So? So what? Paul answers that in 2 Cor 7:1
“Therefore, since we have these promises, dear friends, let us (1) purify ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit, (2) perfecting holiness out of reverence for God.
Confession time. When I was in high school, I played football my senior year. I wasn’t a party animal by any means, but a couple times I went with some friends and had a couple alcoholic drinks. Legally this was wrong because in 1984 it became a national law to be 21 to drink and it was wrong by conscience because you made a commitment when you were on the football team to not drink. It didn’t take me long to form an understanding and a renewed commitment because during our workout I wasn’t first in any of the races anymore. I was sluggish and lagged behind.
I remember the following sensation very distinctly: We were running a mile on our cinder track with just shoulder pads and I am pretty sure it was during the third lap I was huffing and puffing and sweating more than usual. Then around the final bend I felt something within me physically “break” or “snap”–and I knew exactly what it was.
Immediately I had a second wind come over me, and my breathing relaxed and was no longer labored. I could run like normal.
Something else happened to me at that moment. I made a fresh commitment within myself to not go through that again. I stayed in great shape. That experience I had in football comes to mind when I hear the word “defiled.” Closely related to INSTANT MASHED POTATOES!
Have you ever given up anything in your life? A bad habit perhaps? It doesn’t have to be something bad at all. Maybe for lent you just wanted to give up something you felt like was becoming more important to you than your spiritual relationship with God and for 40-days you fasted from it.
Another word for “defiled” is “contamination” and boy did we get our share of experiences of contamination going through COVID.
Hand wash stations here, sanitizing squirt bottles there, masks over there, and questions after questions that really began to threaten not just your sanitary conditions but your very sanity itself.
How well did you go through that time being on alert about the possibility of contamination? I made the statement that my mom would be proud of me for how much I was washing my hands. I NEVER washed my hands that much. And I learned about coughing into my elbow. I am shocked we didn’t see more elbows get Covid.
All of us have opinions about all of what happened and how things were handled during COVID, but it would be hard to think that NOT one of us were NOT concerned either about ourselves or a friend to the point that we gave up praying for one another. Did you have people you prayed for during Covid?
So listen, I want to BORROW from that experience and sanctify it today and bring it into this conversation on 2 Cor 7:1 and I want you to come along with me. I want to look at spiritual contaminations today like it was COVID back in 2020-21.
DO YOU WANT TO EXPERIENCE EVEN MORE in 2024 –AND have MORE OF YOUR LIFE RESTORED? REDEEMED? RENEWED by God and for God? Then you need to come to HIM undefiled.
2 Cor 7:1, Paul says to those churchgoing, Jesus believing, Holy Spirit-filled lovers of Christ and one another,
Therefore since we have these (emphasis) promises (not commands), beloved (agape ones), let us cleanse ourselves (not you must = invitation), from all defilements (things that stain, make filthy, look immoral both to the flesh and the spirit–that is, cleanse both outwardly or inwardly–and both to be clean with God and with other people; NIV = perfecting holiness out of reverence for God.
TWO CUPS: , I used this illustration with my youth group years ago, but if I had TWO cups up here, and told you this ONE was 99.9% water and a drop of urine in it, would you drink it? And this one was 100% water. Which would you choose? WHY?!
The Corinthians had become defiled, by
- the occasional sharing meals at idol-shrines
- continuing to attend festivals or ceremonies in pagan temples
- maintaining their membership in some local pagan cults.
Paul is inviting them to make a clean break - to be rid of the things that tie them to their past behaviors and memberships of all of the things that kept them from honoring God with their lives and from His promises: Paul listed them as reasons to NOT be “yoked” with them ? YOU don’t have in common
WICKEDNESS because YOU are RIGHTEOUS
SECRETS / DARKNESS because YOU are in the LIGHT
BELIAL worship because YOU worship CHRIST
UNBELIEVERS because you are a true BELIEVER
IDOL TEMPLES because you ARE the TEMPLE OF the one GOD
Paul begged them to separate themselves from THAT lifestyle in any and every form, and if they would just do it, the very shape of their lives would reflect MORE and MORE the image of God, and HIS likeness upon them would be MORE and MORE.
Holiness for us is the re-creation of the image Adam had with God before the FALL! And when you give up those things that DEFILE, you come NEARER and NEARER to the GLORY of GOD and like MOSES the proof will be your reverence for God.
In our country, there are some distinct things that we believe show honor and offense for our country. WEARING A HAT during the pledge to the flag is one of them. Taking a knee during the national anthem Does this bother anyone else? WHAT ELSE?
The Christian life involves 3 things Paul emphasizes for the church in Corinth:
1) a Separation from worldly contaminations.–WHATEVER hinders your connection with God
2) a Preference for Familial Fellowship. WHATEVER keeps you away from your church family and spending time with them.
3) a Growing in your likeness of God - WHATEVER bitterness, unforgiveness, sinful attitudes that keep you distant and tied to your OLD life and WHATEVER keeps you from experiencing the holiness and wholeness God has for you, GET RID OF IT, STAY AWAY FROM IT!
When you make mistakes you seek forgiveness, When other make mistakes and ask for forgiveness you extend it immediately, When you have opportunities to share how God is working in your life, you testify; When others are hurting you pray from them whether they are in your church family or not.
When I was teaching the membership class here, I heard from each person in the class who they believed the holy people were that influenced their lives. So let me ask you, who is one person you could name that has been a special influence in your life, let me just say it this way, who has been like Jesus to you?
I can describe him –his demeanor was love, his voice and its tone was never harsh and always calm, patient, and friendly. Even when he corrected me, it was always more about the direction we should be going for the LORD and less about what I was doing wrong. Do you have the name of someone like that in your life?
On the count of three, I would like for you to speak his or her name out loud. 1-2-3
Let’s go back to DEFILED. If that person was right here today, and they could speak to you right now, would they be approving of how you are living your life? Would they really?
Or would they see the contamination you have allowed in? Would they need to speak to you about the bad choices you have been making due to your low level of reverence for God and how those choices have been hurting your spiritual growth, running down the name of Jesus, hindering the feeling of conviction in your heart, and hurting the people of your church family because you have been choosing the former roads that you should have left behind years ago?
SINCE WE HAVE THESE PROMISES, Paul says, make a clean break from worldly contaminations and stop defiling yourself because there is so much MORE you could be living for.
Would you say to them, “Just give me a second chance”? Or, “I just need a second wind?”
I have shared with you how I know how there are definitely things you can put into your body that can contaminate the way you perform physically, and how they need to be removed so you can function at your best that honors your team.
There are definitely contaminating things you can remove from yourself that are hindering you in your spiritual growth and relationship with God. MUSIC - TV SHOWS - MOVIES - HOME or OFFICE DECOR - LANGUAGE - PRIVATE LAPTOPS - PHONES - VIDEO GAMES - TIME USED
And the truth is, God has been speaking to you about one or two of those things this whole message. You KNOW what it is he has been asking you to give up - some of you FOR YEARS!
I can see you are struggling with something, and I see you hurting, but I also see your desire for God.
Listen: You can’t have both.
You cannot have what defiles you and a holy God inside at the same time. You will either love the one and hate the other, or be devoted to the one and despise the other.
In the words of Jesus, “You CANNOT SERVE TWO Masters.”
Since when can I have this freedom, Pastor? Since when? SINCE NOW! Today is your second chance day.
Today is your freedom day. Today is your second wind day! There is NO better day than TODAY to get right with God. Give up your defilements for his holiness and wholeness within.
A few weeks ago I read a promise that I just had to put out there, so I repeated on Facebook and this is what it said, GOD WILL REPLACE WHAT HE TOLD YOU TO RELEASE. So many people responded with an amen. One person responded that they used that to repeat to someone else who needed to hear it. YOU need to hear that today!
So the final question is this: Do you believe? Do you believe GOD more than yourself? DO YOU BELIEVE HIM?
Not do you believe IN HIM, but do you believe HIM?
God WILL make MY HOME within you
GOD WILL be yours and you will be HIS
GOD WILL be a FATHER to you
GOD WILL receive you now and on that Final Day when His Son returns to get YOU and YOU will share at the wedding feast of the Lamb of God!
Maybe you have had a tough time leaning on the everlasting arms and too weak to stand on those promises.
Rest yourself on Jesus. Come into his arms and give your very self into his care. Give him your weakness and
watch what he can do in them and through them.
The promises of God are FOR YOU! Since when? Since NOW!
