[House cleaning demonstration.]
If we are going to be the church we need to be, we need to clean house. [2] I don’t mean just clean things on the surface. I don’t mean just clean up the things that are showing. I mean we need to clean up all the mess and all the dirt, even the stuff that’s hidden from plain sight.
If we’re going to be the Christians we need to be…if we’re going to be the dad and mom and friend we need to be…if we’re going to be the person we need to be, we need to clean house.
You see, the mess and the dirt in our lives that we try to hide ends up enslaving us and it keeps us from being all that we were created to be! We think we can live with our secret sins, but they hold us back and keep us from really living like we could be. We need to clean house.
In Acts chapter nineteen Luke records an event that took place under Paul’s ministry in the town of Ephesus. An event that shows us just what can happen when people clean house and follow Jesus with their entire lives.
[Read Acts 19:20.]
The Word of God was growing and prevailing! God was winning in people’s lives because they allowed Him to clean out all the junk in their lives!
Let me ask you, who wins more in your life? Does God or does your flesh win more in your life? Does God’s will or does your will win more in your life? You see, there’s rewards and there’s consequences that take place in our lives depending on who wins more.
When God wins more in our lives we are graciously rewarded!
- answers to prayer
- understand His Word
- can sense His presence
- can follow His leading
- His power, peace, patience, wisdom, etc.
- Heavenly rewards!
When we win more in our lives:
- prayers ineffective
- confusion, frustration, impatience
- His chastisement
- Loss of Heavenly rewards
If you want God to win more in your own life, clean house. Let’s look at what happened
amongst the Ephesian believers that caused God to prevail in their lives and even in their community. Remember, Paul was there for a couple of years and many people had gotten saved. But then something amazing happened; something incredible; something spontaneous.
The people took their faith to the next level by openly confess their sins. And that’s where house cleaning starts – [3] by confessing your sins to God and others.
[Read Acts 19:18.]
Not only were the people confessing their sins to God, but they were disclosing them to others there in the church. They realized that they needed help to stay on the straight and narrow so along with asking God for help, they asked others in the church as well. How refreshing is that! There was no pretension, no self-righteousness, and no pride that kept their relationships superficial. They knew that they were all sinners saved by grace who confessed their sins to God and to each other. This is where house cleaning starts.
[Read I John 1:5-10.]
We need to confess our sins to God. That means we say to Him what He would say to us about our sins. That’s what real confession is. Confession to God means to be brutally honest with Him about what we cannot hide about us. And when we do that, oh the wonderful grace of God that forgives all of our sins!
But even though we can have forgiveness from God when we confess our sins to him, there are times when we need to confess our sins to each other.
[Read James 5:16.]
Maybe you’ve sinned against someone – you need to confess to them.
Maybe you’re sin affects someone, (music director search), you need to confess to them.
Or maybe you need help not falling back into that sin, (accountability partners).
I know that confessing our sins to each other can be one of the scariest things in the world.
But I also know this, it can be one of the most freeing things in the world! There’s just something about confessing your sins to someone else. Yes it can be embarrassing. But it sets you free and helps you understand that you are not alone in the struggle to be pure! Now you have help!
[My feelings of inferiority at BSU story.]
When we confess our sins to God and to each other, there’s so much grace and healing and help available for us. Cleaning house starts with confession.
At the end of the service we’re going to have a time where you can make sure your house is in order by having a time for confession. Whether you come to confess to God, or you need to confess to someone else, that’s up to you. But if there’s something you need to get off your chest, do it! There’s so much grace waiting in response to your humble heart.
Cleaning house starts with confession… We follow up that confession with [4] clearing out the influences that cause us to stumble. If we don’t want to fall back into the sin that we’ve just confessed, we need to clear out anything in our life that causes us to stumble.
[Read Acts 19:19-20.]
The people there had a serious problem with practicing magic and witchcraft. And it must have been a real temptation to get back into it. So they spontaneously destroyed all the things that could trip them up in the future. They got rid of thousands of dollars of stumbling blocks to make sure that their freshly cleaned houses would stay that way. We need to do the same thing.
[Diet/Twinkie illustration.]
There’s some things in our lives that we need to get rid of. Things that will influence us to get right back into that same old sin.
[My musical influences story.]
So what are some bad influences that we might need to get rid of so we don’t stumble?
- music
- movies, tv shows
- internet access
- people
- places, (alcoholic in a bar)
Now I’m not saying that we all need to become Quakers. But we need to be honest with
ourselves. If we really want to follow Jesus Christ, we need to get rid of anything that get’s in our way! A good rule of thumb to go by is found in Philippians 4:8.
[Read Philippians 4:8.]
If there’s something in your life that you know causes you to sin – get rid of it. If there’s other things in your life and you aren’t sure if they’re affecting you negatively, then see if they can pass the Philippians 4:8 test. Ephesians chapters three and four will also help you pinpoint potential stumbling blocks in your life. But bottom line, after you start cleaning your house through confession, make sure you don’t leave anything laying around that’ll cause you to fall back into sin.
That’s what the people in the Ephesian church did and it had great results. But even thought they took the appropriate steps to live right, there would be outside influences that would try and derail their efforts. When this happens to us we need to make sure and [5] continue to live in obedience to Jesus Christ.
[Read Acts 19:21-23.]
Right before Paul sets out on his journey to Rome, a group of people who made their living off of idolatry caused a huge uproar amongst the people. You see Ephesus was the home of the great temple of the goddess Diana; (also referred to as the temple of Artemis). That temple is classified as one of the 7 wonders of the ancient world. An incredible structure it was. Worship of the goddess Diana was very prevalent in Ephesus and in many other Roman cities. But since so many people were getting saved and giving up that practice, the guys who made money off of it started loosing business. So they tried to destroy Christianity. But the disciples stood strong!
[Read Acts 19:24-41.]
These two guys were drug in front of an angry, confused, godless crowd of people who were blinded by their idolatry. But when the town clerk got everyone to quiet down and listen, all they could accuse the disciples of was having a different, yet influential, set of religious beliefs! They couldn’t accuse them of anything else! The disciples lived in such a way that no one had anything bad to say about them. When they were let go they all continued to follow Christ and lead other people to Him. The pressure of persecution didn’t break them. They remained obedient in their lives to Christ.
Listen, when you make important decisions for the Lord, pressure will come on you to stop living in obedience to Christ. I’ve seen it a hundred times. Someone makes a big decision for God and then all at once all kinds of influences swoop down and try and get that person distracted and eventually unfaithful. Don’t let that happen!
When persecution comes, keep your eyes on Jesus!
When temptation comes, keep your eyes on Jesus!
When the trials of life come, keep your eyes on Jesus!
Don’t let anything take your focus and obedience away from living for Jesus Christ. Life is too short and eternity is too long for us to waste our years in sin.
[Read Hebrews 12:1-3.]
When you feel like giving up and giving in, remember the One who gave it all for you. Take the house-cleaning decisions that you’ve made and continue to live in obedience to Jesus Christ.
[6] God wants to bless our lives and help us to live like we were created to live. He wants to give us an awesome life! But sometimes we need to clean house before the blessings can come.
Is there some area of your life that needs to be cleaned up? Why not confess it today and allow God’s victory to be present in your life? Grace is waiting here for you!
[Altar call.] [7]
