ACBC Counseling Exams 10 and 11 - Church Discipline and Confidentiality

00:00:00.000 | as we have taken a couple weeks off of our class

00:00:05.000 | and we'll be resuming class tonight

00:00:08.920 | and then also concluding our counseling exam class

00:00:13.420 | next week, Sunday, where we'll look at the case studies

00:00:17.400 | of the ACBC Counseling Exam questions.

00:00:20.360 | But I'm so glad you joined us tonight.

00:00:22.080 | Thankful for our time together.

00:00:24.040 | Tonight, we're gonna be looking

00:00:25.200 | at two very important topics.

00:00:27.440 | We'll be looking at Counseling Exam number 10

00:00:30.500 | and Counseling Exam number 11.

00:00:32.880 | And those are the questions dealing with church discipline

00:00:36.400 | and also the role of confidentiality

00:00:40.120 | in the counseling relationship.

00:00:42.520 | And really the two subjects go together,

00:00:46.480 | church discipline and confidentiality.

00:00:49.280 | And I think we'll see some connections tonight

00:00:51.580 | as we look at these topics.

00:00:53.260 | But I'm so glad that you joined us

00:00:55.560 | and trust that our study tonight

00:00:57.640 | will be an encouragement to you

00:00:59.640 | and that you will pursue further equipping

00:01:02.760 | in the ministry of biblical counseling.

00:01:05.560 | So with that said, let me pray for us.

00:01:08.640 | Let's devote our time to Lord

00:01:10.200 | and let's ask the Lord to bless our time together.

00:01:13.740 | Let's pray.

00:01:14.580 | Father, we thank you for our study tonight

00:01:17.840 | and thank you that we can come to your word,

00:01:21.480 | that we can seek to place ourselves

00:01:24.580 | underneath the authority of the scriptures.

00:01:28.200 | And we thank you for your gracious rule and over our lives.

00:01:33.200 | We pray that as we look tonight

00:01:36.360 | at these very important topics

00:01:38.140 | that you will help us to think clearly

00:01:40.440 | about the ministry of church discipline,

00:01:43.880 | what it is not and what it is.

00:01:47.260 | And then Father, as we look at the topic of confidentiality,

00:01:50.960 | we pray that you would make us discreet counselors,

00:01:54.960 | counselors who know what to do with sensitive information

00:01:59.960 | and yet help us to understand the limitations

00:02:02.940 | of confidentiality so that we would be wise

00:02:06.840 | in how we handle information in the counseling ministry.

00:02:11.840 | Thank you for each of my brothers and sisters

00:02:14.520 | joining us tonight on this Zoom webinar.

00:02:18.420 | We pray that, Father, you would bless our study together

00:02:21.180 | and we ask this in Jesus' name, amen.

00:02:24.000 | Amen.

00:02:26.860 | Well, as I said, we are looking tonight

00:02:28.580 | at counseling exam number 10,

00:02:30.700 | which is a exam question dealing with the subject

00:02:35.500 | of church discipline.

00:02:37.460 | And I'll go ahead and read the question.

00:02:40.080 | It says, describe the role you believe church discipline

00:02:43.460 | should play in biblical counseling.

00:02:48.760 | We, as biblical counselors,

00:02:51.800 | hold to a view of counseling ministry,

00:02:54.720 | which says that counseling is a ministry

00:02:58.080 | of the local church and therefore we place our ministry

00:03:02.080 | under the authority of the local church.

00:03:05.440 | We place our ministry in accountability

00:03:08.940 | to the governance structure of the local church

00:03:12.080 | and therefore we understand that the church

00:03:15.360 | is called to exercise the ministry of church discipline.

00:03:19.500 | Therefore, counseling ministry and church discipline

00:03:23.780 | do go hand in hand.

00:03:26.920 | Practically speaking, what this means is that

00:03:29.560 | you and I in counseling ministry may be working

00:03:32.960 | with a counselee who is engaged in unrepentant,

00:03:37.960 | ongoing, clear sin issues,

00:03:42.740 | and that counselee may need to be disciplined

00:03:46.880 | by the church as a means of bringing

00:03:49.600 | that person to repentance.

00:03:52.440 | Obviously, we want to exercise a lot of patience

00:03:55.760 | in this process.

00:03:57.080 | We want to exercise a great deal of biblical wisdom,

00:04:02.080 | and yet we wanna understand that

00:04:04.460 | because our counseling ministry is a ministry

00:04:08.000 | of the local church,

00:04:10.120 | that church discipline does have a relationship

00:04:14.340 | to the counseling ministry.

00:04:16.500 | Now, this is obviously in contrast to counseling ministries

00:04:21.500 | that are outside of the local church.

00:04:25.540 | It contrasts our ministry with the type of counseling

00:04:29.780 | that goes on in the secular world.

00:04:32.340 | We hold to a church-based, church-centered view

00:04:35.940 | of counseling ministry,

00:04:39.140 | and so we do believe that the biblical counseling ministry

00:04:44.140 | and the ministry of church discipline

00:04:46.320 | do have a relationship with one another.

00:04:51.160 | Now, how and when that church discipline process

00:04:53.860 | is to take place is a judgment call

00:04:56.680 | that must be made by the biblical counselor

00:04:59.700 | in partnership with the pastor or the elder

00:05:04.180 | who is overseeing that ministry,

00:05:06.900 | and yet we do want to see the relationship

00:05:10.040 | between church discipline and biblical counseling.

00:05:15.040 | And so on the first page of your handout,

00:05:17.880 | I do have listed a number of resources

00:05:22.880 | that might be helpful to you in writing this essay.

00:05:25.640 | I do wanna note that I believe

00:05:27.500 | this is a very straightforward essay.

00:05:29.620 | What you wanna do in this essay

00:05:31.100 | is give a very simple, straightforward summary

00:05:34.900 | of what you believe to be the ministry of church discipline,

00:05:39.460 | and then tie in the ministry of biblical counseling

00:05:43.660 | to the ministry of church discipline.

00:05:47.900 | Show how the two relate to one another.

00:05:50.580 | This isn't really a trick question.

00:05:52.820 | We're not asking you to do a whole lot of bells and whistles

00:05:56.740 | as you work through this essay.

00:05:58.480 | We're just asking you to give a straightforward summary

00:06:02.100 | of the process of church discipline,

00:06:05.900 | and then articulate a view of biblical counseling

00:06:08.760 | that is church-centered

00:06:10.860 | and that relates to the ministry of church discipline.

00:06:14.960 | Al Mohler has a very good article

00:06:19.020 | in the Southern Baptist Journal of Theology

00:06:21.200 | that's entitled "Church Discipline, The Missing Mark"

00:06:23.840 | that is free and that is available for download as a PDF,

00:06:28.560 | and I've given you the link to that

00:06:31.020 | as well as giving you a copy of that

00:06:33.660 | in your Dropbox folder.

00:06:35.480 | A very good summary of church discipline

00:06:39.380 | is Grace Community Church's Distinctives.

00:06:43.460 | Their handout that they have on their website

00:06:46.720 | gives a very good summary of church discipline

00:06:51.140 | and how it is practiced in the church.

00:06:54.160 | It really is a short and simple read,

00:06:57.760 | and yet one that is packed with very good information,

00:07:01.340 | and I would encourage you to read that resource

00:07:03.920 | and make use of it.

00:07:06.680 | A little bit of a broader explanation of church discipline

00:07:11.680 | is found in Bill Zimmer's teaching

00:07:15.760 | at the Shepherds Conference that is recorded on,

00:07:20.060 | I've given you the website there.

00:07:22.920 | It's entitled "How to Practice Church Discipline."

00:07:26.380 | He does have some questions and answers

00:07:29.340 | as it relates to the ins and outs of church discipline

00:07:33.380 | and how that's practiced,

00:07:34.660 | and I would invite you to make use of that resource as well.

00:07:39.660 | And then I've included in your Dropbox folder

00:07:44.580 | a copy of the Bylaws of Kindred Community Church.

00:07:48.520 | I know that not all of you attend Kindred Community Church,

00:07:52.540 | and yet this is the copy of the bylaws

00:07:56.520 | that my own counseling ministry is accountable to,

00:07:59.380 | and I just wanted to give this to you

00:08:01.240 | as a resource, as a reference,

00:08:04.760 | to show how, at least in one example

00:08:07.440 | of the Kindred Counseling Center,

00:08:09.520 | how we operate in accountability

00:08:12.440 | to the bylaws of our local church.

00:08:15.800 | Now, your local church is gonna have its own set of bylaws,

00:08:19.760 | and you are gonna have your own standards,

00:08:23.260 | and you might want to find out,

00:08:25.900 | get a copy of the bylaws of your church,

00:08:28.300 | but this is a copy of the bylaws

00:08:31.160 | of Kindred Community Church,

00:08:32.800 | and we do have in that copy of the bylaws

00:08:36.420 | a very detailed section on church membership

00:08:40.620 | and church discipline and member removal,

00:08:45.620 | and I would just give that to you as a reference.

00:08:48.760 | For the last five years or so,

00:08:51.140 | I've taught the membership class here

00:08:53.200 | at Kindred Community Church.

00:08:55.360 | We walk through the bylaws of the church.

00:08:59.140 | I want prospective new members

00:09:00.900 | to understand what they are joining

00:09:03.640 | and what they are being accountable to.

00:09:06.220 | I don't want anyone coming five years from now

00:09:09.060 | and saying, Dan, you never told me

00:09:11.160 | that this is what the bylaws of our church state.

00:09:14.400 | We wanna put all that information in your hands

00:09:16.340 | before you commit in membership,

00:09:18.900 | and it is clearly stated that to become a member

00:09:23.160 | of Kindred Community Church,

00:09:26.500 | you are committing to become accountable

00:09:28.940 | to the ministry of church discipline,

00:09:32.580 | and we even have a provision there

00:09:34.100 | that says that if you are in the process

00:09:37.200 | of church discipline, for example,

00:09:39.840 | if you are in step two or step three

00:09:42.580 | of the church discipline process

00:09:45.220 | and are heading to step four of church discipline,

00:09:49.840 | then our bylaws state that you cannot,

00:09:52.180 | at that point, resign your membership.

00:09:55.800 | In other words, you are committing to be accountable

00:10:00.200 | to the church discipline process,

00:10:02.160 | and you can't get halfway through that process

00:10:04.260 | and say, well, I don't wanna be accountable anymore,

00:10:06.860 | so I'm not gonna be a member anymore of the church.

00:10:11.120 | We retain the right in that instance

00:10:13.980 | to continue with the church discipline process,

00:10:17.300 | and you must be a member in good standing

00:10:20.260 | in order to resign your membership of the church.

00:10:25.140 | Now, thankfully, that provision does not come into play

00:10:29.740 | in 99% of church membership issues,

00:10:34.220 | and most of our members have a wonderful relationship

00:10:37.900 | with the church and operate in harmony with our bylaws

00:10:42.060 | and with our doctrinal statement,

00:10:44.260 | but we do want people to know

00:10:46.180 | that if you are becoming a member of a local church,

00:10:49.540 | what that means is you are becoming accountable

00:10:53.260 | in a public manner to live in a godly manner

00:10:57.940 | to uphold the testimony of this local church,

00:11:02.440 | and you are saying at the outset that, if God forbid,

00:11:05.500 | should I fall into unrepentant sin

00:11:09.340 | or if I should fall into severe doctrinal error,

00:11:13.060 | that I want the church to pursue me in love

00:11:17.020 | and to bring me in a process of restoration to repentance

00:11:21.620 | so that I may walk in holiness

00:11:24.620 | and in godliness before the Lord.

00:11:28.020 | Obviously, there's all sorts of caveats.

00:11:29.900 | We're not expecting perfection.

00:11:32.720 | We're not holding people

00:11:33.740 | to an unrealistic expectation of spiritual growth,

00:11:38.380 | but we are saying that if you fall

00:11:40.300 | into severe unrepentant sin or severe doctrinal error,

00:11:45.300 | or if you become divisive

00:11:47.220 | or cause factions within the local church,

00:11:50.660 | then we are going to pursue you in love

00:11:54.120 | and seek to bring you back into restoration,

00:11:57.900 | into the fellowship,

00:11:58.980 | and that's what it means to become a member

00:12:01.880 | of the local church.

00:12:02.720 | You are saying that I want this type of accountability,

00:12:06.220 | I desire this type of accountability,

00:12:08.300 | I want a plurality of elders to pursue me in love

00:12:11.900 | if, God forbid, I should fall into unrepentant sin

00:12:16.180 | or severe doctrinal error.

00:12:18.620 | And so I've given you the bylaws of our church

00:12:20.940 | just to give you an example.

00:12:22.260 | Now, I realize that your own local church

00:12:25.460 | may have a different set of bylaws,

00:12:27.760 | but I just wanna give you a reference point

00:12:30.560 | and an example of how church discipline

00:12:34.060 | is spelled out in our local church.

00:12:37.680 | So our counseling ministry operates in accountability

00:12:42.680 | to the bylaws of our church.

00:12:46.200 | So if we are counseling a member,

00:12:49.440 | we have the right to take a particular sin issue

00:12:54.440 | that is being discussed in the counseling relationship

00:12:59.880 | and widen the circle of people who know about that issue

00:13:05.520 | in a very wise and prudent manner.

00:13:09.660 | If there is an unrepentant sin issue

00:13:11.940 | that is going on in the counseling ministry,

00:13:13.880 | we reserve the right to communicate that issue

00:13:18.560 | to the elders of the church,

00:13:20.580 | and then we retain the right to have the elders

00:13:24.720 | deal with that issue in an appropriate manner.

00:13:29.560 | And so at that point, if a particular sin issue

00:13:33.240 | goes outside of the counseling ministry

00:13:35.040 | to the wider elder board,

00:13:38.560 | and if the elders are made aware of that issue,

00:13:41.600 | then in a technical sense,

00:13:43.260 | it no longer is under the purview

00:13:46.680 | of the counseling ministry alone.

00:13:48.720 | It has become a wider issue that the elders of the church

00:13:52.840 | are now dealing with and need to work through.

00:13:56.800 | And we reserve that right to be able to communicate that

00:14:00.880 | if we are compelled to by the scriptures.

00:14:04.840 | Now, again, in a balanced way,

00:14:08.360 | most cases do not need to go to the elders of the church.

00:14:11.820 | Most cases, we can keep that information confidential.

00:14:16.580 | Most cases, we can keep information

00:14:20.260 | that is shared in a counseling relationship

00:14:22.940 | within the relationship between the counselee

00:14:25.760 | and the counselor,

00:14:27.140 | but we do want that structure to be in place

00:14:29.680 | so we understand that our counseling ministry

00:14:32.480 | does have a recourse if a particular issue

00:14:37.400 | is not being dealt with in a biblical manner.

00:14:42.400 | And so I put the bylaws of our church in your hands

00:14:46.520 | just so that you can have that as a resource.

00:14:49.160 | Now, just some general thoughts on page two

00:14:52.360 | on the issue of church discipline.

00:14:57.280 | And I've given you the quote by Al Mohler,

00:15:00.520 | where he writes that the decline of church discipline

00:15:03.320 | is perhaps the most visible failure

00:15:05.540 | of the contemporary church,

00:15:07.800 | no longer concerned with maintaining purity

00:15:10.060 | of confession or lifestyle.

00:15:12.640 | The contemporary church sees itself

00:15:14.360 | as a voluntary association of autonomous members

00:15:17.980 | with minimal moral responsibility to God,

00:15:22.240 | much less to each other.

00:15:24.580 | Without a recovery of functional church discipline

00:15:27.740 | firmly established upon the principles

00:15:30.060 | revealed in the Bible,

00:15:31.740 | the church will continue its slide

00:15:33.700 | into moral dissolution and relevaticism.

00:15:37.880 | Authentic biblical discipline is not an elective,

00:15:41.300 | but a necessary and integral mark of authentic Christianity.

00:15:46.260 | So what he's saying there is that what we're seeing

00:15:49.780 | is not only the decline of the practice of church discipline,

00:15:52.780 | but really, as you survey the landscape here,

00:15:56.580 | we're seeing the decline of definitive church membership.

00:16:01.580 | You can't discipline a person

00:16:06.180 | if that person has not made himself or herself

00:16:09.940 | formally accountable to a local church,

00:16:12.780 | and that is why church membership exists.

00:16:16.220 | In the counseling process,

00:16:17.980 | if we are counseling a non-member,

00:16:20.060 | what I'm trying to do is to bring them

00:16:22.260 | into membership in a local church.

00:16:26.500 | That person is not going to grow or thrive spiritually

00:16:30.260 | unless that person is living with a definitive commitment

00:16:35.260 | to a particular local church

00:16:38.220 | in which that believer can be held accountable

00:16:41.820 | for his or her spiritual walk.

00:16:45.020 | And so I'm trying to move this person

00:16:47.000 | into a commitment to a local church,

00:16:50.340 | and that involves finding out

00:16:52.660 | if there is a credible profession of faith

00:16:55.420 | and understanding of the gospel,

00:16:57.500 | whether a person has been publicly baptized

00:17:00.980 | in obedience to the Lord's commands and so forth and so on.

00:17:05.620 | We practice in our church

00:17:07.820 | a very defined church membership process.

00:17:12.340 | We want to distinguish between members and non-members,

00:17:18.260 | those who have committed in membership to a local church

00:17:23.260 | and those who are living in accountability

00:17:26.740 | with that local church,

00:17:29.100 | and we want to move non-members into membership

00:17:33.020 | so that they can be publicly identified with a local church.

00:17:39.580 | Now, what that does is that creates

00:17:41.680 | a defined local church assembly

00:17:46.060 | of regenerate, baptized believers in Christ

00:17:50.900 | who publicly profess faith in Jesus Christ,

00:17:53.540 | who publicly give a confession of the gospel

00:17:58.540 | and are able to articulate the basics of their faith,

00:18:02.660 | and who are also saying that they desire

00:18:04.660 | to live in accountability

00:18:06.460 | with a specific governance structure

00:18:09.860 | within the local church.

00:18:13.100 | Therefore, because we have a defined local assembly,

00:18:18.100 | we know who is inside the church,

00:18:21.340 | and through the church discipline process,

00:18:23.740 | we can place people outside of the church.

00:18:27.300 | And I hope that makes sense.

00:18:28.780 | You can't have a church discipline process

00:18:31.680 | if you've never defined who is in the church to begin with.

00:18:36.340 | Who is it who has placed their faith in Jesus Christ?

00:18:40.820 | Who are the people who have been baptized

00:18:44.180 | in order to publicly confess their faith in Jesus Christ?

00:18:48.220 | Who are the believers who have committed

00:18:50.860 | to this local church in accountability

00:18:55.100 | and in a commitment to serve

00:18:58.200 | and to uphold the doctrine of the local church?

00:19:01.680 | If you haven't defined who is the church,

00:19:04.260 | then you're gonna have trouble placing people

00:19:06.660 | outside of the church.

00:19:09.340 | And all of that relates to what Moeller is saying

00:19:11.580 | is what we are losing today is a robust ecclesiology,

00:19:16.180 | a robust view of the centrality of the local church,

00:19:21.180 | and a view of the church,

00:19:23.340 | which holds that the local church

00:19:26.180 | is made up of believers in Christ

00:19:29.460 | who are able to be accounted for by name,

00:19:33.320 | and who are able to be held in accountability

00:19:37.380 | to live a godly life for the glory of Christ.

00:19:42.140 | And therefore, because we're losing

00:19:44.600 | that defined view of the local church,

00:19:47.700 | we are seeing today a weakening of the local church.

00:19:51.180 | Today, you see all types of views of the local church

00:19:55.460 | that if you get a bunch of people together in a room

00:19:58.580 | that have varying interest in who Jesus Christ is,

00:20:02.620 | and you can call that a church

00:20:04.820 | where scripture clearly teaches

00:20:06.740 | that the church is made up of believers in Christ,

00:20:10.800 | those who are regenerate, those who have new life,

00:20:14.100 | who've been born again by the spirit of God.

00:20:17.060 | That is what defines a church,

00:20:20.340 | and every church needs to have some type of organized plan

00:20:24.940 | or structure or approach in order to publicly identify

00:20:29.340 | who are the believers in Christ,

00:20:31.540 | who have placed their faith in Christ,

00:20:34.020 | and who have committed to this local assembly

00:20:38.380 | in order that you may be able to hold them accountable

00:20:41.580 | and know who is inside of the church.

00:20:45.620 | The Grace Community Church Statement says this.

00:20:49.180 | On occasion, a Christian will wander away

00:20:50.920 | from the fellowship of other believers

00:20:52.700 | and find himself ensnared by sin

00:20:55.620 | through ignorance or willful disobedience.

00:20:58.600 | It then becomes necessary for the church,

00:21:01.120 | and particularly its shepherds,

00:21:03.400 | to actively seek the repentance

00:21:06.420 | and restoration of that Christian.

00:21:09.220 | As shepherds of the flock, the elders love the sheep

00:21:11.880 | and are also held accountable by God

00:21:14.720 | for their spiritual welfare,

00:21:16.160 | including that of the wandering sheep.

00:21:19.120 | As in Jesus' parable in Luke 15, verses three to eight,

00:21:22.680 | it is a time of joy both in heaven and within the church

00:21:25.920 | when the wandering Christian truly repents,

00:21:28.960 | one means by which the church seeks to lovingly restore

00:21:32.800 | wandering believers is the process of church discipline.

00:21:36.880 | We'll highlight that point

00:21:38.480 | as we walk through this material,

00:21:41.280 | that the purpose of church discipline is restoration.

00:21:46.280 | We practice church discipline

00:21:48.000 | because we want people to be restored

00:21:51.000 | to a walk with the Lord.

00:21:53.480 | We want them to know the joy

00:21:55.520 | of the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ.

00:22:00.500 | We want them to walk in holiness and in godliness.

00:22:04.360 | And so we practice church discipline

00:22:07.120 | in order that believers might be restored.

00:22:12.120 | Now, just a practical note here,

00:22:15.880 | as I've worked with the counseling ministry,

00:22:18.200 | it's really important that a biblical counselor

00:22:22.600 | understand the ministry of church discipline,

00:22:26.960 | because in many cases,

00:22:28.960 | you may be the one who practices step one

00:22:33.420 | of church discipline and has to move that process

00:22:36.680 | to step two of church discipline.

00:22:39.100 | I rarely see, in fact, by God's grace,

00:22:43.740 | we have not had in the counseling ministry

00:22:47.280 | had to move a person all the way to step four

00:22:50.880 | of church discipline process,

00:22:52.600 | but that has always been in the picture

00:22:56.200 | as we have worked with certain counselees.

00:23:01.200 | The counseling ministry, as I've said before,

00:23:03.360 | is like the emergency room of the church's ministry.

00:23:08.020 | It's where you get the most severe cases

00:23:11.680 | of those who are caught in sin

00:23:13.420 | or who are dealing with the consequences of sin,

00:23:17.380 | possibly dealing with the consequences

00:23:20.140 | of another person's sin.

00:23:22.740 | And so you just need to know what to do with that.

00:23:25.860 | And you need to have in your mind

00:23:28.740 | a framework for church discipline

00:23:30.900 | so that you may understand

00:23:32.500 | that you are not operating on your own.

00:23:35.340 | You may get into phase three of ACBC certification

00:23:39.380 | and find a very severe case of unrepentant sin

00:23:43.100 | and not know how to proceed.

00:23:45.440 | And we will encourage you

00:23:47.400 | that you are to work with this counselee

00:23:49.880 | and to give the counselee scripture

00:23:52.000 | and to pray for repentance.

00:23:54.220 | But if through the process of counseling,

00:23:57.060 | if you have exercised patience and you have prayed

00:24:00.360 | and you have exercised wisdom

00:24:02.280 | and you've given the scriptures

00:24:04.200 | and have really given everything that you can

00:24:07.280 | in order to bring a counselee to repentance,

00:24:10.220 | and you're still dealing with a very hardened,

00:24:14.140 | unrepentant heart,

00:24:15.620 | then you do have recourse to take,

00:24:19.460 | to initiate church discipline,

00:24:22.060 | to take a person from step one

00:24:24.340 | to step two of church discipline,

00:24:26.440 | to bring that sin issue to at least

00:24:30.660 | to the overseeing pastor or elder of the counseling ministry.

00:24:34.700 | And then if there is still hardness of heart

00:24:37.420 | to bring that counseling issue

00:24:40.880 | to the elders of your local church,

00:24:43.660 | and then trust them to take the proper steps

00:24:48.060 | to deal with that sin

00:24:49.740 | and seek to bring that person to repentance.

00:24:53.180 | And so we do want you to have a framework for this

00:24:55.620 | as you work with people who may be caught

00:24:58.620 | in some very severe sin issues.

00:25:02.060 | Some key texts here is, of course,

00:25:03.740 | Matthew 18 verses 15 to 20,

00:25:08.100 | where Jesus says, "If your brother sins against you,

00:25:10.580 | "go and tell him his fault between you and him alone."

00:25:13.600 | If he listens to you, you have gained your brother.

00:25:16.100 | So that's step one of church discipline.

00:25:19.900 | Step two would be what Jesus says in the next sentence,

00:25:24.400 | "If he does not listen, take one or two others with you

00:25:26.900 | "that every charge may be established

00:25:28.620 | "by the evidence of two or three witnesses."

00:25:31.820 | Step three, if he refuses to listen to them,

00:25:34.220 | tell it to the church.

00:25:36.140 | Step four, if he refuses to listen even to the church,

00:25:39.900 | let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector,

00:25:44.900 | and that is placing a person outside

00:25:48.640 | of the local church's fellowship.

00:25:52.280 | Jesus says, "Truly I say to you,

00:25:55.120 | "whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven,

00:25:58.400 | "and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.

00:26:01.620 | "Again, I say to you, if two of you agree on earth

00:26:05.180 | "about anything they ask, it will be done for them

00:26:07.900 | "by my Father in heaven, for where two or three

00:26:11.000 | "are gathered in my name, there I am I among them."

00:26:15.600 | Who are the two or three that are mentioned in verse 20?

00:26:18.520 | They are the same two or three mentioned earlier

00:26:21.720 | in the passage where he says, "If he does not listen,

00:26:24.940 | "take one or two others along with you

00:26:27.580 | "that every charge may be established

00:26:29.580 | "by the evidence of two or three witnesses."

00:26:33.180 | What Jesus is saying here is when you exercise

00:26:36.500 | ministry of church discipline, and as you go

00:26:39.540 | from private confrontation to semi-private confrontation,

00:26:44.120 | as you widen the circle there and you tell it to the church,

00:26:47.800 | there I am among those who are engaging

00:26:52.800 | in the process of church discipline,

00:26:55.660 | that what the church does in the ministry

00:26:59.580 | of church discipline comes with authority,

00:27:02.560 | comes with divine authority.

00:27:06.140 | I won't read the entire passage in 1 Corinthians 5:1-13,

00:27:11.140 | but just to mention that this is an example

00:27:13.600 | of church discipline, that Paul was encouraging

00:27:18.600 | the church at Corinth to deal with the sin

00:27:23.440 | that was in their midst, that there was sexual immorality

00:27:28.080 | in the church at Corinth, and Paul says down in verse 13,

00:27:32.920 | "What have I to do with judging outsiders?

00:27:35.380 | "It is not those inside the church whom you are to judge.

00:27:39.200 | "God judges those outside.

00:27:41.020 | "Purge the evil person from among you."

00:27:44.880 | And so Paul was telling the church at Corinth,

00:27:48.160 | if you have unrepentant sexual immorality

00:27:52.160 | within the church that has become a public matter,

00:27:56.560 | then you are to take one who is recognized

00:27:59.280 | as being inside the church, and you are to place

00:28:01.780 | that person outside of the church

00:28:05.200 | through the process of church discipline.

00:28:07.600 | You are to protect the purity of the local church,

00:28:11.640 | and you are also to place the offending person

00:28:15.320 | in a position where he or she will be realized

00:28:20.320 | the severity of their sin and hopefully be moved

00:28:26.860 | to repent of that sin and be restored

00:28:29.680 | to fellowship in the local church.

00:28:34.200 | I always tell people who are considering church membership

00:28:36.720 | that if there is a severe consequence

00:28:40.280 | of being placed outside of the local church,

00:28:43.920 | if there are blessings lost in being placed

00:28:47.360 | outside of the fellowship of the local church,

00:28:49.720 | then you can be sure that there are blessings to be gained

00:28:53.960 | by being recognized as being part of the local church

00:28:58.600 | and being inside the local church.

00:29:01.760 | You want those blessings,

00:29:03.320 | and that is why you wanna be committed to a church,

00:29:07.280 | involved in a church, and be formally identified

00:29:12.280 | as being a member of a local church.

00:29:16.800 | Galatians chapter six, verses one to two

00:29:19.080 | is another key text in the discussion of church discipline

00:29:22.640 | where Paul says, "Brothers, if anyone is caught

00:29:25.640 | "in any transgression, you who are spiritual

00:29:29.320 | "should restore him."

00:29:32.320 | That's the purpose of church discipline.

00:29:34.360 | You should restore him, bring him back into the fold.

00:29:39.360 | How are you to do this?

00:29:41.560 | "In a spirit of gentleness.

00:29:45.240 | "Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted.

00:29:48.680 | "Bear one another's burdens

00:29:50.680 | "and so fulfill the law of Christ."

00:29:54.180 | I think that's just such a helpful

00:29:57.240 | and very instructive passage

00:30:00.480 | as it relates to the ministry of church discipline.

00:30:03.960 | We are to be gentle.

00:30:06.680 | Dear Christians, we are to be known for our gentleness.

00:30:11.080 | We are to be humble.

00:30:12.400 | Whenever we see someone else caught in unrepentant sin,

00:30:15.720 | we are to keep watch on ourselves

00:30:18.840 | and realize that by the grace of God, I am what I am.

00:30:23.520 | And it is only by God's grace

00:30:25.900 | that I am not caught in the same sin

00:30:29.380 | as someone else may be caught in.

00:30:32.880 | And so this ministry cannot be done

00:30:34.920 | with a self-righteous spirit.

00:30:39.040 | We are to be loving, to bear one another's burdens

00:30:43.280 | and so fulfill the law of Christ.

00:30:48.280 | I've seen examples of this, of elders,

00:30:52.160 | not only in my church, but in other churches

00:30:55.280 | who have been gentle with their sheep,

00:30:58.480 | who seek to restore and really plead for repentance

00:31:03.200 | and whose hearts are broken over the unrepentant sin

00:31:07.000 | of those who are under their charge

00:31:10.800 | and who go after these sheep,

00:31:13.200 | seeking to restore them back

00:31:15.320 | into the fellowship of the church.

00:31:18.280 | And I've been stirred by these examples

00:31:21.540 | and have been challenged to be a better shepherd

00:31:25.160 | in my own ministry to pursue those

00:31:28.920 | who are caught in a transgression

00:31:31.320 | in order to restore them into fellowship

00:31:34.680 | with Christ and the church.

00:31:37.800 | And so that is a very instructive passage

00:31:41.480 | dealing with the ministry of church discipline.

00:31:45.200 | A few comments here on what discipline is not.

00:31:48.880 | Letter A, it is not an unloving ministry.

00:31:53.220 | There is a difference between condemnation

00:31:57.700 | and loving discipline.

00:32:00.240 | Hebrews 12, verse five says,

00:32:03.020 | "Have you forgotten the exhortation

00:32:04.900 | "that addresses you as sons?

00:32:06.960 | "My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord,

00:32:11.340 | "nor be weary when reproved by him,

00:32:13.940 | "for the Lord disciplines the one he loves

00:32:17.360 | "and chastises every son whom he receives.

00:32:21.560 | "It is for discipline that you have to endure.

00:32:24.700 | "God is treating you as sons."

00:32:27.880 | Now the writer of Hebrews there is saying

00:32:30.060 | that there is a difference

00:32:31.300 | between the loving fatherly discipline

00:32:36.140 | that we receive as children of God

00:32:38.640 | from our gracious heavenly father

00:32:42.780 | that is painful to be sure at times,

00:32:45.780 | but that is meant to produce

00:32:47.680 | a harvest of righteousness in our lives.

00:32:50.300 | There's a difference between that type of loving discipline

00:32:53.480 | versus the wrathful condemnation

00:32:58.400 | that a thrice holy God places

00:33:02.280 | and expresses toward unbelievers

00:33:04.740 | who live in rebellion against him.

00:33:07.140 | There's a difference between God's wrathful judgment

00:33:13.600 | versus his loving fatherly discipline of his children.

00:33:18.600 | And we need to understand that

00:33:21.180 | as we engage in ministry in the local church.

00:33:26.180 | We're not seeking to place wrath and condemnation

00:33:30.500 | upon those who are going astray from the church.

00:33:34.480 | We are seeking to engage in loving,

00:33:37.400 | gentle, restorative ministry

00:33:40.740 | that seeks to bring people back into wholeness

00:33:44.140 | and in fellowship with the church.

00:33:47.160 | And so church discipline is not an unloving ministry.

00:33:51.580 | Let her be, it is not a punitive ministry.

00:33:54.440 | We are seeking to not bring punishment,

00:33:59.500 | but we're seeking to express grace,

00:34:02.540 | the grace of restoration.

00:34:06.220 | You who are spiritual should restore him

00:34:10.640 | in a spirit of gentleness.

00:34:14.020 | That means that we need to be walking by the spirit.

00:34:17.420 | We need to be filled with the fruit of the spirit.

00:34:20.140 | The fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, patience,

00:34:23.820 | kindness, goodness, faithfulness, and self-control.

00:34:26.780 | And so we need to remember that the anger of man

00:34:31.220 | does not achieve the righteousness of God.

00:34:35.060 | We cannot engage in church discipline with an angry heart,

00:34:39.100 | with a heart that is impatient with others,

00:34:43.420 | but we are to engage with a spirit of gentleness

00:34:47.940 | in this loving, restorative ministry.

00:34:52.400 | And so we just need to be reminded

00:34:55.060 | that this is not a punitive ministry.

00:34:58.580 | I love how Jesus says in Matthew 18, verse 15,

00:35:01.580 | if your brother sins against you,

00:35:03.940 | go and tell him his fault between you and him alone.

00:35:06.620 | So don't widen the circle of those who know this information

00:35:11.620 | and it says, if he listens to you,

00:35:14.180 | you have gained your brother.

00:35:17.460 | That's beautiful language.

00:35:19.800 | There is that prospect of engaging in step one

00:35:22.920 | of church discipline and the brother listens

00:35:26.760 | and repents of sin.

00:35:28.740 | And Jesus says, you don't need to go any further.

00:35:31.200 | No one else needs to know about the sin issue

00:35:33.580 | but you and your brother.

00:35:36.920 | And if he listens to you, you have gained your brother.

00:35:40.180 | You have brought that person back into fellowship.

00:35:45.880 | Now I'm sure, and I don't even think I know

00:35:48.460 | of all the examples, but I'm sure there have been cases

00:35:52.140 | in our own counseling ministry where a counselor

00:35:55.300 | has worked with a counselee who has confronted

00:35:58.480 | or who has brought to that counselee's attention a sin issue.

00:36:03.080 | There has been repentance and humility

00:36:05.700 | and there has been restoration in that sense,

00:36:09.340 | a restoration in that counselee's fellowship with God

00:36:12.180 | and also with the church.

00:36:13.420 | And no one else needs to know about what has happened.

00:36:17.480 | No one else needs to know about the sin issue

00:36:20.460 | except the counselor and the counselee

00:36:23.020 | because step one has resulted in restoration.

00:36:28.020 | And that is a beautiful thing

00:36:29.980 | when that type of ministry occurs.

00:36:32.660 | So this is not a punitive ministry.

00:36:35.820 | Lastly, it is not a disorganized ministry.

00:36:39.540 | You see the steps for church discipline,

00:36:42.020 | there's private confrontation, which then moves step two

00:36:45.740 | to semi-private confrontation,

00:36:48.260 | bringing one or two others along with you.

00:36:52.220 | The one or two others may be an elder or pastor

00:36:55.140 | or maybe another counselor or another brother or sister

00:36:58.640 | in the church who is walking with the Lord.

00:37:01.980 | And so the circle widens to semi-private confrontation.

00:37:06.600 | Then there is church-wide pursuit, step three,

00:37:10.120 | which obviously would involve the elders of the church.

00:37:15.120 | In a counseling ministry setting,

00:37:17.140 | what we would have then is step one

00:37:19.620 | may be a counselor working with a counselee

00:37:22.980 | who was caught in unrepentant sin.

00:37:25.520 | If there is a stubbornness of heart there,

00:37:28.060 | it may involve bringing another counseling in,

00:37:31.100 | moving counselor in and moving to step two,

00:37:33.980 | maybe bringing the counseling pastor into the discussion

00:37:37.820 | and going to step two.

00:37:39.580 | If there is still hardness of heart and unrepentant sin,

00:37:43.480 | then the counseling pastor may decide to bring that issue

00:37:48.480 | to the attention of the elders

00:37:50.620 | and the elders may bring that to the church.

00:37:53.500 | And that would be step three.

00:37:55.820 | Jesus says, "Tell it to the church."

00:37:57.900 | The church then is to engage in a church-wide pursuit

00:38:02.900 | of that believer,

00:38:05.060 | seeking to bring that believer to repentance.

00:38:09.420 | And if that pursuit is unsuccessful,

00:38:13.040 | then there is in verse 18, step four,

00:38:15.740 | removal from fellowship.

00:38:18.260 | If he refuses to listen even to the church,

00:38:20.620 | let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector.

00:38:25.940 | Now, I do wanna mention here that Titus 3:10-11

00:38:30.940 | does have a fast track, as it's been called,

00:38:36.540 | that may move a person quickly to removal from fellowship.

00:38:41.540 | Titus 3:10 says, "As for a person who stirs up division

00:38:48.660 | "after warning him once and then twice,

00:38:53.820 | "have nothing more to do with him,

00:38:56.020 | "knowing that such a person is warped and sinful,

00:38:58.620 | "he is self condemned."

00:39:02.220 | And so with the particular sin issue of divisiveness,

00:39:07.220 | one who seeks to stir up division because of the threat

00:39:12.880 | that person is to the unity of the church,

00:39:17.980 | there is a fast track process there where Paul says to Titus

00:39:23.840 | that you are to warn that person once and warn them twice,

00:39:27.640 | and then that person can be removed from fellowship.

00:39:30.840 | So you don't have to, with the divisive person,

00:39:33.400 | move through step one, step two, step three, step four,

00:39:36.280 | there is a fast tracking of that person's church discipline,

00:39:41.040 | which results in removal from fellowship.

00:39:44.820 | We also note in 1 Timothy 5:19-21,

00:39:50.600 | that in the particular case of elders who persist in sin,

00:39:55.600 | Paul says, "Do not admit a charge against an elder

00:39:59.980 | "except on the evidence of two or three witnesses.

00:40:03.220 | "As for those who persist in sin,

00:40:05.860 | "rebuke them in the presence of all,

00:40:08.560 | "so that the rest may stand in fear.

00:40:11.820 | "In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus

00:40:14.060 | "and of the elect angels,

00:40:15.600 | "I charge you to keep these rules without prejudging,

00:40:20.520 | "doing nothing from partiality."

00:40:24.480 | And so there is a public nature to the discipline of elders,

00:40:29.480 | and those who teach and preach the word publicly

00:40:32.360 | are to be held accountable publicly,

00:40:36.180 | and if they persist in sin,

00:40:38.820 | they are to be rebuked in the presence of all.

00:40:45.380 | And so this is not a disorganized ministry.

00:40:48.440 | So as I encourage people in our church,

00:40:51.100 | there is a sweetness to the fellowship of the local church,

00:40:54.100 | there's a beauty to the fellowship of the local church,

00:40:57.380 | we welcome anyone who loves the Lord Jesus Christ,

00:41:01.220 | professes the name of the Lord Jesus Christ,

00:41:03.620 | we welcome extroverts and introverts,

00:41:05.880 | we welcome older people, younger people,

00:41:08.780 | we welcome mature people who walk with the Lord for years,

00:41:12.160 | we welcome people who are brand new babies in the faith

00:41:15.680 | who all they know is, "I was blind, but now I see."

00:41:19.200 | We welcome anyone who loves the Lord Jesus Christ,

00:41:22.580 | you are welcome in the fellowship of local church,

00:41:25.160 | we will love you, we will embrace you,

00:41:27.820 | we will desire your spiritual growth.

00:41:30.480 | But there is also a sense where please do not take

00:41:35.320 | our warm and welcoming spirit in the local church

00:41:40.320 | for a spirit of weakness.

00:41:42.400 | We will do as elders what we need to do

00:41:46.320 | to guard the purity and the unity of this church.

00:41:51.280 | If you persist in unrepentant sin

00:41:53.480 | and mar the fellowship of this local church

00:41:57.040 | through a divisive spirit or a factious spirit,

00:42:02.040 | or if you cause trouble for our sheep,

00:42:05.200 | or if you persist in blatant unrepentant sin,

00:42:09.120 | that mars the testimony of this church,

00:42:11.480 | then we are charged by God to deal with that sin issue.

00:42:16.120 | And while there is a sweetness and a warmth

00:42:19.600 | and a beauty to our fellowship,

00:42:21.100 | there is also a severity to this

00:42:24.820 | that we expect you to live up to your membership covenant

00:42:29.820 | that you will not cause division,

00:42:32.220 | and that you will not cause trouble,

00:42:33.840 | you will not mar the unity or the testimony of this church.

00:42:39.240 | If you are humble and if you are repentant,

00:42:41.760 | we will love you.

00:42:42.640 | If you are weak, we will seek to strengthen you.

00:42:44.640 | If you're discouraged, we will seek to encourage you.

00:42:48.020 | But if you are hard of heart,

00:42:51.620 | and if you come in and cause trouble,

00:42:54.720 | and if you seek to hinder the sheep of God

00:42:59.720 | from pursuing the things of God,

00:43:02.160 | then we will deal with you.

00:43:04.280 | And in fact, in the bylaws of Kindred Community Church,

00:43:08.840 | there's actually a provision that states

00:43:11.080 | that the elders of the church are given the right

00:43:15.600 | and the authority that if we, through a judgment call,

00:43:19.540 | deem anyone a threat or a disturbance on our campus

00:43:25.420 | to the unity or to the fellowship of our local church,

00:43:30.420 | then we have the right to ask that person

00:43:33.080 | to get off the campus and the property of our church.

00:43:37.500 | And we don't have to go through step one, two, three,

00:43:40.780 | and four to do that if we deem that person

00:43:44.520 | an immediate threat or disturbance to the church.

00:43:48.180 | And we have had to exercise that clause,

00:43:52.200 | thankfully not often or every week,

00:43:55.360 | but there have been occasions where a person

00:43:58.040 | has come onto our campus and has been disruptive

00:44:01.440 | or has been obviously divisive in our midst,

00:44:06.400 | and we have had to deal with that person.

00:44:08.960 | And we will deal with that person

00:44:10.400 | because that is our charge as elders of the church,

00:44:13.900 | to guard the unity and the purity of this church.

00:44:17.440 | Now, I hope you know by now,

00:44:19.640 | if you've listened to me long enough,

00:44:21.440 | everything I say is gonna be balanced.

00:44:24.160 | You can be the weakest believer in Christ,

00:44:28.240 | and you are honestly, you're seeking to repent of sin,

00:44:31.200 | you're just struggling with sin,

00:44:33.280 | you're just being, you're just struggling

00:44:36.720 | to overcome a particular sin.

00:44:38.880 | We will love you, and we will work with you,

00:44:42.000 | and we will be patient and gentle,

00:44:44.080 | and we will wrap our arms around you.

00:44:46.860 | But that's different from someone who is obviously divisive

00:44:51.860 | or who is continuing in hardness of heart.

00:44:58.160 | And so this is not a disorganized ministry.

00:45:03.160 | Now, I do have just to kind of underscore,

00:45:08.120 | and I don't wanna belabor the point here,

00:45:11.680 | but we have had occasions

00:45:15.800 | where we have had to practice church discipline

00:45:18.520 | in our local church.

00:45:20.000 | And this is obviously a very sad and sorrowful occasion.

00:45:27.620 | We never exercise church discipline with any type of joy.

00:45:32.620 | This is one of the saddest occasions in ministry

00:45:38.480 | as a pastor to have to move to a step four

00:45:42.280 | of a church discipline process.

00:45:45.760 | And yet it must be done in certain clear occasions.

00:45:54.800 | This must be done in order that the purity

00:45:58.220 | of the local church can be preserved.

00:46:01.300 | It must be done so that others may understand

00:46:04.660 | that they are accountable,

00:46:06.580 | that we may have a fresh reminder

00:46:08.500 | that you cannot be part of our local church

00:46:12.980 | and be involved in an ongoing adulterous relationship,

00:46:17.980 | and then expect that the church is not going to do anything

00:46:22.080 | about that relationship.

00:46:23.420 | We're just gonna allow you to persist in sin

00:46:25.500 | and retain a membership that is in good standing.

00:46:30.500 | That is not gonna happen

00:46:32.720 | as part of our local church's ministry.

00:46:36.900 | We have to deal with those types of sins

00:46:39.940 | that mar the public testimony of the church.

00:46:44.260 | And so I just want you to understand

00:46:47.220 | that that is the structure

00:46:49.420 | underneath counseling ministry operates.

00:46:54.420 | The counseling ministry operates in accountability

00:46:58.020 | to the local church's ministry

00:47:00.860 | and the elders of the local church

00:47:02.980 | are charged to exercise the ministry of church discipline.

00:47:07.980 | So what church discipline is?

00:47:12.640 | Letter A, an expression of humility.

00:47:17.380 | Jesus said this, right?

00:47:18.980 | That you are to take the log out of your own eye

00:47:21.060 | before you can take the speck out of your brother's eye.

00:47:24.260 | Galatians 6, you who are spiritual

00:47:27.900 | are to be the ones who exercise this ministry.

00:47:31.820 | We never wanna exercise church discipline

00:47:37.480 | in a prideful or self-righteous spirit.

00:47:40.060 | As I mentioned, letter B,

00:47:41.660 | it should be accompanied with sorrow.

00:47:45.260 | 1 Corinthians 5, verse two,

00:47:47.380 | Paul rebukes the prideful arrogance

00:47:51.780 | of the Corinthian church

00:47:53.860 | that they allowed unrepentant sexual immorality

00:47:56.580 | to exist in their fellowship.

00:47:58.820 | He says, you are arrogant, ought you not rather to mourn.

00:48:03.820 | Let him who has done this be removed from among you.

00:48:09.580 | And in 2 Corinthians 2, verse four,

00:48:13.460 | Paul says, for I wrote to you

00:48:15.460 | out of much affliction and anguish of heart

00:48:19.300 | and with many tears, not to cause you pain,

00:48:23.660 | but to let you know the abundant love that I have for you.

00:48:29.500 | I understand this as a pastor,

00:48:31.140 | a little bit of what Paul was talking about here.

00:48:35.860 | Believers who are hardened of heart,

00:48:38.620 | and this last year as we, in our own local church,

00:48:42.820 | had to exercise step four of church discipline.

00:48:46.940 | And to let you know, quite honestly,

00:48:49.420 | I was emotionally devastated

00:48:51.420 | by the prospect of one who is so hardened of sin

00:48:57.580 | that this person would not repent,

00:49:00.500 | even if that discipline process moved

00:49:03.100 | to removal from fellowship.

00:49:06.580 | That there's no way to do this type of ministry

00:49:09.660 | without what Paul calls the affliction

00:49:13.140 | and anguish of heart and with many tears.

00:49:18.100 | It should be accompanied with sorrow,

00:49:22.460 | and yet there is joy when there is restoration.

00:49:27.340 | The goal should be full restoration of fellowship.

00:49:32.340 | As the Grace Community Church statement

00:49:35.220 | on church discipline notes,

00:49:36.820 | the goal of church discipline then

00:49:38.180 | is not to throw people out of the church

00:49:40.340 | or to feed the self-righteous pride

00:49:44.180 | of those who administer the discipline.

00:49:47.380 | It is not to embarrass people

00:49:48.940 | or to exercise authority and power in some unbiblical manner.

00:49:53.380 | The purpose is to restore a sinning believer to holiness

00:49:58.380 | and to bring him back to a pure relationship

00:50:03.780 | within the assembly.

00:50:05.740 | John MacArthur writes,

00:50:06.700 | "The word restore simply means to repair something

00:50:10.260 | "in the sense of bringing it back

00:50:12.340 | "to its former condition.

00:50:15.900 | "It is used of reconciling two arguing factions,

00:50:19.980 | "of setting bones that are broken,

00:50:22.380 | "of putting a dislocated limb back into its proper place

00:50:26.100 | "and of mending broken nets."

00:50:28.140 | That word is a very common one

00:50:29.980 | for knitting something together

00:50:32.700 | or restoring it to its original condition,

00:50:36.220 | and that's exactly what it's calling us to.

00:50:41.220 | And so that is always the goal in church discipline.

00:50:45.980 | Just a note here on page five of your handout,

00:50:50.380 | I'm not gonna read through the entire bylaws here,

00:50:53.940 | but the bylaws of Kindred Community Church

00:50:56.700 | clearly have an article on church membership

00:51:01.060 | and then a section on church discipline

00:51:03.580 | and member removal.

00:51:07.420 | The bylaws state that,

00:51:08.540 | "Discipline is an important aspect of church life

00:51:12.100 | "in preserving the holiness and purity

00:51:14.140 | "of the bride of Christ

00:51:15.220 | "so that we do not bring dishonor to our Lord Jesus.

00:51:18.580 | "Discipline may take on many different avenues

00:51:20.900 | "and follow different processes

00:51:22.620 | "depending on the type of sin involved,

00:51:25.020 | "its overt or covert nature

00:51:27.060 | "and the immediacy of the impact on the church.

00:51:30.500 | "In scripture, we find discipline administered

00:51:33.060 | "in many different forms,

00:51:34.100 | "including but not limited to such examples,

00:51:37.940 | "sin or wrong between two believers,

00:51:40.140 | "the overt sexual sin of a man and his stepmother,

00:51:43.860 | "false teaching and divisiveness.

00:51:47.380 | "All sin will be dealt with

00:51:49.780 | "in keeping with the appropriate scriptural direction

00:51:52.500 | "and guidelines."

00:51:54.420 | So that is clearly spelled out in the bylaws,

00:51:59.180 | and that is an essential ministry of the church.

00:52:04.180 | As I mentioned, as I've taught membership class here

00:52:06.420 | for years, I used to downplay this aspect

00:52:10.020 | of the church's ministry,

00:52:11.580 | almost feeling like, well, it seems so harsh.

00:52:14.540 | No one's ever gonna wanna become a member of my church.

00:52:18.420 | If I really emphasize this in the membership class,

00:52:22.260 | people are gonna turn away and say,

00:52:24.020 | "I don't wanna be a member of this church,"

00:52:26.220 | only to find in so many membership interviews

00:52:30.060 | over the years, people who have said to me directly

00:52:34.660 | that I am so thankful that I get to be part

00:52:38.940 | of a local church that actually practices church discipline

00:52:43.620 | and that seeks to hold its members accountable.

00:52:46.900 | I need that type of accountability.

00:52:48.860 | I want to be part of a church

00:52:50.500 | that has that type of accountability.

00:52:53.140 | And so I have found that there is a hunger

00:52:56.220 | and a desire of true believers in Christ

00:52:59.660 | who know that they wanna live a godly life,

00:53:02.020 | who know that they live in a sin-filled world,

00:53:05.720 | that they desire to be part of a local church

00:53:08.740 | that actually practices church discipline.

00:53:11.380 | So at some point, I stopped downplaying it

00:53:14.020 | and started just emphasizing it, that this is what we do.

00:53:18.180 | We practice church discipline

00:53:19.700 | because we take purity seriously,

00:53:21.980 | we take holiness seriously, we take the church seriously.

00:53:25.420 | We will love you and we will seek to help you

00:53:28.980 | if you struggle with sin.

00:53:30.940 | But if you teach false doctrine here, we will discipline you.

00:53:35.820 | If you engage in an ongoing adulterous relationship

00:53:40.200 | in our church, we are going to discipline you.

00:53:43.460 | If you defraud other believers financially

00:53:48.580 | in shady financial dealings, we will deal with you.

00:53:52.340 | We will practice church discipline

00:53:54.540 | for the purpose of restoration,

00:53:55.940 | but we will hold you accountable.

00:53:58.060 | And I found that believers desire to live

00:54:01.580 | in a fellowship with a church

00:54:05.460 | that practices church discipline.

00:54:08.580 | So I do need to move on to counseling exam number 11,

00:54:12.900 | but what you wanna do in the exam number 10

00:54:17.400 | is to write a very straightforward summary

00:54:21.460 | of what you believe is the church discipline process.

00:54:24.780 | I would just encourage you to articulate a view

00:54:28.780 | of the four steps of church discipline,

00:54:32.140 | private conversation, semi-private conversation,

00:54:35.060 | church-wide pursuit, and then disfellowship.

00:54:38.020 | I would just encourage you to write out the steps

00:54:42.420 | and then the purpose of church discipline

00:54:44.740 | and what we're trying to accomplish in church discipline,

00:54:48.280 | and then articulate a view of how biblical counseling

00:54:51.680 | is a ministry of the local church

00:54:54.880 | and therefore has a relationship

00:54:57.440 | with the essential function of church discipline.

00:55:01.840 | Now, let me move quickly to counseling exam number 11.

00:55:06.840 | I'm gonna skip this very helpful flowchart

00:55:10.560 | that you can find online from Bill Zimmer's

00:55:12.800 | "How to Practice Church Discipline."

00:55:14.400 | I found this very helpful.

00:55:16.120 | I'm not gonna have time to go over this,

00:55:17.920 | but he has a very helpful flowchart here

00:55:20.600 | that moves you step-by-step

00:55:21.920 | through the process of church discipline,

00:55:24.480 | and I believe you can find this flowchart online

00:55:28.320 | and have that as a reference for future study.

00:55:31.520 | But let me move to counseling exam number 11

00:55:36.240 | and give you just a brief overview

00:55:38.280 | of confidentiality in biblical counseling.

00:55:43.360 | The question is, describe what you believe

00:55:45.080 | to be the role of confidentiality in biblical counseling.

00:55:48.480 | What kind of commitment to confidentiality

00:55:51.120 | should a biblical counselor make?

00:55:53.320 | What biblical and practical considerations

00:55:56.140 | limit confidentiality?

00:55:58.400 | What is the responsibility of a biblical counselor

00:56:01.440 | to report to civil authorities

00:56:03.960 | on matters of domestic violence,

00:56:06.080 | sexual abuse, and other illegal matters?

00:56:09.160 | How should biblical counselors cooperate

00:56:11.480 | with the authorities about these things?

00:56:13.800 | So this is an exam question about confidentiality

00:56:18.560 | and the limitations of confidentiality.

00:56:21.840 | Now let me just make a statement here,

00:56:25.760 | and this is from Heath Lambert's excellent podcast

00:56:29.480 | on the ACBC website.

00:56:31.480 | I've given you the link to that in your Dropbox folder,

00:56:35.760 | but Dr. Lambert states that the Bible places limits

00:56:40.700 | on the confidentiality we can promise to our counselees.

00:56:45.360 | Now that is a very helpful statement,

00:56:48.040 | and I think this is really at the heart

00:56:50.120 | of the exam questions.

00:56:53.840 | As biblical counselors, let me just kind of state this

00:56:58.320 | and emphasize this.

00:56:59.160 | We want to have discretion

00:57:04.160 | in how we handle sensitive information,

00:57:06.880 | and we want to be known for general confidentiality.

00:57:11.880 | If a counselee tells you something

00:57:15.160 | in a counseling relationship,

00:57:17.500 | you want to be known for your discretion.

00:57:19.820 | You don't want to spread that information

00:57:22.420 | to anyone who does not need to know that information.

00:57:26.100 | You don't want to share that information

00:57:28.020 | with your small group or with your friend

00:57:30.900 | or share that widely in a churchwide prayer meeting.

00:57:36.780 | You want to do everything you can

00:57:39.020 | to build trust with your counselee,

00:57:43.540 | and that in most cases, in a general sense,

00:57:47.060 | means that you are discreet with information.

00:57:49.760 | You know how to handle sensitive information.

00:57:54.100 | You don't disclose information to others

00:57:57.020 | unless it is wise or biblically necessary to do so.

00:58:02.340 | So you do want to be known for having confidentiality.

00:58:07.060 | You do want to be known

00:58:08.260 | for being trustworthy with information.

00:58:12.520 | And so as your handout states under letter A,

00:58:18.500 | the value of general confidentiality,

00:58:22.300 | Proverbs 10 verse 18 says,

00:58:24.500 | "The one who conceals hatred has lying lips,

00:58:27.380 | "and whoever utters slander is a fool."

00:58:32.280 | George Scipione has an excellent treatment

00:58:34.900 | of the idea of, in his article on confidentiality,

00:58:39.900 | that if you are a counselor

00:58:41.700 | who is taking sensitive information

00:58:43.580 | and then spreading it unwisely

00:58:47.060 | outside of the circle of those who need to know about it,

00:58:49.920 | then you are actually, can be slandering your counselee.

00:58:54.920 | And therefore, you can do great damage

00:58:58.260 | to that counseling relationship.

00:59:02.060 | Proverbs 11 verse 13,

00:59:03.320 | "Whoever goes about slandering reveals secrets,

00:59:05.920 | "but he who is trustworthy in spirit keeps a thing covered."

00:59:10.920 | So know what to do with sensitive information.

00:59:15.400 | Know when you are biblically mandated

00:59:18.440 | to disclose it to others.

00:59:20.620 | And in other cases where it is not wise

00:59:24.000 | for others to know about that information,

00:59:26.240 | keep that information covered.

00:59:29.280 | Keep, know how to handle that in a trustworthy manner.

00:59:34.260 | That's a very essential ingredient,

00:59:37.180 | a very essential characteristic of a wise biblical counselor.

00:59:40.700 | Proverbs 20 verse five, verse nine,

00:59:44.120 | "Argue your case with your neighbor himself

00:59:46.460 | "and do not reveal another's secret."

00:59:51.460 | So in general, you don't want to disclose information

00:59:59.140 | that you don't need to disclose.

01:00:02.220 | You don't wanna be a gossip or a busybody

01:00:05.600 | as it is stated in 1 Timothy chapter five, verse 13.

01:00:10.520 | "You want to be a model of good works."

01:00:14.460 | Titus two verse seven,

01:00:16.280 | "And in your teaching show integrity,

01:00:18.480 | "dignity and sound speech."

01:00:22.540 | So you wanna be self-controlled with your speech

01:00:26.900 | and not share things that you don't need to share.

01:00:31.700 | And there is great value in that.

01:00:35.040 | If you look at the top of your handout on page seven,

01:00:37.740 | this is from the ACBC Standards of Conduct.

01:00:42.020 | And the standards say this,

01:00:44.080 | "Biblical counselors must maintain

01:00:45.900 | "and communicate the biblical standards

01:00:47.800 | "for confidentiality."

01:00:49.260 | So we are pro-confidentiality in general.

01:00:52.920 | "Trust grows in relationships

01:00:55.740 | "where all parties have clear expectations

01:00:58.700 | "regarding the confidential nature of private information.

01:01:03.140 | "Biblical counselors seek to maintain trust and integrity

01:01:07.340 | "by keeping personal information as private as possible.

01:01:12.340 | "Biblical counselors protect the reputation

01:01:15.640 | "of their counselees by avoiding reckless

01:01:18.540 | "and unnecessary disclosures of personal information.

01:01:23.180 | "Biblical counselors must also make clear

01:01:25.640 | "their counselees that a commitment to biblical authority

01:01:29.080 | "requires the disclosure of certain kinds of information

01:01:33.380 | "to certain parties."

01:01:34.460 | Now that's the balance.

01:01:36.420 | In general, and I loved how the standards articulate

01:01:39.740 | in the beginning of that statement,

01:01:41.720 | that we are to be known for our confidentiality,

01:01:45.800 | and yet there are limitations

01:01:48.500 | to what we can keep private.

01:01:55.700 | "There are certain kinds of information

01:01:57.420 | "that must be disclosed.

01:01:59.620 | "A biblical commitment to protect counselees from harm,

01:02:03.080 | "as well as commitments to the authority of the home,

01:02:06.060 | "church, or state, may require disclosure of information

01:02:10.540 | "that counselees would otherwise prefer to remain private."

01:02:15.540 | So in our Consent to Counsel documents,

01:02:18.300 | I've given you a copy of that in your Dropbox folder,

01:02:22.700 | we state quite clearly

01:02:25.320 | that we cannot promise absolute confidentiality.

01:02:29.640 | We will seek to practice general confidentiality,

01:02:33.640 | but we cannot promise absolute or strict confidentiality.

01:02:38.640 | We cannot guarantee 100% confidentiality

01:02:43.840 | in our counseling ministry.

01:02:46.000 | That's all stated and written,

01:02:47.720 | and the counseling must sign their assent

01:02:51.040 | and their agreement with that approach to counseling

01:02:55.140 | in order to receive biblical counseling,

01:02:57.960 | because there are certain cases

01:03:01.080 | where we must disclose information.

01:03:05.840 | And so what about the limitations of confidentiality?

01:03:10.680 | This is from Deepak Raju's excellent blog article

01:03:15.080 | on strict confidentiality

01:03:18.620 | from the Biblical Counseling Coalition blog.

01:03:20.700 | He writes, "One of the assumptions that I was taught

01:03:23.320 | "when I first entered the counseling world

01:03:25.500 | "was strict confidentiality.

01:03:27.860 | "In strict confidentiality,

01:03:31.340 | "otherwise known as absolute confidentiality,

01:03:34.940 | "you, as a counselor, promise never to tell anyone else

01:03:39.420 | "about the counselee's promise.

01:03:41.880 | "The counselee is taking the very risky step

01:03:44.240 | "of revealing his sin to you,

01:03:45.800 | "and he finds security in knowing

01:03:48.400 | "that no one else will ever know his junk."

01:03:51.680 | Now, the question is,

01:03:53.300 | can we promise strict confidentiality?

01:03:57.520 | Deepak Raju argues that the answer is no.

01:04:01.500 | He says that strict confidentiality is not possible

01:04:05.980 | for Christians who practice counseling

01:04:07.800 | in the context of a local church.

01:04:11.140 | If a person is not willing to repent of a sin,

01:04:13.980 | the counselor must eventually expose the sinner

01:04:16.500 | to the church.

01:04:17.620 | If we are going to follow the ethics of the Bible,

01:04:20.420 | it is not an option for us to conceal

01:04:23.140 | an unrepentant sinner's sin.

01:04:25.480 | Granted, many of us, as counselors,

01:04:27.420 | will persevere for a long time,

01:04:29.500 | exhorting, persuading, pleading with a sinner to turn,

01:04:32.520 | but if he or she does not,

01:04:34.400 | we're left with one or two options,

01:04:37.120 | bring a second witness, and then bring it to the church.

01:04:41.980 | And so you see the connection

01:04:43.300 | between church discipline,

01:04:46.580 | and which is exam question number 10,

01:04:49.060 | and confidentiality, which is exam question number 11.

01:04:53.640 | We practice confidentiality

01:04:57.740 | unless we are compelled to, by scripture,

01:05:02.100 | to widen the circle of information.

01:05:04.580 | And one of the cases in which we must widen the circle

01:05:09.380 | of those who know about the issue

01:05:11.040 | is if we are following Matthew 18, verses 15 to 20,

01:05:16.040 | and engaging in step two of church discipline.

01:05:20.380 | So some guiding principles which limit confidentiality,

01:05:24.580 | first would be submission to the elders of the local church,

01:05:28.260 | Hebrews 13, verse 17,

01:05:30.500 | obey your leaders and submit to them

01:05:32.100 | for they're keeping watch over your souls,

01:05:34.500 | as to those who will have to give an account,

01:05:38.980 | let them do this with joy

01:05:40.140 | and not with groaning for that would be

01:05:41.960 | of no advantage to you.

01:05:45.940 | And so a counseling ministry operates in submission

01:05:48.860 | to the elders of a local church,

01:05:51.580 | and there may be cases in which the elder board

01:05:55.320 | of a local church needs to be notified

01:05:57.740 | of the issue being dealt with in counseling ministry.

01:06:02.380 | It requires wisdom and discernment to know

01:06:05.260 | when that disclosure is to take place,

01:06:07.520 | and yet, we need to understand that there is a limitation

01:06:12.100 | of confidentiality that is placed upon the counseling

01:06:17.100 | ministry because of that ministry's relationship

01:06:20.700 | with the elders of the church.

01:06:23.100 | The second limitation would be submission

01:06:25.420 | to governing authorities,

01:06:26.780 | Romans 13, verse one,

01:06:28.460 | that every person be subject to the governing authorities.

01:06:33.860 | And so quite simply,

01:06:36.840 | if a counselee has disclosed the involvement

01:06:41.840 | with a criminal act,

01:06:45.320 | we as biblical counselors don't have client counselor

01:06:49.600 | privilege that we can invoke and say,

01:06:51.920 | well, we're not gonna cooperate

01:06:53.420 | with the governmental authorities

01:06:54.880 | because we have some type of client counselor privilege.

01:06:59.560 | We don't have that type of privilege.

01:07:02.000 | We are to report to the authorities

01:07:05.260 | if a counselee is engaged in criminal matters

01:07:09.300 | and then cooperate fully with prosecution

01:07:12.140 | or ongoing investigation because we are submitting

01:07:15.860 | to the authorities as we submit to the Lord.

01:07:19.840 | And so there is submission to governing authority.

01:07:24.940 | George Scipioni writes four principles

01:07:28.160 | of the limitations of confidentiality.

01:07:31.500 | Number one, confidentiality or loyalty

01:07:34.020 | to a counselee is the general rule.

01:07:37.060 | So yes, we practice confidentiality.

01:07:40.340 | Number two, when knowledge of crimes

01:07:42.620 | or potential crimes against God and neighbor come to light,

01:07:45.940 | the person must be exhorted to repent

01:07:48.900 | in order to restore or maintain biblically defined justice.

01:07:53.900 | That's the Romans 13 principle.

01:07:58.900 | Number three, when exhortation fails,

01:08:00.700 | contacting the appropriate God-ordained authorities

01:08:03.300 | for further exhortation and discipline

01:08:05.300 | is appropriate action.

01:08:07.020 | These authorities are the family, church,

01:08:08.900 | and society, business, or state.

01:08:10.940 | I'd encourage you to read Scipioni's article on that.

01:08:13.860 | He has some case studies and illustrations

01:08:17.300 | of when it may be wise to disclose information

01:08:22.300 | outside of the counseling relationship.

01:08:25.660 | And those illustrations are very helpful.

01:08:28.860 | I don't have time to get into all of that

01:08:31.020 | in our session today.

01:08:32.740 | Number four, a promise or an assumption

01:08:34.620 | of total confidentiality in all circumstances

01:08:38.480 | is inappropriate for counselors in general

01:08:42.660 | and Christian counselors in particular.

01:08:44.980 | That is making a promise that we cannot keep.

01:08:48.160 | So if you look at our consent to counsel document,

01:08:51.540 | this is the document we use as an intake form

01:08:55.400 | for those who are requesting biblical counseling

01:08:57.860 | from our ministry.

01:08:59.780 | And you will note that it is clearly stated

01:09:03.380 | the examples of situations where we will need

01:09:08.380 | to disclose information.

01:09:11.600 | We write that confidentiality is an important aspect

01:09:16.660 | of the counseling process.

01:09:18.480 | And we will carefully guard the information

01:09:21.380 | you entrust to us.

01:09:23.820 | We have taken pains in our counseling ministry

01:09:26.020 | to, we've probably gone overboard

01:09:27.940 | to even when it comes to documents and notes

01:09:31.100 | and just things that we write down

01:09:34.300 | as a result of meeting with a counselee

01:09:38.780 | to secure that information,

01:09:42.060 | to make that data as private and as secure as possible.

01:09:47.060 | I've been told by others,

01:09:50.780 | Dan, I'm not sure if we need to make it

01:09:53.180 | do that much data security,

01:09:54.900 | but I'm just coming from a standpoint

01:09:57.540 | of we wanna carefully guard the information entrusted to us.

01:10:02.540 | And we do believe in confidentiality.

01:10:07.540 | However, we do not promise absolute confidentiality.

01:10:11.060 | Your counselor reserves the right to consult

01:10:13.700 | with other counselors or pastors

01:10:15.420 | at Kinder Community Church for the purpose

01:10:17.180 | of providing the highest level of care.

01:10:20.300 | Additionally, there are times when counseling information

01:10:22.960 | may be shared outside the Kinder Community Church context.

01:10:27.100 | Those exceptions would include,

01:10:29.100 | but are not limited to the following,

01:10:31.660 | known or suspected child abuse or elder abuse of any kind,

01:10:36.420 | the intent to take criminal actions

01:10:38.660 | or violence against another person,

01:10:40.980 | active suicidal thoughts or intentions,

01:10:44.300 | other credible intent to harm self or others

01:10:47.940 | and matters of church discipline.

01:10:50.580 | Counselors reserve the right and discretion

01:10:53.320 | to contact all appropriate entities

01:10:56.080 | when as a result of counseling,

01:10:58.520 | it is clear that a crime has been committed

01:11:01.200 | or is about to be committed

01:11:02.960 | or when the safety and welfare of any person,

01:11:05.620 | including the counselee is in jeopardy.

01:11:08.280 | The counselor is not required to notify the counselee

01:11:12.360 | in advance of any such contact

01:11:14.440 | with the appropriate authorities.

01:11:16.760 | I think that's the good balance of general confidentiality

01:11:21.100 | as well as clearly stating

01:11:22.980 | the limitations of confidentiality.

01:11:25.060 | And I think that language is pretty standard

01:11:28.220 | in the biblical counseling consent to counsel documents.

01:11:32.860 | I've given you all that information in Dropbox.

01:11:35.060 | I hope you will make use of that

01:11:37.440 | and that you will write a great essay here

01:11:39.900 | dealing with both sides of the confidentiality discussion.

01:11:45.100 | And I trust that you will be a biblical counselor

01:11:47.760 | who is known for discretion

01:11:50.520 | and for being trustworthy with information,

01:11:53.280 | but who is also wise in discerning

01:11:55.200 | and knowing the examples and the occasions

01:11:58.640 | to disclose information to a wider number of people.

01:12:03.640 | Well, I hope that was a helpful overview

01:12:07.200 | of counseling exams number 10 and 11.

01:12:10.080 | I think you will find that those two subjects go together.

01:12:14.440 | Now, as I've stated in my email previously,

01:12:16.580 | we are gonna have one last class

01:12:19.500 | dealing with the counseling exams.

01:12:21.540 | And what we are gonna do next Sunday

01:12:24.420 | is we are going to walk through the three case studies

01:12:29.420 | that are part of the counseling exam questions

01:12:35.460 | numbers 12 to 20.

01:12:37.940 | Now, there are eight questions

01:12:40.420 | that are related to three case studies.

01:12:43.560 | And what I wanna do next week

01:12:45.460 | is just walk you through the case studies,

01:12:47.500 | give you some foundations, some starter points

01:12:50.740 | to understand where to go with the case studies.

01:12:53.700 | But this will be, I think, a fitting conclusion

01:12:57.060 | to our class is to walk through

01:13:01.260 | the case studies presented to us,

01:13:03.340 | and then just give you a starting point,

01:13:05.580 | give you some foundations

01:13:09.100 | to be able to walk through those counseling examples

01:13:13.760 | together, and I trust that you will be blessed

01:13:16.640 | by our class next week.

01:13:18.640 | So join us next Sunday, May 23rd

01:13:21.200 | at five o'clock Pacific time,

01:13:24.080 | and we look forward to that time.

01:13:26.100 | So let me pray for us,

01:13:28.480 | and we'll conclude our study together.

01:13:33.180 | Father, thank you for the church.

01:13:36.280 | We just thank you for the membership of the church,

01:13:40.140 | the purity of the church.

01:13:42.020 | Thank you for the joy of knowing

01:13:44.660 | that we are not only privileged to belong to Christ,

01:13:47.700 | but to belong to his church.

01:13:50.920 | I just pray that you would bless our time

01:13:54.020 | as we study these important topics.

01:13:58.140 | Bless each student here,

01:13:59.380 | and I thank you for each one.

01:14:01.820 | Bless our studies this week, we pray,

ACBC Counseling Exams 10 and 11 - Church Discipline and Confidentiality

Chapters