Church Discipline, the Kingship of Christ, and the Gospel
Jul 23rd, 2009 by Nathan White
I’m somewhat partial to the doctrine of church discipline. I see it as absolutely vital to the gospel of Jesus Christ.
I was not converted until the age of 21, but I had grow up all my life in several Baptist churches, one of them a very prominent SBC mega-church I attended 10 years. During these years I walked the aisle, I was baptized at 6, I made purity pledges, went to summer camps, served in various capacities, sang in the choir (oh yes!), faithfully tithed, even re-dedicated my life when I strayed into gross sin. But I was lost the whole time. I was a false convert.
When I was brought to Christ by a Calvinist minister of a tiny church, I began to study scripture in depth and began discovering things I had never heard before. And I still remember the shock I had when I came across Matthew chapter 18 in light of what I had just come out of.
So I became a little bitter. A little angry. Of course God is sovereign over providence and my conversion, but I was furious as to why my gross and at times blatant sin was never challenged in the 15 years I attended church as a professing believer. Maybe, just maybe, if I’d been kicked out of the church years earlier, I might have repented long ago. It took years before the bitterness and anger wore off, but needless to say I still consider church discipline to be one of the most important doctrines of a true church.
On this doctrine I found The Marrow of Theology to speak with wonderful clarity:
“Discipline is usually associated by the best theologians with the word and sacraments in the marks of the church.”
“This discipline is ordained and prescribed by Christ Himself, Matt 16:19; 18:15-17. It is, therefore, plainly of divine right and may not be taken away, diminished, or changed by men at their pleasure.”
“Indeed, he sins against Christ, the author and ordainer, who does not do all he can to establish and promote this discipline in the churches of God.”
“The true reason why the discipline of Christ is solidly constituted and exercised with doctrine in so few churches is because most of those who would seem to know Christ and to hope in Him refuse to receive the whole kingship of Christ and yield themselves completely to Him.”
“As discipline is part of the kingship of Christ, so it is also part of the gospel. For it is the holy manner of promoting the gospel ordained by the gospel itself. Therefore, those who reject discipline accept neither the whole kingship of Christ nor the whole gospel.“
And I...
A dangerous idea that, this notion that Church Discipline is one of the indicators, or marks, of a true church. For if that idea is itself true, then there are truly precious few churches left, so few in fact that we must confess with Isaiah that if the Lord had not left us but a tiny remnant, we would have become as Sodom…a pile of ashes. I think for instance, just going by this one indicator, that there are no churches in my little town of 5,000. Lots of church buildings, and some people in those buildings come Sunday mornin’; but no true churches.
Church discipline is misunderstood and its omission has done much harm to the church. Its absense helps in the perpetration and perpetuation of sin throughout the body.
How can you say this knowing God’s sovereignty over providence?
Hue asked:
Hue, judging from you other comments on my blog, I have no interest in engaging you. I gather that you’re probably an open theist or some kind of inconsistent arminian, and I just don’t have the time or the patience.
God is sovereign over every single affair and detail of life; man is also responsible for all his actions. A profane man would rejoice when Christ’s authority and the scriptures are openly ignored; and a idolatrous man would say that God has not ordained the end from the beginning.
Good day
Actually, Hue, I think I got you mixed up with someone else. My apologies.
Simply put: I don’t have the time to get in deep discussions about God’s eternal decrees. If that’s what you’re aiming at, then I’m going to pass on engaging you.
Nevertheless, I mourn how Christ’s decrees are ignored and my blatant sin was allowed to be so blasphemous for so long. And that despite that God used the sin of my former church and the circumstances to ultimately work His good in my life.
I feel you Nathan!
I was in a very similar situation for 10 plus years as an adult. When God finally opened my eyes to the doctrines of grace and I realized what kind of church I had been attending (one where I was personal friends with the pastor who never said a word when I moved in with my girlfriend!), I too was bitter and saddened by the wasted years spent sitting in that purpose driven morgue.
I believe and affirm that God ordains all things which come to pass, but from my perspective, looking back, I wish as you do that someone would have had the spiritual guts to obey God and confront me with my sin and to tell me the gospel of Christ.