Hanging With The Heathens

I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people— not at all meaning the sexually immoral of this world, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters, since then you would need to go out of the world. But now I am writing to you not to associate with anyone who bears the name of brother if he is guilty of sexual immorality or greed, or is an idolater, reviler, drunkard, or swindler—not even to eat with such a one.

1 Corinthians 5:9-11 ESV

Unfortunately, as the Church, we don’t do the best job hanging out with those who are not like us (Christians).

This was one of the myriad issues Paul was dealing with in the church at Corinth. Much like them, we can be afraid that our witness or Christ-likeness might be ruined if we associate too deeply or too often with unbelievers.

But for some unknown reason many of us have no problem hanging out with a fellow church goer when they are living as sinfully as those in the world. If a fellow Christian has a drinking problem, no problem. They will stop if we hang out with them enough.

But, we won’t step foot into a bar.

Jesus also dealt with people stuck in an overly religious mindset; those who judged him by who he invested in rather then by the fruit of righteousness he bore (Matthew 9:10-13). When we are controlled by the fear of being poorly judged by fellow Christians, we become incapable of fulfilling our mission: being a light to those around us (Matthew 5:14).

We were able to see the glory of Jesus because he came down to Earth instead of staying in Heaven (John 1:14). Many will never see Jesus because they won’t step foot in the church and the Church (You and I) won’t step foot into their lives.

Let’s not worry about what the overly religious think, and start acting like Jesus.

Hang with some Heathens today.