"time To Clean House"

“Time to Clean House”

Matthew 5:8 and 1st John 1:9

Perhaps when you were growing up there were certain jobs or chores as some call them that you had to do…

• If the yard needed to be mowed-that was you

• If it was time for the dishes to be washed or dried-it was your turn

• Maybe it was making the beds or dusting or vacuuming

I have a feeling that whatever your job may have been that we all share one thing in common---we didn’t like it—cause it just wasn’t fun. When it comes to housecleaning there is nothing fun about it. And not only was it not fun, about the time you finish, it’s time to do it again. You don’t hear people say I cleaned my house 4 weeks ago—I’m not doing that again. Unless you live in a college dorm you know that house cleaning has to be done on a regular basis.

Jesus knew what it meant to clean house. On the first day of Holy week Jesus came into the temple and saw that the temple was being misused. A census was being taken and people all over the area had come to the temple and were bringing sacrifices with them—by the time they got there the sacrifices were not acceptable—they had to be without blemish of any kind so the priests in the temple would gladly sell them one to use for the sacrifice. But they were greatly overcharging them.

Jesus came in and turned the tables over that the moneychangers were using; he took some strips of leather and fashioned a whip and then he began to clean house. The Bible says that he drove out all those who were buying or selling; he turned the benches over and then turned the tables of the money changers over as well. And he said my house shall be a house of prayer but you are making it into a den of thieves.

Housecleaning is a painful thin but it is a necessity if we are going to live a life of purity. That word blessed means happy so what Jesus is saying here is this…Happy are the pure in heart for they will see God. So what does a heart that is pure look like? Well it might be best to consider first what a heart looks like that is filthy, dirty, impure. An impure heart is

• Full of junk/trash that weighs us down

• Full of hurts, habits and hangups

• Focused on the past rather than the future

• Carrying around deep pain that keep the heart from functioning properly

• Often blocked and cannot receive the abundant life that God has planned for us

So what do we do when we find ourselves in this situation? The answer is simple. We have to come clean. Come clean with ourselves. Come clean with God. Come clean with those we are close to. Now let me show you how this works in CR.

Realize we are not God. We do not have the power to manage our lives by ourselves.

Earnestly believe that God exists. Believe that He has the power & the desire to help us.

Commit our lives to God’s care and control.

Openly examine and confess our faults to myself, to God and to someone I trust.

Listen to what the scripture has to say. “What happiness for those whose guilt has been forgiven. What joy when sins are covered over! What relief for those who have confessed their sin and God has cleared their record.” Psalm 32:1-2 TLB

Let me remind you what guilt can do to us.

1. Guilt destroys our confidence. There are certain things that cannot coexist.

• 2 trains on the same track

• War and peace one will always drive the other one away

• Clutter and focus

• One more. Guilt and confidence.

Webster says that guilt is a “state of having done something wrong.” Most people define guilt as a feeling. They say that they feel guilty. Others say it is like a dark cloud that follows them wherever they go. Like a weight that we carry around.

Sir Anthony Doyle wrote the Sherlock Holmes novels and he loved to play practical jokes on people. One day he played a prank on 5 of the most prominent men in England. He sent an anonymous note to each man which simply said, “all if found out. Flee at once.” Within 24 hours all 5 men left the country.

Guilt can be like a dark cloud hanging over us and it seems to follow us wherever we go. And it will rob us of our confidence.

2. Guilt damages our relationships. Here is how. Guilt can cause us to not allow people to get close to us. If they get close to us they may find out we are hiding something. So we only allow people to get just so close to us. Guilt can cause us to overreact. It can cause us to be angry.