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Trinity
Bible Church 7/16/06 Introduction: Our summer series is from 9 Marks of a Healthy Church by Mark Dever.
Church
discipline gives parameters to church membership. The idea seems
negative to people today – “didn’t our Lord forbid judging?” But if
we cannot say how a Christian should not live, how can we say
how he or she should live? Each local church actually has a
biblical responsibility to judge the life and teaching of its
leaders, and even of its members, especially as either could
compromise the church’s witness of the Gospel. What ever happened to church discipline? Once a normal part of church life biblical correction, admonition, rebuke, and excommunication have become all but extinct - dinosaurs on a contemporary horizon that is now more dominated by worship wars and polished programs than by biblical health and holiness.
He who said Do not judge, so that you will not be judged (Matt 7:1) also said Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment (John 7:24). And Paul queries the Corinthians Do you not judge those who are within the church? But those who are outside, God judges. "Remove the wicked man from among yourselves" (1Cor 5:12-13). Evidently both Jesus and Paul really do want us to judge one another in some ways, even though they do not want us to judge one another in other ways. And with that, of course, we arrive at the matter of church discipline.
How do we judge one another "with righteous judgment" in the church? How do pastors and leaders shrewdly discern sin in the sheep under their charge, and then respond to it biblically, wisely, and winsomely? When should we exercise discipline, and why? What does the Bible say about the responsible exercise of godly church discipline? Who exactly is responsible to carry out such discipline? What happens if we neglect it?
I. Is All Discipline Negative?
A. We commonly use the word discipline in both positive and negative ways. See page 169 1st and 2nd paragraphs.
We exercise discipline at the table when we want to lose weight or at the gym when we want to gain muscle. We exercise it in our spiritual lives when we develop holy habits of Bible reading and prayer. Our physical trainers and pastors exercise it over us when they teach us new principles and encourage us to develop new habits that are good for our bodies and spirits. These are all positive or formative uses of the word "discipline". To exercise discipline in this way is to form or shape ourselves or others by self-control, teaching, exhortation, or encouragement. We also exercise discipline in the home when see our children doing something wrong, dangerous, or hurtful and correct them for it. We exercise it in the courts when we punish convicted criminals. These last examples are negative or corrective uses of the word "discipline". To exercise discipline in this way is to correct or reprove for the purposes of restored health, continued growth, and the prevention of future sin.
B. There are both positive and negative aspects to church discipline as well. Some church discipline is indeed negative or corrective - warning, rebuke, admonition, excommunication. These are all designed to awaken the sinning member to the reality and gravity of continuing in their sin instead of repenting of it. Some church discipline is actually positive or formative - teaching, preaching, modeling, discipling, even implementing biblical structures of accountability in the church. Positive forms of church discipline are all designed to strengthen members against the seductive power of sin by teaching biblical principles and modeling practical applications that cultivate godliness and lessen the likelihood of being overcome by temptation.
C. Even negative aspects of church discipline are ultimately positive! This is true because in all forms of corrective discipline, the goal is a positive goal, not a negative one. The goal is never to pronounce the church's condemnation of a person's soul - that is not the church's prerogative. This is what Jesus means by "Judge not, lest ye be judged." Rather, the proper goal of exercising corrective discipline is always to rescue a sheep from falling over a precipice and to bring it back into the protective proximity of the Good Shepherd. Thus, all godly corrective discipline is redemptive in motive and intent. A positive corollary to redemption of the individual is the protection or restoration of the corporate witness of the church in the community after being soiled by a publicly known sin committed by a church member. Therefore, even negative or corrective church discipline is ultimately positive, because its motive and intent are redemptive at both the individual and corporate levels.
II. What Does the Bible Say About Church Discipline? Hebrews 12:5-11
5My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, Nor faint when you are reproved by Him; 6for those whom the Lord loves He disciplines, and He scourges every son whom He receives. 7It is for discipline that you endure; God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom his father does not discipline? 8But if you are without discipline, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. 9Furthermore, we had earthly fathers to discipline us, and we respected them; shall we not much rather be subject to the Father of spirits, and live? 10For they disciplined us for a short time as seemed best to them, but He disciplines us for our good, so that we may share His holiness. 11All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness. Hebrews 12:5-11
A. God disciplines us lovingly, for our good.
1. God's motive in disciplining us is His love for us (v6). We know intuitively as parents that love is not always lenient - love doesn't always let them do whatever they want. If I let one of my children touch a hot stove repeatedly without disciplining, I do not love them enough to keep them from burning themselves. My discipline or lack thereof, reflects on the quality and extent of my love for them. In the same way, if God lets us continue to commit the same sin with impunity, He does not love us enough to teach us the importance of avoiding the burn of sin. It follows that if a church member sees his brother sinning continually and says or does nothing, that lack of discipline reflects poorly on the quality and extent of the member's love for his brother.
2. If God did not discipline us, we would have reason to question whether or not He even claims us as His own children (vv7-8). Just because I have my own children doesn't mean I am responsible for disciplining the children of others. Indeed, outside a classroom setting, we all discipline our own children in ways that we would never presume to discipline other children. If God didn't discipline us, He would be treating us as someone else's children, not His own. Discipline is therefore an ironically comforting token of membership in God's family.
3. God disciplines us for our own good, so that we may share His holiness and yield the fruit of righteousness (vv10-11). God's loving discipline has separation from sin (holiness) and conformity to God's standard (righteousness) as the proper ends in view. So as we think about and experience God's discipline and church discipline, we do well to remind ourselves that God's ultimate goals in disciplining us are the positive goals of cultivating holiness and righteousness in us - our growth is His goal.
B. God wants us to discipline each other lovingly, for their good. Matt 18:15-17 If your brother sins, go and show him his fault in private; if he listens to you, you have won your brother. But if he does not listen to you, take one or two more with you, so that by the mouth of two or three witnesses every fact may be confirmed. If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector. Matt 18:15-17
1. It is a sign of love to show someone a fault. If my child is foolishly playing ball in a busy street, it shows no love for him whatsoever to allow him to keep playing in such danger. If I love him, I will warn him seriously. And if necessary, I will discipline him appropriately. In the same way, if I really love someone and see a spiritual fault in them, I'll notify them of their wrong. If I talk to others in deprecating ways about that fault, I reveal the falsity or shallowness of my supposed affection. The reason for telling someone their wrong is potential repentance and obedience. The reason for talking behind someone's back about their wrong is a multiplication of sin - the continued sin of my friend, and now my own sin of not loving him enough to confront, or even showing disaffection for him by spreading gossip or slander.
2. It is a sign of concern for another's good to show them a fault in order to win them back. Your motive in taking your son aside should be to stop him from exposing himself to further danger, not to punish him just for punishment's sake or to show him who's boss. The same principle holds true in the church. Our motive in taking someone aside to show him his fault should be to lead him to repentance, not to lord it over him. It should be for the brother's good - for the integrity of his verbal profession, for the reputation of his character, and for the reformation of his ways.
3. It is a sign of love and concern to show godly persistence through a person's denial. If you see your son continuing to play in the street after he’s already disciplined for it, you wouldn't be much of a father if you just gave up on him and went back inside, or acted as if he should learn the hard way. In the same way, we are not good brothers and sisters to each other when we abdicate our responsibility to confront sin at the first sign of resistance on the part of the offender. We do our loving duty, and show our loving concern, by prevailing upon the offender with other Christians in private conversation.
4. It is a sign of love, concern, and holiness to break fellowship in order to regain a brother or sister from unrepentant sin. Here, among other places, is where the analogy breaks down. Few of us can imagine kicking our son out of the house for playing in the street. Yet when we break fellowship with a brother over his sin, we communicate to him the gravity of his unrepentant attitude, the extreme danger of his situation, and the questionable nature of his verbal profession. Conversely, if we refuse to break fellowship with a brother because of unrepentant sin in his life, we communicate the false notion that it is OK for him to call himself a Christian while nursing unrepentant sin in his heart. In doing this, we actually help pave the way for his own self-deception regarding his spiritual state. The least loving thing we can do is to allow one another to continue in unrepentant sin under the fatal delusion that belief without repentance will save (cf. James 2:14-26).
C. God cares enough about our understanding and application of His truth to implement serious sanctions when we disobey it. 1Cor 5:5, 11; 2Thess 3:6-15; 1Tim 1:20; 5:19-20; Titus 3:10-11; Matt 18:17
1Cor 5:5 - I have decided to deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of his flesh. 1Cor 5:11 - I wrote you to not associate with any so-called brother if he is an immoral person, or covetous, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or a swindler - not even to eat with such a one. 2Thess 3:6-15 - In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, we command you, brothers, to keep away from every brother who is idle and does not live according to the teaching you received from us… If anyone does not obey our instruction in this letter, take special note of him. Do not associate with him, in order that he may feel ashamed. Yet do not regard him as an enemy, but warn him as a brother. 1Tim 1:20 - Among them are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I have handed over to Satan to be taught not to blaspheme. 1Tim 5:19-20 - Do not entertain an accusation against an elder unless it is brought by two or three witnesses. Those who sin are to be rebuked publicly, so that the others may take warning. Titus 3:10-11 - Warn a divisive person once, and then warn him a second time. After that, have nothing to do with him. You may be sure that such a man is warped and sinful; he is self-condemned. Matt 18:17 - If he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector.
III. What is Meant by "Church Discipline," and What Does it Involve?
We've already seen how Jesus' maxim judge not, lest ye be judged has been misused to avert rebuke or correction from other Christians. We've also seen that both Jesus and Paul actually mandate certain kinds of judgment in John 7 and 1Cor 5. What remains then is to define the ways in which we are commanded to judge within the church. And this is simply to ask the question; “What is meant by church discipline, and what does it involve?" In its broadest sense, church discipline is the whole complex of teaching, preaching, structures, practices, and censures which clarifies acceptable behavior from that which is unacceptable for members of a local church. This broad definition may be broken down into the formative and corrective aspects of church discipline.
A. Formative church discipline is that form of discipline which is preventative rather than restorative. It shapes the congregation's beliefs and values according to biblical principles and standards before sin occurs so that members are less likely to fall into serious sin that calls for corrective action. Preaching, teaching, modeling, mentoring, and responsibility in receiving new members are the primary forms of formative discipline. Brief definitions are provided below.
1. Preaching - expounding the meaning of a text with a view towards applying that meaning to both believers and unbelievers through exhortation, encouragement, or consolation. 2. Teaching - expounding the informational content and doctrine of the Bible, with less of an eye towards exhortation or practical application and more of a view towards developing accuracy and soundness in our thinking about God, Scripture, doctrine, and ourselves. 3. Modeling - providing a behavioral example of godly life and ministry for other Christians to follow. 4. Mentoring - meeting with another Christian with the expressed intent of doing them good spiritually. 5. Responsibility in receiving new members - taking care to verify, as accurately as externally possible, the newness of each candidate's heart by hearing their testimony, listening for a biblical understanding of the gospel, and looking for observable fruit that comports with genuine repentance and belief.
B. Corrective church discipline is that form of discipline which is restorative rather than preventative. It is an exercise of judgment or censure within the church that brings sanctions for behavior that is unacceptable for a member of a Christian church. Warning, correction, rebuke, admonition, and excommunication are the primary forms of corrective discipline. Brief definitions are provided below.
1. Warning - a sober statement of caution about the seriousness and consequences of sin. A warning may be uttered either to those who are already sinning as motivation to stop, or to those who have yet to sin as motivation to remain pure in the specified area. 2. Correction - a redirection or righting of wrong attitudes, beliefs, desires, or behaviors. 3. Rebuke - a sober statement to a sinning person of the sinfulness or foolishness of that person's actions, accompanied by the reminder that the offender should have known better and is without excuse. 4. Admonition - a sober exhortation to discontinue sinning, or to avoid potentially tempting situations. 5. Excommunication - a treatment of a seriously sinning member as a non-member, most visibly by exclusion from the communion table and removal from the membership rolls. The offender may still attend services, but is treated as a non-member because his behavior has called into question the credibility of the verbal profession to which church membership testifies. Only the congregation as a corporate body may exclude a member from the communion table or remove a member from the membership rolls.
IV. What Are the Motives for Church Discipline?
A. Wrong Motives for Corrective Discipline Control - If the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do? The Lord is in His holy temple; the Lord's throne is in heaven; His eyes behold, His eyelids test the sons of men (Psalm 11:4). Anger - the anger of man does not achieve the righteousness of God (James 1:20). Vengeance - Never take your own revenge, beloved, but leave room for the wrath of God, for it is written "vengeance is Mine, I will repay," says the Lord (Rom 12:19). Self Promotion - though the Lord is exalted, yet He regards the lowly, but the haughty He knows from afar (Ps 138:6).
B. Right Motives for Corrective Discipline Restoration - Brethren, even if anyone is caught in any trespass, you who are spiritual, restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness (Gal 6:1). Salvation - …so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus (1Cor 5:5). Teaching - Among them are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I have handed over to Satan so that they may be taught not to blaspheme (1Tim 5:20).
C. Right Attitudes (of a Right Motivation) Humility - …each one looking to yourself, so that you too will not be tempted (Gal 6:1). Gentleness - Brethren, even if anyone is caught in any trespass, you who are spiritual, restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness (Gal 6:1). Sobriety - In the name of the 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... (1Cor 5:4-5). Familial Concern - Do not associate with him, in order that he may feel ashamed. Yet do not regard him as an enemy, but warn him as a brother (2Thess 3:15).
V. When Should We Exercise Corrective Discipline? (Timing Is Everything)
A. When the sin is between individuals (private) and the person is unrepentant. For sins committed in private against individuals, the steps of Matt 18 should be followed. Private warning, rebuke, admonition, or correction would be appropriate here, depending on the nature of the sin. If repentance is expressed at either of the first two levels of confrontation, the next level is unnecessary. Only if the sinner is unrepentant after the visitation of two or more brothers is it legitimate to bring a privately offending member before the church for public rebuke or excommunication.
B. When the sin is serious and public and the person is unrepentant. This is perhaps the most urgent situation, because the church's public witness is most visibly at stake. This is the situation of the sinning brother in 1Cor 5, who was committing a kind of immorality that even the pagans of the day didn't normally commit. This kind of sin must be met with swift excommunication (exclusion from communion and removal from the membership rolls) until genuine repentance is observed with fruits to back it up.
C. When the sin is public even if the person is repentant. Sometimes sins are committed by Christians in public that are so heinous that even if the offender is repentant, some disciplinary action must be taken by the church to vindicate her corporate witness by showing that Christians do not condone such behavior or sweep it under the rug.
D. When a member is negligent in attendance for an extended period of time. Discipline for non-attendance is necessary because refusing to show up for months in a row is usually a mask that covers other more serious sins. The necessity for removal from the membership rolls in this instance arises even more fundamentally because of the nature of membership as the local church's affirmation of the member's salvation. If a member simply discontinues attendance for months on end, the church is no longer in a position to affirm the person's salvation. Without the ability or opportunity to observe continuing spiritual fruitfulness, other members are simply not in a position to affirm a person's salvation by granting them uninterrupted membership in the local church.
VI. What if We Don't Exercise Church Discipline? (The Effect of Neglect)
A. We contribute to the self-deception of a seriously sinning member. Membership in the local church is that church's public affirmation of a person's salvation, as far as the leadership of the church is able to affirm it on the basis of good visible fruit. When we refuse to discipline serious sin committed by members, we deceive people into thinking that the church can happily affirm, by uninterrupted membership, the salvation of someone whose unrepentant sin contradicts their verbal profession. In other words, neglecting church discipline tacitly affirms the lie that verbal profession of Christ is saving even when unaccompanied by a lifestyle of genuine repentance and progress in practical holiness. It gives false assurance to people who have no biblical reason at all to feel sure about their salvation. It is in this way that the church contributes to the self-deception of a seriously sinning member. The complacence of pastors and leaders with unrepentant sin in members' lives leads unrepentant members to indulge that same complacence, all the while enjoying the church's public affirmation of their salvation in the witness of membership!
B. We contribute to the complication of the church's evangelistic task. Tolerating serious, unrepentant sin causes the verbal witness of the church to seem less credible to the unbelieving community because of the increasing divergence between what we say and the kinds of behavior we allow. As the verbal and practical witnesses of the church become more and more divergent, they both become increasingly repugnant to the community because of the rancid hypocrisy of this divergence. Disillusionment with "Christian" hypocrisy and rejection of the gospel message are the sad but understandable effects.
VII. What Keeps Us From Practicing Church Discipline? (Anatomy of Neglect)
A. Fear of Man · Reputation - Many pastors and lay leaders are more concerned with what people will think of them if they attempt to lead the church in disciplining a member than they are with what God will think of them if they do not. · Popularity - Many pastors and lay leaders are more concerned with being liked by the people in their church (albeit under the guise of "preserving relationships") than they are with being found blameless in the eyes of God when He calls them to account for how they've shepherded His flock (Heb 13:17). · Conflict - Many pastors and lay leaders are more concerned with avoiding the discomfort and potential disunity of conflict than they are with preserving the moral purity of the church, the pure quality of the membership rolls, and the blessing of God on the congregation. · Misperception - Many pastors and lay leaders are unwilling to risk being misperceived as tyrants, heavy-handed shepherds, or power hungry autocrats.
B. Annoyance- Many pastors and lay leaders are unwilling to spend the time and expend the energy that it takes to administer church discipline correctly.
C. Declining Numbers - Many pastors and lay leaders are afraid that if they administer church discipline, then people will leave the church, the money will dry up, and the church will have to close her doors.
D. Incompetence - Many pastors and lay leaders are simply uninformed and uneducated regarding why church discipline is biblical and necessary, and how it should be administered for God's glory and our purity in Christ.
E. Insufficient Infrastructure (Support Structure) - Many pastors are in small churches where they themselves are the only leaders. Trying to administer church discipline in this situation is probably unwise because the pastor is all alone in his plight without the support of trusted leaders or elders to back him up by diffusing criticism and answering objections.
Conclusion: Page 192, 2nd full paragraph.
(For further study)
Much of this sermon was taken for their web site: http://marks.9marks.org/Mark7
Judge not, lest ye be judged. Matthew 7:1 has likely eclipsed John 3:16 as the most oft-quoted verse in the entire Bible. Now en vogue among moral relativists is to invoke the maxim in order to slip out from under even the most biblically sound rebuke or admonition. It is in this context that the historic practice of church discipline has gradually come to be regarded as antiquated. But is church discipline so irrelevant to the well-being of the local assembly? What might we be missing in its absence?
God wants us to discipline each other for our own salvation and holiness. 1It is actually reported that there is immorality among you, and immorality of such a kind as does not exist even among the Gentiles, that someone has his father's wife. 2You have become arrogant and have not mourned instead, so that the one who had done this deed would be removed from your midst. 3For 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. 4In the name of our Lord Jesus, when you are assembled, and I with you in spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus, 5I 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. 6Your boasting is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump of dough? 7Clean out the old leaven so that you may be a new lump, just as you are in fact unleavened. For Christ our Passover has been sacrificed. 8Therefore let us celebrate the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. 9I wrote you in my letter not to associate with immoral people; 10I did not at all mean with the immoral people of this world, or with the covetous and swindlers, or with idolaters, for then you would have to go out of the world. 11But actually, I wrote to you not to associate with any so-called brother if he is an immoral person, or covetous, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or a swindler - not even to eat with such a one. 12For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Do you not judge those who are within the church? 13But those who are outside, God judges. Remove the wicked man from among yourselves. 1 Cor 5:1-13
1. Paul's concern was for the salvation of the sinning brother's soul. Paul says that instead of being arrogant about their supposed freedom and liberality in Christ, the Corinthians should have mourned so that the one who had done this deed would be removed from your midst (1Cor 5:2). Paul even goes to the extent of saying that they should deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of his flesh. This is not a wish for the man to die, but rather a deep desire to see his sinful nature killed and his sinful actions confessed and abandoned by allowing the man to see his sin played out punitively in his own life. Why treat the man this way? So that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus (1Cor 5:5). The end goal even of expelling this man from the membership of the church is his own repentance and salvation. This is love - tough love.
2. Paul's concern was for the holiness of the sinning brother's church. Wickedness spreads through a church like yeast through bread, changing the shape and consistency of the whole (1Cor 5:6). So Paul presses on the Corinthian congregation their responsibility to clean out the old leaven so that their Sunday celebrations could be holy. Paul believes that the holiness of the church is compromised when believers associate with any so-called brother who lives a lifestyle that grossly contradicts his verbal profession (1Cor 5:11). Hypocrisy compromises holiness, and therefore must be addressed. In this way we can see that church discipline has the same goals in view as God's Fatherly discipline - the holiness of His children. Notice also that it is the congregation's responsibility to clean out the old leaven (1Cor 5:7), and to remove the wicked man from among themselves (1Cor 5:13). It is not simply the elders' or deacons' or leadership team's responsibility, and Paul doesn't recommend that they appoint a committee. Preserving the holiness of the church through the godly exercise of church discipline is the responsibility of the whole congregation.
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