Church Discipline – In 2014?

¹⁵ “If your brother or sister sins, go and point out their fault, just between the two of you. If they listen to you, you have won them over. ¹⁶ But if they will not listen, take one or two others along, so that ‘every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.’ ¹⁷ If they still refuse to listen, tell it to the church; and if they refuse to listen even to the church, treat them as you would a pagan or a tax collector. Matthew 18

In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, we command you, brothers and sisters, to keep away from every believer who is idle and disruptive and does not live according to the teaching you received from us. 2 Thessalonians 3:6

Indictment 7: Ignorance and a lack of loving and compassionate church discipline

Church Discipline? You have to be kidding. Sounds like something out of the middle ages. Surely that’s not for today. Let’s look.

Brother or sister. We are talking about something initially between you and someone with whom you have relationship, a brother or sister. There is already love there. You are concerned because someone you love appears to be in trouble. Remember that sin is doing something harmful to  yourself, others or the mission. Isn’t that something that not only should concern us, but to which we should respond?

Just the two.  Confronting the problem directly is so much better than “praying about it” with everyone else, which is really just gossiping. Got a problem? Go directly to the person with whom you have a problem and not the your mutual friends or to Facebook. Most of the time the process ends here. Either you will discover that what you thought was a problem isn’t. Or the one you love will realize that others are noticing what they were denying to themselves. Either way, problem addressed.

One or two others. We should think of this as the “don’t you think we should talk to someone about this?” stage. If after a one-on-one discussion, it makes sense to get others involved. Ideally, these others such be mutually agreed upon, Call them trusted referees.

Treat them like the IRS. If all else fails we need to keep away. Sounds like “shunning” and it doesn’t sound good. In 2 Thessalonians these folks are “idle and disruptive and does not live according to the teaching you received.” The church is a team. If someone isn’t helping the team (idle) or is disruptive or is just working from a different play book, we can’t keep them on the team. We still love them, pray for them, and try to get them back in uniform, but we can’t allow them to lose the game. (Wow it must be bowl season or something.)

You see church discipline isn’t really something weird. It’s just good personal relationship strategy from a person who loves both the one in trouble and the church that’s threatened by their behavior. The trick is that it only works in a loving, mission oriented church. That’s your church, right?