Church Discipline

A couple of weeks ago I was listening to a sermon by Jeff Noblit on Church discipline(Part 1 and Part 2) and he gave a few reasons why it is necessary and important and what is the biblical outcome of practicing discipline in the church. Here's an outline I did of the sermon:

I. The Reason for Church Discipline

a. The Principle of Ownership (It’s [the church] His, bought with His own Blood Acts 20:28, It’s His body, He’s the Body Col 1:18, It’s His Bride, It’s His Church [Building] Matt 16:18)

b. The Principle of Stewardship (We have been entrusted a stewardship, Shepherding God’s Flock according to His will 1 Peter 5:2 )

................................... i. To Glorify God by Obedience to His Instructions (Matthew 18:15-20, Acts 5:1-14, 1Corinthian 5, 2 Corinthians 2:9)

...................................ii. To Sanctify the Lord’s Supper (Church is for repentant Sinners not for Sinners who live in continual sin without repentance)

...................................iii. To Purify the Spirit and Message of the Church (1 Corinthians 5 or 6, A Little Leaven will leaven up the dough)

...................................iv. To deny Satan any advantage in the church (2 Corinthians 2:11)

...................................v. To Prove that Leaders Love and Care (2 Corinthians 7:1-13)

...................................vi. To Deter Others From Sin (1 Timothy 5:12)

...................................vii. To Destroy Fleshly Lust in a Believer (1 Corinthians 5:5)

...................................viii. To Cut Emotional Ties with Unrepentant Christians (1 Corinthians 5:11)

...................................ix. To Protect Scripture From Perversion and Error (Silence False Teachers Titus 1:10-13)

...................................x. To Shame a Brother to Repentance (2 Thessalonians 3:13)

...................................xi. To Restore Repentant Believers (Galatians 6:1)

...................................xii. To Expose and Remove the Unregenerate (1 John 2:19)

II. The Range of Church Discipline

a. Private Sin Receives Private Rebuke (Matthew 18:15)

b. Public Sin Receives Public Rebuke

c. A Factious Spirit, after a first and 2^nd warning

III. The Result of Church Discipline

a. The Purification of the Church (Acts 5 v.11, 1 Timothy 5:20) [Deut 13:1-6]

b. The Unification of the Church (They were all with one accord Acts 5:12, UNITY in the NT: John 17:23[Perfection in individual holiness, produces unity in a community], Ephesians 4:3[Unity created by an extending forth from the Spirit, focus on being Spirit-filled], Ephesians 4:13[When you are growing in the knowledge of Christ, unity is the by-product], Colossians 3:14 [Love is the perfect bond of Unity, Romans 5:5])

c. The Sanctification of the Church (Acts 5:13, None of the Rest, who were not truly saved or serious about Christ, dared to associate with them; 1 Thessalonians 4:3)

d. The Multiplication of the Church (Acts 5:14, A New Surge of Evangelism Takes Off)

e. The Admiration for the Church (Acts 5:13, However, the people held them in high esteem)

After such a great sermon and especially learning what the results of Church discipline are I began to wonder, well I've never heard of anything being done like that at our church, not that there is anything joyful in having to consistently rebuke someone for their sin and eventually if necessary expel them from the church, but it still made me wonder.
Then during the Shepherds Conference I tuned in on Sunday to listen to the sermon and what they would be preaching on that day. They also had the Lords supper and Pastor John MacArthur did something quite shocking. Church discipline during that same day was practiced and a member of the church (not present that day) was exposed publicly of his sin and Pastor MacArthur pleaded with the church members to seek this man and to lovingly speak to him and pray for him that he may come to repentance.
I immediately thought of Jeff Noblit's sermon on church discipline. The impact this has on people, I know it impacted me and one of the Pastor's of my church who went to the Shepherd's Conference shared with us after he came back that it impacted him as well.
Well the point of all this is that today it happened at our church. They explained everything that was done, the amount of time that they spent dealing with the problem, the amount of witnesses used to rebuke in various occasions the person in question, the chances she was given to repent, how they followed all the biblical steps. Sadly the person did not repent and has not repented, even today they told us that person kept on with her disobedience and insubordination and so finally they had to expel her from the church. Our prayer is that with guidance from some people from the church she might repent. And while it is a sad thing when a professing brother or sister fall and stay in sin, God's Holiness must be exalted above everything else and it must be defended and proclaimed.