Sermon Notes – The Church: Faithfully Committed to Purity

The Church: Faithfully Committed to Purity, Matthew 18:15-20
J. Josh Smith, MacArthur Boulevard Baptist Church, attended May 23, 2010

Because God has called us to Himself to be a distinctively pure people that knows Him and proclaims Him, we must be faithfully committed to God’s process of maintaining and protecting the purity of the church.

The process of church discipline is not willingly embraced if we don’t understand how the gospel transforms and redefines us to be holy. We are to reflect God’s holiness. We are led to a passionate pursuit of purity – both His and ours. If we fail to be pure we can’t accomplish the mission of God. We are united by Jesus Christ and pursue relationships for spiritual encouragement and to keep us from sin. It is his primary way to grow us in holiness.

Recognize who we are in Christ and seek the purity of yourself and others. The greatest enemy to being the church He has called us to be is sin. Knowing our weakness and temptation to sin God has given us the process of church discipline. It is here to protect the purity of the body. It exists because of our mission. This is a command to the church.

1. A personal confrontation – Matthew 18:15

Before you submit the prayer request or before you go the pastor with your concern or before you ask someone else what they think you go to the person who has sinned!

Christ creates the unity in the church, we don’t create the unity. We are, however, required to protect it. Gossip and backbiting do not protect the unity.

Remember that things we may perceive as a sin are not always a sin. Always assume their may be an answer, that isn’t apparent, for what they are doing.

When you do go to the person:

Go humbly – No agenda except a desire to be restored. Go as one sinner to another. Keep Matthew 7:1-5 in mind. This doesn’t mean, however, not to judge. It still tells us to take the speck out of their eye, just make sure you don’t have the same speck.

Go gently – Matthew 7:1-5 and Galatians 6:1 demand gentleness. It is a word picture of removing a splinter from an eye. The eye is sensitive. You don’t use pliers to remove something from an eye!

Go thoughtfully – In order to tell him his fault you must be prepared to tell him why it is a fault. Think it through. This isn’t a picture of impulse or just pointing fingers.

Go purposefully – The goal is to restore. If you like pointing out sin then you are the one that has the problem.

2. A small group confrontation – Matthew 18:16

Not just people who are witness to the sin. This indicates to the person that it is getting serious.

3. A corporate confrontation – Matthew 18:17

This is the leadership of the church. We are begging the person to come back and walk with Christ.

4. Remove him from the local church and treat him as if he doesn’t know the Lord – Matthew 18:17

This is a refusal to repent and submit to the leadership of the church and to the word of Christ. You are saying that as a corporate body we have no reason to believe that you know the Lord. We don’t see evidence, or fruit, of salvation. This is done in the hope that they will wake up.

To ignore it would be to say that we think you are fine. Is that the most loving thing to do? The most loving thing is to say, “Don’t be self deceived!” Serious, outward and unrepentant sin must be dealt with. It would be arrogant to think that God is fine with this sin.

Paul rebukes the church for not dealing with sin in 1 Corinthians 5:1-2. He gives reasons why a person in sin must be removed from fellowship.

For the sinner’s sake - 1 Corinthians 5:5, “…so that his spirit may be saved…” Give him up to his flesh so that he will wake up, like the prodigal son story.

For the churches sake - 1 Corinthians 5:6, “…a little leaven…” Your sin is not just your problem. We are all part of the body of Christ. If one part is infected then the whole body stands to be infected.

For obedience sake - 1 Corinthians 5:9-13. The church had misunderstood his previous letter. He wasn’t saying to not spend time with the lost. He is saying it is better to fellowship with the lost than with one who says he knows the Lord but doesn’t walk with Him.

For the world’s sake - 1 Corinthians 6:1-6. Here we have two “Christians” in litigation before unbelievers! For the sake of the world we must confront sin. Why should we expect a government run by unbelievers to change through the political process. Start with a pure church and the world changes!

For love’s sake – 1 Corinthians 6:9-11. The unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom. You don’t love him enough to tell him? Nothing could be more loving or compassionate than to tell them. The thing that may seem the most cruel is the most loving.

For God’s sake - 1 Corinthians 6:19-20. We exist to display a glorious God to all. To really love each other and God is to really deal with sin both individually and corporately. We must be passionately pursuing the purity of the church for His sake.

NOTE: These are my notes, taken as I listened to the sermon live. Any errors, misunderstandings or misinterpretations are my responsibility entirely and not the fault of the preacher.