Justin Holcomb, The Problem with Purity

I don’t enjoy it when people talk about “purity.” When they say “purity” I think of my own impurity and my failure to be pure. I don’t really need someone else pointing out my lack of purity because I’m already aware of it. I live with myself, so I know all the secrets others don’t know and think all the thoughts others never hear. When I hear someone talking about purity it just picks at the wound that I’ve already picked open.

Perhaps you feel the same way. If you do, that doesn’t change the fact that most of us construct strategies to deal with feeling like this—to cover, disguise, hide, deny, or distract ourselves and others from our impurity.  Our strategies make sense. I don’t want others knowing where I’m a pitiful failure, so I find ways to come off as “living the success Christian life,” or as “making progress in my spiritual journey,” or “growing in holiness” or whatever we call it.

But I think Jesus offers an alternative. Last week the priest at my church end his sermon by saying this line: “God sees you as perfect.” The reason he could say that is because Jesus transforms impurity into perfection. Ofcourse, the question remains—How can God see me a perfect when I’m not really perfect?

God sees us as perfect because Jesus did two things: he took our impurity and gave us his purity. In his death, Jesus took on the consequences of our impurities and sins. In his life, Jesus lived the pure life that we could not live. Jesus did for us the good we could not do…and then he attributed it to us. That is the hymn “Rock of Ages” says Jesus is our double-cure—he saves us from wrath and makes us pure.

Many of us don’t believe in this grace and are tortured by feelings of worthlessness, self-doubt and inadequacy…that we are not good enough for God…that somehow by trying harder we really can make God love us more. We need to remember this extravagance—that we are forgiven for our sin…loved in our weakness…saved by his mercy…destined for fellowship with God.

If we don’t believe this extravagant good news our identities can get all messed-up—we don’t know who we are and what we are. If you’ve seen Fight Club you’ll remember my favorite scene of Tyler Durden’s powerful diatribe against the false identities we assume: “You're not how much money you've got in the bank.  You're not your job. You’re not the contents of your wallet. You're not your family. You're not your problems. You are not your hopes. You’re not your khakis.”

Picking up on our false identities (and in the spirit of Tyler Durden), I want to add some more: You are not your impurity. You are not your STD. You are not a cheater. You are not your binge-eating. You are not your addiction to porn. You are not your pattern of screwed-up relationships with lovers, parents, friends, or your children. You are not whatever your abuse father called you. You are not a slut. You are God’s child who God sees as pure and perfect because of what Jesus has done. God doesn’t see you how you are. God sees you how Jesus was, perfect. That’s the beauty of having Jesus as your substitute.

[Editor's Note: This is excerpted from a sermon Justin delivered at Christ Episcopal Church on September 18, 2005.  If you would like to read the entire sermon, you may download it as a Word document (Download john_2_water_to_wine_sermon.doc ).]

Comments

[TulipGirl]

"You are not your impurity. You are not your STD. You are not a cheater. You are not your binge-eating. You are not your addiction to porn. You are not your pattern of screwed-up relationships with lovers, parents, friends, or your children. You are not whatever your abuse father called you. You are not a slut. You are God’s child who God sees as pure and perfect because of what Jesus has done."

This I can believe.

What I struggle with is when the patterns of sin are persevering. When the "now and not yet" of sanctification is very much in the "not yet" stage. When our sin hurts not simply ourselves, but those we are closest to, those we love. When these sins that so easily beset us seem constant and harmful. And my question becomes "How can a good God allow His children to continue in sin that hurts so many people?"

[Mark Lafler]

Thank you for the encouraging message, Justin. This is a needed message for people in and out of the church. We tend to blame other people for our problems or hopelessly blame ourselves. We need to walk and believe in God's given grace.