Should A Church Ban Anyone From Attending?

Should anyone be kept form attending a church or ban them altogether?

Church Discipline

Jesus’ first mentions the church in Matthew 18 and it concerns the matter of church discipline. In Matthew 18:15 He says “If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother” however, “if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, that every charge may be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses” and “If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church. And if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector” (Matt 18:16-17). All that is necessary is “if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven” (Matt 18:19). This is not our church, it is just as Jesus said, “I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it” (Matt 16:18). He never said He would build a church for the believers but He would build His church and not even death (gates of hell) can stop it.

Dis-fellowship

If a church member becomes so involved in sin and refuses to repent of it and listen to another brother or sister (Matt 18:15) and even after two witnesses go to the openly sinning church member, they still refuse to repent, Jesus said treat them as an unbeliever (Gentile or tax collector; Matt 18:17). This is Jesus’ command, not ours, but is it really our business to put out of the church willfully sinning members? The Apostle Paul had written to the church at Corinth about members who were living in sin and so he “wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people— not at all meaning the sexually immoral of this world, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters, since then you would need to go out of the world” (1st Cor 5:9-10) and “now I am writing to you not to associate with anyone who bears the name of brother if he is guilty of sexual immorality or greed, or is an idolater, reviler, drunkard, or swindler—not even to eat with such a one. For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Is it not those inside the church whom you are to judge? God judges those outside. “Purge the evil person from among you” (1st Cor 5:11-13). To purge is to do away with or put them out of the fellowship of the church in the hopes that they will repent and be restored to the body of Christ.

The Purity of the Bride

Paul was having so much trouble with the church at Corinth because the pagan religion they came out of had sexual orgies as part of their “worship” of their false gods and so it was with righteous indignation that Paul wrote that “It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that is not tolerated even among pagans, for a man has his father’s wife. And you are arrogant! Ought you not rather to mourn? Let him who has done this be removed from among you” (1st Cor 5:1-2). This is contrary to the Old Testament and New Testament command to “be holy, just as I am holy” (Lev 11:44; 1st Pet 16) but when they are living in open rebellion to this command, they are to be put out of the church for the sake of the church’s purity. It’s not that the church is perfect or sinless but when believer’s sin, they are supposed to repent and turn away from that particular sin and when they don’t, since it is Jesus’ church and not ours, they must be dis-fellowshipped for the sake of the body bur really, for their own sake too.

The Purpose of Dis-Fellowship

The reason that an openly sinning church member must be put out of the church and do as Paul commanded, is for the best interests of the member who is sinning without repentance and so Paul wrote, “When you are assembled in the name of the Lord Jesus and my spirit is present, with the power of our Lord Jesus, you are to deliver this man to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord” (1st Cor 5:4-5). This means the member will lose his or her hedge of protection from the enemy and being delivered “to Satan for the destruction of the flesh” is for the purpose of saving his soul on “the day of the Lord,” so it is done in love and it is done because it’s commanded. It only takes a little leaven (sin) to eventually spread to the whole church (1st Cor 5:6-8).

Restoring to Fellowship

There should be restoration of the church member after there is evidence of repentance and confession of the sin. The church at Corinth did as they were told; they dis-fellowshipped the sinner but that wasn’t the end of it though, as Paul wrote that “Anyone whom you forgive, I also forgive. Indeed, what I have forgiven, if I have forgiven anything, has been for your sake in the presence of Christ, so that we would not be outwitted by Satan; for we are not ignorant of his designs” (2nd Cor 2:10-11) so he concludes, “if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted” (Gal 6:1). Forgive them and move on and accept them back into the body of Christ, “lest you too be tempted.”

Conclusion

Church discipline is a very hard thing to do, yet it is commanded. It’s not negotiable and we are not to just wink at or overlook the openly sinning members who refuse to repent. They must face church discipline, just as Jesus taught, because “the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives” (Heb 12:6) and to do nothing is not loving but condoning the sin and we can’t allow that in the church for we are commanded, “You shall be holy, for I am holy” (1st Pet 1:16) because “he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct” (1st Pet 1:15) or face the possibility of church discipline and perhaps even being dis-fellowshipped, however that’s for the purpose “that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord” (1st Cor 5:5).

Article by Jack Wellman

Jack Wellman is Pastor of the Mulvane Brethren Church in Mulvane Kansas. Jack is also the Senior Writer at What Christians Want To Know whose mission is to equip, encourage, and energize Christians and to address questions about the believer’s daily walk with God and the Bible. You can follow Jack on Google Plus or check out his book Teaching Children the Gospel available on Amazon.