Theology Thursday: The Church's Defense Mechanism

John Calvin and Jonathan Edwards were both fired from their churches and both for the same reason: they insisted on a pure membership. In 1 Corinthians, Paul faces the same problem when he rebukes the church for allowing a man living in open sin to remain in the congregation.

Today the difficulty of church discipline usually isn’t the elders or even the person in need of discipline. The problem is usually the other members, who cannot abide to see someone suffer. Modern people always view suffering as bad, something to be eliminated, but God consistently uses suffering as a means of grace. Even in parenting, we want our kids to be as happy as possible all the time, but older generations knew that learning patience and discipline were necessary for not being miserable as an adult.

Church discipline has to be a part of a healthy church. A church without it is no church at all. First, it implies church membership. We can’t discipline anyone who isn’t part of our body. Second, it protects the church. Without discipline, the church has an auto-immune disease—it is vulnerable to any attack and unable to defend itself. Lastly, and most importantly, church discipline is love. Only a true parent loves and disciplines his child. A church loves one another only if they are willing to discipline a member for the good of that member. Sentimentality doesn’t love, but only wallows in good feelings. Love is resolute and wise, seeking the ultimate good of another. It is not loving to allow a brother or sister to continue in unrepentant sin and destroy their souls. It is not loving to allow a false teacher to spread deadly doctrines. And it is not loving to allow envy, gossip, and bitterness to destroy other members of the church.

We have a loophole in the church discipline process, which is why we very rarely practice it, and that is we can simply move to another church before the process begins. That is why we encourage you, as a member, to not leave without the blessings of the elders and your fellow members. We also contact former churches of new members so that we don’t become a new stopping place for those fleeing discipline 

Mark Dever says, “Never join a church that wouldn’t kick you out.” As you grow in knowledge and grace, through our church history lessons and sermons from the New Testament churches, let’s pray for and strive to be a strong church that can protect itself, protect its members, and show the glory of God in this city.