Why Does Church Discipline Matter?

God is more interested in the sanctity of his people than he is the success of your church. And this is where I want to talk about church discipline.

If anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. People say, “Well, there’s all kinds of reasons why not church discipline”, and there’s a bunch of reasons here. Let’s just think about the reasons and I’ll come back with some responses to them. So we’ll skip around in your notes a little bit.

Is Church Discipline Legalistic?

But some people say church discipline is legalistic, contradicts God’s grace and his love. And clearly, you start talking about church discipline, you’re probably going to get charged with some kind of legalism. The question is, well, we’ll see.

What about Matthew 7:1, “Judge not, that you be not judged.” So that’s always thrown out there. Don’t judge. John 8:7 is another one, “He who is without sin, let him cast the first stone.” So if you don’t have sin, then you can talk about somebody else’s sin. Well, that pretty much covers it, nobody can talk about anybody else’s sin, at that point. Well, we’ll get to that.

People will leave the church, they say. Let me tell you what’s not at the top of the charts of the church growth magazines, like you put out on the banner, “We’re a church that disciplines sinners.” You’re not drawing a crowd that way. We’re the church that cares, that loves, that nurtures. We’re the church that disciplines.

So anyway, people are going to leave the church. I was talking with one pastor, when we were walking through some of this at Brook Hills, talking about church discipline. And I said, “Man, we’re about to dive into this.” And he said, “Well, give me a call if you’re still there and tell me how it goes.” And so anyway, “Thanks, bro.” People will leave the church. A church doesn’t know how to practice discipline.

Church Discipline Is Loving

And I’ve been told, “Well, it just doesn’t work, in our churches, in our context today.” Well, think about that. Church discipline is legalistic? No, church discipline is loving. We think it’s noble, even compassionate to sit back and say, “Well, what somebody else does is between them and the Lord. It’s not my business.” That is anything but loving! If I am walking off the deep end towards sin, and you love me? Say something to me. Don’t just sit back and think, “This is my business over here.”

No, I need you, as my brother in Christ, to pull me back. That’s how you love me. That’s how God loves us. He disciplines those whom he loves. So we need to love one another. Dietrich Bonhoeffer said, I should have put this quote in there, “Nothing is so cruel as the tenderness that consigns another to his sin.” God, help us to love one another. That’s what church is.

What about Matthew 7:1? Well, keep going to Matthew 7:5. He says, talking about the log, “Well, take the log out of your own eye, and then you’ll see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.” So what he’s saying is, take the speck out of your … He’s not saying, “Don’t worry about your brother.” He’s saying, “Get yourself clean and then help him out too.” Like, yes, do it.

Trust God to Grow Your Church

People will leave the church; well, here’s the deal. This is God’s church to grow, not ours. There are easier ways to grow a church than to talk about church discipline. You remember Acts 5, Ananias and Sapphira? Trying to give an offering and they deceive and they’re struck down dead. I mean, how do you grow a church? Have God kill a few people at the offering, that’ll do it. No!

Okay, this is tough stuff. But then look at the end of this passage, Verse 13. “None of the rest dared join them. But the people held them in high esteem, and more than ever, believers were added to the Lord. Multitudes of both men and women.” God knows how to grow his church. We can trust him on this one. This is what God does.

Yeah, okay. The church doesn’t know how to practice church discipline? Well, then the church needs to learn how to practice church discipline. What does this really look like in the church? So, what is church discipline?