Chapter Six- Holy Moments in an Unholy World

 Paul gives the church at Corinth clear instructions regarding their new position in life. Here is an excerpt from 2Corinthians 6:14-18.

Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness? What accord has Christ with Belial? Or what portion does a believer share with an unbeliever? What agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; as God said,

“I will make my dwelling among them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. 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.”

The scripture above was written to a church which was located in a modern, wealthy, ungodly city called Corinth. The new Christ followers there were struggling to live out their newfound relationship with Jesus and Paul could sense it. Reports were coming back reporting conflicts between Jews and Gentiles, saved family members and unsaved family members, doctrinal conflict about Jewish laws and practices, and more. In his two letters to the believers there, Paul teaches the new doctrine of Jesus, and calls the body of Christ there to stand tall in their new faith. This section of verses teaches us a little about the cost of living out our Christ centered lives in the midst of self-centered unbelievers.

Look at the clear instructions Paul gives the body of Christ. He asks several rhetorical questions to address the issues they faced then, and we face today. Ask yourself those questions right now. Where are your partnerships? Who are you fellowshipping with? Who do you share your portions with? What agreements and accords are you making with places of ungodliness?

This chapter will discuss the topics of strategic separation from the world, which is a commitment to be holy (separate) and not be yoked to (interact with, find joy in, invest time and money in) unclean things. This commitment was needed for the Corinthians as the culture they lived in was so sinful and corrupt that they could no longer interact with some of their old friends anymore. To do so would mean they would have to meet them at the sex houses, drinking places, and back alleys where people’s base impulses committed sinful self-abusing and other-abusing acts. As Christ followers, they were now in the world but no longer of the world. Don’t panic, I have an answer for that burning question I know you’re asking right now. Give me an opportunity to develop it.

I was radically saved out of gang activity, alcohol and sexual addiction as I was living in the suburbs of Philadelphia in the early 70s. My life was so out of control that it was just a matter of time before I was arrested or dead. God knew my salvation needed to start with a radical experience of the verses above. Many of my party friends saw the obvious change in my lifestyle and passions, and some were interested in learning more. Many were also incensed by my new claims of religion and faith. They passionately rejected me and my seemingly narrow-minded self-righteous attitude ( I was actually neither, they just assumed I was). I never judged or condemned anyone in those early years of my rebirth. My new life was renewed, relevant and fulfilling. I connected with other believers in a local church and began to grow in my understanding of what it meant to know and follow Jesus. This new lifestyle necessitated my separation from the unholy places and people I once embraced, but I was also learning that the people who were still in that lifestyle were precious to Jesus and needed to hear the same life-giving truth I had heard. This began my holy moment journey, even though I didn’t call it that at the time. I invited many of my old party friends to youth meetings and social events to share my new life with them. God was teaching me how to live as a Christ follower in the ungodly culture around me and not be seduced by it as I lived out my daily life. There were clear lines I did not cross, but there were opportunities to go into places where my friends were to share the truth with them. God protected me and guided me in those early days. There were holy moments everywhere.

Maybe you don’t think any of these questions apply to you. Maybe you have committed to insulate you and your family from the world by creating a Christian culture bubble, a holy huddle, a lifestyle that has protected you and your loved ones from any worldly influence or temptation. You only fellowship with Godly believers, your kids only play with those you have approved as safe, (this is wise in today’s unholy culture) and your TV only plays worship music or family-oriented shows. You never invite the neighbors over because you feel you’d have to have alcohol at the party for them to even consider coming over. Your life revolves around church events and small groups designed to be predictable and safe. You control the holy moments in your life and resist any calling to places that may stain or strain you or make people talk. I understand this mindset. In part, it is a good strategy. But left unchecked, it will become a burden as you work hard to achieve something Jesus never called you to achieve. 

One thing I hear loud and clear from the above verses is that we must be careful about who influences our lives. Living a more holy life will necessitate that we choose who we can be around and who we need to avoid. You will be surprised at who that is. Here is another set of verses from Paul.

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.” 1Corinthians 5:9-12

Paul was referring to a man in the local church who had committed sexual sin with his stepmother. The church leaders were allowing the man to remain in the church with no consequences, and Paul acted.  Paul ordered the man to be disciplined and expelled from fellowship until he had repented and ended the affair. In his second letter he commended the church for taking action and asked them to receive the man back into fellowship once he was restored. This ungodly event happened within the body of believers there, not on the backstreet alleys of the city.  Paul uses this event as an example of the ungodly people we  should avoid. Paul makes it clear that avoiding the ungodly, unsaved people around us is not God’s plan. We do need to be careful and not allow an ungodly person to lead us into ungodliness. But we also need to be accessible to those in the world who are looking for a way out of the sinful, hopeless, self-destructive life they are enslaved to. Paul said that we are not to be yoked to ungodly people. That would apply to marriages, other committed relationships, maybe even businesses where our financial and Christian reputation is tied to an ungodly person’s behavior. I have worked in business with both ungodly and godly people, but I had an independent work contract, not a partner (yoked) agreement. God calls us to be lights in the world, but not partakers in the ungodly things of the world. There is a definite line ungodly people invite us to cross. We need to stand our ground, refuse ungodly behavior, and invite them into our lives so they can feel the love, acceptance, freedom, and joy we experience as believers. Some will come gladly, looking for the relevance in the things we believe. Others will refuse our invitation and heap abuse on us as out of touch prudes who don’t know how to have a good time. Don’t bother casting your pearls (holy moments) their direction until they are willing to consider coming out of the mud and mire long enough to hear the master calling their name. We don’t avoid sinful ungodly people, but we don’t wallow in the mud with them either. 

Jesus lived amongst the ungodly

The gospel writers mention several examples of Jesus interacting with ungodly, unclean, and culturally decadent people. He spent so much time with ‘sinners’ that he caused the Jewish religious leaders to judge him as “One who spends time with drunkards and unbelievers” (Luke 15:1-2). Do I want to be identified like this? Should I be identified like this?

Luke 19:1-10 recounts the day a little man was met with a big invitation. Jesus sees him in the tree and says.

“Zacchaeus, hurry and come down, for I must stay at your house today.” So, he hurried and came down and received him joyfully. And when they saw it, they all grumbled, “He has gone in to be the guest of a man who is a sinner.

There are two big takeaways from this story. One, Jesus told Zacchaeus that he MUST stay at his house today. I need to ask Jesus for help here. Who is it I MUST share a holy moment with today? Who is it I MUST invite to my house or go to their house? Can you ask Jesus to point to one non-Christ follower in your circle of influence that you can bless with connection? Could you have them over for dinner and be ok with the rumors and gossip that may happen in the church? I don’t mean you need to go out to a bar and get drunk with your friend to connect with them. You may have to meet them at a neutral place that is still safe for you, but a place they feel safe as well. Remember you are in the world, but you are not of it. Resist the urge to remain in your holy huddle and take a risk for a friend who needs the light you can offer.

The second takeaway is how the religious leaders accused Jesus of going into the house of an unclean sinner. They taught that if you entered the house of an unclean person, you would become unclean and have to go through the complicated process of restoring your cleanness before God. The lesson for us today is that if you act like Jesus, you may get accused by the local church as being too close to the ungodly unbelievers in your life.

John 4 tells us of the interaction Jesus had with a Samaritan woman coming to her local well for water. Here is the beginning of the story.

A woman from Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.” (For his disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.) The Samaritan woman said to him, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a woman of Samaria?” (For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.) Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.”

Once again, Jesus positions Himself at a place where he would encounter those his current religious leaders would never want to meet. Samaritans were Jewish wannabe’s, people who wanted to follow God but not with the traditions and heavy religious burdens the Jewish people would put on them. They were outcasts by Jewish standards. Jesus loved the outcasts, and he loved this Samaritan woman.  

Notice that Jesus does not offer her the burden of becoming a Jew and renouncing her inferior Samaritan religious beliefs. He offers her living water and forgiveness of her sins. This woman goes back to town and invites the entire town to meet a man who knew all about her, but still loved her. Jesus spent a couple of days there sharing the good news with unclean, marginalized Samaritans. The holy moments were fast and furious!

Next, we find Jesus attending the going away party for a new convert, Matthew. We read in Matthew 9:9-13.

“As Jesus passed on from there, he saw a man called Matthew sitting at the tax booth, and he said to him, “Follow me.” And he rose and followed him.

And as Jesus reclined at table in Matthew’s house, behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and were reclining with Jesus and his disciples. And when the Pharisees saw this, they said to his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” But when he heard it, he said, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. Go and learn what this means: I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.’ For I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.”

Once again, Jesus is amongst the people. He is walking with his crew and sees Matthew sitting at his table conducting business for the Roman government. With one invitation, Matthew leaves everything and starts walking with Jesus. This leads to an invitation to a going away dinner at Matthew’s house. The religious leaders react predictably and accuse Jesus again of staining his reputation by spending time with sinners and unclean people. Jesus answers with a reminder to them of their own scriptures. The quote is from Hosea 6:5 and says, “I desire mercy, not sacrifice.” Jesus was willing to eat with sinful people who were seeking him, not inviting him to sin with them. This is not meant to tempt a believer to go back to their sinful ways by hanging around sinful people from their past. My new life in Christ required me to step away from all the places and people I was a slave to until I matured and had the strength to return to some of that culture and not be led back into it.  This ‘sinful crowd’ was drawn to Jesus and his invitation to a new life. This scene shows the love Jesus has for those outside our current church crowd. Pray for Jesus to invite you to holy moments like this.

“And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” Matthew 28:18-20

Pursue Jesus. Pursue holiness. Pursue righteousness. Separate from sinful behavior. Control what influences you in the media, news, culture, and choose which friends have sway over you.

Love people. Invite unbelievers into your home. Pick a family on your son’s soccer team and have them over after a game. Go to the neighborhood party, shake hands, be available, don’t drink or smoke or do something you know is wrong, but connect with people. Ask them about their lives, their job, their hobbies. Just asking people about themselves will mark you as different. Be curious about them and they will open up to you.

Find a place to serve non church people. Hand out food at a pantry, volunteer at an inner-city program, coach a team, be in the mix. Invite others from your church to go with you into the darkness, where you will shine as lights leading many to holy moments.

Start small, ask God to show you one unbeliever in your life you can be a holy moment to. Get ready, something special is about to begin! Holy moments are on the way!