In the letter I wrote to you previously, I made it clear that you are not to band together with those who have embraced immoral lives. Don’t misunderstand; I’m not telling you to hole up and hunker down from the rest of the world. That’s impossible. The world is filled with immoral people consumed by their desire for more; they steal from one another without hesitation and will worship man-made idols with no shame at all. If you attempted to avoid these people, you would have to leave the world itself.

1 Corinthians 5:9-10 (Voice)

 

If the gospel we believe feeds our prejudices and hostility towards people on the outside, we must carefully question whether what we believe is truly the gospel. Unfortunately, many believers use God's Word to discriminate against those with whom they disagree on a variety of issues. That is not the way of Jesus. The only individuals Jesus ever condemned were those who exploited Scripture to fuel their hatred and fear rather than discern the truth.

The gospel calls us to love and act in love to all who are hurting, as well as to reconcile them with God. This is not to say that we should avoid discussing sin when sharing the gospel with people. Though sin is a big issue in the eyes of God, it is not the starting point of the gospel.

The gospel starts with God's love for us, not with our sin.

This is the problem for many of us when it comes to sharing the good news. Somehow, we want to make people feel bad or intentionally uncomfortable instead of urging them to be thankful that God has forgiven their sins because of what Jesus did on the Cross.

Forgiveness is an essential part of God's love.

In fact, if our sins are not fully forgiven, the gospel ceases to be the gospel. We must not view people solely as "sinners," but as people created in the image of God, even if they have yet to trust in Jesus. This allows us to be more loving and caring toward them, rather than acting as “moral police” over them. Just faithfully and patiently show God's love through the life-giving message of the gospel (2 Timothy 4:2). When Jesus becomes real to them, they will learn to trust Him to work through all of their life's challenges.