Tag: unequally yoked

Alliances with Unbelievers

Old Testament: 2 Chronicles 17-19

Poetry: Psalm 6

New Testament: 1 Timothy 2

“Should you help the wicked and love those who hate the Lord?”  This is a pretty challenging question that comes straight from today’s reading from 2 Chronicles 19:2 NIV.  One of the questions that comes to mind for me is “help the wicked do what?”  The second question is, “Why shouldn’t I love those who hate the LORD?”  After all,  Didn’t Jesus tell us that we are supposed to love everyone, including our enemies? (Matthew 5:44) Shouldn’t godly people treat others with love, even unbelievers, even those who have rejected God? 

One of my ministry settings is as a hospital chaplain.  Recently I visited a patient who informed me as soon as I walked into their room that they were an atheist, but that they still wanted to talk to me, they were going through an emotional crisis and they needed help.  This was a person that didn’t simply hate the LORD but actually denies the existence of God.  As a Chaplain, as a pastor, and as a Christian should I have NOT helped the patient?  Should I have NOT loved the patient since they do not love God?  I’ll tell you the rest of the story at the end. Let’s look at the context of this quote in today’s reading and see what God reveals to us about himself.

The story is about Jehoshaphat (isn’t that a great name).  It literally means YHWH has judged.  At the time of today’s reading in 2 Chronicles 17-19 Jehoshaphat was the king of Judah.  Judah and Israel were at one time one nation comprised of 12 tribes that descended from Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.  Israel was a strong and united nation during the reigns of kings David and Solomon, but after Solomon died the nation of Israel was divided by a civil war.  The Northern Kingdom of Israel, and the Southern Kingdom of Judah separated with Judah’s capital in Jerusalem where the temple of God was.  Jehoshaphat was the king of Judah and ruled from Jerusalem.  He was an heir of King David and was generally a good and faithful ruler who avoided the worship of idols.  Ahab was the King of Israel and he did not remain faithful to YHWH, the God of Israel, and led his people into the worship of idols which was strictly forbidden by God.

A common practice at the time for smaller nations was to enter into alliances with other nations against their enemies.  God had made it clear to his people that he did not want them entering into political alliances with nations that practiced idol worship.  In today’s reading, it says that Jehoshaphat entered into an alliance by marriage with Ahab and Israel.  This was a violation of God’s commands and led to all kinds of trouble for Jehoshaphat and the Kingdom of Judah.  Now that they were in an alliance Ahab wanted Jehoshaphat to go to war with him against their enemies.  The problem was that God was not in favor of this because of Ahab’s unfaithfulness.  Jehoshaphat was wise enough to ask one of the prophets to seek God on the question.  Of course, Jehoshaphat should have known the answer- God did not want him to enter into an alliance with Ahab to begin with, he certainly wouldn’t want Jehoshaphat to fight in battle alongside Ahab, a battle which Ahab was destined to lose and where he would be killed.

After Ahab was indeed killed in battle as the prophet warned, Jehoshaphat returned to his palace where another prophet of God, Jehu, came to him and asked our opening question-“Should you help the wicked and love those who hate the Lord?”  The answer here was clearly “no, you should not enter into a political alliance with a king and a nation that have rejected God and his teaching.  No, you should not give your son to be married to the idolatrous king’s daughter as the law clearly taught that God’s covenant people should not marry with idolatrous people who do not believe in God.

The prophet was not saying that God’s people should never help a non-believer or should never act in loving ways to people outside of the faith community.  The law taught that we should love our neighbor (Leviticus 19:18).  What the prophet was saying is you should never enter into a formal alliance with one who has rejected God and the teachings of God.  The Apostle Paul would express this to followers of Jesus in 2 Corinthians 6:14 “Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common?”  One obvious example of this would be marriage.  If you are a Christian you should not enter into a committed relationship with one who has denied or rejected Jesus Christ as savior or God as our Father.  Believers should not marry unbelievers.  If you’re driving down the road and you see your non-believing neighbor with a flat tire, you can stop and help her change her tire, but you can’t marry her.  You might do a favor or otherwise show kindness and love to unbelievers, but it would be potentially very spiritually dangerous to enter into a business alliance with one who has rejected God and godly values.

Jehoshaphat was basically a good man and a good king, but he got into trouble when he violated the clear teaching of God’s law by entering into a political alliance by having his son marry the idolatrous, god-rejecting king Ahab’s daughter.  It might be the savvy and politically expedient thing to do, but it was spiritually deadly.

If you are committed to following God and God’s values, you can and should show love and kindness to everyone, including believers, but don’t join them or make commitments that will compromise your values and dedication to Jesus Christ.

Now for the rest of the story.  The atheist and I talked for an hour.  When I left they said, “I think I might want you to preach at my funeral.”  A week later they came back to the hospital and asked the nurse to have me come and visit. We talked for another hour.  Before I left they said, “I’m not so convinced that God doesn’t exist, is it okay if I visit your church?”  We can and should show kindness and grace and caring love to everyone, including unbelievers, just don’t enter into committed relationships with them, until they give their lives to Jesus too.

-Jeff Fletcher

Reflection Questions

  1.  Beyond dating and marriage, what are some other potentially damaging ways a Christian today might bring themself spiritual harm by entering into an alliance with one who has rejected God?  How might this impact educational or career decisions?  Investment decisions? What political candidates we support?
  2. How would Jesus want you to love your non-Christian neighbor without entering into a dangerous commitment to one who does not share your values?
  3. As Christians, we are called to pray for and obey our governments unless they demand that we violate our commitment to God, how is that different from supporting a political candidate who clearly has rejected God’s teaching either by what they profess or how they live?

Bio- This week’s devotions are written by pastor Jeff Fletcher.  Pastor Jeff has been a participant at Fuel for over 40 years.  He is a pastor and hospital chaplain in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia and is a doctoral candidate for Integrative Mental Health at Vanderbilt Divinity School in Nashville.   He is married to Karen, father of eleven, and grandpa/papa to 15.  He likes reading, watching baseball, and making delicious pulled pork in the smoker.

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A Bad Relationship

Judges 16

March 2

If you have been in the dating world for any amount of time, there is a high chance that you have had a bad relationship at some point. We’ve all probably had a date go wrong, had someone cheat on us, or had a relationship just not go where we thought it would. This is so common that it shouldn’t surprise us to find an example (among many) within the Bible itself, and that’s what we see with Samson. Blessed with incredible strength by God, Samson sacrificed that gift because he thought he loved someone and paid for it with his life. However, as we look at the story, we see that this was avoidable, and it is a powerful lesson for all of us that bad relationships in general are usually avoidable too.

Looking at Samson’s life, we see that, although he was blessed by God from an early age, he was driven by passion and lust (v. 1). He was so driven by his lustful passions that he fell in love with a woman from the Philistines, who did not worship the same God as him. Not only that, but we learn nothing about how they related to each other’s families, or how quickly they got involved together (although, it can be assumed by his track record that they jumped into things quicker than most). Samson wasn’t aware that Delilah planned on betraying him and didn’t really love him back. Perhaps he would have known if he spent more time thinking it over before getting involved? 

How often do you hear stories about people who “loved” someone else, only to find out later that they weren’t the person they thought? How many of you, or people that you know, have stories about rushing into relationships too quickly, only to have it hurt you in the end? Have you ever been involved with someone else who didn’t share the same beliefs as you, causing you to sacrifice your morals and convictions to please them? This happens all the time, but God doesn’t want this for us. He has given us clear instructions to have healthy relationships in the Scriptures, because as our Father, He wants what is best for us. Patiently consider what God says about dating and marriage before you get too deep with someone else.

-Talon Paul

Questions to Consider

  1. If you are considering dating someone right now, have you taken your family’s and your church’s opinions to heart? Dating is intended to bring you towards marriage, and your family’s view of the person could be life-altering in the future.
  1. The apostle Paul encourages us to not be “unequally yoked” to unbelievers (2 Corinthians 6:14). Their morals and views of the world do not always match up with your own. How important is your potential date’s faith to you, and is it a deciding factor in your relationship? Should it be?
  1. What guard-rails or boundaries have you set up in your relationship to maintain your faithfulness to God? Breaking these barriers can have life-defining consequences in the future.
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How Did They Forget?

Judges 3-4 and John 5

As I was reading through Judges chapters 3 and 4 I had visions of Chuck Norris. If he was armed with just one wooden pole with a metal tip (an oxgoad) could he take down 600 men like Shamgar did to save Israel? (Judges 3:31)

And, have you ever seen Forged in Fire, a competition between craftsmen who make handcrafted weapons and then put them through various tests to see which will be judged the best? I bet the judges would be impressed with the 18 inch double edged sword left-handed Ehud made that sliced through King Eglon’s belly until even the handle sank in surrounded by fat and the blade came out the back. A pity to have to leave such an impressive sword behind as Ehud cleverly escapes with his life and then leads an impressive rebellion against Eglon’s Moabites. 10,000 Moabites were killed that day and Israel victoriously rules over them for the next 80 years. (Judges 3:15-30)

And it’s hard to decide who should get the Wonder Woman award of the Bible. Both Deborah and Jael are incredibly strong and worthy candidates. Deborah, the wise judge of Israel who is bolder than Barak. She agrees to ride into battle alongside the captain of the army who wouldn’t go without her. And when the exhausted commander of the enemy army thinks he’s found safe haven in the tent of Jael, he sleeps, and she drives a tent stake through his temple and into the ground. Those, are some strong, brave ladies! (Judges 4:8-22)

God did indeed provide some very tough, courageous, wise, strong and capable men and women to fight for Israel when they were in need, surrounded and afflicted by their enemies, if they called out to Him. But, what got the Israelites into these messes over and over again? Hadn’t Joshua helped them clear the land and give them rest? The problem is – they didn’t stay faithful to the Lord. “They forgot the LORD their God and served the Baals and the Asherahs.” (Judges 3:7b NIV).

How could they forget God? After all that God had done for them, over and over again through the generations. What caused their falling away, over and over again? The verse immediately preceding explains what happened. Judges 3:6 says (with my added pronoun descriptions), “They (the Israelites) took their (the unbelievers they lived amongst) daughters in marriage and gave their own (Israelite) daughters to their (the unbelievers they lived amongst) sons, and served their (the unbelievers they lived amongst) gods.” They forgot God because of who they chose to marry. Their spouses brought false and foreign gods into their marriage, into their homes, and before long into their hearts and minds and children and future generations, too. You can’t become one with an unbeliever, or a false god worshiper, and have it not negatively impact the way you love and serve the One True God. And when they served false gods it wasn’t long before God’s anger brought devastation, invaders and great trials upon them.

We all know what to look for in the perfect mate – we’ve watched the Hallmark Channel, too! She/he makes me feel special and happy, has a great sense of humor, would make a fantastic mom/dad, loves all the things I love, makes me want to be a better person, has a lot of social media friends, is super polite and friendly, has a great shoulder to cry on, shares my political and moral persuasions, even my parents like this one, has a great work ethic, we agree on the correct number and kinds of kids and pets, is so much fun to be around, is talented and smart, is quite romantic, will be a great provider, is kind to the earth, speaks my love language, is a fabulous cook and likes to clean toilets, is even good-looking, doesn’t mind my (fill-in-the-blank), and we are madly in love soul-mates.

Nope. Not a good match. Don’t tie the knot. Try again.

This time, first and foremost look for and insist upon one who loves and serves the One True God, just like you.

Period. That’s the most important. It is not a negotiable. It is not a character trait you just hope develops with more time. It is not worth the risk when the wrong spouse so easily leads to forgetting and falling away from God. It’s not worth the risk of falling into God’s wrath. “Don’t be unequally yoked with believers”, Paul said (2 Corinthians 6:14). Moses said, “Do not intermarry with them. Do not give your daughters to their sons or take their daughter for your sons, for they will turn your sons away from following me to serve other gods, and the Lord’s anger will burn against you and will quickly destroy you.” (Deuteronomy 7:3-4). If she/he isn’t serving the One True God they are serving false gods, even if you don’t know what those gods are named, just yet. It will leak unto you and your children and the generations that follow. Save yourself the heartache. Don’t even look at, date or consider as a mate one who doesn’t make the grade in God’s number one trait for your soul-mate spouse – he/she most love the Lord your God first and most.

I want to end today with a quick look back at what we started with today…God sending some very tough, courageous, wise, strong and capable men and women to lead and save His people. I suggest that the toughest, most courageous, wisest, strongest and most capable of them all is Jesus. These are not the adjectives most often associated with Jesus. We first think of him as a gentle, loving, humble, innocent, accepting, nice, merciful, meek, forgiving, helpful servant, a king who rides on a donkey and is crucified. And while those are not wrong, they don’t reveal his full character. Jesus was tough. We have only read the first few chapters of John and we have already seen him make a whip (impressive skill to have), overturn the moneychangers’ tables and forcefully clear the temple courtyard of the dirty animals and greedy, irreverent men. He wasn’t a wimp! He has questioned Israel’s teachers (and will use some pretty rough descriptions for them). He was wise and discerning and told it like it was. He has called out the Samaritan woman by pointing out how many husbands she has had. He wasn’t blind to sin and sinful lifestyles. And in today’s reading of John 5, after he heals the invalid of 38 years, he says, “See, you are well again. Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you.” (John 5:14). He didn’t accept sin. He called people to repent and leave behind their sinful ways. And, when they did, he was full of forgiveness. Jesus is tough on sin and chosen by God to offer salvation to God’s children. But not all will receive it. Jesus is no gentle push-over. Are you ready to meet the real Jesus?

-Marcia Railton

Today’s Bible reading passages can be read or listened to at BibleGateway here – Judges 3-4 and John 5 .

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The Wisdom of Solomon…Or Not (I Kings 3-5)

Friday, October 28

By Sherry Alcumbrack

The first verse says King Solomon made a treaty with Pharaoh, King of Egypt, and married Pharaoh’s daughter. BIG mistake. In Deuteronomy 7: 3, they were told not to intermarry with other nations, not because God was being racist, but because He said in v.4 “For they will turn your sons away from following Me, to serve other gods.” As we will see in the later chapters this holds true for King Solomon.  It also holds true for us and we are told in 2 Corinthians 6:14 “Do not be unequally yoked together with the unbeliever.” Who we marry is one of the most important decisions in our lives. We had a speaker say at one of our retreats that only 1 of every 4 kids in the youth group would stay in church. And she said it held true for her family. She had 4 children and only one was still actively involved while 2 attended sporadically and one never attends. I asked what she thought was the deciding factor and she said “Who they married.” The one married another youth group kid and the others didn’t. So when your spouse says, let’s just skip church today, it gets easier and easier to do that. It is easy to be pulled away to follow other gods, which can be sports, movies, or even the girls/guys we date or marry. DO NOT take this decision lightly. In the book Get Lost by Dannah Gresh, she said she had a shirt with this quote on it “A girl needs to be so lost in God that a guy has to seek Him to find her.” This is good advice for girls and guys. Pick someone that loves God for your spouse to help lessen the problems down the road.

Later in the chapter the Lord appears to Solomon in a dream and says, “Ask! What shall I give you?” Solomon says he wants to be able to judge God’s people justly and be able to discern between good and evil.

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God was so pleased with his answer that he gave him more wisdom than anyone before him and after him, but he also gave him riches and honor. In verse 14 he gives him his instructions for a good life. These verses have been repeated over and over in the Old Testament so we can gather that they are important. They are not only important for the Israelites, they are important for us today. “Follow God’s ways, keep his statutes and his commandments.” It really is as simple as that!

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I always loved the story of the two women and the baby. Two ladies were living in the same house. They had babies within 3 days of each other. One lady’s son died in the night and she traded him for the living baby. The mother knew it was her son but the lady would not give him back to her so they took their case to King Solomon. So they argued in front of the King. Finally he makes his decree and says “Divide the baby and give a half to one, and half to the other.” The mother said “O my Lord; give her the living child, and by no means kill him!” The other lady said “Let him be neither mine nor yours, but divide him.” He had no trouble deciding which one was the real mother. News of King Solomon’s wisdom travelled far and wide, and people came just to hear his judgements.

There was peace and prosperity during the reign of Solomon and so he decided to build the temple for God that David had first envisioned but was unable to build due to being in the middle of conflict during much of his reign. 1 Kings 5:5 “Behold, I intend to build a house for the name of the Lord my God, as the Lord spoke to David my father, saying, ‘Your son, whom I will set on your throne in your place, he will build the house for My name.’” God will always fulfill his promises and that is also true for our lives. One of my favorite verses is Joshua 1:9, “Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous! Do not tremble or be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.” That is a promise that we can hold on to that was spoken to the Israelites but is still true for us today.

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