Fixing Fallacies: Life in Christianity - Part 3
Fixing Fallacies • Sermon • Submitted
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Scripture Reading: Matthew 18:15-20
In this Series, We are Seeking to Fix Fallacies
Fallacy = Misconception or Mistaken Belief
Previously:
Previously:
The God of Christianity
The Ruler/Authority of Christianity
The Church of Christianity
Entering Christianity
Life in Christianity Part 1 - Being A Transformed Servant
Life in Christianity Part 2 - Being Obedient to Governing Authorities
We Were Going to Look at Romans 14 This Week, But I’ve Decided to Look at Something Else First
We are Going to Talk about Church Discipline
Because Church Discipline is Supposed to be a Regular and Active Part of Every Christian’s Life
What Is Church Discipline?
Jesus Gives Us the Easiest Description in Matthew 18
If a Sibling in Christ Sins, Go Privately and Convince Him/Her of Sin
If He/She is Convinced of His/Her Sin, Inferring that They Repent, Then You Have Gained Your Sibling Back
If Your Sibling Refuses to be Convinced of His/Her Sin, Take 2 or 3 Witnesses with You and Try Again
If Your Sibling Still Refuses, the Entire Congregation is to be Made Known of His/Her Sin and the Church as a Whole is to Rebuke/Convince Him/Her of Sin
If Your Sibling Refuses to Listen to the Entire Church Family then They are to be Regarded as if They are Not Part of that Family Anymore
That is a Basic Description of What Church Discipline is
We’ll Learn More as We Fix Some Fallacies
Fallacy 1: The Bible Says Not To Judge!
Fallacy 1: The Bible Says Not To Judge!
We Live in a Society that Says, “Mind Your Own Business!”
“If Someone Wants to Live Their Life a Certain Way, You Don’t Have a Right to Judge Their Actions.”
So, When You Criticize the Sinful Lifestyle Choices of Another, You will Hear Something like, “The Bible Says Not to Judge!”
They Will Often Quote Jesus from Matthew 7:1 to Prove Their Case
“Do not judge so that you will not be judged.
Most of the People Who Use this Verse as a Defense for Their Sinful Living Don’t Actually Know the Context that Jesus is Speaking this in
He’s Speaking of Hypocritical Judgement
Judging Someone Else When You are Living Worse than They are
But He Also Affirms that Disciplinary Judgement is Necessary in this Context
“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.
Jesus Tells Us to Clean Our Lives Up so We can Help Others Clean Their Lives Up
But When People Say, “God is My Judge, Not You!”, I Agree with Them Under the Right Circumstances
Paul Does Too
In 1 Corinthians 5, Paul is Commanding the Corinthian Christians to “Purge Out the Leaven” in Their Congregation
They Were to Discipline a Brother Living in Adultery
Notice What He Says Starting in Verse 9
I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people— not at all meaning the sexually immoral of this world, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters, since then you would need to go out of the world. 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. For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Is it not those inside the church whom you are to judge? God judges those outside. “Purge the evil person from among you.”
Paul Tells the Christians Not to Associate with People Living Sinful Lives
But Then He Explains What He Means by That
Paul Isn’t Telling Christians Not to Associate with Non-Christians Living in Sin
He’s Telling Them Not to Associate with Christians Living in Sin
He Says that God Alone Judges Those Outside of Christ
But We as Christians are Supposed to Judge Our Brothers and Sisters in Christ
This Doesn’t Mean We Aren’t Supposed to Teach the Good News to the Lost
We Want Them to Repent of Their Sins and Give Their Allegiance to Christ
But We Have No Business Judging/Disciplining Them
Why Not?
Because We Don’t Hold Sinners to the Same Standard that We Hold Saints to
We are to Judge/Discipline Our Brothers and Sisters When They Fall into Persistent Sin
Why?
Because They Made the Choice to Dedicate Their Lives to Righteous Living for Christ
And it is Our Duty to Help Them Stay Faithful to that Commitment
The World Can Say All Day Long, “The Bible Says Not To Judge!”
But the Truth is, Christ and His Apostles Commanded Christians to Judge Each Other
Fallacy 2: Church Discipline Is Hateful
Fallacy 2: Church Discipline Is Hateful
In Today’s World, There’s Almost Nothing More Hateful than Telling Someone They are Wrong
The Loving Thing to Do is Mind Your Own Business and Let Other’s Do Whatever They Want to Do
The World Says Christians Shouldn’t Judge Each Other Because Jesus Associated with Sinners
They are Right…Jesus Loved and Associated with the Sinners of the World
But that Same Jesus also Harshly Rebuked the Religious Jews for Their Sinfulness
Jesus Practiced the Same Principles that We are to Practice Today
Tell the Good News to Sinners and Rebuke the Saints When They Wander into Sin
What is the Purpose in Disciplining Our Fellow Christians?
Paul Tells Us One Reason the Corinthians Were to Discipline the Adulterous Man in 1 Corinthians 5:5
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.
“Deliver to Satan” = To Excommunicate Out of the Fellowship of the Church Family
If You Aren’t in the Family of God, You Belong to Satan
“For the Destruction of the Flesh” = They are Disfellowshipped so that There Fleshly Lifestyle will be Destroyed by Their Desire to be Accepted by the Family of God Again
And the Purpose?
It is so that They will be Saved from Death and Eternal Destruction
James Tells Us the Same
My brethren, if any among you strays from the truth and one turns him back,
let him know that he who turns a sinner from the error of his way will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins.
Church Discipline Isn’t to Hurt Our Brothers and Sisters
It’s to Save Them
In 2 Corinthians, Paul Refers Back to His Command for the Corinthians to Discipline Their Adulterous Brother
For I wrote to you out of much affliction and anguish of heart and with many tears, not to cause you pain but to let you know the abundant love that I have for you.
Church Discipline Doesn’t Bring Joy to Those Who Use it
It’s Painful and Heartwrenching to Have to Discipline a Sibling
But Paul Tells Us that it is the Loving Thing to Do
Church Discipline May Look Hateful, Mean, Brutally Old Fashioned, and like the Most Unloving Thing a Family Could Do to a Sibling
But to Save Someone from the Sins that will Lead to Their Death is the Most Loving Thing a Brother/Sister Could Do
And When that Errant Christian Repents and Returns to Faithful Living, the Church Lovingly Welcomes Him/Her Back in with Forgiveness and Comfort
Sufficient for such a one is this punishment which was inflicted by the majority,
so that on the contrary you should rather forgive and comfort him, otherwise such a one might be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow.
Wherefore I urge you to reaffirm your love for him.
The Goal of Church Discipline is Reconciliation Brought on by Repentance by the Sinner and Forgiveness by God and His Church
Fallacy 3: Church Discipline Doesn’t Work Anymore
Fallacy 3: Church Discipline Doesn’t Work Anymore
There are Many People Without and Within the Church that Have and Continue to Make this Statement
“It Only Drives People Away from Jesus and His Church!”
This Couldn’t be Further from the Truth
If a Christian is Living in Rebellious Sin, They’ve Already Driven Themselves Away from Jesus and His Church
After All, Who Drove the Prodigal Son into the Far Away Country?
He Decided to Leave His Father and His Family to Pursue a Wasteful Lifestyle
But I Do Agree that, in Many Places, Church Discipline Doesn’t Work Today
It’s Not Because it’s a Bad System
The System was Designed by God and Works Great When it is Used Correctly
But that’s the Problem, it is Rarely Ever Used Correctly
Doing it in Any Other Way than Jesus Prescribed is Doing it Incorrectly
And Even When Done Correctly, it Still Doesn’t Work Many Times Because it Isn’t Done in the Environment it was Designed for
What Environment was Church Discipline Designed for?
A Family Environment
Church Discipline Works as God Intended When it is Done Amongst a Church that Resembles a Family
How Can Disfellowshiping Work When There is No Fellowship to Begin With?
How Can Excommunication Work When There is No Communication/Communion to Begin With?
How Can Someone be Treated as if They are No Longer a Part of the Family if They Were Never Treated like Family to Begin With?
How Can Someone Severely Miss Their Brothers and Sisters if They Never Wanted to Spend More than a Couple Hours with Them to Begin With?
How Can Someone Desire to be Restored/Reconciled to a Loving Relationship with Their Family in Christ if They Never had a Relationship to Begin With?
Church Discipline Doesn’t Work Today Because the Church is No Longer a Family…It’s a Business
What Happens if You are Chastized or Kicked Out of a McDonalds?
You Drive Down the Street to Hardy’s or Dairy Queen
What Happens When You are Rebuked or Kicked Out of a Gym?
You Join a Different Gym Across Town
What Happens When People are Rebuked or Disfellowshipped in Churches Today?
They Drive Down the Road and Join a Different Church
But What Happens When You are Rebuked or Disfellowshipped by Your Family Whom You Love and Respect Dearly?
It Hurts You; It Breaks Your Heart
You’ll Do Whatever it Takes to be Reconciled to Them
Jack Wilkie (Focus Press) Explains it Well in His Book, Church Reset:
Church discipline is a difficult subject. The prospect of confrontation isn’t fun for any of us, and the idea that we may have to ask somebody to not return is especially challenging. However, functioning as a family gives this uncomfortable task a whole new light.
First of all, it changes the nature of the rebuke. The closer you are to someone, the more their criticism means to you. If the rebuke comes in the form of a sermon from a preacher we only speak with in passing on Sunday, it’s rather easy to miss or ignore. If it comes from an elder you barely know, it’s easy to blow off. But if it comes from someone who you truly view as a loving family member, you’re far more likely to listen.
Second, it maximizes the effectiveness of the rebuke. If the rebuke amounts to little more than telling the person to find a different building to spend an hour in every Sunday, not much change will come about. On the other hand, if discipline means losing a family of people who care for you, check in on you, and make you feel loved, the impetus to change is so much stronger. God’s plan for discipline was predicated on making the sinner not just choose between the far off, more abstract concepts of Heaven and Hell, but the real life, in-the-now choice of the pleasure of sin vs. the love of a family. When faced with the prospect of losing something irreplaceable, we’re far more likely to respond to discipline. When we behave as a family rather than a business, God’s design for discipline becomes so much more powerful.
Wilkie, Jack. Church Reset: God's Design for So Much More . Focus Press, Inc.. Kindle Edition.
Does Church Discipline Work Today?
Absolutely!
But it Must be Done Correctly and in the Family Environment that the Church is Meant to be
Church Discipline is Christians Helping Christians Stay Saved
The Only Way We Can Effectively Do that is by Growing in Our Relationships with Each Other
And Worshiping in the Same Building Weekly Doesn’t Grow Relationships
We’ve Got to Start Spending More Time Together, as if Our Lives Depend on it
Because They Do!
Church Discipline is Judgemental
It is Christians Convincing Their Siblings of Their Sins in Hopes that They will Repent
Church Discipline is Loving
To Save a Sinning Sibling from the Path of Destruction is the Most Loving Thing We could Do for Them
Church Discipline, When Done Properly, Works as God Intended
It Brings about Righteousness, Brotherly Love, and Unity in a Church
Now the Question is, Will Each of Us Choose to Obey this Difficult Command for the Greater Good or Ignore it?
I Plan on Obeying this Command Where I Previously Have Neglected it