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Rule #3
Sin does not just hurt my relationship with God.
We are defining purity as “seeking God’s best for me – heart, mind and body”
Colossians 3:5-14
5 Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. 6 Because of these, the wrath of God is coming. 7 You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived. 8 But now you must also rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. 9 Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices 10 and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator. 11 Here there is no Gentile or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian slave or free but Christ is all, and is in all. 12 Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. 13 Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. 14 And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.
Our purity matters to God
-He is a holy God and as His children, we are also called to be holy
-Paul lists specific examples of the behaviors and attitudes we must take off in order to clothe ourselves with God’s best for us
-The act of purifying is God’s work
-we are not the ones trying to purify ourselves
-we cannot take off the old and put on the new by ourselves
-The act of purifying is God’s inner work
-Jesus did not come into the world simply because we had bad habits that needed to be broken. He came into the world because we had dirty hearts that needed to be purified.
-This is not about behavior modification, it’s transformation from the inside out
Our purity matters to God, and it impacts those around us
-We often view sin as personal, but miss the impact it has on those around us
-Lust distorts our view of others and poisons our minds, replacing meaningful relationships with a facade
-Greed causes us to compare ourselves to others and to view our relationships in terms of what we can get from them
-Lying causes trust to be broken and destroys the foundation of the relationships that matter most
It is impossible to build a life of righteousness on a foundation of sin.
Ephesians 5:8-11
8 For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light 9 (for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth) 10 and find out what pleases the Lord. 11 Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them.
-Oftentimes our posture towards sin in our lives is to minimize it, to excuse, to hide it, or to justify it.
-But God doesn’t want us to minimize sin, rather He wants to expose it in our lives so He can bring healing.
-A posture of hiding brings shame, and shame will destroy our relationships.
Scripture for further reflection:
Psalm 139:23
“Search me, O God, a know my heart. Test me, know my anxious thoughts. See if there be any offensive way in me and lead me in the way everlasting”
Matthew 5:8
Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God
1 Corinthians 13