How the Church Must Deal With Sin

Transcript

GR 1311
11-20-05
How the Church Must Deal with Sin
I Corinthians 5:1-5
Gil Rugh
                   

We're going to be in 1 Corinthians 5 in your Bibles.  You know we live in a world that is characterized by much change.  But one of the things that impresses me as I study the Word of God is how many things do not change.  And one of the things that does not change is the matter of sin.  And no matter when you analyze people or analyze what is going on in a world or society, you find that sin is sin and is basically the same at any time or any point in history.  There is a good reason for this.  Jeremiah, the prophet, wrote about 500 years B.C., the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked, or desperately sick.  Who can know it?  And God responds, I, the Lord, search the heart.  The reason that some things don't change, one of those things being sin, is that the fallen sinful nature of man does not change.  At the root of our being we are corrupted by sin and out of that depraved heart and mind flow all kinds of activities that are in rebellion against God.

Turn to Mark 7.  Jesus is dealing with the issue of religious traditions in Mark 7, and He is clarifying the fact that it is not things from the outside that really defile a person, it's things that come from the inside.  The end of verse 18, Jesus said, do you not understand that whatever goes into the man from outside cannot defile him.  Rather, verse 20, that which proceeds out of the man, that is what defiles the man.  For from within, out of the heart of man, remember that heart which is more deceitful than all else and desperately sick as Jeremiah wrote?  Out of the heart of man proceed evil thoughts, fornications, and we're going to come to that word in our study of 1 Corinthians today, thefts, murders, adulteries, deeds of coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness.  All these things proceed from within and defile the man.

The reason that we find the sin of mankind the same, whether it's today, 100 years ago, 1000 years ago or 3000 years ago is that sin comes from a depraved, fallen being.  And it always manifests itself in similar kinds of ways.  You'll note the grouping.  I want to look at a couple of other lists with you and I just want you to note the various kinds of sins that are joined together.  None of these lists being a complete list, but they show the kinds of things that come from depraved, human minds and hearts.

Turn over to Romans 1:28.  And here Paul is describing those, according to Romans 1:28, who did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer.  They refuse to acknowledge God and recognize Him as God and bow before Him as God.  So God gave them over to a depraved mind, which is referring to the same thing as their deceitful heart, that inner part of their being to do things which are not proper.  God was not causing them to do things which are not proper, but He was turning them over so that they were free now to do what they really wanted to do.  They were being filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, evil, full of envy, murders, strife, deceit, malice.  They are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, without understanding, untrustworthy, unloving, unmerciful.  And although they know the ordinance of God that those who practice such things are worthy of death, they not only do the same but give hearty approval to those who practice them.  These aren't complete lists, but they are a sampling of what comes from the sinful heart of a human being.  And you'll note this is a strange mixture in some ways to us, because we think some things here are really awful—murder.  That would be a bad one.  But greed?  Who is not greedy?  Don't you want more, don't you desire more, aren't you working harder to get more?  Deceit?  Well, you shouldn't be deceitful, but that can't be as bad as murder.  But all these things manifest a heart that has rejected God, is in rebellion against God and this these kinds of practices evidence a life that is controlled by depravity.

Turn over to Galatians 5:19.  Paul refers to what he calls the deeds of the flesh.  The flesh is referring to the same thing as the heart which is deceitful, as that depraved mind.  It is the inner being of a person that is corrupted and in rebellion against God.  Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are immorality, that's the word that we're going to be talking about in 1 Corinthians 5.  Impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions.  Remember the Corinthian church?  If you were here for our study of the opening chapters—disputes and dissensions, factions, envying, drunkenness, carousing, things like these.  Note this is not a complete list, it gives you a sampling of the kinds of things that come from the heart of a fallen being until we are transformed by the power of the Holy Spirit who makes us new and enables us to walk by the Spirit and thus not carry out the desires of the flesh, according to verse 16.  These are characteristic, according to verse 20, of those who really will not be part of the kingdom that Christ will establish on the earth.

Again, these kinds of things are mixed together.  One of the deceptive things about sin, and don't leave Galatians because we're going to keep going back.  One of the deceptive things about sin is we think we can isolate sin.  You know, well I may do this, but I wouldn't do this.  But what happens when you open the door for the manifestation of your fallen, depraved nature, you cannot control and decide what comes out.  Obviously this doesn't mean that every sinner commits all of these things, but you don't find these sins in isolation.  I'm always somewhat amused when I watch something like a court program or a news piece where they are talking about someone who has committed a crime, perhaps murder.  There are always people on there who are saying, oh I know them, they're not capable of that.  Now they may have been committing adultery, being unfaithful to their spouse, they may have been lying and deceiving their spouse and family and friends, so they are lying, deceitful adulterers.  But I know they could never commit murder.  Just how do you know that?  Well, they're just such nice people.  I didn't know nice people committed adultery and lied and were deceitful and on it goes.  Now we who have the revelation of God know something of the true character of a fallen being.  But we all ought to be aware of what sin is like, and you cannot decide, I think I'll just indulge in this one sin because then you have opened the door and you don't know what comes out and you don't know where it takes you.

Turn over to James 3.  Now keep following me, this all relates to 1 Corinthians.  James 3.  Remember 1 Corinthians talked about the wisdom of the world, the wisdom of man versus the wisdom of God?  James is drawing a similar kind of contrast in chapter 3.  Verse 13, who among you is wise and understanding?  Then he should manifest that in his godly deeds.  Verse 14, but if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your heart, do not be arrogant and lie against the truth.  This wisdom is not that which comes down from above, but is earthly, natural, demonic.  So again, the contrast between the two kinds of wisdom—God's wisdom and man's wisdom.  Now I just want you to note verse 16, for where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there is disorder and every evil thing.  See what happens?  You can't say, well I may be jealous, I may have selfish ambition, but that's all.  No, James says where you find these two sins, you'll find all kinds of other sins as well.

Come back to 1 Corinthians 5.  Remember the church at Corinth was wracked by divisions and quarrels.  In 1 Corinthians 1:10, Paul exhorted them in the middle of verse 10, let there be no divisions among you.  The end of verse 11 he says he's heard that there are quarrels among them.  Look in chapter 3 verse 3.  He refers to the fact that they are fleshly still.  Remember the works of the flesh we just read a list of in Galatians 5?  The Corinthian church that is to be walking by the Spirit so it will not manifest the deeds of the flesh was doing some of those things.  Look at 1 Corinthians 3:3, for since there is jealousy and strife among you.  Remember what James said?  Where jealousy and selfish ambition exist.  That word translated selfish ambition is the same basic word translated strife here.  Where jealousy and selfish ambition, where jealousy and strife exist, there is disorder in every evil thing.  And yet in 1 Corinthians 3:3 Paul says for since there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not fleshly?  We can expect in the Corinthian church we're going to find every kind of evil thing, because James tells us, where you find jealousy and strife or selfish ambition, you'll find every other kind of disorder and every evil thing.

So we'll not be surprised when we come to chapter 5, we'll be disappointed but not surprised to find out there is immorality being practiced in the Corinthian church.  And he's going to deal with one particular case, but when we get to the end of chapter 6 we're going to find out this immorality is not limited to just one person.  So it wasn't just the Corinthian church that had a problem with divisions and quarrels, but where the flesh is being manifested you can bet you're going to find all kinds of sins being manifested as well.

What Paul is writing in chapter 5 is a continuation of his concerns in the first four chapters.  In fact, chapter 4 verse 21 is a transition verse.  What do you desire?  Should I come to you with a rod or with love and a spirit of gentleness?  That refers to the corrections that need to be made through the first four chapters.  But it also leads into the correction that must be made in the church at Corinth, and the discipline that must be exercised in chapter 5.  And I find it interesting that the church that he talks about as fleshly, the church that he talks about as being characterized as having divisions and quarrels and strife and selfish ambition is responsible to exercise discipline on one of their number that is guilty of a specific sin.  We like to avoid church discipline by saying, well let him that is without sin cast the first stone.  Judge not that you be not judged.  And after telling the Corinthian church that you are fleshly, you are characterized by the kinds of things that bring every other kind of evil thing, he tells them now you better exercise discipline on this sinning member.  So there is still the responsibility of the church to function as the church.  They are responsible to correct in the church what the church must deal with, but they are also responsible to deal with certain kinds of specific sins that necessitate what we would call church discipline.

Note how chapter 5 begins.  It is actually reported that there is immorality among you.  The way it is worded it's almost like this is shocking.  It is actually reported.  It doesn't say where the report comes from, maybe it's from Chloe's household, along with the other bad report in chapter 1 of 1 Corinthians.  Maybe it’s some of those who brought him some information that he'll refer to in chapter 16 of this letter.  There is no doubt about the truthfulness of the report, and that will become clear as we move through this.  But Paul refers to it in a way that implies this is shocking that this should go on in the church of the living God.  And he's not going to focus most of his attention on the sinning member.  That is serious enough that a professing believer should be guilty of the sin that this man is guilty of.  But that the church should tolerate and be accepting of such sin defies belief.  I mean, it's bad enough that one person would be guilty of it, but that the whole church would become complicit and thus accountable before God.  I mean, you just can shake your head.  I mean, one person would commit such a sin you'd say, well, terrible as it is, yeah, I can see it happen.  But that the whole church then, while not practicing it, would consent to it; Paul says it is shocking.  It is actually reported that there is immorality among you.  You ought to underline that—among you.  This is within the church at Corinth that this sinning person is functioning.  There is somebody in the church at Corinth that is guilty of immoraliWe get the word pornos, pornography from this word.  Pornea is the Greek word, you can hear it, pornea, we carry it over into English, pornography.  The original meaning was to function as a prostitute, prostitution.  Then it came to mean all kinds of sexual immorality, deviation, corrupted sexual practice.  Used a number of times, we saw it in some of the lists that we read of sins, the manifestation of the flesh.  There is immorality among you, within the church at Corinth.  An immorality of such a kind as does not exist even among the Gentiles, that someone has his father's wife.  We're talking about the kind of immorality, none of it is acceptable in the church, but this is so blatant, so flagrant, so repulsive that this kind of immorality was not even practiced in the unbelieving world of the day.  Doesn't mean that no one ever did it, Roman emperors did it, certain people in high positions did it.  Roman emperors were a law unto themselves, of course.  But in general society of the time among the Romans and the Greeks, this kind of sin was not even tolerated—incest.  I mean what does this mean, the church that has been called to be God's people, cleansed by the blood of Christ?  It is holy as he said in chapter 3, it is the dwelling place of the Spirit of God and now we find it guilty of the kind of vile, sinful behavior that even the unbelieving world wouldn't have practiced.  And the church instead of becoming a testimony before the world of the holiness of God, manifesting redeemed people, it becomes a place where sin is practiced and would not even be practiced in the unbelieving world.  What happened to the church?  This is the church so glowingly described in the first 9 verses of chapter 1, that experienced such a might, powerful work of God.  And now they're involved in sin that even the unbelieving world frowns on.

It's a sin of incest—someone has his father's wife.  This would not be his mother, the way this is worded, but it would be his stepmother.  Still a form of incest.  Even Roman law said this was deplorable and unacceptable.  In 160 A.D. the Roman jurist, Gaius, declared that it was illegal to enter into this kind of relationship.  Cicero, well known orator in the first century B.C., expressed extreme disgust over incest of this kind.  I mean this is in a world where all kinds of vile immorality was practiced, but there was a line drawn.  We have a similar line today.  Generally incest is viewed as something totally unacceptable.  I say generally, there are people who have practiced it, get away with it and do it.  But generally our society, it's like adult/child relationships, there are certain things that even our society, as degenerate as we view it, still draws some lines.  That's the way it was in Corinth in the days of Paul's writing.  There were some lines still drawn.  They could go out and have sex with prostitutes, male with female, female with female, male with male, all part of their worship system and everything, but they did draw a line at incest.  The church at Corinth didn't draw that line.  I don't want to belabor this, can't we get off this subject.  But don't you shake your head and wonder, this is true of the church of God at Corinth, sanctified in Christ Jesus and yet they tolerate immorality.

Paul's rebuke will not focus primarily on this man, it will focus on the church and their guilt and their responsibility to deal with the situation.  I want you to note something else.  Chapter 5 verse 1, the end of the verse, that someone has.  That verb has is in the present tense, this is an ongoing relationship.  This man has, is having this kind of relationship with his stepmother.  We don't know anything about the details, we don't know whether she is still married to his father, whether the father has divorced this woman, whether the father has died, whether this is just a relationship they are carrying on, or they have tried to validate it by some kind of marriage.  All those things which we say, I'd like to know a little more detail.  Why?  The only thing we need to know is what the sin is and what the responsibility is in dealing with the sin.  Right?  Well, wouldn't there be some things that maybe would be extenuating circumstances?  No.  We sometimes like to make extenuating circumstances to avoid doing what we must do.  I take it that was probably true in the Corinthian church.  I mean, the general society reviewed this kind of sin as repulsive, why didn't the Corinthians act?  Well, you know, there are probably extenuating circumstances.  Maybe this person was well to do, maybe he was a key member of the church, maybe a big giver, maybe the father had died and after all this is his stepmother.  I mean, there are no blood issues involved, maybe we don't need to make an issue of it.  Let's face it, every time there is an issue that may require church discipline, if we're honest, we're all saying, we are looking for ways not to have to do it.  Because we never have to deal with something like this and it doesn't create an issue, right?  If you don't shake your head, I'll shake it for you, because in my position I know that it becomes an issue.  And then there is always some kind of problem that certain people don't think that we should have dealt with it.  I mean, look, let's let him just keep coming and as long as he is sitting under the Word and the Word is working maybe the Spirit will deal with him.  We find all kinds of reasons, thinking that we think better than God thinks.  But whatever the reason this is what is going on.
          
This kind of sin of course is forbidden in the Old Testament.  We won't go back there, but Leviticus 18:7, 8.  Verse 7 forbids incest with your mother and verse 8 forbids incest with your father's wife, a stepmother.  Now you know, some things don't change.  We call them trophy wives today, you know, where men become very wealthy and in positions of power and that enables them to marry a woman much younger.  I was watching an interview on television and there was a movie star there, a man, and I got in on the middle of the interview, I didn't know.  I thought it was his daughter and granddaughter or his granddaughter and great-granddaughter.  Then I get to the interview and it's his wife and daughter.  Well there were a good 40 years, I mean, this man has grown children older than his wife.  But you know, that becomes not unusual.  So in Paul's day it wasn't unusual either.  So we wonder, now why would this man want to have a relationship with his stepmother.  Well his stepmother could be younger than he.  And let's face it, if this is a man of power and money, we don't know the details, she probably wasn't too bad, humanly speaking. I mean, isn't that the purpose of getting a trophy wife? So you can walk around, look at that old guy and the young girl he has.  He must be something.  Some things never change.  He has his father's wife.

Verse 2, you have become arrogant, have not mourned instead, so that one who has done this deed would be removed from your midst.  The Corinthian church has a problem with arrogance.  Now they had divisions, they had strife, they had arrogance.  Now all of a sudden we are finding other problems.  You know where you find one sin, you're going to find a nest.  You've become arrogant, you've not mourned.  That word arrogant, remember we saw it in chapter 4?  Puffed up, filled with air.  Here you have the church, and he is addressing the church now, you have become arrogant.  You're walking around puffed up thinking you're so spiritual and they have this problem, they thought they were so spiritual they incorporated the wisdom of the world with the wisdom of God so they thought.  They were a great church and they're walking around as though they are spiritually superior, as though they are an example of godliness.  They should be mourning.

In chapter 4 verse 6 we have this word arrogant, the end of verse 6.  That no one of you will become arrogant.  There is that same word, puffed up.  Verse 18, now some have become arrogant.  Verse 19, we'll find out about the words of those who are arrogant, not the words, but the power.  And now verse 2 of chapter 5, you've become arrogant and not mourned.  This church ought to be in mourning, grieving that one of its number has become guilty of such a terrible sin that not only defiles the guilty person but mars the church and its testimony in the city of Corinth.  Now blessed are those who mourn for they shall be comforted.  We are to mourn over sin.  We ought to never get to the place we can be comfortable with sin.  Oh well, in the church, that's their business, I don't know why we have to get into their business.  There is no such thing as their business in the family of God.  It's like you don't deal that way with your children in your family.  Well, that's their business, that's their problem.  No, you're my child, you're in our family, it is our business.  Remember the church of God is the family of God and so we are all joined together in Christ.  We've been brought together in this place as God's church, God's family.  It is our business.

You've become arrogant, you've not mourned.  Wouldn't you grieve over one of your children getting into some kind of grievous sin?  Of course you would.  You say, oh it breaks my heart.  Of course it does.  The church at Corinth is going on proud and arrogant.  What a great church we are.  They ought to be mourning.  Not mourning, wringing their hands, oh what are we going to do, what now, what will become of our church?  Godly sorrow works repentance.  There ought to be some things done.

Look over in 2 Corinthians12.  Things don't get better at the church at Corinth, I regret to say.  Paul writes a second letter here, 2 Corinthians12, and he refers to when he comes to visit them again.  Look at verse 21, the last verse of the chapter.  Look at verse 20, for I am afraid that perhaps when I come I may find you not to be what I wish, may be found by you not to be what you wish.  Perhaps there will be strife, jealousy, angry tempers, disputes, slanders, gossip, arrogance, disturbances.  Sounds like I'm reading Galatians 5, doesn't it, the works of the flesh?  I am afraid that when I come again my God may humiliate me before you, I may mourn over the few of you.  No, many of you, those who have sinned in the past and not repented of the impurity, immorality, sensuality which they have practiced.  What does Paul's mourning mean?  I mourn over that sin, it does break my heart, so to speak.  It causes me grief and I'll have to deal with it.  That's the same issue, remember, in 1 Corinthians 4:21, do you want me to come with a rod where I have to discipline you?  I'll come mourning, grieved that you would do such a thing.  And I'll have to deal with you in discipline.  That's the kind of mourning he wants the church to enter into, that they are so taken with the holiness of God and the church is the dwelling place of the Spirit that they are overwhelmed with grief that a man would commit such a thing and defile the body in such a way that he has to go, be removed by the discipline of the body.

So come back to chapter 5 verse 2, you've not mourned instead.  Note the purpose, so that the one who has done this deed would be removed from your midst.  He has to be put out of the church.  He'll end on this note on this subject in verse 13, quoting from Deuteronomy 17:7, the end of the verse, remove the wicked man from among yourselves.  This becomes the emphasis of this section.  The sin of the church is not that this man did this, they had no control over that, but that they had not dealt with this man, and by allowing him to remain in the fellowship of the church, they are giving their assent and condoning the activity and becoming guilty.  So they are responsible to see that he is removed from their midst.

Verse 3.  Verses 3-5 form one, as one commentator said, one convoluted sentence in Greek.  In my English translation, verse 3, verse 4 and verse 5 have all been made sentences, so that we don't get lost in the long sentence in Greek.  But you ought to keep in mind that as Paul wrote this, this is one long sentence.  For I on my part, and that personal pronoun I is emphatic here, it gives emphasis.  I on my part, verse 2, you have become arrogant.  Let me tell you how I on my part am dealing with this.  And the contrast here for rebuke, for I on my part, though absent in body but present in spirit, have already judged him who has so committed this as though I were present.  I'm not bodily there, but I'm spiritually there with you, in heart and mind I'm there with you.  And in his second letter he'll have to deal with the fact that people in Corinth accused Paul of being two different people.  When he was with them, he was one kind of person, when he was not with them, he was another kind.  Paul wants them to know, I'm dealing with this just as though I were there.  Periodically I'll get a call from someone in another church and they're dealing with a discipline issue.  They'll ask how I would deal with it, what I think.  I give my advice.  And then they may ask, is that how you would deal with it if you were here?  You know I sometimes think, I know what I'm going to do now in my old age.  I'm going to retire and become a church consultant and I'm just going to travel to other churches and tell them what to do.  And then after I tell them I'm going to get in the car and drive down the road with a big smile on my face, because my job is done.  Now they have to do it.  I will be the expert.

But Paul is not that kind of person.  He says, here is what must be done and I'm saying that being there with you.  Now you've experienced something of this perhaps when our children are going through something and we view it as though we were there.  And in every way but bodily we are.  That's what Paul is saying.  It's just as though I were there.  I've exercised judgment, the judgment stands, perfect stands.  My judgment has been given, there is no doubt about this, no doubt about what has to happen.  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.  You'll note the emphasis, verse 4 becomes key.  What is to take place in the name of our Lord Jesus.  It's when the church is assembled, this is not a personal action of Paul, he's made his decision but the church is responsible to make the same decision, for this is the decision of Christ.  Done in His name with His authority in His power.  So you have the authority and power of Christ in this action, you have the agreement of the church in this, you have Paul standing with them, even though absent.  There is great seriousness here.  Not at the independent action of the Apostle Paul so that the church can disassociate itself and say, well, that's what Paul wanted done and that's what Paul did, but it really wasn't me.  He is put out of the church, but Paul put him out, not me.  Are you a member of the church at Corinth?  Something serious happens here.  Anybody in the church at Corinth who does not join together with Jesus Christ and Paul in this action, stands with this man in his sin against not just Paul, but against Christ.  This becomes a serious matter.  Now we've been drawn into this persons' sin, not just as a sympathetic observer, but one who actively joins with him in opposing the authority of Christ and His church.  I cannot disassociate myself from my responsibilities as part of the body of Christ.  I cannot say, well, it's not what I would have done.  Well, in other words you stand with the one in sin and in so doing you stand against Jesus Christ.  Now I am in a very, very serious position.  You see the situation of the church?  Where Paul stands is important, where Jesus Christ is standing is of supreme importance.  That's why Paul is standing there.  Now for the church not to act means that we are in agreement with this man.  We're not committing the incest, but we must stand with him, in support of him, against Christ, the head of the church.  Don't know, but I don't think the people at Corinth want to say that.  Paul is saying, then you better not say it.

Back up to Matthew 18.  You'll note when we examine a case like this in the Word of God, it always seems clearer to us as we look at it from the perspective of time and the distance of not having to be in the church at Corinth.  This is recorded for us so that we know how we must function as the church of Jesus Christ in this place.  Matthew 18:15, if your brother sins, go and show him his fault in private.  If he listens to you, you have won your brother.  If he does not listen to you, take one or two more with you.  By the mouth of two or three witnesses every fact may be confirmed.  If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church.  If he refuses to listen to the church, put him out.  I want you to note something here before we move on.  Paul tells the church at Corinth, we are at this step, put him out.  Well don't we go back and go through step one.  Some sins are so blatant, so open, so clear they require immediate action.  There is nothing private, there is nothing personal.  This has been moved to the public forum.  This sin is well known, well established.  It needs immediate action.  We're not going to hem and haw on this and back up and say, well, maybe...............  I want it clear, I want it on record, we have sometimes been challenged, have you followed step one?  Have you followed step two?  Have you followed step three?  There are certain sins so open, so clear they require immediate action.  You'll note Paul doesn't say, have we taken step one, have we .........  This is not arbitrary.  The sin of this person is open, it is clear, it is blatant, it must be dealt with immediately.

Verse 18, truly I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven.  Whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven.  You'll note, this is important here and it will come clear in just a moment.  But pick it up here, whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound.  The church is simply reflecting the decision of heaven.  This does not give the church independent authority as the Roman Catholic Church has taken to itself or some Protestant churches.  But the church is acting in obedience to the Word of God and thus acting as God's representative.  We don't adhere to the magisterial authority of the Roman Catholic hierarchy and the way the church or Rome functions.  But at the same time the Protestant churches in some form such as our evangelical church comes to the fact that everybody is an independent entity and nobody ought to have any authority over anyone, and we each have the Holy Spirit and do our own thing and you stay out of my business.  You see what happens when the church acts here, they're acting with the authority of heaven.  That's the context here.  Whatever you bind on earth, whatever you loose.  Their action is a reflection of the mind and will of the head of the church, Jesus Christ.

Again I say to you that if two of you agree on earth about anything that they may ask and it shall be done for them by My Father who is in heaven.  He's talking, in the context of verse 16 which talked about the two or three witnesses, talking in the context of the disciplining of a sinning Christian, a sinning believer as it would have been here, before they were called Christians after the death and resurrection of Christ.  Look at verse 20, for where two or three have gathered in my name, I am there in their midst.  We pull that one verse out of context and run around quoting it everywhere, but we ought to see the broader context.  This is the body, the group of believers, acting as Christ's representatives in dealing with sin in their number.  And when Christ says I am there in their midst, that's saying the same thing as what he tells the church at Corinth, in the name of the Lord Jesus with the power of the Lord Jesus.  As the assembled church and I'm present with you in Spirit, you act.  Jesus is there in the midst.  Now sometimes we don't take it seriously.  People put under discipline, one commentator noted that wasn't the way it is today where today someone is disciplined and they go down the road and join another church.  You know what happened when you were put out of the church at Corinth?  You were out, there was not second church of Corinth to join.  And to that extent, anyone put under church discipline in another believing church, we would honor.  And if they've been put out of that church, they've been put out of this church as well.  Sin is no more acceptable here than it is there, and vice versa, I trust.  There have been cases like that going both ways, where other churches have contacted us or we have contacted other churches.  So we do have different local churches today, they exercise.  Now if someone was disciplined for not putting enough in the offering bag, we don't see that as a disciplinable sin.  If someone is disciplined for stealing money out of the offering bag, we would see that as a disciplinable sin, immorality and those things.  It's not, well, this Bible-believing church down the road disciplined them, but we're always looking for more people.  Come right here, we're glad to have you.  No, we want you to know, sin is not acceptable here.  The body of Christ ought to stand together on these kinds of things, for the good of the church and the good of the person being disciplined.

Come back to 1 Corinthians 5.  You'll note the first words of verse 5 are in italics, that means they do not appear in the original text.  As I mentioned, verses 3-5 are one long sentence in Greek.  Paul is really exercised over this matter and the Spirit directs him in the writing.  I have decided perhaps gives you a little bit of the wrong flavor.  Paul did make his judgment in verse 3, but in verse 4, this is the decision of Christ and is to be the decision of the church as it comes together.  They are to deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of his flesh, that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.  So I have delivered I think is a little misunderstanding.  This is not Paul's action, this is to be the action of the assembled church.  Paul is spiritually present with them under the authority of Jesus Christ.  And this one is to be delivered, you'll deliver such a one, this particular one, but anyone like him.  And you have established a pattern here along with other passages of how the church deals with those who commit sin.  Such a one is delivered to Satan for the destruction of his flesh.

Hand such a one over to Satan for the destruction of his flesh.  That means, according to what we have already seen, remove him from your midst, the end of verse 2, the end of verse 13.  He'll talk about an analogy of leaven as we'll see in our next study.  It has to be removed, there is no tolerating.  There is no time, well hopefully he'll quit this.  It has to stop, the testimony has to be restored.  There is a plan for restoration of a sinning Christian, but for now the responsibility is to disassociate themselves from him.

Deliver such a one to Satan.  Turn to 1 Timothy 1.  Paul uses the same expression and does the same thing in 1 Timothy 1:20.  And this is in the context of exhorting Timothy to fight the good fight.  In 1 Timothy 1:19, keeping faith and a good conscience, which some have rejected and suffered shipwreck in regard to their faith.  Some haven't kept the faith and a good conscience and they've made a shipwreck of their faith.  And he gives two examples—among whom are Hymaneus and Alexander.  Paul doesn't mention the men by name in 1 Corinthians 5, but in 1 Timothy he mentions the men by name.  He didn't feel it was necessary in 1 Corinthians 5, but he wanted the example to be clear here in 1 Timothy 1. Hymaneus and Alexander, an example of two men who have not kept the faith, who have made a shipwreck of their faith.  I've handed them over to Satan so they'll be taught not to blaspheme.  I take it handing over to Satan means you put them out of the church, you remove them, they are cut off from the fellowship of believers.  Pure and simple.  1 John 5:19 says, the whole world lies in the evil one.  That is the realm of the devil.  To be a child of God is to be in a special privileged position, have special protection.  In the book of Job, the first two chapters, you remember Satan says to God, you've put a hedge around your servant, Job.  I can't do anything to him.  Allow me to come through the hedge and afflict him and I don't think he'll be faithful to you.  So God says, all right, I'll allow you to take certain liberties with Job.  When that protective barrier is removed in certain areas, Job now is afflicted by the devil.  And it can take a variety of ways.  His physical fortunes are destroyed, he was materially wealthy, and that wealth is lost in a short period of time.  All of his children die in one day in one catastrophe.  Job's physical health is destroyed, all respectability is lost.  You see some of the kinds of things Satan can do in afflicting.  Job wasn't guilty of any particular sin that God reveals, this was just part of the general disciplining and developing of Job.  We'll see that in a moment.  But it does give you an idea of how Satan, when given opportunity, can afflict a child of God.

Now I take it being a member of the body of Christ, one who has been born again and now functioning within the assembly of the saints is provided certain protection from the assaults of Satan.  But sin will provide occasion for Satan to take liberties with us.  When a person is put out of the body of Christ under discipline, that puts him in the realm of the devil, and some of that protection that he enjoyed is now removed and Satan is free to bring other afflictions to that life.

Look at 2 Corinthians12.  Now I want to be clear here.  There are different kinds of afflictions or afflictions that come for different reasons, perhaps is a better way to put it.  One person can be suffering certain physical affliction and it is the discipline of God for specific sin in their life.  Another person may be suffering the same kind of physical affliction and it has nothing to do with specific sin in their life.  But I will tell you, if you are suffering specific physical affliction and it's for sin, you will know it.  And let's face it, when certain afflictions come into your life, and particularly we usually think of this with physical things, isn't the first thing we think of, is there sin in my life that I should be dealing with. Is God disciplining me for sin?  And when it comes we know what we are guilty of because we already have a guilty conscience as God's believer, as God's child.  We know what's going on.  Paul was afflicted by the devil.  2 Corinthians12:7, because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations for this reason to keep me from exalting myself, there was given me a thorn in the flesh, note, a messenger of Satan to torment me, to keep me from exalting myself.  This wasn't to afflict Paul for sin he had committed, this was to keep Paul from becoming sinful, from becoming prideful.  Because God was going to reveal so much to him, God would allow Satan to buffet Paul in certain ways, probably physical, so that Paul wouldn't glory in himself.  Because one thing physical afflictions do, they humble us, don't they?  All of a sudden we realize I can't do what I thought I could do.  My life is altered, it is changed.  So Paul was experiencing the affliction of the devil, but it wasn't for specific sins, it was just part of the process.  We need to be careful, I can't tell someone that you have physical affliction, there must be something in your life that doesn't belong there.  How do I know?  Now if there is sin in your life and you're having physical affliction, I would tell you, put two and two together.  Why will you die?

Back up to 1 Corinthians 11.  Paul will deal with this with the Corinthians in another context.  When they came together to observe the Lord's Supper there was sin in their relationships to one another and the way they went about serving the Lord's Supper.  And verse 27, therefore, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner shall be guilty of the body and the blood of the Lord.  But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup.  For he who eats and drinks, eats and drinks judgment to himself if he does not judge the body rightly.  For this reason many, now note that word many.  That's striking, he didn't say one or two, many among you are weak and sick, and a number died, sleep.  But if we judged ourselves rightly, we would not be judged.  But when we are judged we are disciplined by the Lord so that we will not be condemned along with the world.  Paul is going to say that you are to hand this man over to Satan in chapter 5 verse 5, for the destruction of the flesh so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.

So you'll note the physical suffering.  I don't know how big the church at Corinth was, probably not as big as this church.  I mean, they met in homes and yet many in the church at Corinth had suffered bodily affliction because they had been unfaithful in this area of sin.  Then you multiply this out.  This matter of sin in the life of a believer and in the life of a church is serious business with God.  We like to categorize our sins and think well, this isn't so bad, nobody is perfect.  You understand, we have a song that the kids sing, He is watching, and it is consistent with the eyes of the Lord roaming to and fro on the face of the earth, beholding the evil and the good.  And the people in the church at Corinth weren't getting away with anything.  And church discipline becomes an act of love and kindness because it is another occasion for the sinning Christian to take note of his sin and its seriousness and stop it before, if you will, things get out of control in the sense God directly and forcefully intervenes.  And now I really have trouble.

So that his spirit may be saved in the day of our Lord Jesus, back in 1 Corinthians 5.  The ultimate goal is good.  It is the restoration of the believer and the salvation of his eternal soul.  We have to wrap up so go to Hebrews 12 and we'll be done.  I'll read this passage for you as we conclude.  He's exhorting them to endurance and faithfulness, these Jewish believers, in Hebrews 12.  Look at verse 4, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding blood in your striving against sin.  You are to do everything in your battle against sin and you don't submit to sin even if you have to sacrifice your life.  You have forgotten the exhortation which is addressed to you as sons.  Quoting from the book of Proverbs, my son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor faint when you are reproved by Him.  For those whom the Lord loves He disciplines, and He scourges every son whom He receives.  You'll note, everyone who is truly a son of God receives the discipline of God.  This is not always for specific sin in the life, but none of us have yet arrived to perfection and so there is that maturing process that goes on.  That's true in your own family.  You have children at home, you exercise ongoing discipline for their good, but there are times you exercise especially severe discipline for their rebellion.  No believer is without discipline, some of it can be more severe.  He talks about scourging every son whom He receives.  Some believers, I don't know why, God takes them through very difficult, trying, painful times.  I take it Paul's messenger from Satan was buffeting him with a great, great pain and torment to him.  He says, I begged the Lord three times for deliverance.  God's answer was my grace is sufficient for you.  So Paul learned to glory in the grace of God that was working in his life, even with this pain and torment, to enable him to bring greater honor to the Lord.

If you are without discipline, verse 8 says, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate children and not sons.  Some people are in sin thinking they're getting away with something.  You're just not a member of the family.  The kid down the street is doing the wrong thing and thinks he's getting away with something because I don't discipline him.  I don't discipline you because you're not part of my family.  People living in sin, indulging in sin think, I'm getting away with it, nothing is happening to me.  Must be okay.  And then we delude ourselves into thinking that God winks at my sin because look, I'm healthy, I'm wealthy, I'm doing fine.  I don't think God thinks my sin is so bad.  Maybe you ought to rethink.  God only disciplines His children, He will exercise final judgment on those who are not His children in a coming day.  But if you're without discipline you are illegitimate children.  You may be playing the role, you may be going through the motions, but you understand all of God's children get disciplined for their sin and the responsibility of the church is simply to manifest the work of God in carrying out that discipline.  It's for the good of the person.  Discipline is for the health of the church, as he will go on to deal with.

Let's pray together.  Thank You, Lord, for Your grace.  Thank You that You've called us into Your family.  Thank You, Lord, that Your love is enduring and unending.  We are Your children, You are preparing us for glory, You do discipline each and every one of us according to Your purposes for our good.  And Lord sometimes Your discipline must become very severe because of our sin.  Lord, we are concerned that we not be like the church at Corinth and fail to do what You require of us, and thus become guilty.  Lord, we desire in our own lives personally as members of the body that we would indeed walk in a manner pleasing to You, desirous of bringing honor to You, honor to Your church by the testimony of lives characterized by holiness.  Father, I pray for any who are here, perhaps indulging in sin and they are without discipline because they don't belong to You.  May they indeed repent of their sin and place their faith in the One who can cleanse, forgive them and make them new.  We pray in Christ's name, amen.