The End, Exercise, and Effects of Restoration

Well, it's certainly good to be back and having come back, I would have loved to return to Matthew 6 and continue on with the Sermon on the Mount, but both this morning and next week we'll be taking a little bit of a detour away from Matthew 6.

Next week we'll be looking at the first part of Colossians 3, which I trust everyone in the room is memorizing ahead of Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. But this morning we actually have an occasion for a slight detour for an even better reason.

Church Discipline as the Context for Restoration

Last August, I took a detour from the series we were in at that time to preach a sermon titled The End, Exercise, and Effects of Excommunication from 1 Corinthians chapter 5. And we were reminded that at that time church discipline involves both the individual in question as well as the church, and church discipline is in the first instance all about.

The church.

We saw that from 1 Corinthians 5. Remember what the church is. Our own Confession states the members of churches are saints by calling, visibly manifesting and evidencing in and by their profession and walking their obedience to the call of Christ.

That's what it means to be in a church. That's what it means to walk in this covenantal relationship as brothers and sisters. And that's all backdrop to what we looked at last August in 1 Corinthians 5.

Paul began, it's actually reported there is sexual immorality among you, such as is not even named among Gentiles. A man has his father's wife, but you are puffed up. You've not rather mourned, so that the one who did this thing might be taken from among.

You.

For I indeed, though absent in body and present in spirit, I've already judged him, as if I were present, 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, deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.

So we looked at that passage back in August, a very heavy passage, and really the epicenter of what we understand to be the basis for excommunication in a church. We understood and defined excommunication as the removal of membership to the local church and its benefits, which includes removal of Christian fellowship until repentance is acknowledged by the church, and thereby, reconciliation is enabled.

Now, the key I'd point out to you there, and this will be very significant for the rest of the message as well as the meeting today, the significant point is that the repentance is acknowledged by the church.

That's the key. We here have a congregational polity. We don't have a Sicilian Pope. We don't have a Presbytery Council. We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ rules the congregation by His Spirit working through the members.

This requires a certain understanding of the basis of authority in the church. It's Christ's authority brought out by the Spirit through the membership. And as we say, excommunication is the removal of not only the membership, but all the benefits of the membership, including Christian fellowship, until repentance is acknowledged, not by the offender, not by the leaders, but by the church.

That's why we're having a meeting this afternoon, to ascertain and understand these things together. And so it's my joy, in light of last August, to preach a message that I've titled The End in Exercise and Effects of Restoration.

Preaching last August, I didn't know that this day would come. When you enact excommunication, you are, as Paul says, handing someone over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh. There's certainly a vibrant hope within that, Paul says, so that the Spirit may be saved, but it's a weighty thing.

It doesn't sound very hopeful. To hand someone over to Satan, that doesn't sound very hopeful. And so there's this gnawing fear that perhaps that's the last note, that's the last chapter that is to be written in terms of that relationship.

All the prayer, all the hope is that the leverage, the impact, the weight, in some ways, the anguish of excommunication will have its intended effect, which is restoration. And as we said, it's the first point for us today, and it was the first point back in.

August.

The end of church discipline, the end of excommunication is always, always, always restoration. That's entirely out of our hands. All we've done is gathered together and committed a man outside of the church to the realm of the Prince of the Power of the Earth.

And so it's with solemnity, but also with deep joy, that we can look at 2 Corinthians chapter 2 and have a message about restoration. If anyone has caused grief, he's not grieved me, Paul says, but all of you to some extent, not to be too severe.

In other words, not to make too much out of it. This punishment, which was inflicted by the majority, is sufficient for such a man. So that on the contrary, you ought rather to forgive and comfort him, lest perhaps he'd be swallowed up with too much sorrow.

And so I urge you, reaffirm your love to him. Now not all scholars and commentators link 1 Corinthians 5 with 2 Corinthians 2. Not all see the man in question in 1 Corinthians 5 as being the man who now is urged to be forgiven and embraced by the church at Corinth.

I think the case is to be made and held in that way, but regardless, you do have in 2 Corinthians 2 the case of restoration, of someone who had been put out of the church fellowship by means of excommunication, had been punished by the majority of the church, and now Paul commends them to restore such a one.

And notice that for Paul, in 1 Corinthians 5, he makes a real big deal out of the sin because the Corinthians had made such slight of it. Oh, come on, it's not that big of a deal. You know, my neighbor Phil, he's kind of in the same love triangle.

I mean, come on, it's not that big of a deal. And Paul says, it's a big deal. In fact, this is so leavening in the church that you've lost your whole understanding of just how sinful this sin is. I don't even have to be there, I don't even need to understand the facts, I've just heard the news and I've already judged them.

So here's what you're going to do, you're going to gather together and put them out from you because you are unleavened. That's what Paul says. So he makes a big deal out of what the Corinthians thought at the time was not a big deal.

Now here, in 2 Corinthians 2, the Corinthians are like, we've learned our lesson. This is a really big deal and we're going to watch this guy squirm. And notice just how Paul begins, well, if anyone's caused grief, he's not grieved me, but you, but let's not go into that.

It's like, oh, let's not make a big deal out of this. Weren't you the one that said we should be making big deals out of things? He's going, no, no, no, now it's time to cover. In fact, this man is about to be overwhelmed in his sorrow.

He's persisted alongside of you. You ought to forgive him. You ought to comfort him. And so rather than urging for someone to be excommunicated, here in 2 Corinthians 2, Paul is urging that such a one is embraced and forgiven.

He says literally, I urge you, reaffirm your love to him. That love had been put on hold. That love had been put in a container with a big question mark over it. But all along the way, we see in Paul's heart, whether in the fact that his desire was for the spirit to be saved or in this fact that he was concerned about the offender being swallowed in grief, not appropriately received, forgiven, and comforted.

We see that Paul's heart was always after restoration. Now does that mean that discipline, church discipline, is not punitive? Well, we couldn't say that. Of course, there is something punitive about it.

He says the punishment was sufficient, so there's something punitive about it. But like a parent punishing a child, that parent loves that child. The end is always restoration. It takes a child a little bit of life to learn the lesson, but they understand that discipline is done by love.

A parent who doesn't discipline their children hates their children, doesn't care, doesn't care enough to set them on the way that is right. It doesn't care enough to actually show them what is good and the consequences of what is not good.

And so, too, with the church, we could say a church that's not willing to go through the anguish, through the weight of church discipline, is a church that doesn't actually love its members. Even in the midst, even in a world that says to discipline is actually not to be loving.

At all.

We would say quite the contrary. It's the same world that says to discipline children is to not love them at all. And we would say biblically, no, of course not. That's utter nonsense. As the writer of Hebrews says, our fathers corrected us as they saw fit and we respected them for it.

And we grew up to honor them and follow them in that example. So the end of discipline is always restoration. This clarity, as we've said, is important not just for the offender. It is important for the offender so that they can think of themselves rightly, not delude themselves into thinking that somehow their way of life will lead them into the kingdom.

It's a work of mercy to say the way you're living is not a way that leads to life. It is surely the way to everlasting death. So church discipline is out of love, out of warning. But this clarity is not just for the offender.

This clarity is for the church. As we said last August, sheep are not goats, wheat is not tares, light is not darkness, truth is not error, righteousness is not sinfulness, defilement is not holiness.

Church discipline establishes that contrast. We see a little leaven leavens the whole lump. And what we unpacked last August was that church discipline, and particularly the exercise of excommunication, it results in the offender no longer being given what we call the extension of charity.

A really important concept here, and we'll apply this a little bit later toward the end with application, but essentially a church membership consists of those who have a profession of faith, both by their mouth and by their life.

They say, I belong to the Lord Jesus Christ. I'm a servant of his. I'm a brother and sister. I believe in the gospel by which I am saved. And that profession, that visible profession, is actually something that we take account of, we regard in charity.

So charity is extended. Why is charity extended? Because I can't see your heart in the way that the Lord can, and you can't see my heart in the way that the Lord can. You can see the profession of my mouth, and you can observe the profession of my life, my walk, but you can't see my heart.

And so in light of the profession of my mouth and my life, you extend a certain charity.

To me.

Ross isn't what he should be, but he's better than he used to be. I'll give him a little bit of charity and call him a brother. Well, thank you very much, and I'll do the same for you. So there's an extension of charity that consists in the membership of a church.

Discipline is the suspension of that charity. Excommunication is the termination of that charity. No longer is there the framework of, I charitably regard you, I charitably assume you to be a brother or a sister.

When Jesus says that the keys are given to the church, this is part of the weight of what the church identifies. Those whom you bind on earth will be bound in heaven. Those whom you loose on earth will be loosed from heaven.

If you're a rightly ordered, rightly governed, rightly led church, you feel the weight of.

It.

And so in light of that, Jesus says when discipline leads to excommunication, you regard the offender as a heathen, as a task collector, in other words, as an outsider to the kingdom. We asked the question in August, well, how are we to treat outsiders to the kingdom?

Well, we treat them the way that Jesus treated outsiders to the kingdom, with a continuing desire to see their repentance, and in light of excommunication, to see their restoration. The end, again, is always, always, always restoration.

We seek with the gospel, we pray for repentance, we don't blunt the sharp edge of excommunication, that leverage, that weight, that distance is meant to have an effect. So we don't relate as casual friends, as though a scandalous sin is water under the bridge.

We didn't shun or give a cold shoulder, but we were certainly distant, aloof. In the time of excommunication, of course, there's an opportunity to engage the word, perhaps even to observe prayer, hear prayers for their sake, to be implored, to be reconciled to God through Christ.

And so we said the church withdraws Christian fellowship, but not Christian compassion. You see the heart that Paul has, and the way that Jesus explains the goal of Matthew 18, if he listens, you've gained your brother.

That's the goal.

Not to be listened in a way that the word goes in one ear and out the other, but to actually be listened to in a way that you've gained. You've turned a sinner from the error of his ways. You've gained him.

It's what Paul says in Galatians. Brethren, if a man has overtaken any trespass, you who are spiritual, restore such a one.

That's the goal.

The man's overtaken.

What's the goal?

To footstomp?

What's the goal?

To kick him in the ribs while he's down?

What's the goal?

Why can only gentle and meek brethren surround such a one overtaken by sin? Because the goal is restore such a one. And so the end of excommunication is what we have before us this afternoon. It's restoration.

August was a hard sermon to preach. This is a wonderful sermon to preach. Let's talk about the exercise of restoration. Consider how Paul elaborates what this restoration ought to look like for the church at Corinth.

He says, not only you ought to forgive this man, but he says, you ought to comfort him. It's striking that Paul includes that. Because he knows there can be forgiveness sent at a distance. Forgiveness that is phoned in.

And he says, no, no, that won't do. When something has been fractured, you've got to wrap it tight. When something has been broken, you need to put a thick cast of covering over it. And so it is in a broken relationship in the church.

You've got to wrap tight. You've got to get close. He says, don't just forgive. Don't wave from across the canyon and go, all is forgiven. I'll never see you again. No, you wrap tight. You draw close.

Don't just forgive, comfort. In other words, restoration is, in Paul's mind, consolation. I think I said something in August like, where repentance is observed by the church, the floodgates open.

That's a good image to have.

If there had been the hopeful trickle, now the floodgates burst. Console, comfort, relieve, ingratiate, enjoy. It's representing the heart of Christ toward repentant sinners. What does the heart of Christ look like toward repentant sinners?

When you read the gospel pages, don't you see the delight of Christ just jump off the pages? He's amazed when people repent. He says, I wish you could hear what I hear. Angels bursting into song. You don't know what it's like.

There's no party on earth like the party in heaven when a sinner is converted from his way. That's what Jesus says.

He says, I love it. I revel in it.

The Offender's Gospel Testimony in Restoration

The exercise of restoration involves really two things because restoration is reconciliation. That's what we're talking about. What is restoration? It's reconciliation. And reconciliation is always a two-way street.

There's always two parties involved, two or more parties, if there is to be reconciliation. And so let me address the first of the two parties here. That is the offender. So the offender is to be reconciled to the church.

Well, what does this restoration look like? Well, Paul says to the church, it is to look like forgiveness and comfort. It is to look like no longer allowing someone to be sorrowful, but rather clothing them with joy and strength.

So what does that mean for the offender? Well, I would counsel this. It means a gospel testimony. A gospel testimony. Excommunication leading to restoration is just a microcosm of what it's like to be converted.

You come to an awareness of your sins, a conviction of the guilt, and then you're embraced by the mercies of the gospel. And you find a church where you're held forth with that celebratory love. Yes, you belong to us.

You're one of us. We've baptized you and count you as a brother and sister. You, too, have been brought out of darkness into light, out of death into life. You, too, know the Savior that we love and worship.

And so the relationship of excommunication to restoration is microcosm of the conversion experience, horizontally speaking. And that means that to the offender, you walk away with a testimony.

A testimony.

Part of this testimony is borne out, not just at a vote on a Sunday afternoon, but in all that flows from it. It's a testimony that clears itself in due time. There's had to be a clearing to get to this point.

There's had to be a proving of sorts. But that doesn't end this afternoon. In some ways, that just begins. Paul emphasizes this in 2 Corinthians 7 when he makes a distinction between sorrow that comes from God and sorrow that is like the world.

And remember that he has sorrow on his mind earlier in 2 Corinthians, too. And he says, this one is about to be swallowed up by his sorrow. What kind of sorrow might that be in light of 2 Corinthians 7?

Well, it had to be godly sorrow. Because this man kept persisting, kept showing up, even though he was effectively distanced by the church. And he persisted in that, not in a boastful way, not in a way of trying to make his presence felt and sort of corner people into receiving him.

In other words, it was a humble perseverance. And Paul observes this and he says, you ought to forgive him and comfort him. It's a godly sorrow because it was it was broken hearted. It was a godly sorrow because there had been a zeal and an energy now in a new direction.

All these things are what he later describes as godly sorrow. He says godly sorrow produces repentance, which leads to salvation. That's not to be regretted. Unlike the sorrow of the world, what does that produce?

Death. Oh, there's a lot of people that mistake godly sorrow for worldly sorrow. And there's a lot of people that had the testimony, they've been burnt by the church. You know, they sort of struggled to ever, you know, the church is full of hypocrites.

I've been burnt by the church and so on. Oh, I was repentant. I was repentant. They're just full of worldly sorrow. The sorrow of the world produces what their life will end up producing. Death. Paul says, observe this very thing.

You sorrowed in a godly manner. What does that look like? What diligence it produced in you? What clearing of yourselves? Note that. What indignation, what fear, vehement desire, what zeal, what vindication?

In all things, you prove yourself to be clear in this matter. You see how he returns to that? What clearing of yourselves? You proved yourselves to be clear. That's the image of godly sorrow. That's what Paul observes in this man in 2 Corinthians 2.

There was desire. There was energy. There was indignation. There was broken hardness. There was humility.

But above all, there was a clearing.

You've shown yourself to be clear. Now, it takes time to show yourself clear. It's been a long time since August. It takes time to show yourself clear. There's time yet to come. Such time is not to be regretted.

Godly sorrow makes you look back and say, as excruciating as this was, I can't regret the fruitfulness that it's grown. That's a gospel testimony. As horrific as the entrance may have been. It's like Rosaria Butterfield saying, my conversion was a car crash.

It was a car accident. It's like the worst, most painful thing I've ever gone through in my life. And I bless God for it. And I can't wait to tell others all about it. And I've written a whole book recounting it.

It's a gospel testimony. That's not to be regretted.

Why?

Because godly sorrow is God word sorrow.

Godly sorrow is not to be regretted like the world would regret it. Because the world can only think of the world. The world can't transcend anything beyond the cares and concerns of the world. Worldly sorrow is always something that leads to regret because it leads to death.

You're not getting what you can out of life. And you've only got this little flash. Make of it what you can in this dog eat dog world. All you can do is regret if you have worldly sorrow. But with godly sorrow, there's no regret.

How much pain, how much anguish, how much heartache, how much damage, how much consequence has there been? When you have godly sorrow, you have God word sorrow. And what happens? He brings beauty to your ashes.

He brings fruitfulness to the soil you salted and burnt. That's what the Lord does. Godly sorrow is God word sorrow. Notice we read this from Psalm 51 as we open the service. David, of course, effectively having church discipline directly from the Lord himself, which leads to him recounting these words in Psalm 51.

He knows who the Lord is. Notice this whole thing is God word. You want a working example of what godly sorrow looks like. Psalm 51 is godly sorrow.

It's God word sorrow.

He's speaking to God. All of his reference points are about God. Even when he's speaking about other people, it's really just about God. Behold, he says, you desire truth in the inward parts. You've been living a false life.

I hid everything over. I carefully maneuvered the chest pieces of my subterfuge. And all along, you just wanted me to behold. All along, you just desired truth in the inward parts. Better translation, you took me to the hidden place to teach me wisdom.

I think he's recognizing the hidden place, the dark place, the place that few go to. He's like, you brought me really low in a place that other people don't often go. And in that dungeon of trial, you taught me wisdom.

Psalm 51 is the overflow of this. In the hidden place, you make me know wisdom. And what's the direct response of this? Purge me with hyssop and I'll be clean. Wash me. I'll be whiter than snow. There's nothing he can do to patch up this ship.

It's sinking. There's nothing he can do to cleanse himself. God, you must wash me. You must purge me. I know that now. And now in a very worshipful, reverent way, he's almost sweetening the deal with God.

He's not making a deal with God. It's just it's all lopsided. God, you have to do this. But I love that he engages with God in this way. Make me hear joy and gladness so that the bones you've broken may rejoice.

It's I know you love worship and I want to worship you. And in fact, if you speak joy and gladness to my heart, even these broken bones will.

Rejoice to you.

It's like a man who's been crushed by the weight of his sin. And now he's looking to God in a way he had never before in that hidden place. The Lord has shown him this wisdom. And he says, even though I'm crushed by the weight of my sin, if you speak joy to me, my broken bones will worship you.

Well, how is God going to speak joy and gladness? David is still a sinner. And so he says, hide your face from my sins. Blot out all my iniquities. You see, Godward sorrow is not just the big one, the obvious one.

David says, blot out my iniquities, plural. I'm a sinner, he says. I'm a sinner. It's not that big sin. It's this heart I have pumping in my chest. It's these dark corners. It's these shadows that I move through in my life.

I'm a sinner.

The only way you can speak joy to me is if you hide your face from my sins. Purge me, cleanse me, he's saying. Create in me a clean heart, O God. Creation ex nihilo. I have a fallen heart. Create in me a clean heart.

Now, what does that look like? Throw out that heart of stone. Create in me a heart of flesh by your own spirit. Renew a steadfast spirit within me. Don't cast me away from your presence. Don't take your Holy Spirit from me.

Godward sorrow has allowed David now to see all that he had taken for granted. Though he was a man after God's own heart. And there were powerful times in his lives where he modeled in a way that the Lord took to himself all that he would become.

David's son, yet David's Lord. He modeled that humility, that wisdom, that strength, that integrity, that reverence. And he took it for granted. What was really of the spirit of God, he thought was just of his flesh.

And he could muster it up or call it on demand as he saw fit. In the hidden place, he realized what Jonathan Edwards said. The only thing I contribute to my salvation is the sin that made it necessary in the first place.

And so from this crushed place, David says, restore me. That's the key word, isn't it?

Restore.

What a beautiful word. This mighty man of God whose whole walk before the Lord has imploded. And in this fractured pit of sin and grief and sorrow, the cry of his lips and the song of his heart is simply restoration.

Restore me.

Bring me back. Make me whole again. Wash me in the joy of your salvation. Notice what he says. Uphold me by your generous spirit. It's not me. It's not what I'm able to do. I'm not able to do anything but stumble and fall.

Lord, not only do I need you to cleanse me, if I'm not to fall again, I need you to uphold me. In this hidden place, he's learned the wisdom and he has now a gospel testimony. A gospel testimony is simply what John the Baptist said.

I must decrease. He must increase. That's a gospel testimony. Let me tell you about myself, how I ruin everything I touch. And let me tell you about the goodness of the God that I love, my Savior. That's a gospel testimony.

A gospel testimony is not something unique to someone who had been excommunicated and is now, Lord willing, about to be restored. That is the testimony of every member of the body of Christ. You shouldn't be a member of the body of Christ if you don't have a gospel testimony.

A gospel testimony is essentially what David is relaying in Psalm 51. And that's why he says, and this is where he really is in a reverent way, sweetening the deal. I will teach transgressors your ways.

Sinners will be converted to you. How's that going to happen? I have this testimony now. I have this testimony of thinking I could do it just by virtue of who I am. What makes me unique? I'm this young lion-hearted man after God's own heart.

Well, I saw just how far my flesh could deceive me. And I've been crushed now into the weight of my sin. And I realize I'm wholly dependent upon God. And oh, what a testimony I have to share now. Lord, if you restore to me the joy of my salvation, transgressors will know your ways.

Sinners will be converted to you. That's what David says. How do you hold your head up in a church body after you've had some grave sin, after something like excommunication?

It was a punishment.

It was humiliating. How do you hold your head up?

You don't.

You don't hold your head up. You hold his name up. You hold his ways up. You hold his character up. You exalt his mercies. That's what David is doing. And in that way, in due time, you yourself will be exalted.

It's what Jesus said. The one who makes himself nothing is then exalted over all. The one who makes himself least becomes first. So you don't seek to restore yourself. You look to the Lord to restore the joy of his salvation to your life.

You seek to exalt him. You tell transgressors of his ways, not what I can do and why I'll be different. And the eight-step strategy I have to make sure this never happens again. Now, all of a sudden, it's your testimony, not his.

It's not a gospel testimony. David had to overcome the feeling of, well, how can I speak to anyone? How can I approach anyone now? Now I have a broken testimony. Now I have a marred testimony. I wasn't walking in integrity like so many others around me.

Now I have a broken testimony. It is no broken testimony to have the boast, all my hope is in the cross. That's not a broken testimony. That is the testimony. It's no stain to your life and walk to sincerely tell others, all I have is Christ.

That's not a stain. That's the gospel. And so it may be that the one who's in this crushed place seeking restoration has a wisdom that few others in this congregation will come to have. That's why David says, in this secret place, you taught me wisdom.

The Church's Role: Forgiveness, Comfort, and Gospel Enactment

So that's to the offender. What about to the offended? What about the church, the one who must acknowledge the sin that led to excommunication, as well as the repentance that must lead to restoration?

Well, we asked the question in August and James 3, 3, we confess we all stumble in many ways.

Is that true?

Yes.

Is church discipline directed at sin?

Yes.

Do we all in the church struggle with indwelling sin?

Yes.

So why isn't the whole church under church discipline all of the time? Well, the answer we established was because church discipline is directed to unrepentant. Sin or, very important, that which over time undermines the credibility of repentance.

That was what we established in August. So clearly there's this picture. We said that discipline upholds this testimony of the gospel. There's a testimony of the gospel in either direction, whatever happens with excommunication.

It's joyful when the testimony of the gospel comes off the heels of restoration. But there was a testimony of the gospel laid out back in August. Part of that testimony was that the gospel really does have power, and it really does transform someone's life.

And this is not just a charade that you can waltz into the kingdom. This is something that must happen by the Spirit of God. Dead men won't enter into life. They must be made alive, must be born again.

That's a gospel testimony. So we said last August, at the beginning, discipline is about examining the testimony of the gospel, right, the first steps of church discipline. It's about examining the testimony of the gospel in someone's life.

At the end, discipline veering toward excommunication, discipline is about vindicating the testimony of the gospel. The gospel has real power, not empty words. But now, in light of restoration, if at the beginning, discipline is about examining the testimony of the gospel, and at the end, discipline is about vindicating the testimony of the gospel, then with restoration, discipline is about enacting the testimony of the gospel, enacting the testimony of the gospel, putting into practice what the gospel looks like.

That's what we get to do as a church body, gospel enactment.

Notice what Paul says,.

You ought rather to forgive and comfort him. I urge you, reaffirm your love to him. So the celebration of embrace is as public as the discipline was. It demonstrates genuine forgiveness. We enact the gospel, we enact, if it helps with the picture, the joy of the prodigal's father.

It wasn't a cool reception. It wasn't, you know, the prodigal actually making it into the boot room and then into the kitchen, and the prodigal's like,.

What are you doing here, you know?

Well, I guess you can come back if you haven't eaten much lately. That's not Luke 15. That's not the reception of the prodigal. The church enacts that celebration, that embrace. It's almost a delight just to be able to delight in forgiveness.

And so the celebration is Godward as godly sorrow must be Godward sorrow. So restoration must be Godward. It's a time to thank God for his faithfulness. We handed a man over to Satan. We could do nothing.

There was no hedge of protection of the means of grace. There was no staying in the middle of the convoy or running with the herd. It was just here, prowling lion, here you go. And we could do nothing.

And in God's great mercy, we're at this place now where we're considering restoration. That is a time to thank God for his mercies. If you read the agenda at all, I laid out from our own book of church order what it means for someone to be excommunicated.

That's how it begins.

He said excommunication means that the offending and unrepentant member is delivered to Satan for the destruction of the flesh. That's 1 Corinthians 5. And secondly, that he's viewed as being outside of the body of Christ.

In other words, the covenant community of Christ's body. That he's excluded from the Lord's Supper and the ministry of the church to the saints. That his membership is terminated and that members don't keep close company with him.

That's what excommunication has meant since August. So then what does restoration look like? We don't actually spell it out in our book of order, but it's simply the reversal of.