“Turning
Back”
Nehemiah
9:6-21
For the last three weeks of our
journey of Lent we have been taking some very important steps along the
way. And I thought it might be a good
time at this halfway point to retrace our steps and review for a moment the
central themes we have addressed so far before we take our fourth step toward
Easter.
Our first step was probably the
hardest because it required us to be honest to God about ourselves, and that is
not always easy for us to do. But Lent
is the time when we are called to do just that.
It is the time when we are called to examine ourselves, to reflect upon
our faith and obedience, and honestly claim both our strengths and our
weaknesses. But we also learned that
when we are honest to God about ourselves, we become the very people God wants
us to be, people who are ready and willing to be molded and fashioned according
to God’s will, people who are ready and willing to be formed into the instruments ready for use by God in the world.
Our second
step on the journey addressed on of the most fundamental questions that can
come out of our honest self-examination.
We know that sometimes the journey of Lent with its emphasis on
self-examination and self-reflection can lead us to wonder about whether or not our relationship with God is
secure. If we are truly willing to be
honest about ourselves, then we cannot help but think of all the ways in which
we fall short of God’s glory and God’s will and purpose for us, and in doing
so, we sometimes begin to wonder whether or not we are truly one of God’s
people, whether or not we are really one of God’s elect.
From life experience, we all know that we do not always get
it right, we do not always live in the right relationship with God or with
others. We know that there are times
when no matter what we do we continue to dig ourselves into a deeper hole. We know there are times when we are tripped
up as we walk on the journey of faith, our commitment wanes, our devotion is
not as devoted as it should be, and our discipleship is not as disciplined as
it needs to be. In these times, it is
easy for us to question the assurance and promise of our eternal destiny with
God.
But what we discovered was that
being honest to God about ourselves is the very act of faithfulness and
devotion and of what it means to be in relationship with God. The assurance of our relationship with God
can only come when we realize that without God we would be lost, when we realize
that God in whom we trust is the God who is always faithful in spite of our own
times of doubt and fear. God has already
demonstrated once and for all the height and depth and width of God’s love
toward us. The assurance of salvation,
of our unbreakable relationship with God, is not dependent on our quality or
quantity of faith and obedience, but upon the one who is the incarnate proof of
God’s love for the world. If you want to
be assured of your relationship with God, then you have to look no further than
Jesus Christ. If you want to be assured
of your salvation, then look no further than the one who is the assurance of
the divine declaration of God’s reconciliation of the whole world.
Our third step on this journey of
Lent was in response to the first two steps we took. If we are honest to God about ourselves, and
if we understand that the assurance of our very salvation is not dependent on
the quantity and quality of our faith, but upon the God we know in Jesus
Christ, then we cannot help but respond to God with our worship.
Worship matters.
Worship matters because it is meant take us out of the world in which we
live, it is meant to move us from one place to another, it is meant to
transform us through being in the presence of the divine, it is meant to
reorient our life by placing God at the center of our lives. Worship that posses you no risk is something
else. Worship that does not make you
anxious once and again, worship that fails to stretch your mind and spirit to
the edge of discomfort, is something less than worship.
At its most
profound, worship is nothing but a deliberate and repeated activity in which we
are called to turn away from self and turn toward God. Worship calls us to destroy that which rules
our life and leave it at the door.
Worship calls us to disrupt the status quo, the business as usually way
of life that we live, and leave it at the door.
Worship calls us remember that this is holy ground, sacred ground, and
that we are in the presence of the holy one, the divine one, the Creator and
Sustainer of the world, the Sovereign Lord of all.
Worship is
not about what we get, but about what we give.
Worship is not about what we take with us, but about what we leave
behind. Worship is not about
entertainment, traditionalism, or even routine, it is about the Word, the
Water, and the Meal. It is about prayer,
music, and liturgy. It is about
fellowship, oneness, and community. But
most importantly it is about the Triune God.
We worship because God calls us to worship, because God deserves our
worship, because God is God!
The Reverend
and biblical scholar, N.T. Write, expresses the centrality of God in our
worship when he writes,
“Worship is humble and glad;
worship forgets itself in remembering God; worship celebrates the truth as
God’s truth, not its own. True worship
doesn’t put on a show or make a fuss; true worship isn’t forced, isn’t
half-hearted, doesn’t keep looking at its watch, doesn’t worry about what the
person in the next pew may be doing.
True worship is open to God, adoring God, waiting for God, trusting God
even in the dark.”[1]
Honesty, assurance, worship – these are the first three
steps we have taken on our journey of Lent.
And now we take our fourth step – repentance.
In one of the
most well-known and beloved parables Jesus ever told, we are given a wonderful
portrait of the life of faith in all of its colors. The story of the Prodigal Son, as it has been
historically called, displays for us the stark contrast between a life with God
and a life without God, or more to the point, a life in relationship with God
and a life on our own.
The journey
of the younger son is not unlike the journey we take time from time in our own
lives. The younger son decided one day
to take the fruit of his inheritance and go off on his own to make a life for
himself apart from his father. And yet,
he quickly discovers that life on his own is not what he thought it would
be. Instead of finding peace and
happiness, the younger son finds that his life is nothing more than a
collection of poor decisions, self-indulgent living, and squandered prosperity,
even to the point of being left to savor food fit for pigs. There is nothing left for him. All he is left with is his own brokenness and
unworthiness.
So, he makes
a decision that will cost him more than he has to give, that will cost him his
very self. The younger son turns back to
the father, ready and willing to confess his sins against heaven and before his
father, and to be treated no better than a slave. But what does he discover before he even
reaches the doorstep of his father’s home?
Nothing short of the prodigal grace of the father who comes out to meet
him, nothing short of the extravagant, lavish, profuse, and abundant grace of
the father who rejoices at the return of his once lost, but now found son.
The beauty of
this parable is in the fact that its message hits us right between the
eyes. So often we, like the younger son,
decide that we can go about life without the father, that we are ready to
venture out with the inheritance in Christ in our hands, and make a life for
ourselves apart from our father in heaven.
We think we have it all figured out.
We think we know what is best. We
think we are ready to tackle the world, ready to live by our own standards,
ready to live by our own choices, ready to live as we want to live. And so we seek peace and happiness in a world
that is passing away. We search for
truth and prosperity and hope in a world that is fraught with spiritual deceit,
impoverished morality, and abject despair.
And we take it all – hook, line, and sinker.
Soon we find
ourselves with nothing left to give, with nothing left to lose, swinging at the
end of the rope just hoping to hang on, unwilling to let go, unwilling to let
God. We continue to flounder around more
out of pride than anything else. We
fight so hard to not turn back the pride of our individualistic desires for the
humility that is the benchmark of discipleship.
We want so much to do it ourselves, that even when we discover that we
cannot continue on our own, we still will not turn back, we still will not
repent and turn back to God.
Maybe it is
because the notion of repentance is difficult thing for us to admit we need to
do. Repentance has become such an ugly
word in some of today’s Protestant churches, even to the point that it is not
even spoken about, let alone understood as an act of faithfulness. So some churches just dismiss the notion of
repentance all together. “Why do we need
to repent”, some say. “God loves you as
you are, after all you’re only human.”
But repentance is more than just an act of saying we are sorry. Repentance is a critical component of what it
means to be God’s people.
Repentance is
nothing more than a turning back to God, nothing more than removing ourselves and
returning God back to God’s rightful place at the center of our lives of faith,
worship, and devotion. It is the act by
which we declare that we need God in our lives, because only God can do for us
what we cannot do for ourselves. It is
the act by which we consciously realize our own brokenness and unworthiness,
and that it is only in relationship with God that we are made whole and
declared worthy by the grace of God.
Psalm 51:17 says, “The sacrifice pleasing to God is a broken
spirit. O God, you do not despise a
broken and sorrowful heart.” In his
commentary on this Psalm, the 16th century German reformer, Martin
Luther, writes, “This is a comforting way to think about God. God’s true nature is to love people who are
troubled, have mercy on those who are broken-hearted, forgive those who have
fallen, and refresh those who are exhausted.
This Psalm calls us to trust in God’s mercy and goodness alone.”[2]
Luther’s
comment declares for us what is at the heart of repentance – trust alone, trust
in God’s mercy and goodness alone, not ourselves, not our own wants and
desires, not our own creativity, feelings, or reasoning, but God alone, because
God is God and God’s very nature is to love, to be merciful, to forgive, and to
refresh. And like the younger son, and
the people of God before him, when we recall all that God has done for us, when
recognize our complete dependency upon God for our very lives, when we repent
and turn back to God, putting our trust solely in the one who brings life from
the dead and makes all things new, we will discover the great truth of the
gospel, that the father has never forsaken us or abandoned us, but has already
been watching for us, has already come out to meet us to welcome us home, and
has already prepared a celebration because of our return, through his prodigal
grace, through the extravagant, lavish, profuse, and abundant grace of the
father who rejoices at the return of one of his once lost, but now found
children.
Honesty,
assurance, worship, and repentance – they are the fruits of discipleship, the
true expressions of devotion, and the steps we must take on this journey we
call faith, as we move on toward Easter.
Amen.