Church Discipline - Part 3 (The Who)

Let’s cut to the chase…
If we’re going to talk about the who of church discipline, we need to ask two questions:

1. Who is to receive church discipline? And…
2. Who is to administer church discipline?

​WHO is to Receive Church Discipline?
I’ve said it before, but it deserves repeating…… church discipline is reserved for those who have placed their faith in Jesus Christ as the One who has satisfied the sin-debt and provides an unbreakable relationship with God.

1 Corinthians 5:12 “For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Do you not judge those who are within (the body of Christ)?”

As believers, we are to hold one another to a standard. When Jesus brought up the four step process in Matthew 18, he was specifically addressing how to approach someone who had indeed sinned as opposed to someone who was suspected of sin. We are not to be in the practice of judging other people’s motives or invoking discipline on the basis of assumption. 1 Corinthians 4:5 tells us that it is God’s job to judge motives….not man’s. This doesn’t mean we can’t ask questions of those within our sphere of influence for the purpose of holding each other accountable. We need people holding us in check. It just means we can’t assume someone’s motives are sinful and worthy of discipline in and of themselves, especially since we can’t observe motives.

Certainly not every sin or suspected sin is meant to invoke church discipline. We all sin everyday in ways that wouldn’t necessarily call for the progression we’ve been talking about. Sometimes we sin almost without thinking about it and then realize it and recognize it as sin as soon as it happens.

The practice of church discipline isn’t meant to turn us all into over-zealous hall monitors, pointing out every offense that we see. It’s primarily about bringing to light damaging patterns of sin that are being left unchecked or unacknowledged for the sake of promoting health.

OSU
There is an acronym that has been used as a helpful tool for how to know when the progression of church discipline is warranted. O.S.U. which stands for Outward, Serious (or Significant) and Unrepentant sin. Since I live in Stillwater, Oklahoma, which is the home of Oklahoma State University, this acronym is easy to remember.

“Outward” means the sin must be something that can be observed (either seen or heard). For instance, people aren’t to be taken through church discipline for their thought lives. We can’t see or hear people’s thoughts just like we can’t observe someone’s motives. The sin needs to be actions that were witnessed or words that were heard. Galatians 6:1 makes reference to someone who is “caught” in a trespass as opposed to being “suspected” of a trespass. In the book of 3 John, the apostle John says that he is going to call attention to the “deeds” of Diotrephes. These deeds had, evidently, been witnessed.

“Serious” (or “Significant”) sin is a term that could seem to be rather subjective and open to interpretation. But, for the sake of an example…….you probably wouldn’t invoke church discipline on a pastor for a one-time exaggeration of the number of baptisms that have been performed in the last year. That may not classify as a “serious” or “significant” sin. God’s word gives us some insight to things that would be considered sins worthy of church discipline which we will look at in a minute. But if I was forced to give a general rule for sins that are worthy of invoking church discipline, I would probably say they are sins that cause harm to others either directly or by influence or are part of a harmful pattern on the part of the one committing the sin that has effects on their fellowship with Christ.

“Unrepentant” sin…repentance is a widely misunderstood and debated topic (which is worthy of its own blog post). When talking about church discipline, what is generally meant by “Unrepentant” sin is that the sin is unconfessed and/or unforsaken. It is referring to a believer who commits a sin but is unwilling to recognize it as sin or take efforts to address the root issue.

As believers, we are ambassadors for Christ. As such, when we as Christ’s ambassadors exhibit outward, serious and unrepentant sin toward others or in view of others, we have the power to taint how bystanders (whether believers or unbelievers) view Jesus.

“Serious” Examples
Sexual sin is probably the first sin people think of when the topic of church discipline is approached. And, these days, that’s somewhat understandable. For one, in recent years, there’s been a lot of light shed on sexually abusive priests that had been covered up for years by the Catholic church. Secondly, we’ve probably all heard stories of church leaders who have been asked to step down because of adultery. And, of course, in 1 Corinthians 5 Paul specifically is reprimanding the Corinthian church for not having exercised discipline on one of the believers who was sleeping with his stepmom.

Clearly, sexual sin falls into the category of “serious” sin when applying the OSU acronym. However, Paul doesn’t reserve church discipline merely for sexual sin.

1 Corinthians 5:11 “But actually, I wrote to you not to associate with any so-called brother if he is an immoral person, or covetous, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or a swindler – not even to eat with such a one.”

Here Paul adds to the list of “serious” sins that he was demanding the church apply discipline to. By no means do I believe this list was meant to be exhaustive. But within this short list, Paul mentions “revilers”. This might be the term in the list that we’re least familiar with and the one we might most question as to why it’s in the list. We may easily understand why it’s a serious sin to worship idols or to swindle people but why is reviling a serious sin? Getting a grasp on what a reviler is might help us have an understanding of what constitutes a serious sin. A reviler is a person who speaks to or about another person abusively, slanderously or with contempt. Why would Paul consider this a serious sin? Because it’s a sin that damages another human being who has been created in God’s image.

Sidenote: Some of the most dangerous words that can be whispered are, “I’m going to tell you something about someone, but don’t tell anyone else.” Abusers and revilers can use this phrase to spread slanderous reports about other people and the listener who accepts these terms then has trapped themselves from being able to verify truth or cross-examine the one being reported on for fear that this would be an act of betrayal or disloyalty to the whisperer. Proverbs 18:17 says, “The first to plead his case seems right, until another comes and examines him.” The whisperer/slanderer/abuser wants to get their narrative out first because they know the first to plead their case seems right, but they definitely don’t want anyone to be cross-examining their narrative. They may act like you’re the only one they’re making privy to their narrative. They may even act like the reason it should stay hush hush is to protect the reputation of the person the narrative is about. In actuality, they likely want the narrative to spread and they want it to be unquestioned. Winston Churchill once said, “A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to put its pants on.”

God takes reviling and slander seriously because of the damaging effect it can have on people created in His image. Reviling might not seem that serious to the bystander but to the one being reviled, it’s a massive deal. And God cares deeply about it. Proverbs 6 give us a list of things the Lord hates and finds abominable. Check it out.

Proverbs 6:16-19 “There are six things which the Lord hates, yes, seven which are an abomination to Him; Haughty eyes, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that run rapidly to evil, a false witness who utters lies, and one who spreads strife among brothers.”

It’s probably safe to say that anything in the Lord’s top seven list would probably be included in the list of “serious” sins that Paul would have found worthy of church discipline. Especially, if those sins were also both outward and unrepentant. And interestingly enough, three of the seven of them are pretty closely tied to reviling…four if done with wicked intent…five if done at the drop of a hat. So, it would appear that a list of “serious” sins would include sins that have relational impacts on others.

Sources of Leaven
Believers who commit observable (Outward) sins that affect their own fellowship with God or have the potential to affect how others view God or the body of Christ (Serious) need to be confronted. If they are unwilling to talk about it or listen to you, and then confess it as sin and forsake it (Unrepentant) then, in Paul’s words, you are “not to associate” with that person…and…”not even to eat with such a one.”

If leaven is not removed, it WILL leaven the whole lump of dough (1 Cor 5:6). Plain and simple…if believers with outward, serious and unrepentant sin are not dealt with in line with God’s word, they WILL continue to have an increasing adverse impact in the local body.  THIS IS NOT A STATEMENT OF PROBABILITY. THIS IS A STATEMENT OF PROMISE AND CERTAINTY.

Here are a few more warnings against associating with people who have outward, serious and unrepentant sin.

Proverbs 22:24-25 “Do not associate with a man given to anger; or go with a hot-tempered man, or you will learn his ways and find a snare for yourself.”

Proverbs 20:19 “He who goes about as a slanderer reveals secrets, therefore do not associate with a gossip.”

2 Timothy 3:2-5 “For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power; Avoid such men as these.”

Hopefully, these passages have provided some level of clarity to who should receive church discipline.

Which brings us to the next part of the Who…

Who is to Administer Church Discipline?
Be careful! This question has the potential to hit you square between the eyes.

While church discipline can have a progression to it, it generally begins with a one-on-one encounter. The Bible does not zero in on any particular person or someone holding a particular office to make this first encounter. It really could be any believer. However, knowing that church discipline is ultimately an act of love for the purpose of restoration, it needs to be a person who is capable of approaching the situation in this manner and prayerfully. This doesn’t necessarily mean that emotions won’t rise or that either party is going to approach the situation perfectly but the confrontation needs to be done by someone with the capacity to love in this way.

Similarly, if the situation progresses to a point where two or three are doing the confronting, hearts need to be humble and in check. Matthew 7:5 says “…first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.” Keep in mind that Jesus Christ goes with those who address sin in this manner. When He said (in Matthew 18:20), “For where two or three have gathered together in My name, I am in their midst”, He was talking specifically about administering church discipline.

Some people are of the mindset that only church elders or pastors are to be involved in church discipline. But the Bible doesn’t say that. When Paul rebuked the church at Corinth for not addressing sin, his rebuke was indeed to the church…not necessarily just to the elders. Similarly, when Jesus instructed John to write the letters to the seven churches (in Revelation 1:11), these were indeed letters to the churches and not just to the church leadership. So, when Jesus issued His rebuke for the things that were going on in the church of Thyatira without being addressed, He was rebuking the church as a body rather than singling out particular individuals.

Granted, certainly by the time you progress to step 3 (“If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church”, Matthew 18:17a), it would be a good idea to have elders involved. But, as members of the body of Christ, we aren’t supposed to expect that every step of church discipline is solely the responsibility of church elders.

That said…be praying for your elders because their task is not an easy one. They do indeed have a responsibility to uphold discipline and they will certainly be held responsible if they don’t uphold church discipline when it is called for biblically.

Read Paul’s words which were in the context of elders disciplining a fellow elder…

1 Timothy 5:19-21 “Do not receive an accusation against an elder except on the basis of two or three witnesses. Those who continue in sin, rebuke in the presence of all, so that the rest also will be fearful of sinning. I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus and of His chosen angels, to maintain these principles without bias, doing nothing in a spirit of partiality.” 

Let that last part sink in for a minute. Paul gives a solemn charge…without bias…and without partiality. This means it didn’t matter how long they had known this elder. It didn’t matter how close they were to his family. It didn’t matter how great a teacher this person was or how many verses he’d memorized. It didn’t matter if he had officiated your daughter’s wedding or baptized your son. If two or three witnesses brought forth a legitimate charge, the church leadership were to investigate it and address the sin. To not do so is to prove that you are not fit to be a shepherd.

Hear me on this, though. The solemn charge that Paul gave the elders isn’t just to those who hold the office of elder or shepherd. The charge to be sure church discipline is taking place is issued to the church…not just to church leadership.

Ezekiel 34 and Jeremiah 23 both make it clear that God will handle shepherds who neglect their duty. But a cursory review of the letters to the seven churches in Revelation will also show…Jesus is not against removing lampstands (churches). So, if you see leaven, don’t stick your head in the sand and don’t spend too much time looking around hoping someone else will handle it.
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In the question of Who…He may be looking at you.