Church discipline is not practiced enough. We need more church discipline. Right now you’re thinking, “What?!” I suspect that for the majority of us, the expression “church discipline” has been purely punitive. It is punishment and even retribution for sinning. You’ve probably seen it play out: a person sins, confesses his or her sin, the church jumps straight to Matthew 18—but only the part about removing that person from the church. This usually brings shame rather than a maturing faith. This isn’t discipline: this is retribution. It is punishment. It is not what Jesus meant.
It may be the church discipline results in the removal of a person. In 1 Corinthians 5 Paul told the church there to excommunicate the man who refused to repent of his sexual immorality. In Titus 3 Paul told Titus after warning a divisive person once and then twice, he must have nothing more to do with that person. These are extreme cases. Sadly, for many “church discipline” means this: removing a person from the church, and if not direct removal, the individual being “disciplined” loses all rights and responsibilities in the church. This usually means such a person is not allowed to serve according to his or her giftedness.
A person who is in an office in the church, whether elder or deacon, must maintain qualification for that office. If a person is no longer qualified, he or she cannot serve in that official capacity. There is no justification, however, for jumping straight to the worst possible outcome, which is excommunication.
The words “disciple” and “discipline” come from the Latin word for “instruction” or “teaching”. A disciple is one who is being instructed or taught. Discipline is the system of instruction. Here we see the negative connotation we have with “church discipline” is false. When the church disciples one another, it is disciplining one another—teaching or instructing one another to follow Christ. There is a system of instruction to help men and women and children follow Christ faithfully.
This discipline is two-fold. There is corrective discipline. This is usually what comes to mind when we think of church discipline. When a child breaks a rule, parents discipline the child. There is a negative consequence to the bad behavior that is intended to form a connection in the child’s mind: bad behavior results in bad things, therefore don’t engage in bad behavior. This is only part—a small part—of discipline, however.
There is also formative discipline. This is far more common. Whenever a parent insists her five-year-old brush his teeth, the child is being disciplined. He hasn’t done anything wrong! Rather, the parent has a system of instruction for the child’s well-being. This includes making his bed, washing his hands after using the toilet, doing his homework, et cetera. The parent wishes to form the boy into the man he must become. If he hits his sister or back-talks his mama, there is corrective discipline but for the most part the system of instruction is formative.
This is true in the church as well. The truth is everyone who is part of New City is “under discipline”. That is, they are being formed into the image of Christ. We do this through worship, through our City Groups, through serving one another, through our regular and normal interactions, through prayer, through Bible study. There are times for corrective discipline as well. Discipleship—that system of instruction in the faith—must happen in relationship.
One passage that we do not think of as being about church discipline is in James 5.
Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing praise. Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working. Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed fervently that it might not rain, and for three years and six months it did not rain on the earth. Then he prayed again, and heaven gave rain, and the earth bore its fruit.
James 5:13-20 ESV
My brothers, if anyone among you wanders from the truth and someone brings him back, let him know that whoever brings back a sinner from his wandering will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins.
This text is quite beautiful. First James offers a gentle warning to those who are suffering: don’t wail and moan, but pray. Implicit is the urging to not become bitter. Take it to the Lord. There is also a gentle warning to those for whom life is currently wonderful. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing praise. That is, don’t brag and boast about how good you have it. Whether you’re suffering or doing well, remember the Lord in all things. This is his first point. Then he moves on to another important matter.
If one is sick, he or she can call for the council of elders, and the elders will pray over that person, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. This is not a common practice today but this fact would be shocking to James. He expected this to be a normal, routine function in the church (it is one, by the way, our elders are quite willing to do!).
In the ancient world oil was associated with healing. By insisting this anointing be done “in the name of the Lord” James was forestalling any association with magical incantations or the idea that oil may have a magical property. The oil functions much like the sacraments of baptism and communion function: they are visible signs of what God is doing invisibly. Through the physical experience of anointing, the one anointed is reminded that God is doing something that cannot be seen.
James indicates the prayer of faith will “save” the one who is sick. This is a physical salvation, not a spiritual one. God saves through faith, not anointing with oil. When the elders pray for the one who is sick and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord, the Lord may, in fact, grant healing. More importantly, however, is the connection James makes: if the person has committed sins, he will be forgiven. Sin and illness were often connected in that day.
In John 9 Jesus’ disciples asked him if a man had been born blind because he sinned or because his parents sinned. Jesus tells them it wasn’t because of either. James knows we cannot make the direct association between illness and sin, so he writes, “If he has committed sins”. While we cannot make the association on our own, sometimes illness is an act of God’s discipline.
In 1 Corinthians 11 Paul is correcting the Corinthians’ practice of the Lord’s Supper. People were being served food according to their social status, with the wealthy receiving better food than the poor, and they were being given privileged positions during the meal. It is so important that we come to the Eucharistic celebration as equals that we read there:
That is why many of you are weak and ill, and some have died.
1 Corinthians 11:30 ESV
Here we see the severity of God’s corrective discipline, such is the importance the Lord places on communion. James offers an antidote: confession of sins. “If he has committed sins, he will be forgiven.” This is why James immediately jumps to the command to confess our sins to one another. He says “whoever brings back a sinner from his wandering will save his soul from death”.
This passage in James is about “church discipline”—the system of instruction by which we strive to make fully mature followers of Christ. Part of that discipline—formative discipline!—is confessing our sins. We acknowledge the ways in which we have sinned against God, knowing the mercy and grace that is ours in him. What is truly remarkable about this is the freedom we feel when we do. When the light of truth shines in the darkness of sin, sin is banished. As the apostle John put it, “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”
Sometimes God uses illness to reveal the depths of our sin. The promise we have is when we call the elders to pray for us and anoint us with oil and when we confess those sins, God is faithful and just to forgive us. In this action there is no direct rebuke. When one confesses sin, one does not need to be convinced of the sin, so rebuke is unnecessary. What is necessary may be correction and encouragement. The Lord gives us this formative discipline to build up the body of Christ, not tear it down.
The truth is church discipline is not punitive. It is never intended to be punitive. It is always intended to build up, whether one is receiving corrective discipline or the more ordinary—and far more common—formative discipline.
Church discipline is a gift given to us by the Lord himself. There have been studies over the last couple years that show there are between $23,000,000,000 and $27,000,000,000 in unredeemed gift cards given. The gift is opened and then set aside where it stays in a drawer, perhaps for years—or perhaps never to be used.
Let’s not put the gift of church discipline—discipleship—in a drawer to be forgotten about. Let’s redeem this gift and use it as the Lord intends: to build up one another in the faith. Let’s not hold on to this gift, dreaming of the “right” opportunity to give it. As the Spirit nudges you to speak a word of encouragement, speak! If the Spirit nudges you to issue a word of caution, speak! If the Spirit moves you to walk alongside a brother or sister who is struggling, walk along side your sibling! Be the gift God has given to his church.