Church Discipline (1): Its Purpose & Process | 2 Corinthians 13:11

Why Church Discipline Matters for Holiness and Truth

Alright, in light of what we just talked about, Tim had a very good idea to talk about church discipline and dealing with conflict, church conflict, church discipline, confronting sin in general. So I started to prepare some messages for this topic.

So this is going to be, we're going to take a break from the Gospel of John. When Tim comes back, he will pick up on that. And I'm going to focus on the topic of church discipline. So we're going to be going through a lot of different scriptures to get the big picture, the full picture of what the Bible says regarding this very important matter.

So I'll start out with making a few remarks about how in our time, many churches nowadays do not practice biblical church discipline. It's a big problem. They tend to either neglect it or to abuse it.

There's a lot of different popular misconceptions about church discipline. One of them is to victimize the sinner by basically saying, well, we're all sinners, so we shouldn't go after the sinner because we're all sinners.

Another way of saying that is by misquoting the verse that let him who is without sin cast the first stone. So you who have sin, how can you call somebody else's sin out? It's not appropriate. There's also a tendency in some churches to play the martyr, that we should just take the abuse, take the sin, turn the other cheek, turn the other cheek and don't confront the sin.

And it's also, some churches also claim that it's even arrogant or unforgiving to confront a brother's sin. So all of these are misconceptions. They are unbiblical notions about what the Bible speaks about confronting sin, about church discipline.

And this is something that has been recognized throughout the history of the church, in particular, the Protestant church. And one such example can be found in the Belgic Confession. The Belgic Confession was a Dutch Reformed confession of faith that was drafted during the time shortly after the Reformation happened.

In Article 29, it reads, the heading of that article is the marks of the true church, which reads, the true church can be recognized if it has the following marks. The church engages in the pure preaching of the gospel.

It makes use of the pure administration of the sacraments as Christ instituted them. It practices church discipline for correcting faults. In short, it governs itself according to the pure word of God, rejecting all things contrary to it, and holding Jesus Christ as the only head.

By these marks, one can be assured of recognizing the true church, and no one ought to be separated from it. As for those who can belong to the church, we can recognize them by the distinguishing marks of Christians.

This is what distinguishes true believers, namely, by faith and by their fleeing from sin and pursuing righteousness once they have received the one and only Savior, Jesus Christ. They love the true God and their neighbors without turning to the right or left, and they crucify the flesh and its works.

So, once again, this is how important the history of the church, especially the Protestant church, has considered church discipline. It is so important that if you fail to practice it properly, you are not considered a true church.

You are a false church, and we wholeheartedly affirm this. We affirm the Protestant historic reformed tradition of the importance of church discipline and how it helps to validate the true church. This is very important.

The Holiness of the Church and the Sinfulness of Sin

We have to ask ourselves, why? Why is church discipline so important? There are several reasons. One of the reasons is to maintain the holiness and purity of the church. There are several scriptures that speak to this issue.

I'll point out a couple of them. 1 Timothy 3 .15 says, If I delay, you may know how one ought to behave in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, a pillar and buttress of the truth.

So, the church, therefore, is called to preserve, to be the buttress of, and the pillar of truth in society. This means that we are called to affirm the truth in our doctrine and in our lifestyle. We must be consistent with the word of God in our lifestyle as well, because we are called to be ambassadors of Christ and bring a ministry of reconciliation before an unbelieving world.

We are priests. I believe 1 Peter says that we are priests. We are a royal priesthood of God and of the household of God. We are called to be holy, which 1 Peter 1 .14 -16 also says, As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance.

But as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, You shall be holy for I am holy. This is unequivocal, right? This is extremely clear. This is something that is not controversial.

It's not difficult to understand. Everybody in the church is called to be holy. One of the ways that we deal, that we help to stay holy, to maintain purity in the church, is church discipline. Another extremely important reason is to take the exceeding sinfulness of sin seriously and its destructive effects.

Nowadays, a big problem in churches is that they do not take sin seriously. They trivialize sin. They trivialize how destructive its effects really are, both to the individual and to the people around in the church who are affected by it.

Scripture speaks very clearly to this as well. In Romans 7 .13, for example, it says, Did that which is good, the law, then become death to me?

Certainly not.

But sin, in order that it might be revealed as sin, was producing death in me by using this good thing as a weapon, so that through the commandment, sin would become exceedingly sinful. So Paul again is describing the struggle, the conflict, the inner turmoil of dealing with indwelling sin once we have become that indwelling sin in our lives.

Even as believers, we still struggle with sin. Every single day, right? We all struggle with sin. And it is important to take proper measures to deal with the sin, both in our own lives and in the lives of those around us, of our fellow believers.

So, 1 Corinthians 5 .6 -8 also reads,. Your boasting is not good. Do you not know that a little leavens the whole lump? 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 leaven of malice and evil, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

There you see the connection, a very important connection. Truth and right behavior go hand in hand. Unleavened truth is according to godliness and sound doctrine and sound behavior. These two are one and the same.

They are in connection to each other, inextricably linked. There are measures that we take, therefore, to deal with the sin in our lives. Another important matter, or another important subtopic, regarding this issue of the purpose of church discipline, is once again to bring about repentance and reconciliation.

Repentance and reconciliation. 2 Corinthians 13 .11 says,. Finally, brothers, rejoice. Aim for restoration. Comfort one another. Agree with one another. Live in peace, and the God of love and peace will be with you.

Aim for restoration. That is the goal of church discipline, to aim for restoration. As to the importance of repentance, it should go without saying that repentance is a vital, vital aspect of the Christian life.

It is a hallmark of the Christian life. So much so, that in Luther's 95 Theses, Thesis number one states very clearly, Our Lord and Master, Jesus Christ, in saying, Repent ye, intended that the whole life of his believers on earth should be a constant penance.

Constant repentance. The lifestyle of a believer should be marked by repentance. By constant repentance every single day. Repentance for our shortcomings. Repentance for our sins. Repentance for falling short.

All of this is marked by repentance. It is a hallmark of the Christian life. Because to him who says he has no sin, The truth is not in him. He's a liar, right? Therefore, we must acknowledge the sin in our lives.

Repent of it. Mortify it. Crucify it. Destroy it.

Kill it.

Take proper measures against it in ourselves and in our fellow believers. So, I've enumerated a few steps to take. There are a few steps that we can consider here, When dealing with matters of confronting sin and church discipline.

Self-Examination Before Confronting Sin

Step one is very important to prepare yourself. To examine yourself and to prepare yourself. Let us turn to Matthew 7. Matthew 7. I need a bigger pulpit because I'm running out of space here. So, Matthew 7, verse 1.

Starting in verse 1.

It says,.

Judge not that you be not judged. For with the judgment you pronounce, you will be judged. And with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. Why do you see the speck that is in your brother's eye, But do not notice the log that is in your own eye?

Or how can you say to your brother, Let me take the speck out of your eye, When there is the log in your own eye? You hypocrite! First take the log out of your own eye. And then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye.

Do not give dogs what is holy. Do not throw your pearls before pigs, Lest they trample them underfoot and turn to attack you. So, here we see already, This verse explicitly contradicts the notion That we should not confront sin in another believer.

Okay?

Verse 5. Very clearly. You hypocrite! First take the log out of your own eye. In other words, first deal with your own sin. And then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye. So, this calls for a self-examination of ourselves first.

When we're trying to deal with sin in another believer's life, We must first examine ourselves to consider If we are guilty of the same sin or of some sin ourselves. We need to repent. We need to examine ourselves.

We need to crucify that sin. Acknowledge it. Forsake it. And then we can see clearly, We can see clearly to address the sin in the other believer's life. It does not say to not address it. What Jesus is calling out here, This is, again, one of the most twisted verses in all of Scripture.

Because it says, Judge not that you be not judged. It's not saying not to judge. It's saying do not judge hypocritically. Right? It says to judge righteously, Which again, John 7 .24 says, Do not judge by appearances, But judge with right judgment.

So Jesus is not saying not to judge at all. We are commanded to judge. And we are commanded to judge the sin in our own life And in the fellow believer's life. When this situation calls for it. So this is very important to consider As one of the first steps that we need to take Is to examine ourselves, To prepare ourselves.

Step two is now going to bring us into several different directions. Step two is to assess the situation And take appropriate action. There are many different situations in which sin happens In the context of ourselves and the church.

Whether it's personal sin, Whether it's a sin from one believer to another, So there's a lot of different situations. And we have to consider the particular situation And what the proper course of action is to take.

Because not everything, There is no one-size-fits-all solution for The kind of sin that happens, That takes place. The first question that we should ask is, Is it sin in the first place? Right? Not everything is sin.

So sin, We have to first establish whether it was sin in the first place. And Brother David read earlier today, What sin actually is in the Baptist Catechism. Question 17 of the Baptist Catechism says, What is sin?

Sin is any want or lack of conformity unto Or transgression of the law of God. So sin is a failure to do what God commands Or doing what God forbids. That is sin.

Now,.

Sin is also tied to What is commonly called in church history And especially the Reformed faith, The moral law. Sin is tied to the moral law, Which is summarized in the Ten Commandments. So we have an idea of what sin is From the moral law, Which is summarized in the Ten Commandments, And is further summarized in the Two Great Commandments, Which is to love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, And to love your neighbor as yourself.

Those are the principles that govern our understanding of sin. And of course, in 1 John, I think it also says, Sin is transgression of God's law. So there are explicit verses that speak to the issue of what sin is.

Sin is an extremely important topic, Needless to say, right? That's the whole reason Jesus had to die in the first place. Because we are sinners in Adam, Which we also read in the Catechism today. We are fallen in Adam.

We are all born sinners. And we still, even when we are born again and regenerated, We still have sin in our lives to deal with. That is why it is so important To address sin through church discipline, Through mortification, Through all of those measures that God has given us, Instructed us, And commanded us to do in the life of believers in the church.

So, once more, Now, in 2nd... My apologies, I lost my place here. In Colossians 3, 12 -13, it says... Oh, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Hold on. So, if it's not sin, There are situations in which it's not always a sin.

And in those situations, the Bible speaks to it as well. For example, Proverbs 19, 11 says,. Good sense makes one slow to anger, And it is his glory to overlook an offense. To overlook offenses that are not necessarily sinful.

If it's not a sin, you can overlook it. You can cover it. Love covers a multitude of sins, right? Or it covers offenses. It doesn't... We don't have to confront situations that are not sin. Also, Colossians 3, 12 -13 says, Put on then, as God's chosen ones, Holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, Kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, Bearing with one another.

And if one has a complaint against another, Forgiving each other. As the Lord has forgiven you, So you also must forgive. So, here again, it's in the context of a complaint. If we have a complaint against a fellow brother, We must be forgiving.

We must address... Now, we don't necessarily have to address an offense that isn't sin. It doesn't mean that we can't address it. If we are offended by something a brother said, Whatever the case is, We can still address it and forgive and reconcile.

Restore the relationship. Because the goal of church discipline And the goal of confronting sin Is to restore the relationship That has been broken from believers. If a believer is being affected by some grievance Or some complaint or some offense That a fellow believer did to him, Then he can confront that believer and tell him, Hey, I didn't like what you said to me here.

Whatever the case may be. But we have measures, we have guidelines To address those situations And to be eager to forgive one another. Because that is what we are called to do And that is what restores the relationship.

Kind of like hitting a reset button. And it restores that relationship And provides us to live in harmony and peace and unity. That is what we want, right? Peace, the peace of God and the peace... I believe Psalm 133 says, How good is it for brothers to dwell in unity?

That is the goal. And even Christ in John 17, He himself said, Let the world see our love for one another, Our love for each other, Our eagerness to forgive each other, To bear one another, To support each other, And patience and humility.

Now, if it is not, Okay, that is if it is not sin. If it is sin, Then appropriate action must be taken. Must be taken to achieve repentance and reconciliation. I want to be clear about that.

Must.

It is an obligation. We are commanded to address sin in our lives And in the lives of fellow believers. It is not an option. It is not a choice. And many churches get this wrong. We have to be careful Because of the nature, The destructiveness of sin.

Church Discipline Applies to Professing Believers, Not Unbelievers

Now, another important misunderstanding that churches have, That churches fail to consider or to apply, Is the context of, Are we talking about believers or unbelievers? Church discipline applies specifically And only to professing believers.

It does not apply. We don't have the ability to apply church discipline to unbelievers. This is very important. It only applies to professing believers. And this is where we have to be very careful. This is again where people misunderstand the verses of turning the other cheek.

Turning the other cheek is talking about unbelievers. When unbelievers attack you, When they persecute you for righteousness sake, That's when you rejoice. That's when you consider it all joy Because you're being persecuted for righteousness sake.

That is not something that you have the ability to take church discipline action Because he is not a believer. And in those situations, We do bear the marks of Christ joyfully and gladly. However, if we're talking about professing believers, And I say professing because that's important.

If it's a professing believer, We do have an obligation because they may not be true believers. But if they profess the faith, Then we have an obligation to deal with sin through church discipline. Let's turn to 1 Corinthians chapter 5.

In 1 Corinthians chapter 5, Paul gives us some very important guidelines for addressing sin in the church. All right. 1 Corinthians chapter 5 starting at verse 1. It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you And 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. 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.

Did you hear that? Paul pronounced judgment. We are commanded to judge sin in 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, You are to deliver this man to Satan For the destruction of the flesh So that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord.

Your boasting is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump? Cleanse out the old leaven that you may be a new lump As you are really unleavened. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed.

Let us therefore celebrate the festival Not with the old leaven, the leaven of malice and evil, But with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. I wrote to you in my letter Not to associate with sexually immoral people.

Not at all meaning the sexual immoral of this world Or the greedy and swindlers or idolaters. Since then, you would need to go out of the world. Again, you see a clear distinction Between how we should interact with unbelievers As opposed to believers.

Now comes the believers. But now I am writing to you Not to associate with anyone who bears the name of brother 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.

Have no fellowship. For what have I to do with judging outsiders, unbelievers? Is it not those inside the church whom you are to judge? God judges those outside. Purge the evil person from among you. So clear guidelines are given here in 1 Corinthians 5.

Again, that's why I said professing believers. If somebody bears the name of brother, Professes Christ, professes to be a Christian, We are obligated to exercise church discipline over them When they are in situations like gross sins That are listed here in 1 Corinthians 5.

Sexual immorality, greed, idolatry, reviling, drunkenness, swindling. So not even to eat with them. No fellowship whatsoever. And the purpose of that is of course To bring a sense of shame and conviction So that they will repent And that they will be restored And they will ask for forgiveness And be restored into the fold Into the church of God.

So it's extremely important to keep those things in mind. So, now, we also come to the situation Of whether it's a public or a private sin. And this is also very important Because some sins that are more public or scandalous Such as false teaching, such as Any sin that is public And one of these categories One of the situations which can also fall into Which we also have to be very careful with Is social media.

Social media is a public platform. When you say things on there that are sinful That is public information. So you have to be careful with those situations. And those situations have to be dealt with appropriately.

Social media is not exempt from sin. In fact, it almost encourages it. So we have to be very careful with social media. Because it is very easy to fall into the trap. And the temptation to sin. Even publicly there Where people can see, unbelievers and believers.

So we have to be very careful and mindful of those situations. And depending on the situation. Some things deserve open and public rebuke. Such as when Paul, the apostle, confronted Peter. When he was playing the hypocrite with the Jews.

And he was preaching the gospel. But then he was playing the hypocrite. And saying that you have to be back under the Jewish law. And so Paul confronted him publicly for that. And so that's another very important thing to consider.

The other thing, am I guilty of the same sin? So this is what we just read in Matthew 7, right? If you're trying to call somebody out for A lack of discipline or temperance, lack of self-control. But you struggle with the same sin.

Then you need to first judge, crucify, mortify, repent of the sin in your life first. You need to deal with that sin in your life first. Recognize it, repent of it. And mortify it. Maybe then go on a fast.

This is something really important because Again, the topic of sin is very neglected in the church. And even though in the Reformed faith we have a very Biblical understanding of sin because of total depravity.

Because we recognize how destructive sin is. That the sin of one man, right? The sin of one man. Brought guilt and condemnation to all men. That is how destructive sin is. And only within the context of understanding that.

Which really the only tradition that has faithfully preserved that understanding. Is the Reformed faith. That is why we hold so dearly to the Reformed Baptist standards. To the Reformed standards. Because they accurately reflect the destructiveness and the impact of sin.

It is so destructive that it not only affects us completely in every way. Even after we're born again. But even the entire creation groans, right? Because of the curse of sin that God has put on this world.

It's a fallen world. So, therefore, we are called to deal with sin and take sin seriously. This is not something that we should take lightly ever. Now, the other situation is. There's also situations in which are the grievances.

Are the complaints coming from one direction. Or are they coming from both directions?

Okay?

Because we have to be careful to establish the proper course of action. If the offense is from one side Then that would lead more towards a Matthew 18 situation Where we confront the sin and we take the proper steps of church discipline in that context.

However, if there are complaints or charges of sin coming from both directions. Then that calls for a different situation. Specifically one in 1 Corinthians 6 that we'll talk about. Where there needs to be a biblical mediator established to resolve the dispute To dissolve the conflict.

Now, another situation is. There are also situations and we have to respect the authority over the individual. What I mean by that is children and parents and wife and husband. So, in situations like that, we also have to be mindful.

Like if a child, somebody who is underage Sins or does something sinful to another child or to another person It doesn't matter. We do still need to address those things. But we have to address it through the parents.

Because the parents are responsible for that child's upbringing. They are responsible. They have authority over the child's life. And therefore, the correction must come from the parents. We cannot buy.

This is why children's ministry is so destructive. Because it bypasses. It subverts the biblical authority of parents having over their own children. We cannot break that biblical authority and bond that a parent has over his child.

It has to come through the parents. Now, similarly, a situation with a wife and husband. If a wife sins against somebody else. And we have had situations in which that has happened to us. So it does happen.

We have to be careful to account for these situations properly. If a wife sins against another individual Especially when it's a male. Then we have to be careful to confront the sin appropriately. And reaching out to the husband.

So we may have to reach out to the husband. Because we have to be careful to respect the differences in gender And to not give another opportunity for sin to happen. So we have to honor those authorities over certain believers in their life.

And be conscious of those things. Now, I know we're running a little bit short on time here. But I'll close out with this verse To help cement a very important point That we need to be operating under.

Always conscious of Galatians chapter 6 verse 1 says this. Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression You who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself lest you too be tempted.

This is extremely important. Look at the categoricals in this verse. Look at the universals in this verse. If anyone, anyone is caught in any transgression In any sin You who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness.

So, once again It doesn't just have to be somebody sinned against us. If we witness somebody sinning We still have an obligation to confront them. Even when the sin is not against us. Because of everything that we've been talking about, right?

We have an obligation to address sin in our own life And in the lives of others. Therefore, if you witness somebody caught up in a transgression You who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness.

Now, you who are spiritual, what does that mean? Because that could easily be misinterpreted, right? Like, oh well, you who are holy or you who are, you know All that means is you who are mature. You who are spiritual.

You who have properly judged and examined yourself first Of any sin in your life. You who have dealt with your own sin. You who have properly accounted for that sin in your life And are actively struggling against your sin Wrestling against it, taking proper measures.

Those of us who are spiritual, who have done these things Who have taken the log out of our own eye, as Christ said Thereby acquitting us of the charge of hypocrisy Which enables us to judge righteously And therefore spiritually have the obligation to restore them In a spirit of gentleness And to keep watch on yourself Lest you too also be tempted.

Again, you see because of sin The infectious nature of sin And how pervasive it can become. It spreads, a little leaven leavens the whole lump. Another common proverb is One bad apple spoils the whole bunch.

Because sin is infectious, it is contagious And it must be dealt with appropriately and immediately As soon as possible. Which is going to be another very important subject On the next message, Lord willing.

But in closing for today Confrontation of sin is biblical and necessary. We must confront sin in our own lives And in the lives of others. Based on the appropriate guidelines That we've given from the word, from the Bible.

Believers are commanded to And obligated to confront sin In our own life and in the lives of fellow believers And professing believers. Let's not forget that important point. Professing believers, okay?

So hopefully this will help us to maneuver This difficult situation that we've just gotten out of Because a lot of the situation that we've just left From old paths is a result of a failure To properly apply biblical church discipline.

This is why this is so important It is destructive and it can tear churches apart. We have to be very careful And take the nature of sin And the guidelines, the commands that Scripture has given us To deal with it biblically.

So with that said, let us bow our heads in prayer And close Our precious Heavenly Father. We thank you once again, Lord For the opportunity to hear your word. Help us to be receptive to it. Open our hearts to the truth of it, Lord.

Help us to apply it faithfully To understand it properly And to address the sin in our own life And in the lives of fellow believers. Lord, help us to use this as well To handle ourselves properly To guard ourselves against sin.

To guard our tongues especially As you've warned so very clearly in James. To be careful, to be wary Of the fiery and destructive nature of the tongue. Please guard us from these sins, Lord. And help us to be faithful To be salt and light Before the world and before the church And to love each other in the truth.

And because we love each other Our willingness to confront sin in our life When you have instructed us to do so. We thank you for these things, Lord. And we ask this in Jesus' mighty name.

Amen.

Thank you for listening to the sermons of Thorn Crown Covenant Baptist Church Where the Bible alone and the Bible in its entirety Has applied to all of faith and life. We strive to be biblical, reformed, historic, confessional Loving, discerning Christians Who evangelize, stand firm in And earnestly contend for the Christian faith.

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