PREVENTIVE CHURCH DISCIPLINE

PREVENTIVE CHURCH DISCIPLINE

These articles cannot be stored on BBS or Internet sites or sold or placed by themselves or with other material in any electronic format for sale, but may be distributed for free by e-mail or by print. They must be left intact and nothing removed or changed, including these informational headers. This is a listing for Fundamental Baptists and other fundamentalist, Bible-believing Christians. Our goal in this particular aspect of our ministry is not devotional but is TO PROVIDE INFORMATION TO ASSIST PREACHERS IN THE PROTECTION OF THE CHURCHES IN THIS APOSTATE HOUR.

How to Subscribe
Please note that this is not a free service. We take up a quarterly offering to fund this ministry, and each subscriber is expected to participate.

To Subscribe or Unsubscribe:
Click on the following link to go to
http://www.wayoflife.org/fbis/subscribe.html

Some of these articles are from O Timothy magazine. David W. Cloud, Editor. O Timothy is a monthly magazine in its 18th year of publication. Subscription is $20/yr. Way of Life publishes many helpful books. The catalog is located at the web site: http://www.wayoflife.org/.

Way of Life Literature,
P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061–0368.
1-866-295-4143 (toll free: USA & Canada),
519-652-2619 (voice), fbns@wayoflife.org (email)

Internet Discount on Fundamental Baptist CD-ROM Library

Sale! Way of Life Advanced Bible Studies Series

January 7, 1998 (David W. Cloud, Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061-0368, fbns@wayoflife.org) - The following is from the studies on Church Discipline in the Way of Life Encyclopedia of the Bible & Christianity, copyright 1994, Way of Life Literature --

"Prevention is the best medicine." This is true in church discipline as well as in other areas of life. God's goal in disciplining His children is to cause them to live the right kind of lives. He does not want to punish us. He simply wants to instruct us from His Word by His Spirit and have us obey (Ps. 32:8-9). He punishes only when we refuse to follow His instructions. Preventive discipline, then, is everything the church does in an attempt to cause the members to live obedient lives and to avoid the need for disciplinary correction.

(1) PREVENTIVE DISCIPLINE IS MAINTAINED THROUGH HAVING BIBLE STANDARDS FOR CHURCH MEMBERS (Ac. 2:41-42). This is a very basic and essential part of church discipline. It is impossible to keep the church pure unless efforts are made to guard the door into church membership by seeking to ascertain if people are born again and committed to the N.T. faith before they are brought onto the church roll.

(2) PREVENTIVE DISCIPLINE IS MAINTAINED THROUGH HAVING BIBLE STANDARDS FOR CHURCH OFFICERS AND WORKERS (1 Ti. 3; Jam. 3:1). One of the most important ways to encourage high moral standards in a church body is to maintain high standards for those who teach and who are involved in any capacity of leadership. These are the people who will set the moral tone for the assembly. The average church member cannot be expected to live a higher standard of Christianity than his officers. If the teachers and deacons are worldly and participate in questionable practices, their students will normally follow this poor example and will be even more worldly than the teachers. It is wise to have written guidelines which state the various standards which are expected of any person who is looked upon as a teacher or officer in the church family.

(3) PREVENTIVE DISCIPLINE IS MAINTAINED THROUGH THE PREACHING AND TEACHING MINISTRY OF THE CHURCH. Church discipline is exercised when the leaders teach and preach the Bible in such a way that God's people become what they should be. The kind of preaching and teaching a church has will largely (but not entirely, of course) determine what kind of church it will be. The word translated "chasten" in He. 12:6 is translated "instruct" in 2 Ti. 3:16, showing that discipline comes through the Scriptures. Church leaders who faithfully preach the Bible are thereby disciplining their members. This ministry requires that the Bible be preached plainly and that it be applied specifically to the lives of the hearers. Proverbs 6:23 says "reproofs of instruction are the way of life." The modern "self-esteem" type of ministry will not discipline the church in holiness. Preaching in vague generalities and using examples which miss the mark of the actual condition of the church family, will not get the job done, either. If people can sit year after year under the preaching of a pastor and remain carnal and worldly and unfruitful, there is something seriously wrong with the man's preaching. Sound preaching will drive people one way or the other. It will not allow them to be comfortable in their sin. The focus today on "church growth" rather than on strict faithfulness to God and His Word has encouraged a generation of cowardly preachers who refuse to rebuke sin plainly. Such "preaching" will not provide the discipline that the church needs to remain pure before God.

(4) PREVENTIVE DISCIPLINE IS MAINTAINED THROUGH THE PASTORAL MINISTRY OF THE LEADERS (1 Th. 2:7-12; Col. 1:28). While the preaching ministry of the church is crucial, there is also the need for a personal, private ministry to individuals. Love and personal attention is necessary. This is referred to in the title of "pastor," meaning shepherd. Many Christians have become discouraged because of the failure of church leaders to love and help them on an individual basis. I recall such a case in a church some years ago. The pastor faithfully and in great detail taught the Bible, but he did not exercise a personal ministry to the members, and it is not unlikely that this failure was partially to blame for the subsequent divorce of two young married couples in the church. The pastor did not visit the couples and try to help them privately. He did not have time for them. Today two of the people involved have returned to the Lord and to the church, but their lives are marred and broken by the pain of divorce. It was their own sin that brought this ruin upon them, but it is also possible that the divorces could have been avoided had the pastor fulfilled his responsibility as a shepherd. Contrast this failure with the following testimony of a genuine pastor who recognizes the importance of shepherding his flock:

"I truly long to be of service to you as your pastor. When I first got saved, I thought pastors were half human and half divine and that it was good to stay away from them. As a result, I did not grow as I should. Had I known that I could approach my pastor, there were many questions he could have answered for me, and there was much needed counseling that he could have given me. ... There is a very tender relationship between the shepherd and the sheep, and our Lord wills it thus for the pastor and the members of the church family. When you have sickness, problems, and other difficulties, please call me. ... I am busy, but not too busy to be concerned to help you with your burdens and heartaches" (James Crumpton, New Testament Church Discipline). See Ps. 23; Jer. 23:1-4; Jn. 10:11-30; Acts 20:28-32; 1 Th. 2; 1 Pet. 5:1-4.

(5) PREVENTIVE DISCIPLINE IS MAINTAINED THROUGH THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE CHURCH MEMBERS. It is not enough for the church leaders to preach and shepherd the flock. They are limited in number and simply cannot do everything that is needed for the sanctification of the assembly. The members must minister to one another day by day. Every Christian, therefore, has a vital part in maintaining the discipline of the church. The members are to teach one another (Col. 3:16), exhort and correct one another (He. 3:12-14; 10:24-25; Rom. 15:14), minister to one another (1 Pet. 4:9-10), comfort one another (1 Th. 4:18; 5:11), love and forgive one another (Rom. 12:10; Ga. 5:13; Eph. 4:32; Col. 3:13; 1 Pet. 3:8), visit and help the sick and widows (Jam. 1:27), confess faults to one another and pray for one another (Jam. 5:16).