Yokefellows

Introduction

Before we do anything, can we pray together? First, I want to pray for Caleb Hoyle, his father died on Friday to the shock of his entire family. He went home to North Carolina to see them. Afterward, I want to pray for us as a family. When I walked in this morning, something seemed off. Maybe I’m crazy, but I think we need to pray for the Spirit to move and that he would produce the fruit of joy in us this morning. Let’s Pray

Our Father, you are the God of our salvation, you have loved us more than we could possibly imagine. We know that you know the pain of the Hoyles at the passing of Chuck. From what I can tell at a distance, he was a good man. He brought children into his home who would have had nowhere otherwise. He exemplified your heart of compassion in this. I pray you comfort his family and remind them of your love for them. Show them you long to know them and wish to adopt them into your family in Christ Jesus. Help them to grieve well and that at the end of the road they can praise you for the man they knew.

Father I also pray for this church body. Remind us that we are family too. We grieve a loss as well, even if it wasn’t quite the same. We hurt, we are frustrated and confused. People who should be here are not. Yet, you are sovereign and good. You are working in all of our hearts to your purposes. Father, work right now to fill us with joy, remind us of the wonders of what you have done in Jesus Christ. We all we once far off, separated from Christ, alienated, strangers, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus we who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. Father, bring us together, make us one. Help us to remember the joy set before us, the joy of our salvation. Help us to remember the hope that we who once dwelt in darkness, but now have been called into marvelous light.

Be with us now, by your Spirit. IN the name of Jesus we pray.

Good morning, my name is Shawn and I am the family pastor here at First Grace. If you would turn in your Bibles to 2 Corinthians 6; we will be starting in verse 14. If you do not have a Bible, please feel free to grab one from our welcome desk, it is our gift to you.

If you have one of our sermon notebooks,

Title: Yokefellows

Big Idea: When Christ is our Yokefellow, we overcome the world

If you would like a sermon notebook, we have some at our welcome desk, they are free for the taking. This information can also be found in the bullein.

If you remember what we discussed last week in verse 13, Paul appealed to the Corinthians to open wide their hearts to him and his companions the way he had for them. This is important because he will come back to it. However, our passage takes an abrupt left turn. It is so abrupt many scholars think this passage may have belonged elsewhere and it was accidentally placed here due to scribal error. I don’t think so. I think Paul is digressing from his point in order to make a balancing point. They should open up their hearts, but this is not limitless. There is an appropriate caution and division which naturally occurs between those who believe and those who do not.

As I get into our passage, I’m sure it is already laden with meaning in many of our minds. This is because one of the most obvious applications has been read back into the passage as its primary meaning. So, as a brief warning about your study of the Bible. What it says in context is more important than what we think it means, and we need to be careful not to read into it what we want it to mean. This is not easy, it takes humility and the willingness to admit we I might be wrong, or even to simply allow the Bible to expand our understanding a bit more than the last time we observed a passage of scripture.

Without further ado:

2 Corinthians 6:14–7:1 14 Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness? 15 What accord has Christ with Belial? Or what portion does a believer share with an unbeliever? 16 What agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; as God said, “I will make my dwelling among them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. 17 Therefore go out from their midst, and be separate from them, says the Lord, and touch no unclean thing; then I will welcome you, 18 and I will be a father to you, and you shall be sons and daughters to me, says the Lord Almighty.” 1 Since we have these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit, bringing holiness to completion in the fear of God.

Lets Pray: Father teach us your word. Help us to know how best to apply it to our lives for your glory. Give us ears to hear what your Spirit would say to to our church and help us to be doers of your word.

When Christ is our Yokefellow, we overcome the world

This is my only point this morning. When Christ is our yokefellow, we overcome the world. I still want to work through our passage one section at a time to show how I came to this point. First,

14Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers.

Paul gives what comes across as a command. The language is used to stop something in progress or some sort of habitual action. So think for a second about the context. The Corinthians had been rejecting Paul because he didn’t measure up, he was too weak as an apostle. At the same time, they were yoking themselves unequally with unbelievers. This, I believe, is why the sudden jump from one topic to another. Paul wants them to remember who their true yokefellows are, and caution them from a path they currently are walking. In some way, They have closed their hearts and their affections to believers, but then opened them up to unbelievers and have attached themselves to them in some official and binding way.

Paul seems to be pulling this idea from Deuteronomy 22:10 which says, “10 You shall not plow with an ox and a donkey together.” This law appears among some other various laws such as “You shall not sow your vineyard with two kinds of seed”, and “You shall not wear cloth of wool and linen mixed together.” These laws are unclear about why they are required. Paul, uses this one almost as a proverb and applies it a bit more broadly than it was originally intended.

It is assumed by scholars the original command had to do with putting two animals together who could not pull a cart with the same amount of force or endurance. This keeps the donkey from working beyond its ability or the ox from bearing more than its share of the burden. They were not compatible yokefellows. It was cruel to bind them together and expect them to work together.

I should pause and say, this is frequently quoted referring to believers marrying unbelievers. I think this application makes a lot of sense, but I don’t think it is Paul’s intended meaning.

I think the rest of our passage will help us to see what Paul is talking about. We will simply look at what the rest of this says, then we will consider what it all means. Continuing in verse 14, Paul says,

“…For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness? 15 What accord has Christ with Belial? Or what portion does a believer share with an unbeliever? 16 What agreement has the temple of God with idols?”

This is a series or rhetorical questions meant to drive home the point of his original statement. It also defines his point a bit further for us. They are questions which compare a series of opposites: righteousness and lawlessness; light and dark; Christ and Belial; believer and unbeliever; the temple of God and idols.

I think it is this last which makes the point clearest; the temple of God versus idols. It is almost as though with each of his questions he drives the nail even further home.

Corinth worshipped many gods with various temple practices.

There were temples and shrines to Apollo, Athena, Aphrodite, Demeter, Kore, Palaimon, Poseidon and Sisyphus, as well as the Egyptian deities Isis and Sarapis.

Along with these deities were practices which were unlawful from a biblical perspective. It is a place where the darkness of sin reigned. Clearly under the sway of the evil one, under Satan who Paul calls “Belial.” This name comes from a Hebrew word which means “wickedness” or “Evil one.” This is the only place this word is used in the New Testament, and it is the only place where it is specifically used as a name. Corinth was a place under the sway of the prince of the power of the air, the one at work in the sons of disobedience, that is Satan. These unbelievers were dead in their sin, blinded by the prince of darkness, fallen and bowed low in worship to demons and the idols which represented them.

In contrast to these, Paul puts righteousness. That is the law and the heart which is devoted to God and obedience to him.

Where there is righteousness, there is not lawlessness. At the same time, light drives away the darkness. Where there is light it stands as a beacon in the night. This light is Christ, the one who is the light and came to bring light to everyone. However, people loved darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. He came that those who lived under the power of the wicked one, would be set free and become children of light. These are the believers, they are the ones who gave up their life, took up their cross and followed Jesus. They stood up, no longer bowing their knees to idols and false gods, but instead by the Holy Spirit began walking steadily toward God almighty on the path established by Jesus Christ our savior, through his death and resurrection. In Christ, we then are being joined together as living stones into a holy temple in the Lord.

I think this tells us what Paul means by “Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers.” He is writing to people who were set free from true darkness. They lived in a city of lawlessness, devoted to Belial and the various gods. They were committed to it, they spent their lives practicing the very same things. There was societal pressure and benefit from being a part of those institutions. The temptation to become partners may have been a real temptation. This is especially true between the people and the cultic institutions which appealed to their baser desires. Keep in mind, this is not talking about the interaction of daily life, but becoming yokefellows with idolatrous ideas and institutions. They could not become partners because they were made of different stuff with separate standards, different kingdoms with radically different rulers and different purposes.

The people of God were to be a temple of the Living God, not a temple of Belial, or apollo, or any other. He, that is God, actually lives, and all things fine=d their life in him. The idols are simply stone, and in them can only death be found.

In verse 16 -18, Paul mixes and pieces together a bunch of quotes from Leviticus, Deuteronomy, Isaiah, Ezekiel, and 2 Samuel to make his point.

“I will make my dwelling among them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. 17 Therefore go out from their midst, and be separate from them, says the Lord, and touch no unclean thing; then I will welcome you, 18 and I will be a father to you, and you shall be sons and daughters to me, says the Lord Almighty.”

All of these passages relate in one singular point. That they, as God’s people, owe the entirety of their allegiance to God. He was to dwell among them first in the tabernacle, then in the temple, then when Jesus was born, God dwelt with his people as one of them. Now in the age of the church, God dwells within his people in the form of his Sprirt. He is a Father to us and we are his sons and daughters. All of these passages share the context of warning against idolatry.

God’s people, Israel, were to display this separation in the form of cleanliness and the avoidance of things considered unclean. They were not to participate in the activities of the pagan cultures around them, Idols and the false deities they represented were to be nothing to them. A part of this practice included not taking wives from among the other nations because they could lead them into idolatry. This is illustrated profoundly in the life of King Solomon, who was granted wisdom, wealth, and fame, only to cause the ultimate splitting of the country because he brought in many wives from other cultures who lead him into idolatry.

Paul concludes this thought with this:

1 Since we have these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit, bringing holiness to completion in the fear of God.

This strikes me as sounding like cleansing the temple after it had been desecrated. They remove what was unclean, cleanse it, and reestablish its holiness. Paul is calling the church in Corinth to do this. In some way, they had defiled themselves by becoming yoked unequally to someone or something which was bringing about their defilement. It seems it was connected in some way to the idolatry of Corinth.

What does all of this mean?

Does this mean Paul wanted them to remove themselves entirely from any connection to their community? Absolutely not. If they were to do that, they would lose any possibility of sharing the good news of Jesus Christ with them. We can’t pull away from the world like the various monastic groups have done in the history of the church. At the same time, we must beware we are not attaching ourselves to those who might be in opposition to the gospel. I think Jesus said it best (obviously) when he said this in his prayer the night before he was crucified:

John 17:14–19 14 I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. 15 I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. 16 They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. 17 Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. 18 As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. 19 And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth.

We are not friends of the world, we are enemies. However, we are not enemies of the various people. We do not fight flesh and blood, it is the principalities, the rulers and authorities in this present darkness. The battleground is the people. We are fighting for them, not for us. We are storming the strongholds of the dominion of death that we might rescue people from wicked jaws of the dragon. We protect ourselves with the our faith, with the truth, with righteousness, and the hope of our salvation, our weapons are the Spirit of God, the word, and the love of Christ, and our shoes are the readiness of the gospel of peace.

Sometimes, I think Christians have grown fearful the world will infect us with their wickedness. Why? Is your God so small that he cannot lead his people and sanctify them by his spirit in the midst of a crooked generation? Are we afraid he who is in the world might overcome Christ who redeemed it? Of course not. Have we forgotten we have been sent into the world to infect it with the gospel? We were called out of darkness, given the light of the gospel of peace, and sent back into the darkness that we might shine the light to those who are perishing. How can we do that if we cower in a hole? The gospel is the power of God for salvation to all who believe.

Does this mean we are unaffected by the sins of the world? No. We will be tempted by the idolatry of the world. However, we do not become free of temptation because we circle the wagons and shelter ourselves. This is particularly true in the age of the internet.

This is one of the reasons why we work to hold one another up, not to judge one another, but to remind one another that Christ died to set us free from sin, no so that we can turn around and jump right back into its jaws. So, we hold one another to account, that we might not lead one another into patterns of sin. This is done in faith. We have a savior who was tempted in every way as we are and yet was without sin.

Another thing to keep in mind is because of what Christ has done, the world is divided into two types of people, those who belong to Jesus, and those who belong to world; Believers and unbelievers. The wheat and the tares, the sheep and the goats. This is not a pleasant reality, but it is reality. This doesn’t make those who believe better, because they are saved by grace, through faith. Unbelievers need to hear the good news that they might be saved also.

This also means all of our petty divisions just don’t matter as much. The only true division is whether you are on the wide path which leads to destruction, or on the narrow path which leads to life.

So as I read this passage, my attention drawn toward the idolatries of the world. We do not want to yoke ourselves to the ways of the culture around us and the institutions which promote them. We do not want to be unequally yoked to them.

I think of political parties which serve a purpose in our culture and we can participate with them within reason, but if we grow so connected there is no distinction between the Christians church and her goals and the goals of the political party, we have become unequally yoked to unbelievers. This has happened with Christians with both parties, and they both point fingers at the Christians on the other side and call them hypocrites.

There are institutions and philosophies of sexual immorality. Some churches, or organizations which used to be churches, have yoked themselves to organizations devoted to sexual liberation and perversion. It has destroyed those churches. This does not mean we neglect to bring the gospel to people trapped and enslaved to their passions, but we do not become them either.

A huge part of this is the institution that is pornography. This is tied to the idols of the belly, of identity, and of power. However, it is so large and destructive I wanted to speak of it specifically. Pornography has always been a sin, but somehow it has grown and morphed into something truly grotesque and horrifying. It breaks our young people, changing they way they think and act in the world. It ensnares people into spirals of addiction and shame which they struggle to see as the danger it is because it isn’t a substance in the same way as drugs or alcohol. Yet it draws them ever deeper into its dark maw. In an effort to further its aims, young girls are kidnapped, blackmailed, drugged, beaten, enslaved, and repeatedly raped for the viewing pleasure of others. It unmakes them. It takes a beautiful human being created in the image of God and turns her into something resembling an animal. At the same time, it dehumanizes the viewers, enslaving them to their baser desires. It is an evil every bit as terrible as abortion, but I don’t think we see it with the horror we ought. If anyone is addicted to this, GET OUT. You are unequally yoked to a beast which will destroy you and you may not see it coming until it is too late. Our enemy seeks to unmake you, don’t let him. Repent. If you need help, come find me, we will do something to help.

Another idol currently prevalent in our culture is that of identity and experience.

This is a little broader, but this is the thinking that how I experience the world is of most importance. My personal identity and autonomy are king and god. No one can disagree with me and I am exactly how I ought to be because God makes no mistakes and he made me. With this yokefellow, we want to be affirmed or celebrated in our choices. In the name of this idol, people have forgotten they are whole people, surrendering the body to the passions of the heart. The body is simply an object to be manipulated to reflect the ugliness within.

This yokefellow leads churches to become entertainment venues. Interpersonal wars are fought over preference over aesthetics (carpets and curtains), over particular buildings and projects, people join a church because they are entertained, not because they wish to join together with their true yokefellows in Christ, When the Spirit of God uses us all as iron to sharpen one another and uphold one another as we attempt to infect the world with the love of Christ.

There is the idol of the belly

Our culture is a consuming culture. We desire to fill ourselves physically and sate our desires. This is true of sexual immorality as was mentioned already, but it is a little more fundamental. We feed this god through the senses, through taste, and sight, hearing, and pleasure as we pursue the gratification of the flesh.

Closely connected to this is money. We work to fill our passions and our bellies. We build our comforts and entertain the mind. If the idol of identity sacrificed the body, this sacrifices the mind and spirit for the sake of our heart’s desires.

We see this most prevalently in churches seeking to build themselves up for the sake of building themselves up. You might call Joel Osteen the high priest in a way, he has directly tied true faith to filling the belly, living your best life now.

Then there is the idol of power

This idol undergirds them all. This is probably the most insidious of them all. This is first the seeking of control over one’s own experiences, then moves into control over others, then can move into domination of others. This is when something meant as good, leadership, takes on a broken and toxic form.

If our leadership does not lift others up, if we manipulate or gaslight to get them to do what we want, we might be yoked to this terrible idol. In recent years, there has been a constant problem of Pastors falling into this trap. The two who stand out most are Mark Driscoll of Mars Hill Church in Seattle. He didn’t start this way, but over time became so power hungry and toxic, the 20,000 member mega church completely disintegrated as a result, leaving thousands of hurting people in its wake. Something similar happened with James MacDonald of Harvest Bible Chapel.

We fall prey to this in a way when we yoke ourselves to particular pastors. Pastors are fallible. We will let you down. We make poor idols, and worse gods. This isn’t to say we cannot be discipled by pastors, but that is temporary.

So what is the answer? How do we avoid becoming yoked to unbelievers, to the darkness, to belial, or lawlessness? How do we walk as strangers and enemies in the world when there is so much temptation? The answer is simple if not easy.

We make sure we are yoked to Christ, both individually and corporately. Jesus said, “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

This not intended to be simple platitudes, but to point out our need to be yoked to Jesus. He has overcome the world, he has already borne the weight of sin and death. He has overcome more temptation than we could even imagine. He lived the life we all should live, then he died the death we all deserve that we might be given the opportunity receive forgiveness in him. He died and was buried in a borrowed tomb. On the third day after he died, God rose him from the dead to display his victory over sin and death. He rose to show us our hope, that death has no sting for us, it has no victory. So, we can take his yoke upon us, because he is carrying the weight.

We do this individually. You repent of your sin, give up on everything in this world, it has nothing for you. It will not fill your belly, you will be hungry again, it will not satisfy the longings of your soul, it will leave you more and more empty. Jesus will fill and fulfill you. He is true bread and living water. He is almighty and has promised that those who give up everything take up their cross and follow him, will be granted eternal life. So repent and believe in him today. If you are trapped in patterns of sin, if you think you are yoked to something that isn’t Jesus, let us help you. It is what the church is for. I don’t mean just me, look around, we are all (those who believe) filled with the Holy Spirit of God and can be used by him to sharpen one another and to help each other find healing. We are all called to serve one another.

We also do this corporately. We mustn’t pursue the yokes of this world. We cannot be pursuing personalities or our own entertainment. We cannot be fixated on fulfilling our desires. Nor can we live in fear of being infected by the world. We are to be the infection, spreading the gospel to the uttermost parts of the world. We need not fear, because we have taken the yoke of Christ, but he bears the weight. Who could stand against us?

When Christ is our Yokefellow, we overcome the world

In Conclusion

We must not be unequally yoked to unbelievers. Instead let us make sure we are yoked with Christ who’s burden is easy and light. We are all yoked together as one body in Christ. Jesus has overcome the world, and For those who belong to him, we have overcome the world too. I want to end with this:

1 John 5:1–5 1 Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the Father loves whoever has been born of him. 2 By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments. 3 For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome. 4 For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith. 5 Who is it that overcomes the world except the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?

When Christ is our Yokefellow, we overcome the world

Father, remind us of who Christ is and what he has done. Remind us he welcomes us to lay down our heavy burdens, and take his yoke upon us, because it is easy and light. Help us to remember to take up our cross daily and follow him. Remind us that Christ has overcome the world and in him we are more than conquerors through him who saved us. Help us as we go out from there, that we might be filled with the Spirit, filled with faith, hope, love and joy. Thank you for your mercy and your grace.

Announcements

Special Business Meeting - Monday, October 14th.

This meeting is to vote on whether or not we want to pursue an interim with IPM (Interim Pastor Ministries). The elders and deacons will be working on the application process in the meantime so that we are prepared to move forward should the church determine this is the right course.

We are having a prayer meeting tonight at 6:00pm. We will be praying for our church, that God would open our hearts to him and to one another, that we would be filled with gratitude, that our mouths would be full of praise and our hearts full of joy.

Harvest Festival Sunday, October 13th from 4-6:30pm. Bring your favorite soup and possibly even a dessert! Come play games and remember that we are a family in Christ Jesus.

As you go out from here with Christ as your yokefellow, knowing that in him you have and will overcome the world.