Church Discipline

Lesson Transcript

Well, good morning, and greetings in the name of Christ. You can turn in your Bibles to 1 Corinthians 5. And we'll continue our study in 1 Corinthians. I have to admit to a little bit of trepidation this morning. This is not a chapter that is necessarily pleasant as we read it. One of the things that I've been that's been helpful to me recently as I read the Scriptures is there's a motif that's used in business. It's three questions that you ask yourself: the question, "What? So what?

Now what?" And I think that's a good thing to use as we read the Scriptures. We read a passage, "What?" So what's this passage saying? So what? Does it matter? What are the implications of the passage? And then we have to ask ourselves the question, "So now what?" So we've read the Scripture. There are implications that emerge as we read that. And then what about the course of action that we take? And I'm going to attempt to do that this morning with this passage.

2 Timothy 3:16-17 says that all Scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work. And so as we read the Scripture, there's really sometimes we're tempted to think, "Well, there's just really probably nothing here that really is important in my life." But let's ask those questions: "What? So what?

And now what?" So let's go ahead and read chapter 5, 1 Corinthians 5:1-13. It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and such sexual immorality as is not even named among the Gentiles, that a man has his father's wife, and you are puffed up and have not rather mourned, for he who has done this deed might be taken away from you. For I indeed, as absent in the body but present in spirit, have already judged, as though I were present, him who has so done this deed.

In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when you were 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, that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus. Your glorying is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump? Therefore, purge out the old leaven that you may be a new lump, since you truly are unleavened. For indeed, Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us.

Therefore, let us keep the feast not with old leaven nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. I wrote to you in my epistle not to keep company with sexually immoral people, yet I certainly did not mean with the sexually immoral people of this world or with the covetous or extortioners or idolaters, since then you would need to go out of the world.

But now I have written to you not to keep company with anyone named a brother who is sexually immoral or covetous or an idolater or a reviler or a drunkard or an extortioner, not even to eat with such a person. For what have I to do with judging those who are outside? Do you not judge those who are inside? But those who are outside, God judges. Therefore, put away from yourselves the evil person.

So the subject before us this morning, I'm going to broaden just a little bit to the whole subject of discipline within the church. And here we have a case or an example of what we might say is extreme church discipline. And really, the facts of the case are relatively simple. They're not hard to understand. The church in Corinthians, of course, we've talked about, had their struggles with divisions and so on.

And one of the things that keeps popping up is this whole idea of them being puffed up, a certain amount of pride in their performance and so on. But the bare facts in this case are that there was among them, one of their brothers, a man who was in deep moral sin. It says he had his father's wife and likely his stepmother. And Paul says that they were puffed up about it. It was not creating the right reaction. They were proud, it seems, of their tolerance of this, that they were able to tolerate this.

And Paul says that they should have been mourning. That's the response that they should have had. And he says that even though I'm not with you, I'm not present with you, this case is such that I can already make a judgment. This man needs to be put out of the fellowship and delivered, it says, delivered over to Satan. And the way I like to think of that is that he's removed from the protection and safety of God's people. It's like a person who finds himself behind enemy lines with no support.

And Paul says that person needs to be placed in Satan's territory so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus, so that restoration can take place. And then he goes on to say that their glorying was not good because, "Aren't you aware?" he says, "that a little bit of leaven leavens the whole lump." And so Paul is very concerned that the purity of the body be maintained. And the connection here is made with the Passover.

And this is something that the children of Israel and the Jewish people and even others would have been very familiar with. During that time, the leaven in the house was to be rooted out, and they were to eat unleavened bread. Leaven stands for, he says, "it's the leaven of malice and wickedness." And the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth is what they were after. And he calls them to Jesus, who is our Passover. And he says that we need to put out the leaven that is among us. And then he gives a clarification.

He says, apparently in an earlier epistle, he had told them that they were not to keep company with these kind of people. And he clarifies and says that I'm speaking of people that are within the church, within the brotherhood, anyone named a brother, that those are the people that I was commanding you not to keep company with. He says those that are outside, God's going to judge.

But he says, if I was speaking of the people that you rub shoulders with every day, then he said you would have to actually go out of the world in order to not keep company with those. But Paul was very concerned that a person who is a brother, this could not be. And he broadens it a bit. He says that anyone who is sexually immoral or covetous or an idolater or a reviler or a drunkard or an extortioner, not even to eat with such a person.

He says, "What do I have I to do to judge those who are outside of the church? That's God's business. But we are to make judgments within the church." And so as we look at this particular case, it seems to be relatively straightforward, pretty clear, pretty cut and dried. But as I was studying this, is it always that way? Is it always is church discipline reserved only for what we might call the extreme cases as we have here?

But what else does the Scripture talk about when it comes to the whole idea of correction, discipline? The word discipline and the word disciple are very closely related. Our commission, the great commission, was that we're supposed to make disciples, go out into all the world and make disciples. And making disciples involves discipline. The word discipline means training that corrects, molds, or perfects the mental faculties or moral character, to impose order upon control gained by enforcing obedience or order.

And discipline is the mark of sonship. If you turn to Hebrews 12:5-11, it says, "And you have forgotten the exhortation which speaks to you as to sons: My son, do not despise the chastening of the Lord, nor be discouraged when you are rebuked by him. For whom the Lord loves, he chastens, and scourges every son whom he receives. If you endure chastening, God deals with you as with sons. For what son is there whom a father does not chasten?

But if you are without chastening, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate and not sons. Furthermore, we have had human fathers who corrected us, and we paid them respect. Shall we not much more readily be subjected to the Father of spirits and live? For they indeed, for a few days, chastened us as seemed best to them. But he for our prophet that we may be partakers of his holiness. Now, no chastening seems to be joyful for the present but painful.

Nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it." So we can see here that chastening, correction, discipline is a mark of sonship that we talked about this morning, that God is our Father. And yet we live in our society today, and I would say even in our churches, there's a real resistance to this kind of discipline, especially outside discipline that is brought to bear on our lives.

And the things that we hear are, "Well, you're not loving." Or, "What right do you have to do this? You have your problems as well." Or maybe we've become accused of being judgmental. And so I would like to just look at what the Scripture has to say. It actually has quite a bit to say about this in some other passages in the New Testament. So turn to Matthew 18, beginning at verse 15. It says, "Moreover, if your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone.

If he hears you, you have gained your brother. But if he will not hear, take with you one or two more that by the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established. And if he refuses to hear them, tell it to the church. But if he refuses even to hear the church, let him be to you like a heathen and a tax collector. Assuredly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.

Again, I say to you that if two of you agree on earth concerning anything that they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered together in my name, I am there in the midst of them." 1 Thessalonians 5:14 says, "Now we exhort you, brethren, warn those who are unruly, comfort the faint-hearted, uphold the weak, be patient with all." 2 Thessalonians 5:19-20. That must not be right because there's no 2 Thessalonians 1 Thessalonians 5. I'm sorry. I'm still wrong.

2 Thessalonians 3:6. Verse 6, 2 Thessalonians 3 says, "But we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you withdraw from every brother who walks disorderly and not according to the tradition which he received from us." And then we skip down to verses 11 to 15. "For we hear that there are some who walk among you in a disorderly manner, not working at all but are busybodies.

Now those who are such, we command and exhort through our Lord Jesus Christ that they work in quietness and eat their own bread. But as for you, brethren, do not grow weary in doing good. And if anyone does not obey our word in this epistle, note that person and do not keep company with him, that he may be ashamed. Yet do not count him as an enemy, but admonish him as a brother." And then we go to 1 Timothy 5:19-20.

"Do not receive an accusation against an elder except from two or three witnesses, those who are sinning rebuke in the presence of all, that the rest may also fear." And then chapter 6 of 1 Timothy 3:5.

"If anyone teaches otherwise and does not consent to wholesome words, even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, into the doctrine which accords with godliness, he is proud, knowing nothing but is obsessed with disputes and arguments over words from which come envy, strife, reviling, evil suspicions, useless wranglings of men of corrupt minds and destitute of the truth, who suppose that godliness is a means of gain.

From such withdraw yourself." And then Titus 3:10-11 says, "Reject the device of man after the first and second admonition, knowing that such a person is warped and sinning, being self-condemned." Romans 16:17. Romans 16:17. "Now I urge you, brethren, note those who cause divisions and offenses contrary to the doctrine which you have learned and avoid them.

For those who are such do not serve our Lord Jesus Christ but their own belly and by smooth words and flattering speech deceive the hearts of the simple." And then Galatians 6:1. "Brethren, if a man is overtaken in any trespass, you who are spiritual restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness, considering yourself, lest you also be tempted." I'm just impressed with the balance that we find in Scripture.

You read some of those there in Titus, reject a man after the first and second admonition, and it sounds rather abrupt. And then we have the passage here in Galatians where we can really sense that if someone is overtaken in a trespass, we go to him in a spirit of gentleness. There's an amazing balance in Scripture, and that's why I wanted to read all those Scriptures. The early church embraced church discipline. Clement of Alexandria said, "If one must censure, it is necessary also to rebuke.

For it is the time to wound the apathetic soul." I do not mean mortally, but salutarily, securing exemption from everlasting death by a little pain. Another quote that he said is, "The physician is not evil to the sick person because he tells him of his fever. For the physician is not the cause of the fever; he only points out the fever. Likewise, he who reproves is not ill-disposed toward him who is diseased in soul.

For he is not the cause of the transgression on him; he only reveals the sins that are there." And then church discipline, as it went and time went on, after about the third century, it began to weaken and become very distorted. And then at the time of the Reformations, the Anabaptist, and it's my understanding there's here no history more, but they felt like discipline was a mark of the true church.

Michael Sattler said, "Is the church really demonstrating the new life in Christ if there is no discipline, if there is no fencing in of the Lord's table, no devotion for purity of life?" And according to Jim Roth, church discipline underscores the Anabaptist conviction that no man can truly know Christ unless he follows him in life. And that's what we have out here on our sign by Hans Denk. In contemporary terms, this is what Chuck Colson said in his book The Body.

He says, "The church is simply abiding by its own standards. No one should expect to join a church, which after all involves a free decision, and then refuse to accept its authority. For failing to attend a few meetings, one can be thrown out of the Rotary Club. For failing to live up to a particular dress code, one can be dismissed from most private clubs. For failing to perform the required community service, one can be thrown out of the junior league.

Yet when the church imposes discipline, denying the benefits of membership to those who flaunt its standards, it is charged with everything short of, and sometimes including fascism. But shouldn't the church have at least the same right to set its standards as the Rotary Club? People who don't like it could and should go elsewhere.

We weaken the church when we fail to discipline." And yet I think there's objections raised that says, "Well, this whole thing has been abused." And I think we need to admit that, that this whole thing has been abused. And some of the abuses I'm just going to touch on without making a lot of comment. Discipline can be abused when it's discipline without instruction.

Discipline on the basis of rumors, discipline as revenge, discipline as oppression, discipline by one person, discipline for trivialities, discipline in bitterness, discipline with favoritism, discipline without expectations, discipline as punishment only, and discipline without prayer, I think are all ways in which this whole process can be abused. But Martin Jetsky, I had a quote that I read.

It says, "To abandon discipline because it was sometimes been ill-administered is as unwarranted as it would be to abandon worship on the grounds that it has sometimes been ill-conducted. The relaxation of discipline has often more absurd results than ever attended its excess." And that's why I want to look at this here this morning. Can we take just a real honest look at what this means in this passage in 1 Corinthians 5 and others so that we can benefit from it and enjoy what God has in store for us?

So I'd like to think just a little bit about the purpose. What is the purpose of discipline? I have at least three things written down. I'm sure there'll be more. But the purpose of church discipline is that so God may be glorified by obeying His instructions for maintaining relationships within the brotherhood. And I think we sometimes lose sight of our purpose for being here. We tend to get caught up in the spirit of our age, which says the purpose for our being here is that I can be happy.

It's for my own happiness. And our reason for being here is that we can bring glory to God. That's our chief purpose. That's why we pray. That's why we sing. That's why we work. And that's why we practice the things that He tells us to do. We bring glory to God when we obey His commandments. And one of the commandments is that we need to be careful about bringing about discipline within our own lives and in the lives of the church. And as we do that, God, in a miraculous way, does give us the desires of our heart.

The second purpose of this is to bring about restoration in the life of the airing brother or sister. And I think this is very, very important. And I think this is often where discipline goes wrong.

If we look at that passage I read in Galatians, "Brethren, if a man is overtaken in any trespass, you who are spiritual restore such a one in the spirit of meekness, considering yourself, lest you also be tempted." And here he's saying, when we go to somebody, let's do it in the spirit of humility, in the spirit of meekness, realizing that we're not that far away from being able to make the same mistakes. Our discipline is never to be punitive or to get even, to make them pay.

It should never be a self-righteous condemnation. And the example that we read this morning in 1 Corinthians is it's very clear that Paul's heartbeat in dealing with this whole situation is that this man could be restored back to a right relationship with God. And if we just turn to 2 Corinthians to reinforce that, when Paul again revisits this whole situation, 2 Corinthians 2:3-11, "And I wrote this very thing to you: Lest when I came I should have sorrow over those whom I ought to have joy.

Having confidence in you all that my joy is the joy of you all. For out of much affliction and anguish of heart I wrote to you with many tears, not that you should be grieved, but that you might know the love which I have so abundantly for you. But if anyone has caused grief, he has not grieved me, but all of you to some extent, not to be too severe.

The 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 such a one is swallowed up with too much sorrow. Therefore I urge you to reaffirm your love to him, for to this end I also wrote that I might put you to the test whether you are obedient in all things. Now whom you forgive anything, I also forgive.

For if indeed I have forgiven anything, I have forgiven that one for your sakes in the presence of Christ, lest Satan should take advantage of us. For we are not ignorant of his devices." So there we see the heart of Paul.

And he says, "This man has repented, and I want you to accept that and forgive him and affirm your love for him." And so Matthew 18, the passage in Matthew 18 says that if we go to our brother and we make it right, it says, "We've gained our brother." James 5:19-20 says, "Brother, and if anyone among you wanders from the truth and someone turn him back, let him know that he who turns a sinner from the error of his ways will save a soul from death and cover a multitude of sins." And so I think it's important to

remember that loving discipline will not always result in restoration, but it must always be the goal of discipline, is to bring it about.

So we have the purpose to glorify God by obeying His instructions, to bring about restoration in the life of the airing brother. And then the third reason for this would be to maintain the purity of the church. In 1 Corinthians 5, again, our passage this morning, he says, "A little leaven leavens the whole lump." In our modern terms, we would say one rotten apple can spoil the whole barrel.

In 2 Timothy 2:15-19, he says, "Be diligent to present yourselves approved unto God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. But shun profane and idle babblings, for they will increase to more ungodliness, and their message will spread like a cancer. Hymenaeus and Philatus are of this sort, who have strayed concerning the truth, saying that the resurrection is already past, and they overthrow the faith of some.

Nevertheless, the solid foundation of God stands, having this seal: The Lord knows those who are His, and that everyone who names the Lord, who names the name of Christ, departs from iniquity." So here he talks about how certain messages can spread like a cancer. And that is the concern. And that is why it's important to remove that kind of influence from among us. A diseased limb sometimes needs to be removed.

I was at a customer's house recently and was telling me about a mutual acquaintance that we know who has diabetes, and his foot became gangrenous, and they just had to remove the lower part of his leg. And why do they do that? It's to preserve the rest of the body. Discipline also serves as a deterrent to sin, as others that are looking on. And we have the story in Acts 5 of Ananias and Sapphira, on whom God pronounced judgment.

But it says that in verse 11, "So great fear came upon all the church and upon all that heard these things." A quote that I read says, "The church that refuses to discipline will neither command the confidence of its members nor the respect of the watching world." So we have the purpose to glorify God, to restore the fallen brother, and to maintain purity in the body of Christ. And so what about that's the purpose. What about the process? What about the process of I mean, how do we go about this?

And if we go back to Matthew 18, I see a progression. As we discipline our children, we don't use necessarily always a one-size-fits-all approach. We don't take a hammer to everything and just go in and start swinging that thing around. The case in 1 Corinthians 5 was pretty cut and dried. There was immorality. It was blatant. It was unrepentant of. It was public. And the response to that was to be a swift public judgment on that.

But many problems that we face within the church and in our personal relationships just boil down to that, and that's personal relationships. And so I think church discipline really, in a way, needs to start with all of us in a very organic way, at a very maybe we could say at a very practical level, whereby each of us are sensitive to each other. And if we sense a problem between us, that we take care of that between just the two of us in a speedy way. And how does this work?

And this is maybe a little bit hypothetical, but yet in knowing myself, it's really not. But let's just suppose that it's the day after brother's meeting and you get a phone call from a concerned brother who says, "What you said last night at brother's meeting was true. But the way you said that, it just really wasn't very, very, very Christ-like. It was not really in line. And the person that you said that to was offended, and it bothered me as well.

I think you really need to go and make that right." And I think all of us have probably been in a situation like that. And instantly what kind of wants to rise up within us is a defense. Maybe we get a little bit angry. But we have a choice at that point. And we can hang up the phone, and we can pick up the phone and call that brother and say, "You know what? I'm sorry for what happened." And maybe the response is, "Well, that's okay.

I didn't really take it that way." And then you can call the other brother back and said, "I've taken care of that." And it says you've gained your brother. At that point, the air is clear, and we can continue to move on. And I just think it's amazing that God that's the way He wants us to work out our work out. And I think a lot of the bigger things could be avoided if we start in that very sort of organic, day-to-day relationships with each other.

But He says there that if your brother doesn't hear you, after one or two warnings, take some people with you, some witnesses, and go back to him again and make the appeal. And eventually, if he still doesn't hear you, then the whole church becomes involved. And all of us have a part to play in that. A person by the name of Steve Brandy put it this way: "Church discipline has to be based on relationships within the church.

The effectiveness of church discipline is in direct proportion to trust and love that has been established between the members of the body of Christ. Without this relationship, the person who has sinned will see the approach of another as a judgmental rebuke and not an attempt to restore. Also, without the relationship built on unconditional love, a person will not have the trust and confidence to approach an airing brother or sister, but will rather gossip about him or her.

The successful outcome is not only dependent on the right kind of action being taken, but on the right kind of attitudes exemplified by disciplinarians as well as the disciplined. Attitudes can either make church discipline work or break its redemptive power. Attitudes can create or destroy people." And I think that is something we need to keep very, very much in line in our minds as we go through this kind of thing.

More could be said on that, but I'd like to think just a little bit about what are the grounds for discipline? What are some of the things that, as we read in Scripture, need to be addressed? Of course, the one that's pretty plain is offensive, shocking, and immoral conduct.

In 1 Corinthians 5, he says, "Now I have written to you not to keep company with anyone named a brother who is sexually immoral or covetous or idolatrous or a violer or a drunkard or an extortioner, not even to eat with such a person." So blatant immorality, drunkenness, covetousness, some of those what we would call grosser sins are to be dealt with. The other one is a real irreconcilable spirit towards my brother. And maybe we don't put as much importance on this as we should.

In the case of Matthew 18, the problem isn't so much he doesn't spend a lot of time talking about what the offense is. But he does talk a lot about what is our attitude as we go into that whole thing. We've probably all offended each other. At one point or time, we've been offended by someone. And that's why we have to forgive. And that's why we need to be reconciled. And so the point in Matthew 18 there is, how do I respond when someone comes to me? Or am I willing to do that?

The third thing is a contentious and defiant spirit. Romans 16:17, some of the verses we already read: "Note those who cause divisions and offenses and avoid them. Withdraw from every brother who walks disorderly" in 2 Thessalonians. And again, it comes back to the attitude of the person. What's the attitude of the person that is being addressed? And then the fourth thing I have noted here is one who teaches heresy or false doctrine.

And we're not talking here about differences of interpretation necessarily, that it's something a little clear and one person has another. But someone who is teaching things that are patently false, that go against what the rest of Scripture teaches. Titus 3:10 in the King James Version said, "As a man that is a heretic, after the first and second admonition, reject." And I think there's a danger in trying to compile a list of things. Now, this should be meat for discipline, and this is not.

Again, I'm going to read some quotes here: "Numerous writers in the history of Christianity have attempted to compile a catalog of sins that offer a reliable guide for initiating church discipline. Some have even sought to establish a graduated scale of sins that rather automatically triggers the appropriate response from the church, perhaps from mouth admonition through public censure to full excommunication.

When a given act is committed, it needs only to be classified in order for the church machinery to set for a proper cycle to be set in motion. Thus, writers speak of sins as grave, flagrant, highness, notorious, etc., suggesting a scale of degrees of misconduct." But the apostle Paul is one of more who more than all the other apostles speaks on the matter of encouraging action to be taken against an airing brother.

But he is careful in speaking of disciplining an offending person to regard the attitude of the sinner. For instance, Paul is concerned not so much with the fact that the man has gotten drunk or has committed adultery as he is with the man's response. The key question which needs to be asked is, once he or she has committed the sin, does the man or woman acknowledge it as sin? Does he or she repent and refrain from making it a practice of life?

While God is clearly interested in every action of a believer, discipline is to be taken against a person who has not only sinned but who is not repentant of his sin. If a man takes sin lightly or continues in it, that is the grounds for church discipline. When Paul takes action against a person or commands a church to take action against one of its members, it is because of the attitude of this person as much as because of his actions.

It should be underscored that the attitude of the offender and his response to warnings are crucial factors in determining the discipline that the church must exercise.

And I guess basically what he's saying there is, if a person I mean, the man that committed this horrible thing in Corinthians, when he repented, Paul says, "You need to receive him back in with open arms." And so I think sometimes that we maybe what we really need to be concerned about is what attitude does the person that has fallen what attitude do they have?

And a person that we could maybe say committed something that's not nearly as maybe egregious as blatant immorality, but that person refuses to submit to the authority that God has placed under him and has a really bad attitude is a very serious thing. And so let's keep in mind that what God is really looking at is the heart. And he's looking for true repentance and a yieldedness to his truth. I'm going to draw this to a close, but there's four summary statements that I would like to leave with us in closing.

Church discipline is a biblical practice. And I think we've established that this morning. Paul talks about it a lot. It's interesting that Jesus in one of the two places where he talks about the church one of those in Matthew 18 is where he's concerned about the relationships and how we deal with issues within the church. Church discipline is a neglected practice. And I think especially in our society today, and if we're not careful in our own churches, it's easy to just not put it to practice.

And probably the reason for that is the third statement is that church discipline is a difficult practice. It's difficult both for the receiver and the person who has to deal that out for the church and those who are responsible. Both for the giver and receiver of correction, it's difficult. And we understand that a little bit as parents and children when we have to bring discipline in our children's life.

The old famous line that, "This is going to hurt me more so than it hurts you." There really is as a child, when you hear that, you go to your room and you're like, "Yeah, right. I don't really believe that." But as you grow up and you get older and you become a parent and you realize that there's something in my child's life that if I don't deal with this, it's going to create a huge problem in our family and in the home. And so you take the appropriate steps.

And you do that, again, out of a sense of love for the person. And it doesn't make it easy. It's difficult to do that. And it's no different in the life of the church. But church discipline is a profitable practice. And there's some effects that church discipline has if it's done in the right way in the Spirit of Christ. Number one, it will provide spiritual care for the church member who has fallen, recovering him as well as bearing his burden until he is able to stand again by himself in the power of God.

And we see that in Galatians 6:1: "Yehuah spiritual, restore such a one in the spirit of meekness." It will also bring cleansing and protection from sin to the Christian community. This means deterring the church from sin. One of the effects of corrective discipline is that it will prevent others from falling into sin. The corrective discipline exercised on an individual becomes preventative for the rest.

As taught in 1 Timothy 5:19 and 20, "There are times when public rebuke is necessary in order that the rest also may be fearful of sinning." This tells us that the willingness of the church to take action even against an elder may be the means of keeping other believers from sinning. By such action, believers are made aware of the seriousness of sin and the tremendous hatred God has towards sin. Number three, it will maintain the power of the Christian community and as such bear witness to the world.

This is because the true power of God in the church is experienced when the church is living a pure life before God and the world. Proper biblical discipline will help the church maintain doctrinal purity in the church of Christ and will also help keep away false teachers who go around misleading people with their unfounded teachings.

This is a very plain commandment that the Christian is never to surrender, even for the sake of unity, to any man or woman who brings some teaching contrary to the doctrine you have learned in the book. But if we ignore biblical discipline, then there's also consequences to that. And one of them is that the reputation of God through his church will be marred. The world will curse the name of God, and the church will have no lasting fruit before God.

Instead, she will become another human organization whereby men will be striving for success in human terms. And so then we can talk of a dead church or a church which has left God's purpose and the church without vision or perhaps even a false church. And so I just want us to, as we look into God's Word and we see all this, to just take it at its face value, take it for what it means, and not to chafe under that, be willing to receive it, be willing to give it, and never, ever lose that spirit of love.

I think it's interesting if you go back to Matthew chapter 18. And I don't know if I've ever noticed this before. The verses just previous to that is the parable of the lost sheep: "Take heed that you do not despise one of these little ones." Verse 10: "For I say to you that in heaven their angels always see the face of my Father who is in heaven. For the Son of Man has come to save that which was lost. What do you think?

If a man has a hundred sheep and one of them goes astray, does he not leave the ninety-nine and go to the mountains to seek the one that is straying? And if he should find it, assuredly I say to you, he rejoices more over that sheep than over the ninety-nine that did not go astray. Even so, it is not the will of your Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish." And then he goes into the whole thing of going out and correcting her brother.

And I think if we have that spirit as we deal with this whole thing of correcting one another, rebuking one another, the discipline within the church, that our discipline will be it will be effective and it will maintain the church as Christ wants it to be. In closing, I just want to read a few verses out of Ephesians. This is my heart's cry for our congregation here and for each of us in a personal way. These are very, very familiar verses, but some of my favorites.

Ephesians chapter 4, verses 1 to 16: "I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling which with which you were called, with all lowliness and gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called, in one hope of your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in you all.

But to each one of us, grace was given according to the measure of Christ's gift. Therefore, he says, when he ascended on high and led captivity captive and gave gifts to men, now this, he ascended what does it mean but that he also first descended into the lower parts of the earth? He who descended is also the one who ascended far above all the heavens that he might fill all things.

And he gave himself and he himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, that we should no longer be children tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine by the trickery of men, in

cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, but speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into him who is the head, Christ, from whom the whole body joined and knit together by whatever joint supplies, according to the effect of working by which every part does its share, causes the growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love." And that's my heart's cry this morning for us as a congregation and for each one of us in a personal way, that we could grow up to the fullness of the stature of Christ.

And hopefully, as may God give us grace, like I say, the whole matter of church discipline, how we work that all out, it's not an easy thing. And it's not something that we like to think about a lot. But I think it is important. And if it's done in the way that Christ calls us to, it will be very effective. And our church can our body can grow together. Does anyone have any comments or any words of correction, anything like that?