November 30
2 Corinthians 6:14-10:18
Do you more closely resemble a thermostat or a thermometer. The thermostat sets the temperature in the room, the thermometer simply measures or becomes the temperature in the room. Pertaining to your Christian walk, when you are surrounded by unbelievers, are they less likely to curse around you, or are you more likely to curse around them. Are you more likely to participate in and laugh at lewd jokes or conduct, or are they less likely to do so. It won't go both ways. Decide which one it is. The pull of the world is very strong. Realize when God liberated the Israelites from Egypt it would have taken only 11 days by direct route to bring those two million individuals onto the doorstep of the Promised Land. Instead, God took them on a one year journey to get there, which turned into a forty year wandering due to their unbelief and disobedience. Egypt is a picture of the world. God knew it was easier to get the Israelites out of Egypt than to get Egypt, or the world, out of the Israelites. If you study the history of the Israelites, every time they allowed themselves to get absorbed into the pagan culture, they were the ones that were changed. We read in 1 Corinthians 15:33, "Don’t be fooled by those who say such things, for “bad company corrupts good character.” Chuck Swindoll wisely stated that when one puts on white gloves to play in the mud, the gloves always get muddy, the mud never gets "glovey".
Paul warns the Corinthians who live in a very pagan and carnal society in 2 Corinthians 6:14-16, "Don’t team up with those who are unbelievers. How can righteousness be a partner with wickedness? How can light live with darkness? What harmony can there be between Christ and the devil? How can a believer be a partner with an unbeliever? And what union can there be between God’s temple and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God said: “I will live in them and walk among them. I will be their God, and they will be my people." Many have attributed these words only with marriage between a believer and unbeliever, but it also applies to friendships, who you work with, where you go to school. Paul goes on further in 6:17-7:1, "Therefore, come out from among unbelievers, and separate yourselves from them, says the Lord. Don’t touch their filthy things, and I will welcome you. And I will be your Father, and you will be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty.” Because we have these promises, dear friends, let us cleanse ourselves from everything that can defile our body or spirit. And let us work toward complete holiness because we fear God." Paul could not be any clearer. Light and darkness don't mix. These are two different value systems that do not resemble one another at all. Many have made the mistake of entering into a relationship with the mistaken thought that they will change the other person, only to face the harsh reality that it was the believer who changed and morphed into societal values.
For many of us, we were converted or became believers while immersed in the world. This means that the battle between the spirit and the flesh will remain ongoing throughout our lives. We also must remember that one day we will be removed from this world and one day enjoy our heavenly life, but in the meantime we are not told to isolate ourselves, but to be in the world, but not part of the world. We are God's messengers or ambassadors in foreign countries. Our country is heaven, where our citizenship is, not on earth where we are currently residing. So conflict will arise, and when it does, remember Paul's words in 2 Corinthians 10:3-5, "We are human, but we don’t wage war as humans do. We use God’s mighty weapons, not worldly weapons, to knock down the strongholds of human reasoning and to destroy false arguments. We destroy every proud obstacle that keeps people from knowing God. We capture their rebellious thoughts and teach them to obey Christ." If we fight in the power of the flesh, getting tangled up in the things of this world, we are fighting in Satan's arena and according to his rules. If we remain in the Spirit, we have the advantage, as we remember 1 John 4:4, "But you belong to God, my dear children. You have already won a victory over those people, because the Spirit who lives in you is greater than the spirit who lives in the world."
Messages from Pastor Lloyd Pulley: