February 14, 2018 (Ash Wednesday) – Unburdened: Impressive?
Introduction
Tonight marks the beginning of Lent, and Lent is really supposed to help us prepare our souls for Holy Week. Our guidepost for this Lenten journey is Jesus’ fasting in the wilderness for 40 days. And a fast is intentionally removing something from your life so that you can better worship God in spirit and in truth.
A lot of times we talk about giving something up for Lent. Maybe chocolate, or soda, or exercise – just kidding on that last one. But this year we’re going to look at our lives more holistically. How can we clear out space in our lives as a whole?
Here’s what Jesus had to say about that.
Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21
6“Beware of practicing your piety before others in order to be seen by them; for then you have no reward from your Father in heaven. 2“So whenever you give alms, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, so that they may be praised by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. 3But when you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, 4so that your alms may be done in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
5“And whenever you pray, do not be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, so that they may be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward.6But whenever you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
16“And whenever you fast, do not look dismal, like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces so as to show others that they are fasting. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. 17But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, 18so that your fasting may be seen not by others but by your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
19“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal; 20but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
Overstuffed
I am a cheapskate. I am married to a cheapskate as well. So there is no way in Hades I am going to pay extra to check luggage on an airplane if there is any way to avoid it. Did you know that you can use the extenders on your carry-on luggage, stuff it fuller than a Chicago ballot box, sit on it, and then be able to zip those extenders closed again so it will still fit in the overhead compartment? Useful trick. You can thank me later.
But what do you think happens if you need to open up that suitcase to swap out some clothes? Let alone add something else in there?
And then there’s another issue with this method. If you read the book or saw the movie “The Martian,” there’s a scene where he’s happily going in and out of the airlock on Mars when suddenly *BOOM*! His habitat explodes. He discovers that he had been using the same airlock over and over and over until finally the seams burst from the constant stress. That has happened to my compressed clothes bomb known as a carry-on bag. It’s not a pretty site.
If your life is the carry-on bag, how full is it right now? Are you comfortably packed with margins on the sides? Are you offering to your spouse to carry some of their luggage because you have room? Or are you as overstuffed as one of my bags on an airplane? How full is your life? And what have you filled it with?
Impressive?
I have discovered that “busy” is the default response whenever I ask someone how things are going. “I’m busy,” “we’re busy,” “oh you know, so busy!” And it seems like we have elevated busyness to the point where it’s a goal in-and-of itself. If I am busy, I must be doing something right. If my bag is stuffed full of clothes and trinkets, I must be important. If I can tell people five things I’ve done since the last time we spoke, I must be impressive.
But who are we trying to impress?
In our text today, Jesus tells the people listening that if you’re dancing for the crowd, you’ve already been paid. Dance for the Lord where no one can see you, and then your true reward will be greater than you can imagine.
Here Jesus says, “God won’t love you more because you’re so impressively religious around other people.” Jesus says, “God won’t love you more because you have such long and eloquent prayers.” Jesus says, “God won’t love you more if you give more to the church and everyone notices.” Jesus says, “God won’t love you more if you are known for your spiritual practices.”
So if God won’t love you more for doing any of these religious things, will he love you more because you’re doing any of the other things you’ve got stuffed in your life bag?
Who are we trying to impress with our busyness?
Making Space
I remember going to a University of Texas football game once, and we were getting our hindquarters handed to us. And the not-so-G-rated comments and shouts from everyone around us made it hard to hear. But suddenly, we scored right before half. And then we scored again after half. And then we scored again. And suddenly the entire stadium was booming with throaty cheers. The concrete stadium was literally swaying beneath the shouts and jumps of 90,000 people. One of the cheers at Texas games is for the crowd to spell out Texas. “T-E-X-A-S!” Every letter hit my chest like a sledgehammer, such was the noise.
But do you remember when the Old Testament prophet Elijah went onto the mountain to find God? There was a mighty noise, an earthquake, and a fire. But God wasn’t in the might noise. God wasn’t in the earthquake. God wasn’t in the fire. God was in the sound of sheer silence.
Do you think I could hear God’s voice in the midst of that “T-E-X-A-S?”
This Lent our challenge is to make the space to hear God’s voice in the sound of sheer silence. Or the “still small voice” is another way you might have heard it.
But let’s go back to my overstuffed airplane luggage. If I remove one shirt from that bag, is that going to be enough? No way. If one section of fans left the stadium, would it have made it quiet at that Texas game? No chance. Eliminating one thing from our lives this Lenten Season isn’t going to make our lives unburdened. We need to go bigger than that. Well, actually we need to go smaller than that.
How much stuff needs to come out of your bag so that you can fit in your relationship with God? How much space needs to be cleared out in the stadium before you can hear God’s voice in the sheer silence? However big that pile needs to be – that’s our goal this Lent.
And what happens when you get rid of half the stuff in your suitcase? It’s a lot easier to carry now, right? It’s a lot quicker to get where you need to be. In the same way, when we clear out space in our lives we’ll find out how much lighter we feel.
Jesus says later in Matthew, “my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” If that’s not your experience right now, what needs to go? How do you need to unburden yourself?
To close today I’m going to give you a minute of silence to picture what things might need to come out of your overstuffed bag. Pray for the Holy Spirit to reveal to you what needs to go so you can hear God in the sheer silence.
<LONG SILENCE>