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Pastor Carter addresses Questions on
Church Discipline:
Concerning Those in Positions of Christian Leadership




Is it right for church discipline to be enforced on church leaders for sins they may have committed before they were saved?


All of us have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23).  There's not a single one of us that can claim we were without sin before we met the Lord (1 John 1:8). But I am thankful that once He saves and forgives us, we are just that... forgiven!

The Apostle Paul is a terrific example.  He was responsible for the deaths of many followers of Christ (1 Corinthians 15:9) and claimed himself to be the chief of sinners (1 Timothy 1:15).  He is said to have held the cloaks of some who stoned Stephen in the Book of Acts (Acts 7:58). Yet when he came into contact with the Master on the Road to Damascus, the Lord miraculously saved him and called him into Christian leadership (Acts 22 and Acts 26).  He went on to become a member of the local church in Jerusalem (Acts 9:28), became an Apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ (Romans 1:1, 1 Corinthians 1:1), and penned much of the New Testament writings that we believe were divinely inspired by God Himself.

We should not hold against our Christian brothers and sisters, including those in positions of Christian leadership, sins they committed before their conversion.  If God calls them forgiven, so should we!

"They're underneath the blood on the cross of Calvary, as far removed as darkness is from dawn...  In the sea of God's forgetfullness, that's good enough for me!  Praise God!  My sins are gone!"


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Is it right for church discipline to be enforced on church leaders for sins they have committed since being saved and in positions of Christian leadership? ...If we are to go back into ones PAST I'm sure we could find sins in each one of our lives that would have brought a reproach upon Christ.  Maybe we should all be brought up on charges and be dealt with for our PAST failures and sins which God has forgiven.   Also, I guess if you have that mind set, the ministry of Paul should not be in the Bible.  The ministry of Peter should not be in the Bible.  I'm glad I serve a God who not only forgives but HE forgets.  I think Jesus put it like this: "Ye without sin cast the first stone!"


This answer takes us into a different set of playing rules than the first answer.  The first answer dealt with the sins of a Christian leader before they were saved.  This answer will deal with the sins of a Christian leader after they have been saved and elevated to a position of Christian leadership.

We must understand the positions of those whom are the subject here. In this scenario, we're not talking about "new converts" or "baby Christians" or "common sinners." We're talking about those who have supposedly been in this thing for awhile, AND have held leadership positions. There are higher standards, biblically, that must be applied.

1 Timothy 3:
2 A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, vigilant, sober, of
good behaviour, given to hospitality, apt to teach; `
3 Not given to wine, no striker, not greedy of filthy lucre; but patient, not a brawler,
not covetous;
4 One that ruleth well his own house, having his children in subjection with all gravity;
5 (For if a man know not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the
church of God?)
6 Not a novice, lest being lifted up with pride he fall into the condemnation of the
devil.
7 Moreover he must have a good report of them which are without; lest he fall into
reproach and the snare of the devil.
8 Likewise must the deacons be grave, not doubletongued, not given to much wine,
not greedy of filthy lucre;
9 Holding the mystery of the faith in a pure conscience.
10 And let these also first be proved; then let them use the office of a deacon, being
found blameless.
11 Even so must their wives be grave, not slanderers, sober, faithful in all things.
12 Let the deacons be the husbands of one wife, ruling their children and their own
houses well.
13 For they that have used the office of a deacon well purchase to themselves a
good degree, and great boldness in the faith which is in Christ Jesus.

Titus 1:
6 If any be blameless, the husband of one wife, having faithful children not
accused of riot or unruly.
7 For a bishop must be blameless, as the steward of God; not selfwilled, not soon
angry, not given to wine, no striker, not given to filthy lucre;
8 But a lover of hospitality, a lover of good men, sober, just, holy, temperate;
9 Holding fast the faithful word as he hath been taught, that he may be able by
sound doctrine both to exhort and to convince the gainsayers.
10 For there are many unruly and vain talkers and deceivers, specially they of the
circumcision:
11 Whose mouths must be stopped, who subvert whole houses, teaching things
which they ought not, for filthy lucre's sake.
12 One of themselves, even a prophet of their own, said, the Cretians are alway
liars, evil beasts, slow bellies.
13 This witness is true. Wherefore rebuke them sharply, that they may be sound
in the faith;


You mentioned Paul and Peter.  They were gloriously saved, no doubt about it. But neither of them, once having been proven and confirmed as Apostles which oversee and govern bodies of believers, willfully walked back into sin.

Our past is certainly forgiven, and praise the Lord for it. But there is a difference, and a set order of biblical expectations we must follow, when one assumes such a role of leadership in the Body and then brings a reproach on the name of Christ by further sinning. Can the Lord forgive such an one? Of course. But that one should have the respect for the Lord he claims he serves and sit himself down for awhile. ...Out of leadership, out of ministry, out of oversight, etc. The biblical ministry of "restoration" does not mean, "ask forgiveness and you're excused." It means, ask forgiveness, be forgiven, sit down until you are reproved (because of the reproach you have brought upon Christ and the Church), and then you may be restored as those over you in the Lord feel it appropriate.

If a person in Christian leadership has asked forgiveness for what he has done, then I agree that he's forgiven. But it is possible that what he has done could exclude him from Christian leadership. Otherwise, such stipulations for those in leadership wouldn't be in the Word, penned from one of the very men of God you mentioned.

It is not "unforgiving" to maintain standards in Christian leadership. It is biblically required. And if those on whom these stipulations apply do not willingly submit to such and step out of their leadership role, it is the responsibility of the Body at large to see to it that it happens, even exposing things that have been hidden if need be.

It would be a whole lot easier if the sinning party in leadership would recognize the weight of the situation, and for the greater good of the Kingdom, submit to the biblical guidelines that exclude them from leadership. The person who does such may be able to maintain some portion of their integrity and dignity and will receive grace, forgiveness and restoration much more readily than the one who bucks against the Bible and forces their peers in ministry to hold them accountable.

Peter, in 1 Peter 4:17  -
"For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first
begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?"

Paul, in Romans 16:17 -
"Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offences
contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned; and avoid them."

Leaving your peers to do publicly what one could have done privately would save the sinning leader a great deal of embarrassment and shame, and cause a far less public reproach on the name of Christ, enabling us to reach out to the lost more effectively and with less of a challenge from those who seek to identify the hypocrites among us as an excuse to reject the message of the Gospel.








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PASTOR CHAD CARTER
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