中文LESSON 11 Church Discipline and Excommunication
OPENING PRAYER
HOMEWORK ASSIGNMENT REVIEW
CHURCH DISCIPLINE WHAT IS “CHURCH DISCIPLINE”? Read Luke 17:3 If a fellow Christian sins, we are to ___________________________________. If a sinner repents, we are to ____________________________________. Read Proverbs 13:24 and Revelation 3:19 God wants us to associate discipline with ________________ Notes: • “Discipline” = “to educate, to teach” (The word “discipline” comes from the same word as “disciple” = someone who follows and learns) • The terminology “church discipline” may be used in a broad or narrow sense. • Broad sense: The entire process of admonition, from private admonition to the final stages of public admonition of the entire church, as outlined in Matthew 18:15-18. • Narrow sense: The final stages of admonition when the process of personal and private brotherly admonition moves to the stages where the entire congregation is involved.
WHAT IS THE PURPOSE OR GOAL OF CHURCH DISCIPLINE? Read Galatians 6:1-2 The purpose and goal of all church discipline is to _______________________________ Read Romans 12:17-19 The purpose or goal of discipline is never to: ___________________________________
Notes: • The purpose of church discipline is to teach a person in a loving way the grave consequences of unrepentant sin. Impenitence, since it leads to loss of faith and eternal damnation, is something that a concerned group of Christians will care about. Thus, church discipline is not about punishment, but Christian love. • Embarrassing or humiliating the sinner have no place in proper church discipline, nor do revenge or punishment. • Proper church discipline is not done to “clean up the membership role” but to help the sinner. • Rumor and hear-say is not sufficient evidence to pursue church discipline. We must rebuke sin only when there is clear evidence of it. • Mass excommunications of groups or large numbers of people, even if the sin is the same (such as neglect of the means of grace) is never proper. Each individual case is special and unique. WHO IS RESPONSIBLE FOR CHURCH DISCIPLINE? Read Colossians 3:16 What are Christians to do for each other?
Read James 5:19-20 What are Christians to do for each other?
Read Leviticus 19:17 What are Christians to do for each other?
Notes: • Brotherly admonition is a duty which all Christians owe one another. • It consists of speaking to a fellow Christian about his sin, urging him to repent of it and forsake it. • This is not the duty of the pastor alone, or of the church council alone.
HOW IS CHURCH DISCIPLINE CARRIED OUT? Read Matthew 18:15-17 What are the four steps or stages of church discipline as outlined by Jesus in these verses? v.15 __________________________________________________________________ v. 16 __________________________________________________________________ v. 17a __________________________________________________________________ v. 17b __________________________________________________________________
Notes on the first three stages of church discipline. Stage One: Private Admonition • This stage may be carried out by any and every Christian, including the pastor. • The private admonition should rarely be limited to a single contact. • Patient and humble instruction, with a careful use of the Word of God, is used during private admonition. The facts need to be carefully substantiated during this stage. Stage Two: Discipline with One or Two Witnesses • When a Christian needs to involve one or two witnesses, the concerned Christian will invite one or two others to accompany him or her on the visit, but will not tell the witnesses about the situation ahead of time. The witnesses need to be neutral and unprejudiced so that they can testify to the truth with integrity. • As in stage one, a number of contacts are usually made in making every attempt to avoid taking the case beyond this stage. Stage Three: Taking It To The Church • As in stage two, when the discipline matter comes to this stage, the church should only be told in the presence of the one who is under discipline so that he or she can defend him/herself and answer to the charges of sin and impenitence. Every effort needs to be made to have the person who is under discipline present in person at the meeting at which the case is brought forward. • Once again, repeated contacts are often appropriate during this stage of discipline as every effort is made to regain the sinner. • “The Church” is understood to mean the local congregation. This stage can take place in a properly called meeting of the congregation, or its representatives (such as a voters assembly).