Psalm 51:1-12 – Cleaning Your Closets
Last week I preached about clutter in our lives. It was delivered while we were in the throes of moving. Well, this week’s message is somewhat of a sequel to last week. Because you know, when you move, there’s a lot of cleaning that must be done.
We were moving from a house we lived in for 2 years. We had done a fair amount of cleaning in the last few months of living there: we had a yard sale, there was a mould problem that made us throw a lot of stuff out, and then there was the hot water tank rupture in June that ruined a lot of our stuff as well. But when we started moving our belongings from the closets, cupboards, and drawers, we found that we don’t like throwing things out. Not quite like that TV show “Hoarders”, about people with obsessive-compulsive behaviours to keep things. But on a smaller scale, we realized we have a lot of stuff, and it was taking up a lot of space. So we needed to clean it out, not just because we were moving and had to take everything anyway, but also because we needed to clean.
Then we moved into our current house. Though it was empty of most of its furniture, there were a few items to move around. Plus, it hadn’t been lived in for a year. We have needed to take care of more than 1 dust-bunny. So, we cleaned one house out, only to move into another to be cleaned. It seems we have spent the last month and a half packing and unpacking, cleaning and re-cleaning, moving boxes from one house to another, from one spot on the floor to another.
I can’t say that everybody hates cleaning, any more than I can say that nobody likes moving. Some people thrive on cleaning: the mops, the scrub brushes, the hot water, the cleaning agents, the anti-bacterial disinfectants, the getting-on-your-knees-and-scouring-till-you-can-see-your-face-in-the-reflection… Some people live for this. But I can say this much for the topic at hand: it’s hard work to do a good cleaning job.
Today I’d like to take you through some scripture passages about cleaning. Not about floors and walls, but about the heart. Psalm 51:1-12 are David’s words written about when he messed up with sin. Let’s read what he says… He’s praying for a clean heart. In verses 2, 7 and 10, he uses the word “clean” or “cleanse”, or both. This psalm is a painfully beautiful expression of David’s desire to be forgiven of his horrible failure with Uriah’s wife Bathsheba and the execution that followed. David so wanted to be made whole again. It’s hard work to do a good cleaning job.
Of course we know that David was not the only Biblical character who needed cleansing. Adam, Cain, Noah, Abraham, Jacob, Esau, Moses, Solomon, Elijah, Jonah, Peter, Mark, Paul… pretty much everyone. Occasionally there’s a character whose flaws are not mentioned: Joseph from the OT, Daniel, Barnabas... but mostly we see stories in the Bible of people who tried to live good lives, failed, and received forgiveness for what they did. They were made clean.
There’s something wonderful about being clean. If you go to someone else’s home, and you walk into a clean porch, immediately, you feel more welcome. A clean kitchen makes a person feel like the food is going to be safe to eat. A clean bathroom is a must if you want to feel clean when you’re done your business.
Now I’ve met some super people over my years whose houses were not spotless, and that’s OK. One family in my 1st church lived on a farm in a swamp. They wore their work boots into the kitchen and living room. Plus, it was an unfinished wood floor, so you know it didn’t clean easily. But let me tell you, those people gave us free meat and free milk. They invited me to watch wrestling with them. They’d just stop in from time to time to chat as well. They treated us well, and I will always remember them for that.
I tell this story to say that the cleanliness of a person’s home is not necessarily a reflection of a person’s heart. That’s a good thing, because I can’t say that I’m super neat or a clean freak. Another lady in that same church once said something that I’ve never forgotten, that I believe completely: “If you’re coming to see my house, give me a week. If you’re coming to see me, stop in anytime.” I only mean to say that being clean is a good thing. And if you had to choose, always choose heart cleanliness over house cleanliness.
It’s funny, though: Some people work and labour and slave away to make their houses clean, but leave their souls in a state of filth. They have immaculate homes but dirty hearts. They get up early and do their laundry and have it on the clothesline and do the bedding and the dishes and the dusting and the vacuuming, just so they can sit around and gossip all day. Or people who have well-manicured lawns with the hedges trimmed and the gardens weeded and the grass mown but they sit in judgment over their neighbours’ lives. Clean exteriors, dirty interiors. Jesus called people like that white-washed tombs. Beautiful appearances, yucky realities.
Because, in the end, what’s inside is what’s most important. Having clean homes is a good thing, but having clean hearts is what’s better. The work isn’t immediately visible, unlike doing the dishes or mowing the lawn, but it’s more worthwhile with eternal rewards. But alas, iit’s hard work to do a good cleaning job.
But it’s so important. I mean, this isn’t our homes we’re talking about; we’re talking about God’s home, you and I. 1 Corinthians 3:16 calls us His temple: “Don't you know that you yourselves are God's temple and that God's Spirit lives in you?” 1 Peter 2:5 calls us His house: “You also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.” And Ephesians 2:22 says that believers are where God lives: “And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.” You see? You and I are His temple, His house, His dwelling-place. We are where God lives. That’s why we need to make sure our lives are clean. Not for ourselves, and certainly not to impress the neighbours, but to please God.
Thinking of Jesus… twice He went into the temple in Jerusalem and was thoroughly angered that the buying and the selling were getting in the way of worship. Twice Jesus cleared God’s house because it was cluttered with non-God things. Thinking of your heart… is it cluttered with non-God things? Would Jesus be angry at the condition of your heart, God’s temple?
In 2 Kings 22-23, the story is told of Josiah, the boy who became king at age 8. He realized that the nation had forsaken God, and he called them back to fix the temple. He got rid of altars to foreign gods, and had idol-worshippers put to death. But he made sure the temple of the true and living God was made right. We need to make sure that our temple is clean. We need to be diligent about having a clean house for God.
Ah, but it’s hard work to do a good cleaning job. There’s a law in physics called the 2nd Law of Thermodynamics. It states that things in the universe naturally go from a state of order to a state of disorder. Metal rusts and falls apart. Houses collapse. Weeds overtake flowers. Clothes wear out. Silverware tarnishes. Vehicles break down. Blame it on sin, or blame it on the way of the universe, but things don’t naturally improve. Things don’t get better by themselves. It takes work to get keep things organized, straightened up, neat and tidy. And clean.
Even once we become Christians, things don’t naturally improve without effort. Yes, God improves us, but only to the extent we allow Him. Philippians 2:12-13 tells us to “work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose.” God works in us, but it’s not a one-way street. We need to work with Him too.
And sometimes it really could be considered work. It’s hard work to do a good cleaning job. But we must anyway. We all need a good house-cleaning from time to time. 1 John 1:8 says that if we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. That means we all need to fess up from time to time, and realize that yes, it’s us who needs the help, not our neighbours. It’s me who needs to hear this, not the person sitting next to me.
The passage continues: “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” That’s fantastic. Cleansing is as simple as that. Actually admitting that yes, we sinned. Yes, we are sinning. Yes, this sin is in my life, and shouldn’t be.
John continues in the next chapter: “My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have one who speaks to the Father in our defense – Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.” So, as Christians, we shouldn’t sin. We shouldn’t tolerate it. But it happens. And when it does, don’t try to cover it up with theological arguments. Just admit it. Yes! I did! I’m sorry, too. Please forgive me. Help me not to do it again.
I love the words of Psalm 19: “Who can discern his errors? Forgive my hidden faults.” I like that. I may not even be aware of what’s in my heart, but help me to be free of it anyway. All the things I keep hidden, even the things I didn’t know I have… help me to be rid of it all.
Then it says: “Keep your servant also from willful sins; may they not rule over me. Then will I be blameless, innocent of great transgression.” So the things that I know that I do or think or feel… help me to be rid of those things too. Lord, I want to be blameless. I want to be free. I want to be forgiven. Lord, I want to be clean.
So how clean is your house? Rather, God’s house? Have you felt the Lord laying something on your heart? Have you felt Him tug at you about something in particular? Maybe something others don’t see but you know it’s there. Judging others? Gossip? Lack of love? Impure thoughts? A dwindling faith? A lackluster prayer life? The cooling in your love for things of God?
Again I say: it’s hard work to do a good cleaning job. But God deserves it. And what glorifies God is good for us. It’s worth it to be cleansed by God’s forgiveness.
