Ash Wednesday 2014TSL and WSMM 05-03-2014
Story: A Korean Pastor told me this story many years ago, when he came to Switzerland and spoke at a Christian meeting in Sandoz, a Swiss company for which I used to work.
In the 4th century AD in Korea a man had two sons.
The elder rose to become Chief Justice in the land and the younger became an infamous bandit.
The elder brother loved his younger brother but was unable to persuade him to change his ways.
Eventually the younger son was caught and brought to Court before his brother, the Chief Justice.
Everyone in the courtroom thought it would be a stitch up and that the younger brother would get off - because it was well known that the Chief Justice loved his younger brother.
But at then end of the trial, the Chief Justice sentenced his brother to the mandatory sentence for murder - death.
People gasped in the courtroom
On the day of the execution, the elder brother came to the prison and said to his brother “Let’s swap places”.
The younger brother agreed - thinking that once they realised that it was the elder brother, the execution would not go forward.
So he went up on the hill overlooking the prison to watch proceedings.
His brother was brought out at dawn and to his horror executed.
Filled with remorse, the younger brother ran down the hill.
He hammered on the gates of the prison, told the guards his name and that he was the criminal who should have been executed.
The guards however replied:
“There is no sentence outstanding on anyone with that name”
Today is Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent when we prepare for the Church’s most important festival – Easter
It is a time for reflection and prayer.
It is for many of us a very PRIVATE time as we seek God in the quietness of our room
And I was intrigued by the epistle reading set for today: 2 Cor 5:20—6:10.
And I would like to reflect on 2 Cor 6:21
21 God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
In it, Paul tells us that - in the same way as there was no longer any sentence outstanding against the younger brother – so it is with us.
In God’s sight - because to the death of Jesus, there is no sentence outstanding.
But St Paul reminds us that the reason for Jesus’ death on the Cross was
"that in him we might become the righteousness of God."
There is a cost to being a Christian.
We are called to become the righteousness of God.
Just think of that for a minute
THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD
What a thought for Lent.
HOW CAN I BECOME THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD
If you work that our please let me know!!!
Ask God in your quiet time WHAT it means for YOU
I can touch on only SOME aspects of what it means
It talks of our CHARACTER
Our INTEGRITY
What motivates us?
The END does NOT in the Christain vocabulary justify the MEANS
Jesus in our Gospel reading goes straight to the point
Christians are called to be righteous in CHARACTER
We are called not to do GOOD things from wrong MOTIVES.
Otherwise the HEAVENLY conclusion will not be what you want.
Matt 6:1 “Be careful not to practice your righteousness
- yes that is the GOOD thing
"in front of others to be seen by them."
- That is the BAD Motive
"If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven."
- That is the heavenly conclusion
Jesus says a similar thing a second time in our Gospel
Matt 6: 5 “And when you pray, "
- That is the GOOD thing
"do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others."
- That is the BAD motive
"Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full."
- That is the HEAVENLY conclusion
You might say: It was easy for Paul to say that we should become the righteousness of God – but did he walk the talk? What did it cots him?:
In 2 Corinthians 11:23-27 we read some of the hardships Paul went through for the Gospel – so that you and me can sit here in church today – worshipping God. Paul writes:
I have worked much harder, been in prison more frequently, been flogged more severely, and been exposed to death again and again.
24 Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one.
25 Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, I spent a night and a day in the open sea,
26 I have been constantly on the move. I have been in danger from rivers, in danger from bandits, in danger from my own countrymen, in danger from Gentiles; in danger in the city, in danger in the country, in danger at sea; and in danger from false brothers.
27 I have laboured and toiled and have often gone without sleep; I have known hunger and thirst and have often gone without food; I have been cold and naked.
Quite a category of woes you might say.
But the Gospel is costly – it cost Jesus his life on the Cross – ten of the 11 apostles died proclaiming the Good News of Jesus throughout the world – only St John dying in his own bed in old age.
St Paul himself was executed by the Romans by being beheaded.
The key to the Christian lifestyle can be found in a short verse in Gal 2: verse 20, where Paul writes:
20 I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
I find that a challenging verse because I often wonder if Christ is REALLY being given full rein to live in me
St Paul also put the matter in another way in 2 Corinthians 5:17 when he says
17Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!
May I leave you with a thought for Lent?
What implications does Jesus’ death on the Cross have for my lifestyle - the way I live – if I really am a new creation?
