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Ash Wednesday 2019

3/6/2019

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Tonight we begin the season of Lent with a word God’s people have heard for nearly 2,800 years: Return.  Since the Prophet Joel wrote those words from the Lord, “Return to Me with all your heart,” God’s people have heard them and responded in various ways.  Some, in faith, have done what God asked and repented of their sin and found forgiveness.  Others, like Pharaoh, have hardened their hearts and ignored the call.  Tonight God calls out to us all: Return.
This call, return, is at the same time Law and Gospel.  It is, first, a harsh word of Law in God’s mouth.  Return.  You’ve gone too far.  Your sin has carried you down evil paths.  You have been left, like the man traveling from Jerusalem to Jericho found by the Good Samaritan, beaten and bloodied and on the brink of death.  Only this death isn’t the death of the body, it’s the death of the soul.  We’re not all that bad off physically, so we think everything is going well.  But God’s call, return, rings out tonight and throughout this season. 
 
Return bids you examine your life and conduct.  Your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit.  Where have you carried God?  Down what unsavory paths have you gone?  A few clicks of the mouse or taps of the phone screen may not seem that bad, but the images that pop up and are now seared into your mind aren’t wholesome.  A few whispers about that person you just don’t like don’t seem all that bad, but are those words building up or destroying the Body of Christ?  How easily have you given up in the fight against the devil, the world, and your sinful nature?  How often is the easier choice giving into sin instead of fleeing from it, as God tells us to do? 
 
None of us get off the hook.  God’s call, return, is spoken to all—male, female, rich, poor, young, old.  God is indiscriminate in His call to return.  And if you think you don’t have that much to repent for, that you haven’t turned that far away, don’t be fooled.  “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.”  Remember also what the writer to the Hebrews said: “How much worse punishment, do you think, will be deserved by the one who has trampled underfoot the Son of God, and has profaned the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has outraged the Spirit of grace? For we know Him who said, ‘Vengeance is Mine; I will repay.’ And again, ‘The Lord will judge His people.’ It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God” (Heb. 10:29-31).
 
Thanks be to God His call to return is also a word of Gospel, a promise of grace.  As that call rings out, return to Me, it comes with the promise of pardon and forgiveness.  When God calls you to return to Him, He promises to receive you.  “Though great our sins, yet greater still is God’s abundant favor.”  He has not told you to return to Him so that He can punish you, but so He can forgive you, so He can heal you, so He can give you life.
 
His call to return, to repent is proof of His mercy.  It is the validation of what was spoken by prophets and apostles and evangelists, that God does not desire the death of a sinner.  The call to return is proof that God wants to treat you like the Prodigal Son.  Yes, you squandered the gifts given to you, yes, you lived as if God did not matter and as if you mattered most, but He still wants to forgive you.  He has given forgiveness and gifts lavishly and continues to do so.  He has killed His Son to bring you back into His household. 
 
And that is precisely the reason that after Joel calls us to return he can say that God relents over disaster.  That’s because all the disaster, all the harm has been poured out on Jesus.  As we journey through this Season of Lent we journey with Our Lord to His cross and death.  You will stand here 44 days from now and hear about what Jesus received in your place.  You will hear about beatings, mockery, and God-forsakenness, and know that it was for you, Jesus taking your place.  Every adulterous act, every vile word, every curse, every covetous moment of your life was placed on Jesus and was put to death.  The Father’s righteous wrath over your sin was visited on Jesus.  And it was all placed on Him so that when you return to the Lord your God you receive grace, mercy, steadfast love, and pardon for every sin. 
 
And just like the Prodigal Son received gifts upon His return, you receive a Gift as well.  You receive the Holy Spirit, poured out upon you, to make His home in you.  By His ministry, by His work through Word and Sacrament you are given an increased desire and ability to do the right thing when sin and temptation are breathing down your neck.  When the devil threatens to gain the upper hand, the Holy Spirit fights for you, speaks to you the promises of God, and blesses you with the strength to walk away.  It is the Holy Spirit who guides you through this Lenten journey as you do battle with the devil and your sinful flesh, as you mortify it and return to the Lord your God.
 
Even if your flesh wins out—and it will—there is pardon for you.  The Holy Spirit will do His job of reminding you to return, to confess, to come in contrition.  And God the Father will joyfully and gladly do His work of absolving you, of counting His Son’s righteousness as your own. 
 
Tonight, do what God’s people have done for some 7,000 years.  Return.  Repent.  You will not find wrath.  You will find a God who is slow to anger and abounding in steadfast, forgiving, life-giving love.
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    Why does the Pastor preach?  Scripture explains that the role of preaching the Word of God is how saving faith is created: “How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed?  And how are they to believe in Him of whom they have never heard?  And how are they to hear without someone preaching?  And how are they to preach unless they are sent?  As it is written, ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!’ … So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the Word of Christ” (Romans 10:14-17).  The Augsburg Confession, seeing this connection between the Preaching Office and saving faith, summarizes Scripture on the Office of the Holy Ministry in this way: “To obtain [saving, justifying] faith, God instituted the Office of Preaching, giving the Gospel and the Sacraments.  Through these, as through means, He gives the Holy Spirit who produces faith, where and when He wills, in those who hear the Gospel.  It teaches that we have a gracious God, not through our merit but through Christ’s merit, when we so believe” (AC V 1-3).  The whole reason the Pastor preaches is so saving faith can be created, so we know that “we have a gracious God” who loves us and has saved us from our sin by the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
     
    Preaching at Epiphany is centered in this Gospel of Jesus Christ.  Every sermon approaches the Scripture Readings for the day by explaining what they mean by way of confessional Lutheran hermeneutics and applying them to our lives as Christians in the Church and in the world. 
     
    The Sunday Readings used at Epiphany are from the Church’s historic lectionary, or calendar of readings, that has been in place for nearly 1,000 years.  We use this lectionary because we are an historic Church and we acknowledge the value of what has been handed down to us.  We use this as a way of obeying the Fourth Commandment, honoring our fathers in the faith and trusting their wisdom that assembled this annual cycle of readings.  It also helps with the training of adults and children alike as we come back to the same Readings year after year and learn from them.  We strive for a deep knowledge of key passages of Scripture rather than a limited knowledge of a breadth of Readings.  Though a system like this is neither commanded nor forbidden in Holy Scripture, we voluntarily use it to shape our time together, to ensure that we learn from the whole counsel of God, not just the Pastor’s favorite verses. 
     
    May these sermons be beneficial to you for growth in knowledge of the Word of God and a stronger faith in Jesus Christ, your Savior!  They provided for devotional use and for those who might like to reference them.

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Saved by God's Grace through Faith in Jesus Christ

For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.
Ephesians 2:8-9

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