“Practicing Good, Spiritual Hygiene”
Text: Luke 17:1-10
10-2-2022
May the words of my mouth, and the meditation of our hearts be pleasing in Your sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen. Over the past 2 ½ years we’ve been instructed (and lectured) by various medical “experts” about how to prevent the spread of a nasty virus. But it turns out that the best piece of advice that was disseminated is really nothing new. It’s one of the things that we’ve been told every cold and flu season in the past. It’s called good, personal hygiene. You know, the stuff your Mom used to (or still does) drill into your head. “It’s time to eat; go wash your hands. Keep your fingers out of your mouth! Cover your mouth when you cough or sneeze. Don’t put that penny in your mouth; it’s covered with germs!” And so on and so forth.
All those warnings and admonishments about hygiene are meant to teach us how to keep from getting the germs that can make us sick and also how to prevent from spreading those germs to others. It occurred to me that Jesus was giving us a similar warning in our Gospel Lesson for today. But He’s not talking about physical hygiene there. No, He’s talking about good, spiritual hygiene. He says in verse 1, "Temptations to sin are sure to come....” In other words, since we live in a sinful world, you can’t help but come into contact with sin. It’s a lot like germs. They’re everywhere. You can get weird and try to isolate yourself from them like Howard Hughes did but you’re only fooling yourself. You can’t possibly avoid every last germ because as I said, they’re everywhere. That’s reality. And Jesus states a reality about sin. He’s telling us to face the fact that there’s no way you can avoid sin in a sinful world. But even so, that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t be cautious about sin.
Since we’re guaranteed to be exposed to sin, Jesus tells us to practice good, spiritual hygiene. That way you can keep from being infected by the sins of others. But He also says, “Yes, sin is all around you, but you best make sure that you’re not the one spreading it to others.” How rotten would you feel if because you failed to wash your hands that you infected a baby who then died from a disease that you passed on to them? Or if you didn’t cover your mouth when you sneezed at the nursing home and a frail, elderly person died because of the germs you spread? Jesus says that there are people around us who are especially susceptible to the infection of sin. That’s who He’s referring to when He says “little ones.” He tells us to beware that we don’t thoughtlessly spread sin to these vulnerable souls or to any others for that matter! Because if we do, and they end up losing their faith as a result, well, it would be better to suffer the worst kind of death than be responsible for that.
You know, it’s easy to point a finger at the filthy, evil people who lure kids onto pornographic websites. And the vile people who actually abuse children, both physically and mentally. Those are some blatant examples of sinners infecting “little ones” with their sin. But it’s much harder to turn our gaze inward and ask, “Is there some way that I am spreading sin to others?” Let’s start with that unruly little monster called your tongue. The Bible tells us to keep filthy language as well as cursing and swearing from our mouths. Do we? Or do we “let it fly” regardless of who might hear it? Trust me, I know how hard it is to control this. But think about it. Do you or I want to face Jesus some day and try to explain why we infected someone else with our outburst of foul words?
The same is true about our attitudes. The children around you can definitely be infected by your negativity. Other adults can also be infected. And it very well may lead them into sin. This is especially true when it comes to your attitude about our gathering as the family of God. Do you have positive things to say about your church and our worship? Or do you infect people with complaints about how the service was too long, or the Pastor’s sermon was boring, or we sang hymns you didn’t like, or how this or that program isn’t being run right, or is your attitude towards worship attendance infecting people with the idea that it’s really no big deal whether you come to God’s House regularly to receive His gifts of grace?
What about our attitude about sin? Do you infect kids or other people with the idea that God isn’t serious about certain sins? We have a culture that’s saturated with an attitude towards sexuality that says, “If it feels good, do it!!” Do you speak honestly about how God tells us to have a healthy view towards sexual purity and honor for marriage between a man and a woman? Or do we spread the infection of sinful thoughts and attitudes towards God’s gift of sexuality? What about lying or coveting other people’s property or gossip? Do we infect others by engaging in these harmful, sinful practices?
And don’t think that Pastors are off the hook either. Since I’m human, I struggle just like you do with all these things that I’ve named. But in addition to all that, I have to be cautious that I never infect anyone with false doctrine. I am charged by God with the responsibility to guard you from being led astray by new-fangled teachings that are opposed to what God’s Word teaches. I’m not complaining, but God holds me to a stricter accountability for the words I speak as your Pastor because it can mean the difference between eternal life and death. Besides, I really don’t like the thought of being drowned with a millstone around my neck!
You know, it seems a shame that we have to put up signs in rest rooms that say, “Employees MUST wash their hands before returning to work.” In fact, in the rest room of one of the nursing homes I visit, there’s a poster with very detailed instructions (and pictures!) on how to wash your hands properly. It caught my attention so I wrote them down. I know, it’s kind of funny to visualize me standing there in the bathroom taking notes. What can I say? Here’s what it says: 1) Turn on water with paper towel. 2) Allow water to run from wrist to fingers. 3) Apply soap and rub hands together (20 seconds) to lather and cause friction. 4) Rinse by allowing water to run from wrist to fingers. 5) Dry hands with paper towel and dispose of. 6) Turn off water with a clean paper towel and dispose of it.
Sounds pretty efficient. Germs can’t survive that! But did you catch what’s missing? What do you do after you throw that last paper towel away? You take your clean, germ-free hands and you... reach down, grab the handle, and open the door. Oops. Your hands are now infected again. Did you know that door knobs are one of biggest culprits in spreading germs? We don’t even think about that source of spreading infections and yet we touch door knobs and handles all throughout the day no matter where we go.
My whole point is that without even realizing it, we encounter and spread germs. We don’t mean to, but we do. And that takes us right back to what Jesus said. You and I are surrounded by sin in this world. We should beware that we don’t knowingly spread the infection of sin through our words, actions, and attitudes. But since we live in a sinful world, it’s inevitable that we’ll spread the germ of sin without even knowing it. That’s why the apostles responded to Jesus’ warning by saying, “Increase our faith!” They saw how impossible it was to avoid the infection of sin in this world. They truly didn’t want to be responsible for spreading it. And so, they asked to have their faith strengthened in order to learn how not to be a sin-carrier.
The obvious question for us is, “How can we practice good, spiritual hygiene so that we don’t spread the infection of sin?” Jesus gave us the answer in verses 3-4. The answer is: forgiveness. We need to first be “disinfected” of our sins by God. And the way that happens is by going to the Lord and confessing them. That’s why the Confession and Absolution is such an important part of our church services. We humbly repent of all our sins. Both the ones we are aware of and even the ones we don’t remember. Then, through the voice of your Pastor, God washes you clean with the disinfectant of His forgiveness. But that cleansing is not just for Sunday mornings. Every day of your life you should be confessing your sins to God and asking Him for cleansing. Because God promises us in 1 John 1:9, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
When Jesus hung on the cross, He took on all the filth of your sins and mine. He took the damning effects of that infection of sin and He suffered the punishment of that soul-killing disease. Through His suffering and death, He made it possible for us to be cleansed from the infection of sin. It started with the cleansing waters of your Baptism. Your sins were washed away as the forgiveness of Jesus Christ was applied directly to you. Now, you don’t have to be a sin-carrier anymore. And the Holy Spirit created faith in your heart so that you could know where to turn for that cleansing forgiveness every day of your life.
Friends, we live in a world that’s absolutely sick with sin. And every day that you live, you are guaranteed to come into contact with it. You can’t avoid it. But that sin doesn’t have to infect you. Not if you are spiritually healthy. By the power of the Holy Spirit working through God’s Word, your faith will be strengthened so that you can resist the temptation of sin that’s all around you. Today, we have the privilege of receiving the Sacrament of Holy Communion which will strengthen our resistance to sin through the very body and blood of Christ. Think of all these means of grace as a spiritual vaccination for your soul.
In just a minute, we’ll sing, “Create in me a clean heart, Oh God...” We’re asking Him once again for His cleansing flood. Because then, with a clean heart, we can go out into our world and rather than spreading sin we can spread the cleansing Word of the Gospel. Souls are dying out there because of the infection of sin. But we have the cleansing good news that God has a cure to that terrible problem. It’s the good news of Jesus Christ and His death on the cross that removes from us all our sins. May God open our lips to share that forgiveness with our sin-sick world. Amen.
Soli Deo Gloria