the church Matt.18?

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21centpilgrim
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the church Matt.18?

Post by 21centpilgrim » Fri Mar 28, 2014 2:26 pm

In this passage regarding church discipline, the 3rd step is to take the matter to the church.
In discussing church 'membership' this passage was used to try to support an official membership policy. That not all who just show up on a Sunday should be included in the church discipline process.

Thoughts?
Then those who feared the LORD spoke with each other, and the LORD listened to what they said. In his presence, a scroll of remembrance was written to record the names of those who feared him and loved to think about him.

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steve
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Re: the church Matt.18?

Post by steve » Fri Mar 28, 2014 3:55 pm

Many churches have yet to define what their group is—are they intending to be a gathering of saints, or a mixed multitude? If the latter, then they can hardly exercise church discipline, since some in their midst are expected to be unbelievers, and can not be held to account upon Christian standards. You can't very easily excommunicate the people in your congregation that you are trying to evangelize.

If a group is a gathering of believers (among whom the occasional unbeliever may unpredictably drop-in), then they can hold all their participants to the standards of Christ, and exercise discipline on those who remain unrepentant. This does not presuppose "membership" in any sense other than being in the general body of Christ. I don't have to regard a person as a "member" of the group I attend in order to treat him/her like a member of the body of Christ. Paul simply says, "If anyone is called a brother..." and lives in unrepentant sinful behavior (after being confronted appropriately about the sin), then we are to have nothing to do with him (1 Cor.5:9ff).

There is nothing in the biblical instructions that presupposes what we, in our day, call "membership" in what we call "a local church." Paul assumed, in his day, that every Christian was a part of the church in his/her own town (regardless which home group he/she attended), and was subject to the united acceptance or censure of the whole body in that town (and elsewhere). Today, a person who is disicplined in one congregation often goes to another congregation and finds welcome there. This is due to the carnal division of the churches in a given town.

Any church that wishes to do so can choose to operate as a body of believers, and can make that plain to those who attend. It can be made plain that those who worship among them will be expected to behave like followers of Christ, and that those who refuse to do so will not be welcomed there until they repent. This can be practiced with or without a listed membership [I have been kicked out of more than one group that had no membership list ;-)].

Of course, this is much harder to do in groups so large that it is impossible to know everyone in attendance. For that reason, a group could adopt the policy that the gathering of their church is in smaller groups, while the occasional large group gathering is not regarded as church, but as an evangelistic outreach. This shift in mentality may not be easy to implement quickly, owing to prevailing assumptions about modern churches, but if it is pursued in a determined fashion, then, over time, a group can be discipled to see things more scripturally. It has been done before.

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