Theological term
Corrective Discipline
4 sermons · All terms
2LCF Chapter 26 - Of the Church, Part 12
Church membership is not an optional preference for believers but a biblical obligation that makes church discipline both possible and meaningful. This exposition of 2LCF 26.12 establishes church membership as the prerequisite to all formal discipline, then works through Matthew 18:15 to show how private confrontation — grounded in Leviticus 19:17 and shaped by love, humility, and a commitment to God's law rather than personal preference — is the first and foundational step in recovering an offending brother. The sermon closes with practical counsel on the disposition required of both the offended and the offender, calling every church member to deal faithfully with sin rather than avoiding, broadcasting, or bitterly nursing it.
The Procedure for Church Discipline, Part 2
Church discipline is not optional for any believer — Matthew 18:15 commands the offended party to go directly and privately to the one who has sinned against them, before any witnesses or congregational involvement. This sermon works through the situation, command, and outcome of that first private confrontation, distinguishing between genuine sin and mere preference, and between the path of direct rebuke and the path of love covering a multitude of sins. The goal throughout is not excommunication or the infliction of pain, but the recovery of a sinning brother and the preservation of the purity and peace of Christ's church.
The Procedure for Church Discipline, Part 1
Matthew 18:15 introduces Christ's binding procedure for church discipline within the local church — a subject that exposes both the authority of the head of the church and the love that drives the restoration of erring brothers. Four introductory matters are addressed before the first step is reached: the definition of formative and corrective discipline, the necessity of discipline as obedience to Christ, key presuppositions (including five biblical arguments for defined church membership), and the practice considered against common misreadings of Matthew 7 and Matthew 13. The purpose of discipline is shown to be threefold: the reconciliation and restoration of the offender, the purity of Christ's church for the glory of God, and the protection of the people of God from the spread of unchecked sin.
The Prophet's Lament and the Lord's Answer
Habakkuk's two laments to God — one ethical, one theological — expose the perennial tension between a believer's knowledge of God's holiness and sovereignty and the apparent triumph of wickedness. The first complaint concerns lawlessness rampant in Judah under Jehoiakim; God's answer, that He is raising up the Chaldeans as His instrument of judgment, only deepens the crisis: how can a God of pure eyes employ a nation more wicked than the one He is chastising? The sermon situates these laments historically, traces their covenant-theological logic through Deuteronomy's curse-sanctions, and draws out four applications: godly concern for societal evil, prayer as the primary outlet for that concern, confidence in God's sovereign control, and the doctrinal anchor that the covenant remnant shall not perish.