Dare to Discipline 1 Corinthians 5:1-13 Adapted from a Michael Luke sermon http://www.sermoncentral.com/print_friendly.asp?SermonID=87647

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6. Preacher Jerry Shirley says that there are
three things that have been elevated to the
status of “god” in our society over the last 40
years:
1. Open-mindedness
If you hold traditional Biblical values, you’re
considered by society as being either
“narrow-minded” or
“close-minded”

7. Truth is considered relative and circumstantial.
The slogans for open-mindedness:
“What’s true for you may not be true for me.”
“Live & let live!” “To each his own.”
“Different strokes for different folks.”

8. 2. Total acceptance
The cry of our society is for “tolerance.”
If you’re not considered tolerant, you’re
considered a bigot and a hate-monger,
A _______phobic!
The slogan for total acceptance:
“Don’t judge me.”

9. 3. Privacy
Privacy has been raised to the status of a
constitutional right.
When nominees are considered for the US
Supreme Court, one of the big questions is
usually:
“What is their stance on individual privacy?”
The slogan for privacy: “What I do in private is
none of your business.”

10. Sadly, those concepts have entered the
church.
Many churches practice those three principles
as if there was biblical authority for their
practice in the church.

11. If those three principles of open-mindedness,
total acceptance, and privacy aren’t official
principles in other churches, many church
members practice them in their own lives in
regards to their personal behavior.
When confronted with their behavior, they
become upset that church leadership doesn’t
practice these principles in regards to their
behavior.

12. Because of the arrogant behavior of church
members, church discipline has been a
subject that has largely been avoided in the
modern church.
When confronted with ungodly behavior, some
people conveniently quote Jesus.
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When you do that, you take that quote out of
context
Listen to the rest of what Jesus had to say on
this subject.

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14. Jesus is addressing hypocrisy in this passage.
He’s saying that before you attempt to help
someone else with a problem, you need to
make sure there are no glaring problems in
your own life.
Two reasons why church discipline is still a
necessary part of Christ’s church:

15. 1. It’s biblical.
The Old Testament, the teaching of Jesus, and
the writings of the apostles all discuss
disciplinary procedures for those who are
supposed to be living as God’s people but
are living blatantly as people of the world.
best summarizes this
procedure:

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17. 2. It’s beneficial
Beneficial to the church. it preserves our role
as salt and light.
Beneficial to the erring members.
The goal is that they might see the error of
their ways and be restored.
Just as in any other endeavor, there is a right
way and a wrong way to go about the
procedure of church discipline.
Paul gives us the right way.

19. The wrong attitude is pride.
Many of the members of the Corinthian
congregation were proud of their open-
mindedness, tolerance, and regard for a
person’s right to privacy.
They were thinking: “Isn’t it great that we’re so
permissive toward this member’s immoral
behavior?
Why, we’re thrilled to allow this person to
continue along the line of his personal choices.
We’re so inclusive, diverse, and tolerant!” That
kind of pride is wrong!

20. There was a strange article in a
newsmagazine from the week of July 22,
2005, from Berlin, Germany.
A grandmother, Renate Dolle, 63, announced
her retirement after 49 years as a
streetwalking prostitute.
Dolle said she was still attracting four or five
clients a night, but wanted to quit so she could
spend more time with her husband and
granddaughter.

21. What kind of family is that?
What husband would put up with that?
You have to ask the same thing about the
church at Corinth and its leadership.
Another kind of pride that’s wrong.
It’s the kind of pride Jesus describes in
. There was a Pharisee and a tax collector
praying at the temple.
The Pharisee thanked God that he was not
like other men – especially the tax collector.
The tax collector humbly and sorrowfully asked
God for forgiveness for his sins.

22. This is the kind of pride that allows you to see
yourself as better than others.
It’s a pride that makes you hypocritical.
Grief is the right attitude.
That means to “mourn over the dead,” it is an
acknowledgement that sin hurts,
just like the loss of a loved one.

23. Paul says that when someone in the church
behaves in a way that shames the church, we
need to acknowledge the hurt.
Notice that Paul clearly points out that even
the pagans recognize this man’s behavior as
shameful!
He’s also saying that we need to grieve over
the damage to that person’s spiritual life.

25. Human authority is not sufficient.
Our methods of judgment are imperfect.
We think we know the facts but end up making
the wrong decision.
We either lack the correct facts or we lack the
ability to process the facts.
One of two things is needed to attempt any
practice in the church.
1. An actual, “Thus saith the Lord….”
2. Precedent of scriptural practice.
We have both in support of church discipline.

26. The church acts on behalf of the Lord in
carrying out discipline.
That is why the Lord’s presence is promised in
discipline.
That is also why Paul speaks of acting “
.”

27. It’s only under the authority of Jesus Christ
that this action should be taken.
Paul references back to Jesus’ teaching on
this subject in .
He echoes the purpose of such action:

28. Remember that the apostle Paul writes the
Corinthian congregation after a number of
church members had contacted him about
their concerns for the congregation.
It’s obvious from what we read that someone
has already taken the first steps prescribed by
Jesus but no one is listening.
Paul says that they have to use the authority
of Christ as Christ’s body, the church and it’s
leadership were to handle this situation
correctly.

30. What is the right action in this situation? Paul
says that the wrong attitude has led to the
wrong action.
Their pride in being open-minded and tolerant
has led to endorsement of sinful behavior.
When we get the right attitude, we search out
what Christ wants, and that leads us to the
right action.

31. Paul clearly states that the right action for this
person’s circumstances and for the church at
Corinth is for him to be disciplined.
He has blatantly and unashamedly behaved in
a way that dishonors Christ and brings shame
to His Body.

32. Paul uses the illustration of leaven, just as a
little bit of yeast influences the whole batch of
dough, the attitudes and actions of one person
can influence the whole congregation.
In many instances in the Bible, yeast is used
as a representative of sin.
In the guidelines given by God to the Jewish
people for the observance of Passover, they
were to clean out every bit of yeast in their
households a full week before the holy day
was observed.

33. However, the Bible also uses yeast to
represent a good thing.
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Paul says that the yeast which is comprised of
malice and wickedness is detrimental to the
whole church.
However, the bread comprised of sincerity and
truth glorifies God.

36. “Right aim” means having the right purpose or
intention.
There are lots of things we can do in the
church that are right and proper in most
circumstances.
However, there are lots of things we can do in
the church that are wrong and improper in any
circumstance where we have wrong intentions
and misguided purposes.

37. “ .” is
used at least five times in Deuteronomy in
reference to those who worship false gods,
who lie in court as a witness, for a rebellious
child, in regard to sexual immorality, and for a
kidnapper.

38. The seriousness of church discipline is
reflected in the quote from the Old Testament:
in each of those five instances, it was used in
reference to capital punishment – being
stoned to death.
However, our aim is not to kill the person but
to bring them back to life.

39. The right aim – right purpose or intention – in
church discipline is to bring that person to
repentance and restore their relationship with
Christ and His Body.
Listen to the parable Jesus told preceding His
passage on church discipline in .

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41. Peter shares that God’s intention for all of us is
not eternal punishment but repentance.
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42. Please notice the apostle Paul gives a
boundary line in the area of church discipline.
Only those within the body of Christ, who call
themselves members of the family, are to be
disciplined.

43. Church leadership does not judge their eternal
destiny.
Church leadership is called to discipline those
who claim relationship with Jesus Christ and
fellowship with His bride yet flagrantly live as if
Christ was neither their Lord nor their Savior.
Those who are outside the body of Christ are
to be left to God’s judgment.

44. In the very next chapter of , Paul
reminds the Corinthian congregation that
before they came to Christ, they were just as
corrupt and sinful as anyone else.

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46. Everyone of us needs to understand that we’re
all susceptible to sin.
Everyone of us also needs to know that there
is hope if we sin – we can be restored.

47. There was a flock of wild ducks headed south
for the winter.
One of the ducks looks down and sees
domesticated ducks in a barnyard and the
easy life that they have.
He decides to leave the wild ducks to spend
some time with the domesticated ducks
figuring that he would join back up with the
wild ducks when they flew north again in the
spring.

48. Over the next several months, the wild duck
enjoyed his time in the barnyard eating
cracked corn and Duck Chow but he began to
look forward to the time when he could rejoin
his old friends.
Sure enough, right on schedule, overhead
they flew – the wild ducks headed north.

49. The wild duck in the barnyard began to flap his
wings but all of the cracked corn, Duck Chow,
and the lack of exercise made him too heavy
to fly.
The only thing he could manage to do was to
get off the ground, cruise at a low altitude, and
then crash into the barn.

50. He was embarrassed and ashamed of his lack
of ability to fly with his fellow wild ducks. So,
he made plans.
He decided to lose some weight and exercise
his wings that that the next time the wild ducks
flew over, he’d be ready to take his rightful
place.

51. Every winter and spring, the wild ducks flew
overhead and the wild duck in the
barnyard never could get off the ground.
Eventually, he no longer paid any attention to
the wild ducks flying over head.
He hardly even noticed them.
After all, he had become a barnyard duck.

52. The danger of allowing someone to remain in
their sinful behavior is that they begin to get
comfortable with it and then never have the
desire to leave it behind.
Is there anything in your life keeping you
grounded to the earth instead of soaring with
the Saints?