Excerpts from Church Discipline 3

THE OCCASIONS FOR CHURCH DISCIPLINE
1. The presence of unregenerated members, and their activities in church work, furnishes one of the occasions for church discipline.
2. The presence of unrestrained flesh furnishes another occasion for church discipline.
3.The presence and activity of untutored enthusiasts in the membership, who clamor for conformity to the things practiced by the world and some so-called churches around them, often present churches with difficult problems.

THE URGENCY OF CHURCH DISCIPLINE
The presence of rebellion against the Word of God, the spiritual virus, the modernistic, formal and dissipating influences in the life of a church demands immediate and stern action. For a church to dodge this matter means spiritual ruin to her. Sometimes we hear some say, "If we were to discipline our church, we would not have many members left." This may be true in some cases, but this does not alter nor discount the doctrine of church discipline nor the urgency of it being exercised. The dominion of such carnality in our churches strongly challenges them to clean house for the Lord. Most churches must make a comeback in this regard and clean up, or else we shall soon find ourselves in a universal apostate condition.

From Church Discipline by Lester Stewart Walker, 1913--1982