1 Corinthians 5:7-11 Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us: Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. I wrote unto you in an epistle not to company with fornicators: Yet not altogether with the fornicators of this world, or with the covetous, or extortioners, or with idolaters; for then must ye needs go out of the world. But now I have written unto you not to keep company, if any man that is called a brother be a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolater, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner; with such an one no not to eat.
Many of God’s people fail to heed the instructions of God given here by the apostle Paul. We company with believers living in blatant sin, and shun unbelievers with whom we are called to share the gospel. That twisted mentality is the doctrine of the Pharisees, who wondered why Jesus ate with publicans and sinners. Understandably, we are never to be unequally yoked together with unbelievers, but let us not forget that Christ came into the world to save sinners and call them to repentance. Paul is rebuking the liberal Corinthian church for allowing blatant immorality to take place among them instead of removing them from the congregation. The sinful lifestyles that are mentioned here are leaven. They are a corrupting influence. They are holiness quenchers.
When we company with people who are living in unrepentant sin, we are inviting leaven into our bosom. Without a doubt we are to pray for God’s Spirit and grace to convict them. Without a doubt we should be prepared to meet with them if they should so desire, in hopes that The Lord would use us to restore them to repentance and faith in Christ. Could it be that one of the reasons there is a shortage of power within our churches and in our evangelism is because we are shunning the lost while accommodating the wicked? Selah
