A Different World
A Different World- 2 Corinthians 6:14-7:1
Introduction
When I was a kid, I loved watching this show called, “A Different World.” It was a spin-off show from the Cosby Show as it featured Denise Huxtable’s adventures post high school into the college world. And it was a different world for Denise where she learned to adapt to many differently made and unique students like Dewayne Wayne and Whitley Gilbert and Ron Johnson, all who would eventually be her closest friend. But the plot of this show was the difficulty these main characters faced in this new world of freedom and responsibility. No longer were Denise’s parents there to make the decisions of life for her. No longer was Whitley Gilbert able to rely on the millions of dollars from her parents. No longer was Dewayne Wayne just a geeky math nerd desperate for a date. There world had changed.
It reminded me of this passage of Scripture that I want to focus on tonight as we take a breather from Colossians for a moment. So let me give some brief introduction into this letter to the Corinthian church. Paul had written actually 4 letters to the Corhinthian church. Although we posses just 2 letters within the pages of our New Testament; Paul mentions writing 4 letters all together. Paul wrote the letter we know as 1 Corinthians because the people in the church were still dealing with worldliness, unwilling to divorce the culture around them. Paul eventually visited Corinth after writing this letter and there he was confronted with false teachers that slandered Paul and the gospel he preached. These false prophets had infiltrated the church with the intent of mixing pagan religious practices with Christianity to make it a more appealing sort of church to the pagan in the city and eventually get rich from it. After leaving Corinth with what he would consider an “unsuccessful visit, Paul wrote the Corinthians to address these issues with worldliness and false teachings more specifically.
It is a common practice in our church today for churches to focus on luring the unbelieving people of our world to our churches with all sorts of schemes. Many of times this is done by providing an exciting electric presentation with music, lighting and video, only to give them a watered down feel good message from the Word of God that does not mention sin, judgment or God’s wrath. They want to make church so appealing but their effort usually is spent of stimulating the senses of the people instead of the spirit of the people and the truth of God’s Word is ignored.
But the Bible calls the church of God “called out ones.” 1 Peter 2:9 says “But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.” So we are to be different from this world because Jesus made us different and placed into a new world; a spiritual world with new attitudes, actions, and purposes.
John Macarthur comments,
“This passage identifies two opposing worlds. The terminology is clear. One of those worlds is marked by righteousness, light, Christ, believers, and the presence of God. The other is marked by lawlessness, darkness, Satan, unbelievers, and the presence of false gods. And these two worlds are utterly different and distinct, so much so that they are mutually exclusive. They cannot work together in common partnership, they cannot fellowship together, they are not in harmony with one another. One is old, the other is new. One is earthly, the other is heavenly. One is deadly, the other is life giving. One is wicked, the other holy. One is built on lies, the other is all truth. One perishes and the other lives eternally. “
Yet there seems to be confusion on the minds of some people including myself, as to what degree of separation we must adhere to in this world. So the Bid Idea tonight is: Believers are called to be separate from the World in all spiritual activities and relationships.
Do not be bound together with unbelievers; for what partnership have righteousness and lawlessness, or what fellowship has light with darkness? Or what harmony has Christ with Belial, or what has a believer in common with an unbeliever? Or what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; just as God said, “I will dwell in them and walk among them; And I will be their God, and they shall be My people. “Therefore, come out from their midst and be separate,” says the Lord. “And do not touch what is unclean; And I will welcome you. “And I will be a father to you, And you shall be sons and daughters to Me,” Says the Lord Almighty. Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.
First, Paul focuses on the…
1. Separation Commanded v. 14 a
Bound with others -Hetero (another of different nature) zugos (yoke- something that binds two things together i.e. like cattle)
This principle was familiar in the OT as Deut. 22:10 say, “You shall not plow with an ox and a donkey together.
This device was a large piece of wood that rests upon the shoulders of two of the same animals in size and manner, like oxen or donkeys. You could not yoke two different animals like one ox and one donkey because they were not like minded and each had different strengths. The same animals would be bound together with the same strength and same focus to drive forward with the plow together as a unit. So Paul tells us not to be bound together with…
Unbelievers- The Greek word for faith, pistos, with a Greek “alpha” added to the front of it, means “no faith.”
So Paul is using an illustration for two people being yoked or bound together like two animals on a farm. If you can imagine this with me; two animals bound together driving a plow have to be the same size, strength and focus. But how does this relate in our Christian lives? What does Paul mean about us not being bound or yoked together with unbelievers?
2. Separation Explained vs. 14b-16
What it does NOT mean?
It does not mean to disassociate from world. 1 Corinthians 5:9-10- I wrote you in my letter not to associate with immoral people; I did not at all mean with the immoral people of this world, or with the covetous and swindlers, or with idolaters, for then you would have to go out of the world. Paul uses the word “associate” to also mean “mix together.”
In John 17, Jesus prays to the Father “I do not ask You to take them out of the world, but to keep them from the evil one. Our intent is not to enter a monastic lifestyle like the monks who removed themselves from society. Jesus prays to the Father and asks Him to keep us in the world but to protect us while we are here.
What does unequally yoked mean?
It means that Christians cannot be bound with unbelievers specifically in the work in the church, but on a broader level, in any spiritual relationship. As Christians we must seek the things of Christ and be separate from the things of this world. Again, we are not talking about isolation, we are talking about corruption. Jesus wants us in the world, but not corrupted by the desires of a life that we once lived. In Colossians 3, Paul says, “Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth.” Our minds are to be set on heavenly things while our hearts break for the lost world.
Warren Wiersbe says, “like a skillful physician, we must practice “contact without contamination. Otherwise, we will isolate ourselves from the people who need our ministry the most.” So the issue in this passage is more about being polluted through your association with the world than voiding it all together.
So imagine that there is a yoke upon your neck. Your purpose as an ox is to drive forward toward holiness. You cannot accomplish that task if a worldly goat is in that yoke with you. It is going to think about itself and want to stop and eat the grass, while you strive twice as hard toward your goal. Two different natures breeds two different purposes.
So the problem with Corinthian church was that Christians were participating in pagan rituals. Some Christians were sleeping with pagan temple prostitutes. So Christians who had Christ living in them were participating in activities of the worship of false idols. That is why Paul said, “for what partnership have righteousness and lawlessness, or what fellowship has light with darkness? Or what harmony has Christ with Belial.” The term Belial is an ancient name for Satan. Satan wants to sneak into the worship of churches and into the spiritual relationships of believers and he wants to inject a virus that will destroy these activities. He wants to put a stop Christians worshiping and honoring God.
Unbelieving Relationships
Now many people take this to mean that Christians should avoid all unbelieving people in the world but the truth is you cannot avoid unbelievers in the world. You would have to walk around in a bubble, not work, not play sports, nothing. That is not what Paul is referring to here.
Paul is referring to those things that are spiritual. An intimate relationship in your life should be one that both people reflect Christ as Lord and Savior. I am not talking about friends as much as those who end up being our intimate friends and boyfriends and girlfriends. You ask me what is the difference? Well, if you begin to date someone that is an unbeliever, you may fall in love. If you fall in love, you may eventually want to get married. Marriage is a spiritual commitment that we engage into under the direct supervision of God. That is why Jesus said, ““For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother, and the two shall become one flesh; so they are no longer two, but one flesh. “What therefore God has joined together, let no man separate.” Who joined two married people together, God did. So if we enter into a marriage with an unbeliever, which is a spiritual activity, then we knowingly disobey God. Why? God said so right here. So the problem starts with who we date?
You may ask, what if we marry someone we think is a Christian but he turns out they are not. You know the Corinthians thought the same thing. Paul addressed that issue in 1 Cor. 7:12, “But to the rest I say, not the Lord, that if any brother has a wife who is an unbeliever, and she consents to live with him, he must not divorce her.” God can do an amazing work in the lives of someone who is married to a believer. I have known many women who prayed for their husbands to be saved and they were. So trying to correct the sin of “marrying an unbeliever” with the sin of divorce, it just two negatives.
So you can be friends with unbelievers but intimate friendships cannot glorify God. If one person is God-fearing and the other is God-less, then there will be temptation for you to sway toward the godless way of thinking. Think about your goals in life as a Christian. What is the chief end of man?-To glorify God and enjoy Him forever. What is the chief end of an unbeliever? It is not to glorify God and enjoy Him forever. What is the ultimate authority of a Christian?-God’s Word. What is the ultimate authority of an unbeliever?-Self.
John Macarthur says,
While believers and unbelievers may play together and may work together and study together and plan certain things together and eat together and have certain levels of friendship, as soon as the issue becomes spiritual and religious and engages itself upon worship, ministry, teaching, evangelism, there is no partnership, there is no harmony, there is no common ground and there can be no mutuality.
There is obviously a separation in beliefs but as far as friendships are concerned, God is not asking you to get rid of your unbelieving friends. Would it not be a better testimony to tell an unbelieving friend that you are not going to participate in that field party or watch that dirty movie because of your faith than to tell them all together “you are not my friend anymore?”
Sin in the Name of Evangelism
But the opposite end of this argument is those who say then I can be friends with whoever I want. I can do the same things that they do because I am trying to win my unbelieving friend to Christ. I am trying to show him Jesus so I have to go to that keg fest with him or I have to laugh at that improper humor with Him. Let me remind you that Christians “are not to be conformed to the world, but transformed by the renewing of your mind.” Christians are to “flee immorality,” “flee idolatry”, “flee from the (love of money) and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, perseverance and gentleness.” So if we so choose to be friends with those non-Christians in the world, we must always remember how our Lord wants us to live. In the end times, when we stand before God and He asks, “Why were you involved with this immorality and idolatry in your life? The wrong response will be because you were trying to win the world to Christ. The truth is we will not be able to blame our association with sin on our desire to win the nations to Christ.
Paul then justifies his statement in verse 16…
3. Separation Justified vs. 16b-7:1
For we are the temple of the living God; just as God said, “I will dwell in them and walk among them; And I will be their God, and they shall be My people. “Therefore, come out from their midst and be separate,” says the Lord. “And do not touch what is unclean;
No longer does God dwell in temples made with hands, like in the Old Testament, but He dwells within us. So what we join together with spiritually, we join spiritually with Christ Jesus whose Holy Spirit lives within us. Paul refers to the many OT passages here that say the same thing, God’s spirit dwells within us and He is our God and we are His people. The principle here that Paul is teaching is that when we are bound to unbelievers spiritually, then we bring false gods into the temple of God, which is within us. But we cannot do this because we are being sacrilegious to God. And you want to know what happens when our God is mixed with pagan gods. Turn to 1 Samuel 4.
In this story about the Philistines and the Ark of God, we see that you cannot mix God with pagan religions. They are like oil and water, they do not mix. But we as Christians do this. When he begin studying Wiccan because it interests us, we are taking God and mixing Him with pagan religion. When we jokingly refer to karma or reincarnation, we are taking ideas of false gods and mixing them with our God.
So the commands in vs 17 is to “come out from their midst” and “be separate”. These statements are saturated with the idea of spiritual separation. And they are commands from God that we must choose to obey or disobey.
4. Separation Rewarded
And I will welcome you. “And I will be a father to you, And you shall be sons and daughters to Me,” Says the Lord Almighty. Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.
I like how Paul concludes his thoughts here as he evidences for this separation. He quotes from OT passages that say be separate because “I will welcome you.. you will be my sons and daughters.” He gives us the evidence on a practical level. He says God wants you to do that because He loves us and He is our Father.
It is like when your mom and dad ask you to do something that you really don’t want to do and they lay that guilt trip on you, “I guess you just don’t really love me”. My grandma used to ask me to give her foot rubs and she would pay me a quarter. A quarter? No way! Then she would say, I guess you just don’t love me like I thought you did. So I would do it as gross as it was.
Paul is sort of playing on our emotions. He is telling us the reason we should separate from the world is because we are now sons and daughters of God and He blesses His children. One thing we definitely want to take advantage of in life is God’s blessings right. We are on top when we know that the promises we receive are:
· Relationship with God “I will welcome them”
· Guidance by God “I will walk with them”
· Protection of God “I will dwell in them”
· Inheritance of God- “I will be your Father and you will be sons and daughters to me.”
These are promises that should motivate us to be separate from the world, because they are promises that we cannot live without. Do you want a relationship with God or be at war with Him? Do you want guidance from God who already knows your path, or do you want to try to walk in darkness alone? Do you want the protection from the Creator of the universe, or would you rather just protect yourself? Would you rather inherit eternal life and the riches of heaven or would does a permanent vacation to Hades sound more appealing?
2 Peter 1:3- seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence. For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust.
So our gratitude for the promises that God grants should lead us to “cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God. Perfecting in holiness should thus be our goal as Christian, constantly driving forward toward holiness. Which takes me back to my illustration about the two separate animals under the yoke: if one animal is striving toward holiness in all spiritual things and the other is not, how will your goal be reached? It won’t be reached.
So the principle in this passage is clear, we cannot be in this world and God’s world at the same time. We are opposite worlds that oppose each other like the poles of a magnet. Everything about us repels each other. Yet while we are here on this earth to be the salt and the light to the world, we are not to be conformed to it.