SEVEN PILLARS OF THE CHURCH
Our lesson this morning and evening comes from,
Proverbs 9:1 Wisdom
has built her house, She has hewn out her seven pillars;
The number 7 in the Bible
is used to symbolize perfection, fullness, abundance, rest, and completion. A
few examples of how this number is used are as follows:
Altogether the Bible uses the number 7 433 times, so it is very significant number.
The word pillar has a couple different meanings. Webster defines it this way:
1. The general and
popular term for a firm, upright, insulated support for a superstructure; a
pier, column, or post; also, a column or shaft not supporting a superstructure,
as one erected for a monument or an ornament.
2. Figuratively, that
which resembles such a pillar in appearance, character, or office.
The Bible uses the word pillar both literally and figuratively, but for our lesson today I mainly concerned about how this word is used figuratively. Sometime this term is used to describe those who are strong leaders in the church.
Galatians 2:9 and
when James, Cephas, and John, who seemed to be pillars, perceived the grace
that had been given to me, they gave me and Barnabas the right hand of
fellowship, that we should go to the Gentiles and they to the
circumcised.
These men were great
leaders in the church and they stood firm in God’s truth. Now a pillar must
have a foundation to stand on and Jesus is the chief cornerstone of the church
and the truth that came through Him is the foundation.
Ephesians 2:19 Now,
therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with
the saints and members of the household of God,
20 having been built on the foundation of the apostles and
prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone,
The Bible pictures the
church as a great spiritual house of God. As Paul told Timothy:
1 Timothy 3:15 but if
I am delayed, I write so that you may know how you ought to conduct
yourself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar
and ground of the truth.
Finally Bible makes it
clear that all Christians make up the house of God.
Ephesians 2:21 in whom
the whole building, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the
Lord, 22 in whom you also are
being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.
1 Peter 2:5 you
also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy
priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus
Christ.
So you and I will
determine how strong the church will be based on our ability to build upon the
foundation of God’s truth. So, we are going to be looking at seven pillars that
must be in place in ever church in order for it to be a strong productive
church for the Lord.
1. A Converted membership
The first pillar that
must be in place is Christians themselves because without Christians there can
be no church because we make up the body of Christ. However, we cannot just
call ourselves a Christian and be one because we must be converted to Christ
based on His truth because His Word is truth Jn. 17:17 and only it can set us
free. As Jesus said,
John 8:31 If you
abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed.
32 "And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall
make you free."
Unfortunately there are
many good sincere people out in the religious world who think that have been
set free from their sins and they think they are a pillar in the church. Paul
describes them best as he describes some of his fellow Jews of his day:
Romans 10:1
Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for
Just like these Jews many today have a great zeal for God and they will even do many good works in the name of God, but the problem is that they have traded the truth for a lie. They allowed themselves to be tricked into thinking they are Christians and that are in His fold and devil loves it when this happens. I want you to understand that just doing good works in the name of God will not get you to heaven because you must be a Christian. Jesus talks about this in,
Matthew 7:21 "
Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' shall enter the kingdom of heaven,
but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. 22 "Many will say to Me in
that day, 'Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in
Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?'
23 "And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you;
depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!'
24 " Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine,
and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the
rock: 25 "and the rain
descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it
did not fall, for it was founded on the rock.
26 "But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and
does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the
sand: 27 "and the rain
descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it
fell. And great was its fall."
Jesus makes it clear that simply doing good works or saying Lord Lord is not enough to get you into heaven. No, you must do the will of God and it only when obey all God’s commands that you can be known by Christ and be like the man who built his on the rock.
Many in the religious world teach most of the truth when it
comes to becoming a Christian. However, most of anything will not make the
complete truth. Most will teach that you must believe the Jesus is the Son of
God as Jn. 8:24 states. They will even teach that you must repent and start
living your for God as Lk 13:3 states. They will even say that you must confess
Jesus as your Lord as
Now all of these things belief, repentance and confessing Jesus as Lord are absolutely necessary to become a Christian, but it is not everything that is necessary because notice what Jesus told Nicodemus in,
John 3:3 Jesus
answered and said to him, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is
born again, he cannot see the
If you do not enter the
Matthew 28:19 "Go
therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of
the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
At the birth of the
church we find his disciples doing this very thing in Acts 2. They taught the
Jews about Jesus death, burial resurrection and 3000 people that day were
pricked in their heart and they wanted to know what they must do and Peter told
them:
Acts 2:38 Repent, and let every one of you be baptized
in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins;
This same message is
taught throughout the book of Acts and Peter makes it clear that one must be
baptized in order to be saved:
1 Peter 3:21 There is also an antitype which now saves us –
baptism
If you have never been
baptized for the remission of your sins and you were taught that baptism is
just something you do to symbolize that you have already been saved, then I
want you to understand that you are not a Christian and you cannot become a pillar
in God’s church until you obey all of God’s Word.
Once you obey this truth
and you become a Christian you must continue to grow in God’s Word and His
grace so that you can become a strong pillar in God’s church. As Paul said,
Colossians 3:1 If
then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where
Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God.
2 Set your mind on things above, not on things on the
earth. 3 For you died, and
your life is hidden with Christ in God.
When Christians learn to
grow, then they will become a strong pillar in the church and those that are
pillars will not constantly need to be encouraged to:
Instead they will be the
example and they will encourage the new Christians and the weaker ones to
become stronger in the faith so they to can become a pillar in the church.
2. Pure and sincere worship of God
The second pillar that
ever church must have is a pure and sincere worship of God. Again, this is area
that many in religious world want to do it there way, by either adding or
taking away from what God’s Word authorizes. If we want the church to be
pleasing to God and to be a pillar, then we need to listen to what Jesus told
the Samaritan woman at the well:
John 4:23
"But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship
the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship
Him. 24 "God is Spirit,
and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth."
Notice Jesus did not say
that God was seeking worshipers that would worship Him their way, no, He said
that we must worship Him in Spirit and truth. Both of these are necessary to be
pleasing to God. In spirit means from the heart and we are to fully engage our
mind and our emotions when we worship Him. Worshiping God in truth means that
we worship Him according to His Word because His Word is truth.
No matter how smart we
think we are or much better we think we can make the worship service, we need
to understand that God wants us to do it His way, which is why Jesus used that
strong word called must. We need to follow the example of the first century
Christians that read about in,
Acts 2:42 And they
continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking
of bread, and in prayers.
You will notice as we
look at the pillars that all of them come from the foundation of the truth from
God’s Word. If we worship God any other way than his will then it considered as
vain worship as Jesus said,
Matthew 15:7
"Hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy about you, saying: 8 'These people draw near to Me
with their mouth, And honor Me with their lips, But their heart is far
from Me. 9 And in vain they
worship Me, Teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.' "
For a church to be
productive and pleasing to God we must worship God according to His Word and we
need to remember that the whole point of assembling with the saints is to
worship and be pleasing to Him. Some people like to make the assembly it a
social hour and the only reason they come is so they visit with their friends
or loved one. While gathering together creates a great opportunity for
socializing we need to understand that this is just a secondary because our
number 1 reason for assembling should be to worship God and be pleasing to Him.
So, if you come to church
just for the social aspect of it, you have your priorities wrong. When people
start making the church about them and what they can get out of it, which is
when manmade doctrines can sneak in and take over because we start shifting our
focus from being pleasing to God to being pleasing to men.
This is when things like
musical instruments are added to the services. Now a lot of people do not
understand what the big deal about using instruments are and I can understand
there thinking because for several years after I became a Christian I had that
mentality. I didn’t have problem not using them, but I thought to myself what
harm could using musical instruments do.
Well, at that point in my
life, I was still a babe in Christ and I was still relying upon my own way of
thinking, but I matured in my Christianity and realized that God was wiser than
me and that I needed to respect the authority of the Bible, I then understood
why it is wrong to add musical instruments to the worship of God.
You see the New Testament
does not authorized by command or example for us to use musical instruments it
only commands us to sing (Eph. 5:19; Col. 3:16) and history shows that for the
first 6 centuries the musical instrument was not used in the church. Since
God’s Word is the truth and we must worship Him in truth, this means that we
must only sing with our voices and not add musical instruments because if we do
we are worshiping Him in vain.
This same idea applies to
anything else our society tries to get us to add or take away from our worship
to God such as having women elders and preacher, accepting the homosexual
lifestyle, or bending God’s rules when it comes to divorce and remarriage.
If want to pleasing to
God and be a strong pillar for the church, then we must keep our worship to God
pure and sincere based on God’s Word.
3. Knowledge instead of ignorance.
The third pillar the
church must have in place is knowledge instead of ignorance. Since the church
is the pillar and ground of the truth it should be obvious that a church can
only stand strong when it is grounded and rooted in the truth. If we are ignorant
of God’s truth, how in the world do we think we can be pillar for it? When we
don’t increase our knowledge of God’s Word we open ourselves up to false
teachers twisting the Scriptures to make them teach whatever they want them to.
This is why Peter warned
us in his epistles about those who do this and he teaches us how we can make
sure that we don’t allow false teachers to trick us into believing a lie.
2 Peter 3:17 You
therefore, beloved, since you know this beforehand, beware lest you also
fall from your own steadfastness, being led away with the error of the
wicked; 18 but grow in the
grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the
glory both now and forever.
As the saying goes,
knowledge is power and the more we know about God’s truth the more powerful His
church will be.
Hebrews 4:12 For the
word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged
sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and
marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
Timothy was like a son to
Paul and he great respect for him and he wrote two letters to him teaching him
how important it was for him to study God’s Word and to teach it to others so
that they could pleasing to God. For example Paul wrote:
KJV
2 Timothy 2:15 Study
to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed,
rightly dividing the word of truth.
2 Timothy 1:13 Hold fast the pattern of sound
words which you have heard from me, in faith and love which are in Christ
Jesus.
2 Timothy 4:2 Preach the word! Be ready in season and
out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and
teaching. 3 For the time will
come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires,
because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves
teachers; 4 and they will
turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables. 5 But you be watchful in all
things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your
ministry.
Statements like these are repeated throughout
these letters and throughout the N.T. because it is absolutely essential for us
to learn as much as we can about God and what He accepts and rejects. If more
people would start studying their Bibles and being like Bereans who searched
the Scriptures daily to see if what was being spoken was true, then the false
teachers of this world would not have a leg to stand on. This is why John said,
1 John 4:1 Beloved, do not believe every
spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false
prophets have gone out into the world.
If we fail grow in our knowledge and we choose to
be ignorant of God’s Word, then we are never going to be able to test ever
spirit and we are going to find ourselves taking somebody at their Word. If
that person is false teacher or misinformed teacher then you are going to find
yourself just as lost as they are. We need take the warning in Hosea 4 to
heart. It says:
Hosea 4:6 My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.
Because you have rejected knowledge, I also will reject you from being priest
for Me; Because you have forgotten the law of your God, I also will forget your
children.
So, order for the church to be strong and effective for the Lord its members must grow in their knowledge so they can rightly divide the Word of God and so they keep false teachings out of the church.
We have examined 3 pillars that every church must have in place to strong and productive for the Lord. I hope that each of us will do our best to make our congregation have these 3 pillars in place and I hope you will join us tonight as we look a 4 more pillars that must be in place to make the church strong and productive for the Lord.
This morning we began examining the 7 pillars that every church must have to be strong and productive for the Lord. We looked at the first 3.
1. A converted membership.
2. Pure and sincere worship to God.
3. Knowledge instead of ignorance.
4. Unity that Christ
prayed for
Our fourth pillar that every church needs is the unity that Christ prayed for in John 17.
John 17:20 "
I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me
through their word; 21
"that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You;
that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me.
Being unified is
important because when Christians are on the same page and their unity is based
on the foundation of God’s Word it will make the church strong and cause it to
grow.
If we saw a building with
tall pillars and short pillars and different sizes in between, we might think
we are looking at building that needs to be in Ripley’s believe or not. Not
only would this structure look strange it would not be structurally sound.
This is the same way a
congregation looks if the Christians are not unified. Without unity there will be
strife and many difficulties, and the church will end up devouring itself,
which is why the Bible stresses the need for unity. When Jesus was accused of
casting out demons by the power of Beelzebub, He answered by saying,
Matthew 12:25
"Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation, and every
city or house divided against itself will not stand. 26 "If Satan casts out Satan,
he is divided against himself. How then will his kingdom stand?
Again this same idea
holds true for a congregation. If the Christians are not in unity, they are
divided, and nothing positive can come from that. As Jesus said, it will end in
desolation.
Now some have the wrong
idea about unity because some are teaching that we should have unity no matter
what the cost. This is why some have started allowing worldliness to enter into
the church for the sake of unity. So they are willing to compromise God’s Word
all in the name of unity. This is not the kind of unity that Jesus prayed for,
nor is it the kind of unity that we read about in the Bible.
First of all, we cannot
be in unity with the world because John says,
1 John 2:15 Do not
love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love
of the Father is not in him. 16
For all that is in the world -- the lust of the flesh, the lust of the
eyes, and the pride of life -- is not of the Father but is of the world. 17 And the world is passing away,
and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever.
John makes it clear that
we cannot compromise God’s truth to be unified with the Lord because if we do,
then we no longer have the love of the Father. When Jesus prayed for unity, He
wanted us to have the same kind of unity that He had with the Father. As you
study the life of Christ, you will discover that Jesus had perfect unity with
the Father because He was obedient to His will to the point of His death. Paul
writes:
Philippians 2:5 Let this mind be in you which was also in
Christ Jesus, 6 who, being in
the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, 7 but made Himself of no
reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness
of men. 8 And being found in
appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death,
even the death of the cross.
So our unity must be
based upon the Word of God. Remember the church is supposed to be the pillar
and ground of the truth and the only way that you and I can make the church
strong is by being unified based on that truth. If we choose to neglect God’s
Word for the sake of unity, we will no longer be unified with God as John said,
2 John 1:9 Whoever
transgresses and does not abide in the doctrine of Christ does not have God. He
who abides in the doctrine of Christ has both the Father and the Son.
There have been many that
have chosen to go beyond God’s Word and establish denominations, which are
division. Now their foundation usually does have truth in it, and their
congregation may even look similar to the church found in the Bible, but in the
end it is just a cheap imitation that will not be pleasing to God because God
does not want His church build on part of the truth, He wants it build on
nothing but the truth, which is why Paul condemned this kind of division that
we are seeing today in denominations.
1 Corinthians 1:10 Now I
plead with you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all
speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you, but that
you be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same
judgment. 11 For it has been
declared to me concerning you, my brethren, by those of Chloe's household, that
there are contentions among you. 12
Now I say this, that each of you says, "I am of Paul," or "I am
of Apollos," or "I am of Cephas," or "I am of
Christ." 13 Is Christ
divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul?
This is something that
people need to understand. Jesus died for the church, and it is not to be
divided or called after someone’s name. This is why Paul said there is but one
body in Eph. 4:4.
Paul gives us some great
advice on how can we achieve the unity that Jesus prayed for in:
Philippians 2:1
Therefore if there is any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love,
if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and mercy, 2 fulfill my joy by being
like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind. 3 Let nothing be done through
selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others
better than himself. 4 Let
each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests
of others.
When we can learn to love
one another and not be selfish about our own desires, we will have a
congregation that has what it needs to be unified based on God’s Word.
Another thing that helps
a congregation be unified is when it is organized as the Bible says it should
be.
Philippians 1:1 To all the saints in Christ Jesus who are in
Philippi, with the bishops and deacons:
God’s church will be at it
strongest when it has elders, deacons, and saints. There are no substitutes or
additions that will make it better. It is unfortunate when a congregation does
not have men who desire to serve as elders or who are not qualified to serve as
elders because when that happens, the congregation has to resort to mens’
business meetings. Now, some prefer men business meetings, but again we need to
remember God’s way is the best way not matter what we think is better.
While good things can
happen in men business meeting, sometimes they can become very heated because
you have range of new Christian mixed experienced Christians. Sometimes the
results will end up just like the men business meeting recorded in the Bible.
Acts 19:32 Some therefore cried one thing and some
another, for the assembly was confused, and most of them did not know why they
had come together.
I know this is funny, but
the sad thing is that it does happen this way sometimes. I had one preacher
that told me that their business meetings got very heated and one time two of
the men had fist fight because they could not agree. Again, this is why the
church functions at it best when Elders are in place and every congregation
should do its best to organize the church the way God wants it to be.
So, if we want the church
to be strong and fruitful for the Lord we must have unity based on God’s Word.
As David wrote:
Psalm 133:1 Behold, how good and how pleasant it is For
brethren to dwell together in unity!
5. We must labor together
The fifth pillar that
every church needs to be strong is for it members to labor together for the
cause of God. In a building with pillars, each pillar bears a load, but not all
pillars bear the same load because some support a load bearing wall, while
others help support the load of others.
Well, for the church to
be strong and productive this same concept must be in place because each member
has something they can do for the cause of God. Some will bear more of burden
and some less, but the whole point is that when a church works together in
unity using their various talents, great things can be accomplished for the
Lord. Paul illustrates the idea in,
1 Corinthians 12:13 For by
one Spirit we were all baptized into one body -- whether Jews or Greeks,
whether slaves or free -- and have all been made to drink into one Spirit. 14 For in fact the body is not one
member but many. 15 If the
foot should say, "Because I am not a hand, I am not of the body," is
it therefore not of the body? 16
And if the ear should say, "Because I am not an eye, I am not of the
body," is it therefore not of the body?
17 If the whole body were an eye, where would be the
hearing? If the whole were hearing, where would be the
smelling? 18 But now God has
set the members, each one of them, in the body just as He pleased. 19 And if they were all one
member, where would the body be?
20 But now indeed there are many members, yet one
body. 21 And the eye cannot
say to the hand, "I have no need of you"; nor again the head to the
feet, "I have no need of you."
22 No, much rather, those members of the body which seem to
be weaker are necessary. 23
And those members of the body which we think to be less honorable, on
these we bestow greater honor; and our unpresentable parts have greater
modesty, 24 but our
presentable parts have no need. But God composed the body, having given
greater honor to that part which lacks it, 25 that there should be no schism
in the body, but that the members should have the same care for one
another. 26 And if one member
suffers, all the members suffer with it; or if one member is honored,
all the members rejoice with it.
I
think this is one of the greatest illustrations that could be given because all
of us understand that if all the parts of our own body are not functioning as
they should, then we don’t function as we should. Most of us have probably
experienced a temporary injury that made it difficult for us to function as we
normally would, and I know that you certainly did not like being limited, but
this is exactly what happens in the church.
If
the members are not using their talents and joining in by laboring for the
Lord, then the body of Christ does not function as it should. Yes it may hobble
along on some crutches, but just like our body the church always functions at
it peek when all the members are involved.
Some
seem to think that they have nothing to offer the church, but I can promise you
that every person has function and purpose in God’s kingdom because He did not
create you without any talents, and if you are struggling with what you should
do, I suggest that you pray to God for wisdom in the area and trust that you
find something that you can do to help the church be stronger and more
productive. Again, Paul says,
Romans 12:4 for as
we have many members in one body, but all the members do not have the same
function, 5 so we, being many,
are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another.
We
can encourage ourselves to roll our sleeves and getting busy for the Lord by
taking to heart what Paul told the Corinthians in:
1 Corinthians 15:58 Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast,
immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is
not in vain in the Lord.
So,
if you want to help make the church stronger and more productive figure out
what your talents are and use them to bring glory and honor to God.
6.
Make heaven our goal
The
sixth pillar a church must have in place is making heaven our goal as Paul
said,
Philippians 3:14 I press
toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
Also the writer of Hebrew
says,
Hebrews 12:1Therefore
we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay
aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us
run with endurance the race that is set before us, 2 looking unto Jesus, the author
and finisher of our faith
Anytime you have a goal,
you have to make plans to reach that goal and this is what we must do as a
church. We know that God does not want us to be lukewarm in our service to Him,
He wants us to be hot, otherwise John tells us He will spew us out of His mouth
Rev. 3:16.
As we work together
toward a common goal, we need to commit to it and get it done. Sometimes
congregations will come up with some good ideas on things to do for the Lord,
but then nobody does anything about it, and those good ideas rot away, but this
should not be the case.
Just like running a long race,
we must endure and keep heading toward the goal of heaven. If we start standing
around and we do nothing, then we can end up like church at
Revelation 3:1 "And
to the angel of the church in
This church had started
the race toward heaven fervently, but somewhere down the line they allowed
themselves to get distracted and they stop running. Jesus let them know that
they must repent and get busy if they want to make it to finish line.
We have to be careful
that we don’t allow ourselves to take our eye of the goal of heaven or we could
find ourselves in the same shape as
The elders of a
congregation need to make sure that flock is being fed with the Word of God. So
Sermons and Bible classes should be coming from the Bible and not from some
other source. Again, we cannot possibly keep heaven as our goal if we are not
building on the foundation of truth.
We must encourage and
edify one another to make God’s Word and His kingdom our number 1 priority as
Jesus said,
Matthew 6:33 "But
seek first the
Just like running a long race
is not easy, neither is running the race to heaven. So, we must make the
commitment to fight the good fight of faith and to realize that standing up for
God’s truth is worth fighting for. When we can achieve this and maintain this
zeal for God, we can all say what Paul did at the end of his life:
2 Timothy 4:7 I have fought the good fight, I have finished
the race, I have kept the faith. 8
Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord,
the righteous Judge, will give to me on that Day, and not to me only but also
to all who have loved His appearing.
So,
if we want to make the church strong and productive, we need to make heaven our
goal and be willing to fight the good fight of faith so we can lay hold of
eternal life.
7.
There must be discipline
The
7th pillar that every church needs to have in place is there must be
discipline.
Philippians 3:16 let us walk by the same rule, let us be of the
same mind.
If we allow Christians to
do whatever they want without consequence, then no one is going to take the law
of God seriously. We all understand this simple concept especially when it
comes to society. We have certain rules that we must abide by or their will be
consequences. For instances if you steal something and you get caught you are
going to have to pay and fine a possible serve jail time. If you murder
someone, you will either spend a long time in prison or possibly be put to
death. Now if we did not enforce the rules and no one faced any consequences to
their crimes, what would happen? The crime rate would go up because no one
would respect the law.
The same thing can happen in the church. God didn’t give us His Word as a
suggestion; He gave it to us a command, which is why we are told to walk by the
same rule. If we do not uphold those rules and we tolerate sin in the church,
then it will not be long until sin will increase because no one will respect
the Law of God. This is why God’s Word teaches us to discipline those who stop
walking by the same rule.
2 Thessalonians 3:6 But we
command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you withdraw
from every brother who walks disorderly and not according to the tradition
which he received from us.
Paul
practiced what he preached because
1 Timothy 1:18 This
charge I commit to you, son Timothy, according to the prophecies previously
made concerning you, that by them you may wage the good warfare, 19 having faith and a good
conscience, which some having rejected, concerning the faith have suffered
shipwreck, 20 of whom are
Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I delivered to Satan that they may learn not to
blaspheme.
Discipline is done out of
love for that brother or sister in Christ, but it also done to protect the
Lord’s church because if we allow sin to remain in the church it will break it down
and more sin will occur. This idea can be seen from the OT and the NT. From the
OT, we learn that Achan took spoils from Jericho when he was not suppose to and
it made it to where Joshua and his men could not defeat the next city and they
even lost about 36 men. When Joshua prayed to God to find out what the problem
was, God’s response was:
Joshua 7:10
"Get up! Why do you lie thus on your face?
11 "
Achan’s sin had to be
dealt with before Joshua and his men could continue winning their battles,
which shows what sin in the camp can do.
Our NT example of this
comes from the Thyatira church found in Rev. 2:18ff. This church was actively
involved in serving the Lord, but they were allowing sin to overtake their
church because they were allowing a woman called Jezebel to seduce the
Christians to committing sexual immorality. This is what happens when sin is
allowed to go unpunished and we decide to ignore it, hoping it will go way.
I can promise you it is
highly unlikely that sin will go away on its own, and it must be dealt with
early on before it has time to do great damage to the church. While it is
painful to mark Christians and withdraw from them, we must do it if we want the
church to remain strong and fruitful for Lord.
In conclusion, I hope
that our congregation will always strive to have these 7 pillars in place so
that can be strong and profitable for the Lord. Again those Pillars are:
1. A converted membership.
2. Pure and sincere worship to God.
3. Knowledge instead of ignorance.
4. Unity that Christ prayed for.
5. We must labor together.
6. Make heaven our goal.
7. There must be discipline.
Adapted from Wesley Simons outline.