THE SPHERE OF JURISDICTION
Posted by Pastor Greg Allen on November 4, 2018 under 2018 |
Bethany Bible Church Sunday message; November 4, 2018 from 1 Corinthians 5:9-13
Theme: The church is to be careful to discipline its own members—and leave the judgment of those who are outside to God.
(All Scripture is taken from The New King James Version, unless otherwise indicated).
As many of you know, I enjoy gathering up my books and notes and studying over a cup of coffee at the McDonald’s down the road. It has proven to be a good habit; because God—in His providence—has given me lots of good encounters with people there that have helped me in my study of His word.
That definitely happened last week—and I’d like to share with you what happened.
I had just sat down to begin working, when I noticed a couple of young men sitting down at the table just a seat or so away from me. I hadn’t paid much attention to them until I began to hear noises. And then—through the corner of my eye—I began to notice their behavior. They were sitting very close and in embrace, and were engaging in some very expressive displays of affection toward each other. It made me extremely uncomfortable, to say the least. And it really rather surprised me that they would feel so free to behave that way in a public place.
Now; as a Christian, what do I do in such a situation? Do I say something? Do I get up and leave? Do I ignore it and pretend that it’s not happening?—even though it’s going on right next to me? Like it or not, we live in a time when such things are happening more and more; and we’re most likely going to find ourselves encountering such situations with more frequency. We need to know what to do with these morally uncomfortable encounters.
Now; some people would tell me that my discomfort stemmed from just being ‘old fashioned’ and ‘out of touch’. But I know that that’s not the case. My discomfort stemmed from my sincere commitment to the commandments of God our Creator and His unchanging declaration of right and wrong in His revealed word. I was, in fact, seeking to study His word at that very moment; and right next to me was a type of relationship being carried on that His word very clearly forbids. I had quite a mix of emotions about this; and found myself very distracted. But what I decided to do—what I concluded was the only proper thing for me to do—was to mind my own business; but to pray silently for these two young men and ask that God open their hearts to His love through the Savior. You might have felt led to respond to it in a different way. You may even disagree with what I did, or with the idea that I should have had feelings about it at all. But that was what I sincerely felt led to do.
Eventually these two young men rose up and left. But I remained much in thought about it all. And I then began to wonder how I would feel if the exact same thing were happening in the church fellowship hall—or perhaps in the coffee shop at the Christian college in which I occasionally serve—between two young men who said that they were both believers. Would my response have been different then? It absolutely would have been! In fact, I would have had a clear duty before God to respond in a completely different way than the way I did at the restaurant.
And as I thought about the different responses a believer should have in those two different situations, that was when I remembered the passage that I was going to be preaching on this morning.
How glad I am that God gives us answers in His word.
* * * * * * * * * *
In 1 Corinthians 5—as we saw last week—the apostle Paul was dealing with a serious problem in the church. A member of the church family had developed an ongoing, openly incestuous relationship with his own step-mother—in clear disobedience to God’s word. And that wasn’t even the problem that concerned Paul the most. What concerned him the most was the fact that the believers in the Corinthian church were tolerating it—and were proud of how tolerant they had become about it.
Paul, you’ll remember, instructed them to do something about the situation that this professing Christian had presented to them. He told them;
For I indeed, as absent in body but present in spirit, have already judged (as though I were present) him who has so done this deed. In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when you are gathered together, along with my spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ, deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus (1 Corinthians 5:3-5).
He used that word that we don’t like very much to hear used in our culture today—saying that he had “judged” this man. But he did so in the name of, and with the authority of, the Lord Jesus Himself. And he urged these believers to officially—as a congregation—turn the man over to the hand of Satan; so that he would suffer the consequences of his sin and, perhaps, repent and return to the Lord. I don’t believe this meant that they were to take any kind of physical action against the man whatsoever. But rather, I believe it meant that they were to, as it were, officially remove their protective hand from him and treat him as someone who was outside the faith—someone who was in the clutches of the enemy, and who needed to repent and turn to the Savior for salvation. It sounds like it would have been a hard thing to do, doesn’t it? It would be hard thing for you and me to do as well.
Paul told them, however, that this was necessary; because the congregation itself needed to be kept morally pure and separate from any kind of identification with such sin. They had already compromised their own holiness before the Lord by the fact that they had so proudly tolerated what was wicked in His eyes; and having this kind of conduct going on in their midst was utterly inconsistent with who Jesus had made them to be. Paul told them in in verses 6-8;
Your glorying is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump Therefore purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, since you truly are unleavened. For indeed Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us. Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth (vv. 6-8).
So then; that’s what we, as followers of Jesus, are to do with respect to ongoing sinful behavior that is happening within the church family. I believe that a failure to do what Paul instructed us to do in those verses explains—in part—why the church does not have much influence in the ungodly culture around us today. We don’t sufficiently distinguish ourselves as God’s holy people—that is, as His called-out, separate assembly. After all, if we behave in the same way as the ungodly world around us behaves, then why would unbelievers want to hear us when we tell them about our Savior?
So; that’s what is to happen in the church. But what about … well … McDonald’s?—or anywhere else in the unbelieving world? How are we, as Christians, to relate to the ungodly people around us who have no professed relationship with Jesus?—who live their lives as those outside of our Lord’s called-out assembly of faith? I believe that’s what Paul went on to tell these Corinthian Christians in our passage this morning. In verses 9-13, he said;
I wrote to you in my epistle not to keep company with sexually immoral people. Yet I certainly did not mean with the sexually immoral people of this world, or with the covetous, or extortioners, or idolaters, since then you would need to go out of the world. But now I have written to you not to keep company with anyone named a brother, who is sexually immoral, or covetous, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or an extortioner—not even to eat with such a person. For what have I to do with judging those also who are outside? Do you not judge those who are inside? But those who are outside God judges. Therefore “put away from yourselves the evil person” (vv. 9-13).
In other words, when it comes to judging sin—and make no mistake about it; we are commanded to ‘judge’ it—we are to make sure we understand what our jurisdiction of judgment is. It is not our proper place to exercise discipline for sin over those who are outside the household of faith. But when it comes to those who are within the household of faith, it is absolutely our duty to do so. As this passage shows us, the church of Jesus Christ is to be careful to discipline its own members—and to leave the judgment of those who are outside to God.
* * * * * * * * * *
Now; let’s try to understand this correctly. Does this mean that we are not to fight against wrong-doing and evil when it’s occurring in the outside world? No; I don’t believe it means that at all. Praise God—we have laws that protect us from wrong-doing out in the world; and as the Bible teaches us, the governing authorities that God has established in this world are His ‘ministers’ who punish evil and reward good. We should respect those governing authorities, and should not be afraid to make use of the provisions of human government and laws when we need to.
But I don’t believe Paul is talking about the use of secular authority in this passage. I believe he’s only speaking of the use of spiritual authority within the church. The Lord Jesus has given spiritual authority to His church with regard to the discipline of sin within its membership. And what Paul was careful to tell the Corinthian believers is that …
1. WE CANNOT PRACTICE DISCIPLINE TOWARD ‘OUTSIDERS’.
Look at what he says in verse 9. He said, “I wrote to you in my epistle not to keep company with sexually immoral people.” Apparently, he had written a letter to them before this one—a letter that the Holy Spirit has not seen fit to preserve for us. And in it, he spelled out clearly God’s standard. He told them that, as believers, we are not to have ongoing fellowship or cozy association with people who are engaged in sexual practices that the Bible forbids.
But then, he went on to clear up a possible misunderstanding. In verse 10, he wrote, “Yet I certainly did not mean with the sexually immoral people of this world, or with the covetous, or extortioners, or idolaters, since then you would need to go out of the world.” The people of this world—the unbelieving people who are outside of a saving relationship by faith with Jesus Christ—are often characterized by sexually immoral practices. And not only that, but they are often engaged in other sinful practices as well. And if we’re going to completely avoid any kind of ongoing fellowship with sinful people, we will have to find another planet to live on.
Dear brothers and sisters; this passage suggests to us that it is not God’s will for us to be isolated from the lost and needy people of this world. We’re to be out in the world where they are. That’s what our Lord Himself did. In fact, He was out in the midst of the sinful people of this world so much that it raised the eyebrows of the religious folks. Matthew 9 tells us of Jesus’ travels and encounters with the sinful people of this world;
As Jesus passed on from there, He saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax office. And He said to him, “Follow Me.” So he arose and followed Him. Now it happened, as Jesus sat at the table in the house, that behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and sat down with Him and His disciples. And when the Pharisees saw it, they said to His disciples, “Why does your Teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” When Jesus heard that, He said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy and not sacrifice.’ For I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance” (Matthew 9:9-13).
He loved the sinful people and came to save them. That’s how it was that He gained a reputation as ‘a Friend of sinners’. And it is His intention that you and I, dear brothers and sisters, follow in His steps. When He prayed to the Father for us—just before going to the cross for us—He said;
“I do not pray that You should take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from the evil one” (John 17:15).
He left us here on purpose. He wants us to be distinct from the values and practices of this fallen world—to be protected from the sinful traps and snares of the devil—but to still be in the midst of it all as His representatives. How else would the unbelieving people of this world know about Him unless we—as His faithful people—lived for Him in front of them? (That’s why I love taking my Bible out with me and studying at McDonald’s. It’s not just for the cheap coffee, you know!)
The Bible college that I went to used to have as its motto: “Holding Forth the Word of Life.” That came from the King James translation of what the apostle Paul wrote in Philippians 2:14-16. And consider carefully the context in which he told his brothers and sisters those words:
Do all things without complaining and disputing, that you may become blameless and harmless, children of God without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, holding fast the word of life, so that I may rejoice in the day of Christ that I have not run in vain or labored in vain (Philippians 2:14-16).
We’re ‘in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation’ for a reason. So, let’s remember that we cannot avoid contact with the sexually immoral people of this world; nor the covetous and greedy people, or extortioners and the crooked people, or idolaters and worshipers of false gods. It was never our Lord’s intention that we avoid them. God has saved us and intentionally left us right in the midst of their world; and all so that they can hear from us the good news of Jesus Christ—and can see from our lives that God transforms everyone who turns to Him in faith.
* * * * * * * * * *
So then; God’s word calls us to make a distinction in how we react to people around us. When it comes to the sinful people of this world who are outside of the Christian faith, we’re not to try to practice ‘church discipline’ toward them. We’re not to avoid association with them. We’re not to try to function as the ‘judges’ of those who are outside. The people who are ‘outside’ the church are ‘outside’ of our specified jurisdiction of judgment. When it comes to those ‘outside’, we’re to live up-close to them and share the love of Jesus with them as God’s holy people.
But …
2. WE ARE COMMANDED TO JUDGE THE SIN OF ‘INSIDERS’.
Paul goes in on verse 11 to further clarify what he meant in that lost letter; “But now I have written to you not to keep company with anyone named a brother, who is sexually immoral, or covetous, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or an extortioner—not even to eat with such a person.”
Notice that all-important designation: “anyone named a brother”; or as it is in other translations, “a so-called brother”. This is speaking of anyone—either male or female—who claims to be having a relationship by faith with Jesus, who claims to have been washed clean by His blood, who claims to have ongoing fellowship with Him, and who perhaps even has been baptized; and yet, who has an ongoing lifestyle practice of sin. They claim to be a follower of Jesus; but by their actions, they deny Him.
And notice what kind of actions we’re talking about. Paul mentions a so-called ‘brother’ who is sexually immoral. That, of course, was the problem that he was dealing with in regard to the Corinthian church. In that case, it was a church member who was carrying on an incestuous relationship with his own step-mother. But ‘sexual immorality’ would also include any other kind of sexual relationship that is forbidden in Scripture—any kind of sexual relationship other than a strictly exclusive, monogamous, non-incestuous, heterosexual relationship with someone to whom one is legally married. But this wasn’t the only kind of sin that there was. We often think of sexual sins as the kind that God opposes the most. But Paul puts other sins on the same level of grievousness—sins such as being a covetous or greedy person who lives their lives for the acquisition of things; or an idolatrous person who perhaps bows the knee to Jesus but also—at the same time—embraces false gods or false spiritualities or false philosophies; or a reviler or a railing person who bullies people, and who breaks into angry outbursts, and who tries to control other people with threats of violence; or a drunkard who habitually turns themselves over to other substances in order to dull their spirit toward God’s call upon their lives; or an extortioner or a ‘crook’ who manipulates things in such a way as to take advantage of people, and who steals their goods from them or takes them by force.
Is this a complete list? Personally, I don’t think so. It’s not that we’re to bring discipline upon any ‘so-called brother’ who commits any of these sins—but only these specific sins. Or does this mean that we ought to exercise discipline on any professing Christian who has ever committed any one of these sins at any time, or who has had occasion to stumble and fall in them at any point of their lives? I certainly don’t believe so. I notice that the apostle Paul describes these actions in a form that describes an ongoing, habitual practice. We need to ask whether the sin someone commits is an ‘incident’ or a ‘pattern’. Rather, what Paul is calling us to do is to bring the discipline of the church upon any member within the fellowship who carries on an ongoing life-style practice of these things while—at the same time—claiming to be a follower of Jesus.
We’re commanded to exercise such judgment upon them because they’re living in the midst of God’s household while intentionally bringing the sins of the outside world into it. They are seeking to eradicate the way God has made His people distinct from the people of this world. We don’t do this kind of thing with those who are outside in the world, but we must do so with those who are inside of the household of faith in Jesus. The apostle Peter put it this way;
For the time has come for judgment to begin at the house of God; and if it begins with us first, what will be the end of those who do not obey the gospel of God? Now
“If the righteous one is scarcely saved,
Where will the ungodly and the sinner appear?” (1 Peter 4:17-18).
God, as it were, insists that judgment be brought upon those who practice sin within His household; so that the fact that He judges sin will become evident to those in the world who persistently reject and disobey Him. What a sober thing! But how necessary!
How do we do this? Paul says that when it comes to that so-called brother or sister who is carrying on an ongoing practice of sin—who has, we should assume, been repeatedly urged to cease but refuses to do so—we are to break off fellowship with them. We’re not to carry on an ongoing ‘familiar’ relationship with them. We’re told that we’re not even to eat with them. I have had to do this with someone myself. It was very hard to do. Our church had exercised discipline, and the person involved would not stop their behavior. They wanted to get together with me for lunch; and I had to tell them, “I’m sorry, but I cannot. You are wanting to carry on with our relationship as if things are all ‘okay’. But things are not ‘okay’ at all. I am more than willing to get together with you if you wish to confess your sin, ask the forgiveness of the church family, and work through a process of repentance. I’ll even pick up the bill! But until that happens, you and I cannot get together for lunch.”
But even then, we need to be very careful how we do this. I believe that even the ‘breaking of association’ needs to be done with the goal of redemption and restoration in mind. The apostle Paul put it this way to the believers in Thessalonica;
But as for you, brethren, do not grow weary in doing good. And if anyone does not obey our word in this epistle, note that person and do not keep company with him, that he may be ashamed. Yet do not count him as an enemy, but admonish him as a brother (2 Thessalonians 3:13-15).
May God help us to do this hard and very careful work in a truly loving and restorative way!
* * * * * * * * * *
So; we’re commanded to make a distinction in the way we treat sin. With those who carry-on a lifestyle of sin outside of the household of faith, we are not to break-off association with them. They are ‘outside’ in the world; and they need to hear about Jesus from us. But with those who carry-on a lifestyle of sin within the household of faith, we must judge their sin and break off fellowship with them—urging them, as a disobedient brother or sister, to repent and be restored to the Lord Jesus.
And this, finally, is because of a principle that Paul makes clear to us in the last two verses; that …
3. GOD’S JURISDICTION IS OUTSIDE, AND OURS IS STRICTLY INSIDE.
Paul, I believe, was using himself as an example for us all when he wrote in verse 12, “For what have I to do with judging those also who are outside?” And the answer is, ‘nothing’. It was not his jurisdiction. It’s not ours either. He then goes on to state what is our jurisdiction: “Do you not judge those who are inside?” The judgment and discipline of sin in the life of a professing follower of Jesus is strictly an ‘in-house’ task. That is our proper place of focus and action.
Now; that’s our specific job. And what is God’s job? Paul goes on to say in verse 13, “But those who are outside God judges.” The outside world is exclusively His jurisdiction in which to bring judgment. And we can be sure that He will do so; because Paul spoke in Romans 2 of Him
… who “will render to each one according to his deeds”: eternal life to those who by patient continuance in doing good seek for glory, honor, and immortality but to those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness—indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish, on every soul of man who does evil, of the Jew first and also of the Greek; but glory, honor, and peace to everyone who works what is good, to the Jew first and also to the Greek (Romans 2:6-10).
Since the outside world is God’s proper jurisdiction in which to judge, we’re commanded—when it comes to the church—“Therefore ‘put away from yourselves the evil person.’” Paul is here quoting from the Old Testament book of Deuteronomy. Just as the Jewish people of old were to remove from themselves those who would not turn from sin, so are we. We are to do it differently than they were, however. Theirs was a civil action; while ours is a spiritual one. We remove our fellowship from that unrepentant person, and—as it were—set them out in the world where God alone judges; always hoping that, by God’s grace, they will repent and be restored.
* * * * * * * * * * *
I believe that my experience at the McDonald’s the other day was an illustration of the distinction that you and I need to make, dear brothers and sisters. We are, of course, to treat all sin as sinful; but we’re not to treat all situations of sin in exactly the same way. When it comes to sin, we need to remember our proper, God-given jurisdiction of judgment—and not cross the proper boundaries that God has set for us. We always get into trouble whenever we either fail to do our duty, or get overly-zealous and try to do that which is not our duty.
May we, as God’s people—made holy by the blood of Jesus—be faithful to lovingly discipline those inside our fellowship who sin—and, at the same time, carefully leave the judgment of those who are outside to God.
If we do that, we will be better able to invite those ‘outside’ to come ‘inside’ through Christ our Savior.
EA
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