Episode Transcript
[00:00:05] Good morning. 9:45.
[00:00:07] Good morning. If you are new or I have not met you, my name is Michael Fueling and I'm the lead pastor here at the village church. Would you open up your Bibles with me to the book of Second Corinthians? We're going to be in chapter six this morning. I want to set up some context here in the front end. So if in the Corinthian church there are two groups of people, and I'm gonna be pretty blunt about this. So the first group of people are what we would call real Christians. These are people who have actually confessed their sin to God, believed in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. They've actually come to him and said, I'm sorry, forgive me. Like there's an actual reconciled relationship between God and these people. Now, there are a few different categories of true Christians. Real Christ in the church, you have the true apostles. The apostles are the leaders of the church. They are the ones in charge. And so you have the true apostles that are in the church. You have true Christians who follow the true apostles. That's good. You also have a third group of people who are real Christians, but they don't know who they should follow. Which brings us to the second group of people. In the Corinthian church, we call these the fake Christians. There are three categories of fake Christians. Number one would be not the true apostles, but there's an actual other group of leaders who've risen up in the church and they're called super apostles. And they believe in a fake gospel. They don't believe in the real true gospel of Jesus Christ. So they are fake Christians because they believe in a fake gospel. So if you are here and you, let's say, deny the resurrection of Jesus, then you're denying the gospel. You might call yourself a Christian, but you actually are required if you're gonna be a real Christian and actually be saved and forgiven and filled with the Holy Spirit, you gotta believe in the actual resurrection of Jesus or you have to believe that you are a sinner. So these are very important. So you also have fake Christians who follow the fake apostles. Fake gospel, that's another crew. And then this is also. This might be a little confusing. You also have fake Christians who agree with the true gospel. And some of you are like, wait a minute, you mean you can agree with the gospel and be a fake Christian? Let me give you the best example of this. His name is Satan, who believes in the gospel, right? Knows it to be objectively, factually true, knows that Jesus is God knows that he died on the cross for sins, knows that he was factually raised from the dead, knows all of these things, but actually rejects it. And so there is a world where actually people do, like, know the gospel, they adhere and they understand factually it's true, but they have never, ever come to God and said, I believe I am sorry, and reconciled. Been reconciled back to. To God. So in this church, there is a kind of a battle on in this book between the true Christians, the real Christians, and the fake Christians. And the leader of the real Christians are the apostles, and the leader of the fake Christians are the fake super apostles with the fake gospel. And so Paul is writing a letter. And this is quite a bit of tension in the church. And so the way this letter is being delivered, it's actually kind of funny, is the pastor gets everyone together, the real Christians, the fake Christians, right? And he reads with the super apostle, fake Christians in the room, a letter that, to their face indicts them. And he's kind of separating the church, if you will. Now, before we get into this, I have to take just a minute or two and address some people's concerns. Cause there are gonna be some of you right now. And you are probably not gonna hear anything I say for the rest of this message. Because you are maybe wondering, oh, no, am I a fake Christian who believes in the real gospel?
[00:03:53] So I wanna just take a minute and I wanna try to alleviate some of that concern if I can. So I remember when I was a kid, I was very young, and I was really worried about my salvation. And I've shared this story before, so if you've heard it, you'll know what I'm talking about. So I went to my mom, and my dad was not a believer at the time. And so I went to my mom and I basically expressed to her, like, I don't really know if I am going to heaven like I want to. And I was deeply concerned. And, you know, my mind is just like, ruminating. And I'll never forget what my mom said to me. And she said, michael, people who aren't saved, they don't usually ask that question. My question was, am I going to heaven?
[00:04:36] The fact that you were even concerned tells me that your salvation is real. And it was so striking because in that moment, the amount of peace that my heart just had over that, like, I'm wrestling over something. I believe in the gospel, I love Jesus, and I didn't wanna go to hell. And my mom just was like, listen, you're fine. That kind of concern is actually evidence that the Holy Spirit is in you. So fast forward three decades. One of my daughters, seven years old, we're laying down at bedtime and her mind is spinning. And I said to her, honey, you look worried. What are you thinking about? And she was so sweet and honest. And she said to me, I'm afraid that I'm going to hell.
[00:05:18] And I remember giving her essentially the same response that my mom gave me. Sweetie, people who aren't saved don't usually worry about that.
[00:05:28] The fact that you're even concerned tells me your salvation is real. Now, I've had some years of pastoral experience, and so one of the things that I have learned is that fake Christians or cultural Christians or false Christians, what I've learned is that they don't usually worry on a day to day basis about their salvation. It's not something they wrestle with. And so what you find is that for a lot of these people, Jesus is an afterthought. He's the salt and pepper. He's not the stake to their lives. And so, like, when they go to church, they think about it, but when they lay down in bed at night, they're not thinking about it. When they wake up in the morning, they're not like, you know what? I was created to give God glory. How am I going to honor Him? I want to spend time in his word and prayer. And these are things that don't even typically cross people's brains who are fake Christians the majority of the time. And so I just, I want to encourage you because the apostle John says, I write these things so that you may know that you are saved. And if you are here and you believe in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus, you have confessed your sin and come to him. And you are, you love him and you want to obey him. And you're not perfect. Nobody is. Right? Amen. Village church. But like, at least there's like this movement toward him. Like, I just want to say, listen to the rest of this message. And I think if you really have deep concerns about the genuineness of your salvation, come get some really good pastoral counsel. Find somebody in your life that loves the Lord, has been walking with Jesus for a while, and let them speak truth into your heart and life. Okay, now, Second Corinthians, chapter six. We're gonna start in verse 11 now that we have this context. Fake Christians, real Christians, Paul's speaking to everybody. He says, we, it's the apostles, the true apostles.
[00:07:06] He says, we have spoken freely to you. Corinthians our heart is wide open.
[00:07:14] You are not restricted by us, but you are restricted in your own affections in return. I speak to you as children. This is not derogatory. Basically, as a father speaking to his children that he loves, I speak to his children. Widen your hearts also.
[00:07:35] Have you ever had a hard thing to say to somebody but you knew their heart was closed to hearing it? You know what I'm saying?
[00:07:43] Has anybody ever said a hard thing to you and your heart was close to hearing them? Give me a real raise your hand if that's ever been the case. A couple of you. A couple of you. Rest of your line sounds good.
[00:07:57] Here's the difference between Paul and the Corinthians. Paul's heart is wide open. No secret agenda, nothing left unsaid. He himself open to hearing hard things. His heart is open. The Corinthians hearts, they're closed. Now, you close your heart to somebody for typically one of three reasons. Number one, you feel unsafe with this person and you feel like you need to protect yourself. Got it. Number two, you feel overwhelmed and you do not have the space for one more thing. Like, the image I have is a mom in the first year of her first child, and everything is overwhelming. Everybody needs everything, and she's exhausted, hasn't slept, and someone's like, why don't you put the garbage out? I cannot take one more thing right now. Like, that's an overwhelming. All of life has got you. So you're like, I got no space for any correction. Like, leave me alone. Got it. Number three, you do not trust the person speaking to you.
[00:08:53] And so this third one, this is what Paul is dealing with. With some of these Corinthians, they don't know who to trust.
[00:08:59] Do we trust these fake super apostles with the fake gospel, or do we trust the original true apostles? Now, we're framing this in a way that the answer is concluded. But they're trying to figure out these people or these people, these leaders are these leaders. They're all claiming to be from God. They're all claiming to be led by the same Holy Spirit, but they are disagreeing with each other, so both of them can't be true.
[00:09:21] Which ones do we follow? Now, why is Paul saying these things? Well, here's what's happening. He is prepping them for some really hard things that he has to say to this church. And I'm going to be honest. What Paul says to the Corinthians in chapter six, it is in all the years of pastoral ministry, the single Most ignored, rejected, neglected, resisted. Advice, counsel from God's word that I get above any other subject. If there is one subject where I have to sit down and have a hard conversation, I can know with about 90% certainty this conversation is going to be resisted and not received. Well, now, before we get to this, and if you've read ahead, congratulations. You already know what it is. Some of you are doing that right now. Great. Some of you are going to go home and you're going to have to have a very weird car ride home.
[00:10:23] Some of you are gonna be very annoyed with me. And I just wanna tell you, I'm not trying to annoy you. I've got one job, and that job is to teach the word of God. And if it lands hard.
[00:10:33] We didn't come here so that I can make you feel really, really great about yourselves. We came here to hear what God's word says, and then, God willing, to align our lives to the reality of it. So some of you are gonna have some hard conversations. Some of you. There are gonna be names and faces that go through your head and you might need to make some phone calls and have some, maybe apologies. Okay, here it is. Verse 14, the most disregarded pastoral advice that I give.
[00:10:55] Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers.
[00:11:01] Do not be unequally yoked with non believers. Okay, we're going to say this all together. We're going to say it just like I said it, one word at a time. You guys ready? Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. Okay, now, even as you just read that scripture, for some of you, the Holy Spirit is kind of just like, convicting you. Or maybe there's things in the past, past relationships that are over with that the Holy Spirit's like, you've actually never really fully repented of that thing. If the Holy Spirit is working in your heart, please resist quenching him. There is no benefit to taking the voice of the Holy Spirit when it agrees with the voice of the word of God and then shoving it down. Okay? Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. All right? What does it mean to be unequally yoked? Great news. We're not talking about eggs. Okay? For real. Like, we don't live in an agricultural society. So, like, most of the time, when people are new to the Bible, their first question when they get to this or when Jesus talks about yolks is they're like, why eggs? Omelets? I don't get this and so here's a picture of two animals that are equally, equally yoked. And a yoke was a tool that would amplify an animal's usefulness, power, and productivity with another animal. A yoke back then would be made out of wood. It would go around their necks.
[00:12:24] And an equal yoke had great benefit. Especially if you were working as an animal, you wanted to be yoked. And here's why. An equal yoke would do five things. It would distribute the load, increase efficiency, keep unity, alignment, reduce individual animal strain, and enable control for the handlers. So if you want to bear the entire burden of the job on your own, fine. But the yoke spread it out, made everything better, more efficient, easier, was a blessing to the animals and to the people in control of the animals. It was good to be yoked. Here's a picture of an unequal yoke. Now, an unequal yoke, it's not about the yoke itself. The unequal yoke is actually about the animals.
[00:13:09] So examples of an unequal yoke on the farm would be different animals.
[00:13:16] Different animals have a different gait, a different pace, a different height, a different purpose for which they were bred, different strength. Old cows, younger cows, bigger animals, smaller animals, like the strength itself. Like, one person or one animal is going to be pulling the majority of the weight. And if they could talk, they'd be like, come on, buddy, let's go. And I. I literally can't do what you can do. Different training, and different animals are trained for different things. Unfamiliar animals, you put animals together, some of them are pretty irritable, and they start fighting and working against each other rather than with each other. Okay, so Paul is not giving farming advice to the Corinthian Church. Can we just agree on this?
[00:13:55] The physical yoke is a metaphor for a spiritual yoke. And a spiritual yoke is talking about partnership. And in things that are explicitly designed for building the kingdom of Jesus. And in Scripture, there are two primary places where we spiritually yoke, and they are ministry and marriage.
[00:14:20] So contrary to what most people think, when God designed marriage, the primary purpose of it was not so that you could feel loved, although that is a great byproduct. The primary purpose of marriage was that two people would come together and build the kingdom of Jesus in their home and in their family unit. That is the primary purpose of marriage. And so we find it's like when you marry somebody, we gotta agree on this. I want you to be in love and I want you to like each other. That's all Good and probably required. But like, big picture. Do you both agree what the purpose of this new family is going to be for? And we talk about ministry like this is the other place. Like, what are we yoking or partnering ourselves with to build the kingdom of Jesus. Now, in the scriptures, there seems to be four primary exemptions. Number one would be work. Are you allowed to work with people who are not believers? The answer is yes. Number two, are you allowed to work or be a part of the government? The answer is yes. If they ask you to sin, are you allowed to sin? No. But you're allowed to participate in these marriage after conversion. So two people get married, one person becomes a Christian. Are you allowed to be unequally yoked in marriage? In that context, the answer is yes. That happens often. And then number four is family. You don't get to choose your family. Here's the deal. Number one, I would encourage you not to marry your family. Can we agree on that one? Sound good? So don't yoke yourselves in that way. But if they want to yoke to build a kingdom and they're not believers, you need to understand you're not both building the kingdom of Jesus. And so even when it comes to family, if we're gonna build a kingdom together, we're gonna make sure we're building Jesus kingdom. Okay, so why is being unequally yoked such a big deal? Is Jesus just a party pooper? No, he's not a party pooper. And three big reasons that Paul gives and I'm gonna spend the most amount of time on the first reason and then we're gonna do is I put together like kind of a shotgun Q and A because as you can imagine, I get asked a lot of questions on this subject. So we'll do like a shotgun Q and A toward the end. All right? Reason number one, it is a big deal to be unequally yoked is because it is doomed to fail at its purpose.
[00:16:38] The purpose of ministry is to build the kingdom of Jesus. It's church, guys. It's either the Bible or Jesus. We say this every week. I'm not gonna trick you, okay? It's to build the kingdom of Jesus. And the point of marriage is to build the kingdom. In verse 14, he says, for what Partnership has righteousness with lawlessness. Partnership is very. It's just sharing a purpose. I'll give you an illustration. If you have one person whose life commitment is to the pro choice cause and you have another person whose life commitment is to the pro life cause, how do you think they're gonna do working together?
[00:17:17] No. In fact, one of them is committed to getting rid of the other, and the other one is committed also to getting rid of the other. And both won't be happy until the other is gone. And so like, you find that, like, people have these life purposes and these life commitments. If you put two people together with opposite and contradictory life purposes, what's gonna happen? Nothing good is gonna happen. And you're not gonna be able to bring your energies together to maximize the amount of good you can do. And in the same way, when you bring together a Christian whose life purpose is to bring glory and honor to God and build the kingdom of Jesus, and a non Christian who doesn't share that purpose, it's gonna be really challenging in marriage. And if you talk to people who have mixed faith marriages, you're gonna find this. There are subjects they can't talk about and there are things that they are not able to do together. And that is really challenging for both parties. But what is the purpose of ministry and what is the purpose of marriage? It's building the kingdom of Jesus. Paul goes on in verse 14, what fellowship has light with darkness? This is sharing of a unity. And it's striking here because light and darkness literally can't coexist. Light, wherever it goes, destroys the darkness and darkness flees from the light. And so it's like you have a shared purpose. But how can you have a shared purpose when you can't even function in existence together? Because light is fundamentally opposed to darkness. He goes down to verse 15. What accord has Christ with Belial? Belial is a word that literally means wickedness. And then it became a name for Satan. And so here's one of the things that he's acknowledging here is, and this is kind of strange, I think, for Americans to think about, but the scriptures talk about that every human being on the planet has one of two spiritual fathers. If you have trusted in Christ, God is your spiritual father, you are in his family. Well, the scriptures also teach that everyone else is in the spiritual family of Satan. 99.9% of people do not consciously acknowledge Satan. Some are agnostics, some are atheists, some are Hindus and Muslims, et cetera. All of these are different storefronts owned and operated by the same mob boss. And all the prophets are going to the same place. You just don't know where your money's going. And so you have effectively in the word of God, you've got the kingdom of darkness and the kingdom of God's beloved Son. And everyone exists in these two kingdoms. And these two kingdoms are at war with each other. And so even if people don't realize that they're on the front lines of a war, they're on the front lines of a war. And you're on two different sides. And this is where Paul's like, listen, guys, we need to be about building the kingdom of God. We need to be about building the kingdom of Jesus. But when you're on one side or another, you are actually committed to different kingdoms at the core. Or verse 15. I mean, Paul has a lot to say on this. What portion does a believer share with an unbeliever? And this is where it gets a little bit personal. But he's like, listen, your inheritance is eternal life, theirs is eternal damnation. And so there's a tension here. Like our ministry is different, our aims are different, our purpose is different, the reason we exist is different. But also where you're going is different. Like you guys are on two totally separate tracks. Or verse 16, he says, what agreement has the temple of God with idols. And agreement here is the sharing of alliance. And this is referring to an actual signed contract, if you will. So Jesus is committed to the destruction of all idols. And idols, no matter what form they take, are committed to the destruction of Jesus in you. And so like, how do we partner for the building of God's kingdom when we're both committed essentially to the destruction of the other's life purpose? And so he's looking at the Corinthians and he's like, guys, like, wake up. Like, there's a problem in the Corinthian Church. You have the fake Christians and you have the real Christians. And he's like, you guys cannot work together because you have different fathers, you have different gospels, you have different purposes. The fake Christians from the fake super apostles. All they want is your money. And what the real apostles want is to build the kingdom of Jesus. So their purpose is money. Your purpose is building the kingdom of Jesus. Do you guys see how this isn't going to work out? And so at the end of the day, Paul's trying to communicate to them this relationship has run its course.
[00:21:45] We're going to have to separate now from the fake Christians and the true.
[00:21:50] Now I want to say a couple things because I can hear some of the exceptions.
[00:21:56] There are so many incredible men and women who are in mixed faith marriages and they love each other, like each other, enjoy each other, are happy together like two people. When you find yourself in that situation, if you have two people committed to the marriage. You are going to work it out and you are going to do the best to honor the other person.
[00:22:16] But if you talk to both of them, they'll tell you it's challenging. Now, when I talk to people who are dating and engaged, I want to bring you a little bit maybe into the conversations that I have. If I have a Christian and a non Christian dating or engaged. And I've had multiple of these conversations, almost always there are exceptions, but almost always I do not speak to the Christian because their heart is hard. They know exactly what God wants them to do. They've chosen rebellion. They are clear about that. Talking to them is typically useless. They get defensive and then I end up fighting with them and it's not good. Okay? So what I almost always do is I spend time talking to the person I feel the worst for, which is the non Christian. I don't feel bad for the Christian, to be honest with you. I feel bad for the non Christian.
[00:23:08] My advice is always the same. Non Christian, you are in an impossible situation. Okay? So although I'll say this in front of the Christian, although they are ignoring their theology and scripture, the Holy Spirit in them will not allow them to ignore that forever. And the Holy Spirit does allow us to quench him for seasons. And then you don't know when, right? The Holy Spirit goes, we're done.
[00:23:37] Now I'm going to bring profound conviction to you.
[00:23:41] So I look at the non Christian, I will say to them something to the effect of if you marry them, when the Holy Spirit brings conviction, a few things are going to happen. Number one, they are going to start praying fervently for your salvation.
[00:24:00] And you are going to feel like they are judging you. And they're not judging you actually at all. They love you. Their heart is to love you. But you will not be able to escape this feeling of being judged and looked down by them until or unless you become a Christian. And then what you're gonna find, and it's gonna get so annoying is that over time they are going to get more and more obsessed with Jesus. They're gonna read books about him, they're gonna watch movies about him, they're gonna listen to music about him. They're going to talk to him every day. They're gonna start leaving the house and going to Bible studies and they're gonna wanna come home and they're gonna wanna talk to you about what they're learning about this other man in their life. His name is Jesus. And then all those kind of things that you enjoy doing, but technically the Bible says are sin, they're gonna stop doing those things with you. And then if you have kids, they're gonna be like telling their kids that Jesus is the way, the truth and the life. And they're gonna pray for mommy or daddy with them, that they could come to know Jesus as well. And they're gonna take them to church and they're gonna learn all about the Bible and this is gonna be the rest of your life. And then randomly, friends are gonna call up your husband or your wife and they're like, I need help. And they're like, listen, they're in my church. I don't care about that church. But like, they're going to go and then catch this. They're going to dip into your bank account.
[00:25:29] And not only are they going to give away stuff because the spirit of generosity is thick in them, but they're going to actually be like, I think we should give like 10% of our income away to the church. You're like 10%? I'll compromise at one and a half and they're never going to be settled. So then they might get a job part time just so they can give more money away to more people to build the kingdom of Jesus. And listen, guys, you're going to. You're going to realize that this woman loves another man way more than you. She might die for you with hesitation, but she'll die for him in a minute. And that guy is gonna get in the way and you're gonna be deeply annoyed. And so I look at all of my non Christian guys and girls in this situation. I say, run, get out now. Save yourself a lifetime of challenging circumstances, because the Holy Spirit will convict this person if they're a real Christian. Now I cannot tell you why or how frustrating it is that I can have a reasonable rational discussion with non Christians on this issue, but I cannot have a reasonable rational discussion with the Christian who knows the word of God. But that is the circumstance we find ourselves in over and over again. The second reason Christians. I should move on because this will be the whole sermon. The second reason Christians should not be unequally yoked spiritually is because we are God's home. Verse 16. For we are the temple of the living God. And 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. And here's kind of Paul's theology of our bodies as a temple. The idea is this, that when you trust in Christ, the Spirit of Christ, the Holy Spirit dwells inside of you. And everything you watch, he watches. And everything you listen to, he listens to. And the sin you participate in, he participates in. And the whole idea of this is you're a temple. The presence of God lives in you. And so what we don't do is we don't subject the spirit of God within the people of God to things that the word of God says are sin.
[00:27:28] Now, when we talk about Christian ministries, this is kind of a different thing. It's like we want to invest our time, talents, and treasure in things that are building the kingdom of Jesus. And I gotta tell you guys, the amount of emails, snail mail, text messages, phone calls, like, the amount of people showing up the door. And you know what they all want. Support my ministry. Support my NGOs, support my nonprofit. Everybody wants access to your energy, your power, your money. Some of it's good. Much of it isn't. And at the end of the day, here's what we say. Like, we have to ask ourselves, what is building the kingdom of Jesus most strategically? And so we don't just jump on with random nonprofits. Cause they do good to feel good. Listen, I don't need to do good to feel good. So I can post on social media that I did something good. So you can think that I'm good and feel good about you thinking that I'm good. I don't need that.
[00:28:17] My desire is to build the kingdom of Jesus. And so if it's in a ministry or in a relationship, this is kind of the standard. While you have the opportunity to make a decision, to make a decision that puts building the kingdom of Jesus as primary. Here's the third reason Christians should not be unequally, spiritually yoked. Because Jesus said no. Like, shouldn't that be enough?
[00:28:41] He says, therefore, go out from their midst. He's quoting the scriptures, and be separate from them, says the Lord. And touch no one clean. Then I will welcome you, and I will be a father to you. And you shall be my sons and daughters to me, says the Lord.
[00:28:58] And for some Christians, like, I haven't heard these direct words, but the sentiment is, Jesus is asking too much of me in this. And so for those of you who feel like Jesus is asking too much of you, I want you to turn with me and I'll put it on the screen to Matthew, chapter 11, verse 29. It's a scripture, you know. But again, not talking about egg yolks, talking about a different kind of yolk. So a Yoke, obviously, is a thing that went over animals, but it was also used to describe a rabbi's teaching. And a rabbi could have a heavy yoke or a light yoke. So the Pharisees and the Sadducees, they had a heavy yoke. Tons of rules and laws that nobody could ever keep up with. And Jesus is like, listen, their yoke will crush you. You don't have the strength to carry their yoke. But here's what he says about his own. He says, take my yoke upon you my teaching 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.
[00:30:00] And here's the principle. If you follow Jesus teaching, it is designed to amplify life. And some of you are like, well, breaking off this relationship isn't easy. Yes, when you disobey God's word, getting out of it is always hard.
[00:30:16] But when you're able to live in the light of God's word, after the hardship of getting out is done, there is light and life. And this is what Jesus wants for you. The single quickest way to make following Jesus difficult and burdensome is to attach yourself to someone who has a different purpose.
[00:30:35] And if you are in a situation where you get to unchoose some things, choose to attach and to connect and to partner and to affiliate with things and people that build the kingdom of Jesus.
[00:30:50] Okay, Pastor Michael, I've got some serious queries for you. All right, I'm gonna shotgun these. You guys ready for some Q and A's? If any of these are interesting to you and you wanna go deeper, any of our pastoral staff, we'd love to talk to you, but let's go through these let's talk about ministry questions. Can I give my money and time to nonprofits that do good but don't promote Jesus? You could do whatever you want. But for me, here's where my time, talents and treasure are going to build primarily the kingdom of Jesus and to support those people, things and ministries that are building the kingdom of Jesus. Explicitly, number two, can I participate in spiritual practices of other religions? Everybody, the answer is no. Good. Wanna go deeper in that? Just gonna keep saying no.
[00:31:37] What if I'm married to someone from a different faith? Can I go to their worship services or participate in their faith practices? And the answer, again, is no, absolutely not. As a follower of Jesus, we do not ever participate in the practices of other religions or non Christian spiritual practices. We don't do that. Number four, I don't want to offend my non Christian. It could be friend or coworker. How do I stop?
[00:32:08] There's this interesting tension that you kind of intuitively know. But I want to say it. If you're friends with a Muslim and they tell you, I can't eat pork, you'll go, oh, okay, totally good. Got it. So sorry about that. Right. But as a Christian, if you go to somebody and you say, I can't do this thing, they will call you a judgmental bigot. It is the ultimate double standard. Every religion and all of their unique little things, we bend the knee and we honor them. But when it comes to when you are unable to participate in sin, you need to expect that. And because you should expect that, it's not always, but it's enough that it's irritating. You need to be very prayerful about how you break off partnerships or how you have these kinds of conversations, knowing that the net result is that you're gonna be considered judgmental. Probably. And there's not much you can do that. But I would rather do the right thing and be judgmental in their eyes and bring honor and glory to Jesus. All right, let's talk about marriage cues, dating and marriage. Can I date a non Christian with the hope of converting them? Everybody. The answer is no. It's called missionary dating and we don't do that. Number two. But it worked for my friend's parents, so why not me? Because Jesus says no, period. And just because it worked for them, it doesn't mean it works for everybody. And by the way, the vast majority of the time, it does not work for everyone. Number three, what if they are really spiritual but not Christian? After all, don't we all basically believe the same thing? No and no. Number four, what if we are both Christians but the person I'm dating is a brand new Christian? And this is where I would say, I have no idea. Go get really good pastoral advice from somebody who knows you loves you. Sometimes when someone is like a baby Christian, they just need some space to grow. Sometimes the relationship is really, really good for them. Number five, what if they said they would convert in order to marry me? The answer is no. You don't put Jesus on and off like a religion, like an outfit, right? It is a relationship. So either the person has trusted in Christ or they haven't. Now if, like maybe pause at this, like maybe they will actually come to Jesus and say, I am sorry, forgive me of my sins. I believe in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. And if it's true, here's how you're gonna know. Number one, they're gonna dump you because you're not committed to Jesus. Or number two, they're gonna confront you and call you to repentance. That's how you're gonna know whether or not their salvation is actually real. Number six, how do I break unequal yokes while causing the least amount of damage? Unfortunately, it's almost impossible to not cause damage when, as a Christian, you do this. I did this in high school and in college, and both of them were terribly awkward, and they were both upset with me, and both of them thought I was judgmental. And I tried to be as nice as I could, but the Holy Spirit convicted me. And I was like, listen, it's not you, it's me.
[00:35:05] My conscience doesn't allow it. Jesus is the most important thing. And you know what happened? They went and told all their girlfriends how stupid I am and I'm a hypocrite. And they were right. They were absolutely right. But I dug that hole, and I had to take ownership for that. And I had to apologize for what I had done to their face. And I'd apologize to God, and it stunk. But we want to be truthful, apologetic, and humble. Get really good advice before you go in and do that. If you have more questions, man, I'd love to talk about these with you, but I have a couple quick. So what's number one?
[00:35:46] Open your heart to God's word and break the yokes. You need to break the next verse. Chapter seven, verse one. Paul says, 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. What's striking is the immediate context is Paul saying to the true Christians, it's time to end this relationship with the fake Christians in this church. It's time for us, for peace, for everything, for every. You go do your thing, fake Christians. We're gonna go do our thing. And Paul is telling them, it's time to end this mess. Four letters later, years of relational heartache. And it's like, listen, we spend all this time fighting with each other. We're not able to fulfill the purpose for which God has saved us.
[00:36:39] Number two, bring an end once and for all to. To all non Christian spiritual practices.
[00:36:46] So Corinth was considered the Las Vegas of the first century, if you will. It's a place where you could go do anything you want, whatever felt good, and you probably wouldn't get in too much trouble. False religion, idols, sexual immorality, it was rampant. It was everywhere. You had access essentially, in the name of religion to whatever immoral thing you wanted to do. And Paul's saying to these Corinthians, listen, you came to Christ out of this idolatry. And some of you, you got one foot in the Jesus world and one foot in the idol world. It's like it's time to let go of these practices and only practice things that the Bible says we should practice.
[00:37:24] And then there's just another just encouragement. If you have been. If you have objects or things that are explicitly connected to darkness, witchcraft, seances, et cetera, follow the axe principle, which is an axe. What they do is they burn them. And so if you've got things that are objects committed to false religions, get them out of your house, set them on fire, and have a big bonfire. Praise Jesus. Number three.
[00:37:51] Honestly evaluate your relationships. Who is pointing you to Jesus and who is pulling you away?
[00:38:00] You were saved so that, yes, you could go to heaven and be forgiven, but you were saved so that with Jesus, you could build his kingdom.
[00:38:09] And so when you look at the people in the relationships in your life, there are people who are just pulling you away from that purpose, and there are people who are pushing you toward that purpose. And this is where, like, we just kind of have to take back and have some honest, evaluating conversations. And for the apostle Paul, he's like, listen, we're gonna split this church, you guys. You need to pull away from these fake Christians. They are no good, they're not doing you any good, and they're getting in the way of the reason God made you. And so you step back, we just take an honest evaluation. Who in my life is pointing me to and who is pulling me away from him. And if you're here and you have never trusted in Christ, you're probably thinking, this is a strange sermon. And it is.
[00:38:47] But maybe you're realizing, I didn't know that being disconnected to Jesus meant I was a part of the domain of darkness. Maybe you didn't realize that behind agnosticism and atheism and all other false religions, there is actually, like, darkness there. And you're like, I don't want to be a part of that. Maybe you're realizing for the first time that you want to be a part of the kingdom of Jesus. And the first step, it is always going to be the same. You can come to him and tell him, I have sinned against you and I'm sorry. Will you forgive Me. The second step is I believe. Tell him you believe. I believe that Jesus is not just God, but he's my God. And I believe that he died for my sins and was raised from the dead. And I just want to create you. That's where it starts.
[00:39:32] And so you tell him you're sorry. And then you, you're going to change. You're going to come to him and say, okay, you're my God. And you're going to start opening up the word and learning what does it mean for Jesus to be your God? And what it means is that when you follow his teaching, what awaits you is life, spiritual life, not just eternal life, but his yoke, his teaching. It's meant to give you life. And that's what we want for you. Nothing more, nothing less. We want you to flourish spiritually. But that cannot happen until we first reconcile with God through faith in Jesus. Amen. Village Church Amen. Let's pray together. Father, thank you for Paul's bluntness. Thank you for your grace. Thank you for your Holy Spirit. We confess at one time or another, and for most of us extended seasons there has been a season of quenching where we knew the right thing to do and we chose otherwise. And at the right time, God, you gave us over to some of that but then convicted us. I pray for each one of us that you would give us not just the conviction of what is right and wrong, but the courage to follow you and then the wisdom to do it in a way that honors all the people involved. At the end of the day, we want to be a church and families and individuals that bring glory and honor to you and build the kingdom of Jesus. That's a heart desire. We ask for that. We pray this in Jesus name, Amen.
