by Pastor Patrick Cho

I can understand why so many people would object to and cringe at the idea of church discipline. At first glance, it seems so mean, and besides, isn’t “excommunication” a Catholic thing? Churches in antiquity might have disciplined its members, but we would prefer to love people today. It is this last point that stumbles most people when they hear that we practice church discipline at Lighthouse: “How can LBC be a loving church if it disciplines its members?”

In this article and the next, I want to discuss both the reasons for church discipline and the practice of it. While it is easy to formulate a personal opinion on church discipline, as with any other issue, the believer must be careful to consider what the Bible has to say before coming to firm conclusions. It is important to consider whether or not church discipline is something the church should be practicing, and how to practice it if it is indeed biblical.

The Bible offers at least five reasons why church discipline is something a church should not only practice, but also embrace! They can be summed up with the words: 1) Obedience, 2) Worship, 3) Holiness, 4) Testimony, and 5) Love.

1. OBEDIENCE – The most obvious reason why church discipline should be practiced is because it is commanded in Scripture. Not only did Jesus instruct His followers about how to deal with a brother that falls into sin (Matt. 18:15-17), but the Apostles also followed this instruction and removed members from fellowship (1 Cor. 5:1-2; 2 Thess. 3:6-15; Eph. 5:7). As with any other biblical mandate, we bring glory to God in our adherence to the truth.
2. WORSHIP – The Bible tells us that the church is the bride of Christ (Eph. 5:24-33). As such, the church should not be stained with sin. Church discipline is worship because it upholds the holiness of Christ and vindicates His righteousness. Paul teaches that as members of the church we are also members of Christ, and as such, we should not join Christ with sin (1 Cor. 6:15-17). Christians are to be holy as the Lord is holy (1 Pet. 1:15-16). Treating Christ as holy by walking in holiness ourselves is worship unto the Lord.
3. PROTECTION – Church discipline also maintains the purity of the church and protects it from sin. If the church allowed sin to continue amongst its members without consequence, it would only encourage more and more sin. Paul speaks of the “leaven” of sin in 1 Corinthians 5. Leaven in Scripture is an analogy for influence. Just as a little leaven leavens the entire lump of dough, so a little sin left alone can eventually permeate the entire church. The practice of church discipline keeps members from falling into sin because the dismissed member serves as an example to the body (1 Tim. 5:20). Besides all this, but the Bible indicates that if a church tolerates sin, Christ will stand against it just as He did with Pergamum and Thyatira (Rev. 2:12-29). Certainly a church would not want to be opposed to Christ and so should deal with sinful members to protect against His judgment.
4. TESTIMONY – Another reason for church discipline is that the world is watching. It is sad when we hear of high profile Christian leaders falling into sexual sin and disqualifying themselves from ministry. Such sin makes the gospel seem powerless. If the people in the church act just like those in the world, how would the world view the faith? Paul rebuked the Corinthians for tolerating a sin that was not even tolerated by unbelievers (1 Cor. 5:1)! By living in holiness, and treating sin seriously, believers serve as a powerful testimony for the gospel (1 Pet. 2:12).
5. LOVE – It is interesting that in most passages dealing with church discipline, the goal is to serve the one being disciplined. Even in one of the sterner passages, Paul says he practiced church discipline so that Hymenaeus and Alexander would “learn not to blaspheme” (1 Tim. 1:19-20). In 1 Corinthians 5, with the incestuous man at Corinth, Paul says that by removing him from fellowship it might result in the salvation of his spirit (1 Cor. 5:5). This is really the goal of Matthew 18:15-17 as well. The hope is that by confronting someone who has fallen into sin, they would listen and be restored (cf. Gal. 6:1). All this supports the truth that church discipline is really a loving practice. For the person who falls into deliberate, continual, unrepentant sin, it is the most loving thing you could do. It is completely unloving to treat someone who is in sin as though nothing is wrong. It is unloving to allow them to continue in sin and to let their lives be an offense to God. By confronting their sin and helping them come to repentance, you serve them and show them faithful love.

What growing Christian would not want to be associated with the words Obedience, Worship, Protection, Testimony, and Love? Biblically, this is what church discipline is all about. It comes down to doing ministry God’s way and trusting that He knows better than we do. Essentially, when we say we disagree with the practice of church discipline, we are saying that we think we know better than Christ. Christ is the one who is committed to building His church (Matt. 16:18). We should trust that in the instructions He gave, He left us with the best way possible to accomplish this.

Many people say that they commit to Lighthouse because they want to be held accountable in their Christian walk. I’m so happy to hear this because all believers should desire this accountability provided by the church. Stated plainly, a church that does not practice discipline falls short in its provision of accountability for its members. This is why I tell young Christians that when choosing a church, one of the things they should look for is to see if it practices church discipline. This is one of the true signs that a church loves its members and seeks the healthy growth of the body.