The church is a family and we are brothers and sisters in Christ (1 Tim. 5:1-2). The church is the family of God (1 Tim. 3:15). But what happens if your Christian brother or sister is not obeying the rules? What do we do then? What do we do to hold each other accountable to the standards Jesus expects out of His family?
First, we talk to that person with humility and gentleness (Galatians 6:1).
Second, if the sinning brother or sister does not respond to one person’s gentle and loving correction, then the New Testament teaches that we take a couple of others to talk and encourage (2 Corinthians 13:1).
Third, the whole church may need to be involved (Matthew 18:17).
But then what? What is the very last means of discipline a Christian family has to help a sinning family member see the error of his or her way?
We have instruction on that step here in our text, in 1 Corinthians 5, which is where I want us to study this morning…
THE SIN INVOLVED – 5:1-2:
This specific situation in Corinth was somewhat unique. It was a sexual immorality that even the pagans did not accept: someone was having sexual relationships with his father’s wife. This is probably his step-mom and this was condemned by the Jew’s law (Lev. 20:11; Amos 2:7) and the culture.
Unfortunately, rather than being disturbed, upset, angry at such a sin being committed among God’s family, the church in Corinth was being arrogant about it! They were gloating that they were “open minded,” and that “love” is what is most important – “as long as it is true love, it is okay.”
PAUL’S JUDGMENT – 5:3-5:
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In this short paragraph, be reminded that Paul speaks as one having the authority of an apostle of Jesus Christ and what he wrote had as much authority as if he were present with them.
Because Paul was led by the Holy Spirit (1 Cor. 14:37), then what he wrote would be the equivalent of hearing what the Holy Spirit was saying to the church at Corinth. Yet, it is by the authority of the “Lord Jesus,” “with the power of the Lord Jesus,” that such discipline is done and, please observe, it involves the whole church – “when you are assembled.” Church discipline is a congregational activity just as disciplining children is both parents’ responsibility.
Then in verse 5, Paul instructs the Corinthians on how they are to discipline a family member who has refused to change his or her behavior despite the whole family trying to get them to respond. Withdraw your fellowship from him or her. You expel them from your assembly in the sense that you recognize that that person is no longer in fellowship with God. The “destruction of the flesh” refers to the destruction of his/her fleshly desires that have taken precedence over the desires of the Holy Spirit. When he or she realizes what is happening, what he or she has lost, then the prayer and the desire of God’s heart is that he/she will decide to repent – “so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.” Here is the second time (among four, through verse 13) that Paul says or implies that an erring Christian who will not repent has to be excluded from fellowship.
The prayer and hope is that having gone through this procedure, the erring Christian will feel the loneliness of not being in warm, Christian fellowship with fellow Christian family and repent of their sinful behavior.
The community needs to know that the church of Christ honors the Lord Jesus Christ by doing our best to live up to His standards. We do not do it perfectly, but that is our goal.
Our youth need to understand that one cannot sin in this world without feeling the impact of that sin. Sin causes one to miss heaven. Withdrawing fellowship is a way to help sinning Christians realize that they are on the road to miss heaven. It is a very sad situation.
But we are to hold each other accountable to God’s rules within the church family. Quoting from Deuteronomy 17:7, in verse 13, Paul shows that the principle of exclusion from God’s people is a practice God has required under the Law of Moses as well as under the Law of Christ.
God’s laws must be respected and obeyed. If we do not uphold those laws, we’ll be guilty of our own violations.
–Paul Holland
