Most of us probably know that King David’s son, Solomon, became the next king after David. We may forget that a different son, Adonijah, tried to become king before Solomon. He engaged in a conspiracy to have himself made king, but ultimately failed. In the description of those events, we have this verse:

1Ki 1:6  And his father had not displeased him at any time in saying, Why hast thou done so? …

This verse implies that David never disciplined Adonijah; he never displeased him—i.e., he ever rebuked him, never caused him any pain, never interfered with him. I.e., he let him do whatever he wanted.

Pr 29:15  The rod and reproof give wisdom: but a child left to himself bringeth his mother to shame.

The Bible reveals that David was not a particularly good father. Two of his sons, Adonijah and Absalom, schemed to take the throne. Perhaps some of David’s children turned out so badly because David never rebuked them; he tolerated them without correction or interference; he put up with their bad behavior.

We all know that children need verbal rebuke at times. Failure to rebuke one’s children is parental neglect.

In Romans 15:14, Paul states that one of the responsibilities church members have is to admonish one another.

Ro 15:14 And I myself also am persuaded of you, my brethren, that ye also are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, able also to admonish one another.

David should have admonished his sons—he should have rebuked them; he should have interfered with them. His failure to do so resulted in great upset for the kingdom. And in the church, we at times need to admonish one another.

We’ve been considering the “one another” statements in the Bible, and today we’re looking at what it means to admonish one another. Since we are supposed to do this, we should understand what it means.