Theological term
Church Discipline
64 sermons · All terms
Hagar, Sarah, and Covenant Theology
Galatians 4:21–31 presents Paul's allegorical argument from the two sons of Abraham — Ishmael and Isaac, Hagar and Sarah — to demonstrate that faith and law-keeping are mutually exclusive systems of approach to God. Paul maps Hagar onto the Mosaic covenant, first-century apostate Jerusalem, and the bondage of those who seek acceptance with God through legal works; he maps Sarah onto the covenant of grace, the heavenly Jerusalem, and the freedom of those who are justified by faith alone in Christ alone. New covenant membership belongs not to ethnic Israel as such, but to all — Jew and Gentile — who are united to Christ by sovereign grace, making them heirs of the promise given to Abraham. The sermon closes with a call to recognise false teaching as a form of persecution and to exercise church discipline against those who corrupt the gospel of free justification.
Conduct Becoming a New Man
Colossians 3:12–14 calls the new man in Christ not merely to shed sinful habits but to clothe himself with a definite set of Spirit-wrought virtues: tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering, forbearance, forgiveness, and above all, love. The passage grounds these graces in the threefold identity of the elect — chosen, holy, and beloved — an identity that derives from God's sovereign election and not from any prior human worthiness. These virtues are not a program of moral self-improvement but the fruit of union with Christ, whose own character they mirror, and the sermon applies them concretely to marriage, the local church, and the workplace. The closing appeal presses the unconverted to flee to Christ alone, since niceness apart from grace saves no one, while calling the church to celebrate the gospel of free and sovereign grace as the only foundation on which any of this obedience stands.
I'm in Church Because...
What are the right reasons for a Christian to gather with the church? This sermon on 1 Timothy 3:15, ranging across Hebrews 10, Acts 20, Revelation 1, and 1 Corinthians 11, argues that the motives driving church attendance must be theological and divine rather than aesthetic or consumerist. Seven reasons are set forth: the perfect crosswork of Christ, the identity of the church as the house of the living God, the presence of the reigning Christ among his churches, the church as pillar and ground of the truth, the church as God's ordained place for the care of his sheep, the administration of the Lord's Supper, and the mutual building up of the saints. The sermon closes with a call to enter the assembly for high and holy reasons — as both a commanded duty and a joyful privilege before the triune God.
The Church at Thyatira
Revelation 2:18–29 records the longest of the seven letters to the churches of Asia Minor, addressed to the smallest city — Thyatira. Christ presents himself to this church as the Son of God with eyes like flame and feet like burnished bronze: omniscient judge and certain executioner of his threats. The church is commended for real growth in works, love, service, faith, and patient endurance, yet condemned for tolerating a false prophetess called Jezebel who seduced believers into sexual immorality and idol-food — the precise sins forbidden by the Jerusalem Council. The letter closes with a call to hold fast until Christ comes and a promise that overcomers will share in his royal rule over the nations, receiving Christ himself as the Morning Star.