Introduction:
Paul has been telling the church that he and his fellow worker Timothy fix their “eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.” (2 Cor 4: 18)
Paul longs for his heavenly dwelling (5:2) but in the meantime makes it his goal to please the Lord (5:9).
God has called Paul to be a minister of reconciliation (5:18). He and Timothy are “Christ’s ambassadors” (5:20). They are called to appeal to men and women to be reconciled to God. Brothers and sisters in Christ so are we! We too are called to appeal to men and women to be reconciled to God.
Paul was no great preacher! (See 2 Cor 10:10). We are not all preachers, but we are all ambassadors!
As ambassadors for Christ Paul and Timothy have endured massive trouble, hardship and distress (6:4) including beatings, imprisonments and hunger (6:5).
Belonging to Jesus Christ brings us every blessing in the spiritual realm (Ephesians 1:3). However, as the suffering Church throughout the world display, being an ambassador for Christ comes with a physical health warning. Earthly lives have been lost this week.
Paul loves the Corinthian church dearly. He has opened wide his heart to them, and he has opened wide his affection towards them (6:11-12). In his speech he is open, holding nothing back. He has no secret agendas, and no hidden motives; but sadly the church in Corinth was not responding to his Christ-like love. Paul’s love for the Church was unconditional. However, the members of the Church are withholding their love towards him.
Friends, are you withholding your love towards anyone? The New Testament Church in Corinth was experiencing various difficulties and challenges. One such problem was that Christ-like love was going from person A to person B; but it was not being returned! When that happens, the Church is not joining in with the love of the Trinity – Father, Son and Holy Spirit where the three exist in a relationship of love. Each loves the other without reservation.
When Christ-like love is not returned there is a mismatch. Confusion, resentment and relationship breakdown can often occur.
…and so we come to 2 Corinthians 6:14.
We are going to hear a piece of scripture (6:17) which has sadly been misused to sometimes insist upon, or try to create a kind of evangelical monastic existence full of ‘Thou shall not’ commandments.
14 Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness? 15 What harmony is there between Christ and Belial? What does a believer have in common with an unbeliever?
“Do not be yoked together with unbelievers.” This verse can be wrongly used to squash or bring an end to friendships where one person is a Christian and the other is not. When linked with verse 17, “come out from them and be separate”, it has been used by some Christian communities and Churches to retreat into a ‘ghetto’ where no one has friends outside of the Church; no one reads anything which has not been written by the Church; no one does anything, says anything, goes anywhere without the agreement of the church; & just in case other churches have people who are not real Christians, we won’t associate with other churches, unless our church says it’s OK! It is for this reason that some churches have failed to grow and have in fact begun to shrivel.
…and yet we must be faithful to God’s word. As part of the Church of Jesus Christ we must handle the word of God carefully!
So just what is Paul saying here? What was he thinking, and how does it apply to us today?
Almost certainly Paul has in mind Deuteronomy 22: 9-11, “Do not plant two kinds of seed in your vineyard; if you do, not only the crops you plant but also the fruit of the vineyard will be defiled. Do not plough with an ox and a donkey yoked together. Do not wear clothes of wool and linen woven together.”
These rules were given to the people of God as reminders! The reminder is more important than the rule because they all served to remind God’s people not to mix their worship. They were to worship God alone, and not to mix their worship with any other foreign god with a small ‘g’.
On a practical level it was not good to place a yoke on an ox and a donkey and try to plough a field like that. The yoke meant that the two animals were bound to one another; they were forced to travel in the same direction, but they were not suited as ploughing partners! An ox and a donkey would go at different speeds; they were built differently; and also the ox was considered clean whilst the donkey was considered unclean.
Paul has his heart wide open to the Corinthians, but their hearts have not been open towards him, and he says ‘do not be yoked together with unbelievers.’
The ‘yoke’ denotes a shared task where there is a relationship or a task which is almost unbreakable. A ‘yoke’ is not easily broken. It is restraining. Yoked animals have no choice but to work together. They have no independence. Whether they like it or not they have to do what the other one is doing.
Now when we read in our NIV Bibles ‘do not be yoked’ what Paul meant was “stop being yoked together with unbelievers.” In other words they had already become yoked and restrained by unhelpful and damaging relationships with unbelievers.
What Paul does NOT say is end all relationships with unbelievers. He does NOT say stop all relationships with unbelievers! To do that would mean that we would have to withdraw into the ghetto; whereas Paul has previously said to the church in 1 Cor 5: 9 to 10 that we must not end associations with the people of the world. (NB) God’s mission is to the world!!!
What Paul says is this: Stop and avoid relationships with unbelievers that are too close. Relationships which are restraining and difficult (if not impossible) to break should be avoided. Just as light and dark are opposites, and just as water and oil do not mix, there is a serious clash of purpose and loyalty at stake.
Marriage is the most obvious relationship which this speaks to and Paul has dealt with that one very clearly and in detail in 1 Cor 7.
Two years before I met my wife, my eventual best man Kevin set me up on a blind date. His girlfriend had a friend who was unattached and we all went off to the cinema together. I have to confess that I cannot remember the girl’s name but I can remember that when I got home that evening I was troubled in my heart. I felt uncomfortable and I felt as if I had been driving in my car the wrong way down a one way street. The next morning was Sunday and I explained the situation to a friend who prayed with me. God was clear in his direction: I must not give any wrong impression about being available to someone who did not share my faith in Jesus Christ. She had told me that she was not religious, and didn’t see it as a problem that I was a Christian, but I knew that if we continued, my spiritual car was heading for a crash!
Brothers and sisters if you are in the early stages of such a relationship; God says “stop”. It is very rare for a Christian to bring their unbelieving boyfriend or girlfriend or fiancée to faith in Jesus. It can happen, and it has happened, but it is very rare. Far more common is that the Christian’s faith ebbs away, and I know too many people who have left behind their faith in Jesus for an unbelieving partner.
Let’s stop for a moment: If you are already married and your partner is not a Christian the above does not apply to you. Paul is clear in 1 Cor 7 that you must remain in the relationship you are in as you may yet save your husband or your wife (1 Cor 7: 16).
What other situations are covered by Paul’s direction?
It also covers the close brotherly / sisterly same sex relationships which the Bible recommends. The best example being Jesus and John; the one he loved.
Jesus and John had a similar relationship to that between David and Jonathan (see 1 Samuel 18).
I believe that it is both biblical and helpful to be in such a relationship. For me it’s with my brother in Christ Gavin. We pray together, we confess our sins to one another, and we share our struggles and our joys together. We are truly brothers in Christ and there are things that I share with Gavin that I would not discuss with anyone else. Now, if Gavin were not a Christian and I was telling him about a secret sin, and my deepest thoughts, there would be a danger of us being ‘unequally yoked’. If Christ is not at the centre of such a tight relationship then there is the real danger being ‘unequally yoked’.
Have you noticed this section of scripture is bracketed by Paul reminding the Corinthians of his love? 6:11, we have ‘opened wide our hearts to you.’ 7:3, “we would live or die with you.”
…and it is out of love for the Corinthians that Paul rebukes them; In Proverbs 27: 5-6 we read this: “Better is open rebuke than hidden love. Wounds from a friend can be trusted, but an enemy multiplies kisses.”
Are you in a relationship with an unbeliever which has you bound, restricted, unequally yoked? True love does not say to you, “hey guys that’s OK. God loves you anyway!” No; true Christ-like love says God loves you and wants the best for you. Stop being “yoked together with unbelievers” for your own good!
Some of you will be thinking, “I don’t know if this relationship is a yoke.” Well, Paul has used words which God wants you to hear. In verses 15 and 16 we have heard these phrases: “In common …fellowship …harmony.”
…and he now uses the word “agreement”:
16 What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said: "I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people."
Paul is now using his knowledge of the Bible to speak God’s word to the Corinthian situation. He knows his Old Testament; and we know that “…the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give an account.” (Hebrews 4:12-13)
Paul wants the Church to be jolted into realising its error. The Temple of God and the temple of idols cannot be mixed. We are the temple of the Holy Spirit!
He is using scripture references from Leviticus 26:12, Jeremiah 32:38 and Ezekiel 37:27.
Brothers and sisters we believe and trust in the Lord Almighty who lives in us and walks amongst us! We are His people!
…therefore; and we come to the sometimes misused verse 17:
17 "Therefore come out from them and be separate, says the Lord. Touch no unclean thing, and I will receive you."
I know people, some of them friends who have used this to instruct themselves, their friends and their churches to have nothing whatsoever to do with first of all non-Christian people, and secondly (fair enough!) with anything which is deemed to be unchristian.
Paul is referring to Isaiah 52:11 and the particular context of that scripture was worship. Israel was to cut all ties with the idolatry, habits and customs of their former Babylonian captors;
When God demands ‘separation’ he demands holy living. He says, (1 Peter 1:15-16) “Be holy as I the Lord you God am holy.” To be ‘holy’ is to be set apart for God.
The thrust of the whole Bible, the message of the Lord Jesus Christ, the missionary work of Paul, and the Great Commission make it absolutely clear that we are not to cut off all associations with the world and the people living in it. Oh what a satanic deception that is!
We are called “to be in the world not of the world. Like a ship should be in the water, but water shouldn’t be in the ship.” (Guzik, David: Study Guide to 2 Cor).
Friends I so much want to live the holy life so that my thoughts, my words, my motives, my actions, my intentions, my reactions, my desires are separate from the ways of the world; separate from the ways of the devil who is a thief and a liar. It’s only possible with the infilling of the Holy Spirit. Filled with God’s spirit we receive a Christ-like desire to be holy. This puts us in opposition to Satan, and it puts a strain on our closest relationships
18 "I will be a Father to you, and you will be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty."
…what a promise we have. “Sons and daughters” of the living God! Through our relationship with Jesus we are adopted into God’s family. We are co-heirs with Jesus Christ!
2 Corinthians 7
1 Since we have these promises, dear friends, let us purify ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit, perfecting holiness out of reverence for God.
This is an appeal to holy living. This is not a mandate to break friendships with people who do things that make us feel physically or spiritually sick. This is an appeal to holy living, and that may mean occasions when we have to say to people, “No. I won’t do that. I can’t do that. My love for Jesus stops me from being involved in this.”
When it comes to the ‘nitty-gritty’ we are going to have to make choices about things we do and places we go, and people that we bend over backwards for; and we are going to make those decisions “out of reverence for God.”
† It will mean saying no to the next drink of alcohol that would put us beyond a reasonable level.
† It will mean saying no to watching certain films and listening to some particular songs.
† It will mean not being ‘yoked together with unbelievers’
…and all of this will be “out of reverence for God.”
However, for most of us it will not mean completely avoiding places and people. For most of us it will not mean throwing out our complete CD collection or our book shelf – although for one or two of us we may need to do such things.
In the world but not of the world …a ship should be in the water, but water should not be in the ship.
I want to pray that you will know God’s voice. I may not have been clear. God will be clear! Amen.
