Word of Salvation – March 2025
Church Discipline
Sermon by Rev. John Westendorp on W.C.F. ch.30 & Matthew 16:13-20
Reading: 1Corinthians 5; Matthew 16:13-20
Westminster Confession of Faith – ch.30
Singing: BoW.048 Great is the Lord
– BoW.181 Ascribe greatness
– BoW.490 Glorious things of You are spoken
– BoW.533 Blessed be the Lord
Theme: Church discipline is using the Keys of the Kingdom given to the leaders of the Church by Christ.
Introd: It’s difficult for us here in Australia to imagine a church controlled by the State.
But that’s the reality in some countries… for example in China.
There, only churches approved by the State are regarded as legal churches.
Those not under State control are often persecuted.
So in China there is a State endorsed church but there is also an underground church.
That was also a problem at the time the W.C.F. was written.
It was generally the State which decided the religion of its people.
And it was the State that appointed the clergy and paid them their salaries.
And repeatedly the State interfered in the affairs of the Church.
Of course the reverse sometimes also happened.
There have been times when the Church called the shots.
And when the church interfered in the affairs of a civil government.
Today we believe in the separation of Church and State… and the W.C.F. played a part in that.
Those who drew up the W.C.F. believed in the what we might call ‘sphere sovereignty’.
The State and the Church each have their own spheres of responsibility.
That’s why the W.C.F. speaks in chapter 30 of church government.
And then it clearly distinguishes this government of the church from civil authorities.
We don’t want our Prime Minister or Premier telling the church what to do.
Nor is it proper for our Session to tell them how to run the country.
The W.C.F. is concerned about this because in this chapter it deals with church discipline.
Or if you like… with the use of the keys of the Kingdom.
But it’s not the government in Canberra that uses those keys… the church does.
A] THE KEYS OF THE KINGDOM ENTRUSTED TO THE CHURCH.
- We read about these ‘keys of the kingdom’ in Matthew 16.
It’s a Scripture passage that is seriously misunderstood.
For example:
The Roman Catholic church uses this as the basis for its teachings about the Pope.
The Popes are the successors of Peter. They are the head of the church and infallible.
Or think of a more common misconception:
In the minds of many St. Peter is the gate-keeper at the pearly gates.
He’s the white-beared, grumpy guy with the keys, always reluctant to let people in.
These views are based on Matthew 16.
Jesus says: “I tell you that you are Peter…” (and the name Peter means ‘rock’).
“And on this rock I will build my church.”
But you cannot argue on the basis of these verses for Peter being the head of the church.
Scripture nowhere teaches that Peter was the head of the NT church.
In Acts 15 it is James who give leadership to the Jerusalem Council.
In Galatians Paul stands up to Peter about the importance of grace.
The point is that it is not Peter but Peter’s confession on which Jesus will build His Church.
And not even so much Peter’s confession but the Christ whom He has just confessed.
So wherever Jesus is confessed as the Christ there Jesus builds His church.
And it is there that the ‘keys’ which Jesus gave Peter will be wielded.
- I must also add that Jesus is not just speaking here only about keys to the pearly gates.
These are keys of the Kingdom and the kingdom is much broader than just heaven after we die.
The kingdom of God is the whole sphere of God’s saving activity.
That includes heaven… but it also includes the church… the army of the kingdom.
In fact it especially includes the church.
Because Jesus has just said that on this rock He would build his church.
So it includes admitting to the church and excluding from the church.
That task of using the keys is entrusted to Peter and the whole leadership of the church.
Turn a moment please to John 20 and you’ll see that this is not just Peter’s responsibility.
In John 20 Jesus addresses all the disciples.
He says in vs. 22 & 23:
“Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive anyone his sins they will be forgiven;
if you do not forgive them they are not forgiven.”
That’s really just looking at the teaching about the keys in Matthew 16 another way.
Pause and think about that. That’s an awesome responsibility to give to church leaders.
The power to admit people into the very kingdom of God.
Keys are used for unlocking… for opening, in this case the Kingdom of heaven.
But there is also the power to bar people from the kingdom of God.
Keys are also used to lock shut… to close… in this case, the Kingdom of heaven.
In the book of Revelation (Chapter 3) Jesus Himself holds the keys. It says:
He opens and no man shuts… He shuts and no man opens…!
But here in Matthew’s gospel the Living Lord entrusts those very same keys to Peter.
The leadership – represented by Peter – is called to use those keys on behalf of Jesus.
Christ has appointed a church government to handle the keys of the Kingdom.
- If you ask why that is necessary the answer is obvious.
The Christian Church has standards that need to be adhered to.
There are standards for both faith and conduct to which we should hold people.
In fact these are standards which are essential for belonging to the Kingdom.
Without them you are excluded from the Kingdom anyway.
Take for example faith. Does it really matter all that much what people believe?
It does if you want to be part of the Kingdom.
Remember! Peter has just confessed that Jesus is the Christ, the son of the living God.
That confession is a condition for being part of God’s Kingdom.
So the leadership of the church uses the keys at this point.
To make sure that those who are part of the church are able to make that confession.
And if people will not make that confession they are to be excluded.
The church also has standards for behaviour and church members ought to live up to those standards.
We’ll look at a specific example of that in moment from 1Corinthians 5.
Francis Schaeffer has said: The church ought not to be like an amoeba (which keeps changing shape).
The church must have sharply defined boundaries.
What he meant is that the church cannot just look like the rest of the world… it must be different.
And the leadership of the church has the responsibility to make sure that we are different.
That’s why Jesus entrusts the leadership with the keys of the Kingdom.
But the sad thing today is that the church has become casual about its use of the keys.
Even for us as Reformies there is much room for improvement.
B] THE PURPOSE FOR EXERCISING THOSE KINGDOM KEYS.
- The W.C.F. gives us five good reasons why Jesus entrusted the Church with the keys.
I want us to look at those five reasons… and to do so by means of a case study.
It’s the case study that we find in 1Corinthians 5.
Paul complains to the people at Corinth about a serious problem that has arisen in the church.
It’s an issue that was a scandal even to people outside the church.
And Paul not only tells them to deal with it.
He also tells them why they need to deal with this scandal.
And he gives some hints as to how to deal with this problem.
The problem was that a man was living with his own father’s wife in a de-facto relationship.
We assume that it wasn’t his own mother but his step-mother.
And Paul basically calls the church of Corinth to use the keys of the Kingdom.
- The first reason why they need to do this, says the W.C.F. in section 2, is to reclaim the offender.
Church discipline is necessary for reclaiming and gaining fellow Christians who are guilty of offences.
When someone indulges in wilful and blatant sin, their soul is in jeopardy.
God has told us in Scripture that no immoral person will inherit the Kingdom of God.
To put it bluntly: this man in 1Corinthians 5 is headed for an eternity without God.
And what did the church do about that? Nothing! They just lived with the problem.
Even more than that, they are proud of the fact that they are so tolerant.
It’s as if they are saying: Look how progressive we are in putting up with this blatant sin.
And Paul says that instead they should be filled with grief over what is happening.
So Paul calls on them to deal with this for the sake of the man himself.
He even says they are to hand this man over to Satan so as to make him wake up to himself.
IOW: excommunicate him – so that his soul may be saved on the day of the Lord.
Today we don’t do people a favour when we put up with the garbage in their lives.
People like that man in 1Corinthians 5 need to be confronted and if need be, kicked out.
So that he might repent and be saved.
The keys of the Kingdom are to be used for the wellbeing of Christians who live in sin.
- Secondly, the W.C.F. points out that the use of the keys of the Kingdom is a deterrent.
Church discipline is necessary for deterring others from committing similar offences.
There is a deterring effect in punishment.
This is a real live issue today in the whole debate about law and order in our society.
Repeatedly we hear of criminals who get off lightly. A slap on the wrist.
And people say: The punishment he got is not going to deter anyone else from doing the same.
Let me give you a fairly common example in the church.
An older couple live together in a de-facto relationship.
And the church says: Well, that’s their business… if that’s what they want to do, ok!
But that will be no deterrent for others to do the same.
But if that couple is told that they cannot attend Lord’s Supper while they live like that
then that will be a deterrent for another couple that plan to do the same thing.
Shrugging our collective shoulders over sin deters no one from doing the same thing.
But wielding the Keys of the Kingdom is a strong discouragement for others to sin.
- Thirdly, the W.C.F. is concerned for the wellbeing of the whole Christian community.
Church discipline is necessary for purging the leaven which might infect the whole lump
I always find it interesting that in Scripture God calls His people sheep.
Sheep have this tendency to just blindly follow another sheep that is in front of them.
And in the church that happens all the time.
I recall that in one church I served we had several young couples just living together.
Someone had argued: Why get married? What difference does a bit of paper make?
Before too long there were three or four others living in de-facto relationships.
We need to remember that there is something contagious about sin.
If one young person brags about watching an M rated movie others will want to watch it.
If one man thinks it’s okay to smoke pot, before too long someone else will too.
Paul address this issue in 1Corinthians 5… except that he doesn’t speak of sin as contagiousness.
In vs.6 he uses the imagery of yeast. Drop a little yeast into dough and what happens?
Before too long that yeast has worked through the entire loaf.
And that’s what sin tends to do… it spreads through the entire community.
So the keys of the Kingdom are to be used for the protection of the whole church.
- In the fourth place the W.C.F. is concerned about God’s reputation.
Church discipline is necessary for vindicating the honour of Christ and the holy profession of the gospel.
Think again of that situation in Corinth.
Paul says that it was immorality of a kind that was not seen even among pagans.
Can you see how that would give the Lord a bad name?
Folk would say: Ha! Look at those Christians. They’re supposed to be different.
But look at the behaviour they are indulging in.
When we as Christians do something wrong unbelievers are very quick to pounce on us.
They say to us: And you call yourself a Christian…?
We have another clear example of that in the life of King David.
The prophet Nathan tells him that his behaviour has led God’s enemies to mock the Lord.
So church discipline is for the honour of Christ.
It’s to protect His reputation and to preserve the honour and glory of His holy name.
We exercise the keys of the Kingdom to vindicate the gospel.
Because the gospel is that Jesus died for us to renew us and change us.
And in Church Discipline we make sure that people are living up to that gospel.
- Fifthly the W.C.F. adds that it is also to keep God from punishing the whole church.
Church discipline is necessary for averting the wrath of God which might justly fall on the church
if it should allow his covenant and its seals to be profaned by notorious and obstinate offenders.
Repeatedly we’re shown in the Bible what happens when sin is not dealt with.
Invariable the whole community suffers the judgement of God because of it.
There’s the story of the sin of Achan in the book of Joshua – all Israel suffered as a result.
When King David in pride counted Israel the whole nation suffered from a plague.
Behind this lies the truth that we as a church are a body… and we’re responsible for each other.
And God also treats us as a body… as a community… a corporate identity.
And if that community does not deal with sin in its midst then the whole community may suffer.
This is another reason Paul calls on the Corinthians to deal with that man living with his father’s wife.
Because a whole church can come under God’s righteous anger against sin.
C] THE METHOD THAT IS TO BE FOLLOWED IN USING THEM.
- The WCF ends this chapter with a very brief comment on how the keys of the kingdom must be used.
Basically it mentions three ways in which Church Discipline works.
First it says that the officers of the church are to use admonition.
I don’t find that actually mentioned in 1Corinthians 5.
But that’s probably because the situation had gone well past the stage of warning someone.
But that is really what ought to happen first in the church.
There’s a number of ways in which that still happens today.
For starters that admonition happens from the pulpit.
So often in the preaching of the Word God admonishes us to live godly lives to His glory.
That’s where admonition in the church needs to begin.
But sadly in too many churches today preaching has become an inspirational pep talk.
Preachers bring motivational messages instead of saying: Thus says the Lord…!
Admonition of people living in sin also happens in pastoral visitation.
I’ve often called on people to tell them that they really need to deal with their lifestyle.
And our elders have had to do that repeatedly in home-visitations.
As in a loving and gentle way… but very firmly we say to people: this is not appropriate.
- In 1Corinthians 5 the situation had gone beyond that.
There is a second way in which the keys of the Kingdom are used and that is exclusion.
First of all an exclusion from the use of the sacraments.
So if people refuse to listen to admonition then they are kept from the sacraments.
Again… that is not just a punishment.
It is to safeguard the sacrament… but it is also for the restoration of the sinner.
I remember very clearly dealing with a young couple about their lifestyle.
And at a certain point I had to say to them:
Session is no longer prepared to have you come to the Lord’s Supper.
That had a huge shock effect on that young couple.
They dealt with the non-Christian behaviour in repentance.
So we could welcomed them back into full fellowship.
And as a matter of interest, he later even became an elder in the church.
- Finally as a last resort – if there is no repentance – then there is the exclusion of excommunication.
That is actually what Paul is referring to in 1Corinthians 5.
Notice how Paul concludes this matter in vs.13.
He says: Expel the wicked man from among you.
That is the ultimate way in which the church – especially its leadership – uses the Kingdom keys.
There sometimes comes a point where we have to tell people: You no longer belong.
And sadly… over the years we have often had to do that.
I personally feel that often that has been ineffective because we have waited too long.
The person concerned has become so estranged from the church
that being excommunicated no longer has any impact on the person concerned.
Here in 1Corinthians 5 there was a happy outcome… this man was shocked into repentance.
Turn please to Paul’s second letter to this church… where there is a follow-up.
In 2Corinthians 2 Paul tells us that this man should now be restored (read vss.6-8).
It’s wonderful when in this way the use of the keys brings glory to God and restores the sinner.
Amen