Day 201: Unequal Yoking 2

July 20
Today's Connected Passages: 

• Nehemiah 9:1-3; 9:38-10:31; 13:23-31 
• Psalm 1, 26 
• Romans 12:1-2 
• 2 Corinthians 6:14-7:1 [Leviticus 26:12; Ezekiel 20:32-44, Isaiah 52:11-12] 
• James 4:4-5

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:07

Welcome to the Canon Connected, where we read the connections, see the connections, and study the connections of the Bible. I want to personally welcome you to day number 201 of the Canon Connected, and right now we are on part two, day two of a two-day study on being unequally yoked. And as I mentioned yesterday, this would have been a very good study, two-day study to do on the heels of unclean and unclean clean and unclean in the Old Testament, even though it's not exactly that. It manifests the exact same, you know, thought process from God that He wants his people to be pure and holy, clean in that sense. And that's what we're talking about. God does not want people to have deep, intimate relationships with lost people, especially people of other religions, and this any anything that's going to tempt you to want to compromise in your relationship to God. And especially, as we see in the Old Testament, begin to worship false gods. And for us, as I alluded to yesterday, that may not even be, you know, like Islam or Hinduism or something. For an American Christian to worship a false God could very well be just secular humanism. And by that I mean that humans are great and that humans are the best and that we are strong and we are enough and the Hollywood, you know, triumph of the human spirit sort of thing. Christianity is the triumph of the poor in spirit because God triumphs through us. It's only when we're spirit in spiritual poverty and acknowledge that and recognize that that we enter the kingdom of heaven. And so for us, it may look completely different than, you know, you know, the Baals and the Astaroths and the and the gods of the of the Canaanites and Jebusites and all of those. Nevertheless, we we study this topic because it is very important, you know, that the bride of Christ be pure, be clean, and that we we are different and we are set apart. We read that in the law yesterday. We have to be distinct from the world. And as I alluded to in one of the catch-up days a few weeks ago now, about how we're supposed to be alien to the world. You know, we use the word alien not just for foreign cultures sometimes, which are odd to us. I've never been in a foreign country where I didn't think what the people did was very different than what I do in America. And even in America, I've been to places where people were different. But we even use that word for people from Mars. You know, it's like something that's so different and strange, I don't understand it. And I don't think that's a bad illustration. That's not what Peter had in mind, of course, but the idea that we're supposed to be that kind of different, that kind of strange to the world is absolutely a part of this idea of not of being unequally yoked. Because when we're when we're unequally yoked with the world around us and have those deep, you know, intimate relationships that draw us away from God, we're the exact opposite of alien. We're the exact opposite of set apart, distinct, holy, you know, that that sort of thing, which represents again reflects who God is as distinct and set apart from us. So we we ended, you know, with Ezra yesterday and very appropriately we pick up with Nehemiah today, because Nehemiah is, you know, in the same basic time period, you know, chronologically after Esther, but it's fascinating to me that Nehemiah is dealing with the same thing that Ezra dealt with, and it's proof that people just do not learn, okay? Generations don't learn from previous generations' mistakes quite frequently. Sometimes we do, but oftentimes we don't. So Nehemiah in his book is dealing with the exact same thing. And so instead of having a mass divorce like Ezra did, they just have a mass, you know, repentance service where they even kind of sign off on this, will make a solemn promise and put it in writing that we are not going to intermarry and intermingle with the with the with the foreign gods, the nations, the people, even the foreigners. God doesn't hate foreigners, but in this case, he wanted his people separate from them because they were worshippers of false gods. And so they even had a document. This is where I was saying yesterday that, you know, and this Nehemiah dealt with in Nehemiah 3 and Nehemiah 10, but even in Nehemiah 13, and then Nehemiah gets angry about this. We see this is almost like, you know, uh Jesus in the temple, you know, sort of moment. He says, I beat some of them and pulled out their hair and made them swear in the name of God that they would not let their children intermarry with the pagan people of the land. This is Nehemiah 13, 25, by the way. Wasn't this exactly what led King Solomon of Israel into sin? This is why he's upset, the same reason Ezra's upset. So Ezra's referring to 70 years ago that got him kicked out. He's referring to Solomon, which is basically the first domino to fall that led again to the Babylonian exile. Although maybe David's affair with Bathsheba was that first domino. I don't know. Regardless of that, you know, he's going back way in time to say, this is where we got off track. Ah, Solomon had all these wives from foreign nations. They led him to worship false gods. We cannot do this. And Nehemiah is so angry about it, he gets physically by violent. Again, very similar, even though it's not a connected reading to today. Jesus in the temple, which we've studied a few times this year. Psalm 1, what a powerful psalm. Six short verses and it packs an absolute punch. But this is why I put it in the today's reading. Um, oh the joys of those who do not follow the advice of the wicked or stand around with sinners, and I don't think that means standing around idly by, I think that means joining in community with them. But I definitely believe this does, or join in with mockers. Um This is what causes a person to be cursed in Christianity as opposed to blessed. It's what causes us to not prosper. They are like worthless chaffs scattered by the wind. That's how we're going to be if we stand with them, if we join in with them. And uh something that again he alludes to, I think, again, uh in in Psalm 26. Um, he says, uh, I love your sanctuary, Lord, the place where your glorious um presence dwells. Don't let me suffer the fate of sinners, don't condemn me along with murders, their hands are dirty with evil schemes, and they constantly take bribes. But I am not like that. I live with integrity. So redeem me and show me mercy. Now I stand on solid ground and I will publicly praise the Lord. He says, I hate the gatherings of those who do evil, and I refuse to join in with the wicked. This very much reminds me, and I can put put myself back in high school, and now that I'm a parent of still very young children, but I'm still thinking about this, of again, like the idea of what like one of my sons one day being around a group of friends and they're all doing something they shouldn't be doing. And to show how what the era I'm from, the first thing that comes to my mind is smoking. And uh, because I definitely wasn't allowed to do that, you know, whenever I was a child. And again, of course, drinking was one of those things too. I never, this is again, if you've ever dealt with this, this is not meant to be, you know, a self-righteous thing. It's just, again, the the area I grew up in and the really the protection of my parents. I never have been offered, you know, a drug in my life out unless outside counting those two things I just mentioned. But those kind of things are the things that come to the top of my brain because we were always taught just say no and all that. But regardless of what the temptation is for children or adults, that's the idea I get whenever he talks about I'm not joining in with them. Okay, I'm drawing a line in the sand, okay? And if I can use my brother Ashley as an illustration for this, I have watched him multiple times in my life draw a line in the sand when people were doing wrong and say, no, I'm not doing that. And although I wasn't around for it, I've also been told that my cousin Joey, whenever he was younger, there were times where his friends tried to influence him to do things that he knew was wrong that were sin, and he also refused to do it. So I've had some good examples in my life of this, but the idea of Psalm 1 and Psalm 26 absolutely is I'm not being unequally yoked in the sense I'm not joining in with you. I'm not standing with you, okay? I am standing away from you. You know, very similar to Shadrach, Meshach, and Nebednego. The idea of standing up, you know, the vertical three thing that my denomination uses for our youth conferences could be connected to this as well. Maybe next year. Romans 12. Oh my goodness, this is such a good passage. Two verses and it packs a punch. Do not copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you. Isn't that how Christianity works? You stop doing this, you start doing that. That's Ephesians 4. The thief doesn't just stop stealing, he starts earning money so he can give it away and be generous. So you don't just stop behaving like the world, you let God transform you. Um, and that is exactly what you know uh what he's teaching here. Um living a holy uh living sacrifice holy and acceptable to God, that is how you do not be unequally yoked with the world. Then you will know what God's will for you is his good and pleasing and perfect will, which again is going to be away from you know friendship with the world in the deep, you know, meaningful senses. And then 2 Corinthians 6, which is kind of like the core text here. If this were a sermon, this would be the core text, and all these other texts would be, you know, the supporting text for it. It says, How can light live with darkness? How can righteousness be a partner with darkness? Do not team up with or be unequally yoked, some translations say, do not team up with those who are unbelievers. What union can there be with God's temple and idols? For we are the temple of the living God, as God said, I will live with them and walk among them, 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. Do not touch their filthy things, and I will welcome you. Clean and unclean? Yes. Not exactly like the six-day study we did, but it's the same idea. Those things are just physical, you know, reminders of a spiritual reality. Here is the reality, which again is three-dimensional as well. This is real world physical, emotional, you know, mental stuff as well. We have to be different, we have to be set apart. We can influence the world as salt and light without adopting their customs and cultures and without being, you know, in deep, intimate relationships with them, especially in things like marriage and business partnerships, those kind of things. Then I included Leviticus 26, Ezekiel 20, um, Isaiah 52. These are all supporting passages because they're quoted by Paul in 2 Corinthians 6 14 through 7-1. And then I close with James because he says the same thing, you know, that that Paul that Paul has just taught in uh in 2 Corinthians 6. You adulterers, don't you realize that friendship with the world makes you an enemy of God? Could it be said any plainer than that? I say it again. If you want to be a friend of the world, you will make yourself an enemy of God. When the Bible repeats something, it's significant. When it repeats it in the same verse, it's significant squared. Just like that peace piece of Isaiah 26, 3, the peace squared, full peace, complete peace. This is complete warning. This is a total warning against maybe becoming a friend of the world. And by the way, I understand this is this is very practical to me, especially on social media. When I see what the world approves of, you know, and how it infiltrates the church, there are times I want to do that as well. I because it makes you a good guy, it makes you tolerant, it makes you, you know, nice, it makes you, you know, um accepted. And again, this is not that you have to go to social media and be hateful. I definitely wouldn't condone that at all. But whether it's social media real world or not, there are times where you're just gonna have to understand that people are going to reject you because you cannot approve of and you cannot condone and you cannot, you know, be in relationship with things that the Bible does not approve of, even if people call you intolerant and they call you arrogant or whatever. I hope that if they ever call me that, it's because of the truth, not because of of my personality or my character. What do they what do you think the scriptures mean when they say that the Spirit of God has placed us to fill with envy? Because we want to be we are tempted to want to be like the people around us. Um it's a big temptation, I think. But uh it's in some sense, it's easier, at least in the short term, to live like the world. There's less, you know, it's less confrontation, it's less, you know, negative reactions from people, it's less awkwardness, it's it's again that temporary high of you know of people thinking, oh yeah, that that's a Christian who really loves people when in reality it's not truly love. It's it's uh it's a diluted form of the word. And so we cannot be like the world, we cannot have the world's customs. Of course, the last two days have made that clear, but we I can say it mo most biblically the way I learned that we cannot be unequally yoked with the world. We cannot be in deep, intimate relationship with the world with it to the point that it leads us to think like they do, instead of us influencing them with the gospel just so they can see our good works and glorify our God in heaven. So tomorrow we're changing the page again. We're gonna talk about a four-day study on the word redemption in the Bible. And we actually did this on uh one of the catch-up days, and but it was very brief though, at least in my mind. Those catch up days sometimes are long. We talked about redeem and redemption, you know, like in the book of Ruth, what it means, and we talked about the wording of meaning, but now we're gonna do the deep biblical dive into this idea because redemption in the Bible can mean protective justice or it can mean salvation, and we're gonna look at both and both of them for two days. So four days worth of this. So please come back and be with us again tomorrow as we continue to read the connections, see the connections, and study the connections. Thank you.