Before we start today, I want to tell you a little about myself. My name is Justin Steckbauer, I’m originally from Wisconsin. I’m 40 years old. I became a follower of Jesus when I was 27, and God radically changed my life. I have a past, a dark past, which you’ll hear me touch on from time to time, I shared on Pentecost that I was once an atheist. But once I came to know Jesus, I was called by Him to the ministry.
I have several degrees in the study of theology, a bachelors in Christian counseling from Liberty University, I’m a graduate of Salvation Army training college in Chicago, with a two year degree. And I hold a masters degree in the study of ministry from Olivet Nazarene University in Bourbonnais, IL.
I’ve served in ministry in various roles for the past 12 years. 6 of those as an ordained minister in The Salvation Army. So Chelsey and I are coming from an extended ministry in the Salvation Army.
I’ve served in ministry with The salvation army, in Wausau wi, Escanaba, mi, Owosso, Mi and Gary, In. Chelsey and I met in Owosso when I was the pastor there, and we worked together in ministry for several years, and got married in 2024. We don’t have any kids yet.
We are very passionate about doing ministry together, Chelsey has served in the past as the program coordinator, and I as the pastor. So we’re looking forward to continue doing ministry together here.
In the last year we felt God calling us toward the church of the Nazarene, and in particular we’ve felt drawn for years toward traverse city. In fact, I was so sure that Chelsey and I would end up in traverse city one day, that I asked Chelsey to marry me here on the beach at mission point light house.
Chelsey and I believe with all of our hearts, that it is God’s will that we are here
I’m going to ask my wife to share a bit about herself as well...
Generally the way that I select a scripture for Sunday morning is I ask God, and God will lead me to a particular passage, so unless we’re in a sermon series, where it’s one section after another, it’s something God brought up.
So let’s get into the passage for today, 2nd Corinthians 7, we’re going to focus in on verse 1, then we’re going to comb through the rest of the chapter.
Verse one says, “Therefore, since we have these promises, dear friends, let us purify ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit, perfecting holiness out of reverence for God.”
There are three parts of this verse, the first is “since we have these promises.” Meaning, as Christians we are living from a place of already having the promises of God.
We are not working our way toward the nest, we’re not climbing the tree to get to the nest, we are in the nest, accepted by God, children of God, loved by God, and holders of the promises.
We are not a teenager working toward the keys to his new car, we already have the new car, the keys are in our hands, and we are going for a drive in it.
We are not working on the house, hoping to live in it, we are living in the house, as we are working on it.
Second portion of this scripture, let us purify ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit.”
As we live the Christian life month by month, year by year, God brings things to our attention, things he wants to purify out of us. When we notice those things, we take action, the Holy Spirit within us, helps us. We pray, we repent, we seek God’s help, we confess what’s going on to a trusted friend, we grieve, and turn. We often seek healing, and that healing will help us, in whatever sin we’re struggling with, it breaks free, when the healing comes.
Third portion, “perfecting holiness out of reverence for God.”
Our God is holy. In fact he is holy, holy, holy. If we could see him right now, we would all instantly, feel completely undone, and we would cry out as Isaiah did, I’m a man of unclean lips.
Therefore, since we have these promises, from a place of acceptance, we purify ourselves of anything that could contaminate our body or spirit, which is, perfecting holiness. That process is perfecting holiness. Slowly we are setting ourselves apart for special use.
What is our motivation? It is reverence for God. The NIV translates that word there reverence, but almost every other translation renders it the fear of the Lord.
We’ll say reverent fear of the Lord. And I’ll share this illustration. Back in 2022 I met my future wife Chelsey. One thing she told me, was that other men treated their faith a bit like a happy go lucky game, and what she saw in me, was that I really did fear the Lord, and really wanted to do what God wanted.
Is it good to have a healthy fear of God? Yes it is. The fear of the Lord keeps us from evil. It’s like a guard rail, and it keeps us from the edge. Now, at the same time, the main thing in my life is the ever flowing love of God. That’s the main thing, daily, all day, every day, all night, all the time. But, at the appropriate moments, the fear of the Lord will come upon me, and it helps guide me away from evil, away from danger, and toward the right. Then the fear fades again, and its replaced by love. The love is the constant, the fear pops up when it’s needed.
Those three portions helps us understand how it works. We are at home with God already, we hold the promises in our hands. This leads us to purify ourselves on the sanctification journey. The motivation in this is the fear of God, that prompts us, to not play games with sin, but to put those sins to death quickly with the help of the Holy Spirit.
The rest of the chapter, Paul is going to be dealing with a very specific situation at the Corinthian church. He’s dealing with issues like repentance, facing difficulties, joy and endurance. I don’t want to get too into the weeds with all of this, so for the rest of the chapter, we’re going to jump around a bit, and try to mine out some gold nuggets, key principles ,we can apply to our own lives today.
Chapter 7 of 2nd Corinthians continues like this, “2 Make room for us in your hearts. We have wronged no one, we have corrupted no one, we have exploited no one. 3 I do not say this to condemn you; I have said before that you have such a place in our hearts that we would live or die with you. 4 I have spoken to you with great frankness; I take great pride in you. I am greatly encouraged; in all our troubles my joy knows no bounds.”
A few things to glean here… The command to “make room for us in your hearts” is beautiful to me. It reminds me that we need to make room in our hearts for Jesus. We need to also make room in our hearts for each other. There’s a beautiful Christian Christmas song that includes the phrase, “Is there room in your heart, for God to write your story?”
Often times, we have so many things in the world that we love, there isn’t room in our hearts for the things of God. Can you relate today?
Paul also says, “in all our troubles, my joy knows no bounds.” Is that not wild? Paul had constant problems in his ministry, yet he also claimed joy that was boundless in the troubles.
Joy is the mark of a true believer, a joy that overcomes everything else. I remember being with the church board and sensing a joy among us, because we could all sense God was doing something. Despite all the difficulties, and it’s been difficult! And despite the difficulties, I had a joy with me through all of it. A sense that God was doing it, and it would all work out. If you are going through something, look for the joy.
We’re mining nuggets from this chapter, two nuggets, make room in your heart, and joy despite difficulties.
Let’s look at our next portion, verses 5-7:
5 For when we came into Macedonia, we had no rest, but we were harassed at every turn—conflicts on the outside, fears within. 6 But God, who comforts the downcast, comforted us by the coming of Titus, 7 and not only by his coming but also by the comfort you had given him. He told us about your longing for me, your deep sorrow, your ardent concern for me, so that my joy was greater than ever.”
You will face seasons in your life when you will feel like Paul, harassed at every turn, conflicts outside, fears within. That’s real. I’ve been through some seasons like that. Conflicts going on around us, and fear within. But, God always brings comfort and consolation in those seasons. He will bring someone, or some event, that encourages you, and give you new strength and new hope to keep going.
For Paul, this encouragement came through Titus who came and visited him. And the end result was, Paul says, his joy was greater than ever. Paul knew he wasn’t alone.
I was on vacation in Minocqua wi and I had an experience that brought me great joy. The vacation had gotten a little rough that day, some traumas from the past came up, and I felt overwhelmed. But, we got to sit around a camp fire with some old friends that night, Skip and Sandy, and the conversation was spiritual, deep, meaningful, and it encouraged Chelsey and I. It was like a cold drink on a hot day. God does that. He may do it for you, or use you to help someone else. When you feel that nudge to call someone, or reach out, or have someone over, maybe they need it more than you realize. Act on it!
Next, verses 8-11: 8 Even if I caused you sorrow by my letter, I do not regret it. Though I did regret it—I see that my letter hurt you, but only for a little while— 9 yet now I am happy, not because you were made sorry, but because your sorrow led you to repentance. For you became sorrowful as God intended and so were not harmed in any way by us. 10 Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death. 11 See what this godly sorrow has produced in you: what earnestness, what eagerness to clear yourselves, what indignation, what alarm, what longing, what concern, what readiness to see justice done. At every point you have proved yourselves to be innocent in this matter.”
Paul’s letter to the Corinthian church brought about sorrow, but, it’s clear that his letter, used by the Holy Spirit, brought about godly sorrow. Godly sorrow, leads to good things.
Godly sorrow leads to repentance, that leads to salvation, and leaves no regret.
This brings us back to our key passage for today, 2nd Cor 7:1, purify yourself from all things can pollute spirit and body.
How does this happen? It happens through the process described in verse 10.
It happens like this, first, the Holy Spirit identifies the issue. We begin to notice, something in our lives, is causing a slight alarm bell to go off in our conscience. It’s not often very loud at first, but each time we do it, it goes off a little louder.
Soon we identify it, and say, ah, the Holy Spirit is saying something to me about this thing.
What follows is something called godly sorrow. We see it, we wrestle in our mind back and forth, trying to justify why it’s ok for us to do that, but, eventually sorrow takes over. And we start to feel sad, that this thing is in our lives, and it shouldn’t be.
It leads us to a valley of decision. What am I going to do? And often times we tell someone about it, we confess it, to our pastor, or a trusted friend. Often we start to study the issue, we read books about it, or even talk to a counselor, and eventually we come to the altar, not necessarily at church, but the altar at home, and we pray: “Lord forgive me, I’ve done this and I see you pointing it out. Please forgive me Lord by the blood of Jesus, and we use the power word, Lord, I repent.”
Which means to turn away from that activity or thing or person or action, and we turn toward God. And this brings a victory. And afterward we may feel tempted to do it, but we stand firm, with the help of prayer, friends, scripture, even support groups if necessary, and we find true and lasting freedom.
For some things, it may be more difficult. A lot of these things I’ve found, are connected with something from our past that needs healing.
Again, we take that to God, and God brings healing. We confess it. We journal about it. We ask God to heal our heart. We bring it to a counselor or pastor, and we share about it. We grieve the original hurts, even with tears, and this brings lasting healing.
This all may seem difficult, sad, like walking through a fire, it may include wrestling, painful memories, and ugly tears. But, the fruit that flows from it, there is no regret after it’s been confessed, healed, and repented of. It’s gone. It’s forgiven. And that hurt that sin that’s been sitting there for years like a splinter in your mind is GONE, and you just want to jump for joy, you’re so excited that your free.
It took walking through the godly sorrow, and hurt and healing and repentance, and exposure, but, the result is a harvest of righteousness.
You’ve fulfilled 2 Corinthians 7:1, you’ve perfected holiness in the fear of God. And you’re free.
God did this with me most recently, with coffee, I’m not saying all coffee is sinful. But for me, God convicted me about 6 months ago, and I was misusing it. Using it to power me through each day. That isn’t right. And I repented, I simply stopped using it. And that splinter in my mind was suddenly gone, and I rejoiced. And I’m glad, I’m glad to be free.
Whatever it is in your life, sometimes we hide it, but it just nags at us, just let it out, confess it, repent of it, and enjoy freedom.
Lastly, verses 13-16:
In addition to our own encouragement, we were especially delighted to see how happy Titus was, because his spirit has been refreshed by all of you. 14 I had boasted to him about you, and you have not embarrassed me. But just as everything we said to you was true, so our boasting about you to Titus has proved to be true as well. 15 And his affection for you is all the greater when he remembers that you were all obedient, receiving him with fear and trembling. 16 I am glad I can have complete confidence in you.
Paul writes that Titus when he visited the Corinthian church during this controversy, his spirit was refreshed.
I think the key here, with repentance, and cleansing ourselves from things that would contaminate us, perfecting holiness in the fear of God, the end result after each victory along the journey, is an incredible refreshing of our spirit.
Every time God grows me through some challenge, afterward, I feel stronger, cleaner, refreshed, renewed, and revived.
That will be your experience individually as well, as you engage in this process with the Holy Spirit.
But in conclusion today, let’s expand it, to say, what will the experience of the body of Christ be?
It will be, if the believers are not hiding their sins, or ignoring them, but actively allowing the Spirit to remove them, the body of Christ will experience, refreshing, renewal and revival.
What two things have led to revivals in the body of Christ on Earth? Prayer, and repentance from sins. Those two things when combined, have moved the heart of God to pour out revival on Earth.
Do you long for a new day in the body of Christ? Do you long for a new time in Michigan? Do you long for a new season in Traverse City? Do you long for revival?
Let it start with you. What if each one of us, were praying, and exposing our sins, repenting of them, perfecting holiness in the fear of God? We may yet see a move of God that will shake the foundations of this city forever.
Remember, it starts with you, getting honest, asking God for help, repenting, and praying. Then we will see a revival, in these end times in which we live.