2 Corinthians 2

Church discipline is tough. In fact, I think it’s so tough churches refuse to discipline. We turn a blind eye and hope the person caught in sin sees the light on his own. Let God do the convicting and convincing.

I’ve only experienced church discipline once in my whole life as a church-goer, and that church blew it big time. It was handled so badly I don’t think the young woman involved ever fully recovered or was ever fully restored by it.

Now just because I’m not aware of “church discipline” in churches I’ve attended doesn’t mean it wasn’t going on. I hope it was. What I am about to say is my opinion based on what I believe is taught consistently in God’s Word. Here’s what I think church discipline ought to look like:

I think first of all we are accountable to each other. Jesus said that once we have dealt with the plank in our eye, the sin in our heart, we then should go and address the splinter in our Christian brother or sister’s eye, the sin we see them living. I believe that is the first step in church discipline. If we can encourage one person to repent of sin, the need for further discipline ends there.

But if that doesn’t happen, then two or three friends from the church should go privately to the person caught in sin with the intention of restoring that person to a right relationship with God. Again, behind closed doors, not for public attention.

Third, if that person is still resistant, representatives from the church, pastor, deacon, elder, SS teacher, should quietly have a meeting with that person and lovingly confront them with their sin and resistance. The goal should always be restoration.

I also don’t believe that this is a three step process. You might go privately to your friend many times before you ask another person to go with you. The two of you might go many times before you go to the pastor. I don’t think it should ever be a checklist you complete in order to get to the final step. We are talking about a dear member of our fellowship, loved and cared for by his or her church family. Sometimes it takes time and consistent effort.

I believe that at any point the person does repent of sin, the “discipline” doesn’t end there. I would hope there would be follow up, encouragement, support, maybe Bible Study or counseling that occurs.

Finally, and this is the first time church discipline goes pubic, the church must ask an unrepentant sinner to not come back. Again, this step cannot come without a lot of effort on the church to help the person realize his or her need of repentance. It cannot come without a lot of prayer, maybe fasting, pleading with God and this person to make that change. But as hard as it would be, a separation must take place to protect the body.

Even then, the goal of the separation is the eventual restoration of that lost soul. It should be followed by the entire congregation praying for the needed repentance, with anticipation of the time when he or she surrenders to God. Then, I would hope the fellowship would welcome the repentant one home with open arms.

I honestly think that if we really did the first three steps, the need for separation would be almost zero. But in that rare case, we have to do the hard thing for the good of the fellowship, and in obedience to God.

I look at the state of the Church and wonder if we are more intent on making church fun, or exciting, or attractive that we don’t have time for discipline. I wonder if we are so worried someone won’t like us we are afraid to confront. And I wonder if we are more worried about the tables turning, we don’t want to address sin in someone else. Even as I write this I think about churches that make the news because they abuse church discipline. We certainly don’t want to be like them, so we choose not to discipline at all.

All I can say is as I look at the modern church, an undisciplined church is Satan’s playground. I think he’s having a ball inside the walls of our churches and in the hearts of churchgoers these days.

Again, just my opinion. But I wonder.