Sermon Tone Analysis

Intro

Alright, go ahead and grab a seat.

Today we are going to spend a majority of our time in , and as you open your Bibles let me ask you, “What gospel do you believe?”

This is a very important question for our sermon today because how you answer it, will directly impact how you understand church discipline and its role in our life together as a church.

Church discipline is one of the most controversial and under practiced aspects of church life, and its absence has led to meaningless membership and allowed for the nominal Christianity that runs rampant today.

On the other had, church discipline has been used abusively to shame and hurt genuine Christians who struggle with sin.

This is why practicing church discipline has led many churches to be labeled as “religious” or legalistic.

People look at churches that practice biblical church discipline as judgmental and unloving, but is that actually the case?

The great reformer John Calvin believed that church discipline was so essential to what it means to be a church that without it, the church as God designed it would cease to exist.

In our day, John MacArthur says that practicing biblical church discipline is the single greatest contributing factor for the impact, growth, fruitfulness and stability of the church.

If church discipline is so essential, how is it that we have largely lost this practice in modern evangelicalism, and most importantly, what does the Bible say church discipline is so that we can faithfully obey the Scriptures?

The Foundation of Discipline

We will start with the first question.

Why has church discipline fallen out of regular practice in churches today?

The answer is because we have watered down the gospel to such a degree that we no longer believe it has the power to change lives.

It is just some sort of easy believism where you pray a pray, believe in Jesus and you’re set for eternity.

In modern, American Christianity, the gospel goes something like this.

God is holy.

We are unholy because all of us have sinned and separated ourselves from God.

But God sent his Son Jesus Christ to die on the cross and rise again so that we might be forgiven.

We could never save ourselves by obeying enough or being good enough, but if we put our faith in Christ we will be saved.

Therefore, come to Christ and put your faith in him, and God will take you exactly as you are and love you unconditionally as his son or daughter.

So what do you think?

That sounds pretty accurate right?

It emphasizes that Christ is the Savior of the world.

It teaches that true forgiveness of sin can only be found in him and points to the Christian’s adoption into God’s family.

Everything this version of the gospel says is absolutely true, but there is more to say.

If we leave our understanding of the gospel to this simple definition, then we are left with cheap grace.

In it there is no call to take up our cross and follow Jesus or to die to ourselves.

Only that we can be forgiven.

But once forgiven, this gospel allows a person to go on about their life believing they are loved by God because they punched their one way ticket to heaven.

If we are going to live lives changed by Jesus, we need a gospel that gives more than cheap grace.

We need a gospel that doesn’t just focus on Christ as Savior, but also proclaims that Jesus is Savior and the King of his people.

We need a gospel that doesn’t just forgive us of our sins, but one that completely transforms us from the heart to free us from the slavery of sin.

We need a gospel that doesn’t just forgive us, but actually changes us so that we can die to our sin and worship God alone.

We need a gospel that says, “God is holy.

And all of us have sinned and separated ourselves from God.

But God being rich in mercy sent his Son to die on the cross under his wrath and to rise again so that we can be forgiven and follow the Son as Savior and King.

Anyone who repents of their sin and believes in Christ can have eternal life.

A life that doesn’t start one day in heaven, but is enjoyed today as we are freed from sin to worship God.

We aren’t saved by our works and thank God for that because none of us could ever do enough to earn God’s forgiveness.

But, just because we aren’t justified by our works doesn’t mean that our faith can exist without works.

Through faith, God gives us new hearts that hate sin and love him instead.

By the power of the Spirit we are declared holy and empowered to walk in obedience.

God saved us not just for our sake, but so that his Name would be glorified and all people would worship him and give the glory due his name.

Therefore, Christians are God’s ambassadors who represent him on the earth by reflecting his own holy character as they proclaim this gospel to the world showing everyone that loving God is far more rewarding than loving our sin.

This is the gospel that calls us to take up our cross and follow Jesus.

This is the gospel that changes lives.

The good desire for churches to reach the lost has led many to follow after a bad temptation.

We have watered down the gospel into something much more palatable.

Its a lot easier to talk about God’s grace, unconditional love, and faith.

It’s a whole lot harder to talk about his holiness, Christ’s Lordship, Spirit-empowered repentance, and the church’s call to reflect God’s perfect holiness in their own lives.

All of these things place demands on anyone that would follow Christ and when a church preaches a gospel that makes no demands on the life of a Christian, the church’s holiness suffers, and therefore God’s own name suffers.

Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

14 As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, 15 but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, 16 since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.”

God’s primary desire for his church is that his church be holy.

That the people he saved and redeemed from sin would actually live like it.

This is exactly what Christ is working for.

It is why he has given his church fellowship with one another, baptism, the Lord’s Supper, pastors and leaders.

He is seeking to disciple his people and build them up to be holy like he is holy.

The reason Christ died was to make for himself a holy people.

Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, 26 that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, 27 so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), .

And the purpose Christ is making his people holy is so that more people might glorify God.

Look back at what Peter said in

Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul.

12 Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation.

Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul.

12 Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation.

Our holiness as a church is imperative in fulfilling our mission as a church.

If we are ever going to make disciples and win more to Christ, then we must show that the gospel we preach is as powerful as we claim it is.

And this happens as we die to our sin to live for Christ daily growing to be more like Jesus.

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), .

The gospel is the foundation that gives us the framework for how to go about practicing church discipline in a biblical way.

Through the gospel, each and every Christian is adopted as God’s son or daughter called to be Christ’s ambassador to represent him on earth by proclaiming the gospel so that more might be saved.

But no one is able to claim to represent Christ by themselves.

According to and as we will see today , we need the church, that is the body of believers, to affirm our faith and oversee our discipleship.

In other words, it is all the church’s responsibility to make sure that those that claim to represent Jesus actually do.

And we do this through the ordinances.

We baptize believers who are then welcomed into church membership to fellowship with Christ and his people and to grow in their discipleship.

Then we take Lord’s Supper together as we renew our commitment to Christ, his people and his kingdom.

But what if someone stops living for Christ.

What if someone claims to represent Jesus as a Christian, but brings shame and disrepute to his name through their lifestyle and sin?

What if someone begins living in such a way that it is difficult for the church to affirm their faith and raises questions whether or not they are truly a brother or sister in the faith?

The biblical gospel says that when God saves us by his grace, he gives us a new heart that desires to live for him instead of our sin.

Yes, we will all struggle with sin until Christ returns, and by God’s grace we will put our sin to death more and more by the power of the Holy Spirit.

But what are we to make of people who claim to be Christians but show no interest in repentance?

Who Claim to love Jesus but time and time again choose to love their sin and refuse to give it up?

This is where the difficult practice of church discipline comes into play in the life of the church.

Now immediately, some will bristle at this idea as judgmental or oppressive because of some past experience where church discipline was not carried out in a biblical manner and others will question its validity at all in a church that preaches a gospel of grace.

My hope today, is to study what the Bible says about practicing church discipline so that we will be better equipped to confront and forgive sin within our body as well as save our brothers and sisters who may be tempted and led astray by their sin so that Christ can redeem sinners and glorify his name through his people.

In studying what the Bible says about church discipline, we will be better equipped to confront and forgive sin within our body as well as save our brothers and sisters who may be tempted and led astray by their sin so that Christ can redeem sinners and glorify his name through his people.

The Foundation of Discipline

1 Love for God

2 Love for the Individual in Sin

3 Love for Other Members of the Congregation

4 Love for the Lost

5 Love for God

Perhaps the simplest definition of church discipline is correcting sin in the church.

Immediately when people hear the words, “church discipline,” they immediately think of excommunication, which means removing a member from the church.