There's Nowhere to Run

Nothing like a creepy title to start off a post, but I kind of wanted that element here.

Church discipline in the modern day is an interesting topic. I once had a professor at Westminster who thought there was no need for it anymore because it didn't accomplish what it needed to in our modern culture. I obviously completely disagree. When I questioned him more about it, it was clear that he had a superficial understanding of what it was for. However, I do agree that many people placed under church discipline don't quite understand the gravity of it.

In former times, in small towns with one church, when one was excommunicated, he had nowhere else to go. Now, however, when churches are more plentiful than Starbuck's, he believes he can just go elsewhere and be no worse for the wear.

Case in point, we had some men we had to excommunicate for a rebellion they led against church leadership. They immediately left and when after repeated attempts to call them back to reconcile, their having refused to do so, we excommunicated them. However, I am sure not a single one of them thought anything of it. After all, they were in new churches now, and didn't perceive as their former church as having any authority over them.

Such is the sentiment of our modern day. The church has authority over me when I give it authority. Of course, that means I am in authority over the church. Christ doesn't grant it authority unless I say He does. This means that if I say a church does not have Christ's authority, it doesn't, at least not over me since I have run to another church.

It's actually an interesting form of ancient religion, where the gods all have their own spheres. Don't want to be under the gods of Egypt? Run to Assyria. Don't want to be under the gods of Philistia? Run to Babylon. The gods' hands can't reach past their boundaries.

Christ, of course, is Lord of all creation. He has no boundaries. His authority in one church extends to the other. What that means is that if you are under church discipline in one church, according to Christ, He is in agreement with the elders for their decision (as long as they are genuinely Christian elders making judgments on the Word of God). That means that anyone who is under discipline is not released from that discipline even if they run to another church.

Christ doesn't observe the boundary markers churches often set for themselves. This is often why, from the earliest times of the apostles, letters had to be given if one was coming to a new church from another. That new church needed to make sure that these people were not under discipline, lest they fall under that judgment themselves.

In essence, one is not released from the authority of one church simply by running to another. The authority of the one extends to wherever else he goes, simply because Christ's authority extends to every church that belongs to Him.

In short, the men we excommunicated are still under that judgment, even though they probably just brushed it off. Many of them are involved in leadership positions at other churches and in other organizations, some of which have been told and also brush it off. It's an amazing thing to see this boundary-filled Evangelicalism play out. It's also horrific to realize the implications of it.

In short, there is nowhere to run. No one gets away by simply taking off to another church when they are under discipline. The church that gave the judgment must be the one to release you of that judgment. Otherwise, the judgment persists and going to another church to escape it is futile. The Judge of all the earth is still there, and He was the One who made the decision through the elders at the last church. He will be at the next church, and the next one, and the next one. Running does nothing but display rebellion. It's reconciliation to Christ through the church that made the judgment or it's excommunication from the kingdom. People who try to take refuge elsewhere are fooling themselves. They are like the wicked in the Apocalypse who run under the rocks so that they may hide in them, but Christ is Lord of the rocks and caves as well, and they will be crushed by them. There's simply nowhere to run.