Eat This Book

Marie and I are doing a joint study through the tag-team dynamo of Exemplary Husband / Excellent Wife at Buck Run. Because of this, I perused my little section of marriage books again. I found that this little book was missing from the shelves. It doesn’t surprise me. I’ve bought Reforming Marriage about eight times in the life of my ministry. It just always seems to get given away. Mostly because I love strong marriages, but partly because $10 seems like such a small investment in the lives of my brothers and sisters in Christ.

Simply put, it is one of the best marriage books I’ve ever read. I love it and highly recommend it to those looking for a strong, theologically sound, no-nonsense book on what the Lord says about marriage. If you have a spouse or may acquire one sometime in the future, you should eat this book. Absolute Gold!

Here are the first few paragraphs:

How would you describe the spiritual aroma of your home? When visitors arrive, before virtually anything is said or done, what is one of the first things they notice about your family? In many cases, it is the aroma. Do they feel as though a bad attitude crawled under your refrigerator and died? Or do they think someone has been baking spiritual bread in the kitchen all afternoon?

Perhaps the one living in the home is not in the best position to answer this question. Aromas are the sorts of things one gets used to. The residents usually do not notice those things that immediately strike a visitor. So if there is an offensive aroma in the home, it can sometimes be difficult problem to solve. No easy formula of resolution is available. Nevertheless, the Bible does teach on the subject. The text noted above (Eph. 5:2) says that when Christians walk in love they are imitating Christ, and the sacrifice of Christ is a pleasant aroma to God. Similarly, a Christ-like home atmosphere produces this sort of aroma before God and consequently before man.

In other words, keeping God’s law with a whole heart (which is really what love is) is not only seen in overt acts of obedience. The collateral effect of obedience is the aroma of love. This aroma is out of reach for those who have  a hypocritical desire to be known by others as a keeper of God’s law. Many can fake an attempt at keeping God’s standards in some external way. What we cannot fake is the resulting, distinctive aroma of pleasure to God.

Eat This Book

I am pleased to recommend a book to you. The Complete John Ploughman is a combined addition of Charles Spurgeon’s John Ploughman’s Talk and John Ploughman’s Pictures. In the book, Spurgeon demonstrates he’s not just a great orator, but a fabulous word smith in the vernacular. He kind of puts it on the bottom shelf for you while he gets all up in your grill, ya know?

In the preface, Spurgeon writes, “In John Ploughman’s Talk, I have tried to talk for ploughmen and common people. Hence refined taste and dainty words have been discarded for strong old proverbial expressions and homely phrases.” The topics are by subject and deal primarily with the vices of everyday living. I have found this book a helpful companion in personal holiness and childrearing as the word pictures are so vivid that simple minds are able to grasp weighty concepts with ease. There’s also a variety of whimsical pictures throughout. And for preaching it is a veritable treasure trove of sermon illustrations.

Here’s a snippet from the chapter “You may bend the sapling, but not the tree.”

Ladder, and pole, and cord will be of no use to straighten the bent tree; it should have been looked after much earlier. Train trees when they are saplings and young lads before the down comes on their chins. Begin early to teach, for children begin early to sin. Catch them young and you may hope to keep them. What is learned young is learned for life. What we hear at the first we remember to the last. The bent twig grows up a crooked tree.

When a boy is rebellious, conquer him, and do it well the first time, that there may be no need to do it again. A child’s first lesson should be obedience, and after that you may teach it what you please: yet the young mind must not be laced too tight, or you may hurt its growth and hinder its strength. They say a daft nurse makes a wise child, but I do not believe it: nobody needs so much common sense as a mother or a governess. It does not do to be always thwarting; and yet remember if you give a child his will and a whelp his fill, both will surely turn out ill. A child’s back must be made to bend, but it must not be broken. He must be ruled, but not with a rod of iron. His spirit must be conquered, but not crushed.

Real Naked Women Are Just Bad Porn

When I was formulating a worldview of sex and sexuality – thinking about women and how to relate to them – I had a lot of help from Playboy. Starting very young, I was exposed to the explicit images of pornography from friends of mine whose fathers dabbled in the dark side of sex. This is an odd thing to think, but you have to remember that this was before the advent of the internet when explicit images of women were sought and bought quite purposefully and intentionally. That is to say it shouldn’t have been that easy to come by. But it was.

I don’t remember a lot of images that have passed before my eyes. I will have trouble detailing the particulars of what my coworkers were wearing today. I can’t even recall what color the bridesmaids wore in the wedding I officiated this past Saturday. But I don’t think I will ever forget the image of my first centerfold. I know what color the woman’s hair was, the sheet, the pose, the whole thing. She was holding a book and if the book had had a title, I probably would have been able to tell you that too. And I wasn’t even in middle school. The power of the pornographic image is unmistakable.

In this age, it has become almost accepted that men (and women, too) will look at pornography. My job as a pastor is to tell you that looking at pornographic images is bad. But most people don’t feel bad when they look at pornography. Most people look at pornography because it feels good. It is an entirely solitary way to experience what God meant for us to experience together. Sex and sexuality, from a Christian perspective, is never something experienced alone. The loneliness of the man and the Lord declaring something “not good” tells us that he was lacking something to complete the experience of humanity. That he needed more than just a sexual partner is absolutely true. But it is also absolutely true that he needed a sexual partner. Sex, as it turns out, isn’t a solo flight.

Yet porn, in its alluring way, has offered us just this – solo sex. It comes in any flavor, with anybody, doing anything imaginable, and mostly for free and without the pesky involvement of something I like to call “other people”. The effect on sex and sexuality is devastating. Naomi Wolf, a feminist critic I’m told, makes this comment. “The onslaught  of porn is responsible for deadening male libido in relation to real women…. For most of human history, erotic images have been reflections of, or celebrations of, or substitutes for, real naked women. For the first time in human history, the images’ power and allure have supplanted that of real naked women. Today, real naked women are just bad porn.”

The Stereotype Deserved: Homeschool in the Public Square

One thought came blasting into my mind as I surveyed the massive crowd. “The stereotype is deserved.”

Marie and I were at the Midwest Homeschool Convention this past week. I’ve never had so much culture shock in my life – and I’ve been to a Neil Diamond concert! All the sights and sounds of homeschool moms and dads (mostly moms) bustling around punctuated ever so often by a baby’s cry, were the constant soundtrack to the three days we spent among them. We listened to lectures, surfed a veritable sea of curriculum, and tried to keep each other sane through the process.

We took the plunge into this unknown culture simply because we are opting in. The culture of homeschooling is now our culture. Or it will be in 139 days. Connor, our oldest son currently enrolled in a Christian school which we adore, will become an official homeschooler in the fall. And Marie and I, being the diligent parents we are, decided that we had best be gettin’ some edu-macation if we were to get the ball rolling in the right direction. Boy did it roll!

I was struck by two things. First, homeschooling is eaten up with Christianity and a Christian worldview. This particular conference is organized under a Christian statement of faith, but the materials we scoured were by and large based in a solidly biblical Christianity. Secondly, homeschool parents are fiercely small government in their politics. Now this doesn’t define many homeschoolers I’m sure, but it sure is consistent. The conclusion I came to was that I wasn’t against either of those things. In fact, I cannot imagine our home without Christ and a devotion to bringing our children up to love him and serve him. Nor can I imagine a world in which I cannot decide what is best for my child and implement a system of child-rearing based on those convictions. So at heart, I’m already a homeschool dad.

Now I don’t have a beard, we didn’t name our children after minor prophets, and Marie certainly does not wear denim in any form that resembles a dress, but that stereotype is so cliche. In fact, the more into the conference we got, the less we noticed the clothing around us and the more we noticed the dispositions and attitudes of our newfound contemporaries. The culture of family was all around. Children and parents were largely inseparable. Politeness and service came before getting our way and being first. It was downright pleasant. That’s when I started to realize that the stereotype is completely deserved. Except I wasn’t thinking of homeschoolers.

Since these folk tend to swim against the current of popular politics and culture a bit, it is easy to poke fun. After all, it is much more enjoyable to stay within the mainstream of society, blending in to the scenery and pointing out the differences of others. But looking like everyone else is easy and standing up for convictions is noble. It dawns on me that maybe homeschoolers aren’t the ones who easily fall into a stereotype. Maybe it’s the rest of popular culture. Maybe it’s all those people who have bought into the notion of a two-income family where mom and dad ship the kids off to be raised by their peers and their teachers and their youth pastor. Maybe it’s all those folks who think that lifestyle is the best way to educate their children – from manners, to work ethic, to relationships, ad infinitum.

What I observed at the Midwest Homeschool Convention was refreshing. And I found my own stereotypes vanishing as I observed those around me. I went in thinking I was very different. I came out realizing how very similar I am. Christ, at the center of it all, has a way of doing that.

Of Bobs and Buns

Marie and I are in Cincinnati at the Midwest Homeschool Convention. We have been in the check-in line at the Millennium Hotel for the past 30 minutes and are probably 1/4 way up to the front. I’m amazed at how many people are here. If there weren’t so many denim skirts, hair buns, and children named after prophets, I would think we’re at Disney World. I just hope the ride at the end of this line is worth it.

Out of Africa

I traveled to South Africa last summer for ten days and returned home just after my youngest son’s second birthday. When our team landed in Atlanta, we still had one more leg of the trip to go – a short flight to Louisville. But there in the terminal holding a Sports Illustrated with a montage cover of the Lakers and the Celtics, I got the notion that maybe I shouldn’t be on that last flight that would take me all the way back to Kentucky. You see, I grew up only an hour and a half from the Atlanta airport and my parents still live in my hometown. My wife and kids were visiting in Alabama and were going to be coming to stay with my folks on their way back through to Kentucky that very night. It seemed to me a good idea that I ditch the plane in favor of a quick ride home from my Mom or Dad and surprise Marie and the boys with an early reunion. What a plan! I made the call.

Three and a half hours and a Waffle House meal later, I was sitting in my parent’s living room listening to them tell me how scruffy I looked. I was indeed scruffy. I had shaved my head for the trip and it had about twelve days worth of growth on it, as did my gotee – which had undergone some sort of metamorphosis and now went by the name Larry. My cheeks were as full of hair as they ever could be and I was extremely puffy from the lack of sleep I endured on the trip and the grueling 18 + hour plane ride back to the States. Scruffy.

My family did indeed come rumbling in later that evening with Marie explaining why they were so late and asking if anyone had heard from me. After all, I was supposed to be back in Frankfort by now and she hadn’t been able to get me on my cell phone. From my hiding place in the foyer I surveyed the gifts lying on the dining room table which I had purchased for them in Kruger National Park and waited for the moment to spring out and land the knock-out punch surprise. No one expected me to be there.

My mom and sister ushered Marie and the boys into the dining room and began to show them all the gifts that had come from Africa for them. They played it perfect – like it was all very normal that the gifts should be there. Marie was the first to balk at this, questioning with some urgency where these things had come from. My mother said, “They came today,” with a cool that would have made Johnny Depp jealous. Not satisfied, Marie kept pressing about the gifts. So I casually stepped around the corner and said, “I brought them.”

Mayhem.

Marie was elated and probably screamed that little woman scream that sounds more like an EEK! than a scream. Connor ran around the table and bear-hugged me and immediately wanted to be held. Charles…well Charles didn’t do anything. He was standing on the dining room table staring in wild amazement at this scruffy man who had just stepped into his life. After I kissed Marie and broke free from Connor I made my move for Charles. He would have none of that. He immediately sought refuge from the stranger in my mother’s arms and began to cry that nervous don’t-take-me-away cry. I decided I did look a little different from the last time he saw me and being as young as he was, it wasn’t too unbelievable that he had some reservations as to who I really might be. I decided I would leave him in his doubt except to say, “Charles. It’s daddy.” Nope. Unbelief.

We caught up and everyone listened as I regaled them with wild stories of lions and cheetahs, elephants and zebras, leopards and water buffalo, and Soto people who sang and danced their way to the offering plate. Everyone was glad to be together. Charles had even started to play a little, that is until I would try to reach from him. Then he would immediately retreat, so unsure and scared.

As the evening wore on and everyone around him was just so accepting of this strange man, Charles’ nerves wore a little thin and he started letting his displeasure with the whole situation be known by acting out a little. At first it was slightly ignoring instructions. Pretty soon it was full-blown in-your-face disobedience. When he told Marie NO! I decided it had gone far enough and I said in my best Daddy voice, “Charles, no. We do not correct Mommy. Come here.”

I scooped him up in my arms and carried him to the sitting room near the front door and away from everyone else. Charles was in full panic mode at this point but I was undeterred. I took him away and I sat him firmly on my lap and explained to him his sin. Then I disciplined him.

When I sat him back up to face me, he had tears in his eyes but there was something else there too. Recognition. I explained to him again his sin and he gently placed his hand on my arm, looked me in the eyes and said softly, “DaDa.”

He didn’t know his Father until his Father brought him into line and showed him his boundaries and reminded him of authority. His Father was at first unrecognizable. Even with all the presents, the gifts, the stuff, he couldn’t see it. Then discipline brought his Father back to his little mind. He knew then that the hand that had scolded him was the hand that cared for him. From that moment on, he was safe and assured in his Father’s presence and confident of his Father’s love.

Get Your Head in the Game

One of my favorite worship leaders, Bob Kauflin, tells the story of a Christian woman serving the Lord in South Africa. On one occasion, she was visiting a health clinic and heard the beautiful and “haunting” harmonies of some Zulu women singing. She asked, with tears in her eyes, if anyone knew what the words of the song were. Her translator and friend said, “Sure. If you boil the water, you won’t get dysentery.”

Music can move us emotionally even if the words of the song are totally inappropriate. That may be one of the worst things the American church has adopted in the way of evaluating good music. Many times we don’t care what the song is saying as long as it makes us feel good. Sadly, we apply this evaluation to some of the best Christian songs and hymns. I’ve heard men and women in the church completely clobber majestic hymns or praise songs just because it doesn’t fit their sensibilities or preference. It can be difficult for us to look into the message of a song if the vehicle carrying that message isn’t up to our tastes.

I’ve never been a part of a church that engaged in the so-called “worship wars” – where church members decide to be divisive over the style of music sung. Part of this is because I personally have a love for any song of the church, old or new, that has a strong doctrinal and theological foundation. Very rarely do I find myself drawn to a song simply because of it’s sound. I’m much more interested in the words. When we hear a song that may not be right down our alley, it is good to ask ourselves, “What am I saying about God or to God in this song?” This is so helpful because it draws our attention to the real purpose of singing in corporate worship. It helps us to get past the fact that we “feel” like the song is too stodgy or too upbeat and focus on the praise and thanksgiving we are giving to God through it.

I can remember the first time I heard a song by Sovereign Grace Ministries called Soli Deo Gloria. I was excited to hear it because I had read the words and my heart agreed with everything in the song. Yet when the song began to play on my car stereo, I was dismayed to hear the echoes of some tacky hair-metal band straight out of the 80′s! The song’s style was completely cheesy and the vocalist didn’t help much by continually screaming his part at the end of the song. I must confess that I didn’t even make it through the entire song the first time. Even now, it isn’t a song that I would regularly listen to, but I have grown to appreciate the deep message of the lyrics and even accept them in the style offered on the CD. And believe me, for me to rock out to some 80′s hair-metal song while singing one of the cornerstone truths of our protestant heritage is really saying something indeed.

Be very concerned about the words you are singing in worship. Engage with your worship leader on every song. Think deeply about what you are saying and be moved deeply in your praise to the God who has given us music. He has commanded us to sing His praises (Psalm 33:1,3; Eph. 5:19; Col. 3:16). So sing them with your brain engaged and your heart on fire!

Head Down and Mouth Shut

In the early 1800′s, baptist churches in America had reached a point where it was becoming increasingly difficult to maintain doctrinal purity through creeds. Church members were also beginning what we know today as the church hop. Now it wasn’t what you have in mind when you think of church hopping, as a matter of fact, an excommunicated member may have serious trouble finding admission to another church. The “mutual oversight”, as Greg Wills puts it in his excellent book, Democratic Religion, was so stringent that churches had to watch themselves closely to keep from getting other churches in the association all worked up for a council, which would convene to scrutinize the erring congregation.

A member at LaGrange brought a charge against his own church that they were in the practice of “tolerating dancing.” LaGrange themselves requested that three churches send a contingent over in order to help consider the charge. Churches were regularly “disfellowshipped” through loose interchurch discipline, although they refused to call it that in order to maintain autonomy.

They really got worked up over membership though. You’ll enjoy this so I’m going to post it in its entirety. This is from David Shaver, editor of the Christian Index from that time:

They tell us that by virtue of “the time-honored Baptist principles of church independence and the right of private judgment,” our people everywhere “must receive evangelical Baptist churches into associational fellowship, without restrictions on the question of communion.”

Walk Hard

Last Tuesday I bore the burden of our youngest son, Charles, while on a 2.3 mile hike. He was strapped to my back and having a great time while I was huffing and puffing along. The walk was fun and refreshing and energizing – but it was hard. You see, I’m an Associate Pastor and a seminary student all while being a dad to two very energetic young men and a husband to a very hard-working woman. The demands of life have taken their toll on me the past two months and I’m tired. But there is encouragement.

Paul begins a walk in Ephesians chapter 4. It’s a hard walk too, and comes with all the pressures of life. Except the expectation of his walk is not just to make it up the trail and back, but to walk in a manner that fits our calling as Christians.

God has chosen and called each one of us. In love and through His kind intentions, He has freely bestowed on us redemption, forgiveness, and inheritance. According to the riches of His grace, He lavished on us a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of Him. There is a surpassing greatness of His power toward us that works in accordance with the strength of His might that is demonstrated in Jesus – who is over all things, being raised from the dead and having all things put under His feet, being the Lord of His church.

Before, we were dead in our sins and children of wrath, but God made us alive together with Christ. And so that He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us, he raised us up and seated us with Christ in the heavenly places. Now you can be sure you are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for God’s own purposes. So we should remember that living with Christ is not a right given to all men, but that at one time we were seperated from Christ. We were strangers and excluded and had no hope. We were truly without God. But because of Jesus’ work, we have been brought near to God. Jesus is our peace – He abolished the enmity of the law by bringing it together in one man on the cross. And He has proclaimed it to us and made us fellow citizens, building us into the framework of His holy temple.

He is now making known this truth through the church. That is, He is extending his saving love through the whole world because that is His eternal purpose. Oh, that we may be strengthened  with power through His Spirit so that Christ may dwell in our hearts through faith. May we be able to understand the deepness and richness of Christ’s love for us. It is for His glory alone!

Now, walk in a way that will prove worthy of all that He has done for you. You former stranger – now at home in the courts of God. You former hater of the Lord – now made in the image of His very beloved. You former lust-filled narcissist – now selfless lover of righteousness. You former corpse – now life-filled, animated companion of Christ. WALK!

Walk in a way that looks different from the others in this world who are still dead and strangers and haters. Imitate God and walk in love. Walk in the light and not in the darkness. Walk with wisdom and be careful in it. The days are short and you must make the most of your walk.

Be encouraged brothers and sisters. God has done great things. Walk in a way that proves He has done great things in you. When you do, no matter the burden you bear, you will walk and not grow weary. You may even run and not faint. The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak. Keep walking.

Born Under a Sad Planet

Hypocrisy is a disease of which most men seek the remedy at some time in their lives. It is very often so vague in us that only others can see it. Just like the woman who stands before the mirror as an anorexic, so the hypocrite can see nothing but a distorted image when everyone around him can see it plainly. The pretender can sometimes be so immersed in his act that he will actually believe himself a knight in shining armor. Yet he will be Don Quixote fighting windmills of unbelief.

There is not a man living or dead who at one time did not deal with a hypocritical heart. Each of us faces ourselves at times when we would rather not see what is really there. Then we are faced with a radical decision. We must decide whether we will deal with self or let self rule. Our inner selves at times may become much like a despotic king, tyrannically forcing it’s subjects (the mind, will, desire, etc.) to turn in rebellion against God. When we notice this king gaining a strategic position we must unseat him. Self must be brought into subjection.

Why Am I Silent?

Here are my boys. The word “here” is an adverb indicating the position or place of my children. In this case, the sentence is pointing to the picture, yet it gives a sense of proximity or closeness. “Are” functions as the verb and is a form of being. It tells us that my boys exist. The adjective “my” describes the boys. They are mine and belong to me although they are not my property. The subject of the sentence and the word to which every other word points is “boys”. This word describes something about them. It identifies them as male and it is generally used to denote male humanity. It is plural so that you would understand that I have more than one boy.

A simple sentence. Here are my boys. I can write this sentence because it is true. The photograph is a testimony to its validity. This is not fanciful imagination. These boys exist and they are mine. They exist because I married a woman whom I love very much. They are the product of our love as a gift and reward from God. They are alive. They live with Marie and I. We feed them, dress them, teach them, clean them, love them, shelter them, protect them. They are ours and we face a responsibility because they exist. They are growing as any normal boy would. They learn new words, motor skills, patterns of behavior, how to respond to stimuli, interaction – the list could go on and on. They are becoming men.

Benefits of Church Discipline – Part Five

This is a wonderful story of redemption and what church discipline is all about. I personally know John and he is a wonderful encouragement to our entire congregation. Read and enjoy the article and then stop and pray for John that he would continue to have victory over his sin and that the Lord would work in his life through the circumstances that he has brought upon himself and his family. He is facing some serious consequences and has a loving wife and three wonderful boys awaiting the final word. Use this in your ministries and churches. Church discipline is a no-compromise area of church life. We simply have the choice to obey or be disobedient in this.

Gambling, embezzling & church discipline

by David Roach FRANKFORT, Ky. (BP)–John Fluharty says church discipline saved his life.

Even though Fluharty was a member of Buck Run Baptist Church in Frankfort, Ky., he still had major sins in his life. A gambling addiction snowballed until he began embezzling from his employer to fund his habit. But when Buck Run and its pastor, Hershael York, intervened with church discipline, Fluharty repented and began to grow spiritually like never before.

Benefits of Church Discipline – Part Four

There are probably not too many cinematic moments greater than the courtroom scene in A Few Good Men where Lt. Kaffee grills Col. Nathan Jessep about his involvement in the death of one of his marines. In a gamble as big as taking a job at the University of Alabama, Kaffee presses Jessep for a confession. Appealing to his pride as a marine and his pride in himself he pokes and prodes the senior officer until he snaps at the insolence of this young upstart who’s never held a rifle in combat.

Jessep: “You want answers?”

Kaffee: “I want the truth!!”

Jessep: “You can’t handle the truth!!”

You almost root for Jessep’s prideful defense of his own mistake. You almost root for this man to win, for him to show this boy that the party’s over and daddy’s gonna get up and go home after giving him a swift spanking. It’s just one big testosterone filled moment.

Most of us can identify with the good Colonel though, not because we’ve ever had to stand on a wall and protect the country, but because we all know what it feels like to be pushed. We know what it’s like to harbor some secret that we desperately want to let out but just can’t. Most of the time we don’t tell because of the consequences we know will follow immediately after, whether it’s loss of respect, loss of position, or even a loss of the secret itself.

Praying Well

One of my pet peeves is praying only for sick people. I know that praying for the sick is important and should be a priority. I know that it is something that can bring great blessing to the church and great glory to God. If I were sick, or my family were sick, I would want you to pray for them. My gripe is that churches can fall into a rut when it comes to prayer. It has been my experience in most every church I have ever attended that the prayer time was actually a list of who was in the hospital, who was down with the flu, or who was about to pass away. It always seemed to me in those moments that we were praying for what we knew would already happen.

How to Have a Theological Disagreement

Those of you who know me know that I have had quite a bit of disruption in my personal life caused by theological disagreement. I’m not going to go into the nitty gritty of those stories firstly because I hope they are part of my past and not an ongoing part of my present. Secondly because I want to honor those people who have disagreed with me and keep their reputation as clean as I possibly can. I will say that some of the most miserable times in my life were direct results of the confrontations due to theological difference. These were times that caused extreme anxiety, emotional pain, and agonizing stress. I cannot be too clear on this point that theological disagreement has, in my life at least, brought about some of the most painful moments.

As I was packing the final items into our van for our move to Frankfort last friday, I experienced yet another unprovoked confrontation due to theological disagreement.

Benefits of Church Discipline – Part Three

You cannot participate in church discipline if you do not know the people within your fellowship.

To claim that your church practices church discipline presupposes that your church knows one another. Because church discipline is not done primarily on a professional basis (i.e. the members themselves must be actively involved and not just the paid pastoral guys), everyone in the church must know and be concerned with each other. Church discipline cannot work in a vacuum. There are instances I suppose, where discipline would be applied to a brother or sister you did not know, but try to imagine that being the rule and not the exception.

Discipline will build strong relationships. It lets others into your personal world. It opens up your own weaknesses to the fellowship. It allows others to see you in particularly vulnerable and painful moments. When relationships include this sort of intimacy, there is a natural cementing of friendship and brotherhood. Some of the closest friends that I have are men that I have been involved with in a disciplining relationship – both giving and recieving. The world would say that this drives a wedge in between people, and to be sure, it probably has to some in the church. Yet, when Spirit-filled believers lovingly bring the holiness of God to bear on each others attitudes and conduct, there exists a natural and ever-strengthening tide of friendship and familial bond that can only be forged in the fires of hardship.

Church discipline cauterizes the church from drifting apart and practicing “island Christianity”, where one person’s life doesn’t touch another’s. It will either build strong bonds or reveal that the bond never even existed at all. Both are good revelations. Both prove the need for discipline and the reality of community in the fellowship.

Benefits of Church Discipline – Part Two

Christians sin. I know, I know, stop the presses! Call an executive meeting and kick the dog! I’ve just solved all the pastoral woes for everyone wondering why in the world their people are so miserable. Well, that’s it – Christians sin.

Which one of us hasn’t used the tired old joke, “Boy I would sure love the ministry if it wasn’t for all the people.” Because most of us are reservationists around here I’ll bet all of you have at one point or another. The number one downfall to the church (which is made up of people, both theologically and practically speaking) is people. People consistently let other people down. They run about and generally make a mess of everything. Not even Jesus surrounded himself with perfect people; look at the disciples for goodness sake.

So if the church is people and people are a bunch of sinning fools, then what do we do? We discipline them, that’s what.

Benefits of Church Discipline – Part One

I have been on both sides of the table when it comes to church discipline. It is most definitely a painful experience to have your darkest sins laid out on a table in full view of the ones you love and respect. It is also most definitely a painful experience to lay out on a table the darkest sins of those you love and respect. Church discipline, in its delivery and execution is one of the most excruciating parts of the Christian life.

Most of us, if we are really honest, know what it means to be confronted in sin. Everyone harbors little pet sins that we think are safe and beyond the view of those we wish to impress. The problem with pet sins is that they can’t be house-broken. Any pet sin, if kept long enough, will eventually bite the hand that feeds it. And once you’re bit, the mark is painful and obvious.