AVOID RELATIONSHIPS THAT COULD CAUSE TO SIN

2 Corinthians 6:14-7:1   Don’t team up with those who are unbelievers. How can righteousness be a partner with wickedness? How can light live with darkness?  What harmony can there be between Christ and the devil How can a believer be a partner with an unbeliever? And what union can there be between God’s temple and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God said: “I will live in them and walk among them. I will be their God, and they will be my people Therefore, come out from among unbelievers, and separate yourselves from them, says the LORD. Don’t touch their filthy things, and I will welcome you. And I will be your Father, and you will be my sons and daughters, says the LORD Almighty. Because we have these promises, dear friends, let us cleanse ourselves from everything that can defile our body or spirit. And let us work toward complete holiness because we fear God.

As a Christian, you should avoid anything that would compromise your relationship with Jesus.  That includes entering into a relationship, business deal, or any other association that would tempt you to lower your standards or discredit your integrity.  When you team up with someone who does not love and fear the Lord, that relationship can dramatically weaken your spiritual health.

God does not want us to avoid all interaction with nonbelievers.  Jesus himself spent time with the “sinners” and social outcasts of his day in order to share the message of salvation.  God just wants us to keep from being so closely connected to unbelievers that it ultimately affects our faith and behavior, tempting us to compromise our witness for obedience to God.

RECOGNIZE THAT YOU ARE A NEW CREATION

2 Corinthians 5:14 -17    Either way, Christ’s love controls us. Since we believe that Christ died for all, we also believe that we have all died to our old life. He died for everyone so that those who receive his new life will no longer live for themselves. Instead, they will live for Christ, who died and was raised for them. So we have stopped evaluating others from a human point of view. At one time we thought of Christ merely from a human point of view. How differently we know him now! This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!

Although outwardly you may appear to be the same person, when you received Christ you underwent a radical heart transplant.  You literally become a “new person” (or “creation”) inside.  This short passage of Scripture highlights some encouraging points as you endeavor to be obedient to God.

• As “new creations,” Christ love compels us to please God rather than ourselves.
• As “new creations,” we can look beyond the “packaging” of a person to what is inside.
• As “new creations,” we have become altogether different people.
• As “new creations,” we have been given a clean slate, a fresh start, and a new nature.

The new nature you have received is like a tender little flower.  It takes time and effort to cultivate. You may find it hard at times to obey God and leave certain old habits behind at first.  But as you cultivate that new nature by spending more time with God through activities like prayer and Bible study, you will notice changes as the weeks, months and years go by.

A man from India was heard to compare our new spiritual nature and our old selfish one to two dogs constantly fighting with each other.  He went on to say that he could determine which dog would win.  When asked how he determined which dog won, his response was, “The one I feed the most, of course.”  When you take time to “feed” your new spiritual nature (as you are doing right now), you give it the edge in this ongoing conflict between good an evil.

WHEN DOES A CHRISTIAN ENTER HEAVEN?

2 Corinthians 5:6-9   So we are always confident, even though we know that as long as we live in these bodies we are not at home with the Lord. For we live by believing and not by seeing. Yes, we are fully confident, and we would rather be away from these earthly bodies, for then we will be at home with the Lord. So whether we are here in this body or away from this body, our goal is to please him.

Some people teach that when we die we go into a state of suspended animation.  Then later on we are called into the presence of God.  But this passage clearly explains that when a believer dies, he or she will go directly to heaven to “be at home with the Lord.”  This is illustrated in at least two other instances in Scripture:

1. The Thief on the Cross. As Jesus was being crucified, a thief hanging on a cross next to him asked Jesus to remember him when Jesus entered his Kingdom.  To this request, Jesus replied, “Today you will be with me in paradise” (Luke 23:40-43).

2. The Apostle Paul. The apostle Paul wrote, “I long to go and be with Christ” (Philippians 1:23).  He didn’t say, “I long to depart and be suspended in a soul sleep for a few thousand years.” Paul understood better than most this truth about entering heaven, because he had already had a glimpse of heaven.  It is possible that when Paul was stoned, he died and entered the presence of the Lord.  But God still had work for Paul to do on earth, so he sent Paul pack to carry it out (2 Corinthians 12:2-4).

The moment you take your last breath on earth, you will take your first breath in heaven.  So don’t be afraid of death.  Instead, enjoy your life in Christ on earth, and spend the rest of your time here introducing others to the one with whom you will spend eternity.

WHAT ARE SATAN’S ABILITIES

2 Corinthians 4:3-4  If the Good News we preach is hidden behind a veil, it is hidden only from people who are perishing.  Satan, who is the god of this world, has blinded the minds of those who don’t believe. They are unable to see the glorious light of the Good News. They don’t understand this message about the glory of Christ, who is the exact likeness of God.

Ever since Satan lost his privileges and was cast to this earth, he has been using his abilities to appose the work that God has been seeking to accomplish.  Paul’s second letter to the Corinthians reveals at least three of Satan’s abilities:

1. He Is the God of This World. This becomes more evident as you survey the increasing wickedness around you.  While Christ conquered sin and death at the cross, this world is still flawed and evil.  But Satan will lose his reign in this world when Christ returns to establish his Kingdom on earth.

2. Be Blinds the Minds of Unbelievers. According to this text, Satan wants to keep those who do not have a relationship with God from coming to God. The unbelieving mind has a difficult time understanding the message of the gospel because Satan has darkened or blinded that person’s mind.  Yet Christ can break that barrier (2 Timothy 2:24-26).

3. He Is a Master Counterfeiter. One of Satan’s greatest abilities is deception.  He is good at making lies look like truth. Paul describes Satan as someone who disguises himself as an angels of light (2 Corinthians 11:14).  That is, he fools people by making them think the lies he offers are truth.  His lies take on various forms, such as cults and false doctrines.  But we can discern the difference between truth and error when we test them against what is found in God’s Word.