Matthew 18

Although it is almost foreign in American Christianity, church discipline is one of those topics we need to take a closer look at.

Matthew 18 is one of the only times Christ mentions and gives specific instruction to the Church before its inception on the Day of Pentecost. He mentions the Church in Matt 16, stating the principle upon which the Church is to be founded, namely the confession of Christ as Lord, the Cornerstone of our faith. Here He adds another foundational element to the Church's existence, discipline!

It is interesting to me that Christ gives the confession of the Church (Christ as Lord and hence His instructions as authoritative for all believers) and then follows it up with disciplining those who reject the Church's received teachings and the Giver of those teachings, Christ.

Here are the expectations and standards. Here is what to do when someone doesn't submit to them. Christ says that when the Church gathers for discipline, He is there in their midst, in essence delivering the discipline Himself through His Church.

Hence Church discipline is a high calling of Christ upon His Church. She is to faithfully call sinners to repentance and break fellowship with them if they refuse. Here is a great question: Why the emphasis and stark measures of church discipline?

Reading over Scripture, I find this answer. The Church is to look, and be, fundamentally different than the world. If we are going to be salt and light and be an agent of change in this world, the Church must be pure and distinct from it. If the Church looks no different, what does she have to offer our lost world? If she is redeemed, she is the very image and ambassador of God to mankind. To reflect a holy God, we ourselves must be holy. When the Church is riddled in sin, she must discipline disobedient members or God will discipline her. It is no small, or light, task to take up God's representation. It must be done with sincerity and conviction.

Church discipline is not necessarily for condemnation. It is the chastening of believers for the purpose of godliness and growth. It is to be used to "win" our brothers and sisters back to a lifestyle which pleases Christ. Yet, it should not be impotent and devoid of repercussions, or the Church becomes the acquiescent parent whose verbal threats mean nothing to their wayward children.

It is not easy. But it is critical to the vitality of the Church, and important enough that Christ mentions it before He even creates her. May we be people convicted by Scripture, faithful in our obedience and part of a church willing to correct us when we are wrong... for the sake of His name.