Get Real
Ash Wednesday
Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21
(shared with the people of Friendship Church, February 25, 2004)

This past Sunday afternoon, Mike Cheney and I had to go to Loveland on an errand. That’s simple enough, isn’t it? We just had to take I-275 up to Loveland, make a few turns, and we’d be where we needed to be.

Somewhere around Milford, Mike said, “Hey, pull off here. There are some things I want to show you.” Since we both knew our way around and this would only be a minor detour, I readily agreed.

But you can guess what happened. We got thoroughly lost. There was one road I know that we must have either been on or crossed five times. Forty minutes into our little side excursion, we realized that we had succeeded in making a gigantic circle and still weren’t sure how to get to our original destination.

While I did gain some comfort from finally meeting a person with as poor a sense of direction as I have, I had to agree with Mike about the lesson we’d learned. “Next time,” Mike said, “we’d better bring a map.” Or, at least, I thought, we should ask for directions.

Life on this earth is a journey. God’s Word, the Bible, says that it’s a journey through a foreign land. Our real home is in heaven with God. If we’re to make it through this life and get to our ultimate destination, we dare not go through this life without a map, without direction from God.

Lent is a season devoted to our getting real with God and recommitting ourselves to getting our directions from Him. We know that this life is only practice for the real life that awaits us beyond the grave. We won’t get this life perfect. Our sin will get in the way of that. But we can be moving in the right direction. Our hearts can be in the right places. We can be moving toward God.

And make no mistake: This is deadly serious business. A young boy was excited to be taking a beach vacation with his family. His parents were excited for him too. But during the trip to the beach and even after they’d arrived at their condo, they warned their son, “Billy, the ocean is big and powerful. We want you to have fun here. But remember, never venture into the water unless one of us is with you. Never go to the beach without telling us where you want to go.” It can be deadly when you and I ignore God’s directions for us. It’s deadly when we rely on anything or anyone more than God. It’s deadly when we quit moving toward God. It brings eternal death when we try to earn God’s love or other people’s appreciation.

In our Bible lesson for this evening, Jesus warns us about one of the false directions we can take in life, thinking that we know what we’re doing. Jesus tells us that we need to quit fibbing to ourselves, as Mike and I did when we got lost last Sunday. And we need to stop fibbing to God and the world. We need to get real.

Above all, Jesus tells us tonight, we need to get real when, as He says, it comes to “practicing your piety before others in order to be seen by them.” Piety, dictionaries tell us, is religious devotion. People who make a show of their religious devotion are moving in the wrong direction. They think that by convincing others (or themselves) of how devoted they are to God, they’re doing things God’s way. But Jesus says they’re more lost and separated from God than people who’ve never heard of God or darkened the door of a church building.

So, Jesus says, when you give charity to the poor, don’t make a show of it; do it quietly.

When you pray, don’t pray out in the public square, using flowery words; even public prayer is meant to be communication as intimate as what goes on between a husband and wife.

When you give up food in order to focus on God, don’t begin every sentence with, “I’ve been fasting now for five days...”; instead privately empty yourself of your dependence on the things of this world so that you can fill up on God.

And don’t use your money so that you can live like a sated lab rat; instead, use the riches God gives to you to glorify God and love others.

Jesus doesn’t condemn these actions. God likes it when we give to the poor, when we pray, when we fast, and even when we spend and save money. But Jesus says, God wants us to do these things in the right ways, for the right reasons. If we do any of these acts in order to be noticed or applauded for how wonderful we are, Jesus says, we’ll get precisely the reward we seek. Other people will say nice things about us. They may even give us honors and erect plaques in the town square. But inside, out of the glare of public scrutiny, our hearts will be as dark and selfish and far from God as the hearts of the local pornographer, prostitute, drug dealer, or murderer.

In Psalm 51, ancient Israel’s King David, having been confronted by the prophet Nathan for committing adultery and murder, tells God, “You desire truth in the inward being...” It’s only when we get real with God that our hearts and wills become tuned to Him and He can give us direction for our lives.

In just a few moments, I’m going to ask you to take a short amount of time and write on the little half-sheets we gave you as you arrived tonight. On those sheets, I want you to write those things in your life that may be preventing you from loving God and loving your neighbor completely. I don’t want you to show what you write to anyone. Instead, I want you to fold those sheets and put them in your pocket or your purse or your wallet. And then, sometime each day throughout this Lenten season, I ask you to pull out that half-sheet and tell God something like, “Lord, without You, I’m lost. Through prayer, Bible-reading, worship, and fellowship with other believers, give me Your direction. Show me how I can overcome these things that are preventing me from living life Your way.”

God is anxious to give us direction as we journey through life. But, He won't force direction on us; we need to ask Him for it.

Tonight I want to tell you that no matter how lost you may feel, God can change the direction of your life. Turn to Him each day, be honest with Him, be real about your hurts and hopes, your sins and your failings, and He will fill you with life, purpose, and peace. Tonight, as this Lenten season begins, let’s ask God to help us to not be religious and instead, be completely devoted to Him. Let’s resolve each day to turn to God and become the people God made us to be!