Evil Company Corrupts Good Habits A Sermon Preached by Pastor Christian McShaffrey on 1 Corinthians 15:33 at Grace Reformed Church (Reedsburg, WI) - November 6, 2011 Do not be deceived: Evil company corrupts good habits. It does so always and inevitably; so please pay close attention as I explain and apply this verse according to seven main points: 1st The Urgency - Some of you might be wondering why I would stop here and give this short little verse any special attention. After all, we have been moving through this epistle rather quickly and it is simply not my custom to preach one verse at a time. Let me explain - As a Pastor (but especially as a father) I feel a certain urgency about alerting Christians (especially young Christians) to the danger of evil company. For in recent years, it has been well documented (by both sacred and secular sources) that young people who grew up in the church - who went to Sunday School - who attended worship every week with their parents - have been falling away at an alarming rate. Yes - Those who could once be seen singing God s praise in the very next pew are not only now absent, but even immersed in a life of outright and unrepentant sin! O, and I am not talking about the normal sins that we might expect to see in young people, Uh oh, Ricky has been listening to Rock music... and I think I saw a pack of smokes in Susie s purse... No - We are talking about the worse kinds of sins! Fornication, homosexuality, drug-addiction, and even involvement in things like primal mysticism and the occult! Now the good news is this - When it comes to the statistics, the Reformed Churches are not losing as many of their children as the mainline and evangelical churches are, but as a Pastor, I am not particularly comforted by that! Why would we lose any of them at all?! God claimed them by covenant - He sealed his promises to them in baptism - We nurture them faithfully and diligently through the means of grace and catechesis. We believe and claim God s promise: Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it. So we have to wonder: What is happening? What are we doing wrong? What is it that is drawing so many of our little ones away from Christ and out of his church? While there are many factors we might consider, this verse alerts us to a very simple-butserious factor: Evil Company - Evil companions which corrupt good habits. It is a simple enough statement, but it does contains a few assumptions which might not be so obvious. So let me highlight them for you: 2nd The Assumptions - That is, what does the Apostle simply take for granted before issuing his warning about the influence of evil company? The first assumptions is this: That Christians have developed good habits.
They have not just memorized the correct answers to a bunch of theoretical catechism questions, but they have also put their theology into practice - they have developed good personal habits. Some examples would be personal Bible reading, private prayer time, weekly church attendance, occasional volunteer work in the church and the community. Such good habits are simply assumed in this verse. So I guess I might as well put the question before we proceed any further: Have you, Christian, developed good habits? Have you adorned your profession of faith with an actual (and observable) godly walk? I hope so, because (again) it is one of the assumptions here. But even as we are assuming that, we also have to acknowledge an opposite assumption which the Apostle also makes. Namely, some Christians develop bad habits. Examples? Besides the omission of the good habits we ve already mentioned (i.e., Bible reading, prayer time, church attendance, volunteer work in the church and the community). We might consider things like this: Reading worldly books, listening to worldly music, watching worldly movies... and (remembering the main point here): Surrounding themselves with worldly companions. Ah, but I can almost hear the voice of the clever excuse-maker, Yeh... but Pastor I am just trying to be a good witness! I m hoping that I can be a good influence on my un-sanctified friends! Listen - There is another assumption being made here and it is: It it simply doesn t work that way. Good company doesn t correct bad habits. It works the other way around: Evil company corrupts good habits. And since many (as this verse says) are deceived about how this works, let me continue to convince you as I now offer some explanations: 3rd The Explanations - I do need you to understand the dynamics which are here described so that you will not be deceived like the Corinthian Christians were. First of all, it needs to be understood that ideas do have consequences. That is, the way a person thinks and believes will effect the way that way that person lives. I say this because many Christians think that they can safely expose themselves to all sort of sinners (so long as there is no overt sin taking place at that particular moment). They think, Well, I can spend some time with my atheist - agnostic - or apostate friend without being infected by their way of thinking... we will just plan do something wholesome together... something safe. No - The way the Apostle explains it is clear: Evil ways of thinking and believing do manifest themselves in evil ways of living and socializing! And these evil ways of living and socializing (at least according to this verse) are contagious! That is, they spread like a spiritual/ communicable disease to all who are exposed! And the saddest thing is this - Many don t even realize that they are being thus infected! That is why the Apostles stresses the point: Do not be deceived on this point!
Some people think and believe wrongly. Yes, even people within the visible church! And if you make these people your companions, you will probably be corrupted. So don t be deceived as so many have sadly been in the past... which leads to my next point: 4th The Evidences - To those who are wondering whether I might just be making too big an issue out of this, I would now offer some evidence which establishes the importance of this verse further: Consider first the scriptural evidence of how dangerous bad companions can be. Perhaps a few Proverbs: Proverbs 13:20, He that walketh with wise men shall be wise: but a companion of fools shall be destroyed. Proverbs 14:7, Go from the presence of a foolish man, when thou perceivest not in him the lips of knowledge. Proverbs 22:24-25, Make no friendship with an angry man; and with a furious man thou shalt not go: Lest thou learn his ways, and get a snare to thy soul. Proverbs 28:7, Whoso keepeth the law is a wise son: but he that is a companion of riotous men shameth his father. Consider also the scriptural examples of this; especially (and ironically enough) in the life of the man who wrote most of the Proverbs: In 1 Kings 11 we read: But King Solomon loved many foreign women, as well as the daughter of Pharaoh: women of the Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians, and Hittites - from the nations of whom the LORD had said to the children of Israel, You shall not intermarry with them, nor they with you. Surely they will turn away your hearts after their gods. Solomon clung to these in love. And as a result (and yes, because he had surrounded himself with evil companions), he ended up committing all sorts of sins. But we don t even really have to point to Solomon s sad example - do we? You have seen (even in your own experience) evidence of the power of evil company to corrupt. I mean, think back over the years of how many evil things you did that you would never would had done by yourself; but nevertheless did because everybody else around you was doing it. I don t think we really need evidence to prove the principle that evil company corrupts good habits. We know it does. The real question is therefore this: Are we ready to deal with this truth? I hope so. So let me help prepare you to deal with it by also alerting you to some of the possible implications of this verse. Next point: 5th The Implications - If it is true that bad thinking results in bad living - and if it is true that bad living is contagious (that it actually can corrupt good habits), then we simply must be honest about some of the uncomfortable-but-inescapable implications. I will name just a few: One of the first implications is this: We might have to reconsider our definition of friendship. I mean, what is a friend anyways? Who ought we to count as a friend? Who ought we to consider having as a friend? Who should be my companions? O, I know that such questions are rarely asked nowadays (especially when Facebook has managed to radically redefine the word friend ), but we simply must ask such things. And not just on a theoretical level...
The next implication is far more practical: We might actually have to amend and edit our list of freinds. Perhaps even making some deletions. Now - Whether that is done for you through the internet as you click the de-friend button (or whatever its is called) or whether it is done in more old-fashioned ways (like a farewell letter or phone call)... You may need to check your friend list in order to make sure that it consists of those who are truly worthy to be counted as your companions because they have met the scriptural criteria of friendship. And what is that? First of all, essential agreement in the important things of life (e.g., presuppositions, worldview, doctrine, practice), for as the prophet Amos asked: How can two walk together unless they be agreed? Another important criteria which needs to be met by a potential companion is covenantal commitment. That is, a person who can be trusted. A person that will not be quick to break fellowship when they discovered some imperfection in you. No - They need to be that brother who is born for adversity - and that friend that always sticks closer than a brother. And as you begin think about such things, let me warn you: The implications of this verse might start to become uncomfortable. Because again, companions who do not meet these most basic qualifications, might just have to be deleted from your list of friends. And O, I can just imagine all the the mental objections which might be coming to mind... so let me address a few: 6th The Objections - I suppose there will be many objections raised to a sermon like this, so let me address a few of them: Well that is simply not charitable! You cannot disqualify people as friends?! Why not? Does the Bible (which, by the way, defines true charity) anywhere call me to expose myself to sin and to sinners? No - It rather says, Come out from among them and be ye separate, says the Lord. O, but what about the example of Jesus? Did he not spend time with sinners? Of course he did as given opportunity. He even ate and drank with a few of them on occasion! But did he spend all of his time with them? Did he count them as his companions and confidants? Did he ever allow them to influence him? Of course not! And to destroy the objection even further, I have to remind you of one of the problems with the WWJD code of ethics: None of you are Jesus! None of you are sinless - perfect - and therefore beyond being influenced by evil companions! O, but what about friendship evangelism... you know, becoming friends with people and spending time together in order to make them comfortable before bringing up God and the Gospel in conversation? Hah! I know how this works! You see somebody who is obviously without Christ and think, Hmm... I think I will help that poor soul... but I don t want to seem pushy or offensive... So I think what I will do is this: Hang out with them, keep things comfortable, get them to like me, get to like them, establish a certain trust... and then, when the time is right I will share the gospel with them.
My friends, once you have done all that, the time will never be right to share the Gospel! Because by that time you will have come to count so-and-so as a friend! And the last thing you will therefore want to do is risk losing that friend by offending them. So not only have you then failed as an evangelist, but you have also then set yourself up to become the next victim of this inviolable principle: evil company corrupts good morals. Now I trust none of you want to be corrupted. And I certainly know that none of you parents want your children to become corrupted, So let me equip you to keep them (and yourselves) safe by closing with some practical applications: 7th The Applications - If it is indeed true that there is such a thing as evil company... and if it is true that evil company corrupts good morals, then we first of all need to thinking (and even speaking) in such terms! Listen - There are some people who (because of the way they think and the way they live) are EVIL... and as such, ought to be AVOIDED. That is, they should not be invited to your home - or admitted into the membership of your church. And here the application can be more specifically right to two different spheres of authority: First - To the heads of the households I say: Do not allow your little ones to be exposed to (or influenced by) evil company. Protect them! First of all by knowing who they regard as a friend, and then by helping them understand who is - and who is not worthy - of so sacred a title. Secondly - To the leaders of the church I must say: Do not allow your local fellowship to become a dangerous or defiled place by allowing unconverted or un-sanctified persons into membership! Every local church should be a safe place for young people to meet one another - befriend one a another... and since you know what happens next, I will speak plainly here: The local church should also be a safe place for young people to find a spouse and fall in love. O, there should at least be one safe place in this wicked world where we don t have to worry about being corrupted by evil company! And that place should be the local church of Jesus Christ. And I know that by saying things like this I run the risk of falling out of favor with some people. But, you know, I am willing to take that risk if it means saving the souls of our little ones. For who they count as their friends - who they count as their companions - who they spend time with - who they listen to - who they look up to - who they don t want to lose... this is no light matter! For there are only two possible outcomes: They will either be edified by their companions... or corrupted by their companions. So let us not be deceived: evil company corrupts good morals. May it never be so with us. Amen.