Ash Wednesday 2018
Ash Wednesday • Sermon • Submitted
0 ratings
· 3 viewsBecause of God's mercy we should repent of our sin
Notes
Transcript
Sermon Tone Analysis
A
D
F
J
S
Emotion
A
C
T
Language
O
C
E
A
E
Social
One of our values at Christ the Redeemer is that we want to be the kind of people who embrace the courage to be vulnerable.
There is no such thing as a free lunch.
I really like the way this is phrased because usually courage and vulnerability are not linked together.
One of our values at Christ the Redeemer is that we want to be the kind of people who embrace the courage to be vulnerable. I really like the way this is phrased because usually courage and vulnerability are not linked together. To be vulnerable is to be in a state of being exposed to the possibility of being harmed either emotionally or physically. On the surface you would think in order to be courageous you would need to not be vulnerable. But what we are saying is that we want to be the kind of people who take the risk to put down our self protective fronts, but there is always a risk when you do that, because their is the risk of rejection, of harm. The alternative of keeping up our defensive fronts may be safer it leaves us cold and lonely.
The courage to be vulnerable
Ash Wednesday is one place where we can embrace the courage to be vulnerable. It is a time we set aside to all come together and make ourselves vulnerable before God. Where we kneel exposed before his eyes and we confess our sin, we drop pretensions and say I’v blown it in so many ways even more ways than I know. I repent of my sins.
Brown explains how vulnerability is both the core of difficult emotions like fear, grief, and disappointment, and the birthplace of love, belonging, joy, empathy, innovation, and creativity. She writes: “When we shut ourselves off from vulnerability, we distance ourselves from the experiences that bring purpose and meaning to our lives.”
But confession of sin and repentance do not come easy for us, mostly because we have spiritual amnesia we mis-remember who God is. As either not really that forgiving or as a displeased father. So what we do is either try to convince ourselves that we don’t need to repent. That we are a whole lot better than we really are, or we try and grovel and do penance and try and earn God’s forgiveness with how bad we feel about our sin.
FCF: Often we we don’t repent because we mis-remember God. As either not really that forgiving or a Father who wants to see that you really
And when we are not actively re-experiencing his forgiveness and his fatherly care we will avoid repentance either, by trying to convince ourselves that we don’t need to repent. That we are a whole lot better than we really are, or we try and grovel and not repent but do penance, so much that we try and earn God’s forgiveness with how bad we feel about our sin.
But what we should do is embrace the courage to be vulnerable and repent.
Why? well because as we see in
God is forgiving and compassionate,
we don’t remember that God is a forgiving God and we don’t confess because we think we don’t know is fatherly care
First we see the
To be vulnerable is to be exposed to the possibility of being harmed either emotionally or physically.
Proposition: We should Repent of our sin
The immeasurable distance of God’s forgiveness
The immeasurable distance of God’s forgiveness
On the surface you would think in order to be courageous you would need to not be vulnerable.
In verses 10-12 we read
He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us.
Psalm 103:
God wants us to know that his love and forgiveness is so great that it is something that cannot be measured. So the Holy Spirit is saying that if you want to know how much God loves you sin shoot a rocket into space and when the rocket comes to the end of the universe that's how much he loves you, or at whatever point walking east becomes walking west that length is how far your sins are from you.
God is saying that his love and forgiveness will end when you come to last decimal point in Pi.
Application:
Some of you think that you are forever tainted by your sin. No matter what you will forever be stained. God says if you repent and receive my forgiveness your sin cant mark you, because it might as well be at the other end of the universe. We can repent of our sin because God will forgive you.
God’s forgiveness is immeasurable.
We should also repent
Because God is a compassionate father
Because God is a compassionate father
But what we are saying is that we want to be the kind of people who take the risk to put down our self protective fronts,
And I takes courage to do this because there is always a risk of rejection or someone using things against you to harm you.
In verse 13 and 14 we see
As a father shows compassion to his children, so the Lord shows compassion to those who fear him. For he knows our frame; he remembers that we are dust.
The word for compassion here is an affectionate emotionally warm word the mark of a true parent. It is not distant compassion for someone you don’t know, but for someone you know well and love.
And it goes on to say that he knows our frame, or more literally he knows how we are formed. He knows that we are dust.
He is a father who knows us inside and out. He remembers just how he formed each one of us right out of the dust of the earth.
He knows us even better than we know ourselves.
Application:
Sometimes we work so hard to those parts of ourselves that we don’t like hidden we don’t want to acknowledge them before God. But God is a father who shows compassion to his children. He is not waiting to forgive you to see if you are really sorry enough or mean it enough he desires to forgive you. And he knows you better than you know yourself, he knows you inside and out. He is not surprised by your sin.
Conclusion:
Now today is Ash Wednesday and we will in in a second take ash and mark on our forehead the sign of the cross saying: remember that you are dust and to dust you shall return. We do this for many reasons.
First, ashes throughout scripture are used as a physical expression of repentance. It is an outward and physical sign of our need of God’s forgiveness.
Secondly as we receive the ashes we are reminded of the consequence of our sin, that to dust we shall return. God’s word tells us that wages of sin is death, but the ashes also take the shape of the cross.
And it is on the cross where the love and forgiveness of God was displayed in Jesus atoning sacrifice.
The wages of sin may be death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus.
We can confess and repent of our sin because we know that God is forgiving and his forgiveness is not just a platitude, something he says to make us feel good about ourselves.
Death is a reminder of the consequence of sin: For the wages of sin is death
And while the alternative, of keeping up our defensive fronts and false selves may be safer it only leaves one cold and lonely.
His forgiveness is historical reality in that he sent his son to die on our behalf. So that even though we will die and return to the dust God made us from, yet will we live because of the resurrection life of Jesus Christ.
but historical reality in that he sent his son to die on our behalf. So that even though we will die, yet will we live because of the resurrection life of Jesus Christ.
Ash Wednesday is one place where we can embrace the courage to be vulnerable.
The steadfast love of God is from everlasting to everlasting. Amen.
It is a sacred time where we come together and make ourselves vulnerable before God.
Where we kneel with souls exposed before his eyes and we confess our sin,
we drop pretensions and say I’ve blown it in so many ways even more ways than I even know.
I repent of my sins.
Now confession of sin and repentance do not come easy,
mostly because many times we experience spiritual amnesia we forget who God really is.
And we import false images of God and we think of God as not really that forgiving or as a displeased father.
So what we do is either try to convince ourselves that we don’t need to repent.
That we are a whole lot better than we really are,
or we try and grovel and do penance and try and earn God’s forgiveness with how bad we feel about our sin.
But what we should do is embrace the courage to be vulnerable and repent.
Why? well because as we see in
God is forgiving and compassionate,
First we see the
The immeasurability of God’s forgiveness
In verses 10-12 we read
He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us.
God wants us to know that his love and forgiveness is so great that it is something that cannot be measured.
So the Holy Spirit is saying that if you want to know how much God loves you shoot a rocket into space and when the rocket comes to the end of the universe you got an idea of how much he loves you,
or you start walking east and at whatever point eastward walking becomes westward walking that length is how far your sins are from you.
God is saying that his love and forgiveness will only come to an end when you come to last decimal point in Pi.
Some of you think that you are forever tainted by your sin.
No matter what you will forever be stained. God says if you repent and receive my forgiveness your sin can’t mark you,
because it might as well be at the other end of the universe.
We actually can repent of our sin because God says he will forgive you.
God’s forgiveness is immeasurable.
We should also repent
Because God is a compassionate father
In verse 13 and 14 we see
As a father shows compassion to his children, so the Lord shows compassion to those who fear him. For he knows our frame; he remembers that we are dust.
The word for compassion here is an affectionate emotionally warm word the mark of a true parent.
It is not distant compassion for someone you don’t know, but for someone you know well and love.
And it goes on to say that he knows our frame, or more literally he knows how we are formed. He knows that we are dust.
He is a father who knows us inside and out. He remembers just how he formed each one of us right out of the dust of the earth.
He knows us even better than we know ourselves.
Sometimes we work so hard to cover those parts of ourselves that we think are unacceptable. We do that with others as well as with God.
We don’t want to acknowledge them before God. Because what might he do.
But God is a father who shows compassion to his children.
He is not waiting to forgive you to see if you are really sorry enough or mean it enough
he desires to forgive you.
And he knows you better than you know yourself, he knows you inside and out. He is not surprised by your sin. There is no sin to great that God’s grace is not bigger.
Some of you are terrified about what is inside of you. God is not. He knows you are dust. His grace is greater than our sin could ever be.
This means we can repent and expect the soul cleansing power of God’s forgiveness.
Now today is Ash Wednesday and if you have not been to an Ash Wednesday service before
what we will do is come forward like we do during communion on Sunday’s
and you will receive the ashes with mark on your forehead the sign of the cross and you will hear these words:
remember that you are dust and to dust you shall return.
We do this for many reasons.
First, ashes throughout scripture are used as a physical expression of repentance.
It is an outward and physical sign of our need of God’s forgiveness.
Secondly as we receive the ashes we are reminded of the consequence of our sin,
that to dust we shall return.
God’s word tells us that wages of sin is death, and everyone of us in here will die and return to dust.
but the ashes also take the shape of the cross.
And it is on the cross where the love and forgiveness of God was displayed in Jesus atoning sacrifice.
The wages of sin may be death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus.
We can confess and repent of our sin because we know that God is forgiving, and his forgiveness is not just a platitude,
something he says to make us feel good about ourselves.
His forgiveness is historical reality in that he sent his son to die on our behalf.
So that even though we will return to the dust God made us from,
even though we will die
yet will we live because of the resurrection life of Jesus Christ.
The steadfast love of God is from everlasting to everlasting. Amen.
ADVERTISEMENT