green apple with the red one standing out from the crowd – over a white background with reflection

Where there is no vision, the people are unrestrained, But happy is he who keeps the law.

Proverbs 29:18

Probably no topic is more fraught with ‘divisiveness’ than the subject of ‘separation’.  The idea of being separate from another has with it the connotation of doing something better, or, by many people’s estimation, ‘being better’, than someone else.  But, that simply is what it is.

Paul pointed this out himself, even while explaining that we should be unified.  He said,

For there must also be factions among you, so that those who are approved may become evident among you.

1 Corinthians 11:19

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Carry no money belt, no bag, no shoes; and greet no one on the way.

Luke 10:4 NASB

When Jesus sent out his disciples here in Luke chapter 10, He gave these instructions, that they should not greet anyone on the way.  Various explanations are proposed for the reason why He gave such specific instructions, but the rationale can be found in both understanding the Scriptures, and the power of God (see Mark 12:24).

Jesus introduced this command with this statement, “Go; behold, I send you out as lambs in the midst of wolves.” (Luke 10:3 NASB).

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It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery.

Galatians 5:1 NASB

Slavery comes in all forms.  And, sometimes, they are the most well-seeming ones.  But, first, let us study freedom.

But do not be called Rabbi; for One is your Teacher, and you are all brothers. Do not call anyone on earth your father; for One is your Father, He who is in heaven. Do not be called leaders; for One is your Leader, that is, Christ. But the greatest among you shall be your servant. Whoever exalts himself shall be humbled; and whoever humbles himself shall be exalted.

Matthew 23:8-12 NASB

Freedom looks like being free.  And, with that freedom comes responsibility.  No one can be free unless he chooses to subject himself to some form of self-restraint.  Any man would quickly ruin himself if he only chose what seemed right in the moment.

But, God gave us freedom to free us from the law of sin, so that we might obey the law of life and liberty in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:2).

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Do you not know that when you present yourselves to someone as slaves for obedience, you are slaves of the one whom you obey

Romans 6:16, portion

Although Paul here was speaking of submission to sin, he spoke of a general principle which holds true in all things.  When we submit our spirits to any thing, we become its slaves.  This is true, whether it is to a job, a spouse, an organization, or any other thing.

Jesus said that, for believers, we are to call no one Rabbi, Teacher, Father, Leader, or Master, for God alone is all of these things (Matthew 23:1-12).  In fact, Jesus Himself said that the Gentiles even consider it to the benefit of those they are leading when they do so, and call themselves their subject’s “benefactors” (Luke 22:25).  But, He said,

But it is not this way with you, but the one who is the greatest among you must become like the youngest, and the leader like the servant. For who is greater, the one who reclines at the table or the one who serves? Is it not the one who reclines at the table? But I am among you as the one who serves.

Luke 22:26-27

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And he charged them, saying, Take heed, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, and of the leaven of Herod.

Mark 8:15

Jesus gives a two-fold warning, to beware of two types of teaching.  While many have speculated as to what these are, Jesus says plainly what the leaven, or yeast, of the Pharisees is.

Beware ye of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.

Luke 12:1 (portion)

This warning is like a warning to watch out for the “ditch on either side of the road”.  We have clearly identified the one error (which is an error in teaching or doctrine), which is hypocrisy.  This religious error stems from pride.  The Pharisees claimed to keep the law, to be righteous legalists, but as the encounter with the woman caught in adultery proved (John 8:1-11), none of them truly were.  For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.  Romans 3:23.  In claiming to be righteous, even though each one of them knew themselves not to be, they were “actors” (the real meaning of hypocrite).  While pretending to be righteous, they were each one of them filled with “dead men’s bones” (Matthew 23:27), just as we all are without Christ.

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Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.

2 Corinthians 5:17

Something fundamentally changes when you accept Christ.  Something profound and New takes place, that cannot have any part with the old (2 Corinthians 6:14).

Now for many, this is unrealized in this life, unless they are taught.  A Christian might live their whole life, and never realize what all Christ has bought for them.  But, as Jesus said, when a man believes, he is born again of a spiritual seed (John 3:3-5), and the old things are “passed away”.

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We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us. This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words. The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned. The spiritual man makes judgments about all things, but he himself is not subject to any man’s judgment:

1 Corinthians 2:12-15

We must be clear.  We are not to judge those outside of the church, but we are called to judge those inside it (1 Corinthians 5:12).  Those outside are sinners, and we expect them to act like sinners.  If they sin, it is their nature to sin, and we do not do well if we point fingers at the unregenerate, just as we do well not to fit into them, for there is no fellowship between light and dark.  Likewise, when we enter into soulish, or carnal, judgement against a brother, failing to discern the Lord’s body, we do sin.  Jesus said, “I can of mine own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and my judgment is just; because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me.” (John 5:30).  He did not use His own mind or understanding to judge, but He judged according to the Spirit, and was right when He prophesied judgement on the Pharisees, on Jerusalem, and on the cities that would not hear His Gospel.

Yet, Paul made it clear that the man of the flesh cannot receive the things of God, for they are spiritually discerned.  Not will not, cannot.  Jesus said it this way, that those who are not born again cannot see nor enter the Kingdom of Heaven (John 3:3-5).

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But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed.

Isaiah 53:5

The Hebrew word picture for “iniquity” is “bent”.  Iniquity is the being “bent” from straight, twisted from the upright, and made crooked from the pure.  While transgression are our comissions of sin, our iniquity is the propensity, or proneness to continue to sin.

Jesus, when He died, paid for our entire nature.  He covered our individual sins, and our sinfulness.  He, through His righteous act and sacrificial offering, made peace with God for us, by taking upon Himself the punishment we deserved.

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The true light that gives light to every man was coming into the world.

John 1:9

Man, the carnal man, lives in darkness.  All mankind has turned aside from the truth, the true light, and has gone to corruption.  There is nothing wholesome about man, and nothing good in what he can do.  Ever.

The Spiritual Man, however, as Paul described, has died to it.  He has died to himself, to the world with all its desires, and has died to himself.  The case is so edged that Paul states that he is crucified to the world and the world is crucified to himself (Galatians 6:14).

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I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish.

Luke 13:5

Take an apple, cut it open, and put it on the counter.  Leave it there, say, for a week, or a month, and you will notice something. The apple is no longer the apple you left it as, but it is now destroyed.  Further, there is no repairing that apple to it’s original golden deliciousness.  It is now, if you leave it long enough, brown slime, and food for the bees.

This world, like that apple, is broken like that apple.  And, in fact, it was God that broke it for His own justice at the beginning, when the man fell.

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