The Wire

Part eight of a miniseries that answers the questions, “What is the Gospel and how are we to respond?” In this talk, Pastor Clint addresses the hard issue of church health and unity, and church discipline. How do we protect the body of Christ from false teaching, division, and blatant unrepentant sin?

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So how do we deal with the Peacebreakers? By being either a peacefaker or peacemaker.
Peacebreaker – self-explanatory
Peacefaker – one who enables sin to continue by not “rocking the boat.” (often in denial)
Peacemaker – one who intervenes to bring shalom. (Don’t confuse with a pacifist.)

“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God.” – Matt 5:9

3-tiered response of the Peacmaker. (Rises in severity)
1. Overlook
2. Intervention
3. Disassociation

What about Judging?

Didn’t Jesus say, “Judge not?” Yes.

Matthew 7:1 “Do not judge, or you too will be judged. 2 For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. 3 “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? 4 How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? 5 You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.

but in the same sermon, on the same page, in the same chapter, almost in the same breath, Jesus also said:

Matthew 7:15 “Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. 16 By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? 17 Likewise every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. 18 A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. 19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them.

The word has a range of meanings, just like our word “love.”

“judge” (krino) (3 meanings in the NT)
to decide, discern, determine, conclude, regard
to condemn, pass final verdict
to sue, stand trial, go to law

There is a judging that is punitive, and self-righteousness and condemning without offering the hope of repentance and restoration.

There is a judging that is protective, and discerning and loving that leads to intervention and, if needed, discipline.

For example, “Molesting children is wrong. Child molesters should not be allowed to work around children, but they should be incarcerated.”

That is a discerning, judicial and wise statement.

*One last thing… let’s never forget that the Jesus who showed mercy to humble sinners and ate with tax collectors is the same Jesus who called self-righteous religious hypocrites a bunch of snakes, and drove greedy con-men thieves from the temple with a whip.

Now back to the responses of a peacemaker.

I. Overlook
Some sins (offenses) need instant grace and forgiveness.

Prov 19:11 A man’s wisdom gives him patience; it is to his glory to overlook an offense.

These are minor, personal offenses. They are out of character. No big deal. I don’t need to nitpick, just forgive. (BUT, if it bothers you enough to make you want to tell someone else, you must talk to them about it first.)

II. Intervention
Galatians 6:1 Brothers, if someone is caught in a sin, you who are spiritual should restore him gently. But watch yourself, or you also may be tempted. 2 Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.

This is where love takes guts. This is where the peacefakers are found out.

1 Cor 13:6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.

Eph 4:15 Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ. 16 From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.

The lease loving thing you can do is prop someone up in there sin, and aid them in there irresponsibility.

For example, Prov 13:24 says that he that refuses to discipline a son hates him, but he who loves him is careful to discipline him.

[1 Tim 5:19-21 states that elders are to be rebuked publicly.]

III. Disassociation (after intervention)

* this only applies to professing believers

A. False Teachers

2 John 1:10 If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not take him into your house or welcome him.
In Rev 2:20-23, Jesus said to the church at Thyatira, “20 Nevertheless, I have this against you: You tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess. By her teaching she misleads my servants into sexual immorality and the eating of food sacrificed to idols. 21 I have given her time to repent of her immorality, but she is unwilling. 22 So I will cast her on a bed of suffering, and I will make those who commit adultery with her suffer intensely, unless they repent of her ways. 23 I will strike her children dead. Then all the churches will know that I am he who searches hearts and minds, and I will repay each of you according to your deeds.”

2 Pet 2:1 But there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign LORD who bought them–bringing swift destruction on themselves.

Acts 20:28 Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds of the church of God, which he bought with his own blood. 29 I know that after I leave, savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock. 30 Even from your own number men will arise and distort the truth in order to draw away disciples after them.

B. Divisive

Stirs controversies, slanders, gossip.

Titus 3:10 Warn a divisive person once, and then warn him a second time. After that, have nothing to do with him. 11 You may be sure that such a man is warped and sinful; he is self-condemned.

C. Unrepentant blatant sin

Sexual immorality, greedy (covetous), idolater, slanderer (reviler), drunkard, swindler.

1 Cor 5:9 I have written you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people– 10 not at all meaning the people of this world who are immoral, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters. In that case you would have to leave this world. 11 But now I am writing you that you must not associate with anyone who calls himself a brother but is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or a slanderer, a drunkard or a swindler. With such a man do not even eat. 12 What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church? Are you not to judge those inside? 13 God will judge those outside. “Expel the wicked man from among you.”

(Divine double standard.)

D. Idle Men (deadbeats)

2 Thess 3:6 In the name of the LORD Jesus Christ, we command you, brothers, to keep away from every brother who is idle and does not live according to the teaching you received from us. …14 If anyone does not obey our instruction in this letter, take special note of him. Do not associate with him, in order that he may feel ashamed. 15 Yet do not regard him as an enemy, but warn him as a brother.

E. Someone sins against another directly, and refuses to repent or reconcile.

Matthew 18.15 “If your brother sins against you, go and show him his fault, just between the two of you. If he listens to you, you have won your brother over. 16 But if he will not listen, take one or two others along, so that ‘every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.’ 17 If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if he refuses to listen even to the church, treat him as you would a pagan or a tax collector. 18 “I tell you the truth, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. 19 “Again, I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything you ask for, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven. 20 For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them.

* These all require intervention, but only one requires disassociation: unrepentance.

IV. Restoration

What do we do when someone blows it and repents? Simple. Forgive, restore them to fellowship (but not necessarily leadership), and bear one another’s burdens.

Part six of a miniseries that answers the questions, “What is the Gospel and how are we to respond?” In this talk, Pastor Clint explains what it means to no longer be enemies, orphans or exiles, but instead to be part of the Tribe of Jesus.

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Summary by Darrin Koehler

No one can be a Christian and be apathetic to Jesus at the same time. In fact, 1 Peter 2 emphasizes this point, “to you who believe, this stone [Jesus Christ] is precious. But to those who do not believe, ‘The stone the builders rejected has become the capstone,’ and, ‘a stone that causes men to stumble and a rock that makes them fall.”

Now, the significance of Jesus being the capstone, or cornerstone, is tremendous. The imagery that Peter painted would have been very clear to the readers of the day. The cornerstone is the single most important part of the building process. It is the first step; and if the cornerstone is not laid perfectly – with exact precision – then the whole rest of the building will be crooked. Likewise, our families, marriages, relationships, business decisions, and every other aspect of our lives must be built on Jesus Christ as the foundation. Otherwise, they are in vain, and will not stand against the storm.

Keep in mind, however, that the dwelling place of God is not in buildings or temples or sanctuaries. According to the new testament, God resides in the regenerate hearts of believers. This is called the Church, or Christ’s body. 1 Corinthians 12 describes the body of Christ as being made up of many different parts that all serve an integral purpose and function. When one part of the body hurts, the whole body hurts. As Christians, we are given many, many commands for one-anothering. Here are just a few of them:

Part four of a miniseries that answers the questions, “What is the Gospel and how are we to respond?” In this talk, Pastor Clint addresses the different responses people have to hearing the gospel by explaining Jesus’ parable of the sower, the seeds, and the soils.

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Summary by Darrin Koehler

When Jesus gives parables, it is important that we do not read into them meanings that He did not intend. Jesus spoke in different kinds of parables – some that were allegories (a story involving symbolism, where the elements of he story represent truth figuratively) and some that were simple, one-point illustrations. The fact that Jesus spoke in parables was actually a fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy. He explained this in Matthew 13:13-17, saying that a man will either be condemned by the Gospel or saved through it. Jesus uses this parable to explain that there are many ways of responding to the Gospel, but only one way that leads to salvation: repentance and belief.

Part three of a miniseries that answers the questions, “What is the Gospel and how are we to respond?” In this talk, Pastor Clint addresses the relationship between faith and deeds, making the case that we are saved by faith alone, but saving faith is never alone.

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Summary by Darrin Koehler

The Bible is pretty clear about the nature of our salvation. Paul explains it in several places throughout the New Testament letters, and condenses it to one sentence in the following two verses:

»Ephesians 2:8
For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God.

»Romans 3:28
For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law.

This seems simple enough to understand – there is nothing that we can do to merit or earn our salvation. We are saved by the gift of faith through the gift of God’s grace.

Yeah, until James throws a monkey wrench into the gears.

»James 2:24b
A person is justified by works and not by faith alone.

Woah! What happened here? Well, contrary to secular scholarship, Paul and James are not standing toe-to-toe fighting each other over the Gospel. They are standing back-to-back fighting together to defend the Gospel against two different enemies. Paul is challenging the self-righteous, saying that by no means can they earn their salvation, and that we are saved apart from any works of righteousness. James is challenging the libertines, who consider God’s grace a ticket for living according to their own selfish inclinations.

It is important to read fully the context for each of these verses. The doctrine that one can be saved by making Jesus his savior, but not his Lord, is a fallacy. James attacks this idea when he writes in verse 19, “you believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder!” In other words, intellectual consignment does not make one saved – only believing with the heart in the identity of Christ and confessing that He is Lord does. This is Biblical faith. What’s more, we have been made the temple of God, and we are sanctified by the blood of Christ. When someone is genuinely converted, his heart is renewed – he is born again. This makes it impossible for the believer to buddy-up with his sin. Instead, he will oppose it, carrying on a life-long process of becoming Christ.

>> See Related: Faith the Works (Pt 2)
>> See Related: Faith the Works (Pt 1)
>> See Related: Repentance Defined

Part one of a miniseries that answers the question, “How are we to respond to the Gospel?” In this talk, Pastor Clint discusses the role of repentance in faith.

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In this sermon and in the following short series, Clint explains from the Scriptures the nature of Biblical faith. He begins with these five premises.

1. The Gospel demands a response.
2. We are saved by grace through faith alone, apart from our own righteousness.
3. Biblical faith consists of two mutually dependent elements: repentance and belief (two sides of the same coin).
4. The Bible distinguished between empty intellectual belief and saving experiential belief.
5. Even our response of repentance and faith is a gift of grace and direct result of God?s initiation and mercy that enables us to respond to him.

John writes that to all who receive Him, they are given the right to be children of God. But what does it mean to receive Jesus? Surely, most religions receive Jesus in some fashion. But the Bible calls us to receive Him as God. When Peter received the Holy Spirit, he spoke with power about the Gospel of Jesus. And when the hearers heard, they were cut to the heart, asking “what shall we do?” To this, Peter responded, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the Holy Spirit.”

What sets Biblical Christianity apart from every other religion in the world is that the work is already finished. There is nothing that we can do to merit our own salvation because our deeds and works can never be good enough to please God. He is perfect, and His standard is perfect – it can only be met in the perfect and sinless blood of Jesus Christ. Anything that we try to add to the blood of Christ is insulting to God because it means that we do not believe His blood is sufficient, His work is finished, and that He alone is mighty to save.

What we believe about Jesus and His work on the cross is crucial. It is therefore important that we understand what John meant when he said, “to all who… receive Him.” Reading the Bible for its face value, it seems impossible to separate repentance from “receiving Him.”

»Clint Wagnon:
“It has been said that Repentance is the first word of the gospel. It was the message of John the Baptist as he prepared the way for the arrival of Jesus (Matt 3:2). It was the message of Jesus when he began his public ministry (Matt 4:17) and announced the gospel?s arrival in Galilee (Mark 1:14-15). It permeated not only his preaching (Matt 18:3, Luke 24:46-47), but also the preaching of those he sent out (Mark 6:12). It was the response Peter provoked after preaching the gospel at Pentecost (Acts 2:38), at the temple (Acts 3:19), before the Sanhedrin (Acts 5:31), and to Cornelius? household (Acts 11:18). It was the message of Paul at Mars Hill (Acts 17:30) and in Ephesus (Acts 20:21); before Agrippa (Acts 26:20) and in Rome (Acts 28:25-31).”

So what is repentance? He continues:

“Repentance is turning from the reign of sin and the preeminence of self (self-rule, self-reliance and self-righteousness) to the Lordship of Christ, acknowledging his rightful authority over all things, including our own lives. This repentance accompanies biblical faith — believing Jesus to be the promised Messiah, recognizing our inability to do anything to save ourselves and relying solely and totally on the completed work of Christ?s substitutionary death and resurrection to save us.”

It is impossible to “receive Jesus” without acknowledging Him as Lord. He gives us no other option.

To be continued in the next sermon…
>> See Related: Repentance Defined