Baptize Disciples and Eat the Lord's Supper | John Piper

Deep Dive into All That Jesus Commanded by John Piper - Do This in Remembrance of Me - Baptize Disciples and Eat the Lord's SupperWhen a brother or sister demonstrates persistent, unrepented sin, Jesus provides specific guidelines for how to handle the situation, commonly referred to as church discipline. This process is designed to be a careful, loving, patient discipline that aims to restore the individual while maintaining the integrity of the fellowship.The first step involves a private admonition. If a brother sins against you, you should "go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone." The primary goal of this initial, private confrontation is to "gain your brother" back. If he listens and repents, the matter is resolved.If he "does not listen" after the private conversation, the second step is to "take one or two others along with you." The purpose of bringing witnesses is so "that every charge may be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses," providing further opportunity for the sinning brother to listen and repent with the added weight of others' testimony.Should the individual still "refuse to listen to them," the third step requires you to "tell it to the church." This signifies that Jesus was preparing his followers for the "ongoing fellowship of his band of followers in his absence," bringing the matter before the wider community of believers to collectively urge repentance.Finally, if the person "refuses to listen even to the church," the ultimate step is to "let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector." This does not mean treating the person with hostility, as Jesus taught love for such people. Instead, it signifies that you should "no longer share the unique fellowship of Jesus with him," meaning not sharing, for example, in the Lord's Supper together. This ultimate step highlights that "persistent, unrepented sin—a refusal to take sin seriously and make war against it in our own lives—will mean we are not really followers of Jesus." Jesus made this provision to ensure the church "would not tolerate blatant unwillingness to repent."Reformed Theologian GPT: https://chat.openai.com/g/g-XXwzX1gnv-reformed-theologianhttps://buymeacoffee.com/edi2730