Love, Discipline, and Discipleship

Study Notes

Love, Discipline and Discipleship

2 Corinthians 2:6-11; Matthew 18:15-18

      Today, we will be baptizing about a dozen of our LAC family.  In baptism, those who are baptized declare 1) when they go under the water, that they are buried with Christ, their sins are washed away with their old self-directed lives being dead and 2) when they come up out of the water, that they are risen to live a new life with Jesus as their Savior and Lord.    

     As I say almost weekly, that new life in Christ does not become wholly new in a moment.  No, it is a process of growth we call discipleship.  Simply put, every one of us has been made in God’s image.  That means that there are things about us meant to reflect the very ways of God.  But, ever since sin entered the world, all of us “fall short of that glory of God” (Rom 3:23).  There are things about all of us that are not what God created them to be.  To put it bluntly, we all have sinned.  But, God loves us even while we are sinners and has found a way to forgive our sins and begin to remake us to be what he created us to be.

     One of the central issues of the New Testament is how will we are to grow to become more and more like Christ.  And, the Bible teaches that our growth in Christ is to happen within a church family.  We are to grow together until each one of us is, as Col 1:28 says, “complete in Christ.” 

     Let me show you how central we see your growth in Christ is to the reason for our existence as a church:

• “Our Mission: Following Jesus, we participate in God’s reconciling work by making disciples of all peoples and generations.”
• “Our Vision: Presenting each one complete in Christ.”

     That is to say that, if you become a part of LAC, our commitment to you is that we will seek to be a church family in which you will become complete in Christ.  And, we ask you to make the same commitment to us all – that you will be involved in the lives of LAC people until each one of us becomes complete in Christ.

     My message today is that one of the most important means God has instituted so that each of us actually will grow to become complete in Christ is what church people have called church discipline.  For many people, that term, “church discipline”, is distasteful and off-putting.  But, today, I want us all to see how important, and even beautiful, church discipline is when it is understood as being a part of God’s mission to make all things right in our lives and in our world.

Love, Discipline, and Discipleship in the 1^st Church of Corinth (2 Cor 2:5-11)

     The passage we come to today takes us to the culmination of an act of church discipline in the 1^st Church of Corinth.  Notice the moving words in 2:6-7: “The sanctions inflicted on him (i.e., a man whose sin had brought grief to all the people in that church) by the majority is sufficient.  Now instead, you ought to forgive and comfort him, so that he will not be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow.” 

     That kind of statement should be the goal of any kind of discipline that happens in any local church.  Isn’t it moving to read?  But, let me tell you – it was quite a journey to get to that end-goal.  Let’s see how it happened.  As I read through Paul’s letters to this church in Corinth, I’ve put together this case study:

     Paul had founded the Church in Corinth during his missionary travels. (See Acts 18).  http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-qyG6mDQ10pg/T98qbXN-osI/AAAAAAAAHHQ/9Oiu5DP2QaY/s1600/DSC06311.JPG He not only founded but he had also faithfully pastored the new Christians in Corinth for 18 months.  After finishing his work there, he returned to his missionary ministry but got wind of Christians in Corinth hanging out with other Christians who were behaving in sexually immoral ways.  So, Paul wrote a letter to them, one that he referred to in 1 Cor 5:9, a letter that probably has been lost. In that letter, he called the church people to live lives of sexual purity.

     In spite of that letter, Paul continued to hear of ongoing problems in the church including a situation reported in 1 Cor 5 of incestuous sexual immorality that was offensive not only to Paul but also to unbelievers in Corinth.  Note this: the city of Corinth was the Las Vegas of its day, i.e., a city known for and even proud of its sexual freedom.  So, if the people in Corinth were scandalized by the incident in the church, then it was indeed serious.  But, the church didn’t seem to want to confront the man and to call him to repentance.  My guess is that he was a part of a prominent and probably affluent family in the church. Paul wrote that they were proud to have this man in their church.

     Listen to his words: “There is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that even pagans do not tolerate: A man is sleeping with his father’s wife.  And you are proud! You should rather have gone into mourning and have put out of your fellowship the man who has been doing this (1 Cor 5:1-2).”

     But, they didn’t do it.  In fact, my guess, when I read the whole of 2 Corinthians, is that this man and his family started an uprising against the Apostle Paul and his leadership because Paul asked the church to discipline him.  So, Paul made a visit to the church, one that he called a “painful visit” (2:1) and afterward wrote another letter to them that he admitted was severe.  And, at last, they had confronted the man and called him to repentance.  Apparently, he had repented.  The church had administered some kind of discipline – to which the man had responded.  By the time we get to 2 Cor 2:6-11, Paul said that the time for forgiveness and restoration had come.  I love the three phrases: “forgive him”, “comfort him”, and “reaffirm your love for him” (2:7-8).

      With that example -- as well as with Mt 18:15-18 and Gal 6:1-4 that we read earlier -- in your minds, let me summarize a few truths that I think are important for us as a church family at LAC about church discipline:

1. The Goal Must be Clear: Loving Restoration to God’s Family and Renewed Growth in Christ

     One thing that should permeate the culture of our church is the vision statement I showed you earlier, i.e., that we want each one of us to become complete in Christ.  For this to happen, I’m convinced that all of us need to think about our church relationships as “discipling relationships.”  By that, I mean that we should always be seeking to help one another grow in our walks with Jesus.  You see, we can influence one another’s spiritual lives not only in that battles we all have against sin but also in our encouragement of each other, teaching one another, praying with one another and sharing one another’s burdens.

     In short, genuine disciples of Jesus should, in their church involvement, be involved in one another’s lives in ways that help each one of us to grow spiritually. Because of that, when, in Mt 18:15, Jesus spoke of believers going personally to fellow believers to call them away from sin, he was referring to something that should not be unusual in church.  No, this should happen in many ways in a church family – even when the sin isn’t as serious as what happened in Corinth.  What I’m saying is that our Christian friendships and small group gatherings should constantly be settings of what Proverbs calls “iron sharpening of iron.”

     In churches that have embraced the fact that we should all be helping one another to grow in Christ, church discipline goes on all the time in helpful, informal, everyday ways. When that happens, then when the more formal processes of church discipline become necessary, they are much less likely to be ignored altogether or to be carried out too harshly. Why? – because the church will already have a positive way of looking at our relationships in church, i.e., that following Jesus requires correction, prayer, and obedience to God’s Word.

     So, when a person in church walks away from the Lord or gives evidence of ungodly behavior, it should be a normal part of church life that church friends or your entire small group would say, “There is something in your life we need to talk to you about” and then call you back to the Lord’s way. 

     So, the goal of church discipline is never punitive.  As Gal 6:1 states so clearly, “Brothers and sisters, if someone is caught in a sin, you who live by the Spirit should restore that person gently.”  What we see in 2 Cor 2:5-11 is an example of that happening.

2. The Importance Must be Acknowledged: God’s Glory and Our Growth

     In my estimation, the main negative effect of ignoring church discipline it defames God’s name when we ignore sin or when we act ungraciously to one who has sinned.  When the world sees us ignoring sins or dealing harshly with one another, the world will look at us and say, “Their so-called God can’t change anything!”

     But, almost as serious as that is how ignoring sinful ways in a church harms everyone in the church.  That’s what Paul was getting at in 2 Cor 2:5: If anyone has caused grief, he has not so much grieved me as he has grieved all of you to some extent.

     John Donne wrote, “No man is an island.  Every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main.”  That is true of all humanity. But, in a church, it is more directly the case because we are in one family with one Father. Like a biological family, in our church family, it is impossible for there to be unfaithfulness, deception, or strife between any two individuals that does not begin to spread and touch others as well. I have been in churches where feuds had developed years before – and, years later, one group of people would still not speak to another. As a result of that, the whole church had been paralyzed spiritually; and the church’s impact had ground to a halt.  And, of course, the person involved in sin just continues down that sinful path.     All this is to say that the practice of us knowing one another and loving each other well enough that we keep turning one another away from sin and back to God is – well, it’s central to what a church should be.

3. The Difficulty Must Be Anticipated: Other Kingdoms Will Fight It

     When you read about how it was for them in Corinth and how long it took for them to deal with one man, then you should be able to appreciate why effective church discipline has always been hard for every church.  I mean, we don’t even have an Apostle around to help us!  What makes it so hard?  I think of a few things:

• Our own weakness – We think, “Who am I to speak a word of correction to someone else? What if he says, “You’re worse than I am.”  Well, let’s own the fact that we all will need correction in our lives.  But, that fact should not take away our love for that other person.  We have to love enough to say, “I really love you – but I think that what you are doing is harming your life with God…”
• Our tendency to think, “Let someone else do it.” Our busy-ness that says, “I have too many other things to do so I hope he self-corrects.”
• The challenge of acting with both law and grace; both justice and love. If we’re too harsh, people will say, “Where is grace in this church?”  If we’re too lenient or if we ignore the problem, they will say, “This church doesn’t care about holiness.” 

     And, of course, our own anger about what another person in the church has done may keep us from wanting to engage in church discipline in the way the Bible calls us to it.  Paul says in 2 Cor 2:11 that even Satan plots so that a person’s repentance and restoration to fellowship in church will not happen.

     I will simply say now that those kinds of challenges are formidable – but they should not keep us from stepping into a person’s life out of love and calling him or her to return to godliness.  Scripture calls us to do so – and, when we do, to trust God’s Spirit to lead us to whatever next step we should take. 

     It was hard in Corinth.  But, what we read about in our text today is how beautiful the ending of a long journey in biblically-directed church discipline can be.  And, if we engage in it with the love of Christ in our hearts and the Spirit of God guiding, we will see the same kind of beautiful restoration times here at LAC too.

4. The Biblical Process Must Be Followed: Faithful confrontation – until forgiveness is offered and received and Satan is thwarted.

     I’m not going to give you a lecture about the process a church should take when a public sinful matter rises to the level that the one in Corinth did.  Let me tell you simply how any correction process must begin and end. 

     The first step, as both Jesus and Paul clearly indicate, is to begin with a faithful personal confrontation.  Jesus said, “If your brother or sister sins, go and point out their fault, just between the two of you (Mt 18:15a).  More often than not, that is enough.  Now, you may not be aware of it -- because this kind of thing is not publicized -- but that is happening all the time in this congregation.  Then, if a one-to one visit doesn’t work, keep the matter as small as you can.  Take a trusted Christian friend with you – then perhaps your small group (if you have one).  Usually, as Jesus went on to say, what should happen, happens, i.e., “If they listen to you, you have won them back (Mt 18:15b).”

     Note this for sure:  We are not to go to one another about those matters where we merely feel irritated that someone is doing something in a different way than we would do it. We are to go only in those areas the Word of God has already said are clearly wrong.  And, don’t go quickly to your Ministry Council of your pastors and ask them to exert their authority.  The time for that may come – but it will be only after all other steps have been taken.  The objective of discipline is not to win an argument or to inflict punishment, but the ultimate restoration of a brother or sister in Christ.

     The ending of a discipline process is as important as the beginning:  True believers are to be ready – even anxious -- to forgive when the one who did wrong confesses that what he did was wrong.  I’ve found that true repentance is always accompanied by sorrow, i.e., by owning up to the hurt that the sin caused.  When that happens, true Jesus-followers who have received personally the forgiveness of Christ must be ready to instantly forgive such a one.

     Paul spoke in our passage today of forgiving, comforting and reaffirming our love for the one who seeks forgiveness.  Doing that usually leads to a process of restoring the individual to full participation in the church, a process led by the spiritual leadership of a church.

     Let me leave you with a few personal and pastoral words.  You need to have close Christian friends – or a godly and grace-filled small group in church – so that you can be involved in this kind of “iron sharpening iron” way of becoming complete in Christ.  I’m not talking about Christian friends who don’t care how you live or who live in ways just like the world lives. I’m talking about Christian friends who want to grow in their faith.  Then, be willing to speak into their lives when you see things that are not Christlike.  Say, I love you.  You know that, don’t you?  So, I’ve got to tell you about what I’m seeing in your life…”.

     And, be open to your friends speaking into your life too.  Don’t be defensive.  Receive their words and counsel.  If you do, we will all see happening what Paul said should happen in a Christian’s life, i.e., we will all “make progress in life and doctrine” (1 Tim 4:15-16) until each of us is complete in Christ and we live --

To God’s glory.

Chinese Study Notes

愛，管教和懲戒方式

哥林多後書2:6-11; 馬太福音 18:15-18

            今天，我們教會要為十來個弟兄姊妹施洗，他們受洗時是在宣告：1）他們浸在水中,表明與基督同死，他們的罪與引向滅亡的老舊生命被洗淨；2）他們從水中出來時，表明與救主耶穌同復活，進入一個新生命。

            我幾乎每週都會說，在基督裡的新生命並非一蹴而就。新生命必須經歷一個成長過程，就是管教。我們是照著神的形象所造的，本來我們的生命應該處處有神的樣式，但自從罪進入了世界，我們“都虧缺了神的榮耀”（羅3：23）。我們生命中許多方面已經反映不出神造我們的樣式，直截了當地說，我們都犯了罪！但神愛我們，甚至當我們還是罪人時就預備了救恩，他要赦免我們，重塑我們成為他造我們的樣式。

            新約的一個重要主題就是：我們當如何成長，越來越像基督。聖經告訴我們，“在基督裡成長”是要在教會實現的，好使我們共同長進，直到每個人都“在基督裡完全”（西1：28）。

            我要告訴你們，“在基督裡成長”為什麼是教會存在的重要原因。

• “我們的使命：追隨耶穌，委身於神的和好計畫，使萬民代代都成為主的門徒”
• “我們的異象：使每個人在基督裡完全”

            這就是說，若你成為教會的一份子，我們就會努力使你在教會的大家庭裡長進，直到在基督裡完全；而你也要有同樣的委身，就是參與教會生活，直到每個人都在基督裡完全。

            今天我要講的是神所設立的一個最重要的方法，好使我們每個人都在基督裡長大成熟，那就是“教會懲戒”。對許多人而言，“教會懲戒”是讓人反感、不令人愉悅的。但今天我要大家都看見，這其實是神的一個重要，甚至美好的使命，為要使我們的生命和我們的世界歸正。

一世紀哥林多教會的愛，管教和懲戒 (林後2:5-11)

            今天的這段經文讓我們聚焦在一世紀哥林多教會的“教會懲戒”，注意2：6-7節感人的一段：“這樣的人，受了大多數人的那懲罰已經夠了。7所以，你們反而更要饒恕他、安慰他，免得他被過度的憂傷吞沒了。”

            這應該是地方教會懲戒的目標，是不是很感人？但要達此目的還有一段很長的路，讓我們看看這是怎樣發生的。當我通讀保羅致哥林多的書信時，我做了這樣的案例研究：

            保羅在他的宣教旅行中建立了哥林多教會（使徒行傳18）http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-qyG6mDQ10pg/T98qbXN-osI/AAAAAAAAHHQ/9Oiu5DP2QaY/s1600/DSC06311.JPG。他不僅建立了教會，還忠心牧養教會18個月。之後，他繼續旅行佈道；但其間聽說了哥林多教會的信徒與一些性關係混亂的人在一起。所以保羅寫了一封信給他們，就是他在林前5：9提到的那封信，不過可能遺失了。在那封信裡，他指出教會的信徒在性關係上要純潔。

            然而那封信之後，保羅還繼續聽到教會裡的各樣問題，包括林前5章提到的亂倫，這不僅震驚了保羅，甚至也震驚了哥林多的非信徒。要知道，當時的哥林多就是今天的拉斯維加斯，是一個以性開放為驕傲並聞名的城市。如果連哥林多人都被教會的醜聞所驚動，可想問題的嚴重性。只是教會看起來並沒有想懲戒那犯罪的人並要求他悔改。我猜，那人可能是教會中有名望的、有影響的家族成員；所以保羅責備他們竟然以教會有這樣的人為榮。

            聽聽保羅的話：“到處都有消息說你們中間有淫亂，並且這樣的淫亂連外邦人中也沒有——竟然有人與他的繼母同居。你們卻還自我膨脹！難道你們不更應該悲傷，讓做這事的人從你們裡面被除去嗎”（林前5：1-2）。

            然而，他們並沒有這樣做。我讀了整個哥林多後書發現，這人和他的家族甚至發起了反對使徒保羅和否定其領袖地位的行動，這是因為保羅要求教會懲戒他。於是保羅重返教會，他稱那次返回哥林多為“痛苦之行”（2：1）。之後，保羅寫給他們另一封措辭嚴厲的信。最後，教會懲戒了那人並要求他悔改，很明顯，他確實悔改了。教會執行了一系列的懲戒，那人也一一回應了。在我們今天的經文林後2：6-11中，保羅說，現在是饒恕和挽回的時候了。我喜歡這三個詞“饒恕”、“安慰”、“向他證實你們的愛”（2：7-8）。

            經過這樣的案例分析，以及我們先前讀的太18：15-18和加 6：1-4，我總結了以下幾點，這是在我們教會大家庭中實行“教會懲戒”的重要原則：

1. 一定要目的明確: 憑愛心接納回神的家庭，重新在基督裡成長

建立教會文化的重要一點就是剛才我們所讀的教會使命宣言：使每個人在基督裡完全。為此，我們都要瞭解，我們的教會關係是“管教型”關係。我們應該彼此幫助，與主同行。事實上，我們可以影響彼此的屬靈生命，不僅是共同對付罪，還要彼此鼓勵，彼此教導，彼此代禱，彼此分擔重擔。

            簡單說，耶穌的真門徒一方面要參與教會生活，一方面也要在彼此生命中互相幫助，在屬靈生命上共同進步。因此，耶穌在太18：15要我們親自進到其他信徒生命中，呼召他們遠離罪。耶穌指出這應該是教會的常態。事實上，這原則應該實行在教會大家庭的方方面面，不管教會中出現的罪是不是像哥林多教會那樣嚴重。我鼓勵基督徒朋友們和小組聚會都要堅持箴言書的教導：“鐵磨鐵”，即信徒當彼此磨礪。

            教會中的一個重要原則就是我們當彼此幫助，在基督裡成長。教會懲戒也應該是經常性的、對人有益的、非正式的。這樣，當有必要執行正式懲戒的時候，就不至於太片面、太嚴厲。為什麼呢？因為教會當以積極的方式來看待教會中的各種關係，包括懲戒，並當認識到跟隨耶穌就必須要糾正錯誤、禱告和順服神的話。

            因此，當教會中某人偏離主的道路，而其錯誤行為也被證實的時候，我們不要以為稀奇。他的基督徒朋友和小組成員應該提醒他：我們需要談談你生命中的一些事，並要呼召你回歸主的道。

            所以教會懲戒不是刑罰性的，加6：1說得很清楚：“弟兄們，一個人無論被任何過犯所勝，你們屬靈的人都要以溫柔的心靈把這樣的人挽救過來”，我們在林後2：5-11看到的就是這樣的例子。

2. 一定要認識其重要性: 神的榮耀和我們的成長

            我覺得，忽視教會懲戒所帶來的主要負面問題是，當我們對傷害人的作法視而不見或嚴厲對待犯罪的弟兄姊妹時，我們就有損主名了。世人看見我們這樣做就會說：“他們所信的這個所謂的神改變不了什麼！”。

            在教會裡，對那些傷害人的做法視而不見將會給每個人都帶來極大的傷害，正如保羅在林後2：5節說的：如果有人使人憂傷，他不是使我憂傷，而是在某種程度上使你們大家憂傷——我這樣說，免得說得太嚴重。    

           約翰東尼寫道：“沒有人會在一個孤島上，每個人都是大陸的一部分，是其中之一。”這在人類社會普遍適用，而在教會更是如此，因為我們都在一個父親的大家庭。我們的教會就像一個原生家庭，不能接受弟兄姊妹間出現不忠、欺騙、爭競，特別是這些還會蔓延並影響他人。我去過一些不和睦的教會，往往多少年後，一批人還是不理另一批人，讓整個教會處於屬靈癱瘓，發揮不了任何影響力；而那些犯罪的人當然還是罪中走下坡路。     所有這些都是在說，我們要操練彼此相知，彼此相愛，彼此監督，遠離罪而歸向神—這就是教會的核心功能。

3. 一定要預料到困難: 這是一場屬靈爭戰

           當你讀到“教會懲戒”在哥林多教會意味著什麼，以及信徒花了多少時間來處理問題，你就會瞭解為什麼每個教會都很難執行有效的教會懲戒。要知道，我們身邊現在可沒有使徒幫助！那麼，為什麼困難重重呢？我想可能是如下幾方面：

• 我們自身的軟弱 – 我們會想：我是誰？我去糾正別人，要是對方說“你還不如我”又該怎麼辦？的確，我們自身有許多要改正的，但這不應該妨礙我們愛別人。我們要有足夠愛的勇氣說：“我真地愛你，但你的做法破壞了你與神的關係…”
• 我們會想：還是讓別人去做吧；甚至會以忙為藉口：我還有更多別的事要做，我盼望他可以自我改正。
• 我們較難平衡好律法與恩典，公義與愛。若我們太嚴厲，人會說：“教會的恩典在哪裡？”若我們忍耐甚至忽視問題，他們又會說：“教會並不在乎聖潔啊！”

            當然，我們有時也會對教會某人的做法敢怒不敢言，這也使我們不願按照聖經的教導採取教會懲戒。保羅在林後2：11節警告說，若撒旦占了上風，那教會中就不可能有弟兄姊妹的悔改和回歸。

            我只是讓你們知道，這類的挑戰是不可避免的，但不要讓它們阻止我們憑愛心進入一個人的生命，呼喚他/她回頭，歸向聖潔。聖經要我們這樣做，而當我們順服時，聖靈會引領我們進入下一步。

            “教會懲戒”在哥林多是困難的事，但今天的經文讓我們看見，正因為聖經導向的教會懲戒，教會經歷了一個美好的成長過程；若我們在基督的愛裡和聖靈的指引下也如此行，也一定能在我們教會看見這樣美好的康復。

4. 一定要遵循合乎聖經的過程: 誠實面對衝突----直到撒旦逃跑，與人達成饒恕與和好。

            我不想長篇大論教會應該如何處理一個公開的罪，好像當時在哥林多教會那樣的。我只想簡單告訴你，一個糾正過程應當如何開始和結束。

            第一步，也是耶穌和保羅都清楚說過的，要以誠實的態度面對衝突。耶穌說：“如果你的弟兄對你犯了罪，你就要去，只在你和他之間責備他”（太18：15a）。通常來說，這一般就夠了。也許你沒有意識到，因為這種做法是不公開的，但在教會中是經常有的。不過，若是一對一的訪談無效，要儘量把事情控制在最小範圍，找一個可信任的主內肢體同去，也許是你小組的同工。這一步常常會奏效，如耶穌所說：“如果他聽你的，你就贏得了你的弟兄”（太18：15b）。

            一定注意：我們如此做不是因為我們氣別人與我們的做事方法不同，而是因為對方真地做了不符合聖經的事。我們也不要急著找教會牧師長執要求行使教會權威---那要到一切別的辦法都不管用的時候才用。懲戒的目的不是為了贏得一個爭論或是予以處罰，而是要在基督裡得回弟兄姊妹。

            懲戒的結尾與開始一樣重要：真正的信徒不管心裡多麼不情願，都要準備饒恕那承認自己的做錯了的弟兄姊妹。我發現真正的悔改常常都伴隨著難過，因為罪帶來了傷害。但接受耶穌赦免的真信徒都要準備好立即饒恕那個犯了罪的弟兄姊妹。

            保羅在今天的經文中談到對那些尋求饒恕的人，我們要憑愛心原諒、安慰和挽回他。幫助一個人重回完整的教會生活這一過程，通常要由教會的領袖來帶領。

            讓我給你一些個人的教牧忠告：你需要主裡的親密夥伴，或教會裡有恩典的敬虔小組---這樣，你就可以經歷“鐵磨鐵”，即與弟兄姊妹彼此磨礪，直到在主裡完全的過程。這種彼此磨礪不是與那些對你生命不聞不問、自己本身還在追求世界的信徒，而是那些真基督徒朋友，他們自己追求屬靈成長並願意指出別人生命中不符合聖經的光景，他會說：你知道我是愛你的，所以我要告訴你，我是怎麼看你生命中的一些事…”

            請你對這樣的朋友敞開，不要有抵觸情緒，要接受他們的話和忠告。如果你這樣做，就會看見保羅所說的那些在基督徒生命中應該有的事，我們“要思想這些事，投身其中，使你的長進在大家面前清清楚楚”（提前4：15-16）,直到我們每個人都可以在基督裡毫無瑕疵，活出榮耀神的生命。

榮耀歸給神！

Greg Waybright 博士

主任牧師