The leaders don’t help them to fulfill their membership vows? They should close their church doors! That’s not REALLY a church!

For many years, I had the joy of serving young children in our church co-op’s Theology class. We discussed the sermon, prayed for our leaders, sang a hymn (all five verses), practiced our Catechism, worked on memorizing various creeds and confessions (and we’re working on memorizing the book of Philippians), and studied systematic theology using Bruce Ware’s Big Truths for Young Hearts.

In one of our discussions, we talked about church discipline / ecclesiastical authority. I gave the hypothetical: What if I (Mrs. Barthel) was caught in sin and I REFUSED to repent. What would Mr. Barthel do? (“He would get help,” said the kids.) What might that look like? (“Asking your best friend to talk with you too. Asking for help from our small group leader.”) What if I REFUSED to listen and I REFUSED to repent? I was really really STUCK? Would they give up? Just leave me caught in my sin? (We discussed Galatians 6:1.) Leave me to die? (“No! Of course not!”) So what would they DO? (“Get help from our elders.”)

Why would they do that? (“Because they LOVE you!”) So, when your parents discipline you it’s not because they HATE you? (“No!”) Are they just trying to hurt you? (“No!”) So our elders would love me enough to discipline me? (“Yes!” Discussion of Hebrews 12:6 — The Lord disciplines those He loves.)

At this, I had to slow down the discussion just a bit because our youngest member of the class was a little confused:

“Do you mean the elders would SPANK you, Mrs. Barthel?”

No. No. (But some strange images came into my mind with that question.) What would be some of the things our elders might do to help me to understand the seriousness of my sin, help me to repent, protect others from my destructive behavior? (“Not allow you to take communion.” “Not allow you to teach the women’s Bible study.”) Right. Why? (“Because you’re acting like a non-Christian and non-Christians don’t take communion or teach on behalf of the church.”)

And what if I STILL refused to listen? I refused to turn away from my sin? I LOVED my sin TOO MUCH to even TRY to let it go? (“They would not allow you to stay a member of the church.”) That’s right. So we read and unpacked Matthew 18 and explained how I would then be an object of evangelism (“What do we do for pagans and tax collectors? Shun them? Hate them? NO! We tell them the GOSPEL!”)

 And with that, I told them the example of the man who left his wife and little children and took a girlfriend and started living with her and then brought her to CHURCH and nobody did anything. In one pew? The abandoned wife and little children. In the other pew? The man and his girlfriend. And no one did anything to rescue that man.

The kids were shocked. SHOCKED. And I can’t stop thinking of two of the responses because they represent a more rigorously biblical ecclesiology than most pastors even have (because most churches don’t discipline their members):

S. (age 6): “I don’t think those men should be pastors.”

O. (age 8 ): “Yeah. I don’t think that’s really a church. They should just shut their doors.”

(Shiver.)

So, kids, are you going to join a church one day that DISCIPLINES their members or does NOT discipline their members? (“Disciplines!”) Oh, how I pray this is true—for them, for all of us. Otherwise, when we get caught in our sin (when, not if), who will love us enough to come after us? Help us to repent? Take the time and effort to go into the muddy hills, dangerous with wolves and lack of water and food, to find that one wandering sheep and bring her back into the protection of the flock.

Thank God for shepherd overseers. This is why we memorize the names of our church leaders and pray for them—they watch over us now and will give an account for our souls later. Surely, we can pray for them, bless them, send them encouraging notes, listen to their counsel, support them, protect them, speak well of them, and serve them.

Oh. And if we are ever in a church where the so-called shepherd overseers fail to protect the sheep? Fail to discipline? Fail to rescue? Put the sheep outside of the sheepfold and bar the gate against the sheep? RUN. RUN. RUN. By abdicating their shepherding duties and abandoning the sheep, especially the ewes, they show that they are not, in fact, shepherds.

[A re-post from 2010]