OceanSide church of Christ

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WHAT THE BIBLE TEACHES ABOUT…

Withdrawal of Fellowship (2)

Victor M. Eskew

 

INTRODUCTION

 

A.    Last week we began a three-part study on the subject, “Withdrawal of Fellowship.”

1.      We noted that the church is a holy nation (I Pet. 2:9).

2.      God wants the church to maintain its holiness (I Thess. 4:7).

3.      Anything that defiles and contaminates the church is to be cast out.

a.      Unresolved personal transgressions (Matt. 18:15-17).

b.      Doctrinal error (Rom. 16:17).

 

B.      In this lesson, we want to continue to examine the passages that deal with the withdrawal of fellowship.

 

I.                   I CORINTHIANS 5:1-13

 

A.    There was sin in the church at Corinth (I Cor. 5:1).

 

It is reported commonly that there is fornication among you, and such fornication as is not so much as named among the Gentiles, that one should have his father’s wife.

 

1.      Fornication:  a broad term that includes all types of sexual sins.

2.      Here, Paul defines the term.  One had his father’s wife.

a.      This was not his mother because of the wording used by the apostle.

b.      It was most likely his step-mother.

 

B.      Four times Paul tells the church what they are to do with this morally defiled man.

1.      “Deliver such an one unto Satan” (I Cor. 5:5).

2.      “Purge out therefore the old leaven” (I Cor.5:7).

3.      “Not to keep company, if any man that is called a brother be a fornicator” (I Cor. 5:11).

4.      “Therefore put away from among yourselves that wicked person” (I Cor. 5:13).

 

C.     Several important points to notice:

1.      Paul is telling the church to withdraw from one engaged in immorality.

2.      It is possible for a church to rebel against this teaching (I Cor. 5:2).

 

But ye are puffed up, and have not rather mourned, that he that hath done this deed might be taken away from among you.

 

3.      The action was authorized by Jesus Christ (I Cor. 5:4).

 

In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ…

 

4.      It was a congregational action.  I was to be done when they came together (I Cor. 5:4).

5.      It was a strong, decisive action:  taken away, deliver unto Satan, purge out, not to keep company, put away.

6.      It involved social contact (I Cor. 5:11).

 

…with such an one no not to eat.

 

7.      It had a purpose (I Cor. 5:5).

 

To deliver such an one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the Spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.

 

a.      Destruction of the flesh

1)      The practices of the flesh

2)      Christians are supposed to be spiritual.

b.      To save the spirit when the Lord returns

 

II.                EPHESIANS 5:11

 

And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them.

 

A.    This verse is more of a prohibition than an action of withdrawal.

 

B.      In the context, Paul makes several contrasts:

1.      Children of God versus children of disobedience

2.      Saints versus whoremongers, unclean persons, and covetous men

3.      Inheritance in the kingdom of Christ versus the wrath of God

4.      Fruit of the Spirit versus the unfruitful works of darkness

5.      Children of light versus darkness

 

C.     Paul commands two actions:

1.      Have no fellowship:  no interaction, no participation, no joint sharing, no communion, no social intercourse

2.      Reprove them

a.      Strong (1651):  confute admonish

b.      Thayer:  convict, confute, generally with a suggestion of shame of the person convicted, to find fault with, correct by word, to reprehend severely, chide, show one his fault

c.       Jesus was the Master of expressing and reproving those in sin.

 

III.             II THESSALONIANS 3:6

 

Now we command you brethren, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, that ye withdraw yourselves from every brother that walketh disorderly and not after the tradition which he received of us.

 

A.    This is one of the most commonly used texts about withdrawal of fellowship.

1.      It uses the word “withdraw” in the verse.

2.      It begins with the words:  “Now we command you…”

3.      It involves the most common reason for withdrawal, that is, walking disorderly.

 

B.      Two definitions:

1.      Withdraw:

a.      Strong (4724):  abstain from associating with

b.      Thayer:  to remove one’s self, to depart, to abstain from familiar intercourse with

2.      Walketh disorderly

a.      Strong (814):  irregularly

b.      Thayer:  out of ranks, deviating from the prescribed order of rule

C.     In the context, the disorderly walk involves two things:

1.      Refusing to work

2.      Being busybodies in other individual’s matters

 

D.    The disorderly from whom we withdraw are those who consistently forsake the assembly.

1.      They are definitely “out of step.”

2.      NOTE:  Once a month does not a faithful Christian make.

 

IV.             II THESSALONIANS 3:14-15

 

And if any man obey not our word by this epistle, note that man, and have no company with him, that he may be ashamed.  Yet count him not as an enemy, but admonish him as a brother.

 

A.    This passage is parallel to the previous verse.

1.      Obey not our word by this epistle = walketh disorderly.

2.      Have no company with = withdraw from such an one

 

B.      The purpose of this action:  “that he may be ashamed”

1.      A sense of shame is supposed to cause the person to repent of his/her disobedience and be restored to the fellowship.

2.      Withdrawing does not always cause a person to return.

a.      We wait too long before we withdraw.

b.      The heart of the person is stubborn and hard (See Jer. 3:3).

 

Therefore the showers have been withholden, and there hath been no latter rain, and thou hast a whore’s forehead, thou refusedst to be ashamed.

 

c.       Remember, repentance is not the only purpose of withdrawing.  It also serves to keep the fellowship of Christ holy.

 

C.     Paul also gives us another responsibility:  “count him not as an enemy, but admonish him as a brother.”

1.      Withdrawal is not the final act toward the one withdrawn from.

2.      Ex., two brothers in Christ who golf together

 

CONCLUSION

 

A.    Two things were added to the list of things that can bring withdrawal:

1.      Immorality

2.      Walking disorderly, that is, being disobedient

 

B.      Two things stand out about withdrawal from our study.

1.      This is not an obscure command.

2.      God describes the action in so many ways that the church cannot misunderstand her obligation in the matter of withdrawal.