I’m reminded of those gold miners who were trapped deep in the darkness of the earth a number of years ago, down in South America, Chile, I believe. Nearly three dozen of them for sixty-nine days. It was quite the story to follow. And they all were rescued and survived. It was also quite the moment when they saw the light of day again and were greeted by rescue workers and were reunited with family and loved ones. Much joy on the day of their liberation. But that ‘party’ did not last long. You know what was next on the agenda after being checked out medically? They needed a good cleaning up. For sure.
They were liberated, but now...they needed to be restored, nourished, and cleaned up. Kind of what God does with us. It is all part of the ‘rescue mission’. Imagine if you will, that some of those rescued miners were engaged to be married and had a wedding to prepare for that was now upon them. Do you think they went from the mine straight to their wedding? Not hardly. I can see their thankful bride excited and relived they are free...but they sure are not walking down an aisle in that condition.
Anyone else ‘see a sermon’ in all that? ;-). Guess what...God rescued us...so that...He could clean us up. And my goodness...did we ever need cleaning up. But this is what God sent Jesus to do...to save and clean us up. Says so right there in your bible...
“God chose you for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth” (2 Thess. 2:13). There’s that ‘sanctification word’ again. Means basically to be set apart to be made holy, pure....as in ‘cleaned up’.
Which just happens to be the ‘will of God, our sanctification’. (1 Thess. 4:3)
Which Jesus makes it a point to clarify who are the ones that will enter the kingdom of heaven – those who do the will of God; as opposed to the many that will just ‘say, Lord, Lord’. (Matt. 7:21)
He is coming back for a bride. Jesus, that is. And He describes this bride (the church) as being made ‘holy and pure and without blemish or wrinkle or stain or anything like that’. (Eph. 5:27)
And do you know ‘how’ this bride is being made clean or pure or ‘sanctified’? By the ‘washing of the water of the word’. That sounds so...poetic and spiritual. But what does that really mean and how does that even work? We just ‘have to believe’, that is all, right?
James had much to say about that idea...just ‘believing’. He said the demons believe and they tremble. (2:19) He makes quite the case that if we truly believe, it will be evident and that double-mindedness will not mark the true believer. You know...spiritually minded on some days...carnally minded most of the other time. I mean, after all, nobody is perfect, just forgiven, right? Well, that’s how we start out. But the goal of the command is that we are conformed to the nature of Christ where we demonstrate love from a pure heart and that we are perfect and complete and lacking nothing. There is a wedding, we are getting ready for, after all. (Rom. 8:29; 1 Tim. 1:5; James 1:4)
James warns explicitly, that ‘brethren’ can be deceived. (1:16). And while there are multiple ways in which we can be deceived, (false Christs, empty words, deceiving spirits, & other gospels - Matt. 24:5; Eph. 5:6; 1 Tim. 4:1; 2 Cor. 11:3-4), James points out an all too common way we brethren are easily deceived: We merely here/read the word, but don’t Do it. (1:22) Why we can even memorize and quote scripture by the chapters; but if we fail to ‘do it’, as in do and obey what it says, we ‘deceive ourselves’.
This is where he brings up this idea of the word being like a mirror that I mentioned yesterday. He explains it this way: “IF anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; for he observes himself, goes away and immediately forgets what kind of man he was.” (1:23-24). You might read that next vs, 25 for some added encouragement.
This reminds me of how Jesus wrapped up his ‘sermon on the mount’ in Matt. 7:24-27 where he describes two men, one is wise and the other is foolish. He leaves no guess work as he points out that the wise man is like a man who puts in to practice what the word says and likens him to a man that built his house on a solid rock foundation. So when the flood and storms came (not if, but when) the house was able to withstand the onslaught of the flood.
The man who heard the sayings, or the word, but did not do them was like a guy who built his house on the sand. His house did not fare as well when the same storm hit.
It does not get any more clear than that, does it?
So just how are we ‘cleansed by the washing of the water of the word’? Well, for starters, we can talk about bathtubs and the best soaps to use and right water temperature and proper cleaning techniques along with the most effective wash rags to use. But at some point, we just need to get ‘in the tub’ and soak if we want any cleansing to take place. (Yeah...read that again if you will.)
I remember quite vividly my early days after becoming a ‘believer’ and having ‘asked Jesus to come in and take control of my life.” At the time, there were some notable changes that were occurring and some eye opening experiences shortly after turning my life over to Him. One significant change had to do with my relationship with my girlfriend at the time who was not that interested in this new ‘religious kick’ I was exploring. Like many couples do, we engaged in ‘intimate activity’ on a regular basis. I had never thought twice about whether this was something I should be doing or not doing given we were not married. Never crossed my radar – until after I asked Jesus to lead me in this new walk.
That’s...when things changed and I was no longer truly ‘enjoying’ this ‘activity’ as I had in the past. In fact, I was becoming quite miserable and conflicted and had absolutely no idea as to why this was happening to me. Oddly enough, around the same time as I was reading my bible regularly- as a babe in Christ, hungering for the ‘milk of His word that I might grow’ (1 Peter 2:1-2), I kept coming across this one word that I will admit, I had no idea as to what it meant. The word was ‘fornication’. It just seemed to be jumping off the pages in multiple places and how this should not even be ‘named among the saints’. (Eph. 5:3-5)
Ironically, I asked my girlfriend if she knew what that word meant. She’s always been smarter than me in stuff like that. Oh, yeah...we ended up getting married nearly 42 years ago after she had her own ‘come to Jesus moment’. That’s another great story in itself. But back to this story I was relaying...
When I realized that I was continuing to practice sin by being involved intimately with her at the time, given we were not married, I knew I had a decision to make. And let me tell you this now loud and clear...I knew it was not a matter of ‘just keep doing it and then run to Jesus and ask Him to forgive me and then return to the same sin repeatedly.
Repentance means you ‘turn’ from that sin and no longer to practice it. Which is what I did. And of course it was painful and awkward and challenging at the time. But my goodness...the blessings of God that followed that simple step of obedience were life changing. And an invaluable lesson was learned early on....when the Spirit of God points out those things in His Word that addresses the sins of the flesh nature in our lives, it is so that we will repent of them and die to them so that we no longer continue in sin. That...is how we are washed and cleansed by the word.
One thing I notice when shooting weddings...is how much time these brides spend in front of a mirror wanting everything about them to be just perfect for their soon to be husband. The amount of attention to detail...hair...make-up, eyes...teeth...lips...jewelry, their dress...etc... You just don’t see a bride getting ready without multiple mirrors on hand. If/when they see the slightest imperfection in that mirror, they address it immediately.
Is this ‘connecting’ with you at the moment?
Did Paul not tell us to ‘examine ourselves to see if we were truly in the faith and that Christ was indeed in us’? (2 Cor. 13:5)
Are we not exhorted to ‘cleanse ourselves form ALL filthiness of the flesh and spirt, perfecting holiness in the fear of God’? (2 Cor. 7:1)
Does John not drive home the point that everyone who has this hope ‘purifies himself even as He is pure’? (1 John 3:3)
What kind of a bride is Christ coming back for? One that is pure and holy and without stain, blemish or wrinkle? (Eph 5:27).
If the only pressing question you are wanting to address at this moment is “are we still ‘saved’ during this process of sanctification’ or getting ‘cleaned up’ “, then you are missing the point entirely. Remember, as long as you are abiding in Him, you are in a very good place - safe, and secure. But if you are Not abiding in Him...you have no idea as to what awaits you. NOTHING...gets done unless you abide in Him. See you tomorrow?
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