Month: October 2022

My past few articles were focused on discipline in the church which might very well be the first subject of discussion in how a church works. We function as Christ’s body in the world as we are sanctified for His service. He will not use us unless the requirement of holiness is met. Paul explained to the Corinthians that he needed to restrain his sinful impulses lest he should be disqualified from the ministry (1 Corinthians 9:27). Discipline is an appropriate segue into the other workings of the church.

Paul was unquestionably a church man who concentrated his missionary efforts upon the establishment of churches throughout the Roman Empire. His major reason is quite clear from many examples in his letters, such as Ephesians 3:21 where he wrote that Christ receives glory through the church. A careful reading of Ephesians shows this glory is not achieved through a mystical ethereal, impotent invisible entity but through the concrete efficient means of local, visible assemblies. Accordingly, he writes in chapter 4:11-13: “And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; [12] For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: [13] Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ…” This perfecting of the saints is obviously the church considered in 5:27 that glorifies Christ and is presented as spotless, holy, and without blemish. This is accomplished through the work of ministry entrusted to the leaders of local congregations to which individual Christians make their commitments for fellowship and instruction.

We must be careful not to believe the work of Christ can be satisfied by an invisible entity that cannot preach, cannot participate in ordinances, cannot send out missionaries, nor effectively do any of the ministry ascribed to the church in the word. Least of all can an invisible entity be the support pillars of the truth as envisioned by 1 Timothy 3:15: “But if I tarry long, that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth.” What could Paul have meant by “behave thyself in the house of God” unless his meaning is the visible assembly of God’s people? This is the church of the living God and the church that is the pillar and ground of the truth.

The visible church (as opposed to the nonentity invisible church) cannot be minimized, ignored, nor considered inconsequential for the development of God’s people. I must come back to Paul’s inspired proclamation concerning the glory of Christ. As noted, the critical nature of the local visible church is found in scores of New Testament references. The apostle’s doxology of praise in Ephesians 3:21 is the expression of church’s worth to Christ: “Unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen.” To this we add our hearty approval—AMEN! We too are churchmen and church women.

Pastor V. Mark Smith

My last blog post was prompted by a series of four messages preached in March and April of 2021. These messages were from the last part of 2 Thessalonians chapter 3 entitled Order in the Church. Primarily, our focus was church discipline and the importance of the holiness of God’s people. Discipline is a tough subject and one that most churches strenuously avoid. The lack of commitment to it is the driving impetus behind the shameful lives of many of their church members. Not only does it affect members personally and individually, but every bad practice in the church can be linked to someone’s failure to address sin with a biblical response. Whether we speak of the sin of unholy worship, of heresies in the pulpit, or sin in personal lives, it stems from bad discipline. Sin is not abstract, but rather all sin is committed by someone. It is concrete refusal to heed God’s word in any area.

          I believe failure of church discipline is failure to recognize God’s viewpoint of sin. This is a serious illogical error by anyone redeemed by the grace of God. Dr. R.C. Sproul was fond of calling sin “cosmic treason.” And yet, I think very few see their sins as a terrible affront to God’s holiness or see that it constitutes turning their back on the extreme payment made through Christ our Lord to satisfy the penalty of sin.

          Before we came to Christ, we were in the darkness of sin not understanding its consequences. We were not motivated to forsake sin because we had not been enlightened by the Holy Spirit to the danger of it nor to the cost of God’s provision of grace to save us from it. While there are many who profess salvation but do not possess it, the only true believers are those who before their salvation were enlightened to their fast track to the awful fires of hell. They realized they were guilty before God and justly deserving of it. The truth of our condition is that God’s kingdom was shut to us. The door was locked and could not be pried open. It was our sin that shut us out of God’s kingdom. Once we are saved, the heinous nature of sin does not change. In fact, for those enlightened to the gospel, sin after salvation should incur more punishment because we are more stubborn in consideration of our knowledge of what God did for us. The only way eternal punishment is averted for those who know Christ is by Paul’s declaration that “Where sin abounded, grace did much more abound.” In other words, when we sin, we impose more upon God’s grace after we are saved than we did when we were lost.

          Now consider that we should have a church filled with people who are so callous about God’s work of redemption that they continue to live in sin. How do we judge ourselves superior to the worst criminal on death row? I think this helps us understand why Paul was distraught with sin in the church. In his own life, he said he beat his body into submission to keep from hindering God’s work.

          When the church practices discipline, I hope you see it is a sincere desire not to be judgmental, but to do as Romans 12:2 commands. We are not to be conformed to the world but transformed by the renewing of our minds. A pure heart is the same as a renewed mind, and Jesus said, “Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God.” Thank the Lord He does not reward us according to our iniquities. Otherwise, no child of God would survive the taxing of God’s grace.

Pastor V. Mark Smith