paul after this church had been planted and during his third missionary journey a time when he stayed in Ephesus for three years preaching the gospel there sometime during that period of time the Apostle made a second visit to Corinth. He traveled across the body of water that separates Ephesus and Asia Minor from Corinth in Greece and he went there to correct some of the problems that persisted and he refers to that visit in the first verses of chapter two as a painful visit. Keep in mind this is an apostle who loves these Christians. He loves them enough to leave what he's doing to go be with them because there are problems which persist and he knows that those problems can be their undoing painful visit and he goes as a father to his children to discipline them, to correct them, to set things in order. That's the view you want to have of the Apostle Paul as you read through these letters.
Discipline is never fun, it's not fun for you, it's apparent when you discipline your child, you know it's not fun for your child, there's no truth in those words, it's going to hurt me more than it's going to hurt you, it's a mutually painful experience and the Apostle in thinking about this visit which he made to Corinth reflects upon the fact that it was hurtful, it was hurtful for them and he hated to have to do it but he did it because he loved them. And then following that visit, he wrote a letter which we no longer have but which is referred to in 1 Corinthians, 1 Corinthians 5-9, he says, in my letter I told you not to associate with the sexually immoral, don't associate with them. You know the reputation that community has? You know the practices that prevail there? You know how destructive they are of human beings? You know how destructive they are of marriages? You know how dishonoring they are to the name of Christ, don't do it. Well that letter we no longer have but following that letter because it seems the problems were not corrected, the Apostle wrote a longer letter perhaps, a letter that touched on many of the problems which persisted in Corinth and that letter is our first Corinthians. A letter he says in verse 4 of chapter 2 of 2 Corinthians which he wrote out of much affliction and anguish of heart and with many tears. That was painful for him too and if you read through first Corinthians knowing something of the affection that the Apostle had for these people, you can begin to appreciate how difficult it was. He had to address a party spirit and divisions within the church. People saying I am of a palace or I am of Peter or I am of Christ and they were setting themselves up against one another. They were wending and ripping and tearing the unity of the spirit and he had to deal with the abuse of spiritual gifts and he had to deal with abuses in worship and he had to deal with the idea that seemed to be pretty pervasive that the resurrection had already come and they should not look for another resurrection because it had already happened and then he had to deal with one specific problem of immorality in the church, the problem of incest and he deals with that in the fifth chapter of that first letter and it seems that a man who was a part of the church, one who had professed faith in Jesus Christ had taken his father's wife to be his own wife and while not viewed as adultery, it was viewed even worse as incest and the Apostle says in the fifth chapter that this sexual immorality is a sin not even named above them among the Gentiles and the question is now for the Apostle Paul, how is it going to be dealt with? First Corinthians 5 is the background to second Corinthians 2 5 through 11 and I'd like you to look back at first Corinthians chapter 5 because there is instruction for us here, it is strong, strong instruction, it is a tonic, conic for the carelessness which characterizes much of our living in the life of the church. You have this problem, if Apostle says in verse 1 of chapter 5 of first Corinthians, it is actually reported that it is broadcast, it is known widely that there is sexual immorality among you and such sexual immorality is not even named among the Gentiles that a man has his father's wife and you are puffed up not only were they not ashamed by it but it seems they actually gloried in it and this is serious business for the Apostle and the Apostle is writing now to correct it and we have to ask the question when this sort of problem appeared in the lives of these Corinthian believers, what is it that the Apostle was aiming at? What did he want? What was he pursuing? What did he care about? Look at verses 4 and 5 and then 6, 7, 8 and 9 and we get two of the reasons for the Apostles intense interest in this. In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ he says, when you are gathered together along with my spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ, now understand when he is talking about his spirit being present with them, he is not referring to some out-of-body experience. It is not as though his spirit is transported from where he is in Ephesus to another location. What he is referring to there is his apostolic authority. My son is a school class this morning we talked about government in the church and how needful it was for there to be government and I reminded the folks that the kingdom of God is not a democracy. We have been drinking for so long and we have drunk so deeply at the democratic wells that we think everything that goes on everywhere and anywhere requires a vote from us that it doesn't work that way in the kingdom of God. Jesus Christ is the king and head over his church and you didn't elect him into that position. He is there because he is God Almighty and he rules and he reigns in the affairs of all men and he doesn't need your vote and he has set apart the Apostle Paul and he has commissioned him and made him an Apostle and given him apostolic authority and the rule and reign of Jesus Christ is exercised through Paul and the Corinthians are expected to submit to it. And that is what he is referring to in this fourth verse. When you gather together that authority is there and I am telling you what to do and I expect you to execute it. I expect you to do what it is that I, the Apostle of Jesus Christ, tell you to do. Verse 5, here is what I expect you to do. I expect you to deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of the flesh that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus. Has that caused you to tremble in your boots a bit? Here is this one who has violated the law of God, who has violated the character of God, who has violated the purity of the church by his activity and the Apostle Paul is saying cast him out, cut him out, excommunicate him, remove him from your midst and turn him over to Satan so that his flesh might be destroyed to the end that his spirit might be saying. What is the Apostle after? What is he concerned about? He is concerned about the man. He is concerned about this professing Christian in the first place. The Apostle understands that a little bit of temporal suffering, a little bit of physical punishment doesn't even begin to be compared with the glories that await one who is preserved by that punishment from eternal condemnation. Isn't that true with your kids? Don't you find that a little bit of physical discomfort goes a long way in restraining? Now, I know that there are gradations and for some a little goes a long way. For others a lot doesn't go very far at all, but don't we know that in our own experience that some discomfort goes a long way in preserving someone from destruction? See the Apostle has an eternal view of things. He knows that the eternal far outweighs in value, the temporal and material. He doesn't live for the moment. He doesn't live for the here and now. He doesn't minister for the moment or for the here and now. He ministers for the eternal and to turn this man over to Satan while sounding terribly harsh and cruel because of his great love for this man is actually the best thing that he could do for him. What are we concerned about in discipline? What are we concerned about when we identify these difficulties, these problems, these sins in the life of the church? Are we concerned to kick people out so that we're not contaminated by their sin? Is that the view we take of this? If that's the view, it's wrong. The view we take of this is that this is one who has professed faith in Jesus Christ and by that profession is an heir of eternal glory, but by his behavior he is departing. He is earning. He is straying and if he persists, it may prove that he is not a believer at all and this turning one over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh is in design, purposed to bring him back, purposed to bring him to his senses, purposed to preserve him for eternity in the presence of Christ. In the first place, Paul is concerned for the sinner, concerned that he'd be restored and it is motivated by his love for the man, he has another concern, verses 6, 7, 8, or glorying is not good. You not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump, therefore purge out the old leaven that you may be a new lump since you are truly unleavened. For indeed Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us. Therefore let us keep the feast not with old leaven nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. What is he concerned about? He is concerned about this. Sin is like a leaven. When you get it into the lump, it pervades the whole lump and it infects the whole lump. Sin is like a cancer and we know something of the devastating effects of cancer. We know how dislocating it is. We know how saddening it is. We know how fearful it is. We know that it requires extraordinary efforts to get it out. We know what it can lead to. We're not unmindful of these things. The Apostle sees sin as something in that category and he loves the church so much that he wants it out. Cut it out. Rooted out. Cauterize it. Do what you must do. He cares about the church. Aren't we instructed, aren't we taught to think about it that way in our own lives? Why is it that God hates sin? Does he hate it because it's fun? No, he hates it because it produces death. And if this man is allowed to persist in this behavior, if he is allowed to persist in his rebellion refusing to submit to the authority of the Apostle Paul as it is exercised in this place and through this church, if he is allowed to persist in his behavior and is allowed to remain in the church with everybody's knowledge, it is like a cancer and it will numb everyone and it will deaden everyone and it will lower everyone's sensibilities and sensitivities rather than being the radiant and spotless and glorious bride that the church ought to be and should be moving in the direction of the church in the world become indistinguishable. And that of course leads to Paul's third concern, though it's not stated here, explicitly we must know. We must know that the Apostle is concerned with the name of Christ and that it be honored in the world that the church be a light shining in the midst of darkness in order that people might see her good deeds and glorify God who is in heaven. That's what the Apostle is concerned about. What it appears that these Corinthians had responded, for Paul had sent that first letter to the Corinthians through Titus with Titus being his emissary and the Apostle had hoped to meet him as he says in verses 12 and 13 in Troas and Paul had gone to Troas to see what word Titus would bring him from Corinth but he wasn't there and even though there was an opportunity to preach the gospel the Apostle was so concerned about the Corinthian church, so concerned about their response and whether or not they would heed his apostolic authority that he left there and went to Macedonia and we learn in chapter 7 of 2 Corinthians that Paul found Titus and much to his relief Titus informed him Paul of the responsiveness of the Corinthians to his admonitions and it seems that in particular this man who was punished and whose punishment was inflicted by the majority had repented for the Apostle says now in verse 7 rather than reject him you want to forgive him and comfort him lest he be swallowed up with too much sorrow he repented he turned and now the Corinthian church it seems was guilty of another infraction rather than receiving him back he appears they were reluctant to forgive and restore him and now Paul has to admonish them to do that reaffirmed your love to him he says and the word reaffirm has to do with contractual arrangements make a contract of it resolve formally to do it reaffirm your love to him or to this end I also wrote that I might put you to the test whether you are obedient in all things folks that really is the high ground in the Christian faith as I said to the folks in the early service we may not formally have excommunicated anybody but how often do we do that in our hearts how often do we excommunicate someone because his tie is tied funny or his breath is bad or because he or she might have said or done something to me or to someone I love and we view that action is tantamount to a violation of the integrity of the character of God and the unity of the church and even when there's an acknowledgement of wrongdoing even when there's an apology there is still an excommunication which we effect in our hearts and we remove people don't we don't we do this but you see the high ground the high ground the high road of the Christian faith is to do for one another literally when someone has been excommunicated and restored and figuratively when we have been affronted in some way but an apology has been made and yet I would suggest to you even when there has not been an apology made we extend to that one the same forgiveness which Christ extends to us let me ask you have you apologized to Christ for every single offense which you have committed against him and does he excommunicate you because of your failure so to do Ephesians 432 commands us to forgive one another as God in Christ has forgiven us that covers a lot that covers a lot folks the world is watching the world is watching and the high ground for us is to take seriously the purity of the church absolutely and to take with equal seriousness the very high hard but high calling we not excommunicate one another in our hearts and that we forgive one another as God in Christ has forgiven us
I had an incredible phone call this last week was from someone who wanted to know about St. Paul's someone who had been excommunicated by another church but before coming to St. Paul's that person went back to the former church repented confessed the sin was restored to the fellowship of that church and that church had a special service for that reinstate and I sat listening to this person talk and I couldn't help it but there were tears in my eyes because that is an expression of the mighty power of the grace of God in Jesus Christ and again
while we may not have done it literally God keep us from doing it in our hearts and may the same restoration and reunion be true in our relationships be they marriages or relationships to children or relationships between people who sit on opposite sides of the congregation because they really don't like each other very much God keep us from God give us grace to take the high ground let's pray together Lord thank you for this day thank you for this word press at home to us keep us oh God from cutting one another off and though it is hard and painful and requires enormous perseverance and sacrifice give us grace to deal with one another as you in Christ have dealt with us we ask in Jesus name and we ask for the sake of his name amen