Church Discipline What Two kinds Purpose Necessity Examples

Church Discipline What? Two kinds? Purpose? Necessity? Examples? Why Not?

Church of Christ l Identifiable body of baptized believers working and worshipping together. l Christians are to live in the doctrine of Christ l Discipline is required to maintain this proper relationship—instructive (preventative) and corrective (punitive)

Definition l l l Hebrew word “musar” from “yasar” (Prov. 3: 11 -12; 13: 24; 22: 15; 23: 13; Deut. 8: 5; Job 5: 17; Ps. 94: 12; Job 36: 10 Greek “sophromismos” ASV in II Tim. 1: 7 not in KJV Best expressed in two Greek words: 1) “paideia” & 2) “paideu” Paideia: (Eph. 6: 4; II Tim. 3: 16; Heb. 12: 5 -6) Paideu: (I Tim. 1: 120; Titus 2: 12; II Tim. 2: 25; I Cor. 11: 32; II Cor. 6: 9; Heb. 12: 6; Rev. 3: 19; Heb. 12: 7; Lk. 23: 26, 22)

Discipline Training or experience that corrects, molds, strengthens; Esp. mental faculties or moral character. l Primarily, an admonishing or calling to soundness of mind or self-control. l Instructive – preventive in nature; education l Corrective – chastising or penalizing in nature l

Discipline Instructive (preventive): learn God’s will in order to apply it to our lives to prevent whatever sin, you can fill in the blanks Eccl. 12: 13 -14; Js. 1: 22 l Corrective (punitive): failure to apply God’s law in our lives I Jn. 1: 7 versus those who walk in rebellion (Is. 59: 1 -2; I Jn. 1: 8, 10) l

Necessity l l l l Prov. 13: 24; Eph. 6: 1 -4; civil gov’t Rom. 13: 1 -4 God is not the author of confusion I Cor. 14: 33; there is punishment for violating God’s law Adam & Eve Gen. 3: 17 -19, 23 -24; 2: 17 The old world Gen. 6: 5 -7, 13 Nadab & Abihu Lev. 10: 1 -2 Ananias & Saphira Acts 5: 1 -10 We realize God doesn’t deal directly with violators today; He doesn’t deal out punitive action however we MUST respect God and His commands (Mt. 10: 28; II Pet. 3: 10)

Purpose church discipline serves? l To Obey God (I Cor. 5: 1 -5; Mt. 18: 15 -18; 2 Thess. 3: 615) l Keep the church pure (Josh. 7: 1, 11; 1 Cor. 5: 2, 6, 7; we may think we can ignore a brother’s sin: Mt. 16: 5 -12; Gal. 5: 7 -9, 13: II Jn. 9 -11) l Save the soul of the erring one (1 Cor. 5: 4 -5, Js. 5: 1920) l Protect others in the church (1 Cor. 5: 6) l Be an example to the world (Mt. 5: 13 -16; II Pet. 2: 2 -9)

Examples Those who sin against a brother (Mt. 18: 15 -17, Lk. 17: 3; Rom. 2: 11; Gal. 6: 1; Js. 5: 19 -20; I Thes. 5: 1215) l Fornicator, covetous, unclean (I Cor. 5: 1, 4 -5; II Cor. 12: 21 -13: 1 -2; judge those within I Cor. 5: 12 -13; Eph. 5: 3 -5) l False teachers, divisive men (Rom. 16: 17 -18; I Tim. 6: 3 -5; Titus 3: 10 -11; II Tim. 3: 5; IIJn. 10; Acts 13: 44 -46; Rom. 2: 8 -9, 11 -13; Prov. 6: 16 -19) l Disorderly (II Thes. 3: 6, 10, 11, 14, 15; I Thes. 5: 14; Heb. 10: 25; II Tim. 4: 10) l

Who Should Be Disciplined? l I Jn. 1: 7 walk in the light vs. those who walk in rebellion (Is. 59: 1 -2) l Christ’s authority Mt. 28: 18 -20; Col. 3: 17 -I Cor. 5: 4 -5; Jesus reigns as head over the church (Col. 1: 18) -Those on outside belong to Satan (Eph. 2: 12; Col. 1: 13) -To be admonished by the saved, one is delivered back to the kingdom of darkness (I Tim. 1: 18 -20 (Hymenaeus & Alexander) -Affect of church discipline (II Cor. 2: 6 -8; bring him/her back to the Lord) l The brother or sister who refuses to repent of sin. l Fellowship is not severed because of a particular sin being committed, but rather, because of an unrepentant attitude or disposition of heart toward the sin or sins committed.

When Do We Withdraw? l l Establish that sin has been committed l Sin must be proved (1 Jn. 3: 4; Mt. 18: 15 -17) l Proof of Achan’s sin shown to all (Josh. 7: 22 -23) l Cannot act on hearsay (1 Tim. 5: 19) Give sufficient time to reach the erring (Mt. 18: 15 -17) l Time given for entire church to act l Visits, cards, admonishments, & prayers l After all efforts fail—action taken (1 Cor. 5) l Withdrawal—last step in long chain of efforts to save the erring brother or sister

Who Would Not Support Church Discipline? l Other sinners (2 Cor. 12: 21 -13: 2) l Ignorant and untaught (Lev. 5: 17) l Grumblers looking for a complaint Those who think they know better than God how to save the erring. l Those with little faith (2 Cor. 5: 7) l Those who put fellowship with men above fellowship with God (Mt. 10: 37; Jn. 12: 42 -43). l Power-seekers (2 Sam. 15: 4) l

Corrective Church Discipline l Appointed by God to save His erring children! l Who are we to fight against God (Acts 5: 39)? l Who are we to question God (Rom. 9: 2021)? l Can we withstand God (Acts 11: 17)?

How To Treat Those Who Have Been Disciplined? l Public announcement (1 Cor. 5: 3 -5) l l “Mark” (Rom. 16: 17) “Withdraw” and “Note” (2 Thess. 3: 6, 14) “Admonish” and “Reject” (Titus 3: 10) Individual Practice of Discipline l l l Proper support of whole body (2 Cor. 2: 6) Do not keep company with him (2 Thess. 3: 14) Do not associate with him (1 Cor. 5: 11) Do not eat with him (1 Cor. 5: 11) Do not receive him (2 John 10 -11) Treat as a heathen and tax collector (Mt. 18: 18)

Reasons Given For Not Practicing Discipline: l l l l We are not to judge. Tear up church and do more harm than good. It will harden them in their sins. No one is perfect, we all sin. Their family will be upset if we discipline. Our other preachers never said much about this. We didn’t withdraw from some in past years, its not fair to start now.

Questions l Could I work on the same job? l Could I eat in the same café? l Could I accept invitations from other Christians if they also invited those who were disciplined? l What if my spouse is disciplined? l What about the parent-child relationship?

Are Family Members Exempt? l Cut off From his people l l l Gen. 17: 14 Exod. 30: 33, 38 Lev. 7: 20 -21, 25, 27 Lev. 19: 8; 23: 29 Num. 9: 13 l l l Exod. 32: 28 -29 Lev. 10: 1 -7 Deut. 13: 6 -11; 21: 18 -21 Josh. 7: 15 -25; Deut. 24: 16 1 Sam. 3: 13; 1 Kgs. 15: 11 -13 Ezra 10: 3, 4, 11 Matt. 10: 34 -36 Matt. 12: 46 -50 Luke 9: 62 1 Cor. 5: 11 2 Thess. 3: 6, 14 -15 Matt. 18: 15 -17

Working With God To Save Souls l God Has Done His Part l l l Sacrificed His Son For Us Revealed Plan For Saving Souls We Must Do Our Part l l Warn the Unruly – Gal. 6: 1; 1 Thess. 5: 14 Withdraw From Disorderly – 2 Thess. 3: 6 l l l Public Announcement – 1 Cor. 5: 4 -5 Private Application – 1 Cor. 5: 11 Sinner Must Do His Part l Repent, Confess, and Correct – Acts 8: 22