Sin is a loaded word. For those outside the faith, it’s a funny and dated religious term. For Christians, we repeat it so often that it loses its bite. Scripture reveals that sin is worse than we know. Jesus is so serious about it that he says, “If your eye causes you to sin, gouge it out.” What is it about sin that’s so fatal it would require Jesus to go to the cross?
This Lent we do a soul examination, studying all the ways God describes the complex of sin. Lawlessness, adultery, rebellion . . . The cancerous nature of sin means that we need to go deeper than surface confession. The problem is worse than we know, which makes our Savior greater than we can imagine.
Invocation
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, who delivers us from all evil.
Invitation Prayer
Lord Jesus Christ, stay with me. There is evil within me, and I am so often attentive to it. I am easily overcome by my own desire to get away from you and be free to have everything I want and to do everything I want. Lord, give me the real freedom of your life in me. By your victory over temptation, make me victorious. By the power of your love make me strong. Amen. (from The Lutheran Book of Prayer, CPH, 1970)
Word
Exodus 32:1
“When the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mountain, the people gathered themselves together to Aaron and said to him, ‘Up, make for us gods who shall go before us. As for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.’”
Meditation: Am I Really an Idolater? By Pastor Jeff Cloeter
From our vantage point, it seems ridiculous. After the miracle of the Red Sea. After the great deliverance from slavery. After miraculous manna in the morning. And then we turn a few pages and these stubborn people are asking for other gods!
It’s hard to relate to the story of the golden calf. We don’t fashion idols and worship them. Israel’s actions appear primitive. “So foolish. We’re way more sophisticated now.”
The first commandment is: “You will have no other gods before me.” Martin Luther provided a simple interpretation: “We should fear, love, and trust in God above all things.” Luther taught that idolatry is not about gold figurines. It is about the human heart and its propensity to trust anything that we think will give security or meaning.
In the Large Catechism, Luther commented on the nature of idolatry: “That to which your heart clings and entrusts itself is, I say, really your God.” To cling to, to trust—this is what God wants from you. And when your heart clings to and trusts anything else, that’s idolatry.
We put godlike expectations on people and things all the time. We ascribe to people or things that which only God can do. A spouse can be an idol. Money can be an idol. School or work can be an idol. Nature can be an idol. You say, “But aren’t these good, God-pleasing things?” Yes. Idolatry is when good things become the best. We place on them a trust that should only belong to God.
After false gods let us down, God still stays. “Fear not, nor be afraid; have I not told you from of old and declared it? And you are my witnesses! Is there a God besides me? There is no Rock; I know not any” (Is. 44:8).
Is there anyone who can put up with you when you’re a mess? Only God says, “I’ll never leave you or forsake you.”
Is there anyone who can forgive your worst failure? Only Jesus, who said, “This is my blood, given and shed for you.”
Is there anyone who can raise the dead? Only the God of life. Jesus said, “I am the resurrection and the life, whoever lives and believes in me will never die.”
Is there anyone who deals, not in days or years, but in eternity? Who can hold you now and literally forever? “There is no Rock; I know not any!” Cling to him.
Almighty God, you are my only Rock. When I am tempted to trust another, forgive me. Reshape my heart to more fully love and trust you above all things. There is no other Lord. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
Sending
In the face of evil, may the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God the Father, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with us all. Amen.