You're listening to audio from Ascend Church. For more information about Ascend or to access more gospel-centered tools to grow as a disciple of Christ, visit ascendkc.org. Let's grab our Bibles and turn to the book of 2 Corinthians. 2 Corinthians 6 is where we will be anchored this morning. I'll invite our ushers forward. And they've got Bibles they would love to put in your hands. If you didn't come in with a Bible, please let them know that you would like one. You can take this as our gift to you. If you do not own a copy of God's Word, 2 Corinthians is in the New Testament. It's called 2 Corinthians because it is the second letter that we have recorded that Paul wrote to the church Corinth, and we'll explain more about what the church in Corinth is here in just a minute. But we are continuing our study this morning in our church series, Who Are We as a Church? And you would think that after nine years we would have this down, but there is plenty for us to discover from God's Word to further understand who we are. And why this series is important is because you who are part of our church family know that we are rapidly advancing toward the day when we will be able to celebrate Launch Sunday in our new building. And so to that end, we will have an event this Saturday, Lord willing, to be able to gather in our new building for the first time as a church, to be able to celebrate God's goodness as well as praise Him and pray. for the continuation of the construction process, as well as our launch Sunday. And so I hope you've penciled that in on your calendar. You received a card as you came in this morning. There's also a little bit of extra motivation to be there on the back side of your card, and you'll hear more about that at the end of the service but we are looking forward to that day when we will be able to launch and be in our new church building and we are looking forward to being able to worship him as a down payment and a deposit on that this Saturday. But we want to know who we are as a church so that when we open the doors and we receive new people in from our community. We are all on the same page, not as an agenda from some organization, not as an agenda from us as elders, but as an agenda from God Almighty, from His Word. And so that's what we've been learning over the last few weeks. That's what we will be continuing to learn as the weeks unfold, heading forward toward our launch. And I shared last week that we are in a section of this series that is really focused on the practical. So last week we learned that the church, the local church, as God's word unpacks, is the authenticator of faith. We do not pronounce faith upon people. We are not the final authority. But here on earth, God has given the local church the authority to affirm or deny who is truly a follower of Christ. And so this week, we're going to continue to unpack that from a biblical perspective and argue that we as a church, as a local church, are to be distinct. In July of 1861 there were two governments in one country. That usually doesn't work well. And these two governments were rapidly advancing toward what they knew would be a great conflict. In fact, in April of that year, the Confederate States of America had fired upon Fort Sumter. And in the months following, those two governments were getting together, developing a strategy of what the next steps would be. And so Abraham Lincoln decided to dispatch 35,000 soldiers of the North down toward Richmond to hopefully squelch the uprising of the Confederate States once and for all and avoid further bloodshed. Well, as those 35,000 troops descended upon the South, they met 20,000 troops at a town called Manassas Junction. And in that conflict, what was going to unfold is two untrained, inexperienced armies clashing together. In fact, nobody expected what would happen over those 12 hours. Nobody expected that, as was revealed by the very nice, colorful uniforms that everyone was wearing. Nobody expected that as you reflected on the fact that there were journalists and congressmen and prominent families on the hills just watching, having a picnic to watch the battle. But 12 hours after the popping of gunfire began, the popping of gunfire ceased. And nearly 4,000 Americans lay on a battlefield, dead or wounded, as the Northern Army chaotically retreated back to Washington, D.C., pushing out of their way these picnickers. And the Southern Army had a golden opportunity to advance 25 miles to the capital in Washington, D.C., but they were unorganized and able to rally and accomplish that. And as historians reveal what led to that chaos and what led to that 4,000 Americans being dead or wounded on the battlefield, one of the most important realities of that battle was this, and that was there was friendly fire. There was friendly fire, meaning that the armies were firing upon their own soldiers, and the reason for that was because there was not a distinction between the armies. There was not a standardized uniform. So many in the South were wearing blue, and some of the blue were wearing colors that the South was wearing, and nobody really knew, as the battle was unfolding, who was on whose side. And listen, beloved, the same is happening in the church today. What's happening in the church is that you can't tell who is Christian and who is the world. There is a divergence of the world's philosophy and the world's approach to life that is happening in the church and what Paul provides for us in this passage is a standardized uniform. Now listen, we would want Paul to be more detailed than what he is going to be in this passage. I'm gonna explain why people have wanted to say that there's detail here that Paul does not intend. But we as a people want God to just make it so clear, don't we? Here are the 10 activities and here are the 10 things that you should do. But Paul does not do that. Why is that? Because he does not want us to dig into the details. He wants us to own the principle. And so look at the big idea in your notes this morning. There must be a distinction in the way the members of the church of Christ think, speak, and behave. That is the principle that Paul is going to drive home, and at the very end, I'm gonna give you a little bit of details that will help guide us, but we need to see the principle that Paul is unpacking here to be able to understand that we, as a local church, need to be distinct. Let's look at the first distinction that Paul unpacks here in this passage, and that is that we need to have a distinct intentionality. A distinct intentionality. Look what it says in verse 14. It says, do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. That's a passage that if you've grown up in the church you might be familiar with, but let me just paint the background so that we can understand what was going on. Paul was writing to the church which was located in Corinth. Corinth was a massive metropolitan city for the ancient world standards. And what made it so unique was the immorality that Corinth had. In fact, it's said that on one of the highest hills in Corinth, there was a temple to Aphrodite, the goddess of love, and there were 1,000 women who were prostitutes that served, air quotes, the temple for the religious purposes of worshiping Aphrodite. This was a grossly immoral community, and it was a very weak church. It had weak leadership. In fact, you can write down 1 Corinthians chapter five. Paul had written to the church and said, I don't understand. I have given you the instruction, I have given you the gospel, and yet you are tolerating sin. And the sin specifically that Paul was referring to in 1 Corinthians 5 was that a young man was sleeping with his father's wife. In fact, Paul said this isn't even to be named among the Gentiles. There was weak leadership in this church. And so Paul had to write now a second time, which some would argue this is the third letter, but it's the second letter that we have recorded. Paul said, look, you've got to get this thing right. And so he's unpacking arguments and he's defending his apostleship in 1 Corinthians 3. He's arguing his passion for the gospel in 1 Corinthians 5. In fact, just read through 1 Corinthians 5 tonight for your devotions if you don't have them. If you don't have a plan, just read through 1 Corinthians chapter 5 and see the brilliant terms that Paul uses to describe the gospel. And by the time you're understanding what Paul's saying about the gospel, you too should hopefully be passionate about it. And then he gets to 1 Corinthians chapter 11 and he is now passionate for the church in Corinth to open their hearts to him and to his message. And that's what gives us the doorstep for the phrase and the passage that I just read. He says, do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. Now, that word yoked is an interesting one. We don't, in our culture, contemporary, have a whole lot of experience with a yoke unless it comes from an egg. But this is an agricultural term here. In fact, what Paul is doing is he's referencing back to the Old Testament. Let me give you a couple verses. Deuteronomy chapter 22 and verse 10. This was a prohibition in the Mosaic law against putting two different kinds of animals under one yoke. He's also referring to Leviticus chapter 19 and verse 19 where cattle was forbidden to be bred with other animals. And so this is what Paul is referencing back to. Now, why is that important? Because listen to this, this passage has been confused. In fact, some commentators say that there are over 12 opinions as to what Paul is saying here, and those commentators say those are legitimate opinions. The two most popular opinions are perhaps opinions that you have heard, and that is that Paul is, number one, forbidding mixed marriages. Some would argue that Paul specifically here is prohibiting believers from marrying unbelievers. The second most popular opinion is that Paul here is saying that nobody can be as believers in business partnerships with unbelievers. But I would argue that's not what Paul is arguing. In fact, there's nothing in the context here, nor is there anything in the context of 1 Corinthians, to argue that Paul was specifically thinking about marriage or about business relationships. So what is Paul saying? Well, what he's saying is really revealed with the original language. Let me read to you what literally the imperative is here. Paul is saying, do not go on becoming unequally yoked with unbelievers as you already are doing. You see the context there. What he's saying is that there's an ongoing evaluation that you should have in all the contexts of your life, and it should be different than the way you are living now, Corinth. He's saying that right now you are living in contexts and in relationships and in influences that are influencing you away from Christ, away from purity, and toward compromise. And he's saying in an ongoing fashion, you are to be evaluating all of the contexts of your life for influences that will move you away. Now what's fascinating is that Paul does not provide necessarily here details. We want details, don't we? We want him to spell it out for us. But oftentimes, write this down, God gives us principles to inform our behavior. There are times, to be sure, when God gives us instruction that says don't do this or do this. There are plenty of times for that. But more often than not, God's word gives us principles to inform our behavior. He's giving us those principles here. letting us know that we are not to be unequally connected, unequally yoked like these animals. We are not supposed to be influenced by these other influences. That's where we're gonna have to stop with this initial instruction. It reminds me though of times past in the early years when we are instructed by our parents and we do something or we don't do something and the question is asked of children, why did you do that? Well, in the early days, usually what they do is the kids will say because mommy and daddy told me or because mommy and dad told me not to do that. But then as you get into the early teens, the question is asked, why did you do that? And it's one of these, I don't know. And then as you get into the older teens, you say, why did you do that? It's because somebody told me not to. And then as you get into older adulthood, you are asked the question, why did you do that? And you're like, I have no idea. Here's what Paul is telling us to do. Whether you're a child, whether you're a preteen, whether you're a teen, or whether you're an adult, be intentional. Understand who you are. The key to this whole thing is not in the verb yoked, it's in the word that follows yoked with unbelievers. The word in the Greek is apistos. You may say, well, why did you mention that? Because in the Greek language, if the writer wanted to say the opposite of something, they would put an alpha or an A in front of it. The word for belief is pistos. So to say a pistos is the opposite of a believer. What Paul wants us to understand is that we are believers. That is our identity. That is who we are. Before we're members of a sin church, before we are professionals, before we are husbands, before we are wives, before we are children, before we have any other identity in our lives, if you are a follower of Christ, your one ultimate identity is your epistos, your believer. And what Paul is saying is we do not want to be in context where the influence is so strong that we are influenced by apistas, unbelievers. And so we must constantly be evaluating this. Now, what Paul is not saying here is that we can't have any contact with unbelievers. What Paul isn't saying here is that we can't have relationships with unbelievers. In fact, would you write down 1 Corinthians 5 and verse 10? As Paul is unpacking his instruction about the young man who is sleeping with his father's wife, he says, look, I'm not saying you can't interact with believers or else we wouldn't be able to be in the world. Paul is not going to that extreme, but what he is saying here is be intentional in the relationships that you have. Here's what one commentator said. He said, what Paul is saying here is to avoid any action that would cause believers to link up with the world in thought and act. Those must be avoided. If we are linking up with, in fact, I told you at the end I was going to give you the practical. I'll give you the practical right now. This is free. Avoid linking up to any relationships or context that move you away from Christ. That's ultimately what Paul is saying here. And we have to be on our guard daily, we have to be seeking counsel. Listen, children, ask your parents, are these friends of mine moving me toward Christ or away from Christ? Husbands, ask your wives, single people, ask your friends. Brothers and sisters in small group, ask your small group members, tell me if you see me going away from Christ or toward Christ through my context. Listen, sometimes that means you might have to change your job. Evaluate all the contexts of your life and evaluate whether they are drawing you closer to Christ or repelling you away, propelling you away. So Paul does not give specific instruction, specific details, specific context, but here's what he does. Listen to this, beloved. He gives you lenses through which you view your context. So we are to be distinct intentionally. Number two, we need to be distinct in our implications. We need to be distinct in our implications. Paul provides five rhetorical questions, and what that means is he's not asking for a response. or if there is a response that we are going to give, it's so obvious, it's gonna be there. So look what he says in the second part of verse 14. Here's the first question. Four, that word is important. So what he's doing is he's elaborating on the initial phrase. He said, do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. Four, in elaboration, here's question number one. What partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Now there's going to be a repetition here and a rhythm. He's going to say, what this, what kind of relationship does this have with this? That's the rhythm. And so the first question he asks is what partnership? The word partnership means a relationship involving shared purpose and activity. That's important. Partnership here means a relationship that includes shared purpose and activity. And he's saying here the two contrasts are righteousness, pistos, and lawlessness. They are opposites. They are against each other. They are enemies. And he's saying, how can these two have partnerships? How can they have shared agendas? How can they have shared objectives? It's not possible. It's the first rhetorical question that he asks. The second one is in verse 14, or what fellowship. The word fellowship means close mutual relationship or involvement. And look what he says, he says, of light and darkness, they're both opposites. I mean, we've even seen that in this room this morning, haven't we? If we want a dark environment, but we bring light in, it ruins the moment. If we want a light environment, but we bring darkness in, it ruins the moment. They both have different agendas, and they don't make each other better. He's saying what fellowship or what mutual relationship or involvement do these two have together? The answer is nothing. They can't accomplish their agenda. Third question, verse 15. What accord, now that's an interesting word. The word accord means to be joint in decision making or to make a joint decision. What accord or what joint decision could be made between Christ and Belial? The word Belial or the name Belial is a name that was used of the devil or the antichrist. I mean that again should just be obvious to us, shouldn't it? Can you ever imagine a scenario where Jesus Christ would sit down with the devil and they would make a joint decision together? and say, you know what, let's put aside our differences. Let's do this thing together. That would never happen. That's the third question that Paul gives us. The fourth question is an interesting one that we have to draw from the Old Testament. Or what portion? The word portion means a share of inheritance. A share of inheritance. And what portion or share of inheritance does a believer have with an unbeliever? We don't. The unbeliever has no share in the portion of eternity. The believer has no share in the portion of judgment. In fact, Romans 8 talks about that, doesn't it? There is now therefore no condemnation for those who are in Christ. Amen? I mean, if that doesn't get you excited, I don't know what else will. We do not have a share of inheritance that crosses between believers and unbelievers. Look at rhetorical question number five. And this really sets up the tangent that Paul is going to take. I'm sorry, verse 16, it says, what agreement has the temple of God with idols? Agreement means to work in joint arrangement. That means to go together. These work together. And listen, these are the two opposites in the Old Testament, aren't they? God and idols. If you've ever studied the Old Testament for any stretch of time, you have seen that those two are in opposition. In fact, the details of the instruction for the purity of the temple show us how careful God was to make sure that idols did not come anywhere close to the temple. I mean, by now we would say, Paul, we get it, but do we? You see, there's oftentimes in our lives where we say we believe something, but we practically live as though we don't. And so Paul is giving five rhetorical questions, five questions that are revealing different relationships that should never be together. They should never cross over. There needs to be intentionality and there are massive implications. You know, I have an area of my life that has been exposed in the recent years of inconsistency. I'm just being transparent with you. And that really came to a head when you're taking my girls on a tour of our alma mater in Columbia, Missouri. My wife Sally and I graduated from the University of Missouri. We were taking our girls to show them Faroe Field, the football field, and the baseball field, and the columns on the commons. And I noticed that people on campus were giving me scowls. And I was thinking to myself, okay, I know I had several bad games in baseball, but after all it was baseball and only 10 people came. So nobody could possibly remember who I was. And as I'm thinking about why are they scowling, I look down at my shirt and it said Kansas Jayhawks National Basketball Champions. That's inconsistent. And no wonder they were looking at me with scowls on their faces because those two do not go together, especially in Columbia. But listen, beloved, I think we have a lot of people. who are walking the campus of what it looks like to be a follower of Christ, but they're wearing Belial's jersey. Beloved, they don't go together, and the implications are that maybe we are not on Christ's team. That's what Paul is drilling down on here. He's saying it's not enough to claim that you have a degree from an institution. We must live accordingly. And he's given five rhetorical questions to be able to just hammer this home, and he's not wanting us to dig into all of the nuances of the words to be able to say, well, does that mean I can't have this degree of relationship? No, again, he's saying, be careful of influences that influence you away. And listen, eyes up here for a minute. Be careful about the argument that you can influence others. Be very careful about that, young people. Be very careful about missionary dating. Be very careful, businessmen or business ladies, where you have somebody that, man, they could help you advance, but you know what? Their approach to business is not godly. Now it's one thing if you have an unbeliever who has good morals. It's another thing if you have somebody who is willing to cut corners and compromise to advance. Be very, very careful about those relationships. And what Paul is doing in giving this instruction is reminding the Corinthians of the value of the local church. Talk to brothers in Christ, talk to sisters in Christ, and again, invite them in and ask them, do you see these relationships influencing me away from Christ or toward Christ? Because there are massive implications. We need to be distinct in our implications, but number three, we need to be distinct when we think of our inheritance. We have a distinct inheritance. And oh, I wish we had more time. But what Paul unpacks here is absolutely rich. And it begins by this phrase that perhaps we're familiar with, but I would contend we misunderstand. Verse 16 says, for, again elaborating on what was previous, for we are the temple of the living God. Now be careful. Be careful that you don't yawn when you hear that red and think, yes, pastor, I know. Gotta do a better job eating and exercising because I'm the temple. Beloved, God is giving us so much more information than our normal understanding of this passage. And really where it goes back to is the Garden of Eden. Beloved, this is a biblical theology. Write this down. Biblical theology is revealing that God has a big story. That's what biblical theology is. Oftentimes we think biblical theology is just a theology that is built on the Bible, but biblical theology as a formal study is an understanding that God has a big story. And so every passage, every chapter, every even verse fits within that big story. And so just as we would not take a scene out of a series of movies and say, okay, I'm just going to look at that scene. Now we look at that scene in light of the whole story. That is biblical theology. And so the biblical theology actually begins back in the Garden of Eden where God gave the first instance of the shadow of the future. When God created the Garden of Eden, He created that to be the shadow of the temple that would one day be. You could argue that the Garden of Eden was the Holy of Holies where God dwelt with Adam and Eve. And the surrounding earth was the outer courts. It was the inner courts in the cosmos. So the heavens was the outer courts. And that became the initial shadow of this end goal, of the end plan. And then God continued to give more shadows of this in the tabernacle and in the temple. Remember, there was a Holy of Holies that as we read scripture, we understand that God designed the Holy of Holies to reflect a throne room. And you had all of the components of the Holy of Holies that are strategically and intentionally designed to be symbols of a throne room. And then as the veil of the temple was torn in two when Jesus died on the cross, there is a new era of a shadow, and that is what Paul is revealing here, that now we are the temple of the living God. That's awesome. No longer is a building the shadow. Now we as individual believers and now we as a local church are that shadow. And what is the substance? What is the future and reality? Write down Revelation chapter 21 verses 22 through 27. There will be a day when the temple will be the new heavens and the new earth with Jesus will be on his throne and there will be no need for a physical temple. Why? Because Jesus dwells with his people. And beloved, listen, this is all throughout the Old Testament. I was reading in Ezekiel this week, we'll see the reference that Paul uses here to Isaiah 52, 11, and I'll explain that here in just a minute. But all throughout the Old Testament, God is giving little glimpses of this future reality, but Israel was so focused on their identity as a people, their identity as a nation, that they missed the symbols that God was giving them. And they were so focused on the walled city of Jerusalem and the building that was the temple, but God was continuing to point them beyond all of that. to the new heavens and the new earth. And so Paul is saying here, listen, we are in this last chapter of God's story. We now are the temple of the living God. And then here are the promises and the inheritance that Paul is about to unpack. Look at what it says. It says, 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, quoting Leviticus 26, 12. I mean, that in and of itself should have been enough to just blow away the Corinthians, because you've got to believe that Paul had instructed them in biblical theology. You've got to believe that Paul had taught them Leviticus 26, 12. They understood that God promised that one day he would dwell and walk among them, and that the shadow of that, the final great shadow would be now, and the future fulfillment would be Revelation 21, the new heavens and the new earth. Then in verse 17, he says, therefore, based on what I just said, therefore, as the people that are the temple of the living God, it says, go out from their midst, get out away from the impurity and be separate from them, says the Lord. That's Isaiah 52, 11. I love that. That passage is fascinating, beloved. Isaiah 52 is talking about the exiles returning back to Jerusalem and the vessels being taken back to the temple. That's an amazing celebration that the Jews would look forward to, but Paul was, or God, and then now Paul is saying that it's so much more than just that event. It's about a way of life because there will be one day in Revelation 21 where in the new Jerusalem, nothing unclean will ever enter it. So now let's live that way now. And then, verse 18, and I will be a father to you, and you shall be sons and daughters, referencing 2 Samuel 7, 14. What an amazing promise. What an amazing relationship. That, beloved, is in our inheritance. You know, I remember as a parent of very young children, my birthday would roll around and my wife would have these big sparkling browns that I just get melted by. And she would say, guess what, Jeff? Your kids got you a present. Now, in those early days, I have to be honest with you, I was kind of hoping it would be like the new version of Madden or something like that. or maybe some tech or maybe Sally bought something for me and it's like the girls bought it. But inevitably it would be this beautiful art picture of me. There would usually be this round head with little spikes coming up, showing my baldness. And I remember looking at that and thinking, OK, oh, this is sweet. I would have liked Madden, but let me tell you something. I still have those, and those are treasures. Because we've had years of laughter. We've had years of tears. I know that our years are short before they're going to be leaving. And those treasures are representative of a relationship. That's the inheritance of a parent. Beloved, that's what Paul is doing for us as he's moving us beyond the present, beyond the things we can fully wrap our minds around. You know, some of you know that one of our members, Aline McDowell, passed away this last Monday. We had a funeral for her yesterday. And I preached through John 14, and I was just reminded of the fact that God does not give us a whole lot of information about heaven. Isn't that amazing? I mean, wouldn't you think he would just devote an entire book to all of the details of heaven? And yet he doesn't. He gives us relatively little information about heaven. And the reason for that is, write down 1 Corinthians chapter 10 in verse 9, sorry, 2 verse 9. No eye has seen, nor ear has heard, nor heart has comprehended what God is preparing for those who love him. In fact, I'll share with you a little bit of treasure, because I have a few minutes. I've always wondered, what does it mean that Jesus said, I go to prepare a place for you? And he says, in my father's house, there are many rooms or mansions. And I'm like, what does that mean? I mean, what's the square footage of that thing? And you know what's interesting? It says, in my father's house. In the Gospels, how did Jesus refer to the temple? Remember, this is my father's house. The temple imagery, I believe, is what Jesus is referring to, is that God's house will be the new Jerusalem, where we will all dwell together in unbridled worship of our God, and we will be in his presence, and he will be in ours. And that is the glory that we look forward to. But it will be even more infinitely beautiful and wonderful than our minds could comprehend. And I believe that if God gave us more information, our minds would literally So beloved, let's look forward to that, but let's understand that the ultimate inheritance is in our relationship with the God of the universe. These are the promises. This is our inheritance, and it is distinct from any other people. Which leads us to the final distinction. We have a distinct imperative as a people. Look at verse 1 of chapter 7. It says, since. It's the Greek word that's translated oftentimes, therefore. So we are looking back to move forward. Since we have these promises, beloved. Listen, the promises are yes and amen in Christ. We sang about promises this morning, and I hope that if you've been coming to ascend for the last several weeks, and you heard about our message on the temple, and you heard about our message on the Holy Spirit, that anytime you sing about promises, anytime you hear about the promises of God, that it is so much more magnificent than it was before. The promises of God are yes and amen in Christ. All of the promises of the covenants, all of the promises of the future, all of the promises of the Old Testament are yes and amen in Christ. Awesome. And so he says, since we have these promises, it is based on this reality that we move forward to the imperative. Friends, that's how God works. God very rarely just jumps right to the imperative, don't do this or do this. And whenever he does, he usually comes very quickly around to the benefits. Our God is faithful, our God is good, and what he's saying is I have an imperative for you believers to follow, but it's based on these promises. So based on the promises in these glorious realities, now here's the instruction. It says, let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit. Now this is a rather broad statement, isn't it? But again, it's because of like the big idea of this passage, Paul is not giving us all of the details, but he's giving us the lenses or the principle through which we view all of our context. And what he's saying here is he's not allowing for any area of our lives to be withheld from this command. Let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement, every influence that would move us away from Christ. Of body, of action, and of spirit, of mind and will. No one is left out. No circumstance is excused. It is not just behavior, what we see on the outside. It is also our thoughts and our speech. As a small group, we're going through a marriage study by Paul Tripp. And listen to what he said to the husbands. He says, no wife causes her husband to treat his wife unlovingly. Listen to what he says to the wives. He says, no husband causes his wife to say harsh things. And yet, that's what we often say, don't we, in marriage? Well, if my wife wouldn't have just treated me this way, if she would have just given me what the Bible says I deserve and what I need, I would have never done this. Trip also said this, and this is misunderstood in our society today. He says, no alcohol causes a drunk to say inappropriate comments. Beloved, there's a principle there, and that is this, that anything that we say or do that violates God's word is not because somebody else made us, but because it was in our heart already. That is an upside-down way of thinking as compared to our culture today. It is distinct. And so that's why God's Word focuses us, not all the time on the behavior, but on the heart. Right down to Luke 6, verse 45, out of the overflow of the heart, our mouths speak. Our behavior, our speaking flows out of our heart. Yes, it is influenced by influences, but it comes out because it was in there. And so what Paul is instructing us here, as the rest of the New Testament is, and that is that we need to focus on our heart, which will lead to different thinking, speaking, and behavior. And that is distinct. And what is the ultimate goal of all of this? Look at the end of verse one, bringing holiness to completion in the fear of the Lord. Friends, we are held as believers to different standards than the world. We are distinct people as Christians, as a local church. And friend, my instruction to you is what I believe Paul's instruction is, and that is evaluate the influences, the relationships, and the context of your lives, and evaluate whether or not they are leading you closer to Christ or further away from him. If it is the former, cultivate that. If it is the latter, remove it. and seek the counsel and support of brothers and sisters in Christ in this local church to support our analysis so that we can continue to display our distinction.