2 Corinthians 6 | Pastor Jeff Shipley

Maturity in Sanctification for Believers

We're going to be in 2 Corinthians 6. This again is a sermon based upon a question by one of our members, and I appreciate that question. But we had talked about sanctification, Haggadizo, Haggaios, all that good stuff.

And we get that sanctification is a separation to be holy towards God. But I think sometimes we forget what that all entails. And I want us to look at what holiness means by contrasting it with what all of us are overly familiar with in this world.

I'm going to give you six things today. Six things out of 2 Corinthians 6. Six things that should be a contrast to find out where your level of sanctification is. Let's read once again, if you would. If you would read starting in verse 12 and 13.

We'll start there. You are not restricted by us, but you are restricted in your own affections. In return, I will speak as to children to widen your hearts also. Guys, the first thing, and this is for believers, I want you to understand for a second that this message today is not a message of salvation.

This message today, as Paul is writing here, as he will actually say to the Beloved, this is a message to God's people, okay? And the first thing, the most elemental aspect of our sanctification or our holiness towards God is, what is your level of maturity?

Paul is writing the Corinthian church. They were started, they were fired up, they were going. And all of a sudden, they started mixing the world back into their worship and their church to try to attract other Greeks.

Does that sound familiar? Got to have that smoke machine, the glitter bombs, the seeker-friendly, non-confrontational gospel so we don't drive people away. Friends, let me tell you something. The Word of God is a stark contrast to the world.

If you are preaching and the world is comfortable with the message that you call the gospel, it is not the gospel of Jesus Christ. How can I say that? I can tell you that from all of the Pauline writings, but I can also tell you this.

They killed Jesus for what He said. They didn't kill Him because He said to love your neighbor. They didn't kill Him because He said, this is right. They killed Him because He said, you are sinners in need of a Savior.

And remember this, it was not the drunk or the prostitute that just cried for Christ's blood. It was the religious elite who in their own immaturity thought they had arrived at a place where they were holier than the Son of the living God.

That's a powerful thing. Contrast your spiritual life for a second. Just for a second, contrast your spiritual life with your conversion. In other words, let me put that into Baptist speak. I was saved in 19-whatever, or God, I forget, I'm so old, in 20-whatever.

I was saved then. What is different about your life? What is different about your life? Do you look more like Jesus Christ now than you did when you were first converted? If you don't, there are two questions you must ask yourself.

Number one, you do not have the accountability teaching or teaching to get you to that place or, more than likely, you're not a Christian. And I know that just grates on some people's nerves. They say, of course, the first verse they reach to is, Judge not lest ye be judged.

The most out of context verse, except for the FCA, I can do all things through Christ that strengthens me. The most out of context verse ever quoted, and it's never really quoted, it's only quoted in part.

Guys, are you different than you used to be? Here's why some people never matriculate or mature in their holiness. Verse 12, it says, I want you to listen, You are not restricted by us. This is a responsive verse.

In other words, the people of Corinth, now, this is 2 Corinthians, but in reality it's 3 Corinthians. For we know that Paul actually wrote a letter before what we have as 1 Corinthians, okay? Because 1 Corinthians, we don't know where it is, but they were saying, Paul, watch this, you keep hammering us on this holy living, but wait a minute, you haven't walked in our shoes.

You don't know what I've been through. You don't understand how I was brought up. You don't understand that I'm an alcoholic because I was abused as a child. Or I'm a drug addict because my husband cheated on me.

Or I'm in this state, hooked to pornography, because I have problems. Paul says here to them, he says in verse 12, We are not restricting you. Guys, it is not the church, nor your issues in your childhood or adolescence, that give cause to the total depravity in which you exercise and wallow in.

It is because of this, you were born totally depraved. There is nothing in you, ever. There never has been. And I know some people in here have gone, we got so many people in recovery in here, and I'm proud of you.

I really am proud of you. But your recovery is not the high mark of your sanctification. Okay? Let me say that to you one more time. Your recovery is not the high water mark of your sanctification. The high water mark of our sanctification is looking more and more like Jesus Christ.

It is not our adherence to our religious codes, or our cultural, moral understanding. It is to imitate Christ to such a way, that when people see us, the Word of God says they will be known by their fruits.

Guys, there is nothing restricting you in a more holy lifestyle. We should be contrasting to our immaturity. But the second one is this, it's a simple one. We need to be in contrast to the world. Look at verse 14.

Do not be unequally yoked. And immediately, you know what this is talking about. Jeremiah, Aisha, y 'all are unequally yoked. Matt, where are you? Godless dago, pig, wop, married a beautiful lady. Is that what it's talking about?

For years, listen, for years, the church taught that this was talking about people of different ethnicities. Or, I'm sorry, in modern vernacular of ignorance, races. Because there's only one human race, right?

This has nothing to do with the color of your skin. Go back to my first point in your level of maturity. Because if you're still looking at that, you are an insecure, immature, punk Christian. Okay? What this is talking about is a believer with a non-believer.

Now, let me just for a second, especially to the female crowd in here. You little codependent chicks who missionary date to save a guy. You are stupid. Just stupid. Now, I'm 300 pounds. I'm 6 '1". You're too old, I can't use you.

Come here, babe. Come here, Amber. Just come here for a second. You're young. You're not pregnant. Okay. Now, watch. Hold pastor's hand. Hold paper's hand. Now, you come and stand right here. Now, watch this.

This is what... Now, I am... Would you say I'm stronger than you? Yes. What is easier, me to take her and pick her up and pull her up here, or for her to go and pull me down? Whoa. That is what some of you girls are trying to do.

You're trying to contrast with the world, yet you're walking with the world when you're unequally yoked with a non-believer, thinking that somehow you're going to pull him out of your sin. That is either the height of stupidity or the height of arrogance, for it is only the Holy Spirit of God that can change a man's heart.

Anything else is futile. Guys, contrast the realities of who and what you are. I know some of you in this room have daddy issues and you feel separated. Unless you have somebody in your life who reaffirms you or makes you feel important, you are less than.

People, I promise you, the hole that you feel in your heart is not ever going to be filled by flesh and blood, but only by the Holy Spirit of God, because it was put there in creation to be filled only by God.

Guys, be contrast. Do not be unequally yoked. Listen, this is how the world knows us, is that there is a contrast between us and them. 2 Peter 2, verse 12, if you want to write this down for us to save time, I'm just going to quote it.

It says, conduct yourselves honorably. Now, once again, this is talking to believers. Conduct yourselves honorably among the Gentiles. And remember, Gentiles, in reference to this, are only unbelievers.

So that in case were they to speak against you as those who do evil, they will try, now listen, by observing your good works, glorify God on the day of salvation. You know, the greatest testimony I have is not my oration or the ability to preach or debate or articulate doctrine.

It is how the world sees me loving my fellow brothers and sisters in Christ. Guys, be contrast to the world. Understand it is the greatest witness that we have. Next thing, contrast to our immaturity, contrast to the world, but we should have a walk that is contrasted too.

Now, you say, well, didn't you just talk about that? Let me flesh it just a little bit more. Look at verse 16. Watch this. What agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God.

I'm going to give away one of my counseling secrets today. When people come and see me, depending on where they're at and what's going on in their life, I usually ask them this question, who are you? And they will say, well, I'm Bob.

I'm like, no, you're not Bob. Because if we went down to the courthouse and changed your name, are you still going to be you? Well, yeah. Well, you're not Bob. Then they'll say, well, I'm a female. I go, okay, so you are 3 .5 billion the same as everybody else.

No. Who are you? It's amazing. People don't even know and cannot articulate who they are. Some people point to their job. Well, I'm a police officer. I'm a fireman. I'm a... Really? That's your identity?

That is sad. Because for all of you, those out there, in whatever job you're in, I promise you this. After 30 years, they're going to hand you a gold watch certificate, slap you on the back, and move.

You will be irrelevant. And that empty feeling that you feel inside from sacrificing, giving to all the wrong things is going to make you feel like a fool in 30 years. Who are you? Well, Christians, we don't have to guess who we are.

We're told who we are. We are the temple of God. That's who we are. You say, yeah, but we're... No. The encapsulation of who and what we are is we are the house of God. I know maybe some of you brought up in church were taught that this was the house of God.

This is not the house of God. We, as a corporate body, are the house of God. For where two or three are gathered together in His name, there He is in the midst of them. We are the temple of God. Now, why I'm telling you that is this, we need, as the temple of God, God's people, to be so greatly contrasted with the world that there is a marked difference in it somebody is searching for.

I talked to a homosexual guy, and I know we've got four or five of them in here this morning. And I'm proud of several of them because they're striving hard. But I talked to this one guy, and he said this to me, I was born this way.

Same thing with the transgender folk. I was born in the wrong body. You know what's good news for you? It's the same message Jesus Christ has for me. It's the same message He has for you. And you know what He told me?

You must be born again. Of course you were born that way. If that's what you want to say, of course you were. You were born in sin, trying to follow the identity of your sexual desires, rather than submitting to the reality that you are called to be holy and separate in this world.

We live in a modern time, ladies and gentlemen, where sexual identity has become identity. Someone told me the other day I was cisgender.

I'll be honest with you, I didn't know that. How I was cisgender, did y 'all know?

You straight people. What is it? Well, let me explain it to you. It means that if you're a female, you're attracted to a male, and if you're a male, you're attracted to a female. You know that, have you heard this one?

I was assigned female at birth. No, you weren't, dummy. You were born without, yeah, with feminine parts. I'm trying to be politically correct here. It's not one of my strong suits. No one assigned you girl.

6 ,000 years of recorded human history and science said, that's a girl. I changed Emmett's, well actually I watched Aisha, changed Emmett's diaper the other day. There ain't no doubt that's a boy. I don't have no medical degree, but I'm 100 sure, thank you Jesus, Emmett is a boy.

What we've done is we've taken Genesis 126, God said, let us go down and create man in our own image. In other words, the trichotomy of God is reflected in the tri, I'm sorry, the triune nature of God is reflected in the trichotomy of man.

Body, mind, spirit, father, son, holy ghost. We are made in the image of God. But how we're made, even in that making, is not our identity unless we have been regenerated by the Holy Spirit of God and continue to strive to strip away that of our desires.

And you can't call it, well, I was born with this. We're all born with total depravity, self-centeredness. That's what you're supposed to be killing. That's what you're supposed to be putting on the cross.

Paul said, I am crucified with Christ. I'm on the cross with Christ, dying daily. But now I live because it's the temple of God. God has breathed in life into me and my vicarious value is found nothing but in the cross of Jesus Christ.

Look at this, here's my hardest one. It's the hardest one, I think, for all of us. Because we can hide it. And the longer you're in church, the more masterful a deceiver you will become. Watch this. We have to have a contrast in our maturity to the world, in our walk.

But man, oh, in our thoughts, golly. Verse 14 and 15, do not be unequally yoked to believers. And then it goes into describing the contrast of how strong that difference should be. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness?

Or what fellowship does light have with darkness? What accord does Christ have with Beel or Satan? What portion does a believer share with an unbeliever? For some of us in this room, we share a lot with unbelievers.

Men, how much do you share about the big boob chick at work with the other guys standing around? Do you put on that half-marked holiness where you just simply snicker and walk away? Or do you say, guys, I don't want to be a part of this, right?

Some of you men in this room, I've had, or Pastor Josiah have had to come to you and say, hey, boy, you need to watch your eyeballs. You need to watch your eyeballs. Now, in the world, they're telling you, oh, no, man, it's a meat market, baby.

Peruse. But the people of God, the temple of God, we are to guard our eyes. And guess where our eyes and desires all stem from? The thoughts of our heart. The innermost parts of who and what we are. And guys, I'll be honest with you, it is a struggle.

But struggles is what makes you strong. Lifting weight and more consecutively heavier and heavier things makes you stronger and stronger. Just be myself, people say. Well, the word of God says yourself is desperately wicked.

You're only going to think about yourself. You're going to focus on what you want, your desires, and fulfilling them. You want to know how dumb addicts are? You want to know how dumb they are? They're not.

You're going, I don't understand. It's probably because you're not an addict. You put an addict in the middle of a desert island with no money, no vehicle, they will find a way to score no matter what.

Some of you don't know about drugs. Yo, cigarettes, right? I remember every Friday, I pulled into a gas station right over there, and with a $20 bill, I could fill my truck up and get me a carton of cigarettes.

You know why I did it on the way home from work? Because it was a sense of peace that I would not run out of cigarettes when I was at home and have to get back out. Does anybody else in this room know what I'm talking about?

Uh-huh. You know what I'm talking about. You see, our thoughts run to satisfying our fleshly desires more than they run to satisfying the holy calling of God. And it's something that we've got to control over and over again.

The Call to Deny Self and Follow Christ

Luke chapter 9, verse 23. Now listen to this. Luke chapter 9, verse 23. And I would put forth to you this. If you want a verse on salvation, I would have you look from John 3, to Luke 9, 23. Because I think it encapsulates the reality of conversion better than John 3, 16.

It says this. If anyone, Jesus is speaking, if anyone wishes to come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me daily. You know, it's amazing. We were talking about this, Pastor Josiah and I, last Wednesday.

Billy Graham comes to town, fills up FedEx Forum. 100 ,000 people are there, 90 ,000 people get saved, and there's not a movement anywhere in any church in the city. Where'd them 90 ,000 people go? Just as I am.

With an emotional heart tug, they make an emotional decision. With no thought of the call of holiness on the temple of God to be considered. See, to follow Christ, you've got to die. Your desires have got to die.

Your wants have got to die. Everything, your plans, your futures, everything dies for the cause of Jesus Christ. There'll be many people, according to Matthew chapter 7, who will stand before God on that day, and Jesus will say, depart from me, you worker of iniquity, for I never knew you.

You see, they have a moral, emotional, religious conception of what it is to be a Christian. But they've never truly heard the gospel of Jesus Christ to save their souls. Guys, the next one is our desires.

Read with me verse 17. We're almost done. Read with me verse 17. And I want you to note the tenor of this verse. Therefore, go out from their midst and be separate for them, says the Lord, and touch no unclean thing, then I will receive you.

Hmm. Cause and effect. I want you to understand something. That God's call to holiness is not a suggestion. It is not a Sunday morning sermonette, nor a Sunday school lesson in which we can choose whether we want to do it or not.

See, if you want to be in right fellowship with God, you must, get ready for it Americans, obey. You must submit and obey God. For there's no other way but to trust and obey. Right? Some of you young people have no idea what I just did, but that's alright.

Go out from their midst and be separate, says the Lord. That's not a suggestion. That is a command. Now ask yourself, what level or what standard are you using to judge your maturity? Let's go back to the very first point.

Some of you in this room are, I read my Bible every day, I do this, I do this, I do this, I do this, I do this. Okay, cool. That's great. What about this, this, this, this? Well, I've been struggling with that.

For how long? 35 years. Okay. What are you relying on, man? Are you relying on you or the power of the Holy Spirit? God's command is to be separate. And let me just say this. I know, I never felt it because we homeschooled our kids.

But I know some of you parents, and yes, I am talking about this in response to someone I talked to. Someone asked my opinion about the dress code of their child. And I went, I know this, that if my daughter dressed like that, I'd be beating my wife then beating my child.

There ain't no way. Looked like a whore. Had them shorts up, what are them called from Dukes of Hazzard? Daisy Dukes had them things on. I remember years ago, the girls used to wear shorts that had the word juicy written on them.

Amber's like, I got four pack on. Pull me off the stage.

Guys, I know it's tough because you vicariously as a loser in high school want your kid not to feel the same thing you did, okay? Here's what you can do. Number one, teach your kid that standing alone is some of the best ways to grow.

It is. It's tough. It's tough as nails. Two of my boys went to a Catholic school and it was tough for them. It was tough. You say, well, it shouldn't be tough in a Christian school. No, I'm sorry, I said Catholic school.

How many Christians were in that school, Pastor Josiah? Four. Four. And you know how he knows there were four? Because they were contrasted with everybody else. They used to, little Josiah, all these boys at lunch, they had a bank of microwaves.

Bank of microwaves. And Jew boy over here, one guy asked him one time, if I give you five bucks, will you heat up my food? And Josiah was like, sure. And then another dude asked, another dude asked, Josiah had him a little racket at lunchtime.

He was like, get your food warmed up.

Now, that's funny, but you know what it shows? He didn't really care what everyone else thought. He would make himself a little scratch, you know? Guys, let me tell you a secret. If you quit trying to be so cool, you'll be cool.

You really will. If you quit trying to be so cool, you'll be cool. If you quit trying to get accepted by an entity that does not care anything about you, you will find a home in the arms of God. Last thing, verse 16.

Let's just read this together. And I will be a father to you, and you shall be sons and daughters to me, says the Lord Almighty. You know what else is the last thing that's contrasted with the world? Is we got hope.

We got hope. I fail every week. Music dudes, y 'all can come up. I fail every week. Listen, God, every time I do this, people are like, oh, that's the Pavlovian response of me turning everything off and not focusing anymore.

Try to focus, okay? Take an Adderall, Bayberry, Aspirin, whatever, and focus just for five seconds more. What hope does this world have for the future? The answer is none. Absolutely none. What they try to do is find hope in today.

And it's funny, the more fame and fortune you got, the more you want. The more you want. I know this feeling. I have a 308. I want a 300-wind mag. I got a pickup truck. I want a four-wheel drive. There is nothing to slake the lust of our flesh in this world.

But here's the last thing. When I do your funeral, there are things that I can say. I can. People think that I'm there to give hope to the lost people or the family members about your eternal destiny.

I can't give them that. I can't. I've tried. Well, no, that's not even true. I haven't even tried. You know, preaching someone into heaven, you ever heard that term? Yeah, I'm not one of them preachers.

I'm just not. You ask me and Pastor Josiah, Brother Jeremiah, we all have this standard when people say, hey, would you do a funeral for a person or a friend? We say yes, automatically. I'd love to, absolutely.

Talk to a bunch of godless heathens? Absolutely. You say, Pastor, how do you know they're godless heathens? They ain't got a pastor. That's a good first clue right, right away, okay? But anyways, they sit there and say, will you do it?

We say, absolutely, except understand this, we will preach the gospel a hard 100%. And it's hard because as you preach, everything that could apply to actually giving the family hope and peace, you don't have to say it doesn't apply to you.

They know, they know. Because whatever a person presents on the outside on their best of behavior, your family knows how bad the bathroom stinks when you come up out of it. You know what I'm saying? Was that too much?

Okay. We know your bad habits. We know what you're really like. My wife knows what happens when Pastor Jeff misses with a 28 pound framing hammer, misses the nail and hits his thumb. She knows what happens.

I speak in tongues. Actually, I actually curse in Greek, so I won't say it in English. Guys, what hope do you have? Well, for us believers, we just read what the hope is. I don't know what my future holds in the next 20 years.

Probably I'm gonna be dead, because I'm old and fat and really did bad, stupid things when I was younger. But I do know this, I'm a son of the living God. And that promise right there in chapter 7 verse 1 says, with these promises, no.

Guys, I have the promise of God on my life, not based on what I've done or not done, but based on the finished work of Jesus Christ. Do you have that hope? If your hope is in the sinner's prayer or an emotional moment in a church sometime, you got problems.

And that is probably contrasted greatest with how little fruit is coming out of your life. Christian, how much fruit are you bearing? How much do you need to prune to increase that fruitfulness? Maybe some of you in this room today need to come down here and get with an accountability person, a pastor or somebody, and say, God, please prune me.

Remove stuff from my life that I can become more holy. Maybe some of you in this room do not understand what it means to be a Christian. You've been in and out of church your whole life. You have fleeting thoughts about God, but nothing has ever changed.

You are not a Christian. Okay? And I know that sounds harsh, but I don't want to constrict you as Paul said to the Corinthian church. People, you need to come to a place where you truly give it all up for Christ.

Threes. Hey, are you with a group of people that are helping you contrast yourself to the world? Or are you with a group of people that are just sitting there going, hey, it's good to see you. God bless you.

Have a good day. We'll pray for you and go home. If you don't have people all up in your business challenging you to be more holy, you will never, ever experience the full sanctification because one of the Holy Spirit's greatest tools is the God's people in His church.

I'm going to ask you to stand with me, and if God has spoken to you today, I'm going to ask you to come forward and actually do something different than you have done. You come this morning and obey God.