Sermon for Second Sunday in Lent - Reminiscere - 1 Thess 4:1-7

 

          Lent 2

                                                                                                1 Thess 4:1-7

                                                                                                3/16/25

 

            The movie “Anora” won five Oscars this month, including Best Picture, Best Actress, and Best Director.  It tells the story of a woman who works at a strip club.  She becomes involved with a rich man, before ultimately his family forces him to abandon her.

            Now, I have not seen “Anora,” nor do I have any intention of doing so.  But multiple reliable sources have described how much of “Anora” is soft-core porn. The movie begins with the scene of topless women as they drape themselves all over male buyers.

            In accepting her award for Best Actress, Mikey Madison said, “I just want to recognize and honor the sex worker community. Yes, I will continue to support and be an ally.  All of the incredible people, the women that I’ve had the privilege of meeting from that community has been one of the highlights of this incredible experience.”

            I doubt that any of you have seen “Anora” – very few people have. In fact, it is one of the lowest grossing Best Picture winners in history, having only made sixteen million dollars in the U.S. But the very fact that it was nominated, much less won an Oscar, shows what our culture is promoting.

            We live in a world that has almost no limits in the use of sex.  People believe they are free to have sex with whomever they choose. It is considered laughable that it should limited to marriage. Sex is for hook ups. Sex is part of dating. Sex is part of people living together. Sex is for two men. Sex is for two women.  Television and movies are awash in sexual imagery that was once unthinkable.  And the unlimited access to pornography online has made it a significant part of our culture.

            This situation is something that is new – it has arisen in the last seventy five years.  But on the other hand, it is nothing new. It is very similar to the first century world in which the apostle Paul lived.  In our text this morning, he provides us with instruction from the Lord about how we are to live in this world.

            Paul had preached the Gospel to the Thessalonians on his second missionary journey. We learn from Acts that Jewish opposition to the Gospel forced Paul to leave Thessalonica much sooner than he had wished. The apostle was concerned about how this young church was doing. 

Paul had sent Timothy to visit them. Now his assistant had returned and brought good news.  Paul says in the previous chapter: “But now that Timothy has come to us from you, and has brought us the good news of your faith and love and reported that you always remember us kindly and long to see us, as we long to see you-- for this reason, brothers, in all our distress and affliction we have been comforted about you through your faith.”

Paul had preached the Gospel to the Thessalonians, and it had changed their lives. The apostle describes in the first chapter, “how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come.”  In the next chapter Paul writes: “For God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us so that whether we are awake or asleep we might live with him.”

In both chapters Paul refers to God’s wrath. The wrath of God is not something our world – and even many Christians – want to talk about.  Instead, the world only wants to know about God’s love – a “love” that really ends up being an affirmation to be and do what they want.

But God’s Word is clear in teaching that our life and world has been ordered according to God’s will – a will that is expressed in his law.  To transgress this will – to break this law – is sin.

God is the holy God in whose presence sinners cannot exist.  Sin evokes God’s wrath – his judgement.  Paul told the Colossians, “Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. On account of these the wrath of God is coming.”  The wrath of God is coming.  It will be revealed in the judgment of the Last Day. The apostle told the Romans, “But because of your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God's righteous judgment will be revealed.”

We know that we are sinners who sin. But by his death on the cross, Jesus rescued us from God’s wrath. He has given us salvation in the forgiveness of sins. And this salvation includes rescue from death, because God raised Jesus from the dead.  The risen Lord has ascended, and as Paul told the Thessalonians, we await God’s Son from heaven.  Jesus Christ will return in glory on the Last Day to raise our bodies from the dead.  For us, the Last Day will not be a day of wrath and judgment.  Instead, it will be the day when God will declare us justified – not guilty – because of Christ.

In our text, Paul talks about how we live because of this.  He begins our text by saying: “Finally, then, brothers, we ask and urge you in the Lord Jesus, that as you received from us how you ought to walk and to please God, just as you are doing, that you do so more and more. For you know what instructions we gave you through the Lord Jesus.”

Paul had passed on to the Thessalonians instruction about how they were to live in a way that pleased God.  He reminded them that he had given this instruction through the Lord Jesus – that this teaching was authoritative for the Church.  The apostle says that they should seek to live in this way more and more.

What is this way? The apostle writes: “For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from sexual immorality; that each one of you know how to control his own body in holiness and honor, not in the passion of lust like the Gentiles who do not know God.”

God’s will for us is that we live in holy ways – ways that are true to his will.  His will is that we keep away from sexual immorality – that we control our bodies in holiness and honor.  Paul contrasts this with the “Gentiles” – those who don’t know God. They live in lustful passion that rejects God.

In our text, Paul reminds the Thessalonians that this is a matter of great importance.  He adds that this is so, “because the Lord is an avenger in all these things, as we told you beforehand and solemnly warned you.” Paul reminds them that, “God has not called us for impurity, but in holiness Therefore whoever disregards this, disregards not man but God, who gives his Holy Spirit to you.” To reject the apostle’s teaching is to reject God – the One who gives the Holy Spirit. It is to reject the life of faith, and to return to the life of unbelief – the life of those who don’t know God.

Paul judged that there was a need to write these words to the Thessalonians.  It is likely a subject in which they were having struggles.  It’s not surprising that they did.  The first century Greco-Roman world assumed that men had sex with their slaves.  The use of prostitutes was considered entirely normal and ordinary.  In fact, the Roman government provided brothels for the poor.  Older men had sex with young men and boys, and there was the practice of homosexuality.  Pornography – graphic depiction of sex acts – was common in the decorations on walls and objects.

The apostle had taught the Thessalonians the truth about sex that God had revealed to Israel, and now, to his Church.  God had created man as male and female.  A husband was joined to his wife in the one flesh union of marriage.  This sexual union of husband and wife was intended to produce children. Sexual intercourse was only to take place within marriage.  Any form of sex outside of marriage was porneia – from which we get the word pornography.  It was sexual immorality.  And as Jesus had taught, to look upon a person other than one’s spouse with lustful intent was sinful.

The Thessalonians were learning what it meant to live in a way that was completely different from the world around them.  Paul was encouraging them to live in this way that pleased God more and more.  This way of living is nothing new to you. It is the teaching of the Sixth Commandment.  It is what you have been taught in the Church.  But now you are being called to live in ways that are completely different from the world around you.

We do this in the recognition that God’s ways are good for us – they are a blessing.  God is the one who created sex. His will – his law – tells us how he ordered it.  When we use it in his ways, it is a blessing.  Within marriage it binds husband and wife together in true intimacy.  In the giving of one to another it produces life – a child that will then be cared for as God intended it in the setting of family.

And if you reject God’s ordering and use sex outside marriage you bring hardship and difficulties to your life.  Sex hinders a person’s ability to evaluate whether the other person is a good choice for a mate. Add in living together and it becomes worse still, with an increased likelihood of divorce.  It leads to children born outside of marriage, and all the challenges that entails for parents and child.  Adultery destroys marriages and families.  The use of pornography rewires the brain in ways that prevent individuals from being able to function sexually in the way for which they were created.

God has called you as his own. He has made you holy through faith in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.  You have been born again of water and the Spirit in Holy Baptism, and so are a new creation in Christ.  The Spirit who has given us this life now leads and enables us to walk in God’s ways.

In our text, the apostle Paul gives us words that we need to hear.  He calls us back to the teaching of the Lord that we have already heard as he says, “Finally, then, brothers, we ask and urge you in the Lord Jesus, that as you received from us how you ought to walk and to please God, just as you are doing, that you do so more and more. For you know what instructions we gave you through the Lord Jesus.”

            The will of God for us is our sanctification – that we live in holy ways – in his ways.  This is true for all areas of life, but in our text Paul focuses on one area that is foundational for the way God created us.  He created us a male and female. He created us for sexual union in marriage.  He created us to have children and to raise them in the setting of family.

This now runs counter to almost everything the world has to say about the use of sex.  But the world’s way is a perversion of God’s gift that leads to harm and hardship.  God’s way yields blessings as we live in Christ.

  

 

      

 

First mid-week Lent sermon - What is the Sacrament of the Altar?

 

     Mid Lent 1

                                                What is the Sacrament

     of the Altar?

     Where is this written?

 

            In the early 50’s A.D., St. Paul wrote to the Corinthians and said: “For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, ‘This is my body which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.’ In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, ‘This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.’”

            Paul reminded the Corinthians about the words he had received, and had passed on to them.  They were the words by which Jesus Christ had instituted the Sacrament of the Altar.  The introduction to those words noted that Jesus had done this “on the night when he was betrayed.” The words indicated that Jesus had done this at a meal.

            The Words of Institution locate Jesus’ action at the Last Supper with his disciples.  This was a Passover meal – a meal by which Israel remembered how God had rescued them from slavery in Egypt.  The blood of the lamb slain, and now eaten in the meal, had marked the houses of the Israelites.  God’s judgment had passed over the Israelites as he killed the first born males of the Egyptians.

            Jesus spoke these words because he was about to be the fulfillment of the Passover lamb.  He would die on the cross on Good Friday.  His blood would be shed to win forgiveness for us. And because of the shedding of his blood, God’s judgment against our sins now passes over us.  Yet Jesus did not just die.  On Easter he rose from the dead as he had told his disciples.  Christ is now the ascended and exalted Lord at God’s right hand.

            At that meal, Jesus took bread and after giving thanks he broke it and gave it to the disciples as he said, “Take eat, this is my body.” In the same way later in the supper he took a cup of wine gave thanks over it and said, “Drink of it all of you, this is my blood.”

            Jesus said that he was giving his body and blood to his disciples to eat and drink.  Now if you or I said this, the hearer would immediately have to begin trying to figure out what this means. After all, bread is bread, and wine is wine.  It can’t be the body and blood of a person.

            However, the One who was speaking these words was the Lord Jesus – the One who is true God and true man. He was the One who had shown he has the power to raise the dead, heal diseases, and still storms.  He has the power to do with words what no one else can. 

            Eat the body of Jesus. Drink the blood of Jesus.  Christ’s words remain challenging today.  Yet we must recognize that they were utterly shocking to the Jewish disciples.  God had forbidden Israel to drink or eat blood in any way.  Yet now Jesus was saying that he was giving them his blood to drink. The shocking nature of these words leads us to understand that Jesus was doing something completely new – something that had never happened before.

            Jesus says that he is giving you his body and blood in the Sacrament.  These words are clear and unambiguous.  One can only deny this by saying that Jesus couldn’t or wouldn’t do this. The former is a denial of the power of the Son of God. The latter contradicts the Incarnation itself and the located means by which God dealt with his people in the Old Testament through the tabernacle and the sacrifices.

            Jesus declares that he is giving us his body and blood.  The words just say it.  And when we look elsewhere in Scripture we find the same thing.  Paul told the Corinthians, “The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ?”  The wine in the cup is a participation in the blood of Christ. The bread is a participation in the body of Christ. In the same manner, Paul went on to say, “Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord.”

            The words of Scripture just say it. And from the beginning, the Church believed it.  Ignatius, the bishop of Antioch, wrote around 105 A.D. about heretics in his area: “They stay away from the Eucharist and prayer, because they do not confess that the Eucharist is the flesh of our Savior Jesus Christ which suffered for our sins, which the Father raised up by His goodness.”

            For 1500 years the Church believed nothing other than what our Lord says – that he is giving us his body and blood. It was only in the sixteenth century that some Christians began to deny this.  They denied that our Lord was working a miracle, and maintained instead that the bread and wine is only a symbol – that it is nothing more than bread and wine that makes us think about something.  They made the absurd argument that Church had immediately gotten it completely wrong … and no one had noticed. They said the entire Church had been wrong for 1500 years until they had noticed that Jesus’ words don’t really mean what they say.

            Jesus held in his hands bread and wine.  Today, in the celebration of the Sacrament, we continue to use bread and wine.  All can see that it looks like bread and wine.  It tastes like bread and wine.  That is because it is bread and wine. The apostle Paul says so when he speaks of how Christians “eat of the bread and drink of the cup.”

            Yet because of our Lord’s words it is not only bread and wine. It is bread and wine being used by Christ to give us his body and blood. The Small Catechism says that the Sacrament is “the true body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ under the bread and wine.”  The preposition “under,” or as it sometimes said, “in, with, and under,” confesses the truth that Christ is using this bread and wine in a way that only he can.

            Yes it is bread and wine.  But that is not what makes it unique, and that is not where Christ sets our focus.  Instead he tell us that this bread and wine is his true body and blood.  Bread and wine. Body and blood. It is both at the same time. The Lutheran church uses the phrase “sacramental union” to describe the fact that bread and wine, and body and blood, are both present and received by us.

            How can bread and wine be the body and blood of the Christ at the same time?  This is the mystery of the Lord’s working in the Sacrament.  We can’t explain it, but from very early the Church used something in order to help her think about it - and that is Jesus Christ himself.  The incarnate Lord is true God and true man at the same time. As the divine and human natures are joined in the personal union of Christ, so the bread and wine, and body and blood of Christ are joined in the sacramental union.

            It is Christ’s word that causes his body and blood to be present.  Jesus’ words do what they say. The Large Catechism states, “And just as we said of baptism that it is not mere water, so we say here, too, that the sacrament is bread and wine, but not mere bread and wine such as is served at the table.  Rather, it is bread and wine set within God’s Word and bound to it.  It is the Word, I say, that makes this a sacrament and distinguishes it from ordinary bread and wine, so that it is called and truly is Christ’s body and blood.”

            Christ’s words spoken at the Last Supper did this.  And Christ’s words spoken today by the pastor continue to have the same power.  The speaking of these Words of Institution is called the consecration.  Before the consecration it is plain bread and wine on the altar.  After the consecration, it is the body and blood of Christ on the altar. The bread and wine do not cease to be present, but now it is the true body and blood of Christ under the bread and wine.

            It is Jesus’ words that cause his body and blood to be present in the Sacrament.  It is Christ’s action and not ours. This is important because it means that our Lord’s words cause the presence of his body and blood no matter whether you believe it or not.  Our faith receives the Sacrament as a blessing, but it is not reason that the body and blood are there.  This instead is entirely caused by Christ’s words.

            When the Lord instituted the Sacrament, he told the disciples to “take and eat.” He told them, “take and drink.”  The Sacrament is a meal – it was given for us to eat and drink. Our Lord did not institute it so that the body of Christ could be put on display, or so that it could be paraded around as it was in the medieval Corpus Christi procession.  Instead, the crucified, risen, and ascended Lord give it to his people to eat and drink.  He gives it as a great blessing and benefit.  But in order to speak of that, we will have to wait until next week.

 

 

           

                

Sermon for the First Sunday in Lent - Invocabit - Mt 4:1-11

 

          Lent 1

                                                                                                Mt 4:1-11

                                                                                                3/9/25

 

            In Matthew chapter eight, Jesus stills the storm on the Sea of Galilee.  When he and the disciples arrive at the other side of the lake, they are in the country of the Gadarenes.  There our Lord encounters two demon possessed men who live among the tombs and are so fierce that no one can pass that way.

            When they see Jesus they cry out, “What have you to do with us, O Son of God? Have you come here to torment us before the time?” Now there are two interesting things about this.  First, the demons know exactly who Jesus is. They know that he is the Son of God.

            But the second thing is that they are confused.  The Son of God is here in the world, and yet it is not the Last Day.  They know that the Son is the One who will execute the final judgment – and that this will mean judgment for them.  They will be cast into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.

            However, the Son of God is here in this world and that’s not happening.  He is not executing the final judgment upon them.  They perceive the power of Jesus.  The know that the kingdom of God – the reign of God - is present in him. They can’t resist him and beg, “If you cast us out, send us away into the herd of pigs.” But they don’t understand what is happening because they don’t expect the Son of God to be here like this.

            We find a great contrast in our Gospel lesson today.  Here, Jesus encounters the devil. The devil is the ruler of the demons, and his understanding is very different from his minions.  He understands that the Son of God is in the world to carry out the Father’s will. And in the temptation of Jesus, he attempts to prevent this.

            Our text begins with the words: “Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.” The word “then” is very important, because it connects our text back to what has just happened.  It tells us that this event must be understood in light of what has preceded.

            What has happened is that Jesus has been baptized.  Jesus, the sinless Son of God, submits to John the Baptist’s baptism of repentance.  The heavens are opened to Jesus, and he sees the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him. And God the Father says, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.”

            The Father declares that the man who has been baptized is the Son of God. He is Immanuel – God with us. But the baptism also tells us something very surprising.  The descent of the Spirit and the Father’s word that this is the One with whom he is well pleased identifies Jesus as the Servant of the Lord prophesied by Isaiah.  He is the One upon whom the Lord will place the iniquity of us all. He is the One who will walk the way of suffering and service as he takes the place of sinners – as he takes our sins as his own.  He is the One who will go to the cross.

            The Spirit had descended upon Jesus at his baptism. Now the Spirit leads Jesus into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.  Jesus is the Son who is Israel reduced to One.  He fulfills God’s purpose for the nation and now faces temptation where Israel had failed.  He goes to the wilderness to be the obedient Son who carries out the Father’s saving will.

            We learn in our text that after fasting forty days and forty nights, Jesus was hungry.  This is a reminder that while Jesus is true God, he is also true man.  He experienced the physical hardships that we do.  He became tired. He became hungry.

            The devil came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.”  Like the demons, the devil knew exactly who Jesus was.  But unlike the demons, he understands that Jesus is here to carry out the Father’s will – the work that he has just undertaken in his baptism.  He is here to serve. And so the devil tempts Jesus to use his power to serve himself.  He seeks to derail Jesus’ ministry by making him self serving, instead of the One who serves us.

            However, our Lord knows what his mission is.  He knows the Father’s will that has been set forth in Scripture.  And so he responds with words from Deuteronomy as he answers, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’” It is God’s word that provides guidance for Jesus’ life.  Jesus would work the miracle of providing bread – but he would do it for others as he fed thousands. He had not come to serve himself.

            Next the devil took Jesus to Jerusalem and set him on the pinnacle of the temple.  He said to him, "If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written, ‘He will command his angels concerning you,’ and ‘On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone.’”

            The devil tempted Jesus to force God to perform a dramatic miracle in the midst of the city. This is an action that would bring glory and acclaim to Jesus.  He even quoted Scripture as he used the words of Psalm 91 to justify the idea – words that we sang in the Gradual this morning.

            Jesus says in the Gospel of John that the devil is a liar, and the father of lies. He uses God’s word to promote lies by twisting it to his own purpose.  We hear this in our Old Testament lesson today as he misquotes God when he says to Eve, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?”  We find it in our text because when he quotes Psalm 91 he leaves out the phrase “to guard you in all your ways.”

            God would guard and keep Christ in the ways that he had set before him as the Servant of the Lord.  Jesus had come to walk in those ways – not in a way that he created for himself.  And so Jesus responded to the devil, “Again it is written, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’”  Jesus would not test God by demanding action that brought glory to the Son. Instead, he would walk in the way of service.

            Finally, the devil took our Lord to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory.

He said to Jesus, “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.”  The devil offered Jesus the easy way to power and glory.  He could have it all, if he would just worship a false god.

            But Jesus was the obedient Son. He would not depart from God’s will.  He would not avoid the way of suffering.  And so he said, “Be gone, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve.’”  Then the devil left Jesus, and angels came and were ministering to him.

            In our text, Jesus defeats the devil.  Our Lord overcomes him as he remains fixed on the way of service and suffering in obedience to the Father.  Yet this was not the end of the devil’s assaults.

After Peter confesses that Jesus is the Christ, Matthew tells us, “From that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised.” Our Lord declared that he would suffer and die to carry out God’s salvation for us.

But Peter responds by taking Jesus aside and rebuking him as he says, “Far be it from you, Lord! This shall never happen to you.”  Peter’s worldly ideas turn his voice into that of the devil.  And so Jesus turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me. For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.”

During this season of Lent we are preparing to remember our Lord’s Passion – his suffering and death for us.  Even as he hung on the cross, the tempting voice of the devil could be heard.  Those passing by mocked him as they said, “If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross.”

But Jesus was faithful to the very end.  He was the obedient Son who offered himself as the ransom for us all.  He received God’s wrath against our sin as he cried out, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”  He served us as he died on the cross for our sins.

Jesus’ death appeared to mean that he was not God’s Son.  But St. Paul told the Romans that he “was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord.”  God raised Jesus from the dead on the third day. Jesus was vindicated as the Son who had been obedient to the Father.  Christ had passed through death in order to defeat it and begin the resurrection of the Last Day.

On the mountain, the devil offered our Lord the kingdoms of the world and their glory if he would fall down and worship him.  Jesus rejected the devil and continued on the way that led to the suffering and death of the cross.  But after he had risen from the dead our Lord had his disciples meet him on another mountain.  There he declared to them that, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.”  The way of obedience to the Father; the way of suffering had led to exaltation for Christ.  This is the exaltation that he possesses as the ascended Lord who is seated at the right hand of the Father. This is the authority with which he will confront all when he returns in glory on the Last Day to judge the living and the dead.

In our text we see that Jesus overcame the temptations of the devil. He walked the way of suffering and service as he fulfilled the Father’s saving will for us.  Yet in his resurrection Christ has shown that this way of the cross leads to glory.

 Jesus said, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.”  Christ calls us to follow him in the way of the cross. This means that we confess our Lord before the world by what we say and do.  It means that walk in the way of the Lord and his Word, and not in the way of the world. We do so, even when this draws the world’s rejection and contempt – even when it means that we endure hardship and suffering.

We do so by the power of Christ’s Spirit.  We do so in the knowledge that our Lord has already shown us where the way of the cross leads.  It leads to eternal life and glory with the risen Lord who has already walked that way for us.   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                 

 

 

Sermon for Ash Wednesday -Mt 6:16-21

 

          Ash Wednesday

                                                                                                Mt 6:16-21

                                                                                                3/5/25

 

            Why are you doing it?  That’s what Jesus’ words in this portion of the Sermon on the Mount lead us to consider.  Our Lord begins this chapter by saying, “Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven.” 

            “Practicing your righteousness” means the way people live the faith – the habits and actions by which the people of God live because of faith.  Jesus takes up three different practices that were part of the piety of Judaism.  Just before our text he addresses the giving of alms to the poor, and prayer. Here in our text, he takes up fasting. 

            Jesus says that in each case, people should not do these things for the purpose of being seen by others.  They should not be done in a way that is meant to draw attention to oneself, and so gain honor in the eyes of others.

            So, people are not to make a show of giving to the poor.  Jesus says, “But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.” Believers are not to make a show out of praying in public. Our Lord says, “But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.”

            Christ says in our text: “And when you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward.”  Jesus says that people should not try and call attention to the fact that they are fasting.  They should not try to advertise their pious behavior in order to get noticed by others.  Instead Jesus says, “But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, that your fasting may not be seen by others but by your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.”

            Jesus’ words have sometimes caused Christians to question what we have just done tonight.  Ash Wednesday, of course, derives its name from the ashes that were just placed on the foreheads of many of the people who are here.  You will leave church wearing on your forehead a visible display of Christian piety.  When people receive ashes at a service during the day, they display the ash in form of the cross as they are at work or go to the store.

            God’s Word certainly teaches us that we are to practice the faith in ways that are meant to be seen by the world.  We confess Jesus Christ before others by what we do and say.  Christians wear jewelry such as a crucifix or a cross in order to confess faith in Christ.  Christians pray aloud before a meal at home and in public for the same reason.  The ashes on the forehead in the form of a cross confess that a person’s sins are forgiven because of Jesus Christ.  That is something we should never be hesitant to confess before the world.

            When Jesus says, “Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them” he is addressing the matter of the heart.  He raises the question of the true motivation for the action.  Are acts of piety done in order to confess Christ, or in order to call attention to ourselves?

            This matter of the heart becomes clear in the second half of our text.  There Jesus says, “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.” 

Our Lord warns against seeking to gain treasures on earth.  He points out that the rewards of this world are all temporary and perishable. They can be destroyed or lost.  Instead, Christ says we should lay up treasures in heaven.  We should invest in those things that are eternal – we should focus our attention on the Means of Grace. We should seek to bring forth the fruits of faith by which we give thanks and glory to Christ.

Jesus explains the reason for this when he says, “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”  What you treasure shows the true orientation of your life.  It shows what really matters.  Ultimately, the Lord sets before us the First Commandment, “You shall have no other gods.”  Our actions tell the true state of our heart.  The things we value most; the things that occupy our thoughts the most; the things in which we invest the most time and money, these are our true gods.  As Christ says just after our text, “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.”

Our Lord reveals to us that we have a desperate heart problem.  He says later in the Gospel, “For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander.”  Ever since the Fall, these are the things that are inside of us. These are the things that come out in what we think, do, and say.

We are eager to downplay the presence of sin in our life.  But Jesus, the holy Son of God, leads us to a true diagnosis.  He says, “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.’ But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment.” Our Lord says that it is not merely the action of harming another that is sin, but the presence of angry thoughts.

Our Lord says, “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart.” Adultery and sexual immorality occur not simply by the physical act.  Sexual sin occurs when we look upon the opposite sex with lustful desire and intent.  And of course, this is the case anytime we choose to view pornography.

Ash Wednesday is a day of repentance which begins Lent - a season of repentance. During Lent we prepare to remember the Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ.  We prepare for Holy Week which will culminate on Good Friday when Jesus died on the cross and was buried in a tomb.

Paul told the Colossians that in Jesus, the Son of God, we have redemption – the forgiveness of sins.  Jesus died on the cross as the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.  He was the sacrifice that has given us forgiveness before God.  As we prepare to remember this death, we confess the reason why Christ died for us.  We repent and confess our sins.  We admit our sins before God.

Just before the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew tells us that Jesus took up residence in Capernaum as the base for his mission work. Then we read: “From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.’” Jesus called people to repent. He called upon them to confess their sin to God.  He did so because in Jesus, the kingdom of heaven – the reign of God was at hand.

Our Lord begins the Sermon on the Mount by saying, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”  Christ describes those who are blessed – those who are receiving God’s end time salvation.  Who are the ones who are blessed in this way? They are the “poor in spirit.” They are the spiritually poor – the ones who know that they are spiritually destitute; that they have no spiritual resources of their own.  They are you, as you confess your sin before God.

But Jesus says that the spiritually poor are blessed “for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”  You have received God’s saving reign because Jesus Christ died on the cross for your sins and then rose from the dead.  Christ’s Spirit has called you to faith through his Word and Baptism.  You have received the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit.

In yourself you are a sinner.  But because you have been baptized into Christ, you are a saint in God’s eyes.  You are a holy one because of Jesus’ death for you.  You are justified – already now you know that the verdict of the Last Day will be not guilty.  St. Paul told the Romans, “Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Repentance means that we confess our sin to God, and receive forgiveness through faith in Christ.  But that is not all it means.  Repentance also means that now we turn away from that sin.  When the John the Baptist preached repentance, he said, “Bear fruit in keeping with repentance.” 

We return to our baptism in faith for there we died with Christ, and by the work of his Spirit a new man comes forth to live before God in righteousness and purity.  Paul told the Romans, “We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.”

And so Paul told the Colossians, “Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.” He reminds us that we have put off the old man with its practices and have put on the new man, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.

Because this is so, Paul tells us what we should seek to do.  He says, “Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive.”

On this Ash Wednesday we repent. We confess our sins before God.  We confess that we are the spiritually poor.  And then we receive God’s forgiveness as we believe in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ for us.  We rejoice that we have received the reign of God. We are justified. We are saints before God.  And then by the power of Christ’s Spirit we turn away from that sin as we live in Christ.