Day 1,025: 1 Corinthians 5- Restorative Discipline

It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that is not tolerated even among pagans, for a man has his father's wife. 2 And you are arrogant! Ought you not rather to mourn? Let him who has done this be removed from among you.
3 For though absent in body, I am present in spirit; and as if present, I have already pronounced judgment on the one who did such a thing.4 When you are assembled in the name of the Lord Jesus and my spirit is present, with the power of our Lord Jesus, 5 you are to deliver this man to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord.
6 Your boasting is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump? 7 Cleanse out the old leaven that you may be a new lump, as you really are unleavened. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. 8 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.
9 I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people— 10 not at all meaning the sexually immoral of this world, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters, since then you would need to go out of the world. 11 But now I am writing to you not to associate with anyone who bears the name of brother if he is guilty of sexual immorality or greed, or is an idolater, reviler, drunkard, or swindler—not even to eat with such a one. 12 For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Is it not those inside the church whom you are to judge? 13 God judges those outside. “Purge the evil person from among you.”

Meditation
Church discipline celebrates accountable discipleship, restorative for church relationships by providing a path for sinners to repent. Jesus provides the paradigm for restorative church discipline (Matthew 18:16-18) and, because He paid the penalty for sin, we know church discipline is not punitive.  Discipline is a tool for restoration.
 
The Church is the dwelling place of God’s Spirit (1 Corinthians 6:19-20), no place for unrepentant, habitual sin. The Corinthian church normalized sexual sin by tolerating incestual relationship (1-2). Paul commands the church to humble themselves, remove the leaven so sin does not rise within the whole congregation (3-8), and double down on other areas of sin for the purity of God’s people (9-13). When assembled in the name of the Lord, recognizing the Church is the house of the Lord, we must embrace the standard of the Lord (4-5).
 
Paul addresses the entire church because church discipline is good for the church. First, church discipline benefits unrepentant sinners who need to hear truth in love (5). Paul’s motive is for the perpetrator to know the truth and find salvation (5). Second, church discipline stops sin from normalizing, spreading like cancer in the church. Finally, church discipline benefits the world because it adds potency in purpose to live as salt and light.
 
Sin is never the end of the story. In Christ, there is always room to repent and find restoration. The restoration of this man is found in 2 Corinthians 2:5-8. Christians should receive the benefit and blessing of accountable discipleship practiced in restorative church discipline.
 
Richly Dwelling
-What stands out to you from today’s reading? What questions do you have?
 
-Do you/ does your church celebrate accountable discipleship through church discipline? Why are people afraid to love one another in truth, confronting unrepentant sin?
 
-Which of the three benefits of church discipline in the last paragraph ring true for you in your desire to live as a disciple of Jesus? How can you practice these truths?
 
Key Verse
4 When you are assembled in the name of the Lord Jesus and my spirit is present, with the power of our Lord Jesus, 5 you are to deliver this man to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord.