Church Discipline:

[Aquila]

I was reading a very interesting chapter of a book. The chapter was about “church discipline”. It stated:

Implementing Church Discipline
A. Steps of church discipline
a. Scripture Matthew 18: 15-18: "If your brother sins against 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."
b. The steps involve*
i. One on One shepherding
ii. Take two or three for additional witnesses and to give confirmation and
warning
iii. Tell it to the church
iv. Expulsion and handing the person over to Satan
* - Each step is to be handled carefully and prayerfully. Each case is unique and
should be handled on its own merits. The goal is to bring repentance and restoration.
The church's responsibility is to call the person back to his savior, then to forgive and
receive back the repentant one.
B. Response of the Church (2) The response of the church depends on the response of
the disciplined individual.
a. A person who is disciplined and leaves thehe assembly - Such a person must be
treated as an outsider or an unbeliever (Mt. 18:17). This person should lose all the
benefits of being in the body. Such a person does not have true fellowship with
God, and therefore should not have the privilege of enjoying fellowship with
God's people (I John 1:6-7). The only contact with these individuals should be for
the purpose of bringing them to repentance. However, if the person becomes
factious and divisive, there should be no contact with them to protect the flock
(Rom. 16:17; Titus 3:10-11). The offending party must repent and show evidence
of repentance prior to being restored to the body (Luke 3:8).
b. A person who is disciplined but who does not want to leave the assembly - This
is a "so called brother." A person who does not want to repent of his sin, yet retain
the privileges of God's people. Such a person is dangerous, since they represent
"old yeast." This person can infect the entire assembly if left unchecked. The
Bible tells us to remove the "old yeast," that we may be a new batch without yeast
(I Cor. 5:6-7). The Lord instructs an assembly to treat very severely someone who
maintains their sin and at the same time professes to be a "brother." He is to be
expelled from the church. With such a man we are not even to eat (I Cor. 5:11-
13). He should be put out for the protection of the purity of the church and to
protect the testimony of the church. In fact, Paul instructs the church to hand such
a man over to Satan, so that his flesh may be destroyed and his spirit saved on the
day of the Lord (I Cor. 5:5, I Tim. 1:20). The hope is for God to deal with the
offender in such a way so as to bring him back to repentance.
c. A person who is under discipline for being unruly In some cases, an assembly
may need to censure the behavior of a brother or sister. If such a person is unruly
or living a disorderly life, he is not to be associated with. The purpose of this was
so that the offending party might feel shame and come to his senses. He was not
to be expelled from the church like the sinning brother referred to in I Cor. 5. The
offense here is not as flagrant and therefore does not call for expulsion from the
church. If this discipline proves ineffective, ultimate church discipline could then
follow. (II Thessalonians 3:6-15)
d. Discipline of Non-Members - In some cases it is appropriate to discipline nonmembers.
A "so-called brother" who disrupts an assembly by his conduct or
teaching may be "marked out" for the protection of the church. Such a person
does not have to be an "official" member of the church to be marked out. Regular
attenders, who may not have committed themselves to the assembly fall into this
category. It may also be appropriate to "mark out" some radio preachers, T.V.
evangelists or self-proclaimed teachers. The discipline here is geared more for the
protection of the flock. False teachers and divisive people are to be avoided.
(Rom. 16:17-18; Titus 3:10-11)

I think this is a very good explanation of church discipline. I’ve not seen very much of “biblical church discipline” in my time. I’ve been verbally “rebuked” or told to “repent” by the pastor a couple times when my attitude wasn’t right… but I’ve never really been “disciplined” by the church, nor have I seen any Apostolic church I've been a part of seriously discipline anyone but once. Is biblical church discipline lacking in today’s church?

Also…now here comes the hard part of this post…

Have any of you ever faced legitimate church discipline until you were restored? How was it done? How did it affect you? How does it affect you now?

*Please share details with discretion. Don’t confess to a grave sin that you were disciplined for unless you have already brought it well into the open and you are capable of discussing it.

God bless,

Aquila