EXCOMMUNICATION IS FOR THE PURITY OF THE CHURCH: 1 Corinthians 5:6-8

DOCTRINE. Excommunication must be carried out by a visible church when necessary for the purity of the church.

OUTLINE. I. It is a prideful thing to celebrate or excuse or play with sin (1 Cor. 5:6a). II. Even one sin tolerated will bring destruction (1 Cor. 5:6b). III. You and I must purge sin from our midst and live purely, because Christ has made us pure (1 Cor. 5:7a). IV. Christ died to both save His people from God’s wrath and to set them free from slavery to sin (1 Cor. 5:7b). V. Because Christ died to save us and set us free, we saints should live lives of celebration in grateful purity (1 Cor. 5:8).

Church Discipline, and Excommunication when necessary, must be carried out, I) for the good of the unrepentant (vv. 3-5), II) for the purity of the Church (vv. 6-8), and III) for the glory of Christ (vv. 9-13). 

QUESTION. What is excommunication?

ANSWER. Excommunication is the last step in church discipline, when a visible church removes a professed Christian from the communion of the saints for the good of the sinner, the purity of the church, and for the glory of God.

The text before us today in 1 Corinthians 5:6-8 deals with that second reason—the purity of the church.

I. IT IS A PRIDEFUL THING TO CELEBRATE OR EXCUSE OR PLAY WITH SIN. “Your boasting is not good” (1 Cor. 5:6a). There are at least three reasons it is prideful to celebrate or excuse or play with sin:

I) It is prideful to celebrate or excuse or play with sin because sin is a fire that will burn you. “Can a man carry fire next to his chest and his clothes not be burned?” (Prov. 6:27). How arrogant is it to celebrate setting yourself on fire or celebrate and encourage others to set themselves aflame! That is what you and I are doing if we ever celebrate something that God calls sin. How pride is it for someone to say, “Fire does not burn!”? Do you celebrate what God calls sin? You are celebrating others setting fire to themselves. Do you excuse what sin? You are indifferent toward those burning their houses down. Do you play with sin? “Can a man carry fire next to his chest and his clothes not be burned?” (Prov. 6:27).

II) It is prideful to celebrate or excuse or play with sin because sin wages war against your soul. “Abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul” (1 Pet. 2:11). It is not the sins that you name and labor to pout to death that do the greatest military damage to your soul; it is the sins which you most excuse that have you outflanked and are doing the most damage in your life.

III) It is prideful to celebrate or excuse or play with sin because sin brings forth death. “Each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death” (Ja. 1:14-15). That pet sin which you nurture and cherish, hiding it from the light and refusing to put it to death, will eventually grow into a great dragon and eat you alive.

USE THIS TRUTH FOR REBUKE, you who celebrate or excuse or play with sin, look at verse 6 and see Christ’s apostle saying, “Your boasting is not good.” 

II. EVEN ONE SIN TOLERATED WILL BRING DESTRUCTION. “Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump?” (1 Cor. 5:6b). Just as even the smallest amount of venom from a deadly snake can get in your blood and make you drop, so can the smallest sin work its way through your life or the church and cause great destruction. It is often the smaller snakes that carry the most venom. So it is often the smaller sins tolerated which brings destruction at last.

I) Even one sin tolerated in the church will bring spiritual sickness. Matthew Henry pointed out, “The bad example of a man in rank and reputation is very mischievous, spreads the contagion far and wide. It did so, probably, in this very church and case.” Why did Henry say that? Because of what Paul rights in his next letter to Corinth. “I fear that when I come again my God may humble me before you, and I may have to mourn over many of those who sinned earlier and have not repented of the impurity, sexual immorality, and sensuality that they have practiced” (2 Cor. 12:21).

II) Even one sin tolerated in your own life will also bring spiritual sickness. “Little sins are very dangerous! A little leaven, leavens the whole lump. A little hole in the ship, sinks it. A small breach in a [wall], carries away all before it. A little stab at the heart, kills a man” (Thomas Brooks, Precious Remedies Against Satan’s Devices). Make no peace treaties with sin in your life, beloved. Declare war on that which offends God, belittles His glory, and tries to dethrone Him. 

III. YOU AND I MUST PURGE SIN FROM OUR MIDST AND LIVE PURELY, BECAUSE CHRIST HAS MADE HIS SAINTS PURE. “Cleanse out the old leaven that you may be a new lump, as you really are unleavened” (1 Cor. 5:7a). These are commands from the Lord Jesus through one of His Apostles. Bow down before Christ in glad submission and be directed in the paths of righteousness for His name’s sake with these four inferences: 

I) Out of love for Christ and for the purity of His bride, local churches must excommunicate unrepentant professed Christians in order to maintain the purity of Christ’s church. “Cleanse out the old leaven that you may be a new lump” (1 Cor. 5:7aa).

II) The church has been made pure and holy, and therefore we must be eager to maintain that purity. “As you really are unleavened” (1 Cor. 5:7ab). Henry wrote, “Concern for their purity and preservation should engage Christian churches to remove gross and scandalous sinners.” 

III) Out of love for Christ and for the purity of their soul, Christians must purge evil from their lives in order to painting unity in Christ’s possession. “Cleanse out the old leaven that you may be a new lump” (1 Cor. 5:7aa). Richard Baxter said, “Sin is your murderer. Kill it before it kills you.” 

IV) If you are in Christ, you have been forgiven of sin and counted righteous in Him, therefore you should live a life of righteousness. “As you really are unleavened” (1 Cor. 5:7b). 

QUESTION. How can you and I do that? ANSWER. Ask and act; petition and press on. Ask your Father, in the name of Christ, to empower you boy the Spirit to put to death the deeds of the flesh. Ask Him to sanctify you. Ask Him to preserve you. Ask Him to grow you. Then, depending on Him, act with all your mental, physical, and spiritual might for His glory. “Thou art coming to a King, large petitions with thee bring; for His grace and power are such, none can ever ask too much” (John Newton). 

IV. CHRIST DIED TO BOTH SAVE HIS PEOPLE FROM GOD’S WRATH AND TO SET US FREE FROM SLAVERY TO SIN. “For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed” (1 Cor. 5:7b). What is Paul referring to? The Passover. The first Passover was when God delivered His people from His wrath that they deserved, by the sacrifice of a lamb in their place, and set them free from slavery in Egypt. The Passover Lamb was that great foreshadowing of Christ crucified. It was slaughtered in the stead of God’s people so that the angel of death would pass over them when it saw the blood applied to their places of dwelling. God’s people took shelter under the blood of the Lamb! Those who did were both saved from God’s wrath and set free from their bondage. Do you see the glorious gospel of Christ in the Passover and in the Exodus from Egypt? Paul uses this and applies it to Christ crucified.

I) Christ died to save His people from their sins by taking the wrath of God on Himself in our place. Please note, beloved, Christ did not simply die, He was a sacrifice; He was slain; He was slaughtered in the place of His people so that all who believe would be freed from the penalty of sin! 

USE THIS TRUTH COMFORT, if you are are untied to Christ by faith. “As far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us” (Ps. 103:12). “For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God” (Col. 3:3). You who cling to Christ can truly say with Philip Paul Bliss, “My sin—oh, the bliss of this glorious thought—My sin, not in part, but the whole, Is nailed to His Cross, and I bear it no more; Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul!”

II) Christ also died to set His people free from sin by breaking the enslaving power it held over us. If you are in Christ, you are no longer totally depraved; you are no longer a child of wrath; you are no longer a slave to sin.

USE THIS TRUTH TO FOR ENCOURAGEMENT. “Having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness” (Rom. 6:18). You who belong to Christ can say to yourself, “I am no longer a slave to sin. Christ has set me free!” 

V. BECAUSE CHRIST DIED TO SAVE US AND SET US FREE, WE WHO SAINTS SHOULD LIVE LIVES OF CELEBRATION IN GRATEFUL PURITY. “Let us therefore celebrate the festival, not with the old leaven, the leaven of malice and evil, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth” (1 Cor. 5:8). “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me” (Gal. 2:20).

USE THIS TRUTH FOR EXAMINATION. A fake Christian, or perhaps a radically immature one, looks at the cross of Christ as a great reason to excuse sin in his life and in others. A true Christian, one who has been born again, looks at the cross of Christ as the greatest reason to hate sin, labor to put it to death, and live a life of holiness for the glory of God. How do you look at Christ crucified?

My concluding exhortation is simply this: Celebrate Christ and Him crucified every day, precious saints.