Scripture: John 2:13-22 (Call to Worship - Psalm 19:7-14)
Theme: Soul Scrubbing/Soul Polishing
Lent gives us an opportunity to do some soul scrubbing/soul polishing. Lent gives us an opportunity to reflect, reevaluate and allow the Holy Spirit an opportunity to do some spiritual transformation in our lives through soul scrubbing and soul polishing!
INTRO:
Grace and peace from God our Father and from Jesus Christ who came to take away the sin(s) of our lives! Grace and peace from God the Holy Spirit who convicts us, cleanses us and is committed to helping us reflect God's holy image in our world today!
Who remembers one of your favorite children's TV shows? Over the last 60 years or so there has been hundreds of such shows with some of them making impacting millions of people's lives. Shows like "The Howdy Doody Show", "Captain Kangaroo", "Sesame Street", "Mr. Roger's Neighborhood", "Dora the Explorer", "Reading Rainbow" and "Paw Patrol" to name a few. You could also add some like "The Tom and Jerry Show", "Rocky and Bullwinkle", the "Smurfs" and the "Rug Rats".
Katherine, our youngest daughter loved a show that was made in Canada that starred a clown named Loonette and her little doll Molly. It was called THE BIG COMFY COUCH. Every show Loonette, Molly and some other friends would solve everyday problems on this Big Comfy Couch. At the end of each show Loonette would sing this little song called, "Ten Second Tidy" in which she would speed around the couch putting all her toys up and tidying up the room.
"Ten Second Tidy" became a hit in our home for a quite a few years. Every time we would try to teach Katherine how to clean up her toys and her room we would refer to Loonette, Molly and "Ten Second Tidy".
It would be nice if it were possible to tidy up our homes, our offices and our lives in a matter of ten seconds or so. Our passage this morning is a cleaning up passage. It's a scrub and polish passage.
Our writer tells us that it is the season of Passover. You may remember that Passover was that time of the year that the Jewish people would celebrate their freedom. They would remember the time when God rescued them from a life of slavery, bondage and poverty at the hands of the Egyptians. It was a time they remembered that God had rescued them from a life of slavery and had help them to become a people of freedom in the Promise Land.
Passover was therefore a time of Remembering, Rejoicing and Reflection:
+It was a time when the Israelites celebrated God's Most Wonderful Gift to them - His Living Word - The TORAH.
+It was a time for them to celebrate regardless of their present circumstances the fact that they were still a free people - free in body, mind and soul.
+It was the time for them to completely realize that their God was the Good God of Creation and would protect them, provide for them and lead them to experience a life of progressive holiness if they would only listen and obey.
It was also a time for them to do some cleaning. In Exodus 12:15 the LORD God had told the Israelites to remove all the leaven from their homes before that first Passover evening. Over the years this commandment of God had become an integral part of preparing one's home and heart for Passover. In order to be "kosher" for Passover one's home had to be thoroughly cleaned up from top to bottom. One also had to do a bit of soul scrubbing and soul polishing as well.
So, as we read John's story about Jesus this morning it was during the time when people would be normally be cleaning up their homes and their lives. They would be doing their best to get rid of any type of physical or spiritual leaven that would be considered unclean or unholy. They were to use this time to wisely to prepare themselves to fully celebrate Passover.
And as we read this is exactly what Jesus is doing. Jesus is cleaning up His Father's House. In Luke chapter two we have the story of Mary and Joseph trying to find Jesus after they had lost him. In a panic they searched all over the city of Jerusalem. Finally, they found their little boy sitting among the scribes and teachers in the Temple. Remember what Jesus said to them? It is recorded in Luke 2:49 - "And Jesus said to them, 'Why were you looking for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father's house?"
You see, God's Temple was more than a building for Jesus. The Temple was suppose to be more than a building of commerce for the Israelites. The Temple was to be more than a center for learning. The Temple was to be more than a place one was to bring their offering or sacrifice. The Temple was to be God's House here on Earth. It was to be a place where the Kingdom of Heaven intersected with the Kingdom of Earth. The Temple was to be a very special and sacred space designed for both man and God to enjoy fellowship. The Temple was to be a place where God and man could be intimate with one another.
What we see Jesus doing in our passage is actually some house cleaning. As Jesus began to walk around the Temple he became appalled by what He saw. Instead of His Father's House being a place of prayer and worship it had become a hangout for money changers.
At that time no one could not buy a sacrifice or offer up a sacrifice to God with Gentile coins. All Roman/Greek or other Gentile coins portrayed the image of either the emperor or some other ruler on them and therefore violated the Second Commandment and were considered unholy -
"You shall not make for yourselves a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. " (Exodus 20:4 ESV).
As a result all Gentile money had to be exchanged into Temple money. Temple money was considered to be holy money in that it had been minted by the Temple and therefore did not bear an image of any emperor or ruler. One could use this money to then purchase a sacrifice or make a monetary gift to the Temple.
The problem was not the fact that one needed "holy money" but that the money changers were notorious for exploiting the poor and needy. They would not give them a fair exchange for their Gentile coins. They made it impossible for some people to be able to offer a sacrifice to God even though many of them had traveled great distances to come to the Temple. The atmosphere around the Temple looked like and felt more like one of the pagan temples than it did God's Holy House. It looked more like a den for thieves and robbers than being God's Holy House of Prayer and Worship.
Things were in a mess and so Jesus starts doing a deep clean. He begins to set things back into their proper order. The Temple is His Father's House and as God's Only Son Jesus starting clearing out and cleaning up. As humans were to reflect God's Glory and Image so too the Temple was designed to reflect God's Heavenly Kingdom. Which of course meant that it needed to act more like heaven. It needed to be doing the things that normally went on in Heaven. And cheating people, focusing on money, keeping people away from being able to be with God was not what Heaven was all about. So, Jesus did what many of us have done - He cleared the house to do some deep cleaning.
It isn't by accident therefore that we still have the tradition of Spring Cleaning. It is a part of our spiritual heritage dating all the way back to Exodus chapter 12 with the first Passover. Recently, I came across a list of 9 things that a person can do during their Spring Cleaning. Listen to them:
1. Do your own Spring Cleaning - don't get in your neighbor's business. It's your house, your room or you life that you are to be most concerned about.
2. Don't get in a rush - This is not "TEN SECOND TIDY"
3. Open the Windows and Let the Air In - Let in a fresh breath of God's Good Air
4. Be Brutal - Deep Clean/De Clutter/Dispose
5. Don't Neglect the Nooks and Crannies - the corners, the top of shelves and underneath and behind furniture/refrigerators and beds
6. Tackle the Big Boys - The Oven, Microwave, Grills, Blinds and Dryer to name a few
7. Have Patience and Determination - Rome wasn't cleaned in a day, neither will be our homes or lives for that matter
8. Be ready to replace and repair - Leaky toilets, leaky faucets and make sure you have plenty of caulk and touch up paint on hand
9. Also, be ready to rediscover some long lost treasures!
Now, that is some great advice for us when we are Spring Cleaning our homes, our offices, our attics and out buildings. But what can we do to scrub and polish our souls? What can we do to make sure that when Jesus comes He is ready to sit down and spend some time connecting with us instead of grabbing a broom, a mop, a bucket and at times a bull dozer?
Before we look at a few things it is imperative that we remind ourselves of two very important things when it comes to spiritual scrubbing and polishing:
+We are to Scrub Our Own Spiritual Houses.
We are not to go around the neighborhood, the office, our homes or even around the church and see whose lives needs a little cleaning up here and there. As my mother use to tell us children - "You mind your own business and leave everyone else alone." We all have enough to do to take care of ourselves and make sure our own rooms are clean without being a cleaning inspector for everyone else.
The same rule applies to our spiritual lives. Jesus reminds us in the Sermon on the Mount that we cannot fall to the temptation of looking at the dust in our friend's life when we have a whole mess of beams in our own lives. (Matthew 7:3)
If someone asks for our help we are to do our best to help them. But for the most part we would do better to pray for someone, encourage someone, be a visible witness for someone rather than becoming some kind of "Holy Living Inspector". Jesus tells us that His Holy Spirit will come and convict people (John 16:8). The Holy Spirit will convict them not to judge them or condemn them but to enable them to come to faith and experience a new life of salvation and sanctification.
This is to be a Team Mission - US and THE HOLY SPIRIT
Cleaning our spiritual houses has to be a team effort. Team - meaning - you and the Holy Spirit. On your own you will not be able to clean out your house/life. We can certainly give it a try but we don't have either the power to see all the things that need to be cleaned nor do we have the ability to clean them. We can gloss over them and we can spray a little holiness aerosol on them but in time the stink and the stain will come back.
Only the Holy Spirit can truly clean up a person. Only the Holy Spirit can cleanse, purify and transform. Only the Holy Spirit can help up us cast out sin. We need the Holy Spirit this morning if we are going to truly do some soul scrubbing and soul polishing.
So, with all of that in mind - let's see what we can clean this morning:
I. Soul Scrubbing means we are able to Scrub away the things that Enslave Us
Things like:
a. The Stain of Negativity -
Having the I can't or the we can'ts. The idea that we are just one sin away from hell or from losing our salvation. The idea that nothing will ever go our way or that we can never expect a blessing or miracle in our lives.
We in the holiness camp for all of our positive talk about salvation and sanctification can at times have a negativity problem. We can focus so much on sin and on the sinfulness of human beings that we forget that after Good Friday our Lord Jesus was raised from the dead which means that all sin can be forgiven and people's lives can be transformed.
It is true that this world we live in has problems. It is full of evil and sin. It is difficult at times to resist evil and invite people to worship. But we can't let ourselves get boxed in by a negative spirit.
Moses stood toe to toe with Pharaoh and led the People of Israel out of Egypt. Joshua led the march around the walls of Jericho and watched as those walls came down. Hannah withstood her persecution, went to God and the LORD gave her Samuel. David faced Goliath and defeated him. Elisha faced Namaan's leprosy and brought healing. Esther went face to face with Haman and defeated him.
We must always remember that with God nothing is impossible. The Devil, Evil and even Death itself is no match for God. We must remember that in Christ we are to experience the abundant life and that life in the Spirit is one of positivity - love, peace, joy and faith. We must remember that our LORD JESUS stands victoriously beside His Heavenly Father and has sent His Holy Spirit to use to guide us, cleanse us and empower us this morning. We are more than conquerors through our Lord Jesus. (Romans 8:31-39)
b. The Mold of the World -
In our area of the world mold can become a serious problem. It is not uncommon to see mold growing on the side of houses during certain times of the year. Every so often we take our pressure washer and clean the mold off certain parts of our house and off the sidewalks. If we didn't do that then the mold would begin to take over and not only pose a cosmetic problem but a health problem as well.
If you have ever cleaned your bathroom then you know that mold loves to grow around the tub, around the shower stall and around the wash basins. Mold loves to grow in and around your dishwasher and even inside your dish drainer. Mold even loves to grow inside the handle of your rubber spatulas.
We found that one out a few years ago. One day we were washing our spatulas and when we took them apart we found all kinds of mold and gunk. All the time we thought we were washing them correctly but then we realized that that each one had to be taken apart and washed thoroughly.
It's the same in other areas of our lives. If we are not careful the mold of the world's thinking and actions will creep into our lives. It can happen without us even realizing it. We start reading certain blogs, articles or books and before we know it the world's mold is creeping in. We start watching certain shows and absorbing their philosophies and before we know it the world's mold is transforming our lives towards a negative lifestyle. We start hanging around the wrong people and before we know it we not only have lost our witness but we have acclimated to their wrong way of thinking.
We have to get out the Clorox of the Holy Spirit and allow the Holy Spirit to cleanse us and purify us. We have to allow the cleansing power of the Holy Spirit to declutter our lives of certain books, articles, viewing habits and hobbies before the world's mold comes in and sickens our hearts and souls.
c. Spiritual cob webs and dust bunnies -
Dust bunnies - those little bits of hair, dust and dirt that seem to land and collect everywhere. Move your couch and there they are. Slide out your refrigerator and there are some more. Look up in the corners, the top of shelves and on the top of picture frames and you find some more. Dust bunnies be anywhere and everywhere.
So, we got to get to them and scrub them away. We got to do the same with other things in our lives. Little spiritual dust bunnies like foolish conversations, wrong attitudes and ego trips can harm us. Those little barriers we put up because we don't want to forgive someone or we have allowed our anger to get the best of us or we are nursing some kind of resentment.
Periodically, we all need to do a reality check on our ego. Too often we think we are too good to learn or to be rebuked or to have our opinions questioned. Too often we think we have it all down pat and we don't need or want anyone to tell us what to do or to think. Whether that someone else is our parents, our spouse, a good friend or even God Himself.
The truth is most of us have some type of spiritual dust bunnies in our spiritual homes. We have cob webs that creep in and hide in corners. We have those times when our egos get bruised or when we don't get our way and we begin to pout, sulk and hide away.
We don't like it when people come into our little kingdoms and want to share what we have or want some of the power. We don't like it when someone steps on our toes or says something we don't like. We get our dander up and we begin to put up walls and barriers. We dry out our powder so the next time we see them we can have all the ammunition we need.
The truth is we all need a good soul scrubbing now and then. Lent provides us an excellent time to do it. Lent allows us a time to look at our attitudes and to see if we are allowing negativity to creep in. Lent allows us a time to look at what we watch, we read and what we are allowing to form our hearts, minds and souls. Lent allows us the time to see if we are allowing some of the world's mold to creep in. Lent allows us to take a deeper look at our egos and allow the Holy Spirit to do some scrubbing, cleansing and transforming.
Now, where does all this spiritual scrubbing lead us? It leads us to a wonderful time of Spiritual Polishing!
II. Soul Scrubbing leads to Some Soul Polishing
During my teen years I had two major money making jobs. The first one was mowing yards. I would go and mow a few yards and make some money for snacks, comic books, extras and gifts. The second one was cleaning homes. I would vacuum floors, clean cabinets, dust furniture, clean rugs, scour bathrooms and anything else that was needed.
In this one house I would also have to polish these wooden cabinets and floors. The lady of the house not only wanted her cabinets and floors cleaned she also wanted them to shine. So, I would get out the Johnson's Paste Wax, apply it to the cabinets and floors and then take an electric buffer and do my best to make them shine. Now, that was some hard work but in the end those cabinets and floors looked brand new.
She also had this brass bed that routinely needed cleaning and polishing. So, I would get out a can of Brasso, some cleaning cloths and begin to clean off all the dross and bring it back to an amazing shine. It too was a hard and messy job but in the end that bed would shine like none other. After I got finished it was absolutely beautiful.
In the same way we are not finished just because we have allowed the Holy Spirit to help us scrub away all the spiritual dirt, mold and grime. There is a wonderful second step. It's allowing the Holy Spirit to help us polish up our lives which allows us to shine as one of God's amazing lights.
a. The Holy Spirit will help us polish up our commitment -
The Devil loves it when the shine of our commitment becomes dull and lackluster. That's what happens when we begin to grow lukewarm and apathetic. That's what happens when we allow other things to get in the way of our personal spiritual habits of reading and studying God's Word, attending worship, praying and living out a life of progressive holiness.
We have to allow the Holy Spirit to help us put the shine back in our commitment. We have to allow the Holy Spirit to bring back the joy of worship, study, connecting with God and one another. We have to allow the Holy Spirit to bring back the joy and peace that comes from putting God #1 in our lives. When that happens our light for God beams out for all to see and rejoice.
b. The Holy Spirit will help us polish up our integrity - our purity and honesty
The Devil will do his dead level best to destroy our character. He will do his best to get us to slip and become dishonest, less transparent and blind to our own flaws.
We have to allow the Holy Spirit to clean us and polish us. That way in Christ we shine as lights of honesty, integrity and purity. If allowed, the Holy Spirit will reveal our blind spots and then will remove them. The Holy Spirit will help us to become comfortable in being both transparent and vulnerable. The Holy Spirit will even polishes up our "no" voice as He teaches us what we should say yes to and what we should say no too. This morning there are some things we need to say "no" to so we don't get overwhelmed or distracted.
c. The Holy Spirit will help us polish up our personal relationships with God and others
The more we allow the Holy Spirit to clean us and polish us the more we will enjoy God's company and the company of others as well. The more time we spend connecting with the Holy Spirit the more we will begin to think like God, act like God and even talk like God. We will even begin to have the glow of the Holy Spirit in our lives. And we will live in the flow of the Holy Spirit being constantly guided and directed.
The Holy Spirit will lead us to spending more quality time with Him, with other human beings and with nature. We will find ourselves forming a whole new way of looking and thinking about things. We will find ourselves more dedicated to sharing than taking. We will find ourselves more concerned about how we pour our lives into other people's lives rather than trying to get something from them that betters us.
Paul talks about such a mindset in Colossians chapter three - "Set your mind on things that are above, not on things that are on earth." (Colossians 3:2)
You and I live in a capitalistic world. A world that focuses on the ideas of profit and gain. If we are not making more, gaining more and profiting more then there is something wrong. Without realizing it some of the principles of capitalism creep into our spiritual world. We come to believe that if we don't get something from the church or from our Christian relationships then something is radically wrong. We have to profit someway from coming to church and sharing time with one another. When we begin to feel that we are no longer gaining anything then we begin to look around for greener grass.
We have to remember the mindset of Jesus. The mindset of agape love. The mindset that says - "whoever would be first among you must be bondservant to all; For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to hive his life as a ransom for many." (Mark 10:43 b- 44 ESV).
The Apostle Paul had this mindset. He also knew what it meant to do some soul scrubbing and some soul polishing. He knew what it meant to allow the Holy Spirit to have access to his inner life and be transformed. He knew what it meant to begin to live a life in which people saw Jesus. He knew what it meant to live a life that was dedicated on listening to people and their life stories. He knew what it meant to slow down for others and assist them in their faith journey. He knew what it meant to have the life focus on pouring one's life out for others.
Over the years I have noticed something very important. To deep clean you can't be in a hurry. You can surface clean quickly but to take the time to get all the dirt, grime and grit out it takes time, patience and hard work. The same is true with polishing. It too takes a great deal of time, patience and hard work.
But the end game is amazing. A clean house is a joy to live in. A polished car is a joy to drive around. A clean life and a life that has been polished by the Holy Spirit is one that shines brightly for our LORD.
The prophet Malachi wrote the last book of the Old Testament. In chapter three of his writings the prophet teaches us about God's refining fire - God's cleaning and polishing fire. The fire that will not only cleanse us but make us shine like none other. A fire that will burn away all the dross and leave us pure and holy. A fire that will transform our lives from the inside out. A fire that will continually allow us burn as one of God's lights. A fire that will empower us to live a genuine human life here on God's Good Earth.
This season of Lent allows us the time to go through God's fire. For the LORD to use that fire and to cleanse us of our unrighteousness and then to put a polish and a shine on us so that others may see Jesus.
This morning as we come to a close -
+Will we allow the Lord to come in our lives with His Holy Scrub Cloths?
+Will we allow Him to scrub away the areas of negativity in our lives, the mold of the world that tries its best to grow in our souls and those little dust bunnies and cob webs of inflated egos, wrong attitudes and lifestyle?
+Will we allow His Holy Spirit the freedom to get into our closets, on the top of our shelves, behind the pictures and under the bed and behind all our spiritual furniture?
+Will we allow God's Holy Spirit to check out the corners and the cubby holes in our lives?
+Will we allow the Holy Spirit to then put a spit and polish shine on our lives?
+Will we allow Him not only to clean us up but to make us shine with His inner glow? +Will we ask God to help us shine with a Holy Spirit radiance that causes others to ask us why we have so much joy, peace and love?
I think we will. I pray and hope we will. As we close this morning in song let's allow the Holy Spirit to do His work. Our altars are open as we share a time of singing:
Traditional song - TAKE MY LIFE AND LET IT BE
Contemporary - One Desire by Hillsong
Open Altar/Closing Song/Prayer of Blessing
