CLEANING THE DIRTY
- We can only make the dirty dirtier
- Only Christ can make the dirty clean
What comes to mind if I ask you to think about the word “dirty”? Some of you might think of a teenager’s bedroom or a dust-covered vehicle. Others of you might call to mind “dirty” people: a homeless person who hasn’t had a shower in a couple weeks, a miner down in the caves, a mechanic covered in engine oil and car grease. And still others of you might think of “dirty” people on a moral level: a pornographer would be dirty in that sense because of what he does, some comedians are called dirty because of what they say, a pedophile is usually considered dirty by most people, not only because of his actions but also because of his thoughts. And although all of these people and things are dirty in their own way, when I ask you what comes to mind when you hear the word “dirty,” do any of you picture yourselves?
I certainly don’t think of myself when I come up with a picture for the word “dirty.” And the Pharisees didn’t think of themselves when they heard the word “dirty” either. In fact, they considered themselves about as clean as a person could possibly be. And they thought that way because of all the laws and traditions that they tried to keep. In the Old Testament the Lord had laid down various laws about uncleanness. He told the Israelites that if they touched a dead body they would be unclean until the evening. If they touched a restricted animal or insect that was off limits that would make them unclean. After childbirth or because of a skin infection or on account of mildew in their house they would also be ceremonially unclean. And in all of these cases they would have to take various steps of purification - sometimes extending over a two week period - in order to be considered “clean” again. And the Pharisees not only tried to keep all of these Old Testament purification laws, they also added their own laws of cleanliness on top of them! For example: they made a rule that every cup and pitcher and kettle and even the couches people sat on to eat had to be ceremonially washed. They also considered it a sin if you did not wash your hands before eating. They even came up with laws about the amount of water that should be used, in what way it should be applied, and how often. Now, these specific details are not found in the Bible; they were extra regulations that the Pharisees themselves conjured up on their own. And because of these traditions of purification and laws of cleanliness that they attempted to follow, the Pharisees thought of themselves as cleaner than the average person and purer than most.
Their way of thinking, however, was challenged when they met up with Jesus one day on the shores of the Galilee. They had come all the way from Jerusalem to see Jesus, and when they began talking to the Lord about their traditions of cleanliness and purity, Jesus revealed to them how “dirty” they really were. The conversation started when the Pharisees noticed that his disciples didn’t wash their hands before eating bread. “Why don’t your disciples live according to the tradition of the elders instead of eating their food with ‘unclean’ hands?” they asked Jesus. And Jesus said them, “Nothing outside a man can make him ‘unclean’ by going into him. Rather, it is what comes out of a man that makes him ‘unclean’… For from within, out of men’s hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. All these evils come from inside and make a man ‘unclean.’” The Pharisees had been mistaken. They had spent their entire lives avoiding dead bodies and certain animals and spots of mildew and dirty hands, but in spite of all their efforts throughout all those years, they hadn’t done a thing to cleanse their dirtiness in the least. In fact, they had only made what was dirty from the start even dirtier because all the sinful thoughts and words and actions that came out of them just added to the filth. All of their traditions and acts of cleansing were pointless when it came to their sin and their status before God. They were not clean, they were not pure in any way and Jesus wanted to make sure they understood that.
Jesus wants us to understand that as well. He wants us to realize that we have made ourselves disgustingly dirty throughout the years. We are no more clean than those we consider the dirtiest of people. We are filthy nasty because of the sinful nature we were born with as well as the sinful things that we produce. Any off-color inclination of our own minds adds to the grime that covers us from the womb. Any hint of a sexually inappropriate thought creates more sludge in which we live. The smallest bit of hate for anyone, a touch of greed, a little white lie, jealousy, gossip, self centeredness - all of these things spew forth more and more spiritual sewage that we wallow in every day. And it keeps piling up. Every sin that we commit, every mistake we make, every error we fall into contributes to the filthiness we are responsible for. And taking a shower this morning did not truly wash you clean of this mess. The fact that you came to church today did not purify you. Even doing good things in this life does not have any cleansing effect whatsoever because our actions do nothing to take away the smut that we have immersed ourselves in; instead our actions contribute to it. We are disgusting. We are dripping with the slime and reeking with the stench of sin. We are as dirty as dirty can be and we only make things worse whenever those sin-infected actions and words and thoughts come pouring out of us in frightening amounts.
The Pharisees didn’t realize they were that dirty. And actually, I doubt that Jesus’ own disciples really understood how repulsive their sins had made them to be. And so it was important for Jesus to point that out. They had to realize the state their sins had put them in. But if was important for Jesus to reveal their filthiness, it was even more important for Jesus to do something about it. Because he was the only one that could. He was the only one whom Scripture describes as “holy, blameless, pure, set apart from sinners, exalted above the heavens (Hebrews 7:26). Yes, Jesus was a true human being in every sense of the word, but he was and is true God as well. He did not sin. He did not dirty himself with anything ungodly. And so it was up to him to cleanse those who were. It was up to him to be our High Priest.
During Old Testament times the people of Israel were served by the priests. When a person brought an offering to the temple it was the priest who made the sacrifice for him. When the Day of Atonement arrived it was the high priest who represented that person in front of the Lord and sprinkled the blood on the altar for his sins. When anyone became unclean in certain situations it was the priest who washed them with the water of cleansing and pronounced them pure once again. And this is exactly how the Lord functioned as our High Priest. He made the sacrifice of his blood on our behalf. He stood in front of the Father in our place. He purified us from our sins. And the apostle Paul gives us a beautiful picture of what Christ did for us as our High Priest in the book of Ephesians: “Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless” (Eph. 5:25-27). Christ loved the Church - he loved believers - so much that he sacrificed himself for them. He washed them with the water of baptism through the promises of the Word of God. He will present them as holy and blameless in his sight on the Last Day. And you are included in that holy Christian Church. The filthiness and the grime of your sins have been forever washed away once and for all in your baptism. There is not a spot left. There is not one speck of contamination on you. You are completely clean. You are wholly purified. And when you stand before the Judge on Judgment Day, you will stand there radiant. You will be presented before him without stain, without any remnant of your sin in sight. You will not stand there dripping with the slime and reeking with the stench of sin. You will stand there smelling of the aroma of Christ and dressed in a robe of white.
Near the end of his life, John the apostle was given a vision of those this very thing. He saw countless people from all nations of the earth. “They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands.” And one of the elders with John said, “These are they who are coming out of the great tribulation; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb” (Rev. 7:9,14). These people that John who saw had washed their robes white in the blood of the Lamb were Christians. And you will one day join that throng of worshipers when you pass from this life of tribulation and into the life of perfection. And with the rest of the saints you will enjoy all the blessings that John describes in the book of Revelation: you will never be hungry again. You will never become thirsty. The Lamb at the center of the throne will be your Shepherd. He will lead you to springs of living water and he will wipe the tears away from your eyes. This is what you have to look forward to because of that white robe you are wearing right now. This is what awaits you in heaven because the Lord has cleansed you from all of your filthiness by his blood. You will be allowed to enter the purity of perfection because Christ has made you pure.
And that not only has implications for your eternal life; it has great meaning for your life right now. Your every stain has been washed clean. Your every blemish has been purified. Your every contaminated action and word and thought has been dissolved in the blood of Christ and his cross. And so live like it! You don’t have to gain anything by the way you live, of course, you have already been given everything for free. And so live as if you knew that! Live in a frenzied thankfulness! Live in perpetual praise! Live in unending service to the Lord who let himself be defiled on the cross so that you could be made pure! No matter how many sins you’ve committed in this life, no matter how many you will commit for the rest of your days, and no matter how nasty and vile and filthy and dirty they were, they cover you no more. Instead, you are all wrapped up in grace. Enjoy that. Enjoy your life in this sin-stained world as a cleansed child of God. You will certainly enjoy yourself as cleansed a child of the Father in the life to come.
Amen.
“May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul, and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” - 1 Thess. 5:23
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