Separate? How Separate??

For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said: ‘I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people.’ Therefore, ‘Come out from them and be separate, says the Lord. 2 Corinthians 6:16,17 NIV

We don’t take much notice of these verses these days because they don’t sit well with the popular ‘Jesus was a party person’ type of message. We try to take Scripture in a ‘pick n mix’ way, and this is one of those areas we tend to avoid picking, so it doesn’t get put into the mix.

We need to start at the beginning. The word ‘separate’ is a verb, it’s an action/doing word and is synonymous with words like ‘apart’, ‘unconnected’, ‘unrelated’, ‘different’, and so the question now becomes: How much do we want to separate ourselves to become more like the person God wants us to be? I believe we have swallowed the lie that in order to be accepted as a real and valid witness to unbelievers, we need to be more like them. We flirt with things like alcohol, tobacco, gambling, unsavoury language, and the list could go on. The result is that we see more and more Christians like the world, and not separate from it. In fact, you may know some Christians who will exhibit some or all of these characteristics, and happily keep company in groups, without any attempt at witness, of unbelievers who are not shown that there is another, and better way. How can we witness to a fundamental change of heart to people who are like us? In fact good people just like us!

So, can we please get back to basics? Let’s be different enough that others will see the ‘Jesus difference’, and also be ‘Christ-like’ enough that these same people will want to know what makes the difference. Then, and only then, will the Gospel message have a full and undiluted meaning, and we might be able to turn round the church attendance decline. Just maybe. One thing is certain however, continuing to do the same as we are doing right now will result in the same outcome. Are we happy with that?

Similar?

Picture the scene. There is a disturbance and your life is threatened, so you call the police to step in and stop the gang fight right outside your house. A crowd is gathering to watch and some are stepping in to take a side, and then the police arrive. Only now you realise the police are also dressed like the brawling gangs, so when they try to stop the fighting no one knows who is who, and the criminals escape while the police sort out who is on their side. It’s so much easier when you can tell the lawbreakers from the lawmakers, right? That’s a very good reason for our emergency services wearing a uniform. You know who they are.

Why then do Christians try their best to fit in with the rest of the world and be like them? We try to be one of them, because we don’t want to scare them off we argue. A similar discussion follows with dress code, music, places we go, movies we watch, magazines we read, what we drink, and the list goes on. In the meantime, we see our declining church attendance, and continue to think being the same is the answer, so when one similarity fails, we try to add another, and we find that doesn’t work either.

If you want a different answer, you have to try a different approach. Doing the same thing time and again, gives the same result time and again. The Christian life makes us different on the inside, and so we should be different on the outside too. What will the enquiring, unsaved person think when they look at us, and see a mirror image of themselves? If we are going into the world to fight against the evils of sin, shouldn’t we be seen as different?

We are called to be a sanctified (set apart) people, with an obvious love for the Lord and each other. That means seekers of truth should be able to know where to turn, and who to turn to because they should see Jesus in us. Churches do not need to copy the clubs and pubs in the world with lights, music, and feel good speakers who do it better than us anyway. We should be preaching the gospel of repentance and salvation, not cosying up to people and groups who already may know where the truth lies, but all they can see in us is a shallow form of Christianity. May we never be like the church group mentioned in Matthew 23:27 when Jesus says “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of …….all uncleanness.