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