People to avoid …

A woman entered a butcher shop and asked for a chicken. The butcher had only one left, so he brought it out and placed it on the scale; it weighed two pounds. The woman said, “I was hoping for one a little bigger.” So the butcher returned to the freezer, pretending to get another chicken, but brought the same one back and placed it on the scale, pushing down a little with his thumb so that it weighed three pounds. The woman said, “Perfect, I’ll take them both!”

Sometimes it is obvious there are some people that perhaps we should avoid, like a businessman we learn will cheat us if we try to conduct business with him. There can be real reasons to avoid interaction with someone; unfortunately, we have made ridding our lives of people more about what they can do for us than about any valid reason to exclude interacting with them.

Even many of our church leaders teach we should jettison from our lives people who aren’t there to contribute to our dreams and wants, a deplorable and wholly un-Christlike message which I’ve spoken and written about several times, as recently as this post from this blog. The example of Jesus is one of purposely walking into the lives of troublesome, imperfect, sinful, “problem people,” people who would not be easy to deal with, people who would ask a lot from others and give little in return. And we’re to follow the example of Christ (1 Peter 1;21)!

But with that said, the Bible itself clearly instructs us that there are some people we are supposed to avoid. Sadly, we often tend to keep too many of these people in our lives and walk away from others! Well, let’s have scripture teach us about those people we are to avoid. Following are just some of the passages that state clearly who we should avoid …

“And now I make one more appeal, my dear brothers and sisters. Watch out for people who cause divisions and upset people’s faith by teaching things contrary to what you have been taught. Stay away from them. Such people are not serving Christ our Lord; they are serving their own personal interests,” Romans 16:17-18.

“I can hardly believe the report about the sexual immorality going on among you — something that even pagans don’t do. I am told that a man in your church is living in sin with his stepmother. You are so proud of yourselves, but you should be mourning in sorrow and shame. And you should remove this man from your fellowship. Even though I am not with you in person, I am with you in the Spirit. And as though I were there, I have already passed judgment on this man in the name of the Lord Jesus. You must call a meeting of the church. I will be present with you in spirit, and so will the power of our Lord Jesus. Then you must throw this man out and hand him over to Satan so that his sinful nature will be destroyed and he himself will be saved on the day the Lord returns. Your boasting about this is terrible. Don’t you realize that this sin is like a little yeast that spreads through the whole batch of dough? Get rid of the old ‘yeast’ by removing this wicked person from among you. Then you will be like a fresh batch of dough made without yeast, which is what you really are. Christ, our Passover Lamb, has been sacrificed for us. So let us celebrate the festival, not with the old bread of wickedness and evil, but with the new bread of sincerity and truth. When I wrote to you before, I told you not to associate with people who indulge in sexual sin. But I wasn’t talking about unbelievers who indulge in sexual sin, or are greedy, or cheat people, or worship idols. You would have to leave this world to avoid people like that. I meant that you are not to associate with anyone who claims to be a believer yet indulges in sexual sin, or is greedy, or worships idols, or is abusive, or is a drunkard, or cheats people. Don’t even eat with such people. It isn’t my responsibility to judge outsiders, but it certainly is your responsibility to judge those inside the church who are sinning. God will judge those on the outside; but as the Scriptures say, ‘You must remove the evil person from among you,'” all 13 verses of 1 Corinthians 5.

“And now, dear brothers and sisters, we give you this command in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ: Stay away from all believers who live idle lives and don’t follow the tradition they received from us,” 2 Thessalonians 3:6.

“Take note of those who refuse to obey what we say in this letter. Stay away from them so they will be ashamed. Don’t think of them as enemies, but warn them as you would a brother or sister,” 2 Thessalonians 3:14-15.

“You should know this, Timothy, that in the last days there will be very difficult times. For people will love only themselves and their money. They will be boastful and proud, scoffing at God, disobedient to their parents, and ungrateful. They will consider nothing sacred. They will be unloving and unforgiving; they will slander others and have no self-control. They will be cruel and hate what is good. They will betray their friends, be reckless, be puffed up with pride, and love pleasure rather than God. They will act religious, but they will reject the power that could make them godly. Stay away from people like that!“ 2 Timothy 3:1-5.

“If people are causing divisions among you, give a first and second warning. After that, have nothing more to do with them. For people like that have turned away from the truth, and their own sins condemn them,” Titus 3:10-11.

“If anyone comes to your meeting and does not teach the truth about Christ, don’t invite that person into your home or give any kind of encouragement. Anyone who encourages such people becomes a partner in their evil work,” 2 John 1:10-11.

There is a consistent message in the New Testament, as shown in the verses above, that Christians are to avoid those who claim to be followers of Christ but are disruptive to, and contentious within, the church; people who claim to be disciples of Christ but who practice sin, as described in the verses above. Yet, we often choose to associate with those people because they’re “in” the church, but keep ourselves from those who don’t know Christ and live accordingly.

When it comes to our interactions with people, we should treat everyone in the same manner Jesus Christ does, and modeled for us when He walked this earth, and we should also obey the teachings of scripture in avoiding those people the Bible tells us to stay away from. Doing this will result in our treating people more like Jesus did, and becoming more and more like Jesus is God’s ultimate goal for us. It should be our goal as well!

Scotty