Thesis 07/36: Separation

DOCTRINES OF FAITH
Doctrine 7 / 36: Separation

When a man is redeemed, he is bought with a great price, the blood of Jesus Christ. The redeemed are no longer their own. "Ye are not your own. For ye are bought with a price: therefore Glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's" (1 Corinthians 6:19-20). God's people called a peculiar people; they are called to be peculiar. Peculiar means belonging exclusively to one person. A Christian belongs exclusively to God, and he is no longer his own. Jonathan Edwards wrote in his diary on January 12th, 1723:

“I have been before God, and have given myself, all that I am, and have, to God; so that I am not, in any respect, my own. I can challenge no right in this understanding, this will, these affections, which are in me. Neither have I any right to this body, or any of its members – no right to this tongue, these hands, these feet; no right to these senses, these eyes, these ears, this smell, or this taste. I have given myself clear away, and have not retained any thing, as my own… I have this morning told him, that I did take Him for my whole portion and felicity, looking on nothing else, as any part of my happiness, nor acting as if it were…”

The question then becomes, what does God want the Christian to do with his body and with his spirit? When a man is born again, he becomes a new creature; old things are passed away, and all things became new. It is important to understand this principle that the Christian is no longer his own. Only then will he be willing to follow God's command to be holy, peculiar, belonging and pertaining only unto Him, and not unto the world. There are many verses in which God tells His people that they ought to be different from the rest of the world.

Ephesians 4:17: "This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind." The Christian is to change, and to walk differently than the rest of the lost Gentiles. Before salvation, all men walk the same. They walk according to the "course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience" (Ephesians 2:3). There is to be a change in a person's daily walk after salvation.

2 Corinthians 14-16: "Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness? (15) And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? (16) And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. (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." The point of this passage is that the goals of the Christian, and the goals of the lost world should be drastically different. With goals that are ultimately different, it should not be possible for a saved and lost person to be "yoked together" without there being major problems in the relationship. The temple of God, the Christian's body, is to be kept pure and free from sin. God wants the Christian to be separated from it.

This separation which God demands from the Christian does not mean that he is to disconnect from all of the lost world and live and interact only with those that are believers. Jesus clarifies this when His request to the Father in John 17:15 is that He would not take them out of the world, even though they are not of the world. He requests the Father to keep them from evil. Christians are in the world, but they are not to be of it. That is, they are not to be conformed to the world, but to be transformed by the renewing of the mind. This renewing of the mind comes from walking in the Spirit and letting God's word dwell in the heart. The church it to take Jesus to the world, it is not to bring the things of the world into the church.

What then is meant by the world? From what is it that the Christian is to be separated? I John 2:15-16 gives the answer. "Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world." The Bible teaches that those three areas define the things that are in the world: Lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes, pride of life. The separation from the world simply has to do with living a holy and sinless life. The Christian is to avoid doing things that are for the lust of the flesh. He ought to avoid doing things simply to appeal to the eye's lust or for pride. The motives behind all the actions of the Christian needs to be examined. Is whatever action being done, being done for the glory of God, or for the glory of self? This self-examination must take place in every area of life, including food, drink, dress, speech, places to visit, people with whom to fellowship, etc. The Christian is no longer his own.

"Be ye holy; for I am holy."

Happy All Saint's Day

Forgive me... I let you all down again... Yesterday was Halloween, and I failed to make one single post on the subject. My apologies... Maybe I can try to make it up.

Yesterday was Halloween and all, and we, in our little town of Greece, had a public school student that dressed up like an ancient Egyptian "queen." The only problem was that the school specifically said no costumes at school on Halloween. This girl protested saying that they were prohibiting the free excercise of her religion.

You see, this girl's mom is a practicing witch. Together, they practice 'wicca.' Halloween is their holy day (holiday), and her belief is that she is to portray herself as somebody that she was in one of her former lives. She refused to change her clothes as instructed by the school, and the girl and her mother brought in their local high priestess of witches (I'm sure I'm wrong on the official title, but you get the point), to protest with the school administration.

Here's the deal, I'm happy about this. Just like I'm happy about the new pope... (Here's where you're saying, "Huh?")

Halloween is a witch's holiday. Let's not be confused about that. Perhaps the origin of the name, and of the holiday comes from something else, but today, there is no more Christian practice associated with Halloween. It is a wizard's and witch's holy day.

What does this have to do with the pope? Well, this pope is really Roman Catholic. He is making clear that there is no salvation outside of the Roman Catholic Church, etc. He is making it clear, that there are differences. Now, we don't have to be confused about the Roman Catholic Church and say, "Oh, it's not as bad as we were taught, just ask people." Most 'people' would not have held to the strict Roman Catholic teachings, and their old pope didn't say too much about it. This pope, he speaks up. Let there be no confusion.

Halloween is a witch's holiday. Let there be no confusion.

What communion hath light with darkness?

Just a thought.

Ancient Landmarks

There are seven new wonders of the world (www.new7wonders.com). I like that kind of stuff. Now, don't make fun of me for making this comparison - there is nothing wrong with people picking 7 new wonders of the world, etc. But, here's the thing - landmarks are changing. Proverbs 22:28 tells us not to remove the ancient landmarks.

So, I don't have time for a long thought today. Lunch doesn't look like a reality with today's schedule, but I wanted to ponder this: When is it ok to change the standards that heroes of the faith have held to? Billy Sunday preached against the theater, cards and dancing. And, I'm not going to take the time right now to list all of the others and the things they preached against. But today some Christians have taken down those landmarks - those boundaries (protective measures) - and have no problems doing these types of things.

Now, the Reformers also removed some ancient landmarks - things like the sale of indulgences, the authority of the pope, etc., but that was because those things violated Scriptures.

What qualifications should we put on an ancient landmark before we can take it down? Is it just because we don't want to have the same standards any more that we can chuck them? Should we play cards now (I assume he refers specifically to gambling, not Go Fish) just because we want to? Should we dance just because we want to - even though a generation ago dancing was worldly and evangelical Christians would have no part of it.

Anyway, just a thought...

Cosmos

Be not conformed to this world (Greek word = Cosmos, hence the Title), but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind (Romans 12:2). Love not the world , neither the things that are in the world, if any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. (1 John 2:15)

My question is: What is the world? And what are the things in the world? It seems a pretty serious charge to refrain from those things, but how do we define it?

I think a common misperception would be that anything the world does, is something that the Christian should avoid... However, what do we do with things like: The world singing, Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me? or, what do we do with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir singing, Hallelujah Chorus. Are we to stay away from those songs because the world likes them? I don't think so...

"Well, we are to refrain from their style of dress!" Well, again, how is that defined? I looked up the history of the necktie. Here's what I found:

In 1660, in celebration of its hard-fought victory over the Ottoman Empire , a crack regiment from Croatia (then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire), visited Paris. There, the soldiers were presented as glorious heroes to Louis XIV, a monarch well known for his eye toward personal adornment. It so happened that the officers of this regiment were wearing brightly colored handkerchiefs fashioned of silk around their necks. These neck cloths, which probably descended from the Roman fascalia worn by orators to warm the vocal chords, struck the fancy of the king, and he soon made them an insignia of royalty as he created a regiment of Royal Cravattes. The word "cravat," incidentally, is derived from the word "Croat."

Alan Flusser: dick.thefamilyowen.com/page5.htm

So then, clearly, we would want to avoid wearing the clothing of the world, and anyone that wears a necktie is truly apostate! ...Nah, it doesn't necessarily work that way either.

How about hair gel, Barone wears it, Blizzard wears it, (Putney use to wear it, but not any more)... Is that being worldly? I leave the answer up to you.

So, here's what I would like to suggest. Worldliness is defined as being something that is against the things of God. 1 John 2:16 says that all that is in the world is not of the Father. Since we have been called to be a consecrated, holy, separate, peculiar (peculiar means belonging only to one person exclusive of all others) people, then we need to avoid the things of the world, and dwell only in the things of God. 1 John 2:16 does us a favor in helping us to determine what is worldly: For all that is in the world: The lusts of the flesh, The lusts of the eyes and The pride of life. To stay non-worldly is to avoid doing things in order to fulfill the lusts of the flesh (cf. Ephesians 2:3 at your convenience), the lusts of the eyes and the pride of life - the three areas that seem to be present in all major temptations. Even though Jesus was not enticed by the temptation of the devil - He could not have sinned - but He was presented with the temptation in the same three areas. Eve was also tempted in the same way (Genesis 3:1-6).

What is my point today? Not conforming to this world, as I understand the Scriptures to mean, does not speak directly of clothing, music, places you visit, etc. all by itself, but rather it speaks of being godly. We determine what is worldly by what contradicts that which is godly.

• God says depart from iniquity, the world says whatever feels good
• God says not to have idols, the world broadcasts idols and even calls them such
• God says to be gracious and merciful, the world says do what's best for you first
• God says to be humble, the world boasts of its pride
• God says deny yourself, the world says indulge
• God says to guard your eyes, the world puts up sin on the biggest billboards
• God says to dress modestly, the world says draw attention to you
• God says to dress covering your skin, the world says take it all off

God says, whether therefore ye eat or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God. The world... well... it just doesn't say that.

Romans 12:2 tells us that we have our minds renewed when reading the Scriptures. That helps us to conform to the Scriptures, to what is godly. When we are not in the Scriptures, then our minds are renewed by what we see in the world, and we end up conforming to them.

Be Ye Holy!!!!

Consecration

Webster's 1611 dictionary (no, it's really Webster's 1828, but often treated as if it were the 1611!) defines the word Consecration as: The act or ceremony of separating from a common to a sacred use, or of devoting and dedicating a person or thing to the service and worship of God, by certain rites or solemnities. Consecration does not make a person or thing really holy, but declares it to be sacred, that is, devoted to God or to divine service; as the consecration of the priests among the Israelites; the consecration of the vessels used in the temple; the consecration of a bishop.

- Separating from a common to a sacred use -

This lunch time Sarah had a great hot meal. Macaroni and Cheese, green beans, cake, fruit bowl, it looked great! She was kind enough to give me her bread and water! So, while she, I mean WE were was eating, I had some Lunch-Time thoughts about Consecration.

The word Consecrate is tied to the words: Sacred, Sanctify, Holy. Perhaps too often we fail to undertsand "holiness," but it means to be separated for use solely of someone else. To be holy is to be separated wholly for God's use. So, to consecrate somthing is to separate it from common use to strictly being used for God.

We see prayers of consecration in the Bible when Aaron & his sons were put into their office of priests, when Solomon dedicates the Temple, when Hannah gives Samuel to the service of the Lord. And those last two ones were really where my thoughts rested.

First of all, First Bible Baptist Church is about to finish building their new building. The existing building has been consecrated to the Lord. It has been set apart for God's use and taken out of the common use. My thought was: Are we allowed to sell something that has been consecrated to the Lord to someone else? Or, must it remain set apart for God's use after the sale? That is, must the church sell the building to another church to keep it consecrated? I believe there was a principle found in the Mosaic Law about redeeming something that had been dedicated to the Lord by adding 5% on top of it or something like that, so I guess we're covered by adding 5% on top of it for the new building!

Secondly though, my little baby Esther. I would love to say (and frankly have said) that I consecrate her to the Lord. However, what a difficult and disciplined task (for me, not her) to carry that out! To make EVERY decision in her life based upon the premise that the decision being made must be made to further her work for the Lord, and for no other reason. Applying this to all of my kids - it means teaching them the Bible more than any other thing, not subjecting them to entertainment that would be against our God, treating them as I would expect them to treat others, and so much more... How difficult it truly would be to consecrate a child for the Lord - yet, we are supposed to.


I guess it makes the job easier to consecrate other things to the Lord, when we get the first part right: Be ye holy, for I am holy. When Christ died for us, He redeemed us, He bought us - and oh, what a great price for my redemption - and has made us His peculiar people. When we live our lives holy separated, consecrated unto the Lord in every aspect, then it becomes much easier to consecrate other things, or people. Hey, He is worthy of our giving everything to Him!

Also, this is my second post today, so don't miss the video on the previous post.