2 Corinthians 6:14-7:1 Who You Hanging With?

Intro: Friendship Recession

Only about 27% of men have at least six close friends, down from 55% in 1990, according to the report. Meanwhile, the number of men without any close friends increased from 3% to 15%.

The survey also found that even when a man reported having one or two close friends, those friendships didn’t prevent him from experiencing isolation and loneliness.

Further, men are also reportedly less emotionally connected to their friends than women, according to the analysis.

Read 2 Corinthians 6:14-16

Transition:

Chapter 6 is Paul’s resume to the Corinthians

He is an ambassador for Christ and his area of specialty is reconciliation

As he finishes up his resume at the end of the chapter he reminds the Corinthians they are partners with him

He led them to the Lord and discipled them

As a church they are now part of the mission of reaching the lost or Corinth

If this partnership is going work they need to clean up their act

That starts with the friendships they have maintained

Lawlessness and darkness had crept into the church and they were using it to show how loving they were

The church has done the same thing today

In an effort to be accepting and “woke” it has subscribed to the propaganda of the world

If Paul was alive today he would question who the church was hanging with

I. Inspect Your Inner Circle vs. 14-15

You need to inspect your inner circle

Who is closest to you?

Paul is NOT telling us to avoid unbelievers, but they shouldn’t be the ones closest to us

In this text he gives us four areas we need to inspect: Those who influence us, Our Business partners, Our Community, & Our marriage

Paul makes four common sense contrasts

Unequally Yoked

This is often used for marriage but it means those who influence you

It comes from the OT and refers to the yoke they would put on Oxen to pull or plow

Deuteronomy 22:10 You shall not plow with an ox and a donkey together.

These two animals do not have the same nature, gait, or strength

The ox was a clean animal to the Jews, but the Donkey was not (Deut. 14:1–8); and it would be wrong to yoke them together.

Furthermore, they would not even work well together.

The two animals have completely different natures

It would be cruel to bind them to each other.

In the same way, it is wrong for believers to be yoked together with unbelievers.

Be careful of those you let influence you

This goes for politicians, actors, athletes, or even people on social media

If they are unbelievers they will have a different nature than you

Partnership w/ Lawlessness

The second area is our partnerships

This speaks to the Business affairs

Christians shouldn’t go into business with non-Christians

There is nothing holding them to the law of God or the law of man

They could cause a believer to sacrifice their integrity and damage their character

I’ve known Christians who have lamented a business they have started with a childhood friend or college buddy after they recieved Christ

Fellowship w/ Darkness

This speaks to your close knit community.

In fact, in the NKJV the word is communion which is a compound of Common Union or unity

Community is that group of friends you surround yourself with

Koinonia = Participation, communion, fellowship

The Christians closest friends shouldn’t be unbelievers

The word accord gives us our English word “symphony,” and it speaks of beautiful music that comes when the players are reading the same score and obeying the same leader.

What chaos we would have if each instrumentalist played his own tune in his own way!

Contrast that with what Paul calls Belial

Belial is a word borrowed from Hebrew, meaning worthlessness or wickedness.

Here it is used as another word for Satan.

“The term is used only in this place in the New Testament, but very often in the Old Testament, to express men notoriously wicked and scandalous.

I’ve seen Christians have friends or family that are bad news

Their excuse is that they have known them a long time

I have a lot of people I’ve known for a long time, both Christian and non that I refuse to let influence me

Portion w/ Unbeliever

The final area is portion

It means a part of

This speaks to Marriage

When a couple gets married they become one

They have a portion of each other

A Christian should not marry an unbeliever

If you are both unbelievers when you get married and then you get saved there are two paths

Stay with them

Or if they leave you

1 Cor 7:13 If any woman has a husband who is an unbeliever, and he consents to live with her, she should not divorce him.

II. You are a Temple vs. 16

Why do you guard your inner circle? You are a temple

You are made into a temple of the living God when you begin following Jesus

Living vs. Lifeless

As someone who is filled with the Holy Spirit you have nothing in common with lifeless idols

Ephesians 2:22 In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.

This is God’s desire

Dwell among them

God wants to dwell in you but can’t if you are filled with the world

One day we will be in the presence of the living God

Rev 21:3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God

Until then we need to be filled with the Holy Spirit

Ezek 11:19-20 And I will give them one heart, and a new spirit I will put within them. I will remove the heart of stone from their flesh and give them a heart of flesh, 20 that they may walk in my statutes and keep my rules and obey them. And they shall be my people, and I will be their God.

III. Time to Separate vs. 17-18

Once you inspect your inner circle and understand you are temple of God it might be time to separate

Anytime you see the word “Therefore” there is a change in subject

Go Out from Midst

Isaiah 52:11 Depart, depart, go out from there; touch no unclean thing; go out from the midst of her; purify yourselves, you who bear the vessels of the Lord.

Touch No Unclean Thing

I will be a Father to you

IV. Strive for Holiness vs. 1

1 Peter 2:11 Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul.