Good morning and welcome in today. Today we’re going to take a look at some scripture from 2 Cor, but before we do that, I wanted to tell you a little story.
When I was a child in the kitchen, I used to have a little job that I needed to do. I was in charge of making dressing for our salads. We used to have a premade bottle that you would put the powdered ingredients into, followed by the oil and the water. I would shake it and shake it and shake it till it was all mixed up real good. I finally would put it on the kitchen table for supper.
When we finally got around for supper, I would notice that even though I had shaken and stirred everything up real good, everything had separated in the dressing. All of the powdered ingredients were on the bottom and all of the water was in the middle, and the oil was floating on the top! No matter how much I shook that bottle up, it was only a matter of time until all the ingredients would separate. The word separate means to cause to move, or be apart.
2 Cor 6:17-18
17 Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you.
18 And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.
The Lord teaches us that in order for us to be received by him, we first have to be capable of coming out and being separate. God wants to be a father unto us, but we need to separate ourselves from the world and its ways. Separate means viewed as a unit apart or, by itself. It’s very important to hear that again. Separate means viewed as a unit apart or by itself.
Think of a couple things that are separate in our world today. I think of the North Pole. It’s completely separate and all by itself. How about a tiny little island in the middle of the Pacific, completely isolated, and separate. Just like these places, God wants us to be separate from the world. Separate means to move, to divide, to break into parts or to keep apart. When you are divided, it means you are in two separate groups or parts.
When I think about division, I think about the Laurentian divide. I live up here in Northern Minnesota and there is a place here known as the Northern Divide. It separates the watershed of streams that flow north to the artic ocean from the watershed of streams that flow south through the Great Lakes and finally into the Atlantic Ocean. The laurentian divide is a cause of division when it comes to water.
Luke 12:51-53
51 Suppose ye that I am come to give peace on earth? I tell you, Nay; but rather division:
52 For from henceforth there shall be five in one house divided, three against two, and two against three.
53 The father shall be divided against the son, and the son against the father; the mother against the daughter, and the daughter against the mother; the mother in law against her daughter in law, and the daughter in law against her mother in law.
In the Christian church division happens because of your beliefs and your faith in the teachings of Jesus Christ.
Scripture teaches us to come out from among them and be separate saith the LORD
Rev 18:4 4 And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.
If you’re a follower of Jesus Christ, you will need to learn about how to come out from the world and be separate.
Jer 51:6 6 Flee out of the midst of Babylon, and deliver every man his soul: be not cut off in her iniquity; for this is the time of the Lord’s vengeance; he will render unto her a recompence.
The doctrine of separation is a belief among a few Christian groups that the members of the church should keep away or be separate from those who are of the world. They are not supposed to be associated in some kind of fellowship with people who are still living in the world who haven’t accepted Christ as their Savior.
Imagine talking to your parents one night at the supper table and telling them that someone from school asked you to rob bank with them. It doesn’t sound like a good thing to do does it. Your parents, if they are God fearing people will tell you to keep away from that person. That’s called being separate from the world. Keeping separate from the ways of the world honors God.
Remember, the Scriptures teach us that the gospel of peace needs to be preached to the world. Those who accept it are going to be converted and begin a life in the church. Those who don’t, you are supposed to keep separate from. It has to do with a personal decision to follow or not follow Jesus Christ.
Remember that Sodom and Gomorrah was going to be destroyed. Lot explained this to his family and chose to leave the city. Although he made the decision to separate from the world and all of the things that vexed his soul day by day, it was his wife who wanted to return to the big city. She just couldn’t let it go in her heart. Instead of turning away from the world, she decided to turn around and attempt to go back and was turned into a pillar of salt.
I’m sure Job was heartbroken, losing the woman that he loved. She loved the world more than her own husband.
Matt 25:32-33
31 When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory:
32 And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats:
33 And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left.
When you are separate from others, it means the act of separating or severing and disconnecting certain relationships from your life. Remember that God did not want divisions in the church. He wants us to be joined together perfectly in the same mind in the same judgment. He wants us to believe the exact same things from the teachings of Holy Scriptures. He wants us to be forgiving. He wants us to be able to admit fault and confess our sins. The church is not supposed to be a place of division. The separation we are talking about today, is from people who are living in the world without Christ. At the end, the Lord is going to separate the sheep from the goats. When we willingly choose to separate from the world, it shows God that we have chosen him over the things of this place. In that act, He promises that He will be a father unto us and that we shall be his sons and daughters.
Christianity is about becoming a follower of Jesus Christ, rather than becoming a follower of the world and its ways. While Jesus was here upon the earth, there were people who followed him, and there were others who didn’t.
In a past study, I mentioned one time when I was speaking at a mall in front of a fairly large group of people. When I began to talk about Jesus Christ and how He had died on the cross for our sins, half of the room got up right at that moment, and left. I presented them with the gospel of Christ but instead of receiving the gospel, some turned away from it and left.
Remember that Abraham kept away from the world. He lived a fairly solitary life. Noah kept away from the world and spent most of his life building a boat that would save his family from the flood. Moses kept away from the world, turning his back on the things of Egypt, to serve the Lord Jesus Christ.
Being separate from the world and its ways, is not a bad thing. God commands it. It’s a good thing. This world tags people who are reclusive because of their Christian beliefs as weird and even having mental problems. I find that very interesting because for many years I have worked with handicapped people who dealt with mental issues but they themselves eventually recieved and believed in the truth of Christ.
Moses definitely had a quiet life being with his family out in the desert, as did Abraham and Noah. They chose to stay away from all the hustle bustle and sin of this world. The Lord teaches us to walk the narrow road, instead of the wide road that leads to destruction. It’s a quiet path, and there are not many people who are on it. That’s not a bad thing, but truly it is the better way to go.
Think about how many people each day have to separate mail into certain piles at a Post Office. Certain mail has to stay in their city, but a lot of the mail has to go somewhere else. To separate means to set or keep apart or to make a distinction between. Another synonym says to block off and to segregate or to become isolated. Segregated means to set apart from the rest, or from each other, to isolate, or to divide. It means to be independent.
When a person decides to become a follower of Jesus Christ, and you truly love him with your heart, you will want to obey Him. You are gonna have the desire to separate, to segregate, to divide, and be away from the things of this world.
I’m not alone in this belief because there are numerous groups of Christianity who have done this very same thing for years on end. It’s a choice that nobody can make for you. If you choose that you love Christ, and you truly want to inherit the promise when He says, I will be a father unto you and you shall be my sons and daughter said the Lord Almighty, then you need to come out from among them and be separate.
As the apostle taught, be not partakers of her plagues. Sodom and Gomorrah was destroyed. Do you think it was a good thing to come out and be separate from that city and the things that were going on in it? Lot’s wife was incapable of doing that, and she was punished accordingly.
Let’s think about those things for today. And Lord willing, I’ll talk to you some more tomorrow. Till then bye Bye, everybody.♥️
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