Full Sermon God's Love For Us in Jesus Helps Us Begin Our Lenten Journey based on Ephesians 3:14-19

Let us pray: Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer. Amen.

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

I. Another Lenten season begins. As we begin another Lenten season this Ash Wednesday we will think about God’s great love for us in Jesus. Each Lenten season we especially remember our sins and wrongs and our need for God’s forgiveness. Most of us do not like to spend a whole lot of time thinking about our failures and mistakes in life. Most of us would rather spend time recalling our successes and victories in life. The sad truth is we are people who have sinful habits and tendencies to break God’s commands rather than keep God’s commands.

II. Ash Wednesday tradition. Ash Wednesday is a day to be reminded that we are dust and to dust we will return after we die. Today there will be Christian churches throughout the world using ashes to make the sign of the cross on the forehead of people who come up to the altar area to receive that cross of ashes. The wages or payment we deserve for our many sins and wrongs is death. That fact is not pleasant for us to consider and accept. That fact is true.

III. Read Matthew 6:1-3 and comment. In Matthew 6:1–3 , our Gospel lesson, Jesus challenges us, “Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven. Thus, when you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing.” When we give to some worthwhile cause or charity, we usually want others to notice us and thank us for our kindness.

IV. We have failed to love God and others. We have failed to love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength. We have failed to love those around us as much as we love ourselves. We have not kept the Ten Commandments perfectly. We are unable to save ourselves from sin and death by even our best efforts to love God and others.

V. The hymn as a basis for our Lenten sermon series. The hymn I will be basing the Wednesday evening Lenten sermon series on points us away from ourselves in a different direction. The hymn begins: “O love, how deep, how broad, how high,/ Beyond all thought and fantasy,/ That God, the Son of God, should take/ Our mortal form for mortals’ sake!” The hymn, “O Love, How Deep”, points us to the Son of God, Jesus, and His great love for us. This great love is the antidote for our lovelessness and sin and death. This great love is a mystery. We cannot wrap our minds around this great love completely. This great love is beyond all our thoughts and fantasies.

VI. God’s great love is a gift. This great love of God is a gift and not something we deserve or earn in any way. This great love of God cannot be earned by the best we can do in life. This great love of God cannot be earned by doing enough good deeds to work our way up some kind of stairway to heaven. This great love of God is not something we deserve even on our best day. This great love of God is not something we deserve because of the love we try to show to God and to fellow human beings.

VII. This love of God is a gift due to the Son of God. This love of God is a gift thanks to the work of the Son of God, Jesus, in our behalf. The Son of God took on our mortal form to forgive our many sins and wrongs. The Son of God took on our mortal form to show us what a perfect life looks like in practice. The Son of God took on our mortal form to bring us mercy from God the Father in heaven. The Son of God took on our mortal form to be the once for all sacrifice on the cross for all our sins and wrongs. The Son of God took on our mortal form to show us undeserved love in action.

VIII. God calls us to repent and believe. God calls us to repent and believe in the saving efforts of His Son, Jesus, in our place. Ash Wednesday reminds us to repent, because we are dust and to dust we will return when we die. Ash Wednesday reminds us that ashes are the best we can bring to God because of our sins and failures and problems. Ash Wednesday reminds us that we need mercy from God every single day.

IX. Holy Communion helps us begin Lent. Tonight, we trust in the saving work of the Son of God, Jesus, accomplished for us. We humbly approach the altar to receive the true Body and true Blood of Jesus in, with, and under the bread and wine in Holy Communion to be forgiven anew and to be strengthened in our faith that sometimes wavers. In Holy Communion we receive the great love of God. In Holy Communion we receive the amazing gracious favor of our God. In Holy Communion we receive the medicine of immortality thanks to the saving mission of Jesus. In Holy Communion tonight we begin our Lenten journey of regular repentance and belief in the saving efforts of the Son of God, Jesus, for us.

X. Read about Luther’s death. [Martin Luther died (480 years ago) on February 18, 1546, in Eisleben, (Germany), his birthplace. As his condition deteriorated, he offered a prayer of thanksgiving to God the Father for revealing Christ, declaring “I thank You that You have revealed to me Your dear Son Jesus Christ, in whom I believe,” and commended his soul to Christ. He repeated John 3:16 three times in Latin, and recited Psalm 31:5—“Father, into Your hands I commit my spirit: You have redeemed me, O Lord, God of Truth”—also three times. As Luther lost consciousness, (two of his close friends) asked him loudly whether he still held to Christ and his doctrine, to which he responded with a clear “Yes”—his final distinct word. His last written words, found on his table after death, comprised a private meditation in Latin reflecting on classical literature and Scripture, concluding with the humble assertion “We are beggars. That is the truth.”] (Taken from: Martin Luther and Albert T. W. Steinhaeuser, Luther Primer: A Little Book of Goodly Excerpts from the Writings of Martin Luther (Columbia, SC: Survey Publishing Company, 1917), 148–150.)

XI. Conclusion. Ephesians 3:17–19 reminds us of God’s great love for us, “so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.” Think again about how the hymn begins, “O love, how deep, how broad, how high,/ Beyond all thought and fantasy,/ That God, the Son of God, should take/ Our mortal form for mortals’ sake!” Amen.

The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.