WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:01.500 Well, good morning once again. I'm going to start 00:00:01.500 --> 00:00:03.560 our time together this morning in kind of an 00:00:03.560 --> 00:00:06.580 unusual way. I want to share with you a testimony 00:00:06.580 --> 00:00:11.060 that I read online this week. It's from an anonymous 00:00:11.060 --> 00:00:16.920 woman who wrote a testimony of her experience 00:00:16.920 --> 00:00:21.160 with this thing we call church discipline. And 00:00:21.160 --> 00:00:23.980 it was posted on a well -known Christian blog, 00:00:24.120 --> 00:00:27.820 and I thought it would be a good way to sort 00:00:27.820 --> 00:00:30.160 of get our hearts and minds rolling on this difficult 00:00:30.160 --> 00:00:32.679 subject. And by the way, if you're joining us 00:00:32.679 --> 00:00:36.060 this morning for the first time, sorry to be 00:00:36.060 --> 00:00:37.740 talking about church discipline, but it's an 00:00:37.740 --> 00:00:40.079 important part of Scripture. It just might be 00:00:40.079 --> 00:00:42.159 a difficult morning for you to try to catch up 00:00:42.159 --> 00:00:44.439 with where we've been, but God's sovereign over 00:00:44.439 --> 00:00:46.560 that as well. But let me read this testimony. 00:00:46.619 --> 00:00:48.679 It's a little bit long, but I think it's worth 00:00:48.679 --> 00:00:51.399 our time to understand the issue we're going 00:00:51.399 --> 00:00:54.399 to talk about this morning. Here's what this 00:00:54.399 --> 00:00:58.359 woman wrote. In 2006, I sat at a conference table 00:00:58.359 --> 00:01:03.240 with men from my church and I heard words I never 00:01:03.240 --> 00:01:07.959 wanted to hear. Church discipline. I was in the 00:01:07.959 --> 00:01:10.819 middle of an affair with a married man and the 00:01:10.819 --> 00:01:13.579 life that I had tried to keep buried was now 00:01:13.579 --> 00:01:17.480 being exposed. My sin had found me out and now 00:01:17.480 --> 00:01:20.219 I felt like I was being dragged out into the 00:01:20.219 --> 00:01:23.659 street. Hard words for men who weren't afraid 00:01:23.659 --> 00:01:27.409 to say to me, What you're doing is sin, and this 00:01:27.409 --> 00:01:30.430 is the way out of it. I had no real defense, 00:01:30.790 --> 00:01:34.909 but in that moment, I was blind. I was persistent, 00:01:35.150 --> 00:01:38.310 and I was impetuous, and I was willing to give 00:01:38.310 --> 00:01:41.590 up family, friends, and my reputation for what 00:01:41.590 --> 00:01:45.049 I wanted. So I opted for defense strategies. 00:01:45.450 --> 00:01:49.269 These men were the bad guys. They didn't understand 00:01:49.269 --> 00:01:54.879 grace. I should be free to be me. As we sat around 00:01:54.879 --> 00:01:57.060 that conference table, their faces were somber, 00:01:57.099 --> 00:02:00.280 and I felt the weight of what was coming. They 00:02:00.280 --> 00:02:02.739 laid out my sin. They addressed my wrong choices. 00:02:03.180 --> 00:02:05.920 They contrasted Scripture with my actions and 00:02:05.920 --> 00:02:10.400 gave me a plan for restoration. I had to repent, 00:02:10.599 --> 00:02:14.120 they said. I had to leave the man I was actively 00:02:14.120 --> 00:02:17.259 sinning with and cease any and all contact with 00:02:17.259 --> 00:02:19.900 him, and he would be encouraged to seek reconciliation 00:02:19.900 --> 00:02:24.169 with his wife. I thought about the date we had 00:02:24.169 --> 00:02:27.250 planned for the next day, our visit home for 00:02:27.250 --> 00:02:29.849 Christmas, our plans for the new year. I pictured 00:02:29.849 --> 00:02:34.770 him in my mind. We have only each other now in 00:02:34.770 --> 00:02:38.310 this cold, hateful world, I thought. I can't 00:02:38.310 --> 00:02:41.090 do it. It's not possible. We're too far down 00:02:41.090 --> 00:02:43.750 this road, and I will not turn back. Our love 00:02:43.750 --> 00:02:47.870 is stronger than this. Deep down in my gut, what 00:02:47.870 --> 00:02:50.250 these men were doing felt cruel. It felt unjust. 00:02:51.879 --> 00:02:54.120 They continued to talk to me about how to find 00:02:54.120 --> 00:02:56.500 healing and restoration. There was hope, they 00:02:56.500 --> 00:03:00.319 said, and a way to find freedom. But their voices 00:03:00.319 --> 00:03:02.580 were a drone of truth and I wanted to cut my 00:03:02.580 --> 00:03:06.319 ears off. The discipline was already doing its 00:03:06.319 --> 00:03:09.180 work, revealing my rebellion, helping me feel 00:03:09.180 --> 00:03:12.740 the weight of sin, and it was heavy. Oh, so heavy. 00:03:13.599 --> 00:03:18.520 And there I sat, now sobbing. This was breaking 00:03:18.520 --> 00:03:20.800 me and there was a small distant voice somewhere 00:03:20.800 --> 00:03:23.939 on the outskirts of my mind screaming at me to 00:03:23.939 --> 00:03:27.360 repent. I heard the voice like a distant bell 00:03:27.360 --> 00:03:32.159 in the dark telling me this is the way out. But 00:03:32.159 --> 00:03:35.759 I pushed it away. When the elders told me I had 00:03:35.759 --> 00:03:38.080 a few days to consider what they'd said, what 00:03:38.080 --> 00:03:42.379 I heard was this, an opportunity. I had a few 00:03:42.379 --> 00:03:46.569 days to run. I scanned the faces of everyone 00:03:46.569 --> 00:03:48.650 sitting around that table. These were men who 00:03:48.650 --> 00:03:50.930 were like family to me, but on this day they 00:03:50.930 --> 00:03:53.870 felt like thieves. I thought this will be the 00:03:53.870 --> 00:03:57.229 last time I ever sit across from them as a friend 00:03:57.229 --> 00:04:00.909 and a sister. After that meeting, I did run. 00:04:01.389 --> 00:04:04.270 I ran from New York in the midst of my affair, 00:04:04.430 --> 00:04:07.909 and I was sure I had found a safe haven in North 00:04:07.909 --> 00:04:11.849 Texas. No one would find me there. No one knows 00:04:11.849 --> 00:04:14.909 my name. No one knows my face. We had run off 00:04:14.909 --> 00:04:17.810 into the proverbial sunset, and I was sure we 00:04:17.810 --> 00:04:21.649 were going to find our happy ending. Until I 00:04:21.649 --> 00:04:24.670 got the phone call that letters had arrived on 00:04:24.670 --> 00:04:27.329 the desk of one of the pastors at the new church 00:04:27.329 --> 00:04:32.269 I was attending. I shuddered as he read the names 00:04:32.269 --> 00:04:35.529 of the elders back in New York. Why were they 00:04:35.529 --> 00:04:38.930 following me? I thought. Can't they just leave 00:04:38.930 --> 00:04:43.079 me alone? I was furious. How quickly friends 00:04:43.079 --> 00:04:45.740 become enemies as soon as they get in the way 00:04:45.740 --> 00:04:52.199 of what we want. Fast forward four years. Once 00:04:52.199 --> 00:04:55.459 my life had imploded and I found the bottom of 00:04:55.459 --> 00:04:59.420 the pit, I heard that voice once again. This 00:04:59.420 --> 00:05:05.139 is the way back home. And I found myself. I don't 00:05:05.139 --> 00:05:07.139 know why. I don't even know this woman, but I'm 00:05:07.139 --> 00:05:12.970 getting emotional. I found myself walking back 00:05:12.970 --> 00:05:16.389 into that church in New York, now as a single 00:05:16.389 --> 00:05:20.310 mom with very little to my name. Waking from 00:05:20.310 --> 00:05:22.509 my spiritual slumber, it felt like seeing the 00:05:22.509 --> 00:05:26.370 light of day for the first time in years, and 00:05:26.370 --> 00:05:29.930 then seeing the wreckage of my life. It was devastating. 00:05:30.610 --> 00:05:33.389 The only thing left standing were the arrows 00:05:33.389 --> 00:05:36.089 that pointed me back to where the gospel had 00:05:36.089 --> 00:05:39.899 first broken through my heart and mind. And one 00:05:39.899 --> 00:05:41.759 of the biggest arrows was now pointing me back 00:05:41.759 --> 00:05:45.160 to my old church family. I desperately hoped 00:05:45.160 --> 00:05:47.360 that it hadn't been too long for me to say to 00:05:47.360 --> 00:05:51.040 those elders, I was wrong and I'm sorry. I need 00:05:51.040 --> 00:05:54.160 Jesus, will you forgive me? And praise the Lord, 00:05:54.300 --> 00:05:58.160 I found that I wasn't coming home to a scolding 00:05:58.160 --> 00:06:02.639 finger, but to forgiveness. Church discipline 00:06:02.639 --> 00:06:05.500 had revealed to me the weight of my sin, but 00:06:05.500 --> 00:06:09.050 it also provided a way back home. When I said 00:06:09.050 --> 00:06:11.250 I can't do this anymore, I was met with a family 00:06:11.250 --> 00:06:17.589 that said, finally. And we wept together. Sinner 00:06:17.589 --> 00:06:22.410 to sinner, brother to sister, a messy, snotty 00:06:22.410 --> 00:06:25.649 welcome home on the dusty road to redemption. 00:06:27.470 --> 00:06:29.829 The goal of church discipline is to reveal sin. 00:06:30.310 --> 00:06:33.069 And when it's done well, it has the potential 00:06:33.069 --> 00:06:35.209 to be a rescue boat in the middle of a raging 00:06:35.209 --> 00:06:40.079 sea. What seems like harshness at first, calling 00:06:40.079 --> 00:06:42.660 out a fellow believer is in fact not unkind. 00:06:43.399 --> 00:06:45.920 Instead, it's a marker in their life that may 00:06:45.920 --> 00:06:48.519 someday remind them that God was always at work, 00:06:48.639 --> 00:06:52.759 that they were being pursued and loved, and that 00:06:52.759 --> 00:06:55.379 there's always a way to be restored. It is a 00:06:55.379 --> 00:06:58.220 work of love to see someone running towards a 00:06:58.220 --> 00:07:02.120 cliff and do all you can to stop them from falling 00:07:02.120 --> 00:07:05.649 off. I'm thankful for those who were faithful 00:07:05.649 --> 00:07:08.290 to follow through with my church discipline. 00:07:08.490 --> 00:07:11.009 I'm thankful for their words that didn't deviate 00:07:11.009 --> 00:07:13.769 from the truth. I'm thankful for their hearts 00:07:13.769 --> 00:07:17.329 that never gave up on me. And I'm thankful for 00:07:17.329 --> 00:07:23.370 the way back home. Let's grab our Bibles. Sorry 00:07:23.370 --> 00:07:28.149 about that. That testimony did that to me during 00:07:28.149 --> 00:07:31.209 the week too. And it did it to me again this 00:07:31.209 --> 00:07:39.449 morning. 1 Corinthians chapter five. Last Sunday, 00:07:39.509 --> 00:07:42.050 we looked at verses one through five and we teased 00:07:42.050 --> 00:07:43.629 what was coming this morning. Really, this is 00:07:43.629 --> 00:07:46.490 part two of a single message because this entire 00:07:46.490 --> 00:07:50.250 chapter, all 13 verses, relate to one incident 00:07:50.250 --> 00:07:52.310 in the life of the Corinthian church and how 00:07:52.310 --> 00:07:56.170 it's to be dealt with. So let's back up to verse 00:07:56.170 --> 00:07:58.769 one. We'll read it from there. Again, this is 00:07:58.769 --> 00:08:01.790 all one, what we call pericope in scripture, 00:08:01.930 --> 00:08:07.199 one incident that we need to cover. Verse 1 says 00:08:07.199 --> 00:08:10.579 it's actually reported that there is sexual immorality 00:08:10.579 --> 00:08:14.759 among you. An immorality of such a kind as does 00:08:14.759 --> 00:08:18.480 not exist even among the Gentiles that someone 00:08:18.480 --> 00:08:23.600 has his father's wife, meaning stepmother. You 00:08:23.600 --> 00:08:25.620 become arrogant and have not mourned instead 00:08:25.620 --> 00:08:28.160 so that the one who had done this deed would 00:08:28.160 --> 00:08:31.699 be removed from your midst. For I, on my part, 00:08:31.740 --> 00:08:33.679 though absent in body but present in spirit, 00:08:33.879 --> 00:08:36.720 have already judged him who has committed this 00:08:36.720 --> 00:08:40.000 as though I were present. In the name of our 00:08:40.000 --> 00:08:42.240 Lord Jesus, when you are assembled and I with 00:08:42.240 --> 00:08:44.860 you in spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus, 00:08:44.960 --> 00:08:48.100 I have decided to deliver such a one to Satan 00:08:48.100 --> 00:08:51.340 for the destruction of his flesh so that his 00:08:51.340 --> 00:08:54.460 spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus. 00:08:55.639 --> 00:08:59.309 Verse six, your boasting is not good. I want 00:08:59.309 --> 00:09:02.009 you to stop there for a moment and consider what 00:09:02.009 --> 00:09:04.090 Paul said already. I know this was last Sunday, 00:09:04.110 --> 00:09:05.769 and maybe you need to go back and listen to it 00:09:05.769 --> 00:09:09.450 online. In a state of shock over the perversity 00:09:09.450 --> 00:09:12.490 of the situation there in Corinth, Paul says, 00:09:12.769 --> 00:09:16.129 look, your response to this is the exact opposite 00:09:16.129 --> 00:09:19.950 of what it should be. You're proud of how you 00:09:19.950 --> 00:09:23.490 tolerate sin. You're boasting in this deviant 00:09:23.490 --> 00:09:26.889 version of grace that allows for sexual sin to 00:09:26.889 --> 00:09:30.769 stay in your body and fester there when you should 00:09:30.769 --> 00:09:33.230 be ashamed at the lack of concern that you have 00:09:33.230 --> 00:09:35.830 for the purity of the church and the testimony 00:09:35.830 --> 00:09:40.159 of the church. It's the exact opposite. As we 00:09:40.159 --> 00:09:41.539 go through the rest of the text, I'm actually 00:09:41.539 --> 00:09:43.480 going to go a little bit out of order. I know 00:09:43.480 --> 00:09:45.759 that's strange, but if you track with me, you'll 00:09:45.759 --> 00:09:47.559 see the logic in this. Let me give you an outline 00:09:47.559 --> 00:09:50.059 of where we're headed here. First, we're going 00:09:50.059 --> 00:09:52.940 to see how Paul corrects the church's understanding 00:09:52.940 --> 00:09:56.700 of a previous letter he wrote to them. That's 00:09:56.700 --> 00:09:59.340 verses 9 through 11. Then we're going to see 00:09:59.340 --> 00:10:01.200 him lay out this really important principle about 00:10:01.200 --> 00:10:03.720 who we in the church are supposed to be judging 00:10:03.720 --> 00:10:07.059 and who we're not supposed to be judging. And 00:10:07.059 --> 00:10:08.700 then we'll come back to verses six through eight, 00:10:08.799 --> 00:10:11.460 where Paul exhorts the Corinthian believers to 00:10:11.460 --> 00:10:14.820 take the right steps, the right actions toward 00:10:14.820 --> 00:10:18.580 becoming who God already declared that you actually 00:10:18.580 --> 00:10:22.179 are. Make sense? So drop down to verse nine. 00:10:22.259 --> 00:10:25.100 Let's start there with Paul's correction. Look 00:10:25.100 --> 00:10:28.379 at verse nine. He says, I wrote to you in my 00:10:28.379 --> 00:10:32.580 letter not to associate with pornois, is the 00:10:32.580 --> 00:10:38.580 Greek word, sexually immoral people. Now, this 00:10:38.580 --> 00:10:40.940 is a reference here to what scholars call Paul's 00:10:40.940 --> 00:10:43.779 lost letter. It was written probably sometime 00:10:43.779 --> 00:10:47.139 around the year 52 or 53 to the church there 00:10:47.139 --> 00:10:49.580 in Corinth. But outside of this little comment 00:10:49.580 --> 00:10:52.059 we have in verse 9, we have no idea what else 00:10:52.059 --> 00:10:54.500 Paul wrote about or what became of the letter. 00:10:55.299 --> 00:10:57.960 It's lost to the dustbin of history, which tells 00:10:57.960 --> 00:11:01.539 us God saw fit not to preserve it for us so that 00:11:01.539 --> 00:11:04.000 we could read it today. By the way, there's another 00:11:04.000 --> 00:11:07.389 letter also. that we don't have today that was 00:11:07.389 --> 00:11:11.029 written between our 1 Corinthians and our 2 Corinthians. 00:11:11.210 --> 00:11:12.870 In fact, I'll give you a little diagram because 00:11:12.870 --> 00:11:15.750 you know how I like timelines, right? The third 00:11:15.750 --> 00:11:17.769 letter is actually mentioned. So you see there 00:11:17.769 --> 00:11:20.809 the lost letter, then comes 1 Corinthians. That 00:11:20.809 --> 00:11:24.009 third letter is mentioned in 2 Corinthians 2, 00:11:24.350 --> 00:11:27.269 verse 4, where Paul talks about having made a 00:11:27.269 --> 00:11:30.120 painful visit. to the city of Corinth, and then 00:11:30.120 --> 00:11:32.879 having written what he calls a tearful letter 00:11:32.879 --> 00:11:36.960 that caused the Corinthians sorrow. But what's 00:11:36.960 --> 00:11:39.240 interesting, when you get to chapter 7 of 2 Corinthians, 00:11:39.500 --> 00:11:42.840 you find out that Paul's actually, he hears news 00:11:42.840 --> 00:11:45.620 from Titus, and he's actually filled with joy 00:11:45.620 --> 00:11:48.960 because that tearful letter, while it did create 00:11:48.960 --> 00:11:52.139 sorrow on the front end, it ends up being godly 00:11:52.139 --> 00:11:54.480 sorrow that produced repentance in that church. 00:11:54.720 --> 00:11:58.659 So he's actually grateful for it. So if you do 00:11:58.659 --> 00:12:01.480 the math, our 1st and 2nd Corinthians are actually 00:12:01.480 --> 00:12:05.419 2nd and 4th Corinthians. But I don't want to 00:12:05.419 --> 00:12:07.860 confuse you on that. But when you step back and 00:12:07.860 --> 00:12:09.899 look at all the things that Paul wrote to this 00:12:09.899 --> 00:12:12.980 one church, you start to realize how complex 00:12:12.980 --> 00:12:15.720 his relationship was with this congregation. 00:12:16.480 --> 00:12:18.240 And for those of you in ministry, you know how 00:12:18.240 --> 00:12:21.019 hard it must have been to shepherd a congregation 00:12:21.019 --> 00:12:23.559 like this with so many problems. And we're going 00:12:23.559 --> 00:12:25.299 to see that throughout the rest of this letter. 00:12:25.440 --> 00:12:28.220 So Paul writes this first lost letter to the 00:12:28.220 --> 00:12:31.600 church and he says, do not associate with sexually 00:12:31.600 --> 00:12:34.419 immoral people. Now in verses 10 through 11, 00:12:34.460 --> 00:12:36.539 he's going to clarify what he meant by that. 00:12:36.659 --> 00:12:40.720 Look at verse 10. He says, I did not at all mean 00:12:40.720 --> 00:12:45.590 the sexually immoral people of this world. Or 00:12:45.590 --> 00:12:49.129 with the covetous and swindlers or with idolaters. 00:12:49.350 --> 00:12:51.870 For then you would have to go out of the world. 00:12:51.950 --> 00:12:55.950 But actually, he says, actually, I wrote to you 00:12:55.950 --> 00:12:59.850 not to associate with any so -called brother. 00:13:00.210 --> 00:13:04.389 In other words, a person, a man or woman who 00:13:04.389 --> 00:13:08.549 identifies themselves as a Christian. Don't. 00:13:08.909 --> 00:13:11.850 associate with them if he is a sexually immoral 00:13:11.850 --> 00:13:15.370 person or covetous or an idolater or a reviler 00:13:15.370 --> 00:13:18.289 or a drunkard or a swindler, look at that last 00:13:18.289 --> 00:13:23.549 phrase, not even to eat with such a one. Now, 00:13:23.649 --> 00:13:26.850 don't get lost in the list of sins that Paul 00:13:26.850 --> 00:13:29.740 lays out here. Typical of the writing of that 00:13:29.740 --> 00:13:32.500 day. What he's providing for us is a whole series 00:13:32.500 --> 00:13:35.580 of categories of sins. It's not intended to be 00:13:35.580 --> 00:13:38.220 an exhaustive list or to cover every possible 00:13:38.220 --> 00:13:40.779 sin that should be avoided. These are general 00:13:40.779 --> 00:13:44.960 categories. Sexual immorality, greed, thievery, 00:13:45.240 --> 00:13:49.559 idolatry, drunkenness, slander. And if you break 00:13:49.559 --> 00:13:51.500 down that list, it's interesting. What you see 00:13:51.500 --> 00:13:53.620 is these are sins against three different parties. 00:13:53.940 --> 00:13:57.100 They're sins against one's own body. There's 00:13:57.100 --> 00:13:59.500 sins against other members of the church, and 00:13:59.500 --> 00:14:02.279 most of all, sins against God himself. So it 00:14:02.279 --> 00:14:05.320 covers the whole gamut. And Paul says, don't 00:14:05.320 --> 00:14:08.340 get mixed up with people like this. Do not enter 00:14:08.340 --> 00:14:12.440 into fellowship with them. What did the Corinthians 00:14:12.440 --> 00:14:16.340 hear? They heard what they wanted to hear. They 00:14:16.340 --> 00:14:18.440 basically said, okay, fine, then we will cut 00:14:18.440 --> 00:14:20.679 ourselves off from all the unbelievers in our 00:14:20.679 --> 00:14:24.440 city who do these things. And Paul responds in 00:14:24.440 --> 00:14:26.850 verse 11, no, no, no, no. It's not what I was 00:14:26.850 --> 00:14:29.750 talking about. I was not talking about unbelievers. 00:14:30.330 --> 00:14:32.649 If you were to cut yourself off from all the 00:14:32.649 --> 00:14:35.809 non -Christians who practice these things, I'd 00:14:35.809 --> 00:14:37.389 have to take you out of the world completely. 00:14:38.470 --> 00:14:40.990 You just have to leave the entire world because 00:14:40.990 --> 00:14:43.529 guess what? The things I just listed for you, 00:14:43.649 --> 00:14:46.610 those are the fleshly deeds of people who don't 00:14:46.610 --> 00:14:49.230 know God. And they're all around you there in 00:14:49.230 --> 00:14:52.190 the city of Corinth. And by the way, this raises 00:14:52.190 --> 00:14:54.090 an important principle, not just for the Corinthians, 00:14:54.289 --> 00:14:56.809 but for us. You know, we said it before. We live 00:14:56.809 --> 00:15:00.070 in a city kind of parallel to Corinth in the 00:15:00.070 --> 00:15:02.610 first century right here in Los Angeles. And 00:15:02.610 --> 00:15:04.669 this is the phrase that often gets cited under 00:15:04.669 --> 00:15:08.490 this concept of we're to be in the world, but 00:15:08.490 --> 00:15:11.490 not of the world. Right. And that is sort of 00:15:11.490 --> 00:15:14.240 a conglomeration of a whole bunch of. passages 00:15:14.240 --> 00:15:16.620 from the New Testament and the Gospel of John 00:15:16.620 --> 00:15:19.940 and 1 John, we put that together and we come 00:15:19.940 --> 00:15:22.659 up with that important phrase. And there's truth 00:15:22.659 --> 00:15:25.840 to it. As Christ followers, we are citizens of 00:15:25.840 --> 00:15:29.139 a new kingdom, a whole new realm governed by 00:15:29.139 --> 00:15:31.879 King Jesus. And that means we are not of the 00:15:31.879 --> 00:15:35.039 world in the sense that we no longer belong to 00:15:35.039 --> 00:15:37.799 its virtues, no longer belong to its loyalties 00:15:37.799 --> 00:15:41.860 or power structures. And yet, and yet, we're 00:15:41.860 --> 00:15:46.000 called to remain in the world. True. And for 00:15:46.000 --> 00:15:50.120 a purpose. When Christ saved us, when we gave 00:15:50.120 --> 00:15:53.399 our lives to him, we're told he called us out 00:15:53.399 --> 00:15:56.960 of the world, but then he put us on mission within 00:15:56.960 --> 00:16:00.000 the world, which sounds kind of strange, right? 00:16:00.059 --> 00:16:01.360 I'm going to call you out of the world, but then 00:16:01.360 --> 00:16:03.399 I'm going to send you right back in to be on 00:16:03.399 --> 00:16:06.720 mission in the world. So Paul says to the Corinthians, 00:16:06.779 --> 00:16:09.460 you can't just cut yourselves off from the sinners 00:16:09.460 --> 00:16:12.419 around you. If you did that, you would forfeit 00:16:12.419 --> 00:16:15.940 the mission that God has you on in that city. 00:16:16.759 --> 00:16:19.860 Make sense? To win the lost, you have to spend 00:16:19.860 --> 00:16:22.580 time with the lost. And that is the harvest field 00:16:22.580 --> 00:16:26.100 that God has given you specifically to walk into. 00:16:27.500 --> 00:16:30.279 Now, it's a whole different situation with people 00:16:30.279 --> 00:16:33.899 who live an openly sinful life while at the same 00:16:33.899 --> 00:16:36.440 time claiming to be a brother or sister in Christ. 00:16:36.620 --> 00:16:39.480 That's a different situation. In that case, Paul 00:16:39.480 --> 00:16:42.059 says, you're not to rub shoulders with them. 00:16:42.480 --> 00:16:45.480 You're not to hang out with them. In fact, you're 00:16:45.480 --> 00:16:48.419 to cut off fellowship with that type of a person. 00:16:48.759 --> 00:16:53.399 Don't even eat with them, he says. Why? Because 00:16:53.399 --> 00:16:57.019 they claim they're telling the world publicly, 00:16:57.200 --> 00:17:00.419 I'm under the authority and lordship of Jesus 00:17:00.419 --> 00:17:03.379 Christ, but they're living in opposition to that 00:17:03.379 --> 00:17:06.400 claim, which makes them a liar and a deceiver. 00:17:07.000 --> 00:17:09.119 And that is not somebody you want representing 00:17:09.119 --> 00:17:13.960 Jesus in your community. Now, we'll flesh that 00:17:13.960 --> 00:17:16.640 out a bit more as we go along. And I know at 00:17:16.640 --> 00:17:18.799 first glance it sounds harsh, right? But don't 00:17:18.799 --> 00:17:21.640 get the wrong impression. We don't cut off fellowship 00:17:21.640 --> 00:17:24.519 from this type of person out of anger or out 00:17:24.519 --> 00:17:27.200 of hatred or out of vengeance. There is a great 00:17:27.200 --> 00:17:30.099 purpose to Paul's instruction here. And it's 00:17:30.099 --> 00:17:33.680 actually rooted in both truth and love. And we'll 00:17:33.680 --> 00:17:36.089 get to that as we go on. First of all, Let's 00:17:36.089 --> 00:17:39.329 go to verses 12 to 13 and look at what Paul says 00:17:39.329 --> 00:17:41.450 about this very important principle, which the 00:17:41.450 --> 00:17:44.509 world cannot seem to understand, and that's the 00:17:44.509 --> 00:17:47.950 issue of judging. Who are we to judge and who 00:17:47.950 --> 00:17:51.930 are we not to judge? Look at verse 12. Paul says, 00:17:52.029 --> 00:17:56.910 what have I to do with judging outsiders, people 00:17:56.910 --> 00:18:00.470 outside the church? Do you, Corinthians, not 00:18:00.470 --> 00:18:05.200 judge those who are within the church? But those 00:18:05.200 --> 00:18:09.880 who are outside, God judges, you guys remove 00:18:09.880 --> 00:18:14.019 the wicked man from among yourselves. This is 00:18:14.019 --> 00:18:17.279 a surprising verse for people who claim to know 00:18:17.279 --> 00:18:20.480 what the Bible says but don't really know. And 00:18:20.480 --> 00:18:22.700 part of that is because we as Christians often, 00:18:22.740 --> 00:18:24.579 we make the mistake of running around judging 00:18:24.579 --> 00:18:27.319 everybody out there. We kind of have a reputation 00:18:27.319 --> 00:18:31.000 for that, so we've got to be aware of it. So 00:18:31.000 --> 00:18:35.819 people we call natural men and women. Those who 00:18:35.819 --> 00:18:37.980 don't know Christ, don't profess to know Christ. 00:18:38.259 --> 00:18:42.900 It is not our role to go around judging them. 00:18:43.640 --> 00:18:46.559 And I know that's a hard thing for Christians 00:18:46.559 --> 00:18:49.220 to grasp, right? Because, again, I said it earlier 00:18:49.220 --> 00:18:51.539 this morning, we see so much wickedness out there 00:18:51.539 --> 00:18:54.160 in the world, and our immediate reaction is to 00:18:54.160 --> 00:18:57.880 get really upset about it. This temptation, this 00:18:57.880 --> 00:19:00.119 inclination to run around pointing fingers at 00:19:00.119 --> 00:19:03.500 everybody. Paul's point is the church should 00:19:03.500 --> 00:19:07.000 not focus its energies there at running around 00:19:07.000 --> 00:19:08.960 pointing to the world and saying, look at all 00:19:08.960 --> 00:19:13.880 the sin. Of course there's sin. Of course. What 00:19:13.880 --> 00:19:16.839 else would you expect from fallen people living 00:19:16.839 --> 00:19:19.539 in the flesh without the Spirit of God? What 00:19:19.539 --> 00:19:23.359 else would you expect? And I know it could be 00:19:23.359 --> 00:19:25.900 hard to look at social media or look at news 00:19:25.900 --> 00:19:27.940 clips without saying to yourself, my goodness. 00:19:28.700 --> 00:19:31.579 It is so bad out there. The world is spiraling 00:19:31.579 --> 00:19:35.819 down so fast. Guys, when you feel that, first 00:19:35.819 --> 00:19:38.720 of all, take a deep breath. And remember two 00:19:38.720 --> 00:19:40.920 things. First of all, that God is still sovereign. 00:19:41.160 --> 00:19:44.019 He's still in control. And number two, remember, 00:19:44.180 --> 00:19:47.960 that's what you used to be before God plucked 00:19:47.960 --> 00:19:53.180 you out of that life. True? So we can't get on 00:19:53.180 --> 00:19:56.039 our high horse and judge everybody else out there. 00:19:56.099 --> 00:19:59.210 That's who we used to be. And because these outsiders, 00:19:59.450 --> 00:20:01.970 as Paul calls them, don't claim to know Christ 00:20:01.970 --> 00:20:05.609 and they haven't submitted themselves to the 00:20:05.609 --> 00:20:08.069 word of God, we can't hold them to standards 00:20:08.069 --> 00:20:11.869 that we've accepted. They've not submitted themselves 00:20:11.869 --> 00:20:14.210 to the word of God. We can't hold them to that 00:20:14.210 --> 00:20:17.730 and then judge them for not doing it. They don't 00:20:17.730 --> 00:20:19.369 have the spirit of God. How could they know? 00:20:21.089 --> 00:20:24.410 So we let God handle that. Those on the outside, 00:20:24.569 --> 00:20:27.250 God judges, Paul says. But within the church, 00:20:27.369 --> 00:20:30.630 it's different, right? Paul says we are to judge 00:20:30.630 --> 00:20:33.970 one another. Now let me qualify that. We're not 00:20:33.970 --> 00:20:37.349 to judge wrongly. We're not to judge quickly. 00:20:37.630 --> 00:20:39.849 We're not to judge hypocritically. We're not 00:20:39.849 --> 00:20:43.569 to judge pridefully. We don't judge each other 00:20:43.569 --> 00:20:46.769 in anger or resentment. Our judgment within the 00:20:46.769 --> 00:20:49.809 walls of the church has to be motivated by a 00:20:49.809 --> 00:20:54.559 heart of love. and concern for unity, concern 00:20:54.559 --> 00:20:57.660 for purity, and for one another's spiritual condition. 00:20:58.059 --> 00:21:00.839 So we're to judge, but with the right heart motive. 00:21:01.160 --> 00:21:03.680 Therefore, Paul concludes, because of this, he 00:21:03.680 --> 00:21:07.039 says, the Corinthians have to take action against 00:21:07.039 --> 00:21:09.960 this unrepentant, sexually immoral man. He's 00:21:09.960 --> 00:21:12.579 to be judged by the body and removed from the 00:21:12.579 --> 00:21:16.720 congregation. Remove him from among yourselves, 00:21:16.900 --> 00:21:19.160 Paul says. Interestingly, that is a citation 00:21:19.160 --> 00:21:22.740 from the Torah. So Paul reaches back into his 00:21:22.740 --> 00:21:25.140 Jewish heritage, and he quotes from Deuteronomy 00:21:25.140 --> 00:21:28.319 17. Now remember, in Old Testament times, in 00:21:28.319 --> 00:21:31.519 that day, God manifested his presence in pretty 00:21:31.519 --> 00:21:34.279 spectacular ways in the midst of his people, 00:21:34.339 --> 00:21:38.160 in the camp of Israel. And because of his holiness, 00:21:38.400 --> 00:21:41.660 it was required that the Israelites cleanse the 00:21:41.660 --> 00:21:45.619 camp from all sin. Well, guess what? Paul recognizes 00:21:45.619 --> 00:21:48.299 that similar principle under the new covenant. 00:21:48.519 --> 00:21:52.269 God is still... among his people, now indwelling 00:21:52.269 --> 00:21:55.849 believers in their hearts through the presence 00:21:55.849 --> 00:21:58.869 of the Holy Spirit. And that means, yes, within 00:21:58.869 --> 00:22:02.670 our camp here at this church, under the new covenant, 00:22:02.730 --> 00:22:06.190 we too have to expel that sin from among our 00:22:06.190 --> 00:22:09.569 body. So the parallels are similar, aren't they? 00:22:10.210 --> 00:22:13.650 Are you tracking with me? Okay, good. This is 00:22:13.650 --> 00:22:16.569 important. So here's what I want to do now. We're 00:22:16.569 --> 00:22:18.210 going to do a little excursus for a second on 00:22:18.210 --> 00:22:20.630 the issue of church discipline. Let's pause and 00:22:20.630 --> 00:22:22.809 let's talk about the process because this is 00:22:22.809 --> 00:22:25.470 important. This matters, guys, both for life 00:22:25.470 --> 00:22:28.549 here at Oak Hill and life at any church you might 00:22:28.549 --> 00:22:31.289 go to in the future, to understand the process 00:22:31.289 --> 00:22:33.769 of church discipline. It's important to realize, 00:22:33.970 --> 00:22:35.950 first of all, that the situation we're reading 00:22:35.950 --> 00:22:38.789 about here in 1 Corinthians 5 is not typical. 00:22:39.660 --> 00:22:43.559 of how most cases play out today, typically they 00:22:43.559 --> 00:22:46.920 start out privately and informally. That is not 00:22:46.920 --> 00:22:49.000 the situation here. Remember, Paul says, look, 00:22:49.099 --> 00:22:52.160 I'm hearing reports. It's publicly known about 00:22:52.160 --> 00:22:54.359 what's going on there. Typically, it doesn't 00:22:54.359 --> 00:22:56.960 start out like that today. It's usually private 00:22:56.960 --> 00:23:00.859 and informal. But like the 1 Corinthians 5 scenario, 00:23:00.980 --> 00:23:04.279 in its final stage, church discipline, even today, 00:23:04.420 --> 00:23:07.400 involves removing the sinner from membership 00:23:07.400 --> 00:23:11.200 in the local church. and barring him from participation 00:23:11.200 --> 00:23:14.119 at the Lord's table. This is why we guard the 00:23:14.119 --> 00:23:16.140 table here at Oak Hill. It's important that elders 00:23:16.140 --> 00:23:18.380 do that. By the way, this is just one of the 00:23:18.380 --> 00:23:20.220 reasons why, I'm just going to say this, one 00:23:20.220 --> 00:23:22.220 of the reasons why membership matters here at 00:23:22.220 --> 00:23:25.880 our church or any church. Membership should matter 00:23:25.880 --> 00:23:28.099 no matter where you go in the future, any church 00:23:28.099 --> 00:23:31.660 you're a part of. If a church is going to practice 00:23:31.660 --> 00:23:34.720 church discipline, it first has to have membership. 00:23:35.599 --> 00:23:37.859 Because when a believer commits himself to membership 00:23:37.859 --> 00:23:40.720 in a local church, he makes a series of vows. 00:23:41.640 --> 00:23:44.960 He makes vows to other church members. He voluntarily 00:23:44.960 --> 00:23:47.599 places himself under the authority of the elders, 00:23:47.680 --> 00:23:51.279 and he puts himself under church discipline of 00:23:51.279 --> 00:23:53.519 the entire church body. How does he do that? 00:23:53.680 --> 00:23:55.539 Well, he says, look, I'm signing this covenant 00:23:55.539 --> 00:23:58.299 membership agreement, making these promises and 00:23:58.299 --> 00:24:03.019 saying, yes, please, I want accountability. Every 00:24:03.019 --> 00:24:06.490 church talks about accountability. And we always 00:24:06.490 --> 00:24:11.609 want it until we don't. Right? But this is the 00:24:11.609 --> 00:24:13.549 reality. When you become a covenant member, you 00:24:13.549 --> 00:24:18.269 say, I desire accountability. I want to be put 00:24:18.269 --> 00:24:21.450 under the discipline of the entire church body. 00:24:21.950 --> 00:24:24.369 So membership is essential to this whole process. 00:24:25.130 --> 00:24:28.470 Now, backing up for a moment. By the way, let 00:24:28.470 --> 00:24:30.150 me just say, churches that don't have membership, 00:24:30.309 --> 00:24:33.210 they really don't have standing to discipline 00:24:33.210 --> 00:24:37.339 their members. Why? Because unrepentant sinners 00:24:37.339 --> 00:24:39.539 from the body who haven't first been affirmed 00:24:39.539 --> 00:24:41.900 as believers through that membership process, 00:24:42.200 --> 00:24:44.839 folks who haven't asked for that accountability, 00:24:45.279 --> 00:24:48.339 guess what? We don't have a standing to really 00:24:48.339 --> 00:24:50.940 discipline them out. That's why we continue to 00:24:50.940 --> 00:24:53.400 encourage you guys to come into covenant membership. 00:24:53.599 --> 00:24:56.539 All the beauties of membership, but also this 00:24:56.539 --> 00:24:59.240 issue of your saying to one another and to the 00:24:59.240 --> 00:25:03.250 world, I want that accountability. And maybe, 00:25:03.769 --> 00:25:06.089 I say this often, maybe that's why our church 00:25:06.089 --> 00:25:09.490 remains small. Because not everybody wants it. 00:25:09.549 --> 00:25:11.750 They say it, but they don't want it. They don't 00:25:11.750 --> 00:25:14.210 actually want it. And so sometimes people go, 00:25:14.329 --> 00:25:16.109 you know what? This is a hard church to belong 00:25:16.109 --> 00:25:20.509 to. Okay, praise the Lord. Because we're living 00:25:20.509 --> 00:25:24.190 biblically together. Okay, back up for a moment. 00:25:24.369 --> 00:25:27.289 So the process of church discipline has to happen 00:25:27.289 --> 00:25:29.970 in stages. And of all people, guess who laid 00:25:29.970 --> 00:25:34.329 out those stages for us? Jesus, yeah, that's 00:25:34.329 --> 00:25:37.829 a good answer. That's the Sunday morning answer. 00:25:37.970 --> 00:25:40.589 Jesus did, right? In the Gospel of Matthew, he 00:25:40.589 --> 00:25:43.430 tells us exactly how this should play out. Stage 00:25:43.430 --> 00:25:47.170 one is found in Matthew 18, verse 15, where Jesus 00:25:47.170 --> 00:25:49.829 says, look, if your brother's in sin, here's 00:25:49.829 --> 00:25:52.549 where we start. Take it up with him privately. 00:25:54.150 --> 00:25:56.630 Privately. It says, go and tell him his fault 00:25:56.630 --> 00:26:00.640 between you and him alone. The idea is that we 00:26:00.640 --> 00:26:04.160 handle the situation privately so as to not broadcast 00:26:04.160 --> 00:26:07.640 it and create unnecessary gossip that circulates 00:26:07.640 --> 00:26:10.900 around the church. Now, there might be times 00:26:10.900 --> 00:26:13.019 when the situation is complex and you need to 00:26:13.019 --> 00:26:15.259 get counsel from an elder before you go to your 00:26:15.259 --> 00:26:17.880 brother, but the goal is the same. At the outset 00:26:17.880 --> 00:26:19.940 of this, you want to keep the circle as tight 00:26:19.940 --> 00:26:22.779 as possible, as few people involved as possible. 00:26:23.680 --> 00:26:27.369 So you go humbly to your brother. And you have 00:26:27.369 --> 00:26:29.410 this confrontation about sin. By the way, how 00:26:29.410 --> 00:26:32.410 many of you guys like confrontation? It's hard. 00:26:33.190 --> 00:26:36.609 It's hard, isn't it? But it's biblical. This 00:26:36.609 --> 00:26:38.289 is one of those things, man. Christians say, 00:26:38.329 --> 00:26:41.589 I don't want to get involved. You're not given 00:26:41.589 --> 00:26:45.630 that option. If you follow biblical truth, you're 00:26:45.630 --> 00:26:49.250 not given that option. So we go humbly and we 00:26:49.250 --> 00:26:52.150 confront our brother. Humbly, right? Not with 00:26:52.150 --> 00:26:54.930 a big giant log sticking out of our eye, but 00:26:54.930 --> 00:26:57.779 we go humbly. We don't accuse him right out of 00:26:57.779 --> 00:27:00.519 the gate. We give him the benefit of the doubt. 00:27:01.180 --> 00:27:05.240 And we ask clarifying questions. And we ask him 00:27:05.240 --> 00:27:06.940 to explain. Say, look, I'm having a difficult 00:27:06.940 --> 00:27:09.700 time reconciling your profession of faith with 00:27:09.700 --> 00:27:12.859 the way you're living. The lifestyle that you've 00:27:12.859 --> 00:27:15.380 chosen doesn't seem to line up with your profession 00:27:15.380 --> 00:27:18.339 of faith. And then you give your brother an opportunity 00:27:18.339 --> 00:27:20.539 to explain. It's possible that you've misunderstood 00:27:20.539 --> 00:27:23.660 something. Or you didn't see what you think you're 00:27:23.660 --> 00:27:26.549 seeing. So give him that opportunity. And the 00:27:26.549 --> 00:27:28.410 vast majority of the time, if the confronter 00:27:28.410 --> 00:27:31.029 approaches with that right motivation, the sinner 00:27:31.029 --> 00:27:33.609 is going to respond well because he feels that 00:27:33.609 --> 00:27:36.890 you're here out of love and concern. And Jesus 00:27:36.890 --> 00:27:40.150 says that is the goal. He says, if he listens 00:27:40.150 --> 00:27:42.890 to you, Jesus says, you have gained your brother 00:27:42.890 --> 00:27:46.190 or you've won your brother over. Amen and amen. 00:27:46.289 --> 00:27:50.470 We move forward, right? Your motive is always 00:27:50.470 --> 00:27:53.369 love. It's love for the sinner. It's love for 00:27:53.369 --> 00:27:56.599 Christ. It's love for your fellow members. And 00:27:56.599 --> 00:27:59.019 it's love for the testimony of the church that 00:27:59.019 --> 00:28:02.680 we get this thing cleared up. Amen on stage one. 00:28:03.220 --> 00:28:06.559 Now, if things go poorly and you are convinced 00:28:06.559 --> 00:28:09.019 that your friend is living this sinful lifestyle, 00:28:09.420 --> 00:28:12.640 you might want to go and have multiple conversations 00:28:12.640 --> 00:28:15.900 with him privately first to try to win him over. 00:28:16.160 --> 00:28:19.220 But if he's unresponsive, you have to take it 00:28:19.220 --> 00:28:22.680 to stage two. And that's to bring another believer 00:28:22.680 --> 00:28:25.200 with you, somebody else who cares about this 00:28:25.200 --> 00:28:28.200 person, someone from the church family. Maybe 00:28:28.200 --> 00:28:31.140 bring one or two other people. And you try to 00:28:31.140 --> 00:28:34.220 persuade the sinner to own that sin and to turn 00:28:34.220 --> 00:28:37.740 from it and repent. Jesus says in verse 16, if 00:28:37.740 --> 00:28:40.440 he does not listen, take one or two others along 00:28:40.440 --> 00:28:43.119 with you that every charge may be established 00:28:43.119 --> 00:28:46.359 by the evidence of two or three witnesses. Catch 00:28:46.359 --> 00:28:48.660 that now. This is a very important courtroom. 00:28:50.010 --> 00:28:52.769 principle. Church discipline is not mob justice. 00:28:53.670 --> 00:28:57.470 Church discipline is established by due process 00:28:57.470 --> 00:29:01.329 and a multiple sets of eyes and ears on the situation 00:29:01.329 --> 00:29:04.650 so that it's properly evaluated. Make sense? 00:29:05.470 --> 00:29:08.450 Now, if the sinner still digs in his heels and 00:29:08.450 --> 00:29:10.849 you've had multiple opportunities now to break 00:29:10.849 --> 00:29:13.930 through, it goes to stage three. And Jesus says 00:29:13.930 --> 00:29:16.990 in verse 17, if he refuses to listen to the two 00:29:16.990 --> 00:29:21.599 or three witnesses, Tell it to the church. Okay, 00:29:21.640 --> 00:29:24.500 this is the 1 Corinthians 5 stage, right? Tell 00:29:24.500 --> 00:29:27.299 it to the church. And this is where it gets really 00:29:27.299 --> 00:29:30.220 serious because it goes from private to public. 00:29:31.140 --> 00:29:33.880 Now the sin has to be laid out before all of 00:29:33.880 --> 00:29:36.400 the members of the church. So you don't want 00:29:36.400 --> 00:29:40.619 to get to stage three. Repent of sin, right? 00:29:41.579 --> 00:29:44.799 Repent of sin. Typically, members of the elder 00:29:44.799 --> 00:29:47.200 team who have oversight responsibility in the 00:29:47.200 --> 00:29:50.500 body, they're the ones who lead this step, but 00:29:50.500 --> 00:29:52.380 they should never stand up in front of the congregation 00:29:52.380 --> 00:29:54.759 and speculate about what's going on. They should 00:29:54.759 --> 00:29:57.480 have done their due diligence, gotten the agreed 00:29:57.480 --> 00:30:00.279 upon facts, and then lay the case out before 00:30:00.279 --> 00:30:02.720 the members. Now, that doesn't mean that every 00:30:02.720 --> 00:30:06.059 single gory detail about the sin has to be revealed 00:30:06.059 --> 00:30:09.799 or exposed, but enough needs to be said. Enough, 00:30:09.900 --> 00:30:12.759 and it's a difficult line, enough to be said 00:30:12.759 --> 00:30:15.920 so that the members can grasp what's really happening 00:30:15.920 --> 00:30:18.700 in this situation and feel comfortable with the 00:30:18.700 --> 00:30:21.339 fact that we are voting now to remove this person 00:30:21.339 --> 00:30:23.720 from membership. So not all the gory details, 00:30:23.859 --> 00:30:27.559 but enough so the body understands the situation. 00:30:28.420 --> 00:30:31.700 And this public revelation then kicks off a whole 00:30:31.700 --> 00:30:35.049 nother stage, a time of prayer. and a time of 00:30:35.049 --> 00:30:37.589 more aggressive confrontation of the sinner. 00:30:37.690 --> 00:30:39.769 Now it's not just those two or three witnesses, 00:30:39.930 --> 00:30:42.650 it's the entire church family. We're going to 00:30:42.650 --> 00:30:45.230 go after this person strongly because we love 00:30:45.230 --> 00:30:50.829 him, because we care about his soul. We're all 00:30:50.829 --> 00:30:53.430 going to go after him and plead with him with 00:30:53.430 --> 00:30:58.670 tears to turn from the sin and come back. And 00:30:58.670 --> 00:31:00.609 this is part of the process that cannot be rushed. 00:31:01.599 --> 00:31:03.559 Adequate time needs to be given for people to 00:31:03.559 --> 00:31:06.000 go to the center. Adequate time has to be given 00:31:06.000 --> 00:31:08.220 for God to work through those multiple conversations. 00:31:09.160 --> 00:31:12.660 So that can take months. But if after enough 00:31:12.660 --> 00:31:16.019 time has passed and the center just appears he's 00:31:16.019 --> 00:31:18.980 not going to turn from his ways, then the elders 00:31:18.980 --> 00:31:21.700 of the church step into the role that Paul has 00:31:21.700 --> 00:31:25.299 here in 1 Corinthians 5. They express their judgment 00:31:25.299 --> 00:31:29.539 and they ask the members to follow that lead. 00:31:30.670 --> 00:31:34.329 And this is the heartbreaking point, right? And 00:31:34.329 --> 00:31:36.569 we've gone through it at Oak Hill, and it's the 00:31:36.569 --> 00:31:39.210 hardest thing we have to do as a church family. 00:31:39.289 --> 00:31:42.549 This is the heartbreaking point. Again, Jesus 00:31:42.549 --> 00:31:49.589 explains the final step in verse 17. If he refuses 00:31:49.589 --> 00:31:52.250 to listen even to the church, could you imagine? 00:31:53.549 --> 00:31:56.609 If he refuses to listen even to the church, let 00:31:56.609 --> 00:31:59.819 him be to you as a Gentile. and a tax collector. 00:32:00.099 --> 00:32:03.000 Or as Paul said in 1 Corinthians 5, do not associate 00:32:03.000 --> 00:32:06.880 with him, do not even eat with such a one. Rather, 00:32:07.019 --> 00:32:09.819 he said in the beginning of the chapter, deliver 00:32:09.819 --> 00:32:12.099 him over to Satan for the destruction of his 00:32:12.099 --> 00:32:15.099 flesh so that his spirit might be saved in the 00:32:15.099 --> 00:32:18.420 day of the Lord Jesus. So this is where the local 00:32:18.420 --> 00:32:20.599 church, through tears and sorrow, says to the 00:32:20.599 --> 00:32:23.720 unrepentant believer, you cannot stay here with 00:32:23.720 --> 00:32:26.839 us while you insist on clinging to this sin. 00:32:27.400 --> 00:32:30.740 We are grieved to tell you we can no longer affirm 00:32:30.740 --> 00:32:35.519 your profession of faith. We can no longer say, 00:32:35.640 --> 00:32:39.420 yes, you're a born again believer. This is what 00:32:39.420 --> 00:32:41.980 I described last Sunday as the wielding of the 00:32:41.980 --> 00:32:45.720 keys of the kingdom. The binding and loosing 00:32:45.720 --> 00:32:48.279 process that we see in Matthew 16, we see in 00:32:48.279 --> 00:32:51.160 Matthew 18. And this is a heavy responsibility 00:32:51.160 --> 00:32:55.119 that a church body has. The members of the church 00:32:55.119 --> 00:32:58.539 together bind a believer as they affirm his profession 00:32:58.539 --> 00:33:01.480 of faith and his baptism as he comes into the 00:33:01.480 --> 00:33:03.960 church as a member. And we then invite him to 00:33:03.960 --> 00:33:06.440 come to the Lord's table. That is the binding 00:33:06.440 --> 00:33:09.640 process. And then the loosing process is when 00:33:09.640 --> 00:33:11.779 we remove that person from membership in the 00:33:11.779 --> 00:33:14.759 church and we prevent him from coming to the 00:33:14.759 --> 00:33:17.460 Lord's table because we can no longer affirm 00:33:17.460 --> 00:33:20.480 his profession of faith. Binding and loosing. 00:33:20.740 --> 00:33:23.569 It's been given to the local church. We have 00:33:23.569 --> 00:33:27.190 jurisdiction over these things. Heavy, heavy 00:33:27.190 --> 00:33:29.329 stuff. Now, it's important to understand that 00:33:29.329 --> 00:33:32.069 this final step of discipline does not mean that 00:33:32.069 --> 00:33:34.690 the church is assigning this person to hell, 00:33:34.829 --> 00:33:38.829 eternal hell. We don't have that power. Right? 00:33:38.829 --> 00:33:40.970 The final step doesn't even mean that we're saying 00:33:40.970 --> 00:33:42.970 with certainty that this person isn't a believer. 00:33:43.150 --> 00:33:46.190 That gets tested in the discipline process. What 00:33:46.190 --> 00:33:48.309 we're saying again is, look, we don't have x 00:33:48.309 --> 00:33:50.690 -ray vision to look at a person's soul. We can't 00:33:50.690 --> 00:33:53.490 be certain, but we can say this. Based on your 00:33:53.490 --> 00:33:56.230 lifestyle, based on the fact that you will not 00:33:56.230 --> 00:33:58.710 repent, we can no longer affirm that you're a 00:33:58.710 --> 00:34:03.630 believer. That's the extent of our power. And 00:34:03.630 --> 00:34:05.529 according to what both Jesus and Paul say in 00:34:05.529 --> 00:34:08.360 Scripture, At that point, all personal relationships 00:34:08.360 --> 00:34:12.099 in the church family have to change. We can no 00:34:12.099 --> 00:34:14.619 longer spend casual time together with this person 00:34:14.619 --> 00:34:18.420 as if things are okay because they're not. They're 00:34:18.420 --> 00:34:21.440 not any longer. We can't just hang out with them. 00:34:21.699 --> 00:34:24.360 Any time we spend with this person now has to 00:34:24.360 --> 00:34:27.880 be about asking them, pleading with them to repent 00:34:27.880 --> 00:34:31.760 and return. And the point of cutting off a fellowship 00:34:31.760 --> 00:34:35.050 is simple. There is a point to this. The reason 00:34:35.050 --> 00:34:37.909 we cut off fellowship. Once this person is removed 00:34:37.909 --> 00:34:40.429 from the community of God's people, the hope 00:34:40.429 --> 00:34:42.670 is that he or she will go out into the world 00:34:42.670 --> 00:34:46.989 and be miserable. That they will find life intolerable, 00:34:47.070 --> 00:34:51.090 unbearable. That he'll look at his sin at some 00:34:51.090 --> 00:34:54.409 point and like the prodigal son say, what am 00:34:54.409 --> 00:34:58.230 I doing? Look what I've lost. I'm going back. 00:34:59.849 --> 00:35:03.559 I'm going back to my church family. That's what 00:35:03.559 --> 00:35:05.539 we heard in that testimony I read at the beginning, 00:35:05.659 --> 00:35:10.059 right? Her life became unbearable, and she went 00:35:10.059 --> 00:35:15.679 back. That's the process. That's the process. 00:35:16.659 --> 00:35:18.699 Now, one of the questions that often comes up, 00:35:18.719 --> 00:35:20.860 and it's a good question, is, all right, well, 00:35:20.940 --> 00:35:24.340 what sins? What sins warrant this Matthew 18 00:35:24.340 --> 00:35:28.780 process? Does every single sin that we commit 00:35:28.780 --> 00:35:31.519 warrant this type of process? Practically, the 00:35:31.519 --> 00:35:36.590 answer is no. Right? We'd be so busy. Aren't 00:35:36.590 --> 00:35:39.050 you glad? We'd be so busy if we treated it that 00:35:39.050 --> 00:35:42.309 way. And Jonathan Lehman, if you know him, author, 00:35:42.590 --> 00:35:45.550 Nine Marks author, uses a funny example to make 00:35:45.550 --> 00:35:48.150 this point. He says, my wife might privately 00:35:48.150 --> 00:35:50.929 rebuke me for selfishly eating all the ice cream 00:35:50.929 --> 00:35:54.110 in the freezer, and I might even continue in 00:35:54.110 --> 00:35:56.949 that pattern without repenting, but that's probably 00:35:56.949 --> 00:35:58.809 not the kind of sin which would warrant public 00:35:58.809 --> 00:36:05.360 discipline. You get the point. It's good to categorize 00:36:05.360 --> 00:36:07.480 the things which would require the whole process 00:36:07.480 --> 00:36:09.559 to be carried out. So our best understanding 00:36:09.559 --> 00:36:12.559 is these three words. Any sin that is outward, 00:36:12.820 --> 00:36:17.699 significant, and unrepentant. So church discipline 00:36:17.699 --> 00:36:20.380 is necessary when first a sin becomes outward 00:36:20.380 --> 00:36:23.059 in the sense it becomes common knowledge. Even 00:36:23.059 --> 00:36:24.920 among unbelievers, they know what's going on. 00:36:25.000 --> 00:36:26.840 That's what we see in 1 Corinthians 5, right? 00:36:26.900 --> 00:36:29.460 Paul says it's being reported everywhere that 00:36:29.460 --> 00:36:32.800 this is going on. It's an outward sin. Right? 00:36:32.840 --> 00:36:35.000 They're living in such a way that causes a disconnect 00:36:35.000 --> 00:36:37.500 between what they claim and what the world sees. 00:36:38.380 --> 00:36:43.480 It's out there. So, you know, it's got to be 00:36:43.480 --> 00:36:46.079 visible, at least with the eyes or the ears. 00:36:46.199 --> 00:36:48.400 But then it's got to be significant, meaning 00:36:48.400 --> 00:36:51.280 it's serious enough that members of the church 00:36:51.280 --> 00:36:54.219 say, okay, I can't reconcile that person being 00:36:54.219 --> 00:36:56.320 a believer in the way they're living. It's got 00:36:56.320 --> 00:36:58.860 to be that serious. So again, eating ice cream 00:36:58.860 --> 00:37:00.840 is probably not going to go, I'm not sure you're 00:37:00.840 --> 00:37:03.369 a believer. Because you're eating all the ice 00:37:03.369 --> 00:37:05.070 cream in the house. But there are other sins 00:37:05.070 --> 00:37:08.469 as well. Things like fear and worry, even bouts 00:37:08.469 --> 00:37:11.050 with lust that we struggle with. Those things 00:37:11.050 --> 00:37:14.389 are not outward and probably not serious enough 00:37:14.389 --> 00:37:16.690 to where I look at you and say, oh, you're struggling 00:37:16.690 --> 00:37:20.969 with fear? You're not a believer. Right? So it 00:37:20.969 --> 00:37:22.929 wouldn't rise to that level. So it's got to be 00:37:22.929 --> 00:37:25.789 outward and it's got to be significant. And then 00:37:25.789 --> 00:37:27.730 finally, most importantly, as we looked at last 00:37:27.730 --> 00:37:31.000 Sunday. It's only when a person refuses to repent 00:37:31.000 --> 00:37:34.900 of that outward significant sin that Matthew 00:37:34.900 --> 00:37:38.500 18 becomes required. Does that make sense? So 00:37:38.500 --> 00:37:40.719 this is a wisdom principle, right? It's something 00:37:40.719 --> 00:37:43.599 that the church body needs to discern in each 00:37:43.599 --> 00:37:45.679 unique situation. It's never going to be just 00:37:45.679 --> 00:37:48.239 black and white. By the way, the church discipline 00:37:48.239 --> 00:37:51.199 process is never just cut and dried black and 00:37:51.199 --> 00:37:54.079 white. It requires wisdom on the part of leadership 00:37:54.079 --> 00:37:59.340 and wisdom on the part of the body. I said this 00:37:59.340 --> 00:38:02.260 last Sunday, I'll say it again. If you didn't 00:38:02.260 --> 00:38:03.940 grow up in a church that practiced discipline 00:38:03.940 --> 00:38:05.880 like this, or you've never seen it practiced 00:38:05.880 --> 00:38:09.400 as an adult, I know this is hard. I know this 00:38:09.400 --> 00:38:11.199 is a difficult teaching, but you should know 00:38:11.199 --> 00:38:13.920 that this was once a very common practice in 00:38:13.920 --> 00:38:16.639 Protestant churches. It's only over the last 00:38:16.639 --> 00:38:18.960 50 years or so that we seem to have grown tired 00:38:18.960 --> 00:38:21.019 of holding each other accountable to Christian 00:38:21.019 --> 00:38:24.769 living. Or perhaps other principles have gotten 00:38:24.769 --> 00:38:26.550 in the way. Now it's all about, well, we don't 00:38:26.550 --> 00:38:28.590 want to offend people or we want to grow our 00:38:28.590 --> 00:38:31.610 church. And so we've laid aside a biblical command 00:38:31.610 --> 00:38:34.889 because we just don't want to rock the boat. 00:38:36.570 --> 00:38:39.090 I've shared this before. I'll say it again. Our 00:38:39.090 --> 00:38:41.929 spiritual ancestors, the Protestant reformers, 00:38:42.010 --> 00:38:47.329 literally defined a church by three things. Here 00:38:47.329 --> 00:38:49.429 they are. Number one, that apostolic doctrine 00:38:49.429 --> 00:38:52.840 is rightly taught. Number two, that the sacraments 00:38:52.840 --> 00:38:55.539 of the church are rightly administered. And number 00:38:55.539 --> 00:38:58.480 three, that church discipline is rightly carried 00:38:58.480 --> 00:39:01.300 out. They saw those three things as necessary 00:39:01.300 --> 00:39:05.019 to define a church. So what happens today when 00:39:05.019 --> 00:39:06.900 a church, first of all, begins to water down 00:39:06.900 --> 00:39:10.579 its doctrine in order to please people? Number 00:39:10.579 --> 00:39:13.099 two, stops treating the Lord's table as sacred 00:39:13.099 --> 00:39:17.019 as it should be. And number three, just shelves 00:39:17.019 --> 00:39:19.820 the whole idea of church discipline. Because 00:39:19.820 --> 00:39:22.239 it's offensive to some people. What happens? 00:39:23.280 --> 00:39:27.019 The church becomes powerless. Are we not seeing 00:39:27.019 --> 00:39:30.619 that? The church as a whole in this country becoming 00:39:30.619 --> 00:39:33.179 powerless, losing its credibility even in the 00:39:33.179 --> 00:39:36.179 eyes of God because we're not doing the things 00:39:36.179 --> 00:39:39.920 that God commands us to do. And so we'll do this 00:39:39.920 --> 00:39:43.860 at Oak Hill. With tears, it's hard, but we will 00:39:43.860 --> 00:39:46.159 continue to be faithful to what Scripture says. 00:39:46.780 --> 00:39:49.199 Okay, let's keep going. Go back up to verse 6b 00:39:49.199 --> 00:39:52.280 now. This is the final piece to this passage. 00:39:57.260 --> 00:39:59.719 Paul says to the Corinthians, don't you know 00:39:59.719 --> 00:40:04.420 this? Don't you know that a little leaven leavens 00:40:04.420 --> 00:40:07.760 the whole lump or the whole batch of dough? Do 00:40:07.760 --> 00:40:11.159 you not know this basic principle? Now, why does 00:40:11.159 --> 00:40:13.579 he use leaven? Well, there's two reasons he uses 00:40:13.579 --> 00:40:16.389 leaven. One, there's a... A really important 00:40:16.389 --> 00:40:18.389 Old Testament connection, which we'll get to 00:40:18.389 --> 00:40:21.429 in a moment. But secondly, consider the properties 00:40:21.429 --> 00:40:25.289 of leaven. What does leaven do? Cooking people, 00:40:25.510 --> 00:40:28.710 right? Come on, chefs, right? It's the yeast, 00:40:28.750 --> 00:40:32.030 right, that makes dough rise into bread. And 00:40:32.030 --> 00:40:34.309 what's interesting, it has a, get this big word, 00:40:34.389 --> 00:40:39.789 permeating property to it. What that means is 00:40:39.789 --> 00:40:44.679 leaven first mingles with the dough. then it 00:40:44.679 --> 00:40:48.300 works its way throughout the entire batch, and 00:40:48.300 --> 00:40:50.480 then it actually modifies the finished product. 00:40:52.159 --> 00:40:55.460 It mingles with the dough, it works its way through 00:40:55.460 --> 00:40:58.380 the whole lump, and it modifies the dough itself. 00:40:58.860 --> 00:41:02.739 Now think about what sin does, unrepentant sin 00:41:02.739 --> 00:41:06.679 does when it's injected into a local church body. 00:41:07.340 --> 00:41:10.539 It has that same internal spreading influence 00:41:10.539 --> 00:41:14.719 that modifies the condition Of the body itself. 00:41:15.760 --> 00:41:18.019 That's why he's using this as an example. It's 00:41:18.019 --> 00:41:20.940 brilliant. So failing to deal with sin in the 00:41:20.940 --> 00:41:23.639 church is catastrophic. Just a little bit of 00:41:23.639 --> 00:41:26.559 leaven, right? Goes all the way through the dough. 00:41:27.599 --> 00:41:30.920 Just a little bit of cancer in the human body 00:41:30.920 --> 00:41:34.340 can kill. Just a little bit of poison dropped 00:41:34.340 --> 00:41:37.800 into your food can do its work. A little hole 00:41:37.800 --> 00:41:41.590 in the bottom of a boat can sink a ship. A little 00:41:41.590 --> 00:41:43.610 bit of corruption, a little bit of false teaching, 00:41:43.769 --> 00:41:46.150 a little bit of moral compromise, all those little 00:41:46.150 --> 00:41:50.449 amounts have dire consequences. It cannot be 00:41:50.449 --> 00:41:53.690 allowed to stay. And because leaven was used 00:41:53.690 --> 00:41:55.889 back then as what we call a starter, how many 00:41:55.889 --> 00:41:59.369 of you guys do sourdough? Okay. It was a starter 00:41:59.369 --> 00:42:03.670 to produce a new loaf of bread. It carries a 00:42:03.670 --> 00:42:05.969 whole other idea, and this to me is so profound. 00:42:06.699 --> 00:42:09.139 It carries the idea of bringing something from 00:42:09.139 --> 00:42:12.860 the past into the present. Something that hangs 00:42:12.860 --> 00:42:15.519 around from the past that's brought into the 00:42:15.519 --> 00:42:17.619 present. Now consider that principle in terms 00:42:17.619 --> 00:42:21.780 of the sins of your past life. Talk about the 00:42:21.780 --> 00:42:23.619 old man, the new man, the desires of the old 00:42:23.619 --> 00:42:26.219 man that once dominated your thinking. Paul says, 00:42:26.280 --> 00:42:28.239 don't bring that old leaven into your present 00:42:28.239 --> 00:42:32.639 life. Don't do it. You're a new creature born 00:42:32.639 --> 00:42:36.280 by the spirit. Leaven represents what you once 00:42:36.280 --> 00:42:39.480 were, but not anymore. Your new life, he says, 00:42:39.539 --> 00:42:44.780 is unleavened. Isn't that cool? Don't bring the 00:42:44.780 --> 00:42:48.079 old leaven of sin into your new creature life. 00:42:48.460 --> 00:42:50.980 You're now unleavened. That's the basis. Look 00:42:50.980 --> 00:42:53.559 at verse 7, the basis of Paul's command. He says, 00:42:53.619 --> 00:42:57.380 clean out the old leaven so that you may be a 00:42:57.380 --> 00:43:02.059 new lump or a new batch. He says, just as you 00:43:02.059 --> 00:43:06.050 are, in fact, unleavened. He's screaming at the 00:43:06.050 --> 00:43:08.289 Corinthians. You are in fact unleavened. This 00:43:08.289 --> 00:43:12.670 is what God says you are. So get rid of that 00:43:12.670 --> 00:43:16.110 starter from the past. That sin from your past 00:43:16.110 --> 00:43:18.989 that you've been nurturing and holding on to. 00:43:19.869 --> 00:43:22.610 You don't need it. You don't want it. Don't let 00:43:22.610 --> 00:43:24.750 those old patterns of your unsaved life remain. 00:43:25.090 --> 00:43:29.949 Old things have passed away. Let them go. Become 00:43:29.949 --> 00:43:33.489 who God says you are. You are in fact unleavened. 00:43:33.260 --> 00:43:37.039 Unleavened in Christ, he says. So become that. 00:43:39.519 --> 00:43:41.739 When you were justified by God's grace alone, 00:43:42.059 --> 00:43:45.059 he declared this to be true. You are unleavened 00:43:45.059 --> 00:43:50.280 in my son. Wow, it's beautiful, isn't it? And 00:43:50.280 --> 00:43:52.280 when that old leaven seeps back into your life, 00:43:52.679 --> 00:43:55.500 because it does, right? We're all in the battle. 00:43:55.619 --> 00:43:57.840 None of us are perfect. What do we do? Well, 00:43:57.840 --> 00:44:00.639 God has told us what to do. Confess it to the 00:44:00.639 --> 00:44:04.190 Lord. repent of it, turn away from it. You trust 00:44:04.190 --> 00:44:07.409 in his promise to cleanse you of unrighteousness, 00:44:07.429 --> 00:44:09.909 and then you move forward again without guilt, 00:44:10.010 --> 00:44:12.070 without shame, because that's not part of your 00:44:12.070 --> 00:44:15.130 identity in Christ, and you live by the power 00:44:15.130 --> 00:44:20.190 of the Spirit once again. Amen? Continuing in 00:44:20.190 --> 00:44:22.489 verse seven, we see Paul reach back into his 00:44:22.489 --> 00:44:25.530 Jewish past. He says, for Christ our Passover. 00:44:26.360 --> 00:44:29.139 has also been sacrificed. Now, when you first 00:44:29.139 --> 00:44:30.659 read that, you're like, that's kind of an obscure 00:44:30.659 --> 00:44:33.079 reference, right? But he's connecting it back 00:44:33.079 --> 00:44:36.000 to Levin in the Passover festival. Do you remember 00:44:36.000 --> 00:44:39.159 what God commanded the Israelites to do in the 00:44:39.159 --> 00:44:43.800 Passover? Whoa. I jumped ahead. Was that you, 00:44:43.860 --> 00:44:51.860 Casey? Casey. Do you remember this command? To 00:44:51.860 --> 00:44:54.260 the Israelites, sacrifice to the Lord your God 00:44:54.260 --> 00:44:57.300 a Passover lamb from the herd and do not eat 00:44:57.300 --> 00:45:00.599 leavened bread with it. For seven days you're 00:45:00.599 --> 00:45:03.280 to eat unleavened bread, which is the bread of 00:45:03.280 --> 00:45:05.820 hardship because you left the land of Egypt in 00:45:05.820 --> 00:45:09.119 haste. No leaven is to be found anywhere in your 00:45:09.119 --> 00:45:13.420 territory for those seven days. The sacrifice 00:45:13.420 --> 00:45:16.739 of the lamb now, get this, symbolizes the separation 00:45:16.739 --> 00:45:21.619 of Israel from the land of Egypt. The Israelites 00:45:21.619 --> 00:45:23.639 were leaving that old way of life. They were 00:45:23.639 --> 00:45:26.440 being freed from slavery. So he's like, don't 00:45:26.440 --> 00:45:29.480 bring that leaven with you when you leave Egypt 00:45:29.480 --> 00:45:32.539 and you go to the promised land. Don't bring 00:45:32.539 --> 00:45:34.400 that stuff from your past into your present. 00:45:34.940 --> 00:45:37.219 And in the same vein, the sacrifice of Christ 00:45:37.219 --> 00:45:40.199 is what separates us from our old way of life 00:45:40.199 --> 00:45:43.980 and the present. We too are freed slaves. Do 00:45:43.980 --> 00:45:46.860 you realize that? The imagery of this, we are 00:45:46.860 --> 00:45:50.699 freed slaves, free from being a slave to sin 00:45:50.699 --> 00:45:54.559 and to death. The Exodus has so many applications 00:45:54.559 --> 00:45:56.820 to our lives. You start digging into it, it is 00:45:56.820 --> 00:46:00.780 rich. A once for all sacrifice has been made 00:46:00.780 --> 00:46:04.059 for us. Therefore, Paul says, remove the leaven 00:46:04.059 --> 00:46:07.360 from your life. Don't harbor it, don't nurture 00:46:07.360 --> 00:46:11.760 it, don't bring it with you. It's in your past. 00:46:12.559 --> 00:46:15.579 And when you find leaven, What do you do as a 00:46:15.579 --> 00:46:20.059 Jew? You identify it and you remove it. Identify 00:46:20.059 --> 00:46:22.820 it, remove it. This is what God has commanded 00:46:22.820 --> 00:46:26.019 us to do in our lives as New Testament believers. 00:46:26.340 --> 00:46:29.219 By the way, on this Sunday night, tonight, our 00:46:29.219 --> 00:46:31.199 covenant members will gather around the communion 00:46:31.199 --> 00:46:34.699 table. And this is what we will remember, this 00:46:34.699 --> 00:46:37.679 very statement, that Christ, our Passover lamb, 00:46:37.920 --> 00:46:41.889 has been sacrificed. And as a church family committed 00:46:41.889 --> 00:46:44.469 to living life together in purity, you know what 00:46:44.469 --> 00:46:46.469 we're going to do tonight? Once again, we're 00:46:46.469 --> 00:46:51.530 going to cleanse the camp of sin. By self -examination 00:46:51.530 --> 00:46:55.349 and by confession, we will come together and 00:46:55.349 --> 00:47:00.210 we will rid the camp of all sin. And then we 00:47:00.210 --> 00:47:03.250 will come to the feast. The parallels are amazing. 00:47:03.389 --> 00:47:05.809 We'll celebrate the cross. We will enjoy the 00:47:05.809 --> 00:47:08.989 bread and the cup as a sign and a symbol of the 00:47:08.989 --> 00:47:12.989 grace that's been poured out upon us. And that's 00:47:12.989 --> 00:47:16.230 what we see in verse eight, last verse. This 00:47:16.230 --> 00:47:18.510 should be a regular celebration in the life of 00:47:18.510 --> 00:47:20.409 the believer. He says, therefore, let us celebrate 00:47:20.409 --> 00:47:24.409 the feast. Not with the old leaven, nor with 00:47:24.409 --> 00:47:26.889 the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with 00:47:26.889 --> 00:47:30.659 the unleavened bread of sincerity. And what a 00:47:30.659 --> 00:47:32.480 beautiful summary of the life that we're to live 00:47:32.480 --> 00:47:34.840 now that we're found in Christ. A continuous 00:47:34.840 --> 00:47:37.519 celebration that says, out with the old and in 00:47:37.519 --> 00:47:42.039 with the new. Old things like malice and wickedness 00:47:42.039 --> 00:47:44.579 and hatred and division, they go out. And over 00:47:44.579 --> 00:47:47.440 time, as the Spirit of God works in us, new things 00:47:47.440 --> 00:47:50.739 like sincerity and truth and compassion and humility, 00:47:50.960 --> 00:47:55.039 they come in. Friends, our life as followers 00:47:55.039 --> 00:47:58.039 of Christ is a continuous process of leaving 00:47:58.039 --> 00:48:01.659 behind the old leaven and delighting in who God 00:48:01.659 --> 00:48:05.559 says we are and living that life. New creatures 00:48:05.559 --> 00:48:08.039 freed from the burdens of the past, free from 00:48:08.039 --> 00:48:12.599 slavery to sin. Therefore, let us keep celebrating 00:48:12.599 --> 00:48:16.500 the feast. Make church membership a top priority 00:48:16.500 --> 00:48:20.179 in your life. Commit to a church family. Ask 00:48:20.179 --> 00:48:23.550 for accountability. Voluntarily place yourself 00:48:23.550 --> 00:48:26.030 under the authority of the elders and the discipline 00:48:26.030 --> 00:48:29.750 of the entire church and come to the Lord's table 00:48:29.750 --> 00:48:32.869 in celebration. There's nothing more important 00:48:32.869 --> 00:48:36.150 than this. Don't be afraid to come under the 00:48:36.150 --> 00:48:38.010 discipline of the church. It is the best thing 00:48:38.010 --> 00:48:41.730 for you. It's the best thing for me to know that 00:48:41.730 --> 00:48:44.739 you guys will hold me accountable. Let me just 00:48:44.739 --> 00:48:47.380 close with just a small snippet from that testimony 00:48:47.380 --> 00:48:49.900 where we started. Listen to it again. With all 00:48:49.900 --> 00:48:51.579 that we've now walked through, listen to it again. 00:48:52.139 --> 00:48:55.239 This is what that woman wrote. The goal of church 00:48:55.239 --> 00:48:58.699 discipline is to reveal sin. And when it's done 00:48:58.699 --> 00:49:01.960 well, it has the potential to be a rescue boat 00:49:01.960 --> 00:49:05.760 in the middle of a raging sea. What seems like 00:49:05.760 --> 00:49:09.920 harshness at first is in fact not unkind. It's 00:49:09.920 --> 00:49:12.199 a marker in their life that may someday remind 00:49:12.199 --> 00:49:14.960 them that God was always at work, that they were 00:49:14.960 --> 00:49:18.159 pursued and loved and that there was always a 00:49:18.159 --> 00:49:21.519 way to be restored. I'm thankful for those who 00:49:21.519 --> 00:49:24.239 were faithful to follow through with my church 00:49:24.239 --> 00:49:26.340 discipline. I'm thankful for their words that 00:49:26.340 --> 00:49:29.500 didn't deviate from the truth. I'm thankful for 00:49:29.500 --> 00:49:32.960 their hearts that never gave up on me and I'm 00:49:32.960 --> 00:49:36.619 thankful for the way back home. Beautiful, isn't 00:49:36.619 --> 00:49:39.750 it? Is God's design for the church not amazing? 00:49:40.710 --> 00:49:43.409 If we would just embrace it and say, yes, Lord, 00:49:43.489 --> 00:49:56.829 that's what we want. Let's pray together. Father, 00:49:57.050 --> 00:50:01.349 these things can be difficult for us. And really, 00:50:01.409 --> 00:50:03.250 Lord, it's only because we live in a culture 00:50:03.250 --> 00:50:09.610 that no longer likes hard truths, no longer is 00:50:09.610 --> 00:50:13.650 willing to offend for the sake of what you have 00:50:13.650 --> 00:50:18.989 said is true. And so Father, as an elder team, 00:50:19.050 --> 00:50:22.250 we don't take credit for being more courageous 00:50:22.250 --> 00:50:26.389 than anyone else. We just praise you that you've 00:50:26.389 --> 00:50:28.550 saved us and that you've given us the conviction 00:50:28.550 --> 00:50:31.630 that we need to be faithful to your word. And 00:50:31.630 --> 00:50:33.349 so we thank you for that. We thank you you didn't 00:50:33.349 --> 00:50:35.570 leave us to guess how to handle these situations. 00:50:36.539 --> 00:50:38.940 given us this process so clearly in your word. 00:50:39.000 --> 00:50:42.099 Help us, Lord, to continue at this local church 00:50:42.099 --> 00:50:45.219 to be faithful, to do the things you've asked 00:50:45.219 --> 00:50:47.940 us to do. Because we trust you. We know you're 00:50:47.940 --> 00:50:49.780 sovereign. We know you're good. We know that 00:50:49.780 --> 00:50:52.559 your design for the church is far better than 00:50:52.559 --> 00:50:55.760 anything we would ever dream up. And so, Lord, 00:50:55.800 --> 00:50:57.320 thank you for your word, and thank you for your 00:50:57.320 --> 00:50:59.739 instructions, and thank you for this church body 00:50:59.739 --> 00:51:02.679 who continues to press hard into the truth that 00:51:02.679 --> 00:51:05.840 you've given us. Lord, as we study this hard 00:51:05.840 --> 00:51:07.940 thing, now we get a chance to respond by singing. 00:51:08.400 --> 00:51:10.840 Singing praises to you. So help us to do that 00:51:10.840 --> 00:51:14.119 in both spirit and truth as a body together today. 00:51:14.239 --> 00:51:16.539 Lord, we thank you for this time. And we praise 00:51:16.539 --> 00:51:18.320 you in the name of our Savior, Jesus Christ. 00:51:18.639 --> 00:51:20.679 And we all said what? Amen.