Clean Enough
PLEASE NOTE: The VIDEO did not work for some reason today. There is only audio and the sermon notes. Sorry for those who like to "watch” the sermon.
Clean Enough?
(Matt 23:25-28)
Intro:
A. Okay, I admit it. I did not wash my hands for 20 seconds each time I washed them before March of this year. Yes, I saw signs in almost every public restroom for years, but I didn’t wash for 20 seconds. Most people agree that washing your hands before you eat, after you use the restroom, when you been touching things out in public or come inside from playing outside are all good things to do, but many people do a cursory washing of their hands. That quick 2 second water rinse, 3-4 seconds soap scrub and 2 second water rinse. If I was good it was 8 seconds. Then March came and doctors said wash your hands for 20 seconds in order to keep the covid-19 virus off your skin. Boy, did my life change overnight. I was scrubbing my hand singing the alphabet song (that lasted for about 20 seconds), when I was mindful of my spiritual life I said the Lord’s Prayer (that lasts about 20 seconds). But as time when on and I didn’t get the virus, my diligence of 20 second soap scrubs every couple of hours got less and less.
B. You see, for the most part I felt I was clean…well, clean enough. Clean enough that I wouldn’t get sick. But I had noticed something early on, when I was washing as I should. I would run water over my hands and the visible dirt was gone quickly, but when I used soap and scrubbed them, I saw that more dirt was on my hands than I thought. I really wasn’t clean, I was just thinking I was clean enough.
C. I share that with you, because in April I wrote down two sermons ideas: Clean enough and When Not To Wear a Mask. So, here we are and today you get one this week and next week we will talk about masks.
I. A Spiritual Word
A. In the Bible, the word “clean” is connected to that which is pure, holy, good, or right. We’re really introduced to the word back in Genesis 6 and the story of the Flood.
B. God told Noah to take seven pairs of “clean” animals and a pair of “unclean” animals into the ark (Gen. 7:2). This word is translated “pure” in other OT places, like when God told Moses to cover the Ark of the Covenant in “pure” gold (Ex. 25:11). But it is with the person that we think most deeply about what it means to be “clean.” Remember when David, facing his sin and in deep remorse cries out to God, “Create in me a clean heart O God” (Ps 51:10).
C. You see, there were people who were considered “unclean.” People like lepers who no one could touch because the fear was their leprosy would come on to the one touching them. That helps me to see the pathos of Jesus in Matt. 8:2-3. Instead of leprosy making Jesus unclean, the holiness of Jesus made that man clean. (That’s a lesson Scott Watson taught me in a Communion service early this year.)
D. As we come to this idea of being “clean enough” we have to keep it in the spiritual context it belongs. Clean is much more than how something looks on the outside. Clean is more than just a fresh coat of paint over a concrete wall that has mold. We know, that it won’t take long for that mold to seep its way thought the fresh coat of paint. I don’t want just the outside of me to be “clean enough.”
II. But They Look Clean
A. There were a group of people that called themselves “Pharisees.” These people were not priest, but religious scholars and, if you will, the people’s rabbis. They were not disliked by the masses, but in reality, the masses probably trusted them more than political religious leaders that went by the name Sadducees. I want you to understand that Pharisees are not seen as evil, even though it they were often counter to the ministry and life of Jesus.
B. Jesus spoke more about them probably because of their connection to the everyday Jew. But when Jesus challenged them directly, what we find in Matt. 23 is not a polite calling for them to change. Just listen to how the chapter opens (READ Matt. 23:1-3). Over the course of the chapter we hear Jesus use the term “woe” seven times.
C. Two of those time centers on the idea I have been reflecting upon today (READ Matt. 23:25-28). Jesus is calling them out, not because of the actions, but because of their heart. If you want to know how Christians are often seen, or at least accused of being, spend some time in Matthew 23. We look good, we act good, we sound righteous until something come along that we strike at as powerfully and with the same venom as a rattlesnake.
D. If the world is going to change it won’t be because of your social media accounts, because of what political party you prop, or because of how many times you attend worship or how well you quote scripture. Let me tell you the Pharisees that Jesus was dealing with in Matt. 23 did all that wonderfully and term Jesus used was “hypocrite!”
E. There’s the word we get called. There’s the crime of Christianity. I can get all cleaned up on the outside, but until the blood of Jesus washes me on the inside, I am nothing but nice looking tomb.
F. Take this home: the only way I am clean enough is when Jesus washes me clean, pronounces me clean, and purifies my soul. Up until I allow the transforming work of the Holy Spirit to create in me a clean heart, I will be called a hypocrite and it will be an accurate term.
G. The water of baptism was my burial place, but I have found that I have to be renewed every morning since my baptism. I said I died, but boy my sin sure likes to do a happy dance inside me until I give it over to the cross of Christ. I have to become a living sacrifice, a daily offering of me so that I can keep focused that what it means to be clean. It’s not just trying to look good on the outside, but living in the power and grace of the resurrection of Jesus.
Conclusion:
A. What does clean look like? It looks like a woman caught in adultery that goes away to sin no more. It looks like a tax collector who was reminded that he was a child of Abraham. It looks like a fisherman that had to answer the question “Do you love me more than these?” with a “Yes Lord, you know I love you.”
B. It looks like you, when you share grace to the sinner who comes home. It looks like you, when you lift up those that have been put down by society. It look like you, when you go to God in prayer and say, “Be merciful to me, a sinner.”
C. The difference between the Pharisees of Matthew 23 and you, is, I hope, that you are willing to see your faults and seek God in repentance.
D. Have you been to Jesus for the cleaning power? Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb? Are you fully trusting in His grace this hour? Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb? It may be that all who are here today can answer those questions with a “yes.” My prayer is that we live a soul cleansed life. Let us be the church as we leave the church building.
Because of Jesus,
Jeffrey Dillinger, minister