Thinking Like a Christian

pastor peteA series of Scripture meditations on what the Bible teaches about the Christian life.

by Pastor Pete Beck III

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Purity: God's Work, Our Responsibility

Because we have these promises, dear friends, let us cleanse ourselves from everything that can defile our body or spirit. And let us work toward complete holiness because we fear God. 2 Corinthians 7:1 (NLT) 

Jesus told us that the pure in heart are blessed because they will see God. God reveals himself to those whose hearts have been cleansed from various forms of defilement. Old Covenant Jews were greatly concerned with ceremonial purity which was maintained by abstaining from unclean foods and other things or people which had the power to defile. God showed Peter that the coming of the New Covenant did away with these old forms because Jesus completed what the Old Covenant foreshadowed and ushered in an entirely new way of relating to God and people. With the coming of Christ, the emphasis shifted to inward purity, leaving the old forms behind. Jesus announced this shift to his disciples.

"It is not what enters into the mouth that defiles the man, but what proceeds out of the mouth, this defiles the man." Matthew 15:11 (NASB)
 

The New Covenant is characterized by the inward work of God's Spirit in the life of every believer.

 

"But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days," declares the LORD, "I will put My law within them and on their heart I will write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. Jeremiah 31:33 (NASB)

 

The Old Covenant failed because people could not keep God's righteous standards (Heb.8:6-7); so, the New Covenant was put in place in order to reinstate believers to a right standing before God and to enable them to live holy lives through the enablement of the indwelling Holy Spirit.

 

Sin's power to rule us was nullified through the cross (Romans 6:14), and we have been given promises from God so that we are now able to live consecrated lives to His glory (2 Peter 1:4). This is where our responsibility begins. Our faith must connect with God's promises. Our desire to live a holy life must connect with the gift of repentance and the fear of the Lord. When all of this comes together, we are able to "cleanse ourselves" in cooperation with God's grace and Holy Spirit. This amazing cooperation and synergy between God and his people combines undeserved grace and mercy with personal responsibility. Who is adequate to explain or fully understand such things? But even though we cannot completely wrap our minds around the concept of laboring together with God's grace, we can nevertheless do it. When you move your fingers, do you fully understand the mechanics, chemistry and neuroscience involved in that amazing procedure? I do not, but it does not prevent me from maneuvering these amazing things called fingers to accomplish all sorts of tasks. Likewise, you do not have to work out the details of how God's free gift of grace and our responsibility to obey merge and weave together to accomplish God's will. Just do it.

 

See how great a love the Father has bestowed on us, that we would be called children of God; and such we are. For this reason the world does not know us, because it did not know Him. 2 Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we will be. We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is. 3 And everyone who has this hope fixed on Him purifies himself, just as He is pure. 1 John 3:1-3 (NASB)

 

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