DISCIPLINE IN THE CHURCH
INTRODUCTION: The meaning, according to Webster, is “treatment suited to a disciple, education, training, subjection to rule, the habit of obedience.”
CORRECTIVE DISCIPLINE, CHASTISING OR PENALIZING IN ITS NATURE.
A. ITS IMPORTANCE.
1. The Lord wants a pure Church - Eph. 5:25-27; 2 Cor. 11:2-3
2. To harbor sin, disorder, rebellion, wickedness in the Church brings the frowns and displeasure of the Lord on those guilty of doing so - 1 Cor. 5:6
3. Corrective discipline therefore has a two-fold purpose:
a. To save the Church - I Cor 5:5
b. To save the guilty party - I Cor. 5:5
B. UPON WHOM TO BE EXERCISED.
1. Those who walk disorderly - 2 Thess. 3:6 (one who persists in sin, rebels against teaching) — 1 or 5:1 1-13
2. A busybody,
troublemaker, one who will not tend to his own business (2 Thess.
3. Those who cause
division - Rom.
C. THE SCRIPTURAL COURSE TO PURSUE – MATT.
1. Pray for them- I John 5:16
2. Try to convert them - James 5:19-20
3. Restore them if possible - Gal. 6:1
4. Admonish them - 1 Thess,
5. As a last resort,
if they will not repent, withdraw from them - 2 Thess.
3:6; 1 Cor. 5:4-13
6. In which case it
is the whole duty of the Church as a whole to support such action— 1 Cor. 5:9-13; 2
John 10-11; Matt.
A RECOGNI11ON OF THESE DUTIES WILL MAINTAIN GOD’S ORDER. TO
REJECT THEM RESULTS IN ANARCHY AND A STATE OF