Who Are You Yoked to?

January 27, 2019 Speaker: Jeremy Smith Series: Be Resolute

Topic: Relationships Scripture: 2 Corinthians 6:14– :18

Who are you yoked to?

 

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Relationships. Whether you are 100 or you are a toddler, you are going to be in relationship with people. The decision is not if you will be in relationships but who those relationships will be with.

 

I was asking God what His heart was for this message and I believe that he spoke this to me.

 

“I am after those who have heard my upward call and are stumbling over people who have not.”

 

Philippians 3:14 says, “I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”

 

If you are here today and you have the desire to be resolute in your walk with Christ, then you need to be resolute in deciding who you are going to be in relationship with. You come to church and your spirit desires to live for Christ, but then you leave and your other 6 days are filled with close relationships to people who don’t share your desire.

 

Sotodaywearegoingtotalkabouttheimportanceofhavingsold-out,Godlyrelationships,with theideathatwhoyouconnecttoinrelationship,whethermarriageanddating,orfriendship,will determine how resolute you are in your walk withChrist.

 

And that is our goal. To be resolute in our pursuit of Christ. Let’s pray.

2 Corinthians 6: 14-18

 

First off, we know through history texts and through scripture that Corinth is a port city with a lot of immorality and a lot of sacrificing to idols. They worship Roman gods and greek gods and even Egyptian gods.

 

So they have a lot of issues and a lot of influences that are pulling at them and begging for their worship and their attention. That is a lot like the world that we are living in today.

 

Social Media Fashion

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Technology… there are a lot of things that are grabbing at our focus.

 

So what He is saying is don’t line yourself up with the standard of the culture you live in, line yourself up with the standard of God.

 

 

And so he starts out by saying to not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. (Duet 22:10, Matt 11:29).

 

What is a yoke? What does that mean?

 

To be yoked to something is to be joined together for the plowing of fields. PHOTO

 

Deut says don’t plow your field with a donkey and an ox. Ox are stronger and have longer strides and the donkey struggles to keep up and is punished the whole way through.

 

So Paul is saying not to JOIN yourself to people that are walking and believing differently from you. Joined is the key word here.

 

Because the question always comes up, “Am I only supposed to talk and live around Christians? How will I bring people to Christ? How will I go to school and have a job?”

 

He uses the word yoked because it means that you are connected, or tied to something. Not that you are near or around something.

 

These are the things and people that you bringinto your life. These are not the things and people that you cannot avoid.

 

Jesus says this in John 17:14-18

14I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. 15I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one.[a]16 They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. 17 Sanctify them[b]in the truth; your word is truth. 18 As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world.

 

Boat object lesson

 

Philippians 1:21 To live is Christ and to die is gain.

Romans 12:2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

 

He’s saying that your best friends, your boyfriend or girlfriend, your wife or your husband; they should be people that are resolutely pursuing Christ if you are going to resolutely pursue Christ.

 

We can’t live for Christ while being yoked to the world.

 

 

Why?

 

Because the way that we are to be in relationship with others is crazy to people of the world.

 

Verse 16 says, “What agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the Living God.”

 

1 Cor 2:14 says, “14 The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.”

 

We have the Holy Spirit living in us and nonbelievers don’t so therefore they cannot see the world the same way that we do. They can’t. To the nonbeliever the things of God are foolish.

 

ForsakingallforthekingdomofGodseemsfoolishtosomeonethatdoesn’tbelieveinGod’s Kingdom.

 

So, where do we need to makechanges? Friends

Be friends with people that genuinely love God and care about you. Friends that genuinely love God and care about you will hold you accountable.

 

Point 1

Be yoked to friends that will HOLD YOU ACCOUNTABLE.

 

Jeremiah 17:9 says, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick, who can understand it?”

 

We are blind to so much in our own lives, and if we don’t have people in our lives who are going to hold us accountable when we go the wrong direction we will convince ourselves that it’s actually the right direction.

 

We need people that genuinely love God and care about us enough to tell us that we are going in the wrong direction.

Worldly friends either join in on rebellion or they keep their mouths shut because it’s none of their business.

 

Godly friends hold each other accountable.

 

Worldlyfriendshearyougossipandjoinin.Worldlyfriendstellyouthatwatchingpornisnormal, no big deal. Worldly friends let you complain about your wife and then join in and complain about theirwife.

 

Resolute friends hear you gossip and pull you aside and tell you that you shouldn’t gossip because it’s unkind and it’s born out of insecurity that God wants to free you from. Resolute friends tell you that porn is pollution and that the shame you will feel will separate you from God. Resolute friends tell you that your wife isn’t crazy, that it’s your responsibility to love her sacrificially and make her feel beautiful and secure. That if there’s something missing in your relationship then it’s your job to humble up and lead in the fixing.

 

This is possible. We just have to look.

 

Every monday I meet with 5 other guys and this is what happens. We care and we listen and then we push each other to take ownership and responsibility for our attitudes and actions.

 

Without resolute friends, we can’t be resolute Christians. You have to go after Godly friendships.

The next place is our romantic life. Point 2

Be yoked romantically to someone who pushes you to grow.

 

First of all if you are already married to a nonbeliever, don’t get divorced just pray.

 

1 Corinthians 7:12-13 says, “12 To the rest I say (I, not the Lord) that if any brother has a wife who is an unbeliever, and she consents to live with him, he should not divorce her. 13 If any woman has a husband who is an unbeliever, and he consents to live with her, she should not divorce him.

 

But to the rest of you who aren’t married. This is the biggest decision you will make aside from salvation.

 

You need to be yoked to someone who pushes you to grow. When I met Amber I was blown away by how many books she would bring in to church on Wednesdays at Living Word. She’s always late and so church would start every time the door would open I would look to see if it was her and eventually she would walk in with a stack of books. She says I exaggerate but that’s the way I remember it. She would worship and worship and worship.

 

I remember thinking, “look at how spiritual she is!” Then I started to go to Hope Extreme because I wanted to be with her and I would see her pray with these girls and wrap her arms

 

around them and cry with them. I knew that she spent time with God every day because that’s what we talked about. I saw for myself that she loved God and she loved His people and it made me want to love God and love His people.

 

If you don’t yoke yourself to a resolute follower, it’s very easy to be pulled out

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