The Beauty of Biblical Church Discipline

Today in the morning service we heard a beautiful sermon on church discipline, based on Mat 18:15-18.

You might think, how does the word "beautiful" go together with "church discipline"?

Well, generally speaking, all the Lord's commands are beautiful (Ps 119:111,129) and not grievous (1Jn 5:2). But in particular, I found this morning's sermon so beautiful because of the great love, longsuffering and care that the way in which churches in my denomination exercise church discipline shows.

To summarise the start, when a brother sins in doctrine or in walk privately, the offended believer or the believer who witnessed the sin, must lovingly and humbly confront the sinning church member in private (Mat 18:15); not gossip about it or immediately go to the consistory (the elders of the church). The one who is doing the confronting must do it out of love and concern, not thinking himself better (Gal 6:1). If the brother/sister does not repent, one or two witnesses must be brought along and the sinning brother/sister confronted again, because every charge must be established "in the mouth of two or three witnesses" (Mat 18:16). If he/she still does not repent, it must be told the "church" (Mat 18:17). This is done by telling the representatives of the local church, the consistory. Just like the American President saying he has told Germany such and such, doesn't necessarily mean that every German has heard it, but that the representatives (e.g. the German embassy in Washington) were informed. The reason it is not yet told every member will become apparent below.

The Word of God tells us to discipline our children; but it doesn't tell us how exactly to discipline them; and so, in order to do everything in order and to prevent chaos, homes should establish rules in terms of how exactly this discipline is carried out. In the same way, a local church must establish rules so that it can govern itself in order (1Co 14:40) and fulfill its biblical calling.

The exact way that Protestant Reformed churches conduct this part of church discipline is set out in the Church Order, Articles 72-78. It goes like this, and this is the part I found so beautiful.

When a member of the church approaches the consistory to inform them of the sinning member, everything is done very slowly, carefully and considerately. First, everyone involved is interviewed by the consistory, including the suspected church member, in order to establish the facts as clearly as possible and prevent misunderstandings. Then, once his/her guilt is established, the consistory begins meeting with the guilty church member, to plead with him/her to come to repentance, and to try and help him/her in any way possible to see their error. If this is still unsuccessful, the guilty member is denied the Lord's Supper, the baptism of his/her children and a voice and vote in church meetings. If he/she continues impenitent, there is the 1st public announcement.

An announcement is given in the church, describing only in as much detail as necessary, the nature of the sin, without revealing the identity of the guilty member. This statement is written out beforehand and agreed on by the whole consistory, for the sake of accountability and so that neither too much nor too little information is given out. At this stage, the whole church is asked to pray for the guilty member, that the Lord would bring him/her to repentance. If he/she continues impenitent, the consistory brings the matter to the classis (meeting of several consistories from neighbouring sister churches), in order to get their advice and input; in this meeting, it will be ascertained that everything reasonably possible has been done for the good of the erring church member before the next step is taken, the 2nd public announcement.

This announcement is made in the church service, in which the erring member is finally identified. At this stage, the church is called on to lovingly talk to the impenitent, to plead with him/her to repent, and to pray for his/her repentance. All this time, the consistory continues working with him/her, in the hope of bringing him/her to see his/her error. Finally, a 3rd announcement is made, in which the church is told that the erring member will be excommunicated if they continue in their error.

If they are still unrepentant, the final step is taken. In a worship service of the church, the unrepentant member is excommunicated, according to Mat 18:17b. This is done in PR churches by reading out the Form for Excommunication (forms are simply written documents which walk through the administration of certain actions of the church such as administration of the Lord's Supper, Baptism, Excommunication, etc., and explain the doctrines behind them, to ensure everything is done "decently and in order" and to promote church unity in a local church and between churches).

The reason I think this is so beautiful is because of the extreme care taken to do everything possible to bring the impenitent sinner to repentance. The time period between the consistory first being contacted and eventual excommunication, on the rare occasion that it goes this far, takes I am told often several months, all throughout which the church prays for their restoration and pleads with him/her, and the consistory continuously meet with him/her and try to work things through.

This manner of carrying out church discipline is also great because it prevents the horrible abuse this has received in some churches in the past.

The act of excommunication is a very difficult thing for each member of the church, because it constitutes treating the excommunicated as a "publican and a heathen" (Mat 18:17); that is, the members of the church are not to have fellowship with him/her, neither should any other church receive him/her into membership. That is because in excommunication, the impenitent is declared outside the kingdom of Christ, unless and until they repentent (1Co 5:4-5). This is part of the excercise of the keys of the kingdom by the church (Mat 18:18ff).

The purpose of excommunication is three-fold:

1. For the glory of God: That it might be clear to the whole world that God is a God of holiness, whose eyes do not behold evil and who is pure from sin (Hab 1:13). (It is an absolute disgrace how many churches nowadays allow adulterers, fornicators, God-cursers, false teachers and heretics to remain in fellowship; these churches have lost their zeal for God. They are a disgrace to the cause of Christ. And once impenitent members are allowed remain, the apostasy of that church follows soon. May the Lord be pleased to keep us from similar error).
   
2. For the holiness of the church: For "a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump", and if an unrepentant member is allowed to continue in the church, the whole church will become corrupt, 1Co 5:5-7.
3. For the good of the impenitent sinner: For the hope of the church in excommunication is always the restoration of the impenitent, and the church prays that the Lord would use the excommunication to bring him/her to repentance, 1Co 5:5.

May the Lord be pleased to restore churches to biblical church discipline, for the sake of His Name and His beloved children, which He leads as a shepherd.