Make Room: A Heartfelt Plea for Holiness
October 25, 2015 · 2 Corinthians
Scripture referenced 7 passages
The passage this message was preached from, in full, with every other passage it reached for.
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Deuteronomy 22:6-12 read aloud as the passage picked up from the previous week, covering bird nests, parapets, mixed seed, mixed plowing animals, wool and linen, and tassels
6 If you come across a bird’s nest on the way, in any tree or on the ground, with young ones or eggs, and the hen sitting on the young, or on the eggs, you shall not take the hen with the young.
7 You shall surely let the hen go, but the young you may take for yourself; that it may be well with you, and that you may prolong your days.
8 When you build a new house, then you shall make a railing around your roof, so that you don’t bring blood on your house if anyone falls from there.
9 You shall not sow your vineyard with two kinds of seed, lest all the fruit be defiled, the seed which you have sown, and the increase of the vineyard.
10 You shall not plow with an ox and a donkey together.
11 You shall not wear clothes of wool and linen woven together.
12 You shall make yourselves fringes on the four corners of your cloak with which you cover yourself.
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Keep this verse
Leviticus 19:15-19
read as the first telling of similar laws, including loving your neighbor and not mixing cattle breeds, seed kinds, or garment materials
15 “‘You shall do no injustice in judgment. You shall not be partial to the poor, nor show favoritism to the great; but you shall judge your neighbor in righteousness.
16 “‘You shall not go up and down as a slanderer among your people. “‘You shall not endanger the life of your neighbor. I am Yahweh.
17 “‘You shall not hate your brother in your heart. You shall surely rebuke your neighbor, and not bear sin because of him.
18 “‘You shall not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge against the children of your people; but you shall love your neighbor as yourself. I am Yahweh.
19 “‘You shall keep my statutes. “‘You shall not cross-breed different kinds of animals. “‘You shall not sow your field with two kinds of seed; “‘Don’t wear a garment made of two kinds of material.
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2 Corinthians 6:11-13
identified as where the previous week's sermon ended, Paul's open-hearted appeal to the Corinthians to widen their hearts
11 Our mouth is open to you, Corinthians. Our heart is enlarged.
12 You are not restricted by us, but you are restricted by your own affections.
13 Now in return, I speak as to my children, you also open your hearts.
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2 Corinthians 6:14-16
the unequally yoked passage with five rhetorical questions about righteousness and lawlessness, light and darkness, Christ and Belial, believer and unbeliever, temple and idols
14 Don’t be unequally yoked with unbelievers, for what fellowship have righteousness and iniquity? Or what fellowship has light with darkness?
15 What agreement has Christ with Belial? Or what portion has a believer with an unbeliever?
16 What agreement has a temple of God with idols? For you are a temple of the living God. Even as God said, “I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they will be my people.”
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2 Corinthians 7:1
strong imperative to cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit, bringing holiness to completion in the fear of God
1 Having therefore these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.
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2 Corinthians 7:2-4
the second heartfelt plea, Paul saying make room in your hearts, we wronged no one, I am overflowing with joy in all our affliction
2 Open your hearts to us. We wronged no one. We corrupted no one. We took advantage of no one.
3 I say this not to condemn you, for I have said before, that you are in our hearts to die together and live together.
4 Great is my boldness of speech toward you. Great is my boasting on your behalf. I am filled with comfort. I overflow with joy in all our affliction.
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Matthew 11:28-30
used as the benediction, Jesus inviting the weary to take his yoke and find rest because his yoke is easy and his burden is light
28 “Come to me, all you who labor and are heavily burdened, and I will give you rest.
29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart; and you will find rest for your souls.
30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”
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Recap
The message in order, in a few minutes of reading.
Pastor Ray picked up a multi-week journey through 2 Corinthians, working through the unit of 6:11 through 7:4 and connecting it to Old Testament passages in Leviticus and Deuteronomy. The central question was what it actually means to be "unequally yoked," and whether the familiar way of preaching that passage is really what Paul was after. The sermon moved between that hard call to holiness and an equally strong, tender appeal from Paul to open their hearts wide.
What was said
The Old Testament background came first. Leviticus 19 and Deuteronomy 22 both contain instructions about not mixing things of different kinds, whether animals bred together, two kinds of seed in a field, or garments woven from wool and linen. Pastor Ray noted that the priestly garments were in fact made of linen and wool, which means the prohibition was not simply a blanket rule against mixing. It was about setting apart what was holy from what was ordinary, calling Israel to be a distinct people and a light to the nations.
That context shapes the way Paul uses the "unequally yoked" image in 2 Corinthians 6. The passage is usually preached as a warning against marrying a non-Christian, or going into business with one, and Pastor Ray said those applications are implicit in the text. But he pressed that they are not what Paul is actually saying, because the grammar and the surrounding verses point somewhere else. The command has the force of "stop being unequally yoked," and it is addressed to people whose affections have remained tied to the world around them.
Paul frames the holiness call between two nearly identical heartfelt appeals. The first, ending chapter 6 verse 13, is a plea for the Corinthians to open their hearts wide. The second, opening chapter 7, is the same plea returned: make room for us. Pastor Ray described this as a chiastic structure, two matching bookends holding the hard material in the middle, or, as he put it, two halves of an Oreo with a double-stuff of holiness between them.
The five rhetorical questions in verses 14 through 16 all demand a negative answer in the Greek. What partnership does righteousness have with lawlessness? What fellowship does light have with darkness? What accord does Christ have with Belial? None, in every case. The point is not that Christians must physically separate themselves from unbelievers, but that they should have nothing in common with the idols and desires that govern the unbelieving world.
A clip from Seinfeld was shown to illustrate what it looks like when a professing Christian is indistinguishable from the people around him. The character Putty claims faith, but his girlfriend Elaine had no idea until she heard his radio presets. Pastor Ray used that to put flesh on Paul's question: what portion does a believer share with an unbeliever? The answer is supposed to be very little, but when Christians feed the same affections the world feeds, the difference disappears.
The call in 7:1 follows directly from the promises Paul has just quoted from the Old Testament: God will dwell among His people, walk among them, be their Father. Because those promises are real, Paul says, "let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit, bringing holiness to completion in the fear of God." Pastor Ray pointed out that this is not passive. Sanctification is available through the cross, but there is something the believer is called to do in response to what God has already promised.
The sermon closed where it began, with Paul's second appeal: "I have great pride in you, I am filled with comfort, and in all our affliction I am overflowing with joy." Pastor Ray read Jesus' words from Matthew as a benediction, the invitation to take His yoke instead, because His yoke is easy and His burden is light. The whole passage, he said, is an open-hearted plea to let go of whatever affections are keeping the heart from receiving what God has for it, and then to walk in the freedom of a life that reflects the light of Christ to the valley and beyond.
Doing a Bible study?
Here is a guide we have prepared for you: the passages in order, questions for the group, and room to write.
- Bobby Daily said that taking a young woman in without prayer first was a mistake, and that it has to be a serious commitment where you share your life and your Lord with someone. What does that kind of commitment look like in practice, and what would it take for you to consider something like it?
- Pastor Ray said that when we hear the Old Testament purity laws about mixed fabrics or mixed breeding, they sound completely bizarre to us today, but that they were God's way of setting apart a holy people meant to be a light to the nations. How do you think about the parts of Scripture that don't immediately make sense to you?
and 3 more questions in the guide
Read the full transcript 7,464 words
0:00
Good morning, everybody. How are y'all? Good everybody. How how are y'all this morning? There are a lot of folks.
0:08
We're starting just about a minute early and I realized that. So, there are folks standing out in the vestibule, Narthex, foyer, whatever your tradition. Would you stand with us as we join in song and we're going to sing one song and then I have announcement. I don't have announcement. I have an announcement.
0:24
Some folks here do an announcement. Would you stand with us and join? We're going to stand around the Omni Mike. Bob, would you come on up? Scott's coming up and join us on A Mighty Fortress as our God.
3:48
Amen. Amen. Amen. Because it's on the wall. I have an announcement.
3:52
Would you all take have a seat and I'm gonna invite up Bobby Daily and Christy and Eden and I'm gonna let them. You know, you can do it around this mic or you can use a handheld. That's perfect.
4:13
My is Eden Star. I'm starting an organization called Christie's Second Chance. When I was 17, I fell in love with the idea of helping out young women in unplanned pregnancies. As I began to tell really work on this idea, my mother decided it was the time to tell me her own beautiful story, and how Mike and Bobby Daly were a part
4:33
of it. Great. Okay, and I'm Christie. So I moved to Jackson in 1992 with a young man, and shortly thereafter found out I was pregnant. And I went to the crisis pregnancy center and met Pam Murdock.
4:54
Many of you may know her. Pam used to run the crisis pregnancy center, and she was just a light. And as I she counseled me, and indeed I was pregnant, and obviously it was not a great time in my life. And Pam had so much hope about what could be in my life, and introduced me to Mike and Bobby Daily, and, they invited me to live with them, and I moved in with them, and I lived with them during my pregnancy, And the little boy I had was adopted, which was just through a network of friends from my local church here in Jackson. And the whole experience was a foundation, really, of faith, and of believing and seeing God work in this amazing way.
5:48
It was life changing, obviously, and I'm gonna let Bobby tell you about her experience with me.
6:00
Well I have to tell you that the day that Christy came into our life it was amazing. She is just a light, and I never thought that I would see the day that I would be standing here with her and her daughter, and it's just a blessing to me. She came into our home as a stranger, and she left as a daughter, and we have just treasured her. My husband and I were fortunate enough to be able to have many, many young women stay with us, some of them pregnant, some of them not, some of them just in emotional turmoil and just needing a mom and a dad, and we had a lot of love to give, so that was something that God called us to do. We're hoping that as you hear this story, the story that Eden has and Christie and I have, that God will touch your heart and you will begin the process of praying to see if this is something that God would have you do, to have a young woman into your home.
7:02
And it isn't something to be taken lightly like, oh, wow, that sounds like a great idea. You need to pray about it. It's a commitment. You're not just giving a home to a young woman, you're giving your life to them. You're sharing your Lord with them.
7:18
You're taking them in as your own and as God's own, and it's a very serious commitment. I can say that unequivocally because we took one girl in totally without prayer, and it was awful. So be sure and seek the Lord, see if he would have you do this, and I pray that he would. We have so much to give.
7:41
So as you have heard now, what we are looking for are families who are able to provide shelter for young women like my mother. With the help of my advisors, pastor Ray, Christy McDonald, Bobby Daily, and a good friend of mine, Bob Peters, I have formulated an application process to facilitate this program that we are calling the daily projects. I had the opportunity to talk with Judy Basie at Turning Point, and she agreed that this was a real need here in the Valley. Shoot, what was the next
8:16
part? Yeah.
8:18
Anyway You
8:19
talk to Pastor Ray.
8:20
If you would really like to get involved with this, as Bobby said after prayer, please talk to pastor Ray. I would love to talk to you as well. I will be here after the service to answer any questions that come to mind. Thank you all so much for listening, and we hope you all have a great week.
8:43
Well, thank you. I appreciate that. Right now, this is an idea. It's it's not to the point yet where it's a nonprofit organization, but we think it's heading that way. And so this is in its gestation period.
8:57
It's an idea. Yes. So, we're getting there. Would y'all stand with me and for welcome and announcements today, welcome and announcements are in your bulletin. That's it.
9:06
We're gonna sing three songs now instead of two. Would you stand up with us and join us at the top of your lungs, please? Like you mean it. Not on this song because we just sang that song. We'll get to the second song.
9:19
There we go. What a day that will be. Thank you, Scott. Amen. Freely, freely, you have received freely, freely give.
11:21
I had never heard this song until I got here and Judy and I both love it. So, we're going to go for it. Amen. And there's one more. We usually only sing two songs in a row.
13:25
If you need to sit down, feel free. Sit down. But standing, we're going to the rest of us, we're going to sing It Is Well With My Soul. Sit nor stand in it's well. We have the frontline team come forward, please?
16:28
And while they're doing that, actually, I think I I have an update here that I should probably share. I didn't do the rest of the announcements for those who are concerned about Teri Nuttle, I have a note from this morning. She is off the ventilator since yesterday. Her sutures in her stomach are not leaking. She is out of the coma that they had her induced into.
16:50
She has had some Jell O. Her cognitive skills are improving. She is still in the ICU, so there's still kind of a no visitors policy going. But there will be updates on that CareBridge site that I told you all about last week and if you want to know about that, John and Brenda Heiss here in the back. Wave, please.
17:07
And I'm right here and I know how to get you to that site. Caring Bridge under Terry Nuttle and I'll pray for her and for this offering. Lord, thank you for the servant, Terry Nuttle. Thank you for the lives that she has blessed. She's always been giving, lord, as long as most of us can remember and lord, I have talked to several people that really have nothing to do with church this week that when they heard about Terry, they thought, oh, she blessed me at a very difficult time in my life and they've been in and actually, they've been in here.
17:42
Lord, you draw through the holy and willing, obedient lives of your servants. So, I ask your special blessing on Terry right now and on Ray and Suzanne who are there with her at the ICU. So, God, would you please bless her and I ask that you would, lord, also bless these tithes and offerings as we are collecting them, lord. We want to be using them to do your kingdom work, to see your gospel advance here in the lives of people in Jackson, in this state, in this region, but lord, to the ends of the earth too. Would you multiply these gifts, lord?
18:19
So that your kingdom can spread and God I also ask that you would allow us to see that what we have is from you. Every good and perfect gift is from above. So, God, thank you for your abiding presence here with us this morning and I ask that you would give that same peace that we experience to others through our giving. In Jesus name, amen. Thank you, Bob.
20:44
The last line of that is I own no other master. My heart shall be thy throne. My life I live his forth I give. Oh Christ to thee alone. Beautiful song.
20:53
We have a song that was a video that was prepared and this morning, we didn't have any of those false starts that we usually have on any of the songs but we had two different things going during the offering and I'm glad Bob got up and played that but we're gonna also play a video from the women's retreat that happened a couple weeks ago up at the Heart six. So, this. Lori, thank you for putting it together. Does that look like fun? It looks like a lot of fun fun in a lot of different forms.
26:29
I I'm excited to be up here this week to just pick up right where we left off last week, not right there. In Deuteronomy twenty two six, that follows Deuteronomy twenty two five, right? So, last week, we dropped off twenty two six, twenty two six through 12 says, if you come across a bird's nest in any tree or on the ground with young ones or eggs and the mother sitting on the young or on the eggs, you shall not take the mother with the young, okay? You shall let the mother go but the young you may take for yourself that it may go well with you, that you may live long, that it may go well with you and you may live long. When you build a new house, you shall make a parapet for your roof that you may not bring the guilt of blood upon your house if anyone should fall from it.
27:13
You shall not sow your vineyard with two kinds of seed, lest the whole yield be forfeited. The Hebrew literally reads, become holy, lest you shall not sow your vineyard with two kinds of seed, lest the whole yield become holy. That seems odd. The the crop that you have sown and the yield of the vineyard, you shall not plow with an ox and a donkey together. You shall not wear cloth and wool of wool and linen mixed together.
27:39
You shall make yourself tassels on the four corners of your garment with which you cover yourself. I have to make a confession here. I woke up this morning. The first start service starts at 09:00. I woke up this morning at 08:25.
27:54
I followed some of y'all in the church. Some of y'all are coming to Sunday school. I usually get here between 07:30 and 07:45 and I slept last night from after last this morning from after my alarm went off at 06:30 until 08:25. I was just thankful church wasn't over. When I woke up.
28:11
So, picking up where we like left off. Deuteronomy and Deuteronomy. It comes from two Greek works. Deuteronomy, our our Bible, we call Deuteronomy, Deuteronomy and it is from Deuteras which means second and Namas which means law. It's a second telling of the law.
28:31
So, this is one of the books of Moses. Deuteronomy before children of Israel are going go into the promised land. Moses is restating the law form. It's the second telling of the law. Now, they've heard it and they know it but he has given them that and that's where that Deuteronomy passage comes from right there from that book.
28:52
This is the first telling kinda of the laws from Leviticus that which has to do with the Levites is what Leviticus. That's what it means. That having to do with the Levites related to Levites and in Levite Leviticus nineteen fifteen through 19, we see kind of a similar passage in a lot of ways. You shall do no injustice in court. You shall not be partial to the poor or defer to the great but in righteousness shall you judge your neighbor.
29:17
You shall not go around as a slanderer among your people and you shall not stand up against the life that is literally the blood of your neighbor. I am the Lord. You shall not hate your brother in your heart but you shall reason frankly with your neighbor, lest you incur sin because of him. You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people but you shall love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord.
29:42
We recognize that. You should love your neighbor as yourself For I am the Lord. You shall keep my statutes. You shall not let your cattle breed with a different kind. You shall not sow your field with two kinds of seed nor shall you wear a garment of cloth made of two kinds of material.
29:59
So, that's the first time and the this last line and a lot of this actually to us, the New Testament believers in this the church age. When we hear this, we go, that is just bizarre. That's weird. There are a lot of things there that don't seem to make any sense. Well, go with that.
30:15
They don't seem to make sense to us. In this day and in this time, in this society, they don't seem to make sense with us but I want to share one thing. This last little part about wearing a garment that's made of cloth, made of two kinds of material. Probably, you have on some mixed garment right now. If you look back to this one, the Deuteronomy and it says specifically, you shall not wear cloth of wool and linen mixed together.
30:40
I have heard this argument a lot lately when there are things that are in our society that seem out of character for the society that Christians believe. So, people go, well, do you believe that you shouldn't wear mixed classy that you've got on this? You've got on linen and wool together. Maybe fashion sense that might not be the best choice. Anyway, people say, do you believe this?
31:03
Do you believe this? Do you believe this? And they cite a lot of places in the Levitical law. I just want to share one of them. You shall not wear cloth of wool and linen mixed together.
31:10
Do you know that the priestly garments were actually wool and linen together? The priestly garments of the Old Testament priest were made like this and this is a section on the holiness of God, the holiness of his people, the holiness of the priesthood. It is a section that's about things being the way that he commands because he is the guy who creates. He is the guy who gets the good God. I I I shouldn't say guy but he is the one, he's the creator God and he is the one who gets to make the rules and he says, you should not do this but for the priest, it's very specifically linen and wool.
31:50
That's the right thing for them to wear. He's making a separation from that which is holy and that which is just normal, mundane, okay? And for us, it sounds completely weird and why would he do that anyway? Well, that's looking at it from this side of the cross. He's trying to set apart for himself a people that are holy, consecrated, set apart for holy use and he actually said, Israel, you're supposed to be a light to the nations, to the Gentiles.
32:15
So, you should be different and be calling and drawing people in in my name. Now, we know Israel kind of hoarded the blessing. They turned inward and they started being concerned with different things. Rather than reaching out, being a light to the Gentiles and to the nations but Deuteronomy was that Leviticus was this and now, for those of you who are here last week, where did we actually get to last week? It was second Corinthians six thirteen is what we arrived at last week.
32:50
So, most of y'all, y'all should have seen the looks on your face. It was sort of a kind of a confused and like, did I miss something? He said, he's the one that woke up at 08:25. We actually got up to 06:13 last week to start with 06:14 this week. I felt like 06:11, twelve, and thirteen were a great way to end because I've told you over and over in this book, it just keeps on going.
33:14
It's hard to find the stopping place because the unity of the book of second Corinthians is very very profound to me. It just keeps going. I'd love for us to just be exposed to it all at one time. Hear the whole thing. Thirty five minutes and eleven seconds is what that takes with my accent.
33:33
Second Corinthians six eleven through seven four is a unit. It's a it's an integral unit and it looks like this. It it this is the way that I'm planning on presenting it today. So, first of all, we have an absolutely heartfelt plea. It's the same plea I ended with last week but we're gonna start this passage with it.
33:49
I want you to consider this passage in this context because this is the context it's in, okay? It's got a heartfelt plea from Paul mainly to open their hearts. It's got a a pretty extreme call to holiness and it is stark and it is abrupt and many theologians when they read this and especially redaction criticism guys, higher criticism guys go and they look at it and they say, there's no way this is original in this context. This is added later or it was added by somebody else or Paul was put this somewhere else and they just moved it. I don't think so.
34:28
I think that this is exactly where it goes. We don't have any manuscript evidence that would support anything else, okay? It's just because people, once you make up your mind what a passage is about, it's really hard to see what it means in context. If you've heard it preached your whole life, a passage is one way and then, you see it in context and go, wait a second, that's not, that's not really, that don't really work that way. So, look at it.
34:54
See the first heartfelt plea. See this holiness call right there in the middle and then the second heartfelt plea. I think that the first plea and the second plea are like the opposing discs of an Oreo and they're holding a lot of sweetness right there in the middle. Double stuff called the holiness but they are exactly alike and I think that he's framing this. I think it's like bookends on a shelf and he's framing this argument.
35:23
The first heartfelt plea is this, we've spoken freely to you, Corinthians. Our heart is wide open. Actually, literally, one of them says, our mouth is wide open to you. We're ready to receive. We have spoken freely to you, Corinthians.
35:39
Our heart is wide open. You're not restricted by us but you are restricted. You are restricted in your own affections. That was the one I used last week that I said, Splunk Noy. It's from your guts down.
35:52
What you long for in your deepest part of your being is what's restricting you from accepting what God has for you. It's your longings are in the wrong thing. So, your affections are what's restricting you. Think about that when the call to holiness comes up, okay? Your affections are restricting you and in return, I speak to you like children.
36:12
I know I'm talking to you like infants, like children. Widen your hearts also. So, that was the call last week to widen your hearts and then, we get this rather abrupt, it seems, call to holiness. I don't think it's abrupt at all considering he just said, wide open, consider this. Hey, think about it people.
36:32
It might be hard to take but open yourselves up to the possibility that this is what God has for you. A call to holiness citing the Old Testament and he uses all Old Testament stuff here the whole time from six fourteen to seven one. It's all Old Testament stuff. Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness or what fellowship has light with darkness?
36:57
What accord has Christ with Belial or what portion does a believer share with an unbeliever? What agreement has the temple of God with idols? So, that's 14 through 16 A right there. Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. You see what this is?
37:17
Can you see that? I've heard this, I've heard this message on this passage. They never go back two verses and they never go forward two verses. They use six fourteen to seven war, unadulterated truth of God. Yes, but man, it's harsh and usually, it comes up with an analogy something like this, referencing either Deuteronomy, the passage I read, or Leviticus, the passage I read.
37:37
One of em says that you should not be tying two animals together that are dissimilar, a different kind. That's a camel and a cow. They are very different. Can you imagine being that camel having to plow with a cow or a cow trying to plow with a camel tied to you? Most often, people pick up one of the two references either.
37:58
You should not be working, align yourselves in business with someone who's a non Christian if you're a Christian. That is implicit. It's implicit in the text. It's not explicit though. That's not what the context says at all.
38:11
But it it is hard sometimes. If you are drawn into their way of thinking which is a completely different way of thinking, it is hard. It's implicit and that's the way it usually is preached but that's not what Paul is saying. I don't think exactly. If you look up pictures for unequally yoked, you see a lot of this.
38:33
There's an angry donkey and an angry cow. They're tied together and looking each other. The donkey's faster than the cow or ox. They have different diets. One of them is more into self preservation than the other.
38:49
The cow's actually fairly gracious and and selfless and if you ask it to do something, it will fairly do it and y'all cattlemen probably would disagree with that but if you deal with donkeys, they will not do what they don't want to do. They flat will not have anything to do with it at all and so you hear a lot of sermons like this. Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers because it's going to frustrate both of you. It's better to avoid it and I actually agree with that. That's implicit too but it's not explicit in the text and it's not with the context.
39:17
You see, I'm trying to get away from each other and trying to run. I have plowed behind two animals in my life. I don't, you know, I've used a tractor quite a bit but I've plowed behind two animals. They were completely different. One of em was a mule and it was stubborn and one of em was my little brother and he's stubborn too.
39:34
But I didn't ever yoke em together. I didn't ever like tie the two of em together and expect them to pull at the same time. Equally yoked oxen, they have the same diet, they have the same generally, they have the same size. Even if one's a little larger than the other, they're able that's that's a little give and take there. But it's not the same thing as being braced to a camel or to an donkey or mule.
40:03
For one thing, it's another one that might come up from time to time. An ox is a clean animal, and a donkey is an unclean animal. And what do they have to do with one another? Well, the next series here, let's just go. Is there a video?
40:18
Hold on just a second. Stop that right there so I can make the qualifiers. Can you stop?
40:23
Hi. Too intense.
40:24
So this is actually a clip from Seinfeld. It's four minutes and six seconds long, and it feels like ten because you're sitting in church. I know that. I think it makes a point that I actually am not really able to make in the same amount of time. So he's gonna start it over and just listen to listen to what they have to say.
40:44
Four minutes and six seconds. Alright. Be careful. Car bag.
40:50
Yeah. Yeah.
40:51
Don't move the seat. I got it right where I like it.
40:53
Goodbye. Too intense. Okay.
40:57
Don't peel out.
40:58
I won't.
41:16
So we pray, Jesus.
41:21
Jesus. Here's one. I borrowed Putty's car, and all the presets on his radio were Christian rock stations. I like Christian rock. It's very positive.
41:40
It's not like those real musicians who think they're so cool and hip. So, you think that Putty actually believes in something? It's a used car. He probably never changed the presets. Yes.
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He is lazy. Plus, he probably doesn't even know how to program the buttons. Yes. He is dumb. So, you prefer dumb and lazy to religious?
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Dumb and lazy, I understand. Hello, boys. Hey. So, did you get that radio of the old switcheroo? I did.
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And the Christian rock?
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Resurrected.
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And look what I pried off of his bumper, a Jesus fish. Do you have any fish sticks? No. So you're disappointed he's a spiritual person? Well, yeah.
42:32
I got him because he seems so one dimensional. I feel misled. I think it's neat. You don't hear that much about God anymore. I'll eat things.
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So where do you wanna eat?
42:47
Feels like an Arby's night.
42:50
Do you believe in God? Yes. Oh, so you're pretty religious.
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Not true.
43:00
So is it a problem that I'm not really religious?
43:03
Not for me.
43:04
Why not?
43:05
I'm not the one going to hell.
43:12
Well, I'm going to hell. That seems about right. According to Putty. Hey, have you heard the one about the guy in hell with the coffee and the donuts? I'm not in the mood.
43:21
I want some coffee and a donut. How do you care? You don't believe in hell. I know, but he does. So it's more of a relationship problem than the final destination of your soul.
43:32
Well, relationships are very important to me. Maybe you can strike that up with the prince of darkness as you burn for all eternity. And a slice of devil's food cake.
43:50
Well, and they forgot to deliver your paper today. Why don't you, just grab that one?
43:56
That belongs to mister potato guy. That's his.
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Come on. I get it.
44:01
Well, if you want it, you get it.
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Sorry, thou shalt not steal.
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Oh, but it's okay for me. Oh, what do you care? You know where you're going. Alright, that is it. I can't live like this.
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Oh, no. Come on.
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Alright. What did I do?
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David, I'm going to hell. The worst place in the world with devils in those those caves and and the ragged clothing.
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It's gonna be rough.
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You should be trying to save me.
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Don't boss me. This is why you're going to hell.
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I am not going to hell. And if you think I'm going to hell, you should care that I'm going to hell even though I am not.
44:45
You stole my Jesus fish, didn't you? Yeah.
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That's right.
44:55
Alright. Be careful. That the the text there, we know already that Christ has told us and that Peter has told us and that Paul has told us. In first Peter and in first Corinthians, he's mentioned that if you are married to an unbeliever and you're a believer, you are to remain married to that person and by your quiet witness as a wife, your quiet witness, they will be, they can be brought to Jesus. The text, the the grammar here says, do not be unequally yoked.
45:36
It has the force of stop being unequally yoked. Stop being unequally yoked with unbelievers. Now, you could say that, okay, I'm a Christian. She's a non Christian and so a dating relationship of that type is unequally yoked and I would agree with you. That's implicit but in this text, it's saying, don't be attached to the same affections that the world is attached to.
46:00
That's what it's saying. It's saying, don't attach yourself to the things that will drag you down. And then Paul goes on to say in this, do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. That one's an easy one to pick up. You go back to the Old Testament.
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You've got one thing about breeding and one thing about working. What's the main way you hear this sermon preached? Not working with un Christians or not being married to unchristians or living with non Christians. So, listen to these five rhetorical questions. All of em demand a negative response.
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They demand it in Greek. They all demand a negative response. So, listen to this. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? None.
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There's no partnership between righteousness and lawlessness. Or what fellowship has light with darkness? None. It doesn't have anything to do with one another. There's not.
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They're opposite. They don't have anything to do with one another. What accord has Christ with Belial? Are the devil and God in eeny, meeny, miny, moe situation? Are they in some sort of you can have that one.
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I'll take this one sort of situation or is there no accord whatsoever between the devil? Christ is reaching and drawing and looking to bring people in and the devil is trying to stop that from happening anyway he can't. What accord has Christ with Belial? None. There is no accord there or what portion does a believer share with an unbeliever?
47:34
So, putty in that clip is a Christian, they say, but Elaine's first clue as to him being a Christian is that his radio presets are set to Christian radio and he rides in his car by She had no idea he was a Christian until she saw that. What portion does a believer share with an unbeliever? She thought they were the same until she heard his radio. Well, she thought that because they were doing all the same things together. It was obvious in the show if not from those clips.
48:08
They show up in their pajamas at the beginning of the day. They're sleeping together. They are acting on that. He has a problem stealing the paper. Thou shalt not steal.
48:17
Oh, where is that in relation to adultery? You know, he's not living like a Christian. He's not, he has a portion shared with the unbelieving world, not just the unbeliever, her, but what portion does a believer share with an unbeliever? Or what agreement has the temple of God with idols. You remember the Old Testament stories about Dagon that put into the temple of God set up and then clink, he falls over.
48:45
Let's stand him back up. He's not a living real thing but that's a great story if you want to go back and read that. What does the temple of God have to do with idol? What agreement is there? There is none.
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God is holy. He is one, completely other. His priesthood was to be holy. His people were to be holy. This call to holiness is all of these things are found in the Old Testament.
49:08
What agreement has temple with of God with idols and then he says, this very new testament concept. For we are the temple of the living God. So, what should we have to do with idols? If we're the temple of the living God, we should have nothing to do with idols. Do we have em?
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Oh my goodness. Yes. Do you have idols in your life? Paul is calling you to get rid of those idols. He's calling you flat out.
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God is calling us to get rid of the idols in our life. For we are the temple of the living God. We should have nothing to do with idols. As God has said, I will make my dwelling among them. What a precious promise is that?
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I will make my dwelling. I will set up my tent among them. And I will walk among them. And I will be their God and they shall be my people. He's calling for himself a holy priesthood, a holy people.
49:58
New Testament Church, he's calling us too to be holy. I will make my dwelling among them and walk among them and I will be their God and they shall be my people. Therefore, because I will do that, go out from their midst and be separate from them, says the Lord and touch no unclean thing, Then, I will welcome you and I will be a father to you and you shall be sons and daughters to me, says the Lord almighty. Now, what Putty and Elaine was to illustrate is that he's doing exactly the same thing she does. She doesn't know there's any difference between him at all.
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There's nothing holy about that, right? Nothing holy about that relationship there but there's nothing there's nothing holy about the way that he was living his life. Now, he could've stayed in that relationship and been holy. He could have but he would have stopped doing some of the things he was doing. It's the systems that we tie ourselves to.
50:48
Every time the Old Testament or most times in the Old Testament when it mentions a yoke, if it's not talking about animals, it's talking about people. He says, for I am the Lord your God and I am the one who brought you up out of Egypt and removed the yoke of slavery. Remove the burden of the yoke of slavery from you, Rehoboam says one time, and the burden or the yoke that your fathers put upon you, I will make even heavier. You will not be able to lift your head. It's always what you're tied to the ideology, the philosophy that you're tied to.
51:20
There's a Jesus reference to that too. We'll get to that in a minute but it's the ideology not necessarily just the person. Now, it's implicit and I won't argue with you about that but it's just not what this is saying. It's saying, hey, Christians who live in Corinth, who live in Jackson. You're completely occupied by your own affections.
51:39
Your affections for whatever it is that you want to do for money, for fame, for sports, for whatever it is and theirs, it was about the idols that they had come out of, the pagan territory that they were in, temple prostitution, eating meat offered to idols, hanging out in the same places, doing exactly the same thing as everybody else around you such that they can't tell the difference in the two of you. He's calling them out from that. He's calling them out from that not to just be a holy huddle where you all look inward all the time and you only are concerned about yourself. He's still asking you to reach out. He's still asking you to reach out.
52:20
By your holy life, by your holy example. So, seven one is another very strong imperative. Now, six fourteen was a strong imperative. Do not be unequally yoked and then it was followed up with all this Old Testament what has Christ to do with Goliath, all this sort of stuff, all the older Old Testament follow-up. Seven one is a very strongly worded imperative also.
52:48
But it's also soft and it's meekly presented. Paul said last week by the meekness of Christ, I reach out. Since we have these promises, I will be your God. I will walk among you. I'll take care of you.
53:01
I love you. 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. There is some responsibility on your part. God will sanctify you as you yield your will to his. Lord, not your will, not my will but yours be done.
53:21
Not my will but yours be done, lord. Since we have these promises, God is good. He loves us. He wants to take care of us. He wants to sanctify us.
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He's made it possible through the cross of Christ. Let us cleanse ourselves then from every defilement. We know what it is. When I ask you what your idol was a minute ago or when I alluded to it, did it, would you think of something? Did you have something that was right there?
53:44
Yeah, I think most of us did if we're honest. He's saying, let us cleanse ourselves. Now, we have God's help. We have his promise. We have sanctification available through the cross.
53:54
Let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of and the body right there is flesh. Now, the classic thing with Paul is flesh and spirit. They are just as different as righteousness and lawlessness. So, the flesh and the spirit. You remember a few weeks ago when we went in months ago maybe now.
54:10
We had the black wolf and the white wolf and the white wolf was spirit. Black wolf was the flesh and which one of those is going to survive? They're fighting each other all the time. The ones going to survive is the one that you feed. So, if you keep on feeding the flesh, if you keep on feeding your affections, your splotnoy, if you keep on feeding that, then that's the way you're going to go.
54:33
If you keep feeding the spirit though, it's a completely different diet, right? Donkey and cow have different diets. If you keep on feeding yourself with what the world feeds themselves with, it's not going go well for you. Remember the bird nest? So that it will go well with you and you will live long.
54:48
Yeah. Every defilement, literally flesh and the spirit, bringing holiness to completion and the fear of God. So, that is the call to holiness sight in the Old Testament and then, we have the second heartfelt plea. See if these don't look almost exactly alike. See, like two ends of bookends or maybe an Oreo cookie.
55:07
Make room in your hearts for us. Now, what did he said before? He'd said, open wide your hearts. Make room in your hearts for us. We have wronged no one.
55:17
You know, in Hebrew thought and in Greek thought actually too, they had a chiasmus or a chiastic construction where you start with a, you go to b. If you go back to a, b is the most important thing, But a and a frame b. Does this make any sense to anybody? Yes. It's just the way they thought.
55:34
So he's doing that. It's a chiastic construction with a very soft and simple open hearted appeal. We have been open hearted with you. We want for you to widen your hearts to us. This is what you need to know.
55:46
Very important. And then he comes back to this. Make room in our your hearts for us. We have wronged no one. We've corrupted no one.
55:53
We've taken advantage of no one. That's a great thing to be able to say. He was living a life of holiness right there. I do not say this to condemn you for I have already said. I said before that you are in our hearts to die together and live together.
56:08
He says, he would take a bullet. He would die for just like Bobby said that she took her enemy. She became a part of her family. Christy became a part of her family. To die and live together in this good news.
56:24
I'm acting with great boldness towards you. It was abrupt. What I had to say was kinda hard to take because I'm calling you out on your specific, your general sin for you to pick your specific one and then rid yourselves of it. God's made the way. I'm acting with great boldness towards you.
56:40
Semicolon. I have great pride in you. I am filled with your comfort. We're filled with comfort. I am filled with comfort and in all of our affliction, he's already listed three times all of his afflictions.
56:53
In all of our affliction, I'm overflowing with joy. Rejoice in the Lord always and again, I say rejoice. I think that's the end of the sermon. It's just like that. It's a heartfelt plea to open wide your heart to receive the message that if there's anything in your life that does not reflect the light of Christ, rid yourselves of it and then, the open hearted thing at the end, I'm proud of you.
57:15
I'm filled with comfort and I'm filled even in affliction. I'm filled with great joy because God gives us that. I think that's it. So, Judy, would you come on up? Melissa Ripley here right now?
57:27
She's not. Okay. I have a little bit of a commercial. Melissa Ripley spoke at the first service this morning, and she has arranged for a seminar to happen here November sixth and seventh. It's seven to nine on Friday, a week and a half from now, and nine to twelve on Saturday.
57:47
And this is gonna be really good. I'm gonna try to get her to come tell you about it last week. It's for parents of teenagers and those who will be. Okay? So, it's it's really really going to be good.
57:58
Sixth and seventh of November and Scott and Bob, would y'all come on up and would you stand with us? And I thought it was great that you picked these songs not knowing what this was about but blessed be the tie that binds us together. That's the yoke, okay? That's the yoke. If it binds you to what Christ says, blessed be that tie and then we'll finish with the benediction afterwards.
58:20
Hymn number four twenty six. So, for the benediction, there is a different way to live than bound to this world's desires and affections and this is it. Jesus said it. Come on to me all you 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.
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For my yoke is easy and my burden is light. What would it be like to live a sinless life like Jesus? What would that be like? Can you imagine how light his yoke is? He knew that there was nothing that he could've done that he didn't do.
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Praise God. For my yoke is easy and my burden light. In Jesus name, lord, would you have us go about this week with this light burden? Living a holy life before this valley, this world. I've talked to people from Maine and from Washington and Georgia and California and Texas today covering every appendage off of this great land.
1:00:03
God, would you allow us to walk in your holiness? Give us the strength that we need to do so and the will. In Jesus name, amen.
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