April 4

1 Cor. 5:11
But now I am writing you that you must not associate with anyone who calls himself a brother but is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or a slanderer, a drunkard or a swindler. With such a man do not even eat.

At first read this may seem a little to strict. After all how about the humanity of believers? If you think this, I have some good news and some bad news. First the good news!

The good news is that this isn't talking about somebody who "slips" up or has a momentary lapse from their walk with the Lord. This is talking about people who call themselves Christians and not only don't walk the walk, but continue, without reservation, being sexually immoral, greedy... This all started (the discussion) with Paul rebuking the church for allowing a man who is having sexual relations with his step mother to continue on like nothing abnormal is happening. The point is that if we act like it is no big deal then the person who is caught in that sin will continue to ruin himself. Obviously we should not just stop talking to a person like this, but in the name of Love we should approach them, reprove them and pray for them (lovingly). Yet if that doesn't work, here is the bad news, we MUST not fellowship with them. We cannot go on acting like nothing is happening. If someone was a rapist or a murderer or a drug dealer, we would disfellowship him right away with no problem. Somehow the Spirit of God thinks that drunkards, swindlers, slanders and fornicators... deserve the same treatment. It is our task to bring the Kingdom of God into their lives - how - stop eating with them.