Everything But Evangelism
Week 1 - Tolerance
About the Study...
The idea behind the study is to cover all the aspects of living as a Christian in a non-Christian society other
than the actual specific act of Evangelism.
Setting : It was a dark and stormy night...
1. We live in an immoral society
sex outside of marriage, adultery, homosexuality, greed, hate, materialism
our culture is immoral in thought and action.
2. The Bible was written in immoral times as well.
the culture encountered by christianity as it spread outside of judea was :
immoral (sexually loose, materialistic, etc...
things aren't any worse.
our culture has a lot in common with 1rst century gentile culture
v11 "not even to eat with such a one"
A. Immorality has no place in the church, and we are commanded to be apart from the immoral (from the church).
B. Christ commands 'church discipline' in matters of immorality within the family of the Church (matt 18, also read 1 cor 5)
2. The world will be immoral.
v10 "I did not at all mean with the immoral people of this world, or with the covetous and swindlers, or with
idolaters, for then you would have to go out of the world"
other related verses :
(Question : What other verses do people know that discuss the sinfulness of the world?)
John 8:42-44 People do the works of their father, either God or Satan
(verses on depravity?)
A. We should expect non-Christians to be immoral
B. We should understand that the problem is not their immorality, it is their lack of faith in Christ.
Question : If there are two non-Christians, one of whom is sexually immoral, one of whom is greedy, and one of
generally isn't, which one is better off?
all go to hell (eternal condemnation), which is the real reason we should care.
avoiding immorality may or may not improve their immediate lot in life, but that is fundamentally pragmatic.
that may not be so either - consider 1 cor 15:18,19 and 32,33
(v9,10) "i wrote you in my letter not to associate with immoral people; I did not at all mean with the immoral people of this world"
Paul says clearly that we do not have to avoid association with the world.
So take a deep breath and :
say hello to your neighbors who are living together though not married
eat lunch with your coworker practicing adultery
go to the christmas party thrown by your gay boss
1. we are commanded to spread the gospel (without caveat); this requires us to interact with (even build relationships with)
immoral people.
this is often the first step in preaching the gospel!
2. Christ gives clear example of engaging with immoral people.
luke 5:29-32 - jesus eating with tax collecters and sinners
luke 15:1,2 - jesus eating with tax collecters and sinners (again)
john 4:7-37 - samaritan women (presents the need for the gospel, doesn't talk about her need to change her
What makes this hard?
- we have to have different attitudes to Christians and non-Christians
- we have to vigorously keep ourselves from immorality; that sets us up to hate it.
it conflicts so strongly with the rules and desires of God, that it's 'enemy' status
can make it hard to not treat those who practice it as the 'enemy'.
- we confuse ot with nt
in the ot, immorality wasn't to be tolerated with the nation
punishment was the rule (lev. 20:10-21)
in the nt however, the nation equivalent is the church, not our country.
Should the Christian declare opposition to the non-Christian's immorality? If so, how? (support with Scripture)
How do you handle immorality when the person would call themselves a 'Christian', but wouldn't be called a Christian by an
Evangelical? (e.g., doesn't attend Church, doesn't believe the Bible is necessarily true, doesn't believe in 'salvation
by Christ alone').