To Encourage You

2 Corinthians 6:17-18 “Therefore go out from their midst, and be separate from them, says the Lord, and touch no unclean thing; then I will welcome you, and I will be a father to you, and you shall be sons and daughters to me, says the Lord Almighty.”

Have you ever found yourself in a situation from which you thought you might have to extract yourself?  It had all started well, but things had changed, and now you were perplexed as to whether you should continue?  It’s a common situation, spiritually speaking, and it’s what Paul was speaking about in the verses above.  He was speaking to the church at Corinth within which conflicts had arisen, particularly regarding the teaching and leadership of the apostle Paul. It’s worth noting here that Paul was not saying that they shouldn’t associate with people who didn’t call themselves Christians.  We shouldn’t expect those who clearly don’t call themselves believers to act like they are. Why would they? In fact, Paul clarified this in his first letter to the church at Corinth with these words:  “I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people— not at all meaning the sexually immoral of this world, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters, since then you would need to go out of the world. But now I am writing to you not to associate with anyone who bears the name of brother if he is guilty of sexual immorality or greed, or is an idolater, reviler, drunkard, or swindler—not even to eat with such a one. For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Is it not those inside the church whom you are to judge? God judges those outside. ‘Purge the evil person from among you’” (1 Corinthians 5:9-13).

So, there were those that had come into the church introducing heretical teaching and lifestyles, and Paul was giving the church instruction, inspired by the Holy Spirit, regarding what they were to do.  They were not to anguish about it. They were not to try to make peace. They were told to do one and only one thing: get out! 

I faced such a situation many years ago.  I had become acquainted with an association that had been established to promote the work of Sunday Schools across Pennsylvania. They had annual meetings with training sessions for Sunday School teachers. Since I was a Sunday School teacher and a Sunday School superintendent at the time in my home church, it seemed like a good thing to be a part of.  However, as time went on, I learned that there were instructors that the leadership of the association had invited to the annual meeting that held heretical views about fundamental biblical truths, things like the virgin birth of Christ. I also found that the leadership had been “wrestling” with things like the role of homosexuality in the church. What was I to do?  These were nice people that I was getting to know and I enjoyed being with them.  But what about these views that were infiltrating the association.  Well, according to Paul’s instruction above, I was not to try to cooperate with them, try to get along with them, or demonstrate tolerance and acceptance.  No, it was time to get out of there, and that’s exactly what I did. 

Recently the United Methodist Church has been in the news.  They’ve decided to split over the issue of homosexuality.  If you are a member of a church in this denomination, you may be wondering what to do. Well, the bottom line is that the church is the body of Christ and He is its head (Colossians 1:18).  He has told us plainly in His Word that when any church tolerates sin, it’s the same as trying to yoke unbelief of God’s Word with belief, righteousness with lawlessness, light with darkness, and the worship of Christ with the worship of Belial (2 Corinthians 6:14-15).  It should never be tolerated.  It’s a problem that goes back to the first century church and even further, for it reaches back into the time of ancient Israel. At that time God warned Israel against the acceptance of any pagan idolatrous practices into their worship as they entered the Promised Land.  He had given them laws that, if obeyed, would keep them separate from the idolatrous Canaanites and their religious practices.  God will never bless tolerance of clear violations of His Word.  So, in the face of such a situation, what is a believer to do?  God’s Word is very clear: “go out from their midst, and be separate from them,” for in obedience to this command a believer will find refuge in the promise that those who separate themselves from such ungodliness will find welcome in the true family of God. There, and only there they will find blessing as His sons and daughters.  And isn’t that what any true believer really wants, i.e., separation from the sin for which Jesus gave His life on the cross, and separation to their Savior, wholly committed to the way of holiness, the very purpose for which they have been saved.

May God help the true believers in the church today to obey the separation that God has called us to. It’s something that will become more and more an issue as time goes on.  Jesus asked this sobering question as He prophesied about the time of His second coming: “When the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?” (Luke 18:8).  You see, it will be a time of a great falling away, a falling away that will engulf those who aren’t willing to separate themselves from those within the church that call good evil and evil good.  It’s a separation of the light from the darkness which shouldn’t be a difficult choice for those who claim to be following the Light of the World.