I. Background Teaching
A. Jesus Is The Head Of The Church Matthew 16:13-19
1. Jesus is the Head of the church. He gives authority to the church.
2. When the church acts according to God’s word, Jesus honors and ratifies those decisions.
B. Jesus Taught About Church Discipline Matthew 18:15-20
1. The proper steps to take in resolving conflict between Christians.
2. This is not a suggestion, but a responsibility that is placed upon everyone who names the name of Jesus.
3. If Christians would follow these steps, much sin would be corrected.
4. The result is that people would have a greater fear of God.
5. Notice that the final responsibility comes to the church.
6. Notice that forgiveness (loose) is to be limitless and continual.
7. When the church practices this, Jesus ratifies the church’s decisions.
II. The Problem In Corinth
A. Acceptance Of Sexual Sin V. 1
1. V. 1– The sin being addressed was a man that was having sexual relations with his stepmother. This was something that even the unbelievers didn’t approve.
2. The Corinthians Christians were allowing this to happen.
B. Boasting Of How Tolerant They Were V. 2
1. Has- speaks of continuous, ongoing action. Not a “one night stand”.
2. The Corinthians were a carnal group of Christians. See 1 Corinthians 3:1-4
3. In their carnality, they failed to see the sin of this man for what it was.
4. There was no godly sorrow that this was happening.
5. Their carnality also led them to be boastful of what they considered “tolerance”.
6. There are many churches today that boast about their tolerance regarding things that the Bible calls sinful.
7. They may do this because of emotional reasons (not wanting to make people feel bad), or of wanting to avoid disapproval by society, or attract members.
C. Ignorant Of The Leavening Effect Of Sin V. 6
1. V. 6-The Corinthians were ignorant of what their tolerant attitude would eventually produce in the church. (Yeast is symbolic of sin in the Bible.)
2. As yeast permeates the entire lump of dough, so tolerance of sin will allow all kinds of sin to run rampant through the church.
3. No one can introduce yeast into a lump of dough and then tell the yeast where to stop. The nature of the yeast is to permeate. So is the nature of sin.
III. The Solution For The Church
A. Judge The Sin Vs. 3-5, 7
1. V. 3-Paul had to do what the church leadership should have done.
a. They should have dealt with this scandalous sin themselves.
b. Even from a distance, Paul believed this report and judged it.
c. Paul wasn’t describing astral-projection, but his authority extended to them even if he wasn’t present with them.
2. Vs. 4, 5- Not by the power of Paul, but by the power of and in the name of Jesus. If the church does this according to God’s word, then Jesus honors it and ratifies in from Heaven. Whatever the church binds on earth will be bound in Heaven. Whatever the church looses on Earth will be loosed in Heaven.
3. V. 5-This speaks of the goal of the command.
a. Excommunication is for the purpose of bringing a man to repentance.
b. “Destruction of the flesh”-That the person will grow so tired of their sinful desires that they will repent.
c. “That his spirit may be saved”-The goal is always spiritual restoration.
4. Wiersbe- “Church discipline is not a group of ‘pious policemen’ out to catch a criminal. Rather, it is a group of brokenhearted brothers and sisters seeking to restore an erring member of the family.”
5. V. 7- We have been cleansed. We are to live that way.
B. Live Holy Lives Vs. 6, 8
1. V. 6- The danger of allowing sins to continue is that it affects the entire church.
2. V. 8– We are not to live with malice and wickedness, but w/sincerity and truth.
C. This Did Not Apply To The Unsaved Vs. 10, 12, 13a
1. Vs. 10, 12-Paul is not telling us to separate from unbelievers.
2. If we avoided everyone who lived this way, we would have no human
interaction with unbelievers at all.
3. We are to have interaction with unbelievers.
4. NOTE- Please be careful to not avoid unbelievers because of they don’t live like Christians. We shouldn’t expect them to live like Christians. We need to love them and share the Gospel with them.
5. V. 13– God will judge the unbelievers. We are to love and reach out to them.
D. Separation Is Necessary V. 9, 11, 12a, 13b
1. V. 9- We must separate from Christians who participate in unrepentant sin.
a. I don’t believe that Paul is speaking about Christians who struggle with sin and give in to sin on occasion.
b. I don’t believe that he is speaking about Christians who agree they some of their behavior is sinful, and who are grieved when they commit sin.
c. I believe that he is speaking of those who continually and habitually practice sin with no sorrow and no intention of repenting.
2. V. 11– God calls for a separation from unrepentant Christians.
a. Not to keep company-to associate with in a close way.
b. Anyone named a brother-this applied only to those called Christians.
c. Not even to eat-an expression of friendship and partnership.
d. We are not to act as if everything is ok with them, because it isn’t.
e. We are to treat them like an unbeliever. Koinonia is broken with them.
3. V. 12-Judge -to pronounce an opinion concerning right or wrong, to distinguish.
a. Those within the church are to discern what is right or wrong amongst fellow Christians.
b. This always to be dome with love and grace, but it is to be done.
c. Sometimes the church is more concerned about judging sin outside the church instead of judging sin inside the church.
4. V. 13b-Put away-to remove, to take away out of a place.