by Pastor Patrick Cho

Last time, we looked at how church discipline is a step-by-step process. First, it begins with one believer privately confronting another. If that fails, then the process is repeated and one or two additional witnesses are included in the attempt. If that still fails to resolve the issue, then the third step requires taking the situation to the church. And at all points of this process, the goal is restoration and reconciliation, not petty vindictiveness.

Even still, after all these loving attempts, he still might refuse to turn from his sin. In that case, Jesus says you must treat him as an unbeliever (v. 17). Notice that there is not a higher authority to turn to. Jesus doesn’t say, “Take it to the denominational heads” or even “Take it to God.” If a person refuses to listen even to the church, he is to be disregarded as a believer. The church represents God in the matter (vv. 18-20). Jesus even goes so far as to say, “I’ll be there” to confirm the process (v. 20). This isn’t to say that this person is necessarily an unbeliever. That is between him and God. What Jesus is advocating is that in the church’s eyes, if a brother is refusing to act like a believer, then the church should not treat him as one. This final step may confirm that he was never a believer in the first place, or that he is a believer whose heart has been hardened by sin so that he doesn’t want to act like a genuine believer.

Not only do you see the instructions for this process from Christ in Matthew 18, you also see the practice of church discipline in the early church. Paul chided the Corinthians for not removing a brother who had fallen into gross immorality (1 Cor. 5). He tells them that should not associate with anyone who bears the name “brother” and does not want to repent. Paul himself exercised apostolic authority to remove Alexander and Hymenaeus from fellowship since they rejected the gospel and made shipwreck of their faith (1 Tim. 1:19-20). It isn’t just the “big” sins that are worthy of church discipline, but even comparatively innocuous ones as well. For instance, in 1 Thessalonians, Paul confronts the church to deal with those who are lazy and unwilling to work with their hands. By 2 Thessalonians, he tells the church to disassociate with them because of their refusal to repent.

At Lighthouse, we seek to emphasize that this is a ministry of love to our members. This is why it is part of our Member Care process. If we didn’t care, we would let you continue on in your sin. If we didn’t care, we would not seek to help you grow in your faith and point out areas of concern. Because we care, we provide this ministry to our members. The church is a family, and that is why we make these issues known to the church. If one of our brothers or sisters falls into unrepentant sin, as a loving family, we should rally around that person and help restore them to fellowship.

Paul writes that when he practices church discipline his hope is that the erring individual would one day come to their senses. By “delivering a person to Satan” and treating them as “a Gentile or a tax collector,” his desire is that the erring brother would see the emptiness of life apart from Christ and the fellowship of the church. Hopefully he would see the threat that comes from turning away from God and be restored again. It has been sad that we at Lighthouse have had to practice church discipline in the past, but this is our hope as well. If these individuals would see their sin, repent, and turn back to God, we would joyfully and eagerly restore them to fellowship. But may the Lord work in our hearts so that we would never require going past the first step of the Matthew 18 process. May the Lord bring us to speedy repentance and reconciliation, all to His glory.