In our last post, I made the point that all Christians ought to be under church discipline in the sense of being formed by the church and its practices. Because the church is a God ordained authority, it’s dangerous for us to not be in submission to it. We’re going to talk a little bit more about that today.
Most of the time, we’re able to go about our lives under the general discipline of the church, being formed by it to think, speak, and live properly. But every now and again something goes wrong. This should never surprise us. We are sinners. Christianity is a religion for sinners, founded by a savior for sinners (1 Timothy 1.15). Therefore, we should not be surprised when (sure enough) we sin. And ordinarily when we sin, we are led by the Holy Spirit to repentance. When we repent, we are restored to an unhindered relationship with our heavenly Father.
But sometimes we need a little help. We may not see our sin. And in those cases Jesus instructs our brothers and sisters in the church to confront us about it (Matthew 18.15; Galatians 6.1-2). And usually, with that sin pointed out to us, we repent and are restored.
But sometimes that doesn’t “work” either. Maybe our sin has captivated us. When that happens, more people confront us (Matthew 18.16). And if we repent, we are restored. But if even having multiple brothers and sisters plead with us in love to repent of our sin doesn’t “work,” our sin is brought to the whole church (Matthew 18.17). And if even the whole church’s pleading leaves us unrepentant, then the church has no option but to declare that, in their judgment, we are not true believers. This is because Jesus’ sheep hear his voice and follow him (John 10.27), and if we aren’t doing so, we’re probably not his sheep. And because the church loves us too much to let us think we are Christians when we are not, they will excommunicate us when we get to this point and are still unrepentant.
But in all of this, the goal is never to punish, instead, we desire to see repentance and restoration. This is a pursuit of love: for Jesus and for those caught up in sin.
And one of the main reasons we should join a church is so they can do this for us.
I know that in our individualized culture this rankles us. How dare they interfere with me? Who are they to tell me I’m not a real Christian? They are the people authorized by Jesus to do so. I may have an opinion about whether or not someone’s a believer, but my opinion doesn’t matter. I don’t have the authority to make this declaration. The church, though, does. And while excommunication doesn’t mean that a person is absolutely not a saved (only God knows that), it is a real and serious declaration, that should be taken absolutely seriously.
But don’t you see the wonderful thing about it? By having a church that loves you enough to discipline you in this way, you can know that you aren’t going to be allowed to go utterly off course in your spiritual life and make a shipwreck of your faith. The church is there to look out for you, and protect you, and finally take away your dangerous delusions if need be. Praise God for church discipline!
If your church doesn’t practice corrective discipline, beg your pastors to consider adopting it, for your own good. And if you are a pastor, please study this important topic, and come up with a game plan to wisely and sensitively introduce this to your congregation. Jesus is worth it. His people are precious to him, don’t take risks with their spiritual health.
Posted by: Gene Schlesinger



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