2 Corinthians - Lesson 6F&7A

• Good morning and welcome back to our journey through 2 Corinthians. So far, we’ve managed to make it halfway through Paul’s letter and we are roughly some 24 teachings deep. We began our study of this letter on January 7 of this year, and we should be picking up some speed due to the nature of Paul’s writings as we move forward. But, having said that, who knows.

  • Anyway, so this morning we pick back up with 2 Corinthians the sixth Chapter, and when we last left off, we finished up with Verses 14-18, where Paul stated the following:

2 Cor. 6:14 Do not be mismatched with unbelievers; for what do righteousness and lawlessness share together, or what does light have in common with darkness? (a hawk and a dove)
2 Cor. 6:15 Or what harmony does Christ have with Belial (Be-Lee-El), or what does a believer share with an unbeliever?
2 Cor. 6:16 Or what agreement does the temple of God have with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; just as God said,
“I WILL DWELL AMONG THEM AND WALK AMONG THEM;
AND I WILL BE THEIR GOD, AND THEY SHALL BE MY PEOPLE.
2 Cor. 6:17 “Therefore, COME OUT FROM THEIR MIDST AND BE SEPARATE,” says the Lord. (Your choice)
“AND DO NOT TOUCH WHAT IS UNCLEAN;
And I will welcome you.
2 Cor. 6:18 “And I will be a father to you,
And you shall be sons and daughters to Me,”
Says the Lord Almighty.

• Paul tells this body of believers, this Corinthian church, a) - to not do something specific, and b) - If you obey God’s direction or command, He will in return do something for you. And what was that?

  • Well, first off, he said, “Do not be mismatched with unbelievers”. We touched on this in depth over the last couple of weeks, so I won’t rehash it all. But before we move into Chapter 7, let’s do a quick “brush up” and just kind of bring back up to the surface some of the highlights.

  • And that begins with us remembering that (once again) Paul is writing this letter to the Corinthian Church, which means there were unbelievers in this church influencing the decisions and thought processes of these believers.

    • Which is unsettling when you stop to think about it. As I said, I won’t rehash all of this again, only to say there is a reason God said don’t be mismatched to unbelievers. And like I said last week, it didn’t say don’t associate with unbelievers. It says don’t be mismatched, or the Greek words are unequally yoked, tied together.

• But why? Why can’t we be yoked together with unbelievers? Because of perspective - perspective! Because of our perspective, or outlook on life, especially as it relates to this life and its effect on the next life to come.

  • You see, we as believers have nothing in common with unbelievers. Much like, say, Alabama fans have nothing in common with Auburn fans. But why? Why is that the case? It’s the case because believers and unbelievers look at life through a totally different set of lenses or paradigm or perspective.

  • Where believers are supposed to look at everything with “eyes for eternity”, unbelievers on the other hand look at everything with eyes for the “here and now”. One perspective is eternally focused and the other earthly or temporally focused. And so, for that reason, God commands us not to be joined together with unbelievers.

• Then at the end of verse 16, Paul makes a statement. A statement that gives us some deep insight as it relates to the believer’s physical body here on earth. He tells us that our bodies are the temple of the living God, which tells us that if you are saved (a believer) your body houses God’s Spirit.

  • Meaning, you are a container or a carrier for God’s spirit. Think about that for a minute. If you have asked Jesus into your heart, to forgive you of your sins, to save you, and then followed that up with public profession of baptism, you have living inside of you The Spirit of the Living God, or The Creator of the Universe’s Spirit, residing inside your very being.

  • Not sure if that resonates, but it should. As a matter of fact, it should cause us to pause and really think about how that what you say, what you do, how you act and react, matters.

    • And maybe, to get a little more granular in scope, to hit home a little more, when thinking about God’s spirit living inside us, what about what we eat or drink or watch or listen to? I mean, if our bodies are a housing for the Spirit of God, shouldn’t those things be of concern as well?

    • I’m not going to harp on this with specifics, but once again when pondering this concept, it should make us think.

• Moving on, I made the statement earlier that these verses clearly state that if we do something, then God will in return do something for us. And what is it? Let’s read it again, verses 16-18:

2 Cor. 6:16 Or what agreement does the temple of God have with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; just as God said,
“I WILL DWELL AMONG THEM AND WALK AMONG THEM;
AND I WILL BE THEIR GOD, AND THEY SHALL BE MY PEOPLE.
2 Cor. 6:17 “Therefore, COME OUT FROM THEIR MIDST AND BE SEPARATE,” says the Lord. (Your choice)
“AND DO NOT TOUCH WHAT IS UNCLEAN;
And I will welcome you.
2 Cor. 6:18 “And I will be a father to you,
And you shall be sons and daughters to Me,”
Says the Lord Almighty.

• Throughout the history of Christianity there has been a debate, a debate that has been controversial and continues to be controversial, even today; and that is the debate between Calvinism and Arminianism.

  • The Calvinist says that God is Sovereign and totally in control of His creation (and obviously this makes sense). But on the other side of this coin is what’s called Arminian, which says man is free and has been granted freewill, and therefore, God isn’t really controlling anything, but rather man is in control.

    • As I said, this debate has been going on for centuries, and that debate still rages on, even today. And so, we have those who say God is Sovereign and in control, and they are called Calvinists. And those who say man has freewill, and therefore he is in control, they are called Arminian.

• Now having said all this, there is another group out there called Mollinists. A Mollinist says yes, God is sovereign and in control, but man also has freewill. The Mollinist has struggled drawing a hard line with one side or the other, and so they try to harmonize the two by landing in the middle.

  • But the question is, why is this even a thing? Well, because the overarching theme of scripture is that of God’s Sovereignty, which, as I said earlier, makes total sense when you stop to think through it.

  • God is the creator, and we are the created, and nothing we do surprises Him. And as we know, God started this whole thing on time, and He will end it on time. The thought that somehow man controls things and it just works out, from a logical standpoint, would be a ludicrous notion.

    • But once again, on the other hand, we do see many places in scripture where God says if we do this then He will do that, which obviously lends itself to the freewill/Arminian point of view. And sure enough, right here in 2 Cor. 6:17-18, we see this very thing. We see a command for us to do something, and then a promise by God to do something as a result of our actions.

• Look at it again,

2 Cor. 6:17 “Therefore, COME OUT FROM THEIR MIDST AND BE SEPARATE,” says the Lord. (Your choice - freeewill)
“AND DO NOT TOUCH WHAT IS UNCLEAN;
And I will welcome you. (God’s Promise)
2 Cor. 6:18 “And I will be a father to you, (God’s Promise)
And you shall be sons and daughters to Me,” (The result)
Says the Lord Almighty.

• Now, in keeping with our theme as it relates to teaching scripture, which is what? To stay in context. In order to do that, we need to ask ourselves some questions. The most important of which is, what is Paul talking about, or even more important, who is Paul talking to or who is he talking about?

  • Well, verses 17 & 18 are not actually the words of Paul. They are the words of Isaiah. Paul is simply quoting Isaiah, which tells us that Paul is reminding these folks of what was said in their OT manuscript.

  • And that information is important and should lead us to ask the question, who was Isaiah talking to? And the answer is the Israelites. The Israelites (as they often do) had wandered off track and fell into a place of idol worship inside the city of Babylon.

    • And God called them out and told them to come out from their midst and be separate. He also told them to “Do not touch what is unclean”. And then the Lord says, if you will do that I will welcome you, and I will be a Father to you, and you shall be sons and daughters to Me.

    • And so, Paul quotes Isaiah using it as a comparison to the place where the Corinthian Church was at that time, which tells us they must have been in a pretty bad place as it related to God.

  • And let me say, the situation the Israelites found themselves in had nothing to do with disagreements as it relates to doctrine. Instead, it had everything to do with pagan idol worship. Which means the situation that the Corinthian Church found themselves in must have been similar in nature. And we know this to be the case when we study 1 Corinthians, along with other historical documents related to the history of this church.

• So, Paul began this church. He helped build it. He left them to go start other churches. He has been gone for some time. And the result was? The Church in Corinth lost its way!

  • And by the way, this is not a foreign concept. It’s way more common than you may think. On the contrary, it’s a warning, because the same thing is still happening today even in our church age.

  • Churches and denominations all over the world find themselves getting off track and wandering all the time. And why? Well, evidently it starts with being mismatched or unequally yoked with unbelievers, and from there it parlays into all sorts of things.

    • But the good thing for the church and for us individually is, if we will make a choice to come out from among the unbelievers, or from whatever (non-God honoring) activity or situation we find ourselves in, God will forgive us. And He promises He will be our Father, and in return we can return to being His sons and daughters.

• This kind of keeps with the theme of what I said a couple of weeks ago: Choices - Choices - Choices Or Decisions - Decisions - Decisions

  • If you find yourself in a place where your life is currently in a mess, or off track with God in any way, there is but one solution! Repent - that’s what God meant when He told the Israelites to come out. His message to the Israelites is still the same message for us today.

  • If we want a fresh start with God, then repent and turn from whatever you are doing wrong and make the right choice and see for yourself what God will do. Because I can assure you, God will keep His promise even when we don’t.

• Now, moving on into Chapter 7. My Bible entitles this next section of 2 Corinthians “Paul Reveals His Heart”, and here’s what it says in Chapter 7:1-4:

2 Cor. 7:1 Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let’s cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.
2 Cor. 7:2 Make room for us in your hearts; we have wronged no one, we corrupted no one, we have taken advantage of no one.
2 Cor. 7:3 I do not speak to condemn you, for I have said before that you are in our hearts, to die together and to live together.
2 Cor. 7:4 My confidence in you is great; my boasting in your behalf is great. I am filled with comfort; I am overflowing with joy in all our affliction.

• Beginning with Verse 1, Paul starts with the word therefore, which simply refers us back to what he just said. What he’s saying is, because of what I just said; specifically, because you have these promises. What promises?

  • Promises that say, if you will come out of the people you are currently affiliating with, that God will become your father, and you will become His sons and daughters. For this reason, Paul says, beloved, let’s cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit.

  • Now at first reading this may seem a little confusing. Meaning, you might say, well I understand cleansing ourselves from the flesh, but the spirit? Paul’s words here incorporate what’s called the use of Merism; which is simply a rhetorical device (or figure of speech) in which a combination of two contrasting parts of the whole refer back to the whole.

    • In other words, when Paul says let’s cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit, he’s simply saying, let’s cleanse our entire body fully clean. It has nothing to do with the spirit that lives within us being defiled. It’s simply a way of describing a complete spiritual detox process.

• Now, I want you to notice something about Paul’s statement. When he says let’s cleanse ourselves, this tells us something. First of all, it tells us we have a choice. We can do it or not do it. We could give our Arminian free will friends “one point” for this text of scripture, because man’s free will comes into play here.

  • But the bigger question is, how do we do it? How do we cleanse ourselves? For those in the Old Testament it was through a sacrifice, but for us it’s different. For us it’s through repentance, and we know this to be the case because of verses like 1 John 1:9 that say:

1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous, so that He will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

• And so, if that’s the case, then all that’s left for us to do is to what? To do it! Repent. Once again, choices and decisions. We have a choice. Repent and turn back to the Lord and do the things you should be doing. And by the way, we are to do this regardless of the perceived fallout.

  • In other words, we are to do it regardless of what we fear may happen. Obedience is the key in this process. You may be fearful of the result, but just know that when you honor God, God will honor you.

• I have been a Christian for 34 years, and on a few specific occasions throughout my life and career, I have been faced with some really tough decisions. And I can tell you from personal experience, if you do what’s right by God (the God honoring thing); if you honor God, He will always (not sometimes - but always) honor you.

  • And if you don’t believe me, then I would tell you to put Him to the test. The next time you are faced with a tough decision, a decision that is really tough to make, a decision that may cost you your job, a decision that may cost you a relationship, a decision that “no one” may know about, where you can do what satisfies you and your current situation or do what satisfies and honors God.

  • Go ahead and make the right decision, the God-honoring decision, and see what happens regardless of your perceived outcome in the situation. As I said, do what honors God and what He lays on your heart. Throw all caution to the wind and see what happens.

    • Because, if you do, I promise you will be both surprised and empowered. Surprised because what you think will happen, the worst-case scenario, probably won’t happen, and, empowered when you see how God shows up.

    • Guys, remember, God knows our situation and the scripture is clear - “He will never leave us nor forsake us”, and if you don’t understand but one fundamental truth of scripture, understand this one. Our lives as believers have a purpose and a plan, which is to bring God glory.

  • Which means if that’s the case, then whatever happens to us regardless of the situation and circumstances, we can know it will work out for our benefit every single time. Amen.

• Now back to verse 1. Paul says something or makes another statement. A statement that we all need to take to heart. Something very, very important. Which is what? Let’s read it again,

2 Cor. 7:1 Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let’s cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.

• We are to cleanse ourselves. And we know how to do that because of 1 John 1:9. We are to confess and repent. But we are also supposed to do something else. Something that I feel is both fascinating and very pertinent to our walk with Christ, and that is, we are to perfect holiness in the fear of God.

  • And as always, we need to begin our pursuit of this by asking ourselves the question, how do we do this? How do we perfect holiness in the fear of the Lord?

  • Well, first of all, we need to begin by looking at the two words “Perfecting Holiness”. Perfecting Holiness denotes an ongoing process. It’s the ongoing, never-ending pursuit of Holiness. And it never ends. It’s part in parcel, sanctification, which is becoming more like Jesus.

    • It’s like the perfect round of Golf. We will never obtain it, but we are still commanded to pursue it. And even though perfect holiness is not obtainable on this side of heaven, we can definitely improve on it.

    • I like to say it like this - If holiness were a scale of say 1-10, and the day before we were saved, we were, say, at zero. The day after we were saved, we moved into the 1 slot. From that day forward we are to pursue moving up that scale. And how do we do that?

• Well, first of all, Paul says it begins with a fear of the Lord, which can be a problem for us, especially in a world that speaks out adamantly against fearing anything. This is obviously not a popular concept, causing some to say, I just don’t think God wants us to fear Him.

  • Well, if you believe that, you are wrong.

  • I wouldn’t say His goal is for us to fear Him. I would say His goal is for us to obey Him. And the motivation to obey many times is derived from fear. God gave us the emotion of fear, because it’s through that emotion that we make decisions.

  • Fear is a good thing. It has a way of tempering our behavior, and therefore fearing God is important because it’s through our fear and respect of the Lord, that we improve our lives. 

    • All throughout the scriptures we see references to this very thing, where “the Fear of the Lord” produces a profitable result in the life of the believer. Proverbs 9:10 says,

Proverbs 9:10 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, And the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.

Hebrews 10:31 It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

• Moses himself received a revelation on this topic, where he asked to see God and God said in Exodus 33:20 the following,

Exodus 33:20 He further said, “You cannot see My face, for mankind shall not see Me and live!” 

• Let’s be clear. God is love, but He is also judgement and wrath. He is all that wrapped up into one. Paul says, if we want to begin our pursuit of holiness, it begins by fearing God, which begins when you understand your position before God. When you are self-aware in your standing.

  • And let me just go on record by saying, contrary to popular belief, we are not born good, and we are not good at our core. We are opposite of that. We are unrighteous, unholy, unclean, selfish, and self-serving at our core.

  • And the only way we can improve on those deficiencies in our lives is by becoming more and more self-aware of our position before a Holy and Righteous God.

• My prayer for each of us this morning is two-fold. First of all, if you are in a place in your life  where you know you are not doing the right things, not honoring God in a decision or decisions, my prayer is that you would throw caution to the wind, come out, repent, and put God to the test by honoring Him in whatever tough decision you may be facing.

  • It could be work related, relationship related, a decision with a family member or a child. It could be that you want to make the right decision, but you are fearful of the fallout. My prayer is you make the God-honoring choice, no matter what you perceive the consequences might be.

• Second of all, my prayer is for each of us to pursue holiness in ways we have never pursued it before, and for us to do that we must garner a deeper understanding of who God is, which then will evoke a greater fear of the Lord.

  • And of course, the best way to do this is by studying and meditating on His word. One of the strongest natural biproducts of studying God’s word is that it produces a healthy fear of Him.

  • Because the more you know Him, the healthier the fear you will have of Him. And this all takes place in the life of the believer when we grasp a deeper and deeper understanding of who God is; just how all-powerful He is, how majestic, how omnipotent, how omnipresent.

• That He is the Creator of the universe; the Alpha and the Omega; the beginning to the end and everything in between. Paul says, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of the pursuit of Holiness, and that’s my prayer for us today. All so that we may become a more fully devoted follower of our Lord Jesus Christ.