The Protection of Church Discipline

Welcome to The Dividing Line for today. My name is Pastor John Sampson. It's a joy and delight to come to you as a guest host again for Dr. James White, who's away traveling. Please check the blog and be praying for his ministry as he's doing some very valiant, noble things in the cause of Christ, and we're very much appreciative of his ministry, of course.

So glad to be with you again. We're talking about the church. The last couple of times I've been here guest hosting, we've talked about the biblical case for church membership and also the blessing of church membership, what is entailed, how does it work, what is supposed to happen.

Some people have had bad experiences in this area, but the Bible still says what it says, and we need to do what God says, God's way. Let's do it right, and let's learn of these things. I have to give my testimony that I have not always understood this, but implementing it thrills my heart knowing that I believe God is in it because Christ is shepherding his sheep through his under shepherds.

And I'm so thrilled to be able to learn these things and introduce it in the church where I'm one of the eldest Kings Church in Peoria, Arizona. We've talked a lot about what the church is. We talked about many of the scripture references to talk about church membership.

Ananias and Sapphira and the Holiness of the Early Church

Acts 5 is another that we didn't talk about, where the apostle Peter was bringing church discipline in a very strong way, a very unusual way in the book of Acts chapter 5, where we have a couple called Ananias and Sapphira, who are slain in the spirit, so to speak.

They really were. They were dead because of their testimony regarding what they were doing with a certain piece of land that was sold. They basically, in a nutshell, lied about what they put in the offering.

That's basically what they did, and they were slain by God. God made sure the early church was going to be a place of holiness, where the fear of the Lord prevailed. And it's interesting about the reaction of those outside.

It says, Great fear came upon the whole church and upon all who heard these things. Very interesting. They knew of this. They knew what was happening. And the scripture says that many were outside of the church and would not join the early disciples, though they held them in high esteem.

We're joined there is interesting. Again, a concept that we've lost in our day, where it's just easy to just show up at a church and think we're part of things because we show up. Yet there was a commitment in the early church that we need to come back to and see again in our day.

Church Membership, Church Discipline, and the Marks of a True Church

In talking about church membership, we then go on to talk about church discipline. And I wish I could parade in front of you some of the people I know who've been blessed because of the right teaching and the right manifestation, the right enforcement of church discipline.

I know that there are stories where leadership have extended their hand way too much, too heavily. But just because people have done that doesn't mean we should shoot for the real thing. The real thing is a biblical idea of fulfilling what Christ has said regarding his church.

It is his church. It's interesting in the three times that Jesus mentions the word church. All of them occur in the Gospel of Matthew. First of all was in chapter 16, where he says, I will build my church.

Then in chapter 18, he mentions the word church twice. And in that context, it's all about church discipline. And that's it. That's all that Jesus said about the church, except it isn't quite the whole story.

Because Jesus now, through his apostles, is teaching us what his church is to be. And that's what we have in the rest of the New Testament. Both the Gospels and the epistles tell us how Jesus wants his church to function.

So it's not just Paul speaking with his ideas. It's Jesus through Paul. It's not just Peter. It's Jesus through Peter. And so we go on. I remember coming across a quote that I think is helpful in summing up some of the things we've talked about so far regarding the church.

It's a quote I picked up from John Piper regarding what is the local church. And he said this, the local church is a community of regenerated believers who confess Jesus Christ as Lord in obedience to Scripture.

They organize under qualified leadership, gather regularly for preaching and worship, observe the biblical sacraments of baptism and communion, are unified by the Spirit, are disciplined for holiness, subject to church discipline, and scatter to fulfill the great commandments.

The local church is a community of rejuvenated believers who confess Jesus Christ as Lord in obedience to Scripture. They organize under qualified leadership, gather regularly for preaching and worship, observe the biblical sacraments of baptism, scatter to fulfill the great commandments.

Two Christians showing up at an event and talking about Jesus, that's not a church. There has to be qualified leadership in place. There has to be the right preaching of God's word, the gospel and the sacraments administered.

It's interesting too, if you look at 1 Corinthians 11, which talks about the Lord's Supper, twice in that passage, you'll come across the phrase, when you come together, when you come together. And I had the idea, I don't know if you've had this idea too, that we can just have communion when we want and two believers can do it and a couple, even a husband and wife can do it.

But I'm not sure that's biblical because I believe it should be regulated through the local church and 1 Corinthians 11 certainly seems to affirm that, under qualified leadership who are watching over the state of those who are receiving the elements of communion.

Just a thought, check it out, you'll see that's what the words actually say in 1 Corinthians 11. So that's the local church, we're moving now to talk about the marks of a true church, namely the gospel, the word of God rightly preached.

You can't preach the word of God rightly without getting the gospel right. Secondly, administration of the Lord's Supper and water baptism in its correct biblical framework and thirdly, church discipline.

It was Theodore Baezer and others who talked about the fact that those were the three marks of the church. Luther had much to say, Calvin had much to say, other reformers had much to say, but it was really as the generations went on, they talked about three marks of a true church.

The gospel rightly preached, the sacraments rightly administered and church discipline. This third one was something of a component that came later. Theodore Baezer was a successor to John Calvin in Geneva and I have a quote of his I'd like to share with you where he says exactly this.

To conclude, in what place the word of God is purely preached? So you find a place, you find a group of people where the word of God is purely preached. He says, the sacraments purely administered and ecclesiastical discipline, that's church discipline, conducted conformably to the holy and pure doctrine.

There we recognize the church of God, no matter how few or small of appearance in men's eyes. I love that quote. It doesn't matter the size of the church, whether it's large, very large or small, very small, if those three components are taking place, it's a true church.

I remember not long ago, people coming to our church in the Phoenix area and wondering why I was talking about church membership when we had so few in the congregation. And my response is and was, well, whether we have small or a lot, we want the church to be the church no matter what its size.

And according to God, we're to do it his way. I don't have a choice in this. And church membership should be in place as soon as we can introduce it, because that's what Jesus wants of his people. It's actually his idea.

That's why we call the church King's Church. So three marks of a true church, the gospel preached purely, the sacraments administered and also church discipline. Why would they talk about that third component?

Why Church Discipline Is an Act of Love

That's what we're going to talk about today. People say, but aren't you just being superior by talking about sin and talking about the fact that others have sinned? You want to show your ecclesiastical clout and flex your muscles to show you've got authority?

No, no, no. It's actually a fearful thing for leaders to introduce church discipline, because whenever you point a finger at anyone, there's at least three fingers pointing back at you. And we know that we're all sinners.

The only way you can get into the church is to, first of all, admit you're a sinner. That's how we come to Christ, isn't it? I'm the sinner. He's the savior. Call upon the name of the Lord to save us from the wrath of God that we deserve.

But here's a concept we must get in place. Some sins are worse than others. Some sins need to be exposed and there needs to be a period of time where the person sinning is called to repentance and they need to repent or else certain measures needs to happen.

And that is Jesus' words to the church. Matthew chapter 18. Let me quote from Dr. R .C. Sproul from his book, The Holiness of God, regarding that concept that all sins are equal in God's sight. And he makes the point that that's actually an incorrect idea.

People say all sin is sin and that is true. But not all sin is equally sinful. Some sins are worse than others. That's true in our society. It's wrong to speak evil of someone, but it's far worse to go and murder someone.

And that's why the punishments under the law are different for those two things that people do, those two actions. The punishment should fit the crime. Jesus made it clear that the one who delivered him over to you, talking of the Jewish authorities, has the greater sin.

John chapter 19 verse 11. So even there, though we're jumping into the passage, I don't believe we're taking it out of context when we say Jesus believed that some sins are greater than others. Judas's sin was greater than others.

And that's borne out by that one verse. So let me quote Dr. Sproul. He said this, the sins listed in Galatians 5, 19 through 21 may be described as gross and heinous sins. The New Testament recognized degrees of sins.

Some sins are worse than others. This important point is often overlooked by Christians. Protestants particularly struggle with the concept of gradations or degrees of sin. We tend to think that sin is sin and that no sin is greater than any other.

We think of Jesus' teaching in the Sermon on the Mount that to lust after a woman is to be guilty of adultery. We are aware that the Bible teaches if we sin against one point of the law, we sin against the whole law.

These two biblical teachings can easily confuse us about the degrees of sin. When Jesus said that to lust is to violate the law against adultery, he did not say or imply that lust is as bad as the full act of adultery.

His point was that the full measure of the law prohibited more than the actual act of adultery. The law has a broader application. The Pharisees thought that because they never committed the actual act of adultery, they were free of sin against the law.

They assumed that if they actually refrained from killing people, they were keeping the law against killing. They failed to see that unjust anger and hatred were also included in the wider meaning of the law against killing.

Jesus taught that hate is a sin against another person's life. Hatred violates people. It is not as severe as actual murder, but it is nevertheless a sin. The smallest sin involves a sin against the whole law.

The law is the standard of holiness for us. In our slightest transgression, we sin against that standard. We violate the call to holiness. Again, that does not imply that every sin is as wicked as every other sin.

Jesus repeatedly spoke of degrees of punishment in hell, as well as those whose guilt was greater than others. Do we get the point? He continues. The idea of gradations of sin is important for us to keep in mind so we understand the difference between sin and gross sin.

Again, all of our sins require forgiveness. All of our sins are acts of treason against God. We need a saviour for our little ones as well as our major ones. But some sins are more significant than others and we need to identify which these are lest we fall into the pharisaical trap of majoring in the minors.

Let me just say in response to that, if someone hates someone, he has no right to say, well, because I obviously hate the man, I might as well go ahead and kill him too. No, a thousand times no. To act on the evil intention of the heart would be to confound that sin many times over.

Jesus' point was, just because someone has outwardly not done a sin with their actions, with their hands, with their body, with their whole being, that does not mean they're still guiltless in the eyes of God because to hate is to violate what God intended when he said, don't murder.

But at the same time, it's not equivalent to say hate is equal to murder or lust is equal to adultery. We can't just say, well, I've lusted, I might as well just go commit adultery as well. No, that compounds the sin many times over.

All sin deserves God's wrath and the punishment of hell, yet not all sins are equal. And that's why in the church we have to talk about sin. We have to talk about it from God's perspective and go to the Bible for that.

Church Membership, Local Assembly, and the Need for Discipline

When we talk about the church, when we talk about the book of Acts, we see that conversion to Christ included being added to the church. The Apostle Paul, the Apostle Peter, the Apostle John would scratch their heads in vain to try and understand the concept of someone being converted and not being part of a local church.

We have that idea today because we're so individualistic in our walk with God. We think it's just me and Jesus. I don't need the church. Nothing could be further from the truth. Numerical records were kept.

They said that these people were added to the church. You read Acts chapter 2, 41 through 47. Much of the New Testament cannot be obeyed outside of the true believer's involvement in a local church. That's serious stuff I'm saying.

That's why I've been taking the time to go through this from the Bible. Hebrews chapter 10, we've talked about this, verse 25. It says, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together as is the manner of some.

Again, that's the Lord himself through the writer to the Hebrews telling us that we're not to forsake the assembling of ourselves as some are in the habit of doing. And we're to do this all the more, assemble ourselves all the more as we see the day approaching.

It's the local church that is in view. It would be impossible to understand that verse if we're talking about the universal church. How do we assemble with the universal church? It's the local church that is in view.

The word assembling is actually interesting. Episunagoge, we get the word synagogue from that. It's an assembly point. It's a place of meeting where the Christians are. A known place of meeting. That's a biblically ordered church.

There's godly elders in place which comprise of converted men who are members themselves of the church and who meet certain requirements, certain qualifications outlined in 1st Timothy 3 and Titus chapter 1.

Then there is the sharing of those ordinances of baptism which really is the entrance into membership of the church. You're converted, you call upon the name of the Lord, you repent and believe in Christ and you are then water baptized which indicates your entrance into the local church.

And then the Lord's Supper is that continuing expression of communion with the risen Lord. Again, when you come together, do this. Some people have the idea, no I'm just going to be a Christian by myself again.

Hopefully as you've gone through the scriptures with me and you've looked at those scriptures, you'll know it's like an analogy of an ember, a piece of coal alongside the other coals in the fire. It's hot, white hot, red hot.

It's hot, hot, hot. But when it's removed from the other coals, it will glow for a while, it will give off heat for a while, but after a time that heat will be lost. There'll be a lack of attachment to the fire and it will result in that coal growing cold and it will die out, the fire will die out.

We can disregard these commands of Christ but we do so at our peril and we do so in disobedience to the Lord himself. We have obligations to each other, even to the point of pointing out sin, sometimes in the extreme, even in a public way.

For that we need to see Jesus and we need to see his words in Matthew chapter 18. We've looked at this before but it's very good and important that we look at it again. Matthew chapter 18, Jesus said this, If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone.

Really this is Jesus' mandate for every kind of offense and sin that occurs in the local church. It's something that should be primary. It's something that should be known by everyone. This is the way we're supposed to function according to Jesus.

Not go talk to anyone else. If we're offended, we go to the person and we go to the person quickly. We don't wait six, nine months and then send them a letter. We deal with this. If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone.

If he listens to you, you've gained your brother. But if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you that every charge may be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses. If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church.

And if he refuses to listen even to the church, that's numbers two and three of Jesus' three statements about the church, Ecclesia, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector. In other words, have nothing to do with that person.

Treat him as an outsider. When we talk about church discipline, it sounds negative. Negative. It's a bit like being asked, did your parents discipline you? Oftentimes what they mean is, did they spank you?

My father was Welsh, very Welsh, yet I kind of think he was in some sense patriotic, American in this little sense, because he laid on the stripes and I saw the stars. Yeah, he he loved me, he did. He who refrains from discipline hates the child, Book of Proverbs says.

And I can attest to the fact my dad loved me. He sometimes beat the living daylights out of my behind and I felt his discipline. But let's not have that concept in place as the only thing to mention when we talk about discipline in that negative kind of discipline that means a spanking or something we don't want to look forward to.

We actually need discipline. God disciplines us, according to the Book of Hebrews. Doesn't seem pleasant at the time, but we need it. Remember that hymn, prone to wonder, Lord, I feel it. All of us should say, I need the help of my brothers and sisters.

Sometimes it's like a blind spot when you're driving. You don't see everything. You don't see everything about yourself. We can be self-deceived and we need the input of those who are around us to say, hey, this area of your life looks like you're out of whack.

You're not walking in harmony with Christ in this area. We need to talk about that. Most of the discipline in the New Testament and in our lives is positive. We are to be nurtured and challenged and healed because we're broken people.

And much of that discipline comes through the ordinary means of grace as the Word of God is proclaimed to us. That's God's discipline, his forming of us. If we have the concept of a tree and we put a stake next to that tree as it's being formed, as it's growing, it allows the tree to be growing in a straight line rather than all over the place.

And that is actually a blessing for the tree. It helps it to grow in the right direction. It shapes that tree. So it is with church discipline in the sense of the normal way it is exposed and carried out is in the normal use of the means of grace as the Word goes forth.

There's a correction, but there's also an extension of God's mercy in showing us the way forward, the way to obey Christ, the way of holiness. All of these things are positive. It means, church discipline, that we have a concept in place that to be a Christian, we've got to take Jesus' Word seriously.

And his commands are not for any other reason than for the health and well-being of the people of God. It's for our health and nurturing that he speaks to us in this way. If someone claims to be a member of the church who will not live by the standards of Jesus, that needs to be pointed out.

And there are times for the glory of God and for the person's own good that we need to exclude that person from membership. Sometimes someone is straying so badly that the church needs to be called, as in the case in Matthew 18, when they're not dealing with an issue, there comes a point where if the person remains unrepentant, something has to be done on a church-wide scale so that the person is brought face to face with their sin, with the purpose being that they repent and we can move on and get on with life in the kingdom of God.

But when they still refuse to repent, we have to treat them in a certain way for the well-being of the people. If someone is unrepentant of teaching false doctrine or they're committing fraud amongst the members of the church, that needs to be exposed if they will not repent.

And if that is not in place in a church, there's no protection. There is no protection for the people of God. We're not disciples of Jesus unless we adhere to the sayings of Jesus, the words of Jesus, following Jesus.

There needs to be a distinction between the church and the world. We've looked in Matthew 18. I think a second passage that certainly has been mentioned already, but I believe we need to look at it more clearly and closely, is 1 Corinthians chapter 5.

And if you have a Bible, I invite you to turn there, 1 Corinthians chapter 5. By the way, a book that I would recommend on this issue of church discipline is called The Handbook of Church Discipline by J. Adams.

Very wise, scholarly and yet accessible material on this subject. 1 Corinthians chapter 5. I'm going to refer to some notes. I was reading a chapter in a book by Earl Blackburn, and he was quoting Jim Eliff, who was preaching on this passage.

And he wrote some notes that this pastor had made, and I want to refer to them as well, because I think they're helpful as we walk through this passage. I know people have been burnt by bad church discipline or overbearing church discipline.

Let's hear Jesus now, through Paul, speaking to a church that was not dealing with an issue in the church, and let's hear Christ now, through Paul, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, 1 Corinthians chapter 5.

Let me say this as we begin. Church discipline is not contrary to love. Actually, not to implement church discipline may be one of the most unloving things a church can do. The church has to have some standards of behavior.

Are you saying you're better than us? No. Are you saying you're better than other people? No. But I'm saying that Jesus says some things need to be outlawed. If they happen, yes, there can be forgiveness, but that thing needs to stop.

I'm amazed at large churches that have no church discipline, where couples are known to be living together without being married, and no one says anything. That is a disgrace, and it's a blot on the testimony of Christ in the community.

Let me say that again. It's a blot on the testimony of Christ in the community. Oh, yeah, I've heard about that church. You can live together. No one says anything. If that can happen, if you can go years, and the leadership knows that's happening, and they do nothing, that is not a protection for the people.

It's not in the interest of those people, because those people are self-deceived, thinking that they're walking with God, and they're living in known sin, and it's a blot on the testimony of Christ in the community.

You go and you share the gospel. Oh, and which church do you go to? Oh, I go to this big church on the hill. Oh, great. Well, I'm not really interested, because sin is not even exposed there. You can do what you like.

There's no difference between the world and the church. The testimony of Christ is not honored in such venues. Paul writes this. It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, talking of the church at Corinth, of a kind that is not tolerated even among pagans, for a man has his father's wife, and you are arrogant.

Ought you not rather to mourn? Let him who has done this be removed from among you. Again, notice the implication there, to have an in and to have an out, clearly in view. You can't put someone out. You can't remove someone from something unless they're first in something.

So the church has standards and they need to be implemented because you've not done anything about this thing. You're being arrogant. You really should be mourning and you should be enforcing Jesus' words here.

If there's no repentance from this people, this couple, a man and the father's wife. This is not good. This is not good at all. Let him who has done this be removed from among you. So the church is actually to judge its members.

Are we saying that? Yes, we are. Look at verse three through to verse five. For though absent in body, I am present in spirit. And as if present, I have already pronounced judgment on the one who did such a thing.

When you are assembled. Again, a reference to church membership, not just anyone who shows up, but you, the church, when you are assembled in the name of the Lord Jesus. And my spirit is present with the power of our Lord Jesus.

Again, Jesus is involved in this. It's not just Paul on his own. You are to deliver this man to Satan for the destruction of the flesh. I'm not sure exactly what that means, but I have enough about me to know that it's not good.

This is not a good situation to be delivered over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh. You're in wide open territory where the wolf can devour. Why? So that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord.

Notice the purpose in delivering this man, removing this man from amongst the flock. Delivering him to Satan for the destruction of the flesh was for the purpose of restoration. So his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord.

So he'd come to his senses and realize this is not conducive to the people of God. This is not the walk of a Christian. What you're involved in is in no way Christian, and we, the church, are saying so.

We are not going to tolerate this for the sake of Christ and his gospel. We're not going to do it. Then as we read verse six, we see that it's the responsibility of the church to remove that contaminating source of sin.

Let's read verse six. Your boasting is not good. They were actually boasting about the fact that their sin was more prevalent than the pagans around them. That's not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump?

This has a reflection on all the members of the church. Cleanse out the old leaven that you may be a new lump as you really are unleavened. For Christ, our Passover lamb has been sacrificed. Let us therefore celebrate the festival, not with the old leaven, the level leaven of malice and evil, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

Deal with the sin. Put it out. Don't allow it to contaminate the people of God. Ultimately, the final act of discipline involves excommunication. If there's no repentance, if there's no restoration, then the church, hear this, is to withdraw its most precious gift, which is fellowship amongst the brothers and sisters.

Hear that again. If there's no repentance, if there's no way that restoration is happening, at least at this point, there needs to be, according to Paul and according to Jesus, excommunication. A withdrawing of that gift of fellowship with the saints.

Verse nine says this. I wrote you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people. Then he goes on to define what he's talking about. Not at all meaning the sexually immoral of this world or the greedy and swindlers or idolaters.

Since then, you'd need to go out of the world. He's not saying don't associate with sexually immoral people in the world or else you got no one to talk to. That's all that's going on in Corinth. But now I'm writing to you not to associate with anyone who bears the name of brother.

See the point. He's inside the church or at least he's claiming to be a part of the people of God. If he is guilty of sexual immorality or greed or is an idolater, reviler, drunkard or swindler, not even to eat with such a one.

Withhold fellowship. Don't just hang out with him at Denny's and McDonald's. Don't go out for a meal with him. Don't give him the gift of fellowship right now until there's repentance. There needs to be repentance of his lifestyle.

Anyone can struggle with sin, but if someone's enjoying it and has no desire whatsoever for repentance. Back off. You're not being Christian to him by putting your arms around, said there, there, there.

No, no, no. You say you need to repent, brother. You need to repent. And we, the church, have something to say about this for the good of your soul and for the good of the testimony of the gospel in the community.

Now hear this. If the church fails to purge that unrepentant member, that disobedient member, it is in flagrant disobedience to God and his word. I don't care how big the church is, how small the church is.

It's not obeying Christ. That's serious. Verse 12. For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Question mark. I think though the question's not answered, the obvious answer is nothing at all. Paul was not to judge those outside the church, but as an apostle writing to the church at Corinth, he says, I'm judging this situation and my judgment is you need to remove this guy.

If he will not repent, you have to do this. When you gather together, when you are assembled with my spirit and with Jesus behind me, put the man out if he will not repent. For what have I to do with judging outsiders?

Is it not those inside the church? Again, an expression of membership. Is it not those inside the church whom you, the church, are to judge? Question mark. The obvious answer here is yes. It is those inside the church whom you, plural, the people of God, are to judge.

Yes. Really? Yes. God judges those outside. Verse 13. Purge the evil person from among you. Is that in my Bible, Mildred? Yep, it's right there. Purge the evil person from among you. Put them out. Put them out.

That doesn't sound very loving. Actually, it's very loving. It's very, very loving to enforce biblical church discipline and say, hey, Gary, we've heard this is going on, and we've heard, in fact, we've seen.

You've not repented. You're in flagrant disobedience to God, and for the good of your soul, we're going to have to put you out of the church. We're going to have to hand you over to the enemy for the good of your soul.

And we pray as we do this, even with trembling knees, knowing we're sinners ourselves, that you'll come to a place of repentance, because what we're not to do is judge your soul ultimately. We're not the judge of your soul.

I don't know if you're truly his or not, but you're showing all the signs of not being truly his. That's not our place. We're not judging your soul, but we're judging the sin. It's of such a high prominence that we cannot allow this to continue in the church.

And for the sake of your soul, Gary, we're putting you out. But we want you to understand that our desire is that you come back to Christ, that you'd have a true conversion if you haven't already had one.

And if you are truly his, you will come back. You will. There's a process that Jesus explained in Matthew 18, love for Christ and his body demands the exercise of church discipline. And it's actually unloving not to exercise biblical church discipline.

There are repercussions for not doing this. We just allow sin to run rampant. There's no fear of God in the church. Outsiders have no real driving sense of the need to get right with God because of the church in the world.