Series: Spring Cleaning 

Title: Switch it Up

Last week my wife talked about getting the things out of our lives that are sinful and offensive to God.  Such things do not belong in a believer’s life.  She talked about guarding our ears and eyes as they are gateways to our spirit. We must be vigilant about what we allow into hearts through our eyes and ears. 

I would add to that a saying I learned long ago “garbage in- garbage out.”  What you allow into your heart will eventually proceed from your mouth and will be evident in your actions.

Today we want to talk about exchanging your old sinful habits with new Christ honoring ones. We are going to switch it up.

When I came to Christ on April 4^th 1997 I had some sin in my life that I needed to get out.  I was rebellious, filled with hatred and lust, I was a thief, a liar, a nicotine addict, the list goes on.  I could not remove these on my own, but I needed the power of Christ to set me free from these things.  He did! Christ radically changed my life almost overnight.  Instantly, after meeting my savior I no longer wanted those corrupt sinful things in my life any longer. 

But after having done those things for some time I needed to replace those sinful patterns with Christ centered patterns. 

So, the rebellion, was replaced with obedience.  When my chemistry teacher told me to do an assignment, then I must replace that rebellion with obedience and do the project.  When my parents told me to clean my room, I did it and did not complain about it.

• My hatred also had to be replaced with love which required me making it right with the people that I had bullied.
• Stealing was replaced with giving, giving of my tithes and of my time towards the things of God,
• my lying must be replaced with always speaking the truth.
• My filthy course joking must be replaced with conversation that built others
• My nicotine addiction had to be replaced with the filling of the Holy Spirit as He is the only one who can satisfy my soul. If I was to be addicted to anything, it must be His presence.

I can say with certainty, that I am no longer the man that I used to be.  I have been transformed.

Romans 12:1-2

¹ I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. ² Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

Our responsibility as believers is to present our bodies in a way which God would approve.  We are not to conformto the sinful patterns of this world. There is a good and acceptable way in which we are to conduct ourselves. This includes replacing those sinful habits with Christ honoring habits.

Besides my personal story, I would like to share with you from the Bible a story about a man who encountered Christ and thus He changed his sinful habits into Christ honoring habits.

Luke 19:1-10

¹ He entered Jericho and was passing through. ² And behold, there was a man named Zacchaeus. He was a chief tax collector and was rich. 

Just a little info about Zacchaeus: He was a Jew, He was a tax collector, He was a chief tax collector which means he had others working under his authority.  Apparently, he was good at what he did as the bible describes him as being rich. 

Being a tax collector did not make him sinful, even being rich did not make him sinful.  However, many tax collectors were known for overcharging their fellow Jews beyond the taxes imposed by Rome and pocketing the money for themselves. To cheat your fellow man of his earnings for your benefit is obviously sinful. Because it goes against the second greatest commandment.

Matthew 22:39

You shall love your neighbor as yourself. 

Zacchaeus later admits to this behavior.  But you could see why people did not like tax collectors and probably liked the chief of tax collectors even less.

In the previous chapter Jesus illustrates the animosity the Jews had for such people.  As the Pharisee prays, he says

            Luke 18:11

“God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector.”

It was despicable to be tax collector, they were hated by all. Yet, in the same parable Jesus depicts the tax collector as someone who is broken over the fact that he is a sinner.

¹³ “God, be merciful to me, a sinner!”   

Zacchaeus knew what he was doing was wrong, as opposed to many of the religious people of that day who could not admit their sin because of their pride. If Zacchaeus were to change his ways, then he would need an encounterwith Christ Jesus.  

The great news for Zacchaeus is that Jesus came to seek and save the lost and to offer forgiveness for even the greatest of sinners.  In the next verse we find that Zacchaeus was also searching for Jesus.

³ And he was seeking to see who Jesus was, but on account of the crowd he could not, because he was small in stature. ⁴ So he ran on ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see him, for he was about to pass that way. 

Transformation of the heart begins with a curiosity to know Jesus personally.

Perhaps he had heard of all that Jesus had said and done.  Maybe his heart was struck as he heard of Jesus’ parable about the rich ruler which shows how difficult it is for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God. 

Luke 18:25-26

²⁵ For it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.” 

…. “What is impossible with man is possible with God.” 

What comforting words to a man like Zacchaeus who had made a living cheating people of their money.  With God all things are possible, including making a way for a rich man to enter the kingdom of Heaven.  There was hope for Zacchaeus. 

Isaiah 55:6 “Seek the Lord while he may be found; call upon him while he is near;

Zacchaeus does just that.  Looking for that opportunity for all his wrongs to be made right, he pursues Jesus.  Because He is the only one who has the power to remove his sins his guilt. He alone has the power to break all the bad sinful patterns in our lives and instill in us new ones.  We don’t have the power in ourselves to do this.

⁵ And when Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, hurry and come down, for I must stay at your house today.”⁶ So he hurried and came down and received him joyfully. ⁷ And when they saw it, they all grumbled, “He has gone in to be the guest of a man who is a sinner.” 

When God revolutionizes your life the way that He did to Zacchaeus, you can be sure there will always be people who will run their mouths.  They will ridicule you and try to throw shame in your direction to discredit your faith.  There will always be those who will try to define you by your past mistakes.  

They are still labeling Zacchaeus as a sinner.  Even though he clearly had faith in Jesus, pursued after Him, and Jesus in turn has requested to dine with him at his house.  Clearly this is a picture of salvation, as Jesus pursues usand desires to dwell in our hearts.  He stands at the door of our hearts and knocks.  He does not force His way in, but He knocks and waits.  He knocked and Zacchaeus let Him in.

Zacchaeus is a believer despite being called a sinner.  The next verse is proof of his changed heart.

⁸ And Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, “Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor. And if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I restore it fourfold.” ⁹ And Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, since he also is a son of Abraham. ¹⁰ For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”

Whereas in the previous chapter the rich ruler walked away not being able to part from his riches, but in this chapter, salvation comes to a rich man named Zacchaeus’ and to his household.  He then vows to repay back everyone who he has cheated.  This is certainly evidence of a changed heart.

It is only after we encounter Christ, that our hearts are prompted to remove the old sinful habits and replace them with Christ centered ones. 

Zacchaeus was a thief, a manipulator, hated by many, now he changes those bad patterns of stealing into a more Christ centered pattern of giving back to others. Instead of manipulating people with his words, he uses his words to bring relief to those he afflicted.  Though he was hated by many, he is making strides towards mending those broken friendships.

What about you? Last week you had an opportunity to get rid of some things which God has revealed to you by His spirit.  Now that you have gotten rid of them, what are you putting in place of those things that were removed.

Hopefully, you’re reading the Word, praying, and committing yourself to other spiritual disciplines.   

But for some, you have spent years of sinning and this has now become a pattern in your life just as Zacchaeus.  You need an encounter with Christ to break those sin patterns.  

You also need the washing of the water of the word to renew your mind. 

Finally, you need to establish healthy patterns to replace the ones that you have removed.

Instead of listening to secular music as you have been accustomed to, you may need to switch it up to Christianmusic instead.  Christian music has come a long way and there is most likely a Christian band who plays the genre of music you listen to.  Be mindful to listen to good things.

In addition to switching up your music, you may have to switch up what you watch on Television. There are movies I used to watch, but no longer watch because they are just terrible and downright ungodly. Instead, I choose to only watch sports and whatever Disney program my kids watch.

You may have to it switch up:

• from saying curse words to using other words.
• by replacing idleness with a hobby
• by replace lying with speaking the truth
• Or as Zacchaeus, replace stealing with giving
• You may have to switch up certain “friends” with new ones
• You might find the news to be depressing, switch it up and read a Christian book
• Instead of comparing yourself with everyone on facebook, compare yourself to Christ.

The power of Christ sets you free from the slavery of sin and death.  However, it is your responsibility to put good things in place where there once were bad things.

Matthew 12:43-45

⁴³ “When the unclean spirit has gone out of a person, it passes through waterless places seeking rest, but finds none. ⁴⁴ Then it says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ And when it comes, it finds the house empty, (unoccupied) swept, (clean) and put in order. (decorated) ⁴⁵ Then it goes and brings with it seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they enter and dwell there, and the last state of that person is worse than the first. So also will it be with this evil generation.”

The devil is relentless in his attempts to destroy your life.  He finds great satisfaction in deceiving God’s people.  After a season of being evicted from your life, he will come back. 

• He may find that your house is clean, because he has not been allowed in for some time.
• He may even find your house to be in order as you have made strides to do so,
• but he must not find that your house is unoccupied or else he will occupy it.

If you don’t fill yourself with good things, then you are giving opportunity for the devil to come back and bring even more destruction to your life.  So yes, you are to remove all things that are not pleasing to God.  Yes, you are to evict the devil and tell him he ain’t welcome here no more.   This includes your thought life, you need to evict the devil from your mind because he has been lying to you for too long.

You need to replace those malign thoughts with thoughts that Jesus has towards you.  You need to replace those selfish thoughts with Christ centered thoughts.

Colossians 3:2

² Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. 

But most importantly you need the infilling presence of the Lord to inhabit (occupy) your life daily. So that when the deceiver comes, he will find it already occupied with the presence of God.  (Port O let)

Here are some more things that we can put in.

Colossians 3:12-17

¹² Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, ¹³ bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. ¹⁴ And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.¹⁵ And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. ¹⁶ Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.¹⁷ And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

• Replace patterns of selfishness, with compassionate ones
• Replace patterns of hatred, with kind ones
• Replace prideful patterns, with acts of humility
• Replace impatient patterns, with patient ones
• Replace accusing and blaming patterns, with forgiving ones

Just as Zacchaeus had an encounter with Christ and the patterns of his life forever changed, so must we encounter Christ, evict the devil, and fill our lives with Christ honoring patterns.

As I am learning how to become a better runner, I am learning that I need to switch it up.  If I am to fulfil my potential as a Christian, I must also switch it up.