Matthews Family Herald

"Shun the nonbeliever...SHUN!!!"

It's a topic joked about often by people, in general. It's an often misunderstood topic, but an important one. The concept of shunning is Holy Bible based, however, and so I don't let persons who may practice this incorrectly keep me from taking God seriously about it.

Unbelievers are not to be shunned. Jesus ate with unbelievers, cared about them, ministered to them. That's the whole point of Jesus coming right? You can't make disciples out of people if you can't be around them. But Jesus never meant to leave those unbelievers where they were or as they are. But no, He and we are not supposed to "shun the nonbeliever."

Certain professing believers may need to be shunned, however. So, the first step in gauging the shunning test is asking yourself..."Is this a professing believer we are talking about?"

Jesus protected a believer from being stoned at a well when she was caught in adultery. But, He next said "Go, and sin no more." There is the beginning. The ball is in the believer's court now. Persons who say they follow Him but then continually engage in sinful behavior, and defend that behavior as acceptable, well, we are told by God that "with such a person do not even eat."

A person aknowledging something is a sin and wanting to change is one thing; a person defending it but saying they are Christian and God is pleased, that's another. Shunning may eventually be something God requires of you for a person in that catagory.

It's Biblical, it might seem mean, but God uses it and commands it, as I understand it. It's not something you do rashly. There's a long road to go down with someone before you reach that point. If it's not done in love, but in anger, then it's not done correctly. But there it is.

"Is that so? Where is that found?" you might ask. 1 Corinthians 5:11 "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."

So, there it is. It's the Word of God. God is good, all the time. Even when He commands us to "shun." I want to trust Him enough to obey. I love God above all and will sacrifice relationships with people in order to keep my relationship with God, if need be.

Just to briefly add on to the other post I made about "To the Weak I Became as Weak," my daughter reminded me, essentially, of this verse:

1 Corinthians 8:9 But take heed lest by any means this liberty of yours become a stumblingblock to them that are weak.

and to add to that:

1 Corinthians 10:33 Even as I please all men in all things, not seeking mine own profit, but the profit of many, that they may be saved.

Tieing those two together, insisting on my own liberty and freedom, even to the exclusion of others, is basically putting my profit above others.

Before I get going, someone might think I'm suggesting that in order to win others, I might or we might need to commit sin. We are not commanded to sin in order to be acceptable to all, absolutely not.

1 Corinthians 6:9-11 Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.

With that cleared up, (Liberty in Christ is not permission to sin or an excuse to sin. Sin is not means to an end either) we may be required, however, in order to win others to the Lord, to do things that are not necessary for us personally, but necessary for those persons we are around in order to either function as part of the Body with them, or to win them to the Lord if they are not yet born again.

So, this means maybe we'll need to maintain a certain haircut, eat certain foods or abstain from certain foods. This may mean going to a church building or not going to one. This may mean putting on a certain uniform or clothes or submitting to certain frameworks or organizational structures that are temporal, but being used by the Lord for a purpose, and which may be where we are called "for such a time as this." Recalling now Esther who ended up serving a worldly King. The King raised her to a royal position, but God orchastrated the whole thing for a larger purpose and not for Esther's own gain. She gave up her will to God as was thus used to bring the deliverance of her people.

Esther 4:14 For if thou altogether holdest thy peace at this time, then shall there enlargement and deliverance arise to the Jews from another place; but thou and thy father's house shall be destroyed: and who knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as this?

Thanks Rachel for reminding me of how selfish it can be to insist on certain liberties in Christ at the expense of others within the Body or without the Body.

We have been starved for body fellowship and doing home church with just us for the last year or so has been great in many ways, but we've felt like a hand deprived of it's body and malnourished in other ways.

Many of the homeschool families go to the PHV protestant chapel. We talked about it, going to one of those institutional church services, I mean, and I had many doubts as the time got closer.

Then Micah and I were downstairs talking about 1 Corinthians 9:22. "To the weak became I as weak, that I might gain the weak: I am made all things to all men, that I might by all means save some."

I was referencing an unrelated topic but as we discussed becoming all things for all people in order to win at least some from among them, I thought about the context was Paul ministring to other Hebrews and weaker Christians who were legalistic in many ways. As I stated that yeah, like "Paul shaving his head for them, dressing like them in order to have that gateway in"

I realized that doing things like meeting in a building, dressing up a little bit, etc., while deemed as required from the point of view of a weaker brother (when actually it isn't required), might also be essential for us to offer the body at large what they need from us, in addition to being able to receive from them what we need.

If I'm stronger in my knowledge of what God requires, then I'm the one likely to need to bend for the weaker and so I should go to the building, put on the slacks, do what's needed to interact with them. Like Paul did. It sounds strange but it was an epiphany for me. It was the tool I needed to be obedient and to reconnect without compromising.

Growing up and not understanding some things as I do now, I often felt sad and left out concerning culture. I noticed the various things that other cultures have which makes them interesting. Their songs, dances, language, and their togetherness and support for one another.

When the color of my skin determined my sense of culture and belonging, I had very little. My earthly nationality/state origin/family heritage/etc. left me lacking as well. But after becoming a believer in Jesus and a follower of Him, I was transformed into a new creature. A royal priesthood. A holy nation. A peculiar people. A set apart people.

I taught my family today how we as believers in Jesus are a unique and transformed people, set apart for God and distinct from other nations, peoples, and cultures. We have our own God, our own culture, our own Book, our own Language, our own Law (of the Spirit), our own King, our own Country, our own Dances, our own Songs, our own Customs, our own Bread, our own Wine, our own Water, our own Purpose, our own History, our own Leaders, our own Failures, and our own Future. And we need each other.

We are (especially in the Western segment of our diaspora) wholesale forgetting who we are, where we've come from, what our culture is, and why we are here. We often look and act and talk and think and believe and do just as any of the others would. We are moving rapidly away from where we ought to be. We must fulfill why we are here and not be assimilated into the nations and peoples of the World. We are called to be among other peoples, but not to become other peoples. Quite the opposite. We are ambassadors sent to represent our God and our Nation before all and make the offer of invitation for Citizenship known. So, we must honor our God and strengthen our culture of faith amongst one another.

Our God has told us in our Book:

1 Peter 2:9
But ye [are] a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light