Sermon on Philippians 3:8-14

This is the sermon I preached at Prince of Peace the weekend of March 16-17.

I knew this guy in my freshman year of college. He was always very bitter toward the world. He wandered from group to group of friends, never attaching himself to any of them. He battled depression and anger, and never opened himself up to others. He couldn't make friends because he was too self-condemning and shy. If he was introduced to somebody new, he would never make eye contact. Put him in front of a crowd, and he was shaken to his core and his voice would freeze up. Have you met a person like this before?

His problem was that he was worried about what others thought of him. And he allowed this worry to define him. He wanted to be perfect, and his fear of being perceived as not perfect crippled him mentally to the point where the most basic social interactions overwhelmed him. My friend had a problem finding his identity.

But, the Bible tells us how to fix our identity problems. In our Philippians reading for today, Paul writes about the surpassing worth of knowing Christ. More than this, Paul allows for his relationship with Jesus to define who he is. He writes “But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I counted everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.” These words should hit at the heart of everyone here today. It's a struggle we all go through, to allow what we have gained, or what we have done, to define who we are.

There are three things in this passage that can help us find our true identity. First, find your identity in Jesus. Second, set your goals and desires on the things of God. And finally, live in a way that reflects this.

I began by talking about a friend from college. This friend based his identity on how he was thought of by others. The Bible is full of people like this. John's Gospel says that “many even of the authorities believed in [Jesus], but for fear of the Pharisees they did not confess it, so that they would not be put out of the synagogue; for they loved the glory that comes from man more than the glory that comes from God.” These people worried about what others thought about them.

Of all the people who should understand the risk of finding our identity in the opinions of others, Paul is at the top of the list. He writes about himself earlier in this letter to the Philippian church, “If anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more.”

He was a pharisee, following the law as best as humanly possible. He was looked up to by his peers. He was the pinnacle of what it meant to be a Jew. Paul had every reason to boast in his own abilities. But even with all of this, he saw that it came to nothing without faith in Jesus Christ.

Paul writes that he counts his works as rubbish “in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith.”

But why is faith in Jesus worth so much? In his letter to the Romans, Paul says that “since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.”

Faith justifies us before God. This is what gives us peace with God through Jesus Christ. Even if we can reach a level of perfection to the Law, we not only have the sins of our past to account for, but we need to maintain that level of human perfection for the rest of our lives. That puts a lot of pressure on us. “You must be perfect, otherwise God will reject you.”

But God did not make the Law so that we would be a group of high-strung OCD busybodies. He wants us to love him, and to be at peace with him. By having faith in the work of Jesus Christ, we can be at peace with God. Knowing that he accepts us, and that he loves us unrelentingly.

As I said, it is not up to us to be perfect in order to be accepted. By our faith in Christ, we are already at peace with God. There is nothing standing between us and him. This is what makes faith more valuable than works. When we do good things, we gain the favor of others until the next time we fall short. With faith in Jesus Christ, we have the favor of God forever.

When my friend from college tried to find his identity in other peoples' opinions of him, he ended up continually picking apart everything that he had done. I'm sure Paul had similar struggles. He knew that the acceptance he had from those around him could be shattered the moment he made his first mistake. But as Christians, Our acceptance is built on the shaming and embarrassing act of the Cross. The Son of God lowered himself to the point of death, and was raised high for all to see, ridiculed as he hung, cursed and dying. But because of the Cross, we have God's approval. We are freed from the standard which we can't meet. We are free to turn away from ourselves and toward God for our salvation. Our salvation is not based on what we do. Our salvation is not based on how we live. Our salvation is based on what Jesus did. We put our faith in the redeeming work of Jesus Christ in his death and resurrection from the grave.

Our identity comes from God. He accepts us on faith alone. This faith empowers us by his love and the Holy Spirit. Then what effect does finding our identity in God have on our goals and desires in life as Christians?

Paul says that he strives for the righteousness which comes by faith “that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.”

Christ is of such all-surpassing worth, everything else is rubbish. So our goals and desires in life should be centered on him alone. To understand our goals and desires, we need to talk about our faith. Our faith in Jesus Christ is what defines our goals and desires in life.

Paul wrote to the Corinthian church that “if only in this life we have hoped in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied.”

Our faith is meant to bring us into the newness of life found in the resurrection of Jesus Christ. The letter of Hebrews reminds us, “faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.”

We have faith because we have hope. God's acceptance of us into his eternal kingdom is our hope, and that is the basis for our faith. Paul writes that because of this faith, he desires to even share in Christ's sufferings. How many of us can say that today? Jesus said to his disciples, “if anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.”

Paul had denied himself. He had denied who he was, justified by the works he did as a pharisee, living by the law. He suffered like Christ by imprisonment, by ridicule, and by flogging. But he considered this joy, because he was suffering for Christ.

He literally gave up his life for Jesus. Jesus asks his disciples, “what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul?”

No matter what you gain here on earth, it has an expiration date. But the love of Christ and the riches of the Kingdom of God will never fade away. They are from everlasting to everlasting.

This is what our faith is all about. Our faith is formed by our hope, which is the desire to be with God for eternity. If we desire to be with God, we should also desire to be like God.

Peter writes in his letter, “As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct.”

We are not called to live easy lives. We are not called to be wealthy or to even to be well-liked by our neighbors. What we are called to be is like Christ. Christ-ians. Literally meaning, “little Christs.”

I'm a younger sibling. And I know that my older sister used to get very upset with me because I would follow her around all the time, trying to see what she was doing and asking if I could join her. Younger siblings want to reflect their older brothers or sisters.

But unlike some of our older siblings, Jesus doesn't get annoyed when we follow after him. He wants it! Try to imagine yourself as the little brother or sister to Jesus. You respect him, and you would do anything to be accepted by him. And he does accept you. Which should make you want to be like him even more.

Now we've discussed how our identity comes from God, and faith in his work through Jesus Christ. And that this means that our goals and desires in life should be to join him in eternity, which means being like him, even in his suffering. Then we must ask our third question about this Philippians passage. How does this knowledge affect the way we live our lives?

Paul's faith affected his life. He writes at the end of our Philippians passage today, “Not that I have already obtained [the resurrection from the dead] or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own.”

Paul recognizes that he has not yet received the resurrection from the dead. We are given new life in Christ when we believe and are baptized, but we must remember that we still have life to come.

Paul also recognizes that he is not perfect. I think this is very important. When he was a pharisee, the pressure on him to be perfect, and to do everything right was probably immense. But now he knows and can say, “not that I … am already perfect.” And yet the confidence he has in his standing with God is greatly more than any confidence he could have had when he based his identity on his works as a pharisee.

Paul finishes this reading saying, “I do not consider that I have made it my own, but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”

He says he is not yet resurrected and not yet made perfect, and that he does not consider these his own. The resurrection and perfect body are not his yet. They aren't ours either. So, we are waiting to receive these things, the resurrection and perfection of our bodies. And we must wait patiently for our hopes to be fulfilled. But Paul doesn't stop here. He does consider one thing to be his own: “forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead.”

If you remember, our desire through our faith in Christ, is to be with God and be like him.

That is to be “holy as he is holy.”

As we continue in our walk with God, we should be taking steps to be more like him each day. And we are not alone in this. God himself dwells within each of us who ask of him. His Holy Spirit remains with us, forming us to be more like him as we meditate on his word and strive for like-mindedness with Christ.

Of course, straining forward means forgetting what lies behind. I'm going to go ahead and spoil this for you right now. You will mess things up. A lot. You'll have doubts about God. You'll struggle to trust him and even doubt your faith. But, the goal is to move forward. Our God is full of mercy and forgiveness. He loves you deeply and wants nothing more than for you to turn to him and ask for his help. You need to allow God to forgive you.

When we look back on our lives, it's natural for us to have regrets. But regret should always be temporary. When you have regret, it usually means you are growing in the knowledge of what is good. And it should lead you to repentance. Repenting means you are turning away from what was. And if you've ever driven on an interstate, you should know that it's really hard to get back onto your route if you have your head turned around looking at the exit you just missed. You can't go back there. It's done. It's behind you. Recognize that you made that mistake and correct your course going forward. What you need to focus on now is finding another way to get back on track so you can get where you're heading.

A lot of who we are now is based on what's happened in our past. But our concern shouldn't be about who we are right now. Our focus is who we will become. And who we will become is based solely on the work of Jesus Christ and in his resurrection. And that is what we need to strive for. Not who we are right now, but who we will become.

My friend from college couldn't forget what lies behind. He spent days regretting his decisions or things he said. But that all changed when saw the love of Christ. He grew to understand that he didn't need to be perfect to be loved. And that if he hurt another, there is forgiveness. He grew to love others around him and this boy who couldn't even look in the eyes of another person was starting conversations with new students. He was leading others in Bible studies. He made friends with classmates because he wanted to share the Gospel with them; the Gospel of Jesus Christ, which changed his life.

This is my story. I was that boy.

And I know that it is not my past that defines me. It's not what I have done that determines my identity. The collection of my mistakes, or even my successes, don't change the love of God for me. But I stand firmly on the foundation of Jesus Christ. I speak confidently of his love and his truth because I really can't stand on anything else. If I boast in myself, I am destined for failure. I'm putting pressure on myself to live up to a standard I know I can't meet. And I don't have to.

I will continue to strain toward that goal, and I will continue to hope in the resurrection, but I am assured by my faith that I will receive what I hope for. I will live eternally in the Kingdom of God because I have faith in the work of Jesus Christ my Lord.

Three Homilies

Here are the outlines for three different homilies I've preached. Two were for the Wednesday morning Eucharist service at Prince of Peace church, and one was for Trinity School for Ministry in the school chapel the Thursday before the beginning of Finals week.

Delight in Doing God's Work

Homily on Psalm 37:1-18, given December 6, 2012 at the Trinity Chapel

Well, it's that time of year again. The “now and not yet” time of expectation, where we must continue pushing forward in the work given for us to do until that appointed time comes when all of our troubles will be over.

Finals week. And I should mention that I think it vastly appropriate that our December 21^st deadline happens to also be the 2012 doomsday prediction based on the Mayan conspiracy. So, kudos, Trinity Faculty and Staff. I see what you did there.

It's in this time of our school year when we begin to question our life choices. We seriously begin to ask ourselves whether we really made the right decision to come to seminary, or even to really dedicate ourselves to Jesus is such a radical way as we have. The Psalm today is very important for us to take to heart in our times of weakness and doubt concerning our call to ministry.

David starts out Psalm 37 warning the righteous to not “be envious of wrongdoers.” When we are watching things on TV, or even just looking out into the lives of our friends in the world, we can begin to wonder whether the work we are doing here is really worth giving up that life. This can take the form of being envious of the life of certain types of business people or lawyers who are making a lot of money in their profession, or it could be old college friends who are still living the party lifestyle we either once knew or never had.

But, we cannot fall to the envy of such things. If you open your pew Bibles to Psalm 37, we can work through this portion of the Psalm together to better understand how to overcome those tendencies and see where our true desires belong.

The first two verses of Psalm 37 are a call to the righteous to not be envious of the evildoers in the world. David then uses the next four verses, 3 through 6, to exhort the righteous to remember why they do what they do. He writes, “Trust in the Lord, and do good … [and] delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.” David diagnoses the problem here very quickly. Being envious of the wicked is a symptom of lacking trust in God. If we trust God and view him as our delight, he will grant us our desires—because he is willing and able to give us all of himself, all of his love, and his glory both now and in the age to come.

If we delight in God, then of course we will be willing, as David calls us to do in verse 5, to “commit your way to the Lord; trust in him, and he will act.” Why should we envy the ways of the wicked when they lack the only thing that brings true joy and peace?

In his homily on Monday, Taylor mentioned the importance for us to both trust that God is there when we pray, and also that he is good. David makes the same call here. He affirms to us that God will act on behalf of those who trust in him, and “he will bring forth your righteousness as the light, and your justice as the noonday.” God is present and God is good. He gives good gifts to those who ask of him.

The next two verses; 7 and 8 now deal with the attitude of the righteous person. David writes, “be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him.” Part of trusting in the Lord is trusting in his timing. This doesn't mean we can't cry out to him in our times of distress. But patience in waiting on the Lord is where our trust in him is truly tested.

We also see here that David makes a point to re-emphasize the importance of not worrying about the ways of the wicked. We should not be angry at the prosperity of those who “carry out evil devices” and are in no place to judge them for it, anyway! God is the Judge of all people. By worrying about it we only risk ourselves falling into sin over our frustrations. How can we pray “Father forgive us” if we aren't also being forgiving toward others?

David follows this section with verses 9 through 15. Here, he reminds the righteous that “the evildoers shall be cut off, but those who wait for the Lord shall inherit the land.” I like that he does not say that those who do good will inherit the land, but those who wait on the Lord. Our righteousness is credited to us through our trust in God, and not on the merits of anything we have done.

The wicked will perish, and they will be no more. What they have now is fleeting, and will fade away like the grass. In hording for themselves treasures here on earth, they are filling their bags with vapors. The Lord knows that their days will come to an end, and the days of their false prosperity will be less than a memory in the glory of the riches of Heaven that the Lord has stored for those who place their trust in him.

This portion of the Psalm ends with verses 16 through 18. Verse 16 says, “better is the little that the righteous has than the abundance of many wicked.” Jesus taught that our treasure is to be stored in heaven, and there our hearts will be also. Our treasure is that which we delight in. All else will fade away and in the new heaven and new earth, we will laugh in bewilderment that any of this we envy here on earth was ever a desire.

God's treasure is so much more than the treasures of the world. We will find on that last day, by delighting in the Lord and committing ourselves to his will, we will gain the everlasting inheritance of his kingdom. He knows us fully and knows our deepest needs and desires. And he is good to give to us the source of our delight.

I encourage you to finish out final last week of the semester with boldness, and trusting in the Lord. Commit yourselves to him and delight in him, and perhaps you will find your desires fulfilled in the very work you have been given to do here at Trinity.

“The Lord knows the days of the blameless, and their heritage will remain forever.”

Unity through the Father

Homily on Ephesians 4:1-14, given January 2, 2013 at Prince of Peace church

The new thing in Hollywood action films nowadays is to team up a group of heroes who have enough power or skill in their own right, but are now being faced with a new villain that is too much for any one of them to handle. In these films we always reach a pinnacle turning point where the heroes have all turned on one another and can't seem to get anything done because they can't figure out a way to work together. Eventually, something happens where they discover the needs that they have in one another and manage to work as a team to defeat whatever evil they have been brought together to face.

Of course, in-fighting within a group isn't anything new. How many of us have had disagreements with others we are supposed to be working with? But, in this letter to the Ephesians, Paul writes that us working together is actually “walking in a manner worthy of the calling to which we have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.”

Paul makes it very clear here that unity in the Body of Christ is reflective of the unity of God. He writes, “There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call—one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.”

This morning, I want to consider what it means to be in unity. Both the why and how of our unity, as well as the outcome of this. To do so, I want to focus in on one key phrase in this passage, which is focused on God. The God we serve is a God of unity, and verse six of our passage reads that we have “one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.”

Let's take this verse and look at it piece by piece. This first part writes that he is “God and Father of all.” Here is the first point to be made: He is God. And the second is like it: He is Father. He is our focus of worship and our creator. If we worship him, it means we value him far greater than we value other things, even ourselves. If that is true than we must value the unity that is within him, within the Trinity of the Godhead. The relationship of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, is one of complete and utter unity. It is such a unity that we consider it a mystery how three persons can still maintain such unity as to be called one God. If he is so united within himself, and we view him as the greatest of things to be worshiped, then we must consider that his unity is worthy of such great value as to imitate it ourselves. We were created in his image, and part of that image is unity.

Next, we see God called the “Father of all.” This means we came from him, and if he created us, then the purpose which he created us for is our greatest purpose. You can use a spoon for many things. You can scratch off bingo cards, you can use it as a decorative headpiece, and many other uses. But it was created to be used as an eating utensil. It is best served being used as an eating utensil and fills its greatest purpose by being used as one. It is not a question of whether is can be used in other ways, but what it is best meant to be used for. God created us for unity, and so our best use is brought out in being united.

The second half of this verse says that God is “over all, through all, and in all.” Now God is able to do things beyond our imagination, and I know that even if we are not unified, he can still be over all of us. But, because he has designated himself as “over all,” that means we are all under the same umbrella, which means that we are all together whether we like it or not. This ties in with God being “Father of all.” A brother and sister still living in their father's house can't just decide they have nothing to do with their sibling. By both living under their father's roof, they are necessarily united whether they like it or not, simply by virtue of their father being over the both of them.

The second part of this is that God is 'through all.”

This, I think, is the most explicit mark for the need of unity. To dig into it more, I'd like to host a little English lesson. Does everyone know what a preposition is? Prepositions are used to link two nouns together by showing how they interact. There are three prepositions here used about God. The first is the one we just looked at, “over.” The other two are this one, “through,” and the next, which is, “in.” In this case, the nouns are “God” and “all.” Of course, “all” in this passage means all of us who worship God.

Now that we understand that, we need to look at the words being used, “God,” “through,” and “all.” Well, what does it mean to go through something? If I go through a tunnel, it means that I am literally going from one side of the tunnel to the other side by going inside that tunnel, right? Well, what does it mean for God to go “through all?” It means God goes from one side of all to the other side, not by going around, but by passing within all.

We are all connected by God passing through each of us to one another. God connects us through himself. Every interaction we have is not only “under God” because God is “over all” but also God is moving “through us” and to one another. As fellow believers, we are communicating God to one another when we interact because God moves through us. That means God goes from one side of us, that is, from where we worship him, to the other side, which is where we speak, act, or in any way interact with others. And this goes beyond just with other Christians. As we live our daily lives, God goes through us. What we communicate to others, we are communicating on behalf of God because he is our God and Father.

The final part of this verse writes that God is “in all.”

Here, again, we see the point being made for unity. If God is one, and God is in each of us, then we are also made one by God's Spirit residing in us. This was the prayer of Jesus in John's gospel. He prays for all believers, “that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me.”

So, what should we do with this insight from Paul in Ephesians 4:6? We should keep unity together, but not unity based on our own merits, or even our own talent. Our unity is based on what we worship. We worship the God of unity, and love one another because God dwells in each of us by his Spirit. We love others because Christ's purpose in this world is to bring others to him and use us as a means for that purpose. How can we love God if we cannot even love one another? How can we claim to value God when we do not love those whom he, himself died for?

If we shift our focus onto the love of God, we will see that it is a love that knows no bounds. It is a love that extends over, through and within all of us who believe as a means of drawing others into that love. He is our God and he has made us in his image for the purpose of sharing himself with all. How can we follow the greatest commandment to love God without also following the second, which is to love our neighbors as ourselves? Our unity is a sign of the Kingdom of Heaven here on earth. We proclaim love by showing love in both word and deed. And we proclaim God by reflecting his unity in the unity we have with one another.

Jesus, the Good Camp Counselor

Homily on John 1:1-18, given March 20, 2013 at Prince of Peace church

When I was still in middle school, I attended a camp over the summer. At the camp, we were all separated into cabins. Now each of these cabins had a camp counselor assigned to it, and we weren't supposed to go into the cabins without that counselor with us. One day, a group of the boys in my cabin were waiting outside for the counselor so we could get in. I really wanted to get something out of my bag, and was getting tired of waiting. One of my friends egged me on, telling me that the door was unlocked, and that I could go in and get back out before the counselor ever got back. He would never know.

By my friend's encouragement, I ran in to grab it. But the boys behind me, being middle school boys, immediately slammed the door shut as soon as I went in. I tried to open the door, but they were pulling it shut from the other side. I was scared. I thought I'd get in a whole mess of trouble if I was locked in the cabin without our counselor there. I ran up to the window of the cabin and as I pushed it open, it hit hard against the edge of the wall. The window shattered, and shards of glass fell all over the floor. Of course, as soon as this happened, all the other boys outside scattered. And of course, I got in trouble with our counselor.

Now, I don't know what it was I thought I needed out of the cabin. But what I can tell you is that whatever it was could have waited until the counselor got there. He was in charge of the door. He knew when it was right for us to go in and to come out. The other boys and I couldn't assume to know. But because I knew what I wanted, and was enticed by another to take what I wanted, I ended up doing what was wrong for me to do.

You see, it wasn't a matter of me knowing what was right or wrong at the time, but it was the problem wanting something enough to fool myself into confusing the two. Confusing what I wanted with what was right for me to do. This other boy at the camp was not our counselor. But he knew what I wanted and encouraged me to take it, without considering the consequences. He did not have the authority to say what was right, but believing him is what got me into trouble.

This is like what Jesus teaches in our passage. He is our... Good Camp Counselor, to go with my story. We need to trust in Jesus and follow him where he leads us. He cares enough about us to lay down his life for us. Too often, we let what we want determine where we are going. And a lot of the time, what we want is not what is right. We need to learn to want Jesus above all other things. And by wanting him, and seeking after him,

we learn to want what is right.

Jesus is the Good Shepherd, and Jesus is the gateway into the pasture of God. We must go through Jesus because he is the only way, the truth, and the life. The Devil will tempt you to think that you know what's best for you. He will try to convince you that you have the right to whatever it is you want, no matter how good or bad it might really be for you. Because you are the ruler of your life. But we need to recognize that maybe,

just maybe, like I did back at that summer camp, we all run the risk of being blinded to what is good by what we want when the temptation is right in front of us.

So, wait for the Lord. Listen for his Word. Consider his teachings, passed down to us by the saints in the words of Holy Scripture. And follow him. Do not follow the devil. Do not follow temptation. Follow the Good Shepherd, who will lead us to green pastures and by still waters. He will restore our souls. He loves us, even enough to lay his life down for us.

At that summer camp, I listened to temptation. I didn't wait for the appropriate time when it was right to go into the cabin. Those other boys who were the ones who encouraged me all along, scattered at the first sign of trouble. So will the Devil. So will those who tempt you to do evil. They will not stand by you in times of trouble-- even if they are the reason for the trouble you are in.

But the Good Shepherd will stay by you. The Good Shepherd will lead you away from evil, so you don't have to fear it. The Good Shepherd knows his own, each of you, by name. And he gives himself up for you. He lays his life down for you. Because his love for you is immense.

Ash Wednesday Sermon, February 13, 2013

Friedrich Nietzsche was a famous German philosopher at the end of the nineteenth century. Nietzsche lived his life on a search for meaning and purpose. But, in the midst of the scientific revolution, and with the increasing self-reliance of humanity, Nietzsche noticed that many people stopped desiring God. As this revolution progressed, he made the famous statement, “God is dead.” If God was no longer a factor in people's lives, Nietzsche saw the inevitable future. He saw meaninglessness. And he embraced it. Without God, life has no meaning; there's no driving purpose. Each is left to do as they choose. Without God, we are left on our own.

In the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 9, Jesus is teaching, preaching, healing, and performing miracles. As he looks out into the crowds, Matthew writes, “he had compassion for them because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.” Jesus saw their need, and it drove him to compassion.

As Psalm 103 says, “he knows our frame, he remembers that we are dust.”

Think about that. The Lord knows our low position. We are harassed and helpless people in need of a shepherd. The purpose of our actions this Ash Wednesday is not to remind him of that need. We are not humbling ourselves in an effort to sway his opinion of us. As we come forward to have the ashes brushed against our foreheads, two questions challenge us.

Who are we?

And, what do we need?

Let's ask this first question. Who are we? Let's go all the way back to the beginning of everything, What does Genesis 1 tell us? God created us, male and female, in his own image. In chapter two, we see that God breathed life from himself into the first man, creating him from the dust of the ground. God gave man the task of caring for the created order. And woman as a helper in doing so. But, the unfortunate truth is that the story doesn't end there.

Man and woman disobey God. Sin and death enter into the world and God kicks them out of paradise. Their connection with God is severed. They once walked with him in the cool of the day, but now they wander the wilderness apart from God. As they have children, and their children have children, each generation is more and more separated from God.

But God does not give up on his creation. He is our creator. Our psalm reminds us: His steadfast love for us is “as high as the heavens are above the earth.” He chose the man Abram to be the father of faith for all people of the world. He called him Abraham, and his wife Sarah. He gave them a son even in their old age. Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph were the family line of Abraham, leading to their settling in Egypt, where God gave them favor. Many years later, God called Moses to guide his people out of slavery. The people were led by the power and majesty of God which went before them through the wilderness. God gave them the land of Canaan out of the hands of wicked men who did what was evil in the sight of the Lord. God did all of this out of his love for his creation.

But the chosen people, the light to the nations fell into darkness. They turned to other gods. They didn't seek after the One True God. He scattered them because they disobeyed. When they finally realized their mistake, and desired God again, he brought them back to himself. God spoke through the prophets to point his people in the right direction. After the time of the prophets, The people didn't hear God for four hundred years.

This is the story of the Old Testament. Humanity keeps failing, but God keeps faithful to his steadfast love. We are, indeed, sheep in need of a shepherd. The first humans rejected God by seeking to be like him. They were tempted and ate of the fruit of the forbidden tree. Yet God stayed faithful. The Israelites rejected God after he freed them from Egypt and worship a golden calf. Yet God stayed faithful. They rejected God as king, and demanded for a human king to rule over them. Yet God stayed faithful. Then, they rejected God outright and worshiped the gods of the surrounding nations. Yet God stayed faithful.

There's one thing we know for sure from history: We have the unusual tendency to reject what's good for us. We have the tendency trade long term satisfaction for short term, temporary pleasures. We follow philosophers who preach meaninglessness. We celebrate our “hedonism,” centered around pleasure-seeking without care for consequence. We even have to fight our kids to eat their vegetables before they get dessert.

We store up for ourselves treasures here on earth at the cost of our treasure in heaven.

Now we can answer the question. “Who are we?” We're a broken people. We're sheep without a shepherd. We're unable to care for ourselves and we don't even consider turning to our creator to find our purpose and meaning. Now if this is who we are, the second question is an easier one to answer.

“What do we need?”

Consider our position as sheep without a shepherd. What do these sheep need? They need a shepherd. So then, what does a shepherd do? David writes about the Lord as his shepherd in psalm 23. He says, “He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness, for his name's sake. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.”

Without a shepherd, sheep can't to find good food or clean water. They wander off cliffs and into dangerous woods. They can't protect themselves from wolves or robbers. Sheep are helpless.

They're helpless because they don't know what's best for them. They need a shepherd to show them what to do and where to go and what to eat. Without a shepherd, they will die.

Turning back to ourselves, what do we need? How has sin affected us?Because of sin, we suffer it's consequence, which is death. What we need is to overcome sin so that we can overcome death. But we can't do that on our own. We need a shepherd to guide us down the paths of righteousness. We need a shepherd to feed us with the food and drink of spiritual nourishment. We need a shepherd to protect us from sin and evil. And we need a shepherd to bring us into life.

But, we're still in sin, our need is more than just a one time miracle act from heaven. We need payment for the sins we have already committed, and inward renewal so that we can live faithfully for God moving forward.

We need to admit we have this need. We need to admit we can't save ourselves. This is what the message of Christianity rests on: the fact that we cannot do on our own what it takes to overcome the powers of sin and death.

So, now we have the answers to our two questions. These two questions which come at the season of Lent. Who are we and what do we need?

We are sinful and broken creatures in need of a savior. But knowing these answers only burdens us without the fulfillment of the Good News of our faith-- This good news which God orchestrated through his people from the days of Adam, to be brought about in the work of Jesus Christ.

Jesus looked with compassion on the crowds.

The psalm today tells us “as a father shows compassion to his children, so the LORD shows compassion to those who fear him.” Four hundred years after the last prophet, the most unexpected thing happened in a small town called Bethlehem. God, the creator of all things, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, ruler of the universe, lay in swaddling cloths as a babe born to the virgin Mary.

Remember, the Christian message rests on the fact that we can't save ourselves. We must suffer death because of sin. But because God “knows our frame, he remembers that we are dust,” He became one of us. He lived among us. He was tempted, rejected, whipped, ridiculed, and crucified. He underwent the torturous death of the Cross. He made the payment we could not make for our sins. He resurrected from the dead and guaranteed that our debt was paid. A way was finally made for us to be saved.

Jesus charged his followers to share this Good News. He ascended into heaven, and at the right hand of the Father, he asked, and the Holy Spirit was sent down. The Spirit is God's very presence within us as Christians. He remains with us. He forms us into a holy people, and a light to the world.

We cannot save ourselves. So God not only pays our debt, but he receives us into his own family. Because of the love and compassion of Jesus Christ, by accepting his sacrifice, and receiving the Holy Spirit, we are adopted as sons and daughters of the Most High God.

Jesus looked on the crowds with compassion because he saw that they were like sheep without a shepherd. Here, I stand and look at this crowd in front of me. And I am filled with hope. Hope for new life and redemption. Hope for receiving what I don't deserve. Hope for gaining what I can't attain. And all of this, purely out of the love of God.

Our shepherd has come. It is because of the compassion of Jesus that we're here today. We are not together because we deserve to be. And not because we've earned it. But because of love. Because of compassion. And it's love that dwells within us, and compassion that shines out through us, which fills us to hope. Hope that no matter who we are or what we've done, we are welcome into the loving grace of God. We enter into his arms as orphans, and remain in his embrace as his own truly loved sons and daughters.