The Loving Act of Discipline
INTRODUCTION:
Today we look at an issue within the church, that we all would dearly love not to have anything to do with, but unfortunately at times we must come face to face with. That issue is church discipline.
I believe part of the reason that we avoid the subject, is the unique nature of the church. Take a look around you. Within the walls of this sanctuary are people that we love. People who are our spiritual brothers and sisters, and so when we address the subject, we are not talking about people who mean nothing to us, but rather people we care about dearly.
I believe another reason that we avoid the subject, are the negative feelings that are associated with it. As a church body, we can draw together when we lose a member through death or through a move. It is a far greater challenge to attempt to deal with the disappointment, betrayal, anger, and hurt that comes when a brother or sister is caught in such a sinful practice that forces us to use the extreme measure of church discipline.
I also believe that within the church today, there is a feeling that we are invulnerable from falling into sin. We can look at a pastor and his wife and claim that they are the models of what the local church is like one week, and then be devastated by the news that one partner is in an adulterous affair the next. We say "that can happen at other churches but not here. We’re too solid for that to happen." In the past two months three churches in our convention who thought just that, received the resignation of their pastors for moral failure. To deal with the issue of church discipline is to admit that we are vulnerable to fall and may need correction (Proverbs 3:5-6; 5:1-6). For some of us, that is too hard to deal with.
While I understand and can empathize with these reasons, the one that I find most troubling in the church today, is it’s own conformity to worldly values. We write sin off as a "mistake", or "falling at a moment of weakness", and by doing so allow unrepentant sin into the body of Christ. In doing so, we are destroying the testimony of the church, family and individual. Remember that the church is called to separate its ways from the ways of the world (1 Peter 1:13-16). The regenerate church in reality is the only body that can discernfully exercise church discipline, as it is the only body who actively seeks the will of God, and the leading of the Holy Spirit, and who’s final authority rests in the Word of God.
It is my hope that when we leave here today, you will have a different outlook on church discipline. It is my desire that we will see that church discipline is by design, a positive element of our church life, when it is used properly. It is also my desire to walk you through the process and show what our biblical responsibility is should we ever be faced with a situation where we need to use it.
POINT ONE: COMMON MISCONCEPTIONS CONCERNING CHURCH DISCIPLINE
A) The first misconception of church discipline that I would like to address, is the feeling that it is a negative process. It has been my experience, based on hearing of six cases and involving four different churches, that when church discipline is used in a biblical way, positive results usually follow. Out of these six cases, in five, church discipline was used, one case did not involve discipline. In four of the five situations where church discipline was used, the members was eventually restored and the church grew spiritually. In the one where it was not used, it has resulted in the resignation of the pastor, and leaving the church hurt, discouraged, and ripe for a split. A biblical use of church discipline can be a positive practice.
B) Second, you need to understand that the use of church discipline as outlined in Matthew 18, is not a common occurance. As an example, I found in my reading I found that Peninsula Bible Church in California, has used church discipline only three times in thirty-eight years. Here in Campbellton you can count on one hand the number of times it has been used in the past forty years. The chances of you having to deal with a person regarding church discipline more than twice in your lifetime, in my view, is about the same as being hit by lightning. But also be aware that the way society is changing may lead to an increase in the use of church discipline to maintain it’s holiness.
C) Third, church discipline is not "Kicking a person out of the church". Nowhere does scripture
support the use of church discipline in this way. Matthew 18 does say that we are to treat the person as unsaved. This definitely means a suspension of the person’s privileges as a church member, but this is for the safety of the church and the member( 1 Corinthians 11:27-32). We welcome the unsaved into our midst. We desire it as our hope is that as they hear the gospel their hearts would be convicted and they would accept Christ. We desire the person under church discipline to remain with the church and to enter into a process of restoration. I wish to formally tell you that I am withdrawing the notices of motion I made at the last business meeting of this church as they were not worded right, and will make new notices to be presented in the accepted manner.
D) Fourth, church discipline is not a means of vengeance, or judging. Matthew 7:1-5 clearly speaks against any form of subjective and uninformed judgement within the body. One commentary states "The term "judge" is used in more than one sense, but Christ’s meaning is plain. 1. He does not prohibit the civil judgment of the courts upon evil doers, for this is approved throughout the whole Bible. 2. He does not prohibit the judgment of the church, through its officers, upon those who walk disorderly, for both he and the apostles have enjoined this. 3. He does not forbid those private judgments that we are compelled to form the wrong-doers, for he himself tells us that we are to judge men by their fruits. (See verses 15-20.) What he designs to prohibit is rash, uncharitable judgments, a fault-finding spirit, a disposition to condemn without examination of charges."
POINT TWO: GOD’S VIEW OF THE CHURCH
To understand the necessity and importance for the presence of church discipline it is important to have some understanding of the relationship between God and His church. It is through our understanding of the importance of this relationship that we will better understand the need for biblical discipline in our church today. While there are many that we could look at, I will concentrate on three today. These are all mentioned in Ephesians 5:25-27.
1. Paul in this passage describes the relationship between God and the church as that of a husband and wife. In fact the word picture described here is that of a wedding, where the bride is presented to the groom. I remember that day so well. I had such a busy job trying to keep Leslie from being nervous I had no time to be nervous myself, that is until the day of the rehearsal and then the wedding. I got to the church about an hour before the ceremony and was fine for about thirty minutes. I handled it well until about five minutes before the service, when I realised I didn’t have a handkerchief with me. I looked for Kleenex and there was none to be found in the sanctuary. I started to go out back to look but the minister saw me and said "No way you’re going to see her before the ceremony". Of course I had no intention of doing a deed that dastardly. The result was I had to go through the entire ceremony trying to hold back tears and make sure my nose didn’t run. Why was that so difficult. Because coming down that aisle that day in a shining gown, was to me the most beautiful, radiant, woman in the world, and she was coming to be my wife, and I was so proud.
Christ is waiting for his bride to be presented to him in it’s purity, it’s sinlessness as verse 27 says, "without stain, wrinkle, or any blemish, but holy and blameless." What a wedding day that will be! Folks, just as we need to protect the sanctity of our marriage as husband and wife, so to do we need to protect the marriage of the church and Christ from sin. The way we protect it is first
practicing what 2 Timothy 4:2 states: "Preach the Word, be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke, and encourage, with great patience and careful instruction." We need also to practice Paul’s teaching in Galatians 5:19-25.
2. Paul tells us in Ephesians 5:25 that Jesus died for the church. This demonstates the extent of Christ’s love for his bride. It is an unconcditional and undeserved love (Romans 5:6-10). Is that love not special and worthy of protection?
3. As members of the church, we have a unique and special relationship with each other. We are all part of a special family, a royal priesthood the author of Hebrews declares. We are spiritual brothers and sisters by adoption (Eph. 1:5; Romans 8:15,16), co-hiers with Christ (Romans 8:17).
Is this special relationship not worthy of our protection? Could it be one of the reasons that there is so much hurt and discord in our churches today, is that we are not protection our relationship as brothers and sisters.
The relationship of the church to God, and to ourselves, is so special that Jesus Himself instructed us as to how to protect it.
POINT THREE: KNOWN SIN CANNOT HAVE AN ACTIVE ROLE IN THE CHURCH
Because of the intimate relationship between Christ and the church, and between brothers and sisters in the church, known sin can’t and won’t be tolerated. We will talk about this more in discussing the process for discipline. What I want to establish is the fact that as a Christian church, although it is distasteful, discouraging, and hurts us emmensely, we have no choice, once sin is known in the church, to act on it. Consider the following three examples:
A) The nation of Israel in the Old testament choose willingly on several occasions to partake of the sin of idolatry. On several occasions God gave the opportunity to repent and turn from their ways, which they would not do. The final result is that they were placed in captivity and exiled on several different occasions. The words of the minor prophets, Isaiah and Jeremiah, all spoke of upcoming judgement unless Israel repented. When words of love failed, God disciplined his people.
B) The account of Achan in Joshua chapter seven is only one example of many in the Old testament as to how known sin in the camp was dealt with. After the taking of Jericho by Joshua, we read in chapter 6:24, "that they burned the whole city and everything in it, but they put the silver and gold and the articles of bronze and iron into the treasury of the Lord’s house." This means they gave these items over to God. To take them was to rob God. Achan took some of these items and hid them in his tent. Joshua ordered the battle against Ai, which in reality should have been a walk in the park, but his army was routed and thirty-six of his men killed.
Joshua fell before the ark of the Lord for several hours to determine what had happened. The Lord answered Joshua’s prayer in verses 10-12. Note that in verse 12 God tells Joshua that He will not be with them anymore unless you "destroy whatever among you is devoted to destruction." It is like a cancerous limb that is amputated so that the whole body is not destroyed.
Verses 14-19 tell the process by which the guilty person Achan is found out. Joshua tells Achan to give glory to God by telling the truth, and Achan confesses to the whole thing. Joshua verifies Achan’s story by sending men to his tent and finding all the items that Achan took which he should not have.
Joshua took Achan and all that he had, plus his sons and daughters to the Valley of Achor and had them all killed. In this case no relatives of the one who sinned against God were allowed to live, not even their cattle.
God takes a dim view of sin and the way that it spreads. Paul tells us this in 1 Corinthians 5:6-7.
"A little leaven leaven the whole loaf." or in other words "one person’s sin infects the whole church."
C) In Acts 5:1-11 we are introduced to an account of New Testament discipline. The context of the passage is as follows. It was just after Peter’s great sermon of Pentecost, and the disciples had just been filled with the Holy Spirit. Three thousand were added to the church in one day, and many more each day after that. Acxts 2:42 tells us that the believers devoted themselves to the apostle’s teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. This teaching led the new believers to the practice mentioned in Acts 4:34-37. The new believers would sell their land and give the money to the apostles to be used as needed. It was a way of giving the money to God if you like.
Ananias and Sapphira did this very thing, but wilfully kept back part of the money. In doing so they sinned against God. It’s amazing how mortal people try to hide their sin from God. But Peter faces them both, to let them know that nothing is hidden from God. You don’t pull the wool over His eyes. They both lost their lives because they sinned against God.
So you can see, from the account of the Israelites, Achan, and Annias and Sapphira that God takes an extremely dim view of sin. He has taught us that sin in it’s simplest form, if it is allowed to remain, can lead to the destruction of the church. As caretakers of His vineyard, the Christian can’t allow this to happen. This then leads us to the question, what is the process for church discipline?
POINT FOUR: WHAT IS THE PROCESS FOR CHURCH DISCIPLINE?
1. The first step in dealing with church discipline the first thing one must do, is weigh whether or not the situation is worthy of persuing. We may inadvertantly offend a brother or sister, and the best thing to do with the situation is let it slide. If we can’t then verse 15 states "If your brother sins against you, go and show him his fault, just between the two of you." Now, many people think that if I have a problem with someone the first person I will go to is the pastor. This is not the case. If the matter is worthy of persuing the first person you go to, is the person who offended you.
If we in the church are to care for one another, if we love one another, then this process should not be a major concern. In fact, the closer we are, the more we will be concerned not to offend anyone. We will take great pains if we think we have offended someone to resolve the situation. I can feel comfortable going up to a brother or sister and say "Brother, I need to talk with you a moment. When you did such and such a thing, it really hurt." When the brother sees the wrong,
he should feel just as comfortable to say, "Wow, you’re right, I’m sorry that I hurt you." Verse 15 tells us that the problem is solved then and there. Depending on the closeness of the church, this can happen often and each time in a caring way.
The deacons play a key role in determining the form of church discipline that is used. It can be anything from the removal of a person from an office, to a full suspension of privileges as a member. Again the form must be relative to the offence.
2. If the person will not listen to you, then verse 16 tells you to go back with one or more witnesses. This is in preparation should the matter have to come before the church.
3. If the person still does not listen then it is to go to the church. This is a hard part of the process but it is a very necessary part. The decision to use discipline, and the responsibility and accountability that goes along with it, belongs to each and every member of the congregation. You can’t blame it on someone else. You had a chance to either go along with it or vote against it but you can’t ignore your role in it.
4. If it goes to the church, and the person still does not repent, then verse 17 tells us to treat him as a pagan or unbeliever. This would mean a suspension of all the person’s privileges as a church member for the members safety. It’s the equivilent of Adam and Eve being kicked out of the Garden of Eden to protect them from eating of the tree of Life and being able to live in their sin forever, and be permanently out of a relationship with God.
Thus in the process of church discipline one must begin with a careful look at oneself. Matthew 7:3 is very clear in this regard. The spiritual leadership of the church to take a leading role to make sure that the proper discipline is used in the proper situation, if it must go that far. Then the deacons must exercise the God given right of the congregation to have the final say with respect to the application of extreme forms of church discipline.
CONCLUSION: WHAT IS THE GOAL OF CHURCH DISCIPLINE
The goal of church discipline is always the restoration of the fallen member. It is the protection of the holiness and purity of the church, as well as the protection of the fallen member from worshipping in an unworthy member.
There is a liberation a freeing through the asking of forgiveness, and an opportunity to practice loving on a grand scale. (Use two illustrations of discipline here). Once forgiveness and repentance is sought and received, the situation is closed. It can not be forgotten, but once forgiven, I choose not to speak of the situation again.
Next week we are going to look at the churches responsibilities to those on whom it must take the drastic step of church discipline.
Let’s pray:
