If we are going to practice church discipline in a biblically healthy way, what are some things that must be present in our church to do so?
Here is a list of attitudes & characteristics we must cultivate and realizations we must come to and understandings we must possess and scripture references to consider:
· Love, honesty, openness, vulnerability, humility
· Concern for the holiness of God (Acts 5:1-11 and Hebrews 12:14)
· Concern for the testimony of Jesus to our community (1 Corinthians 5:1-13)
· Biblical understanding of church membership—what does it mean to be part of the family?
· Understanding that we are all on a journey toward a destination that none of us has reached—guarding against jugdmentalism (Matthew 7:1-5)
· Realization that discipline, including corrective discipline, is for our good (Hebrews 12:3-11)
· Guardrails & boundaries & accountability (w/o being legalistic, but for protection) to keep us from straying (Ephesians 4:15 and 25)
· Submissive attitudes toward one another (Eph. 5:21)
· Recognition of the authority of the local church over her members; we belong to each other (Matthew 18:15-20)
· Recognition of the inter-dependence of the local church (1 Cor. 12)
· Motivated by love & restoration for the individual (Galatians 6:1-2)
· Culture of peacemaking in our church; willingness to do the hard work of confrontation & reconciliation (Matthew 5:9, 21-26)
Several of these scripture references could overlap to other points.
I would like to encourage us this week individually to think about these points and then evaluate our church with respect to the presence of these characteristics in our church. Are we cultivating this kind of atmosphere in our church? Are there areas where we are healthy? Are there areas that need to be strengthened? Are we healthy in this particular area of church life?
Pray about it. How can we move toward healthiness in this area?
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