Should We Invite Unbelievers To Church?
Dr. Harley Howard: Foundation Of Truth Bible Church

Should We Invite Unbelievers to the Church?

Well, should we invite unbelievers to Church? That’s quite a question and the answer is not what you may think. As with any issue concerning the church, we need to go to the scriptures and see what God has already written on this subject.

2nd Corinthians 6:14-18 14 Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness? 15 And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? 16 And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. 17 Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you. 18 And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall by my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty. 2nd Corinthians 7:1 Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves form all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.

It is quite obvious in these verses Paul is stating that believers should not form or maintain close relationships with non-Christians. Believers should develop close relationships among other believers, since we are of the same family, as well as one body, and very dependent upon each other. Any association that a believer has with an unbeliever should have the goal of winning them to Christ.

In verse 14 it is important to note grammatically that Paul uses the present tense of the verb "unequally yoked". Paul is telling the believers to stop the current practice of yoking unevenly with the ungodly. The references to yoking comes from Deuteronomy 22 and Leviticus 19. We must not, either temporarily or permanently form a relationship with the ungodly that would lead to a compromise of Christian standards or jeopardize the consistency of our Christian witness. The unbeliever does not share the Christian’s standards, sympathies, or goals.

All of Paul’s questions in verses 14-16 presupposes a negative answer.

All of the answers to Paul’s questions presuppose a negative response 1. What fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? (Psalm 45:6-7, 92:12-15) God has nothing in common with the ungodly or with unrighteousness. 2. What communion (participation) hath light with darkness? (Proverbs 4:10-19; Isaiah 5:18-20; 1st John 1:5) 3. What concord (agreement) hath Christ with Belial (the devil)? Both Christ and satan have children according to John 8. If Christ has no fellowship with the devil, why should we have fellowship with satan's children since we are to be imitators of God? (Ephesians 5:1; I John 3:10) 4. What part hath he that believeth with an infidel? (unbeliever, Ephesians 5:5-17) 5. What agreement hath the temple of God with idols?

In as much as it is obvious that believers have nothing in common with unbelievers, the automatic response to this truth would be to "come out from among them" (emphasis added). This is a command, not a suggestion. This command also contains an urgency in the doing of it.

Many people who read 2^nd Corinthians 6:16-18 never seem to understand the Old Testament injunctions behind them. This is very important because Paul, writing under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, draws a principle from the Old Testament to state his case regarding fellowship that carries right into the New Testament: fellowship is not possible among believers and unbelievers, individually or corporately. Let’s compare a portion of the Old Testament with verses 16-18 in order to understand how Paul arrives at this principle.

How Paul arrives at this principle in 2 Corinthians 6:16-18 Verse 16 I will dwell in them, and walk in them. Leviticus 26; 1 Kings 6; Ezekiel 37. Verse 17 Wherefore (for that reason) come out from among them, and be separate, says the Lord. Ezra 6,10; Psalm 1. Touch not the unclean thing. Isaiah 52; Haggai 2. And I will receive you. Ezekiel 20. Verse 18 I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Exodus 6, 7, 33; Leviticus 26; Jeremiah 7, 11, 32; Ezekiel 37. And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty. 2nd Samuel 7; Isaiah 43; Jeremiah 31.

Every Jew knew that non-Jews could not be involved in the worship of God in no way, shape, form or fashion, unless that individual renounced his former lifestyle and became a proselyte—a convert to the Jews religion. Bringing the ungodly into the temple and/or the worship of God was not only forbidden by God, but was grounds for God to chasten His people. It was a defiling of God's dwelling place and His people. Study it for yourself.

If it is true that believers have no fellowship with unbelievers on an individual basis, then what in the world would give us the impression that we are to suddenly incorporate the ungodly into a church fellowship that is strictly for believers?

What principles can we extract from what we have studied thus far?

We can already see Separation is not optional, but commanded. There is nothing that we have in common with the unsaved. Trying tactics, such as developing a relationship before sharing the gospel, is irrelevant since no genuine relationship exists. These types of tactics are deceptive. Relationship is defined in the dictionary as: A logical or natural association between two or more people. That does not exist between the saved and the unsaved. Jesus has no relationship with satan, nor should the children of God have relationships with satan's children. God's people are His chosen, covenant people. The ungodly are not. They hate God. They are His enemies, and yours, and will defile you! Our separation from ungodliness and the ungodly, and our faithfulness to the church body will bring us into a proper place of sanctification. Thus, spiritual growth in holiness. All this is to be done in the fear of God, not in the fear of the ungodly.

So are we to invite unbelievers to the church?

It seems rather incredible to me that we even have to approach this question at all, seeing what the scriptures clearly teach concerning the church. The scriptures clearly teach what a church is, what the gathering of the church is for, and the need for holy, Spirit-filled, and Spirit-directed people to function towards one another. Knowing all of this answers the question all by itself. It is not possible for an unbeliever to do anything to the church, but corrupt its mission and the people. Unbelievers cannot participate in the work of God at all! They do not have the capacity or the understanding of the things of God according to 1^st Corinthians 2. The stated purpose of the gathering of the saints is edification, not evangelism!

Why is it then that we have so much trouble understanding or believing this truth? Why is it that we are so quick to throw up some meaningless objections, or some supposed exceptions, or some hypothetical situations to what God has already stated in the word? To state the case plainly,

There is not one shred of evidence or any command or injunction in the entire New Testament which places the church world or individual saints under the responsibility to invite unbelievers to the fellowship of a church gathering.

Yet, in spite of this multitudes are violating this principle daily. Because of the violation of this principle, many lives are being ruined, families destroyed, the purity of many men and women are being violated, and churches are being corrupted and devastated. Many church leaders will not teach this truth to their people for reasons I cannot understand. I realize taking this view will indeed run headlong into what so many of us, including myself, were told to believe concerning bringing unbelievers into the fellowship of a church. Nevertheless, truth should be based upon scripture alone and not upon what a teacher, preacher, pastor, school, book, video, or anything or anyone else says.

I would like to submit to your understanding why so many people believe and operate according to this error concerning bringing the unsaved into the church.

1. Fear of isolation, persecution, and retaliation from the unsaved relationships they have established.

Many are extremely convicted by the truth which we have seen thus far, because many have violated the scriptures concerning associations with the ungodly. You have deep, long-term relations with God haters that you refuse to give up. You have little or no relationships with the believing body, which is what God clearly commands and which will help your life tremendously. You have relationships with the ungodly, which is strictly forbidden by God and will devastate your life spiritually. It is convenient for you to invite the enemies of God and His people to the fellowship of believers and extract yourself of the personal responsibility to be a witness for Christ rather than to share in the sufferings of Christ for the sake of the gospel (2^nd Timothy 1:8-12, 2:8-13). You are more concerned about how the world will treat you rather than God's promise of blessing with a relationship with Him and His people. You are afraid of what your so-called friends will do to you (Psalm 118:5-9; Proverbs 29:25; Matthew 10:28). They cannot be your friends as we have already proven, because there cannot be any friendship between a heathen and a true child of God. Note this point in your mind as you continue to read on.

2. Misplaced zeal.

Much zeal is misplaced and detrimental to the work of God. Zeal must be tempered with a proper understanding of purpose and plan of God. Misplaced and misguided zeal in the name of what we perceive as a good and Godly cause does not justify its actions. In our desire to want to see the lost saved, our misplaced zeal may cause us to use methods that are contrary to scripture. Thus, giving people a false sense of security when in fact they never were saved in the first place. Zeal alone, no matter how dedicated, is wrong and harmful if it is not tempered with a proper understanding of the purpose and plan of God. Some of us are indeed busy displaying zeal. Yet, there is no fruit, no growth, no nothing when you stop long enough and look at the results of all of that wasted, misplaced zeal. It is not our zeal that performs the work of God. It is God that performs His work. Some people have a mistaken belief that our zeal equals the work of the Lord . It is, in fact, nothing more than our own works, not God's. If you want to see the proper use of zeal in evangelism, study the book of Acts carefully and see what the early church did. Imitate their principles; learn what they did and do it.

3. They do not know their Bibles concerning this issue.

Many who invite the ungodly to church are the spiritually dull and lazy. They are Sunday morning saints. Their lives exemplify little or no dedication to God and the growth process needed to be a godly witness. They spend little or no time reading and studying the scriptures, because the scriptures are not the priority in their lives, though they give lip service to it. Because they are biblically ignorant of what the gospel is, they cannot share their faith with the unsaved. They also cannot share their faith, because they are either not living it, or they have damaged their testimony beyond repair through ungodly behavior.

4. They rely on their Pastors to evangelize.

Multitudes of believers are relying upon their pastors to evangelize their unsaved "friends." Why? Because many Christians do not know how to evangelize the unsaved. In order for Christians to know how to share the gospel, they need to follow (instead of refuse) the biblical instructions of those who will teach them. Where do you find in the scriptures that the pastor-teacher of any church is to spend time preaching gospel messages every week to the body of believers who are already saved? In spite of the fact that there is no evidence that would support this practice, it goes on week after week in many churches. Biblically speaking, the pastor-teacher’s responsibility is to feed the flock of God, to shepherd God's people, to mature the saints and to prepare them for ministry. In spite of this clear evidence, much of this needed work is ignored.

5. Pastors and other church leaders encourage inviting the unsaved to church.

This is true. Pastors and other church leaders encourage this practice, because of their own ignorance of scripture and their unbiblical traditions. In many Bible colleges and seminaries all over this country, the pastor is instructed to do all of the work. He, or they, will not properly train the believing body according to the scripture. They will not bring them to a place of spiritual maturity by sound doctrine, but would rather tell the church to bring in the ungodly, preach salvation to them, and get them saved. Never mind that the scriptures does not teach this. I was taught in school and by denominational tradition that it was the norm to invite the unsaved to church.

6. People do not know the function, purpose and ministry of a biblical church.

Since the many churches don't have a clue as to what the scriptures say concerning the function, purpose and ministry of a church, instead of going into the scriptures and reading it, then they create one. No one at all, who understands their bible, will ever espouse to this kind of movement of bringing in the ungodly, the unsaved, the unbelievers into the fellowship of believers, incorporating them in the church, put them on boards and positions and not expect utter terror to take place in the church.

However, I believe the next reason I want to submit to your understanding today is the most tragic of all as to why people are so willing to violate the function, purpose, and ministry of God's church.

7. A misunderstanding of the character of the unsaved, and of who and what controls them.

It almost seems that most so-called believers think God is wrong. They seem to believe the unsaved are not really as bad as God says that they are. Then why does the Lord call them by the following descriptions in the New Testament if they weren't as bad as some foolishly believe? This is just a fragment of God’s description of the ungodly.

Anathema Backbiters Beast Blasphemers Children of the devil Creeps Covetous Cursed Deceivers Disobedient Dogs Faithless False Filthy Fools Hateful Haters of good Haters of God Heathens Heretics Hypocrites Idolaters Ignorant Iniquitous Least esteemed Liars Lost Lovers of pleasures Mad (crazy) Pernicious Pigs Proud Reprobate Rotten in thinking Scoffers Seducers Sexually immoral and perverted Sinners Slaves of sin and corruption Unclean Unbelievers, (ing) Ungodly Unmerciful Unrighteous Unruly Unthankful Whitewashed graves Wicked Without natural affection Worldly etc.

Etc., etc., etc....

People have forgotten what they have heard. They are ignorant of the truth and are unwilling to believe the truth, because of some stupid rationalization in their own foolish minds.

The list above only scratches the surface of God's description of the ungodly. Below is a portion of how many people describe the ungodly and rationalize why they bring or invite them to church. Sadly enough, this is how many people evaluate them.

Benevolent Don’t want to lose their friendship Educated Family (Blood is thicker than salvation!) Friends I need someone to talk to Lovers Misunderstood people Need counseling Religious Say they are Christians Serve the same God in a different way They go to church They're good people Too good to be sent to the lake of fire You don’t understand them etc.

etc., etc., etc....

8. Many are unsaved themselves.

As a result of the previous seven points, our churches today are filled with so-called believers who are making the fatal and damnable attempt to worship God. The fact of the matter is, many church-goers think they are believers, but are in reality the unsaved. The ungodly, so-called believer is in actuality the ungodly unsaved. It is no wonder why our churches are being filled with the unsaved. They are invited to church by other unsaved people. It is a vicious cycle that could easily be stopped by the teaching of the word of God and obedience to it.

The greatest misunderstanding of inviting unbelievers to church is that folks don't believe satan is in control of all the ungodly. Since it is true that satan exists, then anywhere his children are, they will do his work (John 8:44; 2^nd Corinthians 11:13-15). With a deceitful worker comes a deceitful work! Satan loves to infiltrate churches for the purpose of corrupting them and then destroying them, but people don't believe this truth. This is why people are so quick to bring the children of the devil into the church. The devil and his children are invited right into the fellowship. The church doesn’t try to watch for the enemy. The church invites the enemy in with the ignorant thinking that we are doing the will of God! Folk don't believe the ungodly are not only led of the devil, but are not in bondage to do his will. Not believing what God says about the ungodly perpetuates the mind-set that it is alright to bring them into the fellowship. Certainly, Christ rejecters and God haters won't do the fellowship any harm. What absolute nonsense! What foolishness! It is satan who controls the unbeliever. Lust is their inducement and enticement. Satan is the "who" and lust is the "what" that controls the ungodly (John 8:44; Ephesians 2:1-3, 4:17-24; 2^nd Timothy 4:1-4; Titus 2:12, 3:3; 1^st Peter 1:14, 4:3-4; 2^nd Peter 2:9-10, 3:1-3; 1^st John 2:15-17; *Jude 1:14-19)

Paul said of himself and Timothy that they were not ignorant of satan's devices, thoughts, schemes and tricks. Paul and his group of teachers knew all too well, being on the front lines of combat, the schemes of the adversary. Paul was not misguided about satan and how he works his trickery of infiltration into God's church. However, today's church is ignorant of satan's devices, and seems to be very comfortable in her ignorance.

Now, let’s address some of these supposed problem passages which are use in attempting to justify inviting unbelievers to the church. Let me say, before we go into these verses, it is indeed a danger to try to develop a doctrine based on a few verses without looking at the context of the verses in its immediate passages, as well as the context of the entire Bible.

Acts 19:8-9

First of all, Paul had previously spoken to these unbelieving Jews in chapter 18:19-21. His purpose was evangelistic in nature. These were lost people, not believers. Remember this. On Paul’s return to Ephesus, he goes back to the synagogue and continues for three months the evangelistic message to the unbelieving Jews which he already began the last time he was in Ephesus. When opposition arose because of Christianity, Paul separated himself with those disciples who had set themselves apart to follow Jesus and learn more about Him. They moved to the lecture hall of Tyrannus. There is no indication in these verses that Paul invited unbelievers into the fellowship of believers. This was not Paul's purpose for going into the synagogue, nor is this what the text says. Paul's custom was to go into a synagogue and preach salvation through Christ. His going into the synagogue was evangelistic in nature. The disciples were those, who when Paul decided to leave the hostility, came from the group of Jews who heard Paul's message and followed him to the lecture hall to learn about Christ. This wasn't a church service of believers and unbelievers. Remember, Paul went to the synagogue. The unbelieving Jews did not come to Paul! Why? Because Paul's return to the synagogue was evangelistic in nature. Look carefully at Acts 9:26. The words, join himself, means "to glue objects together." It speaks figuratively of believers having a close, intimate, personal, and spiritual relationship with each other. It means "to join one socially to another group." In other words, the believers would not associate themselves with Paul. They would not receive him, or embrace him, or allow him to join their company, because they did not believe he was one of their own. The believers joined themselves to other believers, but not to those who were not one of their own.

1^st Corinthians 6:1-6:

This text does not say that the earthly judges were in the church. Believers brought lawsuits against each other before the courts. This is the context. The text states that as far as the church body is concerned, secular judges are the least esteemed to decide church matters. In fact, the words least esteemed is translated utterly despised, of no account, nothing, contemptible. This is how Paul viewed earthly judges overseeing church matters.

1^st Corinthians 14:23-25:

The words "come in" is a verb in Greek which means "to come in or to enter in." There is no indication at all of an invitation. The verb Paul uses here simply means that the unbeliever "walked in" to the place of the gathering. If Paul wanted to say that the unbeliever was invited, he would have used at least three other Greek verbs, meaning:

• To invite, or,
• To bring into, or
• To receive, to take in or to welcome

Paul used none of these verbs.

Listen to me carefully. If an unsaved person walked into the assembly of believers there would be no way to know, unless you questioned him or her, as to their status before God. But if that unbeliever came into the assembly and heard the truth from the word of God, God would expose the inner secrets of that person's heart and bring that person under the conviction of His word and save him. The person would then declare to the body that God is indeed working in your midst. I believe God moves on the hearts of many unbelievers, in His sovereign plan, then leads these individuals to a church were He will save them. I have had this happen at the church I pastor. Unbelievers have come into the church, and will come into the church, through the sovereign plan of God, not through some concocted plan of mass invitation. Jesus made it very clear that the Holy Spirit is convicting the world of sin. God is very active in dealing with the hearts of the unbelievers. What believers need to do is bring the urgency of the message of repentance towards God and faith towards our Lord Jesus Christ to the unsaved masses of people. We need to bring the message of the gospel of Jesus Christ to the lost.

When the unsaved embrace that message and the salvation God provides, then and only then, should they be brought into a biblical church. They are to submit themselves to the teaching of the word of God as true followers of God and grow up spiritually. This is God's plan.

So then, what should our response be to the lost?

1. Live a blameless life before them.

(2^nd Samuel 12:1-14; Matthew 5:16; Romans 2:21-24; Ephesians 5:1-17; 1^st Thessalonians 5:5-7; Philippians 2:14-15; 1^st Timothy 6:1; Titus 2:5; and 1^st Peter 2:9-12). The purpose of living a blameless life before the ungodly gives a foundation to the gospel we proclaim (Acts 24:10-16; 1^st Corinthians 10:31-33, 2^nd Corinthians 6:1-10). If we as believers are going around attempting to proclaim a message before the lost and are living a life that is contrary to what we proclaim, they will not listen and they should not listen. A redemptive message is to be proclaimed by one who has a redeemed life.

2. Proclaim the gospel to them.

(Matthew 28:18-20; Acts 8:3-4; Romans 1:16-17; 1^st Corinthians 5:11-21, 15:1-4; 2^nd Corinthians 4:1-7). The great commission has become the great omission for the church today. There is no question that God commands His people to go and to proclaim Christ. It is time that we repent of our disobedience on this issue of not giving the message of salvation to the lost world. Evangelism is not optional in the Christian life and it must be done God’s way.

Let’s summarize what we have learned:

Lesson summary 1. There is no command, injunction placed upon believers, individually or collectively, in the entire New Testament which places the church world, or individual saints, under the responsibility to invite unbelievers to the fellowship of a church gathering. 2. There is no union between the believer and the unbeliever. 3. Unbelievers add nothing but corruption to any work of God. 4. The scriptures are clear. We as believers are to go out into the world to evangelize. 5. The church needs to be protected and watchful against encroachment from the enemy. 6. Live the life of Christ before the unbeliever. 7. Proclaim the gospel to the unbeliever.

Foundation Of Truth Bible Church | PO Box 9162 | Fountain Valley, California 92728