Time to focus on the things of God

Sermon for the First Day of Lent

Isaiah 59:12-21  +  Joel 2:12-19  +  Matthew 6:16-21

It’s Ash Wednesday. But we’ve never used ashes for Ash Wednesday here at Emmanuel. So it kind of makes sense not to keep using the name Ash Wednesday, doesn’t it? I encourage you to read the explanation in your service folder about the traditional use of ashes and about our preference from now on to simply refer to this Wednesday as the First Day of Lent.

We don’t use ashes, but we do mark the beginning of the Lenten season with this special service, and we are certainly free to observe a fast during this 40-day season before Easter. We can observe it by consciously examining our lives according to the Ten Commandments to identify, confess, and get rid of the sins that we don’t normally take into account. We can observe it by going out of our way to do extra deeds of kindness—as long as we don’t think we’re somehow earning God’s favor or the forgiveness of sins with such deeds. We can also observe it by choosing to avoid certain foods or drinks or desserts, or even by skipping lunch or another meal on certain days during the Lenten season. That sounds “too Catholic” to some Lutherans. But it isn’t “Catholic” at all. It’s completely free and without obligation or regulation. The Lutheran Church has always been in favor of fasting, as long as no one’s conscience is bound to any laws about it and as long as it isn’t seen as an act of worship or as cause for boasting about one’s own piety.

What is the purpose of fasting, then? The purpose is self-discipline, to restrain our bodies so that we can focus on the things of God.

And what are the things of God? It begins with repentance—the kind of repentance Isaiah exemplified in the first reading you heard this evening. For our transgressions are multiplied before You, and our sins testify against us. Now, Isaiah was confessing the great idolatries and open rebellion in which Judah had been living and which would result in their almost-complete destruction by the Babylonians. You may be guilty of such open rebellion against God. Or you may not. But all kinds of sin testify against us, the big ones and the little ones. The ones we know and the ones we don’t know. The outright hatred of God and His Word and the indifference toward God and His Word; the hatred of your neighbor and the indifference toward your neighbor. Pride and despair. Jumping into sin together with the world and longing to have the things that the people of the world have, even if you don’t jump into sin with the world. All of these sins reveal the inner blindness and depravity of a sin-sick soul that will never be entirely cured this side of heaven. All of these sins “testify” against us.

You notice, that’s a courtroom analogy, “testifying.” The thing about appearing in court, is that the judge doesn’t care how many times you’ve obeyed the law. All he’s looking at is if you’ve disobeyed the law, and then he’ll make his ruling accordingly. And there are our sins, testifying against us in God’s courtroom, before the Judge whose only real punishment is hellfire.

And there’s no one to intervene. The facts of the case are indisputable. But what else does Isaiah say? Then the LORD saw it, and it displeased Him That there was no justice. He saw that there was no man, And wondered that there was no intercessor; Therefore His own arm brought salvation for Him; And His own righteousness, it sustained Him. For He put on righteousness as a breastplate, And a helmet of salvation on His head; He put on the garments of vengeance for clothing, And was clad with zeal as a cloak…The Redeemer will come to Zion, and to those who turn from transgression in Jacob,” says the LORD.

A guilty man in court may be very penitent, very sorrowful over crimes he’s committed. That doesn’t change the guilty ruling. At best, it may keep the judge from imposing the maximum sentence. But with God, guilty is guilty, and eternal condemnation is the result for everyone who’s found guilty, penitent or not. Repentance is not the key to forgiveness. Christ is the key to forgiveness; repentance is the path to Christ. Because God, in His mercy, made a way for our guilty verdict to be changed. God, in Christ, became guilty of our crimes, the big ones and the little ones. He allowed our trespasses to testify against Him. And He paid for them all, so that those who are truly guilty might no longer be counted guilty. That’s what makes repentance worthwhile. In the courtroom of the Gospel, the penitent is invited to trust in Christ Jesus and so be declared innocent, righteousness, holy, clean.

So focusing on the things of God begins with a focus on repentance and on the peace of the forgiveness of sins that God grants to all the penitent for Christ’s sake. The season of Lent is meant to drive us back daily, not only to a recognition and confession of our transgressions, but to our Baptism, where all our sins and transgressions were washed away, so that even today, as we continue to trust in Christ, we stand under the protective shelter of Christ’s forgiveness.

But Baptism does more than that. It was a new birth into a new life. Our first birth made us children of this world. But that second birth of Holy Baptism made us children of heaven, children of God. It means that this world, this life, is not our forever home. This world is passing away. Boyfriends, girlfriends, spouses, houses, games, movies, careers, money, pastimes—those things won’t be around for much longer. And so Jesus urges us in the Gospel, Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

How do you lay up treasures in heaven? With Bible reading and study, because the God who speaks to you in Holy Scripture will still be the same God who speaks to you in heaven. With prayer, because the God to whom you speak here without seeing Him will be the same God to whom you speak openly and visibly in heaven. With deeds of love and kindness, because those things prepare you for life in heaven, where love and kindness will be the continual way of life of God’s people. With love and encouragement for your fellow Christians, because they will be there, rejoicing with you in heaven. With a readiness to confess your faith before men and to invite others to know the Gospel that you know, because some of those who hear will believe and will be there in heaven to share eternity with you. With self-denial and earthly sacrifices, because the things you give up here will be multiplied many times over in heaven. With patient endurance of suffering here for Christ’s sake, because your reward in heaven will be great.

Take the time, make the time over the next six weeks to discipline yourselves, to focus on the things of God, to restrain your flesh, to evaluate your life and to get rid of the sins that lurk in your thoughts, words and deeds. Take the time, make the time to live in daily contrition and repentance, to meditate on the things of God, to receive the preaching and the body and blood of Christ, and to serve your neighbor in love. Amen.