Every true Christian agrees with the goals of God’s plan for discipline. We believe in rescuing sinners, protecting the congregation, maintaining a holy communion, preserving the honor of Christ, and preventing the wrath of God. We believe in church discipline. God wants us to believe in it so fervently that we would insist on being members in churches where discipline is affirmed and practiced. My brothers and sisters need it. But so do I.

“For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant” (Heb. 12:11). We don’t like discipline—in our personal lives, in the family, or at church—because it hurts. No balanced person enjoys giving or receiving corrective instruction. Correction wounds our pride and threatens our imagined autonomy. It can occasion resentment against authorities. Our natural instinct is to resist discipline.
But to dodge discipline is unwise. The writer goes on. “But later [discipline] yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.” Like many good things discipline proves its value over time.  And only a fool trades away long-term benefits for short-term pleasure. Discipline is for our good. So it shouldn’t surprise us that a loving God requires church censures.
What is the Premise for Church Censures?
Every organization has procedures for keeping order. For a soccer match or an election to mean anything there must be standards of conduct and penalties for misbehavior. So rules are an essential part of government, business, centers of learning, social clubs, and even families. Those who fault the church for censuring sin show their bias against religion. There is a commonplace argument for church discipline.
But more importantly Jesus requires the church to discipline sin. Jesus is both the Lord of creation and the “King and Head of his church” (see Eph. 5:23). According to his sovereign power Jesus has “appointed a government, in the hand of church officers.” Christ first called the apostles to rule, though not as the power-hungry gentiles, but through humble service (Matt. 20:25–28). The original apostles “appointed elders … in every church” (Acts 14:23), who were to appoint other elders to enforce the “apostles’ teaching,” down through the ages (Titus 1:5; Acts 2:42).
Jesus’ overseers rule through what Scripture calls the keys of the kingdom (Matt. 16:19). The image of the keys makes an important point: divinely appointed church leaders have no original or independent authority. They are simply stewards who execute Christ’s revealed will (Titus 1:7). Part of how church leaders watch over the souls of their members (Heb. 13:17) is by keeping discipline in the church. Through preaching and formal censures church leaders unlock the kingdom to the penitent and lock it against the impenitent. Here is one example. The apostles opened the kingdom to a man named Simon when he “believed.” But when it was clear that he was “in the gall of bitterness and in the bond of iniquity” Peter rightly insisted that Simon had “neither part nor lot” in the church’s business (see Acts 8:9–25); he closed the kingdom to him (cf. 1 Cor. 5:2; 2 Thess. 3:6).
The church must have spiritual doors with divinely appointed custodians manning the locks. Discipline is a necessary part of every organization. It is also commanded by Jesus and modeled by the biblical church.
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Let us pray that God sends His Spirit to reveal the truth about His Son to Jordan Peterson.  He is no doubt a brilliant thinker and a needed voice in the public sphere where reason and logic are so often lacking. However, my hope is that Christians who are enamored with his articulate reasoning regarding modern day social issues and family values aren’t so captivated that they can’t rightly discern his error regarding Christ and Christianity.

My fascination with Jordan Peterson goes back a few years now. Here are my impressions of what he believes about Christianity based on my exposure to his videos and his book, 12 Rules for Life.  See links throughout the article for sources that inform that is article.
Jordan Peterson is a Clinical Psychologist and a prominent University Professor (Harvard University and University of Toronto) who has risen to prominence due to his public stand against political correctness, the use of genderless pronouns, and his interview regarding the gender pay gap.  That coupled with his Science-based Conservative leaning views around marriage, family, and personal responsibility has made him a darling among Politically Conservative Evangelicals.  He considers himself a Christian and the subject of God and his beliefs comes up in many of his interviews.
While I’m not here to cast aspersion on Peterson, a brilliant thinker who I love listening to,  I am pointing out that his unorthodox views about Jesus lead to a radically different understanding of how a Christian is made right with God and therefor how a Christian lives.
Peterson isn’t sure if Jesus rose from the dead.  He only believes His Spirit lives on in as much as “spirit” refers to continuing influence, saying “it’s had a massive effect across time.”  When asked about the Divinity of Christ, he questions what is meant by Divine. Peterson defines the Logos as divine, but then defines divine as “of ultimately transcendent value” and that “it’s associated with Death and Rebirth.”  We see in all of this, that the words “spirit,” ”logos,”  and “divine” don’t refer to a personal deity but rather to ultimate ideas.
In Peterson’s varying descriptions of Christ throughout his videos he jumps from ancient heresy to ancient heresy, the content of which is beyond the scope of this post.  But suffice it to say, he questions the Orthodox views of the Trinitarian formulas for God as well as the two natures in one person of Christ.  The impact of denying the Calcedonian formulations regarding Christ in this way is manifold.
Peterson talks about people increasingly embodying the Logos, holding up Buddha and Christ as those who have.  For Peterson, the implication for the Christian Life is that one can reach this higher plane of spiritual reality through suffering and seeking “the light,” although as he admits this is obviously near impossible.  In this scheme Jesus Christ is an example of what to become.  To Peterson, who believes Jesus is a historical figure, that is less important than what he symbolizes, the process of taking up one’s cross, suffering, death, and rebirth.   His 12 Rules for Life provide great life tips and advice, but repackages Christianity into a works based system for “salvation” (a process by which through suffering and hard work one more and more improves their life thereby embodying the Logos) which is absent of the essential Christian concept of Grace.
Note: His book is not meant to be Theology, but a Self-Help guide. In that it is very good.  It is a great book that is needed.  However, it does delve into Theology and Scripture quite a bit, and in that it easily can devolve into a works-based system.
As a clinical Psychologist, Peterson’s theology is heavily influenced by Carl Jung who he readily references in many interviews.  It is Jung’s archetypes that forms the basis for Peterson’s insights (some of them very good)  and classes on Genesis and Exodus.
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Singing God’s praise is a natural outflow of knowing the bountiful grace of God. “I will sing to the LORD, because he has dealt bountifully with me” (Psalm 13:6). Singing praise is a natural response of the glad heart that is found in salvation. “Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing praise” (James 5:13). Singing praise is the outworking of a heart that is saturated in the glorious gospel found in God’s holy Word, and direct result of being filled with the Spirit.

All Christians want to be more like Christ. And good news! All Christians will be more like Christ (Rom 8:29). God is committed to taking every person who is in Christ and slowly, but certainly, conforming them into His image. When we think of God conforming us to the image of Christ, we think of being transformed in our affections to love the things that Jesus loves and to hate the things that Jesus hates. We think of God changing our desires for sin and our lives beginning to look more like the perfect Son of God. But did you know that becoming more like Christ means that you become a singer? Here’s what I mean.
In the ESV, the words “sing” and “praise” occur next to each other about 116 times. God loves the musical worship of His people. And Jesus knew this. And Jesus sang! We see Him with His disciples walking to the Mount of Olives after the Lord’s Supper, and what is He doing? He is singing (Matt 26:30). Quoting God the Son from Psalm 22, the writer of Hebrews says, “He is not ashamed to call them brothers saying, “I will tell of your name to my brothers; in the midst of the congregation I will sing your praise” (Heb 2:11-12). This is a mark of Christ. He sings praises. And I’m convinced that this is a mark of those who are becoming like Christ.
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