The word clean is an adjective and if one was to look up the word on a formidable web site like dictionary.com, they would come across a definition that reads something like follows;

Clean - free from dirt; unsoiled; unstained

Actually that is the definition one would come across verbatim, because I went to the site and copied and pasted the first definition; writing comes with its nuances.

Anyway, let us be done with the grammar frivolity and move forth to things of a more spiritual importance.

Not too long ago I was enjoying an early morning Bible study in which we were studying the book of Nehemiah. The brilliant and wise professor who was leading this Bible study expounded upon Nehemiah 13 one morning and his words on the passage are the inspiration for what unfolds below.

The chapter begins by telling us that a law had been written not allowing any Ammonite or Moabite admittance into the assembly of God. This may sound a bit harsh but when one recollects the persecution that fell upon the Israelites from these tribes of people then the law makes a little more sense.

As we continue on we read that before this law was read aloud from the Book of Moses to the assembly that a priest by the name of Eliashib had been put in charge of the storerooms of the house of God. Eliashib took a large room that was to be used for the storing of grain offerings, temple artifacts, and other valuable items and instead allowed one of his close associates to stay in this storeroom in the Temple. Eliashib’s associate was a man whom went by the name of Tobiah the Ammonite.

Yes, that is correct! The same Tobiah the Ammonite who had plotted to destroy & kill Nehemiah and the Israelites was now living inside the house of God. And it wasn’t like some young, dumb punk had admitted him into the Temple. Eliashib, the high priest who had been around and taken apart of the rebuilding of the walls (see Nehemiah 3), who knew about Sanballat and Tobiah’s distaste for the Israelites, freely lets this evil man come dwell in the house of God.

Nehemiah was not in Jerusalem when this had taken place, but when he was finally given permission from Artaxerxes to return to Jerusalem, well, lets just say he was not too pleased with what had gone down. Nehemiah was furious and he threw Tobiah and all of his household goods out of the room. Nehemiah then gives order to purify the rooms and to restore the room to its proper way.

This story in Nehemiah makes me think of the passage in 1 Corinthians 6 - you know, the one about our bodies being the temple of the Holy Spirit and how we should honor God with our bodies. I’m sure you’ve heard it before. Anyway, I’ve actually heard this passage used several times before to stress how we should not smoke or drink alcohol or do other things to damage our bodies either externally or internally and that we should exercise and eat right and so on and so forth. Well those are all good points, but in light of the story from Nehemiah there are far more important implications to this passage.

Nehemiah became furious at the very thought of something evil residing inside the house of God. He throws this evil out and then purifies and restores the house of God to its rightful way. So since we are now the temple of the Holy Spirit, should we not also become furious when something evil comes and resides within? Should we not throw out and rid ourselves of such evils and atrocities the we allow to dwell within this most Holy temple?

The simple answer is yes, the more complicated answer is why don’t we. Why are we more like Eliashib, being closely associated and welcoming in evil and less like Nehemiah, a warrior for holiness, getting furious at its very presence.

We welcome in tiny bits of unholiness each and everyday. Everything from what we watch to what we wear to why we say certain things to certain people to the way we think of ourselves. We soak in lust, greed, apathy, pride, lies, fleeting beauty, social standings and plenty more traces of impurities.The sad thing is that we so easily reason away why we do these things or why we allow these things to happen. We seem to use God’s standard as the standard for big decision making, but we lose focus on the “minor” details. I fear that we lose focus because we are afraid, afraid that our stance will come off as legalism or afraid that we will come off as over-spiritualizing nuts. But just because there have been and there are those who have skewed such things does not give us the right to downplay and reason away the importance of taking a furious and passionate stance against unholiness like Nehemiah did.

That is my prayer, that we would be warriors of holiness, cleaning out & cleansing what we’ve been blessed with to be the Temple of the Holy Spirit.