HOW CAN I TELL IF I’M BECOMING YOKED WITH THE WORLD?
INTRODUCTION: Last week I preached on 2nd Cor. 6 where Paul talks about not being yoked with unbelievers. But how can we know if that’s happening to us? Oftentimes it’s not easy to tell. Satan is tricky; he’s subtle. It starts with one and like a trail of bread crumbs he tries to get us to follow it until we are trapped. So I think in order to find out if we are heading in that dangerous direction we need to ask ourselves some key questions.
1) Do we want to conform or do we want to transform? Rom. 12:1-2.
In view of God’s mercy, our response should be to honor him with living for Him. Since we have received undeserved grace we should respond by sacrificing our will for his. There are those who do that consistently and there are those who do that sometimes and there are those who rarely do that. Maybe we start out the right way but along the way we start to drift, then we start to compromise then we start conforming more and more and transform less and less.
In doing so we care less and less about being holy and pleasing to God. We lose sight of his mercy and grace. We don’t strive to be different anymore we instead blend back into the pattern of the world. The will of God becomes less important to us because it ceases to be good, pleasing and perfect to us. Instead, the world becomes good and pleasing to us.
However, when we are appreciative of God’s mercy toward us we will dedicate ourselves to holy living. We will make a commitment to not live by the pattern we once did but we will change-we will be different-we will be focused on changing our mindset. That’s where it all starts-the mind-if our thoughts are transformed then so will our actions be.
And if our mindset is transformed to focus on spiritual things then we will be able to not only discern what God’s will is but also we will approve of it. If we are conforming back to the way of the world then we are disapproving of God’s will. We are not seeing it as good and pleasing; we are not seeing it as something to follow and be connected to.
We can know God’s will but not approve of it. I can know what God wants me to do and I can know that God wants me to avoid certain things but not care enough to do something about it.
But if I dare to be different, if I care to be transformed then I will not only know God’s will but I will also want it; I’ll be able to see that God’s will is the better thing. And that means I will be acting in wisdom. If we want to avoid becoming yoked with unbelievers than we need to respond correctly to God’s mercy. If we want to know God’s will then we need to commit to being transformed.
2) What is my heart set on? Col. 3:1-17.
Since we have been born-again we need to set our hearts on spiritual things. Because our old self died and we have been raised to life we are called to put to death whatever belongs to our old ways-the ways in which we used to walk and live. We’re not to be connected any longer to sexual immorality, greed, impurity, lust, anger, rage and malice, slander and filthy language.
Since we have taken off the old and have put on the new we need to connect with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, patience, forgiveness, love and peace. Setting our hearts on things above requires us to replace old behaviors new ones. It means getting involved in positive and meaningful activities. We used to spend time doing ungodly things but it’s not enough to just stop-we need to replace them. And if our vulnerable time is Friday or Saturday night it’s important to find something positive to do on those nights.
And we begin to fellowship with new people-like-minded people. Obviously one major way we do that is by getting connected to a local body of believers. In doing so we begin to build new relationships, get involved in new activities and eventually we get involved in some type of ministry. As we do these things we become stronger and we develop the tools we need to be able to continue to stay clean in a dirty world.
But it all starts with setting our minds on it. This goes along with being transformed by the renewing of our minds. We need to set our minds on overcoming ungodliness and instead obtaining godly attributes. Our focus and goals need to be pursued with a heavenly conviction. When we set our hearts on something we need to ask ourselves, “will this please God or just me? Could this advance the kingdom of God or only the kingdom of Derrick?” If our goal is that everything we do will be done for the glory of God then we have a heavenly mindset.
3) What do I delight in? Psalm 1:1-3.
Blessed is the person who chooses to not be connected with those who practice wickedness. Do we connect ourselves with people whose life is marked by sin? Do the people we are close to mock God? Does it bother us? Do we say anything or do anything about it? Do we find ourselves joining in with them?
There is a blessing for the one who delights in godly things and avoids being connected with ungodly people. Unlike the unbeliever, he has a thirst for God’s word-he desires to know God and his ways. Unlike the unbeliever, he spends his time thinking about what God has to say. Unlike the unbeliever, he understands what is truly valuable.
And we see that the one who delights in the word is spiritually well-nourished. Part of being spiritually well-nourished is seen in being able to handle life’s situations without fear and worry and instead handle them with trust and peace.
And the person who delights in the Lord bears spiritual fruit. He is a person of integrity and morality and he exhibits a good, godly example that nourishes those around him.
And we see that the one who dares to be different will prosper in everything he does. That’s because his delight is not in anything wicked but rather in everything godly. And when our desires are in line with God’s will then God will grant us success in his perfect timing. But, if we delight in worldly things we may prosper financially but we won’t be prospering spiritually. And if we do happen to prosper financially it won’t last long if our delight isn’t in the Lord. When we take pleasure in what God takes pleasure in we will truly be strong and prosperous.
4) Who is my friend? James 4:1-4.
James calls them adulterous people. Who did they commit adultery against? God. These people had yoked themselves with God at one time but somewhere along the line they yoked themselves up with the world again. It doesn’t say specifically if their desires were ungodly but definitely how their desires were making them act was ungodly. They were fighting with one another and they had impure motives with their desires. So James highlights that they’re not being a friend of God but rather a friend to the world. Their thinking and behavior lined up with how unbelievers think and act.
And these people have ceased to be friends with each other and have instead become friends with worldly people. When we entertain ungodliness we find ourselves becoming self-focused instead of others focused. We are focused on our desires and our fulfillment. So we want but we won’t have because our motives are all wrong. And because we don’t have what we want we covet and we are envious of those who do have. We find ourselves getting into fights with other church members.
When our thoughts are ungodly we’ll have actions that are ungodly. When that happens we will have contention with God and his people and in all this we show ourselves to be a friend of the world and an enemy of God. Thus, we are showing where our loyalty is-who we want to be connected with. We say we love God but when we are in agreement with and connect ourselves with worldly ways and worldly people we are actually showing hatred towards God.
If we find ourselves in this position we need to repent vs. 7-10. We have to want to submit and resist. The fact is we were already submitting and resisting just the opposite of what it should’ve been. We were submitting to Satan’s desires and resisting God’s but now we need to make a decision to no longer submit to the devil’s ways and instead submit to God. We choose to resist the temptation to become yoked with the ways of the unbelieving. We repent, we have godly sorrow over our foolish disobedience and in humility we turn back to God and look to him to lift us up and restore our hearts and minds. We recommit to being loyal to God and his people instead of being a friend of the world.
5) What am I walking in? 1st John 1:5-7.
If we claim to be yoked with God yet we are in union with the darkness we lie-mainly to ourselves-and are not living by the truth we claim to be. When we are yoked with unbelievers and walking in impurity we can be living in denial-we don’t think we’re unequally yoked, but since we’re in darkness we don’t see that. We might think we’re close with God because we believe in him, go to church, pray, but outside of church we are filling our lives with non-spiritual things and we don’t realize that there’s a disconnect.
What is my walk like? If outside of church all of our close friends are non-church people then there’s a problem. The question becomes how connected am I with the church? How connected am I with God if the only time I really think of him is on Sunday morning? However, if we live by the truth we will be yoked with fellow believers apart from just Sunday morning. If we walk in the light we will be connecting with fellow church members beyond Sunday morning.
The people in our lives who are unbelievers may be people we love but we are no longer joining with them in impure words or activities. We have made a decision to step out of the darkness and into the light and we have decided it is foolish to step away from the light and go back into the darkness.
If we are walking in the light we will be thinking of and connecting with God throughout the week. Walking in the light means we are monitoring our thoughts, words and actions to see if they line up with the truth. And when this is how we conduct our lives we are in a position to become cleansed and pure. We can’t become cleansed from all sin when we’re still walking in darkness. We can’t be pure when we’re yoked with unbelievers. We can’t be the people God wants us to be unless we dare to be different and walk in the light.
CONCLUSION: For some of us it’s not easy to break free from that old life. It might be difficult to distance ourselves from certain things or people. The temptation to blend in with the world is a strong one. And it can be a subtle thing where it’s happening and we’re not really aware of it. Sometimes it’s because we’re in denial-perhaps the Holy Spirit has warned us or other godly people have tried to speak into the situation regarding what they’re seeing and we downplay or outright dismiss it. We need to be alert because getting hooked back up with worldly people and activities will pull us away from God.
