We Find Freedom In a Clean Slate

This morning I want us to spend this time together examining & assessing what it means for us to find freedom in a clean slate. Many of you are aware of the origins of the saying “clean slate”, but for those of you who do not know the meaning behind it, here it is.

The term "clean slate" was originally a term which referred to clearing debts. Whether they were social debts such as poor grades in school or financial debts such as at a grocery store, the "public ledger" was often slate marked with chalk. A clean slate relationship, therefore, meant that past debts were erased and two people started on equal footing.

As chalkboards moved into classrooms the term was co-opted to signal restarting a conceptual pursuit. If an equation, design, or taxonomic problem was too complex to handle one would simply "clean the slate" and start again.

It is important to note that in both original etymologies the term is somewhat dichotomous. Although an optimistic interpretation of the idiom implies starting over with no record of the past, it is realistically quite difficult to completely clean a slate before starting over. When trying to start over on a clean slate, one often is actually writing over smudges of past mistakes. It isn’t until you wash the slate clean with water that you can remove all of the imperfections and have a blemish free slate.

This morning we are going to find the answer to why the clean slate we have in our lives through Christ is connected to the cleaning of the slate that we just spoke of, and we are going to focus on how we find freedom through it. So, let’s dig in.

Read Ephesians 4:31-32

In this passage we find two major points in finding freedom in a clean slate. The first point is this.

#1 Because we have a clean slate, we can have a clear conscience and are free to love and serve God with all our heart.

Today’s text falls under Paul’s instruction to the church at Ephesus in “living the new life”. Paul is explaining all throughout verses 17- 32 that as Christ followers we must live a new life that we can only live if we have a clean slate through Christ Jesus.

A. Before Christ we are weighed down with baggage, and that baggage has consequences.

The baggage I am speaking of here are the warnings that Paul gives throughout this chapter of Ephesians. We see things such as being corrupted by deceitful desires, lying, foul language, stealing, bitterness, wrath, slander, shouting, and malice. All of those things can only lead you in one direction, and that direction is to sin. So, this baggage that we have, the things we just mentioned, have consequences, because they lead us to sin, they also grieve the Holy Spirit. Our baggage grieves the spirit.

Charles Spurgeon said this “ He is not a God who reigns in solitary isolation, divided by a great gulf; but He, the blessed Spirit, comes into such near contact with us, takes such minute observations, feels such tender regards, that he can be grieved by our faults and follies”. Wow! When I think of this it is eye opening to me, and it should be eye opening to all of us, our sin grieves the Lord.

That word “ grieve” is a painful one, but praise be to God for the delightful thought that he who rules heaven and earth and is creator of all things and is infinite and ever blessed, would enter into such an infinite relationship with his people, that His divine mind may be affected by their actions. What a marvel that Deity should be said to grieve over the faults of beings so utterly insignificant as we are.

If you are here this morning and you are carrying around baggage, you have the opportunity to lay that baggage down, and let God take it from you. If you are willing to do that, something amazing happens.

Here is the amazing thing,

B. God takes the old and replaces it with the new!

2 Corinthians 5:17- “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has passed away, and see, the new has come.”

Galatians 6:14-15- “But as for me, I will never boast about anything except the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. The world has been crucified to me through the cross, and I to the world. For both circumcision and uncircumcision mean nothing; what matters instead is a new creation.”

Ephesians 4: 23-24- “to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, the one created according to God’s likeness in righteousness and purity of the truth.”

When we become followers of Christ, the old is stripped away, our baggage is stripped away, the penalty of our sins is paid for, we become a new creation! We are no longer the way we were, we have been changed! Look again at what Paul tells us in Ephesians 4:23-24 “to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, the one created according to God’s likeness in righteousness and purity of the truth.”

When we are made new in Christ, God brings us back to how he originally created us, in God’s likeness in righteousness and purity of truth. We become pure, once again!

Many of you know that a major part of my testimony happened while I was employed with Flanders Electric here in Evansville, and subsequently getting laid off with 85 others one day.

If you are unfamiliar with Flanders, they are an electric motor repair and manufacturing company. When I first hired, I was what they called a Utility Technician. Our main job was to take wound stators and refurbish them. We would cut off the old windings and bars, and begin the process of making them new. We would grind down all of the bars to get them back to shiny copper, and the metal stator cores we would have to sandblast to remove the impurities to make them new again.

You see, as those dc motors were being used in whatever industry they were in, they were getting dirty, impurities were starting to show up, and it wasn’t until that motor was designated for repair, that it would get its chance at being made new again.

Unlike those motors, we don’t have to wait until someone designates us for repair, we have the opportunity each and everyday to be made new in Christ. He is chasing after us, He wants to repair us, He wants us to know that He loves us, cares for us, and forgives us. He wants us to be made new in Him.

#2 Because we have a clean slate that is freely given, we can give freely.

The loving, life changing, power of Christ should be our motivation to freely give everyday. I want us this morning though to focus on 3 areas of our lives we need to freely give.

A. The first is Worship.

Because of the loving sacrifice of Jesus on the cross we are free to worship without the baggage of our sin holding us back. Just the thought alone, of God loving us that much, should move us into a stance of worship.

Too often we only focus on worship on Sunday mornings from 9:30-11:30am, and Wednesday from 6-7pm. What about all the time in between those? Are we not called to worship during those times as well? Being free through Christ, our minds should stay in a sense of worship. Don’t get into the habit of only worshiping on Sundays and Wednesdays, but worship your savior every second of every day.

B. The second area we need to freely give is in forgiveness.

If you were to keep reading from our main scripture this morning, you will find that Paul tells us in Ephesians 5 :1 “ Therefore be imitators of God, as dearly loved children, and walk in love, as Christ also loved us and gave himself for us, a sacrificial and fragrant offering to God.”

We are called to be imitators of God. We as mankind are creatures of imitation. We will imitate almost anything, but there is nothing perfect or so worthy of imitation as that which Paul gives us here: “God”. Now we will never come close to fully imitating our Loving Father, but each day we must strive to. One of the best ways we can do this is by forgiving. We live in an age where forgiveness is almost a foreign concept. We hold grudges, we try to get even, we have lost sight of kindness and compassion, we are not being imitators of Christ.

Again, Paul tells us in Ephesians 4:32 “be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving one another, just as God also forgave you in Christ.” If you are a new creation, if you have been made new in Christ, we therefore must forgive each other. I understand that this can be a very difficult task to accomplish, and I am not asking you to walk through something that I haven’t gone through myself, or that Pastor Larry, or Pastor Dennis, haven’t gone through, but as a new creation in Christ we must forgive just as we have been forgiven.

Maybe this morning you are holding onto a grudge, maybe you need to forgive someone for something they did, maybe you need to ask for forgiveness for something you did. Whatever it may be today, may you not delay in taking care of it.

When we hold onto grudges, when we don’t forgive others, when we don’t ask for forgiveness, first we are not imitators of God, but secondly that grudge can lead us back into sin, which then keeps us from worshiping freely. It makes us stumble in our walk with the Lord. There is a really popular saying that fits perfectly here; LET GO and LET GOD. We spoke earlier about God knows us intimately enough to be grieved by our sin, if he knows us that intimately, what is the hesitation in letting go of that baggage and letting God deal with it.

C. The third area we have an opportunity to freely give in is our Joyfulness.

The clean slate we have in Christ Jesus should bring us unlimited joy. Isaiah 35:10 “ and the ransomed of the Lord will return and come to Zion with singing, crowned with unending joy. Joy and gladness will overtake them, and sorrow and sighing will flee.” This verse is a representation of the joy of our salvation. In Christ alone joy & gladness are found! No matter the situation we are facing, no matter where we are in life, our Joy comes from the Lord!

A lot of people in our world today put their joy in things not of Christ. They put joy in money, careers, sports, family, cars, houses, trips, and etc. Don’t get me wrong I find joy in my family and I thank God everyday for them, but that joy is a temporary joy in comparison to the joy that comes to me through the loving sacrifice of Christ Jesus.

You see, those things I mentioned don’t always want the best for me, they don’t always want to have a relationship with me, they will fail me, they hold grudges against me, they may not love me, but God always has a plan for me, He longs for a relationship with me, He is perfect, He is holy, so He cannot and will not fail me, He forgives me, and He loves me, and because of these truths I find my joy and strength in Him! May that also be true of you today as well.

In closing today my prayer is that you will examine your life. If you have been given a clean slate through Christ have you found the freedom to love and serve God with all your heart or are you letting baggage hold you down in your spiritual walk? Are you freely giving in the areas of worship, forgiveness, and joyfulness? Are you letting Him be the source of your life? If you answered no to any of these questions, take this invitation time to find that Freedom in Christ. If you are here this morning and everything we just talked about is new to you, If you didn’t know that God loves you and wants a relationship with you, I would love to have the opportunity to tell you all about it during this time. Wherever you are this morning, Christ is calling you, for He calls us from where we are! May we respond this morning. Let’s Pray.