Easter and Every Preacher's Dilemma

Matthew 5:48 "Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect."

Going through my journal this week I found an entry that I wrote after I attended a church many months ago. It was a good experience. The church was packed with people of all ages; it had a better measure of racial diversity than many churches; the folks were friendly; there seemed to be a strong education program; the music was great. The sermon was biblical and well delivered. Everything was good. In fact, it was too good.

I left the service feeling that somehow I was not quite living up to the expectations of the preacher or the church. The more I thought about the experience the more I realized that I didn’t believe that the church or the preacher was living up to the standards that had been set either. No one could be quite that good. So, if the person or group asking me to live in a certain way, doesn’t seem to be living that way or able to live that way, then how hopeful is the message? How honest is the message? It is every preacher’s dilemma!

Jesus set the goal high—even higher than the church I visited. He said, “Be perfect . . .” (Matthew 5:48) The difference between Jesus and all other preachers is that he was perfect, and only in him, can I be made perfect. 

The essential element in the message of the New Testament is that I cannot make myself perfect. No matter how much I want to be or how hard I try, I cannot reach perfection. (1 John 1:8-10) My standing before God is based on Jesus’ perfection, not mine. He takes away my sin, and in him I am made righteous. At the same time, the goal is there, and I am called to grow in faith and good works toward that goal of perfection. Every preacher’s dilemma is to point toward the goal while making it clear that we live by grace and not by works. (Ephesians 2:8-10)

The Resurrection reminds us that we are dying. We will be dead. All of us, no matter how hard we try to avoid it. The wages of sin is death, and death comes to all of us. The good news is that God has come in Christ to die with us, and Christ is risen from the dead. In him we have the promise of resurrection. In him our sins are removed. In him we are made perfect. In Christ we can stand before God and enter eternal life. Somehow on Easter Sunday the preacher will find a way—if he or she preaches the Gospel—to make it clear that our hope is not in ourselves but only in Christ. 

Ash Wednesday Reflection from Luke 15

LUKE 15:17   ". . . he came to his senses."

Some years ago then Vice-President Joe Biden made a speech on Ash Wednesday. He had been to church earlier in the day where his forehead had been marked in ashes with the sign of the cross. Two TV broadcasters covering the Vice-President noted the smudge on his forehead. They speculated on air to one another and to the multitude of people listening about the cause of the smudge. Perhaps, one of them said, it was a bruise from an injury. Neither of them was aware that it was Ash Wednesday. During a commercial break someone explained the sign of the cross and the significance of the day.

In 2017 Ash Wednesday comes on March 1. I grew up in a church that did not observe Ash Wednesday, so, perhaps, I could have made the same mistake in my youth. I don’t want to be hard on the two commentators. Their ignorance, however, does suggest something broader in significance to me. The idea of repentance is not as appreciated as I would hope. People—Protestant and Catholic—are more likely to enjoy Mardi Gras than Ash Wednesday.

Mardi Gras refers to the celebration that occurs before Ash Wednesday and the season of Lent. On a superficial level the idea of carnival does sound better than the emphasis on repentance that starts with Ash Wednesday and carries through the 40 day season of Lent (Old English word for spring). Who wouldn’t rather celebrate than fast?

However, the message of repentance, though solemn is a source of profound joy to a believer. In repentance we turn away from our acknowledged sin to ask forgiveness of God. The message of repentance is that we can change. In God’s grace we are invited to move toward him. The gift of repentance is God’s welcome. It is the prodigal son (Luke 15) coming to himself, rising from debauchery and making the return home to a father whose arms are open to embrace him.

Perhaps, to the reader’s surprise, I have stopped observing Ash Wednesday and Lent. Not because I am ignorant of the Church Year and not because I devalue repentance. it’s just the opposite. Repentance in my life is a daily theme, not a seasonal one. In these later years I see the wisdom of early Free Church teachers who recognized the beauty, the promise, the power, the wonder of God’s grace in offering us the gift of repentance. Many times a day I repent. Prompted by the Spirit, I “come to myself” (Luke 15:17), and I turn toward the Lord that I may return to him. This gift of repentance is too precious for one day or for one season.