Sometimes I find myself amazed and reminded that Christianity is not for the faint of heart. Its no where near as easy as we have made it throughout the last 1700 years since Constantine moved it from and underground movement to an accepted and manipulable religion. Now this isn’t a time to bash or down play all the great strides the gospel has made during this period but we have been taught and then taught to others a lot of things that just aren’t true to make ourselves feel better. But I digress (I have been looking for an excuse to use that phrase).
I have been reading 1 Corinthians during my bible time. Yesterday I was reading through 1 Corinthians 4-6 and came across 1 Corinthians 5: 9-13. Paul reminds the church in Corinth that are not to hang around the “sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or a slanderer, a drunkard or a swindler. With such a man do not even eat.” But where he goes from here is not where the church has gone with it and taught (me included). Paul is saying don’t even eat with CHRISTIANS that are sexually immoral or greedy, an idolaters or a slanderer, a drunkard or a swindler. He also says that to say we should not “associate with sexually immoral people— not at all meaning the people of this world who are immoral, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters. In that case you would have to leave this world.” Man that hit me hard. How often have I taught that we should not hang out with people of this world, but how can be of the world if we are not with those who are not-yet Christians. Paul says that we should be part of the world but not of it. No wonder we have not done even a good job evangelizing the lost, if we have sectioned ourselves off from worldly people who are not under God’s way of living and only hang out with “Christians” how are we going to reach those lost.
One of the other hard parts is that we shouldn’t judge those not Christians but only Christians. I cannot remember a time when I have or was encouraged not to hang out with Christians that are in deliberately sin. Are we doing these brothers and sisters any good by not holding them to the standards the bible calls us to?
Just some thoughts going on in my head.
