First Sunday of Lent - Search Me, O God

Today is the first Sunday of Lent – a season within the Church liturgical calendar designed to lead the faithful Christian into a deeper relationship with Christ. I’ll speak more about that in a few moments, but first, let’s look at our primary text for today’s message which sets the stage – so to speak – for all that I want to bring to us this afternoon. Please follow along as I

read from Genesis 36:31-39

“Now these are the kings who reigned in the land of Edom before any king reigned over the sons of Israel. Bela the son of Beor reigned in Edom, and the name of his city was Dinhabah. Then Bela died, and Jobab the son of Zerah of Bozrah became king in his place. Then Jobab died, and Husham of the land of the Temanites became king in his place. Then Husham died, and Hadad the son of Bedad, who defeated Midian in the field of Moab, became king in his place; and the name of his city was Avith. Then Hadad died, and Samlah of Masrekah became king in his place. Then Samlah died, and Shaul of Rehoboth on the Euphrates River became king in his place. Then Shaul died, and Baal-hanan the son of Achbor became king in his place. Then Baal-hanan the son of Achbor died, and Hadar became king in his place . . . .”

I hope you caught my repeated emphasis on the verb, ‘died.’ Everyone in this sanctuary is sadly and mournfully acquainted with death. I know about death. My mom is dead. My father and my adopted father are both dead. My brother-in-law is dead. Nancy’s mom, dad and stepdad are all dead. My cousin is dead. Nancy’s cousin is dead. Another of her cousin’s wife is dead. And many of our friends are dead.

And one day I will be dead. Nancy will be dead. You will be dead. Our children who survive us will one day be dead. And such is the pattern of life since the Garden of Eden.

Several years ago, I learned a Latin phrase, Memento Mori. The meaning of the phrase resonates with me, and I’ve mentioned it before. It means, “Remember, you must die.”

The origin of the phrase goes back to a custom in ancient Roman society. When a general returned to the city after a great victory on the battlefield, he’d parade through the streets on a golden chariot to the cheers of the crowd. But because such tributes could lead to pride and a false sense of his own importance, a slave –one of the humblest servants – was to remind him of his mortality by whispering to him: “Look behind, remember that you are a man”.

For the same reason, “Memento mori” has often been used to remind great men that regardless of their exploits and glories, their epilogue is the same as everyone else’s: One day they will die.

Now, I admit at the outset of today’s message, that all of this talk about death sounds dark and depressing. But truth be told on this first Sunday of Lent, “Memento mori” is an invitation to wisely reflect on the brevity of life – and on the vanity of human ambitions.

Solomon understood life’s brevity and the uselessness of accolades and possessions. Listen to what he wrote: “For the fate of the sons of men and the fate of beasts is the same. As one dies so dies the other . . . all is vanity.” Ecclesiastes 3:19.

And at the end of his life he offered this counsel to all who have ears to hear: “[This is the] conclusion of the matter: Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the duty of all mankind. For God will bring every deed into judgment, including every hidden thing, whether it is good or evil.” (Ecclesiastes 12:13b-14)

Now then, all of what I have said these last few minutes segues us back to the season of Lent. Lenten preparation usually includes fasting, prayer, and almsgiving.

So yes, Lent is very much associated with death, which is why Christians receive ashes on their forehead, to symbolize our eventual death and remind us of our human frailty. That’s why the pastor recites these sober words of warning as he places the ashes on the forehead: “Remember you are dust, and to dust you will return. Repent, and believe the gospel.” 

Very much like what the victorious Roman general would hear: “Look behind you. You are just a man.”

I pause for a moment to reiterate a most important point: While Lent is strongly associated with death, Lent is ALSO strongly associated with the hope – the expectation – of eternal life which Christ alone offers to anyone who receives by faith His gift of forgiveness and the remission – the erasing – of their sins. And that’s why confession and honest repentance are so integral to this season of preparation.

Some might ask how a person prepares for both death AND for the hope of eternal life. Well, let’s let the word of God guide us. For example, here is Mark 1:1-4 – “The beginning of the good news about Jesus the Messiah, the Son of God, as it is written in Isaiah the prophet: “I will send my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way”— “a voice of one calling in the wilderness, ‘Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him.’” And so John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.”

How to prepare? First – repentance and ongoing, day by day taking ownership of our sins – as King David took ownership of his adulterous sin with Bathsheba and the murder of her husband. Listen to his ‘mea culpa,’’ his admission to God that his sins were his own fault: “Be gracious to me, O God, according to Your lovingkindness; According to the greatness of Your compassion blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me. Against You, You only, I have sinned and done what is evil in Your sight.” (Psalm 51:1-4)

I pause again to make this further point about Lent because there always lurks behind this season’s observance the danger of compartmentalizing our self-examinations, There’s a danger that through the rest of the year we dilute the Holy Spirit’s voice to our souls to put aside even what we might like to call ‘little’ sins.

Human nature is such that we usually prefer to avoid the hard part of DAILY carrying our cross, of DAILY living the Christian life with a holy integrity. It’s human nature to slowly, nearly imperceptibly, harden ourselves to the Holy Spirit’s daily call to live lives marked by ongoing repentance. It’s just easier to set such things aside and bring them forward only during the various liturgical seasons.

Repent. That’s what John told those coming to him for baptism to do. And the first recorded words of Jesus were the same. Listen to Mark 1:15 where the Lord announced: “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.”

Repentance is not a popular idea in our culture – which ought not surprise us. It was the Lord Jesus who said, “Strive to enter through the narrow door; for many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able.” (Luke 13:24); And again (Matthew 7:13b-14) “The gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it.”

Repentance. I wonder if that might be a reason the Lord warned His followers: “Truly I say to you, it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. Again, I say, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.” Matthew 19:23-24

I think it’s hard for a rich man to get into heaven when they trust in their own resources and their own philanthropic ‘goodness’ instead of living a life marked by mea culpas. And although the Lord didn’t say it, I think it’s just as hard for someone who’s lived for decades outside of true Christian faith to come to a saving faith because once they realize they’ve been wrong all this time about sin, righteousness, and judgment – it’s hard for them to lay aside their pride and admit to God AND to others that they’ve been wrong for 50, 60, or 70 years.

Listen: It’s as true today as it was when St Paul penned these words to the Christians at Corinth: “For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.”  

And what is that word of the cross? Certainly ‘repentance’ threads its way through the warp and woof of God’s message to humanity. There can be no salvation without true repentance. Christ’s atoning sacrifice on that cross can be of no value to anyone without true repentance.

But there is yet another word of the cross, a word directly related to repentance, and we would be wise to pay attention to this truth: The attitude of REVERENCE and a healthy fear of Almighty God is the second means of preparation for the celebration of Easter and a year-round walk with Christ.

The greater our awareness of God’s holiness, of His glory, and His majesty, the greater will be our reverence and our healthy fear of Him. And the greater our reverence and fear, the greater will be the self-debasing of our pride and of our greater desire to fall on our faces in repentance.

Let me say a few words by way of example about what I mean by a healthy fear of God. He loves us, loves us like the Rock of Ages. He sacrificed His own Son on that Cross so we might live in glory with Him.

BUT – although He loves us, loves us, loves us – He is not one to be trifled with. He is not one to be dismissed. He is not one to be taken for granted. He is not a doting Grandfather-type who turns a blind eye to our sins. He is the unequaled holy Lord and Creator of the heavens and earth. The brightness of the noonday sun is pitch dark when compared to the brilliance of His holiness.

You may remember what Isaiah said when he saw the glory of God: “Woe is me, for I am ruined! Because I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips; For my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts”; The apostle John, when he saw the Lord Jesus in His majesty, wrote: “When I saw Him, I fell at His feet like a dead man.” (Revelation 1:17). To the great Moses, God said, “Remove your sandals from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.” (Exodus 3:5)

When God gave His commandments to Israel and Mount Sinai, Moses wrote: “All the people perceived the thunder and the lightning flashes and the sound of the trumpet and the mountain smoking; and when the people saw it, they trembled and stood at a distance . . .  20 Moses said to the people, “Do not be afraid; for God has come in order to test you, and in order that the fear of Him may remain with you, so that you may not sin.” (Exodus 20:18, 20)

The Christian’s healthy fear of God – wherein we know He loves us, but we are also assured that He will punish our disobedience and irreverence – it is that fear of God that will keep us from sin.

But I perceive much of the Church has lost its fear of God. Otherwise, how is it that so many, even in pews and pulpits, are so cavalier with the Holy, Holy God – even to refer to Him as ‘the man upstairs”?

How? I think it’s the result of either our thorough lack of understanding of who we are and who HE is – or it’s a consequence of our presumption of God, of taking Him for granted. And make no mistake, presumption inevitably builds an ever-darkening barrier between us and God.

Indeed, if one properly observes Lent with a renewed focus on repentance and reverence, we’ll recognize that barrier is our conscious or unconscious attempt to not only dilute God’s glory in our eyes, but also to diminish in our minds our grave need for honest and daily repentance.

It’s not possible to treat God with the reverence He deserves and which He requires when we excuse away our sins, even what we call little sins. Truth be told, there is no such thing as a sin so little that is not damnable if not repented.

And make no mistake, irreverence inexorably leads to presumption – deadly presumption. We find a plethora of tragic examples in Scripture of irreverent presumption. One example occurs early in the Torah. Not only were the priests Nadab and Abihu sons of Aaron the High Priest – but they received an invitation from God to dine with Him (Exodus 24:9-11). And yet, not many days later, God killed them when they performed their priestly office “with strange fire” (See Leviticus 10:1-2).

We can’t know for certain what the strange fire was, but I infer from the context that the two sons of Aaron treated God with neither obedience nor reverence. Perhaps they presumed on their relationship with God because they’d eaten a meal with Him. Perhaps they believed they no longer needed to act as reverently or as obediently toward God as He required of others. Perhaps they presumed they were among His ‘favorites.’

Presumption toward the Almighty is a perilous attitude because it deceives us into thinking our walk of holiness and of God’s unchanging requirement for our ongoing obedience, holiness, and repentance does not strictly apply to us.

After Macbeth learned of his wife’s death, he voiced a grim monologue of life – not too unlike Job’s grief-stricken defense to his three so-called ‘counselors.’

Listen to Macbeth tell it: “Out, out, brief candle! Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player that struts and frets his hour upon the stage and then is heard no more. It is a tale told by an idiot; Full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.”

Macbeth, like Job and Solomon and countless others before him and after him gives honest reflection to life’s brevity and the vanity of possessions and tributes and power and wealth. And the Lenten season, if properly observed, helps bring a godly perspective to it all.

“As for the days of our life,” wrote Moses, “they contain seventy years, or if due to strength, eighty years; Yet their pride is but labor and sorrow; For soon it is gone and we fly away . . . .  12So teach us to number our days, that we may present to You a heart of wisdom.” (Psalm 90:10, 12)

I close today’s message with this counsel: As we heard at the beginning my message when I quoted from Genesis 36 the litany of those who died, the Latin phrase, Memento mori, should be the theme of our lives – not just during the 40 days of Lent, but through the remainder of our years. We each need frequent reminder that we will die – and after that comes God’s judgment. That sober recognition ought to make King David’s prayer resonate with each of us and compel us to often ask God:

 “Search me, O God, and know my heart; Try me and know my anxious thoughts; And see if there be any hurtful way in me,
And lead me in the everlasting way.” Psalm 139:23-24

Yes, Lord, search us and lead us in the everlasting way and build within us a lifestyle of honest and ongoing repentance and of great reverence for You. Amen and amen.