A Call to Holiness

2 Corinthians 7:1

Since we have these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit, bringing holiness to completion in the fear of God.

Introduction

When Paul wrote this letter to the church in Corinth, he didn’t write it in chapters.

In fact, there were no chapters whatsoever in the Bible until the late 1300s.

It was then that someone added chapter divisions to help people locate passages easier.

Then in the 1500s, someone divided those chapters into verses.

For the most part, these scholars did an excellent job.

But every once in a while, we bump against a scripture that leaves us wondering why the split the text where they did.

2 Corinthians 7:1 is one such example.

Verse one of chapter seven should really be the last verse of chapter six.

It’s a continuation of the promises that Paul refers to in verses 16-18.

Let’s look at it together:

2 Corinthians 6:16-18

16 God said, “I will make my dwelling among them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.

17 Therefore go out from their midst, and be separate from them, says the Lord, and touch no unclean thing; then I will welcome you,

18 and I will be a father to you, and you shall be sons and daughters to me, says the Lord Almighty.”

So here in verse one, Paul says “Because of these promises.”

What are these promises?

God says:

I will make my dwelling among you

I will be your God

You will be my people

I will welcome you

I will be a Father to you

You shall me by sons and daughters

“Because of these promises,” Paul says,

What are we to do?

Paul says:

Cleanse ourselves from:

Every defilement of body

and of sprit.

Why?

To bring holiness to completion.

Tomorrow, we’re concluding a three sermon series called called “Journey of the Cross”

And during these three weeks we’ve been taking about

lamenting our sins,

repenting our sins

and anticipating God’s work of grace in our lives.

In week one, specifically, we talked about this idea of holiness.

How Holy really just means to be different.

God calls us to be set apart like He is.

If God is anything, he is set apart from everything else that is not God, and he calls us to the same thing.

We see this idea again in 2 Corinthians 6:17

Where God says:

“Go out from their midst and be separate from them”

Who is this “their” and “them” God’s talking about?

He’s talking about the world.

God calls us to be Holy.

To be separate from the world.

This isn’t an expression you hear too much in the BIG C church these days,

Perhaps because it’s so counter-cultural

But back in the day we called this, “Being in the world but not of it.”

God wants to set you apart today.

He’s calling you out from the crowd.

Verse 17 and 18, he says:

“Touch no unclean thing,

then I will welcome you

I will be a father to you

and you shall be sons and daughters to me”

Well, Preacher, are you telling me God isn’t my father if I’m not holy yet?

Not in the least!

Everyone who has opened their hearts and lives to Jesus is a child of God.

But if you’re still tethered to the world,

If you’re still covered in the dirt of the world,

If you’re not addressing your sins through lamenting and repenting:

You’re not opening yourself up to all that God has for you!

Think of it this way:

If I want to take my family out to dinner,

but my kids are muddy from playing outside,

and I say,

“Come on! Let’s go! Wash up!”

But Candice, Liam, and Chloe say,

“No thanks, Daddy, we like being muddy,”

They would still be my kids

but they wouldn’t be going out to dinner!

God wants to take you to greater places

He’s saying:

I’ve got plans for you!

The table is set!

The feast is ready!

But if you’re not separate from the world,

if you’re not persuing holiness,

if you’re not cleaned up

I’ll still be your Father

You’ll still be my son,

my daughter

But you can’t access everything that I want to do in you and through you.

So what’s gotta change?

Paul shows us in verse one of chapter seven.

We have to cleanse ourselves of… what?

to bring holiness to completion?

Every defilement of body

and every defilement of spirit.

Those sins of the flesh are pretty easy to point out, aren’t they?

They’re done out in the open.

They permeate out culture today.

We talked about this in week one of “Journey of the Cross”.

Some things just fit in the sin category don’t they?

You can see the damage they cause.

You know what those sins of the flesh are.

Those defilements of body.

You might have some lingering, but at this stage in your faith journey, you’ve mostly dealt with them.

Those sins of the spirit?

Those are the tricky ones.

We’re not as quick to call these sins, are we?

We might call them character flaws.

Gossiping

Lying

Fault-finding

Laziness

Cynicism

Pride

Holding grudges

Anger

We might not call them sin at first blush, but their tripping us up.

We’re called to be different, right?

We’re called to separate ourselves from the pack.

To be holy.

You might not be cheating on your wife, but if you’re speaking ill of her to your buddies, you’re still sinning.

You see it as missing the mark by a little instead of a mile, but you’re still missing the mark, aren’t you?

Those things we don’t want to put in the sin bucket?

Those character flaws?

Those are the defilement of spirit that Paul is talking about.

And if we want to walk in the fullness of what God has for us,

we’ve got to cleanse our bodies and our spirits.

How do we do that?

In the Old Testament, a man named Naaman comes down with leprosy.

The prophet Elisha tells him that to get clean he’s got to go wash himself in Jordan River seven times.

Seven is an important number in the Bible; it’s the number of completion.

So what did Naaman do?

He washed himself in the Jordan River until he came out

completely healed

completely whole

We have to do the same thing with our sin.

Psalm 119:9 the Psalmist says, a young man can cleanse his way by taking heed according to the Word.

John 15:3, Jesus says that we are clean through the word He has spoken to us.

Ephesians 5:26, Paul declares that we are washed by the water of the Word.

When you spend time in God’s Word.

When you let the Word of God cleanse you,

an amazing thing happens.

You may never become a biblical scholar or a theologian,

but as you wash yourself in scripture,

those sins, those defilements of body and spirit,

they start to wash away.

God’s word cleanses you.

As you pray today

Will you take stock of where you’re at on your journey of holiness?

Will you ask God to show you the sins of body and spirit that are holding you back?

Will you lament those sins and turn to God?

Will you make a commitment to continually be washed in his Word?