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Thursday, March 2, 2017

Real Change

This is the message given at the Ash Wednesday services in the United Methodist churches of the Wheatland Parish.  The Bible verses used are Matthew 19:16-26.
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, when you think about it, 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.
Now some of us do, at least to an extent.  What that extent is varies a lot, of course.  There are some of us whose lives truly have changed, who are much different people than we 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 of us, but I think the fact that everybody here took the time to come out tonight and come to this Ash Wednesday service means that everybody here really does want to change.  After all, it would’ve been a lot easier for us all to just stay home.  The fact that we’re all 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, it’s not an easy thing to really change our lives, even if we’re serious about wanting to.  It takes a lot of effort.  It’s takes a lot of time.  It takes a lot of focus. 
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 guy 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 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 not even sure what all of them are for me.  I have some ideas, though.  And if you’re honest with yourself, you do, too.  And as you and I think about it some more, 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 about 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 won’t be easy.  It’ll take a lot of effort.  It’ll take a lot of time.  It’ll take a lot of focus from us.  In fact, it takes so much that we cannot do it on our own.  The only way we can do it is with God.  By letting God’s Holy Spirit come into our hearts and into our souls.  By giving up our own will and surrendering our lives to God’s will.
Is that easy?  No.  But we can do it.  In fact, if we want to really change, this is the only way we can do it—by surrendering our lives to God.  Because remember, for human beings this is impossible.  It’s only possible with God.  All things are possible with God.

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