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What if We Don't Exercise Corrective Discipline?
The Effect of Neglect
 We contribute to the self-deception of a seriously sinning
member.
- Membership in the local church is that church's public affirmation
of a person's salvation, as far as the leadership of the church is able to
affirm it on the basis of good visible fruit.
- When we refuse to discipline serious sin committed by members,
we deceive people into thinking that the church can happily affirm, by uninterrupted
membership, the salvation of someone whose unrepentant sin contradicts their
verbal profession.
- In other words, neglecting church discipline tacitly affirms
the lie that verbal profession of Christ is saving even when unaccompanied
by a lifestyle of genuine repentance and progress in practical holiness. It gives false assurance to people who have no biblical reason at all to
feel sure about their salvation.
- It is in this way that the church contributes to the self-deception
of a seriously sinning member. The complacence of pastors and leaders with
unrepentant sin in members' lives leads unrepentant members to indulge that
same complacence, all the while enjoying the church's public affirmation of
their salvation in the witness of membership!
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