Set the Believers Example in Purity

God made it clear to Moses that everything associated with the tabernacleand Israel's worship was to be characterized by absolute purity and holiness. Nothing defiled or impure could draw near to God's presence in the Holy of Holies. 

Various purification rites reminded the Israelites that they were set apart from the world and separated from sin. Sacrificial animals were to be pure andwithout blemish. To ignore these requirements for purity was to face exclusion from God's covenant people or even death.

Jesus came to purify his people once and for all through his atoning sacrifice (Titus 2:14). He fulfilled what ceremonial purification could only point to. But God's demand for purity hasn't changed. The Lord is still holy. So it's not surprising that God wants leaders in the church to set an example for the believers in purity.

Purity is the quality of being undefiled, unmixed, and undiluted, free fromevil or contamination. The first area this applies to is our motives. God calls usto guard against being “led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ”(2 Corinthians 11:3). Leading worship for financial gain or public recognitiondishonors God. God wants our worship to be sincere, not hypocritical; willing, not forced; wholehearted, not distracted. In other words, pure.

God also calls us to model purity in the area of sexuality. Music in theworld is filled with sexual innuendo, provocative dress, and sensuality. Music in the church should never be. 

But signs of compromise aren't hard to find. Individuals on worship teams wear clothes that are too tight or revealing. Worship leaders sometimes use vocal inflections that sound alluring and sensual. Worship songs are described as “sexy.” Ads for Christian bands and soloists are as visually seductive at times as their non-Christian counterparts. Music ministers commit adultery and continue ministering.

Given the holiness of God, his jealousy for the church, and the preciousness of Christ's body, our behavior is dangerous and inexcusable. There are few things as serious and destructive in the life of a leader assexual impurity. The consequences are not only personally harmful but publicly dishonoring to the name of Christ.

We worship the Savior who “gave himself for us to redeem us from alllawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession” (Titus2:14). By his grace and for his glory, let's be who we've been saved to be, and set an example for the believers in purity.