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DATE: 2/16/2008
Restoring the Integrity of the Local Church
The biblical practice of restorative church discipline no longer exists in many modern churches in our culture. Numerous congregations have abandoned the exercise that is so crucial to the integrity of the local church. While their defense for neglecting the practice seems logical to those who seek to follow God’s directives, their arguments are fruitless in the face of biblical truth.
The Word of God speaks clearly in cautioning churches not to neglect their responsibility of correcting believers who continue in a sin that warrants disciplinary action. In I Corinthians 5:13, the Apostle Paul admonishes the church of Corinth to remove from their assembly one who is involved in a scandalous sin, warning them that the toleration of this “wicked person” will defile the church. He uses strong language such as “deliver such a one to Satan”, “purge out”, and “put away” in urging them to remove the man from their fellowship.
When the question is asked as to why discipline is so vital to the witness and functionality of the church, the Scripture provides several beneficial reasons.
Discipline Brings Glory to God
It is in the faithful administration of biblical truth that the Heavenly Father is glorified. To carry out God’s directives for the protection and welfare of His church is to display before a cynical world the love, kindness and goodwill of the Father toward His own. Several passages on discipline [Matthew 18:15-19; Romans 16:17; I Corinthians 5; I Thess. 5:14; 2 Thess. 3:6-15; I Timothy 5:20; 6:3; Titus 1:13, 2:15, 3:10; Rev.2:2, 14, 15, 20] not only reveal His concern for the body, but provide abundant opportunities for His people to glorify Him.
We must never presume that God is magnified in any church where sin is left unchecked. While a local church may flourish numerically and financially, the Spirit of God is grieved and the name of Christ reproached when a local church willingly neglects the correction of its members.
Discipline Affirms Christ’s Presence
In Matthew 18:20, Christ assures the church of His presence when they gather for the intent of administering church discipline. “For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.” In this well known text, the Lord has given the disciples His method for resolving conflict in the church and followed it up with three affirming promises. First of all, He assures them of heaven’s approval, “whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” Secondly, He guarantees answered prayer, “That if two of you shall agree on earth as touching any thing that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven. And thirdly, He assures His presence. What better endorsement could the church of Jesus Christ have than the promise of His manifested presence?
In his book Beyond Forgiveness, The Healing Touch of Church Discipline, pastor Don Baker relates his account of the disciplinary action taken against Greg, a staff member, who when confronted about adultery confessed to multiple affairs. Until this time, Pastor Baker and his church had no knowledge of Greg’s infidelity.
The following Sunday after Greg made public confession of his immorality and the process of his restoration began, Pastor Baker relates his experience.
For the years Greg was with us, a very subtle “feeling” prevailed. I sensed – somehow – that we had lost something. I couldn’t put my finger on anything specific. And yet …. the sharp edge of excitement was gone. The anticipation and expectancy seemed dulled. At times it felt like we were just going through the motions and that the spontaneous and the unexpected were missing. Many times I spoke to the staff and on one occasion to the board. “It feels as if one of us is living in a state of persistent, unconfessed sin,” I kept saying. On the first Sunday morning after Greg’s confession and the subsequent action that was taken, I sensed a marked change. I began to weep and turned to Dick on the platform with me and said, “God’s back.”
Prior to the Canadian Revival of 1970, Bill McLeod related how God led him to exercise church discipline toward a popular church youth leader who was involved in adultery. Although the task of correcting the young man was initially difficult, God vindicated Brother McLeod with not only a church that stood with him through the disciplinary process, but a spiritual awakening in western Canada that has had a profound effect on the church around the world to this very hour.
Discipline Encourages Restoration
The objective in church discipline is restoration. [Matthew 18:15; I Corinthians 5:5; Galatians 6:1] While no biblical text on discipline insures that an offender will be restored, this is the ultimate goal. A church’s approach should always be Christlike, couched in a spirit of love and meekness, while maintaining unwavering confidence toward God that the erring brother will come back to the Lord through confession and repentance.
Perhaps what led the prodigal son back home was the unconditional love of his father. Being well acquainted with his kindness, the wayward boy “came to himself”, left the far country and pressed on until he was in his father’s arms. Surely it was the unremitting love of the father, not the self-righteous attitude of the elder brother, which moved him to return home. Possibly we would witness the restoration of more prodigals if we would emulate the heart of the father.
Discipline Preserves the Purity of His Church
It is impossible for a church to maintain power with God and man before a world of unprecedented darkness and apostasy if it neglects the discipline of its members. Daniel Wray said, “The church cannot stand before her enemies while ignoring sin in her own ranks.” While Charles Spurgeon declared, “A holy church is an awful weapon in the hands of God.” Church discipline is indispensable to the purity of the household of faith and purity is crucial to the effectiveness of evangelism [I Corinthians 5:6-8].
We can no longer afford to ignore the ministry of restorative church discipline if we expect to see our evangelistic endeavors succeed. That church who refuses to apply discipline when needed will never command the world’s respect nor the confidence of its own members.
Discipline Deters Others from Sinning
Other than an act of swift, divine judgment as found in Acts 5 where God takes the lives of Ananius and Sapphira, nothing produces a more pervasive sense of the fear of God than public reproof. While fervent prayer, enduring loving, prophetic confrontation or even church discipline may not restore the offender, the Lord honors open rebuke to bring an awful sense of the fear of God upon the church to deter others from sinning. Undoubtedly, many believers have had their life preserved from sin and reproach by the willingness of the church to publicly confront sin.
In I Timothy 5:20, Paul informs young Timothy why he should openly reprove sin. He says, “Them that sin rebuke before all, that others also may fear.” God’s inspired reasoning behind this exhortation is that He knew there would be those in the assembly who would use the fall of a church leader as liberty to sin. Therefore, God chooses to use public rebuke to deter others from sinning.
In a day of unprecedented carnality in the church, it would do us well to return to God’s principles of biblical church discipline. Can we expect God to send revival to the church of North America while we ignore His command to “purge out therefore the old leaven?” Can we anticipate an outpouring of His Spirit if we continue to neglect the guidelines of Matthew 18? Reformation precedes revival and reformation must include a judgment that begins at the house of God [I Peter 4:17]. Brethren, “it is high time that we awake out of sleep” and resolve by His grace to exercise restorative church discipline to the praise of His glory and the good of His church.
Don Currin |
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