Total Depravity or Lapsarian Lite?

Ash Wednesday        March 1, 2017

Isaiah 58:1-12        Ps.103       

1 Cor. 5:20b-6:10    Matt. 6:1-6, 16-21

It is wonderful to be with you again on Ash Wednesday.    As the new pastor in town in 2001, one of the initiation rites was for the new guy to preach on Ash Wednesday. And I have survived several preaching occasions here in the past and hope to survive tonight.

Being in a house of Luther tonight, I should at least quote something from Luther as a starting point of reflections upon beginning this season of Lent.  In a letter to his colleague Philip Melanchthon, he wrote: "If you are a preacher of Grace, then preach a true, not a fictitious grace; if grace is true, you must bear a true and not a fictitious sin. God does not save people who are only fictitious sinners. Be a sinner and sin boldly, but believe and rejoice in Christ even more boldly. For he is victorious over sin, death, and the world. As long as we are here we have to sin.”

Be a sinner and sin boldly.....that sounds rather contradictory coming from a preacher.  As an Episcopalian we might be regarded to be Lapsarian Lite.  Lapsarianism refers to beliefs about the Fall of humanity.  Reformers like Calvin and Luther followed St. Augustine in espousing the total depravity of humanity.  Though there are Anglicans and Episcopalians who can be severe about the degree of the Fall and human depravity, but probably most Episcopalian might be called Lapsarian Lite, because we believe that God still sees goodness in the Divine creation of men and women even after they fell into sin.

The total depravity of humanity, is that really a Lutheran belief?  I grew up among moderate Lutherans in Minnesota where "darn tootin'" used to be most severe curse words ever heard from the lips of Ole, Sven and Ingemar.  How could these understated Minnesota Lu'terns really be those who upheld the doctrine of the total depravity of humanity?  Were they were really frightened by the possibility of living really extremely sinful lives?

Perhaps it is my inter-Christian duty to evangelize regarding our Lapsarian Lite position.  Could it be that I might rehabilitate the notion of sin tonight?  Could I make the case that the New Testament actually presents sin as a positive notion? 

Our Gospel reading for tonight occurs in the Sermon of the Mount section of Matthew.  The words of Jesus invite his listeners to exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees.  In short, he was saying the practice of God's law has to be deeper than the ways in which the clergy seem to practice it in public and in their proposal of all sorts of religious behaviors.  After all, clergy get paid to look religious and to say religious things and to require religious behaviors.  However, the practice of God's law must go beyond appearance.  And dealing with all of the skeletons in the closet of our private lives is a much more daunting challenge.  Indeed, all of us need to be in the closets of our private lives crying out, "Create in me a clean heart O God.  And renew a right spirit within me."  Why?  Because the words of Jesus require that we be as perfect as the Father in heaven is perfect.  And if this is the final standard, we can understand why Luther and others would hold to the total depravity of humanity.

And if sin is always falling short of the perfection of God, then what is point?  If we're all sinner, then we must be in good company, or perpetually bad company.  How can the notion of sin be understood to be a useful and insightful teaching for us tonight on the first day of Lent?

The New Testament word for sin comes from archery.  In Greek, "hamartia", meant that an arrow which has been shot, falls short of the target.  Aristotle, used the word to describe what happened as a result of pride and hubris.  Because of pride, one misses the mark.  So, sin means that we fall short of the target that we have been aiming at.

And here is the dilemma.  If the target is to be perfect as the Father in heaven is perfect, then we will always be archers who miss the target.  And if God forgives us for missing the target then what is the best way to sin?  What is the best way to keep shooting our arrows and falling short?

First, we have the target that we are aiming for in life.  To be perfect as God is perfect.  And let's put out a string to show how far away that is.  And I am going to shoot an arrow.  And see how far I miss the target by.

How can we sin in a good way?  And how do we sin in a bad way?

Jesus came to show us how to sin in the right way.  What do I mean by this?

Well some people sin by shooting their arrows at targets other than God who is perfect.

Some people want the target of fame.  Some want the target of wealth.  Some want the target of looking like they are the most religious person in the world.  Some want to be the best-appearing Episcopalian or the best appearing Lutheran.  And when we have the wrong targets in life we can harm ourselves and others.  If we want and use something too much we can become addicted to something and we lose our self-control.  If we make religious behaviors reasons for being too proud of ourselves, then we do not understand the real purpose of religion.

The secret of sin is how can we sin in the very best possible way and still please God?  So here I am encouraging us to observe Lent by learning how to sin well.

How can we be good archers even while we know we will never hit the perfect target?

We have been taught the ten commandments.  And we can have the appearance of keeping  9 of the 10 commandments.  We believe in one God.  We don't have idols that we worship.  We observe worship time.  We respect parents, marriage, truth, other people's property and life.  But the hard commandment is the 10th commandment.  Thou shalt not covet.  Thou shalt not have wrong desire.   And this is the most difficult commandment because we do not seem to be in control of the direction of our desire.  We may not act out on wrong desire, even when we have wrong desire and so wrong desires can be very troubling for us.  Wrong desire can motivate us to want even good things for the wrong reason.

So what do we do?  We, like the Psalmist, ask God, to create in us clean hearts and renew right spirits within us.  We believe in the work of Jesus Christ to baptize us with the Holy Spirit and to make our bodies temples of the Holy Spirit.

And if we can begin to find the Holy Spirit within us as deeper than even our desires, then we can begin to find the right direction for our desire.

I want all of our target holders now to get in alignment with the perfect target of God.  If by the Holy Spirit, we can begin to shoot the arrows of our desires toward the perfection of God, all of the lesser targets will then help us in our growth in perfection.  Our desire for fame can become the esteem we get from seeking to love God.    Our desire for fame can become our task of making forgotten and needy people famous and recognized in our lives.  The money and wealth of our lives can become things which we appreciate and use in the service of God.  We can understand that being a good Lutheran or being a good Episcopalian can be in the path of our efforts to more like God.

So here is the good news about sin for us during Lent.  It is unavoidable and all our best friends, are sinners too.  But if we understand ourselves as being archers who shoot the arrows of our desire toward God because we are given direction by God's Holy Spirit, then we can understand how God's grace is working for us.

If we are shooting our desire, our deeds and words towards the perfection of God, we can know that God's grace helps us achieve what we do in the direction of God’s perfection.  But we also know that God's grace helps us to make up for what we always lack in perfection.

The grace of God allows us to participate in God's perfection as if it were our own because we are judged only  by our willingness to be associated with the mercy and grace of Jesus Christ.  We ride the coattails of Jesus Christ into the perfection of God.

So, do we ever lose our designation as sinners?  No.  Apart from association with God's perfection we are always missing the mark.  But in association with Jesus Christ, whatever we lack is always provided for us on our behalf.

We have the Lenten adventure of sin.  Let us ask for the Holy Spirit to direct our desire and convert it as an energy to shoot the arrows of our life practice toward the perfection of God.  If we can bring all the targets of our lives in line with our quest for the perfection of God, then we can enjoy all of those targets as motivational rewards toward excellence.

Let's give all my helpers a big hand of applause for their wonderful assistance.

And to all of us for Lent, I say, Archery anyone?  Creative sinning anyone?  Or as Luther would perhaps say, "Bold sinning anyone?"

Let us Prayer:  Gracious God, let each of us know the Holy Spirit deep within us to transform the desires of our hearts and motivate us in the direction of God's perfection.  And let each of us know and choose to receive God's grace as the gift of God in participation with divine perfection.  And God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit give us a holy Lent.  Amen.