022107 Ash Wednesday
Ash Wednesday
The Ashes of Paradise Lost
Genesis 3
Sermon Outline
3. With Adam and Eve, we fell from Paradise that, in love, the Father had given us.
2. Return to the good and gracious God, and fear not.
1. You shall be in paradise that, in love, Jesus regained for us.
(Paradise We Lost, but Paradise Jesus Regained.)
I just love the taste of one of those fat bombs-called “Paczskies.” In fact, I even fell to temptation already last Tuesday and “I did eat.” I guess you might say that I am indeed the offspring of my father and mother, Adam and Eve. But, it wasn’t paczskies they ate. They ate the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. And that had far greater consequence than an over-sized paunch like mine. They introduced death into a world where there was no death, and we have all become unwitting participants in that spiritual death, whether we know it or not!
This is what ASH WEDNESDAY is all about. We do not celebrate this disaster foisted upon the whole human race. We lament it, for that is what makes life now hard and laborious and oft-times, fruitless. We live in the ash-heap of Eden’s disaster, so it is good to know why we are in it, and to know what can be done about it.
3.
Remember God’s decree: “By the sweat of your face,” God told guilty Adam, “you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return” (Gen 3:19). And we their children continue doing the same little human dance that got them expelled from God’s Garden. We all sing the rhyme of remorse:
Ring around the Garden,
Souls in need of pardon,
Ashes, ashes, We all fall down.
Sometimes in counseling, people ask what it is that they have done to deserve so much evil in life. Could it be that in our human frailty we are still asking, “O Adam, O Eve, what have you done? Why?” How could Adam and Eve whom the Father created in his own image and likeness, have been so beguiled so as to bring death to us? And we now live with its effects: natural disaster after disaster, man’s inhumanity to man, mental illness, illness and diseases of the body, broken relationships, broken marriages, broken families, broken spirits, broken souls, a world broken and tormented by sin and death. “O Adam, O Eve, what have you done? Why?”
Must we not also ask ourselves, the sons and daughters of Adam, and Eve, the same questions? O Richard, What have you done? Why? Do we not out-Adam Adam, and even elbow Eve out of the way so that we might be first in line to sink our teeth into some forbidden fruit of life? Do we lend our lips to Satan to tempt our spouses, and our children, into doing whatever suits our fancy? Perhaps the old jingle needs to be applied to us this way:
Adam and Eve went up the hill,
To fetch a pail of poison,
Down they fell and humored hell,
And we all tumble after.
All alike fall short of the glory of God as if tumbling right out of Eden, exiled from the Paradise God wanted us to enjoy. What they did makes us easy prey to the Devils determinations, even today. What can be done about it?
2.
Repent! For dust we are, and to worse than dust we shall soon return; unless something is done to take us away from our own evil inclinations! But, God, being who He is comes to us to breathe the breath of life into us, thereby bestowing on us the Spirit of life. Thank God for it! By that Spirit of Christ, we can return to our Father who eagerly desires the return of His prodigal children. So, let’s go home, my fellow fallen Adams and Eves. Let’s go home to Eden, to the garden God has prepared and still keeps safe for us.
In Christ Jesus we no longer need to fear the anger of the almighty Judge, who has kept us exiled you that holy place? We need not fear His Almighty wrath, for His anger has been fully spent upon his Son, the second Adam—Jesus Christ.
We need not fear the ancient serpent, who beguiled Eve and defiled Adam, sinking his poisonous fangs deep into our souls. Fear not, for scripture says: “the God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet” (Rom 16:20). Indeed, the heel of the woman’s Seed has already smashed the skull of that slithering snake right there, upon the cross! His blessed heel absorbs the venom and the promise of our healing is assured by the empty tomb.
1.
Fear not, my friends. Our exile from Eden comes to a certain end in the body and blood of Jesus. You were washed in the blood. You were fed by that body. You have already been crucified with Christ, pronounced dead and buried, yet raised in new life, through your faith in Him. The bottom line is this: What needed to be done to restore you and me into the bosom of our God, has been done. This is why we can come to Ash Wednesday without fear, but with love glorifying Him who casts out all fear.
So, my dear friends; be proud of what you have been given in God’s absolute love for you! Be proud that you have become the sons and daughters of the second Adam—Jesus Christ! Be proud that by virtue of His work and His promise, you have been reconciled and returned to Him who continues to breathe the breath of life into you.
(Paradise We Lost, but Paradise Jesus Regained.)
Amen.