70a) Corrective Church Discipline #2

Introduction to the Purposes of Corrective Discipline

0:03 Well, having sought to take up this subject of corporate corrective discipline, beginning with an assessment of the biblical data that points to the necessity for corrective discipline, now we come, large letter B, the purposes of corrective discipline, or the purposes of or for, either I believe would be grammatically correct, and we will have six of them, your notes just have five, the sixth is one I added since those notes were originally done, and in going over them with Anne yesterday, I neglected to have her put in number six, so you'll have to write number six in there on page 162.

0:45 Now, in setting out these various purposes that are clearly indicated in Scripture, I want to emphasize by way of introduction that these issues are not being treated in an order of importance, or without... rather than assumed equality, but as I've sought to wrestle with the Scriptures and have the quality control of others who've wrestled in this field looking over my shoulder, it seems to me that the purposes of church discipline, clearly rooted in the significant passages that deal with the subject,

1:20 can be reduced to at least six specific purposes that God envisions by instituting this element in His church. And as we look at the various passages dealing with the subject, several of these purposes come to the surface, and we should look at them as the slices in a pie, just a pie of discipline, and one, two, three, four, five, we've got a sixth one in there, rather than looking at them this way, one built upon another in the block fashion. So think of them in that way. All right?

Purpose 1: Maintaining the Honor of God in His Church

2:00 And the first, then, of the purposes of God, in the institution, is the maintaining of the honor of God in His church. As each individual Christian is to reflect the character of God, so the church, in its corporate life and identity, is to do the same. So often we take the two images our Lord uses in the Sermon on the Mount, speaking of His people, you are the light of the world, you are the salt of the earth, and we think of those things in terms of an individual, in almost...

2:33 atomistic expression. But He's speaking here to His people as people, and in their corporate identity, which, of course, will rise no higher than the validation of that in the individual, yet in their corporate identity, those who constitute the new humanity in Christ, His kingdom, are the light of the world, the salt of the earth, the city that is set on the hill. And in 1 Peter 2, 9-12, this aspect of the identity of God's people in a corporate sense is clearly highlighted. You are an elect race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation,

3:17 a people for God's own possession, that you, in that identity as race, priesthood, nation, and people, should show forth the excellencies or the virtues of Him who called you out of darkness, into His marvelous light. And therefore, where sin is tolerated, within that community, that is, the elect race, the holy, the royal priesthood, the holy nation, when sin is tolerated, God's name stands to be blasphemed. In Romans 2, verses 22-24, this is the indictment that Paul brings upon the Jews.

4:01 He says, in this setting, you that say a man should not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You that abhor idols, do you rob temples? You who glory in the law, through your transgression of the law, do you dishonor God? For the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you.

4:22 And the Jews who profess this great attachment to the law, by their disobedience to the law, became the occasion of God's name being blasphemed. And when Paul, in Titus chapter 2, is giving motivation for implementing these practical directives to old men, young men, older women, younger women, what is the whole motivation behind this? He says that the older women are to be trained, instructed by the younger, by the older, to be sober-minded, chaste, workers at home, being in subjection to their own husbands. Why?

5:02 In order that, the word of God be not blasphemed. Here is a community that claims submission to God as His will is expressed in His word. If they look upon the lifestyle of the women within that community and see that their lifestyle is not shaped by the clear precepts of the word, God's word and God's name are blasphemed. And brethren, this must grip our hearts so that something bigger and more important than our feelings and our reputation will always stand before us as we contemplate the state and condition of those for whom God has given us spiritual responsibility.

5:47 Listen to Edwards making this point very powerfully, that if you tolerate visible wickedness in your members, you will greatly dishonor God and our Lord Jesus Christ, the religion which you profess, the church, in general, and yourselves in particular. As those members of the church who practice wickedness bring dishonor upon the whole body, so do those who tolerate them in it. The language of it is this, that God does not require holiness in His servants. Christ does not require it in His disciples.

6:23 That the religion of the gospel is not a holy religion, that the church is not a body of holy servants of God, and that this church in particular has no regard to holiness or to true virtue. That's the message that is sent. If sin and wickedness, open sin and wickedness are tolerated within the community of those who profess attachment to Christ. So the maintenance of the honor of God in His church is one of the major purposes for corrective discipline.

Purpose 2: The Restoration and Salvation of Members

6:57 Then secondly, the restoration and salvation of the members, of the church. The scriptures are clear that all of the true people of God shall persevere in faith and holiness. But the scriptures are equally clear that they must persevere in faith and holiness. And the shell of divine purpose and commitment and the dynamics of grace does not negate the must of human endeavor and divinely appointed means.

7:33 Calculated to produce that end. The musts of God, I'm sorry, the certainty of God's working does not negate the must and the necessity of our use of the appointed means. Matthew 22, 14 He that endureth to the end shall be saved. All of the saved shall endure.

7:57 Those who are saved must endure. Hebrews 10, 38 and 39 If a man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him. But we are not of them that draw back unto the perdition, but of them that believe unto the saving of the soul. Therefore, viewing corrective discipline as a means of grace, we must see it as an instrument ordained of God to secure the ultimate salvation of the members of the church.

8:30 It is the keeping of the soul. Matthew 18, 15 and following You have gained the brother. If he hear them, he has been gained. The whole end, you see, is gaining him.

8:43 Gaining him to what? Not to your personal cause, but gaining him back to a life consistent with his professed discipleship. In taking up the cross and pledging attachment to Christ, he is saying, I am waging a lifetime universal war against all sin, when his sin has been pointed out and he doesn't repent, he is contradicting that confession. If he goes on in contradiction of it, we have reason to suspect the validity of his initial confession.

9:16 But if he deals with his sin, we have gained him, brought him back into the way of a consistent disciple, i.e., we see him persevering in the way of faith and holiness, which is an essential element of his ongoing salvation. 1 Corinthians 5.5

9:36 This is explicit in Paul's directive even in that peremptory act of discipline. He says, You are to do this to what end? Deliver such a one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh. Why?

9:52 In order that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus. If the spirit is to be saved, they must deliver such a one to Satan. Whatever delivering means, it is in direct line with the ongoing purposes of God in salvation. That is the emphasis again of the Galatians 6.1 passage.

10:13 A man overtaken in the fault is to be restored. He is to be restored. This is done something that needs restoration. And likewise, 2 Thessalonians 3.14-15

10:27 He is to be admonished as a brother and not to be regarded as an enemy. There are times when the most loving act any church can perform is an act of radical and corrective discipline. And in so doing, it reflects the Lord Jesus who when He is the disciplinarian in Revelation 3 and verse 19 He says, As many as I love, I rebuke and I chasten. Be zealous therefore and repent.

11:02 Now it comes down to this brethren. That any sin will result in death and judgment. Yes or no? Is that what the Bible teaches?

11:12 That the willful continuance in any sin will result in death and judgment? I hope you can answer yes. The Bible clearly teaches that. Then we must make this plain to men for their well-being and their salvation.

11:29 You see in the Matthew 18.15 and following passage it is not gross sin or thy brother sin against thee. What leads to the ultimate excommunication and treating him no longer as a brother? As one who has no just valid claims to be within the fellowship of the true subjects of the kingdom.

11:49 It is that a sin that has clearly been pointed out and established before impartial judges is a sin that this man will not deal with. And it is not the size of the sin that our Lord focuses upon. It is the fact that He willfully persist to continue in that which is unquestionably identified as a sin. And any sin thus continued in will damn a man.

12:16 Now if that is what we preach from the pulpit but we don't validate it by our discipline we have two different messages. And it is God's purpose that what is preached from the pulpit is validated in the church's exercise of discipline. So the salvation then of the disciplined person is our great concern. And here I quote from this Mennonite Jeschke, Martin Jeschke J-E-S-C-H-K-E He writes There has unfortunately been bad excommunication practice and this has conditioned the thinking of many people to the point where they can see nothing redemptive in the dismissal of a member from the church.

12:58 Therefore it is essential to see that excommunication does not represent a breakdown of grace or a departure from the gospel. Excommunication is a renewed presentation of the gospel message to an impenitent brother in that it confronts him with the truth stated in 1 Corinthians 6-9 The unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God. Isn't that what we preach in the gospel? Isn't this why we say you need Christ and his imputed righteousness?

13:28 You need the renovation of your nature a new heart, a new spirit placed within you? Well he says this is what we are saying in excommunication. We are affirming the truth of the gospel. To utter this truth in warning to those who have apostatized is just as consistent with the nature of the gospel as informing men in evangelism that unless they repent and believe the gospel they won't enter the kingdom of God. Thus excommunication

13:54 rightly practiced never cuts men off from grace. On the contrary its function is to prevent persons from anesthetizing themselves against grace. On the contrary its purpose is to keep men from anesthetizing themselves against grace. Excommunication is the form under which the church continues to make grace available to the impenitent.

14:22 Excommunication is not then a merely loveless condemnation. It is as necessary in spiritual life as candid diagnosis is in medical practice. Without facing the truth persons cannot find spiritual healing. Far from being unloving evangelical excommunication is the only loving and redeeming course of action possible in certain circumstances.

14:49 Some of the finest statements I've ever read on that subject. For my urologist to suspect that I had a malignancy in my prostate and said but the man looks so healthy and so vigorous and I don't want to disembowel him and see him laid up for several months and run the risk of having him have to wear diapers the rest of his life and be a eunuch I mean he's too nice a guy for that. I'm just going to tell him he's just got a little prostate enlargement put him on some Hytrin 10 milligrams he'll be able to go to the bathroom without restriction and just hope it's not aggressive. Would that be kind to me?

15:26 To have me five years from now go down to an early grave eaten up with cancer throughout my entire pelvis and who knows where else. This is what he's saying and when someone is persisting in a course of sin we may become aware of that only when a brother comes to us and said look so and so did this blatantly wronged me shafted me in a business transaction and he refuses to acknowledge the wrong and I've gone to him told my heart is toward him in repentance and in forgiveness I'm calling him to repentance yearning and longing to confer forgiveness he won't own his sin. Two or three more go. The issue is clear the brother is admonished he won't deal with it

16:10 he's still coming to the Lord's table praying in prayer meeting as everything else that a Christian is supposed to do but in this area he is willfully deliberately persisting in a violation of one or two of the Ten Commandments will that man go to heaven persisting in that place? He has no grounds to think he will. Whether he will and go there as a backslider God alone knows but in terms of our assessment being made based on the word of God do we help that man to let him think he can go to heaven while willfully refusing to deal with that sin? That's not gracious.

Purpose 3: The Advancement of the Purity and Health of the Church

16:47 That's telling the man with the malignant prostate you just got innocent BPH benign prostate hyperplasia just got a multiplication of a few cells a little aberration but nothing to be too worried about. We do him no favor there is a salvific element that throbs through this matter of corrective discipline but then thirdly its purpose is the advancement of the purity and health of the church itself the advancement of the purity and health of the church itself what your immune system is to the body and to the physical physiology corrective church discipline is for the life and health of the church. False living and

17:31 false teaching have a defiling effect upon others wasn't that the clear teaching of the Romans 16-17 passage? Mark them deal with them. Why? By their fair speech they beguile the innocent they have a defiling effect 1 Corinthians 5 Paul speaks of the leavening influence of this immoral man your glorying is not good you Corinthians are the vanguard of unconditional love within the church you are bragging. We are so broad

18:03 hearted and broad minded we can just snuggle up to this fellow he says you glory in what even causes unconverted gentiles to be ashamed if it were named among them but he says you are glorying in it you boast of it. You are unashamed and what does he say? He says your glorying is not good don't you know that a little leaven leavens the whole lot when your wife makes bread she puts so many cups of flour so many cups of this and so many cups of that she didn't put in cups of yeast it's one little packet of it's all how much leaven do you need to have it go through an entire congregation? He said

18:47 this man allowed to remain among you will act like leaven his influence will defile weaken the moral fiber of the whole church we could add to that Hebrews 12 14 which speaks of the root of bitterness springing up and defiling many we must always remember that we are not just dealing with individuals but individuals in relationship to the whole and there must be a passionate concern for the whole body lest the spirit being grieved by the sin undealt with in one of the members there is an influence upon the entire assembly again listen to Jonathan Edwards

19:30 your own good loudly calls you to the same thing that is to the exercise of biblical discipline from what's already been said you see how liable you as individuals will be to catch the contagion which is easily communicated by reason of the natural depravity in the degree at least remaining in the best of men besides if strict discipline be maintained among you it will not only tend to prevent the spread of wickedness but to make you more fruitful in holiness if you know that the eyes of your brethren observe all your conduct it will not only make you more guarded against sin but more careful to maintain good works and to abound in the fruit of the spirit thus you

20:14 will be more abundant in joy and peace in believing and then he goes on to say I come to speak of the ends of this ecclesiastical censure and he says in this second sermon the special ends of it are three and he puts as the first one that the church may be kept pure and the ordinances of God be not defiled then he quotes the first Corinthians 5 passage and goes on to drive home especially when in those institutions where the central truths of the gospel are celebrated particularly the Lord's supper if we are tolerating wickedness among the people there is in a sense an overturning of the whole end for which Christ died and

Purpose 4: The Deterring of Others from Sin

20:58 the outworking of that purpose in having a holy people and we contract corporate and so the third major purpose of church discipline of this nature is the advancement of the purity and the health of the church itself then fourthly the deterring of others from sin this is explicit in the first Timothy 5 20 passage then that sin whether that's generic or specific to elders rebuke before all why that others may be afraid a terrible thing to have people afraid when they come to church I mean that is the height of just bullying battering them down you see how we've been influenced by this nonsense

21:42 Paul unashamedly says Timothy this is what you do there are times when the purpose of your public ministry in a given area is to scare the wits out of people and scare them enough not to do what to sin to say if leaders sin and they don't get away with it and are rebuked what about the rank and file of us maybe the next time I'm tempted to think well I can afford the luxury of indulging a few glances at a girly magazine at a 7-eleven store or I can afford the luxury of this or that hey would I like to be publicly rebuked before all who no way that's a legitimate motive that doesn't sound very holy and sanctified but

22:25 you see here's the realism the apostle knows that we need every single motivation possible to keep us in the way of holiness and fear of public shame and exposure is explicitly identified as one of them not only fear of public shame and exposure in Acts 5 and verse 11 coupled with the parallel passages in Deuteronomy 17 12 and 13 and 13 11 it's also fear of God's displeasure and others will be deterred there in Acts 5 11 after God himself becomes the veterinarian and strikes Ananias and Sapphira dead we read and fear came upon all and no man dared join himself to them but the Lord added daily such

23:08 as should be saved when a church loses the power to repel it has nothing worth attracting to itself when it loses the power to repel by the sense of the deterrence you join that bunch you better walk straight or there God may kill you that's the word that got out that's right God was in the midst of it they may kill you but that God must be real we better go hear their message the Lord added daily such as should be saved but no man dared join himself to them the deterring of others from sin God does not despise our social consciousness and the fears that grow out of it but he sublimates them to the purposes

23:52 of his grace and again listen to Edwards who addresses this issue the purposes of church discipline another he says that others may be deterred from wickedness as the neglect of proper censure with respect to the wicked church members tends to lead and encourage others to commit the same wickedness so the infliction of proper censure tends to restrain others not only from the same wickedness but from sin in general this therefore is repeatedly mentioned as the end of the punishments appointed to be inflicted by the law of Moses Deuteronomy 13 11 and all Israel shall hear and fear and shall do no more such

Purpose 5: The Prevention of Christ's Judicial Judgment upon the Congregation

24:35 wickedness as this among you but then fifth the purpose of God in instituting this corrective discipline is the prevention of a judicial judgment of Christ upon the congregation and this to me is one of the most frightening things Christ judicial judgment upon the congregation your mind I trust is fresh in its remembrance of the word of Christ to that church that had so much that was commendable there at Ephesus and the Lord Jesus calling them back to their first love says to them the issues at stake are serious remember therefore whence you are fallen and repent and do the first works or else

25:19 I come to you and will move your candlestick out of its place except you repent it's one of the verses as often as I've studied it read the commentators I don't have a clue how I'd expound it and I was absent Rich when you did and I haven't gotten the tape on that and I'll be interested in knowing how you did but one thing is certain what a horrible thing to have to learn what this text means experientially a lot of text I say oh God help me to understand it and help me to experience it but this is one I want to say Lord that's something I want to take by faith I don't want to experience that what would it mean for Christ himself to come in an act of judicial judgment upon the

26:02 church and remove its candlestick does he take away his real living presence and let the thing go on empty machinery with all the trappings of religion but no presence of the living Christ I'm not sure but one thing I know it's a frightening threat and the Lord doesn't issue idle threats and you know the subsequent history of that area that has been spiritually barren for centuries he threatens similar things with the other churches that would not implement discipline Revelation 2 14 and 15 he tells them what the result will be in verse 16 and verse 20 but this is also true of individuals remember 1 Corinthians 11 30 for this cause many are weak

26:47 and sickly among you and not a few sleep what's happened Christ has come in judicial judgment upon members of the congregation because they have not dealt with the issue that needed to be dealt with and then I've listed Joshua 7 the whole incident of Achan one man in the midst of Israel and God comes and charges the whole nation with guilt and in a peculiar way he works to deal with that issue through the leadership they cry to God and there comes a point where God says you've prayed enough get up off your face time to stop praying and it's time now to start seeking out the offending member and dealing with it you can go up to cities smaller than Ai and you're going to turn heel

Purpose 6: The Effectiveness of Our Witness to the World

27:30 in defeat and in shame until you deal with the sin in your midst and you know the story as well as I do and there came a point where praying was not enough God said you've got to deal with the issue and when they dealt with it they went up and in the strength and power of God were enabled to accomplish mighty things in the name of Jehovah and the captain of the Lord of hosts but then sixth if you'll write in number six the sixth purpose for corrective discipline is the effectiveness of our witness to the world if Jesus said and he did by this shall all men know that you are

28:15 my disciples if you have love one toward another what happens then to the validation of our identification as disciples of Christ if gross deeds of lovelessness are tolerated in the church and how many churches are proverbial for Mrs. so and so or Mr. so and so or Deacon so and so who has a track record of constantly disrupting the peace and unity of the church by deeds and words of lovelessness the effectiveness of our witness to the world is greatly hindered Philippians 2 14 and 15 Paul says do all things without murmuring and disputing that you may be blameless and

29:00 harmless sons of God without rebuke shining as lights in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation among whom you are seen as luminaries holding fast to or holding forth the word of life that I may not have run in vain he says you are to be this to this end blameless and harmless sons of God without rebuke shining as lights in this crooked and perverse generation if a lifestyle of grousing and complaining and murmuring characterizes the people of God and is tolerated within the community of that people what does the world think they say they are just like us

29:44 there is no radically different alternate lifestyle where it counts yeah they got their holy place and their holy acts and their holy rituals so do I but when I go into the office on Monday I grouse and grumble when he goes in he grouses and grumbles what's the difference what's the difference when we get an unusual load coming down from the supervisor in the light of some extra contracts and everybody's grousing about the fact they've got to put in overtime this character is saying he's blessing God it's an answer to his prayer because he's wanted to give more to a church building program I can't figure this joker out and when the contracts are slack and everyone's complaining that we're not back to a 30 hour week rather than get laid off he's saying

30:29 praise God we're not I don't figure out this joker no matter which way the chief guys above us cut it he's always giving thanks he's never grousing and complaining that's what Paul said it is to be a shining light do all things without murmurings and disputings in order that you may be blameless and harmless he doesn't say go around with all your pocket stuff full of tracts and be saying Jesus Jesus Jesus 50 times a day that's easy you're a participant of your own spirit that makes you fundamentally and pervasively a grateful happy contented man in the sphere in which God's but you and that's what Paul says secures

31:13 the validation of your identity is the new humanity now when someone finally can't stand it in one says man what in the world makes you take and tell them well it's my relationship to God in Christ if you'd like to know some more of that I just happen to have a track here in my thing again yeah you're getting your track but you better let your lifestyle be the point of your mind and not the point of the arrow that goes before the track you put in his hand and not such that when he reads the track and said this guy believes that must not do much for you he grouses like the rest of us he giggles at the latest dirty joke like the rest of us I see his eyeballs looking at the well-shaped fanny of the women that walk by like no the best thing a man like that can do is keep

31:57 his mouth shut and leave his tracks at home blameless and harsh well multiply that if the community of God's people are not the community of God's people perfectly but fundamentally and pervasively committed to a lifestyle of radical holiness in an unholy ungodly world how are people going to see the truth that our gospel is one that dares to say to people in the language of Hebrews 12 14 follow after peace with all men and the holiness without which no man shall see the Lord we claim that Romans 8 13 is true only those who mortify by the spirit the deeds of the flesh shall live then we as the people of God in our

32:40 individual and corporate life must if we're to have an effective witness to the world validate those confessions and church discipline is no little element in pursuit of that goal listen again to Edwards the good of those who are without should be another motive to corrective discipline what the Apostle says with reference to another subject first Corinthians 14 24 and 25 is applicable to the case before us the case before us but if all prophesy and there come in one that believes not or is unlearned he's convicted of all judged of all and thus the secrets of his heart are made manifest and so falling down in his face he'll worship God and report that God is in you of a

33:23 truth if strict discipline and thereby strict morals were maintained in the church it would in all probability be one of the most powerful means of conviction and conversion toward those who are without well brethren I lay before you then these six major motives for the implementation of church discipline administered biblically administered in the spirit and in the grace of Christ