19 Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are his. And, let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity.
20 But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and of silver, but also of wood and of earth; and some to honour, and some to dishonour.
21 If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honour, sanctified, and meet for the master’s use, and prepared unto every good work.
22 Flee also youthful lusts: but follow righteousness, faith, charity, peace, with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart.
Introduction
God is no respecter of persons, but he is most certainly a respecter of character. You don’t have to read the Bible very long until you realize that that’s true. God oftentimes used kings, doctors, and lawyers in his service, but he also used fisherman, tax collectors, and farmers. Sometimes he used Gentiles, and sometimes he used Jews. Sometimes he used women, sometimes he used men, and sometimes he used little children.
It really doesn’t seem to matter to God who they are. He is more concerned about what they are. He is not a respecter of persons. He is a respecter of character.
Our text today points that out very vividly. In the book of 2 Timothy 2:19, Paul admonishes Christian people that everyone that nameth the name of Christ departs from iniquity. From that general admonition, he gives us a very practical illustration to indicate the fact that it is only as we cleanse our lives of sin and depart from iniquity that we can be useful in God’s service.
Look at what he says in verse 20: “In a great house there are not only vessels of gold and of silver, but also of wood and of earth; and some to honour and some to dishonour.” The “great house” that he refers to is a mansion or a large estate. In a rich man’s house, there will be many different kinds of dishes. The word honor would better be translated, “reserved for special occasions versus those reserved for ordinary use.”
You could understand how that would happen. In a large house, they would have one set of dishes that they would eat out of every day. But then if they were going to have guests in their home for Sunday dinner, they would probably get out their fine china, crystal, and silver, and they would set the table with those special dishes that were used for special occasions.
In the kind of home I grew up in, we had only one set of dishes. We ate out of the same plates and we drank out of the same glasses on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. It didn’t make any difference. If you had come to our house for Sunday dinner, you would have eaten out of the same plates that we ate out of on Monday. We didn’t have two sets. We didn’t have china. We didn’t have crystal. We didn’t have silver. In poor homes, it was and sometimes still is that way. But in a great house, it would be altogether different.
From that Paul says, “If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honour, sanctified [set apart], and meet [fit] for the master’s use and prepared unto every good work.” Purging prepares us for the purpose of usefulness.
The writer is comparing us to a vessel. It is not an unusual analogy for the Bible to compare us to containers—vessels of God. For example, when the apostle Paul was converted, the Lord spoke to Ananias and said, “I want you to go and minister to him for he is a chosen vessel. He is a chosen container of mine.” Peter wrote to men in his epistle that they were to give honor unto their wives as weaker vessels. He was making reference to the physical when he said they are weaker vessels. Women are not weaker than men intellectually. Women are not weaker than men emotionally. They are not weaker than men spiritually, but they are weaker than men physically. And he said, “You give honor unto your wife as unto the weaker vessel.” The word vessel again refers to a person.
Then he said in the book of 2 Corinthians 4:7 as he talked about his great responsibility to preach the Gospel around the world, “We have this treasure [the word of God] in earthen vessels.” This means that the word of God, the Spirit of God and the responsibility that God has placed on us is dwelling in a container that is made out of earth. We are just clay pots containing the Spirit of God and the word of God. We are his vessels to be used in his service.
That statement is literally and scientifically true. We are earthen vessels. Do you remember the story of the little boy who was attending his first funeral when he heard the preacher say, “From dust thou art taken and unto dust thou shalt return”? That statement lodged in his mind. He did not understand it, so when he got home he asked his mother to explain. His mother did not have much time to explain, so she passed it off by saying that it simply means that we all came from dust and we are going to return to dust. For a while, that satisfied the boy. He went into his bedroom and started to play with a ball that soon rolled under his bed. When he crawled under his bed to go get it, he saw dust everywhere. He scampered out from under the bed, rushed to his mother and said, “Mother, come quickly! There is somebody under our bed and I don’t know whether he is coming or going!”
Well, we are literally dust. We are clay, and we hold the treasure of God in earthen vessels. Paul is talking about us as he mentions the fact that in a big house there are all kinds of vessels. Here is what he says: “If a man therefore purge himself, or cleanse himself from sin, he shall be a vessel of honor, a very special kind of container—a very special kind of dish that is set apart and fit for the Master’s use.” He is saying that there is the possibility and potential in every one of us to be like that fine china. We can be like that silverware that is fit to be set before the master of the house for Sunday dinner. There is the possibility that we can achieve the highest service in the Master’s kingdom if we purge ourselves.
What he is saying here is that the most important thing regarding usefulness in the kingdom of God is that you be clean. Do you know that God can use clay pots? We had a marvelous deacons’ retreat this past weekend. At the close of it, one of our men came to me and said, “Preacher, I’m just a country boy, but if there’s anything I can do, I want to do it.” God doesn’t care whether you are a country boy or a city boy. He doesn’t care whether you are a high school dropout or a PhD. He doesn’t care whether you live in the big house on the hill, or whether you live across the tracks. What God cares about is that your Iife be clean. God can use a clay pot just as easily as he can use the finest china and the most expensive crystal, if it is clean and made available to him.
Not only can God use clay pots, but thank God he can use broken pots. Aren’t you glad for that? One of our men gave his testimony and he said, “I was an alcoholic. My life was ruined. My family was falling apart and God by his grace put it back together again.” That broken and shattered life and family, God put back together. God is using that mended pot in a marvelous, glorious way. God can use clay pots and God can use broken pots, but God will not use dirty pots. If you want to achieve your highest usefulness in the kingdom of God, you must be clean.
Realistically now, what is the most important thing about a dish that is put before you? Is it whether the dish is black or white? Do you care about the color that much? Is it whether the dish is short and squatty or tall and thin? Does the shape of it really matter? Do you care what it is made out of? It could be a paper plate or a plastic plate. It could be pottery, china, or a silver dish. Is that what really matters? No, ultimately and finally, the thing that matters most to you and me about a dish that is put before us is not its color, or its shape, or what it is made out of, but that it be clean. I’d much rather eat out of a paper plate with a plastic fork that is clean, than fine china and a silver fork with dried egg on it. That is exactly what the apostle Paul was saying. If you want to be fit as a vessel to be set in front of the Master at his table so he can use you in his service, the one thing that is most important is not your color. It is not your pedigree. It is not your education. It is not how much you cost. The one thing he looks at is if the dish is clean so that he can use it.
How much investigation can your life stand? If the Master started looking around in this church for dishes to use, would he (because of the life you live and the thoughts you think and the words you speak) say, “There is a clean mind, a clean heart, and a clean life, and I can use it”? If you want your life to be used, it must be clean. Otherwise you will be set on the shelf, for God will not use a dirty dish. He says then that we need to purge, which means to cleanse ourselves.
How do we do that? There are several ways set out in the Bible by which we may purge ourselves. We may cleanse ourselves so that we will be fit for the Master’s use. Let me share three ways of cleansing and purging with you.
First of all, we can be purged by the blood of Christ and cleansed by his death upon the cross. Second, we can be purged also by the word of God. It has cleansing and purging power in it. Third, the Bible suggests that we can be purged by the discipline that we impose upon one another. That becomes an instrument that can help us to clean up our act so that we can become useful servants in the kingdom of God.
1. Purged by the blood of Christ
Hebrews 1:1-3 is a beautiful portrait of Christ, of who he is and of what he did: “God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son.” Then we are told who his Son is: “Whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds; Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power.” That’s who he is. Then he tells us what he did: “When he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high.”
Jesus Christ is the one who sustains the heavens and the earth. Now having told us about the one who is the heir of all things that shall continue throughout eternity, the one who created the heavens and the earth, the one who gives us a perfect image of God, the one who holds the heaven and the earth together—the writer of the book of Hebrews then tells us that he, by himself purged us of our sins and then sat down at the right hand of the Father in heaven. Jesus Christ, the sinless son of God, came to this earth and died on Calvary’s cross. The reason for his death was that our sins might be forgiven, that our wrongs may be taken away, that we for the first time might be clean, and that we might be right with God.
If you study that passage carefully, you will discover that by the one definite act of Jesus Christ dying on the cross, he did everything necessary to wash away our sins so we could be clean and fit for God to use.
I love that phrase where it says that when he had finished, he sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high (that phrase “sat down” suggests completed action). A little while ago, Dennis read the scripture, and when he was finished, he sat down. The men came to take the collection, and when they were finished, they sat down. The choir stood to sing and when they were done, they sat down. When a person sits down, it suggests that their job is completed—the work has been done. Jesus Christ died on the cross for our sins and when he was through, he sat down. The work was finished. Redemption was completed, we were saved, and our sins were washed away. That’s a marvelous truth.
If you want your sins forgiven, if you want to be clean, if you want to be useful in the service of God, you must come to Jesus Christ who has already died for your sins. Put your faith and trust in him, as he is the only one who can wash away your sins
In Shakespeare’s play MacBeth, MacBeth comes to the court physician on behalf of Lady McBeth, whose heart has been pierced by the dagger of guilt over past sins. He says to the court physician, “Cure her of that. Her guilt, her misery, her despair, and her wretchedness. Cure her of that. Surely you can wipe that out of her memory. Surely you can erase the trouble that is written in her brain.” And the court physician replied, “The disease is beyond my practice.”
I am telling you that the disease of sin is beyond the practice of any man. You may go to your physician, counselor, or psychiatrist for all kinds of analysis, tranquilizers, and all kinds of ways of escaping, but there is no way they can take away your sin and cleanse you of the wrong that you have done. That disease is beyond their practice. Jesus Christ is the only one who can take away your sins. Until you come to him, you bear the burden and the responsibility of them.
We sing, “What can wash away my sin?” Listen, he came to purge us of our sins, and to wash our sins away so that we could be right with God. And if we will trust and believe in him we can have that wonderful experience. There is a purging that comes by the blood of Christ.
2. Purged by the word
Second, there is a purging that comes from the word of God. Listen to Jesus in John 15:1-3, “l am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman. Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit. Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you.”
Jesus uses another very common analogy—the analogy of a great vineyard. Jesus said, “I am the vine.” The vine sinks its roots down deep into the soil and draws nourishment, strength, and life. You are the branches attached to the vine, and branches get their life and substance by remaining attached to the vine.
The purpose of the vine and the branches is to produce fruit. God says he is the husbandman. He is the one who tends to the vines. It is his purpose and intent to see that those branches produce fruit. Remember, we are the branches. Remember, he expects us to produce fruit. There is no place for inactive and unproductive lives in the church and in the kingdom of God. He expects you to produce fruit. He expects you to be growing in Christlikeness. He expects your life to be clean.
He says if a branch is producing fruit, then the Father purgeth it. That is the same word I’ve been using. He purgeth it so that it will bring forth more fruit. That word purge literally means to prune. I do not know much about the growing of grapes, but I am told that the vines must be periodically pruned. They must be cut back so that you can get the highest productivity out of those vines. Jesus is saying that God must occasionally prune our lives so that we will yield the greatest spiritual fruit.
What is the knife that he uses in pruning? In the last part of that verse, Jesus says, “Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you.” The word of God is the knife that he uses for pruning. You know what the writer of the book of Hebrews says? “The word of God is quick and powerful and sharper than a two-edged sword. It pierces deep into a person’s heart, into their innermost being. It reveals their thoughts and intentions.” Somebody said to me just a little while ago that the word of God is God’s instrument for performing open soul surgery. He wants to get down deep inside of us and reveal to us who we really are so that we can remove those things that don’t need to be there. He uses his word as a surgeon’s scalpel to cut deep into our soul and reveal what we really are. That is oftentimes a painful process. Surgery on a person is very painful. I can imagine that if a grapevine could speak, it would say that pruning is painful also.
You can imagine that when the husbandman went out there with his knife and began to whack off this branch and that branch, if that vine could speak, it would say, “Ouch, that hurts.” But it is necessary for fruitfulness. God must sometimes prune our lives through his word to make us fruitful and useable.
You know there are a lot of folks who don’t get holy until they get into a hole. God sometimes has to kick the props out from under us before we realize that underneath are the everlasting arms. It takes the painful process of pruning to make us fruitful and useable in his service.
One of our men shared with me some time ago about a financial disaster in his life. He explained that before that time, he was the most carnal Christian there was. He only remembered praying three times. When he got married, he prayed, “God bless my marriage.” When his first child was to be born, he prayed, “God help my child to be healthy.” When he wanted to go into business for himself, he prayed, “God help me to get this business.” He didn’t want God to help him run it—he could do that by himself. He just wanted God to help him get it. God helped him to get his business, and the man said he made one glorious mess out of it. Out of that painful experience he began to grow and to be fruitful in the spiritual realm. God cleanses us by the blood. He cleanses us with his word, and there is a third way he does it.
3. Purged by discipline
The final way he cleanses us is through the discipline of brothers and sisters in Christ. Listen to what he says in 1 Corinthians 5:7: “Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us.”
He is talking to a church that has become careless and negligent about its membership. People were living in open immorality in that church, and they weren’t ashamed of it—they were bragging about it. Paul says, “Listen, clean up your membership and your fellowship, lest the sin like yeast in a lump of dough spreads until the whole lump is corrupt.” He is talking about the purging and the cleansing of discipline. We need to do that to one another. We need to check on one another. We need to question one another about how we are living and what we are doing.
In his book Life’s Sentence, Chuck Colson says this: “We humans obviously have a problem of maintaining a steady level of spiritual fidelity. One solution is the continual checking and encouragement of a Christian friend.” He came to that conclusion when he was going to his first television interview concerning his book Born Again. He began to realize how arrogant he could become, so he went to a Christian friend and said, “I want you to check on me. Listen to what I have to say. I want you to criticize me and help keep me on track.” I’m here to say that as a Christian, you too are going to have trouble maintaining a steady spiritual life. You need the checking and the encouragement of a brother or sister in Christ. Why don’t you find somebody and say to that person, “I want you to help me stay on track for Christ. When I get off base, feel free to call my attention to it. And when you get off base I’ll call your attention to it. Together we’ll help keep each other on track for Christ.”
That’s one way we can keep our lives clean. That’s one way we can purge ourselves. If we will go to the blood of Christ, to the word of God, and to the discipline of a Christian fellowship, then our lives can stay clean. If they stay clean, God can use them.
God said to Jerusalem in the book of 2 Kings 21:13, “I will wipe Jerusalem as a man wipeth a dish, wiping it, and turning it upside down.” God was saying to his people, “If you don’t clean up your life, I’m going into the dishwashing business, and I am going to wipe you clean.”
Let me tell you, you don’t want God to wipe you clean. When he does it, he does it right. You sparkle when he gets through. Instead, if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us of all unrighteousness. Come to him—either for the first time, or in a new commitment—and let him cleanse you so you will be fit for the highest service on this earth: service at the Master’s table.