Church Discipline
In dealing with erring church members, God’s people are carefully
to follow the instruction given by the Saviour in the eighteenth chapter
of Matthew.
Human beings are Christ’s property, purchased by Him at an in-
finite price, bound to Him by the love that He and His Father have
manifested for them. How careful, then, we should be in our dealing
with one another! Men have no right to surmise evil in regard to
their fellow men. Church members have no right to follow their own
impulses and inclinations in dealing with fellow members who have
erred. They should not even express their prejudices regarding the
erring, for thus they place in other minds the leaven of evil. Reports
unfavorable to a brother or sister in the church are communicated from
one to another of the church members. Mistakes are made and injustice
is done because of an unwillingness on the part of someone to follow
the directions given by the Lord Jesus.
“If thy brother shall trespass against thee,” Christ declared, “go
and tell him his fault between thee and him alone.”
Matthew 18:15
.
Do not tell others of the wrong. One person is told, then another, and
still another; and continually the report grows, and the evil increases,
till the whole church is made to suffer. Settle the matter “between thee
and him alone.” This is God’s plan. “Go not forth hastily to strive,
lest thou know not what to do in the end thereof, when thy neighbor
hath put thee to shame. Debate thy cause with thy neighbor himself;
and discover not a secret to another.”
Proverbs 25:8, 9
. Do not suffer
sin upon your brother; but do not expose him, and thus increase the
difficulty, making the reproof seem like a revenge. Correct him in the
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way outlined in the word of God.
Do not suffer resentment to ripen into malice. Do not allow the
wound to fester and break out in poisoned words, which taint the minds
of those who hear. Do not allow bitter thoughts to continue to fill your
mind and his. Go to your brother, and in humility and sincerity talk
with him about the matter.
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