Bible Guys Classics: 2 Corinthians 6 Part 2

Well, Jeff, today we're going to talk about when you crack an egg. That big yellow thing in the center is called yolk. That is not what we're talking about today. No, no, we're not, but good try. So he's Chris and I'm Jeff and we're the Bible Guys. So Jeff, all right, Chris, we have a segment today. Okay, and what is that segment? Chris? Well, I think we're going to tackle what made Chris Man today excellent? So this is, you know, everybody's favorite the fan Favorites when they vote this year at the Fan Favorites Awards that we're going to have You're good at. This segment's gonna win it. It's going to be favorite segment. The Podcast Awards. I'm sure they have podcasts. Well, it's probably going to be the Bible Guys Podcast. Awards, right like the Dundees. That's right. So so anyways, we were curious what made Chris mad this week? Okay? So I have something okay, really. And really and it is astounding. It's this. So I'm a movie watcher. I like movies, yes, and here's what I believe. When you want to show somebody a movie, when they look at their phone and they're not watching the movie. It is the most irritating thing on the planet. So you're you're watching the movie and you want them to participate with you. Yeah. Like, for instance, I watch a movie and I think it's like a ten out of ten, and I'm like, this movie is emotional, it is phenomenal, it is man, it just the experience of it is so great. And then I'll play it and then like, for instance, not naming any names. I won't point out which kid does this often, but Torri is the one who does it, and you. Never say names. It's your youngest daughter, right. It's the one that's that's the age of no anyway. So the point is is that she's on her phone constantly. Now I am a person that does. I am on my phone too, but not during movies. I'm not on the on my phone, right, has your limits? I have my list? Yeah. So anyway, so what happens is I'm watching this movie and I'm thinking, I'm watching the facial expressions, and I'm watching the mood and the tension that's being created, and I'm like, you know, just the things that sort of aren't said, as well as the things that are being said, and you sort of feel things that I look over and she's on her phone texting, and I'm like, you didn't even watch the movie, and she was I'm listening. I'm like, no, you didn't even you didn't even understand. It doesn't count, does it. You know it doesn't count because you're not really experiencing the movie. You can't multitask emotions, right, right, that's true. So yeah, so anyway, I'm with you on that one. Yeah, so so more importantly, not just on your phone during a movie, but especially when you want someone to experience the greatness that's right, that you want them to experience that's right. No, I'm agreeing with you on that. I'm just going to throw an extra one in there. This isn't what made Jeff mad this week, but it drives me nuts when we all go, hey, you want to watch a movie. Sure, and it's like nine o'clock, and then we get all of our snacks together, we get everything all around, and then just as we're all sitting down, we find the movie. We rent the movie, we're ready to watch it. Then all of a sudden, you know, the other adult in our house that's not a child. All of our children will say, oh, hang on a min I'm. Not gonna mention any names, but it's not male. Oh that reminds me I need to paint these three rooms and fix the car real quick, mow the lawn, and then you know, two and a half hours later, that just happened last night, and I'm down there losing hilarious, losing my mind over that. I don't understand how we can say, yeah, let's watch a movie, and what they mean is three hours from now, let's watch a movie. Wow. Yeah. So I think I'm with you on that because I think I'm the one that's most eager to watch a movie, you know, but you're not a movie guy, which means like, if you're going to commit to it, this is yeah, it's it's like a rare bird sighting. Well, I think I think you watch movies for entertainment and I watch movies for amusement. There's a big deft between those two. What right? What so amused? What did you just say? Amusement? Ah means none, muse means thought. I watch movies and stuff like that that turn off my brain. But you watch movies for the entertainment value to engage emotionally and to be there in that story and all that kind of stuff. I don't do it. I watch it mostly just to turn my brain off. Wow, well I've learned something today. I would have not. I would have not differentiated those two words in that way. Oh wow yeah yeah, yeah, Okay, Well, I'm glad that we had this little linguistic conversation. So I think we've wasted enough of our listeners time. It's about normal. It's for four minutes. We're always wasting about that much time. Yeah, for sure. Okay, So we are in two Corinthion's chapter six, and we're back in the in the new year, twenty twenty three. Yeah, and this is I think a very appropriate challenge for us as we're heading into the new year, just thinking what are our priorities, what are the relationships that we're going to engage in, what are the things we're going to do, where we're going to go? How are we going to think for twenty twenty three? I think this chapter is a great passage for us to kind of wrestle with because there's some things to wrestle with in this passage. So it's not very long. We're going to read verse fourteen here through the end of chapter six, and then the first four verses of chapter seven. He says, 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, and I will be their God, and they will be my people. 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 and our spirit, and let us work toward complete holiness because we fear God. Please open your hearts to us. We've not done wrong to anyone, nor let anyone astray, nor taken advantage of everyone. I'm not saying this to condemn you. I said before that you are in our hearts and we live or die together with you. I have the highest confidence in you, and I take great pride in you. You have greatly encouraged me and made me happy despite all your troubles. So it's interesting how he ends. He's ending saying, listen, I'm not judging you. I'm not angry at you. I'm just challenging you in this topic. Yeah, when he says we live and die together with you, that's actually the quote that's where a bad Boy's well Will Smith got his line when he says we ride together, we die together, bad boys for life? Is it really? No, it's not. I don't think it is. No, it's not. Okay anyways, just like. The yoke wasn't what we're talking about today. Yeah, that's right. Well, the yoke that you were talking about y O l K Yeah, yolk. Yes, Yes, it's different than y O K yeah. And that's and that's what really this translation the NLC doesn't include the yoke. Well, right, yes, so the yoke would be what it translates is don't team up with those who are unbelievers. And when we read the words team up. We're thinking sports, right, we're thinking basketball, football, baseball, right, soccer, hockey. But for them, what they're thinking is a team of horses or a team of oxen or right. And so in this situation, then the yoke y o k e. Is how you would hook up two horses, two draft horses, or two oxen to pull a heavy load. Yeah, and it's a it's a really big wooden brace really yeah, that that that sort of aligns them. And if you have one ox for instance, that's really strong, and then you mismatch them terribly. Yeah. And you put a skinny little ox right now. Next tom or a donkey or something or a donkey. Or something like this, then what's gonna happen is your plow is gonna run in circles. That's right, right, And so it's just it's just that poor donkey's not gonna be able to keep up or skinny oxygen. Well, and they're both gonna get hurt usually, right, right, So they need to the way that the yoke sits in. And you've probably seen those. It's a big beam that goes you know, is made to sit over their their necks and leans in on their chest and rate at their shoulders. There's usually a hook or something that comes down underneath like this, and they'd strap in and then the straps would be attached to the back that then would allow them to pull the plow or to pull the wagon or whatever. And if if it's off kilter, if it's not even, and if it's not squared up, they'll both wind up cutting cutting themselves. The donkey will be getting choked out because he's you know, because there's so much power and it's so much higher on the other side, and so both animals wind up getting wounded. Uh, no work really gets done. It becomes incredibly ineffective to have them dead. So that's what he's saying. Don't team up with those who arend believers. Don't get yoked up hooked up to somebody who's you know, not a believer. Yeah, and so you know, in one in one sense, this is something where if somebody, for instance, let me just create like a hypothetical for instance, Okay, so somebody's dating somebody and they're there and by the way, this is this is good for you know, he's talking about a business sense right here, but you know, like being partners with somebody. Uh, but it's also relationships. It's it's all sorts of relationships, whether it's business, whether it's romantic, whether it's a marriage, whatever it is, it's it's applicable. But if you're dating somebody, for instance, let's say a girl is dating a boy and the boy is not a Christian typically right, and the girl is because you know, the girls go to church and the boys down right, so uh and so then and they have completely fundamental different beliefs. Uh. The girl believes in God and believes in Jesus and let's just say the boy is atheist. Or something like this. Well, then they fall in love because other than that there they have everything else in common. And then what ends up happening is they get married. Well, I mean if you if. You live anywhere near church world, then then you understand that, like when it comes time for them to have kids, then there's a fundamental, massive argument that always happens. And you can interview on the street people who who generally go to church and try to say, like, have you ever had an argument on how to raise your kids? Where to take them? I mean, I'm telling you it's it's way more common than it isn't. It's like, oh, yeah, yeah, she's this, I'm this. We have no idea, so we just decided to compromise and do this. But what's worse is is that when you live a lifestyle that's unequally yoked right when you when you when you like, for instance, the wife says, hey, I want to give this money to this organization or to this church or to or to this family down the street, and I want to help them, And then and then the husband's not on board with it or something or vice versa, right, because it just creates all sorts of problems when you're spiritually at different places. Yeah, I think it's naive for people to think that that you can blend to people who have diametrically opposed or even I think neutral worldviews what appears to be neutral worldviews. Right, So being a Christian should, if you read Paul clearly, should affect every area of your life. It should affect how you live your life. It should affect what you value. It should affect how you use your money. It should affect your sexuality. It should affect your relationships. It should affect the way that you do business. It should affect every single thing, the kind of entertainment that you pay attention to, all those things that it should affect how you spend your time, It should affect everything. Paul tells us to think on those things that are eternal, not on those things that are temporal. But for somebody who doesn't even believe in God, or somebody who is agnostic, or somebody who doesn't really have a deep faith, they're not thinking on things eternal. They're thinking on things that are temporal. And so there's always going to be this tug of war with regard to priorities, and it becomes incredibly differ dificult to compromise your faith and at the same time have a meaningful faith. Right, And so this is the warning that he's having. And by the way, it's it's not just business. I think it's any kind of binding relationship, right, So anything that would have a contract or an oath or a vow connected to it. He's saying, hey, you know, you need to avoid those things. Don't team up with them. Yeah, And and I don't think it's I don't think it's very hard. To build a case for this. Actually, I actually think. That everybody probably knows somebody who have had differences in this area because you're right, it's not just faith. It's not just like, hey, I'm Protestant and you're something else, or you know, it's not it's not just that. It's about how you live your life. It's about just like you said, it's it's it's one of the things about Christianity is that you know, you're supposed to center your life around the things of God. In fact, we just had a Christmas service that sort of. Talked about that. That's right, how how we live life upside down? And Jesus comes along and says, no, no, no, the last shall be first, and you're like, what, you know, don't humble, don't don't exalt yourself, humble yourself. And you're like, what and so, if the world decided to go one way and you decided to go another way, it's just very very difficult. So so and and and the key is this is don't do it at the beginning. So I remember my daughter, my daughter who is married now and she lives in Saint Petersburg, Florida. When she was dating, uh, you know, back in like late high school, early college. I was so impressed because. I remember she wouldn't even go out on a date if that person wasn't a potential match, like long term for her, which is hilarious, instead of just saying like, oh, I'm going to go out and have a date just to have fun. Oh very wise, yeah, very wise. I was so impressed and so and I remember one time it was a coach of a high school and and this guy liked her, and she was and she was he was a little bit older than her, and and and he asked her out. And we were all we all knew this coach, and we were all just shocked. We were just like what this coach reached out to her and date. Well, you know, he's sort of well known in that little area. And so there was other people around her saying, like, got with this coach, I mean, you know, he's you know this and that. And my daughter says, well, no, because we don't line up in these like six areas. And so she didn't even go out on the date. And I thought it was hilarious. I thought, honey, I'm so proud of you. You know, well, in our culture is so here in the West, particularly in the US, we typically don't marry people. We don't date, right, Right, So if you if you are discriminating with regard to your dating decisions, you can avoid the long term struggles and heartbreak. Because for you and me, you know, you said you think pretty much everybody knows somebody that's unequally yoked. That may or may not be true. They just might not recognize it. Whereas you and I, so much of the marriage counseling we've had to do is that specifically, not that they're incompatible. That's not what we're saying, right, That's a whole other issue. Right, What we're talking about is fundamentally what they've built their life on is not compatible. Built your life on faith, or built your life on humanism, or built your life on agnosticism, or built your life on just neutrality. Those are all very very different. So the foundation, it can't sustain the house if if it's all kinds of different foundations, right, And so then you're gonna raise your your kids differently, and I already talked about that, all your money, all those things is very very different. It becomes incredibly difficult. So this is true in business, This is true in with regard to the people that you're really, really, really doing life with, you know, and I've known a lot of Christians who you know, have made later on come back and tell me the bad decisions they made happened in the context of their old buddies wanted to go do this thing or go to this old place and whatever. And you know, start off, oh, I didn't intend to drink. I was just gonna have a coke, and they were gonna do their thing. But then it gets all wild next thing, you know, coming and confessing something that they wish they hadn't done. And I've heard that over and over and over again. You know. The couple of weeks ago, we read a passage that says, bad connections corrupt good morals, remember that, or bad relationships, And that's true. And so this is the warning that he's giving us. But then he goes on and he says, you know, what kind of partnership can light and dark have together? What kind of you know, Christ and the devil. This is what he's talking about, is there's a fundamental difference between light and dark, between good and evil, between Christ and the devil. And he says there is between believers and non believers. So this is not justification for us to hate believer unbelievers, or to hurt them. But they he is saying, here, be very very careful with your relationships, your long term, contractual or vow based relationships with them, because it's going to change your effectiveness and your ability to serve the Lord. And then God is really kind of connecting this to our relationship with him. You know, I'll be like a father, you'll be like my children to me. But he's saying, you've got to come out from among them and be separate. You got to don't touch the unclean things that they do. Don't do the things the world does. And so many Christians want to say, oh, well, you know, grace, people sin, God forgives, it's okay, we're going to act just like the world. And Paul say, no, stop because God said, listen, avoid those things, stay away from those things. It's not that we go, oh, Grace is there, so we can keep doing what ever we want to do. He's saying, because grace is there, stop doing those things. Come away from it. And God says, hey, listen, I'll be a father to you. You be my children. You don't have to tarnish yourself or make yourself dirty. Now that you're clean. Yeah. And then also I just want to go and point out the fact that Paul once again he's a master visual aid person. He uses visual aids, and he says, Okay, let's talk about this. There's a big difference between God's temple and false idols, right, So think about the visual of that if you lived in that time and you understand that, like, you know, there's a there's a church that that's you know, God, and then there's all these different gods, you know, all these crazy ridiculous you know, polytheism, believing in many gods. That that was the culture. And so, you know, religion was actually quite prevalent. It was just that they believed in Greek gods. And things like this. And so he's saying, like, you know, the difference. Between God's temple and false idols, they're massively different. He says, well, you are God's temple. That's the difference, right, you know, because you know, for we. Are the temple of the Living God, which, by the way, is really cool because you know, if you think about us, we've heard that analogy before, but in the first century, Uh, they weren't really accustomed to that sort of thinking because all of their lives, all they've ever known, and their fathers and their father's fathers and everything else was you had to go to the temple to where God is, and you know, you had to sacrifice your animals for your sins. And you know, without the shedding of blood, there is no remission of sins. He just tells us. And so all these different things, and so Paul is saying, no, no, no, no, Jesus is the ultimate sacrifice, No more going to the temple. And then just imagine the revolutionary concept of him saying, you are now the temple, right, the Holy Spirit lives in you. Your body is the temple, and so you don't have to go. And by the way, you know what that reminds me of is have you ever watched The Chosen. Yeah, I've seen a couple of episodes, so I. Guess I guess they're coming out now, and I have to make the decision on whether to watch one and then wait a week or wait for them to come out and then binge it like I did last time, right, which I love binging. Binging is better for me. But anyway, the point is is that the woman at the well when Jesus had the conversation with the woman at the well on the Chosen they sort of expanded those verses the concept of when he says, you Jews worship on the mountain, and then Jesus says they'll come at where you won't have to go to any mountain. You just worship him in spirit and truth, because God a spirit, right, And it reminds me of this where he says where he says your body is the temple. You don't have to go to a physical temple. You don't have to go to a mountain, you don't have to go to a location. Right, You are the temple, which is you. Know, right, great? Right. So then there seems to be this contrast that is repeated multiple times through here the notes, which, by the way, we love the Life Application Study Bible. The notes, there's a really long note for verses fourteen through eighteen, but the end says, don't allow emotion or passion to bind you with someone who will not be your spiritual partner. Those who have discovered God's light should not compromise with those who can't see it. What a great phrase, right, But then you go down a little further the note for seventeen says separation from the world involves more than keeping our distance from sinful practices. It means staying close to God. It involves more than avoid worldly entertainment that leads to sin. It extends to how we live our lives. Right, So it's not just about staying away from bad it's about drawing close to God. And then when you read the note for verse seventeen or seven verse one, it says cleansing ourselves is a twofold action, turning away from sin and turning toward God. And those ideas that theme kinds of run through this short portion of this passage. Turned from the world, turn towards God, turn from sin, turn towards God, turn from bad actions to good actions. Right, that theme just kind of makes me think of the idea that God is not trying to take away enjoyment. God is trying to get us to not just leave a hole in our life, but to fill it with the good, godly things. And I think that that's incredibly important. People sometimes get pulled into relationships and things because they feel empty. And what God's saying is, let me feel your spirit, let me feel your soul, let me complete your life, and then you won't feel the need to fill all these other fill your life, all these other empty things. Yeah, that's great. Well, I think that's a really great place to end. I think we're right at that time. Good. So we will pick up tomorrow with the next verse, and we'll see you then, hopefully