1 AN AWESOME GOD: UNHOLY PEOPLE ROMANS 3:10-20, 23-24 FEBRUARY 18, 1015 ASH WEDNESDAY Do you ever feel like don t measure up? I think we all feel that at one time or another. Critical parents, critical boss, critical spouse Maybe you suffered put downs at some point in your life. You were so ugly as a child they had to tie a bone to your neck to get the dog to play with you. Our culture sends messages that suggest we don t measure up. The media is populated by stick skinny women and actors with six-pack abs who spend hours a day working out with trainers and have diet consultants. I like to joke that I don t need a six-pack. I carry a CASE. But I feel it, too. And then there are the Hallmark Channel romances. I don t measure up. Neither do you. And how much do we see around us that tells us you don t make enough money or have fine enough stuff. So people pile up mounds of financial debt trying to get more and better, but it s never quite enough. In response to this feeling that I m not good enough, we often develop certain self-defense mechanisms. There was that popular book titled, I m OK, You re OK. Just keep telling yourself you are OK. Some people take a different tact by living in ways that say, I m OK, You re NOT OK, looking down their noses at others. More common is the idea we have in our heads that, I m better than most people. I m better than my neighbors. My lawn is better kept, my kids are better behaved, or whatever it is. And then there s always the ever-ready excuse, I m only human. It s not a very good excuse for sin. In fact, our sinfulness means we are living in a way that is LESS than human, at least less than human as God created humans to be. At best it says, Misery loves company. Let s take a look at what God say about you and me. The Bible says you were created by God, so there is inherent value in who you are. More, it says you were created in the image of God. That has been taken to mean
you have freedom to make moral choices, you have a capacity for relationships, and you have the task of stewardship over God s creation, working as his representative in the world to do his will and work. All that is in the creation story in Genesis 1-2, all saying you are inherently valuable to God. Then we get to chapter 3, which says you do not measure up. GENESIS 3:1-13 There they were with everything they needed, able to do anything they wanted, eat anything they wanted except one thing, just one. Don t eat THAT fruit, or you ll die. Along comes the tempter, just offering his own interpretation of things. Ah, you won t die. God is not really looking out for your well-being. He s just trying to keep you down, keep you in your place. If you eat the fruit, wonderful things will happen. You ll have all the wisdom you need to make your own choices, do your own thing, become a self-actualizing person. And they bought it. Maybe God s not really looking out for us. And with that thought, they d already crossed the boundary. The relationship was broken. Their disobedience was just an outward manifestation of that. God was no longer the center of their lives. So when God came to them they hid. They hid behind the trees of his creation, and they hid behind blame-throwing, they hid. They did not come clean with a confession and ask forgiveness, counting on God to be good. Instead, they hid. The Jews have always read this story as the story of all of humanity. The Christian tradition follows that line of interpretation, insisting this is a story of the sin of all humanity. So in these early chapters of Genesis God says you are created by God, you are created in the image of God, and you are a sinner, one in whom that divine image is obscured and distorted. And it s not just Genesis 3 that says you are sinful. We ll read from Paul s letter to the church in Rome, where he draws together a series of quotes from the Hebrew scriptures, the Old Testament, that also say you are sinful. ROMANS 3:10-20, 23-24 Just a hint of good news, right at the end. In short, these verses from the Old Testament, and Paul who quotes them in the New Testament, 2
say Genesis 3 is not just about Adam and Eve, but about us. We are sinners. We are a mess. We do NOT measure up to the image of God. Not one of us. We fall far short, and now the image of God in us terribly distorted, sometimes beyond any recognition. Now don t you feel better about yourself? It s not a popular message, but it s true. And it makes us terribly uncomfortable to have to face it. So we engage our defense mechanisms again. For us church folk, we might resort to various means of self-improvement. There are a variety of ways we try to measure up. We work hard to win awards and trophies. I wanted to show you my Boy Scout merit badge sash, But it s at my dad s house. 28 merit badges! Here s my high school band jacket, with my patches for making district band, region band, area band, ALL STATE BAND! See, I m good enough! But there s more. See this big black robe? I m a PASTOR. These three stripes? Those are DOCTORAL stripes! I m good enough! Aren t I? We can even do that with our kids achievements. How about the bumper sticker that says, My child is an honor roll student at whatever school. Not that there s anything wrong with working hard to achieve. And there s nothing wrong with feeling good about it. But I think sometimes it s our attempt to earn our way into God s good graces. Or at least make us feel better about ourselves. Our culture says, lest anyone feel bad, let s give everyone an award. So we don t allow our teachers to fail any student. Every child in a sport gets a trophy or a ribbon. We live in a time when everyone s self-esteem must be guarded, and there s not even such a thing as right and wrong, because it would be wrong to tell someone they were wrong. It would be wrong to tell someone they are wrong? (Where is the logic in that?) All to deal with the painful message that we might not measure up. How good do you have to be to measure up? Let s consider a ladder of goodness. (Visual) The top rung represents God in all his perfection. 3
4 Let s say the bottom rung represents Satan in all his evil. And way down toward the bottom are people like Hitler and folks from Islamic State who are beheading civilians. Where would you place yourself on the ladder? Who are the most saintly people you can think of? Mother Teresa, for all the good that she did to serve the poor, sick and dying in India, was very clear that she was a sinner, that she was far short of the goodness of God. So she might place herself somewhere around here. (Below half-way mark) Billy Graham devoted his life to preaching the gospel and leading people to Christ. He never faced a scandal in his long life. But he, too, knew and publicly stated that he was a sinner, that he was NOT all that God wanted him to be. So he might put himself somewhere about here. (Just below Mother Teresa) Now where would you put yourself? There s a pretty good gap between us and God. There s a pretty big gap between Billy Graham and Mother Teresa and God. And trying to jump across that gap by any of our self-defense mechanisms, or even our efforts at self-improvement is a little like trying to jump across the Grand Canyon by getting a running start. THAT is the seriousness of our sin. That is the seriousness of any sin and every sin in our lives. Whether you ve committed murder and adultery. or you ve harbored hatred and lust but not done anything outward, that is the seriousness of your sin. Jesus said carrying around deep anger and hatred is like committing murder in your heart. (Mt.5:21-22) And carrying around lust is like committing adultery in your heart. (Mt.5:27-28) God knows and cares about those inner sins. In our staff meetings we re reading and discussing a book by R. C. Sproul called The Holiness of God. The chapter we discussed this morning was on Martin Luther. Let me read a short bit of it. Luther examined the Great Commandment, Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind; and, Love your neighbor as yourself (Luke 10:27). Then he asked himself, What is the Great Transgression? Some answer this question by saying the great sin is murder, adultery, blasphemy, or unbelief. Luther disagreed. He concluded if the Great Commandment was to love God with all the heart, then the Great Transgression was to fail to love God with all the heart. He saw a balance between great obligations and great sins. Most people do not think this way. None of us keeps the Great Commandment for five minutes.
5 In fact, we violate the Great Commandment every day. (R. C. Sproul, The Holiness of God, p.106-7) It all means we don t measure up. We re out of step with God. There is a Grand Canyon between us and our Creator. By our own merits, by the way we live our lives, we are disqualified for heaven and life in his kingdom. So what does God say we are to do? Through the prophet Joel God said, Even now, return to me with all your heart, with fasting and weeping and mourning. Rend your heart and not your garments. Return to the Lord your God, for he is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love. (Jl.2:12-13) Don t come with your defense mechanisms. Come recognizing your sinfulness, recognizing that you re NOT good enough, but depending on the goodness of God. In fact, ALL the Old Testament prophets said the same thing. Repent. Return to God. Depend not on yourself, but on his goodness. John the Baptist said, Repent. Repent. Turn around; turn away from sin and back to God. (Mt.3:1) He called people to a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. (Mk.1:4) Jesus said, Repent. Seems they were all saying the same thing. Our sin has separated us from God, so we need to turn around and had back toward him. And they all, in the course of their ministries, said we can t count on our own goodness, because we DON T measure up, but we can and must count on the goodness of God. Tonight is Ash Wednesday, the beginning of the season of Lent. This is a season of preparation for Holy Week, the cross of Good Friday and the resurrection of Easter. Those preparations are to be an honest examination of conscience, recognizing I don t measure up, a time of confessing our sins to God, and not just a vague generalization about being a sinner, but those specific sins with which you struggle, a time of commitment to repent, to turn from those sins and back toward God, and a time to seek after his forgiveness. It is only when we see a clearer picture of our sinfulness and God s holiness
that we recognize the seriousness of the problem and how amazing grace really is. Think about it. God is holy and righteous, perfect and pure, without any spot or blemish. And we well, we are not any of that. We are guilty of cosmic treason, rebelling against our Creator, spiritual insurgents along the order of any Islamist group in the news. God would be completely right to close the gate, post guards, and put up a sign that says, Gated community. Keep out. Instead, God goes out of his way, WAY out of his way, to reach a world of fallen, rebellious sinners with forgiving grace. He didn t demand we first clean up our act. As Paul says, While we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. When we were God s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son. (Ro.5:8, 8, 10) On the cross of Christ God has already done all that needs to be done to pay for our sins and bring us into his family. It is offered to you as a free gift. You don t deserve it and can t earn it. It is a free gift. The only thing left is for you to receive that gift. Not sit in a pew, not be on the membership roll, but make a conscious decision to receive the gift of forgiveness, paid for on the cross of Christ, and enjoy a restored relationship with your Creator. And that s not just an invitation for spiritual seekers who are not yet followers of Jesus. It is his invitation to ALL of us, because, let s be honest, believers struggle with temptation and sin. And it gets in the way of our relationship with Christ, too. But our walk with Christ can be restored every day through confession, repentance, and receiving a fresh dose of grace. And be assured, you have not committed any sin bigger than the grace of God. The murderer on death row, The woman feeling guilt over an abortion years ago, The man addicted to pornography, The person who caused the car accident and fled the scene. No sin is too big. And no sin is so small that it doesn t need the grace of God. Every sin and any sin disqualifies us from heaven. So bring every sin to him, confess it, and receive grace. You ll discover that grace is just as amazing as it was at first. Ash Wednesday. 6
7 Why the ashes? Ashes because sin makes us dirty in the eyes of a holy God Ashes remind us the wages of sin is death Ashes to ashes, dust to dust. Ashes in the sign of the cross because it was on the cross that Christ paid the penalty for our sins. So, if we accept his gift to us, we are forgiven. And the sign of the cross is there to remind us the Holy Spirit is ready and willing to guide us into living a life that reflects the character of Jesus. PRAYER AFTER SERMON PSALM 51 P.785, UNITED METHODIST HYMNAL INVITATION TO RECEIVE ASHES The ushers will not guide you forward. You may come when you are ready. Come to the rail to pray. Pray your confession of sin, pray your repentance, pray your desire for God s forgiveness. And receive the mark of ashes.