2022-10-23 Prayer - Purge Yourself of Anything Blocking Your Relationship With God

Purge. When you hear the word purge, what comes to your mind? When I hear the word purge, I think of a treatment that Corrina tried many years ago to get rid of her gallstones. Corrina was pretty desperate; her gallstones had been causing her tremendous abdominal pain. So when she heard of a home remedy that promised to purge them, she figured it was worth a try. If involved consuming some herbal medicines, drinking water with Epsom salts and drinking a mixture of olive oil and grapefruit juice. She did this two different times. Did it work? It’s debatable. If it did, it didn’t get rid of all of them. Later on, she ended up having surgery to remove her gallbladder. Just so you know, drinking the mixture of olive oil and grapefruit juice is definitely not on her “I’d love to do that again” list. Let’s just say it’s quite nauseating.

The word purge speaks of getting rid of whatever is impure or undesirable. Gallstones definitely fits that description. If we’ve got one of those songs running around in our head that we’re tired of, we want to purge it from our minds and replace it with something else. If our organization has a toxic individual or group of people in it, we want to purge them from our organization, hopefully in as good a way as possible. The word purge speaks of cleansing and purifying. It’s not just about getting rid of the bad and unclean, it’s about doing so for a purpose. Every now and then I need to purge the interior of our van. Old used tissues, coffee cups, food wrappers, etc. get tossed out. Why? So I can drive a clean uncluttered vehicle in peace. Corrina wanted to purge her gallstones so that she could live without pain. Purging always has a purpose beyond the purging itself. Usually, the things we are trying to purge are getting in the way of greater flourishing.

Today we come to the third part of Larry Crabb’s PAPA prayer, Purge Yourself of Anything Blocking Your Relationship With God.

What does it mean to purge yourself of anything blocking your relationship with God? (blank)

Let’s first look at the goal. The goal isn’t to purge. The purging is what is done in order to reach the goal. What’s the goal? Having a relationship with God! In the last two sermons I’ve already talked about two basic principles, things that we can do that will lead toward a deep relationship with God.

The first was learning to present yourself to God without pretence. Being honest with God, about where we’re at, not holding anything back. Being as real with God as the Psalmists were.

The second was to pay attention to how we think about God. If our understanding and image of God is not correct, it will affect how we approach him or even if we do. Having the correct image of God will draw us in and inform our prayers so that they will be much less frivolous and more in line with the prayers that God would want us to pray. (blank)

A Relationship With God

Back to our goal. Our goal is to draw close to God. To know and be known by him. Deeply.

There is an astounding truth that most Christians know, but rarely think about and rarely realize how unbelievable it is.

Many years before Jesus, Isaiah prophesied, “I will pour my spirit on your offspring, and my blessings on your descendants.” 44:3b. The night before Jesus was crucified, he told his disciples, “I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever—the Spirit of truth. On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in my, and I am in you.” John 14:18, 20. Later, Paul wrote to the Romans saying, “And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of his Spirit who lives in you.” Rom. 8:11 (blank) Do you catch what Isaiah and Jesus and Paul are saying? When we commit our lives to following God through Jesus Christ, the Spirit of God lives in us! The Spirit of God is God. The third person of the trinity lives inside of you! Think about it. Look down at your chest. Look at your body. Somehow or other, the invisible, all-powerful, all-knowing God is living in you. In your body, in your mind. Does that seem real? Does it even seem possible. Wherever you go, God’s Spirit goes with.

If this astounding idea is true, and Isaiah predicted it and Jesus and Paul say it is true, then why is it that I and you often have a hard time hearing God speak to us? Why is it that we feel as if we are just talking to a wall? What is getting in the way of us knowing and relating to God? It’s not that he’s far away. He’s not. He’s right here, inside of us. So what’s going on?

Relational Sin Hinders our Prayers

Turn with me to 1 Peter 3:7. Peter, like Paul, addresses the family unit. He first gives instructions to wives, giving special attention to how to win over unbelieving husbands through the wife’s humility and godliness. He then speaks to husbands he says something very intriguing to them that he doesn’t say to the wives. “Husbands, in the same way be considerate as you live with your wives, and treat them with respect as the weaker partner and as heirs with you of the gracious gift of life,” Sounds great. This is similar to what Paul wrote. This part isn’t very new. Then comes the intriguing part. A reason to do so. “so that nothing will hinder your prayers.” Do you hear what God is saying through Peter? If you don’t treat your wife right, I’m not going to answer your prayers! Your actions, your relational sin, has gotten in the way.

Where does Peter get this idea from? In short, his Bible, the OT. Isaiah 59:2 says, “But your iniquities (sin) have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear.” And in John 9:31, the formerly blind man, blind from birth, responds to the Jewish leaders who are interrogating him, saying, “We know that God does not listen to sinners. He listens to the godly person who does his will.” In other words, this was the common understanding of Jewish people in Peter’s day, based clearly on numerous passages in the OT.

Our sin hinders our prayers. We don’t hear God’s spirit in our hearts because something has got in the way. It’s kind of like having a large wax buildup in our ears. Gradually we hear less and less and eventually we have to purge the wax so we can hear clearly again.

So what does it mean to purge the sin that is in us? There is another word that you may find a lot more familiar. Repentance. Purging the sin that is in us is simply an act of repentance. Becoming real with God re our relationship to him and to others. Telling him how we’ve sinned and asking him to have mercy on us.

Often we think of sin as something that I do that is wrong. True. It is. But sin has a characteristic that we often don’t think of. Sin is always relational. All sin is relational.

When Jesus was teaching, one day the Pharisees came to Jesus to test him, they asked him which was the greatest commandment. His answer was simple and incredibly profound. “’Love the lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbour as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” Mt. 22:37-40

You see, every sin you commit, breaks one of these two commandments. Either you are not loving God with your whole heart, soul and mind or you are in some way not loving someone else. And they’re intertwined. 1 John 4:19-21 says “We love because he first loved us. Whoever claims to love God yet hates his brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen. And he has given us this command: anyone who loves God must also love his brother and sister.” 1 John 4:19-21 (blank)

We constantly delude ourselves into thinking that the sin we commit hurts no one. That it doesn’t affect our relationships with God and others. It does. They do.

My staying up late to binge watch a set of movies or tv shows or to play my favourite video game is a waste of time, but I’m the one who loses, no one else, right? Oh really? What about my spouse or my kids or friends who would benefit greatly by my attention in the morning but I’m too tired to get up and when I do, my attitude stinks? What about God, who’s been waiting to spend some time with me, but I’m always ‘too busy’ to have any time for him? What about the ungodly images, ideas and philosophies of living that are in the shows that fill my mind that lead me to living in ways Jesus wouldn’t want and affect how I view God. The same is true of being hooked on my smart phone or other device.

We are painfully unaware of how our sin affects people. Even the people that are closest to us. There’s a story in Crabb’s book that I want to read. (read pp 125-127)

Tom had sinned against his wife without even noticing it. It wasn’t on purpose. It wasn’t hateful. He loved her. But his actions hurt her, nonetheless. He was dismissive towards her. He didn’t take the time to really connect with her. Why? He was lonely and was afraid people wouldn’t accept him for who he really was, including his wife. He was hiding from her and as a result she was disconnected from him.

What causes our relational sin? What drives them? Fear is a big one. We fear being known so we hide behind masks. We fear rejection so we act tough and keep our cards close to our chest. We fear feeling out of control, so we control. We fear the unknown, so we don’t enter in and try to understand the people in our lives. We fear pain and heartache, so we don’t let others get close to us. We fear being unworthy, being weak, being unappreciated, being seen as too proud, and even as being to caring! We fear other people’s comments and thoughts. We fear for our reputation. We are shot through we fears. Many are hidden and we ourselves are hardly aware of them. But they show up when we interact with God and people. Those close to us and those on the periphery.

Even the original sin of Adam and Eve in the garden was founded on fear, the fear of missing out. Remember what the serpent said? “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good from evil.” In other words, God is keeping something good from me that is rightfully mine. If I don’t eat it, I’ll miss out on being like God.

Purging

How do we purge our relational sin through prayer? Ask yourself two questions.

The first is to ask God to reveal our relational sins. “What’s wrong with the way I relate?” We need help discerning our relational missteps. We are notoriously blind to our own inappropriate ways of relating and we are incredibly good at self-justification. We need the illumination of the Holy Spirit. (blank)

How will God show you? Well, he might speak to you directly, but more often than not, he will speak through other people. Through a friend, through the one we are hurting, through an authority figure, through a group of friends, through a counsellor, even through someone who hates you. God uses painful relational breakups and intimate friendships. Since God most often reveals our relational sins through others, it is also a good idea to ask those you trust to tell you how you relationally sin. Implore them to be honest with you, even if it hurts.

The second question to ask is what do I most want from my relationships with others and with God? Do you long to be in good, deep, close relationships with people? Do you long to have a good, deep, close relationship with God? Is your longing for these relationships deep enough to be willing to do the purging of sin that is needed for these relationships to get there? One of the things I learned in Freedom Session is that in order to succeed in overcoming any addiction in my life, I have to want freedom far more than what the addiction gives me. If I don’t, I won’t overcome. I have to be so desperate for freedom that I’m willing to endure the pain of crucifying myself. (blank)

If I don’t want a deep relationship with God more than the cost of purging my relational sin, I won’t be willing to purge enough in order to get to the deep relationship.

This sounds like ridiculously hard work, right? Yup, it is. But no pain, no gain. If you really, really want deep, long lasting, close relationships with others and God, then purging yourself of relational sin through confession to God is not only possible but doable.

Remember also that it’s not a one-time event. This kind of purging is life long. As long as we live on this earth, we sin relationally and will need to keep on purging.

What does a purging prayer look like?

Read pp136, 137

Call to pursue God

So what about you? Do you desire to know God and be known by him? Do you want God more than anything you’ve ever wanted before? Do you want God to hear your prayers and answer you? Do you desire God enough to purge whatever is blocking your relationship with God?

Let’s pray

Benediction: 1 Thessalonians 3:12a-13

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