Purity

INTRODUCTION

Have you ever wondered how those folk who live in rural SA and in informal settlements are able to get their washing so white?

Have you seen it?

You drive along the road near the farm houses of the farm labourers and there hanging on the fence of the most basic home is the washing. No washmaid or combo queen inside purring away with a load of washing, no plumbing to bring fresh water into the home even, just a Tupperware bucket, some water and some cold water Omo. Boy does that washing come out clean. I don’t think we get to see clean washing like that in the city. And like the toothpaste in the tube, I have often wondered how they get it so clean.

LINK – SPIRITUALLY CLEAN

Well today I want to ask you about your dirty laundry. I want to chat to you today about your commitment to getting whites whiter and your brights brighter, no matter where you are in your spiritual walk or how well you know the bible or what tools you have, I want to speak directly about your commitment to being spiritually clean, spic and span, glaringly white for God!

CLEANLINESS VS PURITY

When it comes to trying to be spiritually clean, scripture speaks of purity and cleanliness.

Interestingly, when the word speaks of cleanliness, more often than not it was to do with the physical cleanliness of his people.

Deuteronomy is packed with great ideas to keep the nation of Israel clean. Where they had to go to the toilet, what had to happen around food, dead bodies, the sick and so on. All kept Gods nation physically well.

SET APART BY BEING CLEAN AND PURE

He set them apart from the rest of the filth by asking of them two things. He needed them physically clean – that was for their health, but then in a much larger way, God implored them to be spiritually clean. And when it cam to being spiritually clean, in came this word pure or purity.

And it makes sense doesn’t it. We don’t ask our children to purify their rooms when their toys are lying ankle deep. We ask them to clean up.

PHYSICALLY CLEAN

God needs us to be physically clean. We cant even begin to get our act together spiritually if we cant keep our temples or our bodies and our homes clean.

But interestingly, the scripture that tells us that we need to respect and keep our temples clean, gives us a spiritual reason as being the primary motivator.

Read 1 Corinthinans 6:19.

HOUSE THE HOLY SPIRIT

We need to be clean in body and pure in mind because we house the Holy Spirit. We are his home. In us He dwells. The clean pure sweet presence of the Holy Spirit is the reason we are asked to be clean and pure, but it’s the reason we should want to be clean and pure.

BRIEF ON PHYSICAL

Now today, I am not really going to dwell much on physical cleanliness aspect of Washday. But I do want to say that being physically clean does not just imply a good daily shower. That kind of goes without saying, but it does imply respecting our bodies because of the Holy Spirit, it does mean that we should look carefully at what else we put into our bodies. How we treat and respect life. Which includes practicalities as to how we drive, how we approach safety precautions etc.

INTRO OF DIRTY CLOTH

Today, I want to concentrate more on the lines of purity. Now as you arrived into the auditorium today you would have reveived a dirty piece of rag. We are going to get to that a little later, but I saw some of you take your rag. Now some are dirtier than others, but I saw some of you kind of do the I don’t want this thing.

NOT HOLD IT AS IT WOULD MAKE YOU DIRTY

Probably you didn’t want this because you did not want to get dirty from this dirty piece of cloth you were being handed.

Well I am glad you felt like that.

You see when it comes to the dirty business of sin in our lives, we have to develop a similar aversion that you may have had to that dirty piece of cloth you were given.

WE SEEM TO LIKE TO GET CLOSE – EXSCUSES

What I am saying is that we as Christians today would rather get dangerously close to sin than flee from it like Joseph fled from Potiphers wife.

We would rather make an excuse why certain things happen in our lives than begin the process of ripping out the desires, cleaning out the aniquity and thoughts and being clean before God.