One of the growing problems the church is facing today is what to do about the frightening increase in sexual immorality among Christians. I do not think a week goes by but we hear reports of churches struggling in this area. We hear of Christian leaders who have forsaken their wives, run off with the secretary, fallen into homosexuality, or are facing some kind of a moral crisis in their churches. Many are properly concerned about this, and wondering why this should be and what to do about it.

Discipline is an unpopular word! It seems to smack of a heavy hand or intolerance. It is used in the gym but little elsewhere. The words disciple and discipleship are seen as positive but not discipline. Discipline is not negative. It helps our growth. In the area of church discipline it is necessary for the local church. We cannot be allowed to do anything we want. We must be disciplined if we want to be disciples for Christ. There was significant immorality going on in the Church at Corinth. No one was doing anything about it. It was public knowledge and needed to be dealt with.

1. Mourn over the sin (vs. 1-2)

There was a member of the congregation who was having a relationship with his stepmother. This was forbidden in the Old Testament. Nothing more is said about the woman who was probably not a member. They were boasting and glorying in their tolerance of this condition, as many people do today. They had a mistaken feeling that the church ought to express understanding of the pressures and the difficulties of living in the world like we have today and to say nothing. They thought they were showing love and understanding by their attitude of casualness. No one stood up to discipline the man. There was so much immorality in Corinth that this behaviour was not unusual. Paul speaks out because others have failed to do the right thing. Notice three things we should do:-

• A feast and a funeral. The Christian life can be either. They were to grieve about this man’s immorality like it was a funeral. It was not something to celebrate! This is our first response to sin on the Church. Not to gossip or to ignore it
• The danger of tolerance. The man was to be put out. What happened to forgiveness? If the man was not repentant and will not stop the sin then this is the last resort. It is not the first response.
• An appropriate response. We are to judge the sin. There are other verses that tell us not to judge. Paul is clear in his judgment of the situation. It requires a rebuke of the individual so that they might get their life right with God. They’re to have members meeting and rebuke this person and put them out if they do not repent. If an example is not made then there will be a spread of evil throughout the congregation.

2 – Judge the sin (vs. 3-5)

It is twofold:-

• Confronting – See Matthew 18:15-20. There is a Biblical procedure for dealing with conflict between believers. It should be done in confidentiality and only to the body if it is serious and the member has not repented. We are to hope for forgiveness and fellowship.
• Handing over – This does not mean physical ejection. The individual may continue to attend, but he is to be treated and regarded in a different light. Usually, however, this almost invariably means that the individual, feeling the censure of the church, withdraws himself, and, if so, then he is to be allowed to go. There is no punishment ever assessed; there is no ceremony of excommunication to be carried out.

3 – Purge the sin (vs. 6-13)

The Passover was a time to purge out the sin in your life. The Church must deal with sin in the Church as it can affect the whole body. We are not to avoid contact with the world but to avoid contamination

• Yeast – small but significant. Leaven is consistently used throughout the Scriptures as a symbol of evil. Paul says the problem is that “a little leaven leavens the whole lump.” Therefore, action must be taken is to arrest this tendency to spread the infection throughout a whole congregation
• Passover – sacrifice and deliverance. There has been given to you a power to handle these kinds of drives and to be pure and chaste in the midst of immorality.
• Isolation, not separation. That is possible in a church when it begins to live on this basis, in the eyes of the community, and before the Lord. There comes an element of joy into their midst, a sense of freedom, a sense of wholeness and cleanliness and you begin to celebrate and feel it.
• Contact, not contamination. “Not to associate” (sunanamígnumi). The word “associate” means “to mingle together up and down among.” It means not only close association, but continual or habitual contact. This was the same instruction Paul had given earlier to the Thessalonians’ church for how to deal with some insubordinate or unruly believers there (See 2 Thessalonians 3:14). Social contact is to be avoided. Breaking fellowship is sometimes necessary for the sake of the church.

The goal of discipline is restoration. As Christians committed to grace, we can face the reality of believers who sin. God teaches us to deal with it, not deny it or sweep it under the carpet of “false profession”. Since discipline has the goal of restoration, it is an extension of God’s grace available to fallen believers.

Exercising church discipline is the most unpleasant side of church ministry. But it is a reality we face, if only rarely. When we do, grace is our greatest ally. It tells us how to view the person–as a Christian who sins. It also tells us how to deal with the person–with tough love and humility. And grace tells us how to restore the person– with full forgiveness.

Categories: 1 Corinthians