I agree with you that Christians should live a holy and righteous life, set apart
from this world. c But I would encourage you to trust in the grace of God in their
lives. c 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. c 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. c 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. c 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. c Salvation is the work of our Triune God
from beginning to end. c Our holiness is the work of the Holy Spirit conforming
us into Christ’s image “from glory to glory” (2 Cor. 3:18). c “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). c So, I trust that anyone who God calls to Himself,
He will sanctify by the power of His Spirit. c 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. c Dever notes that church discipline is good for both the
church and the one who is being disciplined.[1] c 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. c We also do not realize
that sin is like cancer that infects and spreads. c Many people believe that it is just
church people being nosey or gossiping, but that is not how church discipline works. c
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). c 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.
