The Privilege of Church Inclusion

2 Timothy 3:1 “But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. 2For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, 4treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, 5having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people.”

Recently I was speaking in a church on the Presence of God and our need to live daily in the enabling power of His Presence.  A week later a sweet lady came to me and said, “I’ve been struggling to understand what you meant by “avoiding such people.”  Certainly we are to be kind and longsuffering with everyone in an effort to reach people with the love and forgiveness of Jesus, right?  Yet, here in black and white we read that there is a time when we “avoid” certain people.  That sounds like shunning doesn’t it?  How could that be possible?  We have to take this verse, as we always must, in context with the rest of the passage.  Paul is address the atmosphere of the church in the last days.  He says in the King James Version that it will be “perilous” times.  Here in the ESV it says “times of difficulty.  It will not be a good time or atmosphere.  We are talking about the condition of the church.  The Church throughout history has had more threat to its life and mission from within than without.  Outward enemies cause the Church to persist and prevail.  Inward enemies can cause the church to decay and implode.  Therefore for the sake of the Body of Christ there are times when some people must be avoided. 

We don’t value the honor, blessing and power of being a participating part of the Body of Jesus, the Church as much as we should.  We don’t understand fully the dynamic potential of being one of the members where every part contributes.(Ephesians 4:16) 

Paul is addressing those who have been a part of the church but are not living under the Lordship of Christ. They are out of control! They look and talk about religious things but deny the Power of the Gospel to save and set the captives free.  They are “spies in the camp” who weaken and undermine the faith of the Church.  These people are unwilling to repent.  They are unholy and live only for themselves.  These are the ones that Paul says, “avoid such people.”  We are not to arrive at this quickly.  It should come after a clear understanding of the true identity of these false brothers and sisters.  We see their potential of harm to the church.  It makes me uncomfortable to even write about this but there is a time when we must do this. Being a member of the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ is not a right it is a privilege.