Should Sinners Shun
Sinners? (Part 2)
Previously,
we examined several references in the
Bible showing situations where
shunning may be appropriate. For
example, God required that people be
ostracized for sexually immoral
behavior. (Leviticus 18:29;
Revelation 2:14, 20; 1 Corinthians
5:11) God’s commands are for our
benefit even if we do not understand
His wisdom. God’s commandment to
shun defiant sinners is based on
“the yeast effect.” Yeast
is used in the Bible to represent
defiance and rebellion. (Luke 12:1;
Galatians 5:9) God commanded Israel
to observe an object lesson every
spring called the Feast of Unleavened
Bread. “For seven days you
are to eat bread made without yeast.
On the first day remove the yeast
from your houses, for whoever eats
anything with yeast in it from the
first day through the seventh must be
cut off [shunned] from
Israel.” (Exodus 12:15,
insertion mine) The reason why God
commanded them to throw all yeast out
of the house and eat “yeast
free” bread for seven days is
that God wanted Israel to understand
that sin is like yeast. If a little
sin is ignored and left unchecked, it
will permeate every aspect of life.
(1 Corinthians 5:6) Corporately
speaking, God wants His people to be
on guard against the evils of
gradualism. Given human nature, it is
less embarrassing and much easier to
“go along to get along.” We
must be on guard against the
relentless encroachment of sin. God
said to Cain, “If you do
what is right, will you not be
accepted? But if you do not do what
is right, sin is crouching at your
door; it desires to have you, but you
must master it.” (Genesis
4:7)
Should
Christians Shun Non-Christians?
Depending
on the situation, it may be
appropriate for Christians to shun
non-Christians. For example, it is
appropriate for a recovering
alcoholic to shun former drinking
partners and places where alcohol is
easily available. A recovering drug
addict should shun friends who sell
and use drugs. A person struggling to
overcome a sexually immoral
relationship should shun their
romantic partner. A “born
again” Christian with a
degenerate past should shun former
friends who have no understanding
about the new Christian’s
struggle to please God. Christians
struggling with specific temptations
from their past must shun
non-Christian friends that are
associated with those temptations.
Paul wrote, “Do not be
misled [do not be stupid]:
‘Bad company corrupts good
character.’ ” (1
Corinthians 15:33, insertion mine)
The apostle Peter wrote to some new
converts saying: “For you
have spent enough time in the past
doing what pagans choose to do –
living in debauchery, lust,
drunkenness, orgies, carousing and
detestable idolatry. They [your
former friends] think it strange
that you do not plunge with them into
the same flood of dissipation [worthless
behaviors], and they heap abuse [ridicule] on
you. But they will have to give
account to Him who is ready to judge
the living and the dead. For this is
the reason the gospel was preached [to
you and] even to those who are
now [spiritually] dead, so
that they might [wake up and] be
judged [condemned with guilt
from the Holy Spirit. For God will
judge each of us] according to [our
deeds as] men in regard to the
body [whether our deeds were
good or evil], but [He will
forgive our sins if we will wake up
and] live according to God in
regard to the Spirit.” (1
Peter 4:3-6, insertions mine)
Born
again Christians know the struggle
that goes with living in this world,
without becoming a part of this
world. James wrote, “Religion
that God our Father accepts as pure
and faultless is this: To look after
orphans and widows in their distress
and to keep oneself from being
polluted by the world.” (James
1:27) Even though the Christian life
is antagonistic toward the ways of
the world, Jesus does not want
Christians to shun the people of the
world. He wants us to shun the
practices of the world. If Christians
do not go out into the world and make
disciples of all nations no one will
hear the gospel of Jesus. No one will
see God’s kindness, patience,
and love. No one will learn of
God’s truth, righteousness,
humility, and faithful promises.
Jesus told His followers, “You
are the light of the world. A city on
a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do
people light a lamp and put it under
a bowl. Instead they put it on its
stand, and it gives light to everyone
in the house. In the same way, let
your light shine before men, that
they may see your good deeds and
praise your Father in Heaven.” (Matthew
5:13-16)
A
Christian cannot have a friend who is
a non-Christian friend for long. Two
people cannot walk and talk together
if their hearts are set on different
things. Suppose one person wants to
go to a Bible study and the other
wants to go to a rock concert. What
happens? Suppose one person wants to
hang with friends who drink and are
sexually immoral and the other finds
the behavior of the people and their
conversations offensive. What
happens? A born again Christian is
“a weird duck” in the eyes
of a nonbeliever. They cannot
understand the enormous gulf that
exists between the passions of the
sinful nature and higher desires of
the born again nature. (1 Corinthians
2:14)
Enmity
Between You and the Woman
When
Adam and Eve sinned, Jesus came
quickly to Earth. He called a meeting
which included Lucifer, the serpent.
Speaking to the devil, Jesus said: “And
I will put enmity[friction, angst,
hostility] between you and the
woman, and between your offspring and
hers; He [the Savior of
sinners] will crush your head [you
will be destroyed someday], and you
will strike his heel [I will
also die in the process].” (Genesis
3:15)
The
serpent’s offspring represent
those controlled by the sinful
nature. The woman’s offspring
represent those who are controlled by
the Holy Spirit. Ever since Adam and
Eve sinned, there has been enmity
between these two classes of people.
Everyone on Earth belongs to one
class or the other. Adam and Eve did
not have to wait very long to see
this enmity. The story of Cain and
Abel illustrates that no middle
ground exists between the offspring
of Lucifer and the offspring of God.
Paul summarized the conflict between
the offspring of the serpent and the
offspring of the woman saying,
“Do not be yoked together with
unbelievers. For what do
righteousness and wickedness have in
common? Or what fellowship can light
have with darkness? What harmony is
there between Christ and [the gods of
this world] Belial? What does a
believer have in common with an
unbeliever? What agreement is there
between the temple of God and idols?
For we are the temple of the living
God. As God has said: ‘I
will live with them and walk among
them, and I will be their God, and
they will be my people.’
‘Therefore come out from them
and be separate, says the Lord. Touch
no unclean thing, and I will receive
you.’ ‘I will be a Father
to you, and you will be my sons and
daughters, says the Lord
Almighty.’ Since we have these
promises, dear friends, let us purify
ourselves from everything that
contaminates body and spirit,
perfecting holiness out of reverence
for God.” (2 Corinthians
6:14-7:1)
Satan
Attacks Our Sinful Nature
We
as sinners who are trying to live a
spirit-led life, face three enormous
disadvantages. First, we have an
extremely intelligent enemy who never
sleeps. He and his demons are
crouched at the door, ready to lead
us into temptation in a moment of
weakness. Second, every child comes
into this world having a sinful
nature. We are born with a natural
predisposition to be self-centered
and rebellious toward God. Rebellion
against God is normal. Third, we live
in a world where TV and movies make
sinful conduct appear interesting and
exciting. The media glamorizes sinful
ideas and thoughts. Sinful living is
common and is the way that almost
everyone lives. “The acts of the
sinful nature are obvious: sexual
immorality, impurity and debauchery;
idolatry and witchcraft; hatred,
discord, jealousy, fits of rage,
selfish ambition, dissensions,
factions and envy; drunkenness,
orgies, and the like. I warn you, as
I did before, that those who live
like this will not inherit the
kingdom of God.” (Galatians
5:19-21) Paul told Timothy: “But
mark this: There will be terrible
times in the last days. People will
be lovers of themselves, lovers of
money, boastful, proud, abusive,
disobedient to their parents,
ungrateful, unholy, without love,
unforgiving, slanderous, without
self-control, brutal, not lovers of
the good, treacherous, rash,
conceited, lovers of pleasure rather
than lovers of God– having a
form of godliness but denying its
power. [Shun them,] Have
nothing to do with them.”(2
Timothy 3:1-5, insertion mine)
“Born
again” Christians have to be
thoughtful about associating and
shunning. A wise Christian will not
interact with people and situations
in which they may encounter
temptation. They will not be tempted
or attracted to the pleasures of sin.
They know the devil lurks in the
shadows and has declared war on
everyone who claims to be a disciple
of Christ. The devil knows our
strengths and weaknesses and uses
this knowledge to attack us. This is
why it is so critical for Christians
to abide in Christ. Sin separates us
from the indwelling power of the Holy
Spirit. Remember mighty Samson sinned
and lost all his strength. Jesus
said, “I am the vine; you
are the branches. If a man remains in
me and I in him, he will bear much
fruit; apart from me you can do
nothing. If anyone does not remain in
me, he is like a branch that is
thrown away and withers; such
branches are picked up, thrown into
the fire and burned. If you remain in
me and my words remain in you, ask
whatever you wish, and it will be
given you. This is to my
Father’s glory, that you bear
much fruit, showing yourselves to be
my disciples.” (John
15:5-8)
God’s
Sends the Bible and Holy Spirit
God
understands the three disadvantages
that every sinner faces and He has
three amazing solutions for them.
First, He sends the gift of the Holy
Spirit to each person. Through the
power of the Holy Spirit, God will do
things for us and within us that we
cannot do for ourselves. Second, God
gives us the Bible so that we can
read for ourselves what He has to
say. Third, He has paid the price for
salvation so that every sinner
willing to live by faith will escape
the penalty for sin!
The
difficult task for the Holy Spirit is
to offer every sinner a pair of
“spiritual ears” so that
sinners can hear God’s very soft
voice. If we are willing to receive
“spiritual ears,” during
the second phase the Holy Spirit will
attempt to create a strong desire
within us for Biblical truth. If
phase two is successful, He leads us
into the discovery of Biblical truth.
Phase three is where “the rubber
meets the road.” The Holy Spirit
confronts us with some aspect of
truth to see whether we will obey or
defy God. Each test is a matter of
spiritual life and death. If we
refuse to obey the truth, God’s
very soft voice will become
inaudible. The power of the Holy
Spirit will fade. “When a man
who is honestly mistaken hears the
truth, he will either quit being
mistaken or cease being honest.”
(Richard J. Humpal, JD) The work of
the Holy Spirit in the third phase is
one of revealing truth, testing our
obedience and taking us one step at a
time up the ladder of faith.
Jesus
Transforms People
It
is proper for church groups to shun
people who openly and defiantly
practice sexual immorality. It is
proper for Christians to shun
non-Christians in certain
circumstances. Jesus wants His
disciples to let their light shine.
It is difficult for born again
Christians to be in the world without
becoming part of the world. “Do
not love the world or anything in the
world. If anyone loves the world, the
love of the Father is not in him. For
everything in the world–the
cravings of sinful man, the lust of
his eyes and the boasting of what he
has and does – comes not from
the Father but from the world. The
world and its desires pass away, but
the man who does the will of God
lives forever.” (1 John
2:15-17) A sinner can only get to a
place where he does not love the
world through faith in Christ. If
Jesus sees that we are willing to
live by faith, He will tell the Holy
Spirit to make this miracle happen.
Born
again Christians have an experience
and a gospel that is truly exciting.
Jesus is willing to transform any
sinner who is ready to forsake his
sin, but Jesus will only begin the
transforming process after we
acknowledge our sin and show
determination to turn away from it.
The Bible says, “If we
confess our sins, He is faithful and
just and will forgive us our sins
and purify us from
all unrighteousness.” (1
John 1:9, italics mine) Like Paul, we
can say, “I have been
crucified with Christ [my natural
ways and desires were crucified this
morning] and I no longer live, but
Christ lives in me [today]. The
life I[now] live in the body, I
live by faith in the Son of God [I
am trusting Him to give me the
attitude I need today, and He will
because He], who loved me and gave
Himself for me.”(Galatians 2:20,
insertion mine)
Larry
Wilson
