Benefits of Church Discipline – Part One

I have been on both sides of the table when it comes to church discipline. It is most definitely a painful experience to have your darkest sins laid out on a table in full view of the ones you love and respect. It is also most definitely a painful experience to lay out on a table the darkest sins of those you love and respect. Church discipline, in its delivery and execution is one of the most excruciating parts of the Christian life.

Most of us, if we are really honest, know what it means to be confronted in sin. Everyone harbors little pet sins that we think are safe and beyond the view of those we wish to impress. The problem with pet sins is that they can’t be house-broken. Any pet sin, if kept long enough, will eventually bite the hand that feeds it. And once you’re bit, the mark is painful and obvious.

Most of us, if we are really transparent, know that we would rather be fault-finding than found-out. Everyone likes to be the guy that is spiritual enough to discern the problems of those around them. It plays to our ego and makes us feel important and worthy to carry the banner of a holy disciple of Christ. Church Discipline is one of those facets of Christian life that people like to preach and practice as long as it doesn’t turn on them. Unfortunately, in the war of taming the body, pet sins aren’t the only thing that bites. The problem with Church Discipline is that it is no respecter of persons. It can coolly level its aim at any person at any time. Most often it can be those of us who stand in front of a congregation who need it most. And most often it is just such folks who get it least.

Because of this unsightly inconvenience, Church Discipline is something that everyone likes to talk about but nobody likes to practice. This comes from a fundamental misunderstanding of the doctrine and misapplication of its principles. We tend to misunderstand the doctrine by assuming that church discipline is reserved for certain sins and certain persons and fail to see it in a comprehensive scope. We tend to misapply its principles by saving it for sins that are particularly vile or flagrant and many times waiting until it is too late. The simple truth is that discipline is meant to act as a guide to us when we cannot guide ourselves. Only those with the most untamed arrogance would argue that they will always guide themselves correctly. It is just such an attitude that almost instantly demands the intervention of the church. Christians cannot consistently behave as Christians outside the influence of other Christians.

The New Testament is sated with references dealing with sin and the response of the Christian community to it. To state it more simply than we probably should: church discipline is the loving response of Christ’s body to any sin of any of its members. We should all be daily associated with and involved in church discipline because that is what Christ has commanded us to do and because that is what is good for the body.

Over the next few posts, I would like to offer some observations on church discipline as I have encountered them in the scriptures and in everyday life. I will make a few brief statements about what the New Testament has to say about church discipline and then I will make some observations on the benefits of church discipline to the individual and to the church as a whole.