You Were Washed

1 Corinthians 6:11 - “And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.”

Last Sunday, in the shallows of Barnegat Bay, 49 people walked down into the water and came back up new. Some of you were standing on the shore for it. One after another they went under, the old life represented as buried in a few feet of bay water, then they rose up dripping and grinning into a cheering crowd. There’s nothing quite like watching it, or having the privilege to perform it. And there’s a reason the Church has been doing this in rivers and bays and stone fountains for 2,000 years, a reason that runs straight through the verse we come to today.

Paul just finished his sobering list of the kinds of lives that cannot inherit God’s kingdom. Then he turns to the believers in Corinth and says: and such were some of you. Were. Past tense. That used to be your address, but you’ve moved. Then he stacks up three words, and every one of them names something God did while they could only receive it: you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.

To be washed is to have every stain named in that list scrubbed clean away. To be sanctified is to be set apart, made holy, claimed as God’s own. To be justified is to be declared righteous before the court of heaven, the case closed in your favor for good. And that first word, washed, is the very picture we saw in the bay last week. Going under and rising up is the gospel made visible, the old self buried and a clean one raised, the whole thing done to you before you lived a single day of the life that follows.

This is the deep comfort hiding in this verse. Your washing is behind you. Your verdict is already in. The most important thing that will ever be said about you has already been spoken by God in the name of Jesus and it will not be revised! That means you can stop trying to earn what is already yours. The verdict has been rendered, your name is on it, and you get to spend the rest of your life living out of it. You already know how your story ends, so you are free to live the middle of it unafraid.

Forty-nine people went into the bay last week and came out celebrating their belonging to Him. The same thing is true of every believer reading this, whether your water has long since dried or is still fresh on your skin. You were washed. It is finished, and it is yours. Now go and live like someone it actually happened to!

Today: Before you go to worship today, take two minutes with this. Picture the room you’re about to walk into, and the people who will fill it. Look at the people and preach the truth to yourself: washed, sanctified, justified, the same as me. Then sing, and pray, and give, and serve as one of the washed among the washed. And before you leave the building, take one concrete step toward this summer: find the Vacation Bible School sign-up and put your name down, so a room full of children can hear the story that washed you. Or volunteer here: https://baysidechapel.ccbchurch.com/goto/forms/410/responses/new

Prayer: “Father, You took people whose lives once matched the hard list of sins, and you washed them, set them apart, and declared them righteous, all in the name of your Son and by your Spirit. I stand amazed that the verdict over us is already settled, and that the verdict is grace. Send me into this gathering, and out into this week, as a person who has really been washed, sanctified, and justified. In JeSus’ name, Amen.”

-PK