Discipline and Table Fellowship (HC 80-85)

Matthew 18 “Discipline and Table Fellowship”

It is interesting to think about the question of church discipline in the light of the whole of Mt 18.

When the disciples ask, “who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?”

Jesus calls a child to himself and says to the disciples:

“Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children,

you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

Whoever humbles himself like this child

is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.” (18:3-4)

After this, the whole passage talks about

how one who is ostensibly in the kingdom of heaven may be put out.

If you cause one of Jesus’ little ones to sin,

it would be better to be drowned in the sea (v6).

It is necessary for temptations to come,

but woe to the one through whom that temptation comes. (v7)

If your hand or eye causes you to sin,

it would be better to lose that part of the body (v8-9)

We sometimes struggle with this statement,

because it is so obviously “wrong.”

Around the year 200 Origen of Alexandria

apparently castrated himself out of supposed obedience to this command

(which may explain why in later years he became famous

for his use of the allegorical interpretation of scripture –

he had realized that literalism has its limits!)

Many say that this passage should be interpreted to mean

that we should hate sin so much as to get rid of it.

And perhaps we should take these words that way when they are used by Jesus in Matt. 5:29-30,

but here they take on an additional context –

the context of church discipline.

Jesus has just pronounced a curse on the one who causes one of his little ones to stumble.

He has just proclaimed a “woe” to the one through whom temptation comes.”

That woe is fulfilled through the discipline of the church –

and the discipline of the church is supposed to protect the “little ones.”

After all, “it is not the will of my Father who is in heaven

that one of these little ones should perish.” (v14)

Therefore, for the sake of the little ones,

If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault,

between you and him alone.

If he listens to you, you have gained your brother.

But if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you,

that every charge may be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses.

If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church.

And if he refuses to listen even to the church,

let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector. (v15-17)

This is not about “getting your way,”

nor is it about your personal disputes.

It is about Christ’s little ones.

If it is just that you were personally offended –

don’t bother!

The only way that it becomes a matter worthy of making a fuss

is if your brother has sinned against you in a way that hurts Christ’s little ones.

This may help us understand when “love covers a multitude of sins”

and when to “tell him his fault.”

We have two conflicting tendencies:

We want to judge – we want to be right.

And yet we also don’t want to “offend” – and so we refrain from speaking.

Jesus gives us the path of wisdom.

When your brother sins against you, don’t get upset – don’t throw a fit.

Rather, go to him and explain his fault.

If he listens to you, you have gained your brother.

Proverbs 9:8 says

“do not reprove a scoffer, or he will hate you;

Reprove a wise man, and he will love you.”

So when you gently and wisely reprove someone,

don’t worry,

if he responds poorly, it simply means that he is a fool!

But if he refuses to listen to you,

take one two others who can serve as witnesses.

And if he refuses to listen to them,

tell it to the church.

And if he refuses to listen to the church,

then the church is to treat him as a Gentile or a tax collector.

How should one treat a Gentile or a tax collector?

In traditional Jewish practice the distinctive treatment

was that you would not eat with them.

Jesus himself shocked the Jews by eating with tax collectors,

and Peter and Paul horrified their fellow Jews by eating with Gentiles.

But here Jesus says that while we may and should eat with Gentiles and tax collectors,

we should not eat with those who claim to be followers of Christ

(“your brother”) who impenitently remains in sin.

And so our theme for tonight is “discipline and table fellowship.”

The Heidelberg starts this discussion

with an explanation of the difference between the Lord’s Supper and the papal mass.

80. Q. What difference is there between the Lord's supper and the papal mass?
A. The Lord's supper testifies to us, first, that we have complete forgiveness of all our sins through the one sacrifice of Jesus Christ, which He Himself accomplished on the cross once for all; and, second, that through the Holy Spirit we are grafted into Christ, who with His true body is now in heaven at the right hand of the Father, and this is where He wants to be worshipped. But the mass teaches, first, that the living and the dead do not have forgiveness of sins through the suffering of Christ unless He is still offered for them daily by the priests; and, second, that Christ is bodily present in the form of bread and wine, and there is to be worshipped. Therefore the mass is basically nothing but a denial of the one sacrifice and suffering of Jesus Christ, and an accursed idolatry.

I’m not going to ask you to repeat the second half of this answer in worship,

because while I am convinced that it does accurately reflect

the official teaching of the Roman Catholic church,

it is not appropriate for me to ask you to answer (before God)

on matters of mere historical interest.

But the basic difference between Rome and the Reformed

has to do with two basic points:

1) Rome teaches that the forgiveness of sins

is based on the once-for-all offering of Jesus on the cross

but that unless the “unbloody” sacrifice of the Mass is offered by the priest

we cannot have our sins forgiven.

That is what they mean when they say that the Mass is propitiatory –

that it is itself an atoning sacrifice.

The Reformed reply that the Lord’s Supper

is not a sacrifice, but a sacrificial meal.

We partake of Christ and his benefits in the Lord’s Supper,

but there is no further sacrifice.

2) Rome teaches that we should worship the bread and wine

because they believe that the bread and wine have been transformed

(or transubstantiated) into the literal body and blood of Jesus.

(And if you believe that the bread

is transformed into the body of Jesus,

then you should worship it!)

The Reformed reply that the literal body and blood of Jesus are in heaven

at the right hand of the Father.

We partake of the body and blood of Jesus,

not by Jesus being brought down to us,

but by the Spirit raising us up to him.

Therefore we do not offer adoration to the bread and wine

And if we only partake of Christ by being raised up to him,

then question 81 naturally follows:

81. Q. Who are to come to the table of the Lord?
A. Those who are truly displeased with themselves because of their sins and yet trust that these are forgiven them and that their remaining weakness is covered by the suffering and death of Christ, and who also desire more and more to strengthen their faith and amend their life. But hypocrites and those who do not repent eat and drink judgment upon themselves.

This is an excellent statement.

To come to the Lord’s Table, you should recognize your sin,

and be displeased by it.

But even as you see this, you also trust that your sins are forgiven.

I often say that when we come to the Lord’s Table,

we come as those who are righteous.

First, you have been declared righteous in Jesus Christ – your sins are forgiven.

And 2^nd, even your remaining weakness is covered by the suffering and death of Christ.

In other words, you come to the Lord’s Table as those who are holy and righteous.

After all, where are you in worship?

You are in the presence of God.

You are in the heavenly Holy of Holies.

And no one may enter the heavenly sanctuary who is not holy and righteous.

But that is why there is also the warning!

Because hypocrites claim to be holy – but they are not.

And those who do not repent are not forgiven.

But the church cannot judge hearts.

How can you tell the difference between a weak believer and a hypocrite?

You can’t.

And what is more,

that is not the church’s job!

We admit people to the Lord’s Table who confess Jesus Christ as Lord,

and whose life and conduct does not blatantly contradict that profession.

That’s why question 82 is put the way it is.

82. Q. Are those also to be admitted to the Lord's supper who by their confession and life show that they are unbelieving and ungodly?

Notice that the question puts the focus on those

whose confession and life gives reason to exclude them.

We are not looking for evidence that they are regenerate before they are admitted.

Rather, we admit them unless their confession and life

provides evidence that they are unbelieving and ungodly.

As the answer to Q82 says:

A. No, for then the covenant of God would be profaned and His wrath kindled against the whole congregation. Therefore, according to the command of Christ and His apostles, the Christian church is duty-bound to exclude such persons by the keys of the kingdom of heaven, until they amend their lives.

Question 82 is the hinge between the Lord’s Supper and church discipline.

When the Corinthian church tolerated the man who had his father’s wife,

Paul urged them to cast the man out of the church,

because “a little leaven leavens the whole lump.” (1 Cor 5:6)

If we do not judge ourselves, God will judge us.

If the church allows sin to fester, then we will reap what we have sown.

Therefore the church “is duty-bound to exclude such persons by the keys of the kingdom.”

83. Q. What are the keys of the kingdom of heaven?
A. The preaching of the holy gospel and church discipline. By these two the kingdom of heaven is opened to believers and closed to unbelievers.

In Matthew 16:18-19, after Peter has confessed Jesus as the Christ, Jesus said to him,

“I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church,

and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven,

and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven,

and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”

Here the “you” is singular.

Jesus gives to Peter the keys of the kingdom.

We shouldn’t be bashful about this.

After all, in the book of Acts

Peter is the one who opened the kingdom of heaven to the Jews (Acts 2)

and again to the Samaritans (Acts 8)

and to the Gentiles (Acts 10).

Peter had a unique role among the apostles.

But then in chapter 18 (the passage that we read earlier)

Jesus gives that binding and loosing authority to all the disciples (18:18).

So while Peter had a unique role in opening the kingdom

to Jews, Samaritans and Gentiles,

that same authority is now exercised in the church by the preaching of the word

and the discipline of the church.

And in John 20:23 Jesus said to his disciples,

“Receive the Holy Spirit.

If you forgive the sins of anyone, they are forgiven;

if you withhold forgiveness from anyone, it is withheld.”

The power of the keys is a spiritual power.

It is therefore only exercised properly in a ministerial and declarative manner.

What do I mean by ministerial?

A minister is one who serves and acts on behalf of another.

Think of the British foreign minister.

When the British foreign minister comes to the United States,

he comes as the agent of the British Government.

He has instructions as to what he must do and say.

If the British foreign minister is authorized to draft a treaty with the United States,

but instead declares war on the United States,

what is the effect?

The British Prime Minister has told him to draft a treaty.

He has violated his instructions,

and his declaration of war, being contrary to his instructions,

has no binding force.

Even so King Jesus has command his servants (pastors and elders)

to do and say certain things.

Yes, Jesus said, “whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven,”

but if the church declares that all men everywhere for all time are saved,

that exceeds the mandate that Jesus gave us.

The heavenly King will hear the foolish statement of his ministers

and say “You idiots! That’s not what told you to do!”

Nonetheless, this does not mean that we may simply ignore the discipline of the church

just because we happen to disagree with it.

We are called to submit to those who rule over us.

You may think that this is easy for me to say because I’m a pastor!

I’m the one who gets to rule, right?

I just got back from my presbytery.

I believe that the presbytery made some very wise decisions.

I believe that the presbytery made a couple of wrong decisions.

But I will submit to all of them.

After all, it may be that I am wrong!

In Presbyterian polity, everyone must submit to someone in authority!

The Catechism concludes this section with the two keys: preaching and discipline:

84. Q. How is the kingdom of heaven opened and closed by the preaching of the gospel?
A. According to the command of Christ, the kingdom of heaven is opened when it is proclaimed and publicly testified to each and every believer that God has really forgiven all their sins for the sake of Christ's merits, as often as they by true faith accept the promise of the gospel. The kingdom of heaven is closed when it is proclaimed and testified to all unbelievers and hypocrites that the wrath of God and eternal condemnation rest on them as long as they do not repent. According to this testimony of the gospel, God will judge both in this life and in the life to come.

So every Sunday as I preach, I open and close the kingdom of heaven.

85. Q. How is the kingdom of heaven closed and opened by church discipline?
A. According to the command of Christ, people who call themselves Christians but show themselves to be un-christian in doctrine or life are first repeatedly admonished in a brotherly manner. If they do not give up their errors or wickedness, they are reported to the church, that is, to the elders. If they do not heed also their admonitions, they are forbidden the use of the sacraments, and they are excluded by the elders from the Christian congregation, and by God Himself from the kingdom of Christ. They are again received as members of Christ and of the church when they promise and show real amendment.

This is simply a restatement of Matthew 18,

connected with Paul’s admonitions in 1 Corinthians 5 and 2 Corinthians 2.

The Catechism here assumes that the elders have acted properly

as true ministers of Jesus Christ.

82. Q. Are those also to be admitted to the Lord's supper who by their confession and life show that they are unbelieving and ungodly?
A. No, for then the covenant of God would be profaned and His wrath kindled against the whole congregation. Therefore, according to the command of Christ and His apostles, the Christian church is duty-bound to exclude such persons by the keys of the kingdom of heaven, until they amend their lives.

83. Q. What are the keys of the kingdom of heaven?
A. The preaching of the holy gospel and church discipline. By these two the kingdom of heaven is opened to believers and closed to unbelievers.