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. 2:11-15)

3.  Those who cause division - Rom. 16:17; 2 John 9-10; Tit. 3:10-11

 

C. THE SCRIPTURAL COURSE TO PURSUE – MATT. 16:18.

 

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, 5:14

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. 18:17

 

A RECOGNI11ON OF THESE DUTIES WILL MAINTAIN GOD’S ORDER. TO REJECT THEM RESULTS IN ANARCHY AND A STATE OF SPIRITUAL DETERIORATION IN THE LORD’S CHURCH.