THE OTHER SIDE OF SEPARATION
Separation has always been important to God.
When the Lord chose Abraham, He separated him from others to
accomplish a specific task. Genesis
12:1-3 records the promise of God made to Him. “Now
the Lord had said to Abram:
"Get out of your country, From your family And from your father's house,
To a land that I will show you.
I will make you a great nation; I will bless you And make your
name great; And you shall be a blessing.
I will bless those who bless you, And I will curse him who curses
you; And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed."
While the promise does not mention separation, we know as it
unfolded, the descendents of Abraham through Isaac and Jacob would
become His own special people to accomplish His will for all mankind,
namely, the salvation of man separated from God because of sin.
That was their purpose as the chosen generation.
As Solomon dedicated the temple, his prayer to God included this,
“For You separated them from among all the peoples of the earth to be
Your inheritance, as You spoke by Your servant Moses, when You brought
our fathers out of Egypt, O Lord God.” (1 Kings 8:53)
As time came for Israel to inherit their promised possession,
among the commands of the LORD to them was that they drive out all its
inhabitants. In Deuteronomy
7:1-11 Moses gives the people instructions as they inherit the Promised
Land. These instructions included utterly destroying the nations before
them (because of their wickedness), not making marriages with them, or
serving their gods and idols. “For
you are a holy people to the Lord your God; the Lord your God has chosen
you to be a people for Himself, a special treasure above all the peoples
on the face of the earth.” (Deut. 7:6)
Moses was telling them they were separated by God from the rest
of the world and that they needed to maintain that separation.
In vs. 11, He tells them HOW to stay separated, “Therefore
you shall keep the commandments, the statutes, and the judgments which I
command you today, to observe them.”
If only they had obeyed Him.
Yet, even though they failed miserably in keeping themselves
separated, the PURPOSE for which they had been separated was
accomplished (cf. Gal. 3:19-24).
As a nation, God demonstrated the seriousness of separation by
appointing the Levites to be His priests and keepers of the Law.
(Deut. 10:8) Leviticus
22:2 says, “Speak to Aaron and his sons, that they separate themselves
from the holy things of the children of Israel, and that they do not
profane My holy name by what they dedicate to Me: I am the Lord.”
Further warnings included: IF one of his descendents (a qualified
priest) approached those things dedicated to the Lord (i.e. separated to
Him) while unclean, he was to be cut off from His presence.
Further instructions were given
to those not priests to not eat those things which were holy (see Lev.
22:1-16). The point of all
this, I believe, was to cause the nation of Israel to understand that
Holiness of God. That which
He separates for Himself is to be hallowed and treated as such.
As you study the history of Israel, you find that their failure
to keep themselves separated, both as His nation and His priests,
resulted in their being carried away into captivities.
Consider – it was IDOLS and corruption that were continually
emphasized as the cause of their downfall and removal from the sight of
God. And even when they
returned from captivity, separation was once again emphasized.
They were even commanded to separate themselves from their
foreign wives (Ezra 10:11, Neh. 13:3).
So what is the point?
The people of God are to be a separated people.
It is a major implication as you study the history of God’s
people and something God does NOT take lightly.
Consider the text we began with.
Paul was telling these brethren, “Do
not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship
has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with
darkness? And what accord has Christ with Belial? Or what part has a
believer with an unbeliever? And what agreement has the temple of God
with idols? For you are the temple of the living God. As God has said:
“I will dwell in them And walk among them. I will be their God, And they
shall be My people.” Therefore “Come out from among them
And be separate, says the Lord. Do not touch what is unclean, And I
will receive you.” “I will be a Father to you, And you shall be My sons
and daughters, Says the Lord Almighty.”
(2 Cor. 6:14-18).
The Christian life is one of separation.
Do we take that seriously?
When we obeyed the gospel, we put to death the man of sin (Rom.
6:5-7). That statement is in
the midst of a text in which we are challenged to NOT continue in sin.
WE died to sin so that we will no longer live in it (Rom. 6:2).
Sin cannot reign in our mortal bodies (Rom. 6:12).
As Christians, we realize that we are different from the world.
We need to ACT like it!
We need to realize that we cannot engage in our old sinful
activities any longer. We
understand that we are now servants of Christ and we belong to Him. 1
Cor. 6:19-20 says, “Or do you not
know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom
you have from God, and you are not your own? For you were bought at a
price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are
God's.” Such is a part
of being separate.
This separation needs to be obvious.
Others need to see that we are different from the world.
Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount spoke of us as light by saying,
“Let your light so shine before me, that they may see your good works and
glorify you Father in heaven.” (Matt. 5:16)
It is not a matter of us doing things to draw attention to
ourselves like wearing t-shirts with “Christian themes” or crosses or
displaying spiritual bumper stickers on our cars, but our CONDUCT will
set us apart from those who are without the dictates of Christ and His
word. This is especially
true when we are converted out of the world (as opposed to having been
raised in a godly home).
Peter said, “For we have spent enough of our past lifetime in doing the will of the
Gentiles — when we walked in lewdness, lusts, drunkenness, revelries,
drinking parties, and abominable idolatries. In regard to these, they
think it strange that you do not run with them in the same flood of
dissipation, speaking evil of you.” (1 Peter 4:3-4). Friends, when
you become a Christian, you separate yourself from the world to serve
Christ. Don’t EVER think
that you can profess Him in name and not live a separated life.
Don’t forget the words of our Lord in Matt. 6:24, "No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love
the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other.
You cannot serve God and mammon.”
Show me someone whose interests are still for financial gain,
popularity, fame or sensuality and I will show you someone who is NOT
totally separated from the world.
BUT, there is another side to separation.
When we think of separation, what often comes to mind is what we
cannot do. We have a
tendency to be negative in our attitudes and thoughts.
We think in terms of prohibitions and as a result, we are
miserable. Serving God is
too much about the don’ts.
However we need to remember that we are not just separated FROM the
world, we are separated TO God.
While there are things we are to give up, there are many other
things we will receive in doing so.
Consider the
following passages:
·
Colossians 1:13, “He has
delivered us from the power of darkness and
conveyed us into the kingdom
of the Son of His love”
·
1 Thessalonians
4:7, “For God
did not call us to uncleanness, but in holiness.
·
2 Corinthians 6:17-18, “Therefore
“Come out from among them And be separate, says the Lord. Do not
touch what is unclean, And
I will receive you.
I will be a Father to you,
And you shall be My sons and daughters, Says the Lord Almighty.”
·
Leviticus 20:26, “And you shall be
holy to Me, for I the Lord am holy, and
have separated you from the
peoples, that you
should be Mine.”
·
1 Thessalonians 1:9, “For they
themselves declare concerning us what manner of entry we had to you, and
how you turned to God from idols to
serve the living and true God”
·
Romans 6:11, “Likewise you also,
reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but
alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
·
Romans 12:2, “And
do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove
what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.”
·
Revelation 1:5-6, “and from Jesus
Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler
over the kings of the earth. To
Him who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood,
and has made us kings and priests to His God and Father, to Him be glory
and dominion forever and ever. Amen.”