KEEPING CLOSE BY KEEPING SEPARATE
Posted by Pastor Greg Allen on February 28, 2021 under 2021 |
Bethany Bible Church Sunday Message; February 28, 2021 from 2 Corinthians 6:11-7:1
Theme: As believers, we should pursue unity with each other by keeping separate unto God.
(All Scripture is taken from The New King James Version, unless otherwise indicated).
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2 Corinthians is a letter that teaches us much about the glories of the ministry of sharing the gospel of Jesus with this world. And so far—as we have seen—Paul has had a great deal to say about that joyful ministry. But it’s also a letter that speaks much about protecting our fellowship together in the unity of that gospel ministry.
And so, in this morning’s portion of the letter, we find that Paul spoke about and appealed very passionately for that fellowship and unity. In fact, he shows us what we need to do in order to properly pursue that precious unity.
In 2 Corinthians 6:11-7:1, he wrote;
O Corinthians! We have spoken openly to you, our heart is wide open. You are not restricted by us, but you are restricted by your own affections. Now in return for the same (I speak as to children), you also be open. Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness? And what accord has Christ with Belial? Or what part has a believer with an unbeliever? And what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God. As God has said:
“I will dwell in them
And walk among them.
I will be their God,
And they shall be My people.”
Therefore
“Come out from among them
And be separate, says the Lord.
Do not touch what is unclean,
And I will receive you.”
“I will be a Father to you,
And you shall be My sons and daughters,Says the Lord Almighty.”Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God (2 Corinthians 6:11-7:1).
In this passage—under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit—the apostle Paul passes on to us a surprising and very important principle about our unity in the gospel of Jesus Christ. As paradoxical as it may sound, we can only be united if we keep ourselves separate and distinct.
* * * * * * * * * *
Now; as believers, we should desire unity. And even unbelievers—who, as it were, watch us from ‘the outside looking in’—expect us to exhibit true unity.
But there’s a very faulty and dangerous belief about how that unity is to be achieved. The unbelieving people of this world teaches this faulty way of unity; and many times, we as believers have sometimes embraced it. By embracing this faulty belief about unity, we end up becoming dis-unified and severely out of fellowship with one another in the body of Christ.
It’s the belief that we can best achieve unity with one another by becoming a little more conformed to the values and priorities of this world … and by not being so ‘distinct’ and ‘separate’ from the world in our devotion to God. And nothing could be further from the truth.
That was a dangerous error that the Corinthian church was falling into. If you were to look back in Paul’s previous letter to them, you can see that they had grown to be very much like the people of this world. They were fitting in with the standards of wisdom and philosophy of the unbelieving world; and they were embracing the sexual patterns and practices of the unbelieving culture around them; and they were using the courts and judges of this world to settle their differences; and they were even participating in the idolatrous practices and culturally accepted paganism of this world—going into the idol temples and participating in the worship. They were becoming more and more like the world around them—and they were becoming less and less distinct from the world as followers of Jesus.
And because of all this, they were no longer having an influence upon the world around them. Instead, the influences of the world were changing the ways that they would live. They were engaging in sexual sin like the people of this world; and they were experiencing divorces and broken families like the people of this world; and they were bringing paganistic practices into the sacred ordinances of the church; and were even beginning to deny key doctrines of the faith. They were losing their grip on the very gospel of Jesus that should have been bringing to others.
And what was the result of it all? Paul had to begin the first four chapters of that first letter by trying to correct the horrible problem of disunity that existed between them. They were becoming divided from one another, and were breaking up into distinct groups against each other. Their conformity to the patterns and practices of this world—and their failure to keep distinct from them in the sight of God—was destroying their unity, and also their ability to influence the world with the gospel.
I ran across a wonderful quote the other day. It came from a famous church historian named Honeck. He wrote, “The church never had so much influence on the world as when she kept herself aloof from it.”1 That’s not the way we’ve been taught to think, though; is it? We’ve been made to think that the best way to influence this world is by becoming as much like it as we can. But the Bible teaches us the opposite. It says in Romans 12:1-2;
I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God (Romans 12:1-2; emphasis added).
By not allowing ourselves to be conformed to this world—by keeping distinct and separate from this world’s influences; and instead, letting God’s word renew us in our thinking and living—that’s how we prove that the will of God is good and acceptable and perfect. That’s how we are enabled to have an influence!
Now; understand that this is not saying that we must become completely separated from any contact with the people of this world. If we did that, we would no longer be able to have any influence on the world at all. But rather, the call of the gospel is that we truly be in the world, but kept separate from its values and priorities and influences.
We show our unity together in Christ, then, by the fact that we live in the world as people that God has called out to be distinct from it. We keep ourselves united by keeping ourselves separate.
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That call to be ‘distinct’ is very much at the heart of what Paul was writing to the Corinthian believers.
In the context of our passage this morning, Paul had been rejoicing over the fact a serious problem in their relationship with him had been largely resolved. Earlier in the letter, he expressed thanks to God for how Titus came and brought good news to him of the mending of the relationship. He had to speak harshly to them at times in the past because of their compromises with the sins of this world; but later in this letter, he wrote;
For indeed, when we came to Macedonia, our bodies had no rest, but we were troubled on every side. Outside were conflicts, inside were fears. Nevertheless God, who comforts the downcast, comforted us by the coming of Titus, and not only by his coming, but also by the consolation with which he was comforted in you, when he told us of your earnest desire, your mourning, your zeal for me, so that I rejoiced even more (7:5-7).
And so, in light of that problem being resolved, he goes back to examine the experience, and to teach from it that it’s by our distinction as followers of Jesus in this world that we really achieve unity. He showed that as believers, we should pursue unity with each other by keeping separate unto God.
Notice first how he showed that …
1. WE ARE TO PURSUE UNITY WITH EACH OTHER.
He showed this to the Corinthians by the fact that he had pursued unity with them. In verse 11, he wrote, “O Corinthians! We have spoken openly to you, our heart is wide open.” His love and affection for them was such that he didn’t hold anything back. He was an open book to them. He loved them with sincerity and honesty and integrity. He didn’t close up to them at all.
He even went on to say to them that if there had been any constraint in the relationship, it had been on their part. He wrote in verse 12, “You are not restricted by us, but you are restricted by your own affections.” There certainly had been tension in the relationship. But he assured them that it was not on his part—or on the part of those who had ministered to them with him. Rather, it was on their part that the constraints existed.
Paul was not trying to blame them for this. Rather, he was seeking to assure them that he truly loved them. He truly desired fellowship with them and unity with them. He was ‘fully open’ to them. And so, in verse 13, he wrote, “Now in return for the same (I speak as to children), you also be open.” Just as parents, who had to discipline their own children, afterward—when the discipline is over—take them up in their arms and assure them of their love, Paul did so to them. And he appealed to them, then, to love and be open to him in return.
I love the picture we see here of Paul’s loving commitment to unity with God’s people—even when that unity might be hard to grab hold of, and when he had to issue some hard calls to repentance, and even when hard feelings might still have gotten in the way because of it. Such unity is worth fighting for. The way that he put it in his letter to the Ephesians is like this:
I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called, with all lowliness and gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace (Ephesians 4:1-3).
We don’t have to work hard to ‘create’ that unity. It’s already ours in Christ through the indwelling ministry of the Holy Spirit. But we do have to ‘endeavor’ to ‘keep’ that unity. Sometimes, in fact, we have to work very hard to keep that unity.
But notice that unity must never come at the expense of our devotion to Christ. In fact, unless we keep ourselves distinctively devoted to Christ in the way we live, then we really won’t be able to preserve that unity at all. We certainly must strive for unity toward each other …
2. BUT WE MUST KEEP SEPARATE FROM THE SINS OF THIS WORLD.
In verse 14, Paul urged his fellow believers, “Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers.” In saying this, Paul wasn’t suddenly taking up a completely different subject. He was showing that in order to preserve our unity to one another in Christ, we must be careful not to allow ourselves to form unity with those who are not in Christ.
Back in the Old Testament, when God gave His law through Moses, He told His people;
“You shall not plow with an ox and a donkey together” (Deuteronomy 22:10).
That might seem like a strange thing to command the people. But there was a reason for it. An ox was a ceremonially clean animal. And a donkey—while useful—was nevertheless a ceremonially unclean animal. God didn’t want His people disregarding those distinctions and yoking clean things with unclean things. And what’s more, they are two such radically different animals that yoking them together simply wouldn’t work.
In the same way, Paul was urging the people of God to be careful not to be ‘yoked’ together with an unbeliever. A believing man or woman is clean in the sight of God. An unbelieving person is not. Once again, Paul was not saying that we shouldn’t have any contact whatsoever with unbelieving people. Rather, he was warning us not to allow ourselves to be joined to them in such a way, and under such a significant bond, that their beliefs and values and conduct and way of speaking bring their influence upon us and hinder our walk with Jesus.
Paul went on, in verses 14-16, to give several reasons why this would be inappropriate. He asked, for example, “For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness?” The two qualities of obedience and conformity to God’s holy standards, and disobedience and rebellion against those standards, cannot be brought into union with one another. It’s impossible. They are opposites. The end result is that righteousness would become compromised and corrupted by the influence of lawlessness.
Or he asks, “And what communion has light with darkness?” And the answer, of course, is that there can be no communion between the two. The two properties are antithetical to one another. One always overwhelms the other. You cannot mix them in such a way as to make an intermediate property. In the same way, someone who is walking in the light of fellowship with God, exposed to the illumination of His revealed truth, standing within the shining beams of His favor, is in a completely antithetical position to that of someone who rejects fellowship with God, hides from the light, and refuses to enter into the place of His favor. The two things cannot be yoked together.
He also asks, “And what accord has Christ with Balial?” The name ‘Balial’ basically means “Worthless One”; and it was a symbolic name for the devil. As followers of Jesus, Jesus has become our master. But those who refuse to make Jesus their master have remained under the slavery of the devil. They do the devil’s bidding. The Bible tells us that Jesus came to destroy the works of the devil; so then, how could it be possible to yoke ourselves to someone who walks with the devil and still be walking in complete devotion to our Lord?
Paul goes on to say, “Or what part has a believer with an unbeliever?” A believer has trust in faith in the promises of God and walks in trusting obedience to His Son in the power of the Holy Spirit. He or she looks ahead to the prospect of the promises of God being fulfilled and to a glorious home in heaven. A believer does not. The outlook and destination of a believer is completely different from that of an unbeliever. How can they be yoked together and be able to walk with each other at all? The believer will only end up being hindered by the unbelief of the one with whom they are yoked.
And finally, Paul asks, “And what agreement has the temple of God with idols?” Of all of these five questions that Paul asks, this one is the most profound of them all. When Paul speaks of ‘the temple of God’, the word in the original language actually refers to the most sacred place in the temple—the holy place—the Holy of Holies, where the ark of the covenant was. It was the sacred place in which God identified His presence with His people. How dare anyone bring a false god or an idol into such a place! And yet, when we—in whom the God of Israel has taken up residence through Christ—yoke ourselves with an unbeliever, we are trying to bring idolatry into the Holy place. How utterly inappropriate a thing that is! It cannot be made to work.
In a practical sense, this teaches us that we should be very careful about our relationships and associations. We should not enter into business partnerships or marriages or into any ‘binding’ kind of relationship with an unbeliever. We must be careful not to be yoked together with them. But in an even greater sense, Paul is warning us not to try to forge unity within the body of Christ by adopting the practices and patterns and beliefs of this world. It will only create disunity between us. We must keep ourselves as a separate and distinct people.
Now; why should we do this? Paul goes on to show us—in verses 16-18—that …
3. THIS IS BECAUSE GOD IS CLOSE TO THOSE WHO KEEP SEPARATE UNTO HIM.
In that last question, Paul asked, “And what agreement has the temple of God”—that is, the Holy of Holies—“with idols?” The Holy of Holies was the place in the temple in which God identified His presence on earth. And it’s then that Paul revealed something wonderful to the Corinthian believers; “For you are the temple of the living God” (v. 18). The believer is not like anyone else on earth. He or she is the dwelling place of God on earth. God, through His Holy Spirit, has taken up permanent residence in all those who are redeemed by the blood of His Son through faith.
The realization of this ought to motivate us to walk on this earth like what we are—and not in ways that are contrary to what we are! We ought to live in distinction and separation from the sinful things of this world, because we are the dwelling place of God. Paul goes on to prove the importance of this by quoting from some Old Testament passages where God Himself spoke to the people of Israel. In verse 16, he quotes from the 37th chapter of Ezekiel;
As God has said:
“I will dwell in them
And walk among them.
I will be their God,
And they shall be My people.”
That’s the promise of God to His people. And what should they do in response? In verses 17, he quotes from the 52nd chapter of Isaiah;
Therefore
“Come out from among them
And be separate, says the Lord.
Do not touch what is unclean,
And I will receive you.”
And then, in verse 18, from 2 Samuel 7;
“I will be a Father to you,
And you shall be My sons and daughters,
Says the Lord Almighty.”
It’s as if God, as it were, makes a deal with His people. He tells us that if we will separate ourselves from that which is contrary to Him, He will be to us all that we need for Him to be.
And so, Paul’s appeal is …
4. THEREFORE, LET’S PURSUE UNITY BY FORSAKING SIN AND SEEKING GOD’S HOLINESS.
In the first verse of Chapter 7, Paul wrote; “Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.”
That’s the pathway to unity.
* * * * * * * * * *
Now; what does this mean in actual practice? How do we cleanse ourselves from the filthiness of this world? What do we ‘separate’ from in order to live lives dedicated to God? It would be a terrible mistake to try to make a list of do’s and don’t's. How specifically God is going to call you to ‘be in the world but not of it’ is going to be different from how He calls me to do so. But I would strongly suggest that there are certain things we all should do.
First, we should be faithful to be in God’s word daily. God guides us through His word. “How can a young man cleanse his way?” we’re asked in Psalm 119:9; “By taking heed according to Your word.”
Second, we should listen very carefully to the Holy Spirit. The Bible teaches us that He is the indwelling Teacher who guides us in all truth. As the apostle John wrote;
But the anointing which you have received from Him abides in you, and you do not need that anyone teach you; but as the same anointing teaches you concerning all things, and is true, and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you will abide in Him (1 John 2:27).
When you feel the gentle tap of the Holy Spirit upon your shoulder; and you—as it were—hear Him whisper to you, “Child of mine; that thing that you are about to do—that situation that you are about to involve yourself in—that thing of this world that you’re about to partake of—that relationship you are about to enter into—it is not from Me. You cannot walk in fellowship with me and do that. So, keep yourself separate from it”; then, dear brother and sister, obey the Holy Spirit!
And third, when you fail, immediately rise up, apologize to the Father for your disobedience and for your compromise with sin, thank Him for His forgiveness in Christ, and separate yourself from whatever it was that you should not have touched. Do this faithfully every time; and soon you will not be going into the places or entering into the relationships that displease Him. As John wrote;
If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin (1 John 1:6-7).
Keep yourself distinct from the things of this world, dear brother or sister. That’s the way for us to enjoy the kind of unity together that God wishes for us to have. And that’s the way for us to bring a true witness for the gospel before this world.
1Cited in Alan Redpath, Blessings out of Buffetings: Studies in Second Corinthians (Old Tappan, NJ, Fleming H. Revell Company, 1965), pp. 127-8.
EA
