Welcome to the second annual summer series of classes sponsored by the seminary. We hope to do this every summer. Last year, Professor Kuyper spoke on Protestant Reformed Church history. That's his area of specialty. And this year, I'm going to speak on discipline, as you know. And God willing, next summer, one of the other professors will speak on some subject of common interest in their area of specialty also. Let's begin this evening by singing Psalm 101. Welcome, by the way, to those who are joining live stream. The only versification of Psalm 101 in this altar is 271. I want to point out that Psalm 101 is Psalm 101 is the commitment of David. Now think about that. David is a type of Christ. Well, you have to watch Laurie and then we'll finish. So Psalm 101 is the commitment of David, who is a type of Christ, speaking about his house. his house and what he is committed to do with his house, keeping it pure. And at the end of the third stanza says, and cleanse from evildoers the city of the Lord. That's a very important aspect in the sad end at times of discipline. So let's think of those words and open by singing together Psalter 271. O Lord, in joyful praises my song shall rise to Thee. Within my house I purpose to walk in wisdom's way. O Lord, I need thy presence, how long wilt thou delay? The night is pace and deeper, I will not stay. ♪ With them I take no part ♪ ♪ No poor man or evil shall my companion be ♪ ♪ I will not suffer slander or pride or treachery ♪ shall minister to me. A lying and deceitful my favor shall not see. I will in daily judgment call within its reward and cleanse from evil doers the city of the Lord. Thank you, Lori. And then, just briefly, let's read before we pray the classic New Testament passage on discipline in Matthew chapter 18. Matthew 18, beginning at verse 15. For Jesus taught, moreover, if thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone. If he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother. But if he will not hear thee, then take with thee one or two more, that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established. And if he shall neglect to hear them, tell it unto the church, But if ye neglect to hear the church, let him be unto thee as an heathen man and a publican. Verily I say unto you, whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatsoever ye loose shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. Again I say unto you, that if two of you shall agree on earth as touching anything that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven. For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them. Let's open with prayer. Father in heaven, we seek thy blessing upon this class so that thy name may be honored and not blasphemed in any way that sinners may be saved by means of thy word that the church brings to them in their sin, and so that the church may be kept pure, that the little leaven may not leaven the whole lump. And grant, Heavenly Father, we pray that this may be for the edifying of the church, that we not only may exercise discipline, but that we may do so in a proper spirit, the spirit of love for the brother and love for the church and love for thy great name. Where we have sinned in this regard, forgive. where we are not penitent in our conduct of discipline, then expose us in that and give us no peace in that and grant that we may grow in grace and the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. So bless thy servant who brings us this instruction tonight and open our hearts that we may hear it and be built up and better prepared to labor in the church of which we are members. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. Well, one of the three identifying marks of the true Church of Christ is discipline, and you know that. I'm going to say some basic things to begin tonight. You understand that the Belgian Confession says that the first mark of the true Church is the proper preaching, the pure preaching of the gospel, the second, the pure administration of the sacraments, and the third, the proper exercise of discipline, or the Belgian Confession says, if church discipline is exercised in the punishing of sin. And if that's true, that is that church discipline is one of the three marks of the church, we need to be sure that we understand it properly and exercise it aright. The church is always tempted to err on one side or the other of either neglecting discipline or abusing discipline. And both of them have taken place in the history of the church. Prior to the Reformation, of course, the Roman Catholic Church abused Christian discipline by punishing the saints. Discipline was not neglected then, but it was abused. The Belgian Confession describes the Roman Catholic Church who, quote, persecutes those who live holily according to the word of God and rebuke her for her errors, covetousness, and idolatry. They discipline the saints rather than the impenitent sinners. A little more than 100 years ago, discipline was neglected. That is, it was restored at the Reformation, and then it dropped off again, so that Abraham Kuyper, about 100 years ago, described discipline as rare as a white crow. And some of you picked up a couple of the editorials that I wrote about 10 years ago on that subject. You don't see white crows, and Abraham Kuyper was making the point. that in his day he didn't see discipline exercised, almost non-existent. Well, Scripture describes both the misuse and abuse of discipline and the neglect of discipline. The misuse of discipline in the Old Testament was when the church, the so-called church, persecuted the saints, executed the prophets. And when in the New Testament, the Pharisees would excommunicate that is put out of the synagogue, those who confessed Christ. They exercise discipline, but they exercise it wrongly. And the scripture talks about the neglect of discipline. Also, we're going to look at 1 Corinthians chapter 5, the church at Corinth allowed in their membership a man committing incest and allowed him to the Lord's table. And Revelation in the letters to the seven churches describes the church of Pergamos as allowing in its midst those who lived in sin and those who taught false doctrine. So we want to avoid both the neglect of discipline but also the misuse of discipline. And both are going to be destructive I want to begin tonight in this vitally important subject, not where perhaps you might expect. You might expect me to begin with a what of discipline. That is, describe what this is, and then you may talk about who is disciplined and who exercises discipline. But I want instead, for a very practical reason, to begin with the who of discipline and the who, that is, who exercises discipline. Next week, God willing, we'll look at who is the object of discipline, that is, who is put under discipline. And that's not an easy question either. But tonight, who actually exercises Christian discipline? It may seem to you to be an easy answer. when you say the elders exercise discipline, but that's not the right answer. It may be a part of the answer, but it's not the whole answer. But let me get at that point by backing up just a little bit and very briefly talking about what is the essence of discipline. Discipline is God's declaration, God's word to an impenitent sinner, you are outside of the kingdom. You are exposed to my wrath. You are cut off from the fellowship of Christ himself. That's discipline. I want to say that again because it's so important. Discipline is God's declaration, his word to an impenitent sinner that he's outside the kingdom, exposed to God's wrath, and cut off from the fellowship with Christ. That's the language that lasts of the form for excommunication. So he's, by the church, forbidden the use of the sacraments. That's excommunication. Communion, the Lord's Supper, fellowship with Christ. He's excluded from the Lord's Supper. but also from fellowship with Christ. So the effect of that is that the kingdom of heaven is closed to them in their consciousness. They walk in darkness, they lack all assurance of God's favor, they suffer the torments of the damned, and they are, to use the language of 1 Corinthians 5, delivered to Satan for the destruction of their flesh. But the point that I want to make here, describing the essence of the act of discipline, is that discipline is the Word of God declaring judgment upon them. And if it's not the Word of God making that declaration, it's not the power that it must be. If you think about that, all three marks of the church—preaching, sacraments, and discipline—are really one mark. And the one mark that they are is the word of God. Look now, the word of God spoken in the preaching, the word of God seen in the sacraments and the word of God again spoken very negatively in judgment upon impenitent sinners. And if you think about that, that only makes sense. There is no power that the church has except for the Word of God. If we try to exercise any power besides the Word of God, We are not only going to be ineffective in what we do, we are going to do damage in what we do. We always must be using the Word of God. The power and discipline is God's Word. It's His declaration. Now, the agent that God uses to make that declaration and affect that work is the church. That's a given, too. The church wields the keys, and now I use a new word. There are two keys, really one key with two aspects of it, the key of preaching and the key of discipline. To the church, Jesus gave the key. Matthew 16, 19, to you I give the keys. Whatsoever you bind on earth is bound in heaven, and whatsoever you loose on earth is loosed in heaven. Bryce, I'm noticing that when I'm turning this way, it's louder and turning this way, it's softer. Is that true or not? Is it okay? Do I need to put it on my tie instead? All right, very good. And then Jesus said in John 20, the very same thing in different words. When you remit sins, they're remitted. That is, when you declare forgiveness, they are forgiven. And when you retain sin, they are retained. by God. God remits, God retains, but the agent by which that remission and retention is affected is the church. Now, follow along one more step. The church is not the eldership. The church is the membership. The church is the body of Christ, which includes the special office of elder and minister but also the office of believer. All of you are the agent of church discipline. That's my speech this evening. So I want to begin with some proof of that, but let me remind you, my point is it's a common assumption that just elders do discipline, and that's a wrong assumption. All of the members, In fact, when the announcement of this class first came out, I had at least a couple of people say, I'm not an elder, may I come? I'm not a part of the consistory, am I allowed to be there? And so I made very clear, perhaps even overstating the case, that everyone is invited to come exactly because everyone participates in discipline, young and old, men and women, office bearers and non-office bearers. It's not too strong to say even that If all of the people of God are not involved in discipline, it doesn't happen. And it's not too strong either to say that if all of the people of God are not involved in discipline, we're going to lose that mark and we will cease to be the true church of Christ. All of God's people participate in this activity. Now, the proof of that, first of all, is in the confessions. And you recognize the language of the Heidelberg Catechism in Lourdes Day 31 and Question 82, when it describes the church that does not exclude from the Lord's Supper those who ought to be excluded. What's the consequence? Remember the language? The wrath of God comes down upon the eldership. The wrath of God comes down and is kindled against the whole congregation. Why is it upon us when the elders fail in their duty? Well, because a failure in the duty of discipline is not only the elders, it's all of us in the church. And so that question and answer 82 goes on to say it's the duty of the Christian church to exclude such persons by the key of discipline. And then in the church order, and we're going to be looking at the church order, articles 71 to 78, 79 and 80 talk about the discipline of the office bearers. 71 to 78, those articles, at least four of them make mention of the participation of all of the members. 72 and 73 begin by an explanation of Matthew 18. You go, you go. And 73 then says, if you go and then take a witness and still have no...if you go by yourself and have no success, you take a witness. And if you succeed in bringing them to repentance, don't lay it before the consistory. And so, we have two entire articles of the church order on discipline that do not involve the consistory at all. And that points out that the congregation does it. Article 74 talks about bringing it to the elders. Article 77 brings up a couple of points that we'll mention more. a little bit later. But those confessional references and church order articles are based on the Scripture. And so I want to look at four Scripture passages with you to make that plain, and then go on to the specific ways in which you are active. First of all, the obvious, Matthew 18, tell it unto the church. Now, everybody is familiar with that, but they're also familiar with the explanation, or those appointed by the church. And so, when we read Matthew 18 and we here tell it to the church, we immediately think, or those appointed by the church and, say, the elders. In other words, Matthew 18 is not talking about the membership, it's talking about the church, the elders. And that's wrong thinking, too. I often say to my students in class, if you find a passage that you can't explain very well and you know that it may be misunderstood, be sure to explain what it doesn't mean first, briefly, and then go back and say what it does mean. And if you're going to say in Matthew 18 that the church does not mean everyone, it means the elders, you are obliged to go back to Matthew 18 and ask, why did Jesus then say the church? And the answer is because the church must be told. And though in the beginning, those appointed by the church to take the lead in discipline are the ones who are told, in the end, all of the church must be told because all of the church does this work. Then go with me to Corinthians. In 1 Corinthians chapter 5, 1 Corinthians 5 is the history of the church that allowed to the Lord's table a man involved in incest, an awful business. It's reported commonly, Paul says to them, in 1 Corinthians chapter 5. When Paul rebukes the church for this sin, he does not say, now the rest of you may leave. I want just to speak privately to the elders and rebuke them. He rebukes the whole church and says, you are to blame. You are puffed up. You have not mourned. That's verse 2. In verse 4, he goes on, he tells them how to perform the act of excommunication and tells them to do it at a congregational assembly in a public worship service. And in a public worship service, the entire congregation cuts the member off. And so Paul concludes that chapter in verse 13 with the exhortation, again, not to the elders, but to the congregation, therefore put away from among yourselves that wicked person. Now it strikes me that if there ever were an opportunity for a qualified office bearer to say to a new, inexperienced church, let me take this, I've got it, it was right here. The Apostle Paul, speaking to a young congregation, inexperienced, immature, he says, you do it. This is your responsibility and calling. Now, later on in the book, chapter 11, Paul brings up the subject again in a little bit different context, but still in the context of communion, the people of God coming together, and they were coming together improperly. People were there who didn't belong there. And what was the consequence? The wrath of God was kindled against the whole congregation. Remember he says in verse 30, for this cause, many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep. That's a reference to physical sickness, physical weakness, and physical death. If we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged, he says there. And the reference to that judgment is not to the body of elders. He's not saying some of you elders got sick and weak and died. He's saying the congregation suffered this punishment. That's where the catechism gets that assertion from this passage. 2 Corinthians 2, to keep going in the same church, in the second letter, 2 Corinthians 2 is a follow-up of the subject of discipline that Paul raised in 1 Corinthians 5. 2 Corinthians 2, now in verses 6 and 7. There's a reference there to punishment, and literally that's censure, that's discipline, that was inflicted, Paul says, by many, by many. Now, that's an interesting expression. In the first place, that means that it wasn't by the few, the eldership, but by the many, which is the congregation. The second interesting part of that is that the word that's used there is by the majority. That is, it wasn't unanimous. We'll come back to that in a moment, too. There were some holdouts in this discipline. Probably they didn't come to church that Sunday where they exercised discipline. They objected to it. And yet the point is, discipline was inflicted, this censure and punishment was inflicted, not by a few, but by many. So may I exhort you tonight, first of all, you who are not office bearers, with this exhortation, See yourselves as a very important, even essential part of the exercise of discipline. When you think of discipline, hear of discipline, listen to announcements regarding discipline, don't sit back like this and say, I wonder what the elders are doing now. You have to say, this is what I am doing. This is what we are exercising. The church is engaging in discipline. And then an exhortation to you elders. Remind yourselves of that when you do that work. This isn't just your work. You mustn't take all the responsibility for it. Be thinking of this reality that You are doing the work of the congregation, and they are right there with you on it. And we'll address the question of what you do if they're not right there with you on it, but they ought to be, and that's how you need to think about it. And the second exhortation to you elders is, please make clear to the congregation in every way possible that discipline is your work, And please exhort your minister or your elders who teach this to the young people that reality. that when they make confession of faith and promise to submit to discipline, it obviously means they promise to submit to the discipline that might be exercised upon them if they live in impenitent sin, and it means that especially, but it also means that they submit to this reality that membership in the church of Christ means I'm doing the discipline that the elders take the lead in. Every young person who makes confession of faith ought to be taught that. To understand that, I want to briefly mention three biblical realities that lay behind or are the foundation of this call to every number to engage in discipline. One of those truths gives us the right, another of those truths gives us the want, that is the desire, and yet the third of these truths gives us the obligation to discipline. The biblical truth that gives us the right to discipline, of course, is the truth of the priesthood of believers. priesthood of believers. When I said at the very beginning that God gives the work of discipline to the church through her officers, you probably thought I was speaking of the minister and the elder and the deacons, and you wouldn't have been mistaken, but you forgot that all of you are officers. All of you are office bearers, prophets, who on Sunday morning and Sunday afternoon preach through your preacher. You are engaged in that work. You have the right to preach, to call a preacher, to depose a preacher, because this is your business, your profits. You're also priests. And when the deacons collect the alms and administer the alms, that's your work. You're doing it. You don't sit back and ask, wonder what the deacons are doing. You know what the deacons are doing. And if you have questions about it, you may ask. That's your work. And so it is with the work of discipline. You are kings. and judges, and in that office, the prophet, priest, and king now especially, you have the right to be doing this work to cleanse from evildoers the city of our God. That's not the work merely of the elders. It's your work. You have the right to do it. Then in the second place is the doctrine that gives us the desire, and I'm not sure how to formulate that in a short way, but discipline is the exercise of the care of all of the members for the body. Discipline is the exercise of loving care and concern of all of the members for the body. We're members of a body. Think about your family for a moment. If you're in a family, let's just imagine a large family, a dad and mom and many children. And then those children get older and they're all home yet, and one of those children goes wayward. Not one of the members of that family says about that child, dad, mom, child, That's just him or her. They all exercise care for the well-being of the family. And you understand, I don't need to spell out that that's the same with the family of faith. You have a desire to do that. At the very end tonight, if we still have time, I'm going to take time for questions too, so we might not have time. I want to come back to that. and really point out that that's one of the preconditions for discipline being exercised in the church. If we don't have a care for the body, it's never going to take place. And then the third truth that gives us the obligation to engage in discipline is the truth of corporate responsibility. And I can only briefly state that that's the truth that means when you are a member of a body, You are responsible for the actions of that body even though you personally did not engage in those actions. Corporate responsibility. means that every member of that corporation body is responsible for everything that that body does. This is why in the history of our churches we've been opposed to labor unions, even though a man or a woman might say, but I'm not going to engage in strikes and I'm not going to participate in any of the evil activity of that union. We have said to them, but you are responsible for those evil activities as a member of that union. And therefore, you may not be a member of a union and a member of the church of Christ. That's the principle of Achan. Not two people, but one person sinned with the accursed thing when they took Jericho and hid it under his tent. We may even guess that his wife didn't know, and yet all of the Israelites suffered on account of that one man's sin. Thirty-six Israelites died in the next battle, as God's judgment, not upon Achan, but upon Israel. Corporate responsibility. And so I'm making the point that you not only have the right, you not only have the desire, but in the end you are obliged. to exercise discipline because the misconduct of any member in the congregation, misconduct that's unchecked and known, is your responsibility. Well, let's go on then to the seven ways that you as an entire congregation participates in discipline. You can stop here for a moment and ask if anybody has any questions, but you see where we are in my outline. Not enough room in the outline, of course, to take your own notes of what I'm saying, but at least you know where I am in the outline. I'm up to that point. If anybody didn't get an outline, there's one in the back. All right? Any questions so far? I won't be surprised if there aren't, because I've just dealt with general principles. Now I'm going to come to specifics, specific ways. And I think there will be questions with regard to these things. All right, let's go on. In the first place, it's the responsibility of the membership in the congregation to initiate discipline. Not always, but often. Discipline begins not with the elders, but with the members. You might expect me to go to Matthew 18 to begin. I want to turn with you to Deuteronomy because the Old Testament usually gives us the principles and the seeds of New Testament truths, and church government is no exception. In Deuteronomy 21, you have that sad history of parents who have a wayward son. And verses 18 to 21, you read, And that, when they have chastened him, will not hearken unto them. Then shall his father and mother lay hold on him, and bring him out unto the elders of his city, and unto the gate of his place. And they shall say unto the elders of the city, This our son is stubborn and rebellious, he will not obey our voice, he is a glutton and a drunkard. Of course you understand the difference between Old and New Testament. In the Old Testament, it was physical. There's no physical execution of any member today by the church. That was the type in the Old Testament. The reality is excommunication. initiated in this case by the parents, one of the very first cases of discipline in the Old Testament, the instruction in the law of God is parents must initiate discipline, bring their impenitent son to the church, to be inflicted then by all of the men of the city after the elders have made this judgment. Now, of course, parents first speak and warn. The son has heard the voice, verse 18, of both the father and the mother. If you won't listen to their words, the parents chasten him, verse 18, with discipline. And if the Lord does not use their words or discipline, they bring him to the elders. The very difficult reality is that parents may never say, we don't know what to do anymore. They may come to a point to say, we don't know what to do anymore, but then they need to come to their senses and remember they do know what to do. Their responsibility, painful as it may be, is bring the son or the daughter to the elders. There's nothing we can do anymore is not the proper response either. Wringing their hands. or hiding it is not an option. We've done everything we can. We're just going to hope for the best and let him live or her live in his sin. No, Deuteronomy 21 makes very clear. Discipline must be initiated by the elders. Matthew 18 is the next passage that makes that clear. As I said earlier, if someone sins, you go. You. And you have to read the commentaries to see that this is not simply a sin that someone commits against you personally, so that if they commit a sin but against others or not affecting you, you're free of responsibility. Not so. Everyone understands Matthew 18 to mean, if a member in the church sins, you know about it, you go to them. Initiated by the members. Galatians 6 verse 1, we're not going to take the time to look at that now, but let me quote it. If a brother be overtaken in a fault, you, he's talking to the church now of Galatia, you who are spiritual, Restore such in one in the right spirit, in the spirit of meekness. And when you do, remember, go in the right spirit because you may be tempted to commit the very same sin. And all of these passages taken together and many others to establish the point that discipline is initiated, not always, but often by the membership. And let me ask you a question. Imagine. Imagine. congregation not vitally involved in discipline in that way. The only ones doing discipline, initiating, exercising it, is that little group of elders. I don't want to imagine that and I don't think you do either. The second way all of the members participate is by praying. Now that's obvious too. After each of the announcements, the church is called to pray. Read Article 77 in the church order. Three such admonitions. And in each of those, the congregation is exhorted to speak to him and pray for him. Even before you know the name of the one under discipline, you are to pray for him. It ought to be a practice in families and congregational prayers and private prayers. that whenever anyone in the congregation is subject to discipline, that we are praying for him or her regularly. When I thought about the content of such a prayer, I went to the form for excommunication and the form for readmittance and found some language that ought really to be a part of those prayers. And you go to those forms and read them. God bring him to repentance. Free him from the bonds of the devil by whom he's taken captive. Recover him by the will of the Lord. Bring him to remorse for his sins and to show true tokens of repentance. By discipline, O God, make him ashamed of his sins. That's the obvious dimension of prayer. There's another dimension that I don't think about very often, and maybe most of us haven't at all. The prayer when someone is under discipline is not just for him or her, but for me. For me and all of us. You read the form for excommunication and how it acknowledges that the congregation has reason to pray for herself. First of all, to remind ourselves that he that thinketh he standeth, take he lest he fall. But this we acknowledge. Let me stop. Is there anyone out of discipline in the church of which you are a member? If so, think of him or her right now and put yourself in this situation where you acknowledge that you deserve the grief and sorrow caused you by the cutting off of this our late fellow member. Forgive our trespasses. When you are asked to pray, when a member is under discipline, as the old adage has it, when you're pointing a finger at someone else, there are three or four fingers pointing back at you, and that's a good reminder here. We need to pray for the church, the whole church. Did you know, perhaps, and not tell anyone for too long, assuming somebody else would do the work? That's a real possibility. Did the sinful congregations, did the sinful conduct of the congregation generally contribute to him falling? You are up to the edge, but he went over the edge. Drinking, use of alcohol, is that a possibility? that he went over the edge, but there are a lot of other people right next to the edge, guilty of that same sin, but just not in such a way that you get under discipline. Or the congregation, instead of dealing with it in the right way, gossips about it, talking to other people. Did you know so-and-so is living in this sin? And it's not surprising then that the Reformed fathers had the sensitivity in that form for excommunication to include in the prayer a prayer for ourselves that we may humble ourselves because we deserve this judgment. And so I ask you in the second place, can you imagine a congregation not vitally involved via prayer? I don't want to imagine such a congregation. Then in the third place, it's the responsibility of all the members to admonish the individual under discipline personally. That's article 77 of the church order. After the second announcement, when classes gets permission, a name is announced, the congregation is admonished to speak to him. And the form for excommunication makes reference to the, quote, frequent admonitions given him, By the elders? No. As well in private as before witnesses and in the presence of many. It's a reference to the frequent admonitions that all of us have given to the sinner. And so this is what you need to imagine happening in the church. As soon as an announcement is made and a name is announced, the first thing you think about is not, I wonder who's going to go talk to him, but This is my obligation. I need to talk to him. That's my responsibility and calling. And of course, the alternatives are awful. Gossip, allow everyone to take his part, say he'll never listen, he never liked me anyway. Other people have talked to him and he's stubborn. You need to go. I need to go. I'm a member here. I'm not an office bearer here. And when members are under discipline here, it's my responsibility to go. And you mustn't underestimate the difficulties either, even though you're exhorted to do this. Think about what you have to do. You have to call them, text them. knock on their door, make an appointment. That's scary. Really? I have to do that? And then you have to plan what to say, where to read from the Bible, what to pray about. You have to decide whether you're going to ask him any questions that might give him opportunity to complain about the work of the elders. A lot of hard questions involved there. What shall I say at the end of the visit? How shall I conclude it? What shall I include in my prayer there? Maybe I should write out that prayer so that I don't speak anything carelessly. And then another dimension of preparation is what kind of spirit do I go in? Do I have the right spirit? And then make an excuse not to go because I don't have a good spirit. Well, you better get a good spirit and I better get one and go. And then, not to underestimate the difficulties, we're going into spiritually dangerous territory. There is a sinner there with whom the elders have been working for how long, who has not listened to the warnings of the elders for months and maybe for a year. such that they had to get classes permission to announce the name, and now you are going to talk to him or her? You say, I'm out of my league here. Well, then read the Bible again and read the Reformed forms and the church order. You, you must go, despite these difficulties. And to imagine a congregation that doesn't do this is one thing, but let's be positive with this one. Imagine a congregation where even a half dozen of the membership went knocking on his door and pleaded with him and warned him or her, and then double that to a dozen and two dozen out of 500 That wouldn't be too many. And what an impression the Lord may leave on him or her if that took place. So admonish them personally. Then in the fourth place, this is a little bit different dimension, it's your calling to approbate the discipline. You are not a rubber stamp. You must not say, I trust the consistory completely. I'm never going to question anything they do. I'm just going to let them do their work. Now, there's a certain attitude that you need to have toward the consistory. It's that attitude of trust and respect. You elected them for their gifts, and yet consistories can make mistakes. You as a member of the congregation need to have an open ear and sharp eyes to listen and look to see if perhaps something went awry. And then it's your responsibility to help the disciplined sinner if discipline has been inflicted upon him wrongly. That's approbation. Approbation is official approval of an act. Now, approbation can take place actively. Then the consistory would say, okay, we're going to come together and vote as a congregation whether this discipline is proceeding properly, and we don't do that. Approbation in the reformed system of church government is tacit. It comes from a Latin word that means silent, which means that you who keep silent are by your silence saying, yes, I agree with what the consistory is doing. Yes, I am behind the consistory's activity and discipline. You can't escape that. You're a member of the church. You, by your silence, I say once more, are giving approbation to what the consistory is doing. A tacit approbation takes place in at least three places. First of all, when the name is announced, He doesn't ask for the congregation's approval, but that's implied. So-and-so is under discipline. Well, you know so-and-so, and you know so-and-so didn't do what the announcement says he did do. And so you go talk to so-and-so carefully, carefully, and then you talk to the consistory, and you find out things that you didn't know before. But if you hear something that is wrong to you, Then you investigate more, and you have permission to object to that discipline. Same is true of the announcement of excommunication. Article 77 says, that may not take place except with the tacit approbation of the church. And then in that worship service, when excommunication takes place, this is what's read to all of you, and I paraphrase, not one of you, has come to us consistently to tell us why excommunication should not take place. And you read between the lines, it means this. By your silence, you are approving what is taking place here. You are not sitting back watching with a critical spirit what the elders are doing. You are excommunicated. And then that approbation takes place even when an excommunicated sinner is readmitted. The elders don't do that except with the approval of the congregation. In that form, the congregation hears the minister say this, no one can mention anything against him to the contrary. That is, we're inviting him back to the Lord's table. Not one of you has said in the past month or so when you knew he was coming back, not one of you has said he shouldn't come back. Therefore, you are approving his coming back. So in all of those ways, you are engaged in discipline. That is the approval of discipline. Now, as I said earlier, don't assume a critical attitude toward the elders. Trust them in their work. And when you go to visit the sending brother, sit down with him, keep in the back of your mind the proverb that says, whoever's first in his cause seems right, but his neighbor comes and searches him. The ESB puts it this way, the one who states his case first seems right until the other comes and examines him. In other words, listen but don't make a judgment until you listen to the other parties who've been involved. So that caution too. And then at the same time remember that I don't know of any cases of discipline that I've been involved in that the one being disciplined hasn't objected to the discipline. Unfair, not right, I'm really sorry. They keep on disciplining me, but I don't know why. I've never seen a case, I don't remember any case anyway, where that hasn't been true. And that's not surprising either, because a person under discipline is impenitent in sin. He's caught in the snare of the devil. His eyes and senses have been darkened by the evil one. So it wouldn't be surprising at all that he would complain and object and call the elders' work unfair. But here's the bottom line. All that aside, all of you approve the elders' discipline. Membership means not only that you have the right to object, but that when you don't object, you are approving their work. Imagine, imagine a congregation where that doesn't take place, and the dozen or so elders are the only ones who are doing this. I can't. I don't want to. So I remind us again, let's make sure that every young person who makes confession of faith in our churches is keenly aware of his obligations with regard to approbation. Then there is excommunication. And here especially, it may seem that only the consistory is active. But they're not. It seems, though, that Article 76 says the consistory shall at last proceed to the extreme remedy, and then read that form for excommunication and ask, really? Really? The minister says, we, the ministers and rulers of the church of God, declare before you all that for the aforesaid reasons, we have excommunicated and by these do excommunicate so and so from the church of God. The whole form is written as an address from the elders to the congregation and really does leave the impression that it's not your work, but it's the elders and the minister's work. Now, my comment about that is, I believe the form does some injustice to the active role of the membership in discipline. I think the form could be rephrased in such a way that it does not leave the impression, it's not your work, it's our work, we have excommunicated, we do excommunicate. But the point of the form there, not to be critical of it, is to emphasize the leadership the active and decisive work that the elders perform. They're, after all, the rulers in the church. The form in Article 76 are not excluding the membership. Remember Deuteronomy 21? All of the parties involved, the parents bring him to the elders, and then the elders make a judgment, and the whole congregation, conducted that act of excommunication, that horrible act of cutting off that young man from the Church of Christ. The whole congregation did that. 1 Corinthians 5 in the ESV. I like to look at the ESV as a good commentary. The ESV says, when you are assembled in the name of the Lord Jesus and my spirit is present, 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. That is, as I said, at a public gathering of the congregation, an official worship service, you, congregation, excommunicate him. And then go back to 2 Corinthians 2, verse 6, sufficient to such a man is this punishment which was inflicted of many. The man repented. By the way, the man living in incest repented. The discipline was effective in a positive way. He was sorry. Paul writes about that in chapter 2. He says, it's enough. It's enough. Stop. It's sufficient. But then I come back to that which was inflicted of many, of many. That was wrong of them. Some people were holdouts, maybe family members. I'm not coming to that service, they said. Not me. That's my son. That's my brother. That's my mother. Not me. many is a criticism of the church. It should have been all. And that's the point that we're making now. Everyone participates in discipline of excommunication. And you think that was hard? The sixth is harder. After excommunication takes place, it's your responsibility to maintain that discipline by living with them as though they are heathens and publicans. That's Jesus' instruction in Matthew 18. We cut off intimate fellowship with them, even if it is your father, your mother, your brother, your daughter. Put it this way, excommunication is not simply a one-time act that the church engages in at a worship service, after which the whole congregation says, we're finished. Excommunication is an act that obligates all of the members to keep that person out of their fellowship. Note that man, Paul says to the Thessalonians, and have no company with him that he may be ashamed. First Corinthians 5, 9 and 11, do not keep company with them. Do not eat with them. Verse 13, put them away from among yourselves. And so the form for excommunication, quoting Jesus, instructs that the excommunicated sinner is therefore to be accounted by you as a heathen man and a publican. We exhort you, beloved Christians, keep no company with him that he may be ashamed. And then in the concluding prayer of that form says, grant us to avoid those who are cut off from the community of the church that we may not make ourselves partakers of their sins. And then a different expression in the form for readmittance says, when they come back, we don't count them any longer as strangers, which implies very clearly the one who's excommunicated becomes a stranger to us. That's so difficult. That's so difficult, especially when the excommunicated one is a family member. Maybe it's even more difficult when the person who must be cut off wasn't finally excommunicated, but was just put under discipline with a charge that unless you repent, you come under the judgment of God. That first decision of the consistory to put him under discipline is excommunication. Not finally, not fully, but it's excommunication. What happens usually at that time, they pull their papers, as it were, and they're gone. And sometimes we say, oh good, well then we can still fellowship with them because they haven't been excommunicated. But they have. They have. They haven't excommunicated themselves. It's interesting for me to note that the URC made an official decision. Don't call that self-excommunication. The consistory excommunicated them when that decision was made to put them under discipline. That decision says this, we charge you with regard to this sin against this commandment and judge you to be impenitent. And unless you repent, you perish. And then only after months is final excommunication effected. But that's excommunication. The church in the past called that excommunication minor, but it's excommunication. And even when they pull their papers at that point, the same is true. Have no fellowship with him. And the majority listens. And if you hold out, say, He's my dad. He's my son. He's my sister. She's my sister, my daughter. I'm going to keep fellowshipping with them. And what you do is give them exactly what God does not want them to have, a line of comfort and safety, an ability to say, well, at least someone in the church is on my side. And what happens is exactly the opposite of what discipline is intended to affect. Shame. Conviction of sin. A ruin, finally, of everything that they have that's important to them. The destruction of their flesh. You must all maintain discipline. Now, if I stop right here, right here, we could take an hour with questions just on that, and I'm sure that that's where the questions are going to come, and I welcome them. I really do. In all my ministry, I've said many times that if I took all of the questions that I was faced in my ministry and put them on two piles, this question on one pile, and all the other questions on another pile, this question on this pile would be bigger than that pile of all the other questions. How do we treat them? How do we do it in our family? May we have them over for So I'm not surprised if there will be questions there. But in the last place, the seventh way in which you members of the church participate in discipline is that you seek their repentance and restoration and reconciliation to the church after they're excommunicated. And here's where I am so ashamed of myself And I'll just stop right there, ashamed of myself. I'm not going to talk about you or any church, just myself. I rarely think about this. Once a person is excommunicated, they're out of sight. And though they should not be, they are also out of mind. But now please read the forms for excommunication and readmittance and see what you are going to say What you are going to say if anyone ever comes back, you've been praying for them, you've been admonishing them, and your prayers and your admonitions are what God used to bring them back after they've been finally cut off. And how many of us do that? It's awful. Think of how many people in the church of which you are a member left under discipline You can count on one hand, I can count on one hand the people I know in our whole denomination who were ever, in 40 years of my ministry, finally excommunicated, but there are multitudes of those who were underdisciplined and left and really were excommunicated. How many of them have we prayed about in our congregational prayers, our family prayers? He seeks her wandering son. Does he? Does he through me? I am guilty there. And I want to say that if we are losing discipline, or if we have failed in discipline in a very serious way, it's right there. He seeks her wandering sons. We want them back. We pray for them. Every once in a while, we'll even say, will you have me over again? I'd like to talk to you. I love you. We want you back. Just once a year, knock on their door, call them up. I love you. I seek your repentance. We miss you. That's your obligation. I'm going to mention only what's at the bottom of the outline so that we can have questions and discussion and finish with that. But I'm convinced that the preconditions for a church that lives properly in discipline, without which three elements discipline is really not possible, are these three. All of the members engage in self-discipline. Do I discipline myself? Am I hard on myself? Do I discipline my children? Am I properly, of course meekly and lovingly hard on them? If I don't engage in self-discipline, I'll never have the strength to engage in discipline in the congregation. If I don't feel the pain in my own life of what's required of me when it needs repentance, how will I ever be able to engage in discipline in the congregation? That's first. I said I was only going to mention them. Second, healthy life in the body, mutual care, love for the other members, I love membership in Hudsonville Church, and the few of you from Hudsonville who are here, I think you know that. I'm not here as often as I'd like to be here, but I love membership here. I have a care for the other members. I know they have a care for me. That's the way it ought to be in a congregation. It isn't to the level that it ought to be. It isn't, but it never is. But when we have a care for the body and love for all of the other members and an interest in everyone, even the ones who come and sit in the back 45 minutes early and leave right away before you have a chance to talk to them, even them, even them, all of them. I love them. I'm interested in their wellbeing. And we're weak there too. And then a mention just of what Paul says in Galatians 6, ye who are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness. What is spirituality? That could be a whole sermon. Just think that through a minute. What does it mean to be spiritual? Paul is not saying there are few of you in the congregation who are spiritual. The rest of you aren't. You few who are, you restore him. He's not saying that. But you think it through what he is saying. You all need spirituality. Pray for spirituality and the ability and a humble, meek spirit to go to the other members and help them. Help them. They're caught in the snare of the devil. Have you never been caught in the devil's snare? Have you never imagined what it's like and the misery? If you have, you know something about what spirituality is. self-discipline, love for the brother, and spirituality. Well, let's let that conclude for tonight. We'll pick it up next time and deal with who are the objects of discipline. I said that that's not the easiest question. It involves questions like this. Do we discipline the children in the congregation? Do we discipline the non-confessing members in the congregation? Do we discipline someone who's been in and out of pine rest? Hard questions. We'll face those next time. Who are the objects of discipline? But let's open it up for questions for five or ten minutes, or as long as it takes. I'm planning somewhat to go until about 8.30 each night, and God willing, for the next five or six weeks. All right? Questions? Mrs. Biles, I think. Okay, very good. The question is that I defined excommunication as taking place from the very beginning as soon as the charge of sin is laid against them. And then, reasoning properly from that, I said, you don't fellowship with an excommunicated person. That does need clarification, because from this initial charge of sin against him until they are finally excommunicated, I think there can be more contact with them. But if you know that they're living in impenitent sin, even here, You don't say, let's go on vacation together, right? That just doesn't work. You can't have that kind of fellowship. It just, there's a big barrier between the two of you. But it's especially at the end when the church has made its final judgment and lost hope. because they're gone, at least most hope. That's when do not have company with him takes place. Don't eat with him or her that they may be ashamed. Yeah. So I don't know if I'm answering the question that you had. Okay. Even at the beginning, the fellowship is interrupted. But some people at the beginning don't even know that he's underdisciplined or she, right? Silent censure. So you can't stop fellowship there. But once you do know, there's something that takes place that you have to indicate it's not right. Good. I think you had your hand up. A question about the approbation part in that in the situation where I'm not aware of the question sorry that's okay go ahead no situation where as a member I'm not aware of the sin it's until we've gotten to the point where the name is announced and how much is appropriate to investigate how much do I ask this person how much do I ask to consist what's implied is that as a member I need to make a judgment So how do you operate in that case? Let's start with a standard that you trust the consistory. If you don't trust the consistory, the game is over, as it were. So we start with that. We believe that what they do, they've done prayerfully, they've done carefully. And so when we go to visit the member, we're not going to visit primarily to find out whether it was done properly. We're going primarily to exhort them and admonish them to repent. But if in the course of that exhortation and admonition you hear things that just don't seem right, then you maybe want to ask the elders carefully, respectfully, and then the elders have to make a judgment as to how much they may tell you. And they ought to tell you as much as they can. Some things perhaps they can't tell you, they may not tell you. So this is very difficult, it isn't easy. But the bottom line is, it's your responsibility if you know of something that's wrong in that discipline, you have to go till you clear your conscience and say, no, it wasn't wrong, I was mistaken, or it was wrong and I have to pursue this. And I'm thankful for that reformed form of church government. We're not hierarchical. We're not the Roman Catholic Church who says you don't have anything to do with discipline. That's the priesthood. We do it. The priesthood of believers is a fundamental point. All of you are involved. Did I answer your question? Anyone else? Doug. Are there guidelines for consistory as to how much to reveal or how much to conceal? I'll think about that. I don't know of any. There are going to be a lot of questions that elders ask that really the nitty-gritty of discipline. I wish I could answer them. I might not be able to answer very many of them. I've had some by email already, but I will write that one down and maybe confer with my colleagues and Prof. Kuyper will have the right answer. No, I'm joking obviously, but I will write that one down. Are there any guidelines for how much a consistory may tell or what they may not tell? Josh. If there's a lack of trust already, I guess it depends on who it is. Maybe they've had bad experience. And then the best help you can give is pray for them and make sure you do it right. You keep doing it right. In the end, someone who is cynical and bad experience may not be able to be helped, but I pray that they can. But you put yourself in a position where you've been wronged perhaps by a consistory, it's pretty tough. Pretty tough to regain trust in them. But that just underlines the importance of us all humbly working, being willing to be corrected, and a multitude of counselors being very careful to do it right. but you'll still be subject to criticism. Well, family members especially of those discipline, because often they only hear Proverbs 18, 17, the first one in his cause. And they've heard the first one in his cause so often, they've come to a position where they just can't adopt any other view than the first one who reported. I don't know if I answered your question, how do you regain trust of somebody who just doesn't? Pray for them, live in a spirit of humility to be corrected, listen to them. Someone else? Yes? Good. Yeah, the question has to do with our responsibility outside of our own congregation, other congregations in our own denomination and other denominations where there are many Christians. Do we have a responsibility there? I don't know if this is the best place to start, but I think that if the URC would excommunicate someone, they would be very, very happy if we went on to that excommunication and not fellowship with them. Or if the OPC would put somebody under discipline, they would plead with us to help them in that and not coddle their member by just listening to that member. And so it's going to go that way as well. The same is true for congregations. We are a tight-knit denomination. In West Michigan, there are a lot of churches close together. You know of somebody in a neighboring congregation, you have a responsibility toward them, and they to you, too. If you're a member of Hudsonville as I am, and somebody from Trinity comes to exhort me about my sin, I'm not going to say, well, you're from Trinity, you're not from Hudsonville. I'm going to listen to them. That is, if the Spirit works properly in me, or works in me that I behave properly. Yes, a good point. The applications are far broader than just the congregation. They apply to the denomination and then to the true Church of Christ everywhere. It's a little bit difficult to press that and apply it as strictly in those cases, but we ought to honor other churches' discipline and we pray that they would respect ours too. Follow up anyone on that question or others? Reverend McGowan. If somebody leaves our churches not under discipline to go to another denomination, how do we treat them? That is part of this big pile questions. They weren't under discipline. They weren't charged with sin. But you think that they are committing a sin perhaps by leaving. Maybe they are. Maybe they are. And then I think you have to make the judgment as to the degree of that sin. And to the extent that it's a serious sin, I think to that extent fellowship is withheld so that they're ashamed. And again, it depends too. If they're going for wrong reasons, they want to escape the strictness of this denomination and go to a loose denomination, that's a sad thing. Maybe they'll grow up. If they have a conviction that the teaching of the Protestant Reformed churches is not biblical teaching and leave for another denomination on account of that, we may disagree with them, but I might still play pick a ball with them in a little group just to use the application I was thinking of before tonight. If I'm under discipline, who's going to cut me off? What are you not going to do with me? All right. If I have a group of eight that gets together twice a week to get exercise, I'm guessing that group of eight is not going to call me anymore. And that would be a good thing. I need to be ashamed of my sin. But if I leave the denomination to go to a different denomination because of my convictions that are genuine, I hope they still call me, and I probably would call them. Again, it depends on the circumstances. How much of a sin is it that you are willing to adopt a form of theistic evolutionism? Well, I think it's pretty serious. I do. Common grace. Does it warrant having no fellowship with them, not eating with them, counting them as a heathen man and a publican? rhetorical question. I'm not going to answer that one. You understand, the degree of sin, the degree of knowledge of those who committed the sin, they all factor in. You had another question, though, to follow up on yours. right? So there's a number of estimations to scale that number. I agree. If you have a loved one in another congregation, it is just as much your responsibility to talk to that person as it is the members of his congregation or hers. Yeah, I would agree with that. Even if it's not a loved one, if it's a relative or somebody you work with, Yeah, we're the body of Christ, we have a care for the body. It starts with your own congregation, but it's not limited to that. Good. I'm sorry? My ears are... Yeah. What about a member who's not under discipline, but is meeting and fellowshipping with somebody who's been excommunicated? They're sinning, aren't they? I don't know that you need to say much more about that. You treat them as you would another sinner. They are. Yeah. One minute and I'm going to stop. You have to ask that person. Let's just say your brother is fellowshipping with somebody who's been excommunicated. You believe your brother is wrong. Ask your brother this question. Is your fellowship with him helping him be ashamed? Because that's what Paul says he must be. Ashamed. Don't have company with him so that he's ashamed. I think your company with him is helping him not be ashamed. Is your company with him helping him be convicted of his sin? I don't think it is, is it? And the other biblical purposes of discipline. So in the end, I might have to bring my brother to conviction of his sin and then bring a witness to my brother who is fellowshipping with an excommunicated sinner. And I'm not interested in being rigorous in the sense of mean and bullheaded and harsh, but simply in the sense that sin needs to be kept out of the church. And that's a sin, too, a pretty significant one, I think. Thank you for that. Well, it's 830. I was committed to being finished then, so let's close with prayer. Almighty God in heaven, we thank Thee for tonight. We're humbled. We're deeply humbled by our own weaknesses, shortcomings, failures, that of consistories, but especially that of us as members. We have known some sinning and have not gone to them. We have spoken about them instead of to them. We've not loved them as members of the body. We've not been conscious properly, Father, of the damage of impenitent sin in the congregation, the whole lump. Forgive us of these sins. Strengthen us that we may be faithful in our church membership, that we may be supportive of consistories, and that our elders may be wise in their work. And then, Father, our earnest prayer is that thou will use the work of discipline to bring sinners to repentance, that they may be restored to fellowship, that they may be brought to sincere sorrow, godly sorrow, and genuine repentance. that they may hear the declaration of the Lord Jesus Christ through the church. Your sins are remitted. We loose you from bonds of excommunication. Now send us home with a blessing tonight. In Jesus name we pray.