Ash Wednesday 2007

Jeremiah 9:1-7,12-14, 23-24; 1 John 2:1-6, 20-22; Luke 4:1-13

Pastor Gayle M. Pope

The Road of Truth

Many meetings of Alcoholics Anonymous begin with someone reading from Chapter 5 of the Big Book of AA.  This Chapter is entitled, “How It Works” and it begins like this:

Rarely have we seen a person fail who has thoroughly followed our path. Those who do not recover are people who cannot or will not completely give themselves to this simple program, usually men and women who are constitutionally incapable of being honest with themselves. There are such unfortunates. They are not at fault; they seem to have been born that way. They are naturally incapable of grasping and developing a manner of living which demands rigorous honesty. Their chances are less than average.

What the AA program has discovered is that the road from addiction to successful recovery is a road of truth.  The alcoholic starts down that road with the admission that he or she is powerless over alcohol and that their life has become unmanageable.  But that recovery is possible if they turn their life and will over to the care of God.

This road of truth is difficult for an alcoholic or addict because addiction is a disease fueled by lies. Alcoholics will lie to anyone, any time, any where in order to assure access to their next drink.  But they tell the biggest lies to themselves.  Such as:

¨“I may drink a little too much sometimes, but it’s not a big deal. I could quit easily if I wanted to.”

¨“If my spouse or my boss or my job wasn’t so (fill in the blank) I wouldn’t have to drink.”

¨“I never did a thing wrong! I don’t understand why he’s so mad at me.”

The loved ones of an alcoholic often live a lie as well, pretending for the public that things are not as bad as they really are; making excuses, or clinging to a false hope that their loved one’s behavior will soon change for the better. An alcoholic or addict and their loved ones cannot get better unless they get honest, admit their problems and allow God to help them.  And they cannot STAY well, unless they CONTINUE to walk in that way of truth.

Now, most of us are not alcoholics or addicts, but I can guarantee that almost everyone here knows someone who is, and many of us have suffered from this disease along with a loved one.  So I use this example because if you can understand a little bit about the dynamics of powerlessness and denial that sustain addiction, and about the degree of honesty with self and others that is required for healing, you can better understand the dynamics of a sickness that DOES plague every one of us -- the sickness called SIN.

Sin is also a disease of lies and darkness and compromise and denial and cover up.

And sin is also a disease from which we are absolutely powerless to save ourselves, as hard as we try sometimes.

But sin is also a condition from which we can recover by admitting our powerlessness and turning our will and our lives over to God to receive the saving power and grace available in Jesus Christ.

The road of a recovering sinner is also a road of truth.  It’s a road we are continually tempted to turn away from by the devil – the most notorious liar of all. Jesus said of the devil in John 8:44, “There is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks according to his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies.”

Right from the beginning of the Bible, in Genesis 3, the deceptive nature of the devil is revealed. He appears in the form of a serpent tempting Eve to go ahead and eat the fruit that God has forbidden, "You will not die,” he tells her. “For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil."

In our gospel reading tonight, which was the gospel for the First Sunday of Lent, we meet the devil again. This time he is tempting Jesus to submit to the devil’s suggestions to satisfy the human hunger for food, power, authority and fame.

In each case, Jesus responded by using God’s Word against the devil. 

¨When the devil said, “If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become a loaf of bread,” Jesus answered, “It is written, 'One does not live by bread alone’.”

¨When the devil said, “If you, then, will worship me, all this will be be yours,” Jesus answered, “It is written, ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him’.”

¨When the devil said, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here, for it is written, ‘he will command his angels concerning you, to protect you’,” Jesus replied, “It is said, 'Do not put the Lord your God to the test’.”

The devil tempted Jesus, not so much with DIRECT lies – after all, Jesus probably COULD turn a stone into bread, and God the Father COULD send angels to protect his Son.  The devil is a master at using partial truths. The real temptation was for Jesus to turn toward the devil to get his needs met.  And just think what a lie THAT is!  As if the devil actually has anything to offer to Jesus, the Son of God!

Rather than turn to the devil and submit to HIS offers, Jesus turned to God’s Word.

In doing so, Jesus gives US an example to follow. When we are tempted to turn away from God – when we are tempted to live in any way that is based on lies or deceit – when we are tempted to put our trust in or give our allegiance to worldly power or possessions or security – that’s when we, too, need to rely on God’s Word to show us the road of truth.

The night before Jesus died, he prayed for his disciples.  As recorded in John’s gospel, Jesus’ prayer to the Father included these words:

“I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the world. I am not asking you to take them out of the world, but I ask you to protect them from the evil one. … Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth.”

As we contemplate the journey we are on as disciples of Christ during this Lenten season, let us remember that the road we walk with Jesus is always the road of truth.  When the road seems to diverge before us and we face choices about how to act and which way to go, let us always consider: where does the TRUTH lead? Where would God’s WORD point us?

There may be times when one road is just as good and God-inspired as another.  But whenever we are tempted to hold on to a lie or cover up or denial of any sort, we are tempted away from reliance on God and trust in God’s provision. 

And beware – one of the most insidious lies of all is the denial of the power of sin and the devil itself – the denial of our need to continually repent and return to God for forgiveness and new life – the refusal to “know the Lord” and to “walk in His way,” according to His Word.

I pray that during this Lenten season, we may open our hearts to the Word of Truth that the Lord wants us to hear, that we may grow in the knowledge of him and be strengthened in our service in his Kingdom.  Amen.