HAVE YOU CHANGED YOUR SIN-STAINED CLOTHES?

John 11:38-44

My wife hates to do the laundry.  Who can blame her?  After all, there's just so very much of it to do around our house.  We might be thinning out as our kids grow up and move out, but right now, we have five people living at home; each contributing a week's worth of really dirty clothes.  Fighting stains with two boys and a tom-boy is a never-ending battle.  How does she get rid of the deep stains that seem to leap on our clothing?

The story of Lazarus' resurrection at Jesus' command is poignantly discussed on the Grace to You blog by Jeremiah Johnson (https://www.gty.org/Blog/B150612).  It got me thinking about how the new Believer in Jesus Christ, is so much like the resurrected Lazarus - given new life, but still stained with the filth and stench of sin.  The article also discusses the difference:  Lazarus' grave clothes and decay were immediately removed; but the new Believer does not experience that.

Now, let me pause for a moment and mention a couple of theological truths that apply here before I go on to my thoughts on the matter.  First, the Bible speaks of the new Believer as being POSITIONALLY clean and holy in Christ Jesus.  The blood of Jesus washes us white as snow.  God sees us as sinlessly perfect, because He sees the blood of His Son upon our hearts and souls.  "There is, therefore, no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus."  BUT - the Bible ALSO teaches that the new Believer is EXPERIENTIALLY unclean, unholy, and still faces temptations and succumbs to it all too often.  We must learn to behave in a holy manner worthy of our position in Christ.  But until we do, the stains of our sinful nature are upon us.

Johnson's article also discusses the truth that there are a couple of false teachings that have arisen because of this dual experience of the new Believer. 

The first false teaching is the idea that to behave in a godly way is somehow a bad thing (works-based salvation).  That misses the point of the transformation that takes place first in the inner man and works outwardly.  Those who hold that grace means we have no further responsibilities to obey the Lord are only looking to justify their sinful desires and habits or trying to assuage their guilty consciences.  The truth is when we sin, we have hurt our Savior who died to free us from its power over us, not just it's penalty upon us.  We should forsake our sin as an act of thanksgiving and honesty.  The power of Christ has set us free from the POWER of sin!  The problem is we don't act like we have been set free.  We're like an emancipated slave who continues to live like a slave rather than enjoy our freedom. 

The second false teaching is that Christians are to be categorized as Carnal or Spiritual.  While there are clearly those labels in the Bible, the point of the false teaching is this:  a carnal Christian really is the what I've described above: someone who has been set free of sin but continues to live like a slave to that sin.  We shouldn't categorize and thus divide the Body of Christ that way. 

The truth is this: EVERY BELIEVER should be casting off sin from our lives because EVERY BELIEVER has been set free of it to serve the Risen Lord, Jesus Christ. 

When a professing believer refuses to cast off sin, the real question is this: has there truly been a change of heart toward sin?  If not, perhaps you aren't really saved!  Too many want to join the "Jesus Fan Club" without really being converted in their hearts.  They may have gone from hating Jesus to liking Jesus.  But they want none of following Jesus.  They want to be told they are "OK" just as they are and have no need of changing their filthy sin-stained clothes for something more righteous and holy.  And so they sit in the stands as far away from the real game of Christianity as they can, cheering on their favorite preachers while they have no relationship to the One who can get them into the game.  Their lives remain stained with sin because their lives are untouched by the stain-removing blood of Jesus Christ.  Holy living is the product of a holy heart.  And the world feels very dirty around a holy life. 

And Holy lives need a continual change of clothes!  It's an on-going thing.  The stain of sin affects even the believer.  But the believer continues to repent of sin - over and over again if need be - because the believer too often does what Paul, the Apostle, said, "I do what I don't want to do and I don't do what I want to do."  The old, sin-stained ways are deeply ingrained in us.  Without a desire to change, there is no evidence that the heart has been transformed in the first place!

Are YOU wearing dirty clothes today?  Wash them in the sin-cleansing blood of Jesus.  You'll have to change clothes to do that - and Jesus gives us clean clothes to wear.  Let's make the exchange today!

And that's "Just A Thot" for today!  May your life continually reflect more of Jesus each day!