Koinonia IV: No Fellowship with Darkness

Sunday 10/01/17

Series: Doers of the Word

Message – Koinonia IV: No Fellowship with Darkness

No Fellowship with Darkness

2Cor. 6:14-18,

“(14) Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For…

what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness?

And what communion has light with darkness? (vs 15)

And what accord has Christ with Belial?

Or what part has a believer with an unbeliever? (vs 16)

And what agreement has the temple of God with idols?”

- Unequally yoked – bound together with someone spiritually dead!
- Fellowship – metoche meaning, what association and partnership can righteousness have with unrighteousness.
- Communion – Koinonia what shared experience and life has light with darkness?
- Concord – what agreement or unison does Christ have with wickedness?
- Part – What share or participation can a believer have with one who is not faithful to Christ?
- Agreement – What consent and accord has the temple of God with idols?

For you are the temple of the living God.

(Note: This means God Himself lives within you… This should dictate where you go, who you hang out with and what occupies your attention.)

As God has said: “I WILL DWELL IN THEM AND WALK AMONG THEM. I WILL BE THEIR GOD, AND THEY SHALL BE MY PEOPLE.”

(17) Therefore “COME OUT FROM AMONG THEM AND BE SEPARATE, SAYS THE LORD. DO NOT TOUCH WHAT IS UNCLEAN, AND I WILL RECEIVE YOU.” (18) “I WILL BE A FATHER TO YOU, AND YOU SHALL BE MY SONS AND DAUGHTERS, SAYS THE LORD ALMIGHTY.”

Notice the word THEREFORE… to the Holy Spirit this is common sense! If God lives in you, have no Koinonia with the works and people of darkness.

Last week when we were looking at 1 Cor. 5 where Paul was telling the Corinthians that while they are to have no Koinonia with fellow Christians who were walking in darkness, they were NOT to avoid the world for walking in darkness.

Then I illustrated that point from 1 Corinthians 10, where Paul said it was okay to go out to eat with a non-believer, but we were still NOT to have koinonia with them… It began with the words “all things are lawful for me, but not all things edify” do you recall that example?

Well this week we are going to go back to 1Cor. 10… but we’re going to back up a little to illustrate this new point Paul just made by saying,

“COME OUT FROM AMONG THEM AND BE SEPARATE, SAYS THE LORD. DO NOT TOUCH WHAT IS UNCLEAN, AND I WILL RECEIVE YOU.” (18) “I WILL BE A FATHER TO YOU, AND YOU SHALL BE MY SONS AND DAUGHTERS, SAYS THE LORD ALMIGHTY.”

So turn with me to 1Cor. 10: 16.

About 3 weeks ago, I had a conversion with a Facebook friend of mine who I very much like and respect, but like so many Christians today, he misunderstands Koinonia and that leads to misunderstanding a lot of other things, such as the very point of salvation.

Now let me set the pace for this…the post was about whether it was ok for non-believers to take communion with believers. That is why I have you in 1 Cor. 10, because without the information in this chapter, anyone could come to a wrong conclusion about it.

Let’s read it,

1Cor. 10:16-23,

“(16) The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ?

(17) For we, though many, are one bread and one body; for we all partake of that one bread.

(18) Observe Israel after the flesh: Are not those who eat of the sacrifices partakers of the altar?

(19) What am I saying then? That an idol is anything, or what is offered to idols is anything?

(20) Rather, that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice they sacrifice to demons and not to God, and I do not want you to have fellowship with demons.

(21) You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons; you cannot partake of the Lord’s table and of the table of demons. (22) Or do we provoke the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than He?

(23) All things are lawful for me, but not all things are helpful; all things are lawful for me, but not all things edify.”

Now my friends post said this,

“Some churches won’t allow visitors, non-members or unsaved people to join in their communion.
Question: Who did Jesus eat & drink (commune) with when He walked the earth?. . . . . . Just a thought!”

It received 80 likes 25 favorable comments and 9 shares. Only two dissenting voices (guess who was one of them).

I replied by saying,

“So, Christians are told to be careful about how they partake of communion lest judgement come, but the unsaved may eat freely… and should be encouraged to do do? Hmm.

Last time I checked, church means an assembly of Believers…. those called OUT of the world. Since when were we told to encourage wolves to dine with the sheep in the fold? This is a sad departure from sound Christian teaching.”

He replied, by asking me to read an article by a man I’ve gone toe to toe with before. So I said,

“Out of respect to you I will, but it cannot change the clear teaching of scripture. 1 Cor. 10 calls the Lord’s Supper the Koinonia of the blood and Body of Christ which is decidedly impossible for a non-believer. So inviting or encouraging a non-believer to participate in something which speaks of Union with Christ while they are still unified with the Devil is inviting them to lie and to participate in that lie with them at the Lord’s table.

The truth of the Gospel is not Advanced by a lie. It is like encouraging a non-believer to go through the motions of Christian Living Without encountering Christ Himself. 2 Cor. 6:14-18 addresses this. Believers have absolutely no yoke shared with the lost, no part, no Koinonia, no concord, no agreement with them. To invite them to the Koinonia of the Lord’s table with this knowledge is therefore not only misguided but it is outright dishonoring of Christ.”

I then read the article which went EXACTLY where I knew it would.

How did I know?

You see, like I’ve told you, wrong beliefs have real and even predictable consequences.

The writer of this blog believes in 1Jn. 1:9 having nothing to do with Believers. This belief for him springs from a misunderstanding of Rom . 8:1… which says – “There is therefore no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus.”

Because he believes incorrectly about Rom. 8:1, quite naturally 1Jn. 1:9 makes no sense to him. So he needed to reinterpret it in light of the one doctrine which he holds to be a bedrock truth.

Are you understanding what I’m saying?

This article goes on to address a non-believer taking communion. Now I swear to you, that I could have written the rest of this man’s article for him, because like Dominoes one thought ran to the next in a logical order flowing from the initial wrong assumption. It was so obvious that it was sad. When the article got to the place where it addressed whether a non-believer should partake of communion he naturally misinterpreted 1st Corinthians 11 in light of his misunderstanding of Romans 8.

Let’s turn to 1 Cor. 11:26-32, If you remember First Corinthians 11 talks about not taking of the Lord’s Supper in an unworthy manner or the Lord will judge us so that we will not be condemned with the world.

1Cor. 11:26-32,

“(26) For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death till He comes. (27) Therefore whoever eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. (28) But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup. (29) For he who eats and drinks in an unworthy manner eats and drinks judgment to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body. (30) For this reason many are weak and sick among you, and many sleep. (31) For if we would judge ourselves, we would not be judged. (32) But when we are judged, we are chastened by the Lord, that we may not be condemned with the world.”

You see, because this man believes there can never be any condemnation for a Christian he naturally has to believe that the ONLY people who can partake of the Lord’s Supper in an unworthy manner are non – Christians.

Are you seeing what I told you earlier? ALL IT TAKES IS A LITTLE WRONG THINKING TO LEAD TO A LOT OF DOCTRINAL ERROR.

So I replied to my friend who asked me to read the blog article,

“The interpretation of who Paul is addressing in 1 Corinthians 11 concerning partaking of communion in an unworthy manner is flawed in that article which is clearly seen if one were to keep on reading the passage. Paul makes it clear that if we would judge ourselves we would not be judged but when we are judged we are judged by the Lord so that we will not be condemned with the world. Clearly the audience he was referring to we’re Christians not the Lost otherwise those words Paul made within the same context and without changing the subject would make no sense at all.”

Now I don’t want you to lose sight of the reason why I brought up this example.

As Christians we are to have no Koinonia with the Lost.

In this example of my conversation with my friend, the Koinonia would be at the Lord’s table because according to 1st Corinthians 10 taking communion is to participate in Koinonia over the Lord’s body and blood.

1 Cor. 10:16-23, “(16) The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ?”

The truth is Christians cannot really have Koinonia with the lost anyway it is like trying to mix oil with water. If we try to mingle with them without conveying a strong sense of where we stand scripturally morally and in relation to the Lord then we are lying about Who We Are and attempting to have Fellowship based on a false premise.

The funny thing is…these rules are largely followed instinctively by those who are lost. If they know you are Christian they will attempt to make you OK with their lifestyle. They are doing what we should do – nothing to convert us. If we refuse they will want nothing to do with us they will avoid us and often call us names much like children do on the playground.

In another context that nevertheless fits here, Jesus said, “the sons of this world are more shrewd in their generation than the sons of light.”

Those who truly want fellowship with God – to share all things in common with Him must themselves walk even as He walked.

This will effect…

We will pick up here next week…Blessings!

I hope this teaching will challenge you and encourage you to place your trust in the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord.

You have a special place in God’s family & kingdom. If you do not know Him, please use our ‘Contact Us‘ page and reach out so we may have the privilege of introducing you to the Lord. Neither money nor attendance at our church will be mentioned.

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Blessings!

Pastor Mark

View posts by Pastor Mark

Hi my name is Mark and though I am opposed to titles, I am currently the only Pastor (shepherd/elder) serving our assembly right now.

I have been Pastoring in one capacity or another for nearly 30 years now, though never quite like I am today.

Early in 2009 the Lord revealed to me that the way we had structured our assembly (church) was not scriptural in that it was out of sync with what Paul modeled for us in the New Testament. In truth, I (like many pastors I am sure) never even gave this fundamental issue of church structure the first thought. I had always assumed that church structure was largely the same everywhere and had been so from the beginning. While I knew Paul had some very stringent things to say about the local assembly of believers, the point of our gatherings together and who may or may not lead, I never even considered studying these issues but assumed we were all pretty much doing it right...safety in numbers right?! Boy, I couldn't have been more wrong!

So needless to say, my discovery that we had been doing it wrong for nearly two decades was a bit of a shock to me! Now, this "revelation" did not come about all at once but over the course of a few weeks. We were a traditional single pastor led congregation. It was a top-bottom model of ministry which is in part biblical, but not in the form of a monarchy.

The needed change did not come into focus until following 9 very intense months of study and discussions with those who were leaders in our church at the time.

We now understand and believe that the Bible teaches co-leadership with equal authority in each local assembly. Having multiple shepherds with God's heart and equal authority protects both Shepherds and sheep. Equal accountability keeps authority and doctrine in check. Multiple shepherds also provide teaching with various styles and giftings with leadership skills which are both different and complementary.

For a while we had two co-pastors (elders) (myself and one other man) who led the church with equal authority, but different giftings. We both taught in our own ways and styles, and our leadership skills were quite different, but complimentary. We were in complete submission to each other and worked side-by-side in the labor of shepherding the flock.

Our other Pastor has since moved on to other ministry which has left us with just myself. While we currently only have one Pastor/Elder, it is our desire that God, in His faithfulness and timing, may bring us more as we grow in maturity and even in numbers.

As to my home, I have been married since 1995 to my wonderful wife Terissa Woodson who is my closest friend and most trusted ally.

As far as my education goes, I grew up in a Christian home, but questioned everything I was ever taught.

I graduated from Bible college in 1990 and continued to question everything I was ever taught (I do not mention my college in order to avoid being labeled).

Perhaps my greatest preparation for ministry has been life and ministry itself. To quote an author I have come to enjoy namely Fredrick Buechner in his writing entitled, Now and Then, "If God speaks to us at all other than through such official channels as the Bible and the church, then I think that He speaks to us largely through what happens to us...if we keep our hearts open as well as our ears, if we listen with patience and hope, if we remember at all deeply and honestly, then I think we come to recognize beyond all doubt, that, however faintly we may hear Him, He is indeed speaking to us, and that, however little we may understand of it, His word to each of us is both recoverable and precious beyond telling." ~ Fredrick Buechner

Well that is about all there is of interest to tell you about me.

I hope our ministry here is a blessing to you and your family. I also hope that it is only a supplement to a local church where you are committed to other believers in a community of grace.

~God Bless!