Sermon for Ash Wednesday, February 10, 2016

Texts: Joel 2:12-19; Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21

            Beloved in Christ, from time to time we need an attitude adjustment. We settle into routines, which become habits, which lead to a settled frame of mind. And that settled frame of mind produces new vices, so that one sin in the end compounds another. Lent is a time to examine our attitudes and get them more in line with God’s way of thinking.

            But what exactly is wrong with our way of thinking? Well, there may be several things, but let us focus on two things this evening. First, there is the attitude that doesn’t recognize any problem at all. Life is good. Sin is either non-existent or a trivial problem. We are too prosperous, too smart, and too socially well-adjusted to think otherwise.

            What allows this attitude to take root is that we live in a land that is always Christmas and never winter. You may recognize that I have inverted a phrase from C.S. Lewis’s book, The Chronicles of Narnia. There the land had been put under the spell of a wicked queen, who had made it always winter, but never Christmas. For us who live in northern climes, we bear the onset of winter in early November or so, with its cruel winds and frigid temperatures, with the thought that Christmas will come near the harshest time of winter and bring us a bit of joy to remove the bitterness of winter. But it would be awful, thought Lewis, if there would be one cold, dreary day after another, with no Christmas to alleviate the gloom.

            But Lewis couldn’t have imagined a land like ours, where it is always Christmas and never winter. He had served in one world war and lived through another, with a depression between the two. Rationing had been normal for vast stretches of his life. The idea that anybody could go to a store and buy anything they pleased because society was prosperous enough to offer everything at all times—well, he couldn’t have imagined such a thing. But we in our affluent country begin celebrating Christmas sometime in September or so, long before the leaves have turned colors or fall chills have entered the air.

            Such luxury can deaden our senses to the reality of sin. We see that money can buy food for the hungry, clothes for the naked, and homes for the homeless. And then we make the illogical leap that our affluence will solve all our problems—our broken friendships, our troubled marriages, our strained relationships at work, our negligence of God and prayer. But it is when we begin to think this way that God calls us to fast, weep, and repent. He calls us to put aside the joys of Christmas for a while and feel the biting winter wind. It is not that He will cruelly deprive us of Christmas in the future, but rather that we need to feel that wind in order to appreciate the gift of Christmas.

            That is why Joel called his affluent society to take a break from their overindulgence and instead to put on sackcloth and ashes and to fast and mourn. That is why the church for centuries has found it useful to set aside the forty days before Easter as a time of fasting and intensified prayer. Now the Scriptures do not mandate a particular way that this time must be observed, and we Christians have some freedom in exactly how we observe this season of Lent. But let me encourage you not just to do the same old things that you normally would. Instead, let this be a time when you deprive yourself of some of your usual joys so that instead you can focus on God and His kingdom.

            But at the same time we ought to recognize that there is another attitude that might need to be adjusted. And this is an attitude that most affects religious people, the sort of people who would tend to make a big deal out of Lent. While the world overindulges, we make a big deal out of the fact that we don’t.

            For us, Lent poses a hidden, but deadly danger, for we are tempted to show off our fasting, our intensified prayers, and our good works. It is bad when we give nary a thought to righteousness, but it is equally bad when we pursue righteousness only so that we can count ourselves superior to the vast majority who are less spiritually-minded than we are. In fact, the latter action may be more dangerous than the former, for those who are altogether worldly might one day be brought to repentance, but those who deem themselves spiritual think themselves to be in no need of change.

            That is why we need to hear our Lord’s words today. They do not forbid us to pray, fast, and give alms, but remind us to do these things in a truly spiritual way. These things cannot merely be an act where we look more pious than the people around us. Instead, they should be true spiritual disciplines whereby we repent of our sins and draw closer to God. When we do these things, we will not be looking around to compare ourselves with others. We will fast because we are disgusted with the way we have filled ourselves with everything in life to the point of bursting and realize we need to take a break from stuffing ourselves. We will pray because we know that we have serious issues we need to talk over with God, issues that others have no need to be privy to. We will give alms and do other charitable deeds because we want to get over our selfishness and let God’s love shape our own.

            In short, we will do these pious activities with the understanding that they are not really about us or the way we appear before others, but are about God. We will see that it isn’t our righteousness that will get us into heaven, but rather Christ’s righteousness will accomplish that. Because Christ has suffered and died to atone for our sins and has risen from the dead in order to forgive us, everything has been done to reconcile us to God. Our holiest deeds won’t make us more beloved to Him. All they can do is show that we take seriously what Christ has done for us.

            And so, beloved in Christ, we are freed from the awful burdens we place upon ourselves. We are freed from the burden of self-indulgence, which makes us responsible for our own happiness and which teaches us that that happiness is found only by ever-increasing pampering of our desires. And we are freed from the burden of justifying ourselves, of trying to prove to ourselves and others that we are really superior to others in our morality and thus ought to be accepted by God. Instead, we receive Christ’s righteousness and we acknowledge that true happiness comes from knowing our creator rather than piling up created goods.

            With that in mind, let us keep the Lenten discipline of fasting, prayer, and alms. Let us put aside the things that encumber us and devote greater attention to God, for He is always attentive to us. Let the next several weeks be a time when you come to understand Christ at a deeper level and take more to heart all that He has done for you. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Sermon for Ash Wednesday, February 18, 2015

Text: Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21

            Beloved in Christ, something has gone wrong. That is why we are here. We are not the sort of people God would have us be. We are cold in our love toward God and toward our neighbors. If we are religious, it is often because we want to “be praised by others.” If we are going to do any good works, we want to “receive” the full credit of our “reward.” We are wicked all too often, and when we are not, we are often hypocrites. And so let no trumpet be sounded today. For we have “[laid] up…treasures on earth,” and “moth and rust [have destroyed]” them.

            But how do we get out of ourselves? It is tempting to look for new laws and new rules and new disciplines that will free us from sin and wickedness. We in America are particularly prone to this temptation. We have self-help books, life coaches, and the like, all of which claim to be able to set us free from ingrained vices. And the law and various rules and disciplines are not without their value. Our Lord spent the chapter before today’s Gospel exploring most of the Ten Commandments. Furthermore, our Lord commends the disciplines of almsgiving and fasting in today’s gospel. And so our Lord does not reject the law as useless, nor does He reject spiritual disciplines as something useless for Christians. But our Lord knows that more is required than just the law.

A medieval Fastentuch portraying the Passion of our Lord
(Fastentuch is a German word referring to a Lenten
shroud placed over the retable of an altar to indicate
that Lent had begun and it was time for all to fast)

            This is where we tend to go astray. We like to have seven easy principles or five simple laws. We try to reduce things to the minimum and then live our lives based on them. But Christ delved into the Ten Commandments. He didn’t just treat them as simple rules, but wise precepts that bear investigation and meditation. He knew that shallow treatment of each commandment makes shallow disciples.

            Similarly, our Lord knew that His disciples would adopt various spiritual disciplines. The Ten Commandments do not tell us in so many words to give alms or fast. And yet the phrase “You shall not murder” implies caring for our neighbor and the words “You shall have no other gods” implies avoiding gluttony. In that context, it would be natural to embrace such disciplines as almsgiving and fasting. But even these spiritual works are prone to be misused. There is no spiritual discipline that is so good and holy that it cannot be twisted into something wicked by our hypocrisy, love of attention, and other vices.

            The law will never make us perfect Christians. The only thing that can do so is the love of God in Christ Jesus. It is the gospel—the good news that Jesus Christ is God’s Son and our Savior—that sets us free from our vain selves. And so during this Lenten season our goal is not to strive harder to be holier, but rather to steep ourselves in the love of Jesus Christ. We will meditate upon Christ’s holy life and His innocent suffering and death on the cross. And we will prepare to celebrate His glorious resurrection from the dead that imparts His forgiveness to us and guarantees our own resurrection to life and holiness on the Last Day.

            Wherever this good news is proclaimed, the Holy Spirit is at work, creating faith in our hearts that trusts in Christ Jesus and all He has done. And wherever the Holy Spirit creates faith, He also brings other gifts. Just as a healthy tree bears good fruit, so the Holy Spirit’s presence in us bears His fruit. We call it the “fruit of the Spirit.” (This Lent we will be looking at the fruit of the Spirit in our midweek services.) Saint Paul talks about this in Galatians 5, where he warns his readers not to do “the works of the flesh,” but instead to enjoy “the fruit of the Spirit.” Notice the contrast between the two—and I mean more than just that the one is evil and the other good. The phrase “works of the flesh” is plural, but the “fruit of the Spirit” is singular. Wickedness comes in a variety of forms, but goodness is all related. And so when we think of the various items listed as “the fruit of the Spirit,” we should understand them as all facets of the same fruit.

            Furthermore, there is a contrast between “works” and “fruit.” We don’t say that an apple tree works to produce apples. Instead, we know that if an apple tree is healthy and is old enough, it is going to produces apples quite naturally. By the same token, wherever the Holy Spirit is at work bringing people to faith and steeping them in God’s Word, you naturally will see such things as “love, joy, peace, patience,” and the other virtues listed in Galatians 5. Far from being coerced by the law or pummeled out of us by our spiritual disciplines, these virtues flow naturally wherever we take the gospel seriously.

            Tonight, then, let us briefly consider the first aspect of the fruit of the Spirit, namely, “love.” It is the absence of love that creates all our problems. It is why we turn against God and others. It is why we prefer the road of hypocrisy, for we really do not want to love God. Even when we seek the approval of others, we don’t want to love them. No, we just want them to do good things for us without any obligation on our part to them. In fact, we don’t even necessarily want to receive their love, for that might mean we might have to love them in return.

            To break through our loveless attitude, God showed great love to us. He became as involved in humanity as He could be. The Son of God took on our flesh; the Father and the Holy Spirit fully approved of what the Son had done and blessed His ministry all the way. And when Christ had completed His dying and rising for us, God brought us near to Himself by baptism and communion. Lovelessness begets lovelessness; love begets love. And so those who have experienced God’s love in Christ Jesus and know the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit love. Love is the natural fruit of this gospel of love.

            And so, beloved in Christ, as we begin this Lenten journey, do so under the shadow of God’s love. And may that love shape you in the weeks to come to be even more loving. In Jesus’ name. Amen.