God will judge those outside
1 Corinthians 5:12-13 - We are not to judge those outside of the church, as God will judge them.
“What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church? Are you not to judge those inside? God will judge those outside. “Expel the wicked person from among you.””
1 Corinthians 5:12-13 NIV
OK, it’s confession time.
It’s hard to not judge others. There’s something about our makeup as fallible human beings that is always making comparisons with others and judging them silently or otherwise. “That person sure is dressed like a slob”, “I can’t believe that he said that on Facebook — what a moron!”, and so on…
Yesterday, a guest pastor at our church preached an excellent sermon on 1 Corinthians 5:12-13, which hit home. Paul, in this chapter of the epistle to the church of Corinth, was rather upset about a case of incest going on with one of the members of that church. Just before today’s verses, Paul makes the case that he had written to the church telling them “I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people— not at all meaning the people of this world who are immoral, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters. In that case you would have to leave this world.” (1 Corinthians 5:9-10).
He then follows this with a clarifying statement, which I have to admit had apparently never clicked in my brain: “But now I am writing to you that you must not associate with anyone who claims to be a brother or sister but is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or slanderer, a drunkard or swindler. Do not even eat with such people.” (1 Corinthians 5:11)
See the difference? I highlighted it, and in today’s verses, Paul elaborates. We are not to judge those outside of the church, as God will judge them. As my spouse put it so well this morning as I was writing this, we should not judge the secular French for their drag queen “Last Supper” parody. We don’t have to necessarily agree with what they did or even like it, but we shouldn’t publicly wail and bemoan what they have done. God will judge them; it’s not our responsibility to do so.
Instead, we should concentrate on what is happening within the church. We should work to point out to certain denominations that their happy acceptance of sexually immoral people in an attempt to be “inclusive” is contrary to Scripture. Or how about those churches preaching a false “prosperity gospel”, or that are run by pastors who are swindling their flocks? We can only do so much to point out to others in the faith what seems to be obviously wrong to us. After that point, we can either expel ourselves from the wicked, or work to expel the wicked from the church.
God will eventually judge all of us. As hard as it is to not judge others, our focus should be on living an exemplary life.
Heaven On Wheels Daily Prayer:
Lord in Heaven, I ask for Your forgiveness in judging those outside of the body of Christ, as I know that You alone are the judge of those people. Instead, teach me to speak the truth in love to those within the faith who proudly flaunt their sin, and to live in such a way that the light of Jesus Christ shines from within me to bring others to You by example. In the name of Your Son and my Savior Jesus, AMEN.