Spring Cleaning

Spring is in the air! I am glad for the warmer weather, for the longer days, and for the green that is beginning to pop up here and there!

Spring is known for life returning after winter.

Winters are cold, they can be harsh, and they limit what life is able to do.

Hibernation is a part of winter. Dormancy is a part of winter. Dry frozen or hard ground is a part of winter. Winter limits what we can do outside for the temperatures and the weather. Such is why I want to give a shout out to our farmers who do what they have to do no matter what the thermometer reads! We know all of this because we are on the tail end of the winter season!

Spring, on the other hand, breaks free of what was frozen. Things begin to wake up, begin to grow, begin to look up, and begin to come alive. Spring gets us back outside. Spring gets us moving again. And spring… often reveals the “clutter” that has accumulated throughout the long, cold, winter months.

Therefore, it is a common practice for households to begin the annual ritual known as… SPRING CLEANING. Spring cleaning addresses the clutter or the mess left behind by winter. Spring cleaning causes us to look in the corners, to look in the storage spaces, to look in the shed and the garage, and to look in the closets. And if your family is anything like the Baker family… then you typically find some spaces and clutter that need some attention!

Tonight, before we move to prayer and worship. we are going to talk of Spring cleaning… but not in the physical sense. Tonight we are going to talk about the importance of spiritual spring cleaning if you will.

We are studying 1 Peter and so far, we have see Peter address a group of believers who… were living in a winter kind of spiritual state.

They had been scattered for the persecution taking place in the region. This persecution was a direct result of their faith in Jesus Christ. They were suffering for their belief in Him.

They were “Strangers in the world” as 1 Peter 1:1 made clear. They stood out for their faith. They did not relate to the cultures around them because those cultures did not believe as they did.

They were suffering in this season as 1 Peter 1:6 made clear. They were in the midst of a spiritual struggle in need of encouragement.

Kind of sounds like a spiritual winter doesn’t it? Harsh, frozen, lifeless, hardships, etc. But God, through Peter, was working to help them to look up...

Encouragement is exactly what was given to them through the Word.

They were reminded of their living hope that they had in God.

This living hope would move them from complacency to praise, from pity to perseverance, and from silence to proclaim.

They were reminded to make ready their minds for the things to come.

They were encouraged to be holy, to be reverent, and to be loving in the circumstance they found themselves in.

And tonight, we are going to see how they were encouraged to do a little bit of housekeeping as well. Not housekeeping like wash the bedding and dust the furniture… but spiritual inventory of what they were harboring within their hearts.

All of this was encouragement to move God’s chosen people into a new season.

Their circumstance had not changed… but that didn’t mean that the position of the hearts could not change.

If we are not careful, we can find ourselves moved into a spiritual winter of sorts because of the circumstances that surround us.

Our hearts can become cold and hard. We become dormant in our faith and our pursuit of God might move to a hibernation status. We can feel our spiritual life… begin to drain out of us.

Covid 19… is a real thing and it caused a disruption in how we do certain things regarding our faith - specifically how we do church.

It has ben two years now since the beginning of the shut down. Despite the falling Covid numbers, the herd immunity, and the vaccines, we still feel the the effects of the pandemic.

The Church in America… is in decline. And it is no secret that we have seen these trends affect our attendance right here at HWC. My concern is we have allowed recent events to shift our hearts into a spiritual hibernation mode.

We have become comfortable watching “church” instead of being a part of the church. We have distanced ourselves from the fellowship and used a pandemic as the excuse.

Church, I say this as lovingly as I can. If you can go to the grocery store, to school events, to community meetings, local fundraisers, to sports arenas, to restaurants, and to movie theaters, then you can go to church as well.

The problem is not the pandemic… the problem is the spiritual season of your heart. Your faith has become dormant. Your pursuit is in hibernation. I am glad for online ministries but they can NEVER replicate the much needed fellowship we gain from attending.

The believers in Peter’s day could have made a huge list of excuses as to why they were dormant in their walk with the Lord… but Peter called them out. Peter reminded them of their living hope. Peter reminded them to prepare or to make ready their minds. And lastly, Peter instructed them to do a little spiritual housecleaning in anticipation of what God had in the near future.

1 Peter 2:1–3 NIV

1 Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind. 2 Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, 3 now that you have tasted that the Lord is good.

Notice this passage begins with “therefore” again. This ties it back to the previous passages we looked the last couple of weeks.

Now that you have been reminded of your living hope… now that you have been given instruction on how to prepare, it is time to rid yourself of that which brought you into the spiritual season that you find yourself in.

The cause of the dry, winter-like season these believers were facing was NOT the persecution or the scattering or the feeling of being strangers in a foreign land. The problem was deeper than that. And God… well he calls it out.

In order for the believers to move forward, they needed to clean out the clutter and God revealed to them exactly what needed to be thrown out.

Clutter Removal

Our text gives a list of things that had moved believers into a spiritual winter. Unchecked sin will do nothing but drain us of life and move us from God. If we want to move out from a dry season, we must first deal with the sin that is holding us back.

Look at the list given in verse 1.

Malice.

Malice is the intention or desire to do evil. Malice is premeditated sin… the plan or desire to go against what the Lord has commanded us to do.

Malice is approaching a situation or circumstance with the wrong state of mind.

Deceit.

Deceit is the action or practice of deceiving someone by concealing or misrepresenting the truth. Deceit is not being honest with others… but worse… it is not being honest with yourself.

We deceive ourselves when we convince ourselves of excuses used only to cover the real truth of our choices. “My happiness counts to” Is saying I know it to be wrong, but I do it because it makes me happy. Deception is the number one tool the enemy uses to bring destruction to our lives.

Hypocrisy.

Hypocrisy is the the practice of claiming to have moral standards or beliefs to which one's own behavior does not conform; pretense. This is choosing not to practice what the person preaches.

Hypocrisy is pretending. It is putting on a mask. It is claiming to be something that a person is not. It is nothing but empty claims and big words with no action to back it up.

Envy.

Envy is a feeling of discontented or resentful longing aroused by someone else's possessions, qualities, or luck. It’s not hard to understand how a displaced people might feel envious of those surrounding them who were not suffering or feeling like strangers.

Yet… the culture those people found themselves kept them separated from knowing Christ. Believers need not feel envious of those living in the ways of the world. They work for a “treasure” that is perishable but never forget, our inheritance is something that will never fade away!

Slander.

Slander is the action or crime of making a false spoken statement damaging to a person's reputation. This is purposely speaking ill of another in hopes that such talk will bring them harm.

The tongue is a POWERFUL weapon… but also a REVEALING window. The tongue reveals what a person has stored up in their heart. It reveals the good or the bad… and it is impossible to control without the help of our God.

This was the clutter. This is what had accumulated in the “winter” season. And God was telling them it’s time to deal with this junk. It’s time to get it out and to make room fro what God desired to pour into them.

These things will do nothing but damage to a person’s walk with God. A person might make excuses for these things… a person might try to justify these feelings… a person might attempt to gather with others that feel the same way. But ultimately… if left unchecked… they will ONLY lead a person into a colder and more harsh spiritual winter.

So God says… rid yourself of this stuff. Throw it out. Get it under the blood. And in it’s place, reactivate your pursuit of Jesus.

Grow in Your Salvation

Once the clutter is clear, ask God to pour in the nourishment that is needed. Once that which was robbing you of life is done away with, crave that which can sustain and grow new life within you.

When it comes to the heartland, what is it that seems to “wake” everything back up again? What is it that begins to turn the dry hardened ground back into fertile soil for new growth? Rain.

The weather warms up and the spring rains begin to wake everything up again. The rain is not produced in the land but is poured over the land. New life begins to emerge.

Now… what happens if the rain begins and the weeds are not dealt with? The weeds will choke off the harvest and keep new life at bay.

Sin, like weeds, MUST BE DEALT WITH. Sin must be removed. Sin cannot be removed by our hands, it is redeemed through the blood of Jesus.

If we desire to grow in our salvation, if we desire to taste and see that the Lord is good, then we need to RID OURSELVES of the clutter that would otherwise hinder our growth.

Prayer Points.

So tonight… in response to what the Word has to say, I want us to move to these altars as we ask God to help us… to do a little “Spring cleaning” of our souls.

Maybe the season has been rough. Maybe you have allowed for some tings to creep in. Maybe the excuses are becoming more frequent and your faith more relaxed. Maybe your circumstances have overwhelmed you and you feel lifeless, hardened, dormant and dry. God wants to help wake you back up tonight!

If we’re honest, we all have “clutter” to deal with. It has a tendency to build up. Tonight, God is lovingly calling out the clutter. God want to pour new life in you… His rain is coming… are you ready to receive it?

EVENING PRAYER POINTS. BRING YOUR BIBLE.

Ask God to examine your heart… to examine your soul and to point out any “clutter” that needs to be dealt with.

Ask God to help “rid” yourself of that clutter. Ask for the blood of Christ to wash you white as snow.

Ask God to help you to grow in your salvation. Ask God to flood you with His healing rain and nourishing Word.

Taste and see that the Lord IS good!