Unequally Yoked - part 4
Let us return again to the 2 Corinthian scripture, are you growing tired of hearing it or can we still say amen?
2 Corinthians 6:14-7:1.
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 (we) 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.
Are you content (satisfied) with what the Lord says or is there something else going on? And don’t say amen too quickly for we all may not be in total agreement with where we are verses where we should be.
I would like to start today with what some may call a story and all good stories start with those words “Once upon a time”. Listen; once upon a time there was a talking serpent. Genesis 3:1. Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, “Has God indeed said, ‘You shall not eat of every tree of the garden’?”
Genesis 3:1-13.
And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden; but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.’ ” Then the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves coverings. And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. Then the Lord God called to Adam and said to him, “Where are you?” So he said, “I heard Your voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; and I hid myself.” And He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you that you should not eat?” Then the man said, “The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I ate.” And the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”
Now to those of us, who believe in Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, know of this as more than a story and definitely not one with a happy ending. We know this as the account of sin entering the world and death as the result of sin.
Why go here pastor, when we are looking at 2 Corinthians 6? Here is why this is so important for us to grab on to. Number one, the serpent, the prince of the power of the air, Satan, the devil is not a rocket scientist and he does not have to be. Number two, most human behavior and thinking is sophomoric behavior at best. I tell my sophomores in my Geometry class at the beginning of the school year to lookup the word sophomoric most of them don’t and through out the school year I remind them that they are indeed sophomores by their behavior. Sophomoric means wise fool, one with wisdom but behaves foolishly. I would call King Solomon the sophomoric King in Scripture. And number three, this scene is played out over and over again in our lives; God says something, commands something or promise something, the serpent who is now represented by the world says something, and we must respond and our response can only be one of two ways.
And thus the question; Are you content (satisfied) with what the Lord says or is there something else going on?
What God says,
listen from our passage; 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.”
Now last week we worship and praised God because we looked at the promise; God said I will dwell in them and walk among them, I will be their God and they shall be my people. We felt good to translate this passage to the same God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of Genesis to Revelation is dwelling in us New Hope and He is walking with us and even carrying some of us New Hope, we are witnesses that He is our God and we can say praise His Holy Name because we are His people. And the church can still say amen!
But God is not through talking in this passage. Verse 17 starts with the word therefore. This word means; in consequence of that; as a result; accordingly, or hence, in other words a statement is coming resulting from, or caused by, what immediately precedes. So based on nothing else than what God promised (Therefore), ‘come out from among them and be separate’, again says the Lord (this is not Paul but it is what God says). You want to know what does ‘do not be unequally yoked’ mean, then here it is. God has made us special then be special. We have been sanctified, then be sanctified. Come out from among them, in this context, the ‘them’ are the unbeliever, the lawless, the children of the dark, the servants of the devil and the idol worshippers. You don’t hookup with, hang around with, happy hour with, best friends with, confide with people who God does not dwell with, walk with, is a God to, or called them His people. Again let me remind us that last week we were full of praise so today I ask you; Are you content (satisfied) with what the Lord says or is there something else going on?
I ask each of you New Hope, from elementary school to middle school to high school on to college and out into the working world and on to the time of retirement; who do you call friend, close friend, who do you hang with, who is your running buddy, who do you confide in, and who do you have a relationship with, who do you date or go out with? Even if they go to church, what church, and do you know what they believe in their fellowship? My brothers and sisters if you really don’t know who the ‘them’ are, it is tough, to come out from among them. Now I may get some amen from some but then again other who are listening to this are responding with what the world say.
For what the world says is heard and listened to by all of us, even little babies have been observed stopping what they are doing and listen to the commercial. So yes I can preach this is what God says but then you have some who will say, I hear you pastor but this is what the world say! One thing the world says is that this teaching is narrow minded thinking, it’s old fashion and things just don’t work like that any more. We are looking for ways of acceptance, ways to integrate not segregate. Now I said that the Genesis passage is played out over and over again, listen;
“Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, “Has God indeed said, ‘You shall not eat of every tree of the garden’?”
Today you would hear or think something like this; “come on now, that passage deals with a different time and different situation plus I’m more educated, more sophisticated, than the people of that time. Today you hear; hey I have to work with, go to school with and shop with all kinds of people and I don’t want to be the nerd or the strange one. Or, that’s a good person and they are easy to talk to and they seem to understand my situation. Or, at least they are going to church and I am not going to make a big deal about what they believe, after all I may not find another one like him or her.
The prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience has the same game plan used in the garden with Eve and he whispers; “You will not surely die” and we listen, looking for love in all the wrong places. And we listen, ‘child you ain’t married yet, what’s wrong with you? Don’t you know you ain’t getting younger? The Lord speaks and the world speaks and if it was possible to turn off everything, no television, no radio, no cell phone, no computer or electronics of any type, there still remains a speaker just like you are hearing my voice through the speakers on the wall and they will broadcast what ever they are plugged into and those speakers are human. You and I, my brothers and sisters, are also the speakers that the people around us (and I mean older, younger and our age) are listening to. Are you content (satisfied) with what the Lord says or is there something else going on?
What is sad church is that too many times when we speak, we are plugged into the world and not into the Lord. The Word of God in Ephesians says in chapter 4, verse 15; “but speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head – Christ”. Many times we may speak in love and not speak the truth. And at other times we are so set on speaking the truth but there is no love with it.
God speaks, the world speaks and you hear and you listen, now what do you say? It is your turn to speak and your actions speak louder than words.
Returning to Genesis for a moment; “So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate.” Analyze her actions (let me use my word again here, her sophomoric actions) and really listen to what she is saying. The tree was good for food, okay; all the trees were good for food duh! That it was pleasant to the eyes another duh, the tree is in the Garden of Eden and short of heaven, it doesn’t get more pleasant to the eye than that.
A tree desirable, there it is, to make one wise. Do you see the shift, wise but foolish. God is the source of wisdom not a tree! Where did this shift start? It started by listening to something or someone other than God and it continued by internalizing about it, resulting in taking the fruit and eating it. God, at this point, is no longer God the tree is because the tree is now the source of my desire and in this case wisdom.
This same scenario is played out in our lives. “Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers!” “Come out from among them and be separate.” And “let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit.” For those of us who are lonely, wanting close friendship and companionship, looking for a husband or wife, your own soul mate, these words are hard and harsh words. And for the younger still who may not be in this situation yet, but when you see and hear about what’s out there and what is not available, these words are scary, very scary. But in spite of all of this; Are you content (satisfied) with what the Lord says or is there something else going on?
Now how you answer this, just like in the garden, is summed up in your actions and your actions can be summed up by two words both beginning with the letter c. You have been hearing one of the c-words but let’s look at the other one that is implied. There is a word that describes the soul as full of vigorous desires, which urges it to extend its influence over persons and things. This word describes one intense desire for neighbors’ possessions. These desires if misdirected may concentrate on money, self possessions and material gains. This word is used to characterize the ultimate idolatry and in the Old Testament, it got Achan, his family and all his possessions stoned. The word is covetousness. I know what God says but I want, I desire, I deserve and when my will be done and not God’s, that’s idolatry and that also means I am not content in the Lord because my thing, my desire and my plan is going on! I have listened to the serpent instead of the Lord.
As I draw to a close, let me give you the right answer. My actions should show that I am content in the Lord. Paul says it this way in Philippians; Philippians 4:11-13. Not that I speak in regard to need, for I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content: I know how to be abased, and I know how to abound. Everywhere and in all things I have learned both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.
We like Paul must learn contentment. We must learn to be satisfied with who we are and with what we have.
And I am so glad that God does not leave us alone in this. Return with me to 2 Corinthians 6 and listen to the condition and the promise of the Lord; “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.”
This is why you can be content satisfied with what the Lord says; one God says He will receive you, two God promises to be a Father to you, three you shall be His sons and daughters (my sisters) and four this is said by the Lord Almighty.
New Hope, I can not give all answers to our lonely brothers and sisters, on where is the right place to go to deal with your loneliness other that the fellowship here. I don’t have all the answers to our singles that want to be married to a believing man or woman and are trying to engage in a spiritual relationship with another person. I can’t tell you all of the righteous places to go, young people to find companionship, true friendship and fellowship. I can’t tell you if everything is right and seems to be in order, that he or she is the right one for you. But my Father can, our Father can, your heavenly Father knows you better than you know you and He only wants the best for you and He can do it. Ephesians 3:20-21. Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.
And to the rest of us, we need to continue to connect our prayers with the prayers of our singles, our young people and our teens. We need to pray about being speakers of and for God instead of speakers for the world. And we too must seek forgiveness for our covetousness and seek more contentment in the Lord.
Are you content with what the Lord say, are you content with where the Lord have you and are you content enough to wait on Him?
My prayer for New Hope is that your answers is yes, amen and praise the Lord!
Yes Lord, yes Lord, from the bottom of my heart, to the deeps of my soul, yes Lord, completely yes, my soul says yes!