Church Discipline - 1. Intro

Why, when, and how? So by what? And of course, what is it? Why? I mean, well, what's the purpose of church discipline? When? So what kind of sin results in church discipline? And then how? So what is the process of church discipline? So we're going to be covering this over the next several weeks. Today, we're just going to begin talking about, well, what And this will take us at least through next week because I think there's some sort of foundation we should lay because church discipline is like a puzzle piece that fits into a much bigger picture that the New Testament paints for what the church is and what the Christian life is like. So what I want to do today is first, I just want to briefly review some of the relevant passages about church discipline. And this, hopefully, is just going to kind of pique your interest, get us thinking about, well, where does the Bible even talk about this? And maybe it'll spark some, you know, personal study. You can write these down and think about them. And then, hopefully, as we go through the teachings, that will help bring some clarity. I welcome you to ask me questions offline. That will help me prepare in a way that's sort of edifying and answering questions to the best of my ability that you may have. So, first, we're going to look at that. Then, second, I want to try to provide a definition of church discipline. So try to just put in a sentence, what is it? Of course, we can't encapsulate everything there is to know about it in a sentence, but kind of what's the core idea? Let's try to define it, and then that's something we can keep coming back to to think about. And then, time permitting, the third thing for tonight is to discuss the first of at least two kind of core foundations that can sort of help us understand better what it is. So I want to start with, so what are some passages that address this? And I do want this to be somewhat interactive. So this is a question. I just want to see what passages can you think of that talk about church discipline? Alex? I was going to say Matthew 18 somewhere. Yeah, so Matthew 18, verses 15 through 20. This is the one where Jesus says, if your brother sins against you, go to him alone. If he won't listen, take one or two others with you. If he won't listen, tell it to the church. If he won't listen to the church, let him be to you as a heathen or a tax collector. So that's a very, very important passage about church discipline. Many others. Yes. Right. Great. Yeah, so that's probably the longest teaching on church discipline. 1 Corinthians 5, this is where there's this sexually immoral man in the Corinthian church who has his father's wife, and Paul calls on them to put him out of the church, to deliver him to Satan. And yeah, Paul has quite a bit to say there, but he wants them to put this man out. And he calls upon the church to do that because he's living this lifestyle that's sexually immoral. Good. Any others? Yes That's exactly right. Yes, so that's the other place where Paul uses this same language of handing over to Satan and and he mentions two names Hymenaeus and Alexander who Timothy he's saying hold the faith and a good conscience and then he says that these men have rejected this and Thereby have made a shipwreck of their faith and he has handed them over to Satan. So there's another mention of it, good. Oh sorry, that was 1st Timothy chapter 1 verses 18 through 20. Okay, so Titus chapter 3 says, this is Titus 3 verses 10 and 11, as for a person who stirs up division, after warning him once and then twice, have nothing more to do with him. Knowing that such a person is warped and sinful. He is self-condemned So a divisive person have nothing to do with after warning them a couple times Good any other places that talk about church discipline Okay Right. Yeah, so it talks about the one who, you know, brings back a brother from the error of his way, you know, saves a soul from death. And I forget how the rest of it goes, but yeah. And a multitude of sins. Good. Yeah. Yes. So 2 Corinthians 2 seems to be a case where there was someone, maybe the person from 1 Corinthians 5, maybe somebody else, but someone had been disciplined from the Corinthian church And now Paul has to tell him, you should bring him back. And so Paul says, for such a one, this punishment by the majority is enough. So you should rather turn to forgive and comfort him, or he may be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow. So some sort of punishment by the majority, again, I think implying some sort of vote, some sort of church action. But now Paul is saying, you should welcome him back. So that's 2 Corinthians 2, the whole context is verses 5 through 11. Good. Any others? Keith? Deuteronomy 17. OK. Going to the Old Testament, what is that? Good, good. Okay, yeah. So an idolater in Israel was to be cast out, Deuteronomy 17. Good. Any others? Andrew? This is more of a theme, but it's like Jesus being crucified outside of the city. OK. Not being outside, you know. Being outside of the city? Yeah. OK. Being outside of the community. OK. Yeah, he's crucified outside the camp. Which I guess goes back to, it's like, he's just out there. Yeah. OK. David? What about Bilemen for Anesimus? Okay. How so with church discipline? To be received, to Christian reconciliation. Yeah. Okay. Faith? Yeah. Good. Okay. Yep. It talks about restoring. Somebody's gone straight. Yep. Okay. Good, so that I had written down, it says, if anyone does not obey what we say in this letter, take note of that person and have nothing to do with him that he may be ashamed. Do not regard him as an enemy, but warn him as a brother. The last little phrase is interesting, we can come back to that, but yeah, another sort of situation, someone who refuses to listen to what's being written. That is 2 Thessalonians 3 verses 14 and 15. Somewhat similar, so Romans 16 verses 17 and 18, here Paul talks about, some translations say, mark and avoid those who cause divisions and create obstacles. He says, for such persons do not serve our Lord Christ but their own appetites, and by smooth talk and flattery they deceive the hearts of the naive. 1 Timothy 5 mentions the case of a sinning elder. And this doesn't necessarily call for putting them out of the church, but does call for a public rebuke. It says, as for those, that is elders, who persist in sin, rebuke them in the presence of all so that the rest may stand in fear. Titus chapter 1 verses 9 through 14 talks about how one of the responsibilities of an elder is to rebuke those who contradict sound doctrine. And then he says, for there are many insubordinate, empty talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision party. They must be silenced since they are upsetting whole families by teaching for shameful gain what they ought not to teach. So there's sort of a responsibility of an elder to silence certain people who are teaching things they ought not. 2 John verses 9-11, this actually talks about sort of people coming who don't abide in the true teaching of Christ. And John says, if anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your house or give him any greeting, for whoever greets him takes part in his wicked works. So this isn't necessarily excommunicating someone like from your church, but someone who sort of comes from the outside that's teaching a different message. And they're saying there should be sort of not a welcoming, but actually not greeting that person. And then third John actually talks about a situation where there's some pastor there named Diotrephes, who is apparently disciplining people who are doing good because he seems to be a false teacher. It says that he's talking wicked nonsense against John and presumably other apostles. And then John writes, and not content with that, he refuses to welcome the brothers and also stops those who want to and puts them out of the church. So, again, there's clearly a practice of church discipline going on, but now they have a false shepherd who's doing this wrongly. Jude, very similarly, verses 3 and 4, he exhorts us to contend earnestly for the faith. And then he says, for certain people have crept in unnoticed who long ago were designated for this condemnation. ungodly people who pervert the grace of our God into sensuality and deny our only master Lord Jesus Christ. And then he goes on and to describe these people who've crept in as hidden reefs at your love feasts. So that's the feast associated with the Lord's Supper. There's people in the church that are like a hidden reef who've crept in and Jude's saying you need to contend earnestly for the faith. And then at the end, he seems to be turning to talk about those who are influenced by these false teachers because he says, and have mercy on those who doubt, save others by snatching them out of the fire to others, show mercy with fear, hating even the garment stained by the flesh. So there's these different categories of people, some sort of influence, and there's a sense of trying to save them, but it's dangerous. Be careful. So that, I think, relates to this broader topic. And then one final verse to note is Revelation 2.20, Jesus speaking to the church in Thyatira. He says, but I have this against you, that you tolerate that woman Jezebel. who calls herself a prophetess and is teaching and seducing my servants to practice sexual morality and eat food sacrificed to idols. So there's a toleration of a false teacher is mentioned. So I know there's a whole lot of passages to go through. Brian? Most of these passages tend to focus on sort of the end of the process. Yes. Yes, that's a great point and hold that thought because we're gonna get there Robert I was thinking Hebrews 13, 17, because it says, Obey those that have ruled over you. Yeah. And maybe ground some basis of why shouldn't we listen to elders or pastors? Yeah. Amen. Yeah. Yeah. Well, along those lines, there seems to be kind of a difference between like staying away from false teachers? What's the connection, the overlap, but also the difference if you're not in the place of leadership? I mean, praise God, we're so thankful for all of you. Yeah. That's a great question. Yeah. And I don't want to get too far off track there, but it's a great question. I think certainly the obeying your leaders is not unqualified. because there can be leaders like Diotrephes who are leading you astray. In our covenant we wrestled with the language there and we said we will submit to and pray for our leaders as they lead us to Christ through Scripture. They're trying to be very clear that it's not an unqualified obeying your leaders no matter what we say, but it's as we lead you to Christ through Scripture. So it's as we stand on the authority of God's Word, but there is a submissiveness, a willingness to obey and listen that is called for where there's lots of sort of gray area, we sort of have to decide this is what we're going to do as a church. And there's warning about this is not good teaching that maybe you don't fully understand why, but there's a healthy posture of trust and respect that goes with that. So in light of these passages, we just went through a lot, and hopefully it kind of piques your interest for where we're going to go from here. But I just want to point out that in light of these, that clearly the Bible says, number one, not everyone who claims to be a Christian really is one. Number two, sometimes people in the church need to be corrected, rebuked, and even silenced. And then number three, sometimes people need to be put out of the church altogether, need to be avoided, separated from, and treated as heathen or tax collectors. Now, of course, to some, especially in our culture, this can sound harsh, this can sound judgmental, This can sound unloving and even inconsistent with sort of other parts of the Bible. I mean, we think, well, isn't the church supposed to be welcoming and inclusive? But I hope that this study actually is going to help clarify why that's not the case, that this is not harsh, judgmental, unloving, or inconsistent, but church discipline is actually good and right and necessary and perfectly consistent with everything the Bible teaches. I think if we have a biblical understanding of discipleship and membership in the Christian life, we actually should be surprised if the Bible didn't teach church discipline. I want to move on to the second point, which is, well, how then could we define church discipline? Does anyone want to venture a definition? How might you put it in a sentence? Nick? The process by which God's covenant church is protected and kept pure and the unrepentant sinner is is led to hopeful shame and repentance. Okay, good. Yeah, I like that, kind of including the purpose in there as well. Any others? All right, well, I'll give you what I came up with. So I said church discipline is when the church confronts a member in his sin and if he refuses to repent, ceases to regard him as a Christian. So church discipline is when the church confronts a member in his sin, and if he refuses to repent, ceases to regard him as a Christian. Now just a few quick clarifications to note here. Number one, church discipline is an act of the church. You would think that would be obvious, but we have actually had someone tell us on their way out that they were disciplining us according to Matthew 18, and it was confusing, but church discipline is not something that you as an individual can practice on someone else, but it's an act of the church, it's something that the church is who has the authority to do that. Number two, it's a process. Nick, your definition captured that well. It's something that begins with this call to repent. But it's only if the person refuses to repent that it eventually progresses to the state of that person being removed by discipline. And that's where we say they're removed from membership. ceased to be regarded as a fellow believer or Christian. Now three, just note, sometimes people ask about excommunication, what does that mean? And excommunication really just refers to that last stage of church discipline. When someone is removed by discipline, it means they've been excommunicated. And then the term excommunicated is just they've been removed from the communion. by which we mean the Lord's Supper. They're no longer welcome to the table. And that's really at the heart of what church discipline is about. So that will make more sense as we sort of get there. And then a fourth thing is that when someone's removed by discipline or excommunicated, it means that we're ceasing to regard him or her as a Christian. That doesn't mean that we infallibly know that this person isn't a believer. Believers can fall into serious unrepentant sin and refuse to repent and then later be restored. That can happen. But what church discipline means is that we are going to stop thinking of or treating that person as a believer. As Jesus says, let him be to you as a heathen or a tax collector. Based on the evidence of what we can see in their life, We don't have reason to be able to affirm that yes, this is a fellow brother or sister in Christ. Now we're going to flesh this out a lot more as we work our way through and we are already running out of time, but any preliminary questions about that definition? Yes, so church discipline is when the church confronts a member in his sin and if he refuses to repent ceases to regard him as a Christian. Alex? So second, it's a process. And then third was just excommunication is just another word for someone who's been removed by discipline. Yeah. All right. Well, we are about out of time, but as we close, I do want to circle back to what Brian said, because my third thing was I wanted to think about discipleship. And how if we understand discipleship, discipline is gonna make a lot of sense. It's gonna be obvious, well of course we need discipline. If we think discipleship is you pray a prayer and you just say you're a Christian, well then we're gonna think, well how could discipline factor into that? But if we understand that discipleship is, so I defined a disciple of Jesus is someone committed to believing and obeying whatever Jesus says. As Jesus says in the Great Commission, Matthew 28, 19 and 20, make disciples of all nations, teaching them to obey everything I've commanded. If we understand that that is what discipleship is all about, well then it should be obvious. Of course, we need discipline. Because we all are prone, if we try to follow Christ, we sort of We're stumbling along. We're going off the path. We need other believers to help us and correct us. And we need discipline to follow the Lord. And so church discipline is really just sort of a piece of this much bigger picture. And I'll flesh that out more next week. But as we close, I just want to give sort of a final application question. So if discipleship is being committed to believing and obeying whatever Jesus says, are you committed to doing that? Is Jesus your Lord and your Savior? Or are there limits? Is your commitment to Christ sort of limited, where you only believe so far, you only follow and obey so far? You see, basic discipleship is all about surrendering to Christ. It is confessing that Jesus is Lord. And that's why we need discipline, that the personal disciplines are spiritual disciplines at home, disciplines in the church, and even church discipline itself. So, all right, well, let's close in prayer. Our Father, we thank you for this beginning to consider what your word says about this weighty and significant topic. Oh God, I pray that even as we study it, It would cause us to be better, more faithful and committed disciples of Jesus Christ. It's in his name we pray. Amen.