Being Holy, Responsible Children and Siblings, part II

I think one of the reasons, perhaps, that we don’t think of our responsibilities during parent–child dedications, is because we tend to not think of having responsibilities toward each other at all. At best we think of having a responsibility to help one another during a crisis, but let me just ask you this morning: do you consider yourself having a responsibility for the spiritual welfare of those around you? I mean look around the church; do you have a sense of duty toward ensuring the spiritual health and vitality of one another? Probably not; this is why church discipline has disappeared from our churches and become a bad word.

Baptists have a rich history of practicing church discipline. You may or may not consider that a good thing. Our culture today holds this as an indictment against the church, stating that we have a rich history of judgmentalism and hypocrisy. This is a fair critique; but we must be clear that the biblical practice of church discipline is quite a different thing from judgmentalism. A church that practices church discipline in a biblical and Christian way does not have a rich history of hypocrisy but a rich history of righteousness, I would argue. Simply put, one cannot be committed to personal and corporate holiness without a sound commitment to holding one another accountable to the calling of Christ and assisting one another in this quest.

Perhaps one of the reasons we neglect our duties, is because we don’t feel adequate, perhaps we don’t feel like we have the authority (I mean who am I to correct someone, I’m no more holy than they?); perhaps we’re too afraid to step on someone’s toes. Whatever the reason is, whatever prevents us from really investing in one another’s spiritual life, Hebrews 12 is meant to correct us in our error. Hebrews 12 shows us that not only do we have a responsibility for one another, but God in fact commands us and desires to use us in helping one another grow and in helping one another fight sin. As the title of the sermon suggests, we have a duty as Christians to be holy and responsible children of God as well as hold and responsible brothers and sisters in Christ. It begins with the work of our heavenly Father, who is the supreme source of holiness and discipline, and is then to be humbly and lovingly practiced here as the family of God. The lesson we hear from Hebrews 12: 4–17 is this: God disciplines us in this life so that we may practically grow in His holiness; accordingly, we must, therefore, humbly participate in the disciplining of one another, that we may all inherit the Kingdom as co–heirs with Jesus Christ.