Silas
Beloved of All
Your heart to see obedience to all that Jesus commanded is right and biblical, and your burden for church discipline is in line with Scripture. The Great Commission is not only to go and to baptize, but to teach disciples to observe everything He has commanded, and we do not have the freedom to pick and choose which commands we will teach when a soul is at risk.
Scripture shows that discipline, when it is needed, is an act of love with a purpose for salvation. A healthy body must be able to purge poison from its system, and in the same way a healthy church must lovingly confront unrepented sin. That confrontation is not to condemn but to rescue, to call a brother or sister back from a self destructive path, to protect the whole flock from the spread of sin, and so that others will see and fear and turn from sin themselves. It is the strength of love that is willing to intervene and to say, this way leads to death, turn back to life.
That call to turn is grounded in the witness God Himself has given. We often accept the witness of people, but the witness of God is far greater, and we ought to believe God. This is the testimony God has given concerning His Son, that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has life, and he who does not have the Son of God does not have life. The Holy Spirit bears witness to our hearts that this is true, and He confirms that Jesus is the Son of God and the only way of salvation. To refuse that witness is to call God untrue, which is a terrible thing, but to receive it is to have assurance within yourself that you have passed from death to life. Salvation is of the Lord, it is His work through Jesus Christ alone, and our part is to be faithful witnesses of that truth.
Jesus Himself is the faithful and true witness. If you want to know what God is like, you look at Jesus, for He faithfully reveals the Father. He showed us what obedience, holiness, and mercy look like. Now He calls us to be His witnesses in the same way, not in our own strength but by the empowering of the Holy Spirit who bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God. Our most powerful witness is often simply telling what the Lord has done in our lives and proclaiming His Word with faithfulness.
That means our calling is to speak the truth in love whether people listen or not. God told Ezekiel to speak whether they hear or whether they refuse, and Jesus said that the Word He spoke will judge on the last day. Moses was sent to Pharaoh though God said Pharaoh would not listen. The prophets spoke though most refused. Jesus came to His own and His own did not receive Him, though the world was made through Him. The apostles were told that some would reject them and they should shake the dust from their feet as a testimony. Our task is not to be man centered or to make the message palatable so that it pleases everyone, but to be God centered and faithful. We do not measure success by popularity or public opinion, but by obedience. God looks to see whether we have faithfully declared His whole counsel.
So when you follow the pattern of Matthew 18, going first privately, then with two or three witnesses, then telling the church, you are obeying the Lord. Do it with humility, with tears, with a clear call to repent and believe the gospel, with the hope of restoration. The unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God, and to leave someone undisturbed in sin is not kindness. True kindness warns, pleads, and points to the cross where forgiveness and new life are found, and it calls for a life of holiness that belongs to those who have been redeemed. That holiness includes the historic biblical ethic that marriage is the lifelong covenant of one man and one woman and that sexual intimacy and living together belong only within that covenant.
Continue to teach the Word faithfully, to bear witness to Jesus, and to trust that God will honor His Word. He has promised that His Word will not return void. Your responsibility is to be a true and faithful witness, to speak what the Lord says with love and reverence for Him, and to leave the results in His hands, praying that those who hear will repent, believe, and fear the Lord and walk in obedience.
Scripture shows that discipline, when it is needed, is an act of love with a purpose for salvation. A healthy body must be able to purge poison from its system, and in the same way a healthy church must lovingly confront unrepented sin. That confrontation is not to condemn but to rescue, to call a brother or sister back from a self destructive path, to protect the whole flock from the spread of sin, and so that others will see and fear and turn from sin themselves. It is the strength of love that is willing to intervene and to say, this way leads to death, turn back to life.
That call to turn is grounded in the witness God Himself has given. We often accept the witness of people, but the witness of God is far greater, and we ought to believe God. This is the testimony God has given concerning His Son, that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has life, and he who does not have the Son of God does not have life. The Holy Spirit bears witness to our hearts that this is true, and He confirms that Jesus is the Son of God and the only way of salvation. To refuse that witness is to call God untrue, which is a terrible thing, but to receive it is to have assurance within yourself that you have passed from death to life. Salvation is of the Lord, it is His work through Jesus Christ alone, and our part is to be faithful witnesses of that truth.
Jesus Himself is the faithful and true witness. If you want to know what God is like, you look at Jesus, for He faithfully reveals the Father. He showed us what obedience, holiness, and mercy look like. Now He calls us to be His witnesses in the same way, not in our own strength but by the empowering of the Holy Spirit who bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God. Our most powerful witness is often simply telling what the Lord has done in our lives and proclaiming His Word with faithfulness.
That means our calling is to speak the truth in love whether people listen or not. God told Ezekiel to speak whether they hear or whether they refuse, and Jesus said that the Word He spoke will judge on the last day. Moses was sent to Pharaoh though God said Pharaoh would not listen. The prophets spoke though most refused. Jesus came to His own and His own did not receive Him, though the world was made through Him. The apostles were told that some would reject them and they should shake the dust from their feet as a testimony. Our task is not to be man centered or to make the message palatable so that it pleases everyone, but to be God centered and faithful. We do not measure success by popularity or public opinion, but by obedience. God looks to see whether we have faithfully declared His whole counsel.
So when you follow the pattern of Matthew 18, going first privately, then with two or three witnesses, then telling the church, you are obeying the Lord. Do it with humility, with tears, with a clear call to repent and believe the gospel, with the hope of restoration. The unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God, and to leave someone undisturbed in sin is not kindness. True kindness warns, pleads, and points to the cross where forgiveness and new life are found, and it calls for a life of holiness that belongs to those who have been redeemed. That holiness includes the historic biblical ethic that marriage is the lifelong covenant of one man and one woman and that sexual intimacy and living together belong only within that covenant.
Continue to teach the Word faithfully, to bear witness to Jesus, and to trust that God will honor His Word. He has promised that His Word will not return void. Your responsibility is to be a true and faithful witness, to speak what the Lord says with love and reverence for Him, and to leave the results in His hands, praying that those who hear will repent, believe, and fear the Lord and walk in obedience.
