I agree with you that Christians should live a holy and righteous life, set apart from
this world. e But I would encourage you to trust in the grace of God in their lives. e I
often think about how patient the Lord has been with me over the years and how I
do not deserve His grace and mercy. e A puritan preacher, Christopher Love, once
wrote:
A tree, you know, in Winter-season, the fruit and leaves fall off, and it seems as if
it were dead, but there is life in the root; so it is in Christians, their beauty and
blossom may fall off, their fruit dry up, their leaves drop off, the beauty, the
exercise and the fruits of grace may cease for a time, and yet the root of the
matter is in them.[1]
Now, I am not justifying sinful behavior. But I am thankful that “As a father shows
compassion to his children, so the LORD shows compassion to those who fear
him. For he knows our frame; he remembers that we are dust” (Ps. 103:13-14
ESV). Yet, you are right that people within the church need to understand
conversion, that the Lord saves His people and changes them in the power of the
Holy Spirit. e I am thankful that God the Father sent His only Son to accomplish the
work of redemption and the Father and Son sent the Spirit to apply the work of
the Son to our lives. e Salvation is the work of our Triune God from beginning to
end. e Our holiness is the work of the Holy Spirit conforming us into Christ’s image
“from glory to glory” (2 Cor. 3:18). e “But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to
show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us” (2 Cor. 4:7 ESV). e
So, I trust that anyone who God calls to Himself, He will sanctify by the power of
His Spirit. e Thank you again for your post, and may the Lord bless your studies at
Liberty.
I am not surprised that your church does not participate in church discipline because
many churches do not. e Dever notes that church discipline is good for both the church
and the one who is being disciplined.[1] e Unfortunately, in our current evangelical milieu,
we do not recognize the horrendous nature of sin and the great length to which our God
went to propitiate and eradicate it. e We also do not realize that sin is like cancer that
infects and spreads. e Many people believe that it is just church people being nosey or
gossiping, but that is not how church discipline works. e Jesus laid out the basic rubric for
church discipline when he said to first go to your brother alone first and tell him his sin,
then take witnesses with you, if he does not listen, tell it to the church, and finally “let
him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector” (Matt. 18:15-17). e Thank you again for
your post, and may the Lord bless your studies at Liberty.
[1] Christopher Love and Edward Davies, Grace: the Truth and Growth and Different
Degrees Thereof (London: W. Baynes and W. Button, 1810), 110.
