“I want those who know me best to respect me most.”
– Mark Batterson
Purity? Coke? Comet?
What would you do if I gave you a can of Coke and asked you to drink it?
Chances are, if you like Coke, you would take it and drink it without hesitation.
Now what would you do if I took a can of Comet, you know… the common household cleaner used for cleaning toilets, showers, etc, and put some Comet in your Coke! Would you still drink it?
DON’T!
Comet is POISON! It says so on the label, it is HARMFUL if SWALLOWED!
Even if I just put a little bit of Comet in your Coke, you should NOT drink it! Even if it’s just a little bit of poison, it’s STILL POISON. And to drink it is DANGEROUS. In fact, it’s DEADLY!
Unfiltered
Now, if we wouldn’t drink a Coke with even a LITTLE POISON in it, why in the world would we allow POISON into our own hearts and lives?
If we’re being honest, this is what we do. We don’t call it poison. We call it Netflix. Amazon. We call it Spotify. Fast Food. Social media.
And don’t get me wrong, I’m not knocking any of those things. But what happens is that we let so many things come into our lives unfiltered.
The other day an indicator light on the front of our refrigerator came on letting me know it was time to change the water filter in our fridge. We get most of our drinking water from the panel on the front of the fridge and every few months I change the filter so that the water we get from the fridge is as clean and pure as possible. I want all the impurities filtered out.
The truth is, many of us are more concerned with the purity of our drinking water than we are the purity of our lives. We’re more concerned about filtering out the impurities that might go into our Yeti than we are with filtering out the impurity that we allow to come into our eyes, our ears, our hearts, our lives.
Being Good vs. Resurrection Life
So when we read something like… “I want those who know me best to respect me most.” I don’t know about you… but that is something I deeply want.
The reality, however, is I can’t do that. I can’t be that person if I’m drinking poison.
You know, like I know, that there are daily decisions we have to make, there are daily battles we have to fight, in order to live the kinds of lives we want to live. We live in a world that is toxic, that is full of poison.
And what’s worse? We’ve convinced ourselves that just a little bit of poison won’t really hurt us!
We tend to believe that as long as we’re good most of the time, as long as we’re not hurting others, as long as we’re doing our best, that we’re pleasing God. So what happens is that we lower the standards we have for ourselves so we can have what we want, do what we want, and still try to convince ourselves that we’re being good Christians along the way.
But is this really the kind of life that God is calling us to live? Is this a life filled with the resurrection power Jesus offers?
A Different Way to Live
That’s part of the reason I believe Paul writes what he writes to Christians living in the ancient city of Ephesus.
Paul writes in Ephesians 5.3-14,
Let there be no sexual immorality, impurity, or greed among you. Such sins have no place among God’s people. Obscene stories, foolish talk, and coarse jokes—these are not for you. Instead, let there be thankfulness to God. You can be sure that no immoral, impure, or greedy person will inherit the Kingdom of Christ and of God. For a greedy person is an idolater, worshiping the things of this world.
A few years ago when our daughter Gracie was in 1st grade, she came home one day and I can’t remember exactly what happened, but she said a word that we considered a “bad word.” Of course, we were quick to tell her, that’s not a word we say in our house. And I’ll never forget what she said next, “Can you just tell me all the bad words so I’ll know what not to say?”
We didn’t do that! I’m not sure that would have been the best parenting move! But that is essentially what Paul does here. Paul is about to spell it out for us. This is how we, as followers of Jesus, as followers of the WAY, are NOT to live.
Paul is writing to Christians living in a city of idol worship. Rich, affluent, prosperous. They have everything, they want for nothing. They’ve built a beautiful city. Beautiful places of worship. But in their wealth there is a poverty of soul. Though they have everything they have nothing as long as they live in the same way as the world around them.
Paul says… you have to live different than the city in which you live. There’s no room for this kind of IMPURITY in your lives. The vision and values of the place in which you live are different than the vision and values God has for you. And by the way, God’s vision for your life and the values he wants you to build your life upon, they are better!
But what happens is that we trade God’s vision for our life for the vision the world has for our life. We trade PURITY for IMPURITY.
OR… we try to take God’s vision for our life and allow just a little bit of what the world has to offer into our life. And when we do, we poison God’s plans for our lives.
Purity in Private AND Public
So Paul says…
Don’t be fooled by those who try to excuse these sins, for the anger of God will fall on all who disobey him. Don’t participate in the things these people do. For once you were full of darkness, but now you have light from the Lord. So live as people of light! For this light within you produces only what is good and right and true.
Paul wants these early Christians as well as us to understand… Our way of life in private and public reflects the validity of our faith. The way you live the life you live matters. The PURITY of your life matters. So live your life in a way in public and in private that reflects, that demonstrates, you are a follower of Jesus.
Now, Paul is not calling people to a life of perfection. He’s not calling us to an unattainable life. What he’s calling us into is a life of consistently living a holy life.
The reason these kinds of sins have no place among us, among God’s people, is because they affect our witness. How many people do you know who were held in high regard only to have their secret sins revealed and when that happened, not only was their witness affected, but people lost faith in God? It happens all the time.
So Paul says…
Carefully determine what pleases the Lord. Take no part in the worthless deeds of evil and darkness; instead, expose them. It is shameful even to talk about the things that ungodly people do in secret. But their evil intentions will be exposed when the light shines on them, for the light makes everything visible. This is why it is said,
“Awake, O sleeper,
rise up from the dead,
and Christ will give you light.”
Sleepwalkers, WAKE UP!
For some reason, God gave me and Alisha three kids who all, at one point or another, have been sleepwalkers. I’m not sure there’s anything more terrifying than being dead asleep in the middle of the night, then slowly waking up to see your child standing over you staring at you. And then… you realize, O, they’re still asleep! I think they get that from their mother!
The crazy thing about sleep walking is that you can appear to be awake, you can navigate walking from room to room, even up and down stairs, but you’re not really awake, you’re asleep!
Are you awake? Or are you sleep walking through this life?
Paul wants Christians everywhere to WAKE UP! Are you just going through the motions? Is your faith in Jesus real? What is different about you today because you believe in Jesus? Are you awake, alive, thriving and flourishing in the life God has for you?
Your way of life in private and public reflects the validity of your faith. So…
Let the way you live the life you live be the evidence that you are a follower of Jesus.
If you don’t have clarity around your vision for your life, God’s vision for your life, you will drift into living your life according to the vision the world gives us of what our lives should look like. And just so you know, this is dangerous.
No one ever drifts into a better place. You drift over a waterfall! You drift into rocks and sticks and spider webs. You don’t drift into where you want to be! You have to move with intention in the direction you want to go!
Is there secret sin that needs to be confessed, forgiven, and repented of? Would you find a brother, a sister, in Christ and take that step?
Do you need to take practical steps to FILTER out the impurities in your life? To filter your TV, your internet, your music, your social media? To filter out your pride, your anger, your hate, your lies, your deceit.
Would you take a step this week in cleaning out some of the impurities you’re allowing into your soul?
It matters. You can’t drink poison and say it doesn’t affect you. It does. Poison is called poison because it kills people. There’s a reason we call it toxic! So as a follower of Jesus, what will you fill your life with?
Water Filter
I wish I could give you a water filter for your soul. Something you could insert into your heart and life that would work to filter out all the impurities that come our way.
I can’t do that, but God can.
And God has.
For every person who has put their faith in Jesus, God has given us his Holy Spirit! And when we allow the Holy Spirit to guide our steps, our choices, our decisions, you can be sure that the Spirit of God is at work in our lives to purify our hearts, transform our minds, and make us more like Jesus.
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