Uh, oh, wrong topic. Who wants to hear about discipline nowadays? Perhaps Klaas is having a bad day. Still, it is good when we remind ourselves that discipline is required. The exercising of church discipline is one of the three marks of the church, as we fondly say. Lately I read more often that church discipline is lacking in some Reformed churches. Is this really so?

For many years I have taught catechism students that there are three kinds of discipline, and we only meet the next kind if we neglect the former. Not hard to remember. What are the three kinds of discipline? Memorize.

Three Kinds of Discipline⤒🔗

First, there is self-discipline. No one can really tell us what to do if we are not willing to do so ourselves. This is what the Apostle Paul means when he writes, "But if we judged ourselves, we would not come under judgment" (1 Cor 11:31). This judging of ourselves is a matter of self-discipline.

Then there is mutual discipline. If we will not discipline ourselves, then others have to discipline us. This is the duty we owe each other as believers, as brothers and sisters in Christ. We are to admonish a sinner in love, and if he/she will not listen, we are to take along witnesses. The Lord Jesus speaks of this mutual discipline in Matthew 18:16.

Finally, there is church discipline. We read about this also in Matthew 18, when the Lord Jesus exhorts us to involve the church ("tell it to the church"), which must excommunicate a sinner if there is no repentance. This is the last phase of discipline which is only applied when the other phases have led to no positive result.

If we do not discipline ourselves, others must do this, and if we still do not listen, the church becomes responsible. It is clear, then, that before someone is excommunicated, a patient path of longsuffering love has been followed and the refusal to repent has become very clear and obvious. No one is simply excommunicated bang-boom in a few short days. It often takes a long time and it needs to take its time before the end has come. Every opportunity and petition for repentance must be given.

Why this emphasis on discipline? "Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline," says the Lord Jesus (Rev 3:19). The only proper motive for discipline is love. It would be a sign of sinful indifference and lack of love if we let a sinner go to his doom without admonition. We find the same emphasis in the book of Proverbs, "He who spares the rod hates his son, but he who loves him is careful to discipline him" (15:24). Klaas is still having a good day. A church without discipline is a church without love. Who wants to be a member of such a church?

Don't Start what you Can't Finish←⤒🔗

Now and then at the start of a process of church discipline, I have reminded my elders that they must not start what they can't finish. Whazzat? It is very tempting to start something without taking into account what the possible ending could be. We need to be very clear on this. Otherwise church discipline becomes a laughable joke.

To make it very clear and concrete, if there is no repentance, excommunication must follow. And this repentance is not a matter of a few words. Repentance always becomes visible in amendment of life. We actually have this in our catechism, "...the Christian church is duty-bound to exclude (such persons) by the keys of the kingdom of heaven until they amend their lives" (LD 30, Q/A 82).

Unless and until there is repentance of heart and amendment of life, church discipline will continue until it finds its fulfillment of love in excommunication. I said to my elders, "Don't start if you are not prepared to see this through to the final end." We pray that this end may be the restoration of a sinner.

Why is this so important? Because, humanly speaking, the way of discipline is too weary and too hard. We tend to give up and give in. That's life. Our patience can be sorely tried. We hate to be forceful and firm. We have this problem with discipline. It makes us so terribly ... tired. Klaas is still having a good day, but he's getting tired ... Fatigue is lethal for all kinds of discipline. Remember the three kinds? Memorize, again.

I have seen some of this fatigue in my day and in my life. Sometimes I see it also in my church. I fully understand that it is not "my church," and that is precisely why there may not be any discipline-fatigue. Ask yourself this question: does my church show any discipline-fatigue?

All this does not mean that church discipline is a free-for-all. Please. I confess that sometimes it is wrongly exercised. I have been guilty of this. That is why our church order has built-in safeguards. That is also why the exercising of discipline is a shared responsibility. That is not now the point. The point now is that if discipline is properly begun it must be properly completed. Otherwise we make a mockery out of the love of Christ.

A Word to the Wise←⤒🔗

The church of Christ has three marks. Without neglecting the other two marks, the third mark is the most decisive because it is the fruit of the combined weight of the others. Should church discipline ever be used against us, let us humble ourselves and listen to the loving voice of the Lord.

When church discipline is exercised, the recipient(s) tend to stiffen the neck and offer immediate resistance. That is a normal human reaction. It is also a sinful reaction. Instead we should sincerely ask: what shall I do to have this burden lifted off me?

Sometimes we think that we are already living in "the last days." Older people tend to think in this way. Klaas is getting older, too. Let us remember, then, how people are characterized in the last days, "...lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control..." (2 Tim 3:1-5). In the last days the third mark of the church will be sorely missing. Is this not a word to the wise?

Let us always be prepared to discipline ourselves, to listen to fellow-members of Christ's church, and especially to heed the discipline of the church. Memorize. Again.