Excommunication: Recipients and Goals

Driving home: Therefore as we said this morning excommunication is an act of compassion upon a sinning man or woman. Oh do you hear that?

The actual record of the Corinthian man's repentance and restoration (2 Corinthians 2, 7) is used as a concrete example of excommunication achieving its goal of salvation for the sinning person.

Look at the text 1 Corinthians chapter 5. God has spoken this word so clearly that only willful ignorance or blatant high-handed disobedience could miss it. Verses 4 and 5 In the name of the Lord Jesus ye being gathered together by my spirit with the power of the Lord Jesus to deliver such an one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh that and it's one of those Hena clauses of purpose that all you Greek students learn about about the second month in your Greek class when you find that Hena it has to do with the overall intent and goal of a given statement or action and so the apostle says...

26:32 - 27:59 Read in full sermon

The point: If we are reluctant to excommunicate where such is warranted we are saying that we are welcoming the baneful influence of leaven to extend itself through the entire congregation.

Excommunication is likened to a surgeon severing a gangrenous arm to save the body's life, emphasizing its radical, compassionate nature, though the analogy breaks down in that the severed member can be re-grafted spiritually.

It's an act of compassion and as I was thinking about the nature of it the radical nature of it it's likened to that which must happen when an arm has become full of gangrene and the act of compassion in the surgeon is to sever it to spare the life but thank God another element enters in where the human illustration breaks down. When once a member of the body becomes so infected as to jeopardize the life of the body and must be severed it is severed for good! But God says the severance of a member of the visible body of Christ is that it might be returned to spiritual health and be re-grafted ...

29:21 - 30:48 Read in full sermon

The point: If we are reluctant to excommunicate where such is warranted we are saying that we are welcoming the baneful influence of leaven to extend itself through the entire congregation.

The analogy of leaven in a lump (1 Corinthians 5:6) is used to illustrate how unaddressed sin corrupts the entire congregation, necessitating excommunication for the church's purity.

his salvation but with respect to the people of God two things their purity and secondly their warning. Their purity look at the text again 1 Corinthians chapter 5 and verse 6 Your glorying is not good know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump? Purge out the old leaven now notice the next words that ye you as a congregation may be a new lump even as ye are unleavened. See what he is doing?

30:48 - 31:26 Read in full sermon

The point: If we are reluctant to excommunicate where such is warranted we are saying that we are welcoming the baneful influence of leaven to extend itself through the entire congregation.

The Old Testament Passover feast, where all leaven was purged from the house, is used to explain that the church's corporate life is a perpetual Passover, demanding continuous purging of sin for acceptable worship.

Having touched on the analogy of leaven Paul's Jewish mind then draws to itself all of these references from Old Testament realities. You remember in preparation for the Passover feast every bit of leaven was to be scoured from the house a mother was to track down every trace of it and be sure that no leaven could be found for if they ate the Passover the celebration of redemptive deliverance out of Egypt with any trace of leaven it was an abomination to God. Now Paul says your gathering together is God's people to worship Him to praise Him to remember Him at His table to submit to the ordinan...

31:26 - 32:52 Read in full sermon

The point: If we are reluctant to excommunicate where such is warranted we are saying that we are welcoming the baneful influence of leaven to extend itself through the entire congregation.

The 'root of bitterness' (Hebrews 12:15) and 'evil companionships corrupt good morals' are used to illustrate the contagious moral influence of sin and the need for purity within the congregation.

only to recommend where we feel there is proper groundless but our hands are open our hands are clean in any instance where the facts after due examination are clear that excommunication is warranted if you through human sympathy through carnal attitudes or for any other reason refuse to obey the clear mandate of God almighty God no longer receives your worship who shall ascend into the hill of God who shall stand in his holy place he that hath clean hands and a pure heart and hath not lifted up his soul unto them holiness becometh thy house and so then the goal of excommunication with referen...

34:18 - 35:41 Read in full sermon

The point: If we are reluctant to excommunicate where such is warranted we are saying that we are welcoming the baneful influence of leaven to extend itself through the entire congregation.

The history of Israel's sin and God's judgments (1 Corinthians 10:12) is used as an example to warn believers to 'take heed lest he fall' when witnessing an act of discipline.

the sharpness of his rebukes leading to their effecting of this act of discipline he says in verse 11 for behold this selfsame thing that ye were made sorry after a godly sort what earnest care it wrought in you yea what clearing of yourselves yea what indignation yea what fear yea what longing yea what zeal yea what avenging in everything ye approved yourselves ye reign amiss ne'er flight yea what living it in you eri proem said the Lamb of God said the Lamb of God word, in the oversight and care of our elders, in the competent leadership of our deacons, if one could fall so grievously as to ...

37:07 - 38:33 Read in full sermon

The point: We must not be swayed by the thought patterns of the world or by the natural dispositions of our corrupt nature in anything having to do with an act of excommunication.

The world 'squeezing you into its mold' (Romans 12:2) is used to warn against allowing secular perspectives to redefine sin and undermine biblical discipline.

The second thing I would say is this, that we must not be swayed by the thought patterns of the world or by the natural dispositions of our corrupt nature in anything having to do with an act of excommunication. May I repeat that? We are not to be swayed by the thought patterns of the world, or by the natural dispositions of our own corrupt nature in anything pertaining to an act of excommunication. Romans 12.2 says, Let not the world squeeze you into its mold. That which God in His Word calls gross and scandalous sin, the world now says is not only evil behavior, but into the world's mold. An...

44:03 - 45:22 Read in full sermon

The point: Don't you allow the perspectives of the world or the dictates of your own corrupt nature to shape and mold your attitudes and actions with respect to this frightening responsibility.

The struggle against one's corrupt nature to pray is used as an analogy for the struggle against natural inclinations when administering church discipline, emphasizing that duty must override feeling.

Your remaining corruption rebels against the thought of having close dealings with God. But if you're a Christian who's growing at all, you know what you do with that indisposition of your flesh.

47:53 - 48:03 Read in full sermon

The point: It's time you stop fooling around with sin. Because sin has one goal in mind with reference to you, to destroy you.

Sin is depicted as a 'bloody dagger' that aims to destroy, no matter how modest or gracious its overtures, urging listeners to recognize its destructive nature.

Sin, when it is finished, bringeth for death. And no matter how modest, no matter how veiled, no matter how polite, no matter how tactful, no matter how apparently gracious are the overtures of sin. Oh, it's bloody dying for the moment. Plunge it into my own heart.

50:15 - 50:43 Read in full sermon