ASSEMBLY DISCIPLINE
[p. 23] ASSEMBLY DISCIPLINE
The assembly is entrusted by the Lord with administrative authority to pronounce judgment on moral questions which may be brought before it as the supreme court of appeal on earth. The sin of one brother against another is the particular matter in question in Matthew 18. The assembly may bind or loose: it may hold the brother to be guilty of the sin which he is alleged to have committed, or it may loose him from the charge. If the assembly binds the things upon him, it is bound upon him in heaven: the assembly holds him guilty and heaven holds him guilty. It is a sin which breaks in on the holy relationship of two brothers. If the offender does not bow to the judgment of the assembly he is no longer entitled to be acknowledged as a brother. The Lord does not say how the assembly is to regard him, but the assembly could not fail to act in accordance with its own judgment and the judgment of heaven. The particular thing is bound upon him on earth and in heaven: he can only get clear of it by repentance, upon which the assembly would loose him from what it has bound upon him. It is to be noted that it is “whatsoever”; that is, it refers to the conduct which is bound or loosed, not exactly to the person but the particular thing which he is charged with. In John 20 it is “whose soever”; it is persons whose sins are remitted or retained, and, I believe, more in a gospel sense.
Now it certainly appears to me that a public disregard of the Lord’s authority, and of the rights and claims of His love, is not less serious than a sin against a brother. The Lord’s supper is a matter of His authority. The assembly could never allow that it is optional whether saints of the assembly break bread or not. Paul says, “We all partake of that one loaf” (1 Corinthians 10: 17). How the Lord regards neglect of this institution of love we may gather from the serious [p. 24] consequences which followed upon the neglect of the passover (Numbers 9). One who habitually remains away from the Lord’s supper gives up practically his place in the body publicly; he goes voluntarily away from the assembly.
Now, surely, the assembly is to exercise all the grace of heaven in seeking to restore such a one to the sense of what is due to the Lord. The assembly would seek by all available means to bring the Lord into His right place in the heart of such a one. But the assembly cannot allow that fellowship go on just the same when the central act of fellowship is ignored or, at any rate, not partaken of. The assembly may forbear taking any action, and leave such a case to individual, pastoral care, but to leave it there indefinitely would tend to looseness as to our associations. The instructions as to associations in 2 Timothy 2 are very precise. We are to withdraw from what is unrighteous, and to follow righteousness, faith, love, peace, with those that call upon the Lord out of a pure heart. We cannot say that it is following righteousness to keep away from the brethren, and if the assembly has to pronounce a judgment it cannot “loose” such a thing as that. It cannot possibly say that such conduct is to go without blame. This would be a dreadfully loose judgment and it would not be ratified in heaven. We must bear in mind that “a little leaven leavens the whole lump” (1 Corinthians 5: 6).
If one whose ways are contrary to the truth of the fellowship does not repent when admonished, and finally declines to be visited by the brethren, it necessarily brings pastoral care to an end, as far as the brethren in care are concerned, whatever opportunity individuals may still have to approach the person. To refuse to be visited is such a disregard of the Lord’s care, and of what He has set up in the assembly to watch for souls, that it can only be regarded in a most serious light. The assembly would not be prepared to “loose” that principle of conduct or to say that it must be held free of blame. It seems to me that it would have to say that such a person must lie under the imputation of sin until such time as [p. 25] God might in mercy grant repentance. Its fellowship could not be extended to one who was insubject to its judgment. So that it seems to me that, when such a definite point of insubjection is reached, the fellowship of the saints would have to be withdrawn from the person who acted thus. The assembly, if it speaks at all, must speak in support of the Lord’s authority, and of the truth of the fellowship, and of that principle of care which the Lord has set up in the assembly. He makes known His mind as the need arises and it can never be said that the assembly is helpless in the presence of a difficulty. It may have to wait upon the Lord, and go through much humbling exercise and searching of heart, but it can never be held up by any form of evil so that that evil remains unjudged.