“When I wrote to you before, I told you not to associate with people who indulge in sexual sin. But I wasn’t talking about unbelievers who indulge in sexual sin, or are greedy, or cheat people, or worship idols. You would have to leave this world to avoid people like that. I meant that you are not to associate with anyone who claims to be a believer yet indulges in sexual sin, or is greedy, or worships idols, or is abusive, or is a drunkard, or cheats people. Don’t even eat with such people.”
1 Corinthians 5:9-11 NLT
It’s a difficult balance. Should we, Christian pilgrims, isolate ourselves from worldly people, thereby keeping ourselves pure, holy and sinless, but in the process prevent any chance of contact with people who desperately need to hear the Gospel? It seems that Paul had written a previous letter about this to the Corinthian church, but it has somehow become lost in the mists of time. In that letter, it appears that Paul warned the Corinthians about sexual sins, but it appears that they chose to ignore his exhortations, hence the weight given to his admonishment about the man sleeping with his stepmother. Paul explained that he wasn’t suggesting that the Christians in Corinth should stop meeting with worldly unbelievers, but that they should shun people who claim to be believers but still behave sinfully, and particularly those committing open and blatant sexual sins.
The problem of association, then as now, with worldly people remains a problem, because to fulfil our Christ-given mission, we must have contact with them. Such people may even be our friends or family members. A bit later on in this letter, Paul wrote, “When I am with those who are weak, I share their weakness, for I want to bring the weak to Christ. Yes, I try to find common ground with everyone, doing everything I can to save some” (1 Corinthians 9:22). But he didn’t say that he would participate in worldly behaviour and customs to do the soul winning. In 2 Corinthians 6:14-15, he wrote, “Don’t team up with those who are unbelievers. How can righteousness be a partner with wickedness? How can light live with darkness? What harmony can there be between Christ and the devil? How can a believer be a partner with an unbeliever?”
So what should we do with believers like the man and his stepmother, if we find them in our churches? We have covered the question of church discipline in a previous blog, but Paul continued to make this important point in his letter. The Apostle Jude wrote, “And you must show mercy to those whose faith is wavering. Rescue others by snatching them from the flames of judgment. Show mercy to still others, but do so with great caution, hating the sins that contaminate their lives” (Jude 1:22-23). We must do our utmost to be merciful to those in our congregations and pray and help them to deal with their sinful behaviour. In his letter, Paul was, I think, referring to persistently unrepentant people in churches who had refused to change their ways of sin, but who still wanted to participate in the church activities, and even claimed to be believers. We find this in churches that tolerate the practices of certain sexual sins, with claims that you can be a Christian but still violate the Biblical foundations of sexual ethics. So a liberal faction is accepting of such people, and traditional and fundamental Bible believing Christians keep them at arm’s length. This leads to the dilemma facing true believers, because such sinful behaviour won’t necessarily lead to the exclusion from public meetings of blatantly sinning and self-claimed believers, but on the other hand, they have to be isolated to avoid their sin from tainting the rest of the believing church. A difficult balance that needs much prayer, grace and wisdom to achieve.
In these circumstances, we turn to Jesus for guidance. He spent much time in the presence of sinners, tax collectors, prostitutes, and so on. We find his grace at work in the account of the woman caught in the act of adultery (where was the man by the way!). The establishment wanted to stone her to death, but the story ended with Jesus refusing to condemn her, instead commanding her to sin no more. We must take His grace and love into our associations with everyone we meet in the world, and in our churches, we must also do the same. There is no other way for pilgrims to behave. We cannot judge people because that is God’s prerogative, but we can separate ourselves from sinful people, because that is His command. We love the sinners, but hate and avoid the sin.
Dear Heavenly Father, You are building a pure and sinless church of which we are a part. We pray that we hear Your Spirit when we come into contact with sin, and pray also that You grant us the wisdom we need. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
Being a Pilgrim 