A House for My Name

Good morning! Today after a short message we will spend time together remembering the Lord with the bread and the cup, doing what He asked His disciples to do in remembrance of Him. Following this, we will have a sharing time, where whoever wishes to share what the Lord has been doing in their life will be free to do so. Our sharing times are also motivated by Scripture; this was the kind of meetings that the early church had when they met together. And Scripture is also clear that all the members of a local body of believers are gifted by God in different ways, and by sharing and encouraging one another together, Christ’s body, the church, works as God equipped it and intended it to work.

I have titled today’s message “A House for My Name,” in part because my message is based in part on a book of the same title. This book is subtitled “A Survey of the Old Testament,” but it is unlike any survey I have seen anywhere else. This book shows how there are certain grand themes in the Bible, there are some grand questions that are explored and revealed little by little as we go from the creation of the universe up to the writings of the last prophets a few hundred years before Christ. These themes invariably find their ultimate fulfillment and understanding only in the New Testament, and one way or another, they are always fulfilled in the Person or work of Christ. Today I want to look at one of these themes, the one for which the book has its name.

Right and Wrong Yokes

2 Corinthians 6:14-7:1

Good morning! Today we continue our series on 2 Corinthians by looking at what may be the most well-known passage from the entire book. Unfortunately, I also believe this passage has been misused, used to mean something than other what was intended, more than perhaps any passage in this book as well. So today I want to look at it carefully and discern the context and the correct Biblical meaning of this passage, and then we will talk about how it applies to our lives. So here is the first part of the passage, the portion that is so frequently quoted:

Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness? What harmony is there between Christ and Belial? What does a believer have in common with an unbeliever? What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols? – 2 Corinthians 6:14-16a

Who is Paul talking to? He is talking to Christian believers; the book of 2 Corinthians begins with Paul saying after introducing himself and Timothy, “To the church of God in Corinth, together with all the saints throughout Achaia, grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.” He is speaking to believers.

Open Wide Your Hearts

2 Corinthians 6:1-13Well, if you have looked in your program today for the messenger, I guess you’re a little surprised at this point. Yes, the program does say that Carl is the messenger. But no, I am not Carl. And if you don’t already know me, my name is John. Unfortunately, Carl came down with a cold this week, and it has given him a terrible cough. And that is not so good if you have to deliver a message.

Also, if you weren’t aware, we have three pastors here at Clemson Community Church: Carl Baum, Fred Custer, and me, John Farmer.

So, today is one kind of example of why it is good to have a plurality of leadership. Instead of Carl having to come in here sick, he can rest and I can serve him by giving the message today. It brings to mind Ecclesiastes 4 where it says that two are better than one because they have a good return for their work. The same passage also points out that a cord of three strands is not easily broken.

Reconciliation

2 Corinthians 5:6-21

Last week we learned from Carl (in II Corinthians 5:1-5):

For we know that if the earthly tent which is our house is torn down, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For indeed in this house we groan, longing to be clothed with our dwelling from heaven, inasmuch as we, having put it on, will not be found naked. For indeed while we are in this tent, we groan, being burdened, because we do not want to be unclothed but to be clothed, so that what is mortal will be swallowed up by life. Now He who prepared us for this very purpose is God, who gave to us the Spirit as a pledge.--II Corinthians 5:1-5

(Note this is not "the force" in Star Wars or Eywa in Avatar.) This week we are going to continue on with verses 6-21.

Eternal Dwelling

2 Corinthians 4:13-5:5

Welcome! Today we return to our series in 2 Corinthians. Let me briefly remind you a bit of where we have been. Three weeks ago we looked at chapter 3 and learned how there is the very glory of God in us, through His Spirit. We saw this glory compared to the glory of God made visible through the glowing face of Moses. After Moses spent time with God, the result was that his face would glow. After telling the Israelites what God had told him, Moses would cover his face with a veil, because the glow was distracting, if not blinding. Over time, however, the glow would fade until which time Moses came back into the presence of the Lord. Our earlier passage in 2 Corinthians explained that the glory that is now in us, as believers in Christ, sealed with the Holy Spirit, is so much greater than that glory that it is not even worth comparing the two. So that is part of what we learned about three weeks ago.

Two weeks ago we looked at the first part of Chapter 4, which described us as “jars of clay.”

But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. – 2 Corinthians 4:7