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By In Culture, Politics, Pro-Life

Pelosi, Whoopi, and the Grace of Excommunication 

The Roman Catholic Archbishop of San Francisco Salvatore Cordileone announced last week the excommunication of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. The Archbishop has cited Pelosi’s refusal to back down from her public advocacy of abortion, which conflicts with the moral positions of the Church, Christian tradition, and the Holy Scripture.

Many news outlets have strangely described the event as the “denial of communion” (Washington Post) or a “communion ban” (Fox News) rather than excommunication. One criticism of the excommunication comes from Whoopi Goldberg – who once pretended to be a nun in a movie and now pretends to speak with even greater erudition than the Archbishop. Goldberg claims, “This is not your job, dude! You can’t — that is not up to you to make that decision.”

The term excommunication itself literally means “out of/from communion” and is from very simple Latin: “ex” and “communicatio.” I believe the modern American sees phrases like excommunication as harsh and as with a sense of permanence, yet this is not the historic understanding of the term. The process of removing a Christian from communion is not related to any particular sin, but rather the obstinate refusal to repent. While various sins certainly place individuals in a grave position at odds with Christian teaching in faith and morals, it is impenitence alone that leads to formal excommunication.

The historic understanding of excommunication is lost on many who would rather paint the church’s role in excommunication as harsh, judgmental, and unloving –  yet the act of excommunication is by the witness of Christ and his Apostles an act of love toward the wayward. God’s grace is fully present and offered in the pronouncement of excommunication as a final call away from sin and into the free gift of forgiveness – over even the most notorious of sins.

Did Jesus Teach Excommunication?

Just a few lines down from, “Judge not, that you be not judged.” (Matthew 7:1) our Lord Jesus also says, “Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire” (v. 19) and “‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!'” Jesus clearly expected that there would be situations that demand separation and even destruction from those who departed from his “narrow gate” (v. 13-14) and the, “will of My Father in heaven.” (v. 21). Jesus also passes down the authority to enact this separation through his Apostles with his own words, “And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.” (Matthew 16:19).

St. Paul explicitly continued the practice of excommunication and explains that the act might be for the benefit of those engrossed in sin, “deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.” (1 Corinthians 5:5) St. Paul saw excommunication as having the power to save, not as a malicious act to permanently destroy. The Geneva Bible includes these helpful notes, “The goal of excommunication is not to cast away the excommunicate that he should utterly perish, but that he may be saved, that is, that by this means his flesh may be tamed, that he may learn to live to the Spirit.”

Does the Church Excommunicate for Politics?

Goldberg contends that, “The archbishop of San Francisco is calling for speaker Nancy Pelosi to be denied receiving Communion because of her pro-choice stance…” While this statement is partly true, Archbishop Cordileone claims that the decision is “purely pastoral, not political.” The idea that an activist Bishop might wield the keys of the kingdom for political reasons is rightly to be feared, yet the issue of abortion is not simply political. There is a plainly spoken and unbroken witness in the Christian tradition from the first-century Didache (“you shall not abort a child or commit infanticide.”) through today in defense of the unborn. There is no doubt that ancient Christians consistently held that life in the womb was to be protected and the taking of this life was a sinful breech of the commandment to “do no murder.” Again, it should be reiterated that Cordileone has not excommunicated Pelosi for a belief about abortion or even “the grave evil she is perpetrating”, but rather for obstinately refusing to repent of her advocacy of abortion.

The Archbishop’s position to excommunicate a powerful governmental figure for their support of a grave evil is not new and has precedence in church history. In 390, Bishop Ambrose of Milan excommunicated Emperor Theodosius, claiming that the “The Emperor is in the Church, not above it.” The same could be argued today, in that Speaker Pelosi is in the Church, not above it. Emperor Theodosius’s excommunication was directly related to his role in the massacre of 7,000 men, women, and children in Thessalonica. After eight months outside the church, Theodosius kneeled his heart in penitence and was restored to communion. Through excommunication, the same grace and hope for restoration is offered to Pelosi.

The emperor himself had not driven a sword into a single individual, just as Speaker Pelosi does not herself scrape out a baby using a metal curette, yet the policies supported and advocated by Speaker Pelosi have contributed to the deaths of millions of unborn children through legal abortion in the United States. The Guttmacher Institute, Planned Parenthood’s research arm, estimates the number of annual abortions to be over 800,000. (from 2017 figures)

In response to the Archbishop, Pelosi has openly criticized the church’s positions, accused the hierarchy of hypocrisy, and went on to receive communion at a church outside of the Archdiocese. Perhaps this speaks to Pelosi’s character or perhaps to the weakness of discipline in the Roman Church, but it certainly is not representative of a spirit of humility or of respect for her claimed ecclesiastical tradition.

The Practical Prayers of Excommunication

During the formative years of my Christian walk I sat under a church that prayed each week for those who had strayed from the Christian faith. We would pray for those who are not saved, but also for those described as “under discipline” (or “excommunicated”). Each week we would recite the names of those under discipline and ask, “that our Lord would bring them to a place of repentance and restore them to the fellowship of Christ’s church.” Seeing them actually return to answer these prayers was always a powerful testimony. My own tradition speaks to excommunication in the Articles of Religion, “XXXIII. Of excommunicate Persons, how they are to be avoided.” Here again, excommunication is affirmed but with the goal that such treatment, “as a heathen and publican” (see Matthew 18:17) would result in reconciliation, penance, and received back into the full fellowship of the church.

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By In Culture

Are You Planning on Yelling at Your Children Today?

Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted.  Galatians 6:1

In his sermon series entitled, Loving Little Ones, Douglas Wilson makes application of this passage from the larger church body to the specific microcosm of the Christian home. In our homes we have leaders and followers, teachers and learners, older, wiser ones and younger, foolish ones; everyone in both categories being brothers and sisters in Christ. Pastor Wilson pointed out that in our homes we tend to leave the “ye who are spiritual” part out of the verse. We assume that folks “at church” need to remember this verse whenever they may be admonishing, exhorting, rebuking, or correcting us, but when we get home, this verse does not apply when we are correcting our children. In the church, folks need to remember the “spirit of gentleness” part; especially when they are correcting us.  If they don’t, we get to turn things back around, make an accusation at them, and then completely ignore whatever they were trying to say to us. At home, we pretend like we are the “ye who are spiritual” ones by default, therefore “spiritualness” gets defined by however we are doing things at the moment.

Brothers, these things ought not be so. If we are at home and an offense is committed by one of our wee ones, and then we fly off the handle, then at that moment, there are zero spiritual people in that room. There is no one in that room fit to restore anyone that has been caught in a transgression, because both people in that room are in the middle of a transgression. We need to be restored before we are biblically fit to do any restoring.

In Toby Sumpter’s ruminations about the Newtown shootings last year, he made a point that I won’t soon forget. He said,

We snapped at (our children) in anger, in frustration. They were whining in the backseat of the car, they were embarrassing us in front of our friends. And so we pulled a 9mm semi-automatic and shot them with words and looks and our tone of voice.

Our unbridled wrath is the same as murder. It kills our neighbor, and it does not restore our children. It does not “teach them a lesson” in the way that we may be hoping. It teaches them lies about God. We call Him “father,” and rightly so, but when was the last time He snapped at you?  When was the last time He got that serious look on his face, wagged His finger, and scolded you until you learned your lesson? He is long-suffering toward usward, not willing that any should perish, but all should come to repentance. (2 Peter 3:9)

The God of heaven and earth is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Do we get to set that list aside until we’ve raised our children? If we do then we’ll be raising them into the same moral relativism that we ourselves are practicing. Not to mention that we’ll look just as stupid as the parent in Wal-Mart, leaning down into the face of their child, chewing them out publicly, because they won’t biblically discipline them privately. We don’t get a pass on looking stupid just because we’re Christians.

In Galatians 5, the chapter preceding Galatians 6 if you haven’t been counting, Paul gives us some very practical lists,

Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.

We have probably abstained from orgies and sorcery our entire lives, and drunkenness for most of our lives, but what about fits of anger? When the lamp gets knocked off the table and shatters, or the rebellious little pill says, “no”, or the teenager asks, “why” again today, we must remember that parents who habitually practice “fits of anger” will not inherit the Kingdom of God. And remember, on the contrary, that “those who belong to Christ have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.”

Christ not only says, “Mine,” over every square inch of creation geographically. He also says, “Mine,” over every word that we speak to our children today and over every disciplinary action that must take place. So, unless the house is on fire, don’t yell at your children today. Or tomorrow. Or ever.

Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted.  Galatians 6:1<>game_free play java game free анализ а проверка тиц

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By In Theology

Introducing Your Church Membership Credit Score

How Credit Scores Work

credit-scoreThere was a time when your credit score wasn’t rated by a numerical value, your “credit” worthiness was determined by a variety of human-based interactions. A quick look into pre-FICO score ratings would reveal a world unknown to our digital report age. There once was a time when “Welcome Wagon representatives” and “mutual protection agencies” collected and sold information about your business dealings for banks and other creditors. As America grew, so did the need for precision in credit scores; this grown-up version of a permanent record now follows the responsibility of consumers in their financial commitments. It is a beautiful private system that rewards good behavior and makes us better borrowers–it tells the truth about how we behave in society.

The business world expanded its review of credit worthiness to address actual issues. The issues they were facing had been in the making for decades, mainly the growth of communities and a greater latitude in societal compositions. The early American practice of running a tab at your local general store was based on the individual’s reputation in the community. As the community grew, this became impractical: how can one general store track and lend credit to a major metropolitan area? The 20th century was also marked by tremendous advances in travel. Cars, planes, and bullet trains made it possible for families to lives cities apart, for men to pick and start a new career more than once in their lifetime. There are obvious credit-worthiness issues here: how does the creditor in the new town(s) know if someone is trustworthy if they have no reputation or history that is available? How does one handle multiple lending institutions?

Churches and Credit Worthiness

wineThe church today has some of the same issues in dealing with church discipline. We have a precious commodity extended to those who are in good standing with the Body of Christ. The church unites those baptized into the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit into a covenant contract for the blessings and benefits of the kingdom. We offer the very blood and true body of Christ to those who are worthy to receive it, feeding and nourishing their mind, body, and soul. How are these precious sacraments to be protected from wolves and the sacred table fenced from those who may take it unworthily?

The Christian church throughout the entirety of its history has used church discipline to regulate the credit worthiness of its members, but for same reasons the business world needed to expand its rating system, the church must address the needed changes in managing its membership. Imagine for a moment that a consumer were to default on his mortgage; the creditor could rightly hold the individual to his contract in repossessing property, imposing penalties, and even initiating civil litigation. Now imagine if this defaulted borrower’s next step was to go to the bank down the street and apply for another loan? How foolish would this second creditor be to not investigate the applicant’s history, or as in is the common case in the modern church, to ignore the warnings of past creditors?

A Pound of Flesh?

In an America with thousands of denominations, this becomes more difficult as we discover many have completely ignored the biblical command for formal discipline and excommunication (1 Cor. 5:5). God’s use of discipline is an act of grace and mercy to those who refuse to hear the elders’ call to repentance. Impenitence, not any individual sin, is the only outstanding debt that the church has the authority to collect on. Repossession of a member’s place at the Lord’s table is “for the destruction of the flesh, that his spirit may be saved,” says St. Paul. When churches act biblically in their protection of the Lord’s table they are showing a loving-kindness, grace, and mercy to those who are caught in grievous sins. When churches ignore the Apostolic order to not recognize those who have placed themselves outside the congregation, they hurt that individual the most. Just a verse later, St. Paul goes on to explain why we need to separate the covenant keepers from the covenant breakers, “Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump? Therefore purge out the old leaven” (vv. 6-7)

Obviously, the first step is to reinforce the biblical commission to practice the grace of church discipline. There will always be some confusion when tackling the issue of church discipline, and attacking churches that are weak on this issue will not fix everything. We have to acknowledge that excommunication is difficult even in churches that hold it consistently. The reality of sin doesn’t prohibit our actions to kill sin, but rather it should encourage our devotion to prayer, to Christian conduct, and to utter and complete dependence on our triune God.

The Role of Shepherds

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Our duly ordained ministers and elders are called to be shepherds of Jesus’s flock. John MacArthur’s Shepherd’s Conference is iconified by a pastor’s staff in its logo. I think this imagery is wonderful in so many ways. The pastoral staff is used to delicately wrangle sheep, and it ensures that particular ewes (mother sheep) and lambs don’t lose each other in large flocks. I’ve been told in a number of sermon illustrations that in some cases the human handling of a lamb can cause the mother to refuse to feed it.

This is why we can’t simply use our own human means, or our own human hands, to tend the flock, but must trust in God’s staff in the hands of his anointed shepherds. Too often we try to insert ourselves into disputes, and this subverts the authority of the church leadership, it shows a lack of faith in God’s biblical prescribed pastoral structure. Using human means of reconciliation is rebellion against the Holy Spirit. We need to work on trusting God more. Praying more, gossiping less. More divine intercession, less human meddling.

The second use of the shepherd’s staff is using the end to butt a sheep in the side. As sheep are moved about, they tend to wander off, and the rod is used to keep them in line. I imagine that very few sheep enjoy being poked or jabbed by the shepherd’s staff, but it’s done frequently to keep the flock moving in the right direction, for its safety. The minister does this from time to time in his sermons. Have you been offended by the minister’s righteous jabbing in his preaching? Perhaps that was his staff causing discomfort against an unruly sheep’s ribs? Or has a member forsaken the assembly by placing other pleasures over the Lord’s Day worship service? We should be thankful when the pastor pulls us aside and uses the staff to nudge us back to regular fellowship and communion with believers. Our shepherds use this gentle guidance to keep us from the jaws of wolves or an angry God’s rod of judgment.

The Hooky Hook for Hucksters

 

staff

The shepherd’s staff is also used to hook a sheep for inspection. A disease in one sheep can quickly spread to a flock of thousands. This means that shepherds are constantly checking up on their flocks. A shepherd who merely puts out food and water will see his flock diminishing. This sort of animal husbandry requires the shepherd’s attention for missing sheep, for sick ones, and for the dangers in the pasture. As he practices church husbandry, the minister is to care for the Bride of Christ in much of the same way. At Church of the King, we expect regular visitations from our elders. This is a time when the elders meet with individual families in private to hear any concerns that a family may have with the church or with their own spiritual life. I know my wife and I look forward to having our elders visit us. It gives us a chance to express any questions we have with them or others in our flock.

At a recent visitation, I expressed our difficulty with the cost of some of the meals we were assigned to bring for our church’s fellowship meals. This is a conversation that would be difficult and even inappropriate to corner an elder with at church, but talking out little problems regularly like this helps develop a healthy relationship between the members and elders. Having the elders over also helps give them a glimpse into our home life. Is Steve Macias giving his wife the respect and honor she deserves? It can be hard to tell during the few hours we meet together throughout the week, but one-on-one with the elders can help them be more prepared if issues do arise. It also gives the elders a time to get a snapshot on how the family is doing in daily life.

My elders ask about our finances. There are no spreadsheets or 1040 forms, but they need to be involved if a family is in need of diaconal assistance. Is this man in need of pastoral guidance in his vocation or even in seeking employment? Are they practicing good Christian stewardship? This is not to place the church at the head of a man’s finances, but rather to recognize that the church is here to serve all of the man. What good is the good news of Jesus, if the families in your church are starving or being abused? The elders ask about marriage. They did this before we were married and check in often to keep in front of marital hardships that will inevitably come to some degree in all unions between sinners. The elders ask about our devotion. Are we growing in the Lord? Is the husband leading the family in home worship and devotion? They can then help shepherd out issues that need to be addressed.

The Problem of Camp Followers

RC-Sproul-JrLast March, Rev. R.C. Sproul Jr tweeted, “Those who refuse to join a local church are not soldiers in the Lord’s army, but camp followers.” Developing a proper view of church discipline requires us to take our vows and commitments to the body of Christ seriously. Too many Christians are in open rebellion to their husband Jesus by refusing to subject themselves to a local body in the Bride of Christ. Their resistance to shepherding is, as we’ve seen above, to their own disservice. The Bible explicitly commands believers to submit to a local church’s elders (Heb. 13:17). The Scriptures warrant no such title as “member-at-large” or “long-term visitor,” and these camp followers are refusing to either serve the local body or submit to elders, or both. Camp followers who find themselves connected to weekly bible studies, church events, worship services, and even leadership roles are required to covenant their membership with that local church.

Refusing to submit to a church that you are regularly communing at, fellowshipping with, and benefiting from is a sin. This is a sin that good shepherds will recognize and deal with in accordance with the Gospel. (Matt. 18:15-20) A pastor should explain to the camp followers that they are expected to submit to the Bible’s standard of church membership and privately shepherd them into their calling for the body of Christ.

Camp followers who refuse to submit to the elders should be removed from the Lord’s table for impenitence. The bar for receiving communion is set at the child-like faith of baptism. As First Corinthians 12:13 says, “For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free—and have all been made to drink into one Spirit.” By our baptism we are made to drink in unity, but the camp follower who refuses to submit to the elders will, as St. Paul declares, “eat and drink judgment on themselves. (1 Cor. 11:29). To protect these straying sheep, the shepherd removes them from communion and toward the hope of repentance in excommunication. Camp following should be called out for the sin it is: church harlotry. The bride of Christ deserves our full allegiance, not just a series of one night stands.

More From The Merchant of Venice

Shylock-GUtenberg-Project-4x6In the famous play, Shakespeare’s Shylock extended credit to the reckless Antonio knowing his full credit report, knowing that he wasn’t likely to keep his financial commitments. The Christian minister is to extend the sacraments of baptism and communion liberally, without regard of whether the individual will be able to perfectly keep their covenant. Much like Shylock, the minister extends those means of grace knowing that his sheep will fail to uphold their side of the covenant. This is not an invitation for a legalistic guarding of the table, but rather an understanding that the table is a place of confession and forgiveness. Each Lord’s Day, the forgiveness of the Gospel is to be offered to all who would confess and forsake their sins, clinging only to the blood of Jesus. Shylock demanded a pound of flesh when Antonio couldn’t pay, but in Christ we are forgiven our debts and we are nourished on the new riches of Christ’s flesh. The “fleshly” demands of the enemy are consumed like wine swallowed in the grace of our Lord’s blood. While we suffer through the uncertainty of excommunication, through the real pain, and broken relationships–there is a hope that amid the storms of sin in our life, that by church discipline Christ will bring our ships home.

A Sanctuary From Sanctification

wordCredit ratings fail to mean anything if other lenders refuse to heed their warnings, and church discipline is the same. If a church refuses to recognize the legitimate discipline of an individual who attempts to join their congregation, they make their house of prayers into a sanctuary away from sanctification. Not only do they open their congregation up to a toxic leaven left to the buffeting of Satan, but this also prevents this sinner from reconciliation and repentance with Christ’s church, which they have spurned. Welcoming excommunicated Christians to another church is harmful to the individual, to the body, and the unity of the Church.

Excommunications aren’t perfect, and everyone has a story about some mistakes or abuses. But the key point is, because the church is God’s biblical model, we should strive to reform our churches to better serve our members. There is also a shield in place to fix errors: the Holy Spirit. No pastor wants to excommunicate a father or mother of a family he loves or have a false accusation on his conscience when he is promised to be judged more strictly by God Himself (James 3:1).

Christian Credit Score System

When a member moves to another church, which happens for a number of valid reasons, he should have his membership transferred to the care of the new church. The old and new pastors should discuss the move and ensure that it was done with the best intentions, communicating any pastoral knowledge that would help the next minister in his shepherding duties. He should mention if this member had been disciplined in the past, what the elders noticed during visitations, and so on. This is just like Bank of America communicating with Wells Fargo about how you kept up with your mortgage, before they give you a bank loan for a new car. Christians should expect something like a permanent record to follow them throughout their care from a pastor to the next pastor that ministers to them.

Imagine if each of our ministers kept a record of members’ status in the church; we wouldn’t have to include much, just 1. Good Standing since xx/xx/xxxx [Church] or 2. Excommunicated on xx/xx/xxxx [Church]. Remembering of course that FICO is a private credit rating system, the same would be true of a Christian credit score system. When an individual seeks membership in a new church they simply have their name run through our newly conjectured “Christian Faithfulness Index.” And so, if you are in good standing, it is noted. If you skipped out on your last church, it is noted. If you are under discipline, the minister knows you need to reconcile with a previous church, and it is there in black and white.

Sure, at first it sounds a bit strange to our modern sensibilities. But it is nearly the same as we imagine it will be once we stand before the great throne of judgement. Do you chafe at the idea that then all deeds will be exposed? Shouldn’t we welcome the kind of covenant community that not only involves the “fun” parts of fellowship, but also dealing properly with sin, including our own? This system would tell the truth, which could go well for you, or not, depending on what is true. All that a negative report that is accurate can do is to encourage you to repent. This is entirely reasonable. We can hold more conferences on church membership, write more books on repentance, give lectures on character, but if we fail to uphold the Bible’s prescribed means of discipline, it will all be for naught.

Reformed Christians can take the lead and build a reformed network accepting submissions for a “Christian Faithfulness Index.” Incrementally, the Kingdom will incentivize and consistently apply church discipline by preventing ”Joe-Bob” from escaping discipline from First Presbyterian Church by showing up at Second Reformed Church down the street. Churches that practice discipline will see the fruit of Christ’s mercy. Those who find no sanctuary from Satan in anti-sanctification churches will have no choice but to look for new life in our risen Savior.

As a Christian with Bible-based optimism, I believe we will see unity of believers, of denominations, of schisms, of sects, under the present reign of King Jesus. And I believe discipline is a vital part of the sanctification of the bride of Christ.

In closing, I am reminded of a hymn we sing often at Church of the King. As you read the lyrics of “How Sweet and Awful is the Place,” pray that the Lord brings the strangers home.

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How Sweet and Awful is the Place

by Isaac Watts

How sweet and awful is the place 

With Christ within the doors, 

While everlasting love displays 

The choicest of her stores.

While all our hearts and all our songs 

Join to admire the feast,

Each of us cry, with thankful tongues,

“Lord, why was I a guest?”

“Why was I made to hear Thy voice,

And enter while there’s room,

When thousands make a wretched choice,

And rather starve than come?”

‘Twas the same love that spread the feast

That sweetly drew us in;

Else we had still refused to taste,

And perished in our sin.

Pity the nations, O our God, 

Constrain the earth to come; 

Send Thy victorious Word abroad, 

And bring the strangers home.

We long to see Thy churches full, 

That all the chosen race 

May, with one voice and heart and soul,

Sing Thy redeeming grace.

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