3 “You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you.”
In our verse for today Jesus tells His guys – save Judas - they were clean, pure, clear, unsoiled and unalloyed from the pollution of guilt and sin – no doubt imperfectly and partially – yet cleansed nonetheless. Certainly Jesus used this term in a comparative sense as they were most definitely clean against the likes of the unbelieving Scribes and Pharisees of that day. This cleansing was achieved through their receiving of the eternal expression of the divine intelligence coupled with the disclosure of the divine essence. Simply put, our Lord’s Word was the chosen instrument used in cleansing His disciples – this holds true for modern day believers as well. There is cleansing virtue in the Word of Christ as fire cleanses the dross from the gold. King David states of God’s Word the following Truth:
7 The law of the LORD is perfect, reviving the soul. The statutes of the LORD are trustworthy, making wise the simple. 8 The precepts of the LORD are right, giving joy to the heart. The commands of the LORD are radiant, giving light to the eyes. 9 The fear of the LORD is pure, enduring forever. The ordinances of the LORD are sure and altogether righteous. 10 They are more precious than gold, than much pure gold; they are sweeter than honey, than honey from the comb. 11 By them is your servant warned; in keeping them there is great reward. Psalms 19:7-11 (NIV)
Indeed, in His high Priestly prayer Jesus states that the Word is the means used to sanctify us – to make us holy as belonging to God:
17 “Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth.” John 17:17 (NIV)
“We are not only to renounce evil, but to manifest the truth.” Hudson Taylor
As the message about sweet Jesus is heard and understood and believed, hearts and minds continue to become captured just as they did in the past. This change in the heart and thinking of the hearer will most certainly result in change in actions as we always live what we believe. We honor God in our living as our behavior becomes more and more conformed to the image of Christ. We are set apart to do God’s will not Satan’s.
“Grace can make a few feeble instruments the means of accomplishing great things – things greater even than we can conceive.” Hudson Taylor
Paul speaks to this cleansing power of the Word in Ephesians – I particularly enjoy the fact that Christ presents us without “wrinkle”!
25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her 26 to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, 27 and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. Eph 5:25-27 (NIV)
The “Word” refers to the “preached Word” of God which unbelievers are presented thus opening the way for their salvation. It is God’s chosen grand and glorious means of converting and sanctifying souls. Paul tells us in Romans:
14 How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? 15 And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written, "How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!" Romans 10:14-15 (NIV)
17 Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ. Romans 10:17 (NIV)
“The Spirit of Christ is the spirit of missions, and the nearer we get to Him the more intensely missionary we must become.” Henry Martyn
Indeed, Paul later tells us that God has committed to all believers the very high calling of the ministery of reconciliation. God has amazingly chosen to use cracked clay vessels to make His treasured appeal through. As God’s ambassadors we are given an undeserved message and an undeserved mission and an undeserved method in carrying the Good News out to a lost, hurting and needy world – just as the original disciples were. What an enormous privilege believers are called to yet how few of us realize this! We would do well to remember that the only two things eternal on this earth are the souls of men and the Word of God. This should certainly serve as a catalyst in getting our priorities straight! We discover our calling to the ministry of reconciliation in 2 Corinthians as Paul writes:
17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! 18 All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: 19 that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men's sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. 20 We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ's behalf: Be reconciled to God. 21 God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. 2 Cor 5:17-21 (NIV)
“And we do well to remember that this gracious God, who has condescended to place His almighty power at the command of believing prayer looks not lightly on the blood guiltiness of those who neglect to avail themselves of it for the benefit of the perishing...” Hudson Taylor
“Being a ‘missionary’ (one who is sent) is not a matter of crossing the sea, but of seeing the cross. Hudson Taylor