Lent: Training for the Spirit

Text:  Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21

Theme:  "Lent:  Training for the Spirit"

ASH WEDNESDAY

February 13, 2013

First Presbyterian Church

Denton, Texas

Rev. Paul R. Dunklau

 

+In the Name of Jesus+

 

“Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven.

² “So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. ³ But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, ⁴ so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.

⁵ “And when you pray, 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. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. ⁶ But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.

¹⁶ “When you fast, do not look somber as the hypocrites do, for they disfigure their faces to show others they are fasting. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. ¹⁷ But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, ¹⁸ so that it will not be obvious to others that you are fasting, but only to your Father, who is unseen; and your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.

¹⁹ “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. ²⁰ But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. ²¹ For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

I hold in my hand what is called a "Desire Chip".  It is given out in recovery meetings as an outward symbol of an inward desire to not take a drink of alcohol for a twenty four hour period.  It doesn't ask for abstinence for six months, twelve months, fifty years, or forever.  It just asks for one day -- one day, come hell or high water, when you don't take a drink.

We don't hand out desire chips like this in worship, for our problem runs deeper than chronic alcohol abuse.  We may or may not be alcoholics or addicts, but all of us are included in that teaching of the Holy Scripture that simply says this:  "All have sinned and have fallen short of the glory of God."  Likewise, all of us are included in that teaching of the Holy Scripture that simply says this:  "The wages of sin is death."  There is nothing more universal in the world than that; the mortality rate, last time I checked, has held steady at 100%. 

So it is not a desire chip we are handing out.  We are, however, making it possible for ashes to be imposed on your forehead.  And make no mistake:  it is an imposition.  Death -- whether we like it or not or whether we're ready for it or not -- will impose itself on us.  Tonight -- with hearts still beating, brain waves still registering, and lungs still engaged in respiration -- we come forward, willingly, to have an outward symbol imposed upon us.  Like the desire chip, it is an outward symbol of an inward desire to remember that we are mortal.  That, in the words of Scripture, we are "dust and to dust we shall return." 

We are not in heaven tonight.  We are on earth, on terra firma.  What we possess, and the Bible bears this out, is a body, a mind, and a soul.  At death, we leave behind that body and mind.  We believe that the soul returns, then, to the God who gave it.

I have noticed -- and perhaps you have too -- at the massive amount of attention that is being directed to taking care of the body.  Recently, I read some startling statistics about how much money we could save on health care if people would just do something that requires physical exertion.  You don't have to run a marathon or pump iron like Schwarzeneggar.  Just do something.  What an amazing thing, the body!  The Bible says that we are fearfully and wonderfully made! 

Then there's the mind.  That's gets its fair share of attention to.  In fact, one of the hallmarks of the Presbyterian Church -- historically, at least -- is education.  We talk about the "life of the mind" in the service of Jesus Christ.  We have schools, colleges, universities, and any one of a number of institutions that are designed to expand, challenge, and stretch the mind.  The gentleman who recently spoke at the National Prayer Breakfast, Dr. Benjamin Carson, is a pediatric neurosurgeon.  That is, he operates on the brains of children.  His expertise is vast.  What an amazing mind!  His soul is in tip-top shape too!  His hero is Jesus Christ!

Again, we devote so very much attention to our bodies.  Entire industries have developed around it.  Similarly, we devote so much to education and the mind. 

But my question is, what about the soul?  What about the spirit?  What about that mysterious reality that is going to go on once our bodies give out and our minds start to atrophy?  What have we done to exercise, expand, challenge, motivate, and inspire that spirit? 

How important is it to ask questions like this?  I say it's very important.  Jesus Himself once said:  "What does it profit anyone to gain the entire world but forfeit His soul?"  In other words, you can have the most beautiful, fit body the world has ever seen; you can grace the cover of Cosmopolitan, GQ, Women's Day, or Esquire; you can have more money than Bill Gates, Warren Buffett, and Donald Trump combined; you can have Ph.D.'s behind your name a mile long.  None of it makes one stinking bit of difference, Jesus is basically saying, if you forfeit your soul. 

I'll go out on a limb and suggest that if you're paying attention to your soul, your spirit, everything else -- including a healthy body and mind -- are going to start to fall into place. 

Here we are at the beginning of Lent!  What better time is there than Lent -- sometimes called the "springtime of the soul" -- to start exercising the soul?  No better time than Lent to energize the metabolism, if you will, of the soul.  Like the mind and the body, that soul needs a good, solid diet of the best nutrients.  How wonderfully our God has provided for this in His Word and the blessed Sacraments.  Word, font, and table!  They are there in front of us each time we gather.  They are God's precious gifts to us to nourish our souls.  Don't settle for malnutrition anymore!

Do you want more?  An exercise regimen perhaps?  Jesus is ready if you are.   In the traditional Gospel for Ash Wednesday, which we just heard, the Lord outlines three practices that can wonderfully engage the soul -- not in the sweet by and by, but right here and right now. 

But He begins with a warning.  Do not engage in these practices to show every Tom, Dick, or Harry, or Suzy, Sally, or Jane what a strong Christian you are.  "Don't practice your righteousness," Jesus says, "before others in order to be seen by them.  There's no reward in that."  So the first thing we do is check in our spiritual egos at the door. 

Then Jesus goes on to list three exercises that benefit the soul.  First, there is the giving of gifts to the less fortunate.  It's the Bible's way of saying "Pay it forward."  It has also been called engaging in "random acts of kindness."  Look for, find, and help out someone who is struggling.  If anything, sit down next to them.  You don't even have to say anything.  Just let them know that they are not alone.

Next Jesus talks about fasting, or, as people occasionally talk about, "What are you giving up for Lent?"  My friend, the minute you start talking about what you giving up for Lent, you defeat the purpose.  What difference does it make?  None.  Let's get down to the nitty-gritty:   What is it in your life that needs to go?  What is it that's weighing you down?  What is it that's bringing you misery and, by extension, misery to those you love?  Sometimes people say "Less is more."  What is it that you can do with less of so that you can have more of the good stuff?  Ask and answer that question this Lent.  It's between you and God. 

Then, finally, there's that spiritual exercise known as prayer.  First of all, the Bible does not make prayer optional.  It goes so far as to say "Pray unceasingly."  Promises are attached to it:  "Ask, and it shall be given unto you.  Seek, and you shall find.  Knock, and the door will be open to you."  How's it going with your asking, seeking, and knocking?  You can pray in your soul, in your mind, in your heart, and sometimes you can use your mouth.  If you don't know what to say, find a good book of prayers.  Use the hymnal.  Many of those hymns are written in prayer form.  Better yet, get going with a good program of daily Bible reading and meditation.  Then, the prayers you pray flow out from what you read.  As Dietrich Bonhoeffer once observed:  "The Word of God ought to determine our prayer, and not the poverty of our own heart." 

Like giving to the needy and fasting, this matter of prayer is best done privately.  Certainly, we do it corporately and publicly during worship.  But this is another thing.  This is between you and God.  Jesus went so far as to say:  "Go into your room, close the door, prayer to your Father who is unseen.  Then your Father, who knows what is done in secret, will reward you."

Finally, taking our cue again from the words of Christ Himself, Lent is about storing up treasure.  You can store up treasure on earth and eventually, one way or another, it will get eaten away or stolen.  The other option is to store up treasures in heaven, and that begins here on earth.  Jesus says:  "Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."

That's the best place to be in Lent:  where the treasure is!  The body is a great treasure, and so is mind.  An even better treasure is the soul -- and we've just outlined a pretty cool exercise regimen for it.  But the greatest treasure of all is Jesus Christ! 

 

It is Jesus Christ who, Himself, was marked for death.  It was He, Himself, who taught His followers and fed their minds.  It was He, Himself, who took the loaves and fishes and fed the body.  It was He, Himself, who healed the infirm.  It was He Himself who fasted from the glories of heaven, so He could come and give heavenly alms on earth.  It was He, Himself, who taught us how to pray.  It was He Himself who gave His all -- even to the last drop of His blood -- so that death will ultimately no longer be an imposition but, rather, the gateway to a life that can truly be called eternal. 

May God richly bless this Lententide to His glory and to our good.  Amen.