Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Evening Sermon Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/ev/ev20001119.htm

1 CORINTHIANS: MINISTERING TO BELIEVERS WITH DEEP PAGAN BACKGROUNDS
Part VIII: Being Blessed In Heeding God's Plan Of Church Discipline
(1 Corinthians 5:1-13; Matthew 18:15-18)
  1. Introduction
    1. When a Church removes a member from its fellowship by discipline, then is really not the time to explain the process or its value if a party questions it, for emotions often reign over the mind to the uninformed.
    2. Hence, now is a good time to explain how God blesses the Church through its use of Church discipline, for our minds can be unimpeded toward understanding and appreciating this function from God's view:
  2. Being Blessed In Heeding God's Plan Of Church Discipline, 1 Corinthians 5:1-13; Matthew 18:15-18.
    1. Through naming a particularly heinous form of immorality in the Corinthian Church, Paul implied that such sins have a more damaging effect on the local church's sanctification than do others, 1 Cor. 5:1-2.
    2. Well, a loss of sanctification harms one's fellowship with God, so tolerating shocking sin in a party that influences others to sin only leads to a loss of God's blessing on the group, Ps. 1:1-3, 4-6; 1 Cor. 5:6-7.
    3. So, out of love for the welfare of the body as well as the guilty, church discipline is in order, 1 Cor. 5:5.
    4. Paul thus revealed the necessity of local church discipline in 1 Corinthians 5:3-13 as follows:
      1. Paul listed these destructive types of sins that are to be met with Church discipline if unconfessed:
        1. General Immorality (KJV "fornicator" [NIV "sexually immoral"] in v. 11 come from pornos, and refers to any unbiblical sexual union: these include premarital, adulterous, lesbian, homosexual, bestial and incestuous sexual activity, T.D.N.T., v. VI, p. 587-595; UBS Grk. N. T., p. 588.)
        2. Covetousness (NIV "greedy" [KJV "covetous"] in v. 11 come from pleonektays, meaning to take harmful advantage of another party for one's own personal advance, T.D.N.T., v. VI, p. 266-267.)
        3. Idolatry, 1 Corinthians 5:11.
        4. Verbal Abuse (NIV "slanderer" [KJV "railer"] in v. 11 come from loidoros, meaning a sharp rebuke aimed to wound another, Moul. & Mill., Vocab. of the Grk. N. T., p. 380; UBS Grk. N. T., p. 588.)
        5. Substance Abuse (KJV and NIV "drunkard" in v. 11 comes from methusos, meaning drunkard, can apply to general substance abuse, UBS Grk. N.T., Loc cit.; Arndt & Ging., Grk.-Engl. Lex., p. 500.
        6. Swindling (NIV "swindler" [KJV "extortioner"] in v. 11 come from harpaks, meaning "swindler", UBS Grk. N.T., Loc cit.; Arndt & Gingrich, A Grk.-Engl. Lex. of the N.T., p. 108)
        7. Denial Of Christ's Incarnation, cf. 2 John 9-11.
        8. Unrighteous Division in the Local Church, Titus 3:10-11; Romans 16:17-18.
        9. General Abusive Behavior (2 Timothy 3:1-5 with Titus 3:10-11).
      2. If verifiable repentance does not occur (cf. Mtt. 3:5-8), offenders must be removed from fellowship with the body, 1 Cor. 5:11, 13. This includes a break of personal as well as corporate fellowship.
    5. However, there are edifying steps God lays out for us to take to achieve edifying results with discipline:
      1. We do not commit anyone to Satan as did Paul for a destruction of the flesh, cf. 1 Cor. 5:3-5: such a step was an apostolic activity that has since long ceased with the absence of the apostolic offices. Our role in discipline involves excommunication only, and God alone adds any physical discipline.
      2. The following steps are to be exercised in the excommunication process for maximum edification:
        1. First, the individuals who know a party is guilty of a serious sin must approach him, seeking his repentance, Matthew 18:15. If the guilty one repents, the issue is settled at that level in private.
        2. If the guilty does not repent, the church leaders are informed, and they in turn approach him to seek his repentance, Mtt. 18:16. If the guilty repents, the issue is settled in private at that level.
        3. The third step of an unrepentant party is to take the matter to the congregation to repeat what the leaders and individuals before have tried to do, Mtt. 18:17a. If repentance occurs, the issue ends.
        4. If the guilty still does not repent, he is excommunicated until he does repent, Mtt. 18:17b.
        5. When the excommunicated repents, he is publicly restored upon proper evidence of repentance, Gal. 6:1; Mtt. 3:5-8; 1 Tim. 5:22. The repentant must then be edified by the body, 2 Cor. 2:6-8.
Lesson: Church discipline is to be an orderly, Bible-based function whereby the body's fidelity to righteousness is PRESERVED, sustaining in turn fellowship with God and consequent blessings. Hence, true godly LOVE should be the driving force behind its every step, cf. 1 Corinthians 5:5, 6-7.