Ash Wednesday, March 1, 2006

2 Corinthians 5:20b-6:10

Pastor Gayle M Pope

The Sign of the Cross

Tomorrow night, I will be on a panel of pastor at the Joseph Smith Academy across the street, answering the question, “How do we know when a religious experience is true?”

One of the points I will make is that, as Lutherans, we look to the Scriptures to discern the truth about our subjective experiences of God’s voice and God’s presence in our lives. God’s Word, as revealed in the Scriptures, is the core and foundation of our faith.

HOWEVER … among even those who believe with all their hearts and souls that the Bible is God’s truth revealed to us, even among the staunchest believers, you will find differences of opinion about just what the Bible says about one particular topic or another. So, then, how do we know what’s true?

I will talk about some signs we look for as we seek God’s will and God’s Word for our lives.

One of the key questions for discerning truth that I will talk about tomorrow night, but which also is fitting for our time here tonight, is this: does the experience of faith point to the cross?

What do I mean by that?

What I mean, is that everything God has revealed in the Scriptures – everything we learn about God and about God’s nature and God’s ways and about ourselves – everything in both the Old and New Testaments – is centered and fulfilled and illuminated in what Jesus did for us on the cross.

Listen again to this verse from the 2^nd Corinthians reading we heard tonight.

We entreat you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

We all are in bondage to sin and cannot free ourselves. We are helpless. We are separated from God by our sin and condemned to death.

But the God who created and loves us would not let us go. He sent his own son to take that sin upon himself and die in our place. It’s pure grace. We can earn it. We don’t deserve it. It’s free.

That’s why we have no reason to boast about any of our piety or take pride in our religious acts. It’s all God’s doing and it’s all for us out of pure love. It is humbling. It makes our hearts so grateful to realize what God in Christ has done for us.

So …. Is a religious experience true?

What they sometimes used to tell us in seminary is, “Did Jesus have to die in order for that sermon to be preached?

Does a religious experience raise up Jesus and draw us closer to the realization that we are sinners saved by God’s grace. Does it cause us to respond to God’s gracious love by going and doing likewise – laying down our lives for the sake of others?

As we contemplate the cross on our foreheads tonight and think about our relationship with God during these 40 days of Lent and these 40 Days of Purpose. Let us remember always what Jesus has done for us. Let us receive it gladly with joy and gratitude.