Saving Dmitri: Associating With Sinful People
I was standing outside a church in the New Mexico countryside when a thin man came walking along the road with a backpack and a duffel bag. As he approached, stumbling with his head down, I assumed he was another intoxicated drug addict, just as many others there. But when he came up to me, he didn’t ask for drugs or money. He only asked that the church fill his water bottle.
So, after he guzzled four cups of water, church members and I asked questions as to why John (whose name was changed for the purpose of privacy), this dehydrated man, was wandering a desert road in the Navajo Nation. As he told us about his seven years in prison, years of drug abuse and homelessness after the death of his fourth child, I noticed the marijuana leaf tattoos on his arms, the needle marks on his hands and, most of all, the deep gashes on his shoulder, back, neck and head.
“My girl’s friends jump(ed) me with a shovel, hit me over the head,” John told me after I asked about these bruises.
Instead of pushing him away, as people had been doing to him for much of his life, we invited him in the church to join a Bible lesson and a painting class, where we were able to witness further to John and give him food. All the while, I was having some kind of déjà vu because a day prior, I wrote a devotion on the conversion of Saul, who, when on the road to Damascus, was completely transformed by the Holy Spirit.
Just as Saul lived a life of sin, so too did John. But when we at the church met John on the road, we had the opportunity to show him what God — through the Holy Spirit — had done in our lives, and therefore what it could do in his life.
John would have heard nothing from us if we had not welcomed him into the church. I don’t simply mean the building itself, but rather the community of believers that surrounded him in love, encouraged him and told him he did not have to sin.
After John left that day, I read 1 Corinthians 5:11, which says, “But now I am writing to you not to associate with anyone who bears the name of brother if he is guilty of sexual immorality or greed, or is an idolater, reviler, drunkard, or swindler — not even to eat with such a one.”
This message to the church in Corinth seems to be a warning that any association with one of lukewarmness is wrong. Other verses even say that doing such a thing with an unbeliever would lead to one’s own faithlessness and ruin (1 Corinthians 15:33; Proverbs 22:24-25).
I went to bed confused, wondering if my new association was in any way wrong, as my conscience told me it was right. Not only was it right, but I was sharing the good news of God’s grace, mercy and love, which is the Great Commission.
But I was only confused for a short time until unmistakable conviction called me to seek out John the next day and continue to speak with him.
While Scripture commands us to remain untarnished by the stains of the world and unsettled in the mark of sin we bear from birth, we cannot allow godly conviction to go unanswered. If a Christian who is walking with God is called to preach to a sinner, even one who falsely calls himself or herself a “believer,” our responsibility is to rely on the Holy Spirit for both the words we say and the boldness to complete our mission.
If we are willing to accept this calling, there will almost certainly be some beside us who question the message that we have received. In fact, I would say that in my life I have faced more resistance from the people around me for doing what is good rather than evil. But it is a true indication of righteousness when most of the world takes issue with a believer’s conviction.
Association with sinners does not equate to sinful association. If it did, Jesus was doomed to sin just by becoming a man and dwelling among men, and the command to “make disciples of all nations” would be an invocation of temptation. We Christians cannot separate ourselves from sinners, but with the Holy Spirit’s guidance, we can abstain from the sins of others and direct the Johns of the world to the same light that captured Saul on the road to Damascus.
Kilker is the opinion editor for the Liberty Champion.