To close off our series on strange fires in the church, today we consider the issue of judgement and discipline within the church structure. You see, the church is an organisation like any other; there are rules of engagement and as such, there are also disciplinary consequences for those who go against the stipulated standards of practice in the house. To address one such a matter of gross misconduct by sexual immorality in the house of God, Apostle Paul wrote to the church in Corinth, “It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and such sexual immorality as is not even named among the Gentiles—that a man has his father’s wife!” (1 Corinthians 5:1). Here was a case of a born-again believer engaging in relations that were frowned upon even by unbelievers, and because the church had failed to do anything about it but continued to embrace such a one as a brother in their space, the apostle had to issue judgement and a directive for a course of action from afar. He scolded them, “And you are puffed up, and have not rather mourned, that he who has done this deed might be taken away from among you… in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when you are gathered together, along with my spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ, deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus” (v2, 4-5).
The apostle basically instructed the church to expel the man from their gatherings and to withdraw their fellowships and intercession from him. This is because the church is a spiritual covering; when one is planted in such a space, the fellowship and intercessions of the house literally shield them from the full consequences of their missteps and sin, making the spiritual organisation a refuge of protection from the operations of Satan. But if one is unrepentant in their gross misconduct, they run the risk of infecting the entire organisation while continually destroying their own vessel– it is therefore to the benefit of such a one and to the church as a whole, that they be removed until such a time that they come to themselves and turn from their sin. Have you not seen it, many times when individuals leave a church, calamity follows them almost immediately! Why is that? They were previously shielded, and when outside of that covering, they are more exposed to the vices of Satan; and apostle Paul hoped this would then brew remorse in the heart of the offending brother. The apostle continued, “I wrote to you in my epistle not to keep company with sexually immoral people. Yet I certainly did not mean with the sexually immoral people of this world, or with the covetous, or extortioners, or idolaters, since then you would need to go out of the world. But now I have written to you not to keep company with anyone named a brother, who is sexually immoral, or covetous, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or an extortioner—not even to eat with such a person” (v.9-10). Judgement in the house of God is stricter, because we are expected to know better than those in the world; yes, this is not a free for all – you cannot just do whatever you please and think you will not be held accountable for your actions.
The apostle also mentioned another matter that the church should issue immediate discipline and judgement for; and this is the issue of non-productivity. He wrote to the church in Thessalonica, “But we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you withdraw from every brother who walks disorderly and not according to the tradition which he received from us. For you yourselves know how you ought to follow us, for we were not disorderly among you; nor did we eat anyone’s bread free of charge, but worked with labour and toil night and day, that we might not be a burden to any of you, not because we do not have authority, but to make ourselves an example of how you should follow us” (2 Thessalonians 3:6-9). Here was a church that was infested with people who refused to work for a living, who instead hid their laziness under the faux guise of spirituality, and had instead turned themselves into busy-bodies who visited endlessly house to house for no constructive reason. The apostle cautioned heavily against such behavior, even noting that such people should be expelled from the company of believers. He made the strong point that even though they were apostles burdened with the heavy work of the ministry, they still worked for a living. They remained productive and contributing members of society – no one, no matter how spiritual, is exempted from this practice!
Another group that the scriptures have highlighted to warrant immediate discipline and judgement within the church, is those that bring in strange and harmful doctrines into the church. Writing to Timothy, apostle Paul warned, “Having faith and a good conscience, which some having rejected, concerning the faith have suffered shipwreck, of whom are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I delivered to Satan that they may learn not to blaspheme” (1 Timothy 1:19-20) and again, “Their teaching will spread like gangrene. Among them are Hymenaeus and Philetus, who have departed from the truth. They say that the resurrection has already taken place, and they destroy the faith of some” (2 Timothy 2:17-18). The issue of false doctrines is not to be taken lightly, even Jesus Himself stood strongly against it – in the letter to the churches, the Lord warned, “Nevertheless, I have this against you: You tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophet. By her teaching she misleads my servants into sexual immorality and the eating of food sacrificed to idols. I have given her time to repent of her immorality, but she is unwilling. So I will cast her on a bed of suffering, and I will make those who commit adultery with her suffer intensely, unless they repent of her ways” (Revelations 2:20-22). This is not a matter we must dance around, because the consequences of wrong teaching the Body can be felt even generations after the initial error crept in.
Church, yes it is true that in His mercy, God does give His children time to repent from their sin, but there does come a time when this sin must be judged in the church to preserve the collective. One rotten apple spoils the whole lot, and because the church is a pressure group that is able to encourage members to align to the direction of the collective, confrontation and judgement can be what turns many from their destructive paths. But if they continue to show stubbornness, they are to be removed from the collective, and perhaps while out in the wilderness they will come to the full appreciation of their sin and turn from the ways back to the church. Only repentant persons are to be engrafted in, as was the case with the sexually immoral man in Corinth (2 Corinthians 2:7). Let us not allow the name of the Lord to be blasphemed through hypocritical behavior in the church, let us protect and guard our spaces with utmost jealousy!
Prayer
Father, we thank You for Your Word, and for the House you have built for us at Glorious. We thank You for our brothers and sisters, our leaders, and for your Spirit in our midst as our Lord and most senior partner. May our hearts continually receive Your word with meekness, and may the engrafted Word bear in us the fruit of faith, to Your glory, Father. In the name of Jesus. Amen!
