I want to thank the watchmen also for being here.
They're going to be with us in the next service
and then be with the high schoolers during Sunday
school this morning at 1115. And thanks to those
of you who helped in hosting them. Would you
open your Bible please with me to 2 Corinthians
chapter 6. Our text today begins in the middle
of verse 16 and concludes with the first verse
of chapter 7. For we are the temple of the living
God Just as God said I will dwell in them and
walk among them and I will be their God and they
shall be my people Therefore come out from their
midst and be separate says the Lord and do not
touch what is unclean and I will welcome you
and I will be a father to you and you shall be
I recall when I was a young boy the excitement
of going to family reunions. Some of you will
be going to reunions in a couple of weeks or
later on in the summer, and there you will see
family members that you've not seen for a long
time, and you might even wish you wouldn't see
again. I don't know. If it's like most families,
that might be the case with one or two. But I
can remember as a young boy the excitement that
I felt when I realized that I had cousins and
began to understand what cousins were all about.
Cousins were more than friends. One who was my
cousin was someone who was blood related to me.
My grandpa and grandpa were their grandpa and
grandpa. There was a relationship. among us that
did not exist among my friends and myself. The
relationship of family is a very important one.
Although we have to admit sadly that it's missing
in our society today far too often. Families
become separated because of our mobility. I grieve
that my children do not have the same sense of
family that I grew up with because they live
so far from their cousins and their aunts and
uncles. And of course in addition to that we're
facing the phenomenon of families that are disintegrating
and so to many children the word family becomes
really a confusing term. They're not exactly
sure what family refers to. Several years ago
David Clatterbuck, who teaches Christian education
at Northwestern College, was speaking to a group
of our leaders at the church and talked with
us about a healthy family. He gave to us a list
of characteristics of a healthy family. One way
to measure a healthy family is the number of
people in the nuclear family itself and in the
immediate circle of intimate acquaintances. The
closest friends or other family members that
live right in the area. Sociologists have found
that if a family is going to be a healthy family,
it needs to have at least 25 to 30 people. in
the nuclear family and in the immediate association
of the nuclear family. And they found that an
unhealthy family will have only 10 to 15 such
relationships. That presents a dilemma, especially
to those of us who have moved from our roots.
Whereas those who have lived in an area for a
long time have families that they can go see
and they have longtime associates and friends
that they accompany with for the holidays and
other special occasions, those who move around
from place to place don't always have those kinds
of benefits. That's one reason that our family
has especially appreciated being part of a flock
this last year. where we've been able to get
to know some other families in our church on
a more intimate level. It's very important for
us to have those kinds of relationships in order
to be a healthy family. Healthy family relationships
provide guidelines as well as management for
times of stress and times when assistance is
needed. When we have those kinds of relationships,
there are positive supports that come to us,
and we all need those. I looked up the word relationship,
since that's what I'm talking about this morning
in the dictionary, and I found that a synonym
of the word relationship, according to Webster,
is the word connection. And I thought to myself
how up -to -date this dictionary is, even though
I bought it 20 years ago. A relationship is a
connection by blood or marriage. Or a relationship
is kinship. So a relationship is a connection.
That's different than a conjunction. In recent
days we have observed something that people on
the earth have not seen for about 600 years.
In the evening sky we have seen three planets
come into what is called conjunction. They're
in the same part of the sky, a beautiful sight.
But that's only from our perspective, because
actually those planets are as far away from one
another as they ever are. But from our perspective,
they come together in conjunction. But that's
not a connection. Connection is when there is
an actual tie. A popular term coined these days
to communicate the same idea. is the word network.
Network is a noun in my dictionary, but in more
recent years it's also become a verb. Have you
been networked? Oh, I'm networked into this company
or into this church. That means that we have
established relationships. Now one can have an
appropriate number of relationships and yet still
missed the single most crucial one and that is
the relationship with God. Our relationship with
God was broken when humanity fell into sin. God
in his marvelous loving kindness worked through
his son Jesus Christ to restore the possibility
of relationship once again. Sin broke the relationship
between us and God, but through the cross of
Jesus Christ, God worked so that we might once
again have relationship with Him. John summarizes
it this way. In the first chapter of his gospel
he says, But as many as received Jesus Christ,
to them He gave the right to become children
of God. even to those who believe in His name."
Children of God, that's one way of saying relationship.
Our text in 2 Corinthians chapter 6 pictures
that relationship with God in a couple of ways.
Notice that it is first of all pictured as a
temple. God says, we are the temple. of the living
God. And notice that he then makes three statements
regarding this temple as an illustration of his
relationship to those who trust Christ. He says,
I will dwell in them. I will walk among them.
I will be their God and they shall be my people.
Three statements. elaborating upon this illustration
of ourselves being the temple of God. What a
wonderful illustration of relationship with God.
I will dwell in them. Perhaps as the apostle
is writing this, he is reminded of that dwelling
of God in the Old Testament that we call the
tabernacle, that tent of a meeting place. that
was constructed by Moses and skilled craftsmen
after the pattern that God gave to them. That
temple that they carried from place to place
as they marched as a people in the wilderness.
That tabernacle that was set up in the midst
of all of their camp. It was there that God dwelled.
It was there that he settled down and was at
home amongst his people. Now God says, we are
his dwelling place. We, as a body of people,
become the tent of meeting, as it were, where
God dwells, where God is at home. And he says,
I will walk among them. I will walk among them."
God did not do that in the Old Testament. God
was confined, as it were, to the tent of meeting
because the rest of the campground was unsanctified.
It was that area that was set apart for the tabernacle,
the tent. And it was appropriately sprinkled
with blood and prepared so that God might dwell
there. But God did not walk among His people.
He dwelt in the middle of them. But God says
now that He walks among us. Why is that? Because
we have been sprinkled with the blood of Christ.
We have been sanctified. by the work of God.
We have been set apart so that God is pleased
not only to dwell in us, but to walk amongst
us as his people. And then he says, I will be
their God and they shall be my people. Notice
the possessive pronouns in that statement. I
will be their God and they shall be my people.
When we trust Jesus Christ as our Savior and
Lord, God then belongs to us in a possessive
sense. And we, we belong to Him. God says, I
want you to know that there is a relationship
between you and me. And that relationship is
illustrated in this truth. You are the temple.
of the living God. You see, salvation is not
about going to church. Salvation is not about
performing rituals or doing sacraments in a building
somewhere. The salvation is connection. Salvation
is relationship with the living God of the universe.
a relationship that is established by faith.
There's a second illustration in our text of
this relationship between the believer and God,
and it is the illustration of a family. God says,
I will welcome you, I will be a father to you,
and you shall be sons and daughters to me. Again,
three statements. I will welcome you. Is there
any word in our language that communicates welcome
any more than the word family? When you go to
see family, you know you are going to be welcomed
there because you are a part of the same bloodline.
There is a relationship. God says, I will welcome
you. I will be a father to you on this Father's
Day, 1991. It is good for we who are fathers
to remember that God calls himself our Father,
and he gives to us something of a pattern that
we are to follow in our lives as dads in this
world. And thirdly, God says, you will be my
sons and daughters. And we think of the family
relationship, and God is our Father, and we as
children. There are three thoughts that come
to mind. When we think of Father, we think of
progenitor. One who gives life. I knew my father
only for eight years. He died when I was eight
years old. And I have but few precious, few remembrances
of him. But I do respect him, though I have few
memories. Because I know that he is my progenitor.
He is the one who, along with my mother in their
love, gave me life. That's why God calls Himself
our Father. Because He is the one who gives us
life when we trust in Christ. When we think of
Father, we think of one who is provider. One
who is to meet the needs of wife and children.
Ephesians 5, when it says, Husbands, love your
wives just like Christ loved the church. It means
that just as Jesus gave himself to provide for
the church, we are to give ourselves to provide
for our wives and our children. And God does
that. He's our provider. When we think of God
as our Father, we think of Him also as our protector.
A father is a protector of his family. He has
that sense, that innate sense of responsibility
for family. To protect. And so does God. God
hides us, to use another illustration, under
his wings. We dwell in the secret place of the
Almighty. Do you see why God uses this particular
illustration when He wants to describe relationship
to us? I'll be your father, and you're my son,
you're my daughter. It means that He gives us
life. He provides our needs. He keeps us safe.
Because we are His sons and daughters, We bear
his likeness morally. We have an inheritance
that is an eternal one that is coming one day
because we're in Christ. What a wonderful relationship
God makes possible through Jesus. Sin separated
us from God. It destroyed the original relationship
between God and humanity. But now, through Jesus
Christ, God has provided that there might be
relationship again when we trust in Jesus Christ
for our salvation. That relationship has some
responsibilities with it. In our text, God enumerates
two of them. He says, come out from their midst
and be separate, says the Lord. When we have
a new relationship with God, it means a change
in our old relationships. God says, come out
and be separate. In the previous verses he elaborated
on that a bit. Do not be bound together, he says,
with unbelievers. For what partnership have righteousness
and lawlessness? Have you ever been involved
in a partnership where there wasn't equality?
Where there was on the part of one side or the
other a failure to keep the partnership equal?
It's disastrous. God says what relationship is
there between righteousness and unrighteousness?
What fellowship, he says, what communion is there
with light and darkness? What harmony has Christ
with Belial? That's a word for Satan. The word
harmony in the text here is the Greek word symphonesis.
And if you listen to that, you hear the word
symphony. He says Christ and Satan cannot be
in symphony together. And he says, what has a
believer in common with an unbeliever? And what
agreement has the temple of God with idols? Some
very pointed questions that he asks before he
says to us, by way of command, come out and be
separate. And yet the drive among so many of
the contemporary Christians these days is to
go in and be as much like the world as you can
be, imbibe in it, compromise with it, accommodate
yourself to it. And God says, no, no, we're in
relationship. Therefore, you must come out and
be separate. And in verse 1 of chapter 7 he puts
it this way, let us cleanse ourselves from all
defilement of the flesh and spirit. We are forbidden
by God to enter into intimate spiritual bonds
or other kinds of intimate bonds with unbelievers.
That includes marriage. It includes business
partnerships. It doesn't mean a believer can't
work for an unbeliever or that a believer can't
hire unbelievers, but there's not to be a partnership
because there's inequality there and it leads
to trouble. Cleanse ourselves, he says. Let us
cleanse ourselves once and for all. It's a peremptory
act. Let's cleanse ourselves from all defilement,
whether it be of the flesh, the body, the outward
actions, or it be of the spirit, the attitudes
of the heart, those things that are hidden, the
thought processes. Cleanse ourselves. Perfecting
holiness. perfecting it as a way of life. It's
a process, you see. It's something that we don't
do in an instant of time. Oh, if only we could.
But it is a process of perfecting holiness in
the fear of God. I would say this to you today
that we, in the 1990s, who call ourselves Christians,
tend to be far too laid back in our understanding
of God. We are too laid back with God, and we
need to recapture the idea that there is a reason
to fear Him, to have a holy and awful reverence.
For this one who is in relationship with us And
who says you are my temple you are my children
and I am your father and who says come out and
be separate be different and Cleanse yourself
from the defilement of the world the culture
in which you live Peter says it this way, you
are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy
nation, a people for God's own possession, that
you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who
has called you out of darkness into His marvelous
light. For you once were not a people, but now
you are the people of God. Relationship. It goes
on to say, Beloved, I urge you as aliens and
strangers, a change you see in our relationships
in the world. Now we're aliens and strangers
here. I urge you to abstain from fleshly lusts
with wage against the soul. One of the good gifts
of God And that's our theme for this summer.
One of the good gifts of God is the gift of relationship.
Relationship is a privilege. And with the privilege
comes responsibility. The royal family of England
has a good handle on what that means. For the
people who are born into that family are born
into a relationship with a nation. And it is
a relationship that entails a great deal of privilege.
They are unbelievably wealthy. They have holdings
and land and estates that can hardly be calculated.
Palaces in which to live, jewels to wear, Palm
and circumstance wherever they go, privilege.
But with the privilege, hear me, with that privilege
comes a tremendous responsibility. A responsibility
to live a certain way. A responsibility to use
their time a certain way. They are not their
own. They belong to the nation. You see, the
relationship defines the way in which they must
conduct themselves. And so it is with God's royal
family. So it is with God's royal family. There
are external demands that are made upon us because
we belong to God. Come out and be separate. Cleanse
yourself from all defilement of the flesh and
spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.
You see, with those demands, God provides an
internal dynamic so that the change is produced
from the inside out, not forced from the outside
in. One of the good gifts of God is the privilege
of relationship. And one who enters into that
relationship experiences a connection with the
living God. And because of that connection, life
can never be the same again. With that privilege
comes responsibility to live for God. Let's pray
together. Our heads bowed, our eyes closed, and
as the Spirit of God brings to our hearts the
point of this message, just two questions. Number
one, do you have a relationship with God? Have
you received Jesus Christ as your own personal
Savior and Lord? Have you connected with God
or is there still a separation because of your
sin? Would you today trust in Christ so that
your sin might be forgiven and that relationship
might be established? Right where you're seated
you can do that. And those of us who can be called
the sons and daughters of God Have we lately
pondered our responsibility? Have you considered
how you may have compromised with the world?
How you may have come into some kind of an intimate
partnership or union with the lost in a way that
displeases God? Would you today commit yourself
to come out and be separate? To live differently?
To cleanse yourself? from what defiles you? Tell
Him so. Tell God that right now. For Jesus, we
thank you that there is not a friend like you.
Thank you for dying for us, for calling us to
be your own people, for dwelling in us and walking
amongst us. May we in the fear of the Lord cleanse
ourselves and come out and be separate Right
upon our hearts that privilege entails responsibility
I pray that you will send us on our way today
rejoicing that we can call you father and know
the intimacy of that relationship with you as
a reality in our lives. In Jesus' name, Amen.