Marks of a Healthy Church 8: Church Discipline 03/06/22

[Music] you are now men and wife [Music] zinzi zabina von braun [Music] I'm collecting all the verses in the Bible that tell us not to be afraid I think I might need to lead on all of that [Music] well that is a movie trailer obviously for the movie sabina which we will be showing right in here next sunday night I'm told there's popcorn and all sorts of good stuff so if you want to be here for that just come on invite your friends it's gonna be a fun time well I don't know if the movie is a fun time but it's a good so please join me as we sing please stand with me as we sing and worship our king this morning I can talk it's okay [Music] come set your rule and reign in our hearts again increase in us we pray [Music] like wildfire in our very souls Holy Spirit come invade us now [Music] we are your church we need your power in us we seek your kingdom first we hunger and we thirst refuse to waste our lives for your joy and prize to see the captives hearts released the hurt the sick the poor at least we lay down our lives for heaven's cause [Music] we are your church we

Pray revive this earth build your kingdom here let the darkness hear show your mindy hand heal our streets and land set your church on fire win this nation back change the atmosphere build your kingdom here we [Applause] [Music] unleash your kingdom's power reaching the near and far no force of hell can stop your beauty changing hearts you made us for much more than this awake the kingdom seed in us fill us with the strength and love of Christ we are your church we are the hope on earth build your kingdom here let the darkness fear show your mighty [Music] change the build your kingdom here we pray build your kingdom here let the darkness fear show your mighty hand heal our streets and land set your church on fire when this nation back change the sphere build your kingdom here we pray [Music] [Applause] you can be seated oh well good morning everyone it's good seeing y'all here at first baptist church see some nice friendly faces in the crowd as some

Folks come back from traveling and being abroad and things like that it's good seeing you and so we glorify the Lord for that our vision is all about loving God loving each other loving our community and world amen miss joanna how you feeling back there I tell you what she is a trooper and last this past wednesday night she was up here and she was doing handbells and stuff and she wound up actually laying it all out for the cause of Christ and she's got the broken bones to prove it and so yeah but we are praying for a good quick recovery for you hey we've got a lot of things that are happening in our church and one of the things for us that we love to do is we love we love children we love ministering to children we love ministering to their children and families because we believe that the best thing that we can possibly do is reach mom and dad with the Gospel amen we want them to hear the Gospel because ultimately kids are not going to be like you and me okay they're going to be like mom and dad and so for us we've got vacation Bible school that's coming up and so if you want to be a part of that in really implementing it especially when it comes to the preaching of the Gospel and building bridges into these lives of these little ones we want to do that and as has been said before we care is one of the best things that our church has we've got the lost that come to our church every single day and so the best thing that we can do as a church is build bridges into their lives and so come and be a part of that figure out how that might look for us as a church

It's going to be right after service today we're just it's going to be a very brief meeting we're just seeing what kind of pieces that we have who wants to help and making an impact in the kingdom in that way the dates for vacation Bible school are july 11th through the 15th and so that'll be from like I don't know I think it's like 8 30 to noon or something like that so it'll be a great time we're gonna have we're gonna have fun doing that of course you guys know we got sabine that's coming up this upcoming sunday night it's gonna be a fantastic movie it's produced by voice of the martyrs if you're not familiar with voice of the martyrs you need to get familiar with them you can go to I think it's vom.org and get plugged in you can sign up the stuff they have is free resources are free you can also get some information out here at the table heidi thank you so much for putting that together for us we're so thankful to the Lord for the opportunity that we have in showing you this film because you know it's all about how to live with conviction in a culture that is anti-Christ and how timely is that for us in the world that we are in today we live in a world that despises Christ hates Christ but you know we are called to live with conviction to live with hope to live with the Gospel at the forefront of our minds that we might be able to win some of our friends and our neighbors to Jesus now as has been our habit over the past couple of weeks we've taken the beginning part of our service just to really prepare our hearts for worship and so wherever you're at maybe maybe you've received some bad news this week or maybe you are struggling in your walk maybe you walked in here in a whirlwind you didn't even

Have a chance over the last weekend or last night or this morning to prepare your heart for worship this is your opportunity right now to just close your eyes bow your head and just ask the Lord to speak to you today the Bible tells us that we are to give Jesus our burdens because he cares for why don't you ask him to take some of those burdens from you right now that you might be able to hear him maybe some of you are worried about our world and the madness that seems to be going about it perhaps today you need to remind yourself that while we don't control the future God does he already knows the end so maybe take some time right now and remind yourself of that hope that he holds your future [Music] and so Lord we do come before you now asking that you would open our hearts and our minds to be ready to receive your word to be ready to worship who you are and what you've done [Music] Lord we know it's only by the blood of Jesus Christ that we are able to draw near to you and Lord we ask that this would be that time for us God help us to draw near to your throne to seek your will and to worship you [Music] Lord we pray that during this time you would remind us who you are you would remind us of what you've done you would remind us that you and you alone are worthy of all of the praise that we could ever hope to give here on earth in the this short time

That we have here and even stretching all the way into eternity where those who you've drawn unto yourself will worship you for all time amen please stand with me as we sing all creatures of our God and king all creatures of our God and king lift up your voice and with us o praise [Music] sun with golden beam thou silver moon with softer gleam o praise praise him hallelujah [Music] let all things their creator bless and worship him in humbleness go praise him hallelujah praise praise the father praise the son and praise the spirit three in one praise him hallelujah [Music] the hallelujah washed by his blood come and rejoice in his great love o praise [Music] Christ has defeated every sin cast all your burdens now on him oh praise him hallelujah [Music] [Applause] [Music] he shall return in power to reign heaven and earth will join to save o praise him hallelujah [Music] then who shall fall on bender me of creatures of our God and king o praise him [Music] hallelujah [Music] hallelujah

God from whom all blessings flow praise him all creatures hear below o praise hallelujah praise him above ye heavenly hosts praise father [Music] oh praise him [Music] oh hallelujah him o praise hallelujah [Music] oh praise him hallelujah [Applause] [Music] as we continue to sing it doesn't bother me whether you stand or you sit or you kneel or you pray or you sing or whatever you need to do so long as you're worshipping our God and king this morning because that's why we're here that's why we gather together is to declare his praises and to learn more about him this next one we'll sing it's come thou fount of every blessing which I'm sure we all probably know but I want to pay special attention to a couple of points in this song in the second verse we started with here I raise my ebeneezer all that means it's it's like a signpost it's it was a big rock that they put up to say God moved here God moved here this is who he is and this is what he has done for us so what we say is here is where I raise my ebenezer my signpost and what's the reason we go on to seeing Jesus sought me when a stranger wandering from the fold of God he to rescue me from danger interposed his precious blood our signpost is built on the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross amen

And then in the third verse we go on to sing oh to grace how great a debtor daily I'm constrained to be let thy grace Lord like a fetter bind my wandering heart to thee a fetter it's simple I mean it's shackles it's like handcuffs what we're singing there together is that we are prisoners of Christ we are prisoners of his mercy and grace and while the world may look at that as something negative we look at it as the only source of true freedom to be a prisoner to grace is the only way we get to taste the freedom of Christ so sing with me come thou fount [Music] come thou fount of every blessing to my heart to sing thy grace streams of [Music] never ceasing call for songs of loudest praise teach me some melodies on it sung by flaming tongues above praise the mount time fixed upon it mount of thyroid [Music] here I raise my never kneeser hither by thy help I come and I hold by thy good pleasure stay free to arrive at home Jesus saw me when a stranger wandering from the fold of God he to rescue me from danger interposing precious blood [Music] o to grace how great [Music] heart to thee prone to wonder Lord I feel it come to leave the God I love here's my heart Lord take and seal it seal it for thy courts of [Music] love prone to wonder

Lord I feel it prone to leave the God I love here's my heart Lord take and seal it seal it for thy coats above I'd like to read you now out of romans chapter six it says this what shall we say then are we to continue in sin that grace may abound by no means how could we who died to sin still live in it do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death we were buried therefore with him by baptism into death in order that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the father we too might walk in newness of life for if we have been united with him in a death like his we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his we know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin for one who has died has been set free from sin [Music] beautiful Lord wonderful Savior I know for sure all of my days are held in your head grafted into your [Music] you gently call me into your presence guiding me by your Holy Spirit teach me dear Lord to live all of my life through your eyes I'm captured by your holy calling set me

Apart I know you're drawing me to yourself leave me Lord I pray take me mold me use me fill me [Music] call me guide me lead me walk beside me I gave my life [Music] Lord wonderful Savior I know for sure all of my days are held in your hand crafted into your perfect plan you gently call me into your presence guiding me by your Holy Spirit teach me dear Lord to live all of my life through your eyes I'm captured by your holy calling set me apart I know you're drawing me to yourself leave me Lord I prayed take me [Music] me I give my life to the potter's hands guide me lead me walk beside me

I gave my life to the potter's hands take me mold me use me fill me I gave my life [Music] call me guide me lead me walk beside me I give my life to the potter's hand [Music] surrendered I surrender all to thee my blessed Savior surrender all sing it again surrender all I surrender all to thee my blessed Savior surrendered Lord help us to mean Lord help us to surrender all to you daily to lay down our lives and pick up our cross every day and follow you God help us to die to self and to live for Christ Lord let our very lives be an act of worship to you it's in Jesus name we pray amen well if you have your Bible and I hope that you do turn with me to acts chapter five

We've got four more weeks of the marks of a healthy church next week we're talking about discipleship and robert and terry harmon are gonna be here they're gonna give us an update on the things that are happening in their ministry up in pennsylvania they left us oh gosh was it I guess it was about easter last year right after easter they left our fellowship and God called them to I-tech and so we're going to hear back from them very thankful to the Lord for that and then on march 20th that sunday we're gonna be talking about prayer and a couple of months ago we had set up our sanctuary with tables and you know people were a little a little bit uncomfortable but we're gonna do it again because we're talking about prayer and we're actually going to be together to pray on that day that's a good idea right as we talk about prayer we're not just going to hear a sermon on it we're actually going to live it out together and that's going to be our first sunday all together and so I hope that you'll be here on that day so that way we can exercise that together a healthy church is a praying church amen and we got to get back into that habit and so I want to encourage you to be a part of our prayer ministry get opportunity find opportunities to meet together to meet and pray for our church for our community for our world and I highly encourage you to take those steps to do that today however we're not talking about something quite so easy like discipleship or prayer it's actually a very touchy topic it's about church discipline yeah

And so what is taught what is church discipline it is the practice where brother or sister is caught in sin or they willfully sin and so the congregation and elders brothers and sisters in Christ they pursue that person to restore them to repentance okay they're calling they're saying you know I surrender all and you should surrender all two you know we should be walking in obedience to Christ and so it's a loving pleading God please restore my brother or sister to a right relationship with you because right now it's broken or shattered and so it's for us it's the hopeful the hopefulness of restoring a Christian to repentance or and people don't want to go here but Scripture prescribes it removing them from the fellowship and that's a hard thing to hear and if you're if you're not in Christ if you're not a Christian if you're here and you're looking at this you might you might come in here and say that is a judgmental church everyone's got sin and I say amen right like I've got sin you've got sin we all sin there's a difference though of someone who sins and says I need some help I need to get it together can you help me brother or sister and someone who says I don't have any sin I don't have any sin this is not right how dare you judge me someone asked me cody what's easier youth ministry or pastoral ministry youth ministry

Because if a youth is acting up you go hey you need to straighten it out you shouldn't be sleeping with your boyfriend or girlfriend you shouldn't be disobedient to your parents you shouldn't be doing that you need to act up and you know what they go they go you're right cody I need to stop that tell that to an adult though they go who are you to judge me you know it's true back in before the civil war southern baptists they regularly exercised church discipline there's a guy named greg wills he's the professor of church history at the southern baptist theological seminary and in a church on or in a book on baptist history he identifies that southern baptists used to excommunicate two percent of their attendees every year yeah and yet during that time the church grew like the convention grew by twice the population rate during that same period of time so it's something that's actually very historical among southern baptists and then urbanized areas they began to grow and churches began to get larger westward expansion we talked we talked about that and you know the role of the pastor elder shepard overseer bishop whatever you want to call them started getting consolidated rather than it being a group of men started getting consolidated down to the senior pastor and in the church instead of saying as a congregation we're going to handle this church discipline we are going to entrust it to our senior pastor and so the senior pastor is there and he's all by himself and things began to get a little bit unpopular by one man saying hey

You've got this problem and so as times as the case when a pastor creates waves they said well we'll just find another pastor and so the practice it just started fading from baptist culture all together and baptists they simply grew tired of holding each other accountable and so churches began to look like the world you know the sanctuary was no longer sanctuary as more a playground for adults there's there's churches even in our area they exist solely for lost people to like them like that's that's not what the church is about the church exists to be on mission for those people that doesn't mean that we do bend over backwards to make ourselves more palatable so what really is the purpose of church discipline jonathan lehmann he's a different professor at the southern baptist theological seminary he identifies five purposes of church discipline and then we'll get into our passage first one is to expose sin in our series in Ephesians we walk through Ephesians chapter 5 verse 11 which gives us a really tough and we've wrestled with it for a while as a church in our community groups where it says take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness but instead expose them and what does that look like does that mean that you know as Christians that we're going to the world will say hi look at this it's terrible no it's it's a letter to the church

And talking to the church about how we are to be even in our own lives and with those that we are around us our brothers and sisters and so sin it's ultimately it's like a cancer in the church and if cancer goes unchecked it spreads but discipline it cuts out the cancer and it makes the body healthy again secondly it functions it per its purpose is to warn others because the church has no final say in anyone's salvation okay I don't have authority that's why we have the mediator Jesus Christ amen so while we are to warn others and church discipline it functions kind of as a display of that truth of the coming judgment as a compassionate warning for believers you know let's never forget that you know people watch us they see us and when people in the church start acting like a world talking like the world looking like the world and it goes completely unchecked then what right do we have in saying you need a Savior if we don't think that sin is a big deal thirdly to save souls if there's a church member not that we have any of these but you know someone they get saved at an event and you know praise the Lord we're excited but they never attend church they never partake in communion they never fellowship with the saints they never share the with the Gospel with anyone and in fact they're actually anti-anti-church anti-Jesus in a lot of ways do can they say with confidence that they know the Lord can they say with confidence that they that they will indeed be in heaven when they die with Christ on church discipline it's always a last

Resort in order to bring someone to repentance we've got 1300 church members you know and that's after going through the list and finding out which ones were dead where are they I mean that should upset us like they said this is our church body these are our members it's no surprise that you know we've got a lot of folks here that aren't members because it's like membership doesn't really matter like we believe that does but functionally we behave like it doesn't fourthly it's to protect us just as a little leaven leavens the whole lump like if I'm walking in disobedience in one area of my life you know what happens is that I start seeing that in other areas of my life as well and remember church we are a body and when one member is walking in disobedience toward the Holy Spirit of God we shouldn't be surprised when we don't see the Holy Spirit of God arrive in our church a little leaven leavens the whole lump fifthly it's to present a good witness for Jesus Christ remember that churches they ought to be salty and full of light it means that we should people should be able to look at our lives and say taste and see that the Lord is good it's a way to say that we are to be attractive and distinctive to people that are around us Jesus he said you are the salt of the earth but if salt has lost its taste how shall its saltiness be restored it is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people's feet unless God by a wonderful work of restoration restores that saltiness and so that's the purpose of church discipline you see those five purposes and so why don't we why don't we see what the Bible says about

Steps for church discipline and we're going to be in acts chapter 5 verses 1 through 11. If you would stand with me in honor of God's word as we read that passage together acts chapter 5 verses 1 through 11 God's word says this but a man named ananias with his wife sapphira sold a piece of property and with his wife's knowledge he kept back for himself some of the proceeds and brought only part of it and laid it at the apostles feet but Peter said ananias why has satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep back for yourself part of the proceeds of the land while it remained unsold did it not remain your own after it was sold was it not at your disposal why is it that you have contrived this deed in your heart you have not lied to men but to God when ananias heard these words he fell down and breathed his last and great fear came upon all who heard of it the young men rose and wrapped him up and carried him out and buried him after an interval of about three hours his wife came in not knowing what had happened and Peter said to her tell me whether you sold the land for so much and she said yes for so much but Peter said to her how is it that you have agreed together to test the spirit of the Lord behold the feet of those who bear who have buried your husband are at the door and they will carry you out and immediately she fell down at his feet and breathed her last when the young men came in they found her dead they carried her out and buried her beside her husband great fear came upon the whole church upon all who heard of these things so God we do thank you for your word and

God this is a very burdensome passage it just seems so needless and Lord if I'm honest with myself I probably see more of myself in that passage than I'd like to than I care to admit so help us to heed the warnings that are in this passage God that we might be pure and holy and blameless before you that you would do such a wonderful and magnificent work we love you God and we thank you for this beautiful day that you've given to us may you reign supreme this day in Jesus name amen well acts chapter five there's a whole context around it if you look at the book of acts up to this point Luke has really painted the church in like the most possible positive light that it could be I mean you know people there they are doing some amazing things they're seeing amazing things the Holy Spirit's falling people are selling their property and they're giving it out to anyone that has need and the church it's growing and it's flourishing and it's the church that you want to be a part of right like we want to be in the place where God is moving and all of a sudden there's a sharp contrast here because it's within this context that we meet a guy named Barnabas and Barnabas he's he's very important to the early church actually let's take a look at what it says at the end of acts chapter four you got they're all unified they're one heart one soul

Everything's in common grace was on them everyone's given stuff out but look at verse 36 it says thus Joseph who is also called by the apostles Barnabas which means son of encouragement he's a levite he's a native of cyprus and what's interesting is that according to the old testament law levites shouldn't be able to own any property like they had their own cities that they lived in but they weren't allotted tracks of land but this guy he had some and so he sold a field that belonged to him and he brought the money and he laid it at the apostles feet now Barnabas he's a great minister of the Gospel here he actually helped Paul get accepted by the local church it's like no guys y'all need to y'all need to listen to Saul and let's get him on a missionary journey and so Barnabas is very influential here and so Luke he's going to contrast Barnabas in his genuine gift to the church and he's going to contrast that with the hypocritical ananias and sapphira and their gift to the church I want you to notice first the ruse this is a very sneaky plan ananias and sapphira they hatched a plan to sell their property like everyone else was doing they felt like there was an expectation probably on to them they kept back some for themselves but then they were they were trying to pass it off and saying hey this is everything that we got for this couple they wanted to look righteous they wanted to look holy but they weren't in fact they were just the epitome of

Hypocrisy and lies and they would have gotten away with it too if it hadn't been for the Holy Spirit's prompting but Jesus he instructs us how we are to practice our righteousness before God if you look over at Matthew chapter six Matthew chapter six verses one through four explicitly addresses this he says beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them for then you will have no reward from your father who is in heaven thus when you give to the needy sound no trumpet before you as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets that they may be praised by others truly I say to you they have received their reward but when you give to the needy do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing so that your giving may be in secret in your father who sees in secret will reward you there's a warning there too that he sees the secret parts he sees the motives of the heart he sees the genuineness of the action and so we look at this situation you got to think there were probably some Christians in that church in jerusalem that were like wow ananias and sapphira what a generous gift glory to God let's put their name on a plaque somewhere on this you know in our meeting space because they were so absolutely generous let's let's honor them let's reward them that's why we don't do plaques by the way how wonderful how godly but the Holy Spirit and the leaders of the church they weren't deceived the rules had no effect on them and now some Christians they may not give so others can see but perhaps they do have a secret that they don't want others to know about

Maybe there's alcoholism maybe you stayed up late last night and you were drinking and you came in you have you just gargled as much scope as you could because you don't want people to find out about that hidden sin you don't want them to know about that struggle you want to just pretend like everything's good behind closed doors or maybe maybe you are just really nasty to your neighbors and I mean you curse like a sailor you don't care about the lost and you're here and you're just like I'm gonna give my money to the church and that's gonna be good enough you can't be good enough that's the whole point of the Gospel is that we're not good enough there's nothing that we can do to attain salvation it's just by believing in Jesus Christ and turning from our sin that's what it takes and these people they were just kind of in this in this place where they wanted both they wanted the glory of God and the glory of man and what's interesting here is that there's nowhere before this where Christians were even asked or commanded to sell their property and to give it to the church they weren't even forbidden to keep the proceeds for their own use the issue here was that they were lying and that they were being hypocritical the second step for church discipline here is that there's a recognition like there has to be something to discipline and we have to be aware of it Peter he says by inspiration of the Holy Spirit he says ananias why has satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit this shows us that the Holy Spirit is a person okay not just some mystical force out there he is someone that we can try to deceive

He is a person of the Trinity and while it remained unsold did it not remain your own and after it was sold what is was it not at your disposal why have you contrived this deed in your heart you have not lied to man but to God and that is a terrible thing to hear that's a terrifying thing to hear I mean when a when a church member when they lie or they steal or they violate God's laws in any way it is incumbent upon us to bring that to their attention and say hey brother so and so hey sister so-and-so I don't know if you noticed this but this is something that I've seen in your life can we work through this together do you need someone to come alongside of you and hold you accountable in this area but I want you to notice two things from this little bit right here I want you to notice satan's role what was satan doing here I mean we have a fine enough job making our own messes don't we spend our time chasing our tails and trying to build up our own kingdoms and stuff like that but satan you remember that he blinds he binds and he bluffs he seeks to devour destroy and deceive and so if Barnabas if he is the spirit-filled guy that we are supposed to emulate then ananias and sapphira they are the serpent-filled believers that we ought not to listen to James's instruction in James chapter 1 verses 14 and 15. It says but each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death and so satan's role it was to tempt ananias and we learned secondly here about personal responsibility that when we sin we sin

It is our own ananias and sapphira they were lured and they were enticed by their own desires and so they together they hatched this plot we are going to tell the church that we sold the property for x and that we are giving them x if they would have just said hey we sold the property for x and we're giving y because we want to invest it in this way no problem but they chose deception and it cost him and his wife their life so this should this should warn us that even though we might be able to deceive some people we can never deceive God we never can so if you were to enter into eternity what are those things that he might bring to your attention say everyone else they didn't know about this but I did you need to ask for him to forgive you to work on you maybe it's unforgiveness maybe it's an addiction maybe it's I don't know habit that you got I don't but it's time to let it go and ask for God to work in your heart the third step for church discipline is reward now rewards they can be either positive or negative jeremy after service jeremy spring he said I took from that play stupid games win stupid prizes what's the wages of sin what's the payment for sin let's do it one two three yeah all right I just wanted to do that but for ananias and sapphira it was immediate death for some it's long and drawn out because sin it is serious and some in the church they don't think that sin is a big deal they say well I'll just do this and I'll keep on doing this and I'm

Just going to tell God that I'm sorry I'm not going to repent of it I'm just going to say sorry God can you forgive me and he has to because he's so full of grace and love and mercy that he has to do it I'm not really sorry I just really like this stuff that I'm doing delayed obedience's disobedience if you know what you ought to do and you refuse to not do it or you refuse to do it hardens your heart to his Holy Spirit desensitizes you to the urgency of repentance the urgency of Gospel work it destroys the church from the from the inside out and that's why satan does it this way I mean if you look in the new testament you look throughout church history there were hundreds of thousands millions of Christians that were burned at the stake who were tortured who were crucified who were beheaded who were you know forced to go into the lion's pit to be eaten alive tossed into pits full of vipers halved and quartered just simply because they knew Christ and yet it was in the midst of all of that terrible persecution that even then the church thrived but yet when there's sin in the in the church when the people of God begin to look like the world talk like the world act like the world they're just everything you know what happens is that actually kills a church it actually decimates it and it doesn't even have to be major grievous sins like sexual immorality it can be habitually lying it can be not being compassionate and so how do we how do we address these things I mean you know yeah we know that

Things need to be addressed but how do we do it there's actually three different yeah people that describe this how it should happen in the Bible there's Jesus Paul in the Holy Spirit that show us how this is to be done if we look at Matthew 18 verses 15 through 20 it says if your brother sins against you that means that if you've got a brother or sister and they sin against you it is a com incumbent upon you to go to them and you need to say I have this against and I'm just really struggling with that you can't you don't harbor it that's one of the things that americans do is they harbor it and they say I'm good I forgive you not so we should if your brother sins against you go and tell him his fault between you and him alone if he listens to 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 the first usage of the word church in the new testament right there and if he refuses to listen even to the church let him be to you as a gentile and a tax collector and so that's how Jesus recommends that it's done it's a nice process but Paul hebrew he prescribes something different to the corinthian church if you look at first corinthians chapter 5 we've looked at this on several occasions through this series if you look at verses 1 2 it says that there is 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 aren't you not rather to mourn let him who has done this be removed from among you and when you look down actually further on in that passage in verses 12 and 13 and says for what have I to do with judging outsiders like it's not our job as Christians to point out the sin in the gentile world in the lost world yeah we should stand up for God's law in the public sector and things like that but we aren't to be passing judgment and saying you need to get this right is it not those inside the church whom you are to judge God judges those outside purge the evil person from among you so that's a bit different than what Jesus said and yet there's no contradiction but then we spent this morning we looked at how the Holy Spirit has dealt with this sin lying very obvious way but even in first corinthians chapter 11 verses 29 and 30 when Paul is telling the church how they are to celebrate the Lord's supper in a right way it says this for anyone who eats and drinks talk about communion without discerning the body that means like examining our own walk examining our lives considering on whether or not we have sinned against a brother or sister examining whether or not there is a hidden sin in our life that we're just clinging to it says without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself that is why many of you are weak and ill and some have died like these are hard passages these are

These are heavy things to talk about and I don't know about you but as I read this I don't go like yeah get them I'm I'm thinking to myself God is there things in my own heart and in my own life that maybe I'm I'm walking in disobedience sin am I walking am I living according to God's law I mean that's that's the whole sign of the new covenant is that his law would be written on our hearts what about his will are there areas that he's called me to that I'm just saying no God the fourth step here is removal notice that these and niacin sapphires they were literally removed from the body carried out in first corinthians 5 the man that was in that grievous sin he was he was treated like an outsider forbidden from partaking in the fellowship and communion of believers the standard is the same for elders first Timothy chapter 5 verses 19 through 20 it says do not admit a charge against an elder except on the evidence of two or three witnesses but as for those who persist in sin rebuke them in the presence of all so that the rest may stand in fear so the results of these removals these rebukes these corrections this church discipline the end goal is always godly fear not a not a fear for our lives kind of deal but maybe so I don't know it might be but for those of us who have siblings maybe you grew up with parents that gave you spankings it's good and it's right for parents to do in a godly way when it comes to like my sister she was always the terrible child I was

The good one you know I remember if she was ever getting disciplined I never I never stood there with my arms crossed going yeah you deserve that it was one time when she hit me in the face with a glass ashtray and busted my nose open that was one time I was happy this guy got the scar right here we loved each other but I do remember most of the time as my sister was being disciplined straightening up right like you walk the line you toe the line you don't want to mess with dad right now so I'm going to walk in obedience but was that was that discipline ever motivated by when God disciplines us okay is it ever motivated out of frustration oh God he's always patient his motive of discipline towards his people is always only love he lovingly rebukes us and he corrects he disciplines those he loves and likewise the church we don't discipline people who aren't members here it's probably why some people have been here for years and haven't joined ouch but the point of that is that as the church we discipline those who are members why and we ought to be in the habit of doing that why it's not because we want to take the plank out of people's eyes because I've only got a speck in my own no it's hey I see that you're struggling in this area and I'm struggling too let's come together and let's hold each other accountable because I love you brother I love you sister and I've seen where this path leads and I don't want you going down that path I want you to walk in the abundant life that Christ promises and

You can't do that if you're walking in willful disobedience to the father and so we encourage each other all the more as we assemble together until we see the day approach and draw near but how should church discipline be done we're going to look at two more passages and then we're going to wrap it all up sorry guys I know I'm going along Galatians chapter 6 verse 1 and Titus 3 verses 9 through 11. We're going to be in Galatians we're going to look at this and we're going to see three here and then Titus 3 we're going to see three there as well it says 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 so here's how it should be done firstly gently gently and we're gentle when we look at it in Galatians it means to it's the same fruit of the spirit you know that characteristic of being gentle being meek being humble and so that's the first characteristic of godly church discipline the second is hopeful for restoration the goal of church just the plan is never to tear someone down like that's what sin does sin always destroys a couple years ago when I first started playing guitar for worship there were a couple of occasions where I'd just start the song in the wrong key you guys remember that might forget to put the capo on it was just terrible I remember gene kind of stopped wait we can't move on cody you gotta fix it's exactly what church discipline is like

That didn't feel bad that caused me to sweat real quick because there's nothing worse than like being publicly like on stage crashing and burning but that's how it should work it's not in a condemning way but in a kind and loving way building up the body so it can move forward for the kingdom godly discipline always builds up it always encourages always corrects and rebukes for the sake of a believer going down the path thirdly is cautiously we must be careful because satan he leaves sneaky traps satan knows your vices even better than you know your own and so when we correct we must be careful unless we too fall into that sin in Titus chapter 3 verses 9 through 11 it says but avoid foolish controversies genealogies dissensions and quarrels about the law for they are unprofitable and worthless as for a person who stirs up division after warning him once and then twice have nothing more to do with him knowing that such a person is warped and sinful he is self-condemned fourth thing here is that with an understanding of the truth that's why we hammer on truth we've got to know exactly what's happening that's why last week we talked about the gentiles coming to know Christ and there was a division that was starting to rise up who preached the Gospel to the gentiles and so they sat down they talked about it and they got an understanding of what had happened fifthly is a clear conscience a clear conscience we can't get into debates over opinions opinions when it comes to the kingdom of God those are not the issue the word of God reigns supreme over our opinions so there shouldn't be division in infighting or controversy should be founded upon God's word in sixth quickly you know if a doctor tells you that

You've got cancer you seek treatment immediately you want to deal with it because a sickness left to ravage the body it can be very dangerous if left untreated therefore sin which leads to death must be dealt with quickly and urgently especially with people that stir up division more than once twice then no more so these things we have to consider prayerfully we can't just rush into it with guns ablaze and say I'm going to be God's righteous indignation that's not what God wants for us he wants us to handle these things prayerfully seriously lovingly and fairly that the bride of Christ might be beautiful and radiant for a world that desperately needs to look at the church and see the hope that is within us head hand heart head I want you to know that church discipline it is prescribed for every God-fearing Jesus loving church something that churches need to rediscover especially in our culture and I want you to think on how church discipline has maybe been mishandled or maybe handled well I want you to think back about how you would like to see that happen even in your own life and then commit yourself to that Biblical church discipline and heart I want you to believe that God's word recommends this that we should exercise this regularly with great fear and great caution great love and great fairness and so God we do thank you for your word and as we've talked about really heavy things today

We just thank you even that you're there during the weight of these hard things that we need to hear help us as your bride to be conformed to your image and as we stand and we sing this song let it be a prayer from our hearts that we would surrender everything that we have for your kingdom in Jesus name amen let's stand let's worship together [Music] all to Jesus I surrender all to him I freely [Music] will ever love and trust him in his presence daily surrender all I surrender all to thee my blessed Savior surrender all [Music] all right y'all can go ahead and have a seat it's not a big deal I just see a lot of unfamiliar faces out there and so I just want you to know this is my wife this is my partner and I love her very much so treat her kindly okay I'm joking but I just wanted to drag her up here I just whispered to her you're coming up there because I see some unfamiliar faces so I love you honey this is amber oh yeah thank you corey appreciate that yeah so I call her I'll call her wife affectionately I call her woman because she is of me

And butch it's good seeing you up and about you feeling okay awesome praise the Lord church I love you so much let's let's pray together and ask the Lord to see us out of here so God we thank you so much for your mercy and your kindness we thank you for your word and Lord as it lovingly rebukes us chastises us corrects us builds us up edifies us God help us to conform ourselves to what your worth says in Jesus name amen