Series: Formed & reFormed

• Launch Jukebox
• Download
• Subscribe

 1.  The Bible is Clear About Discipline

A.  Titus 3:9-15

Warned Once, Warned Twice – have nothing more to do with him

-         No three strikes

-         Only two

B.  Why So Firm? Harsh?

Concept of “Idols of the Heart”

-         Tim Keller’s Book “Counterfeit Gods”

-         Girls don’t like boys, girls like cars and money.  Boys will laugh at girls when they’re not funny.

-         Greed

-         Money

-         Sex 

The goal of Biblical Discipline is to help individuals &  communities replace the idols of their hearts with true worship of Jesus.

This looks like Repentance & Reconciliation.

-         Full, 100% repentance

-         Full, 100% reconciliation – to God and to others

-         So no ½ measures will do

C. Communion is an opportunity for self-study and church wide spiritual analysis.

1 Corinthians 11:27-32

Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty concerning the body and blood of the Lord. Let a person examine himself, then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself. That is why many of you are weak and ill, and some have died. But if we judged ourselves truly, we would not be judged. But when we are judged by the Lord, we are disciplined so that we may not be condemned along with the world.

Individual self-examination

 Elders ask the “Constitutional Question”

D.  How To – A Simple Overview

Peacemaker Process

-         Two extremes – angry or do-nothing

-         Best / Biblical responses lead with grace and love

2.  Questions About Discipline

Question 1 Who is Discipline For?

Its for Christians

-         We want non-Christians to be here

o      Sinning

o      Messed up

o      Broken

o      This is called “EVANGELISM”  (Change)

-         We want sinners who become Christians to learn how to put off their sins.

o      This is DISCIPLESHIP

o      Grow

Question 2 Is This Just for "Big" Sins?

No.

All sins are equal in God’s eyes.

#1 mistake the modern church has made was to elevate certain “socially unacceptable” sins over all the other sins.

- Sex

- Drugs

- Rebellious clothes/hair/tattoos

The Bible levels the field … Gossip is just as bad as murder or adultery.

A dishonest man spreads strife, and a whisperer (gossip) separates close friends. - Proverbs 16:28

For I fear that perhaps when I come I may find you not as I wish, and that you may find me not as you wish—that perhaps there may be quarreling, jealousy, anger, hostility, slander, gossip, conceit, and disorder.

I fear that when I come again my God may humble me before you, and I may have to mourn over many of those who sinned earlier and have not repented of the impurity, sexual immorality, and sensuality that they have practiced. -2 Corinthians 12:20-21

Not just Gossip … being lazy is just as sinful

Now we command you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you keep away from any brother who is walking in idleness and not in accord with the tradition that you received from us. - 2 Thessalonians 3:6

Question 3 Where Should We Apply These Principles?

- To Yourself

- To Your Family

- To Your Church

- To Your Entertainment

              * I.e. Angel Wars

              Galatians 1:6-9

I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting⁽ him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— ⁷not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. ⁸But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed. ⁹As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed.

3. What Is At Stake With Discipline?

Remember the goal of Church Discipline?

The goal of Biblical Discipline is to help individuals &  communities replace the idols of their hearts with true worship of Jesus.

What’s at stake is our corporate connection to God.

-         Either having some love for God and some love for the idols of our heart

-         Or having an all-encompassing love for God.

As a church we exist to help spiritual wanderers become authentic followers of Jesus.

-         We can only do that if we have a dynamic, Spirit-filled love for God ourselves.

-         If we are actually following Jesus in an authentic way.

o      Passion

o      All-Consuming

o      Committed

"If you don't call people to repent, you've abandoned the gospel." - JI Packer

Jeroboam built the two golden bulls

Jehu

-         Hero

-         Huge victories

-         Kills the idol-worshipping king of Israel (The son of Jezebel and Ahab)

-         Has Jezebel executed

-         Beheads the 70 sons of Ahab in Samaria

-         Kills all the priests and followers of Baal

-         BUT … he did not destroy the two golden bulls

²⁸Thus Jehu wiped out Baal from Israel. ²⁹But Jehu did not turn aside from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, which he made Israel to sin—that is, the golden calves that were in Bethel and in Dan. ³⁰And the LORD said to Jehu, "Because you have done well in carrying out what is right in my eyes, and have done to the house of Ahab according to all that was in my heart, your sons of the fourth generation shall sit on the throne of Israel." ³¹But Jehu was not careful to walk in the law of the LORD, the God of Israel, with all his heart. He did not turn from the sins of Jeroboam, which he made Israel to sin.

³²In those days the LORD began to cut off parts of Israel. Hazael defeated them throughout the territory of Israel – 2 Kings 10:28-32

Our church has been heroic for 40 years

But have we given everything?

Are there some old-standing idols / high places in our lives?  In our church-culture