Tag: unclean

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Acts Devotionals

What God has made clean

Children of God

What God has made clean, do not call impure. (Acts 10:15)

In this passage, Jesus is of course trying to change Peter’s view of Gentiles. Up until that time, the Gentiles were considered, “unclean,” and would remain so unless they converted to Judaism.

But Jesus told Peter, “You are not to view those I have made clean, even Gentiles, as impure.”

It strikes me though, that this is a message for a lot of Christians, not just in terms of how they view other Christians, but themselves. 

Often times, because of our own sins, we feel dirty, unworthy of God’s love. 

But if you have put your faith in Jesus, he has already made you clean. (John 15:3)

So let us not beat ourselves up when we see our own failures.

Rather, let us always remember, we have already been made clean by the blood of Jesus.

We have already been accepted.

And if we confess our sins, Jesus is more than glad to forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:9)

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Luke Devotionals

Though we were unclean

Luke

Throughout this passage, we see Jesus cleansing those who were “unclean.”

He of course cleansed the leper of his disease, but more importantly he also cleansed Peter, the paralytic, and Matthew of their sins.

It’s Peter that I want to talk about today. In verse 8, Peter cries out to Jesus,

Go away from me Lord, because I am a sinful man. (Luke 5:8)

I don’t know what sin Peter saw in his life, but what strikes me is what Peter didn’t see: the day when he would deny Jesus three times.

But Jesus knew. And yet he told Peter,

Don’t be afraid, from now on you will be catching people. (10)

Fast forward to after the resurrection in John 21. Now Peter saw his own failings even more clearly than he had in Luke 5.

And yet Jesus tells him, “Feed my lambs. Shepherd my sheep. Feed my sheep.”

I think part of what Jesus was telling Peter was, “Yes, you know your sin and your failures. You see your uncleanness. But by the blood I shed on the cross, I have now cleansed you.

“Now with the humility that comes from knowing not only your weakness, but the grace you have received, go and take care of my sheep who are also weak and in need of grace.”

As we grow as Christians, we like Peter will see our own weaknesses and failures more clearly than before. Sins that we weren’t aware of before, we become aware of.

But let us not grow discouraged. As he cleansed the leper with a touch, so he cleanses us.

And now he tells us, “Don’t be afraid. Join me in my work. Join me in touching people who are hurting because of their sin.”

So with humility, knowing our weaknesses and our sins, but also the grace that we have received, let us touch the non-Christians around us.

And let us touch the Christians who are also hurting because of their own weaknesses and failures.

Humility and gratitude should mark us as Christians. If they don’t, it’s a sign that that we haven’t fully grasped the grace we’ve received yet.

Honestly, I’m still not as humble and grateful as I should be.

So with the leper, I cry out, “Lord if you are willing, you can make me clean.”

How awesome it is that we have a Savior that says, “I am willing. Be made clean.”

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Leviticus Devotions

Made holy

Leviticus

Yes, it’s been a while since I blogged here. I’ve been working on a message for next Sunday. And I’ve been meditating a lot on Leviticus 18-19 and the laws there.

I won’t get into it here, but I think it’s instructive as you go through those passages to underline in different colors words like “unclean,” “perversion”, “abomination,” and “depravity.” (That’s the ESV version. The words may be slightly different in your translation).

Look at what are listed under those categories, and how the punishments are different for those categories.

There are a lot of arguments nowadays on how we as Christians should view these things and how consistent we are on those views.

The main thing that I will point out here is that there does seem to be a fundamental difference between what is listed as merely “unclean,” and what is listed as “perversion,” “abomination,” and “depravity.”

There is of course, overlap. What is perversion, abomination, and depravity all make you unclean. But it seems to me that not all that were unclean for the Jews, are “perversion,” “abomination,” and “depravity” in God’s sight.

Other words to look at are “iniquity,” “whoring,” “profane,” and “disgrace.”

But what strikes me is that time and again in chapters 20-22, God says, “I am Yahweh who sets you apart.”

Often times, he couples that with another thought: “Consecrate yourselves and be holy.”

Sometimes that is explicitly said, other times, it’s said in slightly different ways.

“Don’t profane…”

“Keep my instruction…”

“Keep my commands.”

In short, there are two things to note:

  1. We have already been set apart by God and for God. He has saved us and made us his own.
  2. As people that have been set apart, we are to live that way. We are not to go back to our old way of life, doing things our way, but doing things his.

But it’s that first point that drives the second, not the reverse.

We don’t live differently from the world so that God accepts us. Rather, we live differently because God has already chosen us.

We have tasted his love for us. We know that we he has adopted us as his children. And in response, out of our love for him, we live like his children.

Reversing that order leads to legalism and frustration.

Keeping that order leads to a life lived by grace.

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Leviticus Devotions

Pictures of sin

Leviticus

This is one of those passages that make a lot of people go, “Huh?”

To be honest, probably most of the Israelites themselves said, “Huh?” when they heard these commands.

Looking at these commands, they can seem so anal. Why would God command all that he did concerning “clean” and “unclean” things?

I think that essentially, God was teaching the Israelites to think as he did. Namely, that despite what the world thinks, there are things that are unclean and unclean.

There are things that we must despise as God’s holy people. And if touched by these things, we must be cleansed and atoned for.

And to drill that idea into their heads, God put the concept into their everyday lives. Into what they ate. Into normal bodily functions. And into skin diseases that could strike anyone. Into mold that could invade clothing or house walls.

All these were daily reminders to the Israelites: “You are different. You are not to think as others think. There are things you must despise, because if they touch you, they can make you unclean, and separate you from your God.”

And so God, for example, told the Israelites to avoid eating or even touching certain animals. He said, “They are to be abhorrent…to you. They are unclean…to you.” (Count or underline how many times this is said).

In short, God was saying, “To others, these things might not be abhorrent. To some, these things might be attractive. To some, these things might be delicious. But to you, they are to be abhorrent.”

In this world, there are sins that are attractive to the people around us. Extra-marital sex and porn for example. And when people see our reaction to these things, they can’t understand it. “Why are you disgusted by these things? They are so delicious!”

But they are things that make us unclean in the eyes of God. And they cut us off from a relationship with him. And because we love God so much, the things that are abhorrent to him, also become abhorrent to us. They become disgusting in our eyes. At least…they should.

And as God told the Israelites not to be contaminated and defiled by these foods, he tells us that as his people, we are not to be contaminated and defiled by the sins this world treats as normal, or even delightful.

Time and again, the words, “washing” and “atonement” are mentioned in this passage. (Try counting or underlining these words too). And this was just for contact with animals, for diseases, and bodily functions.

How much more are washing and atonement needed for our sin which truly makes us unclean before God?

Some contaminated things could be washed with no lasting effects. Others, however, were considered to be forever stained and were broken forever as a result. (Leviticus 11:31-35, 14:33-48).

Sin is the same way. Some effects of sin can cause temporary damage, but by God’s grace, those effects are taken away and forgotten.

Others sins, however, cause permanent damage that cannot be simply washed away. People’s bodies have been permanently damaged by drugs, for example. Marriages and families have been destroyed by adultery.

Other times, sin leaves scars, although the people themselves have been cleansed. (13:23, 13:28)

Ultimately, though, the point of these things is found in chapter 11:44-45.

Do not become contaminated…do not become unclean or defiled by [unclean things]. For I am the Lord your God, so you must consecrate yourselves and be holy because I am holy. Do not defile yourselves…

For I am the Lord, who brought you up from the land of Egypt to be your God, so you must be holy because I am holy.

Do you consecrate yourselves daily to the Lord? Or do you let yourself be defiled by what the world calls normal or even delightful?

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Leviticus Devotions

How we see sin

Leviticus

It strikes me here how God sees sin.

It is perverse. (Leviticus 20:12)

It is detestable. (13)

It is depraved. (14)

It is a disgrace. (17)

It is impure. (21)

Do we see sin, the same way God does? Or do we take it lightly?

This world laughs us off when we talk about sin. They call us narrow and bigoted.

But we can’t afford to see sin as this world does.

God said,

I am the LORD your God who set you apart from the peoples. Therefore you are to distinguish the clean…from the unclean… (25)

Yes, I know verse 25 is specifically talking about “clean” and “unclean” foods, and that Jesus has since proclaimed all foods clean. But the principle holds.

Because we are set apart from the world, we are to distinguish between clean and unclean, between what is good and what is evil in God’s sight.

So let us remember who we are and what kind of people we are called to be.

You are to be holy to me because I, the LORD, am holy, and I have set you apart from the nations to be mine. (26)

As God’s people, holy to him, let us have the same view of sin that he does.

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Acts

Breaking through the barriers

Acts

God had to break through some pretty great barriers to get the gospel to the Gentiles. Ironically, one primary barrier that he had to break through was one he had pounded into the Jews’ minds, the idea of clean and unclean.

If you look at the book of Leviticus, this is an idea that is repeated time and again. “Don’t do this. It’ll make you unclean. But if you do this, you’ll become clean again.”

Or, “Don’t eat this. It’s unclean. But this other food is okay. It is clean to you.”

What was the whole purpose of these laws? It was to imprint in the minds of the Jews the need to be holy as God is holy.

The problem was, the Christians failed to recognize that these (and other such Mosaic laws) were mere pictures of their relationship with God, and that with the coming of Jesus, these pictures were fulfilled.

And so throughout the early church, you see this battle between those who contended that these ritualistic laws (as opposed to moral laws) were no longer relevant, and those who contended that they were.

At this point, Peter and the rest of the Jews were squarely in the realm of the latter.

But with one fell swoop, God knocked it all down. He gave Peter a vision in which he presented a number of “unclean” animals, and told Peter to kill and eat them.

Peter was appalled. Perhaps he thought God was simply testing his faithfulness. So he said,

Surely not, Lord! I have never eaten anything impure or unclean. (Acts 10:14)

But God’s rebuke was sharp.

Do not call anything impure that God has made clean. (Acts 10:15)

And to make the point crystal clear, he repeated the vision two more times.

At that point, Cornelius’ men came, and God told him,

Simon, three men are looking for you. So get up and go downstairs. Do not hesitate to go with them, for I have sent them. (Acts 10:19-20)

Prior to the vision, there is no way Peter would have gone to them. To enter the house of a Gentile and fellowship with him would have made Peter, “unclean.” But with the vision still fresh in his mind, he went.

And when Peter heard the story of Cornelius, and saw the Spirit fall upon Cornelius, his family, and his friends, the church was changed forever.

So what do we get from this? I think the main thing is what Peter told Cornelius.

God has shown me that I should not call any man impure or unclean. (Acts 10:28)

Nowadays, we don’t have the problem of whether to follow Jewish laws and rituals or not. But how do we look upon the people around us?

Do we see certain people as beneath us? As unworthy of salvation? Do we loathe to even hang around them because of their race or social status?

Or perhaps we think they’re beyond salvation because of how badly they’ve treated us or how badly they’ve hurt us.

Jesus died for us all, including them. And we have no right to call them “impure” or “unclean.”

Yes, like Cornelius, they are stained with sin. But Jesus can take anyone and make them clean. And like Peter, we may just be surprised that the same Spirit that fills us can fill them if we will only take the gospel to them.

What barriers of prejudice or bitterness have you set in your minds against the people around you?

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Mark Mark 7 Matthew Matthew 15

What is truly unclean

The gospels

I think a lot of times, when people look at the laws of Moses, they wonder about why the Jews had all these laws about what is clean and unclean.

For the most part, from a practical standpoint, they seemed to be for health and sanitary reasons.

But I think there was something beyond that which God wanted to make clear to the people: There are things that make you unclean.

And by fixing this idea of clean and unclean in their minds from the physical aspect, he was drawing a picture for them of what it meant to be clean and unclean from a spiritual aspect.

He was impressing the idea to them that they needed to be a people that were completely pure. Not just in body, but in spirit.

Unfortunately, the Jews put so much focus on the physical aspect of the law, that they missed the true point God was trying to get across to them.

And so when Jesus told the people that what goes into the mouth doesn’t make people unclean, it’s what comes out of the mouth that does, his disciples got confused.

All their lives, they had been told, “Don’t eat this. Don’t eat that. If you do, you’ll become unclean.”

And so basically they asked Jesus, “What do you mean? We always thought that certain foods would make us unclean.”

Jesus responded,

Are you so dull? Don’t you see that nothing that enters a man from the outside can make him ‘unclean’? For it doesn’t go into his heart but into his stomach, and then out of his body…

What comes out of a man is what makes him ‘unclean.’ For from within, out of men’s hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly.

All these evils come from inside and make a man ‘unclean.’ (Mark 7:18-23)

I think this passage is fairly self-explanatory, and doesn’t need any further commentary as to what Jesus meant.

The question then becomes, how about you? What is in your heart? Is it love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, and self-control? Then these things will flow out of your mouth and out of your life.

But if it’s evil thoughts, sexual immorality, and all the rest, those things too will flow out of your mouth and your life. These are the things that make you pure or impure.

As you examine your life today, what’s coming out of your mouth? What’s coming out of your life?

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Luke Luke 8 Mark Mark 5 Matthew Matthew 9

The God who cleanses and raises the dead

The gospels

When you look throughout the Old Testament, particularly the law of Moses, you see the concept of “clean” and “unclean” a lot.

This referred to things that the Jews were to avoid and things they were allowed to come into contact with.

Women having their period were considered, “unclean,” as were dead bodies. And if you touched them, you yourself became “unclean.”

I’ve mentioned this before, but the remarkable thing about Jesus was that when he touched the “unclean,” he didn’t become unclean himself, rather he cleansed.

We see this in these two stories.

First, we see this woman who had suffered from a discharge of blood for 12 years.

It’s possible that this was a menstrual problem of some sort. But because of it, she was considered unclean all the time, not just once a month. And though she went to many doctors and tried many remedies, none worked.

So in her desperation, she reached out to touch Jesus’ garment, thinking that if she could only do so, she would be healed.

Why didn’t she ask Jesus directly? Perhaps she was ashamed of her condition. Perhaps she thought Jesus would reject her because of her unclean state.

But after her healing, Jesus immediately asked, “Who touched me?” And he would not let it go until she spoke up.

Why did he do this? I think there were a couple of reasons.

First, he wanted her to know for sure in her heart that she was healed. That this condition would not return.

Second, perhaps it was for the sake of the people who knew her that they could also be sure that she had been cleansed, because for 12 years, she had probably been ostracized by society because of her condition.

After this, he went to the house of a synagogue leader named Jairus, who had asked him to heal his daughter. But after he had healed the woman, messengers came to say it was too late for Jairus’ daughter. She was dead.

But Jesus told Jairus to not give up, but believe. And as he went up to the dead girl’s bed, he said with great tenderness, “Little girl, get up.”

And immediately she got up.

What can we get from this?

All of us are made unclean by our sin. Maybe we feel stained beyond cleansing. We feel it’s too late for God’s forgiveness to come.

Or maybe because of our sin, we feel that our hope is dead. Our marriage is falling apart. Our finances are a mess. Or we feel that we have no future.

But the God who cleansed the woman and raised the little girl to life is the same God who can cleanse us from our sin and give us new life. And he can do it with one word, one touch.

All we need to do is ask in faith, putting our trust in him and Christ’s work on the cross, and he will do it.

So as Paul prayed, so I pray for you now.

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. (Romans 15:13)