Church Discipline UP-Front (Part 2 of 2)

Talking about Church Discipline UP-Front is Wise because it’s the way that Jesus did it.

The membership class begins. Everyone is smiling. Discussions of baptism and communion abound. Food is shared around the table. Everyone is having a good time. Then one of the Elders clears their throat, and says, “Let’s talk about how we’re going to maintain purity here at The Bridge Church.”

“Oh, how delightful!” many say in response to this news. But then follows a conversation that -despite best efforts to clearly articulate the issue at hand- always raises the question, “Isn’t that a little condemning?” But it isn’t condemnation. It’s wisdom bound inside of a careful warning.

Bridge Church is convinced that if we talk about church discipline from the beginning, we will be following the example that Jesus gives us. If we all agree that Jesus is the ultimate pastor, then we should all try to model our ministry on His, and if we decide to do that- then we will sooner or later realize that Jesus talked about church discipline the very moment that He began to talk about the church. When Jesus first begins to talk about Church, He does so in Matthew 16:13-19. This is the FIRST time “church” is mentioned, and it’s the FIRST time that Jesus begins to talk about the church.

In that passage he immediately begins talking about “binding & loosing.” Jesus, from the very moment that He first begins to teach about the church, begins to teach that the church’s primary function is to provide a positive identification of authentic believers in a fallen and lost world. The church as  a “called-out community” is given the responsibility for calling-out others from the world, and distinguishing those truly called-out from those who are still of the world. Jesus begins teaching this ministry of binding and loosing from the very first mention of the word “church.” The second time he mentions the church, and the second time that the church is ever mentioned in the New Testament is in Matthew 18. This passage further unpacks the idea of “binding & loosing,” and explicitly talks about church discipline. So if any good pastor wants to base his ministry on the example that Christ modeled for us, then we must conclude that if Jesus talked about church discipline from the very first moment that He talked about the church –we should talk about church discipline the very first moment that we begin to talk about church. By refusing to make church discipline a part of the discussion from the very beginning, you are basically saying that you have more wisdom on the appropriate timing of such teaching than Jesus did.

And there are, unfortunately, too many who do this. When folks come to join with the church and decide to take the church membership class they are almost never approached with the concept of accountability and never told that they may be removed from the fellowship of the church. This is a sad tragedy that rejects the ministry that Christ modeled for us.