The NXR Podcast - SUNDAY SERMON - Lying Women & Abusive Pastors

00:00:00.000 All right, listen, guys, I get it.

00:00:01.960 Many of you are unable to financially support this ministry

00:00:04.640 because you're spending your cash and your lives

00:00:06.940 on raising young children

00:00:08.540 in the fear and admonition of the Lord.

00:00:10.600 Praise God for you and that endeavor.

00:00:13.720 However, algorithms are a thing.

00:00:16.240 Shadow banning, sadly, is a thing.

00:00:18.860 And one major way that you can help to expand

00:00:21.620 the reach and effectiveness of this ministry

00:00:24.020 that doesn't cost you a dime

00:00:25.740 is by spending just a few moments

00:00:28.100 leaving us a five-star review also perhaps even more effective than that you can share our podcast

00:00:35.220 with a friend we hope you'll take the time to do so thank you so much god bless again for those

00:00:41.480 who are new to covenant bible church we are a church that is committed predominantly to

00:00:46.760 expositional preaching namely expository preaching going verse by verse chapter by chapter through

00:00:55.040 whole books of the Bible from beginning to end. And we have taught through the Psalms, and we have

00:01:00.800 taught through the book of Hebrews. And we recently completed our journey and study through the book

00:01:05.880 of Hebrews. And before embarking on another book of the Bible, there are a few isolated sermons,

00:01:12.420 each with biblical texts, of course. Not just a revelation of man, but a revelation of God.

00:01:17.540 But one-off sermons, for lack of a better term, that we're going to be committing ourselves to

00:01:23.620 these next few weeks before we start a new book of the bible right after easter sunday that book

00:01:29.740 of the bible being the book of joshua but for today the topic at hand is church membership

00:01:36.940 church membership this is something that i'm committed to preaching on average probably twice

00:01:43.800 a year because i believe that it is vital to the christian life that it's important and that in

00:01:49.640 many evangelical churches today, the concept and principle of church membership is radically

00:01:56.120 neglected. So today, we are going to be looking at the importance of local church membership.

00:02:04.920 In the beginning of your notes, as a brief introduction to this sermon, I've written the

00:02:10.480 following. The Bible contains at least five strands of evidence for local church membership.

00:02:16.440 Each reveals something vital to Christian faith, which would be minimized at best or denied at worst if there were no definable local church membership.

00:02:30.140 In other words, my thesis is this.

00:02:34.340 There is no explicit statement in the New Testament that says thou shalt become a member of a local church.

00:02:42.740 if there were I'm personally convinced that we would find that verse right next to another verse

00:02:49.820 that would say something like upon conversion the Christian should continue to inhale and exhale

00:02:56.240 in the same way that the New Testament apostles did not find it necessary to command Christians

00:03:03.320 to continue breathing they did not find it necessary to command church membership church

00:03:10.360 membership is the no duh of the new testament it is assumed it is assumed and it is assumed

00:03:20.280 we can take that position because there are multiple other things in the new testament that

00:03:25.600 are explicitly commanded that cannot be fulfilled in any meaningful tangible practical way apart from

00:03:35.180 church membership and so we're going to be looking at i said at least five strands we're going to

00:03:41.700 focus our attention this morning on four four different biblical texts that give us certain

00:03:48.440 commandments in the new testament that all christians are to obey that cannot be meaningfully

00:03:55.740 or practically obeyed in any sense apart from assuming local church membership that being said

00:04:03.500 the primary text that we'll work with today is Matthew chapter 18 verse 15 through 17. And so

00:04:10.700 for this text I would like to invite you to stand with me for the reading of God's Word. I'll read

00:04:17.400 our text for us in its entirety. When I finish reading the text I'm going to say this is the

00:04:22.100 Word of the Lord at which point I would appreciate very much if you would respond by saying thanks be

00:04:27.580 to God. One more time, our text for today is Matthew chapter 18 verses 15, 16, and 17. The

00:04:37.340 Bible says this, if your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him

00:04:44.440 alone. If he listens, you have gained your brother. But if he does not listen, take one or two others

00:04:51.780 with you that every charge may be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses if he

00:04:58.660 refuses to listen to them tell it to the church if he refuses to listen even to the church let him

00:05:06.360 be to you as a gentile and a tax collector this is the word of the lord all right please be seated

00:05:14.800 in your notes right after this text i've written the following church membership is implied by the

00:05:20.780 way the church is expected to discipline its members. The church appears to be the final court

00:05:27.540 of appeal. That is the highest ecclesiastical court on earth for appeal in matters of church

00:05:35.240 discipline. If there is no such thing as church membership, then how do we define the group of

00:05:41.740 people who will take up this extremely delicate and important matter of exhorting those who are

00:05:48.420 unrepentant, and finally, if they do not repent, rendering a righteous judgment about their standing

00:05:56.080 in Christian community. It's hard to believe that just anyone who shows up claiming to be a

00:06:02.740 Christian should be part of this process. Surely, the church, that phrase in Matthew 18, must be a

00:06:11.360 definable group in order to handle such weighty matters so that we know who the scripture is

00:06:18.140 actually referencing when it says tell it to the church so in matthew 18 we find a multiple step

00:06:27.940 process for dealing with sin we find jesus process that he prescribes to the apostles to then teach

00:06:37.340 other New Testament church leaders that this would be the process throughout the entire gospel age

00:06:44.040 that the New Testament church would diligently follow when it comes to the issue of dealing

00:06:49.840 with sin and this process begins with first and foremost a private step if your brother sins

00:06:58.120 against you go to him alone go and tell his fault to him alone and if he listens to you

00:07:06.680 you have won over your brother what's implicit in the word listen there is if he repents if he

00:07:14.240 hears your concern the charge that you're bringing against him if he hears it with ears of humility

00:07:21.540 and contrition he listens and agrees and acknowledges his sin and is sorry for his sin

00:07:29.460 then you have won your brother over, and the process of church discipline is finished.

00:07:35.200 But if he does not listen to you, then we must appeal to a higher court.

00:07:42.020 The next step in church discipline is that we would bring along with us one or two others.

00:07:48.700 Why? So that the testimony may be established in the presence of two or three witnesses.

00:07:54.980 this is according to the law word of god that we find in the old testament in multiple places but

00:08:01.920 most notable in the book of deuteronomy now notice implicitly what we see in this second step of

00:08:09.280 church discipline bringing one or two others so that you and the one or two included combined

00:08:15.600 would constitute two or three witnesses what's implicitly contained in this in this second step

00:08:22.260 is number one the the two or three are now going not just to correct the individual but as a small

00:08:30.660 jury to ultimately weigh and judge and consider who's actually in sin this is vital for the

00:08:42.140 evangelical church to understand in our current hashtag me too movement

00:08:47.340 and and the hashtag me too movement believe all women women can only be victims women can do no

00:08:57.140 wrong that movement that we're in is just as prominent in the evangelical church as it is

00:09:03.700 in the secular world the sbc is rife with believe all women rhetoric

00:09:12.000 grace community church and john macarthur the believe all women attacks against him

00:09:19.100 are profound the church has not been safe from this particular strategy of the devil

00:09:28.500 and it does come from hell feminism comes from hell

00:09:33.740 and what we see with the two or three is this our current culture assumes that the first person to

00:09:44.540 run into the room is the victim but the bible teaches that if someone runs into the room and

00:09:52.320 says i'm oppressed and it turns out that they're lying then the one that they actually charged is

00:09:59.540 the victim a victim of someone bearing false witness the lord despises the bible says and

00:10:09.440 detest loathes and hates a false witness and in biblical law if someone were to bear false witness

00:10:19.880 whatever the penalty would have been for the individual that they're bearing false witness

00:10:24.720 against, if they had been found guilty, that penalty now falls

00:10:29.300 on the one who bore false witness. And so if it's a capital

00:10:32.960 crime, the person who bears false witness under oath is now

00:10:38.180 going to be stoned to death. And the people of God would

00:10:43.480 respond with a resounding amen. The Lord is good. He is

00:10:49.640 righteous praise the lord bearing false witness destroys a society a mouth that breathes out lies

00:11:03.100 brick by brick deconstructs and tears down the very bedrock of a culture

00:11:11.020 so when we bring the one or two others with us those one or two others in this second step of

00:11:19.160 church discipline they are coming to be unbiased unpartial non-partial judges they're coming with

00:11:28.280 the individual saying this my brother sinned against me i went to him one-on-one and he

00:11:33.040 didn't listen would you please come with me and you go with them and you're now listening but

00:11:39.260 here's what you're doing you're not just reinforcing the person who's saying they're in sin

00:11:44.020 you're not just reinforcing their charge that the person's in sin you're coming in in an unbiased

00:11:50.640 fashion to weigh and determine who's in sin because there are two potential sins one is

00:11:56.700 that this person really did sin against this one who's bringing you in that's one potential sin

00:12:01.860 the other potential sin is that the person who's bringing you in is actually bearing false witness

00:12:06.380 and bringing a false charge against their brother and that their brother actually didn't sin and

00:12:12.020 the actual oppressor in this scenario is a person who's crying out, I'm a victim. That that person

00:12:19.560 is actually the victimizer and needs to be corrected. And so the one or two others come in

00:12:26.240 the scenario and they seek to weigh without partiality. And the Bible says, again, in the

00:12:33.960 Old Testament, that when we judge certain cases, we shall not be partial to the rich. But did you

00:12:41.100 know brothers and sisters that the bible also explicitly mentions that we shall not be partial 0.58

00:12:46.600 to the poor men can lie so can women the rich can lie so can the poor everyone is a sinner

00:12:58.580 and i would argue that by and large not as a 100 guaranteed rule but i do believe that societies

00:13:08.940 and cultures and nations go through stages and that there are certain sins that can be more or

00:13:16.720 less prevalent in different times of a culture in different times of the life of a society

00:13:23.600 and so again not as a 100% hard and fast rule not as a guarantee but as a general observation

00:13:33.340 i would say that in this current season of the life of our nation and western society not just

00:13:41.000 america but western civilization as a whole and the ways that that has also seeped in and become

00:13:47.600 predominant in the evangelical church as well i would say that more often than not not always

00:13:53.720 but more often than not when there is an outcry of abuse the person who is saying they're oppressed

00:14:02.240 has a better chance of being found out to be the liar

00:14:05.460 than actually the one telling the truth

00:14:08.460 and that the person actually is an oppressor.

00:14:12.400 That is where we're at right now.

00:14:16.100 We are immersed in victimology.

00:14:19.760 We are immersed in a culture that

00:14:23.260 hook, line, and sinker

00:14:26.440 has swallowed the rhetoric of white supremacy.

00:14:28.900 that we must overthrow and dismantle the patriarchy and that's our culture right now

00:14:37.260 and and what what sinners tend to do what the wicked tend to do is they'll take something that

00:14:46.520 is true but they'll take the minority and make it the majority they'll take the footnote and make

00:14:52.100 it the headline so the headline of the story is white cops shoot an unarmed minority or the

00:15:00.440 headline of the story is power dynamics in this company or in this church where a man in a position

00:15:07.960 of power and authority takes advantage of a woman those things happen throughout history they've

00:15:15.040 happened and even in this current moment they still happen but that is not the majority report

00:15:22.340 it is posited as though it's the majority report it's made on every news cycle the headline of

00:15:30.680 every story but it's not the major headline of the story should be black lives matter raises

00:15:38.960 millions of dollars, doesn't spend any of it actually helping people of color, but buys large

00:15:44.960 mansions instead. That's what happened. The actual headline of the story should be a woman claims 0.99

00:15:54.380 that she was abused, turns out she lied, and she should get the same penalty.

00:16:01.680 That's what happens. It's not the only thing that happens, but it is happening more often

00:16:07.660 than the other that's the moment that we're living in brothers and sisters listen the sons of issachar

00:16:14.620 knew the times it is not enough only to know principles you also need to be a christian

00:16:22.980 with discernment who can say what time it is what time is it a lot of the rhetoric the social

00:16:30.840 justice rhetoric you know my problem with it it's not that social justice doesn't matter

00:16:35.500 my problem with it is that it's 50 years too late

00:16:39.720 a lot of the rhetoric that you hear if that was coming out in 1940 it would have been good

00:16:47.840 the problem is it's coming out after that it's not an issue so we're saying oh there's this 0.96

00:16:56.840 oppression and blah blah blah blah blah but but then asians have to score higher on their sat

00:17:02.240 to get into college the second whites and then down the list there is literally affirmative action

00:17:10.680 which is racism there is discrimination and different weights and measures the lord had

00:17:17.700 another thing he hates false witness he also hates unequal balances unequal weights and measures

00:17:23.340 there are different weights in measures for determining certain tax brackets for determining

00:17:29.780 what school you can get into what benefits you can get and and some of these things it's not just

00:17:36.380 cultural impulses but it's actually legislative law at a judicial legislative level there are

00:17:45.320 unequal weights and balances and the lord the lord abhors these things according to his word

00:17:52.980 we need to be like the sons of Issachar we need to know what time it is now that being said I

00:17:59.300 I, cause I, I don't want you to say, amen, I'm going to do that. I'm going to walk out of church

00:18:04.020 today and live a more courageous life. And then you get punched in the face and you're like, well,

00:18:08.360 my pastor led me astray. I had no idea. Cause you will get punched in the face metaphorically or

00:18:12.800 literally. This is one other thing. The sons of Issachar knew the time, but what that means when 0.97

00:18:19.580 you say something, when it's actually relevant, right? So you're not talking about social justice

00:18:24.380 50 years too late, but you're actually talking about it when it's relevant. You know what that's

00:18:29.160 called it's called being a prophet and you know what happens to the prophets they get killed

00:18:36.540 now later generations build tombs to honor them right everybody says i love charles spurgeon

00:18:44.980 that's because he's safely buried under six feet of dirt if he was still alive you'd hate him

00:18:49.600 i promise you you know how i know you'd hate him because you hate john mccarthur

00:18:53.820 and john mccarthur is tame in comparison to charles spurgeon

00:18:59.640 charles spurgeon was calling people out on the front row in his church saying you sir the gloves

00:19:06.720 that you have belong to your employer and you stole them and he's calling them out by name and

00:19:12.460 pointing at them in front of a thousand people charles spurgeon was way more intense way more

00:19:22.340 intense. So knowing the times, like the sons of Issachar, means that you're actually crying out

00:19:28.480 against injustice when it's actually taking place. Everybody, as a good rule of thumb, when Amazon is

00:19:36.320 putting Black Lives Matter on their screensaver and on all their packages, then you know there's

00:19:43.500 actually no need to say it any longer because everyone already agrees. If a corporation is

00:19:50.260 doing it then what you're saying is this is a battle that's actually already won

00:19:55.060 but but but when it's a time where there's an actual injustice taking place not 50 years ago

00:20:02.300 but today and and you know that if you were to speak out that instead of being hoisted up on

00:20:08.640 shoulder top and given a parade in your honor you would actually be penalized then that's how you

00:20:15.200 know that's the thing that's the target that you should be hovering over and you should do it with

00:20:21.800 strategy and shrewdness and wisdom don't be suicidal but also don't be a coward

00:20:29.960 but know that if you know the times and you talk about not just

00:20:35.340 giant see i've used this illustration in the past it's like

00:20:39.260 talking about sins and certain things culturally wide sins and injustices that have already kind

00:20:48.920 of come and gone and been dealt with right the overton window has already shifted right that

00:20:54.200 the parade is already happening what that's like is is like it's like somebody who risked their

00:21:00.800 life and killed a giant that was terrorizing the people of god and then what you do is after the

00:21:08.400 giant that just moments ago you were shaking and quivering out of fear now that he's he's good and

00:21:14.060 dead and laying on the ground with his head severed you run up to the giant you start kicking him in

00:21:20.040 the side i'm a warrior no you're not and there's another giant right over here that's literally

00:21:29.860 taking the church the people of god and decimating them and you're like i won't stand for giants

00:21:36.840 that you're kicking the dead corpse.

00:21:39.820 And there's a giant at large that's actually alive

00:21:42.100 that's currently destroying the people of God.

00:21:45.600 Nothing to see here.

00:21:50.020 That's Mark Dever.

00:21:51.820 I'm going to name.

00:21:54.200 It's John Piper.

00:21:57.040 That's Russell Moore.

00:21:59.760 That's Beth Moore.

00:22:01.320 It's David French.

00:22:03.120 Francis Collins.

00:22:04.820 Tim Keller.

00:22:06.840 they kick dead giants and pretend not to see living giants that are currently destroying

00:22:13.360 the people of God. They're bad shepherds. They're bad shepherds. 0.95

00:22:23.100 So, church discipline. Well, I mean, those guys should be disciplined. But for our purposes today,

00:22:32.240 the second step of church discipline, the one or two that you bring with you,

00:22:35.760 is not that one or two are coming in immediately wholesale believing your testimony because you

00:22:42.440 might be lying they're coming with you as arbiters to weigh between your charge and the other person

00:22:51.200 getting to make their defense and after weighing these things and the testimonies being established

00:22:58.000 in the presence of two or three witnesses they then are rendering a judgment and if the judgment

00:23:06.080 they render is that the charge you brought is true and this person really did sin against you

00:23:12.980 and implicitly in the text we might also assume they really did sin and they really are still

00:23:19.220 not repentant about that sin, then we elevate to the next court of appeal. We go to the highest

00:23:28.180 earthly court. And biblically speaking, the highest ecclesiastical court on earth

00:23:34.260 is not a presbytery. It is not cardinals or bishops. It is not the pope. It is not synods

00:23:44.860 or councils, it is not the board of elders or deacons, it is the church, the local church,

00:23:55.980 the collective local body of believers, young and old, rich, poor, elder, non-elder, deacon,

00:24:11.800 member the people of God in covenant with one another in a local setting a local church

00:24:22.260 they are the final jury they are the final court that will determine ultimately what is right

00:24:30.860 and when they render that judgment the words of Jesus if we were to go on in the text just to

00:24:38.980 show you how weighty that judgment of the church is the words of jesus is this that whatever you

00:24:47.180 loose on earth will be loosed in heaven and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in

00:24:54.580 heaven in other words when the collective body of the saints in covenant in a local church setting

00:25:02.480 together when they render a judgment if it is to lose someone to hand them over as the apostle

00:25:10.100 paul did to hand them over to satan that they might be taught not to blaspheme for the destruction

00:25:16.680 of their flesh but that their soul might be saved on the last day when the church hands someone over 0.64

00:25:22.380 and that's what it means when it goes on it says treat them as a tax collector or a gentile 0.55

00:25:26.960 Gentile. That simply means treat them as an outsider, as someone on the outside of the people 0.50

00:25:33.180 of God. Hand them over. And for the record, treating someone as a tax collector or Gentile 0.98

00:25:38.480 as an outsider, removing them from the body of the church is synonymous with handing someone over to 0.95

00:25:44.900 Satan. I've used this illustration before. I'll use it again. If you've ever watched National

00:25:50.180 geographic animal planet whatever which gazelle gets eaten by the lion

00:25:58.420 the one in the middle of the herd or the one that's on the outside

00:26:04.640 satan what does the bible say prowls around like a roaring lion so satan prowls around like a

00:26:13.620 roaring lion seeking what? Who he may devour. And who do lions devour? The one separated from the

00:26:21.260 herd. So to hand someone over to Satan is essentially simply to treat someone as an

00:26:28.380 outsider. To loose them. Whatever you loose on earth, you're no longer. You are a Gentile and

00:26:35.260 a tax collector. You are no longer in covenant with the church, this visible church. To remove 1.00

00:26:41.500 someone from your midst like the apostle paul commands in first corinthians chapter 5 purge

00:26:48.940 the immoral brother from among you hand him over he's committed a degree of sexual immorality

00:27:00.120 that is unheard of even among the pagans even among the pagans and you are proud the apostle

00:27:08.260 says no rather you should be ashamed hand him over paul says spiritually speaking with apostolic

00:27:17.260 authority i've already removed him now you better follow my judgment and do the same

00:27:23.380 and many biblical commentators and scholars and theologians agree that in paul's second letter

00:27:31.160 to the corinthians second corinthians namely chapter two when he mentions a man who is being

00:27:37.700 overwhelmed by unceasing sorrow that should be welcomed back into fellowship with the corinthian

00:27:43.440 church that is actually the same man see the church discipline it not only exists to protect

00:27:50.420 the purity of the church it also exists as a form of tough love to produce repentance

00:27:56.000 in the center let me say that again church discipline is not only a tool that jesus gives

00:28:02.860 to us to protect the purity of the church from a bad influence but also it protects or rather it

00:28:12.000 it ultimately in the sovereignty of god if he wills it could be used to bring about repentance

00:28:19.040 in the center that that form of tough love might eventually bring them to contrition

00:28:26.020 to not mere worldly sorrow but godly sorrow that brings about repentance that leads to life

00:28:37.000 also we might add the fact that there are multiple steps in the process and that there is a jury

00:28:42.840 that things are being weighed that testimonies have to be tried and true that there must be

00:28:50.240 two to three independent lines of testimony eyewitness testimony in order for something

00:28:56.760 to be established and then weighed by a larger jury namely the whole congregation the church

00:29:02.180 itself all of this is because jesus is committed to justice and therefore due process

00:29:08.420 that's where we get these principles in our law system today it's being eroded but we got it from

00:29:16.340 the bible church discipline how how intricate the process is in the bible what that says is that

00:29:23.320 jesus is committed to protecting the church from the center and penitent center but jesus is also

00:29:29.400 just as committed to protecting the alleged sinner from an abusive church because that happens too

00:29:37.040 that happens all the time

00:29:40.860 one more word about church discipline

00:29:46.240 every church

00:29:49.220 I'm talking about

00:29:50.900 Catholic Church

00:29:52.420 Eastern Orthodox Church

00:29:54.900 Episcopal, Anglican, Presbyterian

00:29:57.780 every kind of Baptist

00:29:59.340 I'm talking about

00:30:01.160 Joel Osteen's church

00:30:02.940 I'm talking about Jesse DePlantis

00:30:05.040 false churches prosperity churches fake churches churches online every single church in the world

00:30:13.720 has this in common they all kick people out they do so the determining factor of whether or not

00:30:23.700 it's pleasing to the lord is this not whether they kick people out but how do they kick people out

00:30:30.020 Do they kick people out the way that the owners of a casino

00:30:34.940 would kick out someone caught counting cards?

00:30:38.700 They're quietly ushered to a back room,

00:30:40.960 their kneecaps are broken, and you never hear from them again?

00:30:45.720 That's how a lot of pastors kick out people from their churches.

00:30:48.740 You know that, right?

00:30:50.920 Where's so-and-so?

00:30:51.940 I haven't heard from them in eight months.

00:30:55.640 Oh, they were removed.

00:30:57.500 By who?

00:30:58.240 I never heard about them.

00:30:59.040 I didn't remove them.

00:31:00.020 we didn't exercise church discipline we didn't have a congregational meeting they weren't given

00:31:06.640 the opportunity to share their testimony and for it to be weighed alongside the testimony of the

00:31:11.600 pastors that's church discipline but that's casino kneecap breaking church discipline

00:31:18.180 which is what most churches including sadly reformed churches do because at the end of the

00:31:24.320 day, they don't care a hill of beans about the Bible. They're a

00:31:28.460 joke. They might be Presbyterian. They might adhere to the 0.79

00:31:33.160 Westminster in theory, not in practice. They might be Reformed

00:31:37.800 Baptist and adhere to the 1689 in theory, not in practice. When

00:31:42.000 the rubber meets the road, it's elder rule. I appreciate John

00:31:49.920 MacArthur at least calls it what it is. He is elder rule and

00:31:52.740 They say it publicly.

00:31:53.820 There is no congregational vote at Grace Community Church.

00:31:56.040 Those elders, they don't like you.

00:31:58.660 If something's going on, they make the determination.

00:32:02.260 You're gone.

00:32:03.500 No one hears from you again.

00:32:05.080 And at least they publicly say it.

00:32:07.060 You know, they're elder rule. 0.92

00:32:08.300 I would never be a member in an elder rule church because I think it's unbiblical.

00:32:13.700 But John MacArthur, regardless, is the Protestant Pope and everybody likes him.

00:32:18.020 So, you know, whatever.

00:32:19.180 but I love Matthew 18 and the word church here doesn't mean elders standing in as representatives

00:32:29.000 of the church it doesn't mean presbytery standing in as representative of the church it's not

00:32:36.040 bishops it's not cardinals it's not elders it's the church the word church this is crazy this is

00:32:42.240 some deep exegetical study right here the word church in our text it means church

00:32:47.120 i know if you're not careful you'll miss it but but the word church means church

00:32:56.500 and for those of you who have been members of our church you've seen us carry this out

00:33:02.200 by god's grace only once and lord willing hopefully never again that's unlikely but we can pray

00:33:09.000 church discipline i believe should be rare and it's not just for impenitent sin impenitent meaning

00:33:17.800 the refusal to repent after being approached by the appropriate parties and gone going having

00:33:23.540 gone thoroughly through all the steps of church discipline that's impenitence refusing to repent

00:33:28.560 however i would add this the westminster confession i like what it says in this regard

00:33:32.700 it is both impenitent and high-handed sin. So we have, you could say it like this, we have the

00:33:41.060 principle in Matthew 18 that Jesus gives us, the principle for church discipline and how to remove

00:33:46.680 someone. But we have the example or the case study in 1 Corinthians 5 from the Apostle Paul.

00:33:53.680 And I do not believe that it is a mere coincidence that the principle that Jesus gives includes

00:34:00.140 impenitence as the chief characteristic of the one who should be removed but in the case study

00:34:05.700 it is not only impenitence but it happens to be a man who has committed a sin that is unheard of

00:34:12.120 even among pagans in other words it's not this guy didn't invite my kids to his birthday party

00:34:19.060 and i went to my brother alone and i called him on his sin and he said he had the audacity to say

00:34:27.360 pastor that it wasn't a sin he said he actually said that this is going to blow your mind that

00:34:32.960 i'm emotional and too sensitive so now he's bringing false charges and i brought one or two

00:34:42.140 others with me now they happen to be the one or two other emotional and sensitive women in the

00:34:48.500 church but i brought them and we have now determined and we'd like to bring it to the church

00:34:55.900 this person's impenitent no it's it's not merely that this person has sinned

00:35:01.560 and won't acknowledge and repent of their sin but it's also impenitence coupled with

00:35:08.340 a degree of high-handed sin it's not just mere relational discord which matters that can become

00:35:18.760 a rotten root of bitterness that springs up and defiles many conflict relational conflict

00:35:25.100 in the church can have harmful effects but again i say i do not believe it is a mere coincidence

00:35:32.720 that when we have the principle of impenitence but the case study of someone actually being

00:35:39.640 excommunicated that it is not merely impenitence but it is also a kind of sin and degree of sin

00:35:47.960 that is egregious egregious not subjective not hey he's quarrelsome

00:35:56.480 quarrelsome there is an objective definition it's a biblical word but there's a lot of debate about

00:36:04.340 how to define what it is to be quarrelsome you go with the king james version and quarrelsome means

00:36:09.720 an elder must not be a brawler which means he might be really quarrelsome by someone's subjective

00:36:16.820 definition of quarrelsome but so long as he hasn't punched anyone in the face he could be a pastor

00:36:21.620 there are some guys that hold that view there are others who say he could be quarreling all the time

00:36:28.840 because jesus was and so was paul but it means lover of quarrels and there's a difference between

00:36:34.700 defending the truth versus going and picking a fight and then there are others who say he just

00:36:41.180 shouldn't argue at all because the bible says he must have a good reputation with outsiders

00:36:45.080 And they subjectively interpret good reputation with outsiders, meaning that pagans and sinners who hate God somehow like you.

00:36:55.200 There's a lot of difference of opinion.

00:37:00.860 But you know what's nice about sins like adultery?

00:37:07.720 Like the man who took his father's wife?

00:37:11.780 What's nice about that is that it's not subjective.

00:37:15.080 it's real clear it's real clear okay that merits removal and again for the final time i say

00:37:25.680 i do not believe it is a mere coincidence that we're given the principle of church discipline

00:37:32.020 that includes impenitence as the chief characteristic to look for but when we're

00:37:37.020 given an example in case study of a guy actually being removed by the church

00:37:42.580 it's not that

00:37:44.780 well his tone is off sometimes

00:37:47.320 no it's that

00:37:49.720 he's really messing up

00:37:53.500 I've already said it

00:37:55.280 don't need to say it again

00:37:56.100 there's a difference in

00:37:57.620 I don't like your tone

00:37:58.860 versus

00:38:00.260 dude keep it in the family

00:38:02.560 isn't supposed to be played out like that

00:38:04.280 those are radically different

00:38:08.620 not a coincidence

00:38:10.480 in terms of church membership here's the deal who is the church

00:38:17.580 so so the bible doesn't explicitly command say thou shalt be a member in a local church

00:38:24.540 but the bible does command jesus himself in matthew 18 says you must righteously practice

00:38:32.260 church discipline and to practice church discipline it's not just appointed leaders

00:38:36.320 practicing it in a back room breaking kneecaps no church discipline the final court of appeal

00:38:41.240 is the church and as we've already looked with a deep exegetical study church means church shocker

00:38:48.160 and so the question is in order to do church discipline and the highest court of appeal being

00:38:53.580 the church itself then we have to have a way of determining deciphering who is the church

00:39:00.460 and without church membership formal local church membership do you know how you determine who is

00:39:06.840 the church attendance it's mere attendance apart from church membership and there actually being

00:39:14.960 a process then the only way to truly determine who is the church is who shows up which means

00:39:23.360 all of you who are joining us for the first sunday apparently i'm your pastor you haven't

00:39:29.040 even determined if you like me you probably have determined you don't like me but the point is i'm

00:39:33.140 your pastor because you're here and if we had a church discipline case going on right now you'd

00:39:37.780 be privy to it and you don't even know their name you don't even know who these people are

00:39:45.320 and we don't even know if you're regenerate we don't even know if you're a christian

00:39:50.980 but you're the church and the church is the final ecclesiastical earthly court

00:39:57.780 for rendering a righteous judgment

00:39:59.660 in regards to the alleged impenitent sinner

00:40:02.320 for either loosing or binding,

00:40:04.920 removing or keeping.

00:40:07.500 And so you're going to be making this decision,

00:40:09.980 but you don't know who we are.

00:40:11.480 We don't know who you are,

00:40:12.700 but we need the church.

00:40:14.620 And the only way to determine the church

00:40:16.600 is who shows up.

00:40:19.240 Unless, crazy idea, I know.

00:40:22.260 Unless there was like,

00:40:23.960 like a process outside of mere Sunday morning attendance where people showed up if they had

00:40:31.820 interest and you talked about practically and theologically what it meant to belong in covenant

00:40:38.280 to this particular local church and and you got to as elders meet with them and determine their

00:40:44.680 testimony they can make a credible proclamation of faith so that you know at least God sees the

00:40:51.780 heart we look at the outward appearance but we could at least do our due diligence to see whether

00:40:55.960 or not this person is in fact a Christ follower they could also ask questions of the leaders of

00:41:01.500 the church to determine do we agree with this church's mission its vision its doctrine and then

00:41:07.520 you could have some kind of formal mutual agreement where they say here I am shepherd me and you say

00:41:13.600 I will take you as a part of my flock that I have spiritual responsibility for shepherding and we

00:41:20.460 maybe even sign like a like a church covenant or something like that you just invented church

00:41:26.640 membership so again no verse in the bible that says thou shalt be a church membership but there

00:41:34.400 are plenty of verses in the bible that says this is what it looks like to obey jesus practically

00:41:38.360 not just theoretical obedience to jesus but practical real obedience to jesus and these

00:41:44.720 practical examples of real obedience to Jesus assume a way of knowing who's a part of this

00:41:51.420 community and who's not. And mere attendance does not suffice. And that is my thesis. That's church

00:41:59.560 membership. So I'll blow through the rest. Church discipline assumes church membership. Excommunication

00:42:05.780 is simply after the process, the final rendered judgment, after the process of church discipline,

00:42:11.180 if the person really is proven to be a sinner and still remains impenitent you remove them we've

00:42:17.540 already covered that moving on so basically just it's really two things but but then two sub

00:42:23.800 categories underneath each primary primary category first category is just church discipline

00:42:29.680 and excommunication the next one is shepherding and submission shepherding and submission two

00:42:37.120 sides of really the same coin on the one hand for the church member hebrews 13 17 obey your

00:42:44.660 leaders and submit to them for they are keeping watch over your souls as those who will have to

00:42:48.900 give an account let them do this with joy and not with groaning for that would be of no advantage

00:42:53.280 to you let me brag on you covenant bible church it has been a joy now granted it's been a brief

00:42:59.340 joy it's only been about two years all right so that's superstition doesn't belong in the house

00:43:05.280 of God, I apologize. But it's been a brief joy, but it has

00:43:10.380 been an objective, definitive joy to be your pastor. I mean

00:43:14.840 that from the bottom of my heart. You guys, you figure

00:43:19.080 things out. If you have a conflict, you deal with it.

00:43:24.060 You're not constantly coming to me or Connor with petty

00:43:27.580 conflicts. There's just a certain, I don't know, a certain

00:43:34.300 bar of not perfection none of us are perfect I'm a sinner you're a sinner but there's just a like a

00:43:39.600 minimum bar I've noticed with this church with members and many of you guys who aren't members

00:43:44.660 yet or attenders but still even for the attenders there's just like this minimum biblical bottom

00:43:49.560 line of Christian maturity there's just there's some seasoned saints and it's a privilege to get

00:43:56.220 to pastor some seasoned saints. It really is. It has been a joy and not groaning by God's grace.

00:44:04.880 It has been a joy, not groaning. And I don't know if it's just providentially, right? That like,

00:44:08.840 just like the origin of our church came out of a really crazy three years in our nation and with

00:44:15.660 evangelical churches as a whole, where all of a sudden these new fault lines were coming into

00:44:20.180 play in regards to who's going to stand up to civil tyranny and who's not, who's woke and who's

00:44:24.880 not who's believe all women and who's not right and and there was just kind of like this this

00:44:29.620 sifting you know like like this sorting of the wheat from the chaff going on in the province of

00:44:35.460 God and and our church because of my podcast and things like that and public teaching I've been

00:44:41.100 very outspoken that we are not a woke church that we are not a social justice church that we are a

00:44:46.720 biblical theologically conservative unapologetic church so it's attracted those types of people

00:44:52.560 and because it's attracted those types of people there tends to be less problems maybe that's it

00:44:57.080 I don't know but in the sovereignty of God he's building something here that I am really proud of

00:45:02.460 and humbled to be a part of and I say that as an encouragement and commendation to those of you

00:45:08.120 who are members of the church those of you who are regular long-time attenders of the church

00:45:12.400 although I do hope you become members but I'm also saying that for those of you who are joining us

00:45:16.660 for the first time. Our church is not perfect, and our church certainly is not the only one. We don't

00:45:23.200 have the Elijah complex. I'm the only one left. And the Lord responds by saying, I've got 7,000 0.89

00:45:28.860 reserved, on reserve, that have not bowed their knee to Baal, that have not kissed and worshipped

00:45:35.000 at the Asherah poles. So we are not perfect, and we are not the only ones. But by the grace of God,

00:45:40.440 this is a great church and the lord is doing something special and if you want to be a part

00:45:48.040 of it we would be honored to have you so all that being said you're called to submit to spiritual

00:45:54.940 authority now all authority in all three spheres that god divinely instituted the home the church

00:46:03.040 and the state all human authority in each of these three spheres is always vested authority

00:46:10.440 there is no such thing as inherent human authority meaning that an unjust law is not a law

00:46:22.000 an unjust law is no law at all and that applies to the civil realm that applies to the home

00:46:33.020 and that applies to the church what a someone in spiritual authority an ecclesiastical authority

00:46:42.040 in the realm of the church says something or commands something that is not rooted in the

00:46:50.160 commandments of God in scripture a church member not only is it permissible to disobey your pastor

00:46:57.980 it is actually required that you resist that ecclesiastical tyranny that's why when things

00:47:07.280 are not clear one of the things that a godly and mature pastor will seek to do is to exercise the

00:47:14.600 authority of counsel rather than the authority of command because counsel can be rejected when a

00:47:21.480 pastor gives you his counsel you can say thanks but no thanks but when a command is given it's

00:47:29.360 given with a binding quality and now if it is not a command of scripture and the pastor is wrong

00:47:35.560 you must still resist it but the pastor is actually exercising tyranny that would be spiritual abuse

00:47:43.380 that he is going beyond his jurisdiction all human authority is vested authority there is no such

00:47:50.880 thing is inherent human authority. And with this vested authority, all human authority has very

00:47:57.380 clear binding jurisdictions. You have authority this far and no further. A pastor only has so

00:48:09.700 much authority, and he must not overstep the bounds of his authority. That's why, again,

00:48:16.180 with COVID, when it came to shutting down churches, my position was to keep the church open.

00:48:23.760 One, because of Revelation 1 that we started with in our worship today.

00:48:28.020 A theological reason, but a practical reason, not just theological, but just logical,

00:48:34.240 and not wanting to be an abusive ecclesiastical tyrant. If the church is closed, everyone who's

00:48:41.280 in the church who feels obligated and convicted to worship, their conscience is dismissed. You

00:48:47.780 cannot worship God. We close the church. If the church is open, guess what that position allows

00:48:54.400 for? People can stay home and some who feel called to worship can worship. One position objectively

00:49:02.560 accommodates more people. One position, namely opening the church, allows those to stay home

00:49:09.240 if they wish and those who want to worship to worship but the position of closing the church

00:49:13.880 is essentially pastors all over our nation who said to their congregants who felt convicted by

00:49:19.240 the holy spirit and from the word of god like revelation chapter 1 like hebrews chapter 10

00:49:24.560 verse 24 and 25 do not neglect the gathering of the saints as some have done those who felt

00:49:30.720 convicted from the spirit and the word of god that we should be gathering pastors who closed

00:49:35.420 churches said your conscience doesn't matter i don't care and i will force you to sin against

00:49:44.860 your own conscience and that pastor should be removed that is abuse that is spiritual abuse

00:49:53.620 when we think here's here's the deal when we think of spiritual abuse abuse we think that guy yells

00:50:00.040 when he preaches or we think that guy takes really strong positions like the husband is the head of

00:50:07.020 his wife or we think that guy that guy believes that when it comes to parenting uh that the parent

00:50:14.940 who spares the rod hates their child yeah that's that's quoting scripture that's a quote not

00:50:22.620 exegesis a quote right that guy's harsh now but when when the bible talks about what's actually

00:50:28.460 abusive? Think of the false teachers that Paul's constantly combating. Do you know what is

00:50:34.100 characteristic and descriptive of the false teachers? They're the guys who have smooth and

00:50:39.000 flattering speech, the scripture says. The bad guys, right, are we the baddies? I wish Big Eva

00:50:45.560 would do that. Are we the baddies? Yes. David French, am I the baddie? Phil Vicious, am I? Yes.

00:50:51.620 the baddies in the new testament they're the guys who have the very smooth tone

00:50:58.220 the nicest guys are the bad guys and then the guys who who preach sermons like peter on the

00:51:07.840 day of pentecost in acts 2 that says this jesus who you crucified god has resurrected and made him

00:51:15.200 both savior and lord my preacher don't say you say we we include yourself we peter says you

00:51:23.440 look at all the old-timey preachers spurgeon we was not in his vocabulary i don't even know

00:51:29.440 if he knew the word it's you always you

00:51:32.520 that's how the apostles the good guys preached the way that the bad guys talked was smooth

00:51:41.820 seductive nice flattering so their tongue was kind but what made the person actually

00:51:51.660 heretic was not how they said things but what they said we live in a culture and the evangelical

00:52:01.240 church has opted for this position as well we live in a culture and a church age where we care

00:52:09.980 more about how something is said than what is said the party that is always identified by the

00:52:17.020 new testament apostles as the false teachers are the ones who are introducing strange doctrines

00:52:25.920 it doesn't matter how they introduce it doesn't matter what speech or tone or attitude they have

00:52:33.340 what matters is not how but what and in fact the apostle paul goes even further and talks about

00:52:41.200 those who are quarrelsome he uses the word quarrelsome and upsetting whole households

00:52:46.520 and you know who they are the quarrelsome people truly objectively quarrelsome in the mind of paul

00:52:52.600 are the people who have the nicest tone you'll ever find smooth and flattering speech but they

00:52:59.380 are quarrelsome because they are the ones who are introducing to the apostolic church strange

00:53:05.880 doctrine that's causing fights and conflict. The person who introduces wrong doctrine is the one

00:53:12.580 who is labeled as the quarreler. And the person who defends the truth, even if he does it with

00:53:19.560 a raised voice, is not the quarreler. But that is the one who is faithful. And for the record,

00:53:28.180 the reason why I believe faithful pastors do preach and don't just pace back and forth between two

00:53:34.420 ferns with skinny jeans and a plexiglass pulpit right that the pulpit is just as see-through as

00:53:41.680 the pastor's soul I'm just going to share with you the reason why faithful pastors don't preach

00:53:47.920 like that the reason why they have pulpits that look like tanks and the reason why they yell from

00:53:53.440 time to time and they say we occasionally but they also say you is because the scripture commands

00:53:59.600 let the one who speaks speak as though he is speaking the very oracles of God so when I preach

00:54:07.460 I am not getting up here to share with you my thoughts if I am to preach at all scripture

00:54:14.800 commands me to preach as though I am heralding the very oracles of God so it is not I feel like

00:54:22.120 or I think or maybe if I've got a theological maybe in my arsenal you save that for a podcast

00:54:30.060 or a conversation over a snack with a friend you don't bring that into the pulpit of God

00:54:36.580 because here you herald the oracles of God you don't whisper

00:54:42.980 you don't speculate you preach you preach and although many would say that's harsh tone and

00:54:54.620 therefore that is quarrelsomeness the bible says precisely the opposite precisely the opposite

00:55:01.800 so shepherding and submission shepherding and submission let it be a joy to those in positions

00:55:12.860 of ecclesiastical authority knowing that they have very limited jurisdiction their authority

00:55:18.340 is vested not inherent they can only speak where the bible speaks if they're outside of that they

00:55:23.940 can counsel but it is the authority of counsel which the member is free to reject rather than

00:55:29.100 the authority of command so pastors should be careful not to overstep their bounds pastors

00:55:34.960 should be servants they should be kind but they should also be confident in the word of god not

00:55:40.620 in the flesh and teach what is true as though they are heralding the very oracles of god

00:55:45.540 and you people of god should submit so long as the pastor is faithful

00:55:50.840 and the pastor on his end should shepherd look at the text pay careful attention to yourselves and

00:55:59.460 all the flock in which the holy spirit has made you overseers to care for the church of god which

00:56:05.540 he obtained with his own blood that's acts 20 28 so on the shepherding side for the church member

00:56:12.580 obey your leaders right there the key word your leaders and submit to them for they are keeping

00:56:21.320 watch over your souls on the shepherding side as it pertains to the pastor to the congregation

00:56:26.180 pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock in which the holy spirit made you

00:56:32.020 an overseer. Notice the common theme between both submission for the church members and

00:56:38.120 shepherding for the church leaders. In both cases, it is a particular flock. Submit to anyone who

00:56:46.560 claims to be a spiritual Christian leader. Joel Osteen says he's a leader. Every time he comes

00:56:53.520 out with a book or a conference submit right no submit to your leaders not just the leaders

00:57:04.120 your leaders again look church membership is assumed what's assumed is that there is a local

00:57:11.280 visible definable context and that the people of god they know who's a part and who's not

00:57:19.160 they know who their leaders are and who they aren't and I would I'll end it with this

00:57:25.860 you might be saying again so how do we determine who is the church you sold me Joel we got to be

00:57:32.280 able to have a visible local definable community the church I'm just not sold in terms of church

00:57:40.660 membership being the only process or way of defining that I think church attendance works

00:57:45.120 well i would say again c.8 i don't think it works in terms of church discipline and excommunication

00:57:50.780 because that would involve visitors that may not even be regenerate rendering judgments about

00:57:55.500 binding and loosing people that's my first point secondly i would say this in terms of you people

00:58:01.800 of god congregation in terms of your obligation to submit to leaders your attendance is sufficient

00:58:08.680 i'll agree with you your attendance is sufficient for you to identify who your local leaders are

00:58:15.980 however on the shepherding side of the coin your mere attendance is not sufficient for connor and

00:58:24.200 i to determine who we're called to shepherd you can come on sunday and say i see joel and connor

00:58:31.180 but you coming on sunday is not enough for joel and connor to see you

00:58:35.720 think about put yourself in my shoes for just a moment let's just all take out a small violin

00:58:42.500 and play a sad song for pastors all over the world just a little bit of pity for a moment

00:58:46.680 if it's mere church attendance and and and the responsibility remember the responsibility is

00:58:54.600 pay careful attention to yourselves and all the flock in which the holy spirit has made you

00:58:59.100 overseers to care for the church of god which he obtained with his blood and then hebrews 13 17

00:59:04.860 that we are keeping watch over your very souls

00:59:08.680 as those who will have to give account.

00:59:11.260 Like I'm going to stand before the Lord Jesus Christ one day

00:59:15.280 and I will have to give an account

00:59:18.180 for keeping watch over the souls of the flock,

00:59:24.760 a particular flock, not the universal flock of Christ,

00:59:27.480 it's global, but a particular local flock

00:59:29.980 in which the Holy Spirit appointed me as an overseer,

00:59:32.780 that flock.

00:59:33.380 if that flock even at the local level that local flock if that includes somebody who visited for

00:59:39.940 a few weeks and then left and i'm responsible for their soul and they came late and left early

00:59:49.060 i never even got to shake their hand i don't even know their name

00:59:52.780 but i'm gonna have to stand before the lord jesus christ on the final day and be held accountable

00:59:58.300 for keeping watch over their soul lord have mercy i can't do that

01:00:05.520 and i don't believe by the grace of god because he is merciful that i will have to do that

01:00:11.320 i don't believe that the lord jesus will hold pastors accountable

01:00:15.000 for their flock and their flock being defined by anybody who ever showed up i think the flock is

01:00:22.700 more formally and visibly and tangibly defined through covenant god works through covenant

01:00:29.800 and there is a mutual agreement and covenant between the member and spiritual leaders in the

01:00:38.620 church we will pastor and shepherd you and you so long as we are faithful will submit to us i have

01:00:46.540 agreed to keep watch over your soul. You have agreed to submit in such a way that that ministry

01:00:52.740 and calling of mine would not be a groaning, but a joy. And this is a formal process. It's local.

01:01:00.020 It's visible. It's definable. I think it's called church membership. Let's pray. Father God,

01:01:06.340 thank you for your word. Bless it to your people, all for your glory. In Jesus name. Amen.

01:01:12.460 Thanks so much for listening.

01:01:13.860 But real quick, before you go, do us a small favor,

01:01:17.080 take a moment and leave us a five-star review

01:01:19.440 if you enjoyed the show.

01:01:21.040 This is undoubtedly the best way that you can help us

01:01:24.320 get this biblically faithful content

01:01:26.280 to as many people as possible.

01:01:28.440 Thanks so much.

The NXR Podcast - March 19, 2023

SUNDAY SERMON - Lying Women & Abusive Pastors

Episode Stats

Summary

Transcript