A 2nd grade Sunday School teacher was giving a lesson on being pure. To help get the class thinking, she was having them finish famous sayings. She would give the first part, and then the kids would volunteer to finish.
“A bird in the hand is worth 2 in the “ (bush!)
“A rolling stone gathers no…” (moss!)
“Cleanliness is next to…” a little boy raised his hand, “Impossible !” I was recently reminded of that.
We just returned yesterday with our daughter and grandkids, after spending a week with them helping them as they move. Moving is messy. Moving with twins…whew! Usually, there are some things in life that matter to you: clean dishes, clean socks, a clean towel, food that hasn’t been chewed by someone else. But at some point, you quit worrying about some of those things. I think that point is reached when twins are born.
Babies are an interesting study in purity. There are few things as innocent and pristine as a little baby, and few things that make life messier. But the more I think about it, that’s a lot like what we’re supposed to be. As followers of Jesus, we’re supposed to somehow live in the middle of a messy world and yet not be just like it. We have to be involved in it. In fact, to follow the example of Jesus, we have to jump right into the middle of it. But at the same time, we’re supposed to steer clear of the dirt. We’re supposed to pull people from the flames and come back not burned. We’re supposed to remain pure while living in a very impure environment.
That’s a challenging thing to do, isn’t it? Too often, the numbers show very little difference between people on the outside and the inside of Church when it comes to the subject of purity. But my mind keeps going back to how basic this is to being a follower of Jesus.
James 1:27
Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.
James is talking about purity. Not about ritual. Not image management. Not just the things we do that everyone sees. But about being people who in God’s eyes are pure in a stained world.
The Old Testament was full of ritual, but there was a point to it. Was there a reason the Israelites weren't supposed to weave wool and linen together? Was there a reason they weren't to plow with an ox and a donkey together? Was there a reason they were to ceremonially cleanse themselves; to not eat certain foods?
It was more than just external. There was a lesson in all of it: They were to have a purity about them. Then Jesus came along and made it clear that God’s great concern is what’s going on inside us, not just the external things:
Mark 7 (v15) Nothing outside a man can make him 'unclean' by going into him. Rather, it is what comes out of a man that makes him 'unclean.'" . . . (v20-23) "What comes out of a man is what makes him 'unclean.' For from within, out of men's hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. All these evils come from inside and make a man 'unclean.'"
As He began the Sermon on the Mount Jesus would say, “Blessed, oh how happy, are the pure in heart - the person whose heart is clean, undivided, given wholly to God. They will see God.” I’d like to see God. Would you?
Purity is an issue that we need imbedded into our hearts. Remember, we’re what Jesus gets. Eph 5 says that, "Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless."
Jesus gave Himself so that He would have us as a pure bride.
As we talk about this subject of purity, there's a danger – a danger that we'll make it into law and ritual rather than heart and genuine worship and imitation of Christ. I know the world is goofing this up. In fact, the world itself is goofed up – it’s stained. So, it makes sense that purity matters if we’re going to land on our feet.
Really, why does it matter? I’m glad you asked that!
It's a Salvation Issue
It matters because my salvation depends on this issue! So does yours!
Colossians 3:5-6
Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. Because of these, the wrath of God is coming.
That's judgment talk!
Ephesians 5:5
For of this you can be sure: No immoral, impure or greedy person--such a man is an idolater--has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.
Hebrews 13:4
Marriage should be honored by all, and the marriage bed kept pure, for God will judge the adulterer and all the sexually immoral.
It's a salvation issue. Impurity invites the wrath of God. That's why Jesus gave Himself for His Church -- so that He could present a clean, spotless people to Himself -- not clean on our own, but washed clean by His blood! Not outwardly clean, but with hearts that have been cleansed of the ugliness of sin. We need that if we’re going to be saved!
Rev 21:27 John describes the New Jerusalem: "Nothing impure will ever enter it..."
Take off your shoes at the door. Why? Because the only way that carpet is going to remain clean is if everything that passes through the door is clean. Oh, it would be less work to make an issue of it. You might have fewer people smelling your feet and seeing that your socks don’t match. But the moment you make exceptions, the moment that someone’s street shoes hit the floor, it becomes less than it was.
It has to be that way. The only way Heaven can be a wonderful place is if nothing impure is allowed to enter it -- including people with impure hearts. I’m not looking forward to Heaven because it’s going to be just like this world! I’m looking forward to it because it’s going to be different than this world!
Purity is an issue of salvation!
It's a Relationship With God Issue
Being around grandkids has reminded me of the way and reasons we wash things. You’d like to think that it’s because you don’t want microscopic things to infect your dear little children, so you try hard to at least find a pacifier the dog hasn’t been chewing. That’s true, I suppose, but it’s mostly because you have to find a shirt without that cottage cheese stuff on the shoulder before you can go out into public! Where there are babies, there’s a lot of washing going on.
All through the books of Numbers and Leviticus there's a lot of washing going on! Some of it was about hygiene, some of it was practical, and some of it was ceremonial. So there were different ways things would be purified – sometimes with water, but also with fire and with blood. The priests and the temple are constantly being purified -- cleansed of any impurities because God is pure. Whenever Israel approached God, they were supposed to concern themselves with purity.
In between the time of the Old and New Testaments, the Jews collected the oral teachings of the rabbis into a book called the Mishnah. The largest portion of that book, the Taharos, was devoted to the laws of purity, where there are 30 chapters just to explain the rules of purifying vessels and utensils! Remember the wedding feast at Cana in John 2 where there were 6 stone waterpots for purification?
Now, all of this in an indicator that being pure has always been an important feature in our relationship to God. It’s also an indicator about how easy it can be to reduce purity to a matter of soap and water on the outside of things while forgetting what’s on the inside.
Whether or not we're a people of purity affects our relationship with the Father. We can't say we have a real relationship with God and at the same time carry around a heart that's dirty.
I John 1:6
If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth.
Paul told the Corinthians:
II Corinthians 11:2
I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy. I promised you to one husband, to Christ, so that I might present you as a pure virgin to him.
Ill - Can you imagine a bride, on her wedding day, as she stands in the reception line, introducing people to her new husband, "Oh, and this is my other husband Joe. I guess I didn't tell you about him”? Does it affect a husband and wife's relationship if the wife is being unfaithful to him? Can she still look him in the eye, treat him with the same genuine concern? Can she tell him how much she loves him and wants the best for him, if deep down she has another lover on the side?
Neither can we have a healthy relationship with God if we harbor a 2nd love in our hearts. Instead of longing for times where it's just Him and us, we'll run from them. Instead of telling Him how much we love Him, we'll be unable to speak things we don't believe ourselves. Purity affects our relationship with God.
Ill - A dad came home from work, and there was his little girl, who had been playing outside – in the mud. She was a mess. After their usual hello’s, he told her, “Wow! You’re pretty dirty!” and she said, “Yes, I know, Daddy, but I’m even prettier clean!” Well, you may be pretty in your current state – by someone’s standards, maybe just externally or something, you’re pretty, but by the holy standards of God you’re dirty. You’d be prettier clean! – pretty in a way that actually counts and lasts. Right now, the dirt in your life is in the way with your relationship to God.
It's a Relationship With Other People Issue
Whether I'm a person of purity or not has a bearing on my relationship with other people.
Listen to the contrast in
James 3:16-18
For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice. But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere. Peacemakers who sow in peace raise a harvest of righteousness.
Timothy was probably quite a bit younger than many of the people in the church at Ephesus, and Paul had to urge him to stop letting his youthfulness allow him to be looked down upon. Instead, he was to set an example for the believers in speech, life, love, faith, and purity. Right in the middle of our relationship with each other is this matter of purity.
You've seen it happen to people in this congregation -- something changes inside them. They kind of drift away. Their relationships with people in the Community of believers mean less and less, and then you learn that they've become involved in some kind of immoral lifestyle. You think back on it, and it begins to make sense: the withdrawal; the lack of contact with the Family; they don't accept your invitations to come over; they avoid you when they see you at the store. And it all goes back to some kind of hidden impurity they harbored in their heart. If you’ve been in the church very long, you probably can think of someone where this has happened. If you’ve ever been that person avoiding everyone else, you know exactly what I’m talking about.
Purity is an issue that affects our relationships with each other in the Church.
It's a Testimony Issue
Throughout history, and right up to this present day, the Church's reputation has taken shots because of impurity inside its doors.
Philippians 2:14-15
Do everything without complaining or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe.
We can't shine like stars in the universe if our lights are dingy with impurity!
The positive impact of our lives on other people is directly proportional to the level of personal purity we’re careful to maintain.
1 Peter 3:1-2
Wives, in the same way be submissive to your husbands so that, if any of them do not believe the word, they may be won over without words by the behavior of their wives, when they see the purity and reverence of your lives.
Impurity among the people of God blows our credibility in the world’s eyes. But it works 2 directions. When we demonstrate real purity, it becomes a positive testimony all by itself. Our purity is a testimony issue. So, I want to know how I can make it happen. I want to know what we can do as a community of people who are seeking to be pure. How can we do this?
Applications:
I’m walking through Wal Mart. I pass by the electronics section. A music video is playing on 45 big screens. I can't hear what they’re singing, but if the words match what my eyes are seeing, I'm glad I can't! So I press on - to car parts. Surely, there’s nothing there out of line. Guess again. Have you seen what they’re using to sell car products now? On to the one section of the store that’s free from visual forms of temptation – the dairy section. I grab the cheese I was supposed to pick up and get into the check-out line. Guess what's all over the check out line!: Magazines! magazines professionally designed to invite me to forget purity. From the moment I walk into the doors to the moment I’m back out again, the entire place is lined with well-laid traps to get my attention. Some are innocent enough, but many aren’t. Now, I'm not talking about some out of the way place -- This isn't the red-light district or a girly show in Las Vegas. I'm talking about running into the store to pick up cheese!
Wake up! Even King David was just out on the roof taking a little stroll, and suddenly he finds himself in the middle of a temptation to impurity.
Opportunity knocks but once. Temptation leans on the doorbell!
In fact, you'd just about have to go through a store with your eyes closed to not see something that could potentially make you stumble in some way, but that presents a real practical problem. So I considered that an appropriate title for this message might be: "How to walk through the store with your eyes closed without bumping into anything." I wasn't sure what the answer would be.
Now, I think I've found one of the answers to that: Have Someone guide you! Ps 119:9 "How can a young man keep his way pure? By living according to your word." A Bible that's falling apart usually belongs to a person that isn't.
Psalm 119:11
I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.
When Jesus was tempted face-to-face by the devil, He recalled the word of God that He'd committed to His heart. We need the help of God's word hidden in our hearts to keep them pure.
Another title for this message could be: "How to live in the pigpen without getting mud on you."
Answer: Wear hipwaders! (Put things in place to keep ourselves clean)
Like Job did:
Job 31:1
I made a covenant with my eyes not to look lustfully at a girl.
It is not enough for a gardener to love flowers; he must also hate weeds. We need to put things in place in our lives that will keep our hearts pure. The devil is working hard to put things in place that will trip us up. We should work hard to have in place things that will help us.
• That may mean a covenant with our eyes, or with a friend.
• It means having definite parameters when it comes to media in our lives: TV, smart phone, movies, internet, music, magazines, and books.
• It may mean a routine or a discipline that keeps our minds occupied with wholesome things.
• It may mean setting up relationships of accountability with people who care enough about us to be honest with us.
The world has spent a lot of money and taken a lot of care to get us to buy into it. We’re going to have to be as careful to keep ourselves clean of it.
Third, Run!
1 Corinthians 6:18
Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a man commits are outside his body, but he who sins sexually sins against his own body.
1 Timothy 6:10-11
Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs. But you, man of God, flee from these things, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness.
2 Timothy 2:22
Flee the evil desires of youth, and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, along with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart.
The Lord's command about the things that would make us impure is simple: get away from it! Don't play with it. Keeping away from the muck in the first place is better than washing it off. Don't see how close you can get without being soiled! Get away! It’s one of the few times in life where running away is the courageous thing to do!
Serial killer Ted Bundy, was interviewed by James Dobson, hours before Bundy was executed – Dobson made a video of the interview: “Fatal Addiction.” Bundy traced his descent down the slippery slope to his addiction to pornography: "What scares and appalls me, Dr. Dobson, is what I see on cable TV. The stuff that's coming into homes today wouldn't have been shown in X rated adult theaters 20 year ago."
How many lives could be saved? How many homes could be spared? How might the course of history be changed if people would make the move and run away from impurity?
We need to make the kind of commitment the Psalmist makes in
Psalm 101:2-3
I will walk in my house with a blameless heart. I will set before my eyes no vile thing.
Conclusion:
Hugh Martin wrote the story of a crusty, uncultured guy who very uncharacteristically fell in love with a beautiful vase in a shop window. He bought it and put it on the mantle in his living room. It was such a beautiful vase, and his house was such a dirty mess, that the vase became a kind of judgment on the rest of the place. The curtains looked shabbier now and had to be replaced. The old chair with the stuffing coming out seemed out of place. The wallpaper and the paint needed updating. Eventually, little by little, the whole room was transformed so the beautiful vase no longer seemed like it didn’t belong there.
Here’s the thing. Maybe you’re thinking your life looks so impure that the presence of the holy God just wouldn’t be fitting. But this thing of purity is within our grasp. It’s only because Jesus grasped it for us. You don't do it by getting all the externals cleaned up. You don't do it by fixing all the things about yourself that are bad. It's more radical than that. It takes a change of our whole person on the inside – the kind of change that can happen only when God enacts it.
If any man is in Christ, he is a new creature. Old things are gone. New things have come.
You can be a changed person too.
