Category Archives: Ecclesiology

Church Discipline

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Dr. David Murray, president of HeadHeartHand, is the Professor of Old Testament and Practical Theology at Puritan Reformed Theological Seminary. He lives in Grand Rapids with his wife, Shona, and four children.

Church discipline is an often englected subject in the life of the Church. Historically, that was not the case. The Reformers noted three marks of a true Church: (1) the preaching of the Gospel; (2) a right administration of the sacraments (baptism and the Lord’s Supper); and (3) the use of Church disipline.

There are good reasons for the people of God to be made aware of what Church discipline actually is, how it is to function in the life of the local Church, and how it can be very useful to them personally to make the experience of life in the community of God a safe place for them.

I found the following two articles by Dr. Murray to be both wise and practical. I will put the two articles together in the one place here.

(1) PREPARE FOR CHURCH DISCIPLINE

Prevention is better than cure, especially in the sphere of church discipline. As discipline cases can very easily consume a pastor’s time and energy, and even consume the pastor and his congregation, the prevention of church discipline should be a high pastoral priority.

And how do we do that?

We do it, first, by preaching, by regularly setting forth clear standards of Christian confession, character, and conduct in our regular preaching ministry. Our flock needs to know where the fences are, where the no-go areas are, and what to expect if they cross them.

Second, we prevent church discipline by pastoral visitation. We need to keep in close and regular contact with the sheep to gauge where they are in their walk with God. In those one-to-one situations we may detect small changes in belief, attitude, spirit or character that can be addressed before they become big and irreversible problems.

However, no matter how well we preach and pastor, no matter how much we try to prevent it, church discipline problems are going to arise. It’s therefore best to prepare the congregation, and especially the officebearers, before it arises.

Early in a pastor’s ministry (not the first sermon, of course, but certainly within a few months) he should preach a sermon on church discipline, before he has to deal with any cases. That keeps the subject objective and avoids personalizing it. Points to make may include:

The necessity of church discipline
One Church order book puts it like this: “Any institution or society which is to function effectively must be well-ordered: it must have recognised means of correcting aberrations which threaten its integrity. This is true pre-eminently of the Church of Jesus Christ, whose witness in the world depends so intimately on the godly behavior of its members.”

The warrant for church discipline
This is not something thought up by legalistic control-freaks. Rather, it has divine warrant (Matthew 18:15-19). So important did the Reformers see church discipline that they included it as one of the marks of the church along with preaching and the sacraments.

The benefits of good church discipline
Listen to this comprehensive list of benefits from a Scottish book of Church order: “Church discipline and censures are of great use and necessity in the Church, that the name of God, by reason of ungodly and wicked persons living in the Church, be not blasphemed, nor his wrath provoked against his people; that the godly be not leavened with but preserved from the contagion, and stricken with fear; and that sinners who are to be censured may be ashamed, to the destruction of the flesh and saving of the spirit in the day of the Lord Jesus.”

The procedure for church discipline
The roolz! Don’t we just love ‘em!! Well, whether we love them or not we’d better get to know them, and get to know them fast. I know it is far more edifying and enjoyable to read the latest books from Reformation Heritage Books, but knowing the intricacies of the church’s discipline procedures could save a pastor’s ministry, and even save a soul.

As so many of the problems associated with church discipline arise from a lack of procedure, a failure to follow it, or an abuse of it, we must familiarize ourselves with the principles and the practice. If your church does not have any formal procedures, then find one that does, get their protocols, and copy or adapt their methods. Train the elders in this and also communicate to the congregation what they can expect, so that they are not taken by surprise or think that they are being unfairly treated.

Whatever we do, we must not abuse, shortcut or override the stated procedures, however tempted we are to do so. When some people are accused of sins, they train their sights on the procedures rather than their sin, and can easily turn the focus away from themselves, away from what they have done, and to what we have done or not done in the process.
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The Church: A Pillar and Buttress of the Truth

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“I am writing these things to you so that you may know how one ought to behave in the church of the living God, a pillar and buttress of the truth.” – 1 Timothy 3:14-15

Definition: A Pillar supports the roof and walls of a structure and a buttress supports a pillar, allowing it to stand stronger and higher. Therefore the Church is called to stand strong by supporting the truth of the gospel and sound doctrine.

Key Thought: The function of both a pillar and a buttress is to hold something other than itself up.

Pillar

By all accounts, when Paul wrote this letter to his son in the faith, Timothy was the pastor of the Church in Ephesus. Paul’s use of imagery would not be lost either on him or his congregation. Ephesus was the home of the great Temple of Diana (or Artemis), known as one of the seven wonders of the ancient world.

William Barclay describes this Temple as follows:

“One of its features was its pillars. It contained one hundred and twenty-seven pillars, every one of them the gift of a king. All were made of marble, and some were studded with jewels and overlaid with gold.” (The Letters to Timothy, Titus, and Philemon [Philadelphia: Westminster, 1975], 89).

Knowing this background, Paul’s obvious intention in describing the Church as a pillar is two fold. Firstly, He wishes to express the Church’s immense dignity and value in the sight of God. Though often scorned by men, the Church is exceedingly precious and beautiful to Him.

Secondly, the term “pillar” denotes the Church’s function; that of holding up the truth of God to the world around her.

Buttress

From the Ligonier Website:

Other translations use the word “foundation” in place of buttress, suggesting that the truth finds its grounding in the church, which is the Roman Catholic position. Yet Paul cannot be saying that the church establishes truth, as elsewhere he says the Word of God — the apostolic and prophetic writings — is the church’s foundation, with Christ Jesus as the cornerstone (Eph. 2:19–20). As the second-century church father Irenaeus reminds us, “the ‘pillar and ground’ of the church is the gospel and the spirit of life” (ACCNT, vol. 9, p. 178).

Buttress is a more appropriate term here because the apostle is emphasizing the way in which the church supports the truth. As the church faithfully obeys Scripture it lives out the truth and supports its claim that the gospel brings real change. When the church presents the gospel accurately it holds forth the truth to the world much as statues were displayed on pillars in the ancient world. The church is no afterthought but is established by the Father’s plan and Jesus’ work and used by the Holy Spirit to persuade the world of the love of God in Christ.

The NASB translates the final phrase of this verse as “the pillar and support of the truth.” Concerning this, Dr. James White writes:

“The description of the Church as the “pillar and support of the truth” is thoroughly biblical and proper. There is, of course, a vast difference between recognizing and confessing the Church as the pillar and support of the truth, and confessing the Church to be the final arbiter of truth itself. A pillar holds something else up, and in this case, it is the truth of God. The Church as the body of Christ, presents and upholds the truth, but she remains subservient to it. The Church remains the bride of Christ, and as such, she listens obediently and intently to the words of her Lord Jesus Christ, and those words are found in Scripture itself.” (The Roman Catholic Controversy, p. 58)

The great Reformer of Geneva, John Calvin, had a clear grasp of this issue:

“This, then, is the difference. Our opponents (speaking of the Roman Catholic Church) locate the authority of the Church outside God’s Word, that is, outside of Scripture and Scripture alone. But we insist that it be attached to the Word and to not allow it to be separated from it. And what wonder if Christ’s bride and pupil be subject to her spouse and teacher so that she pays constant and careful attention to His words. For this is the arrangement of a well-governed house. The wife obeys the husband’s authority. This is the plan of a well-ordered school, that there the teaching of the schoolmaster alone should be heard. For this reason the Church should not be wise of itself, should not devise anything of itself but should set the limit of its own wisdom where Christ has made an end of speaking. In this way, the Church will distrust all the devisings of its own reason. But in those things where it rests upon God’s Word, the Church will not waiver with any distrust or doubting but will repose in great assurance and firm constancy.” (Institutes of the Christian Religion, IV:8:13)

God has given the Church immense dignity and has made her beautiful in His sight. As Paul stated elsewhere, “Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.” (Ephesians 5: 25-27)

The Church is immensely precious to God, yet this is only half the story. She also has a distinct role to play in this world: holding up the truth of the word of God and the wonderful Gospel of Grace. That is her function, the very reason she exists in this world. When a so called “Church” fails to do this, or distorts the message of the Gospel, she can no longer be thought of as “the Church” at all. As Martin Luther made clear, “Justification by faith alone is the article upon which the Church stands or falls.”

Ten Indictments (Message to the Church)

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Paul ministered as a missionary in Peru for 10 years, during which time he founded the HeartCry Missionary Society to support Peruvian Church planters. HeartCry’s work now supports over 80 indigenous missionaries in 15 different countries throughout Eastern Europe, South America, Africa, Asia, and the Middle East. An itinerant preacher, Paul also frequently teaches at his home church, First Baptist Church of Muscle Shoals, and is the author of The One True God: A Biblical Study of the Doctrine of God. At the present, Paul serves as the Director of HeartCry Missionary Society and resides in Muscle Shoals, Alabama with his wife Charo and two sons Ian and Evan, and one daughter Rowan.

“Preached Wednesday, October 22nd, 2008 at the Revival Conference in Atlanta, Georgia. Paul Washer delivers a urgent appeal to the Christians and Churches in North America that many have been believing a false gospel and have false assurance of their salvation. He lists 10 indictments against the modern Church system in America. This is a historical urgent message, tell others and spread the message. We need a reformation and revival of a biblical standard!” – Greg Gordon (Revival Conference Organizer)

To that I would add that even though the video is almost 2 hours long, I believe its one that every Christian leader in the 21st Century needs to hear as well as all who have a genuine love for the Church. Its a message that should drive each of us to our knees.