Hello,<\/p>\n
I was reading one of your Q&A’s and a question came to mind about I Corinthians 5:9-11, “I wrote to you in my epistle not to keep company with sexually immoral people. Yet I certainly did not mean with the sexually immoral people of this world, or with the covetous, or extortioners, or idolaters, since then you would need to go out of the world. But now I have written to you not to keep company with anyone named a brother, who is sexually immoral, or covetous, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or an extortioner — not even to eat with such a person.”<\/p>\n
If we should not be around these kinds of people does this mean we have to shun our families and friends we have made in the past? Ever since I have been born again, this person of God that I have become is very important to me, and the reality that almost everyone around me is going to hell and is missing out on God’s grace is hurting my heart in the deepest ways, so I make it a big point in my life to witness to everyone close to me and even some who are not. Only a few I have been successful with and most I have got “not yet”. I am still working on some people, but I can see my words that God gives me is working on their hearts making them “think”. And I don’t know which exact persons will eventually repent and have a change of heart but talking about God when eating or hanging out at one another’s house seems to be the best way for me to help spread the good news. Is this wrong? Even if the conversations with them about God and the good news is not constant but comes up gradually since I feel like I have to work with every person in a way that is more suited to their attitude so I don’t run them off?<\/p>\n\t
You skipped over “Yet I certainly did not mean with the sexually immoral people of this world, or with the covetous, or extortioners, or idolaters, since then you would need to go out of the world<\/em>” (I Corinthians 5:10). Paul said that we are to withdraw from\u00a0brethren<\/strong>\u00a0who live worldly lives. We have to interact with worldly people in order to teach them the gospel.<\/p>\n “And when the Pharisees saw it, they said to His disciples, “Why does your Teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” When Jesus heard that, He said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy and not sacrifice.’ For I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance”<\/em>” (Matthew 9:11-13).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Question: Hello, I was reading one of your Q&A’s and a question came to mind about I Corinthians 5:9-11, “I wrote to you in my epistle not to keep company with sexually immoral people. Yet I certainly did not mean with the sexually immoral people of this world, or with the covetous, or extortioners, or…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[642,353,254,609],"class_list":["post-31423","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-christianity","tag-influence","tag-withdrawal","tag-worldliness"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":31568,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/do-parents-have-a-responsibility-to-let-adult-children-living-in-sin-live-in-their-home\/","url_meta":{"origin":31423,"position":0},"title":"Do parents have a responsibility to let adult children, living in sin, live in their home?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 2, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Do parents of adult children still living at home, who were raised with the Truth, been baptized into Christ but have now\u00a0turned their backs on the Lord and the church by choosing a sinful lifestyle, have the responsibility to put these adult children out of their homes? Or withdraw\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":16039,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/if-someone-refuses-to-repent-are-they-still-considered-brethren\/","url_meta":{"origin":31423,"position":1},"title":"If someone refuses to repent, are they still considered brethren?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 12, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: We had\u00a0a couple who were members until we learned that their marriage was\u00a0unscriptural.\u00a0 They refused to repent.\u00a0 Are they considered \"brethren?\" Answer: \"And if anyone does not obey our word in this epistle, note that person and do not keep company with him, that he may be ashamed. Yet\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":24940,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-are-my-options-after-being-divorced-for-having-an-affair\/","url_meta":{"origin":31423,"position":2},"title":"What are my options after being divorced for having an affair?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 9, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hello. I am a brother in Christ, have been for over thirty years, it hasn't been easy. Now I am divorced after having an affair. I still love the woman I had the affair with and she truly loves me. I believe because of my martial unfaithfulness my wife\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":43079,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-do-we-treat-our-daughter-who-says-she-is-now-a-homosexual\/","url_meta":{"origin":31423,"position":3},"title":"How do we treat our daughter who says she is now a homosexual?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 30, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: How are we to treat a homosexual person?\u00a0 She is our daughter.\u00a0 This has never happened in our families before.\u00a0 We are so hurt by this.\u00a0 She was raised in a Christian home.\u00a0 We want her to come to her senses and live the way God wants her to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":19194,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/am-i-sinning-if-i-enjoy-vacations-and-meals-with-a-man-who-left-the-lords-church-for-a-denomination\/","url_meta":{"origin":31423,"position":4},"title":"Am I sinning if I enjoy vacations and meals with a man who left the Lord’s church for a denomination?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 21, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I have been studying your sermon outline \"Withdraw Yourselves.\"\u00a0 I have a friend who was once a member of the Lord's church. He is now a member of a denomination.\u00a0 Your outline says that you cannot withdraw from a non-Christian. II John 10-11 says, \"If anyone comes to you\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":41940,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/can-a-brother-committing-fornication-be-used-in-church-worship\/","url_meta":{"origin":31423,"position":5},"title":"Can a brother committing fornication be used in church worship?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 21, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Good day, Brother Jeffrey, I need your help on this. There is a brother committing fornication. He stopped worshiping. The reason why he doesn't want to wed is that his sister, who is living abroad promised him to help him work abroad. If he gets married, he may not\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31423","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31423"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31423\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31423"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31423"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31423"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}