by Ben Carlson | Jan 13, 2020 | Church Discipline, Practical Theology
In a previous post the subject of church discipline was considered and 6 introductory observations were given. In this post, step 1 of seeking forgiveness will be considered: The private individual rebuke. You can find the first post in the series here.
Matthew 18:15 – “If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother.”
This is the first step of seeking forgiveness from a brother
or sister who has sinned against you. I want to consider this step under two
questions: first, what is to be done and second, where is it to be done?
1.) What is to be Done?
The ESV reads, “if you brother sins against you, go and tell
him his fault.” I think this translation is a bit too soft. It least it can be
taken that way. The Greek actually says, “If your brother sins against you, go
rebuke or reprove him.”
The word “reprove” means to expose and convict someone of
his or her sin. The Bible teaches that reproving someone is what the three
Persons of the Godhead do.
This is something Christ does:
Hebrews 12:5 says, “And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons? ‘My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by Him.’”
He says to the church in Laodicea in Revelation 3:19:
“Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline, so be zealous and repent.”
This is something that the teaching of Jesus Christ does: John
3:20: For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come
to the light, lest his works should be exposed.
If you come to the light, if you allow the words of Christ
to shine upon your heart and your actions, it will all be exposed. Nothing will
remain hidden any longer.
This is something the Holy Spirit does when He is sent to
the earth: John 16:8: And when He comes, He will convict the
world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment:
This is something the law of God does: James 2:9: But
if you show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the
law as transgressors.
And this is something God does to the wicked: Psalm
50:21: These things you have done, and I have been silent; you thought that
I was one like yourself. But now I rebuke you and lay the charge before
you.
God is rebuking the wicked by bringing his case against the
wicked and laying out their wicked crimes against Him.
So, rebuking or reproving someone, in the context of Matthew
18, is more than just telling that person his fault. It means to formally
accuse someone of wrongdoing. You are not to take someone to court over this,
but your meeting should be court-like. It should reflect the very justice and
judgment of God.
Your judgment should align with God’s judgment. You should
have sufficient proof based on God’s law that someone has done wrong to you,
and then you should go and issue a formal complaint against that person. So,
the burden is on you to possess convincing and compelling evidence that someone
has indeed sinned against you.
It can’t just be that I think you have sinned against
me, or I feel like you have sinned against me, or it seems like
you have sinned against me. No. It must be, “I have proof you have sinned
against me and here it is.” Your accusation has to hold up not just in the
court of public opinion but in the court of God’s law. If it doesn’t, your case
against the brother or sister must be thrown out.
The Grounds for Rebuke – the Law of God
There is a great lesson here for us. And it’s this: if you
are going to seek forgiveness with someone, make sure they have sinned against
you. Jesus says, “If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his
fault.” The key word here is “sins.” He didn’t say, “If your brother offends
you or irritates you or annoys you or makes you feel bad or crosses your
traditions and customs or goes against your counsel and advice.” Maybe it’s not
the best thing for a person to do those things, but you can only rebuke someone
and start the process of church discipline if he or she breaks the law of God
against you – if he or she violates one of the 6 commandments contained in the
second table of the law. If that person does not love you in a biblical way
according to the law of God, then you have a right to go to that person and
tell him his fault.
We should thank and praise God for this! God has not left us
in the dark to come up with our own definition of sin. He has graciously given
us an objective, everlasting standard which is outside of us to know if someone
has sinned against us. It is written down for all of us to read and examine in
the Bible.
If this wasn’t the case, just think how dysfunctional the
church would be. If we didn’t have the written law of God to tell us what
righteousness is and what sin is, we would be accusing one another left and
right of all kinds of things that aren’t actually sinful.
There would be so much chaos in the church, especially in
today’s church where so many people simply emote. They don’t think; they don’t
consider; they don’t weigh the evidence; they don’t exercise self-control; they
simply are led by their emotions. Their feelings become their truth. And if
they feel like they have been sinned against, well, how dare we question that
they have indeed been sinned against! We are told to respect their version of
truth as truth! Well, as one country singer says, “That ain’t gonna fly,” and
that ain’t gonna fly in the church!
If your grievance with another brother or sister isn’t
according to the biblical definition of sin, Jesus’ teaching here doesn’t apply
to your case. I’m sorry, it just doesn’t. You can still go talk to that person.
You can still share with that person how you feel and how you can better dwell
in peace and unity with one another, but you would be the one in sin if you
unrighteously accused someone of something that isn’t really sinful.
So, we should praise God for this, and we should be very
careful about bringing a formal accusation against another brother or sister in
Christ.
2.) Where is it to be Done?
Jesus teaches that this is to be a one-on-one, face-to-face
private meeting. You are to go and rebuke the person to his face. Jesus said,
“go and tell him.” He did not say, “Sit back and write a letter to him” or in
our modern times “call him or text him or Facebook-message him.” For something
as serious as this, those forms of communication are too impersonal. This needs
to be said while looking the offender in the eye.
Jesus also did not say, “Go and appoint a representative to
bring the complaint to the person you think has sinned against you, whether it
be your pastors or a trustworthy friend.” No, He says, “You (in the singular)
go.” In other words, go by yourself. “Go” here can mean “to depart” or “to
withdraw” to a place. In other words, going means sinking out of sight and
having this conversation covered in secrecy so others won’t know the contents
of your conversation. But Jesus explicitly teaches this rebuke must be private
when He says to rebuke your brother “between you and him alone.” Since this is
a private sin, it should be a private confrontation. No one else is to be
involved at this time. You are the offended party, the sin was against you in
particular, and it is your responsibility to go confront that person privately.
Jesus is not teaching something new here. Confronting
someone privately concerning his or her sin against you is the very essence of
love taught in the Old Testament. This is what it means to love your neighbor
as himself.
Leviticus 19:17-18 (HCSB) says, “You must not harbor hatred against your brother. Rebuke [same Greek verb is used in Matthew 18:15] your neighbor directly, and you will not incur guilt because of him. 18Do not take revenge or bear a grudge against members of your community, but love your neighbor as yourself; I am Yahweh.”
Proverbs 25:8-10: “8do not hastily bring into court, for what will you do in the end, when your neighbor puts you to shame? 9Argue your case with your neighbor himself, and do not reveal another’s secret, 10lest he who hears you bring shame upon you, and your ill repute have no end.”
A great illustration of this is Joseph’s actions against
Mary, whom he was betrothed to. After she became pregnant by the powerful work
of the Holy Spirit, Joseph incorrectly thought she had committed sexual
immorality against him. But what did he do? Tell the whole world? No. He kept
the matter private. Matthew 1:19 says, “And her husband Joseph, being a
just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly.”
We are not to blow up, not to refuse to talk to them, not to
gossip by telling everybody else about their sins, but to talk to them and seek
forgiveness and reconciliation privately.
Reconciliation Means the Sin Remains Private
Be careful not to make public another person’s sins which
have been dealt with privately. If step 1 has born fruit and the brother or
sister has listened to you and has repented, you have won him or her back to
the truth, it all ends there.
There is not a step 2. And there is certainly not a step 3
or 4. The process is over. Reconciliation has occurred! And since the process
is over, going around and telling others about how badly that person sinned
against you is wicked, cruel, and not in line with loving your fellow
Christian. The goal of step 1 is to cover sins, not expose them for all to see.
It is to bury the hatchet, not to use the hatchet as a weapon to hack up your
reconciled brother in Christ. As Proverbs 17:9 says, “Whoever covers an
offense seeks love, but he who repeats a matter separates close friends.” Or as
1 Peter 4:8 says, “Love covers a multitude of sins.” If forgiveness has
been established, in a qualified sense you need to forget that it ever
happened. You need to let it die. That person’s dirty laundry has already been
washed and cleansed by the blood of Christ. The sin has been dealt with and you
have won your brother back. Hallelujah! At the very least, you need to make
sure it never becomes the topic of conversation with others.
Confront the Brother Yourself
Make sure to confront someone privately about his or her sin
before telling others about it. When someone sins against you, what is the
first thing you do? Pray? Check your own heart to make sure you are not
overreacting or being overly emotional? Search the Scriptures? Go directly to
that person?
Or do you tell another person about it? Do you let your
spouse know? Or your parents know? Or your closest friends know? Or do you post
it on Facebook for everyone to know? And do you do this without ever going to
that person?
Hopefully you understand how terribly childish this sort of
approach is when you deal with someone who has wronged you. But it is so easy
to do because it’s extremely hard to confront someone. For some here, it may be
the most difficult thing you will ever have to do. None of us enjoy confronting
ourselves about our own sins, let alone confronting another person about his or
her sins.
I will say this: if you come to one of your pastors & tell them about how someone has sinned against you, you should hear this counsel from them every time: “Have you gone to that person first? Have you followed the first step of seeking forgiveness laid out for you in Matthew 18:15?” If not, we are not going to say anything else to you. If we want to be faithful to Christ’s commands, we can’t say anything else to you.
So, you have to confront that person yourself. That takes
courage. That takes strength. That takes faith. Cry out to God for these
graces, and obey Christ’s commandment and go lovingly rebuke that person to his
face. It may be one of the best things you ever do!
When You Are the Offender
If you have sinned against another, go tell that offended
brother or sister your own fault. It’s a sad thing that discipline has to be
taken to step 2, 3, and even 4 in some cases. It should remain at step 1. In
fact, it shouldn’t even have to get to step 1. If you have sinned against
someone, you should go to that person yourself and ask for forgiveness. Why
wait for the person to come to you? Why does he have to hunt you down and
confront you about your sin against him? Go and make things right yourself!
Repent and humble yourself and seek that person’s forgiveness!
Something is not right with your heart if you can sin
against someone without your conscience cutting you down and compelling you to
go make things right. How can a believer go through life knowing that he has
deeply hurt and offended another believer without seeking his forgiveness?
This is the very teaching of Christ. In Matthew 5:23-24,
He says, “23So if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember
that your brother has something against you, 24leave your gift there before the
altar and go. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your
gift.” God will not accept your worship until you make things right with your
offended brother.
But if you have really sinned against a person and he or she
confronts you, you should love that person.
You shouldn’t get angry at that person. He or she had the
courage to say something to you & the love to pursue you when you were
doing astray. You should praise God for that person and thank him or her for
dealing honestly * faithfully with your soul. As the Scriptures say, it is for
your benefit & blessing.
Prov. 9:8-9: 8Do not reprove a scoffer, or he will hate you; reprove a wise man, & he will love you. 9Give instruction to a wise man, & he will be still wiser; teach a righteous man, & he will increase in learning.
Psalm 141:5: Let a righteous man strike me- it is a kindness; let him rebuke [same Greek verb used in Matthew 18:15] me- it is oil for my head; let my head not refuse it. Yet my prayer is continually against their evil deeds.
Prov. 27:6: Faithful are the wounds of a friend; profuse are the kisses of an enemy.
Lord-willing, in future posts we will consider steps 2-4. May God bless the preaching of His Word to the building up of His church, through Jesus Christ our Lord, to whom be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.
Ben has been one of the pastors of Grace Reformed Baptist Church of Owensboro, Kentucky, since June 2017. In February 2018, he received his Master of Divinity from Covenant Baptist Theological Seminary. Ben has been married to his lovely wife Ali since September 2011. They have four children together: Liam, Luther, Cosette, and Maezie. In his spare time, Ben enjoys playing with his kids, coaching, doing yard work, and Friday family nights.
by Ben Carlson | Jan 7, 2020 | Church Discipline, Ecclesiology, Practical Theology, Preaching, Worship
The Bible teaches us that holiness is one of the major marks
of a true church. The church’s holiness is based off the great command found in
Leviticus 19:2, “You shall be holy, for I the LORD your God am holy.” And the
church’s holiness is the result of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Jesus has saved
the church by giving Himself up for her. He saved her by spilling His own
precious blood on the cross. And as a result, the church has become the body
and bride of Jesus Christ. It belongs to Him. He is her Head and her Husband.
And Jesus didn’t die to purchase a sick body and an ugly bride. He died for the
church to be holy and without blemish. He died so she would reflect His holy
character. He died so that she would be holy as He is holy! Holy in her
profession of the truth and holy in her practice of living out the truth.
But in saying this, a problem should arise in our minds. A
big problem. And it’s this: the church is not perfect. At least not yet. If you
have but a faint understanding of your own heart, hopefully that’s not a
surprise. The church is full of saints but saints who are still sinners. Sadly,
saints who still break God’s commandments. And saints who still hurt one
another with their words and their actions.
Therefore, it must be the priority of every true church to
carry out what is called church discipline. This simply means the church must
have in place a way of dealing with and correcting sin when it rears its ugly
head.
If we are thinking of the church as the body of Christ,
church discipline is like undergoing surgery in order to cut out cancerous
tumors from the body so that the body would be healthy again. Or if we are
thinking of the church as the bride of Christ, church discipline is like
getting a top-of-the-line spa treatment in order for the dirt and filth and
warts and lumps to all be removed so that the bride would be beautiful again.
Church discipline may not feel good, but it is absolutely
necessary. Church discipline must be enforced if any church wants to remain
pure, and holy, and undefiled before her Lord. If we let the tumors grow and do
nothing about them, the body will eventually die. And if we let the filth build
up without ever cleaning ourselves, the husband may become so disgusted with
his bride that he eventually leaves her!
The classic passage on church discipline is found in Matthew
18:15-20.
[15] “If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother. [16] But if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, that every charge may be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses. [17] If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church. And if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector. [18] Truly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. [19] Again I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. [20] For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them.” (ESV)
In future posts, we will consider these verses in greater
detail. But for the present, consider six introductory remarks concerning
Jesus’ teaching on church discipline.
Introductory Remarks
1.) Jesus’ teaching on church discipline in Matthew 18:15-20 must never be severed from its context.
The context of this passage is very important. Sometimes
Jesus’ overall teaching in this section is not emphasized enough when we think
about and talk about church discipline. This teaching on church discipline
comes in the midst of Jesus’ teaching on how His disciples should love each
other, especially how they should love the least of His disciples. Remember, in
Matthew 18, Jesus teaches His disciples what it means to live as a citizen in
His kingdom. More than that, He teaches them what it means to be great in His
kingdom – and it has nothing to do with how the world defines greatness.
Greatness for Christ is not about popularity or power or riches or fame or
attractiveness or anything else the world is impressed with. Instead, greatness
in Christ’s kingdom is shown through humble service & brotherly love.
Jesus teaches this in Matthew 18 in four different ways: First,
His disciples are to show humility to one another (vv. 1-4). Second, His
disciples are to protect each other specifically from sin (vv. 5-9). Third, His
disciples are to highly esteem each other (vv. 10-14). And finally, His
disciples are to continually forgive each other (vv. 15-35). This teaching on
church discipline, then, makes up the first part in the fourth and final
section in this chapter, which deals with forgiveness.
What does this mean then? It means that church discipline
and forgiveness and true Christian love are all vitally connected. We may be
tempted to think that church discipline and forgiveness have little or nothing
to do with each other. We may be tempted to think that church discipline is all
law while forgiveness is all grace, that church discipline is enslaving while
forgiveness is freeing, that church discipline makes me feel bad while
forgiveness makes me feel good!
Well, this dichotomy, this separation of church discipline
and forgiveness, is nowhere in Jesus’ teaching. In fact, the exact opposite
occurs. Jesus’ teaching on love and forgiveness includes church discipline!
Jesus teaches us here that church discipline is the means of
forgiveness. It is the way of bringing about forgiveness and reconciliation and
restoration! And the goal of church discipline is forgiveness. Why are members
disciplined? So that forgiveness would occur. When forgiveness is not reached
between two people, discipline must be administered so that forgiveness might
become a reality!
Hopefully you see that church discipline and forgiveness
should not be pitted against each other but should work hand-in-hand to glorify
God, to keep the church pure and holy, and to bring about much peace and
happiness in the lives of God’s people. When we think about church discipline, we
should think about seeking forgiveness. The first is the means of obtaining the
second.
2.) Jesus’ teaching on church discipline concerns professing Christians.
What Jesus says here concerns those who are brothers and
sisters in Christ. They are those who have made credible professions of faith,
have been baptized, and are members of a local church of Jesus Christ. In other
words, this teaching is for church members, for those who have been publicly
recognized as brothers and sisters in Christ.
It is not, however, for unbelievers. How would it make any
sense to take your grievances to the church if the person who has sinned
against you is not even in the church to begin with? What can the church do
about it? If your unbelieving coworker sins against you, the only things we can
do is preach the gospel to him and pray for his salvation, but we can’t
discipline him. He has never been a part of this holy society we call the
church. He is an unbeliever outside of the kingdom of God. So we can’t put him
out of an organization he has never joined in the first place!
This doesn’t mean you shouldn’t seek forgiveness with people
in other areas of life; it simply means this step-by-step process that Jesus
teaches us is given specifically to the church and for the church to use with
its own members. It was not given to families or to schools or to society as a
whole.
There are good principles there for anyone to follow, but it
is given specifically for the body and bride of Christ.
3.) Jesus’ teaching on church discipline deals with private sins committed against another brother or sister in Christ.
This is important to note. The character of the kind of sin
Jesus is describing is private, not public. And it is against an individual,
not a group. Since it is private, certain measures are put in place by our Lord
to try to keep things as private as possible.
John Calvin spends much time distinguishing between private
sins and public sins in his section on church discipline in the Institutes.
For sins that have been committed more openly, sins that affect more than just
one or two people but sins done in public where everyone knows about them and
where the whole church is immediately scandalized by them, Calvin argues that
these types of sin don’t fall within the instructions of Christ here in Matthew
18. People who sin in a public, grievous way are to be swiftly, solemnly, and
immediately rebuked in public, meaning something needs to be said to the church
when they gather together to worship God. We have examples of this happening in
the New Testament. Just think about Peter’s scandalous sin of distorting the
gospel of grace when he refused to eat with Gentile believers and how Paul
openly rebuked him to his face before the believers in Antioch (Galatians
2:11-14). This was no private meeting between the two apostles. The sin was so
grievous and so public that Paul was forced to rebuke Peter before the church.
And then he writes about it for all to read!
But for sins that have been committed more privately where
very few people know about it and very few people have been offended by it, the
steps laid down by Christ here in Matthew 18 must be followed.
There are always exceptions to the rule.
There are certain private sins that are so grievous that
immediate public church discipline must be enforced. Some of these sins might
include things that would put a person behind bars for a long time. Even if the
crime was committed in private, sometimes it must be exposed by the light for
all to see and abhor, including the civil authorities.
There are also certain people who commit private sins that
must be made public. Here I am thinking about church officers. If a church
officer commits a particular sin that disqualifies him from the office of
either elder or deacon, something needs to be said to the church to give them
the reason why he has stepped down.
But the private sins I am talking about might include the
following: theft of some small amount, deliberately lying to another brother’s
face for your own personal advantage, unrighteous anger directed at another
believer, a complete lack of respect and honor for an older member of the
church, gossiping and slandering the good name of a Christian, a divisive
spirit that tries to stir up trouble in the church, and being a stumbling block
to one of Christ’s little ones. These may be small offenses in the eyes of our
society but let me tell you this: they are grave offenses in the sight of our
holy God who commands us to love one another as Christ loves us.
So, all public sin should at all times be publicly rebuked;
some private sins should also at all times be publicly rebuked; but most
private sins should at first be privately rebuked. (but of course, it should
lead to a public rebuke in the presence of all if the person persists in sin).
4.) Jesus’ teaching on church discipline gives us a methodical, step-by-step process to deal with unrepentant sin.
Seeking forgiveness and reconciliation may be a process. I
wish it wasn’t the case. I wish that when someone sinned against another he or
she would immediately seek forgiveness. But sadly, while we live in this fallen
world, that is not always the case. And if forgiveness does not immediately
occur, there are distinct steps that must be taken in order to secure it. In
fact, there are four steps listed here in Matthew 18 that must be taken in
order to bring about forgiveness from an unrepentant Christian.
So, we should not be trigger happy to discipline, and even
more than that, to excommunicate unrepentant members who have sinned in a
private way. As William Hendriksen says, “Church discipline, when viewed
negatively, is a matter of last resort” (699, Gospel of Matthew). None of this
should be rushed. Each step takes time to complete. Careful attention must be
taken and certain measures must be exhausted before moving on to the next step.
Maybe an illustration might be helpful. Instead of thinking
of these steps as little stair steps like the ones before me which only take a
second to climb (and easy to skip if you have some jumping abilities), think of
these steps to secure forgiveness like riding escalators from floor to floor at
the Mall of America. The Mall of America has four floors. And it has escalators
that will take you up to each floor. But it takes some time to go from one
floor to the next. And it takes a lot of time to go from the bottom floor to
the very top. You have to slowly but surely move from one to the next. Well, in
a similar way, each escalator of church discipline must be ascended before one
moves on to the next. Getting from step one to step four should not be
instantaneous.
5.) Jesus’ teaching on church discipline has, as its goal, the gaining or winning back of a professing Christian who has gone astray.
This step-by-step process of church discipline is
redemptive. The unrepentant professing Christian is like a sheep that has gone
astray. He or she has left the fold of Christ. He or she has sinned and turned
from the Highway of Holiness. And if that person keeps living in unrepentant
sin, if that person keeps walking down crooked, dark paths, he or she will not
reach the Celestial City. He or she will be attacked by deadly predators and will
be completely destroyed.
So seeking forgiveness in the way prescribed by Christ gets them back on the right track. It brings them back to the fold of God. It displays the very heart of Jesus Christ, the Good Shepherd, who leaves the 99 sheep on the mountains in order to search and find the one that went astray. As James says in James 5:19-20:
“[19] My brothers, if anyone among you wanders from the truth and someone brings him back, [20] let him know that whoever brings back a sinner from his wandering will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins.” (ESV)
So, in this area of church discipline, we need to check our
hearts. We need to make sure that if we want to walk up these steps, we are
doing so for the glory of God and for the ultimate good of the straying
Christian. It must not be our desire to seek vengeance or to get even with
someone who has wronged us. We also must not revel in another person’s
downfall. Instead, we must show brotherly love and tender affection to those
who have wronged us. We must remember how wicked our own hearts are, how much
we daily offend our Lord, and how much He has mercy on us. We have to keep ever
before us the goal of church discipline, which is repentance and forgiveness
and restoration, not condemnation and damnation. We want to win our brother and
sister back; not destroy them.
6.) Jesus’ teaching on church discipline is steeped in OT laws and principles.
Jesus was not one who wanted to unhitch the Old Testament
from the New Testament. There have been teachers throughout church history who
have taught that New Testament believers should move on from the Old Testament
and leave that baggage behind as they follow Christ.
Well, certainly there are some things in the Old Testament
that shouldn’t be practiced any more in light of the coming of Christ, animal
sacrifices being one of them, but we should never dishonor or take lightly the
teaching of the Old Testament.
Why? Because Jesus didn’t. Jesus had a high view of the
Scriptures. And He saw a lot of use for the Old Testament in the New Testament
church. In fact, His step-by-step procedure for dealing with sin is based on
teaching from the Mosaic law! Yes, parts of the OT law were to inform and
structure the way the church of Jesus Christ governs itself and functions in
this world. Every step finds its roots in laws given to the nation of Israel.
This makes us think that Jesus may have considered the
church as the New Israel. And it also makes us think that there were more than
just temporary, ceremonial laws in the OT. Some of the laws in the Old
Testament transcend OT Israel and have direct application to the church of
Jesus Christ today.
So, the Old Testament wasn’t to be thrown out or seen as
irrelevant for Christians. Instead, it was to be studied and examined and
applied to various situations which crop up in the church today. We will see
this as we go through the steps of church discipline.
This is how I believe we should look at these steps: Two of them occur privately, and two of them occur publicly, in that order. So in future posts, we will look at the two private steps of seeking forgiveness, and then we will look at the two public steps of seeking forgiveness.
Ben has been one of the pastors of Grace Reformed Baptist Church of Owensboro, Kentucky, since June 2017. In February 2018, he received his Master of Divinity from Covenant Baptist Theological Seminary. Ben has been married to his lovely wife Ali since September 2011. They have four children together: Liam, Luther, Cosette, and Maezie. In his spare time, Ben enjoys playing with his kids, coaching, doing yard work, and Friday family nights.
