Have you been hurt in the church?
The church isn’t always a safe space, as much as we’d like it to be, because it exists (for now) in a sinful world and sinners still inhabit the pews. Ecclesiastes 5:1 says, “Guard your steps when you go into the house of God,” and adds in the next breath that there are sometimes fools offering sacrifices inside.
Thankfully, many churches are concerned to redress the wrongs God’s people suffer from other churchgoers and the errant decisions of church leadership. I encourage you to find and join a local church that takes seriously church discipline, which the reformers understood to be one of the marks of a true church.
Justice demands that those hurt have the right to complain to the church and that those disciplined receive due process, including an impartial appeal of their case. I once heard it said that rightly ordered church discipline is like a fire extinguisher—you don’t give it much thought until a crisis, and then you’re glad it’s there.
Justice demands that those hurt have the right to complain to the church and that those disciplined receive due process.
Ecclesiastical discipline is theological. I’m a pastor, not a lawyer. How the church listens to and adjudicates appeals and complaints is shaped by theological and ministry principles. It’s Christian discipline; whether we’re pastors and elders hearing appeals and complaints or a church member making an appeal or complaint, we do well to consider how these matters relate to God.
God Hears Appeals and Complaints
Theology begins with God and extends to all things in relation to God. Church practice seeks to faithfully reflect God’s practice. The church hears complaints because God hears complaints.
David, on the run from Saul and separated from the visible church, raised his voice to God: “With my voice I cry out to the LORD; with my voice I plead for mercy to the LORD. I pour out my complaint before him; I tell my trouble before him” (Ps. 142:1–2).
If you’re crying out to God because of unjust treatment in the visible church, you’re in good company: “In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to him who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverence” (Heb. 5:7).
Christ entrusted himself to “him who judges justly” (1 Pet. 2:23), a reminder our practice derives from God’s character.
God Is the God of Justice
Given the injustice all around us, we can all empathize with Malachi’s audience, who said, “Everyone who does evil is good in the sight of the LORD, and he delights in them. . . . Where is the God of justice?” (Mal. 2:17). Yet God is a God of justice who will right all wrongs. He’ll bring final judgment (Heb. 9:27). He defends the vulnerable (Ps. 72:1–4; Deut. 10:17–18). We take heart in who God is and strive to be like him: “For the LORD loves justice; he will not forsake his saints. They are preserved forever, but the children of the wicked shall be cut off” (Ps. 37:28).
The church hears complaints because God hears complaints.
Sometimes even well-meaning church courts will err (see the Westminster Confession of Faith, 31.3). At such hours, a Christian will face the question of what to do next: Should he move on with life or further pursue the matter with the purposes of discipline in mind? The Orthodox Presbyterian Church’s Book of Discipline says, “The purpose of judicial discipline is to vindicate the honor of Christ, to promote the purity of his church, and to reclaim the offender” (1.3).
Those considering pursing a complaint or appeal must consider various factors: the personal cost, the potential drain of resources, and how confident they are in their cause. Ultimately, they should consider what serves the good of the church. Perhaps a victim needs closure or an innocent name needs to be cleared. Or perhaps carrying a complaint to the General Assembly will make it less likely for the same wrong to occur again.
Of course, even in relatively good church courts with multiple levels of appeal, every case ends. If you’re involved in appeals and complaints for any length of time, you’ll be occasionally disappointed. When all reasonable earthly recourse fails, we must trust that God has good purposes. He rights wrongs perfectly while we have limited knowledge. We conduct appeals with humility, knowing we can’t see inside men’s hearts the way God can. Perhaps we’re missing something—but God misses nothing.
God Will Bring Perfect Judgment
Today, we leave vengeance to the Lord, knowing we’ll be “openly acknowledged and acquitted in the day of judgment” (Westminster Shorter Catechism Q&A 38; Rom. 12:17–21). This is a great practical comfort in a world where God’s people are often unfairly maligned, even lied about (e.g., Ps. 109:2). Unfortunately, this frequently happens in our world, where the Devil, the father of lies, holds sway over those dead in sins and trespasses (Eph. 2:1–3). On that last day, our God will vindicate us (2 Thess. 1:5–10).
We conduct appeals and complaints with humility, knowing we can’t see inside men’s hearts the way God can. Perhaps we’re missing something—but God misses nothing.
We must be patient as we wait for the final judgment, the day of perfect justice. Justice today will be proximate, not perfect. This is the way of life in a sin-scarred world—no church is perfect, no people are perfect, no marriage is perfect. We must be content with the processes of the church (though, as Jeremiah Burroughs points out, contentment doesn’t mean we cease striving or praying for improvement).
Even when we disagree with how a case was settled, we must trust that God is working through his church. Even when the courts of this world leave us still crying out for justice, Christians find joy and peace in the gospel truth that God will never summon us to face his wrath and judgment. When Christ died for our sins and was raised for our justification (Rom. 4:25), we had our day in court. No matter what the verdict of any earthly court holds, God’s court will never put us in double jeopardy (8:33–34).
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