Church Discipline

➡ Paul, the voiceover for a ministry called Your Daily Bread, discusses the importance of church discipline and avoiding immoral behavior. He emphasizes that sinful actions should not be tolerated in the church, and that believers should strive to live pure, thankful lives. Paul warns against engaging in obscene talk or actions, and reminds listeners that such behavior is not fitting for children of God. He concludes by urging believers not to partake in the sinful actions of the unconverted, as these actions lead to God’s wrath.
➡ This text encourages you to let go of past mistakes, knowing that you are forgiven. It urges you to focus on the present and continue to be a positive influence in the world. You can listen to more of these uplifting messages on goddessgovernment.com. Stay strong, keep your faith, and let it guide you.

Hello, my name is Paul, and I am the voiceover for a ministry provided to you by Jim Pugh at God Is Government called Your Daily Bread, taken from Christ’s teaching of the Lord’s Prayer in Matthew 6.11. This is a daily, devotion ministry focused not only on uplifting Scripture, but Scripture that will grow your spiritual connection with Christ. We hope that you receive these devotions to uplift you, encourage you, but most importantly, advance your knowledge base of the Holy Scriptures. Today’s focus discussion will be on church discipline. Immorality is where church discipline comes in.

That kind of person is to be confronted. Paul says, I, on my part, though absent in body but present in spirit, have already judged him who has so committed this as though I were present. In the name of our Lord Jesus, when you are assembled and I with you in spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus, I have decided to deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of his flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus. You say, well, wait a minute.

If we’re too hard on these sinners, they may not get saved. No, if you’re hard on these sinners, they might get saved. This has no place in the church. John 15.3, those beautiful words of our Lord, and now you are clean through the word. When you are justified, when you are regenerated, you come out clean. Even your conscience is clean. This should never be named in any association of true believers. It’s completely alien, and Paul won’t stop there. He’s going to go even further. You shouldn’t do it. You shouldn’t cultivate sensual thoughts about it, which is another issue that deals with 1 Corinthians.

You don’t want to hang around the people who claim to be Christians, but who are immoral. But he says it shouldn’t even be named among you. It shouldn’t even be discussed. It shouldn’t be something you have to deal with. And then he goes even further in verse 4, no filthiness. That has to do with something which is disgraceful. The root of this is something disgraceful. And if you go down to verse 12, you’ll see that translation in the NAS. It is disgraceful even to speak of the things which are done by them in secret.

You don’t want to participate in any unfruitful deeds of darkness. You want to expose them. It’s disgraceful to even speak about them, let alone sit in the theatre and watch it happen, or watch it on your computer, or on your iPhone, or on your television. No filthiness at all. Nothing that is disgraceful. He goes even further, no silly talk. That word is morologia. First word is moron. Second word is logia, which means word. This is what you call low obscenity. This is the obscenity of a drunkard. This is the obscenity of a lowlife.

This is gutter talk from the lips of a fool. Your language should be purged of any low gutter talk with sexual implications. And then he adds coarse jesting. That word literally means to turn easily, and this is the thing that’s what we call high obscenity. The low obscenity is just the gross gutter talk. The high obscenity is the clever innuendo where somebody thinks in perverse ways, and you could say something completely innocent, and somehow, in a flash, they can turn it into something sexual and something ugly. There’s no room for this kind of behaviour.

There’s no room for greed. This should never be named among you. There’s no place for low obscene talk or high clever sophisticated jesting. None of it. Why? Because it’s not fitting. It’s not fitting. You’re holy ones. You’re the children of God. And Paul turns and simplifies the positive by saying, instead of all of that, why don’t you just give thanks? Why would he say that? Because he wants to turn you away from the idol of your sexual desire, to the living God who’s the source of everything. Just live a thankful life.

That’ll protect you from your idolatry. Just spend your entire life thanking God for what you have, for everything that you have, everything that he has given you. 1 Thessalonians 5, 18. In everything, give thanks, for this is the will of God concerning you. Gracious, thankful speech. Go back to verse 29 in chapter 4. Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for edification according to the need of the moment, so that it will give grace to those who hear. Never should anybody hear from the lips of a child of God, one who is imitating God, one who is to love the way God loves, anything that shows any interest in the deceptive false love of illicit sexual impulses.

And then the final segment of this text, we saw the plea, imitate God. We saw the pattern, the way Christ did. It’s an unconditional, sacrificial, and forgiving love. We saw the perversion in verses 3 and 4. Paul goes right to the punishment in verse 5. For this you know with certainty. This is the final point. This, this you know with certainty. This is something you have heard from me before. No immoral or impure person or covetous man. And he repeats exactly the same words that were back in verse 3. No immoral or impure person or covetous man, who is therefore an idolater, has an inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God.

In other words, if that defines you, you’re not in the kingdom of God. What he is saying is, why would you do the things that people outside the kingdom do? This is inconsistent. You are a beloved child of God. You are the temple of the Holy Spirit. You’re a beloved of the Father, beloved of Christ. You are holy ones. You are citizens of the kingdom. And this you know with certainty. That kind of behavior is characteristic of the people who are outside the kingdom of Christ and God. Why would you ever tolerate that kind of behavior? Titus 2.11.

For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men, instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires, and to live sensibly, righteously, and godly in the present age. Everything in the grace of God that has brought us salvation teaches us to live godly lives. Salvation teaches us that. So verse 6. Let no one deceive you with empty words. Don’t let anybody tell you that you can have a sexual relationship with someone you’re not married to, because you’re in love and because you’re both Christians. Don’t let anybody tell you that it’s okay to be a homosexual and conduct your life in that way and still claim to be a Christian.

You, in fact, have another god, and your god is your own sexual desire. You say, well, I’ve sinned. Yes, yes, you have. I get that. But if you’re a true believer, it’s not the pattern of your life. What happens when I sin? Go back to verse 32 of chapter 4. Be kind of one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you. Now, we’re right back to where we started. If you walk in love, then you’re like God, and God forgives, right? Remember last week? Yes, you’ve sinned in that way.

Yes, I understand that. No one is perfect. But if you belong to Him, you’re forgiven. For you, it’s kind of a paraptoma, Paul calls it. It’s a slip-up. It’s not your god, it’s not your idol. Here we are in a world that’s so twisted that about a week ago we had one day, Memorial Day, to celebrate and give honor to all the men and women through the centuries of American history who have died for our freedoms, one day. And now, for 30 days, we’re supposed to celebrate perversion. It’s just how twisted the world is.

It’s the deception. It’s the kind of behavior for which the wrath of God comes in verse 6. Because of these things, the wrath of God comes on the sons of disobedience. That term was used back in chapter 2 to describe unbelievers. The wrath of God is designed to come down on people who live like this. Why would you entertain that and ever try to justify it? So verse 7, a final exhortation, Therefore do not be partakers with them. Don’t do what the unconverted people do. Don’t live like the world. Don’t be deceived by empty words.

Empty words because of these things. What are these things? Immorality, impurity, greed, which is idolatry, these sexual perversions. Because of those things, hell awaits the sons of disobedience. God hasn’t changed his attitude, and God’s attitude towards sexual sin was pretty well demonstrated in Sodom and Gomorrah. Somebody said that when God spoke about homosexuality in the scripture, he only whispered. I don’t think he was whispering in Genesis 19 when he buried the entire city of Sodom and Gomorrah under fire and brimstone for homosexuality. And I don’t think he was whispering in Numbers 25 when he confronted 24,000 Israelites that had illicit sexual relationships with Moabite women.

And God killed all 24,000 of them. His attitude has not changed. That’s where God’s judgment is going to fall. That’s where his wrath is going to come down. Don’t you be a partaker with that. And if you have in the past, know this, that if that has occurred in your life, you have God’s word that he has forgiven you or your sins. The past is the past. It’s time to make resolve for the present, right? Thank you for joining us in this exploration of church discipline. Until next time, remember to keep the faith, stay strong, and continue to shine your light in the world.

To hear these daily devotions of your daily bread, please log on to goddessgovernment.com. Goodbye, and may your faith always lead the way. [tr:trw].