The first thing you may notice about
tonight’s service is that the message is coming a lot earlier than it usually
does. That’s intentional. When we plan a Sunday service, we
generally try to plan it so that the main focus of the service is the Bible
reading and the message. Tonight, though, the message is not the focus of
this service.
I mean, I hope this’ll be a good message. I hope it’ll be
helpful to you and that you’ll find some value in it. But the focus of
tonight’s service is on repentance. The focus tonight is on our sins, our
need to confess our sins to God, and our need to ask for and receive God’s
forgiveness. The focus tonight is on our need to change our lives.
That’s what’s important, much more than the message.
Another thing that may have occurred to you is that we have an Ash
Wednesday service every year. We have had for a long time, probably as
long as this church has been here. That means every year at this
time--and I hope at other times, too, but especially at this time--we confess
our sins to God, we ask for God’s forgiveness, and we ask for God to help us
change our lives.
Now, logically, if every year we ask God to help us change our
lives, it must not be working very well, right? I mean, if we’d really
changed our lives last year, if we really were now God’s people, we would not
have to do this again, would we? The fact that we’re here again this year
means, pretty much by definition, that we failed to change last year. And
the year before, and the year before that, and the year before that, and on and
on and on.
Why is that? I mean, I’m assuming that we’re serious about
this. And I’m not just saying that, I really do think most of us are
serious about it. Most of us know what our sins are. We know how
far short we fall of who God wants us to be. We know we need God’s
forgiveness. We know we need to change our lives. And yet, we never
seem to do it.
Some of us do, to an extent. That extent varies a lot, of
course. There are some of us whose lives truly have changed, who are much
different people than they used to be. There are others of us who’ve made
a few changes around the margins, who may have managed with God’s help to
improve ourselves in a few areas, but who have not had any serious change of
heart. And there are others of us who never really change at all, who
continue year after year to be pretty much the same people we’ve always been.
Why?
I don’t think it’s because we don’t want to change. I mean,
that may be true for some people, but I think the fact that we all took the
time to come out tonight and come to this Ash Wednesday service means we really
do want to change. After all, it would’ve been a lot easier for us all to
just stay home. The fact that we’re here, that we’re going to confess our
sins and ask for God’s forgiveness, means we are serious about wanting to
change.
I think what happens a lot of times is that life just kind of
beats us down. We get busy. We get tired. We get distracted.
After all, if we’re serious about changing our lives, that’s not going to
be easy. It’s going to take a lot of effort. It’s going to take a
lot of time. It’s going to take a lot of focus from us.
And when we get busy, when we get tired, when we get distracted,
sometimes it seems like it’s more effort than we can make, more time than we
can take, and more focus than we can manage. And so we slide back into
living the same old way we always have. It’s easier. It’s simpler.
And besides, we tell ourselves, it’s not like my old lifestyle was so
bad. I was not hurting anyone. I was not cheating anyone. In
fact, I’ve been doing some good things. And so we don’t change much of
anything, not because we don’t want to, but because we just don’t really think
we can.
Which, of course, brings us to our Bible reading for tonight.
A man comes up to Jesus. He asks Jesus a question. It’s a
very good question, I think. In fact, if you or I were able to talk to
Jesus, it might be one of the first questions we’d ask. He asks Jesus
what good thing he has to do to get eternal life.
Now, the fact that the man asked Jesus this question shows that he
knew, just as we know, that he needed to change his life. In fact, I
think it shows that he wanted to change his life, just as we come here tonight
wanting to change our lives.
And Jesus gives him an answer. He tells him certain things
to do, based on the Ten Commandments. And the guys says what we might
say. He says, basically, “Yeah, yeah, I know all that, but it’s not enough.”
In other words, he knows, again just as we know, that our current
lifestyle is not enough. He’s thinking, just as we think, I’m not
hurting anyone. I’m not cheating anyone. In fact, I’ve been doing
some good things. But it’s not enough. I know I’m missing
something. I know I need to change my life.
And Jesus tells him, yes, you do need to change your life.
He tells him, you need to sell your possessions, give to the poor, and
then come follow me. And we’re told the man went away sad, because he had
great wealth.
Now, the point here is not that we
have to sell everything and give to the poor. Most of us, including me,
could probably make do with less and give more to the poor, and it would
probably be good if we did, but that’s not the point for tonight.
The point is that if we truly want
to change our lives, we need to get rid of everything that gets in the way of
serving God. We need to get rid of the distractions. We need to get
rid of the things that take our time and our effort away from serving God.
For this man it was possessions.
That may or may not be what it is for you or for me. It could be
possessions, but it could be a lot of things. It could be work. It
could be a hobby that’s taking up too much of our time. It could be too
much enjoyment of free time.
It could be more than one thing, of course. It could even be
something that’s not a bad thing in and of itself. In fact, it could be
something that seems like a good thing, but that has gotten too important in
our lives and is taking our time and attention and effort away from changing
our lives and being the people God wants us to be.
And the thing is, we don’t necessarily have to totally do without
those things. Jesus told the man “sell your possessions and give to the
poor”. He did not say he had to get rid of all his possessions and
give all his money to the poor. Some translations say that, but
from what I’ve been able to learn that’s not accurate, and I think it takes
away from Jesus’ point.
Jesus was not saying that all possessions are bad. Jesus was
saying that anything, including things that are good or things that are
neutral, become bad when we lose our perspective on them. Anything
becomes bad when it becomes more important to us than it should be.
Anything becomes bad when it distracts us from making the changes we need
to make in our lives. Anything becomes bad when it gets in the way of you
and me becoming the people God wants us to be.
I don’t know what those things are for you. I need to think
some more about what they are for me. I have some ideas, though.
I’ll bet you do, too. And as you and I think about it some more,
I’ll bet we’ll get more ideas about things that have become more important to
us than they should be and that are distracting us from making the changes we
need to make in our lives.
Thinking of those things, of course, is only part of the battle.
It’s an important part, but the really important part comes next.
It’s the part the man who talked to Jesus could not do. It’s
actually being willing to make do with less of those things that have become
too important. It’s actually either de-emphasizing or totally getting rid
of those things that are getting in the way of us changing our lives and being the
people Jesus wants us to be.
The man Jesus was talking to could not do it. The disciples
wondered if anyone could. And Jesus says no. No one can. Not
on our own. The only way we can do it is with God. All things are
possible with God.
So, as we enter this season of Lent, let’s ask God for help.
Let’s ask God to help us get rid of the distractions. Let’s ask God
for help to help us get rid of all the things that get in the way of our
serving God. It’s not going to be easy. It’s going to take a lot of
effort. It’s going to take a lot of time. It’s going to take a lot
of focus from us. We cannot do it on our own. The only way we can
do it is with God. All things are possible with God.
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