In the sermon titled 'Church Discipline Lacking In Corinth,' David Green explores 1 Corinthians chapter 5, where Paul addresses the issue of fornication and lack of church discipline in the Corinthian church. Paul rebukes the church for being 'puffed up' and failing to mourn and take action against a member's grievous sin, which was publicly known. The sermon highlights that Paul's approach differs from Jesus' guidelines in Matthew 18 because the sin in Corinth was already public, necessitating immediate action. The speaker emphasizes the importance of church discipline as it exposes sin, serves as a warning, aims to bring repentance, protects the church's purity, and maintains a good witness for Christ. The sermon warns against the extremes of legalism and laxity, urging churches to practice discipline lovingly and with the hope of restoring the sinner.

Bibles of this morning. Let's go to 1st Corinthians. 1st Corinthians chapter 5. We're journeying through this epistle from Paul to the church at Corinth. Lord Willen, we're gonna cover this whole chapter today.

So let's begin reading at verse 1, and we're going to go down all the way through to verse 13. It is reported commonly there is fornication among you, such fornication as is not so much as named among the Gentiles, that one should have his father's wife. And you're puffed up. Have not rather mourned that he that hath done this deed might be taken away from among you. For I verily as absent in body, but present in spirit have judged already, as though I were present concerning Him that hath so done this deed.

In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when you are gathered together, and my spirit with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ, to deliver such an one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus. Your glorying is not good. Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump? Heard out therefore the old leaven that ye may be a new lump as ye are unleavened, for even Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us. Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

I wrote in you, I wrote in an epistle, not to company with fornicators, yet not altogether with the fornicators of this world or with the covetous or extortioners or idolaters, for them must you needs go out of the world. Now I have written unto you not to keep company if any man that is called a brother be a fornicator or covetous, an idolater or a railler or drunkard or an extortioner, such and one know not to eat. For what have I to do to judge them also that are without? Do not ye judge them that are within. But them that are without, God judgeth.

Therefore put away from among yourselves that wicked person." This is a lengthy text, but it is very relevant. It is interesting that we've gone through four chapters of Paul dealing with the divisions at Cornet. And when we come to this one and very abruptly very bluntly he says it's reported commonly that there's fornication on you you would think I would think that maybe that would be something that he would have mentioned right away. But the more pressing issue was the division that was going on in the church. And so as he wrote, he wrote under what he was writing was Holy Spirit-led, this was God-breathed words, These are inspiration of the Holy Spirit.

This is what was most important, dealing with the divisions that was going on there. And so he dealt with that first four chapters very very clearly Bringing those things up now. He very clearly brings this issue up, which was also a big issue there This matter of fornication within the church and also church discipline being lacking within the church was a major problem there. And Not only did he need to address that, and the only reason why he brought this up is because the church at Corinth had not been practicing church discipline like they should have. As we think about the church at Corinth, mostly what we know about Corinth from at least most sermons that I've heard through the years are preached from this text.

Corinth is known as the church that had the fornicator. Oftentimes the church that that or the letter that has the the portion of Scripture in it about the head covering, that sort of thing. But seldom do we hear this passage preached about the fact that the church discipline was lacking there. Corinth was a mess, and that's a fact. In our country, while we think about the church of Corinth, and we say well Corinth was a mess, The reality is that many of the churches in our country aren't much better than what they were.

With sin being in the church and the church is not taking action against those things. We go back 80 years ago or so and read the minutes of those churches that were around what they were doing and you'll find it, well, but it kind of bluntly many of us, we probably wouldn't be members of those churches because, Well, we'd be excluded for what you say. Well, back 80 years ago or so, they were excluding members for playing checkers on the Lord's Day or reading newspapers on the Lord's Day. Things like that. While we might look back at those things and we say, well those churches were very extreme and legalistic and so on and so forth, maybe they were.

Maybe they were, but the pendulum has swung too far, sometimes on the other extreme. I read of men who churches they might have a role of several hundred members but in attendance of 50. Where's everybody else? What's going on? Why do they have such a bloated church role?

It's a lack of church discipline, you see. While we might not want to go back to that. We certainly ought not to want to have a church that's full of individuals who habitually neglect. I'm not talking about neglect. I'm not talking about people who miss because they're sick or because something or because something comes up, you know, those sorts of things.

But habitually, habitually miss the attendance. Habitually miss being in the Lord's house. Folks who never attend, folks who never tithe, folks who spend their time in slander and underpinnant sin and so on and so forth, or as this what was going on in Corinth, It is reported commonly there is fornication among you, and such fornication as is not so much as named among the Gentiles, that one should have his father's wife." You say, well That could never happen in our church. I would hope not. But what is the problem that took place at Corinth?

They were puffed up. They were divided. And in their division and in their puffed up, they neglected the church that they claimed to love. Everyone knew this man and this sin. Everyone knew about it.

He says it is reported commonly. Paul knew about it. The church knew about it. The neighbors knew about it. It was known all over the place.

And everyone knew it was a sin. He says that not even the unsaved Gentiles would have anything to do with it. Such fornication as is not so much as named among the Gentiles that one should have his Father's wife. It was a sin against God, it was a sin against nature, a sin against the conscience, it was a sin against the family, it was a sin against the church. And yet, They turned a blind eye to it.

God had spoken against it in Leviticus, Leviticus chapter 18, verses 6 through 8. Verses 6 through 8. None of you shall approach to any that is near of kin to him to uncover their nakedness. I am the Lord. The nakedness of thy father or the nakedness of thy mother shall thou not uncover.

She is thy mother, thou shalt not uncover her nakedness. The nakedness of thy father's wife shalt thou not uncover, it is thy father's nakedness." And you go on down through there and you see the sin of incest was forbidden very, very clearly. Furthermore, even the pagans knew that it was a terrible thing and it was written on their hearts, their conscience forbid it. Paul brings that up there. And so this terrible sin was going on.

But Paul doesn't spend a lot of time with speaking about the sin. It was such a common knowledge that this was a sin that he doesn't spend a lot of time dealing with that. In fact, more ink is spilled here in this letter to the church As he writes this, more ink is spilled as he writes to them in rebuke for their being puffed up and not doing anything about what was going on. They didn't need to be reminded of what Leviticus said. They didn't need to be reminded of...

They didn't need another sermon about the sin of this fornication that was happening. They needed to be reminded that action needed to be taken at this point. It was common knowledge. Look there at verse 2. You are puffed up and have not rather mourned that he that hath done this deed might be taken away from among you." He goes on verses 3-5, For I verily as absent in body but present in spirit have judged already as though I were present concerning him that hath so done this deed.

In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ when you are gathered together in My Spirit with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ to deliver such and one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh that the Spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus, your glorying is not good." You see, he goes into this with a rebuke, if you will. You're puffed up. You've not mourned. This should be a terrible thing for you, but instead, you glory. This one should have already been taken out, should have already been excluded, you see.

Now some read this and say, well Paul never at odds with Jesus on anything and there are no contradictions in the Bible. The controversy stems from Matthew chapter 18. If you want to go over there with me, you can. Let's just go over there. In Matthew chapter In the beginning of verse 15, it says, Moreover, if thy brother shall trespass against thee go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone he shall hear thee thou has gained thy brother but if he will not hear thee then take with thee one or two more, that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established.

If he shall neglect to hear them, tell it unto the church. But if he neglect to hear the church, let him be unto thee as a heathen man and a publican. Verily I say unto you, whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. Again I say unto you, that if two of you shall agree on earth as touching anything, and the day shall ask, and it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven, for where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them. Then came Peter to him and said, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him till seven times?

Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee until seven times, but until seventy times seven. So in this formula that Jesus gives for discipline, there are steps that have to be taken. But notice, beloved, that there's a different scenario happening here than what was going on at Corinth. In the scenario that Jesus gives, there is a brother that is trespassing against another brother. A brother that is sinning against another brother.

And it's private. It's a private sin. A matter that is not public. We're all humans, aren't we? Humans, aren't we?

And as humans, we often have issues with each other. And especially And especially that is true within families. Can you imagine what a church might look like if every time a husband and wife got into a disagreement, if that escalated right away to be a church matter, Right? That would be a terrible thing. Right?

Because once you get past the honeymoon stage, it doesn't take very long for you to realize that your wife is totally depraved, and it doesn't take her long to realize that she married a totally depraved man. And there's going to be some squabbles. To be some squabbles. And so same thing with individuals within the church. There are people in the church who are easy to get along with, and There are people in the church who are easy to get along with, and there are people in the church who are harder to get along with.

In the early churches, there were Jews and Gentiles who were coming together, and this had never happened, and all this sort of thing. And so, if you went over to your brother's house, and you're a Jew, and you go over to the Gentiles house and he's serving meat, and this is an offense, and so on and so forth, and there's all sorts of scenarios that might come up. And so it is today. And so if your brother trespasses against you, if he sins against you, tell him his fault between you and him alone. If he'll hear you, you've gained your brother.

But if he won't hear you, take with you one or two more, then in the mouth of two or three witnesses, every word may be established. If he won't hear them, then tell it to the church. So there's a pattern, right? There's a pattern that Jesus lays out. It doesn't get to the church until the final step, where it becomes public.

But what Paul is dealing with at Corinth is something that's already public. As a matter of fact, I would argue that Paul picks up where Jesus leaves off. That this is not a private matter that's going on at Corinth. It's a public matter. It's already escalated to a public matter.

It's not a sin between two brothers. It's a sin that involves the entirety of the church already. There is no need for all of these steps. Paul says you're puffed up, this should have already been taken care of, why haven't you taken care of it? You see?

There's no contradiction. Paul is not throwing away what Jesus said, he's not doing something different, he's actually, well, this is why we're told to take the word of God and rightly divide it. This is why we need to take and to cut it straight and to analyze these things and to determine how we're to take care of these scenarios. The church at Corinth was not given direction to set up a committee to go and talk to this one. They were not told to go and visit him at his home.

They were not told to... No, no. All of this was already out in the open. It was already... All that was done.

It was over. They needed to practice the church discipline. This individual needed to be excluded without delay. And why hadn't they done that? Paul says that they were puffed up, that they were glorying.

Why were they hesitant? Well, I mean, we could fill in some blanks, we could speculate, you know. Maybe his family was prominent in the church. Maybe he was a good giver. Whatever those things were, we're not told.

But the bottom line is, knowing what we know about Corinth, it's this, they were puffed up, they were glorying, and they were divided and distracted. And so, knowing that they were divided at least three different ways, some said they were of Paul, some said they were of Apollos, and some said they were of Cephas. If he was on team Cephas for instance, then if someone from team Apollos brought him up for discipline, then the rest of them would have squabbled and said, oh, you're just picking on. And on and on, it would have gone. Had they been united in Christ, they would have already taken care of the problem.

And this man would have been properly disciplined. He would have been excluded. And maybe he would have already repented. But they failed. They failed the church.

They failed that man, and ultimately they failed Christ. You see. As we look here in 1 Corinthians chapter 5, we find a good outline for church discipline that's helpful for discerning the purpose of church discipline. Don't think of it as being a whip or something that it's not. We can discern here at least five purposes for church discipline within 1st Corinthians chapter 5, and I want to give these here, and I also want to give a credit where credit's due.

There's a book, there's not many books written on church discipline, at least not contemporary books, but there is one written by Jonathan Lehman from nine marks and in Published by crossway. It's called church discipline how the church protects the name of Jesus. And I mean that title right there just tells you a lot about the purpose of church discipline. But I appreciated this outline and so I'm kind of going off of that and in looking here at first Corinthians chapter 5. First Corinthians chapter 5, Discipline aims to expose.

Sin is like cancer. And like cancer, it loves to hide. Sometimes people don't even know that they have cancer until it's discovered. And the doctor says, hey, we discovered that you have cancer. Well, look here in verse 2, 1 Corinthians chapter 5 and verse 2, You are puffed up and have not rather mourned, that he that hath done this deed might be taken away from among you." Discipline exposes the cancer So then it might be cut out quickly.

And so this is what Paul, as a doctor, if you will, is bringing up here. He says this needs to be cut out. It needs to be cut out quickly. Otherwise, it's a danger. It needs to be exposed and cut out.

Secondly, church discipline, it aims to warn. A church does not enact God's retribution through discipline. Rather it stages a small play that pictures the great judgment to come, discipline is a compassionate warning. So verse 5, He says, to deliver such an one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the Spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus. Unrepentant sin will not be winked at or scoffed at in the day of judgment.

And churches should not wink at or scoff at or rather should not ignore unrepentant sin. Should not ignore unrepentant sin. Pubitual unrepentant sin. Understand something, right? Churches are full of sinners.

No one in this church has reached a level of perfectness. So I want everybody to understand that. But when it becomes a pattern, it's a problem. When there's no repentance, It's a problem. He says, to deliver such an one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the Spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.

A warning is given. A warning. A warning is given. We don't enact the judgment, but it's a warning. But it's a warning.

Thirdly, again, Churches pursue discipline when they see a member taking the path towards death, and none of the pleading and arm-waving causes the person to turn around. It's the device of last resort for bringing an individual to repentance. There is a sense in which the preaching of God's Word is disciplinary. You know it as well as I know it. When we read God's Word, when we hear the preaching of God's Word, we fall under conviction, sometimes we might say, well, that sermon really, really, my toes are really hurting, right?

That's the arm-waving that the author was talking about in this. There's arm waving that says, hey, This is what God's Word says. But you know, there are people who refuse to hear the Word of God. There are people whose hearts are hardened. This man who was fornicating with his father's wife, he heard the preaching, but he ignored it.

But he ignored it. And so This was the last resort to bring an individual to repentance. There are people out there who say, well, I know what the preaching says. I know what they say, but you talk to them. And they say, well, I'm a member of such and such a church.

It's like they don't get it. They think they're all right, living in their sin. Right. Living in their sin. Fourthly, discipline aims to protect.

Fourthly, discipline aims to protect. Just as cancer spreads from one cell to another, so sin quickly spreads from one person to another. In verse 6, He says, Your warning is not good. Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole world." You know, if the church of Corinth let this go on with this individual, As he was committing fornication with his father's wife, after a while, guess what? Someone else would go and fornicate someone else.

Another generation would pass and pretty soon It would be a common thing within that church. There are churches today where this sort of thing is, We can point to them, churches that started out accepting same-sex marriages, and then after a while They not only accepted them, then after a while they started ordaining ministers of that persuasion, and on and on they go. Very slippery slope, you see. Very slippery slope. Very slippery slope.

And so it aims to protect a little leaven, leavens the whole lump. Verse seven. We come to the fifth and final point here. For whom, sorry, verse 7, purge out therefore the old leaven, you may be a new lump as you are unleavened. For even Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us.

Therefore, verse 8 says, let us keep the feast not with old living, neither with the living of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. Discipline, church exclusion, including there, aims to present a good witness for Jesus. Church discipline, as strange as it might seem, is actually good for non-Christians. It helps to preserve the attractive distinctiveness of God's people. Churches are to be salt and white.

And Jesus said it this way in Matthew chapter five, Matthew chapter five, in verse 13, In verse 13, You're the salt of the earth, but if the salt have lots to savor, wherewith shall it be salted? It is henceforth good for nothing but to be cast out and to be trodden underfoot of men. Near the light of the world, the city that is set on a hill cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick. And he giveth light unto all that are in the house, let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven." There's balance here, obviously.

We don't want to read of the Puritans or look at the Amish and think, well, I've got to dress like the Puritans and live like the Amish so I can be different than the world. Because if we miss the point, then all we do is become weird to the world. Nobody wants to be weird. We lose the attractiveness of Christ. You see, what did the Puritans have that was so great?

They had Christ. What did the Amish miss? They missed Christ. We don't need to dress like the Amish, dress like the Puritans, to be different. We need Christ.

And a healthy church is not a church that is so different that we're weird. A Healthy Church is a church that has Christ, including being united in Christ, and including practicing church discipline, where those members that are unrepentant, We lovingly practice church discipline. May we never get to the point that we become like Corinth was, that we're so divided, squabbling over people and things that don't matter. That unrepentant sin is running rampant in the church. And it's left to go on.

May we always do what is right and pleasing before God. And as we close this out, church discipline is always done with the hope that that person, so long as they're alive, that they will repent and come back. And if you continue reading chapter 1 Corinthians, 2nd Corinthians, you find that Paul does mention something about restoring that one. And so That's the prayer. May God end the blessing to the preaching of his word.