The Discipline of the Church (concluded)

THE problem of disfellowshiping mem­bers is not a pleasant one to handle. It is the last thing that should be done. It should never be done, under any circum­stances, until the instruction of the Bible has been followed. After every sincere ef­fort has been put forth to get the sin­ner to reform his ways, but without suc­cess, then the church must act. There are certain disciplines that must be maintained else the church will lose her self-respect. How can the church preach standards she does not respect? "Thou therefore which teachest another, teachest thou not thyself? thou that preachest a man should not steal, dost thou steal?" (Rom. 2:21).

In Testimonies to the Church, volume 3, pages 265, 266, we read:

If the sins of the people are passed over by those in responsible positions, His frown will be upon them, and the people of God, as a body, will be held responsible for those sins. . . .

If wrongs are apparent among His people, and if the servants of God pass on indifferent to them, they virtually sustain and justify the sinner, and are alike guilty and will just as surely receive the dis­pleasure of God; for they will be made responsible for the sins of the guilty. . . . Those who have excused these wrongs have been thought by the people to be very amiable and lovely in disposi­tion, simply because they shunned to discharge a plain Scriptural duty. The task was not agreeable to their feelings; therefore they avoided it.

Certainly, my dear brethren, we have a solemn responsibility none should shirk. As ministers in God's cause we have the responsibility of giving spiritual leader­ship. If we fear to lead because of man, how can we preach a message that says, "Fear God, and give glory to him"?

At present too much of the minister's time is being consumed with problems aris­ing because of easy divorce and remarriage. Why is this? Have we failed to develop a consistent program of education for our young people as to the meaning of mar­riage? How many sermons do we preach during the year on the sanctity of marriage?

Did we ever conduct a class for the youth of the church during which time thorough instruction was given as to the spiritual im­plications of marriage? Repeatedly divorced people or those near divorce come to us asking questions such as these: "Does the Church Manual say that I can get a di­vorce?" "If I can prove my husband com­mitted adultery, can I get married to an­other man?" "We were divorced without Biblical grounds, but I think my wife has committed adultery since our divorce. Wouldn't that set me free and give me the right to marry another woman?" "Will I be put out of the church if I get married again, even though there has been no adul­tery?" "How long will I have to stay out? Does the Church Manual say that I can get back in five years? I think I could go to some other church and get back now."

We may smile a bit at these questions, but, really, they should be tremendously sobering. They are an indictment of the ministry and our teachers as well. There seems to be very little concern on the part of any about the terrible sin of divorce. The evil results of divorce seem to bring little or no compunction of conscience to the guilty parties. The only concern seems to be in getting a divorce, and getting re­married irrespective of the reproach brought upon the church. Much of our time is spent helping frustrated people salve their conscience after the sin of divorce has been committed. Should we not spend more time educating our people as to the sacredness—the binding contract—of marriage? Not only should this instruction be given before divorce, but long before the mar­riage.

We Preach to Save All

I hear you say, "I have so many divorce cases in my congregation, how dare I preach that the contract is for life and that divorce is a sin?" I know the problem is very real, but is surrender to it the solution? No ordinary type of preaching and teaching will be effective. It must be so sincere, so Biblical, so kind, and so firm that the peo­ple will know and understand that we are God's man trying to save them. To refrain from preaching about the ideal because it has been broken would be an admission on our part that we no longer believe in the ideal. We do not stop preaching against stealing because there are those in the congregation who have stolen. Why do we preach, anyhow? Is it to salve the sinner or to save the sinner? Is it to awaken the conscience or to deaden the conscience? As ministers of the gospel we should be able to say with Joseph: "It was not you that sent me hither, but God." If God sent us hither, if God places us behind the pulpit, then we are speaking for Him. Let us speak then—with a heart of love that reaches for every sinner no matter how deep he has fallen. Brethren, distrust the voices that whisper to your soul that your congre­gation will not appreciate the plain preach­ing of the Word. They want to follow the Lord. Do not let your voice be muffled by a few in the church who might be vocal, but are unconverted. We preach neither to the minority nor to the majority. We preach to all to save all.

Don't Give False Security

After we have done our best to save those who deliberately live in sin and find they continue in sin, what shall we do? Then comes the very unpleasant and heart-rend­ing task of putting sinners out of the church. The deliberate sinner must not have false security. He must not continue in a spir­itual fellowship to cover his unspiritual ac­tivities. This would not save him but de­stroy him. The quickest and best way for the sinner to be saved is to become con­scious of his sin. G. Campbell Morgan says:

Let him be the heathen man, the Gentile, the publican whom the Son of Man came to seek and save. That is what he is to become to you. He is to be the man that you will pray for, as you never did before; for whom you will watch, and whom you will follow to the ends of the earth, in order to bring him back, won by the compassion of your love. That is Christian discipline. Not the anathema that rejoices in its curse, but the wail and the agony, and the patience, and the sacrifice which never lets this man alone until he is home again. "Let him be unto thee as the Gentile and the publican." We must put him outside. We must not allow him to have the shelter of the church; but the moment he is over the borderline, after him, after him, though the way be rough and long, and it means wounding and suffering; never give up hope. . . . Let him know that there is no shelter for a man who persistently sins. Do not lull him into false security by allowing him to stay in the fellowship, and imagine that he may continue in sin that grace may abound. The church must be pure. No consideration of delicacy, of sensitiveness, of peace, must prevent our loyalty to Christ.— Westminster Pulpit, vol. 5, pp. 230-232.

The Denominational Policy

Because we are dealing with the problem of divorce and remarriage so much today, it might be well to mention again the de­nominational position. May I say, too, that it is the responsibility of every worker to follow denominational practice, unpleasant though it may sometimes be. The denom­inational position is as follows:

1.  In the sermon on the mount Jesus declared plainly that there could be no dissolution of the marriage tie, except for unfaithfulness to the mar­riage vow.

2.  Even though the Scriptures allow divorce for "unfaithfulness to the marriage vow," earnest en­deavors should be made by those concerned to ef­fect a reconciliation, urging the innocent spouse to forgive the guilty one and the latter to amend his (or her) conduct, so that the marriage union may be maintained.

3.  In the event that reconciliation is not effected, the innocent spouse has the Biblical right to secure a divorce, and also to remarry.

4.  A spouse found guilty of adultery by the church shall be subject to church discipline. Even though the transgressor may be genuinely repentent, he (or she) shall be placed under censure for a stated period of time, in order to express the church's abhorrence of such evil. The transgressor who gives no evidence of full and sincere repentance shall be disfellowshiped. In case the violation has been so flagrant as to bring public reproach on the cause of God, the church, in order to maintain its high standards and good name, shall disfellowship the individual even though there is evidence of repentance.

5. A guilty spouse, who is divorced, has not the moral right to marry another while the innocent spouse still lives and remains unmarried and chaste. Should he (or she) do so, he (or she), if a member, shall be disfellowshiped. The person whom he (or she) marries, it a member, shall also be disfellow­shiped.

6.  When a divorce is secured by either spouse, or when both mutually secure a divorce on any grounds other than that of "unfaithfulness to the marriage vow," the party or parties securing the divorce shall come under the censure of the church except as provided later in this paragraph. In the event that either spouse who is a church member remarries—unless in the meantime the other party has remarried, committed adultery, or died—the one remarrying shall be disfellowshiped from the church. The person whom he (or she) married shall also be disfellowshiped. . . .

7.  A guilty spouse who has violated his (or her) marriage vow and has been divorced and disfel­lowshiped and who has remarried, or a person who has been divorced on other than the grounds set forth in section 1 and has remarried, and who has been disfellowshiped from the church, shall be considered as standing under the disapproval of the church and thus ineligible for membership except as hereinafter provided.

8.    ... In a case where any endeavor by a gen­uinely repentant offender to bring his marital status into line with the divine ideal presents apparently insuperable problems, his (or her) plea for read-mittance shall before final action is taken be brought by the church through the pastor or district leader to the conference committee for counsel and recom­mendation as to any possible steps that the re­pentant one (or ones) may take to secure such re-admittance.

9.  Readmittance to membership of those who have been disfellowshiped for reasons given in the foregoing sections shall be on the basis of rebaptism.

10.  When a person . . . is . . . readmitted to church membership, . . . every care should be ex­ercised to safeguard the unity and harmony of the church by not giving such a person responsibility as a leader; especially in an office which requires the rite of ordination, unless by very careful counsel. —Church Manual, pp. 241, 242.

Discharge Our Responsibility in Love

My appeal is that we as workers in God's cause cheerfully accept and discharge our responsibility. We should be conscious at all times of the instruction of Paul to Tim­othy: "Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, ex-hort with all longsuffering and doctrine. . . . Watch thou in all things, endure af­flictions, do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry" (2 Tim. 4:2,5).

In our ministry there must be firmness and courage, tenderness and sympathy. We must be fitted to lead, "prepared to endure and able to preserve." Charles Spurgeon says, "In grace, you should be head and shoulders above the rest of the people, able to be their father and counsellor. ... If such gifts and graces [of God] be not in you and abound, it may be possible for you to succeed as an evangelist, but as a pastor you will be of no account."—Lecture to My Students, p. 49.

When disciplining members is necessary we must act, not with a spirit of revenge and prejudice, not with a hard-fisted at­titude, but with the spirit and love of Christ. Unpleasant though the task may­be, under God we have no alternative. We are not in the ministry to be loved, adored, praised, by all the people all the time.

We are, however, in the ministry to live and preach the truth to all the people all the time and   to uphold the standards of the church not only some of the time in some of the churches but all the time in all the churches. We serve the same God, we have the same message, we have the same hope. Let us then speak the same language. Fully consecrated to God and united as His shepherds we can, under God, lead our people on to higher spiritual ground. Let us preach the doctrines of Christ, and, above all, live a life in harmony with our preaching.

The most precious gift to the church in any age is a man—a person who lives as the embodiment of God's will. A man who will inspire those around him with great faith in what grace can do for us all. God grant that we all, pastors, evangelists, Bible instructors, teachers, colporteurs, and office workers, constitute a mighty spiritual bul­wark for the cause of God.