"Such a high priest truly meets our need--one who is holy, blameless, pure, set apart from sinners, exalted above the heavens" (Heb. 7:26, NIV).
"How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked,
Nor stand in the path of sinners,
Nor sit in the seat of scoffers!" (Psalm 1:1, NASB).
We are the "salt of the earth,' according to Jesus, and salt is not only a preservative, but it also adds flavor, zest, seasoning, and taste. One thing it's good for is the dung heap: it makes it useful for fertilizer! But what if the salt loses its usefulness? Is it able to be recycled and renewed, once used up? No, it's served its purpose and must be trampled underfoot by men or thrown away with the garbage. Salt is always salt, and never loses its genetic characteristics or chemical makeup, but once mixed in with impurities, it cannot be made pure again by normal means. The consolation is that we remain salt as our permanent status. It is simply good for nothing, and some believers find themselves good for nothing, harassed by Satan and the world.
We are in an angelic conflict and it matters that we stay pure to fight and not lose our taste or usefulness. Our role in the world is as witnesses and light in the dark also, and we must guard our testimony and not jeopardize it by too much casual friendship (note that friendship is hard to define) with the world--i.e., not going where you cannot invite Jesus with you, and not being contaminated by the world, for we are called to be saints (set apart ones), which implies a setting apart or of being holy in God's sight. The issue is: "Who is the good neighbor? Not who is a good friend?" The Scripture says in 1 Cor. 15:33, NASB, "Do not be deceived: 'Bad company corrupts good morals.'" We must not overestimate our spirituality and believe we are so holy and like Jesus that we don't have to be careful about the company, we keep and especially who we befriend. Jesus said His friends were those who obeyed Him. He was called the "friend of sinners," but He drew the line at befriending Pharisees, His enemies.
However, we must not neglect to reach out to the lost, of course, but there is a line to be drawn as to how intimate we get with the unbeliever. There is a difference between being friendly and being friends! If our ways please the Lord, even our enemies will be at peace with us, but they won't necessarily want our friendship. We are opposed to the world and all it has to offer and our message to the lost is that they need to repent, not that we accept their sins and they are okay in our opinion. Romans 1 makes it clear that approving of sin is equal to committing it. If we don't denounce sin we are silently acquiescing and giving approbation to it.
There are many places I wish I'd never gone, and people I wish I'd never met (I've been to the dung heap and am permanently scarred as a result), but now I have learned to show discernment in whom befriend. This doesn't mean we don't love indiscriminately and reach out to any in need, but friendship is a different matter and a friend can bring you down to his level. It is true that, if you are so spiritual and mature that you may have a higher tolerance level and don't feel anyone can influence you, this is flaky and presumptuous, and naive ground to be on and you are not taking spiritual cautions. If you have never been sorry about whom you rubbed elbows with, maybe you haven't been there and done that yet, or pitched your tent toward Sodom like Lot mistakenly did, "...who was oppressed by the filthy conduct of the wicked" (2 Pet. 2:7, NKJV). One may inquire, "How do they get saved, if not by friendship?" The answer is that only by the preaching of the gospel and our testimony, not to be jeopardized, penetrates their veneer and feet of clay.
We may find ourselves in a cesspool of human excrement and a wasteland, but we are to bloom where we are planted and realize that we are there for a reason: to plant seeds and be salt and light--sometimes the solution is MORE SALT, NOT BETTER SALT. The key, then, is to bloom where we are planted! The Bible makes it clear that we are to show discernment and choose our associates and friends wisely, not being yoked unequally even when we are in love--to do otherwise would be presumptuous. Friendship implies a mutual give and takes from equal partners. Now it may be that you just happened to become friends with some sort of "untouchable" (i.e., the unrighteous who will not inherit the Kingdom of God according to 1 Cor. 6:9), and it may be your ministry to reach out to him, but it is not generally good advice to relax your standards.
How would you feel if your teenage daughter started hanging out with pimps because she thought she could convert them? There is a place for common sense and choosing our friends and acquaintances. Sometimes we are even distant from our own family members, much more do we need to keep our distance from sinners sometimes. It is true that no unbeliever can "contaminate" you by his sin without your cooperation and negligence, but we are not to put the Lord to the test and see how far we can venture into sinful territory without contamination or defilement either!
This is why Scripture says, "[B]ut others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire, hating even the garment defiled by the flesh," in Jude 23, NKJV. If God has placed you in a dung heap, it shows His confidence in your ability to stay pure and He trusts you to know your limits and that you will show discretion. Caveat: Once we lose our innocence, it cannot be restored.
The conclusion of the matter is that some of us may become burdened for the lost and not afraid to befriend them (note that definitions of "friend" differ), no matter how sinful, and we may feel and think there is no danger of contamination, but we don't test the Word of God by our experience, but our experience by the Word of God, and the Bible says in 1 Cor. 15:33, NASB, "Do not be deceived: 'Bad company corrupts good morals.'" The whole idea of being a Christian is to be one of the "called out ones" (ekklesia in Greek), and to be separate from the world: "Therefore go out from their midst, and be separate from them, says the Lord, and touch no unclean thing; and then I will welcome you" (2 Cor. 6:17, ESV). This does not necessitate cloistered virtue or becoming recluses or hermits, but showing discretion. Soli Deo Gloria!
"How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked,
Nor stand in the path of sinners,
Nor sit in the seat of scoffers!" (Psalm 1:1, NASB).
We are the "salt of the earth,' according to Jesus, and salt is not only a preservative, but it also adds flavor, zest, seasoning, and taste. One thing it's good for is the dung heap: it makes it useful for fertilizer! But what if the salt loses its usefulness? Is it able to be recycled and renewed, once used up? No, it's served its purpose and must be trampled underfoot by men or thrown away with the garbage. Salt is always salt, and never loses its genetic characteristics or chemical makeup, but once mixed in with impurities, it cannot be made pure again by normal means. The consolation is that we remain salt as our permanent status. It is simply good for nothing, and some believers find themselves good for nothing, harassed by Satan and the world.
We are in an angelic conflict and it matters that we stay pure to fight and not lose our taste or usefulness. Our role in the world is as witnesses and light in the dark also, and we must guard our testimony and not jeopardize it by too much casual friendship (note that friendship is hard to define) with the world--i.e., not going where you cannot invite Jesus with you, and not being contaminated by the world, for we are called to be saints (set apart ones), which implies a setting apart or of being holy in God's sight. The issue is: "Who is the good neighbor? Not who is a good friend?" The Scripture says in 1 Cor. 15:33, NASB, "Do not be deceived: 'Bad company corrupts good morals.'" We must not overestimate our spirituality and believe we are so holy and like Jesus that we don't have to be careful about the company, we keep and especially who we befriend. Jesus said His friends were those who obeyed Him. He was called the "friend of sinners," but He drew the line at befriending Pharisees, His enemies.
However, we must not neglect to reach out to the lost, of course, but there is a line to be drawn as to how intimate we get with the unbeliever. There is a difference between being friendly and being friends! If our ways please the Lord, even our enemies will be at peace with us, but they won't necessarily want our friendship. We are opposed to the world and all it has to offer and our message to the lost is that they need to repent, not that we accept their sins and they are okay in our opinion. Romans 1 makes it clear that approving of sin is equal to committing it. If we don't denounce sin we are silently acquiescing and giving approbation to it.
There are many places I wish I'd never gone, and people I wish I'd never met (I've been to the dung heap and am permanently scarred as a result), but now I have learned to show discernment in whom befriend. This doesn't mean we don't love indiscriminately and reach out to any in need, but friendship is a different matter and a friend can bring you down to his level. It is true that, if you are so spiritual and mature that you may have a higher tolerance level and don't feel anyone can influence you, this is flaky and presumptuous, and naive ground to be on and you are not taking spiritual cautions. If you have never been sorry about whom you rubbed elbows with, maybe you haven't been there and done that yet, or pitched your tent toward Sodom like Lot mistakenly did, "...who was oppressed by the filthy conduct of the wicked" (2 Pet. 2:7, NKJV). One may inquire, "How do they get saved, if not by friendship?" The answer is that only by the preaching of the gospel and our testimony, not to be jeopardized, penetrates their veneer and feet of clay.
We may find ourselves in a cesspool of human excrement and a wasteland, but we are to bloom where we are planted and realize that we are there for a reason: to plant seeds and be salt and light--sometimes the solution is MORE SALT, NOT BETTER SALT. The key, then, is to bloom where we are planted! The Bible makes it clear that we are to show discernment and choose our associates and friends wisely, not being yoked unequally even when we are in love--to do otherwise would be presumptuous. Friendship implies a mutual give and takes from equal partners. Now it may be that you just happened to become friends with some sort of "untouchable" (i.e., the unrighteous who will not inherit the Kingdom of God according to 1 Cor. 6:9), and it may be your ministry to reach out to him, but it is not generally good advice to relax your standards.
How would you feel if your teenage daughter started hanging out with pimps because she thought she could convert them? There is a place for common sense and choosing our friends and acquaintances. Sometimes we are even distant from our own family members, much more do we need to keep our distance from sinners sometimes. It is true that no unbeliever can "contaminate" you by his sin without your cooperation and negligence, but we are not to put the Lord to the test and see how far we can venture into sinful territory without contamination or defilement either!
This is why Scripture says, "[B]ut others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire, hating even the garment defiled by the flesh," in Jude 23, NKJV. If God has placed you in a dung heap, it shows His confidence in your ability to stay pure and He trusts you to know your limits and that you will show discretion. Caveat: Once we lose our innocence, it cannot be restored.
The conclusion of the matter is that some of us may become burdened for the lost and not afraid to befriend them (note that definitions of "friend" differ), no matter how sinful, and we may feel and think there is no danger of contamination, but we don't test the Word of God by our experience, but our experience by the Word of God, and the Bible says in 1 Cor. 15:33, NASB, "Do not be deceived: 'Bad company corrupts good morals.'" The whole idea of being a Christian is to be one of the "called out ones" (ekklesia in Greek), and to be separate from the world: "Therefore go out from their midst, and be separate from them, says the Lord, and touch no unclean thing; and then I will welcome you" (2 Cor. 6:17, ESV). This does not necessitate cloistered virtue or becoming recluses or hermits, but showing discretion. Soli Deo Gloria!