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February 19, 2012 - AM - Pastor Stan Lightfoot
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Part I
(I Corinthians 5:1-8)
Theme: The Necessary Role of Church Discipline
INTRODUCTION
* Cancer
Cancer is the generic name for a variety of diseases that infect all areas of the body. One can have cancer in the lungs, the brain, the blood, the bones, the liver, the skin - you name it. It is an insidious type of disease where abnormal cells grow out of control. Because most cancer is not visible on the surface, and symptoms don't always appear right away, it often goes undetected for quite some time. The longer it attacks the host body before detection, the more likely it will be fatal. Treatment for cancer varies, but often there is no other alternative to surgery - the cancer must be removed before it kills the host.
* Sin
Sin has been compared to cancer - especially as it relates to a local body of believers. Believers who are trapped in sin are often very careful to hide it from their brothers and sisters in Christ - out of fear of being exposed and out of shame because they know it is wrong. The longer it goes undetected and unresolved, the more damage it is likely to do to the body. Over time, it has the capacity to spread and infect other parts of the body. We can often deal with the problem through prayerful counsel that leads to confession and forgiveness. However, when the person in sin refuses to submit to Biblical instruction and persists in the sin, the surgical removal of the person from the body becomes a necessity. We call this process church discipline, and i Corinthians 5 is an example of this process in action.
I. THE IMMORAL PROBLEM (5:1)
A. General Category
The apostle begins chapter 5 by confronting a report of sexual immorality in the church. He seemed to be incredulous that what he had heard was actually happening, and we'll see why in just a minute. He said, "It is actually reported…" The word translated "actually" is "commonly" in the KJV. The word means "completely" or "everywhere." There was no doubt in the apostle's mind that this was taking place, because it was widely known. It was not what was taking place in the city at large, it was taking place "among you" - that is, in the church. The word Paul used is porneia - the word from which we get our word, "pornography." Generically, this is what is known as "sexual immorality" or "fornication" (KJV).
B. Specific Sin
Without going into detail, the specific report had to do with a man in the church who was carrying on with his stepmother - "his father's wife." Paul said it was so egregious - such a disgusting sin - that the unsaved gentiles would not even speak of it aloud.
That was the problem. It was wicked and it was public…but even more, it was cancerous.
II. THE INADEQUATE RESPONSE (5:2)
In verse 2, Paul gets to the heart of the matter from his perspective. He was concerned about the man, as we'll see when we get to v. 5, but his primary concern was the church. Paul noted three aspects of what was going on that constituted a festering, cancerous sore in the life of this body of believers.
A. Pride!
First, he noted the ongoing problem of pride. He said, in spite of the wicked nature of this problem, "…you are puffed up…" Pride seems to be an odd response to this kind of sin, but when you recognize that the Corinthian culture isn't all that different from ours, you might begin to understand what was going on. Immorality was very nearly a badge of honor in ancient Greece. You weren't anybody unless you had something going on the side. It was common - expected - for a man to have not only a wife but also a mistress. No doubt the believers in Corinth were something of a laughing stock - a circus peculiarity - because their new religion discouraged immoral behavior…not unlike 21st Century America. So, when news of this sinful behavior cropped up, the Corinthians simply used it as a way to say to their unsaved friends and neighbors, "See, we aren't prudes. We can be just as liberated as you!" Far from seeing it as a cancer, they saw it as a vindication that they were normal. They took pride in the fact that they were urbane, sophisticated and willing to celebrate diversity. There was no discrimination in this church!
B. No Sorrow
Paul went on to say that they had "not rather mourned." Sin should have bothered them. It should have produced Godly sorrow. It should have resulted in mourning. But that didn't happen. From their twisted perspective, sin was no big deal. It was not worth getting worked up over. It was…normal. There was no need to mourn or get upset.
C. Inaction
The result was inaction. They allowed the man who was in ongoing, unrepentant sin to stay in the church - unshackled, unsanctioned, unreproved. His sin was an open sore - a cancer that would spread throughout the church, but no one in the church was willing to treat the wound. They just let the cancer sit there - open and growing. Paul considered that trifecta of pride, complacency and inaction to be a destructive force in the church and he was unwilling to let it go. It had to be dealt with so the church could survive.
II. THE INCISIVE SOLUTION (5:3-5)
A. Paul Takes The Lead
To that end - the health and survival of the church - Paul took the lead. "Even though I am not there physically, I have a solution for this problem. There is sin, and the man must be held accountable for his sin." Now, some will read this passage and look back at the beginning of chapter 4 (vv. 3-5) and ask, "Why did Paul counsel that people not judge in chapter 4, but when this issue surfaced in chapter 5, he not only judged, but told the church they had no choice - they had to judge him, as well?" Well, there is an answer to that. In chapter 4, Paul was being judged as to whether his service was good enough. It had to do with how well he was performing his duties as an apostle. In chapter 5, the arena of judgment had shifted. The discussion here was whether sin was worth condemning. It's still between believers, but here it has to do with whether a believer can flaunt his sin in the face of God and his local church and get away with it. It's a very different scenario than chapter 4. So, Paul took the lead and said he was aware of the circumstances, and was acting on it as if he were present in person. he had already judged the situation and was ready with a solution.
B. The Church Takes Responsibility
But his solution wasn't dictatorial. Paul sill regarded the local church as supreme in church matters. His counsel was, "You all get together in the Name of the Lord Jesus - I'll be with you in spirit - and act on this in the power of the Lord Jesus Christ." Paul put the responsibility for action where it belonged - with the congregation of the church family. Paul was not the final arbiter or judge. He discerned a problem and proposed a Biblical solution (patterned after the Lord's command in Matthew 18:15-20). Then he put the church on notice that it was their responsibility to carry it out.
C. The Church Takes Action
The action was church discipline. They were to "deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of the flesh…" That phrase has raised eyebrows and not a little discussion as to what Paul had in mind. Let's break it down into it's two components to gain a better understanding. First, they were to "deliver such a one to Satan…" What does that mean? Well, the idea is that there is safety for the believer within the family relationship of the church. When church discipline runs its course, a believer is "put away" (v. 13) from the rest of the body. The church family is "not to keep company with sexually immoral people" who are "named a brother" (vv. 9 and 11). So, to be "delivered to Satan" is to be put out of the fellowship, care and safety of the church family. The second phrase, "for the destruction of the flesh" is the more difficult of the two. Is Paul talking about physical destruction? Is he saying that being put out will lead to physical consequences (something like the weak, sick and dying of I Cor. 11:30)? Or is he saying that when one is put out, it will result in the destruction of carnality? The word "flesh" can mean the sinful nature, and is used that way in the NT quite often. I tend toward the latter idea. In his commentary on I Corinthians, Alan Redpath said this:
Hand him over to Satan, Paul says, before whose authority he has been surrendering. Cut him off from Christian fellowship; remove him from any false feeling of security within the Christian church; expose him to the dreadfulness and loneliness and awfulness of the sin of which he is guilty…Put him out for the destruction of carnality, until he loathes the very thought of the thing which he is practicing."
That is consistent with one of the goals of church discipline - to restoration of the sinning brother. I think Redpath is on target, and the idea here is that God will work in the heart of his erring child to pull him away from the path of sin and instill in him a longing for the sweet fellowship he once had with God and God's people.
It's important to note that Paul was not immune to the spiritual plight of the sinning man. He was not simply interested in saving the local body (though that was his primary goal). He also wanted to preserve the man. All of this disciplinary action, it was hoped, was for a purpose in his life as well: "that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus." Our work in church discipline may have the effect - will have the effect, we hope - of mortifying the flesh and drawing the person's spirit closer to the Lord Jesus.
III. THE IMPORTANT REASONING (5:6-8)
A. Sin Will Infiltrate
Paul reiterated that their pride was not good, and then laid out his reasoning for the need of church discipline. First, sin spreads. He uses the picture of leaven - yeast. If you've ever done any baking, you know that you don't need much yeast when you're baking bread. A little goes a long way. That's Paul's premise. If you let one sin exist unrestrained, it will spread. Others will decide that sin is OK and they, too will begin to practice open and unrepentant sin in their lives. Before long, the church is filled with ungodly people living for themselves and fulfilling their own lusts, whatever they may be.
B. Sin Should Be Purged
Since that's the case, a church family has a responsibility to get rid of the leaven - purge the sin - that will otherwise spread through the whole church like a cancer. The idea of "old leaven" is that sin is what we used to do - what our lives were filled with before we trusted Christ. That's not true anymore, or at least it should not be true anymore. We need to refocus. We need to get rid of the old man with his desires and sinful tendencies. We need to be holy - "unleavened' - a new lump.
C. Christ Should Be Honored
We also need to remember that Christ died for us. The picture of a suffering Savior, who gave His life to pay for our sin is a picture that should give us pause when we decide to practice the very sin He died to take away. It's one of the reasons we observe the Lord's Table - so that the memory of Christ's death will be a purifying influence in our lives. He is honored when we live lives of holiness. he is dishonored when we practice sin. he is also dishonored when we decide sin isn't so bad, and we allow it to fester within the body.
APPLICATION
There are several things for us to take away from this passage.
First, personal holiness's not an option. An immoral lifestyle is an affront to a holy God; it's a blot on His church and it cannot be allowed to fester. Each of us has a responsibility to examine our own lives to root out the sin and live holy before the Lord. With respect to sexual sin, we can take some steps to control that area of our lives. First, be accountable. Find a person who will hold you accountable. Second, don't put yourself in a position to act out sin. Walk away from tempting situations. Third, fill your mind with the things of the Lord. Replace the impure with those things that are pure. Be in the Word. Spend time with the Lord in prayer. Sin has a harder time taking root where the Word and person of God are reigning supreme.
Second, each local church - our local church - has a responsibility to the Lord first, to the church family second, and to the person who has fallen into sin to exercise church discipline. It is not noble to put our personal friendships and human loyalties before our commitment to Him. It is not Godly to ignore our testimony, to allow sin to fester and spread, and to give Satan a foothold within our church family. It is not loving to ignore the problem - to pretend our brother or sister doesn't need the help. When we fail to exercise church discipline, we slap our Savior across the face, we stunt the growth and development of our church and we hinder our sinning brother in his walk with the Lord. There is no sense in which it is a good thing.
Paul saw a problem at Corinth - a huge problem. If statistics are accurate, the same problem exists in our churches today. Sexual sin is pervasive in our society - like never before. We need to be alert to the problem, deal with it according to God's Word and ask God to protect us - individually and as a church - from the ravages of sexual sin.
Let's Pray. |
Who: 3 - 12 year olds (3 y.o. to Completed 6th Grade) 
When: 6 - 7pm on Sundays, as well as various times as posted in the weekly and monthly church calendar.
To minister to the needs of the saints on a more personal basis, fellowship among like minded believers and mutual edification.
Mission: To fellowship, pray and serve together as men and grow in our walk with the Lord. 
Mission: To teach the Bible in a setting that will encourage women to participate in edifying dialogue and grow stronger in their Christian faith.