1 Corinthians 15:33 Be not deceived: evil communications corrupt good manners.
33 Do not be deceived: "Bad company ruins good morals." (ESV)
33 Don't fool yourselves. Bad friends will destroy you. (CEV)
One of the most important decisions a person will make is who his/her companions are. God’s Word instructs us to pick our friends carefully. It really does make a huge difference who you spend time with.
One thing Biblical passages like this one teach is who you spend time with really does make a difference in your life both now and in the future.
The book of Proverbs, like all Biblical writings, is God’s Word to His people. God gave the book in the form of a dad speaking to his young son. That dad warned his son of the corruption and damage that comes in some common ways and one of those ways is that damage comes by running with the wrong crowd. He said in Proverbs 1:15 My son, walk not thou in the way with them; refrain thy foot from their path: Don’t walk with, don’t travel through life with corrupt companions. The wrong kind of friends will lead you to do things you would have never done had you not join in with the wrong crowd.
Years ago, there was a blackbird infestation in the delta.
There were flocks of blackbirds that numbered into tens of thousands and maybe more. Those flocks would enter into fields of grain and devastate crops. So, farmers began shooting into the massive flocks to drive them away from their fields.
The story is told of a farmer who had a pet, talking parrot. One day the farmer slipped up to his field covered with blackbirds, he raise his gun and began firing indiscriminately. As the black birds scattered, he heard the voice of his parrot shouting in pain. He ran into the field and picked up his wounded parrot and asked, “How did this happen?” The parrot replied, “Bad choice of friends! Bad choice of friends!”
I. How Running with the Wrong Friends Begins.
1 Corinthians 15:33 Be not deceived: evil communications corrupt good manners.
The word deceived was translated from word that means to go astray.
The idea is we are to keep our thoughts aligned with truth, good and right so we don’t go astray into deceptive thinking.
A person has to make choices to keep his/her mind from slipping into deceptive thinking, which can certainly come through one’s companions.
Running with the wrong crowd can happen when a person begins to be convinced that bad companions are actually friends of value. This happens because of misplaced values. In other words, if a person begins to want unhealthy things in his/her life or unhealthy lifestyles, those desires, if not rejected and rebuked, will cause a person to become open to thinking lies and doing wrong things.
The lure of fun, popularity and selfish pacification often works in a person to cause him/her to make some bad choices concerning his/her companions.
Running with corrupt companions is likely to happen when a person rationalizes that unhealthy friends aren’t really that bad.
The idea of deception here is not that of self-deception that is so often mentioned in the Bible. This kind of deception comes by enticements from outside sources, which make their way into one’s mind and then their lies become that person’s own ideas. In other words, a person with good intentions is first enticed by a person/s of vain philosophies and the lure of their deceptive words take root in one’s mind and then that person buys-into the lie that such friends are worth having for advantage, which is selfish pacification.
Running with the wrong crowd begins when a person accepts and believes the lies of advantage by joining in with ungodly friends, thus doing wrong things.
It is good to keep in mind that God calls these kind of companions “evil.”
That leads to the next point:
II. The Core of Evil Friends.
1 Corinthians 15:33 Be not deceived: evil communications corrupt good manners.
The word evil was translated from a word that means worthless, or depraved. Such persons are bad at the core. Their hearts are not good toward God. They may be “good” people in many ways, but their core convictions are not aligned with God and His Word.
If you follow these kind of persons, they will lead you away from closely walking with Jesus, thus away from living a life that reflects God and His goodness.
These persons are the kind of persons who live without restraint of convictions from God or His ways. They have nothing of godly worth to offer by their words, actions and lifestyles. They are in essence evil in God’s sight.
That is sometimes difficult to accept concerning persons with whom one has developed a close friendship.
And, such persons are not always found in the gutters of society. Sometimes they attend church. Not everyone who attends church makes a spiritually healthy friend.
It doesn’t take being a rocket scientist to know what a person is like in words, actions or lifestyle. Each person’s words, actions and lifestyle display the heart and direction that person is traveling in life.
God says don’t’ be deceived so as to buy into the lie that persons whose words, actions and lifestyles that are ungodly, are somehow good for you.
A person may have something to offer that you want, but the damage that comes with being close to that person out weighs any good you might gain.
This is exactly how evil works it’s way into our lives. We see something we want, even a good thing, but the way to get that evil offers is spiritually costly, thus destructive.
The problems with bad friends is they are evil companions as God sees it. And He sees best and most accurately.
III. Understand the Kind of Persons Your Friends Are.
1 Corinthians 15:33 Be not deceived: evil communications corrupt good manners.
The Greek word translated as communications means interaction with a companion on a deep level. It is the kind of interaction with a friend that you become close enough to so as to be drawn into participation in the things that persons is doing.
A casual friend is not someone you join in with in what he/she believes and does, especially when what the person believes or does goes against your convictions.
Learn a Truth: The wrong kind of friends are those who entice you to do things that violate your conscience that you would not have done on your own.
Some wrong things a person might do is all on that person. Such are wrong things he/she wants to do without any enticement from others.
In other words, sometimes people just do wrong because that is what they want to do.
In the case in this verse, it refers to a person being drawn into doing things that move a person away from walking closely with Jesus Christ and His purposes.
Last Sunday morning we saw that instead of worrying and being anxious about life, we are to “Seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness and in doing so, God adds to our lives everything we need for daily living.”
A person of evil communications is one who works against you seeking first Jesus Christ and His kingdom purposes.
In every group of friends there are influencers. Such persons have sway over others in that group. If the influencers in your life are godly, then their influence helps you walk more closely with Jesus in daily living. However, if the influencers in your life are ungodly, then they are used to pull you down a path that is away from Jesus Christ and His kingdom purposes.
We are to evaluate our close friendships to see if they are good for us or bad for us in keeping with God and His purposes.
Don’t be deceived, a person cannot have a close walk with Jesus while joining into ungodliness with his/her friends.
The word communications refers to companionship that joins together in sharing life on deep levels. Such a level is when you find yourself doing the same corrupt things that person does or even accepting a lie because that person believes that way.
This isn’t a passive friendship where people just “know” one another in passing. It is sharing life together to the point of thinking alike and doing the same wrong things. It is getting together and doing the same things because of the influence of the other.
The words evil communications corrupt good manners were part of a popular poem in Apostle Paul’s day. They had become a proverb of that day.
In the context of 1 Corinthians 15, God used those words to warn against listening to the point of being influenced by those who deny the resurrection of Jesus Christ. It is easy to see why a person should not listen to the propaganda of pagans who reject Jesus and His resurrection from the dead.
The reason this statement became a proverb is because it struck a nerve with people as relating to reality. Running with evil friends will corrupt a persons life. People understand that. We see it over and over in our world.
What each person should do is actively evaluate the influence of his/her friends. If a friend is influencing you toward Jesus Christ, thus His high standard of living, then go deeper with that person in sharing life together.
However, if you have a friend that is influencing you away from God and His high purposes, then you need to stop spending time with to him/her. You should make adjustment to avoid that person all together as much as possible.
IV. The Outcome of Sharing Life with Evil Friends.
1 Corinthians 15:33 Be not deceived: evil communications corrupt good manners.
The word corrupt means to shrivel, to wither, to waste away.
The words good manners means right moral practices.
God says, “Don’t be deceived, having close friendships with the wrong kind of persons destroy a person morally.”
The whole purpose of this verse is to state unreservedly that having the wrong kind of friends is destructive.
What every believer needs is friends who provoke one another to healthy, wholesome, godly living.
As you know, we live in a culture that has become basically without godly moral standards. Every person out there doesn’t make a spiritually healthy friend.
To maintain a life that God can and will bless, we need to help one another continue in living lives that reflect the character and goodness of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Ask yourself this question, “Do the friends I have chosen help me walk more closely with Jesus or do they hinder a close walk with Jesus?”
Some may think he/she is free to choose his/her friends and to make his/her choices. Therefore, no preacher should get involved in those things. If all you hear today is a preacher’s ideas, then discard it. But if God is speaking to you through His Word, that is altogether different.
Please hear me. Yes, you do choose your friends and you do make your own choices.
It is true, it is your choice who you run with and what you do. But, the consequences of your choices are not yours to decide. God decides the consequences of all of our choices.
You can either choose to take what God says in this message through His Word today and adjust your life to it or you can reject it. That is your choice. But, you do not get to choose the consequences of your choices and neither do I.
So, very reverently, in a sacred moment before God, again, ask yourself this question, “Do the friends I have chosen help me walk more closely with Jesus or do they hinder a close walk with Jesus?”
Then ask yourself this question, “Do I have friends who are influencing my life in spiritually unhealthy ways, thus I think, say or do things because of them that I should not do?”
Then respond to what God is saying to you by making the hard choices to follow His guidance.
