From the desk of Pastor Ben

The Authority for Discipline – Part 3

“Truly I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven. . . . For where two or three have gathered together in My name, I am there in their midst.”
(Matthew 18:18, 20)

When Christians sincerely seek through discipline to purify the church, they receive the needed energy, authority, and approval from above to carry it out.

Christ also assures us that He acts with us in all efforts to rightly purify the church — “where two or three have gathered together in My name, I am there in their midst.” The context here demands that there be two or three witnesses to the discipline process. To invoke God’s name for a task is not merely to speak His name but to ask and work according to His will and character. If we have gathered in His name to accomplish discipline, we have faithfully performed our task — on the Lord’s behalf — of verifying the sincerity of the offending person.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer offers these thoughts and insights:

“Since the confession of sin is made in the presence of a Christian brother or sister, the last stronghold of self-justification is abandoned. The sinner surrenders; he gives up all his everlasting. He gives his heart to God, and he finds the forgiveness of all his sin in the fellowship of Jesus Christ and his brother or sister. The expressed, acknowledged sin has lost all its power. . . . It can no longer tear the fellowship asunder. Now the fellowship bears the sin of the brother. He is no longer alone with his sin for he has cast off his sin from him. Now he stands in the fellowship of sinners who live by the grace of god and the cross of Jesus Christ.”

Ask Yourself:
What are some of the great benefits of joining with other believers in matters of prayer, counsel, friendship, or any number of interactions? How are you making the most of God’s desire to keep us connected and caring for each other, working together for His kingdom’s sake?