If you have surveyed many church signs and materials then I am sure you have seen the phrase: “Everyone is Welcome.” But is it true? Better yet, is it biblical?
I remember years ago hearing my pastor tell us that actually everyone is not really welcome.
What did he mean by this?
The setting was a sermon on Matthew 18. Perhaps more familiarly the topic of church discipline. If we read through the passage of how the Lord intends his followers to deal with sin in the body of Christ we see that the goal is restoration. Jesus means to have his people to live in holiness. Therefore, if there is sin then there needs to be private confrontation (Matt. 18.15). If the brother (or sister) fails to repent then another confrontation is needed, this time with 2-3 witnesses (Matt. 18.16). Still further, if he refuses to listen, they are to tell it to the church (Matt. 18.17a). If, after this, he continues in unrepentant sin, then he is to be treated as a Gentile or tax collector. In other words, the unrepentant sinner is to be cut off from the blessings of community. In short, he is no longer welcome.
Therefore, it would be biblically irresponsible to say that all people are in uncategorically accepted in the fellowship of Christians.
To tease out the tension here, we should consider that that is not talking about unbelievers. Matthew 18 and 1 Corinthians 5 (a parrell passage) both make the point that we are talking about professing Christians. Paul is not talking about a complete disassociation with unbelievers. This is his point here:
I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people— 10 not at all meaning the sexually immoral of this world, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters, since then you would need to go out of the world. 11 But now I am writing to you not to associate with anyone who bears the name of brother if he is guilty of sexual immorality or greed, or is an idolater, reviler, drunkard, or swindler—not even to eat with such a one. 12 For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Is it not those inside the church whom you are to judge? 13 God judges those outside. “Purge the evil person from among you.” (1 Cor. 5.9-13)
So if a drunk stumbles in…don’t throw him out, evangelize him. If a drug addict shows up, give him the gospel, not the boot. However, if a nice, clean cut, gospel-denying, resurrection-power-denying, person comes in who has refused to submit to the Lordship of Christ and the authority of his word by living in open rebellion while claiming Christ–do not receive him.
The Corinthians got this backwards. They were like the church of Thyataria (Rev. 2.18-21). They were tolerant. What’s more, the Corinthians bragged about it like a virtue (1 Cor. 5.1-2).
While this is as uncomfortable as it is unpopular it is nonetheless biblical. The fact of the matter is it is not my church or your church. Jesus said, it is his church (16.18). He bought it (Acts 20.28). Whether it is in the name of being nice, tolerant, or wimpy, the truth is, to not do what Jesus says is to be unbiblical.
Therefore, in love for Christ and a desire for holiness, sometimes you have to not welcome everyone in order to welcome Jesus.
