Monday, May 26, 2008
2 Corinthians 6:11-7:2 Which Way Are You Moving?
We have spoken openly to you, Corinthians; our heart has been opened wide.
12 You are not limited by us, but you are limited by your own affections.
13 Now in like response—I speak as to children—you also should be open to us.
14 Do not be mismatched with unbelievers. For what partnership is there between righteousness and lawlessness? Or what fellowship does light have with darkness?
15 What agreement does Christ have with Belial? Or what does a believer have in common with an unbeliever?
16 And what agreement does God’s sanctuary have with idols? For we are the sanctuary of the living God, as God said: I will dwell among them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be My people.
17 Therefore, come out from among them and be separate, says the Lord; do not touch any unclean thing, and I will welcome you.
18 I will be a Father to you, and you will be sons and daughters to Me, says the Lord Almighty.
1 Therefore dear friends, since we have such promises, we should wash ourselves clean from every impurity of the flesh and spirit, making our sanctification complete in the fear of God.
2 Take us into your hearts. We have wronged no one, corrupted no one, defrauded no one.
1. FELLOWSHIP WITH
Though he knew their struggles, their weaknesses, their heartaches, their failures and their resistance, still he loved them. The problem was that they were not loving him in return. This is the problem in churches, in individual lives, in homes, in families and in marriages today. It is a failure to understand the reciprocal nature of love. Love is a two-way street. It always is; it is inherently so. Love requires a response. Paul was loving them, but they were not loving him back. They were closed; they were unresponsive; they were coldly self-contained toward him. And the result? Paul puts it in one word: They were "restricted."
C. S. Lewis said a wonderful word, which is helpful at this point:
To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything and your heart will continually be wrung, and possibly be broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact you must give your heart to no one, not even to an animal. Wrap it carefully around with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements; lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your own selfishness. But in that casket, safe, dark, motionless, airless, it will change. It will not be broken, it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable. The only place outside heaven where you can be perfectly safe from all the dangers and perturbations of love is hell.
Victor Hugo said “Life’s greatest happiness is to be convinced that we are loved.”
The Golden Rule: “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” It stems from an important observation: We often make the same mistakes we complain about in other people. The Lord Jesus said, "The greatest commandment of all is 'Thou shalt love the Lord, Thy God, with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength,'" Matt 22:36-38
7:2 Take us into your hearts. We have wronged no one, corrupted no one, defrauded no one.
Paul’s issue here is his relationship with the Christians in Corinth. The root of the unrighteousness and idolatry in Corinth was the fact that Paul was being sidelined and other voices were being heard.
We're familiar with that idea that nature abhors a vacuum. And super-nature, spiritually speaking, abhors a vacuum too. If the Corinthians silenced the true voice of God, they would inevitably end up listening to false voices. It will be one or the other for us as well. Do you get Paul's flow, then? `Do find a place for us in your heart, and don't be yoked together with false teachers, because just as surely as behind me stands Christ, so behind them in the end are the forces of unbelief, unrighteousness and idolatry'.
This section is a unit. As you open yourselves up to the Word of god, there are some voices you can’t afford to listen to because they will take you away from God’s Word, and away from true holiness. There are other voices you must listen to because they will take you to God’s Word and true holiness.
Here is an echo of the words of Deuteronomy 22:10: "Do not plough with an ox and a donkey yoked together." Paul is not exhorting us to have nothing to do with sinners, but he is saying, "Don't accept the outlook and values and purpose of life of someone who does not know the Lord Jesus Christ."
The image of the yoke comes from earlier in the Bible. In the Old Testament law, you weren't allowed to plough a field, using an ox in the same harness as a donkey. One animal was clean and the other was unclean, and it was meant to be a little reminder that Israel was to be distinctive, not blur the distinctions between clean and unclean. And Paul borrows the analogy here: `Look,' he says, `don't team up with something that will take you in completely the wrong direction. Don't surrender your independence of movement to these other teachers'.
2. SEPARATION FROM
“The princes came to me," Ezra records, "saying, "The people of Israel, and the priests, and the Levites, have not separated themselves from the people of the lands, doing according to their abominations, even of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites, the Ammonites, the Moabites, the Egyptians, and the Amorites. For they have taken of their daughters for themselves, and their sons: so that the holy seed have mingled themselves with the people of those lands: yea, the hand often princes and rulers hath been chief in this trespass. And when I heard this thing, I rent my garment and my mantle, and plucked off the hair of my head and of my beard, and sat down astonished" (Ezra 9: 1-:') Every form of worldliness and wickedness, carnality and corruption and religious abomination was represented by those nations. It was compromise with them and their religious practices which had, within recent times, occasioned God's judgment, and the subsequent Babylonian captivity. Ezra wasted no time. He poured out his heart to God, confessing the sin of the people as though it were his very own. Then he demanded that, at whatever cost, on pain of excommunication, a rigid separation be enforced.
The principle that salvation from sin is to be followed by separation from the world is taught throughout Scripture, both in plain statement, and in type and shadow.
When God called Abraham, He first revealed Himself to him and then demanded separation from the old way of life (Gen. 12;1-3; Heb. 11:8-10). Lot lost both his fortune and his family in Sodom because he ignored the principle of separation (Gen. 13:5-12; 19:1-38). When God redeemed Israel, He first put them under the blood, then separated them from Egypt, which represented the world and the old way of life, by bringing them through the water and causing the Red Sea to be a permanent barrier between their new walk of faith and their old life of bondage (Exod. 12: 1-13; 14; 13-31). And so it went on. It was a sad day for Israel when Joshua failed to exterminate the Canaanites.
Some open hearts need to be closed a little because the wind is blowing through them
I think this principle could be applied when you enter into a binding relationship with someone that encourages you to accept the other partners’ goals and values.
In the early morning hours of April 26, 1986 a reactor at the nuclear power plant in Chernobyl, Russia overheated and exploded. The initial explosion was only a fraction of the size of the nuclear bombs dropped on Japan at the end of WWII, but the amount of radiation released was 400 times greater than that released by the bomb dropped on Hiroshima. At Chernobyl, 31 people died immediately from the explosion and acute radiation poisoning. But the explosion created a cloud of radioactive particles that spread eastward across Europe reaching as far as Sweden and the U.K. Since that time, it is estimated an additional 93,000 people have died from cancer and other illnesses due to the residual effects of the radioactive explosion at Chernobyl. Radiation poisoning is dangerous because it’s invisible and works silently, but it’s still deadly. Radioactive relationships can be harmful as well.
Think of it on the larger denominational scale. A trend begins to gather some momentum - socialism, nationalism, all of those contain some important truths - but the professing church yokes itself to them in an awkward way and so the very gospel is changed. This happened in Nazi Germany where the church as a whole supported a nationalism that was clearly ungodly. How did they do this? Piece by piece. The church lost its moorings in Scripture, doubting the authenticity of parts of God’s Word. Soon the authority of Scripture was overruled all together by the experts. And the church found itself supporting an replacement god, the Nazi machine.
Ray Stedman wrote: “It is a cruel thing to yoke together two things of incompatible natures. There are certain associations that Christians have with unbelievers that constitute a yoke, and these associations are a certain cause for misery and shame in a Christian's life. We are to avoid them. They will hinder us, limit us, bind us and keep us from enjoying the fullness God has in mind for us. They are like trying to mix oil and water.” What does it mean to be “unequally yoked?”
1 Corinthians 15:33, “Do not be misled: ‘Bad company corrupts good character.’”
"If the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything" (Matt. 5:13).
This can happen on the church level. When a church ceases to listen to God’s Word, and begins to adopt the culture of the day. The Lord warned a church in Asia (Revelation) about that. Revelation 2 “To the angel of the church in Thyatira write: “The Son of God, the One whose eyes are like a fiery flame, and whose feet are like fine bronze says: 19 I know your works—your love, faithfulness, service, and endurance. Your last works are greater than the first. 20 But I have this against you: you tolerate the woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, and teaches and deceives My slaves to commit sexual immorality and to eat meat sacrificed to idols. 21 I gave her time to repent, but she does not want to repent of her sexual immorality. 22 Look! I will throw her into a sickbed, and those who commit adultery with her into great tribulation, unless they repent of her practices. 23 I will kill her children with the plague. Then all the churches will know that I am the One who examines minds and hearts, and I will give to each of you according to your works.
There was an occasion once when the preacher John Stott was at a big international consultation, and Desmond Tutu who went on to be Archbishop of Capetown was there. He was Dean of Johannesburg at the time and he spoke out against Paul's teaching, I think on sexual behaviour: `Paul was confused,' Tutu said, `he was a creature of his own culture, and sometimes didn't know what he was talking about. I don't agree with him.' John Stott confessed in his account of the incident that his blood reached boiling point and he simply blurted out: `If I had to choose between the blessed Apostle Paul and the Dean of Johannesburg, I would have no difficulty in deciding which to follow'. He was quite clear that he could not simultaneously accept both Paul and Tutu. Because Paul is Christ's messenger there could be no contest, no compromise. No divided loyalties between God's spokesman, Paul, and the voice of the world, even if it is dressed up in ecclesiastical clothing.
Here is the Message of Revelation against Relativism.
But not only is it important on the denominational level, and on the local church level, its also important on the individual level. "Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful" (Psa. 1:1). There is a sense of progress in these verses: he will not choose to walk along with the ungodly crowd and listen to their specious counsels: he won't stand and be identified with the sinners' way of life: he certainly won't sit down and relax with those who scorn the Lord and his free salvation. He has better things to do, and finer wisdom to teach him how he should live - "But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in his law doth he meditate day and night" (Psa. 1:2).
Have you heard of a popular activity called missionary dating? “I’m dating a non-Christian because I want to lead him or her to the Lord.” Let me just tell you that in 25 years of preaching, I have found that in 99% of the cases, missionary dating doesn’t work. When you throw in hormones, romance, and a bunch of other stuff, what usually happens is the Christian gets pulled down to the level of the unbeliever. The reason for that is what I call “the gravity of depravity.”
Five times he presses home the need of separation by asking a question the answer to which is 'none' or 'nothing.'
Paul begins by talking about a partnership. Two people must hold important things in common for there to be a partnership. There are some things which might appear to have a lot in common, but it is disastrous if you try to mix them.
2 Cor 6:14 Do not be mismatched with unbelievers. For what partnership is there between righteousness and lawlessness? Or what fellowship does light have with darkness?
Righteousness Demands Separation
There are some things which might appear to have a lot in common, but it is disastrous if you try to mix them. I was once getting some petrol in the local garage and I noticed that the petrol I was putting in the tank had a strange smell. I had just filled my tank with diesel instead of petrol! It all had to be pumped out. There does not seem much difference between diesel and petrol, both are inflammable, and both are automobile fuels, but the difference is enough to ruin your can if you try to drive on the wrong fuel. Paul starts these questions by contrasting two extremes who exist in their hatred for one another, righteousness and wickedness.
What do these total opposites have in common? Nothing! You must learn to say. “I have nothing in common with you,"
Paul goes on to speak of fellowship, all the experiences we have in common.
Or what fellowship does light have with darkness?
Relationship Demands Separation
Competing interests. Sometimes you can get away with trying to juggle two or more of them.
Reality Demands Separation
The third image Paul speaks of is harmony, or it is actually the Greek word from which we get our word 'symphony'. Orchestras tuning sound horrendous, until they are pulled together under their director.
15 What agreement does Christ have with Belial?
Redemption Demands Separation
The twilight zone..usually at the end of each show the main character would awake to reality/
The beauty of harmony is marvellously seen in the Trinity. Father loves Son, and Son loves Father, and both love the Spirit, and he, in turn loves each of them. They will one will. But between Jesus and the old Serpent, Satan, the Devil how is their relationship?
Or what does a believer have in common with an unbeliever?
Reason Demands Separation
Amos 3:3 Can two walk together without agreeing to meet?
The fourth image Paul uses is of personal compatibility.
They do not share a common foundation, one is building on the rock, while the other builds on the sand. They do not possess a common conviction of sin, and a common treasure. One is storing up treasures on earth while the other is storing up treasures in heaven. Their hearts are in different places - for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
16 And what agreement does God’s sanctuary have with idols?
Religion Demands Separation
The fifth image Paul uses is of worship. The Lord Jesus says that no one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and Money.
In early Church a man's Christianity often meant that he had to quit his job.
Time and again in the early Church the choice came to a man between the security of his job and his loyalty to Jesus Christ. It is told that a man came to Tertullian. He told him his problem and then he said, "But after all I must live." "Must you?" said Tertullian.
“To sum up, the Christian's vocation is to be in the world, but not of it; to represent Christ in it and to intercede on its behalf because it is under judgment (this is the Christian's priesthood), to identify himself with its sufferings but not with its attitudes, to bring his influence to bear upon the world's life without being corrupted by the world's ways; to stand on the frontier, holding forth the Word of Life, and so to love and obey that Word that he has been delivered from the evil one and sanctified in the truth. Such a calling involves a cross. The man who separates himself from the world and seeks to escape it does not know the cross. The man who submits to the world's pressures and loses his distinctiveness as a Christian does not know that cross. The man who seeks to be in the world, as our Lord was in it, but shows that he is not of it because he is a Christian and in Christ; that man will find his cross. It's only the disciple who follows Christ in both these respects who has a cross to take up.” Author unknown.
Revelation Demands Separation
3. SEPARATION TO
REMEMBER YOUR PRIVILEGES.
You Have An Indwelling
16 And what agreement does God’s sanctuary have with idols? For we are the sanctuary of the living God, as God said: I will dwell among them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be My people.
You Have An Invitation
17 Therefore, come out from among them and be separate, says the Lord; do not touch any unclean thing, and I will welcome you.
18 I will be a Father to you, and you will be sons and daughters to Me, says the Lord Almighty.
1 Therefore dear friends, since we have such promises, we should wash ourselves clean from every impurity of the flesh and spirit, making our sanctification complete in the fear of God.
And what if you're not yet a Christian? How might this talk of divided loyalties apply to you? Can I suggest one simple conclusion? That for you to become a Christian won't mean building a little extra room onto your life, like an extension, and allowing Jesus to move in there. But if you're asked: who is your life's authority? For all of us, it is all or nothing. He is all or nothing. You can't board two trains at once.
