"Preparing for Jesus" - Ash Wednesday

Zechariah 3:1-8

Our oldest son has had learning disabilities since birth. Throughout his early life, he was in special education classes, which helped him immensely. He finished high school, and after a couple more years in the BOCES program, he began a job at Achieve.
When he got home after his first day at work, we asked him how the day went. He was somewhat less than positive about the experience, so we tried to reassure him with “That’s OK. Tomorrow will be better.” He looked at us with a surprised, almost horrified look on his face and replied “Tomorrow? How long do I have to do this?”
As you can probably imagine, he was less than overjoyed when we answered his question!

Very few people like change, even though our entire life is focused on preparing for it! Each year we spend in school is focused on preparing us for the next year. School itself - whether we are attending high school, or college, or trade school – is intended to prepare us for the job market. Every job we begin is, hopefully, preparing us for a promotion. Even those 9 months of “womb time” have only one purpose – to develop us, to prepare us, to enter into life in this world.

Lent is also a time of preparation for the Day that is yet to come. And this is one of the most difficult of all changes that we must be ready to accept.

Read Zechariah 3:1-2

The high priest Joshua is standing before the Seat of Judgment where Jesus is sitting, and where Satan is waiting. Satan has every bit of proof that he is guilty as charged – evidence that began on Joshua’s first few days of life, right up until this Day of Judgment. Joshua is, without a doubt, guilty, and the Accuser can’t wait to remind the Judge of every misstep, every thoughtless word, every sin that he had ever committed. Joshua was quaking in his boots!

But as Satan steps forward to begin elaborating on the charges, the Judge stops him in his tracks. He is brought up so short, that he never gets to speak a single word against the man. Is Joshua guilty? Did he know that he was guilty? Absolutely! But by the mercy of the Court, his sentence is overturned. The fires of hell were ready to consume him, but they never had a chance to do their deed.

Notice that there was nothing that Joshua could say in his defense, and there was nothing that Satan could say in his condemnation. Romans 3:28 – “We hold that a person is justified by faith apart from works prescribed by the law.” Not only is there nothing in the law that can save us, but the law has no voice in our condemnation, either. The only issue at hand is faith in Jesus. The Judge who sits on the Throne of grace is our only hope of acquittal. And by that faith, we, too, can be “snatched from the fire” of condemnation.

What did Joshua have to do to prepare for this experience? He could do nothing except live a life of faith in Yahweh.
What do we need to do to prepare for this experience? There is nothing that we can do, either, except live a life of faith in Jesus Christ.

So is this all there is to it – trusting in the loving mercy of Almighty God? Not exactly.

Read Zechariah 3:3-5

By God’s mercy, Joshua had been spared from his rightful condemnation, but sin was still staining his life. And not just a few specks of dirt, but his entire body was clothed in filth! He has already been saved from the Satan’s condemnation, but now he must be cleansed of his sin.

Have you ever known someone who lived as though faith in Christ was the last act of salvation, and that now it no longer mattered as to what they did or how they lived? If we take Joshua’s experience to heart, we know that the admonition in James’ epistle is right on – James 2:26 – “As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.” Faith in Christ is not the end – we need to begin living this life as though our Christian faith truly means something to us! James isn’t telling us that our good works, and the rejection of our sinfulness, makes us right – he is saying that evil, the filth of our earthly existence, is incompatible with Christian living. And this is what the prophet Zechariah implies with the removal of the high priest’s filthy clothes.
We have to allow the Spirit of God to redress us in attire that is worthy of the Holy Presence.

Read Zechariah 3:6-8

Do you remember that time when you had cleaned your kids up to go to church, or for a visit to their grandparents, and before you could get yourself ready, they got outside and discovered a whole new patch of dirt to play in? That is what the Lord is cautioning Joshua about – that now that he has been cleaned up, don’t go out and get yourself into some “new filth”.

Matthew’s call to us to live the Great Commission (Matthew 28:16-20) is about this same issue. First, become a disciple of Jesus – be a follower who is discovering just who this Jesus is and what he can mean for your life. Second, make a commitment – be baptized - to the Lord. And third, begin studying and working toward a right life in Christ. Cleaning up our act is an ongoing process, one that John Wesley referred to as Sanctification. From the moment we accept Jesus as our Savior, until the moment we draw our last breath, we will have a constant battle with sin.

“If you walk in my ways and keep my commandments”, then you will have a place with me.

But how do we prepare to walk in the way of Jesus? How do we strive to keep his commandments? It isn’t all that easy, is it?

A couple of months ago, I was in a prayer meeting that was focused on revival in our community, and a longtime friend began praying the story of Lazarus. (John 11:1-44) Remember the story? Lazarus had taken sick, he died, and was buried, and four days later, Jesus showed up at his tomb. He orders that the tomb be opened, and he calls to his dead friend “Lazarus, come out!” And much to everyone’s amazement, the man walks out of the tomb and into the light of a new day. But his story doesn’t end there – he was still all wrapped up in his grave clothes – and Jesus orders that they be removed.

This reminder struck me so powerfully, that I haven’t been able to get it out of my mind. And as a matter of fact, I am using it to help me shed my own “filthy rags”. Whenever I notice that an un-Christ-like thought is beginning to enter my mind, or I begin to do something that I suddenly realize isn’t of Christ, I name those thoughts or acts as my “grave clothes”, and ask the Lord to help me shed them. And so far, it has helped me a lot!

And just as Joshua, and just as Lazarus, could have objected to this ultimate re-dressing, so can we. But Lent is a time to begin getting rid those objections, to begin intentionally seeking the Lord’s help to get our lives back in line with his. Beginning this evening, I want to encourage everyone to start naming each and every one of your own sins, as soon as you realize that they are working their way back into your life, as “grave clothes”, and ask the Lord to remove them from your spirit.

Will you join me letting the Lord work to prepare you for a true life in him? Jesus is the Branch of God who has come to re-cloth us in glory! We need his glory, but have no further need for our grave clothes. Let them go.