Sermon Tone Analysis

Purge

Hungering to Know and Be Known

2022-10-23

Scripture Reading:

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Introduction

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.

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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.