Cleaning Up My House

Back on September 11, 2015, I ventured into a new stage of life.  This stage is called "home ownership".  After having shopped around for a while, I decided that I found a house I wanted to buy.  I knew buying it, that I would have a lot of work to do.  It was a house that needed a little (or a lot) TLC, in order to be a home.  I worked and worked and worked on this house.  For months I would go to work, come home from work, and paint.  Once I finished painting, I moved on to the next thing.  For the past year and a half, I have been working to make this home nice.  Quite frankly, there is still a lot to be done.

When I think about this idea of cleaning up my house, it reminds me of my relationship with Christ.  Jesus told his disciples that once he left, the Holy Spirit would come in them.  The temple (God's house) was no longer a big building or structure that people would go to.  Instead, our bodies' would be God's home.  God lives in us.

Today, I was reading in Revelation 3, when John is writing the letter to the Church in Sardis.  At the beginning of the letter it says, "You have a reputation for being alive, but you are dead."  The letter says, "...I have found your deeds unfinished in the sight of my God."  

When I read this, it made me think of my shed.  Last fall, I was told by the insurance company that I needed to paint my shed.  I went to Lowe's, grabbed the paint, and began painting it.  The Saturday I decided to paint, it rained.  I finished painting right before it started raining.  However, it didn't dry in time.  When the rain came down, so did the paint that was still wet.  I went out later that day, and saw that the shed was no longer completely painted.  Not only that, but some of the wood had chipped off of the shed, and needed replaced.  Though I repainted the shed, it was far from finished.  My "deed" was unfinished.

As I read this letter to the Church in Sardis, I see God calling out the people for living incomplete lives.  They are a people who are known for doing good things, yet despite the good things they are doing, there are things going on in their lives that don't match up with the story of the Gospel.  Though it doesn't say specifically what it is, there is some sort of sin running rampant throughout that church.  God calls them to repent.

                                                 

In today's world, it is not uncommon to see people giving toward a cause.  It is not uncommon to see someone be apart of an organization to help someone or something.  And in reality, these are often great things to be apart of.  The problem...it isn't enough.  People are missing the point of the Gospel.  Their deeds, though present, are lacking.  It would be like a fire fighter saving someone from a burning building, but cheating on his wife.  Or a college student leading a small group, but getting drunk on the weekends.  A high school student going on a missions trip, but coming back gossiping and insulting classmates who aren't as "cool" as he/she is.

Yes, saving someone from a burning building is good.  Yes, leading a small group is good. Yes, going on a missions trip is good.  But good things do not outweigh the bad.

Imagine if this person, who was always known for doing great things in the community, was actively involved at church, would help out anyone who asked, one day they became really upset, lost control of themselves, and decided they were going to kill your friend?  What kind of defense would they use?  Would they really have the audacity to walk into the court room and say, "don't find me guilty, because I've done so many good things."  Do you really think that would fly in court?  Would you even want that to happen if it did?  Wouldn't you want justice for your friend?

Why then, would God judge us any differently?  Why would God say, "It's okay, you've done some pretty good things.  You are about even."  God doesn't judge that way.  Yes, God wants us to love others.  But we need to finish our deeds through living Holy lives.

As I look at the church in America, I get really concerned for it.  Yes, there are some really great churches out there who are still focused on the truth of who God is.  Still there are more, teaching lies to appease people.  There are churches who support gay marriage.  There are churches who believe that divorce for any reason is acceptable.  There are churches who don't have a problem with encouraging abortions.  When I hear conversations at church, I hear gossip coming out from every corner.  Corruption in the church is unfortunately not uncommon.

In Revelation 21, it says the "cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murders, the sexual immoral...they will be consigned to the fiery lake of burning sulfur.  This is the second death."  If sexual immorality, gossip, idolatry and lies are flowing throughout the church, then the deeds of those people are "dead".

God calls his people to higher standards.  God calls us to look inside ourselves and the church.  He calls them to love others, for sure!  God also calls his people to purity, holiness, and repentance.  The God I serve is a God of immeasurable love.  My God is also a just God.  No wrong can ever go unpunished.  Yet he has given us another option.

God doesn't call us to pray a prayer and consider us saved.  God calls us to repent.  Turn from your ways of evil.  Flee from your sin.  Jesus doesn't say to the adulteress woman, say a prayer.  He says, "go and sin no more."  "Confess your sins, and he is faithful and just to forgive your sins."

I write this knowing full well the sins I have committed, the wrongs that I have done and will do in the future.  Yet I write this believing full well that my name is written in the book of life, not because of what I have done, but what Christ has done in me.  Struggling with sin and living in sin are not the same things.  One day all of our sin will be made known.  God calls us to confess our sins and repent.

Are you decorating the outside of your house, while the inside is a disaster?  Do you have a reputation of being a "good person" while still living in sin?  Don't live in this lie anymore.  Live in the truth, knowing that you can be saved by the grace of God.  By the power of his death and resurrection.

Amen!