You again to. Teach the word. So we're going to pick up where
we left off last week. We sort of worked through the
first half of Paul's instruction to Timothy about the sufficiency
of scripture. Paul tells Timothy in 2nd Timothy. 3 turn there with me. Paul writes, all scripture is
breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for
correction, and for training in righteousness that the man
of God may be competent or complete, equipped for every good work. So what we did last week was
we examined these four things that Paul tells us scripture
is good for, what it does for us. We saw that it teaches us
the things that we need to know. Scripture contains everything
necessary to not only have a true faith in the gospel of Christ,
but to have a living and active faith in the gospel of Christ. This is what we're gonna look
at today. I want to begin with We're sort of going to change
gears from where we were last week. Last week we talked about doctrinal
things, how scripture tells us what we need to believe, how
scripture corrects doctrinal errors that enter into our minds,
enter into our assembly. This week we're going to change
gears and we're going to talk about good works and the law
of God. The reason we're gonna do that
is because that's the other half of what we see here in 2 Timothy
3.16. There is reproof, there's rebuke,
there's training in righteousness. So we're gonna talk about the
law of God. When we approach the law of God,
there are two equal and opposite errors that I have seen faithful
Christians fall into concerning God's law and God's instruction. And both of them come out of
some kind of fear of the law of God. So my exhortation to you this
morning is that We do not have to fear the law of God. We do
not have to fear God's instruction. And there are these two equal
and opposite errors, and there are two ways that people fear
the law. And the first is that sometimes
Christians fear the judgment of the law. We do not have to
fear the judgment that the law brings, because those who are in Christ
are no longer subject to its judgments. Turn with me to Romans chapter
three. I've often joked that I could
not get through a sermon without referencing Romans chapter three
at least once, and I think I managed to do it last week, so it is
only fitting that I arrive here early this week. Paul writes to the Roman church,
starting in verse 21, but now the righteousness of God has
been manifested apart from the law. Although the law and the
prophets bear witness to it, the righteousness of God through
faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no
distinction. All have sinned and fall short
of the glory of God and are justified by his grace as a gift through
the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as
a propitiation by his blood to be received by faith. Propitiation is, in my opinion,
the most important word in the New Testament. It's not to say that some parts
of scripture are more important than others, but it is, to me,
a word of significance. Propitiation means the satisfaction
of wrath. Paul tells us here that Christ
was put forward to satisfy the wrath of God, and he did so for
his people. Because Paul tells us, just a
few verses before this, starting in verse 10, that none is righteous,
no, not one. No one understands and no one
seeks for God. All people, apart from Christ,
are subject to the law and the judgment that it brings because
all people have sinned and fallen short of God's glory. But for
those who are in Christ, Christ has made satisfaction for God's
wrath. Christ has undergone the judgment
of the law. So we do not need to fear the
law's judgment. The author of Hebrews, probably
Paul, paints us a Helpful picture. Of. The law and grace. He gives us a look into. The
minds of the Israelites. As they received. The law from
Sinai. Hebrews 12 verse 18 for you have
not come to what may be touched. a blazing fire and darkness and
gloom and a tempest and the sound of a trumpet and a voice whose
words made the hearers beg that no further messages be spoken
to them. They could not endure the order
that was given. If even a beast touches the mountain,
it shall be stoned. Indeed, so terrifying was the
sight that Moses said, I tremble with fear. but you have come to Mount Zion,
to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to
immeasurable angels and festal gathering, and to the assembly
of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the judge
of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, and
to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled
blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel. We do not have to fear the law
because Christ has taken the judgment that it brings. Now, there is another type of
fear of the law that I've seen faithful Christians engage in.
Remember this first error is to fear the judgment of the law. And this other fear of the law. Sorry, I'm getting ahead of myself.
This fear of the law that we see here in Hebrews. We do not have to fear the law
in that, we do not have to look to the law for the assurance
of our faith. We don't have to look inwardly
at our lives, examine our good works in order to have confidence
in our salvation. Turn with me to John. John chapter six. John Chapter 6 is one of my favorite
episodes that we see in the Gospels because it does a good job of
really putting on display the nonsense that the natural man
will engage in. See, Jesus performs this miracle,
right, in the beginning of John 6. He feeds 5,000 people with
one lunch. He feeds all of them, and then
he leaves. And the next day, these people,
they follow him, and then they get to him, and he's talking
to them again, and they're like, what sign do you bring? And Jesus
is like, you don't know me. As though he had not just fed
5,000 people the day before. Anyway, in John 6, 35, Jesus
says to them, I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me
shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.
But I said to you, you have seen me, and yet you do not believe.
All the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes
to me I will never cast out. For I have come down from heaven
not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me, and
this is the will of him who sent me. that I should lose nothing
of all that he has given me, but raise it up in the last day.
For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the
Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will
raise him up on the last day. Here, Christ gives the promise
to all who believe in him, the promise to all who have faith
in him, the promise to all of the elect, that he should lose
none that the Father has given to him. We find our assurance, the confidence
of our faith in the promises of Christ. These promises are testified
to throughout scripture. Paul writes in Romans 8, no,
in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who
loved us. For I am sure that neither death,
nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things
to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else
in all creation will be able to separate us from the love
of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Nothing can separate you from
the love of God in Christ. and that includes you. We need not fear the law because
we are not subject to its judgment and we need not look to the law
to find the confidence of our faith. In the same way that we are saved
through the work of Christ on the cross and making propitiation
for the sins of his people, in the same way that we are saved, we can have the assurance of
faith. Our assurance is found in the
faithfulness of Christ, not in our own faithfulness. Now this other, I'm gonna do
that at least one more time. this other type of fear that
I've seen people have for the law. There are those who fear
the law and the judgment that it brings. And then there are
those who sort of take it the exact opposite, and they fear
the law for everything that it brings. I have heard it said that the
law has only one purpose. I have read of professing Christians who testify
that the only purpose of the law is to bring judgment. They
call it the letter that kills. It does nothing for you except
condemns you. This is not the case. And it's really easy to Explain
why it's not the case. Using only scripture. There's a certain appreciation,
a certain love that we should have for the word of God, right?
After all, Paul says all scriptures breathe out by God. All scripture
is profitable for teaching, correcting, rebuking, and training in righteousness.
If we turn to Psalms, we see a beautiful picture of a man who is in love with his
father in heaven, and a man who is in love with the words of
the Lord. Psalm 119, the longest psalm,
the longest chapter in our Bible in terms
of verse count, It's all about having love for
God's law. I'm gonna read a few excerpts
here, and then there's one we're gonna focus on, starting in verse
12. Blessed are you, O Lord, teach
me your statutes. With my lips I declare all the
rules of your mouth, in the way of your testimonies I delight. as much as in all riches. I will
meditate on your precepts and fix my eyes on your ways. I will
delight in your statutes. I will not forget your word. Verse 25, my soul clings to the
dust. Give me life according to your
word. When I told of my ways, you answered
me. Teach me your statutes. Make me understand the way of
your precepts and I will meditate on your wondrous works. My soul melts away for sorrow. Strengthen me according to your
word. Put false ways far from me and
graciously teach me your law. I have chosen the way of faithfulness.
I set your rules before me. I cling to your testimonies,
oh Lord, let me not be put to shame. I will run in the way
of your commandments when you enlarge my heart. Flip over a page probably to
verse 97. Oh, how I love your law. It is my meditation all the day.
Your commandments make me wiser than my enemies, for it is ever
with me. I have more understanding than
all of my teachers. For your testimonies are my meditation.
I understand more than the aged, for I keep your precepts. I hold
back my feet from every evil way in order to keep your word.
I do not turn aside from your rules, for you have taught me.
How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to
my mouth. Through your precepts I get understanding,
therefore I hate every false way. Verse 129, your testimonies
are wonderful, therefore my soul keeps them. The unfolding of
your word gives light and imparts understanding to the simple.
I open my mouth and pant because I long for your commandments.
Turn to me and be gracious to me as is your way with those
who love your name. Keep steady my steps according
to your promise and let no iniquity get dominion over me. Redeem
me from man's oppression that I may keep your precepts. Make
your face shine upon your servant and teach me your statutes. My
eyes shed streams of tears because people do not keep your law. And now this is what I want to
focus on here, starting in verse 146. I call to you. Save me that I may observe your
testimonies. I rise before dawn and cry for
help. I hope in your words my eyes are awake before the watches
of the night that I may meditate on your promise. Hear my voice
according to your steadfast love. Oh Lord, according to your justice,
give me life. So after hundreds and hundreds
of words extolling the law of the Lord,
praising God for his rules and his teachings and his precepts. We see a faith in the Lord that
never wavers. What I mean by this is that at
no point do we see that the psalmist credits himself. At no point
does the psalmist look to his own following of the law for
his salvation. Rather, we see a sinful man crying
out to God to save him. And because of that, he loves
the law of the Lord. This other fear of the law is
the fear of legalism. There are people who are so afraid
of getting the gospel wrong, right? Because the gospel is
not a gospel of works. Right? Salvation is not of works. Salvation is of faith in Christ. And yet people are so afraid that if they mention the law,
if they meditate on the law, that they will be unknowingly
engaging in the heresy of legalism. But what we see here from the
psalmist is a faith in God. a faith in
the promise of the Messiah. And from that we see a love, a delight in the law
of the Lord. So church, you do not have to
fear God's law. You do not have to fear it. and
that you are not subject to its judgment and you do not have
to fear it in that it is good to love the law of God. So now we're gonna get back to
2 Timothy chapter three. We're gonna talk about works and correction and rebuke So. When you read scripture,
it actually seems pretty evenly split between this positive and
negative instruction. But I'm going to spend more time
and I spent more time last week. Talking about this negative instruction. And the reason for that is because. There are more details that go
into the careful execution. Of negative instruction. We have
to be more careful when we engage in correction. Many of Paul's letters, particularly
1 and 2 Corinthians, are concerned with this sort of practical instruction. Paul has a lot to say about what
Corinth needs to start doing and what they need to stop doing. Because there was a lot of stuff
they weren't supposed to be doing. There was a lot of stuff they
weren't doing that they were supposed to be doing. And so we see in Corinthians
several of these negative positive sequences in instruction. Paul
addresses an error and then he says how they ought to live after
they quit doing the thing, right? These negative practical instructions
are always accompanied by positive practical instruction. So I told you last week that
we would sort of use the duties of the elder as sort of a working
example for examining these types of instruction. And so when we
talk about positive practical instruction, when we talk about
training in righteousness, the matter of the qualification of
the elder is called into question. Half of the qualifications given
in 1st Timothy 3 and Titus 1 are concerned with how an elder lives
his life. So the most powerful testimony
of positive practical instruction comes from the example of the
qualified elder, reinforced by his teaching of the word on these
things. If an elder is qualified on these
positive practical issues, then he's qualified to teach on them. And it's the combination of these
testimonies that are effective for the training of the local
assembly. So in Titus 1, Paul instructs
Titus to appoint elders in every town who are qualified according
to his instructions. In Titus 1, Paul writes, appoint
elders in every town as I directed you. If anyone is above reproach,
the husband of one wife and his children are believers and not
open to the charge of debauchery or insubordination. For an overseer
as God's steward must be above reproach. He must not be arrogant
or quick-tempered or drunkard or violent or greedy for gain.
He must hold firm to the trustworthy word as taught. so that he may
be able to give instruction and sound doctrine and also to rebuke
those who contradict it. So Titus' job was to find men
who were qualified to lead the churches. So what do you do if no men are
found to be qualified? Paul tells us in Titus 2. Let's see, in Titus 2.1, Paul instructs Titus to teach
what accords with sound doctrine. And then he goes on to tell us
precisely what should be taught, and the things that we see Paul
instructing Titus to do are basically the qualifications for the elders.
So there's this This interesting observation we can make about
the qualifications for elders, and that is all of them are commanded
of everyone anyway. Every single one of you is commanded
to be qualified to be an elder of the church, sort of. Women,
you are not commanded to be a husband, sorry. You get a pass on that
one, but men you are. You're commanded to be qualified
to be an elder. Is that possibly that? The qualification to be
able to teach may or may not. Be something commanded of everyone.
You should be able to. Proclaim the Gospel. You should be able to speak of.
Your salvation. The testimony of your faith in
Christ and his work on the cross to save his people. So what position do good works
occupy in the faith? We've already seen that salvation
is by grace through faith in Jesus Christ so that no man may
boast. But Paul asks the Romans, shall
we sin that grace may abound? What does he say? By no means. Paul gives instruction to Titus
on precisely the role good works play in our faith. Let's see, I didn't write the
verse number, but I wrote down the whole quote. Let's see. Oh, here it is. It's in Titus 3. Yep, Titus 3, starting in verse
4. Paul says, but when the goodness and loving kindness of God our
Savior appeared, He saved us, not because of works done by
us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy. By the washing
of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured
out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being
justified by his grace, we might become heirs according to the
hope of eternal life. So in order to understand the
relationship between faith and works. We first have to understand
the faith part. We have to understand the gospel
and then it is within that context that we will examine good works. So Paul says, but when. We used to be wicked. The people
of God used to be wicked, born into sin, inheriting the sin
of our father Adam. We were dead. We hated God. As Paul said in
Romans 3, none is good, no, not one. We were as far from God
as we could ever be. But when the goodness and loving
kindness of God our Savior appeared. Paul says that our Savior appeared
with goodness and loving kindness. I don't want you to make a mistake
here. When Paul speaks of the appearance of the goodness and
the loving kindness of our Savior, he is not talking about the incarnation
of Christ. I have read commentators who
insisted that Paul was just talking about the incarnation here. Right? In John 1, We see the word became
flesh and dwelt among us and we have seen his glory. Glory
as of the only son from the father, full of grace and truth. This
is not what Paul's talking about here. Paul's describing here
the particular mechanism of calling us out of darkness. The particular
way in which Christ calls his people to himself. We were guilty sinners, but now
we are not. because of this appearing of
the goodness and the loving kindness of Christ. This appearing of
our Savior is none other than the revelation of the gospel
of Christ to our hearts in the work of the Holy Spirit in regeneration. This testimony of the gospel
is precisely this appearing of the goodness and loving kindness
of Christ. So we were dead in our sins,
our hearts were dark, And then goodness and loving
kindness appeared to us in the gospel. So there's something
I want you to understand about God's goodness. There's a distinction
I'm gonna make here. This goodness of God is distinct
from the righteousness of God. Goodness and loving kindness
are describing the manner of the appearing of our Savior in
the gospel. Righteousness speaks of duty
and requirements. Goodness and loving kindness
speak of something more, something beyond what is required. We see God's righteousness displayed
in judgment, so God is righteous when he condemns the sinner.
That is what is required of God. Do you know that God is required
to do things? There are things that God has
to do because he has said he would do them. and he cannot
go back on his promises. And so God must judge the wicked. He has promised to do so. He is required to do so. And because he is required to
do so, some judgment must be poured out on the sins of his
people. So he does that on Christ. Christ's
work on the cross is necessary for redemption because God is
righteous. God cannot permit the guilty
into his presence, and so in order to permit his people to
have eternal communion and unity with him, his righteousness requires
that his justice be satisfied. And it is on the cross. that
Christ pays the penalty for the sin of his people and his people
alone. This is the gospel that has appeared. This is the goodness and the
loving kindness that has appeared. God has no duty to save anyone. Because God will never find in
us anything that he is required to love. God loves righteousness
because he is righteousness and he is required to love righteousness
because he loves himself above all others. And so God has no
duty to save us because he's never going to find that righteousness
in us. but instead he loves us because
he is good and merciful and gracious. God's righteousness does not
compel him to love us, his goodness and mercy do. And by his goodness
and mercy, he has freely chosen to love us, his people, those
least deserving of it. And so it is at this time, this
appearing of the gospel, This very moment that the Spirit of
God opens our eyes to see this gospel and to believe it, that
Paul says that he saved us. Paul identifies an explicit moment
in time where we went from being in a state of being guilty before
God to being no longer guilty before God, saved. And everything
that follows here in verses five through seven of Titus three
is a part of this moment. Paul goes on to reinforce what
I already told you. I said, God will never find in us anything
which he ought to love, but he loves us because he is good and
merciful. Paul says the same thing here.
He saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness,
but according to his own mercy. Nothing in you pleased God to
save you. Only God was pleased in himself,
compelled by the liberty of his own mercy and love to save you. Now this next bit is interesting
and there's something easy to miss here in Titus. But it's
fundamentally important to our understanding of the gospel. If you just read through this
passage once or twice without dwelling on Paul's arguments,
you could miss this. So previously when Paul said
that the goodness and loving kindness of God appeared to us,
Paul's not only telling us when Christ saved us, but he's also
telling us how. There's more to that word appeared. Our Savior has appeared in the
sense that light has been shone upon him. That's the literal
meaning of the Greek word for appeared. Light shone upon him. When Christ appeared to us, It
was because we were in darkness, and now we are in light. We were blind, and now we can
see. And as Paul continues here in
Titus 3, he's not saying, and then. He's not telling us this
happened, and then this happened, and then this happened next. Rather, Paul is giving further
details into the manner of our salvation, the method of our
redemption. So back in Titus three, he writes, he saved us by the washing of regeneration
and renewal of the Holy Spirit. Verse five. This regeneration
is the cause of our faith. This washing by the Holy Spirit
is where our faith comes from. It is the very thing that enables
us and compels us to believe the gospel of Christ. This revelation of the gospel
is the means by which the Holy Spirit performs the work of regeneration
and renewal. Paul continues in verse six,
the Holy Spirit whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus
Christ our Savior. I'm reminded of Paul's letter
to the Ephesians where he writes, blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us in Christ with
every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. What does that mean, every spiritual
blessing? Those whom Christ died for have
been blessed in every spiritual way. Their sins have been forgiven. God's wrath is satisfied against
them. Christ's righteousness is their
own, and they have been declared holy in Christ. And you cannot
receive God's grace in part. People like to get clever with
their systematic theologies and categorize grace into all these
different facets And they often fall into the trap of thinking
that you can receive some measure of God's grace and not all of
it. We can make the mistake of dividing
God's grace so that we have received regenerating grace, the grace
for faith, and not the grace that leads to maturity, that
leads to knowledge. Paul is clear that this cannot
be. God's grace is given fully and
completely in Christ. And this is what it means that
the Holy Spirit has been poured out richly in Christ. So in verse four, we said, but
when, and then Paul identifies a particular point in time when
he was saved, the moment he was regenerated by the spirit through
the revelation of the gospel of Christ. And I make the claim that everything
that follows in verses five, six, and seven of Titus three
is a part of this moment, is a part of this salvation. And Paul is making exposition on regeneration. And then he says in verse seven,
so that being justified by his grace, we might become heirs
according to the hope of eternal life. Here Paul makes an explicit
statement of justification by faith. at the time of faith. And all these things work together
so that we may be heirs together with Christ, according to the
hope of eternal life. So, of good works, Paul continues in verse 8, This
saying is trustworthy and I want you to insist on these things
so that those who have believed in God may be careful to devote
themselves to good works. These things are excellent and
profitable for people. So here Paul gets really practical.
He's laid a theological foundation for us in a detailed explanation
of God's grace, faith, regeneration, but now he shifts to very practical
matters, giving us a so what. What are we gonna do about this
faith, this salvation? Paul says, those who have believed
in God may be careful to devote themselves to good works. These
things are profitable for the people. So here, Paul gives a
very explicit and practical reason why we, the church, should devote
ourselves to good works. Why? It's profitable. It's good for you. It's good
and beneficial for you to devote yourselves to good works. This is consistent with what
we know about sin, right? We know that sin ultimately has
eternal consequences, that God's judgment will be poured out against
all unrighteousness. We also know that sin has consequences
here on earth. You pay for your sins today,
don't you? Sin damages our relationships.
Sin can harm you physically. God has erected the government
to exact temporary justice against sin. And so naturally, good works
work the other way. So we the church grow closer
in our intimacy with one another by serving each other, by loving
each other, we grow closer to Christ. Good works are a good
thing. If they weren't, they wouldn't
be called good. It's good for me to exhort you
to love one another. It's good for me to encourage
you to serve one another. And it is good for me to exhort
you unto killing the sin that is in your life. These are good
things, as long as we understand them in the context of the gospel
of grace. We do not need to be afraid of
talking about good works. We do not need to be afraid of asking ourselves, how can I be
more obedient to scripture? These are good things. And Paul
tells us exactly how to answer these questions. Paul tells us
exactly how the teacher ought to encourage you to engage in
good works. Paul gives us the formula for
teaching works to the church, and it's not ambiguous. It's
quite clear, I think. When Paul says, this saying is
trustworthy in the beginning of verse eight, what's he talking
about? He's talking about the description
of the gospel that he just gave. This saying, this gospel is trustworthy. He's talking about how we were
once lost in darkness. He's talking about how God in
his goodness and mercy chose to love those he would call his
people, the elect. He's talking about our savior.
who has appeared to us through the revelation of the gospel
to save us, to justify us, to sanctify us. He's talking about
the spirit of the Lord and the manifold graces he bestows upon
us through his spirit. This is the saying that is trustworthy. And here's how you teach good
works. You insist on these things. You insist on this gospel. You insist on preaching the fullness
of this pure and simple gospel of grace so that God's people
may be careful to devote themselves to good works. This doesn't mean that I never
tell you not to do something, or I never tell you that you
should be doing something. But it means that you and I Engage with each other in examining
these issues of works these issues of obedience in the context of
the gospel of grace We understand that both of us
are guilty of all of the sins we've all done all of the things And is in the context of the
gospel that We can learn obedience. We can learn to love the law
of God. We can learn that we do not have
to fear the law. Speaking of correction, speaking
of telling you when you're wrong, We arrive at the responsibility
of the eldership that is most often abused or neglected in
churches that may even handle the rest of what I've told you
with great care. Jesus and the apostles have taken
great care to clearly and precisely give instruction on how to handle
correction. For reasons that are lost to
me, most assemblies fall into one of two errors concerning
correction. The first error a church can
fall into concerning rebuke is to be graceless and abrupt, to have no charity and no patience. The second error is to simply
permit the sin to continue, to not care. to neglect correction. So remember here, we're talking
about negative practical instruction. Don't do this thing. Within scripture,
we find two types of instruction that sort of fall under this
heading. We find general instructions on things that ought not be done.
And we find personal instruction on how the elders ought go about
correcting errors of sinful behavior within the body. So again, in Titus, considering
the negative behaviors given in the qualifications of elders. There are several things that
Paul says disqualify an elder. Paul teaches against these things. As we emphasized previously,
the qualified elder may teach against these things, but the
disqualified elder is a hypocrite. We can look to Paul's letters
to Corinth for examples of this negative practical instruction.
There's all these issues of sin within the Corinthian church,
and Paul rebukes them over the course of his two letters. And so as this negative, or as we see in Corinthians that
when we correct, when we instruct on things you ought not to do,
we always see that there is this instruction to teach what you
ought to do. And most importantly, when you
give correction, it's always within the context of the gospel
of grace. Paul further gives guidelines
to the elders for executing church discipline. We see in Matthew
18 the instructions of Christ on how you handle matters of
rebuke within the church. Paul tells Timothy, remember
Timothy is a young guy, right, much younger than me, and he
is, the elder, one of the elders of his church. And so Paul instructs Timothy
that while you have authority over the men of your church as
their elder, he says, do not rebuke an older man, but encourage
him as you would a father. Younger men as brothers, older
women as mothers, younger women as sisters in all purity. That said, I can identify with
Timothy as a young elder. I see that I have been put into
a position as someone young, giving instruction. And so his exhortation to Timothy
is not to focus on rebuke, not to focus on correction, but on
exhortation. Paul's instructions to Timothy
also have instructions for rebuking an
elder specifically. And he basically says, don't
do it unless you're really sure. Do not admit a charge against
an elder except on the evidence of two or three witnesses. As
for those who persist in sin, rebuke them in the presence of
all so that the rest may stand in fear. We find this to be a modification
of the Matthew 18 model. The way we handle church discipline
in general is found in Matthew 18, but there are a couple places
in scripture where we see instruction that sort of deviates from this
general model in a way. In 1 Corinthians 5, you had a
man who was engaged in an illicit relationship with his own mother,
and the church was just tolerating it. And Paul's instruction was,
stop it. Get rid of them. We see here in 1st Timothy 5,
this instruction on how to bring a charge against an elder, it's
a little bit different from this general instruction found in
Matthew 18. Turn there, Matthew 18. If your brother sins against
you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. If
he listens to you, you have gained your brother. But if he does
not listen, take one or two others along with you that every charge
may be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses. If
he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church. And if
he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you
as a Gentile and a tax collector. That's pretty straightforward,
right? It seems that the instructions there are pretty clear. There's something that people
often misunderstand about Matthew 18, and it's this, really two
things. First of all, Matthew 18, church
discipline, is not punitive, right? It's not punishment. You're
not in trouble. Right, the point is grace. The point is, we want to see
you restored to fellowship with the assembly. What Christ does here is he establishes
church discipline as a means of grace for his people who fall
into sin. When one of his sheep falls into
sin, church discipline is the way Christ calls them back. And the other thing we misunderstand
is the severity of the last statement there. When he refuses to listen to the church,
He's removed from the fellowship of the church. And it's important
to understand what Jesus is talking about when he says a Gentile
and a tax collector. Jesus is a Jew speaking to Jews
using Jewish idioms, using Jewish examples to help them understand
what he wants them to do. So. When Jesus says let him be to
you as a Gentile and a tax collector, we need to understand that as. A Jew would understand. What
it means to be a Gentile and. A tax collector. The Jews had nothing to do with
the Gentiles and tax collectors. It's not that they quit hanging
out with them. The only thing that they had
to do with Gentiles and tax collectors would be in the context of a
reconciliation. You see the tax collector who's
stealing your money out on the street, you're not gonna talk
to him. If he shows up at your house
for dinner, you're not gonna invite him in. But if he comes back to repent,
you invite him in. Church discipline is about reconciliation. So there's a general exhortation
found after where we've been in 2 Timothy. Paul gives this
general exhortation for rebuke. I charge you in the presence
of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the
dead and by his appearing and in his kingdom. Preach the word. Be ready in season and out of
season. Reprove, rebuke, and exhort with
complete patience and teaching. For the time is coming when people
will not endure sound teaching, but have itching ears. They will
accumulate for themselves teachers who suit their own passions,
and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into
myths. As for you, always be sober-minded,
endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your
ministry. So we as a church should be vigilant, we should
study scripture, we should learn together both Doctrine and practice. What to believe. Should know
who God is. And we should know what to do about
it. And ultimately, the purpose of good works here on Earth is
for your joy, for your love for one another. That's why we have
been called to serve Christ, so that our joy may be complete
in him, and that we, the church, may
be one, intimate, united with love for one another. Do not fear the law, but love
the law because Christ has loved you. Let's pray. God, we thank you for your word
and everything that is in it. God, I thank you for your people,
my brothers and sisters that you have given me to love and
to serve. God, I pray that by your spirit
we would learn and grow in our love for you and in our love
for one another. Continue to teach us and instruct
us on how to do that as we leave from here. God, we thank you for the work
of your son that you saw fit to satisfy your wrath against
us on him. And we pray these things in the
name of Christ, amen.