Sermon Tone Analysis

! Church Discipline

by \\ J. Hampton Keathley III

Though church discipline is a very difficult area of doctrine and one hard to practice, it nevertheless rests upon the divine authority of Scripture and is vital to the purity, power, progress and purpose, of the church.

The responsi­bility and necessity for discipline is not an option for the church if it obeys the Word of God, but a church must be equally concerned that Scrip­ture is care­fully followed in the practice of church discipline.

The following summary is suggested for study and as a guide for this very important area of doctrine.

!! The Principle of Discipline Defined

R.C. Sproul writes, "The church is called not only to a ministry of reconciliation, but a ministry of nurture to those within her gates.

Part of that nurture includes church discipline . . .

" (R.C.

Sproul, /In Search of Dignity/, Regal Books, 1983, p. 182).

The idea of church discipline is totally consistent with the basic purposes of the church--evangelism and edification.

Evangelism ministers to those without the church who are in bondage to sin to bring them to faith in Christ where the transformation process begins.

The edifi­cation process is designed to build up believers so they can be conformed to the image and character of Christ.

Church discipline as a part of the edification process ministers to those within the body of Christ who are dominated by some area of sin so they can experience liberation from its power through fellow­ship with Christ.

How then do we define church discipline?

Carl Laney states,

Church discipline may be broadly defined as the con­frontive and corrective measures taken by an individual, church leaders, or the congregation regarding a matter of sin in the life of a believer (italics his) (Carl Laney/, A Guide to Church Discipline/, Bethany House Publishers, p. 14).

Discipline in the church is not punishment.

It is discipline and discipline is designed to train and restore.

!! The Pattern and Basis for Discipline

(1) The discipline of the church is first patterned after the fact that /the Lord Himself disciplines His children/ (Heb.

12:6) and, as a father delegates part of the discipline of the children to the mother, so the Lord has delegated the disci­pline of the church family to the church itself (1 Cor.

5:12-13; 2 Cor.

2:6).

(2) Discipline is further based on /the holy character of God /(1 Pet.

1:16; Heb.

12:11).

The pattern of God's holiness--His desire for the church to be holy, set apart unto Him--is an important reason for the necessity of church discipline.

The church is therefore to clean out the leaven of malice and wickedness from its ranks (1 Cor.

5:6-8).

A failure to exer­cise disci­pline in the church evidences a lack of awareness of and concern for the holiness of God.

(3) Church discipline is to be patterned after and based on /the divine commands of Scripture /(1 Cor.

4:6).

We have numerous passages of Scripture which both command and give us God's directives on the how, why, when, and where of church discipline.

Again, a failure to exercise this responsibility demon­strates a lack of obedience and belief in the authority of the Bible (1 Cor.

5:1-13; Matt.

18:17-18; Titus 3:10; 2 Thess.

3:6-15; 1 Tim.

5:20; Gal.

6:1).

(4) Another basis for the necessity of church discipline is /the testimony of the church in the world /(1 Pet.

4:13-19).

The world observes the behavior and life of the church.

When the church acts no differently than the world, it loses its credibility and authenticity (1 Pet.

2:11-18; 3:8-16; 4:1-4).

!! The Purposes of Church Discipline

(1) To bring glory to God and enhance the testimony of the flock.

(2) To restore, heal, and build up sinning believers (Matt.

18:15; 2 Thess.

3:14-15; Heb.

12:10-13; Gal.

6:1-2; Jam.

5:20).

(3) To produce a healthy faith, one sound in doctrine (Tit.

1:13; 1 Tim.

1:19-20).

(4) To win a soul to Christ, if the sinning person is only a pro­fessing Christian (2 Tim.

2:24-26).

(5) To silence false teachers and their influence in the church (Tit.

1:10-11).

(6) To set an example for the rest of the body and promote godly fear (1 Tim.

5:20).

(7) To protect the church against the destructive conse­quences that occur when churches fail to carry out church disci­pline.

A church that fails to exercise discipline ex­peri­ences four losses:

·         *The Loss of Purity:* Church discipline is vital to the purity of the local body and its protection from moral decay and impure doctrinal influences.

Why? Be­cause a little leaven leavens the entire lump (1 Cor.

5:6-7).

This is the "rotten apple" problem or the "snowball" effect.

\\ \\ An illustration of this is the Corinthian church which showed a lack of concern for purity.

They neglec­ted the responsibility to discipline and suffered as a result.

Their insensitivity to one moral issue may have led to their compromise on other issues.

Laney writes, "The Corinthians engaged in lawsuits, misused their liberty, pro­faned the Lord's Supper, neglected the primacy of love, failed to regu­late the use of their gifts, and questioned the resur­rection" (Ibid., p. 20).

Failure in church discipline in Corinth could be compared to a snow­­ball tumbling downhill.

·         *The Loss of Power:* Sin in the life of the church grieves the person of the Holy Spirit and quenches His power.

If sin remains unchecked by the loving appli­cation of church discipline in a body of be­lievers, the Holy Spirit must abandon such a church to its own carnal resources.

The unavoidable result will be the loss of the Lord's blessing until the sin is dealt with.

\\ \\ The defeat of Israel because of the sin of Achan in Joshua 7 illus­trates the prin­ciple.

This is just as true for the church today, especially when we know certain things exist but ignore them or simply look the other way be­cause it is diffi­cult to deal with or because it involves one of our friends and we do not want to risk causing problems in the relationship.

·         *The Loss of Progress:* A church that refuses to prac­tice church discipline will see its ministry decline.

The church may want to grow and reach out and it may try all kinds of stop gap measures, promotional campaigns, and programs in an attempt to turn things around, but if there is sin in the camp, it will all be to no avail.

See Revelation 2:5 and 3:16 for illustrations of this principle.

·         *The Loss of Purpose:* As His ambassadors to a lost and dying world, God has called the church to be a holy people, a people who, standing out as distinct from the world, proclaim the excel­lencies of the works of God in Christ (1 Pet.

1:14-16; 2:9-15).

If this is to occur, we must be different from the world and church discipline helps us to both remember and maintain that pur­pose.

One of the recur­ring judgments against the church today as demon­strated in various polls taken across the country is the fact there is little or no difference between the church and the secular world when it comes to attitudes, values, morals, and lifestyle.

We have lost our sense of purpose.

!! The Practice of Church Discipline

!!!

The Manner

The above goals or purposes automatically govern the spirit in which all disciplinary action is to be given.

Thus:

(1) Discipline must be done by those who are spiritual, truly walking by the Holy Spirit and growing in the Lord (Gal.

6:1).

(2) Discipline must be done in a spirit of humility, gentleness and patience, looking to ourselves lest we too be tempted (Gal.

6:1-2; 2 Tim.

2:24-25).

(3) Discipline must be done without bias, doing nothing in a spirit of partiality (1 Tim.

5:21).

(4) Those who walk disorderly are to be admonished, warned, and appealed to in love (1 Thess.

5:14-15; 1 Tim.

5:1-2; Eph.

4:15; 2 Tim.

4:2).

This admonish­ing, is not restricted to church leaders, but may be done by any person in the body with another if that person is Spirit controlled and spiritually minded (cf. 1 Thess.

5:14 with Gal.

6:1).

(5) If there is no response in repentance and obedience, then the sinning believer is to be rebuked publicly and members of the body are to withhold intimate fellowship through the process and procedure of group disap­prov­al and social ostracism as prescribed in the pro­cedures of V. below (2 Thess.

3:6, 14-15; Tit.

3:10; 1 Tim.

5:20).

This action has a two-fold objective:

·         It is to indicate to the offender that his~/her action has dishonored the Lord and has caused a rupture in the harmony of the body.

The goal is always restoration and the person is still to be counted as a brother (2 Thess.

3:14-15).

·         It is to create fear in the rest of the flock as a warning against sin (1 Tim.

5:20).

(6) If there is still no response in repentance and obedi­ence, the church is to apply the procedures of excom­munication as direc­ted in Matthew 18:17.

Several examples of church discipline are found in Scripture.

The Corinthian believers were to be "gathered together" in order to take action against the offending brother (1 Cor.

5:4-5; Rom.

16:17; 2 Thess.

3:6-15; Phil.

3:17-19).

This is defined by Paul as "punishment inflicted by the majority" (2 Cor.