Wednesday, August 11, 2010

Church Discipline, part 5


We are continuing our series on church discipline this week. I pray that these are informative and thought-provoking as we seek to be a healthy church in loving one another toward godliness.

Today, we continue looking at more common objections to the practice of church discipline. We examined three last week and will examine two more this week.

A fourth common objection to practicing church discipline is the attitude, “it’s not any of your business.” Ultimately, the underlying cause of this attitude is pride. It does not express the humility that Jesus calls all Christians to exhibit within the church. This objection also comes from a misunderstanding of what it means to be part of a local church and is fueled by an overemphasis on the individual’s “rights” that is promoted by the American individualistic mindset that is pervasive in our culture. In the body of Christ of Christ, we belong to one another. 
We are not islands, nor do we live unto ourselves. We are all on a journey toward becoming like Christ and honoring him with our lives. We need each other to encourage, exhort, and admonish us toward godliness. We all have blind spots that hinder our progress in spiritual growth. We need each other to lovingly point out areas that need attention as we walk with Jesus.

A fifth common objection to practicing church discipline is a general desensitization in churches to how much God hates sin. It was our sin that Jesus died for. Many people have forgotten how deceptive and destructive sin is in our lives, even what we call “little” sins (there really is no such thing). We forget that sin in the life of a Christian has detrimental effects on the effectiveness of a church in reaching the community with the gospel of Jesus Christ. All sin harms the body of Christ. However, the consequences of on-going unrepentant sin in the body of Christ cause strife, discontentment, disunity, distractions, and harm to the body of Christ and her witness of the gospel. It has the potential to destroy the church. It is like an infectious disease for which there is only one cure—the cross of Jesus.

Of course, we have not exhausted all the objections that could be raised, nor have we examined these objections extensively.

Our goal through this series is to help us grow toward a healthy view of church discipline. Church discipline is a Jesus-commanded biblical practice. It is our responsibility to obey Jesus as the Holy Spirit guides. We have been given sufficient principles to guide us in this endeavor for the health of the church.

Next week, Lord willing, we will begin looking at the characteristics and biblical attitudes that accompany the healthy practice of church discipline. Tune in next week.

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