Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness? 15 What accord has Christ with Belial? Or what portion does a believer share with an unbeliever? 16 What agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; as God said,

“I will make my dwelling among them and walk among them,
    and I will be their God,
    and they shall be my people.
17 Therefore go out from their midst,
    and be separate from them, says the Lord,
and touch no unclean thing;
    then I will welcome you,
18 and I will be a father to you,
    and you shall be sons and daughters to me,
says the Lord Almighty.”

 Since we have these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit, bringing holiness to completion in the fear of God. ESVUK

We will spend a few days on this important passage dealing with the pursuit of holiness. But first of all, today, let’s clear the decks. Some of us may have been raised in churches where ‘separation’ was taught, explicitly or implicitly, as a call to have no contact with unbelievers whatsoever (or, at least, as little as possible). Such teaching, if fully observed, is likely to lead to churches that are like monastic communities on the edge of society. ‘Christian ghettos’ is how somebody described them. It also tends to produce, even if unwittingly, professing believers who are cold, harsh, judgmental, quite miserable even, and unattractive.

But Paul could not have had this in mind. Not unless he intended to contradict himself. Here is the reason why I say this. Look at his words in 1 Corinthians 5: 9-13:

” I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people— 10 not at all meaning the sexually immoral of this world, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters, since then you would need to go out of the world. 11 But now I am writing to you not to associate with anyone who bears the name of brother if he is guilty of sexual immorality or greed, or is an idolater, reviler, drunkard, or swindler—not even to eat with such a one. 12 For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Is it not those inside the church whom you are to judge? 13 God judges those outside. “Purge the evil person from among you.” ESVUK.

Paul did not intend withdrawal from the world.

Here is a balancing act for every congregation to face, and I don’t deny it is a challenge. It’s a tightrope walk. How do we live out our calling in the world as those who are not of the world?

In a sermon I heard many years ago, the great preacher, David Pawson, put it like this: the lifeboat is meant to go into the sea; but if the sea gets into the lifeboat we are in trouble.