TexT OnlY nO aUDio
READINGS FROM HOLY SCRIPTURE:
Joel 2:12-19
2 Peter 1:2-11
St. Matthew 6:16-21
Grace to you and peace.
Jesus speaks to you on this day from His Gospel heard,
saying:
“For where your
treasure is, there your heart will be also.”
These Wednesdays in Lent, I’d like to briefly go through
each of the seven Apocalyptic Letters to the churches, in the book of Revelation.
Tonight, it’s the church in Ephesus.
Now to Ash Wednesday: We do not forbid good works. We do not
discourage godliness, such as fasting, rather we place of first importance that
which we first received: Faith in Christ Crucified. For the best and holiest
deeds fail, rust, and are stolen from us by the devil, as works righteousness.
They must fail, for Christ alone must be all in all, to Him be all glory.
Continue in good works, dear Christian, but let your first stop always be
belief in Christ Crucified for you.
This belief we will focus on tonight, in order that our
treasure remain in the wounds of Christ, in other words, heaven. This we find
in the Apocalyptic letter to the Church in Ephesus, from Revelation chapter 2.
Rather, we find that they have forgotten and abandoned the Love they had at
first.
Take a listen:
“To the angel of the church in Ephesus write: ‘The words
of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand, who walks among the seven
golden lampstands.’
‘I know your works, your toil and your patient endurance,
and how you cannot bear with those who are evil, but have tested those who call
themselves apostles and are not, and found them to be false. I know you are
enduring patiently and bearing up for my name's sake, and you have not grown
weary. But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at
first. Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent, and do the works
you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its
place, unless you repent. Yet this you have: you hate the works of the
Nicolaitans, which I also hate. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit
says to the churches. To the one who conquers I will grant to eat of the tree
of life, which is in the paradise of God.’”
Though there is a lot in there and not time to go through
everything, we will simply start at the top. That is, the key to understanding
Revelation is Christ Crucified and that He has purchased and won His Bride, the
Church, from sin, death, and the power of the devil. Meaning, we need to hear
this letter as if it were being read in the midst of Church Service and Church
things.
St. John is writing to the Church, as he says, and in that
Church of Christ, Christ Crucified is of utmost importance. That is, the
preaching and teaching of what Jesus has done for you. So what are our clues in
this letter to Ephesus?
First, there are words that were written, the letter, and
they are being read out loud, just like Church. Second, Jesus’s Name’s Sake has
been bestowed upon them, that is they are little Christ’s in Baptism, having
received His Name there. Third, there is repentance happening in the presence
of lamps, that is the Light of the World physically present among His
worshippers.
This is where the threat of punishment comes into focus. In
verse 5, if repentance is not present in Church, then the Lampstand will be
removed. That is, if the people have no sin, then Jesus will move on, for those
who have no sin need no Savior. Or if the people believe they can move beyond
what Jesus is doing, in His Church, then there is also no need for Jesus.
Here is our danger and the fruitfulness of celebrating Ash
Wednesday year after year. Our danger is that we get too comfortable with sin,
any or all of them, and believe that they are not worth forgiveness or that
they don’t need forgiveness or that we can do it better than Jesus.
And yet, each and every year, the Gospel of placing ashes on
our foreheads is what is preached: “He raises the poor from the dust and
lifts the needy from the ash heap” (1 Sam 2:8, Psalm 113:7). Dust never had
it so good since God formed us from the dust and Jesus was made dust, for our
sakes.
We may be dust, but from the dust God formed Adam and from
the dust He reformed us into His Image, Jesus Christ, through Baptism. For
there is dust outside the Church as well. The Church with no lampstand is the
Anti-Church, the Church of Babylon.
The Lord says in Revelation, “Then a mighty angel took up
a stone like a great millstone and threw it into the sea, saying, ‘So will
Babylon the great city be thrown down with violence, and will be found no
more…and the light of a lamp will shine in you no more, and the voice of bridegroom
and bride will be heard in you no more, for your merchants were the great
ones of the earth, and all nations were deceived by your sorcery. And in her
was found the blood of prophets and of saints, and of all who have been slain
on earth’” (18:21-24).
But of the Bride He says:
“And I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the
Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb. And the city has no need of sun or moon to
shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb”
(Rev 21:22-23) and “in Her midst stands the Tree of Life” (Rev 22:2).
For the Church at Ephesus is promised the One Who Conquers
and He will eat from the Tree of Life, which of course is Jesus’ victory on the
tree of the cross. So what was the first love that was forgotten by the Church?
Jesus. But not just any Jesus. The Jesus that came in the flesh. The Jesus that
enfleshed His Church, His Bride, in His own Body. The Jesus that, with His Word
and Sacraments, keeps and purifies Her until He comes again.
The Love we have forgotten, in our sin, is that Love that
dies, rises again, and Communes with His people, in His Body. The light of the
Gospel has gone out like an Altar candle. We have traded the free forgiveness
of sins for the “Lord’s work”, or what we think is the Lord’s work. Yes we hate
evil and root out the false apostles, but we replace them with ourselves and
our unshakable faith.
But it doesn’t have to be that way. Our Light is in our
midst. We can return, says St. Joel in our Old Testament reading. Returning
means rending our hearts, tearing up all the works we think we do, and simply
gathering around the work of God. For where the congregation gathers, there
Jesus is among us.
We sit at His feet and let Him do His work and speak His
peace. We plant ourselves in the pew and “the words of Him Who holds the
seven stars in his right hand, who walks among the seven golden lampstands”
is preached and taught to us that we might believe that Jesus is the Christ the
Son of God and the Son of man.
And as God does His work in His Divine Service, that’s what
that means, we find ourselves fasting, not from food and drink, but from our
own works and from our sinful nature. Because, when the Lord preaches His Word,
there is no room for anything else except His Will. And when the Will of the
Lord is done, every evil plan and purpose of the devil, the world, and our
sinful nature is broken and hindered.
Every plan to keep us in the dust and every purpose to
inflate our ego to godly heights is excommunicated. For at His Word, we are
strengthened and kept firm in His Word and faith until we die. This is His good
and gracious will, which is our treasure.
Our treasure which is not consumed, no matter how much we
eat. Our treasure which is not corrupted or touched by sin and death. Our Treasure
Who is not hidden or stolen away, since the command is to worship in public. Our
Treasure, Who is given and shed for you, for the forgiveness of sins. Not the
sins of being dust, but the sin of not believing that dust can house the Holy
Spirit.
Yes, Christ is our treasure, but now since He has created a
clean heart within us, we are His treasure in His Church in Accident.
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