What Can Hinder Our Fellowship With One Another 2 Corinthians 6:11-18 (NKJV) Have you ever had someone you loved, someone you absolutely cared deeply about, not return your love? You loved them and hoped they would return the love, but it just didn t happen? Those who have know the pain that it can bring into our lives. That was what Paul was dealing with in the church of Corinth. He had been used by God to birth the church and had every right to expect that the relationship he had with them, much like a father would with a child, to be returned Notice his heart here Vs. 11 O Corinthians! We have spoken openly to you, our heart is wide open. We have spoken openly. Our mouth and our hearts are wide open. There was no beating around the bush; Paul was not saying one thing and meaning another, he was not sharing his heart but unwilling to give himself to them. He had his heart and his mouth wide open a straight shooter. Vs. 12-13 You are not restricted by us, but you are restricted by your own affections. Now in return for the same (I speak as to children), you also be open. Paul was hoping for, longing for a Christian fellowship that flowed from the One they had in common Jesus. God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. 1 Corinthians 1:9 (NKJV) that which we have seen and heard we declare to you, that you also may have fellowship with us; and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ. 1 John 1:3 (NKJV) Copyright 2013 Chris Fraley 1
Do you ever look around in the services and think, Only Jesus could get all of us in a room like this every weekend? Some of you wouldn t ever have crossed paths any other way without Jesus having something to do with it. We have every type of person here at Wildwood: Democrat and Republican, conservative and charismatic, young and old, tall and short we re different colors and from some amazing backgrounds. Some of you come from a churched background. I can look out every weekend and see those from a Lutheran or Catholic background, some from a Foursquare or Assembly of God. Some of you came from a Methodist or Baptist background, and some of you never stepped foot in a church until you came to Calvary. What brings us all together? Jesus. He forgave us, saved us, and redeemed us from a life of emptiness and loneliness. Jesus has brought us into fellowship with one another. It s what God intended when he founded the church; go back to the early church and see them enjoying a fellowship that was different than any other. And they continued steadfastly in the apostles doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers. Acts 2:42 (NKJV) The word fellowship is the word in the Greek, koinonia. Koinonia = fellowship: partnership, participation, distribution. Notice it s a partnership, it s interactive, and it doesn t work without equal participation. Paul was willing to do his part when it came to Christian fellowship, koinonia, but the church of Corinth was struggling to return the love. So what was hindering their fellowship with one another? 1. It was a maturity issue. Notice, Paul reminds them, I am speaking to you as children. In other words, there is a lack of maturity in this relationship. Paul reminds them that they are restricted by their own affections. There affections were being given to someone else. Copyright 2013 Chris Fraley 2
2. It was worldly issue. The koinonia that they should have been enjoying with one another was being dampened and hindered by the church s relationship with the world. Vs. 14-16 Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness? And what accord has Christ with Belial? Or what part has a believer with an unbeliever? And what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God. As God has said: I will dwell in them and walk among them. I will be there God, and they shall be My people. Notice, Paul here will give some principles that we should follow when it comes to our relationship with the world. The principle here is being yoked with unbelievers, or unequally yoked as Paul puts it. The word yoke comes from Deuteronomy 22:9-10 where it speaks of two animals that are yoked together that should not be; two different animals that are joined that should not be joined. You shall not sow your vineyard with different kinds of seed, lest the yield of the seed which you have sown and the fruit of your vineyard be defiled. You shall not plow with an ox and a donkey together. Deuteronomy 22:9-10 (NKJV) Paul in no way is saying that we cannot associate with nonbelievers. I wrote to you in my epistle not to keep company with sexually immoral people. Yet I certainly did not mean with the sexually immoral people of this world, or with the covetous, or extortioners, or idolaters, since then you would need to go out of the world. But now I have written to you not to keep company with anyone named a brother, who is sexually immoral, or covetous, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or an extortioner not even to eat with such a person. 1 Corinthians 5:9-11 (NKJV) Copyright 2013 Chris Fraley 3
We cannot take ourselves out of the world completely and that s not the heart of the Father. Jesus would even command us to go into all the world, but in it there is a purpose in doing so, notice And He said to them, Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. Mark 16:15 (NKJV) We are to be ambassadors for Christ, preaching the gospel of Christ to a world that is without Christ. But that being said we are to be in the world, not of the world, we are to be an influence in the world, not influenced by the world. That means we must be careful how close we get to those who are not in the faith. Do not be deceived: Evil company corrupts good habits. 1 Corinthians 15:33 (NKJV) The key: don t be deceived; we all have stories where we thought we were stronger than we were and within no time we were doing things, engaging in things that were part of the old life. Because of that girl you wanted to date, or that guy that wooed you off your feet, or that business partnership that you couldn t pass up, or that business deal that was supposed to make you millions. It must always come back to that simple question: am I being conformed to this world or am I being transformed by the renewing of my mind? Is the world squeezing me into its mold or am I being shaped and formed by the transforming power of God? Notice, Paul will ask us some questions about all this, wanting to appeal to our common sense. Verses 14-16 can be summed up in one and it has to do with the believer more than it does the nonbeliever. 1. The believer has a new nature. We have put off the old nature to walk in the new nature. We have put away darkness to walk in the light. Copyright 2013 Chris Fraley 4
We have put off unbelief to walk in belief. We have put away the flesh to walk in the Spirit. If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God Do not lie to one another, since you have put off the old man with his deeds, and have put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him Colossians 3:1-3, 9-10 (NKJV) I think one of our biggest fears when we give our lives to Christ is that we are going to have to bail out on our unbelieving friends. I heard someone say once, You won t have to bail on them, you just won t find much in common with them any longer. There are two different natures at work: the nature of the flesh in the nonbeliever and the Spirit at work in the heart of the believer. You re not going to see things the same way; that s why you don t want to go into a partnership together, you don t want to date or marry someone who is not a believer. The grid by which you view everything in life is totally different. You can love them, share the gospel with them, pray for them, but don t get on the same track with them in life. Notice, Paul will give us a second reason not to be yoked to an unbeliever we are the temple of the living God. 2. The believer has a new owner. Have you driven by a place of business and on the front of that building they have written for everyone to see, New Owner which also means new management. It basically means things are changing around here; the old is out and the new is in. There is someone new calling the shots. It s what happens when you buy a car from someone; they sign over that title, you give them the cash, and it s yours. How crazy would it be if they called you up a few months later and wanted input into what color to paint it, what type of tires to put on it? They forfeited that right when they sold it. That s what happened when you and I gave our lives to Christ. Copyright 2013 Chris Fraley 5
You and I are the temples where the living God has made His home. We are under new ownership, we have been bought with a price, the old owner, the flesh, is out and no longer calling the shots, now the Spirit of God is calling the shots. But he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with Him Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God s. 1 Corinthians 6:17, 19-20 (NKJV) Because temples are holy places, places where the Holy One has made his home, then we should do everything we can to keep it holy, not letting anything get into our minds and hearts that would defile it. My kids make fun of some of the shows or movies I watch. I believe I have watched Disney s Cars at least 50 times it s a fallback! When the kids were young, dude, I loved Winnie the Pooh! The reason I watch them and not so many others is because I know at the end of the show I will have a clear conscience. I won t be defiled. So much of what s out there today defiles my mind and my heart. I am careful what I allow my eyes to see, what I allow my heart to engage in. I have a new owner, I am under new management and He has better things for me than the things that would defile the temple He has now made His home in. That s why God says Vs. 17 Therefore Come out from among them and be separate, says the Lord. Do not touch what is unclean, and I will receive you. 3. The believer has new boundaries. Be separate; do not touch. Paul is reaching back to Isaiah 52 where God would command His people to come out and be separate. Copyright 2013 Chris Fraley 6
They were to make a clean break from the old ways, the old crowd, now that they were serving the Lord. When I married Wendi there were some changes I made because I loved her. I did not call or contact the old girlfriends of my past. I even had to make some changes in the time that I spent with my single friends. We started hanging out with married couples. There was a new set of boundaries that we set up to keep our love thriving. It was not necessarily control; it was that we wanted to make our love for one another a priority. Boundaries were not a problem because our love for each other was priority. Jesus would remind us If you love Me, keep My commandments. John 14:15 (NKJV) Paul would go on to say in Romans Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil. Cling to what is good. Romans 12:9 (NKJV) Now that we have a new nature we are under new management and there is a whole new set of boundaries that God has for our lives to cultivate and to nourish this loving relationship, to keep us from harm and to prosper us. For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. Jeremiah 29:11 (NKJV) Vs. 18 I will be a Father to you, and you shall be My sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty. 4. The believer has a new family. I will be a Father to you; that s what the Lord says to us. It s not hard for me to understand the role of a father. I had a great father, still do. There is something about a father in your life that is just Copyright 2013 Chris Fraley 7
foundational. He was a spiritual man, a man who always prayed for us. He was a man of grace; he was patient with us, always believing that God s hand was on us. He raised four boys good model for me. Some of you might not have had that, or maybe you don t even know your father, or what you know of your father is not good. That s what Jesus came to do, to reconcile us to the Father. The church is a family that has found its father and embraced its purpose. Hillsong United What s that purpose? It s right here in verse 18 you will be My sons and daughters. What was lost in the garden fellowship, family is restored through the second Adam, Jesus, via the cross. Now we have not only a Savior, but a Father, a home. Listen to what Paul said to the church of Galatia Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world. But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying out, Abba, Father! Therefore you are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ. Galatians 4:3-7 (NKJV) Did you get that? You are no longer a slave, but a son. We were once slaves to our flesh, slaves to sin, slaves to the old life, but when Christ made His home in us, we became sons. Hey, look around Wildwood. We are family. Let s embrace our father and our purpose to be His sons and daughters Copyright 2013 Chris Fraley 8