impinged

I love this chapter. It explains something that Christians have misinterpreted and abused for far too long: who do we judge. Most people outside the church say Christians are too judgmental and hypocrites. Those of us in the church spend too much time judging out of one side of our mouth and saying God is the judge out the other. It is the 5th chapter of Corinthians that we have mis-quoted and misunderstood.

In order to understand what Paul is saying we need to start from a basic understanding of the underlying goal of Paul’s ministry - which should be our goal as well: the goal is to bring people into a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ that their soul might be spared eternal separation from God. When we look at the issue of judging the actions of others from an evangelistic perspective we are able to understand our God given role. And that is to be a judge of those professing to be Christians. If a brother or sister in Christ is involved in grievous sins such as incest, abuse, or drunkenness, they are to be removed from our community. Paul is very clear that we are not to associate with these people because they are the hypocrites who give Christianity a bad name. Above all though, anytime we judge it must be from a spirit of love and correction and not one of self righteousness. Our ultimate goal is to ensure the soul of the one who has fallen is saved.

For those who do not call themselves Christians our role is totally opposite. Again, we come from the evangelistic perspective of saving souls. Our calling is not to judge those who do not know Christ, their judgment is up to God. Not only are we not to judge them but we are called to love them and associate with them where they are at. We are to be in their culture just not part of their culture. For it is only in loving association with them that we are able to influence them by sharing the love of Jesus Christ. Christians for so many years have walled themselves off in their churches with the stained glass windows and high steeples. It is time we read the Bible again and follow the example of Christ. He spent his time in the culture: with prostitutes, drunkards, and the sick and dieing. When he was in the temple he was not shaking hands and patting backs. I think Jesus is appalled by those of us hiding behind the cross he hung on.

This last Friday night was my fiance’s bachelorette party. One of her good friend’s made it a point to tell her she wasn’t going because they were going to a bar. The reason she didn’t want to go to a bar was not because she doesn’t drink, because she does drink in private, but because she didn’t think it would be good for her to be seen there. She thought it might send a message to those who were going that she is different and that she is seeking to serve God. And she also didn’t want to be seen by any of the people she works with at a local restaurant because she didn’t want to give them the wrong idea. The fact is that nobody noticed that she wasn’t there. Absence witnesses to nobody. There was no opportunity to witness to anyone she might have known in the environment where they live: the culture in which they are a member. She fell in to the trap of so many Christians that says because we are different we need to stay away from those who are different. So my question would be, who is right - you or Jesus?