The Matter of Church Discipline Or Excommunication

# 41 Today's Prime Time Devo comes from: 1Ti 1:20 - “of whom are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I delivered to Satan that they may learn not to blaspheme. (1 Tim 1:20) Let's talk about this process of delivering someone over to Satan. In a word this is the act of excommunication. It is the removal of an individual from the living organism of the local congregation, which is in fact the literal unit of a Holy Spirit filled body of Christ. We have mention of this procedure here in 1 Timothy and also in Paul's letter to the Corinthians. We read about it in, 1Co 5:1-6, “It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and such sexual immorality as is not even named among the Gentiles--that a man has his father's wife! ( A man is engaged in ongoing sexual sin) 2 And you are puffed up, and have not rather mourned, (instead of mourning over this vile and public sin, the congregation in Corinth is proud of their tolerance!) that he who has done this deed might be taken away from among you. (It was their pride and free thinking that prevented them from eliminating this offender from the Body of Christ!) 3 For I indeed, as absent in body but present in spirit, have already judged (as though I were present) him who has so done this deed. 4 In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when you are gathered together, along with my spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ, (This ejection of the unrepentant sinner was to be done by the authority of the Lord Jesus Himself and the charge that He has given to His Body (The local congregation) in Joh 20:23 "If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained." After the Matthew 18 principles of the restoration of a brother have been applied and exhausted, and there is still no repentance, the congregation must act in accordance with 1 Cor 5:5, “deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus. 6 Your glorying is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump?” There are two goals in the act of “turning one over to Satan. The “lump” of the congregation is to be kept pure, and the hope of salvation for the unrepentant sinner is to be held out. This is a very serious matter. Blasphemers like Hymenaeus and other unrepentant sinners (like this man in Corinth) are to be dealt with by the local congregation. This dealing must be steeped in patient wisdom. Not too rushed in judgment and not too slow. Handle these situations, but handle them with love and care.....bottom line, souls that matter to God are at stake!