How Important is Church Discipline?

Well, as always, God is challenging me and growing me in specific ways. Over the last few months, He has put me in several church discipline situations. For all of you that know me, you know I am awful at confrontation and being firm. Ha. Well, God is changing that, and He is doing so from His word. I have always known that church discipline is biblical, but it is so rare in our day. Not to mention, the few instances I have seen have not been handled well. Add that together with my personality, and you have a recipe for never participating in church discipline. God is not ok with that, and now, 6 months later, neither am I. For the last six months, I have been reading through Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel. I think the two passages I read yesterday really sum up what God has been revealing to me. In Ezekiel 28 God is bringing condemnation on Tyre and Sidon. In verse 14 He says, “You were blameless in your ways from the day you were created until unrighteousness was found in you.” Then in verse 18 He continues, “By the multitude of your sins, in the unrighteousness of your trade you profaned your sanctuaries, therefore I have brought fire from the midst of you; It has consumed you.” Then at the end of verse 22, He says, “And I will manifest My holiness in her.” God praises Tyre initially as a place of wisdom and glory, but then condemns it because of its sinful pride that has led it astray. In chapter 29, He says the same thing about Egypt. Verse 9-10 make it clear – “The land of Egypt will become a desolation and waste. Then they will know that I am the Lord. Because you have said, ‘The Nile is mine, and I have made it,’ therefore, behold, I am against you and against your rivers, and I will make the land of Egypt an utter waste and desolation, from Migdol to Syne and even to the border of Ethiopia.” It is quite clear that God detests sin. He will not let it go unpunished. But do you see His heart in it? He disciplines and destroys to manifest His holiness in the world– that we would know that He is the Lord.

We so often look at discipline as judgmental. I cannot express how many times I have heard John 8 quoted in the wrong context – “Let him who is without sin cast the first stone.” Or Matthew 7:1, 3-4 – “Do not judge so that you will not be judged…Why do you look at the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ and behold, the log is in your own eye?” At first glance, this sounds biblical… not because it is biblical, but because this is what our world teaches – tolerance. Really, it comes down to our view of sin. I don’t know if we would admit it or not, but culturally we look at people as decent and mostly good. Everyone makes mistakes. It is ok. Just sweep it under the rug and go on. Well, God has shown me quite clearly this is not ok! All throughout Isaiah-Ezekiel, over and over God shows His fury over sin and His desire to eradicate it from the lives of His children. He does not tolerate it. He will destroy nations to manifest His holiness. Sin is serious business. It is no joke. Maybe you are thinking, “That was God in the Old Testament.” I thought that for a moment, until God reminded me of Acts 5:1-10. Here, we get a pretty crazy story. I don’t think I have ever heard a sermon on this passage. I think we are scared of it. Two people sell their land and give money to the church, but the do it pride fully. What does God do? ZAP! They both fall down dead. WHAT?! That makes zero sense to us. Why would God take the lives of two people who just gave the church a lot of money? The holiness of His people is more important than money, power, and any one man or woman. What happens when God disciplines His people and protects His holiness? Read verse 14 – more men and women were added to their number daily! Wow.

Honestly, I originally found this hard to believe, but now I am seeing this true in my life. Over the last few months, God has really convicted me over some things… and disciplined me. And guess what? I have never experienced such joy and freedom. God disciplines us to produce holiness in us. Holiness in us leads to deeper intimacy with Him. God is holy and commands us to be holy so that we can walk with Him intimately. I know I am taking a long time to say something simple, but it has taken me a long time to truly understand the importance of this truth. Let’s go back to John 8 and Matthew 7 for a moment. After Jesus’ famous quote, he looks at the sinful woman and says, “Go and sin no more.” Jesus doesn’t condemn her, but He commands her to sin no more. Wow. In Matthew 7, verse 1 and 3-4 sound like we shouldn’t be about church discipline, but look at verse 5 – “You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and THEN you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.” Jesus does not say, “Do not discipline one another.” No, He says let me discipline and change you, and then you will be able to train and raise up others. The only two times Jesus talks about the church in the gospels is in the context church discipline and holiness! It is so important to Him. This leads me to Psalm 51:12-13. David is praying for forgiveness and restoration, and this is what he says, “Restore to me the joy of Your salvation and sustain me with a willing spirit. THEN I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners will be converted to You.” David knew God’s way of doing things. He doesn’t redeem us and sustain us for ourselves, but as He develops holiness in us, it is to train others in holiness. I began to pray this prayer, and God has made it come to pass. Recently I have been a part of 2 big discipline conversations. With one, I am overjoyed to say that the brother has repented, and the joy of salvation has been restored to him. He is in a process of restoration with the local church and is making great progress. The other brother, please pray for him. Pride is the vilest of sins, and the hardest to let go of. Pray God breaks him of this and leads him to repentance and restoration.

Now more than ever, I am convinced of this. We do not see discipleship and multiplication happening in our day like in the book of Acts because we are not committed to holiness. When sin is belittled, so is holiness. We must see sin for the vile and disgusting thing that it is, and we must see the importance of holiness. In 2 Timothy 2:20-21, Paul tells Timothy that there are vessels fit for great service and ordinary service in God’s house. What is the difference between them? Holiness. One has been cleansed and is fit for service, and the other is not. We look for new ways to do things - new programs and tactics. I am convinced that this is not what we need. We have the word of God. We have the same Spirit that resided in the Apostles and in Christ. We need holiness. We need to be committed to His ways, no matter how hard. I promise, I am not preaching at anyone. I am preaching to myself, and as God is changing my heart concerning this, I can promise you it is worth it.