RPG Adults
REACHING OUT TO SINNERS
THURSDAY, JANUARY 13
Mark 2:15,16
John 17:11-17
“…he eateth and drinketh with
publicans and sinners?”
REACHING OUT TO SINNERS
Jesus was keeping bad company here—eating with publicans and sinners (Mark 2:16). Was He contradicting 1 Corinthians 15:33 which says, “Be not deceived: evil communications corrupt good manners”? 1 Corinthians 5:11 likewise states, “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.” No, Jesus did not contravene the law of separation and purity for separation is not isolation. Jesus Himself prayed for the Father’s keeping of His people for though they are in the world, they are not to be of the world (John 17:14,15).
Yes, it is true, bad company has a corrupting influence. Yet, in the case of Jesus here, Jesus was reaching out to corrupt men to make them honest people—He was curing the sick (Mark 2:17). Neither did Jesus condone or encourage the sinful deeds of the publicans and sinners. He commanded them to repent (Mark 1:15).
So, can we go to a wedding dinner of an unbelieving friend where there may be a lot of drinking? The answer is yes, but abstain from the liquor that is served and when asked why you do not drink, share your testimony of faith and share the gospel. Although we find here Jesus “eating and drinking” with publicans and sinners, it does not mean He drank alcohol and got drunk for Scriptures prohibit drunkenness and warned against wine, “Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging: and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise” (Prov 20:1). Wine in the days of Jesus was not necessarily alcoholic; there was non-alcoholic wine like sweet wine or honey wine. The Apostle Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 5:9,10, “I wrote unto you in an epistle not to company with fornicators: Yet not altogether with the fornicators of this world, or with the covetous, or extortioners, or with idolaters; for then must ye needs go out of the world.” While we are in the world, let us not be like the world, but a holy people of God reaching out with the gospel.
THOUGHT: Read David Brumbelow’s Ancient Wine & the Bible (Georgia: Free Church Press, 2011).
PRAYER: Lord, may I bear a good testimony for Thee.