The Love Behind Church Discipline - Tim Conway

1 Peter 4.

I'm in no way wanting to take

Brother David's thunder from his preaching

through 1 Peter.

It will be awhile before he gets this far.

You probably will forget by then

what I say today.

You'll forget that I did
this message probably.

Hopefully we never forget
the truths of God's Word.

Being brought, like Peter says,

into remembrance of these things

over and over,

and David will come along

and bring us into remembrance of them

again months from now.

1 Peter 4,

"Since therefore Christ
suffered in the flesh,

arm yourselves with
the same way of thinking.

For whoever has suffered in the flesh

has ceased from sin

so as to live for the rest
of the time in the flesh

no longer for human passions,

but for the will of God."

There's a motivation on all life.

In times past, our former manner of life,

you know what guided us?

Our passions. What we wanted.

Lust.

We wanted to fulfill our desires.

It's kind of a worldview.

How do you view everything?

We used to view everything
by the pleasure it gave us;

by the satisfaction it gave us;

by how it made us look,

how it made us feel.

No longer for human passions,

but for the will of God.

The same thing that guided

our Lord Jesus Christ is now
supposed to guide us -

the will of the Father.

That's how we evaluate things.

No longer: how is that
going to make me look?

How is that going to make me feel?

But, what does God think about that?

Is He pleased with it or is He not?

"For the time that is past suffices

for doing what the Gentiles want to do,

living in sensuality, passions,

drunkenness, orgies,

drinking parties, and lawless idolatry.

With respect to this,

they are surprised when
you do not join them

in the same flood of debauchery

and they malign you."

In other words, you get saved.

You no longer run with the pack

and now you're the oddball.

And they don't like it.

"But they will give account to Him

who is ready to judge
the living and the dead.

For this is why the Gospel was preached

even to those who are dead..."

You want to take that
as dead in trespasses.

Not dead physically.

The Bible teaches us nothing about

teaching the Gospel, preaching the Gospel

to those who have already died.

This isn't second chance theology.

"That though judged in the flesh

the way people are, they
might live in the spirit

the way God does."

And there you see the spirituality
of what he's talking about.

"The end of all things is at hand."

Therefore, there's a way to live.

How should we live?

"Be self-controlled and sober-minded

for the sake of your prayers.

Above all..." Aren't
those interesting words?

"Above all..."

Peter doesn't just think everything

is on the same playing field;

that everything is basically equal;

that one thing is just as
important to another thing

in the Christian life.

He actually believes that
there are some things

that are more important.

"Above all,

keep loving one another earnestly,

since love covers a multitude of sins."

Now let's just think about this verse.

This is where I want us to focus.

"Above all,

keep loving one another earnestly,

since love covers a multitude of sins."

More than all the other
things Peter has just said,

above all,

he wants us to give
ourselves to earnest love,

intense love.

Now, love covers a multitude of sins.

There is a question about
whose sins get covered.

You don't have to look far to find

Catholic commentators who believe

the sin that gets covered is yours.

That when you love others,

your sin gets covered,

as though somehow you're atoning

for your misdeeds by your love.

That would not be the way
you want to interpret this.

The key to understanding whose
sins Peter has in mind here

and who's doing the covering -

the first part of the verse

goes with the second part of the verse.

This issue has to do
with our loving others

earnestly, intently, fervently.

It's not the idea that if we love others,

God in turn is going to pardon your sin.

What he's saying is that Christians

loving each other -

when Christians love each other,

one of the things that is expressed

in that love is how we react

to the sins of others;

how we navigate those sins;

how we talk about those sins;

how we regard those sins.

One another.

The "one another" is
really key to this verse.

It has to do with our
interaction in the church

one to the other.

And by the way, if you reflect,

didn't Jesus say something

about our love towards one another

back in John 13?

Anybody remember what He said?

He said that this watching world

is going to know that we're His disciples

when we love one another.

That's the issue.

Now, be careful that you recognize

the "one another" here.

He's talking about the way Christians

react with Christians.

And I'm not saying -

look, I'm not saying that we as Christians

can never overlook
the sins of lost people.

If you're going to be kind
and compassionate to people

you're not going to just pounce

on every little wrong that people do.

But I will say this,

that if you think very
carefully about Ephesians 5,

we are called to be light

and we are called to expose

the deeds of darkness in this world.

So, we need to feel
that tension, by the way.

I just bring that up as far as

the way we interact with the lost.

But notice this.

Notice verse 8, "Above all,

keep loving one another earnestly."

Why? Well, Peter is going
to give us the reason.

The reason Peter is so interested

that we have earnest love
among the brethren

is found in what love does.

You see the sense there.

You see there's a reason.

He says - this is interesting -

you have to feel this for what it is.

Look, he comes to you and he says,

above everything else,
Grace Community Church,

give yourself to intently and
fervently loving one another.

Okay.

And then he says I'm going
to give you a reason why.

Since love covers a multitude of sins.

In other words, if love is active;

if love is operative;

if love is actually
happening in the church

beyond just lip service,

what that love is going to do

is it's going to be expressed

by this very thing.

You see what he's saying?

Above all, let this be true among you.

Why? Because there is a
certain precious quality

about this love.

There is a certain precious manifestation

of this love that is so desirable.

That's why above all give yourself

to this earnest love

because what loving one another

at that earnest, fervent level does

is it has everything to
do with how we relate

to one another when we sin.

That's precisely what he's saying.

One of the most precious things

about love in Peter's thinking is this.

Do you think that way?

You see, this verse helps us

really recognize one
of the great attributes

of love as it's manifest in the church.

We could think about a lot of ways.

You know, Jesus gird
Himself with that towel

and He washed one another's feet,

and He said I'm leaving you an example.

But I'll tell you this,
one of the greatest ways

you can gird yourself with the towel

and wash one another's feet

according to the Apostle Peter

has to do with how we
deal with one another

when it comes to sin.

You clearly see that from the text.

How can we know true love?

There's the answer.

How can we know it?

Now it manifests itself other ways.

I'm not saying that's the only way

that it manifests itself,

but in Peter's estimation,

that is one of the
great qualities of love.

Think about this.

Not just loving your wife,

not just loving people
indiscriminately in the world

or loving your children,

it's the one another.

It's how we interact in the church.

One of the great qualities of love

in the church

has precisely to do with this.

How we view one another

in light of our faults,

in light of our falls,

in light of our sins.

That's what we see here.

Now, "cover." You see the word.

Cover.

"Love covers a multitude of sins."

Let's think about this word "cover."

It literally means to remove from view.

To conceal, to hide, to keep secret.

It's basically to put down
the knowledge of something.

Let me give you a verse.

Luke 8:16, which don't turn there,

but just listen to it.

Because this word "cover" is found there.

Now, when it's used in this verse,

you will pick up it's
used in a negative way.

Peter's using it in a positive way.

But still, this is a very telling verse.

Because just listen to it.

"No one after lighting a lamp

covers it with a jar
or puts it under a bed.

but puts it on a stand,

so that those who
enter may see the light."

Now that's very helpful.

Nobody covers,

after lighting a lamp.

You've got a lamp.

The lamp is giving light.

Nobody covers it.

Now, if you think about it,

what does Jesus have in mind

when He's talking about this lamp?

Brethren, you are the light of the world.

Christ is the light of the world.

He tells us we are the light of the world.

We're salt and light.

We have been endowed with the truth.

We have a commission.

You are not to take this and hide it.

You are not to take what you have
been taught by Christ and hide it.

You're not to cover it.

You're not to put it under a bushel basket

or hide it under a bed.

Rather, what are you supposed to do?

You're supposed to put it on a stand

so that it becomes as visible as possible.

Now that's using cover
in a negative sense.

That is actually blotting out the light

of something that you want to have shine.

Peter is using it in the opposite sense.

He's using it in a negative sense,

but nevertheless, the word means

precisely the same thing.

And, if you think about
just how Jesus uses it,

love does not take the
sins of other Christians

and put it on the lamp stand.

Sin is put under the bed.

It's put under the jar
or the bushel basket.

It's hidden.

That's the issue.

Now, notice - notice carefully.

Love covers a multitude of sins.

It doesn't just say errors only

or weaknesses, but sins.

And it doesn't just say one or two.

It's actually speaking on
a level of multitude.

Look, does this mean that we just

blindly walk around in the church

and act like there's no sin?

Does that mean that when
a brother or sister sins,

we just ignore every one?

I can remember one time at work.

Some conversation came up

among us engineers, and the chief engineer

was in his office

and something was being brought up

and he came out.

And he just covered his ears.

He just "blah blah blah."

He said, "I don't want to hear that.
I don't want to hear that."

Is that how we're supposed to be?

We just go into denial.

Don't tell me. I don't want to know.

I don't want to hear.

I'm going to shut my eyes.
I'm going to shut my ears.

Is that what Peter is teaching?

All we have to do is compare

Scripture to Scripture to know

that is not what he means.

He doesn't mean that we
deny that sin is in the church.

He doesn't mean that
we don't call sin sin.

He doesn't mean that we don't
take recognition that it's here.

He doesn't mean that it's less
evil because we're a Christian

or less detestable to God.

He's not implying any of that.

All you have to do is compare Scripture -

other portions of Scripture

to know that that is
certainly not what he means.

For one, sin is still sin.

Even if sin is found in God's people,

you need to recognize Jesus Christ

died on Calvary's cross to pay for it.

The wrath of God He atoned for up there.

(incomplete thought)

What is sin?

We can think of sin as

perhaps transgression of the law.

Sin is lack of conformity

to what God has expressed in His Word;

to His holy law.

It is lack of conformity
to the Person of Christ.

Do you believe -
brethren, you better believe

that every lack of
conformity to Jesus Christ

is very much on God's radar

and He very much means
to purge it out of us.

He recognizes that which is
detestable to Him that's still in us.

Sin is still sin and it's
called out as such.

You don't find Paul coming
to the Corinthian church

with all that was wrong there

and say, well, you know,

I'm going to heed my brother Peter's words

and love covers a multitude of sin.

So I'm just not going to see,

I'm not going to hear

Chloe's people come to me.

I'm not going to regard that
there's division and quarreling

and sexual sin and all the rest there.

I'm going to be blind to it.

No, no, no...

That doesn't happen.

That doesn't happen.

God does not approve of it.

God hates it.

And we should not approve of it.

Second, Peter says love covers

a multitude of sin; he
doesn't say it covers all sin.

It definitely does not.

The third consideration,

Peter himself on different occasions

had his own sin called out.

He never tells us that Jesus did wrong

or Paul did wrong.

Jesus called him out.

And the Apostle Paul called him out.

What an illustration
that is in Galatians 2!

One apostle calls out another.

And of all the apostles
that are going to be

called out for their sin - Peter.

He knows from his own experience

that it's appropriate to
have your sins called out

in certain circumstances.

The fourth thing to think about is

there are specific commands
in our New Testaments

that tell us we need to deal with sin

and call it out.

And perhaps you can
think of some of those.

Matthew 18 would be a place

that indicates that to us.

And fifth, I want you to think about this.

We must remember what is motivating

the covering of sins.

What it is?

It's love.

If love motivates us to cover sin;

if love is truly the guiding factor,

then love at times is going to require us

to call the sin out.

(incomplete thought)

Here's the thing,

there comes a point
when to not call out sin

harms God's glory.

There are times that it brings reproach.

You remember how David's sin

brought a reproach upon God?

Sin can be a reproach upon Christ.

Sin can harm the whole church.

Sin can harm an individual.

So if we're going to let love
be the guiding motive,

that in itself would tell us

we don't cover all sin.

Not if it's actually harming them

or the church or God's glory.

So, what does it look like?

Covering sin.

What does that look like in the church?

Well, this is one thing.

Love doesn't always look for sin.

Love doesn't come along

with this critical attitude

where it's constantly assuming
the worst about people.

You know you get that in the church.

There are certain people,

and you know what, if we're honest,

we can all put ourselves in that category.

You know, some people are critical

and suspicious at large.

But then any one of us at a different time

we can find ourselves becoming suspicious

of certain individuals, when actually,

there's not any viable evidence

that we should be that way.

So it's not always looking.

That covering sin -
the idea of covering sin.

Brethren, it's minimizing it
where it can be minimized.

I'm not talking about
covering sin in a way

that somehow denies truth.

But you know, brethren,
the reality is this.

We tend to have a knack for pumping up

other people's sin and minimizing our own.

Love covering a multitude of sins

is going to find expression when we're

really trying to deal with
other people in their sin

the same way we want to be dealt
with ourselves when we sin.

And maybe even more than that,

the way we deal with our
own selves when we sin.

You know, it takes a high
place of spiritual maturity

for us to actually get to the place

where we deal with
ourselves equal or harder

with our own sin than we deal with others.

That is a place of amazing
spiritual maturity

when we can get there.

Because by nature, that is not who we are.

Love covering a multitude of sins.

It's precisely where love is lacking

that we constantly walk around

with suspicion and distrust.

You think about this.

I've seen an example of this

in my own life and my own family.

But you think about a wife,

a mother,

who she dearly loves her husband;

dearly loves her children.

You know what?

A woman who dearly loves like that,

she above everybody else is acutely aware

of the faults and failings and falls

and sin of her husband and children.

But she is also going to be the slowest

that wants those things to be made public.

She will seek to put the best spin -

not lie or not against truth -

but she will seek to hide;

she will seek to cover over;

she will seek to
emphasize the excellencies

that are found in
her husband, her children.

That's love.

That's what love does.

When she drops on her knees and prays,

she's very aware of those failings

and is the first to cry out

and want to see those
things healed and helped

and God come.

That's what we're talking.

That's what love does.

You see, a woman like that

is not constantly trying to read

the worst motive possible

into those actions

because love doesn't do that.

Love wants to think the best.

It wants to assume the best.

Brethren, every one of us

come from the same stock.

Children of Adam.

We all come from an Adamic stock.

And we are all very adept at putting

the most negative spin
on people's motives.

"Oh, well, you know why they did that."

See, we try to put the pieces together.

(incomplete thought)

The truth is that sometimes we're right,

but if we're going to be honest,

most of the time we're wrong

when we put the most negative spin on.

Peter says love covers
a multitude of sins.

You see, the thing is this.

Love is genuinely interested

in the good of somebody else.

You know one of the
reasons we like to tale bear

and we like to put the
most negative spin on things.

It's got to do with pride.

Pushing down, making
other people seem less.

It makes us feel like we're
pumping ourselves up here.

But the thing about love

is when you genuinely

have a person's interest in view,

then whether you bring
that sin out into the light

or whether you try to cover it,

it all hinges on what you
feel is going to be best.

That's what's regulating.
That's what's motivating.

It's not you just being cynical.

It's not just you being loving to hear

the juicy tale about
somebody else's wrong.

That is such a horrible attitude
to have in the church.

People just get excited.

They rejoice over other
people's falls and failures.

So often, the reason is

because it just helps put
them in a better light.

If other people can be
dragged through the dirt,

(incomplete thought).

Love is able to rise above being offended.

See, that's another aspect
of other people's sins.

A lot of times those sins are against me.

And now it's not just
how it makes them look

or how it makes me look.

It's: they've wronged me.

And I feel it.

And I've got some grievance towards them.

I've got some bitterness in my soul.

So I want them to pay.

And one of the ways I want them to pay

is I'm going to drag what
they did out in the open.

But here's the thing,

love covering a multitude of sins...

love can be wronged,

and it's not thinking about me

and how their wrong affected me.

See, I can go back to that wife.

That wife who gets wronged by her husband

or gets wronged by her children.

But see, love still is thinking

not so much about how I've been offended;

how that made me hurt;
how that made me sorrow;

how that made me grieve;
how that made me bitter;

how that just wasn't true

and how I've been insulted

and how there's been injustice.

You see, love still in that moment

says: I love them

and I want their greatest good.

And it's thinking about that

even at a time

when an offense has been given -

still thinking about the
greatest good of others.

That's the idea.

Love thickens our skin.

So that every little offense
we don't have to

bring out into the open.

We don't have to deal with;

we don't have to go and
pull aside the brother:

"you offended me."

Love tends to put away hypersensitivity.

And it can help us focus.

Look, I'm not saying there isn't a time

to pull a brother aside or a
sister aside and talk to them.

That's not what I'm getting at.

I'm just saying people who are proud

get offended easy.

And that's love of self,
not love of others.

Brethren, the reality is that
when offenses come,

when sins come,

we actually have to be doing

a sort of spiritual mathematics.

We have to calculate.

We have to size things up.

We have to be careful that we don't

let our own sense of being offended

rule the day.

But we're actually able to step back

and ask out of love,

does covering this help
my brother or sister more?

And you know what? Peter, by telling us

love covers a multitude of sins,

he's got in mind that there's a multitude

of sins that take place in the church

that should be covered.

They don't need to be
brought out into the open.

That's what he's saying to us.

And brethren, if we're all honest

with our own failures and our own faults,

when's the last time you
lived a perfect day, by the way?

And if we just start thinking about

how would we like to be dealt with?

Love does not just quickly
jump on the bandwagon

to assume the worst.

It's thinking about others.

Instead of being offended
by the sins of others,

love is concerned with the
welfare of that person.

The love Peter's talking about

doesn't take pleasure in exposing

the weaknesses in our brother's character.

Look, the truth is sin is ugly.

Scott talked about it the first hour.

There's no spin you can put on sin

to make it beautiful. It's not.

It's ugly.

And there are many sins that come

out of God's people that are ugly

and they're evil.

But you know the thing we
need to think about, brethren,

is God is at work in
my brother and sister.

God has forgiven that sin.

God doesn't deal with them

about every single sin.

Isn't that amazing in your own life?

You think about the falls
and failures you have.

And I can't tell you how many Christians

have fallen in their Christian life

and got up and they've kind of winced

and they've drawn back

because they've expected God

to put the belt to them,

And God lavished them with His arms

and pulled them in

and hugged them and kissed them.

Christian, have you ever been there?

That's how we want to be dealt with.

And love is going to seek to make that

very much a way that we're going to seek

to deal with others.

Loving disposition leads us

to pass by the faults of others,

to forgive offenses against ourselves

without making a big deal out of them,

to excuse, to lessen
the blemishes of others

as is consistent with truth.

But brethren, I'll tell you a whole lot

about what happens when we think about

the sins of others

is we assume motives all the time.

All the time.

And you have to remember,

love believes all things.

Look, you have to take that in context.

Scripture doesn't tell us
to believe a false gospel.

It doesn't call us to believe everything.

Believe all things is -

brethren, that needs to be the flavor

of our lives.

Obviously, when the evidence indicates

I can't believe something,

you don't want to be a fool

and believe what you should not believe -

what the evidence clearly tells us.

But brethren, we are so
quick to believe things

before we have the evidence.

And love is going to seek to really think

when we hear something

or when we view something

or something happens to us,

examine the evidence.

I mean, what I'm saying is

do the moral calculations in your head.

What do I really know
about this situation?

If I actually tried to put
the best spin on this,

what could this be actually
putting the best spin on this?

Tremendous way to encourage

unity, peace, and love in the church.

Brethren, to our shame,

we have to admit

there tends to be a natural propensity,

a proneness, a quickness in all of us

by nature - by that old Adamic nature -

and I know we're new creations in Christ,

but we have to cleanse ourselves

of these impurities.

And many of these impurities that come

from our past - it's right here, brethren.

We are very prone and very quick

to minimize our own sin

and maximize others.

It's just a reality.

There's a proneness in every one of us

to receive reports - negative reports -

to propagate them;

to speak about them.

We don't naturally
have an over-willingness

to have our own reputation attacked,

blasted.

Brethren, I pray that God would
put a healthy shame in us

if we have a tendency towards this,

and resist every
opportunity to indulge in it.

Brethren, it takes thought.

Love always does.

Love takes effort. It takes thought.

(incomplete thought)

You know, love your wife
as Christ loved the church.

You see, He doesn't want
us to be thoughtless.

He wants us to think about
how Christ loved the church.

Love is always like that.

You need to be thinking
if you're going to love.

The thoughtless person

is not going to be a person

that is going to excel
in this kind of love.

We're going to avoid this, clearly,

Peter says, by the law of Christ.

The law of love.

When we're wronged,

Peter wants us to do
the proper calculations;

the proper assessments.

How so?

Love. Does love demand?

When I do the calculations,

is this a sin I should let go?

Or is there something about this sin,

this offense, that love demands

that I should confront my brother?

Be careful here.

Brethren, be careful.

You know what we can do?

We can be offended,

and the real reason we don't deal with it

is we're cowards.

We can chalk it up to:

Oh, love covers a multitude of sins.

And then you go out the door

and you've got a grudge there.

Brethren, I'll tell you,
if you lay it down:

I am no longer going to treat
that brother or sister the same

after what they did to me,

you've got a problem.

Look, I would say this.

You don't have to deal with
Matthew 18 all the time.

A brother sins against you.

You can be thick-skinned.

You can cover it over.

And if you can do that and you

go on your way loving
that brother or sister

just as much as you did
before or even more,

that's good.

But don't in the name of love
covering a multitude of sins

walk away when the truth is

you're holding a grudge

and you've got bitterness in your heart.

We need to be honest

because that isn't love.

That only creates disunity in the church.

That's all that is.

Harboring bitterness.

Love in the church would have us to be

slow to accuse,

slow to assume the worst,

slow to be offended.

Quick to admit our own faults.

Quick to repent on our own.

Quick to forgive others.

That's the issue.

Yes, brethren, we want a holy church.

So we need to deal with sin.

But we want that holiness always

side by side with love.

You just consider God's love for you.

And you consider how heavily laden

you yourself are with faults;

how often you stand
in need of forgiveness;

how often you are blameworthy;

how often you fall short
of the glory of God;

how often you offend others;

how often you are not kind to others.

Brethren, have you never thought really

about those words at the
beginning of Romans 2?

Basically, what Paul is saying right there

is you who judge others,

you basically just convicted yourself.

Every single time any
one of us in this room

has pointed the finger at somebody else

and their faults and their sins,

you've been guilty of the same thing.

Not typically good when the convicts

are standing out there
and they're lined up

and they're pointing fingers at each other

when they're standing before the judge.

Just take heed, brethren.

Take heed.

This is all the opposite of love

when you drag poor brother so-and-so

or sister so-and-so's sin out.

And you know, we can bring
up things with people

that other people never
would have even suspected.

You just smeared somebody's reputation.

You just smeared their name.

And you know what, even if it's true,

it doesn't mean you needed to do that.

Brethren, do you recognize,

there are lots of things that are true

that don't need to be said.

Truth does not dictate that
we bring everything

out into the open.

Do you see it here?

You have a mission as a Christian.

A mission of love.

You have a mission as a Christian

to be a coverer of sins.

So I would say this, apply yourself to it.

Really give yourself.

Like I say, it takes effort.

You need to pray this in.

You need to ask God to forgive you

where you've fallen short of this,

and you need to ask God to give you

the grace to be precisely
what we have here:

a coverer of sin.

Here's the thing.

It's like this,

it's almost like if you have information

about somebody else that's negative,

it's like God has put a responsibility

into your hands.

Like you have this information.

And He is saying to you,

you have a responsibility

to guard that information

and to be responsible and let love

dictate what you do with it.

Because every one of us,

you get in a church like this,

you're going to find out
things that are wrong.

You're going to find out sin.

God's thrown a lot of saved people

with a lot of faults still and flesh,

He throws us together in a church.

And if you're here any amount of time,

people get to know you.

The good and the bad.

And so we all are basically being given

this deposit of information
about one another.

You see what Peter's saying?

Protect it.

Guard it.

Let love dictate how you use it.

Never think -

never think you're going
to make yourself great

by tearing down other people.

Love one another fervently.

So it's a great part of our Christian duty

to cover the sins of others.

But brethren, think with me here.

There are times when
we must not cover sin.

And to do so would be wrong,

because certain sins, like I say,

they're not honoring to God,

they're not safe to the church,

and they're not safe for the individual.

(Incomplete thought).

I'm just going to give you some examples

when you don't want to cover sin.

One: When sin endangers

the entire church's relationship to God,

and I might say to the holy God.

You say, what do you mean by that?

I mean Achan's sin brought
down the whole camp.

You say, really? Does that
happen in the church?

I'll tell you this,

I think one of the most telling

of the seven letters written

to the churches in Asia Minor

is that letter to Thyatira.

You know what He says to them?

You - you as a church have tolerated

this sin, this unqualified teacher,

and this bad teaching in your church.

And He calls the whole church to task.

Do you know when you go over

to 1 Corinthians 5

and they are allowing
the sexual immorality

that they were allowing in the church?

He finds fault with the whole church

and he calls them out as being arrogant.

And I'll tell you this,

we can grieve the Holy Spirit of God

and we can quench that Spirit.

If we allow sin in this church

that allows the Spirit
of God to be quenched

with the operation of the whole church,

don't believe that because
somebody else is sinning

and you know about it,

you're aware of it, and you cover it over

when it ought not to be covered over,

don't for a second think

that Christ Himself excuses you.

He that is Lord of the church

and walks in the midst
of those candlesticks,

He looked at the whole church

and He said you as a whole

are tolerating this sin in your midst,

and He faulted them

as a whole church for it.

When they allowed the sin

that was allowed at Corinth,

the inspired author Paul

faulted the whole church.

We have a responsibility there.

Next: When sin causes
us to lose a brother.

You say, what do you mean?

Well, Matthew 18 says this:

If my brother sins against me,

you go to him.

Does that mean you have to
go to him about every sin?

Look, Scripture says this:

Proverbs - the prudent ignores an insult.

Does it mean every time you're insulted,

you have to deal with it?

No, it does not.

Is Jesus Christ teaching
that every single time

somebody deals with you in any way

that's less than perfect,

you need to go to them?

That is not what He's saying.

That is not.

Brethren, you know what Paul said

to the church at Corinth?

You guys are suing one another.

He said you'd be better off
if you were just wronged.

I know you can say, well,
is that necessarily saying

that they shouldn't deal with
people that sin against them?

I'm just saying this.

Paul is saying just accepting
being wronged at times

is a better way to go.

I know it may be compared
over against what?

I think of this.

Jesus Christ said to His own disciples,

"Gentlemen, I am going to Jerusalem,

and I am going to die."

They turned to each other and they start

arguing with each other about
who's going to be the greatest.

And I would ask you this:

is that an insult against
our Lord Jesus Christ?

Massively so.

He who is greatest of all

is going to do one of the
greatest demonstrations

of His greatness.

And these guys are arguing

about who's going to be greatest.

And He does not turn to them and say,

"you know what?

You guys are an offense to Me."

Do you know what love does right then?

He turns to them.

He's been insulted.

They basically just
blew right past the fact

He's saying "I'm going to die."

And He says, "Gentlemen,
I want to teach you

about humility."

Rather than condemning them,
He teaches them.

That's the kind of thing
that I find in Scripture.

You think about Joseph.

You know when Joseph found

that his wife was with child.

Isn't it interesting?

Scripture actually says this about him.

It says that "Mary's husband Joseph,

being a just man,

he was unwilling to put her to shame

and he resolved to divorce her quietly."

In other words, the very
justness of the man -

he was still going to divorce her,

but you know, a woman that was unfaithful

should have been stoned.

He covers this over.

I'm saying this,

just because you're sinned against

doesn't mean you have to
bring it out into the open.

It does not.

It doesn't mean you have to deal with it.

God, give us a thick skin

to have to deal with less and less.

But you see the reality of Matthew 18 is

you go to the brother,

and it talks about if
your brother hears you,

you've gained your brother.

And I would say this,

if your brother or sister has
done something to you

that has caused you to lose them -

you've fallen out of fellowship
with them because of that -

then you go to them.

Don't let the unity of the church;

don't let the harmony be affected.

If what somebody has done to you,

you can't put it away

and forgive it and be done with it,

then you make sure you go.

When sin causes us to lose a brother.

When sin pollutes the
church with destructive error.

Look, the reality is

when error comes into the church,

we need to deal with it.

Paul has some of the strongest words

you can imagine towards those

who introduced error into the church.

We want to deal with that
kind of sin immediately.

I would say this, when sin divides.

You have this reality in Romans.

"I appeal to you, brothers, to watch out

for those who cause divisions

and create obstacles
contrary to the doctrine

that you have been taught."

Divisive people.

Divisiveness is something

that needs to be brought to the surface.

Divisive people in the church

destroy the unity of the church.

They pit people against each other.

People that are obviously doing that,

it needs to be called out.

Brethren, unrepentant sin.

One of the things is

you think about the
whole flow of Matthew 18.

If you go to your brother
and they don't respond,

you bring more.

If they don't respond,
you take it to the church.

You see, unrepentant sin

should not be tolerated in the church.

That can't be allowed.

That is going to grieve the Spirit.

(incomplete thought)

We want to encourage that good soil

of constant repentance.

If we see people becoming stiff,

becoming hardened,

becoming calloused by sin,

and there's a lack of repentance,

we need to deal with it.

We need to deal with it for their sake.

We need to deal with it
for the sake of the church.

And that brings me to this:

We need to deal with sin when sin

leavens the whole lump.

And you know that argument comes

from 1 Corinthians 5.

That is the reason that
Paul tells those people

to deal with that specific man

that was in the sin in that church

because he did not want that unholiness

having effect on the whole.

Brethren, if it is known amongst us

that there is sin in our midst

and it is not being dealt with,

you know what it does?

It sends a signal that that's tolerated.

We don't want to do that.

It lowers the bar.

We don't want to do that.

I want you to know this.

Sins are brought to the elders ears

fairly regularly.

You get a church of this size,

there's some sort of sin

that seems to be going on all the time.

And certain people are made aware of it.

And they may try to deal
with it to some degree.

And for whatever reasons,

it gets reported to us elders.

We sit in elders meetings

and we discuss certain things.

And there's always a wrestling

with how should we proceed forward;

how do we deal with this.

Let me tell you this, brethren.

There is no perfect science.

You can say, well, doesn't it deal
with false doctrine over there? Yes.

Doesn't it deal with
division over there? Yes.

Doesn't it deal with sexual
immorality over there? Yes.

But let me tell you something,

it is never a perfect science.

None of the examples in Scripture

ever seem to precisely deal

with the situation that
we are confronted with.

And brethren, Scripture is that way

because God doesn't want us

to simply live by a set of rules.

He wants us to live walking with Him.

He wants us to live searching Scripture,

taking the principles,
taking the passages,

seeking wisdom from Him,

and seek to apply those.

No perfect science.

The truth is we've got
to be led of the Spirit.

Now, right here at the end,

I want to take you to 1 Corinthians 5.

I want you to see something.

1 Corinthians 5.

Let me tell you about the situation.

Paul received a report.

Sexual immorality among
the Corinthian church.

It's a pretty severe kind.

And he accuses the church as a whole

for being arrogant because they have not

properly dealt with this sin.

Let us not be arrogant this way.

They should have been mourning.

And he says this:

"Let him who has done this
be removed from among you."

Now, I would just point this out.

He doesn't say send the elders

and see if they're repentant.

Look, I'm not saying anything like that

necessarily happened or didn't happen.

How the elders of the church of Corinth

were involved with this man I don't know.

Every appearance is that
nobody in the church

was dealing with this the
way it needed to be dealt with

because that's why you're
getting the accusation

made against the whole
church the way they are.

They basically looked over this;
they looked past this.

Here's the thing,

he doesn't say, okay, you
all have been wrong

in dealing with this.

Why haven't you enacted Matthew 18?

Because there are different
ways of dealing with sin.

And he doesn't say go
see if he's repentant.

Go see if he'll move out

from living with his step-mother.

There's just an immediacy here.

Do this.

Now, I believe that if you
search the second letter,

I believe to the best of my understanding

that it is very likely that there is a man

in that second letter that is restored

from some sort of situation.

Although it doesn't
specifically say it's this man,

perhaps it is.

But here's the thing, you go down

through this account,

and you go down to v. 11.

"Now I am writing to you not to associate

with anyone who bears the name of brother

if he is guilty of sexual immorality."

Guilty for how long?

Guilty when? Guilty how far back?

You notice that Paul doesn't say -

(incomplete thought).

As elders - even as Christians -

we want all these details.

Lord, give us all the facts.

Give us more than this.

They're just told to put him out.

Here's what I would say to you.

These are the kind of things

that in reality we get
faced with as elders.

What if a man's committing grievous sins

like you see here,

and is confronted about his sins

and he says he repents?

Case closed?

Actually, he doesn't say that you should

find out if the man repents,

because evidently by his life

there was not at that
moment in time necessarily

significant evidence of any repentance.

What if this man had said,

they had their meeting,

they're getting ready to put
him out of the church

and he showed up and he said,

"hey guys, I repent."

What do you think?

Should they still have put him out?

We're simply not told.

But if you're letting love dictate,

because that's really where
we have to come back to,

we have to ask a lot of questions.

We have to ask about what's
being communicated to the church

about how we maintain
a standard of holiness.

What's being said to the
watching community

about the way our church handles holiness?

How are we portraying God by
the way we deal with this?

Yes, we want to portray Him on the side

of being gracious and kind, but we also

want to portray Him on the side

that He hates sin,

and He wants a pure church

and He wants sin dealt with.

What if a man committed sins

of this type of nature

that we're being told to
disassociate from people,

and in the past, we have
dealt with that person

and they have apologized

and they have said they repent,

and we then gave them
opportunity to prove that

and they haven't?

And we've gone back to them again

a second time, a third time, a fourth time

and they keep saying they're sorry

every time we go back,

but the fact is

there's not any change.

You see, these things
are not always so easy.