Dr Greg Bahnsen - How to Choose/Leave a Church: How to Leave a Church (1 Cor 3:10-23) (Part 3)

Well, I'm excited about this morning's message. I'm excited because it's a real challenge to take up a difficult topic. And I'm always happy, as they say on the A team when a plan comes together. What I mean by that is we're taking up a subject that is very difficult and very difficult for all churches. Question of leaving the church and under what circumstances people leave the church and how it should be done. And although there are times when it's awkward to be an orthodox Presbyterian and difficult to answer for our church and some of the things which we may not agree with, it is a real blessing to know that when times really do get tough and you have to face difficult decisions about the disruption of a church or the loss of people to a church, that in our Presbyterian form of government, a plan does come together, there is an organized and biblically based and faithful way to deal with these kind of questions which fellow believers of ours do not enjoy in other denominations and other settings of church government. And so it is a challenge and it is a pleasure, and in many ways I trust it will be educational to you as we take up the subject this morning of how to leave a church. We're going to take as our scripture reading in preparation for the message. First Corinthians, the third chapter, although we'll actually be doing a study throughout the sermon of selected passages that deal with our subject. First Corinthians, Chapter three, and I'll begin reading at the tenth verse. Hear now God's Word According to the grace of God, which was given unto me as a wise master builder, I laid a foundation, and another buildeth thereupon. But let each man take heed how he buildeth thereon. For other foundation can no man lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. But if any man buildeth on the foundation, gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay, stubble, each man's work shall be made manifest, for the day shall declare it, because it is revealed in and the fire itself shall prove each man's work of what sort it is. If any man's work shall abide which he built thereon, he shall receive a reward. If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss, but he himself shall be saved. Yet so as through fire, know ye not that ye are a temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you. And if any man destroyeth the temple of God, him shall God destroy. For the temple of God is holy, and such are ye. Let no man deceive himself. If Any man thinketh that he is wise among you in this world, let him become a fool, that he may become wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God for it is written, he that taketh the wise in their craftiness. And again the Lord knoweth the reasonings of the wise, that they are vain. Wherefore let no one glory in men. For all things are yours, whether Paul or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life or death, or things present, or things to come. All are yours, and ye are Christ, and Christ is God. And thus far, the reading of God's Word We've taken a couple of weeks in our brief series having to do with the church and our relationship to the church, to look at biblical principles which touch on how to choose a church with which to join. And by doing that, we have been helped to understand more clearly the nature and the marks of the Church of Jesus Christ. And in understanding that, we've also been given an ideal toward which to move in our own church and have gained guidelines as well for advising and evaluating situations where people decide to go from one church to another. And now, to round out or complete the picture, we should likewise pay attention to the topic of leaving a church. Not just choosing and coming to a church, but also leaving a church. A few years ago, Paul Simon sang a song about 50 ways to leave your lover, suggesting it really didn't make too much difference how you did it, as long as it got done one way or another. Well, there are also a large number of ways in which a person can leave a church and can get his or her name removed from its roles. But in this case it matters a great deal. It makes considerable theological and moral difference as to how one leaves the church. And you know, in each case where someone leaves the church, the shepherds or the overseers of that local flock are placed in a situation calling for evaluation and response. Now, what does this mean about the one who departs? How does this affect the identity of the church and how does this affect the status of the church and the well being of the church? How should all of God's people react or relate to the former member? It would prove both insightful and beneficial for the congregation to know, I think, just how a session, especially in our denomination, or how your own session comes to conclusions in each particular case when a person leaves the church. And in seeing that, hopefully we all gain confidence that this is not an arbitrary matter in our denomination. It's not an arbitrary affair where we make up plans as we Go. There is in the Presbyterian form of government and in our particular book of discipline and form of government in the orthodox Presbyterian Church, objective and laid out organized way in which we have handle these matters. Let's begin this morning by talking about the notion of a role of the church. A role of the Church I want to get underway by examining various ways in which the names of people are removed from the role of the church. Now, throughout the history of redemption we see in the Bible, importance has been given to books or roles of God's people. For instance, in Genesis 5, verse 1, with the first reference to written Scripture, by the way, but also the first reference to what is called the Book of Generations. The Book of generations and all of the Old Covenant genealogies, just like that Book of generations show us how the people of God saw it as an important matter to record the names of those who belonged to God's people. Especially, were those roles important when it came to the distribution of the tribal territories and family plots? And in the Promised Land, as we see it laid out for us In Joshua chapters 13 to 19, it was because your name was upon the roll of a tribe, and that tribe was a member of the nation of Israel, that your family received a place in the promised land. And the symbolism of this is not difficult to understand at all. It's your name being written on the roll that gave you a place in the inheritance of the saints. It made you, at least in earthly terms, understood as belonging to the saved. If you look at the whole of Ezra, chapter two, in the first half of Ezra, chapter eight, you'll see that these are given over to a roll of the Jews who returned from the Babylonian captivity to take up residence against in the Promised Land, to take up residence against in the Holy Land, to take up residence in the kingdom of God and to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem, and to see that the temple was rebuilt as well. And likewise in the early Christian church, we see that they appear to have kept a record of believers, as is indicated in the mention in First Timothy 5, 9 of enrolling someone as a widow. And so that the church kept records of those who named the name of Christ and understood their particular status, whether they were shepherds or sheep or widows or just what have you. Now, the Bible tells us, and Scripture shows us that God too keeps in heaven a book of his people, the very book of life. And there are more references to the book of life in the Scriptures, and it's more exhaustive from beginning to end than many of us might have originally thought. In Exodus 32, if you have your Bibles, turn to Exodus 32 and look at verses 32 and 33, where there we yet now, if thou wilt forgive their sin, and if not, blot me, I pray thee, out of thy book which thou hast written. And Jehovah said unto Moses, whosoever hath sinned against me, him will I blot out of my book. God keeps in heaven a book, a book of life, a book of the saints. And Moses here prays that he would be blotted out for the sake of of God's people. And God explains that it is rather those who violate his covenant that do not belong in the book of life. Now, toward the end of the Old Testament, if you look at Daniel the 12 one, we find another reference. There are others in the Psalms and elsewhere in Scripture, but to go to the end of the old testament, Daniel 12:1, At that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince who standeth for the children of thy people. And there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation, even to that same time. And at that time thy people shall be delivered. Every one that shall be found written in the book God delivers his people and his people are defined as those who are written in the book. In Luke the tenth chapter, verse 20, we come into the new covenant Scriptures and find the same theological perspective or the same figure of speech used. Luke 10:20, Jesus has sent out his disciples, and they have come back, finding they have power over the demons. And Jesus says nevertheless in this rejoice not that the spirits are subject unto you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven, that your names are written in heaven. And Paul too, in an offhand way, can refer to some of his fellow workers in Philippians the fourth chapter, verse three. And he does so in this way. Yes, I beseech thee also, true yoke, fellow, help these women, for they labored with me in the Gospel, with Clement also, and the rest of my fellow workers whose names are in the book of life. Whose names are in the book of life. Beginning to get the point from beginning to end, we started in Exodus through Daniel, through the Gospels, and now in the Epistles, there is this conception of a role being kept very importantly, not just a role on earth among God's people, which the church and the Old Testament Jews kept, but also a role in heaven of God's people. In Revelation 13:8 we find another reference to this book of life. Revelation 13:8 tells us, and all that dwell on the Earth shall worship him that is the beast. Everyone whose name hath not been written from the foundation of the world in the book of life, of the Lamb that hath been slain. Who is it that you can count on to defect to the beast, to not stay true to Christian profession? It will be those whose names are not written in the book of life. And then revelation the the 20th chapter, verses 12 and 15 to complete our brief survey. Revelation 12, I'm sorry, 20 at verse 12. And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne. And books were opened and another book was opened which is the book of life. And the dead were judged out of the things which were written in the books according to their works. Verse 15. And if any was not found written in the book of life, he was cast into the lake. Fire. And so we see then two things going on here. The church on earth, the Old Testament Jews, the New Testament church keeping roles of God's people. We see also that God in heaven keeps a book of life in which are entered the names of those who truly belong to him, the elect. And what we need to do now is to draw these two concepts together. According to the Bible, it's the discipline of the church as it adds names to its own role on earth, or removes names from that role that is intended to reflect what has been written in heaven. It's the discipline of the church which is supposed to in large measure, and to whatever degree we can, though we are fallible human beings, bring these two lists into harmony with each other. Jesus reflects on this In Matthew the 16th chapter, verse 19, a well known passage having to do with the authority of the church. Matthew 16:19, where Jesus, having heard the confession of Simon Peter, says that he will build his church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it, and then adds, I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven, and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven. In Matthew 18:17, 18 Jesus, explaining the process of reconciliation that is to take place in the church, says, and if he refuse to hear them, those brothers who have gone to the offending brother, tell it unto the church, and if he refuse to hear the church, also let him be unto thee as a Gentile and a publican. And verily I say unto you, what things soever ye shall bind on earth, shall have been bound in heaven, and what things soever ye shall loose on earth, shall have been loosed in heaven. Again, I say unto you that if two of you shall agree on earth as touching anything that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father who is in heaven. The discipline of the church, you see, is not an autonomous kind of thing where men get together and just make up their own mind, arbitrarily or subjectively, on the basis of their own feelings as to what to happen. The discipline of the church is to be based upon the word of God. It is to be the application of God's word to the circumstances of the lives of his people. And so that the discipline of the church, whether it is in adding names to its roles or taking names off its rolls, ought to reflect as much as possible the outlook of heaven. God's own point of view Covenant Community Church Our own congregation is a visible church of Jesus Christ on earth, and we have a role just like other churches have a role. And the role of our church contains the names of those who have professed faith in Jesus Christ, have worshiped the Lord regularly in this place, and have voluntarily placed themselves under the care and discipline of the shepherds here. Now, because Scripture designates the church as a flock over which Christ has placed shepherds that are called elders or overseers, as we see in First Peter, chapter five, the first five verses, our own denomination's form of government and book of discipline, specify that name should be added to the roll and taken from the roll only at the direction of the session. Let me back up and elaborate on some of these thoughts. We're going rather quickly, and I want you to understand them. First. The Bible says that it is Jesus Christ, the Lord of the church, who has given shepherds to the flock. Turn to Ephesians 4. Ephesians 4 we read that Christ has ascended on high, and has given gifts unto men. Verse 11 continues, and he gave some to be apostles, and some prophets, and some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers. Why did he give pastors and teachers, as well as the other offices to the church? For the perfecting of the saints unto the work of ministering, unto the building up of the body of Christ, till we all attain unto the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a full grown man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine by the sleight of men and craftiness after the wiles of error. But speaking truth in love, may grow up in all things into him who is the head, even Christ, from whom all the body fitly framed and knit together through that which every joint supplieth, according to the working in due measure of each several part maketh the increase of the body into the building up of itself in love. Why did God give pastors and teachers to the church? To help the church to minister, to help the church to mature, to grow up, and not be tossed to and fro by every wind of doctrine, and not be torn apart by internal strife and lack of love. He has given shepherds to the flock, to put it briefly, for protection and correction. Protection and correction. In Acts, the 20th chapter, Paul, in speaking to the Ephesian elders, says, take heed to the flock over which God has made you overseers. The Holy Spirit has set you in the church as overseers. Take heed to the flock to tend them, as well as to protect them from those wolves which will enter in later. Paul says in Hebrews, the 13th chapter, which we can all turn to Hebrews 13:17, we read further that the shepherds over the sheep engage in their labors for their correction and for their well being. And so the Bible says, obey them that have the rule over you and submit to them. Why? Because it's important to them that people submit. Is it important to them that they have some kind of iron hand to lord it over the flock? No. But rather you submit to the shepherd because they watch in behalf of your souls as they that shall give account that they may do this with joy and not with grief, for that would be unprofitable for you. God has given shepherds to the sheep in the same way that in the world of animal husbandry, he has given shepherds to sheep because sheep have a tendency to get into trouble. They wander, they get lost, they get hurt, they're easily harmed by others, and they tend not to remember where they're supposed to be. When the Bible speaks of all of us as creatures, Christians as sheep, it's not speaking flatteringly. We tend to think of these cuddly little lambs. And so we say, well, that means that we're all real nice, you know, lovable people. Although it doesn't look that way when we look around sometimes. No, the Bible's not speaking of the cuddly, warm, furry, you know, lamb when it speaks of us as the sheep, it's speaking of us as those who are dumb and ignorant and easily hurt and prone to wander. And so some sheep, they need shepherding too, by the way. But some sheep are made under Shepherds of dragons, Jesus Christ, who is the good shepherd of the flock. And God gives us these shepherds for our protection against error and for our correction when we go wrong. And so that is the biblical background for our form of government telling us. And I think it's important that I do a little bit of reading from it for you today. Our form of government tells us in chapter 13, which has to do with the local church and itself session these things. The local church consists of a definite membership organized as a distinct congregation with its officers. It goes on to say, the session is charged with maintaining the government of the congregation. It shall oversee all matters concerning the conduct of public worship. It shall concert the best measures for promoting the spiritual growth and evangelistic witness of the congregation. It shall receive, dismiss and exercise discipline over the members of the church, supervise the activities of the diaconate, the board of trustees, and all other organizations of the congregation, and have final authority over the use of the church property. We read further. I'm taking selections here. Roles of the members of the congregation, both of communicate members and of their baptized children with the dates of their reception are to be kept by the session. And then the names of members shall be placed upon or removed from the rolls of the church only by the order of the session and according to the provisions of the book of Discipline. And so very briefly, what we find here is that it is appropriate that there be a role of the local church. And that role is controlled by the shepherds of the sheep, by the session, the elders, or the overseers. And so we can say that the role of our local church is different from a directory of all the saints who have ever called upon the name of the Lord. Why is that? Because the role of our church is local. It's not universal. John Calvin is not a member of our church, although people sometimes have the impression that he must be, seeing that we mention him so often. John Calvin and Martin Luther and other saints of old, including the apostle Paul, are not on the roles of our local church because our church is a particular body of believers in a particular place and time. It's not universal. And our role is, we're very glad to say, different from the book of life held by God in heaven. For you see, our role may contain possible hypocrites. Our role is not simply and infallibly restricted to the elect, but God's is. And so when we speak of our role, understand it then, it's not a directory of all saints, nor is it somehow the book of life. And finally, our role isn't written in indelible ink. No. Things get changed. Sometimes people live in such a way or make such decisions that their names must be removed from our local role. Whatever their status may be in the book of life, our role is affected by the activities and decisions of people here on earth. And so these introductory words then, about the biblical basis and the orderly way in which the role of the church is kept. And now we get on to what is really the subject of our morning message. How does one leave the church, and under what circumstances does one leave the church? And the first principle that I give you, if you're taking notes, the one which I hope will be indelibly impressed on your minds, is that we may not disrupt the unity of the church without cause. We may not disrupt the unity of the church without cause. First, some biblical basis for this. Turn in your bibles to Ephesians 4:3, the same chapter where Paul speaks of Christ descended on high, giving officers to the church. Ephesians 4:3 says, Give diligence to keep the unity of the Spirit in the body bond of peace. Give diligence. Paul knows that this comes with great effort, that it's hard, that we're not inclined to it, and it's often inconvenient. And so he says, diligently pursue it. And what is it we're to pursue? We're to keep the unity of the Spirit in the peaceful bond. It is wrong to see the Church constantly disrupted in its circle of unity broken, broken, broken. Paul says, work hard that that doesn't happen. Your church should be at peace and unity should be pursued, and you must be diligent in doing that. Consider 1 Corinthians 1:10, where we read Paul saying, now I beseech you, brethren, through the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing and there be no divisions among you, but that ye be perfected together in the same mind and in the same same judgment. Notice that Paul here, when he gets to this subject, tends toward very strong language. Diligently seek to keep the unity of the Spirit. And now he says, in the name of the Lord Jesus, I beseech you. He comes down hard. He says, there oughtn't to be divisions among you. Speak the same thing. Have the same mind come to the same judgment. Paul would not have been party to our common 20th century idea that whenever two people don't like each other in a church, or have some difference with the session, or don't particularly like the time that they're worshipping or what have you just decided? To go their own way. Paul says, we must, in the name of Jesus, seek the unity of the church. In Romans 15:6, Paul says, with one accord ye may with one mouth glorify God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Paul doesn't like the idea of the church being divided up into a bunch of little denominations that have their own particular way of worship and professing the Christian faith. He wants, with one mouth, God to be glorified. In Philippians 2, 2, we find out that it is precisely the height of Paul's joy and its satisfaction that this would happen. He says, make full my joy that you be of the same mind, having the same love, being of one accord of one mind, boy. He lays it on line upon line upon line. Paul says, the church is not to be divided. We are not to break from the unity of the church. Diligently seek to stay together. Diligently seek to say the same thing. Glorify God with one mouth. Don't go wandering every which way. Be an organized band of people. In a word, Paul here is speaking of that principle of loyalty that I preached to you about last week. One of the things we must remember in choosing a church is that we are to be loyal to the church. And not because it's like a club, not because it's some earthly organization that we just have some kind of pride in, but because it's God's people. And we don't treat God's people in circumstances of God's worship with the same attitude we might have toward the Kiwanis or the local Little League. He says, you diligently seek to stay together and to say the same thing, to belong to one another. Because, as Psalm 133 says, how beautiful it is when brethren dwell together in unity. And that's why the first thing we must understand, the first principle that I would have indelibly etched upon your minds, is that we may not disrupt the unity of any church. I don't want you to think this is special pleading. I mean, any church, whether it is ours or another OPC congregation or someone outside the opc, be it Baptist, Pentecostalist, or what have you, no church congregation is to be disrupted without cause. And what that means is that whenever we find ourselves joined to a body of believers under the professed authority of God's Word and the lordship of His Son, that we cannot leave a group without attempting reform. And we must attempt reform based on the Scripture, because Scripture is our only authority. Jesus is Lord of the church. And he rules the church by his word. And because Jesus is Lord, we don't just go any which way we want. We must attempt in our particular stations or positions, in whatever way we can, formally or informally, to do what needs to be done to reform the church based on the Scriptures. And only then do we find ourselves free to unite elsewhere. Disloyalty is what I'm talking about here. And it's disloyalty of two kinds. I want you to realize that what I'm telling you today, you will not hear probably in 90% of the pulpits of our land. My guess is it's much higher than that, actually. And that's because culturally we have come to believe that our relationship to the Church of Jesus Christ is somewhat like choosing a car to drive. We wouldn't feel that somebody had done anything terribly wrong if they decided to stop driving Chevrolets and now to start driving Toyotas or Mazdas. We wouldn't think that somebody had been disloyal to us if they had given up their Ford and now was going to be driving some other make of car. And we tend to look at the church in the same way. Some people drive Presbyterian vehicles and some people drive Methodist vehicles, and some people are Baptists. And when they switch, I mean, you get tired of being a Presbyterian, you become a Baptist for a while. Remember when I was teaching seminary, how one of our students came to me, a real naive, nice fellow, but not terribly well educated. He had come up in the Presbyterian church, had been sent by a Presbyterian church to seminary. But after a few weeks and meeting a few of the other students, he came to me and said, well, I've decided to go Baptist. I've decided to go kind of like, well, I'm going to drive a Chevy. Now, I think that isn't the attitude we have toward the church of Jesus. Think of it not as choosing one model of car not to drive, but rather think of it as soldiers being out on a battlefield. Because Paul warns you, we don't wrestle with flesh and blood, but with principalities and powers. We're in the midst of a battle, friends. We don't like to think that way. We like to think, well, things are pretty peaceful here in America and my life's going all right. Well, maybe it is in terms of externals, but the fact is there is a spiritual battle going on, and the Kingdom of Jesus Christ suffers violence and there's going to be turmoil, even if it's only in the hearts of men. And what are we doing in this battle? We're trying to take the kingdom of God further and further into the world, to conquer more and more hearts with the claims of the gospel, to nurture more and more lives so there'll be more and more righteousness. That's why we pray thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. That's our goal. And you know very well if you've been part of a battle situation that sometimes there are people that are a hindrance to you, even though they're faced in the same direction with you in the Army. There are some people that are dead weight in the army. There are some people who get in the way, and then there are people who are out there on the front lines. Your point men, your talented fellas. Now, how would you feel out there on the front line where everybody's watching out for everybody else and the battle is raging and somebody says, you know, I think I'm going to go drive a Chevy. No, you don't take that attitude. That's disloyalty in battle. And it's not just disloyalty to one another. Far more importantly, it's disloyalty to the high supreme command, in this case, the Lord Jesus Christ himself. And so the first principle is, we may not disrupt the unity of the church without cause, because we are committed by Scripture to keep that unity, to be of one mind and one judgment, one heart and one mouth of worship with one another until reform is impossible by the word of God. You know then what the role of the church is and how it functions. You know, secondly, that the main principle is we do not leave without attempting reform. How then are the names of people removed from the roles of the church? Let me cover this as briefly as I can. First and most gloriously, people are removed from the roles of our church by death. And that is glorious. It's truly a blessing to pass into the presence of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Revelation 14:13 says it, Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord. And when that happens, the church, of course, grieves for the loss of a loved one, but rejoices that a saint has entered into the Church Triumphant. The Bible speaks of departing. 2nd Timothy 4, 6. Being absent from the body, present with the Lord. 2nd Corinthians 5:8. As Paul said, whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with him. But you see, for the church on earth, our departed fellow believer is absent from the body and sleeps, to use the biblical euphemism, and thus his or her worship, his or her Discipline is literally beyond us. And so in Philippians 1:20,24, notice how Paul speaks of the benefit of dying and being with the Lord. But he says, presently, for you who are in the flesh, it is to your benefit that I remain. Paul thinks in these terms of being present with the church in the flesh or departing to be with the Lord. And so you see, that's why the roles of the local church not touching the book of life in any sense, but the roles of the local church remove a name of a saint when he or her passes on. That's the first, the most obvious and the most glorious way to leave the church, to leave the church on earth and enter into the ranks of the saints Triumphant. A second way to leave the church, and again, an honorable way to leave the church is to move out of the geographical region of a congregation or in some cases to become part of a new work closer to your own residence in your own geographical location. And when someone moves from the area of their local congregation and has to find another church with which to unite, this too is honorable. And our book of discipline tells us that they are to be given a letter of transfer to their new church. So let me read these words. Members may be Members may be removed by a letter of transfer to another congregation approved by the session. Then it tells us how this happens and that they stay on the rolls of the church until the transfer is complete. What happens is that a person comes to the session or writes a letter to the session, say they've moved to Iowa. And in Iowa now they have found another church that is in the Orthodox Presbyterian Church or a church of like faith and practice. That is a church with whom we have fraternal relations and they've decided to join this church and we send a letter of transfer. This, of course, is an honorable way. We may be saddened by the loss of a member, but it's certainly appropriate. Now, when someone moves to a place out of the geographical region of his congregation and there are no congregations of his denomination or any with whom we have fraternal relations, that is, there are no churches of like faith, faith or practice, then he will need to choose the best evangelical church which will advance his spiritual interest. This does not bring a letter of transfer because there is no fraternal relation between that Baptist church, let's say, and our local Presbyterian church. So it's not a transfer from our care to theirs. But it is an honorable way to have one's name removed. Nonetheless, our book puts it this way. Members may be removed when they desire to be dismissed to a church of which the session cannot approve as a church of like faith and practice. If it appears to the session that the spiritual interest of the members will be advanced by the uniting with such a church, it shall grant them certificates of standing. And upon being informed that they've joined with that church, remove their names from the roll. This is not an act of discipline. This is a recognition of circumstances in which we live. And we may, although we don't approve of a Pentecostal event, Baptist church may in some cases need to give a letter of standing so that our member can have his or her spiritual interests advanced by joining with such a church. For obviously it's better to be joined with believers of a weaker doctrinal profession, though it is evangelical and gospel oriented, than to not go to church and have fellowship with the saints at all. And so then we have two cases that I've given you. Removal by death. Secondly, removal by providential circumstance and the two ways in which they are handled. The third way, which brings us into some sadder circumstances, is removal by discipline. Removal by discipline. The church roles are sometimes. The church roles sometimes have names removed when people have been excommunicated from the fellowship of the saints. Now, when we come to discipline, we need to remember two things very briefly. There are cases of full process in a Presbyterian church and cases which are called cases without full process. Really easy to remember. Full process and without full process. Full process simply means there's a trial in our congregation. Two years ago, two and a half years ago, we had a very dreadful situation where a woman had deserted her husband and would not repent and would not hear the session and had to be tried as a person that had been approached Matthew 18 fashion and now would not even hear the church. And eventually this woman was excommunicated. Her name was removed from the role of the church through full process because a trial was necessary. However, our book of discipline also speaks of cases without full process. For instance, there are two of them. When a person comes as his or her own accuser, if a person comes to the presbytery or to the session and says, I come repentant and confessing my sin. Well, sometimes not repentant, sometimes just confessing my sin. I admit that I've done such and such. I embezzled this money, or I've been living out of wedlock with somebody, whatever it may be, then the church may proceed to its discipline or censure without a trial. And then there's one other case without full process. That is called erasure. Names of people may be erased from the roles of a church as an act of discipline without full process. And we're going to come to that momentarily. Let's back up for just a minute and see the scriptural basis for administering church discipline and censures. There are, although our book specifies five, for simplicity's sake, I'm going to speak this morning of three. In our book of discipline, there's admonition and rebuke. I think really for your benefit. That's all one sort of thing. It's a matter of how serious the offense is. Admonition or rebuke. In 1 Timothy 5, 20, we see that the apostle directs the church to use such a censure. Them that sin reprove in the sight of all that the rest also may be in fear. And so those who are guilty of sin, whether through full process or without full process process might be rebuked by the church as one level of discipline. Now, when those who are rebuked show no responsiveness to that, the church has the option of increasing the level of censure to what is called today suspension in many Anabaptist circles, called shunning. And this too is a biblical way of dealing with discipline. In Second Thessalonians, Chapter 3, verses 6 to 14, Paul tells us, now we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you withdraw yourselves from every brother that walketh disorderly, and not after the tradition which they received of us. And the passage goes on to give some details of this. In 1 Corinthians 5, Paul speaks of a person who calls himself a brother, but is living in some unrepentant sin. And he says that you are not to have fellowship with that person, no, not to even eat a meal with such a person. And so there's the level of rebuke. And then, as our Book says, there's also a level of suspension, where a person does not have social fellowship with us, although does have verbal fellowship. But rebuke the person, exhort the person as a brother, Paul says, so that he'll see his sin and be restored, but he does not come to the Lord's Supper because he is being shunned by the congregation. And then finally, as the last resort of discipline, as Jesus says in Matthew 18:17, and if he will not hear the church, then let him be unto you as a publican and a sinner that is to say, let him be unto you as one who is not part of the people of God. So that his name is removed from the rolls. In First Corinthians, chapter 5, the apostle Paul says that he present by his spirit and with the joint agreement of the congregation, that is, the congregation joining in this discipline puts such a one as the sinful in Corinth out into the domain of Satan, puts him out of the church. That leaven is to be purged out. And he says, you must remove the wicked one from you. And so, as a last resort, the church sometimes excommunicates. And this is a form of discipline, then takes a name off the rolls of the church. Very briefly, then, what we've said this morning is that people leave the church of Jesus Christ if they leave it properly, either by death, by providential circumstance, or by discipline. One other situation remains. It's the one that should have no instances at all. There should be no illustrations of this sort of thing. If the principles I've been talking about right now have been followed, if everything I've said thus far were to be done, we'd never run into a situation such as I'm now going to say, speak to you. But as a matter of fact, the vast majority of cases fall into this category, and they're the category of erasure. Erasure. Let me read to you what our book says about that. Members shall be removed from the role of the local church. I'm sorry, wrong section. Members may be removed by erasure in chapter five, section two says is an act of discipline without full process. They may be removed by erasure according to these provisions. When a member desires dismissal to a church of which the session cannot approve as a church of like faith and practice, nor a church which will advance his spiritual interest and he cannot be dissuaded. It shall grant him a certificate of standing unless the session institutes further disciplinary action against him on being informed that he has joined such a church, then the clerk erases his name from the roll. When a member wants to go to another church which the session feels is not in his spiritual interest and which has been chosen contrary to the rules that we've been talking about based on Scripture, then his name may be erased. We obviously don't have slave membership in our congregation. People cannot be chained to the pew and told they have to be a member of this church. But when they choose, contrary to all of what their shepherds say, to go to a church which is contrary to their best interest, then they are erased. And erasure is a very deplorable way to leave a church. In one sense, this has been said on the floor of our presbytery. And I think I agree in one sense. Erasure is worse than excommunication. Not in terms of the spiritual condition of the person. You may erase the name of somebody that you fully believe is a believer in Jesus Christ, will spend eternity with you in heaven. But at least the person who is excommunicated has been subject to the discipline of the church, has gone through the procedures of the church, and now receives the sad but nevertheless orderly judgment of the church. The person who is erased. No, I won't even listen to the church. I just want out. Secondly, our book says when a member of a particular church, whether or not he be charged with an offense, informed that he does not desire to remain in the fellowship of the orthodox Presbyterian church, which is to say, does not want to go to church at all. And the efforts of the session to dissuade him from his course have failed. It shall erase his name and record the circumstances in the minutes. There are also forms of erasure that are worse than these. A person may come to the session and say, I'm going to leave. And then say, but I don't want to hear anything you have to say about it. We've had that happen. A person may come to the session and say, I'm going to leave and I'll listen to you for a short time, but then decide to go anyway. Sometimes a person will not even come to the session, though. When a member unites with the church of another denomination without a certificate of dismission or persists in attending such a church in preference to his own, the session may erase his name from the roll and record the circumstances in the minutes. There are even worse cases. When a member cannot be found after two years, the person may be erased. And when a member, without adequate reason, persistently and over an extended period of time, absents himself from the stated services of the church, his name may be erased from the roll according to the following procedures, which are basically, he is called and the session tries to implore him as to the nature of his sin and how he needs to become more regular in his attendance. And he says, now, I've just decided I'm not interested in that. Then you erase his name as well. And so basically, what you have is the following circumstances. A person wants to go to a disapproved church, but which will advance his spiritual interest, moves out of the area. Only a Missouri Senate Lutheran church is available. Well, we might say that advances his spiritual interest and give such. Not a transfer, but a letter of standing. But When a person goes to a disapproved church which will not advance his his spiritual interest, then the session erases his name as an act of discipline. And even more when dismissal is not even sought and the person attends another church without the certificate, or when the person is absent without even attending another church, saying he doesn't want to go to church at all, or is delinquent in his practice of going to church or simply disappears from the area, then in those cases the session also would erase his name is an act of discipline. I love it when a plan comes together. I told you. Now, I realize this may seem a little technical. I mean, here's this outline in all these categories. But my friends, consider the alternatives. Consider churches which are at loose ends when it comes to these matters, which have not thought out their principles of how to join a church and how to leave a church. What happens then? Some of you in this congregation know very well what happens because you've been part of of churches that have actually gone defunct because the internal problems there could not be handled in any orderly and scriptural process by any method. There are churches which don't have roles, as biblical as it is. There are churches which serve the Lord's Supper indiscriminately to people. There are churches which, if they have roles, let people transfer churches and do not take a pastoral oversight or interest in the lives of the sheep whatsoever. And that's deplorable. I don't say that nearly so much in judgment of the churches, although that's entailed, as I am in sympathy for the way the sheep are not being given what they need. And so I love it when a plan comes together, at least in the Orthodox Presbyterian Church. We don't have arbitrary ways of dealing with this. We don't have extra scriptural or anti scriptural ways of dealing with leaving a church. We do have a plan, an outline that that is to be in some measure objective and hopefully true to God's word and the principles that we have seen. How important is this? Let me close with these thoughts. In 1 Corinthians 3, Paul says, All of us are building on a foundation. The foundation turns out to be the foundation that's part of the building called the Temple of the Lord. And we're all members of the temple of God. For the Spirit of God dwells in our midst, not simply our own individual bodies, which are temples of the Holy Spirit as well. But the congregation is the temple of the Lord where God dwells and meets with his people for worship. And Paul says it's important that you pay attention as to how you build in the church of Jesus Christ, lest your works be tried by fire. And you, though you be saved, will be found wanting in the eyes of God. Paul says that God's curse rests upon those who destroy his temple. Now you'd expect that in the pagan world everybody knew that you don't defile a temple or break it down or tear it apart because you would expect the God of that temple would be wrathful and likewise God. What would happen if somebody entered into the temple of God in the old covenant, not being properly cleansed and not being of the Levitical line and not being properly charged to do the kind of work God's judgment fell? And so Paul tells us today we, the Christian Church, are the temple of God. And those who would dare to do anything contrary to its well being and those who would destroy the temple God himself will destroy. And so we know now how we leave a church. We leave a church honoring it for what it is, the bride of the Jesus Christ. And one does not seek to be divided from the bride of Jesus Christ unless one seeks to be divided from Jesus himself. And the way we treat the bride of Christ is with the same measure of respect with which we'd give her husband, the Lord of the Church himself. Let's pray. Father, we ask that you would open all of our hearts and our minds to understand neglected principles of the Scriptures that we might understand more properly the nature of this body in which we are all members. That we might understand the Church of Jesus Christ and the way that it operates. Lord, we pray that you would give us a true appreciation for the wisdom of God from all eternity that has planned things in this way and that has instituted the government of the Church and has given it its rules and principles for operation. We pray you would help us as a people more faithfully to follow those rules and to honor them. Not simply that we might pride ourselves that a checklist of do's and don'ts has been followed, but all the more importantly that we might enjoy the benefit and the blessing of doing things Jesus way. For we pray in his blessed name. Amen.