Lent 1 2024

14 [Each] person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. 15Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.—James 1:14-15

So we start out this season of Lent by really getting straight at the heart of the issue—the heart of the fasting, self-denial, sacrificial giving to those in need—all of these things that we describe as the “mortification of the flesh.”

They are at the top of the list of the reasons for the Reformation, at the top of the list of things that were rejected by the Reformers—or, at least, their misuse was. They’ve been misused through the centuries; they’ve been twisted and perverted by those who claimed that we merited something before God by doing them.

We are reminded today that they’re not optional for Christians. To simply go on, comfortably, as we are is to continue in death. Death is not something “out there” that we can be shielded from. It is produced within us. “14 [Each] person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. 15Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.”

But, instead, our culture insists that you should “follow your heart.” “Be true to yourself.” Or, as a book that was released almost exactly three months ago boldly declares: “You Do You.” The point of the book is “straight talk about how to stand up for who you are and what you really want, need, and deserve.”[1]Lust, gluttony, greed, sloth, wrath, envy, and pride used to be listed as the seven deadly sins. Now they’re held up as virtues. True freedom means embracing them. Any limits that someone might try to impose on you are presented as slavery.

In case we’ve forgotten, let’s be reminded what it is that is within your heart and mine, reminded of who you and I really are, what we really want and think we need and deserve, and where it all leads. “17 …[The] desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do. …. 19Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, 20 idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, 21 envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God” (Galatians 5:17–21, ESV).

And this is who you and I really are. These are the things that are within your hearts. This is where “doing you” leads. “14 [Each] person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire.”

“Mortifying the flesh”—seeking to put to death our sinful nature through things like fasting, self-denial, sacrificial giving to those in need—is not optional for Christians because the only alternative is for our “15 …desire, when it has conceived, gives birth to sin, and sin, when it is fully grown, brings forth death.”

There is no wiggle room in Paul’s command. There aren’t any exceptions. It’s not limited to time or place or culture: “5 Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. 6 On account of these the wrath of God is coming” (Colossians 3:5–6, ESV).

The sad thing is that this is no secret. Some of the great civilizations of history were built, in part, on the understanding that our desires, our appetites, have to be brought under control. Many of the Greek philosophers understood that, in order to be free, they had to cultivate virtues like chastity, temperance, charity, diligence, patience, kindness, and humility. They understood that lust, gluttony, greed and the other deadly sins only led to death. Honestly, in every culture you’ll find that understanding somewhere. Unlike 21st century America, they recognized the need for mortifying the flesh.

But that still doesn’t bring forth life. What is dead can not bring forth life. That’s the basic problem with the theory of evolution, by the way—life can not come from non-life—and it’s the problem here, too. Mortifying the flesh still leaves you dead.

It’s necessary, but that’s not the ultimate goal of our faith. As another pastor put it: “I hope you fail at Lent.”[2] Jesus came—not to make bad people good or to make people virtuous—but to make dead people alive. These two things are both true at the same time: 1) mortification of the flesh— fasting and self-denial— not optional and 2) success isn’t found in the perfection of our fasting and self-denial.

Both of those are true. And both of those can be true because true fasting and self-denial are found in Jesus Christ.

The ancient Greek philosophers showed a lot more wisdom than we do. But their philosophy only goes so far. As Christians, you and I begin the struggle against our sinful flesh from a much different place. You begin with the promise that: “24 He himself bore [your] sins in his body on the tree, that [you] might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed” (1 Peter 2:24, ESV). Arguably, that is precisely what we see Jesus doing in the Gospel reading today. Immediately after Jesus was baptized, the spirit descended on Him, and the voice declared that Jesus is the beloved Son of God, what happened? Mark writes that Jesus was “thrown out” into the wilderness. Our translations do a fairly good job when they say that the Spirit “drove out” Jesus into the wilderness, but it’s literally “thrown out” or “expelled.” “Immediately,” Mark says, the Spirit threw Jesus out into the wilderness. Why? Because that’s what happens to the scapegoat (Leviticus 16).

For about 1500 years, the High Priest had taken a goat and laid his hands on it, symbolizing the sins of the people being put on that goat. The goat was then cast out into the wilderness. That’s a picture of Jesus as He was driven out into the wilderness. Jesus has taken on your sins and, through fasting and prayer, has begun to put to death your sinful flesh. He carried them faithfully, all the way to the cross where they were put to death, there, fully and finally.

And He is the one who creates in you a new heart and restores a right spirit. “3At one time you, too, were foolish, disobedient, deceived and enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures. …. 4 But …5 he saved [you], not because of righteous things [you] had done, but because of his mercy. He saved [you] through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, 6whom he poured out on [you] generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, 7so that, having been justified by his grace, [you] might become heirs having the hope of eternal life.” (Titus 3:3–7, NIV).

Simply putting to death our sinful flesh still leaves you dead. But you have been born again in Jesus Christ. You have been given the new birth by water and the Spirit, which has forgiven your sins and made you alive in Christ Jesus. “12[You have] been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead. 13And you, who were dead in your trespasses …God made alive together with him, having forgiven [you] all our trespasses, 14 by canceling the record of debt that stood against [you] with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross” (Colossians 2:12–14, ESV).

It is in that promise that we receive the encouragement to mortify the flesh. “13For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live” (Romans 8:13, ESV). That would be a hard burden to take up— at Lent or at any other time— if it were not also true that “24 [Those] who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires” (Galatians 5:24, ESV).

Mortifying the flesh begins quite simply. It begins when you get up in the morning; when you make the sign of the cross; and when you say, “In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit”—the reminder that you have been born again by water and the Spirit.

It begins each morning when the Old Adam within you is drowned by daily contrition and repentance and a new person daily emerges and arises to live before God in righteousness and purity forever (Luther’s Small Catechism, “What Does Such Baptizing with Water Indicate?”).

You have been born again by water and the spirit. Therefore, as St. Paul puts it: “5Put to death, therefore, what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. 6 On account of these the wrath of God is coming. 7 In these you too once walked, when you were living in them. 8 But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. 9Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices 10 and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator. 11 Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free; but Christ is all, and in all” (Colossians 3:5–11, ESV).

It is in that promise that we receive the encouragement to mortify the flesh. “13 For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live” (Romans 8:13, ESV). That would be a hard burden to take up— at Lent or at any other time— if it were not also true that “24 [Those] who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires” (Galatians 5:24, ESV).

You have been born again by water and the spirit. Therefore Paul instructs you to: “5Put to death, therefore, what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. 6 On account of these the wrath of God is coming. 7 In these you too once walked, when you were living in them. 8 But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. 9Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices 10 and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator. 11 Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free; but Christ is all, and in all” (Colossians 3:5–11, ESV).

It’s in the confidence of baptism that you can take up the struggle to mortify your flesh, knowing that “22…the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law” (Galatians 5:19–23, ESV).

So we do, we start out this season of Lent by really getting straight at the heart of the issue—the heart of the fasting, self-denial, sacrificial giving to those in need—all of these things that we describe as the “mortification of the flesh.” In Jesus Christ, it is a living, beating, vibrant, and vital heart that He has given you in baptism. Thankfully, it is a heart that beats not only on a few, set days in a special season of the year. In all believers, it beats every moment of every day.

So take up the fast this season “to train and subdue [yourself],” as our confessions put it, “with bodily restraints, or bodily exercises and labors that neither overindulgence nor slothfulness tempt you to sin.”[3]Take up the fast as those who “have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires” and learn to know the freedom of your new life in Christ.

[1]https://www.amazon.com/You-Do-Youve-Given-Guide/dp/0316445126 [2]https://www.facebook.com/153816661355272/videos/vb.153816661355272/1736444043092518/?type=2&theater [3] Augsburg Confession, quoted at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mortification_of_the_flesh#Lutheranism