Is Shunning Biblical?

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I want to invite you to take out your Bibles and turn with me to 1 Corinthians chapter 5 and we're going to be looking at verses 9 to 13 to finish out the chapter today.
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1 Corinthians chapter 5 verses 9 to 13.
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I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people.
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Not at all meaning the sexually immoral of this world or the greedy or swindlers or idolaters.
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Since then you would need to go out of the world.
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But now I am writing to you not to associate with anyone who bears the name of brother if he is guilty of sexual immorality or greed or is an idolater, reviler, drunkard or swindler.
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Not even to eat with such a one.
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For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Is it not those inside the church whom you are to judge? God judges those outside.
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Purge the evil person from among you.
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Let us pray.
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Father of mercies I thank you for this opportunity to stand in your pulpit and preach your word.
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For Lord we know that these are not the words of mere men.
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But these are words which men carried along by the Holy Spirit of God were written down.
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These words have been inspired by you and have been preserved by you down through the ages for us today.
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So Lord when we consider what is said in this passage let us not overbear the scripture with our own sense of what we think ought and ought not be.
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But Lord let us submit to what the text says knowing that it is from you.
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May it be Lord when we hear the word of God we are able to in our hearts say thus saith the Lord.
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We thank you for using the Apostle Paul and addressing an issue such as this.
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And giving it to us in such a way that we can understand it.
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And by your grace be able to apply it when necessary.
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I pray Father that you would keep me from error as I preach.
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For I know that I am a fallible man and capable of preaching error and I do not want to do that.
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And I pray Lord that as I preach that your Holy Spirit would fill me.
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Would speak through me.
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Would speak to the heart of every believer here.
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And Lord to those who have not yet bowed the knee to Jesus Christ.
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That today might be the day that they would come under the conviction of sin.
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That they would understand the necessity of the Savior.
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And that they would reach out to him by grace through faith.
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And Lord that they would understand that they can never be saved by anything that they do in this body.
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And any work that they accomplish.
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But that salvation is in Christ alone.
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And it's in his name we pray.
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Amen.
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You may be seated.
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In 1850 Nathaniel Hawthorne published a novel.
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Which would become a recognized masterpiece of American literature.
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It was called The Scarlet Letter.
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The novel was set in a 17th century Puritan village in New England.
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It tells of a woman, Hester Prynne, who bears a child outside of wedlock.
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And as a result the community forces her to wear a red letter on her dress.
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To identify herself publicly as an adulteress.
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She is forced to stand before the town on a scaffold.
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And for three hours be exposed to public humiliation.
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She would be forced to bear the scarlet letter for the rest of her days.
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Though Hawthorne's Scarlet Letter is a work of fiction.
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It has become a source for many people of what unjust and cruel acts of shaming can result.
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In certain religious communities.
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It is rightly seen as an unjust attempt to wield ungodly authority.
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And heap shame upon shame on an individual.
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Some have questioned that even though the Scarlet Letter is fiction.
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How close it actually came to describing what life was like.
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In the staunchly religious lives of the early American settlers.
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Well certainly it has to be recognized that Hawthorne's tale is not too far off.
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From what many people have experienced in overly controlling religious communities.
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There are devastating tales of harsh treatment.
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Which have arisen in communities such as the Amish.
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And the Jehovah Witness communities.
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PBS did a documentary called The Amish Shunned.
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That was the title.
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Where it depicted the lives of several people who had left the Amish community.
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For a variety of reasons and were all being shunned by that community.
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And the internet is filled with tales of families being torn apart by the act of shunning.
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Within those communities.
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Likewise even groups that are not Christian.
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And have no pretense of being Christian.
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Often have forms of what they would consider to be shunning.
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The Scientology movement has something called disconnection.
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Disconnection is the severance of all ties between a Scientologist.
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And a friend, colleague or family member deemed to be antagonistic towards Scientology.
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And because of the obvious misuses and abuses along with connection to cult groups.
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The idea of any kind of separation from sinning people has become very off-putting for many.
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In fact it's become not even something that is discussed.
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The very idea of excommunication is laughable.
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And the concept of shunning an individual is considered to be just religiously over the top.
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Out of bounds.
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Something that we should not even discuss.
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Yet, even though it has been abused and misused by certain communities.
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It is impossible to ignore the very clear biblical imperative that we have.
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Which states that when a person claims to be a brother in Christ.
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And yet lives in continual, habitual, unrepentant sin.
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That we are to not fellowship with such a one.
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I want to look at a few verses with you.
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Obviously we've read 1 Corinthians 5.
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We've looked at it for the last several weeks.
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We've talked about excommunication and the things associated with that.
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But today we're going to specifically look at the act of disfellowshipping.
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Meaning we no longer have an intimate fellowship with an individual.
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And I'd like to look at just a few bible verses to ensure that you understand this.
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It's not just as if 1 Corinthians 5 stands alone as a unique passage by itself.
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And some obscure bible passage that we're misunderstanding.
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But the fact that this actually is something that goes throughout the New Testament.
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So let's look together.
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If you'll hold your place in 1 Corinthians 5.
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I want you to turn to Romans chapter 16.
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Another book written by the Apostle Paul.
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Romans chapter 16 and verse 17 says this.
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I'll give you a second.
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I hear bible pages turning.
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I don't want to outrun you.
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But as I said these passages I'm going to give you.
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You feel free to write them down.
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They're going to simply affirm what we understand Paul to be saying in 1 Corinthians 5.
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Romans 16 verse 17 says this.
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Now that may not sound like it's very much.
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But it's really a huge imperative.
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Avoid them.
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If there is one among you who is causing division and creating obstacles contrary to the doctrine that you have been taught.
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Contrary to the truth is what Paul is saying.
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Those people are to be avoided.
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The next passage we would look at is in 2 John.
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All the way back toward the end of your bible.
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2 John chapter 1 verses 10 and 11.
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And just for the sake of time I want to go ahead and read this to you.
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It says.
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If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching.
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That means if anyone comes to you with a teaching that's contrary to the truth.
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If anyone comes to you with a teaching that's contrary to the truth.
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Do not receive him into your house.
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Or give him any greeting.
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For whoever greets him takes part in his wicked ways.
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This is John.
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This is not some obscure first century writer.
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This is the bible and this is the gospel writer John.
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Who is writing in his second letter to the church.
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He said if anyone comes to you with a false narrative.
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If somebody comes to you teaching you something that is untrue.
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Don't even greet them.
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Sounds in a modern context a little extreme maybe.
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In Titus chapter 3 verses 9 to 11 Paul says this.
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Avoid foolish controversies, genealogies, dissensions and quarrels about the law.
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For they are unprofitable and worthless.
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And ask for a person who stirs up division.
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After warning him once and then twice.
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Have nothing more to do with him.
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Knowing that such a person is warped and sinful.
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He is self condemned.
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Paul says have nothing more to do with him.
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Second Thessalonians chapter 3.
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Paul says this now we command you brothers in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
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That you keep away from any brother who is walking in idleness.
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And not accordance with the tradition that you received from us.
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If a person is going against what you've learned.
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If a person is going against the gospel.
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If a person is walking in sin.
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Essentially what Paul is saying.
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That you are to keep away from such a person.
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And in that same chapter verse 14 it says.
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If anyone does not obey what we say in this letter.
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Take note of that person and have nothing to do with him.
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That he may be ashamed.
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These verses are not hidden.
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These verses are not tucked away somewhere in the back of our Bibles.
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These are right in the middle of the writings of the apostles.
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In fact in 1st Timothy and in 2nd Timothy.
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The apostle Paul actually named some men.
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Who were in the church and who were misbehaving.
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And that the church should disfellowship.
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1st Timothy chapter 1 verses 18 to 20.
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Paul says this to Tim.
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He says this charge I entrust to you Timothy my child.
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In accordance with the prophecies previously made about you.
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That by them you may wage the good warfare.
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Holding faith in a good conscience.
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By rejecting this some have made shipwreck of their faith.
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Among them are Hymenaeus and Alexander.
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Whom I have handed over to Satan.
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That they may learn not to blaspheme.
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That phrase handed over to Satan is a statement used in 1st Corinthians 5.
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To reference church discipline.
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These people have been placed under the excommunication of the church.
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And you are to avoid them.
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They are dangerous men.
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He talks about Hymenaeus again in 2nd Timothy chapter 2.
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And another man named Philetus.
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And he mentions both of them as having swerved from the truth.
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And in chapter 4 of 2nd Timothy.
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He mentions Alexander the coppersmith.
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Who did him great harm.
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And the Lord will repay him according to his deeds.
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So if we are to take the Bible seriously.
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The concept of disfellowshipping someone.
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Is not an idea which can be dismissed out of hand.
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It may sound puritanical.
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It may be even accused that we are being overly harsh.
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And yet the Bible clearly teaches it.
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And here is something I want to make a point.
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That I want you all to understand.
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Just because a practice has been perverted by the cults.
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Just because a practice has been misused and abused.
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Does not mean necessarily that we simply abandon it all together.
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And say that it should not be dealt with or should not be addressed.
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There is a lot of things that cults do wrong.
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And there is a lot of things that they misuse and abuse.
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And yet at the same time that does not keep us from doing that which is right.
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In fact the best way to recognize the counterfeit.
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Is to look at the genuine article.
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The best way to know what is wrong.
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Is to look at that which is right.
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Some of you have heard me say this before.
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This is actually an old illustration.
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A lot of pastors have mentioned this.
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But whenever someone is being trained to identify that which is counterfeit.
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Like when somebody is being trained to identify counterfeit money.
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They are not trained to look at all the different types of counterfeiting.
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What they are trained to do is to look at the genuine article.
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A genuine piece of currency.
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And to study it to the point that they know everything about that genuine article.
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So that when a false one, when a counterfeit comes into their midst.
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They can immediately identify it.
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Not because they know all about the counterfeit.
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But because they know all about that which is genuine.
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And so that same thing ought to apply to any time we study the scripture.
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Yes, it is important to know what the cults believe and what they teach.
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So that we can engage them better.
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But ultimately the most important thing we are to know.
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Is what say at the scripture.
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And what does the bible teach.
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So that when we address subjects like this.
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We don't have to get bogged down in how the Amish have missed this.
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We don't have to get bogged down in how the Mormons have misused this.
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We don't have to get bogged down in how cult groups.
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Like the Scientology movement and Jehovah Witnesses have misused this.
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No, what does the bible say? What is the genuine article supposed to look like? Have their churches done it wrong? Yes.
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Have there been churches that have misused and abused this? Yes.
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Do we want to be that? Never.
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But it still has to be dealt with.
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And so we do.
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If you haven't been with us, hopefully you have.
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But if you haven't been with us, we've been in 1 Corinthians chapter 5.
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In 1 Corinthians chapter 5, the apostle Paul addresses a man.
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Who is in gross sexual immorality.
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And he says, such a one is to be delivered over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh.
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This person is to be excommunicated from the church.
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If you haven't been here the last few Sundays and you want to hear more about that.
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And how that is supposed to operate.
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I recommend going back and listening to those messages.
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But today we're going to deal specifically with how he finishes this section.
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Verses 9 to 13 in 1 Corinthians chapter 5.
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And what we see is an outline of three parts.
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First is the command.
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Second is the clarification.
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And third is the contrast.
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So we're going to look first at the command.
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Look with me at verse 9.
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1 Corinthians 5 and verse 9.
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This is Paul's command.
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He said, I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people.
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Stop right there.
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Paul here is making a reference to a letter we don't have.
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You realize there are things that the apostles wrote that we no longer have.
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In fact, I would argue and I think that I would have the vast majority of historic Christendom on my side.
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To say that the things that Paul wrote that we no longer have weren't scripture.
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Because if they were scripture we'd still have them.
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God has ensured that we will have his word.
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And that he has providentially protected and preserved his word.
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But that doesn't mean that Paul didn't write other things.
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Paul did write other things.
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I would be interested to read some of the other things Paul wrote.
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But I would not accept them as scripture.
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And here is a case in which Paul references the fact that he's written them a letter.
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And in that letter he said, do not associate with sexually immoral people.
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Now on the surface that makes sense.
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Because you remember the early Christian church comes out of a Jewish culture.
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It grew out of a Hebrew community.
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And the Hebrew community didn't tolerate sexual immorality.
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The Hebrew community had rules.
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You go back to Leviticus.
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There were very specific rules on sexuality and how sexuality was to be handled.
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And so it made sense that Paul would reference the fact that, yes, this is a command.
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We are not to associate with sexually immoral people.
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And why is that particular sin addressed? Why does the Bible make such a big deal about sexual immorality? Well, it could be the simple fact that it is so pervasive.
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The Bible addresses sexual immorality in almost every place where it addresses sin.
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And it addresses sin in lists.
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When it gives us lists of improper behavior, sexual immorality, pornea in the Greek, is almost included in every list.
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Why? Well, because it affects so many people in such a variety of different ways.
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It affects men.
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It affects women.
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It affects teenagers.
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It is something that is widespread and rampant.
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A few years ago, a book came out called Every Man's Battle.
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And it was about the fact that the vast majority of men deal with this and have to deal with it.
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You know, the lust of the eyes and the lust of the flesh and these things.
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And it dealt with the issue of the power and the influence and the widespread nature of sexual immorality.
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And Paul says, people whose lives are marked by that are to be avoided.
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That doesn't seem like it should be that controversial.
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But here's where the controversy lies.
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There was a confusion about Paul's meaning.
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So in verse 10, he makes a point that there has been some confusion.
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He said, I wrote to you in my last letter, do not associate with sexually immoral people.
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Now he gives a clarification.
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Verse 10, not at all meaning the sexually immoral of this world or the greedy or swindlers, idolaters, since you would need to go out of the world.
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Now, this is key.
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This is absolutely key in understanding the whole concept of excommunication and how the church is to operate.
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Because Paul has said, do not associate with sexually immoral people.
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And then he clarifies that by saying, but I'm not talking about unbelievers.
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Because to not deal with sexually immoral unbelievers would mean you could never leave your house.
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You would literally have to go out of the world.
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In fact, down through the centuries, pious people have sought to separate from the world.
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Oftentimes with great failure.
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Think about the groups that have tried to separate from the sin of the world.
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Monks hid in monasteries and yet they didn't get away from sin because they brought the sin with them.
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I've heard of people say, you know what we ought to do? We ought to get a bunch of people together and we ought to go buy a bunch of land out in Montana.
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And we ought to go and build houses together and build our own little community.
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Separate from the world.
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Guess what's going to happen? We're just going to bring sin with us when we go.
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But the bigger issue here is that Paul says, he says it in such a way that you understand.
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He's saying it's impossible.
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He's saying if you're going to avoid the sexually immoral people of this world, then you're literally going to have to come out of the world.
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You're literally going to have to leave the planet.
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The only way to truly abandon sinners would be to just leave this world.
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And here's the problem with that.
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Jesus said this, and this is Matthew chapter 5, verse 14.
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You are the light of the world.
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A city set on a hill cannot be hidden, nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand.
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And it gives light to all the house.
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In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.
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Let me ask you a question.
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If you go out and live as a monk in a monastery, are you letting your light shine before the world? No.
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Paul makes a point.
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He says, in reality, when I told you not to associate with sinners, I wasn't talking about the world, because you have to associate with them.
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Part of our mission in the world is to go ye into all the world and preach the gospel.
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So Paul makes a distinction.
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He says, I told you not to associate with sexually immoral people, but not at all meaning the unbelieving world.
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So if that's not who he's talking about, who is he talking about? Verse 11 tells us who he's talking about.
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But now I am writing to you.
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The but now, he's saying, I wrote to you before not to associate with sexually immoral people.
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You misunderstood.
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You thought I meant the sexually immoral of the world.
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No, that's not what I meant.
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But now I am writing to you not to associate with anyone who bears the name of brother.
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If he is guilty of sexual immorality or greed or is an idolater, reviler, drunkard or swindler, not even eat with such a one.
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Now let me ask you a question.
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You don't have to answer out loud, but in your mind answer this question.
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Who is it that bears the name of brother? Who is Paul talking about? He says, I'm writing to you not to associate with anyone who bears the name of brother.
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Well, beloved, I think that the answer is obvious.
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It's the person who claims to be a Christian.
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It's the person who claims to be a brother in Christ.
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You know what? When a person becomes a Christian.
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And they genuinely become a Christian by grace through faith.
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And the Holy Spirit comes and makes his abode in their heart.
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When a person becomes a Christian, there is automatic entrance into the universal body of Christ.
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But then that person also has the responsibility of being part of a local assembly.
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We've been talking about this in Sunday school.
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I don't believe it's right for a person to say, I'm a Christian, but I don't belong to a local body of believers.
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I think that's wrong.
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We've been talking about that, like I said, in Sunday school.
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And there's really no reason I can find in the scripture to be separated from the local church.
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Even though many excuses are made for that, I think they fall short under scrutiny.
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And the scripture commands believers to assemble themselves together.
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And when believers assemble themselves as part of a covenant community, there are certain expectations that are made.
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And you know what the first expectation is? When you come and you want to be part of this church, or should be part of any church, but specifically this church, you know what the first expectation is made? That you be a brother.
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That you be a believer.
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If you came to me and said, I want to join the church, but I don't believe in Jesus, I kind of like what you've got going on.
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You guys have a pretty building, and all your people are nice, and they take me out to lunch once a week.
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We like that.
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So we want to join up.
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Do you believe in Jesus? No.
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Well, you don't get to join up.
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So I do think that there's a sense in which what Paul is saying here, this is within the covenant community.
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Because the person is bearing the name of brother.
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And remember, at the time where this is written, Paul lives in the first century, where there was only one assembly in Corinth.
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It wasn't like you had the first Baptist church of Corinth, and the second Methodist church of Corinth, and the Presbyterian church of Corinth.
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No, there was the assembly at Corinth.
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And so we do live in a little different context now, but it's still the same in the sense that when a person is a believer, and they become part of the local fellowship, we are now in covenant community with one another.
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We are brothers and sisters in Christ.
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And let me add this, this isn't in my notes, this isn't in my mind though.
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Most of you all are so much closer to me than my family that I have blood with.
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You're my brothers and sisters in Christ.
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And while I share an earthly DNA relationship with many people, I share a spiritual relationship with you which will go into eternity.
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And thus there's an intimacy here that I don't get anywhere else.
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A person comes into this intimate fellowship, they become part of the body of Christ by confession of faith.
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They become part of the body of Christ by making the announcement they want to join the church.
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The church welcomes them.
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They become a brother in Christ in this body.
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They've willfully and personally made a commitment to Christ.
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They have been welcomed in.
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And let me say this, that is the only person that is then subject to the outline that we have here in 1 Corinthians 5.
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The only person who would be subject to excommunication and ultimately disfellowshipping, the only person that would be subject to that is a person who was part of the fellowship to begin with.
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I can't go down to the church down the street and encourage them to excommunicate someone and disfellowship someone.
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I don't have anything to do with them.
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This is our covenant community.
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This is God's church here at Sovereign Grace Family Church.
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We have elders that have been called out from among the people.
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We have deacons that have been called out from among the people.
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And thus this community has an intimate fellowship.
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And the only people who belong to this fellowship in a real sense are those who have confessed Jesus Christ and who have become members here.
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If you're not a member here, but you are a believer, I would ask this.
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I would say, what's keeping you from becoming a member? Is it because you just don't know yet? Maybe you haven't been with us long enough to know that this is where God wants you.
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That's cool.
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We can talk about that.
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But the reality is we're called to be a part of this so that we can have oversight and encouragement of one another and so we can speak into each other's lives with a real sense of weight.
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So that's important, becoming a part of this.
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Now, on the other hand, if you're not a believer, this is a call to say, why not? Why are you refusing to bow the knee to Jesus Christ? And I think this applies, I think we have to think about kids too.
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Because here's the thing.
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My children are loved by me and my wife.
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My children, I believe, are loved by God.
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But my children are not members of this church.
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My children have not, by grace through faith, not all, I mean, Ashley has received Christ, but I'm talking about the littles.
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They have not come to faith in Lord Jesus Christ.
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Thus, they are not subject to the discipline of the church.
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But they are subject to my discipline.
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And if I were refusing to discipline my children, then I could be under the scrutiny of the church because I would be neglecting my role as a father.
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You understand how that works? My children are expected to be disciplined by me, not by the church.
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This is why I don't encourage people to run right out and have their children baptized at 5, 6, and 7 years old.
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Because when that person becomes a member of the body of Christ, they then come under a different type of discipline.
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They can be disciplined in the church.
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That's something people don't often think about.
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I believe that a child, when they want to be baptized, should be baptized, but it should be in accord with an understanding that they are joining the fellowship.
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And they are joining with the body of Christ and all that that pertains.
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So that's something to consider.
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It's just something to put in your mind.
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Having said all that, the reason why I'm pointing this out is because this person, in Paul's view, is a brother.
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This person, in Paul's view, is a Christian who's a part of the assembly.
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They have made it known they want to come into the fellowship and they want to be part of the body.
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And now, now, they have abandoned their commitment.
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You say, well, how have they abandoned it? Well, let's go back to the case in point.
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This man is living an open, unrepentant sin with his stepmother.
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What is the church to do? Well, at this time, the church is not doing anything.
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And Paul says that's wrong.
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Paul says the church needs to do something.
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The church needs to disfellowship this man.
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It needs to excommunicate this man.
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You say, well, what does that look like? Paul gives us the greatest example.
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He said, don't even eat with him.
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You say, I can't believe that anyone would be so harsh.
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Do you know what eating with someone is all about? Do you know what the heart of that is? Intimacy.
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Remember how I mentioned earlier that the church is intimate? Right? You're like, you're closer to me than family.
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You're closer to me than DNA.
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You are my brothers and sisters in Christ.
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And that's what this is.
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This is a family.
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And there's intimacy here.
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I've eaten with all of you at some point.
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And those meals were times of genuine, intimate fellowship.
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But I want to tell you something.
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If I were to lose my mind and leave my wife and kids and abandon them to my own lustful devices, shame on you if you have me for dinner.
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I would not belong in your home except to be called to repentance.
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I won't put this on you.
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I'll put it on me.
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That's the point.
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Yes, there comes a time where the church has to say that no, you are no longer welcome.
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You say, in God's house, people are always welcome.
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Here's the deal.
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If somebody's an unbeliever and somebody doesn't know Christ, they are always welcome.
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I don't care who they are.
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I don't care if people came in and they were the most just sinful people, came into this fellowship, and they didn't know Christ, they are welcome to sit here and hear the word of God.
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And I want them here to hear the word of God.
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See, this is where the church has gotten it backwards.
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The church has made its business of judging the world and not dealing with the sin inside.
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This is the absolute backwards of what Paul says.
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Paul says we need to deal with the sin inside and we need to stop judging the world because that's God's business.
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God is going to judge the world.
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But, and this is the contrast.
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This is where we get to verses 12 and 13.
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Because the contrast is this.
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He says, what have I to do with judging outsiders? The obvious, that's a rhetorical question.
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The obvious answer is I have nothing to do with that.
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Honestly, I go out and people say, did you see on the news, Pastor, all those crazy people out in this state doing this crazy thing? And I say, yes, they're unbelievers.
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Wretches gonna wretch.
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That's what wretches do.
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They are going to do that.
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I am never surprised by how wretched men can be.
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But I'm always ashamed at how wretched the church can be.
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And Paul says that.
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What have I to do with judging outsiders? The answer to the rhetorical question is nothing.
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I don't have anything to do with that.
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Is it not those inside the church whom you are to judge? That is a question.
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But the implied answer is yes.
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You say, now, wait a minute, Pastor.
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Jesus said, judge not lest you be judged.
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Yes, he did.
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And in that case, in almost every sense, he was talking about the fact that the Pharisees sat on their pious seats and they judged the unbelieving world.
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And that's what the church often does.
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We sit on our pious chairs and we perch ourselves higher up than the world.
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And we say, look how evil the world is and look how good we are.
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Paul said, that's not our business.
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Verse 13, God judges those outside.
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Now, verse 13 is kind of weird.
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Because it's two sentences.
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There's nothing in between.
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God judges those outside.
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Purge the evil person from among you.
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It's literally two sentences that seem like they should be joined by some kind of connection.
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Like, God judges those outside, but you should purge the evil.
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But it doesn't say that.
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In the Greek, it's just as simple.
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God judges those outside.
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Stop.
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Purge the evil person from among you.
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Stop.
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And by the way, that's a quote from Deuteronomy.
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That's a direct quote from the Old Testament.
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And the point is to make the contrast of what is our business and what ain't our business.
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You know what ain't our business? What's going on outside.
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Now, does that mean we can't look at the evil world and have opinions and make decisions that we don't want to be a part of this or don't want to be a part of that because it's evil? Yeah, I mean, obviously we have to make discerning decisions on things like that.
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But ultimately, the judgment on the unbeliever rests in the hand of God.
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But in the covenant community, in the intimacy of the body, we have submitted to one another.
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And if there is one among us who abandons that responsibility of the covenant community, and habitually continues in that abandonment, they are to be put out.
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Some people say when Paul says that we're not supposed to eat with such a one, that he's just talking about communion.
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And basically they have made this the rule that if you are excommunicated, you can still be a part of the body, you can still function as a member of the church, you just can't take communion.
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I respect people who come to that conclusion, but I disagree.
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I do not believe that it's only limiting that table because I don't think that's the issue.
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When Paul says not to eat with such a one, I think he's talking about having an intimate relationship.
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When that person is in sin, the intimacy is cut off.
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We may still have a relationship, but it will not be the same.
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It can't be the same.
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And I'm going to tell you, this is not an easy subject, and it's not an easy question.
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Because I'm going to say this, church discipline must be handled properly, because it is a heavy axe with which, if it is improperly wielded, can strike at the foundation of a local church.
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And I will tell you, I know of churches that have misused the authority that God has given to them, and it did strike at their foundations, and the church fell.
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If favoritism is showed, if unjust rulings are made, if lack of grace is withheld, this type of exercise among the body can quickly become overbearing, unloving, and ultimately unbiblical.
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That's what happens in the cults.
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That's what happens, oftentimes, in practices that are called shunning.
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And that's what should never happen in a biblically functioning church.
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Ultimately, I believe a church must hold itself to biblical standards, and one of those is that if one among us is engaging in habitual, unrepentant sin, that we work through the process of attempting to encourage them to repent and restore them, but if restoration is found to be impossible, then they must be removed.
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And this would mean all sense of intimate fellowship would be cut off in hopes that they would understand the gravity of their sin, and that they would seek Christ in repentance and come back.
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Someone might hear this and think, oh, what a lack of grace and mercy.
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But we have to understand, grace is never a license to allow sin.
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But grace is the remedy for sin.
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When the sinner repents, grace is there.
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In fact, grace is there that brings the sinner to repentance.
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So what do we do in the life of one who is lost in sin? The same thing we do for all of our relatives who are lost in sin.
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We pray that God would give them the grace to repent of their sin and restore their relationship with his church.
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If a person is excommunicated because of sin, he can't work his way back into the kingdom any more than you worked your way into the kingdom when you came.
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All that can be done is by God's grace, he gives them the gift of repentance, which leads to life.
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If you are far from God this morning because of sin, I encourage you to repent.
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Call out to God and ask for his strength to help you to turn from your sin and turn to him.
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Understand this.
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When John Newton wrote the words that you are all so familiar with, he understood who he was and he understood the only thing that could save him.
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Amazing grace.
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How sweet the sound that saved a wretch.
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Like me.
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I once was lost, but now I'm found.
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Was blind, but now I see.
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Anyone caught up in sin, what do we pray for them? We pray that God would lavish upon them his amazing grace, that they might repent, that their eyes might see, that their ears might hear, and they might return to him.
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Let's pray.
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Father, I thank you for your word.
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I thank you for the truth of it.
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I pray that now as we begin to move toward a time of communion together as the body of Christ, that you would bless this time, that you would bless the preaching of your word.
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Apply it to all of our hearts.
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Help us to understand that, Lord, even if we have sins that would be hidden from others, that these sins are not hidden from you.
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And thus, oh God, they require repentance.
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They require us to recognize our need of you and our desperation for your grace.
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Oh God, by your mercy and grace, give us this time of communion as a blessing and as a time to lift you up.
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In Jesus' name.
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Amen.