In Spite of Myself

I Corinthians 5:9-13

I wrote you in my letter not to associate with immoral people; I did not at all mean with the immoral people of this world, or with the covetous and swindlers, or with idolaters, for then you would have to go out of the world. But actually, I wrote to you not to associate with any so-called brother if he is an immoral person, or covetous, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or a swindler—not even to eat with such a one. For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Do you not judge those who are within the church? But those who are outside, God judges. REMOVE THE WICKED MAN FROM AMONG YOURSELVES.

*We are not to judge those that are without the church body. We are not to so far remove ourselves from the unsaved that we take ourselves completely out of the world. Being separate is not the same as being in a bubble. We are to avoid close association with those who are BRETHREN that are continuing in sin. Remember, Jesus was also eating with and spending time with those that were lost. He was also looked down upon and talked badly about by the "religious" people of his day. He did not participate in sin, but he did not remove himself from the company of sinners. He came to seek and to save that which was lost and we are to do the same. We are to share the gospel and the Holy Spirit is the one that convicts a man's heart. Not us. This has been weighing heavy on me as I have lately seen many Christians that pick and choose which "sinners" they will reach out to and which ones they consider "too bad" to share the gospel with. It saddens me. Let us not forget, Paul was a murderer and God redeemed him. No one is beyond redemption.