Extreme Makeover: Spiritual Edition

Leviticus 14:33-45

 Let me warn you -  this word isn’t for everybody. At least not right now. Because, truth be told - everybody doesn’t want to be used. Some of us still just want to have a program. We want to feel good, eat a cookie and go home. But because some of you have earnestly and fervently prayed - God has a word for you.

If you have acknowledged your gifts, and really want to be used by God, know that in order to be used, you’ve got to meet His specifications. God doesn’t used rigged up stuff.  He wants His tools in perfect condition. But don’t worry - if it’s a little shaky Jesus will fix it for you.

But it might be an Extreme Makeover: Spiritual Edition.

I do watch the home makeover show when I get a chance. At the beginning of the show,  they have received a request from a family to renovate their home. Certain situations have caused them to need assistance in making their home more livable. There are often circumstances that have caused the needs of the family to change. There’s a problem with the house and the family can’t fix it alone. It might be too small; it might have a crumbling foundation; there might be plumbing problems, structural damage, accessibility issues. Whatever the case, the experts are called in to check it out.

The same is true in our text. God is giving instruction to the priests - His experts - regarding the homes that they will possess. He tells them, when I put a mark of leprosy on a house - you need to have it checked. See, God will always show us when we have problems. He’ll make it plain. But we have to be willing to see it. And sometimes in order to determine the actual problem, we need to call in an expert to check it out. Verse 35 says - so the one who owns the house shall come and tell the priest, saying, 'something like a mark of leprosy has become visible to me in the house.'

Now, right here - before we even get going on the renovation, we have an obstacle for many of us. Many of us won’t admit there’s anything wrong. We see that spot as much as anybody else, but we continue on as if its not there. Pretty soon we get so used to it, we don’t even see it anymore. It becomes a part of the decor. But still even fewer of us go to the priest - saying "Pastor, I got this problem I need you to look at."  We’re too busy trying to convince the pastor that we’ve got it all together. It amazes me how often the pastor is the last person in the church to know about stuff. Everybody in the church knew that Bro. Steward was beatin’ his wife, Sis. Choir member, but nobody said anything to the one God had given authority over the situation. All the youth knew that there was no sleepin’ goin’ on at the sleep over - but nobody mentioned it to the pastor. See, folks - the word of God says that all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. That includes preachers. We operate under the same need for cleansing and forgiveness as you do. It’s just that our job description calls for us to intervene in the spiritual life of the church. Too often, members don’t want the pastor in their business - and too often, pastors don’t want to go there.

But even if you don’t want to take it to the pastor, you better learn to take it to Jesus. You need to go to the priest. The high priest. David said it this way - "search me O Lord and try me. See if there be any evil way in me." The first thing to do is to ask Jesus to look you over. Our problem is that we want to make that decision on our own. We decide if something is rotten or not. We see what everybody else is doing. We hear that society approves of it. It’s on TV. It’s in the movies. The law of the land even gives its ok. But what does the Lord say about it? That’s what you need to know. That’s how you determine if you have an issue of uncleanliness - you ask God.

Our lesson text tells us that the priest will make an initial inspection. It could be just a little dust that can be brushed away. Something said in the heat of the moment. A spontaneous reaction. We may just need a little time and it will straighten itself out.

I was tired and frustrated and went off on the kids. I can see the smudge. But if I go to them and apologize, let them know mommy had a rough day at work and I shouldn’t have taken it out on them - they’ll forgive me, we’ll be cool and that’s that. I got mad because they didn’t elect me president of the auxiliary. I’m qualified. I’m dedicated. And so I pout and take little snipes at the new officers. I stop attending the meetings. I don’t pay my budget. And that’s a nasty pile of dirt accumulating. But my spirit speaks to me - you know better than that – my eyes are opened. And I realize that I need to stop acting like this. I go to the president and ask if there’s anything I can help with. I catch up on my dues. I sincerely pray God’s blessings on the organization. Lots of little blemishes appear from time to time, but if we handle them quickly and correctly - they can be removed as if they never were. All is well. Your gifts can flourish and God can work through you.

But if time passes and nothing changes, if things seem to be spreading, then the priest requires that the house be cleaned. Scrubbed. Disinfected. These spots that are embedded in the walls and require more than just a surface cleansing. They’re not just superficial. It’s deep down in the wall. It needs to be cut out and replaced. It’s starting to ruin the material around it. Verse 41 describes the priest’s action "he shall have the house scraped all around inside, and they shall dump the plaster that they scrape off at an unclean place outside the city.  Then they shall take other stones and replace those stones, and he shall take other plaster and replaster the house." See sometimes, our stuff gets really messed up. The dirt goes down deep. When we don’t clean like we should, mold and mildew can develop and spread. It becomes ingrained. Not just on top, but all the way through. So the clean has to be agressive and absolute. The plaster, the wood in the leprous house was torn out and replaced. Before we can effectively be used by God - we’ve got to renovate. There are some things that we must cut out of our lives. And we must replace them with new things. You're 60 years old and still shackin’. You need to either make it legit or quit. Cut it out. On Sunday morning, you serve on the usher board, you teach bible study, but on Friday night, you’re high as a kite. Cut it out. You’ve been called to preach and teach, but you’d just as soon lie to me as look at me. Cut it out. You trust in the Lord with all your heart - you just don’t trust him with all your money. Cut it out.

The only way to adequately repair these damaged walls is to replace what has been removed with new material. The word of God says we are transformed by the renewing of our minds. When we allow God to cut out and scrub away the sin and filth from our lives, we can’t neglect to replace it with the things of God. His word, our worship, and our works. We’ve got to fill the void. Then we can operate in our gifts and we can be used by God – greatly --

Unless the spot returns. The cancer comes back.

We are a cancerous people. We are infected and we refuse treatment. We try to clean up our acts . We can look good. We can even smell clean. We dress up and decorate and even fool ourselves. But the surface can look good, while the foundation is rotting away.

You’ve prayed and cried and fasted and committed yourself to the Lord - you’ve seen progress. You know that you pulled that stuff up by the root. You believe it’s all gone. But sure enough, not right away, but by and by, it starts to creep back in – those thoughts, those fears, that attitude, that relationship. And you realize that even though the root was removed and cast away, the environment hasn’t changed. The atmosphere - the conditions that allowed the cancer to be produced in the first place have not gone away.

The carcinogens - catalysts for cancer – are still present. You realize that no matter how you clean and scrub and deordorize and disinfect - the house cannot be cleaned. So, the house has to be destroyed. Verse 44 reads, then the priest shall come in and make an inspection. If he sees that the mark has indeed spread in the house, it is a malignant mark in the house, it is unclean.

Beloved, we must understand that many of our faults and failures are mere symptoms of the disease. We keep putting ban-aids on wounds that require surgery or amputation.

You’re nice to him, and speak cordially, and let him come see the kids. You even bake him a cake on his birthday. That does nothing to heal the festering sore that is the result of his abandoning you 30 years ago. Doesn’t matter if he was you husband, or your daddy. The cancer is still spreading underneath and its called shame. Oh, you may have ranted and raved and acted a fool when he walked out. Or you may have been cool, calm, and collected, as if you could care less. But deep down you were ashamed. Ashamed that you couldn’t keep your man. Ashamed that your daddy didn’t love you enough to stay. You cannot live in a house of shame anymore, my sister. You can’t keep building your life on that same old hurt and pain. You’ve got to tear it down. Romans 10:11 says anyone who trusts in God will never be put to shame.

Some of us reside in a place whose foundation is guilt. You’ve got a mother, a father, a son, a daughter who’s in prison. But it’s you who's locked up. Locked up with guilt. Guilty because you’re embarassed by the situation. Guilty because you feel partly responsible - "If I had done this....maybe they wouldn’t have done that."  Guilty because you’re happy. Guilty because you’re free and able to live your life - but you’re really not free. You are weighed down by the guilt that makes it impossible for you to soar. I know we don’t like to talk about this stuff in church – but if we really want God to use us - we’ve got to deal with what’s real. Some of our houses are infested with guilt because of abortion.

Oh, we’ve got the church sister thing going on now. Nobody else around you knows. But you know, and no matter how much you clean and scrub and pray and sing - the guilt just won’t let you go. You feel yourself start to rise in your spirit, start to move in the things of God, and bam - like always - the enemy throws it back in your face. And you come crashing down again. Sister, you’ve got to demolish that house of guilt. Romans 8:1 says "There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus."

Some of this stuff is old. Old. We’ve been living here a long time.  But it’s time to move. We’ve got to move, because we can’t continue to let our daughters inherit this mess. Some of us have them living with us in the decay right now – but we certainly can’t bequeath this to them. We need an extreme makeover and we need it now.

If you will let Jesus search your heart - He’ll diagnose the problem. He has a design plan that will uniquely fit your life. Repairs, touch-ups, decoration is not enough. Sisters and brothers, many of us are living in houses that need to be demolished. Our property is condemned. The Lord tells us that He will prepare a place for us - I don’t believe His construction plan is limited to by and by when we die. But right here and now, we can receive a building not made by hands. But the trouble is - that we don’t want to leave some of our memorabilia behind. There’s stuff associated with our messed up house that we still love. Some of our things are still good and valuable to us. We don’t want them destroyed along with the house. But in order to become Godly, gifted women and men - used by God - we’ve got to go to the extreme. An extreme makeover for an extraordinary ministry.