Church

Biblical Theology in the Life of the Church

/ davidsschrock

The ‘Second Mark’  of a “Healthy Church” is Biblical Theology (see Nine Marks of Healthy Church), but because of its sweeping synthesis of the Bible, Biblical Theology is also one of the most confusing disciplines to church members.  At least, this has been my experience introducing the ‘Big Picture’ of the Bible to the churches I have served.

Enter Biblical Theology in the Life of the Church.  In April, Michael Lawrence’s new book will come out, and hopefully serve as a tool introduce and clarify this critically-important discipline.  Here is Crossway‘s description:

Capitol Hill Baptist Church associate pastor Michael Lawrence contributes to the IXMarks series as he centers on the practical importance of biblical theology to ministry. He begins with an examination of a pastor’s tools of the trade: exegesis and biblical and systematic theology. The book distinguishes between the power of narrative in biblical theology and the power of application in systematic theology, but also emphasizes the importance of their collaboration in ministry.

Having laid the foundation for pastoral ministry, Lawrence uses the three tools to build a biblical theology, telling the entire story of the Bible from five different angles. He puts biblical theology to work in four areas: counseling, missions, caring for the poor, and church/state relations. Rich in application and practical insight, this book will equip pastors and church leaders to think, preach, and do ministry through the framework of biblical theology.

This forthcoming book looks like an excellent tool for introducing biblical theology to church members who have questions on why Biblical Theology is important and how to put the Bible together.  It goes beyond just the basics too, relating the big picture of the Bible to everyday life– ‘counseling, missions, caring for the poor, and church/state relations.’  Since biblical illiteracy is one of the church’s greatest obstacles for making mature disciples, encouraging biblical theology (read: a comprehensive understanding of the Bible) should be a priority of every pastor, church leader, and church member.

April 30, 2010 is its anticipated release date.  Mark it down!  

Soli Deo Gloria, dss

The Bible Doesn’t Say ‘Join a Church,’ So Why Should I?

/ davidsschrock / 31 Comments

I have a friend who has been attending church regularly but is unconvinced about the need for church membership?  He challenges, “Show me where it says in the Bible, ‘ Thou shalt become a church member.'”  And truthfully, I cannot point to verse that says that one must become a church member.  Nevertheless, I am convinced that church membership is spiritually advantageous and even compulsory for the believer.  To say it another way, without church membership individual believers will not mature in their Christian faith, and local churches will be deficient of Spiritually-gifted members.

Still, what biblical data is there to support the need for church membership?  Let me suggest five reasons for the vital necessity of church membership based on New Testament principles:

  1. Membership is a NT Pattern.  When converts repented, believed, and were baptized in the book of Acts, they were added to the number of the church (Acts 2:41, 47).  This means that the church in Jerusalem knew the number of believers in their church.  So did the church at Corinth–how else could they assess when the “whole church” met together (1 Cor 14:23)?  New Testament churches were comprised of members assembling locally, as evidenced by the church discipline in 1 Cor 5 and the recognition of members leaving the congregation (1 John 2:19).  In order, for church discipline to work, churches had to be aware of their membership.
  2. Membership secures participation in the Kingdom of God.  Jesus spoke of the church on two occassions (Matthew 16:13-20; 18:15-20), and in both instances, he stated that the keys to the kingdom have been given to the church.  I take this to mean that spiritual access into the kingdom of heaven has been entrusted to the church.  That is to say, the gospel message has been given to the church, and only the church foretastes and foresees kingdom realities.  In this way, the church serves as the instrument of the kingdom.  It is not identical with the kingdom, but each true, local church functions as a kingdom outpost–proclaiming the gospel of kingdom, partaking of the kingdom ordinances (baptism and the Lord’s Supper), enacting kingdom discipline, and demonstating what Spirit-led, kingdom life is like.  Church membership matters because kingdom life is foreseen and ‘fore-tasted’ in the local church. 
  3. Membership provides spiritual protection.  God has appointed pastor-teachers to instruct believers and equip saints for the work of service.  Moreover, pastor-teacher-elders are those who watch over the souls of the local church.  It would be foolish to forego this ministry of mercy.  As Hebrews 13:17 says, “Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls, as those who will have to give an account.”  Likewise, church deacons are installed to help meet physical needs and to minister to saints in need (cf. Acts 6:1-7).  And finally, church discipline falls into this category.  None of us are strong enough to contend against the wiles of Satan.  We need to formative discipline provided through the regular administration of the Word of God in the local church, but there are also times when we need the accountability of a fellow member to call us back to Christ.  Even more powerful, we may need the unified testimony of the entire church to call us back to Christ.  Church discipline is not merely a punitive action against a backslidden Christians; it is a means of protecting those sheep who wander from the fold.  Satan has come to kill, steal, and destroy.  He often does this through division and isolation!  By submitting ourselves to the accountability of the local church in church membership, we are inviting the loving and protective correction of our brothers and sisters in Christ.  This is a means of grace, intended by our loving God as a preserving force against our wicked and unruly hearts.
  4. Membership is for our spiritual maturity.  Ephesians 4 makes it abundantly clear, we do not grow by oursleves.  Just like the human body, we do not develop as individual cells soaking up nutriment in a petri dish.  No, we grow, develop, and mature as we are united to the body of Christ (Eph 4:15-16).  Church membership entails that we are in the proper context for growth.  We are stretched to use our gifts for the corporate good (1 Cor 12:7); we are challenged to consider others more important than ourselves (Phil 2:3-4).  All the while, we are benefitted by the gifts of others.  Without membership in a local body, we are not guaranteed these things.  Growth can happen in a weekly Bible study, a parachurch group, or through a school-sponsored mission trip, but without the dynamics of the local church, most of the growth fostered in these other arenas will provide only lop-sided or imbalanced growth.  Moreover, the local church is the best context whereby we can exercise and obey the one another commands.  (For a full list see my handout: ‘The One Another’s).  Doing life together in the local church stretches us to grow in ways that no other man-made institution or intensive study program can.
  5. Membership is for our spiritual fulfillment.  Membership in the local church is God’s intended platform for you to use your gifts, skills, and passions for the upbuilding of God’s church (1 Cor. 12:7).  If you are born again and filled with the Holy Spirit, God has equipped you with one or more spiritual gifts (1 Pet 4:10-11), and truth be told, your greatest joys will come when you use your giftedness for the good of others!  So, in order to increase your joy as a Christian, you should pursue church membership and serve faithful.  As Jesus said, it is more blessed to give than receive.

Surely, these five reasons can be added to and improved upon.  I would love to hear your thoughts on why church membership is essential in the life of a Christian believer, or how God has convinced you of this truth from the Bible.  It took me a long time to learn some of these things, and I am still learning…but I am learning with and in the body of Christ as a member of a local church.

Soli Deo Gloria, dss

9 Purposes of a Healthy Church: Reflections from Ephesians

/ davidsschrock

The Church exists…

To Display the Glory and Grace of God (Ephesians 3:9-12)

To Unify the Saints of Jesus Christ (Ephesians 4:1-6)

To Equip the Saints for the Work of Service (Ephesians 4:7-11)

To Grow Together in Grace & Truth (Ephesians 4:13-16)

To Learn How to Walk Together in Love (Ephesians 4:25-5:2)

To Walk Together in Spirit-Filled Wisdom (Ephesians 5:15-18)

To Do Life Together with the Family of God (Ephesians 5:19-6:10; cf. Titus 2:1-10)

To Fight Together Against the Powers of Darkness (Ephesians 6:10-17)

To Pray for One Another Always and For All Things (Ephesians 6:18-20)

May we all purpose do so by the power of the Holy Spirit!

Soli Deo Gloria, dss

Church Discipline?

/ davidsschrock

This Sunday, our church will meet to discuss a new church constitution and covenant.  One of the additions to the constitution is the inclusion of the important and biblical, but often misunderstood, practice of church discipline.  This Sunday morning I will be preaching on 1 Corinthians 5:1-8, addressing church discipline and why it is so important for the health of Christ’s church.

In my preparation for Sunday’s message I came across many helpful comments by David Garland on Paul’s sobering instruction to the Corinthians.  In his commentary on 1 Corinthians, Garland provides a summary of Paul’s teaching on church discipline.  If you are thinking through the subject, it is is worth reading.  

  1. Paul consider the purity of the congregation to be a serious matter, as it affects the congregation’s relationship to God and its witnesses to the world.  The immorality of church members not only undermines any grounds for the church’s boasting but also wrecks its witness of God’s transforming power to change lives.  Paul assumes that the church is implicated in the sins of its individual members.  There is no such thing as private morality (or immorality) for church members.  The sin of one tarnishes all.  Glossing over infamous sin implicates a congreagtion even more seriously in the sin.  In many cultures, what consenting adulats do in private is nobody’s business.  If they are Christians, however, it is very much the business of the church when it brings shame upon the believing community.
  2. Infamous sin cannot be swept under the rug.  The reason is that Paul understands the church body to be one lump.  The moral depravity of one element affects the moral condition of the whole group.  They are either leavened dough [i.e. pure] or unleavened dough [i.e. impure or corrupt with sin].  The sin must be confronted openly and decisively for the good of the individual and the good of the church body.  The only way to make sinners aware of the serious plight of their dire spiritual condition is through drastic discipline–the church’s complete renunciation of them.  Forgiveness can come only after this discipline has been imposed and the sinner has comprehended the full gravity of the sin and genuinely repented.  The church must be humbly mindful, however, that ‘only on the Last Day of the Lord will it become apparent what was decided on the ‘previous days of the Lord.'” [In other words, only when the Lord speaks on judgment day will the judgments of the church today be made fully manifest].
  3. The church walks a tightrope between being a welcoming community that accepts confessed sinners and helps the lapsed get back on their feet and being a morally lax community where anything goes.  The danger carrying out disciplinary measures is that the church can become judgmental, harsh, and exclusivistic.  Nevertheless, paul assumed ‘that the well-being of the community is primary and cannot be compromised.'” (1 Corinthians, BECNT [Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2003], 180-81)

May the Lord give his churches grace, wisdom, and power to heed his word in a culture of (in)tolerance and moral chaos.  The biblical injunction for church discipline (Matt 18:15-20; 1 Cor 5:1-13) is not optional, but neither can it be operational apart from the guidance of God’s Word and the administration of Spirit-filled Christians.  As Garland later adds,

[Church discipline] has its dangers.  The church can degenerate into a defensive commmunity that regards everyone with suspicion and deals out harsh discipline.  It can lead to vain self-righteousness, a chilly exclusivism, and a spirit of suspicion.  The context [1 Cor 5], however, refers to glaring sin that is very public and brings disgrace upon the community.  There is a limit beyond which patience, toleration, and charity toward another’s sin ceases to be a virtue (190)

The balance of grace and truth, correction and compassion is a Spirit-led process.  Man-made decisions, manipulated in the flesh will not succeed.  We must be humble, prayerful, and hopeful that Christ himself will work in and through us.  And indeed his word promises that he will, “Wherever two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them” (Matt 18:20).  In that promise we trust and act for the good of Christ’s church.

Soli Deo Gloria, dss

Worshiping in, through, and by the Word

/ davidsschrock

Kevin DeYoung  gives twenty-five compelling ‘words’ on why the Word of God is central in Christian worship.  Against emotionalism, subjectivism, mysticism, and other forms of individualistic worship that is easily misguided, God’s Word leads us to worship our Christ in Spirit and in Truth.  Consider DeYoung’s culminating word:

The Scriptures cannot be broken (John 10:35). There is much flexibility when it comes to corporate worship, but since we know that the Scriptures are inviolable, and that we are sanctified by the truth, and that the word is truth (John 17:17), we would be foolish if we did not make a priority that which we know has the power to save, transform, and endure.

If you are considering the subject of genuine worship–what worship is, and what worship isn’t–let me encourage you to meditate on DeYoung’s twenty-five Scripture-filled reasons for worshiping God in, through, and by God’s word.  While there is freedom to express our love and devotion to God in worship, that liberty is directed and indeed enhanced by the Spirit’s penmanship in the word of God.

Soli Deo Gloria, dss

The Living Church

/ davidsschrock

The Living Church by John Stott is an excellent book for pastors and would be a helpful read for many congregations.  It is an accessible book on the life of the church, where John Stott shows again why he has influenced evangelicalism for decades.  His writing is clear, biblical, and urges strategic risk-taking for Christ’s mission of making disciples.

His introduction begins with a survey of ’emerging churches.’  Like Jim Belcher he urges cooperation between emerging churches and tradiationalists without condoning the movement carte blanche (15).  Tongue-in-cheek, Stott calls for more “R.C.” churches, that is “radically conservative” churches which “conserve what Scripture plainly requires, but [are] ‘radical’ in relation to the combination of tradition and convention which we call ‘culture'” (15).  In this way, Stott purposes, “to bring together a number of characteristics of what [he] call[s] an authentic or living church” (15).  I appreciate Stott’s willingness to listen and be radical, while maintaining a solid grasp of Biblical truth that undergirds his book and shapes his analysis.  To that we turn.

Chapter 1 lists a number of church ‘essentials.’  Drawn out of Acts 2, Stott suggests that the church must be a learning, caring, worshiping, evangelizing body of believers.  The ebb and flow of church life is going out with the message of the gospel and then coming together to teach, love, share, and worship collectively.  Chapters 2-8 unpack these living essentials. 

In chapter 2, Stott explains that genuine worship is fourfold.  It must be biblical, congregational, Spiritual, and moral (think: pure and holy).  This is a powerful chapter and one that undoes the idea that contemporary worship revolves around competing styles and certain kinds of music.  True worship is something far more substantial (see David Peterson’s Engaging With God for more on this).  Honing in on music, Stott writes, “what is essential…is the biblical content of hymns and songs” (43).  I couldn’t agree more.

Chapter 3 follows with an every member ministry approach to evangelism that challenges the entire church to be on mission with/for Jesus.   Recognizing personal evangelism and mass evangelism as viable and biblical means of sharing the good news, Stott points to a better way, the church itself, as the venue for the most effective evangelism (49).  In theory, Stott asserts that every church must understand itself theologically, organize itself structurally, express itself verbally, and be itself morally and spiritually. (Stott unfolds these with greater precision in the chapter).  In very practical terms, Stott lists a number of evaluative questions to help assess the local mission field of any church as well as discerning the kind of resources a church has for evangelistic outreach.

Chapter 4 continues Stott’s emphasis on ‘every member ministry,’ though he turns to consider further the pastoral responsibilities in the church.  He reminds pastors that their primary focus is teaching and that pastoral leadership is a shared assignment–the church benefits from multiple pastor/elders.  (As a point of disagreement in this chapter, Stott gives permission for women to teach men (83), when the Bible explicitly teaches in 1 Timothy 2 that God has called men to be leaders and teachers in the local church.   This is not culturally conditioned; it is established in creation (1 Tim 2:11-15)  See Wayne Grudem and John Piper (eds.),  Recovering Biblical Manhood and Womanhood)

In Chapter 5, Stott unpacks his understanding of fellowship in general and small groups in particular.  Biblically, he argues that it is not good for man to be alone and it is good for the people of God to gather together in one another’s homes.  Historically, there has been tremendous fruit that has grown out of prayer groups, Sunday Schools, and other small groups.  And practically, smaller groups facilitate relationships, sharing, and caring for one another that larger settings disallow.  Simple, yes; but still this kind of ministry lacks effective application in so many churches.

Chapter 6, which is on preaching, surely draws from Stott’s larger work on the subject, Between Two Worlds.  Stott likens preaching to bridge-building, as he does in BTW and lists five paradoxes.  The preacher must Biblical and Contemporary, Authoritative and Tentative, Prophetic and Pastoral, Gifted and Studied, Thoughtful and Passionate.  These polarities are challenging for even experienced preachers, and surely motivating for preachers who want to engage the people of God with the Word of God.  One instance worth nothing, that struck me as useful, has been Stott’s participation in a reading group since 1972.  These men read non-Christian books that help them better understand the culture.  Surely Stott’s ability to apply the Bible to the world is in part a fruit of this discipline.  He suggests that all preachers should do something similar, while not letting go of God’s Word.

Chapter 7 gives 10 priniciples about giving from the book of 2 Corinthians.  This is Stott at his finest, engaging the text in order to draw out practical examples and principles for Christian living.  This would be a great meditation for anyone considering how to think biblically about finances.  (Cf. Randy Alcorn’s The Treasure Principle).

Finally, Chapter 8 challenges the gospel-telling church to simultaneously be salt and light in the world (Matt 5:13-16).  Stott makes it a point to show how salubrious salt and light are and how the impact of local churches benefit the communities in which they reside.  Practically speaking, he gives 6 weapons for cultural engagement: (1) prayer, (2) evangelism, (3) example, (4) [apologetic] argument, (5) action, and (6) suffering.  This is one of the areas that the neo-evangelical movement and now the emerging church is right to challenge the church.  We must be better at loving and serving our communities, and yet we cannot hide the gospel or muffle its message of salvation and judgment.

Overall, Stott’s book is a fine treatment on the local church.  Engaging, missions-minded, biblical, and wise are just a few of the adjectives I would use to describe it.  However, in the American, baptist (SBC) context in which I live and minister, I was a little disappointed; not because I devalue Stott’s Anglican heritage, in fact, I am thankful for it, but because the numerous parochial examples relating to commission reports and decisions within the Anglican church would be confusing to many in my church.  Again, I commend the book to pastors without reservation, but I would be slower to recommend it for use in every congregation.  You simply have to know your flock, and judge accordingly. 

Soli Deo Gloria, dss

A Growing Disciple: The Eighth Mark of a Healthy Church Member

/ davidsschrock

The essence of being a Christian is to be a disciple. 

“Disciple” and “discipleship” are not words that get much “air time” today, and when they are used in secular parlance, it often conjures up thoughts of cults or sects.  However, in the pages of the New Testament, God’s Word speaks of discipleship with great frequency (over 260 times).  So what does it mean to be a disciple? 

The best way to answer that is to simply look at the lives of Peter, Andrew, James, John and the other apostles–because these men exemplify discipleship.  They were those who left their fishing nets, tax collecting booths, and families to follow Christ; they worshipped Jesus, learned from Jesus, proclaimed the gospel of Jesus’ kingdom, and went to their own bloody deaths for his sake.  As disciples, however, they did not simply imitate Jesus, they also trusted in Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection for eternal life and justification on the last day.  In short, as disciples, the followers of Christ found every area of their life transformed by the one whose name and cross they now identified.  And so do Christ’s disciples today.

In What is a Healthy Church Member?, Thabiti Anyabwile marks growing discipleship” as the eighth characteristic of a healthy church member.  From our study at Calvary Baptist Church in Seymour, Indiana, here are five points of application for growing as a disciple:

1. Baptism & Church Membership.  The first thing Jesus said after giving his Great Commission to “Make Disciples” was to baptize them in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  Therefore, if you have made Jesus Christ your Lord and Savior–that is that he has made you a new creation in Christ.  The first thing you should do is to be baptized by a local church who believes the gospel and teaches the Word of God.  Concurrent with this baptism should be your request for church membership.  Hopefully, your church has an informative/instructive process where new members are instructed in the history, doctrine, and practices of the church.  This would be a first step as a growing disciple.  For an excellent and brief treatment of this subject, with a funny cover, see Bill James revision of  Erroll Hulse’s Baptist and Church Membership.

2. Abide in the Word of God.  Next, as a growing disciple, it is imperative that you grow.  The second thing Jesus said to his would-be disciple(maker)s is to “teach them to obey all that I have instructed you.”  In other words, in the Christian life, knowing the Bible matters.  In fact, Spiritual growth DOES NOT HAPPEN WITHOUT IT.  Consider John 15:7-8, “If you abide in me, and my word abides in you, ask for whatever you want, and it will be given unto you.  By this is my Father glorified, and so you prove to be my disciples.”  The core of discipleship is an abiding relationship with Jesus founded on and mediated by the Word of God.  Moreover, discipleship is proven by this.  So the second step in growing as a strong disciple is to abide in the Word of God.

3. Pursue Older Discipleship.  Since discipleship is not an individual effort, it is important to learn from older, wiser, more mature believers in Christ.  Titus 2 frames this well.  It begins, “Teach what accords with sound doctrine…” and then instead of moving into a systematic theology, a lecture on doctrine, it focuses on relationships.  It says for older men to train younger men and older women to instruct younger women.  This is not an accident or a backup plan.  This is the very wisdom of God.  As Paul tells the Corinthians, “Follow me as I follow Christ” (11:1).  This is not an optional component of the Christian life.  Too many believers remain immature because they have never had anyone model for them a godly example.  If you don’t have anyone like this in your life, pray that God would bring someone into your life.  At the same time, ask God to shape you to be faithful, available, and teachable, so that such a disciplers’ example might not be lost on you.

4. Pursue Younger Discipleship.  Whether you have had a mentor/discipler in your life or not, if you have walked with Christ in obedience to his Word for any amount of time, you should begin looking for ways to share that with others.  Again let me challenge you– “The Christian life is not an isolated/individualized/introverted event.”  It is a lifetime of abiding in God’s word and being sharpened by others who are seeking Christ with you–ahead of you and behind you.  If you have the opportunity to share your life with a younger believer and to help show them how to walk more closely with our Savior, why wouldn’t you do it?  Honestly, is there anything better?  Doing life together should be the motto of the Christian life and is required for growth as a healthy disciple.  For an excellent resource on discipleship, see Robert Coleman’s The Master Plan of Evangelism and Michael Card’s The Walk.

5. Make Disciples.  Finally, the Great Commission impels us to go outside the church and to call others to Christ, to literally take the Word of God seriously and to make disciples.  God calls us to do something that in truth, we cannot do.  He is asking us to see to it that converts/new creations/kingdom citizens are made.  We cannot do that!  But his Word and His Spirit can, and as we carry forth the message of the gospel, he promises to bear fruit and draw many into the kingdom.  Thus if we are to truly know Christ, to walk with him, and to grow up in him, sharing the gospel and living to make-disciples must be a regular part of our lives.

None of these things are novel, but all of them are easily overlooked and undercooked.  May we strive to pick up our respective crosses and to press on towards Christ-like conformity as Baptized, Word-saturated, Maturing Disciples of Christ who love to share the gospel with others.

Soli Deo Gloria, dss

Who Seeks Discipline? The Seventh Mark of a Healthy Church Member

/ davidsschrock

Really, who seeks discipline?

In our pleasure-seeking culture and churches so inundated with the gospel of self-gratification: Not Many! Yet for those who know Christ and are known by him, discipline is not a pain to be avoided, but a necessary and blessed part of the Christian life.  As Thabiti Anyabwile shows in his chapter on the subject in What is a Healthy Church Member?,  formative and corrective discipline are actually “means of grace” that lead to life, liberty, and eternal happiness (cf. Heb. 12:3-11; 2 Tim 3:16-17; and Matt 18:15-20).  For a biblical perspective, consider these wise words:

Proverbs 3:11-12: My son, do not despise the Lord’s discipline or be weary of his reproof, for the Lord reproves him whom he loves, as a father the son in whom he delights.

Proverbs 9:9: Do not reprove a scoffer, or he will hate you; reprove a wise man, and he will love you.  Give instruction to a wise man, and he will be still wiser; teach a righteous man, and he will increase in learning.

Proverbs 27:5-6: Better is open rebukethan hidden love.  Faithful are the wounds of a friend; profuse are the kisses of an enemy.

With that said, seeking discipline is not easy.  It requires the work of the Spirit (Gal. 5:22-23) and a God-given boldness (2 Tim 1:7).  Still, while we depend on God’s work in us, there are practical ways that we can grow, as we trust God to work in us as we seek him.  Here are five:

1. Personal Discipline.  Practice the personal spiritual disciplines on a regular basis.  These include Bible intake (reading, meditating, memorizing, studying), prayerr, evangelism, giving, and others.  An excellent resource for developing these personal disciplines is Donald Whitney’s book, Spiritual Discipline for the Christian Life.  Don’s website is also a treasure trove for resources on cultivating a life devoted to Christ and his word.

2. Informed Discipline.  Learn more on what the Bible teaches about Church Discipline.  You could do this by doing inductive Bible studies on some of the key bibliclal passages: Matthew 18:15-20; 1 Corinthians 5; Hebrews 12:3ff; and by reading a good book on the subject.  An excellent introduction to the topic is Jay Adam’s book, simply titled, A Handbook on Church Discipline.  Other resources can be accessed at the IX Marks website.

3. Formative Discipline.  Avail yourself of every form of Bible teaching and discipleship that your church offers.  If you are at a church that loves and labors to teach the whole counsel of Scripture, why wouldn’t you?  Church discipline is not merely corrective, it is also constructive, and one of the best ways to grow up in Christ is through the regular intake of Bible teaching available at your church. 

4. Corrective Discipline.  Memorize the steps of Matthew 7:1-5 (as it pertains to the individual in corrective discipline) and Matthew 18:15-20 (as it pertains to the steps of the church in cases of corrective discipline).  This action step builds on step 2, which requires an informed understanding of God’s reasoning(s) for church purity and unity.  Corrective church discipline is God’s ordained means for handling sin in the church, and though painful, the end result is good for the offending party and the good of Christ’s church. 

5. Proactive (“Rescuing”) Discipline.  James concludes his epistle with a heart-felt appeal to reach out to church members coming perilously close to destruction.  He says, “My brothers, if anyone among you wanders from the truth and someone brings him back, let him know that whoever brings back a sinner from his wandering will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins” (5:19-20).  Ultimately, the aim of church discipline is restoration and rescue, not humiliation and accusation.  Consequently, church discipline cannot be something that we evade; it must be something we  embrace–individually and collectively.  Like James and Jude, we must “save others by snatching them out of the fire” as we have opportunity, all the while “hating even the garment stained by the flesh” (Jude 22-23).  In this way, we grow together as healthy church members.

For more on the subject of church discipline, check out this months’ e-Journal by the guys at IX Marks.

Committed Church Membership: The Sixth Mark of a Healthy Church Member

/ davidsschrock / 2 Comments

To many Christians today, church membership is a non-essential or an enigma.   Be it from the proliferation of extra-church ministries (i.e. Bible camps, collegiate ministries, or other parachurches), the ever-increasing array of Christian teaching diassociated from church membership (i.e. Christian TV, radio, Bible studies, etc), the creation of hybrid-churches (i.e. multi-site, Internet and virutal churches), or the simple neglect to teach this subject in many churches (thankfully, not all), many Christians have little concept of God’s desire for Christian’s to be inseparably united to a local body of believers.  Or at least, that is how it was for me, but I don’t think I am alone.

In my own life, church membership was a truth I had to grow into.  For instance, for the first five years of my Christian life I was not a church member.  I was baptized at age 17, but not a church member until 22.  This was not a conscious rebellion against the church, but an unaddressed, ecclesial ignorance.  Therefore, it my conviction that churches and pastors today must teach on the importance of church membership, if our churches–Baptist, Presbyterian, and otherwise–will be thriving outposts of Christ’s kingdom.  In Thabiti Anyabwile’s book What is a Healthy Church Member?, the sixth mark of health is understanding and embracing this reality.

As an aside, but also as an entry into this week’s applications, let me add personally that as it concerns church membership, I have been much helped by my friends and teachers at IX Marks.  If you are not familiar with this ministry, I encourage you to take an afternoon at your nearest coffee shop or library and peruse their website.  From articles to audio interviews to straight-forward teaching on the subject, let Mark Dever, Matt Schmucker, and their church-loving peers, encourage and challenge you with biblical teaching and practical ways to grow as a committed church member.  (Perhaps, the first thing to do is to listen to Mark Dever’s SBTS 2002 chapel message: Membership Matters).   I remember listening to this sermon while mopping up the children’s building at Woodland Park Baptist Church, and thinking, “I have never heard anything like this before!”  It gave me a whole new love and priority for the local church.

After considering this neglected biblical truth in more detail, you could begin to grow as a committed member through these five points of application:

1. Take a step of obedience in one area of church membership.  Thabiti Anyabwile lists 8 characteristics of a committed church member: (1) Attends Regularly; (2) Seeks Peace; (3) Edifies Others; (4) Warns and Admonishes Others; (5) Pursues Reconciliation; (6) Bears with Others; (7) Prepares for the Ordinances; and (8) Supports the Work of the Ministry (68-70).  Does the members in your church do this?  Can you imagine if they did?  Be a trendsetter in your church: start practicing these corporate spiritual disciplines and encourage others to do the same.  Taking God at his word, and stepping out in Spirit-empowered obedience will have untold impact on you and your local church.

2. Develop a ministry of presence at your church.  Realize that your attendance matters.  In my own life, I started going to church regularly at age 17.  When I did, there was an older gentlemen who greeted me at the door every week.  In addition to the preaching of God’s word, I truly believe that his enthuiastic hospitality was one of the ways that God brought me to himself.  When we go to church, we are not simply going as consumers; we go as those upbuilding and supporting the rest of God’s people.  And when your Christian liberty “enables” you to freely skip church, it may have a negative effect on another brother or sister who is depending on your presence.  The ministry of presence is vital for all believers and should be something that we gladly live out each week.

3. Learn the names of every member of your church and use the church directory to pray for one another.  John 10:3 says that Jesus calls his sheep by name, and that when he speaks, his sheep hear him and follow (10:27).  So too, for Christians, especially church leaders and shepherds, we must be committed to knowing those in our church, calling them by name, and praying for them.  Now, with that said, I realize, some churches are ginormous–which is a technical term for “really big”–and that such feats would tempt some to pride if they learned 7,500 names.  However, within these larger churches, are smaller groups, however they are classified.  The point here is not legalism, but love!  Out of love, you should know the names of those in your flock, and by whatever means you can, learn to pray for your fellow members by names.  You may say, “I don’t know how to pray for those I don’t know.”  Well here are two ways to respond: (1) Get to know them!  Ask their name, their family situation, where they serve in the church, where they work outside the church–simply put, be curious.  This is where number 2 helps number 3.  (2) Pray Paul’s prayers for those people whom you still don’t know.  If they are believers, these are great ways to make concrete petitions for fellow-members to grow in Christ.  D.A. Carson’s book on the subject, A Call to Spiritual Reformation, is an excellent resource to help you here.

4. Inform yourself of church business.  Most churches have regularly scheduled business meetings.  As a committed member, you should know what is going on in your church.   This gives you opportunity to join in prayer with what God is doing in your midst; it gives you time to ask the pastor, elders, or other members about the business at hand; and it protects your church from the wiles of Satan who would love to bring division to your church by uninformed members making hasty, uninformed, and unspiritual comments at the meeting. (By unspiritual, I mean those comments that have not been sanctified by prayer, the Word of God, and even time– James 1:19-25).

5. Study the New Testament to learn what the church is and does.  Perhaps this should actually be the first thing you do, but either way, your commitment to the church is directly related to how important you think the church is, and the only way you can have a proper understanding of the church, is to get God’ Word on it.  One way to do this is to simply use a concordance (online, or in print) to look up every instance of ekklesia / church in the New Testament and see how the Bible uses it.  Is it speaking of a local assembly?  An abstract universal entity?  A heavenly gathering?  Or what?  Then you should ask, what is God’s intention for the church and how should we be participating in that?  Answering these questions will go along way to seeing how vital church membership is.

Overall, growing as a committed member is a process, but one promises lasting joy as union to Christ in his body promises inimitable opportunities to grow up into Christ.  As Ephesians 3:10 tells us, the church reveals the wisdom of God to the world, and is in fact the wisdom of God.  Sadly, most people don’t see it that way.  Consider these steps of application this week, and I trust that you too will see how the events that take place within the local body of assembled believers are more important than the events that occur in the Pentagon, the Kremlin, the halls of congress, or any place else for that matter. 

Soli Deo Gloria, dss

The Ways of Our God: God’s People (3)

/ davidsschrock

In The Ways of Our God: An Approach to Biblical Theology, Charles Scobie moves in chapters 11-15 to speaks about God’s People.  Continuing to expound a multi-thematic approach to biblical theology, he shows how God has from the very foundation of the world worked in covenant relationship with his people and how he will continue to have a people to call his own forever and ever.  Scobie outlines his section under the following headings.

11. The Covenant Community.  Scobie lays out a well-argued case in this chapter depicting the kind of unity God intended for humanity to have with Him and with one another.  He begins in the first family, shows how sin splintered unity, and how a significant part of redemptive history has been to foster unity among God’s covenant community and ultimately to create one new humanity in Christ (Eph. 2:14; John 17).  He argues a case where union with Christ is not mystical, but ecclesial where God’s people, as they are brought into fellowship with God by Christ’s active and passive obedience, are simultaneously called to unity among the brethren.  Obviously in this chapter, the idea of covenant is essential.

12. The Nations.  Scobie contends that the OT hints at God’s universal purposes, whereas the NT commands the mission of the church to reach the end of the earth.  In the OT, Israel is to mediate blessings to its neighbors but consistently fails to do so.  There is evidence of Gentiles finding there way into the covenant community (Ruth, Rahab, Uriah the Hittite), but primarily this is an accident of history, rather than a program of international expansion.  In this way, the movement in the OT is centripital.  That changes in the NT, where God gives the command to go to the nations through the Great Commission of Jesus and the sending of the Spirit.  Thus in the NT, the movement is centrifugal, with every nation invited and commanded to bow the knee to Christ.  On the whole, the chapter is a well-balanced articulation of missions in the OT and NT.  However, Scobie’s theological predilections show that he is not comfortable with the Bible’s exclusive message of salvation in Christ alone.  For he argues that those who came before Christ could be saved without knowledge of his name, and those who did not believe in this life will get another shot after death to respond to the gospel.  Clearly, he is making up the rules as he goes.  His position strips the gospel of its grace and glory.  By minimizing the name of Christ, he is stripping Christ of glory and by offering the gospel in the eschaton, he is blunting the force of the gospel today and making God subservient to the needs of men.  The Lord is a Servant and he does humble himself to save, but he is not required to save us, and in fact the hearing of the gospel is a matter of sovereign grace.  Scobie’s appeal to post-mortem evangelism misconstrues the gracious and necessary proclamation of the gospel in this age.

13. Land and City.  In this chapter Scobie breaks his pattern of proclamation, promise, fulfillment, consummation by ending with a different idea/concept than he started.  For some reason he does not see Land as an eternal reality.  Instead, land is collapsed into city.  Instead of seeing the Garden bookends of the Bible, he seems to say that the OT is focused on land and life in the land, but in the NT, the New Age is focused more on spiritual realities and on the City of Zion, God’s dwelling place.  What he does not recognize is the way land is not shrunk, but expanded in the New Heavens and New Earth.  Whereas God promises the land to Abraham in Genesis, in Romans 4:13, Paul says God promised the Cosmos to Abraham.  Therefore, the promises are not truncated but expanded–to God be the glory!

14. Worship.  Scobie sets this chapter to discuss the When, Where, and How of Worship, but ironically not the What or Who.  Perhaps this is assumed, but in an age of mysticism and spirituality where worship is sold at Wal-Mart, the most important aspect of Worship is not form or function, but who is worshiping Whom.  More could be developed here, from the people who called upon the name of the Lord (Gen. 4:26) to the worshipers around the throne of God (Rev. 4-5).  More concurrently, Scobie’s discussion of baptism was disappointing because of the way that he did not defend his conclusion.  Though he asserted a paedobaptistic view, he defended it with the most minimal biblical support.  Instead, he seems to articulate that credobaptists believe assert human responsibility over divine grace/agency in salvation.  This dichotomy does represent the issue well at all.  I know few Baptists who deny God’s initiating work in salvation, as Scobie seems to paint it.

15. Ministry.  Finally, Scobie addresses ministry and service in the Bible. He lists four kinds of leaders in the OT–elders, priests, prophets, teachers–who he shows to find their ultimate and perfect expression in Jesus Christ.  Moving into the NT, he shows how much he is a product of his ecclesial tradition.  He makes the case for three NT offices, even while admitting that elder and bishop were originally synonymous.  Likewise, he argues for women in ministry, though he does not produce any solid exegetical evidence.  Instead, when coming to “proof texts” like 1 Timothy 2 and 1 Corinthians 14, he inserts other proof texts like Acts 18:26 where “Priscilla taught Apollos” and 1 Cor. 11:5, 13 which showed women prophesying.  In all these cases, he argues that these historical situations should not be presented as normative representations of the church; this is said even after he concedes that Paul roots his argument in 1 Tim. 2 in the created order.

It is in these final two arguments–church government and women in ministry–that Scobie’s greatest weakness emerges.  He is not letting the text shape his theology.  Instead, in working out his BT grid, he is simply adapting it to fit his ecclesial traditions–beliefs that I would contend do not stand up to rigorous biblical considerations.   Likewise, in the way that he truncates certain areas (i.e. the proclamation and promise sections in the Servant’s Vindication), it looks like the weight of his BT model was for him to devote the time to every section.  There are areas in his book where he simply cites the biblical evidence, but does not wrestle with its meaning.  At other places, like here, he simply retreats to the position of his church–three offices for ministry and women as ministers in the church.

Scobie’s work reminds us that while biblical theology is helpful in painting with broad strokes the themes and ideas of the Bible, exegetical studies and systematic theology are absolutely necessary for working out doctrine and applying it to individual lives and local churches.  Scobie’s work is a helpful resource for tracing a doctrine through the Bible, finding places where a theme stands out in the text; however, it is not the place to find help in making decisions about doctrine.  In its articulation of doctrine, it leaves a lot to be desired.

Sola Deo Gloria, dss