Day 241: From Within the Body Of Christ

1 Corinthians 5:9-13

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. It isn’t my responsibility to judge outsiders, but it certainly is your responsibility to judge those inside the church who are sinning. God will judge those on the outside; but as the Scriptures say, “You must remove the evil person from among you.

Okay, so this is another passage that when I read it, once again had  me shook, This is the answer to the argument amongst Christians, do we dwell with sinners or not? Although the answer is in the pudding when Jesus himself hung out with nothing but sinners, and people who were considered criminals, and cheaters. However here is a bit of clarification. There’s a few points to go through here so bare with me as we go through all of them. It will have you shaken to your core as well.

Living in a box away from sinners.

Okay so for many of us coming into our faith meant that we began to weed out all of the things in our lives that were not of God. However sometimes as we grow we tend to live in a box. We put ourselves in a box of righteousness. Meaning we only talk to people who are living the same way we are. We isolate or exclude those who do not seem to be living the way we think a Christian should. In other words we isolate ourselves from people we deem sinners as if they are going to contaminate us. If we are firm in our faith and have a solid foundation in Christ, and a relationship with God trust me, the only person who can contaminate that is us. But sometimes we quarantine ourselves as not to be infected by sinners. If we live our lives this way we will be forever alone. But if we truly live our lives like Christ, we will not be afraid to be around sin because our light will shine in the midst of darkness, It’s less about being afraid of being ‘contaminated by sin’ and more about the willingness to use our lives to bring someone out of sin. We cannot isolate ourselves from God’s people, and yes even the sinners are His people, He loves them just as much as He loves you. We cannot forget that at one point we were in their shoes.

Cutting off the wrong people.

When we become Christians we go through a period of cutting people off. Many times that means friends and family who aren’t Christian, or people who we think will drag us down. However, and this is something I have come to realize, we cut off the wrong people. As the scripture says above, “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.” We are cutting off people who do not live the way we live right now, but no that’s not right. It’s not about us needing them in our lives anymore, we have come to know the truth. We have latched onto the love of God, and have started living our lives like Christ. If we cut the people off who do not do the same immediately, who will be their guide to Christ; it almost as if we are cutting them off from getting in on this beautiful life. We are to be used as vessels by God to bring our friends and family into the same love that we have found in Jesus. We are their example of Jesus. But if we cut them off we end up hurting them because we want to be great.  This happens far too often we kick people to the side because there lives aren’t “worthy” of our presence anymore. If anything, we should pull them closer. We should stay to share what God has done in our lives. We should continue to live for Christ and allow them to see how God is changing us before their eyes. We should become a vessel for them, not another heartbreak or stumbling block.

It is or responsibility to judge

This is the part of the scripture that had me shook. We have talked about how we are not to judge people. How it is not our place. But in this passage we are told, actually, it is your job, our responsibility actually, to judge people, but not in the way that you think. The passage says, “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. It isn’t my responsibility to judge outsiders, but it certainly is your responsibility to judge those inside the church who are sinning.” Pause, Take a breath, and let out a big, BRUH! Basically what it’s saying is, no, it’s not your job to judge people who are not of the faith or professing to be a Christian. But it is your job to judge those who are professing to be Christians yet living and dwelling in sin. #shooketh. I thought to myself after reading this, ‘wait a minute, we’ve been doing this all wrong’. We’ve been judging the wrong people, in the same way that we have been cutting off the wrong people. It was never our job to rebuke those who aren’t Christian for not being Christian. No, it’s the people who know, the ones who have given their lives to Christ yet live the same as those who have never heard of the gospel. Those are the toxic people, the people who know how to live yet choose to disobey. God says, I don’t even want you to eat with such people. We have been preserving the feelings of hypocrites while, hurting the people who have not yet had a chance to come into their faith, because they are condemned before they have even heard.

All this to say, this has to change. It must change, we cannot have a church full of professing christians who are really sinners, taking up the room for the people who really need and want to come to Christ. We cannot let them go unnoticed. There are people reaching for Christ, but because their hands are dirty we smack them down. Yet people in the church or professing Christians hands are just as dirty they're just using Christianity as a mask.

Reflection

1. Have you cut off the wrong people?
2. Are you living in a box away from sinners?
3. How do you feel about the responsibility to judge those who are professing to be Christian yet are secret sinners?
4. Was this eye opening?

Prayer Time

Allow your answers to the above questions guide your prayer today. Talk to God about what we discussed today. Have an honest conversation with Him. Pray for those who have been hurt by the church or cut off because of their lifestyle and pray for the body Christ, that we will get this right.

I love you and I hope you have an amazing day or evening. Be sure to share and discuss this with someone and come back tomorrow for Day 242!