I'm from a tradition that doesn't make a big deal out of Ash Wednesday.
I'm not Catholic or Lutheran or Episcopalian. I don't pastor a liturgical, traditional church. I'm an evangelical, non-denominational pastor, so traditional days like Ash Wednesday are rarely even mentioned in the circles I run in.
However, this has been to our detriment.
Evangelical Christians do a lot of things well. We give to all kinds of charities and causes. We are excellent at reaching others for Christ. Out of all segments of Christianity, we are the ones most likely to attend church, to give regularly, to be involved in Bible studies, to volunteer, to adopt children, to go on mission trips, and to generally carry on the work of the church.
As you notice, the emphasis on that list is "DO."
Evangelical Christians are great at "doing" the work of the kingdom.
However, we've missed a big part of our faith. We're so concerned with doing the work of the Kingdom that many of us have missed the relationship with Christ that drives that work. The biggest key to that relationship, the starting point of that relationship, is repentance.
We as people are broken, sinful people. We are self-centered. We disobey God's commands regularly and with very little remorse. We use the Lord's name in vain, we lie, we purposefully seek out porn, we routinely live together before marriage, we actively condone evil; we do all kinds of things that should never be present in the life of a person under the Lordship of Jesus Christ.
This is nothing new. This has been present since the very beginning of humanity. People have always recognized this as part of the struggle of being a faithful believer in Jesus Christ.
However, the language of repentance, once so widely practiced and used in Christian circles, has all but disappeared from American Christianity. Where are the sermons calling people to repent? Where are the messages from pastors to their people to fast, to mourn, to feel the weight of their sin? Where are the people who routinely confess their sins and weep over their brokenness and rebellion against the Lord?
If those things are around, I sure don't see any.
What I see are pastors bending over backwards not to offend, to try to put a positive spin on sin, to not speak about it at all for the risk of offending someone. On the other hand, I see Christians leaving churches because a pastor dared to CALL a sin a sin. I see Christians angered over the fact that a pastor would dare to preach on something that is present in their lives. If you doubt me, ask a pastor to preach on gluttony. Or greed. Or envy. You'll see how popular he is by the amount of anonymous letters he gets and the decrease in numbers the next Sunday.
Yes, we have stripped the language of repentance, self-denial, and brokenness out of the church. We have embraced the political correctness of our world that says there is no evil, there is no good, everything is equal. We have bought the line that daring to call sin a sin and suggesting that a person needs repentance and change is "judgmental" and of course, Jesus never judged anyone.
So, what we are left with are a bunch of churches who have been made as comfortable as possible on their road to hell. Jesus said it Himself in Luke 13:5, "Unless you repent, you too will perish." It doesn't get much clearer than that.
That's why Ash Wednesday is essential to the Christian life. It is the one day of the year we focus on repentance, on brokenness, on being reconciled to God, on turning from our sins, of weeping over the sin in our lives and in our world, and beginning to deny ourselves instead of indulging ourselves.
Think about this as you enter the Easter season. Without repentance, no one will see the Kingdom of God.
I'm not Catholic or Lutheran or Episcopalian. I don't pastor a liturgical, traditional church. I'm an evangelical, non-denominational pastor, so traditional days like Ash Wednesday are rarely even mentioned in the circles I run in.
However, this has been to our detriment.
Evangelical Christians do a lot of things well. We give to all kinds of charities and causes. We are excellent at reaching others for Christ. Out of all segments of Christianity, we are the ones most likely to attend church, to give regularly, to be involved in Bible studies, to volunteer, to adopt children, to go on mission trips, and to generally carry on the work of the church.
As you notice, the emphasis on that list is "DO."
Evangelical Christians are great at "doing" the work of the kingdom.
However, we've missed a big part of our faith. We're so concerned with doing the work of the Kingdom that many of us have missed the relationship with Christ that drives that work. The biggest key to that relationship, the starting point of that relationship, is repentance.
We as people are broken, sinful people. We are self-centered. We disobey God's commands regularly and with very little remorse. We use the Lord's name in vain, we lie, we purposefully seek out porn, we routinely live together before marriage, we actively condone evil; we do all kinds of things that should never be present in the life of a person under the Lordship of Jesus Christ.
This is nothing new. This has been present since the very beginning of humanity. People have always recognized this as part of the struggle of being a faithful believer in Jesus Christ.
However, the language of repentance, once so widely practiced and used in Christian circles, has all but disappeared from American Christianity. Where are the sermons calling people to repent? Where are the messages from pastors to their people to fast, to mourn, to feel the weight of their sin? Where are the people who routinely confess their sins and weep over their brokenness and rebellion against the Lord?
If those things are around, I sure don't see any.
What I see are pastors bending over backwards not to offend, to try to put a positive spin on sin, to not speak about it at all for the risk of offending someone. On the other hand, I see Christians leaving churches because a pastor dared to CALL a sin a sin. I see Christians angered over the fact that a pastor would dare to preach on something that is present in their lives. If you doubt me, ask a pastor to preach on gluttony. Or greed. Or envy. You'll see how popular he is by the amount of anonymous letters he gets and the decrease in numbers the next Sunday.
Yes, we have stripped the language of repentance, self-denial, and brokenness out of the church. We have embraced the political correctness of our world that says there is no evil, there is no good, everything is equal. We have bought the line that daring to call sin a sin and suggesting that a person needs repentance and change is "judgmental" and of course, Jesus never judged anyone.
So, what we are left with are a bunch of churches who have been made as comfortable as possible on their road to hell. Jesus said it Himself in Luke 13:5, "Unless you repent, you too will perish." It doesn't get much clearer than that.
That's why Ash Wednesday is essential to the Christian life. It is the one day of the year we focus on repentance, on brokenness, on being reconciled to God, on turning from our sins, of weeping over the sin in our lives and in our world, and beginning to deny ourselves instead of indulging ourselves.
Think about this as you enter the Easter season. Without repentance, no one will see the Kingdom of God.
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