SERMON Judged, Condemned and Hoping for a Pardon Pastor Wolfe
The trial had provided all the details. The evidence was clear. The judge was fair. When the verdict was handed down there were no gasps of surprise. The word, “Guilty” stood as a testament to reality of the truth. While some may have disagreed with the harshness of the sentence, the law was clear. It was a capital crime. The penalty for such an act was death.
That is where is Adam and Eve stood on that day in the Garden. God had been very clear. (Genesis 2:15-17 NIV) The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. {16} And the LORD God commanded the man, "You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; {17} but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die."
The juice of the forbidden fruit was still smeared on their faces. They had tried to hide from God, but God had found them. Now all they can do is wait for the sentence to be carried out.
And if the truth be told, we can each be found standing beside them, each guilty of disobedience to the will of God. We are each under the same sentence of death for our sins.
(Romans 3:23 NIV) for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
(Romans 5:12 NIV) Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned--
We are simply waiting for that moment when the penalty will be exacted. We do not know and cannot know when the day of ending will come. We all hope to live full lives – but even the longest and fullest life will someday conclude.
I did some research. According to the life expectancy listed by the United States Census Bureau, as a white male living in Indiana my average life expectancy at my age is another 1,215 weeks. Each of these marbles represents one of those weeks. Each week will be precious. Somewhere near the bottom is one black marble that marks the week of my death.
But there are only so many marbles until only the black marble remains. Some day the penalty for sin in my life will be carried out and my life on earth will end.
The reality of that sentence is the reason we gather and smear ashes on our foreheads. We gather and remember that we are mortal and this life we so enjoy, this life which is so precious to us, is not without end. We are under a sentence of death. We come to stare that reality in the eye.
The news has reported that there is a billboard campaign coming to Indianapolis. It is paid for by a group consisting of atheists and agnostics who oppose religion. It will read, “You don’t need God – to hope, to care, to love, to live.” I appreciate the freedom of our country that they can post such a message. I would even defend their right to do so. However, the message does not make sense to me.
It is difficult for me to understand where hope exists apart from God.
Is there hope in the randomness of nature?
Is there hope in the goodness of human nature?
Is there hope in power of science? One disease is simply replaced by another as the leading cause of death.
In the end, they believe we will stand with our black marble and die, and that’s all there is.
Certainly, there would no hope in anything beyond this life.
But, we also gather to remember who God is.
God showed mercy to Adam and Eve as they stood before him in the Garden. The sentence was delayed. They were given a stay of execution.
(Genesis 3:17-19) To Adam he said, "Because you listened to your wife and ate from the tree about which I commanded you, 'You must not eat of it,' "Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life. {18} It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field. {19} By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return."
But then God did something more. Instead just delaying the sentence, Jesus came to show us the love and mercy of God. The sentence was no longer just delayed, he came to commute the sentence.
(John 3:17) For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.
The victory of Easter’s empty tomb is ours to share. Death does not bring and end, but a transition. What a wonderful joy to have the black marble taken away.
Through two acts of worship tonight we first will recall our mortality and secondly we will recall the grace and mercy of God. The first act is somber and difficult. You will be invited to come forward and confront your mortality. A cross of ashes will placed on your forehead – with the words, “Remember you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” I also would invite to pick up a black marble and to carry it with you during this Lenten season. Allow it to serve as a reminder of the hopelessness and futility of life without the grace of God. On Easter Sunday, You can take that marble and throw away. Death no longer has any power over you.
The second act, is to share the sacrament of communion. Even as we remember our mortality, we should never be without a reminder of the love and sacrifice of our Lord.
Let us prepare for what is to come.
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