Ping
Having long asked what the purpose of the church is, Sproul has the best answer I have found.
1) Teach the Holy word
2) administer the sacraments
3) discipline.
There is more to it than that. But it does get down to the core of the matter. The word “discipline” has put an image in everyone’s head in reading this. Think about that image and why you have it.
Disciple and discipline are close to each other. Sometimes pleasant, sometimes unpleasant but if God didn’t love us, he wouldn’t discipline us. This is the image and thought that should be in our head when encountering discipline.
Now, everyone, go sit in the corner and think about what you have done.
God doesn’t want the church to be filled with arrogant, unrepentant bullies and sinners. Instead He demands humility between and among church members, especially toward His laws and His commands.
That’s what church discipline is all about. First the aggrieved (or the one who observed the errant behavior) goes to the offender, and if no repentance then two or three go to the offender, and if no repentance then the offender is brought before the church and removed from fellowship. No repentance, no church forgiveness.
There’s a Biblical standard, and they’re not meeting the Biblical standard, so they must be excised from the church body to keep further damage from their sin from occurring. Their unrepentant, unpunished sin is like a cancer that’s growing in the church, and must be removed quickly and cleanly.
This is where most of the modern visible church fails so utterly. They let that cancer grow and corrupt the entire church, and that’s how you end up with “churches” that support abortion and homosexuality, etc. That cancer, when first appearing, wasn’t removed. Instead it was allowed to flourish and basically kill the patient, the church.