Unequally Yoked - part 10
Before I go back and read the 2 Corinthians passage, I must confess before you today that I am beginning to realize more and more that I am (to name a new term) ‘Spiritually LD!’ ‘LD’, means learning disabled. In the educational field, that could be handicaps like hearing, seeing, or speaking, on one extreme, all the way to how someone process data mentally, at the other extreme. So, as I read this passage again, I admit to you that because of my spiritual learning disability, I am still learning stuff from this passage. And it is hard, Brother Brad and Brother Willie to contain myself because of the desire to just preach it all at one time! Amen! Listen to 2 Corinthians 6:14-7:1.
2 Corinthians 6:14-7:1. “Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness? 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? For we are the temple of the living God; as God said, “I will make my dwelling among them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Therefore 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.” 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.”
Again, I must admit that we have been preaching from this passage of Scripture for the last two months and now I ask this simple question; “How are we to apply this to our everyday lives?” Or what should our response be to the World’s view versus God’s view?
After all has been said or even while we are still in the process of preaching it, one could say, think, or come to the following conclusion; “Pastor I hear you, loud and clear, and we can solve, handle, or deal with this easily by not getting involve, in any type of way, with anyone who is not saved based on what we believe here at New Hope Baptist Church.”
In other words, just stay away from those people, situations, and circumstances, and all will be okay. It’s developing an isolationist mentality and a mentality that says to others, you must become like me first, believe what I believe first, and then I will interact with you.
Now my reply to all of this is ‘May it never be!’ Having this attitude, this disposition, or even this mentality makes it difficult to refer to ourselves as being Christ-like. Christ Himself did not have a similar attitude toward us, saved or unsaved; in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. We were reconciled to God while we were enemies not after the peace treaty was signed and the reconciliation came by what God’s Son did and not what we did or didn’t do.
Pastor Woodmore and Pastor Bryant reminded me of this last Sunday with the familiar words; “do this in remembrance of Me”, it is sad, truly sad, but very true, that we need to be reminded to remember Jesus and in the remembrance of Jesus we must be reminded of what He did and accomplished for us who sit here in agreement today and also for those who will in the future sit in agreement.
Listen to this amazing passage of Scripture from the book of Philippians,
1. Philippians 2:5-11. Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus,
My brothers and sisters, we could stop and set up camp on these words along. Since I have not yet given a topic, allow me to give one now, borrowing from what Paul said in 1 Corinthians 11:1 (imitate me, just as I also imitate Christ), my subject today is “Imitate Jesus imitate Christ”. We see here that we need to have a Christ like attitude. When? Everyday, every hour, every minute, and every second; this Christ-like attitude must be applied to our everyday lives.
Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.
2. The next point is that we must realize that it is not about ‘me!’ And much of my anger and frustration is because I have not learned this simple lesson of humility. For those of us who know that we are humble and don’t mind telling you about it, that’s not humility but confuse pride. It does not matter how smart we get on this earth, we will never fully comprehend Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God. This equality at the Devine level just can’t be fully grasped at the human. But to go from that level to human is amazing and to further humble Himself to the point of death, without the grace of God, it is just unbelievable! But if I am truly imitating Christ, following His pattern, using Him as my role model, then I too must forget about myself and concentrate on Him
So are we now to separate ourselves from those who we can not be yoked to? No, we are not, Jesus didn’t do that to us nor shall we to others. But this is tough, and I know that it is tough, it is hard to bear and a difficult load to carry when dealing with other people and all the stuff that the world is throwing at us. And too many times I make it to church and hear something that makes my heart burn to the point that I leave with all new resolutions for my life. Only to find that some are destroyed on the parking lot, the highway, the restaurant, or even in my home and not on Monday but by Sunday afternoon. Sounds like me and my Spiritual learning disability, then hear the Word of God again;
Matthew 11:28-30. Come 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. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”
I see three key words that Jesus is speaking to my heart today, ‘learn from Me.’ to do this you must be reminded of Him, you must remember Him and you must have the dying desire to imitate the teacher. And to do this there must be a teacher capable of imparting the knowledge. God Word again tells us;
John 14:15-18. “If you love Me, keep My commandments. And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever— the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you. I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you.
John 14:25-27. “These things I have spoken to you while being present with you. But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you. Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.
John 15:26. “But when the Helper comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify of Me.
John 16:5-15. “But now I go away to Him who sent Me, and none of you asks Me, ‘Where are You going?’ But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart. Nevertheless I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you. And when He has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: of sin, because they do not believe in Me; of righteousness, because I go to My Father and you see Me no more; of judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged. “I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come. He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you. All things that the Father has are Mine. Therefore I said that He will take of Mine and declare it to you.
You see church, yes, I have a spiritual learning disability. I know that now but God, O Bless His name, knew that then and my Jesus said I have all ready provided the remedy for your disability. My Spirit, My Holy Spirit, I will pray to my Father to give to you in My name. Oh thank you Father, thank you Son and thank you Holy Ghost for all that you have done, are doing and will do!
We are told to learn from Jesus that is what the student does and we have an outstanding teacher and He is the Holy Spirit. But there is a requirement for his class, this class of Jesus, where we learn from Him. You heard me mention it the last two Sundays and this requirement also reminds us of the head of the church, the very person we are learning about. Now listen to this passage with all of this in context.
Luke 14:26. “If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple. So I go back to first things first, to be a student of Jesus, His disciple, you must love Him with all of your heart, with all of your soul and with all of your might. Plus you must be willing to forsake your life and die for Him. Jesus so love the Father that He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death even the death of the cross. Are you enrolled in His class and are you an excellent student, an average student, a show up when you want to student, an absentee student, or have you dropped out? What would your report card say, what grade would the teacher, the professor, Dr. Holy Spirit give you?
And your report card is based on this, your love for the Lord your God. It is based on your ‘first things first’, it’s based on who do I see when I look at you, who do I hear when I listen to you, who do I feel when I am embraced by you, are you imitating Jesus or have you missed the lesson all together. So what is your grade as Jesus’ disciple as a student in Jesus’ class? One last point about applying this to our everyday lives, Jesus has a field trip plan for his class. And like most field trips it is usually planned for the good and excellent students. If you are cutting class, don’t expect to go on the field trip because you are not in class.
He wants us to go fishing for in Matthew 4:19, He says follow Me and I will make you fishers of men.
Here is where the Matthew passage come in; Matthew 28:19-20. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.
What’s the answer, here it is; I should have so much Jesus in me, that when I am in the world, people that I come in contact with want to do what ever is necessary to be yoked with me. Our lives in this world should be so loving, joyful, peaceful, full of patience, kindness, goodness, no hypocrisy but faithfulness, gentleness and self-control, that the individual that we are in contact with will forsake what they are doing to imitate us as we imitate Christ. That’s making disciples by doing it the way of the teacher.
I close with this, the world don’t mind that you believe in god, some god or many gods. The world will even fund and build your areopagus for it is okay to be religious in this world. But the world takes issue with the very one that we, the saints, are reminded to remember on a regular basis and to imitate, follow and pattern our lives after, our first love Jesus Christ. As you leave here today don’t be afraid, embarrassed or ashamed of the fact that I believe in Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior and I am willing not only to live it but to die for it! Let us pray!