Church Discipline: How the Church Protects the Name of Jesus

Church Discipline: How the Church Protects the Name of Jesus

Church Discipline: How the Church Protects the Name of Jesus

Church Discipline: How the Church Protects the Name of Jesus

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Overview

Provides an accessible framework for understanding church discipline, offering nine case studies and several practical considerations for leading a church through disciplinary situations with grace and truth.


Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781433532337
Publisher: Crossway
Publication date: 04/30/2012
Series: Building Healthy Churches
Pages: 144
Product dimensions: 5.10(w) x 7.10(h) x 0.60(d)

About the Author

Jonathan Leeman (PhD, University of Wales) is the editorial director for 9Marks and cohost of the Pastors’ Talk podcast. He is the author or editor of over a dozen books and teaches at several seminaries. Jonathan lives with his wife and four daughters in a suburb of Washington, DC, and is an elder at Cheverly Baptist Church. You can follow him on Twitter at @jonathanleeman.

Jonathan Leeman (PhD, University of Wales) is the editorial director for 9Marks and cohost of the Pastors’ Talk podcast. He is the author or editor of over a dozen books and teaches at several seminaries. Jonathan lives with his wife and four daughters in a suburb of Washington, DC, and is an elder at Cheverly Baptist Church. You can follow him on Twitter at @jonathanleeman.

Read an Excerpt

CHAPTER 1

THE BIBLICAL BASICS OF DISCIPLINE

What is church discipline? In broad terms, church discipline is one part of the discipleship process, the part where we correct sin and point the disciple toward the better path. To be discipled is, among other things, to be disciplined. And a Christian is disciplined through instruction and correction, as in a math class where the teacher teaches the lesson and then corrects the students' errors.

It's for this reason that there's a centuries-old practice of referring to both formative discipline and corrective discipline. Formative discipline helps to form the disciple through instruction. Corrective discipline helps to correct the disciple through correcting sin. This book focuses on corrective discipline, but teaching and correction always work together. That's the nature of discipleship.

In more specific and formal terms, church discipline is the act of removing an individual from membership in the church and participation in the Lord's Table. It's not an act of forbidding an individual from attending the church's public gatherings. It is the church's public statement that it can no longer affirm the person's profession of faith by calling him or her a Christian. It's a refusal to give a person the Lord's Supper. It's excommunicating, or ex-communion-ing, the person.

To be clear, then, I will treat these terms synonymously: "to excommunicate" is "to exclude from fellowship," which is to "remove from the Lord's Table," which is "to formally discipline." Some people treat one or two of these things as different stages in the process; I do not.

JESUS ON DISCIPLINE

Many texts in the New Testament point to the practice of church discipline. The most well known is probably from Matthew's Gospel. Jesus says,

If your brother sins against you, go and show him his fault, just between the two of you. If he listens to you, you have won your brother over. But if he will not listen, take one or two others along, so that "every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses." If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if he refuses to listen even to the church, treat him as you would a pagan or a tax collector. (Matt. 18:15–17,NIV)

On the surface, Jesus appears to have two concerns: first, that the sinner repents; second, that the number of people involved remain as small as necessary for producing repentance. Beneath these concerns is the deeper conviction that the church should look different than the world — Christians are not to live like pagans or tax collectors. Matthew's Jewish audience would have understood "pagan" to represent those who were outside the covenant community and "tax collector" to represent those who had betrayed the covenant community (and were therefore also outside the community). Church members should live differently than the world. And if, after a series of gracious warnings, they don't, a church should exclude them from its fellowship.

The sin described here is an interpersonal one: "against you." Yet I believe we often overemphasize the significance of this detail. The issue here is whether the individual is repentant and to be treated as a brother or sister in Christ. The larger point in these verses is that local churches have the authority to assess professions of faith and to act accordingly: "if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask" (Matt. 18:19). In other words, churches can employ the process of church discipline described in verses 15 to 17 to sins more broadly.

In short, Jesus means for churches to play a judicial function. He draws the language about "two or three witnesses" from Deuteronomy 19, a passage where Moses laid out rules of procedure for judging criminal cases. When faced with people who claim to represent Jesus with their lips but who live contrariwise, churches must carefully weigh the evidence and render judgment. "Is this a valid gospel profession? Is this a true gospel professor? What does the evidence suggest?"

THE APOSTLES ON DISCIPLINE

The apostle Paul also invokes church discipline in a number of places:

Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. (Gal. 6:1)

Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them. (Eph. 5:11)

Warn a divisive person once, and then warn him a second time. After that, have nothing to do with him. (Titus 3:10, NIV)

If anyone does not obey what we say in this letter, take note of that person, and have nothing to do with him, that he may be ashamed. Do not regard him as an enemy, but warn him as a brother. (2 Thess. 3:14–15)

John encourages something like preemptive discipline by not letting someone participate in the fellowship of the church in the first place:

Everyone who goes on ahead and does not abide in the teaching of Christ, does not have God. Whoever abides in the teaching has both the Father and the Son. If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your house or give him any greeting. (2 John 9–10)

Peter also presents us with a clear example of preemptive discipline (Acts 8:17–24).

DISCIPLINE IN CORINTH

One last famous passage on church discipline is 1 Corinthians 5. Paul lays out the sin and his reaction to it in the first few verses of the chapter:

It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that is not tolerated even among pagans, for a man has his father's wife. And you are arrogant! Ought you not rather to mourn? Let him who has done this be removed from among you.

For though absent in body, I am present in spirit; and as if present, I have already pronounced judgment on the one who did such a thing. (1 Cor. 5:1–3)

What's striking about Paul's counsel is how it both overlaps and does not overlap with Jesus's counsel in Matthew 18. Like Jesus, Paul encourages the church to play a judicial function. He even uses the words "judgment" or "judge" several times (1 Cor. 5:3, 12–13). Like Jesus, Paul is addressing a scenario where someone professing the name of Jesus could be removed from the church body. Unlike Jesus, however, Paul does not tell the church to warn the man and call him to repentance, like Jesus advises in Matthew 18. He simply tells the church to remove him — no questions asked. We'll discuss the rationale for this in chapter 3.

In the ensuing verses, Paul more carefully describes what this act of discipline should look like:

When you are assembled in the name of the Lord Jesus and my spirit is present, with the power of our Lord Jesus, you are to deliver this man to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord. (1 Cor. 5:4–5)

To hand the man over to Satan is to treat him, in Jesus's words, like a pagan or tax collector; it's to treat him as someone who no longer belongs to the covenant community. The church, after all, is an outpost of the kingdom of God. Everyone who does not belong to the kingdom of God, therefore, belongs to the kingdom of Satan. Satan is the prince of this world, and the kingdoms of the world temporarily belong to him (John 12:31; 14:30; Matt. 4:8–9).

Paul next observes that failing to remove the man from the church puts the whole church at risk:

Your boasting is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump? Cleanse out the old leaven that you may be a new lump, as you really are unleavened. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. Let us therefore celebrate the festival, not with the old leaven, the leaven of malice and evil, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people — not at all meaning the sexually immoral of this world, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters, since then you would need to go out of the world. But now I am writing to you not to associate with anyone who bears the name of brother if he is guilty of sexual immorality or greed, or is an idolater, reviler, drunkard, or swindler — not even to eat with such a one. (1 Cor. 5:6–11)

In the final verses of the chapter, Paul reiterates the fact that the church has a judicial role to play in this man's life: "For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Is it not those inside the church whom you are to judge? God judges those outside. 'Purge the evil person from among you'" (vv. 12–13).

THE PURPOSE OF CHURCH DISCIPLINE

First Corinthians 5 is especially helpful for discerning the purposes of church discipline. We can observe at least five. First, discipline aims to expose. Sin, like cancer, loves to hide. Discipline exposes the cancer so that it might be cut out quickly (see 1 Cor. 5:2).

Second, discipline aims to warn. A church does not enact God's retribution through discipline. Rather, it stages a small play that pictures the great judgment to come (v. 5). Discipline is a compassionate warning.

Third, it aims to save. Churches pursue discipline when they see a member taking the path toward death, and none of their pleading and armwaving causes the person to turn around. It's the device of last resort for bringing an individual to repentance (v. 5).

Fourth, discipline aims to protect. Just as cancer spreads from one cell to another, so sin quickly spreads from one person to another (v. 6).

Fifth, it aims to present a good witness for Jesus. Church discipline, strange to say, is actually good for non-Christians, because it helps to preserve the attractive distinctiveness of God's people (see v. 1). Churches, remember, should be salt and light. "But if the salt loses its saltiness ...," Jesus said, "It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled by men" (Matt. 5:13, NIV).

THE NEED FOR A GOSPEL FRAMEWORK

It's this last purpose that points to the need for a larger theological framework for knowing how to approach church discipline.

Consider the dilemma raised by the topic of church discipline. Church discipline, we said, centers on the idea of correcting sin. But the Christian gospel, most would agree, centers on the idea of forgiving sin. If God forgives sin, why would we need to worry about correcting sin? Christians, too, are called to forgive others. What then would be the purpose of correcting one another's sin?

A thinned-out gospel that speaks only of forgiveness and unconditional love does not have the resources for addressing this surface-level tension. As a result, sin goes unaddressed, and churches begin to shadow the world.

However, a more robust gospel addresses not only the guilt-problem of sin, it addresses the corruption-problem of sin with the promise of a new nature. It also places the gospel within the larger biblical story line of God's purposes for humankind to represent him.

God tasked Adam with imaging him through ruling over creation, but Adam failed. So did Israel. So did Israel's king, David. But then came one who imaged God — perfectly. The good news of the gospel is that God has made a way for us to be restored to God and to his original purpose for our lives — reigning together with Jesus over all creation. He promises a pardon from guilt through the work of his Son as well as a new law-obeying nature through the work of his Spirit. It's within this framework that church discipline makes sense, as we now consider.

CHAPTER 2

A GOSPEL FRAMEWORK FOR UNDERSTANDING DISCIPLINE

Suppose an American football player joined some friends for a game of soccer. Then, midgame, he reached down and picked up the soccer ball and began to run with it. The referee no doubt would blow his whistle and call a foul.

At this point, the American football player might look back at the referee with bewilderment on his face. Why the whistle? Why the foul? He was simply doing what he always does — grab the ball and run.

In response, one could explain to the American football player that, except for the goalie, soccer players cannot touch the ball with their hands. Now, get back to the game and don't make that mistake again.

Or one could take a little more time to explain how the game of soccer works. Soccer is by definition a game for the feet, not the hands. The very thing which makes soccer fascinating to watch is the ability of skillful players to exert control over the ball without ever using their hands. It's not without reason that every nation in the world except America calls the game "football." The American football player didn't just break a rule; he broke a rule that defines the game's very purpose.

Church discipline, likewise, can be described in two ways. One can describe it as the act of correcting sin, like blowing a whistle against a foul in the Christian life. Or, better, one can try to understand the act of blowing the whistle within the larger framework of the gospel, the church, and the purposes of the Christian life. Placing the act of discipline into this larger theological framework — what I'm calling a gospel framework — will help us exercise the discernment that is inevitably required amidst the many circumstances of sin in a church.

Lying, for instance, is a "foul." Does that mean the whole church needs to get involved every time a member lies? Of course not. So much depends on all the circumstances surrounding the lie or lies: How consequential is it? Is the individual persisting in it? Is it a pattern?

Somewhere there's a line in between a lie worth addressing in private and a lie worth addressing in public. How do we know when that line is crossed? That's the practical challenge of church discipline. That's precisely where so much wisdom is required.

My contention is that church leaders will be better equipped to figure out where that line falls if they understand their corrective activity within a larger gospel framework. The gospel helps us to gauge when to speak and when to stay silent, when to act and when not to act.

WHAT IS THE GOSPEL?

Establishing a framework for church discipline requires us to understand (1) the gospel, (2) what a Christian is, (3) what a local church is, and (4) what church membership means.

What is the gospel? I offered one sketch in the preface. Let me fill it out just a bit here. The gospel is good news that comes at the end of a long story about human beings rebelling against God and enthroning themselves over his world. God created humankind in his image in order to represent his rule and character over creation. He constituted them in his image, so that they could image him. He called them to rule obediently, so that they could rule like he rules: with goodness, justice, holiness, and love.

But humanity decided it was wiser than God, and people chose to rule themselves. They corrupted their own natures and earned the penalty of death. The story of Israel is this creation and fall story writ large. A group of people were given all the advantages of God's law and God's presence for the purposes of representing him, but they did their own thing instead. So he cast them out of his land.

The good news, which comes at the end of this sad story, is that one of Adam's and Israel's sons came to do what neither Adam nor Israel could do: rule obediently and win a people for God. He who was the very image of God came as a man and established a kingdom by obeying the heavenly Father to the utmost. But not only did he establish a kingdom; he won a people for this kingdom by laying down his life as a payment for the guilt of sin, and then rising from the dead and inaugurating a whole new creation.

The good news, in short, is that Jesus Christ has won salvation and rule for all who put their trust in him and follow him as Lord. Salvation includes the forgiveness of sins, reconciliation with God in Christ, reconciliation with Christ's people, and a new Spirit-indwelt heart that now wants to rule obediently for the purposes of representing Jesus on earth.

WHAT IS A CHRISTIAN?

What is a Christian? There are several ways to describe what a Christian is. For starters, it's someone who has been forgiven and united to God through the new covenant in Christ's blood. And it's someone who has been given a new nature by the Spirit (see Deut. 30:6–8; Jeremiah 31; Ezek. 36:24–27).

But there's more to a Christian than a new status and a new nature. A Christian has a new family. He or she, by definition, is now a member of a people. To be reconciled to Christ, by definition, means to be reconciled to Christ's people (Eph. 3:6). Paul makes this connection by linking the first half of Ephesians 2 with the second half. First, he tells us that we have been saved by grace (Eph. 1:1–10). Second, he tells us that the dividing wall of partition between Jew and Gentile has fallen, creating one new man (vv. 11–22). To be adopted by a mother and father is to be given a whole new set of brothers and sisters. So it is with Christianity. Whether we were aware that we were joining a new family or not, our adoption into Christ is an adoption into a family.

(Continues…)


Excerpted from "Church Discipline"
by .
Copyright © 2012 Jonathan Leeman.
Excerpted by permission of Good News Publishers.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

Table of Contents

Series Preface,
Preface: A Tale of Two Gospels,
Introduction: A Framework for Discipline,
PART 1: ESTABLISHING A FRAMEWORK,
1 The Biblical Basics of Discipline,
2 A Gospel Framework for Understanding Discipline,
3 When Is Discipline Necessary?,
4 How Does a Church Practice Discipline?,
5 How Does Restoration Work?,
PART 2: APPLYING THE FRAMEWORK: CASE STUDIES,
6 The Adulterer,
7 The Addict,
8 The "Hits the News" Lawbreaker,
9 The Bruised Reed,
10 The Nonattending Member,
11 The Faithfully-Attending and Divisive Nonmember,
12 The Preemptive Resigner,
13 The Newly-Decided Unbeliever,
14 The Family Member,
PART 3: GETTING STARTED,
15 Before You Discipline, Teach,
16 Before You Discipline, Organize,
Conclusion: Are You Ready to Begin? A Pastor's Checklist,
Appendix: Mistakes Pastors Make in Practicing Discipline,

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

“Leeman airs the dirty laundry of our lives and talks about how to clean it up. He ventures into the tough area of pastoral application, which is sure to rouse good discussions, but again and again I found myself convinced. You will not fail to be helped by this book. Brief and biblical, wise and practical—this is the book on church discipline we’ve been looking for.”
Mark Dever,Pastor, Capitol Hill Baptist Church, Washington, DC; President, 9Marks

“Far too few biblically grounded, pastorally sensitive books on church discipline remain in print today. I know of none that is as exegetically accurate, practically relevant, and filled with real-life case studies of how churches should deal with a wide variety of common situations. On top of all this, Leeman is helpfully succinct and remarkably clear. Highly recommended!”
Craig L. Blomberg, Distinguished Professor of New Testament, Denver Seminary

“This book is an outstanding, one-of-a-kind theological work. Leeman has shown that church discipline is an essential dimension of the disciple-making process, and thus an extension of the preaching of the gospel itself. He shows that our overly-narrow focus on the ‘number of decisions’ might actually be hindering us from guiding people in the repentance that leads to life. I believe this will be the definitive work on church discipline, and our elders plan to use this work as our guide.”
J. D. Greear, President, Southern Baptist Convention; author, Not God Enough; Pastor, The Summit Church, Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina

“One of the most neglected activities in the church today is the ministry of loving, courageous, and redemptive church discipline. This book provides a clear vision and practical guidelines for this vital aspect of life together in the body of Christ. I have seen many people freed from entangling sin by churches that lived out these principles, and I pray that more and more churches will recommit themselves to this restorative ministry.”
Ken Sande,President, Relational Wisdom 360; author,The Peacemaker

“Jonathan Leeman has become a discerning reader of the contemporary church. He combines biblical truth with sage counsel in this much-needed book on church discipline. If you’ve been afraid of that subject in your church, or unsure of how to lovingly correct sinning saints, this book provides the biblical argument and practical advice you need to get started well. This book will fire your imagination, stir your soul, and light your path.”
Thabiti Anyabwile, Pastor, Anacostia River Church, Washington, DC; author, What Is a Healthy Church Member?

“Many different ideas enter the minds of Christians when they hear the words ‘church discipline’—punishment, judgment, critical, unloving, excommunication. Jonathan Leeman sets the record straight by explaining what Jesus meant when he first introduced this concept of spiritual accountability. Leeman explains the purpose of church discipline and why it is necessary. The case studies illustrating situations requiring church discipline are worth the price of the book!”
J. Carl Laney, Western Seminary; author, A Guide to Church Discipline

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