Righteousness and Scripture

A lot of people have a lot of excuses for their sins, and one of those excuses is that "Jesus hung out with sinners." I want to take a close look at that excuse here today, and expose it for the lie that it is. First of all, let's note that the only people in the Bible who made any issue of Jesus hanging out with sinners was the self-righteous Pharisees who hated Jesus (Mat. 9:10,11; Mk. 2:16; Lk. 5:30; etc.). So to make issue of the fact that Jesus hung out with sinners usually identifies someone with that group of folks, which is not a good thing as a matter of fact. Nonetheless the scriptures do plainly say that Jesus sat with sinners and Publicans [the hated Jews who collected taxes from the Jews for Rome.]. So here's how we get to the bottom of this issue. We're going to look at WHY Jesus ate and gathered with sinners, and what was going on believers today who makes this issue that Jesus hung out with sinners, is doing so for the sake of justifying their sins, and for the sake of THEMSELVES hanging out with sinners. The following is a good place to start I believe: "Then drew near unto him all the publicans and sinners for to hear him. And the Pharisees and scribes murmured, saying, This man receiveth sinners, and eateth with them" (Lk. 15:1,2). Now that is all I'm going to cite from this chapter, other than to say that the entirety of the remainder of the chapter is strictly about Jesus speaking parables like 'the lost sheep,' 'the prodigal son,' and others; that are about how sinners can repent and be forgiven, and be accepted by God if they repent. Jesus was not the main speaker, he was the ONLY speaker; and he had the rapt attention of all these 'publicans and sinners' the whole time he was with them. So he wasn't 'hanging out' with sinners, allowing them to sin away, while he hoped to maybe get a word in edge-wise somewhere. He wasn't 'tolerating' their sinful habits, hanging around all the while believing that he would eventually 'win them over' with his 'kind tolerance.' In fact Jesus wasn't hanging out with anybody, but rather they were hanging out with him in hope that they could find a better way of life than what they had known.

Another such time is when Jesus called Matthew, who was a publican, to follow him, and the scripture says that Jesus had Matthew and his friends to his house for dinner [Mat. 9:7,9,10]. "And when the Pharisees saw it, they said unto his disciples, Why eateth your Master with publicans and sinners? But when Jesus heard that, he said unto them, They that be whole need not a physician, but they that are sick. But go ye and learn what that meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice: for I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance" (Mat. 9:11-13). So again, the sinners came to hang out with Jesus in the hope of him giving them a better life than they had, and that is exactly what Jesus told the Pharisees who were condemning him. The Pharisees thought themselves too holy to be around such people for any reason, and Jesus rebuked them for not being repentant of their own sins. Jesus was NOT mingling among fornicators, atheists, speakers of obscenity, gossipers, etc; letting them dictate the atmosphere, all the while fooling himself into thinking he was going to win them at some point. That is what many misguided children of God are doing today, and they love to fall back on the excuse that Jesus 'hung out with sinners.' Too many would-obe followers of Christ today are just not willing to let their sinner friends go, but still want to claim their faith in Christ. If there were a fence to be riding, which there is not, I would say that these people are riding that fence. But in reality everyone who is voluntarily and commonly hanging out with people who are simply following after sin and unbelief toward Jesus, are on the WRONG SIDE of that non-existent fence! But let's allow the scriptures to clarify and confirm these things for us, because that is how all disputes about the Gospel must be solved: "Be not deceived: evil communications corrupt good manners. Awake to righteousness, and sin not; for some have not the knowledge of God: I speak this to your shame" (I Cor. 15:33,34). The apostle Paul was speaking to the shame of the believers in Corinth because they should have known better than to be keeping company with people who were contrary to the sound doctrine that he had taught them. And he minced no words about the effect of that wrongly mixed company, saying it would "corrupt good manners;" which is to say that the Corinthians were being morally declined by associating themselves with those who were against sound doctrine about the Gospel.

This is no surprise in that particular situation, because Paul had earlier in the same letter rebuked these believers for allowing a morally corrupted brother in Christ to continue in worship and fellowship with them (I Cor. 5:1,2). In that case he scourged them for not having judged this man for his unrepentant sin, and not having separated him from themselves. In the course of this rebuke and judgment of that man the apostle explained in verses 9-13 that believers cannot be totally separate from the sinners of this world, but by no means was he saying that they should join themselves to them in close relationships. He simply meant that we are going to be around a lot of people in a lot of ways, simply by living and functioning in this world. In fact the truth is we cannot win anyone to Christ who we are not around. But there is a big difference between working with sinners, living in neighborhoods around sinners, and being in the market place around sinners; as opposed to purposely spending our time with people who are not following after God. When a believer chooses this path, he or she has to put the light of Jesus under a bushel, because if they don't then the sinner is not going to want them around. Jesus plainly warned us to never put our light under a bushel: "No man, when he hath lighted a candle, putteth it in a secret place, neither under a bushel, but on a candlestick, that they which come in may see the light" (Lk. 11:33). That is what the sinners who hung out with Jesus did. They came in to SEE the light. Jesus did not hide the light so as not to offend anyone, thinking he would win sinners by being 'tolerant' of their sins. Trust me when I tell you that sinners were not sinning when they were around Jesus, and if we are real with God they will be likewise when around us. On the other hand if we are hiding the light because we know it will offend people that we are choosing to put ourselves around, then we are fooling ourselves, and are actually ashamed of Jesus. It really is as simple as that. Jesus said something to that effect in one place: "Whosoever therefore shall be ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation; of him also shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he cometh in the glory of his Father with the holy angels" (Mk. 8:38).

The apostle Paul made it clear that God requires us to be separate from those who continue in sin: "Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you. And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty" (II Cor. 6:14-18). Interestingly enough, this admonition was also to the Corinthians, who obviously had a problem with this issue. Nonetheless the apostle was crystal clear that we are not supposed to join ourselves with sinners, whether in marriage or other close relationships where we would spend a lot of time with someone who just isn't following after God, and isn't wanting to find out how to do so. The right time to be in that position is like it was with Jesus, which is to say when people are following a drawing to God, and want to be around us for that reason. The fact of the matter is that someone always has the most influence in any relationship, and if we are hiding the light of the Gospel under a bushel in order to be around people who are not following after Jesus, then it will be sin that reigns in that relationship. The ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle wisely noted that "the worst form of inequality is to try to make unequal things equal." Whether we realize it or not, if we join ourselves together in close relationships with unbelievers, we are trying to make unequal things equal. In fact when someone tries to make unequal things equal, the lesser thing will always end up on the top end of that equation. There is much more that could be cited from the Bible, but I'm not trying to write a book here, so I'll let this suffice. I'm certain the point has been sufficiently made for the moment, and I am certain that the scriptures have shown that to us plainly. May God bless.