Stop Being Unequally Yoked

In one paragraph

Pastor Ray preached from 2 Corinthians 6, walking the congregation through a call to holiness that sits at the center of two heartfelt pleas from Paul to the church at Corinth. The passage can feel out of place to modern readers, but Pastor Ray argued that it makes complete sense once you understand what the Corinthians were actually dealing with. The sermon drew on Old Testament law, the context...

Read together

1. Romans 8:38-39 prayed aloud before worship: nothing can separate us from God's love
2. Jeremiah 10:6 quoted as a call to worship: there is none like you, oh Lord
3. Deuteronomy 22:6-12 read in full as background for the Old Testament holiness laws
4. Leviticus 19:15-19 read in full as the first stating of the holiness laws including love your neighbor
5. 2 Corinthians 6:11-13 Paul's heartfelt plea to the Corinthians to widen their hearts
6. 2 Corinthians 6:14-7:1 the call to holiness: do not be unequally yoked, cleanse from defilement
7. 1 Peter cited for the command not to leave a marriage where one spouse is an unbeliever
8. 1 Corinthians cited for Paul's same instruction to stay in a mixed-faith marriage
9. Matthew 11:28-30 closing words of Jesus: come to me, my yoke is easy and my burden is light

Talk about it

1. Pastor Ray described the Corinthians as people who took God's promises seriously but did not take His call to holiness seriously. Where do you see that same gap showing up in your own life?
2. Paul lists five rhetorical questions in a row, each with an obvious answer of 'none,' about what believers share with unbelievers. What does it look like practically, in your daily life, to be 'holy other' without withdrawing completely from the people around you?
3. Pastor Ray said the force of the Greek in 'do not be unequally yoked' is actually 'stop being unequally yoked,' meaning it was already happening. What habits or attachments do you find yourself slowly yoked to that pull you in a direction away from God?
4. The Seinfeld clip showed a man whose girlfriend did not even know he was a Christian until she borrowed his car and found the radio presets. What would someone close to you say is the clearest evidence that you follow Christ?
5. Pastor Ray closed with Jesus saying 'my yoke is easy and my burden is light,' contrasting it with every Old Testament reference to a yoke being heavy. How does understanding that the call to holiness comes from a God who promises rest change the way you respond to that call?