The Need to Care for One Another 2
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The Need to Care for One Another 2
Hebrews 12:14-17
January 18, 2009
Series 3 Sermon 66
14 Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord. 15 See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God; that no “root of bitterness” springs up and causes trouble, and by it many become defiled; 16 that no one is [apostate] sexually immoral or unholy like Esau, who sold his birthright for a single meal. 17 For you know that afterward, when he desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no chance to repent, though he sought it with tears.
Introduction
What happens when you refuse as a congregation to participate in Biblical church discipline? Are there any repercussions for neglecting this command in Scripture?
We live in a day where few churches actually practice biblical church discipline. Church has become a means of gain for many people and so the hard commands of Scripture are neglected in order to keep the offering plates full. So you have some very sad situations in churches today. This runs along denominational lines. Some churches boast of very large numbers of members when the fact is they have no idea where many of these people are that joined their church.
The question has to be asked. Why would churches allow people into their membership and then not care for them spiritually? Is it a lack of Christian love and compassion? Has church become so business like that people no longer matter just the bottom line? And in many churches the bottom line is numbers. The bottom line is measured by attendance and giving. If attendance is up and giving is good then the church is doing exactly what they are supposed to be doing in their minds.
This should not be the case. The church has been purchased by the shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ on the cross. The church is the new creation of Christ in this fallen world that is to be the city set on a hill. The church is to be salt and light in a tasteless and dark world. Therefore we are not to be like the world nor operate according to the principles of the world. We have the Word of God that tells us what we are to do. And when we take on the ways of the world we have become apostate.
One of the ways the modern church has taken on the ways of the world is the refusal to practice biblical church discipline. If you will, quickly recall with me the two forms of church discipline. There is formative church discipline which is the instruction of the congregation in the Word of God. We do that in worship. Instruction is part of the worship of God. Singing is part of worship but worship is not only singing but listening and learning and meditating and thinking is just as much a part of worship. Most people in our culture thinks that worship stops when the music stops. But all that we do in church and at home and in our own study times is formative church discipline. We are learning who our Lord is and what He desires from us.
The scary church discipline and the one that our text is speaking of today is the one that is most often ignored in our day. It is corrective church discipline. This is the time when a church member is living in outright disobedience to the Word of God and refuses to repent and be restored. The church has to act. Last week we saw in Matthew 18 that the when a brother sins we are to go to that brother ourselves and seek restoration. If the brother in sin is unrepentant we are to take one or two others with us to seek restoration again. If they are still unrepentant then the matter goes before the whole church and if the brother in sin refuses to repent then they are to be put out of the congregation. The Lord Jesus said they are to be treated like a pagan and a tax collector.
To our ears these are often harsh words. We are told that we are to be loving toward the one who is in sin. Remember the oft used phrase, “Love the sinner, hate the sin.” So in our often sin twisted view of reality we think that if we confront someone that may be indeed very harsh and unloving and what if we drive them away by our confrontation? Isn’t it better to just be nice to them and hope they repent at some point? After all in our day if someone is put out of a church for disciplinary reasons they can just go down the street and join another church usually with no questions asked.
One of our problems is that we have a very low view of the church in our day. But I want you to understand the church as the Bible understands the church. The church belongs to God not to men. To be in the church means to be under the protection of God Himself. The Lord has made the church His household or His family. He is the Father and protector of this household. In this household He has placed overseers or elders in local congregations. These elders are spiritually responsible for those in these congregations. So when a member does something that requires discipline the first steps of reconciliation or discipline is the individual members of the congregation. The Lord Jesus said for us to go to our brother who has sinned. The second step is to take another person or two with you to seek reconciliation. Within the church the elders are to be involved in this reconciliation. If that all fails then the matter is taken before the whole family. If at that point the one in sin is unrepentant then they are to be put out of the family.
Here is what I want you to understand about this. To be put out of the family of God is to be cut off from God’s grace and presence. It is like Cain being sent out to wander the earth and being in danger of other men killing him. If you are put out of the House of God then you have no access to the spiritual food and the spiritual protection that is found there.
Tom and I keep our chickens in a pen that is enclosed on the sides and the top. Why? Because inside the pen there is protection. Outside the pen there is great danger for the chickens. There are raccoons and dogs that may come up. There are bobcats and other predators that would love to feast on our chickens. Why cover it from the top? There are owls and hawks that would love to kill our chickens as well. So it is our job to make sure these predators have no access to our chickens.
What does the Bible say about Satan? 1 Peter 5:8 says, 8 Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.
So when a person is put out of the church they have no protection from the enemy. And that is why putting someone out of the church is the last resort in the reconciliation process. The family of God has a standard by which she is to live.
So if you understand the importance of the church as the household of God then you understand why putting someone out of the church seems so unloving. But it may be the most loving thing you could ever do for a family member in gross sin who refuses to repent. I want you to turn to 1 Corinthians 5 to see a real life example of corrective church discipline. Look starting in verse 1 for the problem.
It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that is not tolerated even among pagans, for a man has his father's wife.
This had obviously been a long standing problem in this church. After all Paul’s letter to the Corinthians was not emailed to them. It was hand written and then carried on foot from Paul to this church. So this ongoing problem was not going away and the church’s neglect of dealing with the man in sin would be about what would happen in most churches today. I want you to notice in verse 2 that Paul does not consider the Corinthians as loving because they have not dealt with this issue. Notice verse 2.
2 And you are arrogant! Ought you not rather to mourn? Let him who has done this be removed from among you.
This man is to be put out of the congregation. He is to be put out of the family. He is no longer to be under the protection of the Father’s house. Then in verse 3 Paul exercises his apostolic authority.
3 For though absent in body, I am present in spirit; and as if present, I have already pronounced judgment on the one who did such a thing.
Remember I said that there is protection within the household of God. Outside there are ravenous wolves and a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. Look at verse 4 and 5.
4 When you are assembled in the name of the Lord Jesus and my spirit is present, with the power of our Lord Jesus, 5 you are to deliver this man to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord.
Paul shows us that this act of putting this man out of the congregation is the most loving act that the Corinthians could do. It was loving to him because now this man would understand the seriousness of his sin and it was loving to the rest of the congregation as well. Look at verses 6-8.
6 Your boasting is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump? 7 Cleanse out the old leaven that you may be a new lump, as you really are unleavened. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. 8 Let us therefore celebrate the festival, not with the old leaven, the leaven of malice and evil, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.
The household of God is to be holy and pure. And what can not be disciplined by instruction and finally correction must be turned over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh so that the spirit may be saved on the day of the Lord. In the final verses of 1 Corinthians 5 we see what are offenses that are to be disciplined. Look starting in verse 9.
9 I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people— 10 not at all meaning the sexually immoral of this world, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters, since then you would need to go out of the world. 11 But now I am writing to you not to associate with anyone who bears the name of brother if he is guilty of sexual immorality or greed, or is an idolater, reviler, drunkard, or swindler—not even to eat with such a one. 12 For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Is it not those inside the church whom you are to judge? 13 God judges those outside. “Purge the evil person from among you.”
The most loving act the Corinthians could do was to take this man and put him out of the congregation and say to him, “Until you repent of your sin you are a pagan and a tax collector to us.” And what was the result of this act? Most people would assume in our day that this man just started living like an unbeliever and the Corinthians never had to deal with him again.
But what happened is amazing. This man when he was expelled from the church understood what I mentioned earlier. He had been cut off from the grace of God in the household of God and he understood that meant he was in serious trouble. He was now out from under the authority of Christ and the authority that Christ gives the elders of a congregation and the authority that Christ gives that whole congregation. He was now in the dominion of darkness and the roaring lion could quickly and easily devour him. Listen to 2 Corinthians 2:6-11.
6 For such a one, this punishment by the majority is enough, 7 so you should rather turn to forgive and comfort him, or he may be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow. 8 So I beg you to reaffirm your love for him. 9 For this is why I wrote, that I might test you and know whether you are obedient in everything. 10 Anyone whom you forgive, I also forgive. Indeed, what I have forgiven, if I have forgiven anything, has been for your sake in the presence of Christ, 11 so that we would not be outwitted by Satan; for we are not ignorant of his designs.
So the man is brought back into full fellowship with his family. Notice that Satan is mentioned in 1 Corinthians 5 and in 2 Corinthians 2. Satan is mentioned in the disciplining of this member and in the restoration. Why? Because we as humans tend to go to opposite extremes. First we refuse to discipline and that is sinful and then when we do discipline and the person repents we are suspicious of that repentance. We could learn a big lesson from the father in the prodigal son. We are often too much like the older brother.
What we must understand is that God is very serious about church discipline. He has outlined both types of discipline for us and given us His instructions for us to follow in church. Our major focus as a congregation should be on formative discipline in the church. That means we are careful about what we allow to go on in our services. We know what Scripture says. In worship there is to be prayer, the singing of Psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, the public reading of Scripture, the preaching of the Word (and we do that the way the Lord gave it to us-book by book, chapter by chapter, verse by verse) and then the Lord’s Supper and when we have the opportunity baptism. You need no special technology for any of these things and that is the way the Lord has designed it. You can have a biblical church worship service in the open air, in a house, or in a hut somewhere. You just need a Bible. This is what we are to do and we have the Scriptural mandate for it in Paul’s First Epistle to Timothy. The purpose statement for that letter is 1 Timothy 3:14-15.
14 I am writing these things to you, hoping to come to you before long; 15 but in case I am delayed, I write so that you will know how one ought to conduct himself in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and support of the truth.
So what is our job as individual church members in this process we call formative church discipline? What is mine and your individual responsibilities before God and toward one another not only within the confines of this congregation but also to fellow believers in other congregations that you are friends with?
That is what our passage is about today. I want you to look at Hebrews 12:15 especially the first part.
15 See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God;
In my translation the words are “See to it.” The KJV says “looking diligently.” The NKJV says “looking carefully.” From the translations you can deduce that we are talking about some kind of oversight here. You are going to see to something or you are going to look diligently or carefully to something. The Greek verb here is where we get the word Episcopal from. You all have heard of Episcopal churches. They get that name because of the noun form of this word and the church government they have. In many translations it is translated as bishop and could be translated as elder. Churches with an Episcopal form of government will have a bishop that is in charge of a disctrict and then pastors or elders or priests in a local congregation who are overseen by that bishop.
Now let me say that Hebrews 12:15 is not a defense of this type of church structure. The word here for see to it is a very important word for us to understand this morning. If you recall last week we saw that we were to pursue peace with everyone in the congregation together as we strived to live with one another in unity. We were also to strive for holiness. Look back at verse 14.
14 Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord.
Last week I told you that this was not just personal holiness but congregational holiness. It was not just personal peace but congregational peace. And for anyone to refuse to strive for these two things the text plainly says they will not see the Lord. Now what verse 15 does is tell us how we are to strive for this peace and holiness in the congregation. And the writer uses the verb á¼πισκοπÎω to show us how we are to strive.
Here the word á¼πισκοπÎω is a command. It is also plural which means that it is a command for all of us to obey. The writer wrote this to this first century congregation, not just the elders. The translation says to “see to it” or “look diligently.” In the first century the word expressed great responsibility. Like a project manager would oversee a project to make sure it happens. Or like a physician who takes great pains to make sure that the patient gets better. Let me try to put it in modern terms.
Think about the care that a premature baby gets in the hospital. The doctors and nurses take great care with that infant. Why? Because life is hanging in the balance. They are constantly monitoring the vital signs and checking to make sure the infant is improving. If something happens then the medical staff is rushing to do what they can to help this baby. You would not expect anything less of these professionals.
This is the same kind of watch care that all of us should have for one another. As a matter of fact the type of watch care that we have for one another should be better than for a premature infant. Why? Because souls hang in the balance.
The word for “see to it” based on the context of Hebrews 12 is a double edged sword. Not only are we to see to it that sinful things do not happen in a congregation we are also to see to it that good and godly things do happen in a congregation. From verse 14 what are we to pursue? Peace and holiness. And then in verses 15-17 we are to make sure that bad things do not happen in the church.
Last Lord’s Day we saw the positive that we were to pursue: peace and holiness. This week and next we need to see the negatives that we are to work diligently as a congregation in preventing.
PNP
From our text this morning, Hebrews 12:15-17, I want you to see the first of three spiritually dangerous scenarios that we are commanded to work diligently against in the life of the church.
This morning I want you to see that:
1. We are to work diligently against anyone falling short of the grace of God.
Next week I want you to see the final two.
2. We are to work diligently against any “root of bitterness” in the church.
3. We are to work diligently against anyone falling into apostasy or great sin.
Purpose
My purpose in preaching this passage is to show that we all bear spiritual responsibility for one another. We are our brothers and our sisters keepers. We are to be spiritually watchful of what is taking place not only in our own lives but also in each other’s lives as well. And I want you to understand that not being spiritually concerned and watchful is a violation of this command to the church.
RPNP
So look with me at the first of three spiritually dangerous scenarios that we are commanded to work diligently against in the life of the church.
1. We are to work diligently against anyone falling short of the grace of God.
I want you to look at the very first part of verse 15 with me.
See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God
What the writer is saying here is that we have a congregational responsibility to work diligently to see to it that not one in our midst falls short or fails to obtain the grace of God. From the youngest to the oldest we are to watch out for anyone who may miss eternal salvation.
Now for some this has created quite the theological dilemma. Let me tell you how modern churches have handled a problem like this. Some have taken this verse to mean that a person can be saved and then lose that salvation through carelessness and sinfulness and then go live like the devil. Others have taken this to mean that it is a person who makes a profession of being a Christian and then later shows themselves not to have been sincere in their profession of “meaning it with all their heart.”
Both of these so called solutions are very short sighted biblically. And if we are going to understand what God has called us to do here then we must understand the ways of God in salvation in His church. I believe that the first mistake that is made in many modern churches is that they are too quick in declaring someone eternally saved. A person may walk an isle during an invitation or say a prayer with a Sunday School teacher and the church rejoices and the pastor says, “We welcome our new brother and sister into the church.” This happens a lot and then all of a sudden that person is no where to be found. So that leaves these churches with a dilemma. Were they truly saved and then lost their salvation or were they never really converted after all?
Let me provide to you some basic biblical facts about salvation.
1. All people are sinful. Romans 3:23 says, “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” Now the debate is over the extent of that sin. How has the sinfulness of man effected his ability to be saved? Some believe in a partial crippling of humanity due to sin but they still have the spiritual ability to seek salvation on their own. If given the proper setting, the right music and lighting, the right preacher to speak in a certain way and move the emotions of the hearer, and a good opportunity to respond then people can exercise their so called “free will” and be saved. But herein lies the problem. The Bible does not teach that at all. What does the Bible teach.
Listen to Romans 3:11.
11 THERE IS NONE WHO UNDERSTANDS, THERE IS NONE WHO SEEKS FOR GOD;
So what the Bible teaches in very strong language is that men, women, and children are not and never have been in some state of innocence where they can be convinced that they need a Savior and given the right opportunity they will respond. Listen to Romans 3:18.
18 "THERE IS NO FEAR OF GOD BEFORE THEIR EYES."
Fallen sinful human beings, according to the Bible, do not seek after God and they have no fear of God. Let me tell you what the Apostle Paul is doing in the first three chapters of Romans. He is taking two opposing sides, Jews and Gentiles, and bringing them together. And the way that he does that is by showing both of them how equal they really are in their unconverted state. He brings Jew and Gentile together as depraved, rotten sinners who apart from Christ do not have a spiritual hope in this world. And he uses their sinfulness to prove it and the extent of their sinfulness.
I also want you to listen to 1 Corinthians 2:14 and what the Bible says about the natural or unconverted man.
14 The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.
So what do we know about unconverted or lost people. They are not seeking God. They do not fear God. They do not accept the things of the Spirit of God because they view them as foolishness because they are not able to understand them. There is more harsh language about humans in their unconverted state. Listen to Romans 8:6-8.
6 For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace, 7 because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so, 8 and those who are in the flesh cannot please God.
This speaks to the ability of unsaved mankind to respond to the Word of God and what the Bible says is that they are not able to respond. Why?
Listen to Ephesians 2:1.
1 And you were dead in the trespasses and sins…
So what is a lost person like? They are sinful, they do not seek God, they have no fear of God, they don’t accept the things of God because to him or her they are foolishness, they are not able to understand the things of God, they have a mind that is hostile toward God, they do not subject themselves to the Law of God because they are not even able to do so. Why is all of this true? Because according to the Bible the lost person is spiritually dead in their sins and trespasses. So the idea that somehow in the right setting, with the right music, and the right preacher, and the right lighting that people will respond to the Gospel is just another gross neglect by the church about what the Bible says.
Before we are converted to Christ we are trapped in a tomb of our own sins and until the Holy Spirit of God convicts of sin and righteousness we are perfectly content in our tomb to do what pleases our flesh. So its no wonder than many churches have no idea how to deal with people who come in and make a profession of faith and then leave very soon. It is because they don’t understand the true nature of the sinful human being. If they are not converted to Christ then the Bible says they are dead in their sins and trespasses.
What do dead people do? Nothing. Spiritually dead people do nothing spiritually good because they can’t. They do not have the ability. The first fact of salvation is that man is not able to do anything for their own salvation.
2. The second fact is that if God does not act on behalf of the dead sinner then they will never be saved. Let me prove this to you from the Word. Listen to John 1:10-12.
10 He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. 11 He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. 12 But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, 13 who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.
Listen to John 6:44.
44 No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him.
So if salvation is not of the will of man and no one can come to Christ unless God the Father draws them then whose will is exercised when people are truly saved?
Listen to James 1:18.
18 Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.
So salvation is a sovereign act of God. Ephesians 2 said that those who are saved are saved because God took a dead sinner and made him alive and seated him with Christ in the heavenly places.
So in verse 15 of Hebrews 12 we have a theological dilemma. What does the writer mean by working diligently to make sure that someone does not miss the grace of God?
God is sovereign over salvation and He works sovereignly through His church to save the lost. This is called means. God has ordained certain means through which He will save lost people. And we as believers bear a spiritual responsibility to make sure we use biblical means. It is not okay and never has been okay to invent some kind of new method or program to try and reach the lost. The Lord Himself who saves sinners has already told us how to evangelize. It is through the bold proclamation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the lost. And through that bold proclamation God will save sinners.
But here in Hebrews 12:15 we are in the context of the church. We have several possibilities for who we may be dealing with here. It could be an unconverted young person or older person. They could be missing the grace of God for a number of reasons but within the context of Hebrews 12 there is two reasons that stick out to us. They come from verse 14. We see to it that no one misses the grace of God by pursuing peace along with everyone in the congregation and pursuing personal and corporate holiness.
Look back at verses 12-14.
12 Therefore lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees, 13 and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be put out of joint but rather be healed. 14 Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord.
This making sure that no one falls short of the grace of God is by taking special care of the weaker brother and sister in Christ. Even though God is ultimately sovereign over who will be in Heaven we bear a spiritual responsibility for the wounded among us. If someone is hurting spiritually we are to come along side them and lift their hands and strengthen their weak knees. We are to make sure that our walk with God is in holiness and righteousness and by our lives we do not cause our brothers and sisters to stumble. Or in the case of verse 15 that we do not allow someone to miss the grace of God by our actions. We are to pursue peace in the congregation to make sure that we do not cause trouble so that people will be offended.
Let me say as I close this point that there will be those who come in to a congregation and leave and no matter the effort that you put forth they will be lost. Our goal in all of this “striving” and “seeing to” is to make sure that our attitudes or our lifestyle are not the cause of someone missing the grace of God.
Think about the pastors and Christians in the public spotlight who have committed gross sins and the number of people who have rejected Christianity because of it. Our prayer for our congregation and our lives is that we would pursue peace and holiness and by the means of our faithfulness that the Lord would save many sinners.
This is why it is so important for a church to be faithful to the Word of God.
Let’s pray.
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