Recording. That's good. Let's give it a go.
Alright, well welcome to Sunday School. We are continuing a survey on the beauty of the body.
What does it mean to be a part of God's community?
And there is an underlying, if you haven't seen it yet, push towards the value of church membership
as identifying with and being involved in a local body.
And we've talked a little bit about how God has called us not just to himself individually,
but to himself into a community.
And so part of our identity as Christians is being a part of a body and being part of a community.
We've talked a little bit about discipleship and how we should, as members of the body,
expect to grow with one another.
We have talked, Pastor Greg talked last week about also being a part of the body in terms of serving.
Serving one another in the body of Christ, including both finding and using our gifts,
as well as thinking about how we are interconnected and interdependent in the body of Christ.
How to be the people that God wants us to be recognizing.
We both need to, we both need others in our lives and also need them in our lives.
And so thinking about, as we come to corporate gatherings, one of the things that all believers should ask is,
how am I serving my brothers and sisters?
How am I helping them in practical ways, in the ways that I've been particularly gifted or positioned to do?
So these have been some of the things we've covered.
We've got two more weeks in this class.
Today we're going to talk particularly about the role of correction in body life.
And then next week, Peter Almo is going to teach us on evangelism and thinking about how we carry out the Great Commission,
again, not just as an individual, but also corporately.
And thinking about how it is that the body being a part of a community is significant in how we do our outreach.
So that's where we've been.
That's where we're going.
Let me pray as we continue.
So, Lord, thank you for this morning and thank you for these dear friends, sisters and brothers who have joined us.
We pray that you will be with us this morning as we explore this topic.
Help us, Lord, to see the truth of your word.
Lord, not only it's truth, but it's goodness.
Lord, that we would believe and know that your plans for us as you've called us into your body are good,
even when they may be surprising or even when they may be uncomfortable for us.
Lord, be with us this morning as we look together at your word.
We pray in Jesus' name.
Amen.
All right.
Correction is inherent in the life of a Christian because it is at the very heart of the gospel.
The good news of Jesus Christ is that though we have sinned, though we have rebelled against God,
though we have forsaken our creator and our sustainer,
that we have chosen to go our own way,
God has reached out to us to do a work of salvation for us that we could not do for ourselves
and to call us to himself.
But that call is a call of not just believe and be saved,
but biblically to repent and believe.
And inherent in that call is a recognition that our sin is not only offensive to God,
but bad for us and bad for our world.
That it is wrong and evil in its most fundamental substantive ways.
It is contrary to God's design and plan.
And we need correction because that is our starting point ever since Adam and Eve in the fall of humanity in the Garden of Eden.
Ever since humanity rebelled against God,
we have needed correction because of the presence of sin in our lives.
And at the very heart of the gospel is to say we need this.
You guys know this, right?
Tim Keller's definition of the gospel is...
Not definition.
One of the ways that he captures the power of the gospel, let me put it that way, right?
Is that you are more sinful than you ever believed.
You are worse than you ever thought you would be.
But God's love for you is so much greater than you could ever imagine.
Right?
And so this correction is inherent in the very core of the gospel.
And so I want us to start there.
Because we live in a world today where we're uncomfortable with correction.
We live in a world where we're supposed to live and let live.
And oh yeah, every once in a while, societally, we'll hit a place where there's a tipping point.
And we think, this is terrible.
This is horrible.
And you know what?
That's right.
You know, praise God for some of the issues of sexism and racism that have been raised in our culture recently
to expose the evil of sinfulness.
That's a good thing.
But what we need to recognize is that it actually should be way more common than just a particular movement in a particular day.
And it should be common in the everyday interactions of believers in a church because we believe the gospel.
Because we know that we're sinners.
And because we ought to have the humility because of our sin to know that we don't get it all right.
And we don't even know when we don't always get it right.
And that's why we need others.
That's why we need others.
Just so you know, the handouts I've given you, one is meant to be a note page.
The other one is just a list of the texts.
And I'm sorry, I have the two-sided version.
And they're in the order that we're going to talk about them just so we're not flipping because we're kind of going to be all over Scripture a bit today.
So I just gave you that as a cheat sheet.
And I'm hoping to have some discussion at the end, but there's a lot to get through.
So we'll see how far we get.
So I want to spend just a few minutes demonstrating to you from Scripture that correction is actually something that you should expect.
Because it's in the Scriptures all over the place.
When I started looking at this, I thought, oh, this isn't hard to prove from the Scriptures.
That we just choose to believe that we just choose to not want this to be true is our problem.
So Proverbs 3.12.
For the Lord reproves him whom he loves as a father the son in whom he delights.
And this is actually the verse that's quoted right in Hebrews 12 as the writer of the Hebrews is exhorting the Hebrew Christians to persevere and to recognize that part of the suffering and the trials they're facing is the Lord's discipline in their life to bring them back to him.
So Hebrews 12.
And so these verses, again, Old Testament and New Testament,
we see that these verses point us to the reality that God loves us too much, just like a loving parent loves their children enough to not let them just do whatever they want, whether it's good or bad.
But a parent will discipline their kid for their growth and understanding of righteousness and understanding of what is good and right in the world.
So God does that.
He exposes our sinfulness and calls us out of it in his disciplining work in our lives.
And he does it because he loves us.
And he does it because it has a good effect in our lives.
It produces.
You see what it produces in the Hebrews 12 passage?
It produces a sharing in his holiness and a peaceful fruit of righteousness.
Gosh, isn't that what we long for in our lives?
But recognize that part of what the scriptures are saying is discipline.
The discipline of the Lord is something that we should expect in our lives to be able to produce this kind of fruit.
So it's not only from the Lord, right?
But 2 Timothy 3, 16 and 17, well-known verse about the word of God.
All scripture is breathed out for God and profitable to encourage us and make us feel better about ourselves and to show us how good God is.
Oh, no.
Wait, let's read the verse.
For teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness that the man of God, generically, that the follower of God, those who are God's, may be complete, equipped for every good work.
This is what God has given us his word for.
And it's going to correct us, which inherently says there are times when we're wrong and we need to be, we need something different than what we have and what we bring to the table.
It's not only the Lord and not only the word, but it's also your leaders.
In 2 Timothy 4, Paul's exhortation to Timothy, who was a church leader in Ephesus, was preach the word, be ready in season and out of season, reprove, rebuke, and exhort with complete patience and teaching.
And then again, in Titus, this is in the list of the qualifications for an elder.
He must hold firm to the trustworthy word as taught so that he may be able to give instruction in sound doctrine and be able to rebuke those who contradict it.
So we should expect correction from the Lord.
We should expect correction from the word of God.
We should expect correction from our church leadership.
And then we should expect it from one another.
Right?
So I just threw in a couple of verses.
You know, the Proverbs 1, whoever loves discipline loves knowledge, but he who hates reproof is stupid.
I just love the verse.
I had to put it in there because it's just because we don't like to be known as stupid, but often we are in this area.
And it's rare that the Bible uses that word.
So I just thought that's.
But just to recognize that that in Proverbs, we are exhorted to recognize this.
Galatians 6.1.
Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in the spirit of gentleness.
Right?
The recognition of restoring means there's something to be restored from.
There's an inherent correction in that.
And then 2 Thessalonians 3.14 and 15, which is a verse that actually I've spent more time on in preparing for this because I haven't seen it before and thought about it quite.
Right?
If anyone does not obey what we say in this letter, take note of that person and have nothing to do with him that he may be ashamed.
Do not regard him as an enemy, but warn him as a brother.
There's so much in there.
And I'm going to come back to it when we talk about the dynamics of correction and how it works.
But recognize how strongly, how strongly deviants from the clear teachings of scripture.
Here it's in the context of the apostles' teaching.
Right?
The apostle Paul is saying, I'm writing to you this church.
And if you reject this, you are rejecting the word of God.
Right?
And we always have to be careful because we are not Paul and we don't write inspired scripture.
But we do have the scriptures.
And when we go to one another, that is actually the basis upon which we can go to one another.
Not, I think you're doing wrong because, well, I think you're doing wrong.
But I think you're doing wrong because the word of God, let me show you, let me help you see what is in there.
And let me, not on my authority, but on the authority of scripture, call you to turn from it.
Let me warn you about the danger of the sin in your life that I'm exposing and bringing correction to.
This is not a typical thing.
Right?
We are uncomfortable with this.
I just want to acknowledge that.
And, you know, some of us, you know, if you were here last week and Greg was talking about spiritual gifts,
some of you are going to have the gifts of mercy and the gifts of compassion and love and, well, let me reframe that.
Not compassion and love because I think correction is compassionate and loving too.
You may have the gift of mercy and this may be really hard for you.
Some of you may have the gift of discernment or the gift of prophecy.
And this is actually way too easy for you.
In that you have a clear sense of what's going on wrong with everyone around you most of the time and wondering, how much do I say?
Okay.
So in light of that, 1 Timothy 5.1 is an interesting insight.
Timothy exhorts, or Paul exhorts Timothy, do not rebuke an older man, but encourage him as you would a father and younger men as brothers.
It's just an interesting recognition that the dynamics of our relationships are important about the tone that we can take.
There still can be appropriate correction between any two people in the body of Christ.
But there's a contextual sensitivity that I think Paul is exposing here that I think just points to a gentleness and a thinking about appropriateness and aptness.
You know, if I, as a 48-year-old man, I'm sitting with, you know, a 24-year-old guy who's coming in and telling me about his life, I might have a position, a particular kind of relationship in that context to speak with a certain kind of freedom or directness.
If I'm talking to a 65-year-old man who's walked with the Lord for 40 years, I might take a different tack.
It doesn't mean I'm not going to address it, but I might think about how to do it aptly.
And there are times when, at the end of the day, I'm saying, there's still correction happening.
But it was interesting.
And then I just want to remind us, 1 Peter 4.8,
Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins.
Right?
One of the dangers of starting to talk about correction is that we swing from the one pendulum where we live on, which is tolerance.
How dare you speak in my life?
You don't know me.
I can't, you know, you can't tell me what to do.
You know, who died and made you king?
Like, sort of, all the ways in which our culture resists this at all.
And we swing to the other end.
And we think, I am now the holiness police in my body.
I am now, in this church, going to enforce righteousness and purity in all ways, everywhere.
And thankfully, the scriptures help us to see, no, that's not actually.
That's not actually what we're supposed to do.
That there are lots of sin that can be covered over in love.
Offenses against us.
And covered over doesn't mean completely ignoring it.
What it does mean is recognizing the context of this person's life, thinking through, being compassionate in their content, in the things that they're facing and going through, recognizing strengths and weaknesses.
A sharp word from one person might require rebuke.
The same word coming from someone else might need to be received with a little bit more patience and grace.
We need to recognize that there's a human element here of relationship that we need to be very careful about in terms of how we do this.
And yet, part of what we're saying is correction is meant to be a normal part of the Christian life.
It is what God is doing with us.
It's what God's word is doing with us.
It is what our leaders are meant to be doing for us.
And it's what, in fact, we are called to be doing for one another.
Hey, brother.
Hey, sister.
I see this in your life.
Am I seeing it right?
Is that really what's going on?
Is that really what you want to be doing?
Let's look at this passage together.
I don't think the Lord is pleased with this behavior.
Don't do this.
Turn away.
Pointing people to the gospel to say,
If you feel stuck in sin, let me help you out of it.
If you are hardened in your sin, let me warn you about the foolishness and destructiveness of it.
If you're struggling with sin, let me bear your burden with you.
But to engage with one another along those lines.
At the deep risk of being self-promoting.
I preached a sermon back in June on correction in our series on Proverbs.
I'm pretty sure it's on the website.
And there's a lot more there about practical advice about how to go about this.
And some of the how to give correction, how to receive correction, how not to receive correction.
Proverbs had a lot to say about how we don't receive correction well.
And just exposing that.
So I'm just going to, rather than spending the rest of our time there,
I actually want to shift into the corporate dimension and deal with what is typically talked about in terms of church discipline.
But I want you to see that it's meant to be a part of our everyday life.
And when we get to this sort of corporate expression of it,
it's the end result of what should be and what God has called us to be as an ongoing dynamic in our everyday lives.
This is why it's good to have other believers in our life, by the way.
This is why the beauty of the bodies that we have other people close enough to our lives,
people who are behind the curtain of our performance facade, our Sunday morning,
don't I look good, which we all bring to the table.
And, you know, shoot, I get it.
We don't want to air all of our dirty laundry all the time.
But the reality is that we need people in the body of Christ who are behind the curtain,
who see us as we really are and who are able to help us.
And this is part of how God has designed us.
So then as we move into the corporate part, there are a couple of key passages.
You guys are probably familiar with this.
But this is what happens when, as sin takes root and embeds itself in a particular person's life,
how being a part of the body of Christ, how God has designed us to come around such a person
and to help them in that context.
The first passage that is well known is Matthew 18.
Does someone want to read that for me so I can take a breath?
Peter, thank you.
If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone.
If he listens to you, you have gained your brother.
But if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you
that every charge may be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses.
If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church.
And if he refuses to listen to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector.
Okay.
So, this is one of those passages that helps us think through.
And part of what I want you to see is what I was just describing about the everyday life of the church
and how correction would be a normal part.
This is what Jesus is exhorting us to in the step one and even in step two.
It's, hey, if you see your brother in sin, go and talk to him.
You know?
Please don't come tell the pastor, hey, Joe's sinning and I think you need to go fix it.
It's really unhelpful.
Go to your brother and say, hey, brother, what is this?
And again, do it with humility, do it with graciousness, do it with love.
But go and talk to them.
But it's also interesting that the scriptures here, and Jesus recognizes our weakness.
He knows our sinful hearts.
And that one of the first things, you see it in the Garden of Eden, one of the first things we do when we're caught in our sin
is we deflect and blame, shift, and somehow try to deny that we have a problem.
Right?
And so Jesus says, if you go to your brother, and obviously this is brother and sister, just so we're all clear.
If we go to our brother, sister, and Christ, and we correct them, and they receive it, what does it say?
You've gained him.
You've restored him into fellowship.
You've recognized, man, we are together in this pursuit of Christ and of living a life for his glory.
And as this person is turning from sin to Christ, you've gained a brother.
What a wonderful blessing.
What a wonderful thing.
Right?
But then Jesus is so wise to recognize, but if he doesn't, you don't say, oh, well, I tried.
That's enough.
Say no.
Bring someone else.
Not to gang up on him.
Not to increase or heap on shame.
But bring someone, hopefully the most appropriate person, someone who's close, someone who knows, that sort of thing, if at all possible.
Bring someone else.
So that the other person who you're bringing correction to doesn't think, oh, this is just Jeff's opinion.
Jeff thinks this is a terrible thing.
And, you know, I disagree with him.
So, forget that.
You know, you bring someone else and Jeff and Daniel are coming to me and I'm like, oh, that's not just Jeff's thing.
I thought Jeff didn't like me, but I guess he does.
And Daniel likes me too.
But they're both saying the same thing.
Right?
There's a weightiness to bringing others in.
It goes all the way back to Deuteronomy.
And Deuteronomy 19 talks about establishing something by more than one witness, by two witnesses.
And it's wisdom so that we don't fall into witch hunts and fall into, again, taking on the mantle of I alone will be the sole enforcer of all holiness and righteousness in our body.
Which is not helpful.
Right?
But it is recognizing that when two come, there's a weightiness to it.
And, again, Jesus is so gracious to recognize if he refuses to listen to them, then tell it to the church.
And that is bring it to the body.
Bring it to the larger community and expose.
Because one of the things that sin loves to do is to hide.
We love to hide our sin.
And part of the purpose of exposing it, just like in a wound when there is infection and it's festering under, part of what you do is you open it up and you expose it so that there may be healing.
The exposure in the larger body is not for the purpose of heaping shame on someone, but it is for their healing.
Although, really interestingly, did you see, look back up to 2 Thessalonians 3.
So striking.
Take note of that person, have nothing to do with him, that he may be ashamed.
I don't know if you've done any reading about shame and righteousness, shame and truth, and how the Western culture for hundreds of years has been about righteousness and about sort of being right or wrong and that sort of thing.
And how sort of typically culturally in the Eastern, in other cultures, non-Western cultures, shame has been a much larger dynamic of culture.
And one of the things that I think is very interesting today is that our culture is shifting and is a weird mix of truth and honor, shame and unrighteousness or condemnation.
And it's a fascinating dynamic for us to recognize.
But I read 2 Thessalonians 3 and my first response was, wow, it's actually, the Bible is saying that someone who is being publicly, their sin is to such a degree that it's being publicly, brought publicly to the church.
They actually ought to be ashamed of their sin.
That's actually part of the purpose of this.
And I had this cultural reaction of, whoa, I never want to bring shame on someone.
That's always a bad thing.
And interestingly, the Bible says, no, actually, sin is something to be ashamed of.
Not to be buried by.
You're not meant to be buried by that shame.
You're not meant to be crushed by the condemnation that often comes with that feeling of shame.
But to recognize that sin is shameful.
It denies the glory of God.
It's destructive in our lives and in the lives of others.
We ought to be ashamed of it.
And when we expose it, there is some of that.
And we ought not to, as much as we don't want that to be our spirit of wanting to shame someone,
we want to recognize that a loving exposure of sin may bring shame to the one who's being exposed.
Now, I just want to say, we need to do this very carefully because our hearts are so wicked.
We love to sit in the judge, jury, and executioner seat.
And if we are loving someone and they're not responding, it's easy for us to get frustrated.
And it's easy for us to somehow want to, it becomes a battle to win or it becomes a battle to prevail that your view is right.
There's so many ways in which we can do this poorly.
And so we want to be on guard against that.
But not to the degree that we don't do it.
If you're a member here, you know that we do this in our congregational meetings.
There have been times when we have brought people to the church to say,
this is someone who we want to bring to your attention.
We have told it to the church for your prayers, for your encouragement, so that you can come around them.
Again, the goal of this, you see it all the way through the map,
the goal of this is that you may win him back or her back,
that you would turn this person back to wholehearted following of the Lord and obedience.
You're calling them to repent of their sin and return to the gospel that they believe.
You know, again, the second Thessalonians passage,
don't regard him as an enemy, but warn him as a brother.
This is what we're doing.
We're saying, don't do this, don't continue.
Because at the end of the day, if you do not turn, this is the last step in the process, verses 17.
At the end, if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector.
Now, what does that mean?
What that means, the best understanding of it, I believe,
is to read that as saying,
your profession of faith has been so compromised by your behavior and your unwillingness
to take hold of the gospel in repenting from that sin and seeking to change
that we no longer have confidence that you are a Christian.
That's a weighty thing to say.
We are not declaring ultimate, you are not a Christian.
We don't have that power.
But we are saying, the profession of faith that you have, we can no longer,
we can no longer affirm.
And as we talk about membership in this church,
becoming a member is covenanting together to pursue following Christ together.
And if someone comes to a point where they say,
no, I love sin more than I love Christ.
And if we have been patient, and if we have been persistent,
and if we have been loving, and if we have been helpful,
and there has been due process along the way,
and we bring this to, and we get to this point,
we say, we still love this person,
but we can no longer treat them as a believer.
We can no longer fellowship with them.
And that's really hard for us.
It's really hard for us.
It's hard for us because it's public,
and because it affects every nature of our lives.
Every aspect of our lives and our relationship with this person.
I want to go on and look at the other verses quickly.
Titus 3.10,
Warn a divisive person once, then warn him a second time.
After that, have nothing to do with him.
This is the second time we've seen this phrase,
have nothing to do with him.
Then when we get into the 2 Corinthians 5 passage,
it's a long passage,
but I want you to see that it is a,
well, let me read it so we can look at it together.
The 1 Corinthians 5.
Obviously, there is a kind of sin going on
that was publicly known in the church.
He says,
It's actually reported to you that there is sexual immorality among you,
and the kind that is not even tolerated among the pagans.
For a man has his father's wife,
and you are arrogant.
Ought you not rather to mourn?
Let him who has done this be removed from among you.
For though I am absent in the body,
I am present in spirit.
As if present,
I have already pronounced judgment on the one who did such a thing.
When you are assembled in the name,
there's a random B in there,
assembled in the name of Lord Jesus,
and my spirit is present,
with the power of our Lord Jesus,
you are to deliver this man to Satan
for the destruction of the flesh,
so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord.
Then 6 through 8 is using an imagery
to talk about cleaning out the leaven.
It's a whole Old Testament passage about purity,
and the purity of God's people
that literally had to do with leaven in the bread,
but it was a symbol of their spiritual purity,
and their wholehearted obedience to the Lord.
But it's very clear,
you've got to clean it out.
You can't tolerate the leaven,
because it's going to destroy what you have.
And then he goes on in 9,
I wrote to you in my letter
not to associate with sexually immoral people,
not at all meaning the sexually immoral of this world,
or the greedier swindlers or idolaters,
since then you need to go out of this world.
But I am writing to you
not to associate with anyone
who bears the name of brother,
if he is guilty of sexual immorality
or greed or an idolater,
or reviler,
or drunkard,
or swindler,
not even to eat with such a one.
For what do I have to do
with judging outsiders?
Is it not those inside the church
whom you are to judge?
God judges those outside,
purge the evil one,
evil person from among you.
So there's a lot here,
but part of what I want you to hear
is the weight that Paul brings.
This sin is public.
It is being tolerated by the congregation.
It is clearly wrong,
so clearly wrong
that even the culture recognizes it,
although that's not the standard.
That's not why it's wrong.
We don't let the culture dictate
what's a disciplinable offense,
but we recognize that
he's saying,
even people who don't know God
know how wrong this is.
Gosh, how much should you who do know God
understand how wrong this is?
Some of the other distinctions
that he makes here,
I'm not talking about judging the world
for being sinful people.
We know that.
That's not my,
in fact, there's 13.
God will do that.
God is the judge.
But for those of us
in the body of Christ,
for those who name the name of Christ,
we actually are to
exercise discernment,
to judge,
to make decisions.
Judging is a strong word,
right?
And all we can think of
is Matthew 7, 1.
Judge not lest you be judged,
right?
That just comes to our mind.
We're like,
well, how can I do that?
Well, interestingly,
all right,
you've got to put Jesus' words
in context.
Do not think that you are
in the position of sitting
in ultimate judgment
on other people's lives.
That's what Jesus is saying.
But there's a much more nuanced
view of this,
and this is where you see it
most clearly.
As brothers and sisters,
we actually are to
think about
and lovingly
recognize
and evaluate
what's going on
in the lives of those
around us
whom we love,
who are part of our body.
We are actually
to judge them.
And when it's clear,
and when it's sustained,
and when it's unrepentant,
the consequences
are serious.
We are to put them out.
He says,
to deliver them over to Satan,
which I think means
we are removing them
from the normal means of grace
within the church,
and as a member
of the body of Christ,
we are delivering them
over to the world,
to the domain
outside the church,
in hopes that
they may see
how barren
the world
apart from Christ
really is.
So that they may see
the foolishness
of continuing in sin.
So that they may turn back
and be restored.
So that they're,
though in their body
they may reap
the consequences
of their sin,
their spirit
will be renewed
as they are removed
for a time
from
the fellowship
of believers.
And they may come back
in humility
and in repentance.
recognize that...
Yes, Jeff.
I just wondered
if maybe
you could
talk a little bit
about the language
in
verse 11
when
Paul says
if anyone is guilty
of
at
Patsy
just because
I think that needs
a little clarification
because if we
think about
the Sermon on the Mount
and Jesus taking
great pains
to
communicate
how we're all
guilty of these things
so
we're all
in which
we need
some
clarification.
Yes.
No.
I
completely
agree.
And
there's
anything in my notes
that I'm going to say
and I...
Yes.
So here's
where
in the history
of the church
as we have thought
and as people
have talked about
how do you
seek to do this?
Right?
Paul just kind of
gives a litany
of things
and says
well if you do
these things
you're out.
Right?
That's our first
reaction
in that.
And then you
take Jesus
and you overlay
that into the heart
and you think
whoa man
like well shoot
aren't we all
then
disciplinable
and cast out
because we know
the dynamics
of our heart
even if we don't
cherish it
even if we don't
act on it
we recognize
like wow
like there but
for the grace
of God
yo I
I am a sinner
who will continue
to have
hatred and anger
and lust
in my heart
at times.
Right?
So the Christian
life is not
one of
perfect
perfection
or of
perfect obedience
the Christian
life is one
of growth
and righteousness
and growth
and righteousness
includes
the ongoing
recognition
of
our sinfulness
a confession
of it
as sin
a repentance
from it
which is a
choosing to
turn away
from it
rather than
cherishing it
and a pursuit
of righteousness
growing in
those things
we talk about
progressive
sanctification
right?
This is real
in the Christian
life
we are to
grow towards
godliness
we should
expect to
do that
but it does
not mean
perfection
but what it
does mean
is when we
fail
we admit it
we recognize
it
we go to
the cross
to find
the forgiveness
that we
desperately
need
and we also
go to the cross
to find the
power
to forsake
sin
and to
pursue
righteousness
and
when we
bring things
to this
level
right
sins
that
reach
the
corporate
level
of
discipline
are outward
are serious
and are
unrepentant
okay
I stole
this from
Jonathan
Lehman
he has a
book over
on the
bookstall
called
Church
Discipline
it's a
great little
book
it's got a
great summary
of all
these
things
but as
we think
about
these
so
outward
I can't
sit in
judgment
of someone
else's
heart
I can
say
I've
heard
you
say
these
words
I can
say
I've
seen
you
do
these
things
I've
seen
you
express
these
attitudes
I
cannot
tell
you
what
is
in
your
heart
but I
can't
ask
you
what's
in
your
heart
and
if
you
tell
me
no
I
won't
give
up
this
immoral
relationship
because
realize
that
Colossians
3
tells
you
that
Jesus
is
your
life
and
they
say
I
know
but
I
want
this
more
than
more
than
Jesus
then
I'm
not
judging
them
on
what
I
think
is
in
their
heart
I
am
now
making
a
judgment
based
on
what
they
have
told
me
about
what
their
position
is
Jeff
are
you
I
genuinely
did
not
ask
this
question
so
that
I'm
sure
you
did
but
you're
an
elder
so
speak
please
I
appreciate
it
obviously
as we
sin as
Christians
and as
we
confess
our
sin
the
guilt
of
sin
is
on
sin
and
so
in
a sense
we're
not
guilty
of
that
we're
not
paying
at least
for the
guilt
of
that
sin
but
if
we
stand
in
the
sin
and
we're
confronted
by
our
church
family
in
this
case
and
we
say
no
you're
wrong
and I
stand
in
I
think
that
helps
me
make
sense
of
this
language
here
which
of course
is a
translation
anyway
so
who
knows
but
I
think
in that
sense
we have
to say
okay
if you're
not
repenting
and you're
not taking
this
to Jesus
then
it's
on you
and that's
a bad
place
to be
right
on you
and so
we're
going to
have to
eventually
disassociate
ourselves
with you
in that
case
right
the tricky
part of
that is
we have
to be
very
careful
about
our
definition
of
sanctification
here
because
for a
true
believer
our
confession
is not
the
our
repentance
is not
the basis
of our
forgiveness
it's the
work of
Christ
it's the
basis
of our
forgiveness
but an
ongoing
denial
of that
forgiveness
an ongoing
forsaking
of what
Christ has
done in
freeing us
from sin
brings us
to a point
where we
think I
don't know
how you
can say
that you
believe the
gospel
and still
cling to
this
sin
and that's
where
right
so I
want to
nuance
it
but yes
I think
that's
right
that's
a helpful
picture
I want to
get through
just two
more things
and then we
can open
this up
one is
I want to
just talk
briefly about
what's the
purpose of
this
right
we've already
talked about
it some
the primary
purpose of
correction
is to
bring
is
restoration
the primary
purpose of
this is so
that someone
would see
their sin
and return
to Christ
and be
restored
to the
fellowship
of the
saints
and be
brought
in
the second
purpose
is that
there is
a sense
of warning
to the
church
there is
a public
display
of
this
behavior
these
attitudes
this
forsaking
of Christ
is not
acceptable
this is
not
what it
looks like
and that's
a warning
to believers
there is
a protection
of the purity
of the church
there is
a sense
of
you may
not
continue
in this
we may
remove
you from
our church
membership
because we
as a body
have been
called
to be
witnesses
for Christ
and when
you behave
in that
way
you deny
Christ
and therefore
we cannot
we need to
protect
the witness
of the church
and ultimately
it's for the
glory of
God's name
we all
know how
much
we are
suffering
the evangelical
church
in America
is suffering
from those
who claim
the name
of evangelical
and yet
are completely
unrighteous
publicly
and unrepentantly
about their
behavior
right
now the
world does
not have a
place for
restoration
they don't
know how
to like
it's either
condemnation
or
hypocrisy
that like
there's no
there's not
a lot of
room for
a healthy
process
but recognize
how much
the name
of Christ
suffers
in America
because
of the
unrepentant
sin
of their
of the
leaders
the other
thing I just
wanted to
say is
okay what
do we
what do we
mean when
we get to
the end
when we're
saying
have nothing
to do
with them
do not
even eat
with them
treat them
as a tax
collector
or a
sinner
what does
that actually
mean
and again
part of
what I
part of
what I
wanted you
see first
of all
part of
what we're
saying when
we're saying
that is
I can no
longer interact
with you
as someone
who shares
the fellowship
of Christ
with me
because your
behavior and
your resistance
to response
and to change
makes me think
that it
draws enough
question that
I cannot
I can no
longer
what does
that actually
practically look
like
well
it would
look like a
couple of
things in our
church
we would
remove you
from places
of service
you may
no longer
do stuff
right
members come
and we expect
you to serve
and we're
going to
remove you
from those
things
it certainly
means you
may not
take communion
we will
instruct you
to not
take communion
because
again if we
go to
first Corinthians
11 if
anyone eats
or drinks
in this
in an
unworthy
manner
there's
actually a
very clear
instruction
there
but here
do not
even eat
with them
some have
taken that
to mean
you can't
take the
Lord's
supper
I think
it means
more than
that
but it
certainly
means that
you should
not
if the
church
is saying
your behavior
is of
such a state
that we
cannot confirm
your profession
of faith
you shouldn't
take communion
just like an
unbeliever
shouldn't take
communion
because it
is an
expression of
faith in
Christ
and taking
hold of
the repentance
and taking
hold of
the work
of Christ
for our
salvation
it means
that our
relationships
need to
change
it does
not mean
that we
have to
completely
shun
them
and never
speak to
them on
the street
but it
also means
we don't
just hang
out with
them
and have
a casual
beer on
Sunday
afternoon
and watch
the football
game
or you
know
have play
dates
and ignore
these things
it doesn't
mean that we
don't have
interaction
but when we
have interaction
with these
those who
have been
who are under
this discipline
who have been
removed
the whole
basis of our
relationship
needs to
change so
that we
look at
them and
we say
will you
turn from
your sin
will you
come back
to Christ
I love
you
please
come back
to Christ
it may
involve
in our
church
a restriction
from being
a part of
a small
group
it may
involve
a restriction
from coming
to corporate
worship
those are
discernment
issues that
we would
probably apply
on a case
by case
basis
because at
one level
we want
these people
coming
to hear
the word
of God
so that
there's an
urging to
repent
but there's
also
a pretty
significant
you know
with small
groups
small groups
are meant
in our
church
primarily
for the
gathering
of believers
it's not
exclusively so
but that's
primary
whereas our
corporate
worship service
we want
other people
to come
so that
would be
a case
by case
application
that we
would probably
work through
but we
but it's a
possibility
and part
of it
is that
the whole
goal of
this
is to
help
this
fallen
brother
or sister
recognize
the gravity
of their
sin
if we
have gotten
here
there have
already
been many
conversations
please
turn back
please
don't
continue
in this
please
see how
great
a salvation
Christ
has done
for you
please
don't
trample
that
and leave
it behind
and forsake
it for
this
and when
we've had
all those
conversations
we are now
bringing the
weight
and it
is going
to be
uncomfortable
and it
is going
to potentially
provoke
shame
and they
will
you know
again
go back
to Hebrews
12
no discipline
feels good
at the
time
it will
hurt
and people
will feel
hurt by
it
and unfortunately
there's been
enough abuse
of church
discipline
that there's
a whole
bunch of
people running
around
having been
treated
terribly
by churches
that haven't
gone through
a patient
loving process
but there are
also people
going around
with a chip
on their
shoulders
saying
my church
didn't
handle me
well
when I
was in
complete
rebellion
and sin
against
God
and they
think that
and they're
still carrying
a grudge
against the
church
because of
it
and we
need to
recognize
that it's
a complex
thing out
there
but we
ought not
to be
afraid
of continuing
to seek
to embrace
the pattern
of correction
in the
church
one quote
from a
commentator
in light
of this
there could
be
this is
what it
looks like
there could
be no
question
that is
of course
you would
do these
things
it would
be no
question
of speaking
to such
a person
in the
street
or of
excluding
the normal
courtesies
due to
acquaintances
but
not
to friends
associates
or to
close
colleagues
the
the language
of
first
corinthians
and the
language
of treating
them as
tax collectors
and sinners
is significant
enough
that
there's a
real shift
that should
happen
in relationships
this is
very
counter
cultural
this is
very
uncomfortable
for us
it does
mean that
we look
at our
friends
and we
say
the most
important
thing
about
you
the most
important
thing
about
you
is your
relationship
with
Christ
and no
matter
how much
I love
you
in all
the other
ways
I can't
just
overlook
that
and enjoy
the rest
of you
because I
love you
too much
process
should go
we've already
talked about
this
carefully
should go
personally
we should
never
assume
that
Matthew
18
can be
carried
out
over
Twitter
or
text
message
or even
over the
phone
if at all
possible
it should
be done
discreetly
as much
as possible
until it
gets to
a public
level
it should
be done
with
discernment
it should
be done
deliberately
there are
times when
it needs
to go
quickly
there are
times when
it needs
to go
slowly
but it
should not
be done
rashly
I guess
is how
I would
say
all right
Peter
one thought
I don't
believe that
there's a
conflict
there
I think
context
is very
important
in
scripture
and
a mix
of
followers
and believers
and unbelievers
and seekers
and people
what's this
all about
and he's
speaking
largely about
man's
relationship
to God
and that
separation
that exists
between man
and God
which is
hugely important
and should
obviously inform
our understanding
of the gospel
and inform
our understanding
of our
relationship
to Christ
and to God
but if
we're then
going to
compare it
to what
Paul is
saying
to the
Corinthian
church
it is
I want
to just
remind
I think
it's hugely
different
that Paul
is specifically
talking
to a
known
consistent
sin
so I
just wouldn't
want people
to walk
away
thinking
there's
some sort
of
contradiction
there
and expectation
yeah
no in fact
the best way
to see it
is that
1 Corinthians
5
picks up
right at
the end
of the
Matthew
18
process
that they're
they actually
are complementary
but
you can't
overlay them
completely
because they're
at different
stages of the
process
and in a
different
yeah
Matt
one last
comment
and even
you know
Matthew 7
at the beginning
do not judge
just a couple
paragraphs down
they are
commanded
to judge
the fruit
the behavior
right
being compatible
with God
good God
relationship
or not
so even in
that same
context
yeah
so as we
pursue having
a loving body
and a body
that's growing
and living out
all the God
has called us
to as being
a part of
his body
I hope you
will see that
this pattern
of correction
both on an
individual level
and then at
a corporate
level
is actually
a gift
from God
it is something
that God
has designed
for our good
it is not
always fun
it is one of the
harder parts
of relationships
just like conflict
always is
and yet
the promise
that it produces
good fruit
and that it
actually is
good for us
and a display
of God's glory
is pretty consistent
in the scriptures
and so
I want to commend you to it
if you have questions
I'll be down here
it's almost 10 o'clock
so I want to let you go
and get you upstairs
for the service
let me pray real quick
Lord thank you for this time
we pray you'll help us
as we go
to worship you
in spirit and truth
in Jesus name
Amen
thanks you all
I'm sure I'm glad I was here
oh I'm glad you were too
aww
hopefully there were
five days
they came to call
for a day
that's when
did they take things
or
no they didn't
they were bang
bang
on the back door
and it woke me up
and
aww
so scary
I didn't think
but the kids
it was a young kid
so it's like
five six plus
six
I think he just
wanted to come in
he couldn't say
I want to come in
but I
I didn't really
realize that
at three o'clock
in the morning
I'm getting that
you called the party
at five
police cars
oh goodness
I'm sorry Elizabeth
yeah I'll bet
so
you
I'll be there
if you want to
but
Thank you.