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Lent is the recognition of the Church, the Bride of Christ, that there is sin before redemption and that there is the effect of Law before the delivery of Good News. Lent is time of wilderness struggle before the Messiah carries His people over the river which separates death from life-desert from Promised Land.

The Church has historically suggested that Christians concentrate mightily on Christ's own passion during this prepatory time which precedes the Great Pascha Feast-the Death and Resurrection of the Lord! The Church is not talking to pagans here; is not telling non-believers that they must "do" something to become part of the flock. Spiritual discipline is not a good work which earns one salvation or special status but rather the resulting life of Christ which has already been placed into each and every follower of the Lord by way of faith because of Grace.

Saint Paul is not preaching to convert when he writes the passage of this evening's text to the Church at Thessalonica-he is writing to believers words of exhortation. We might even say these are words employing the 3rd use of the Law-a 'guide' to the New Man and New Woman who in the Spirit gladly hear their Savior's voice.

God the Third Person speaks to you through the Apostle's letter. When Paul says "we beseech you, brethren…" he means "we" the followers of Jesus; "we" the called and ordained elders (pastors) who are endeavoring to establish and serve the parishes in the Gentile regions; and "we" the Church catholic of "Judea, Samaria, Galilee, and to the ends of the earth." Paul's words are Jesus' very words: "we…exhort you by the Lord Jesus, that as ye have received of us how ye ought to walk…so ye would abound more and more." First of all Paul calls you brethren! What a lofty and grace-filled designation that is. You Kansan and Missourian 21st century post-moderns are considered brothers and sisters of this 1st century Taursian-Jewish pre-modern.

But more so, you are kin of the Lord God Himself because you have received Christ by way of Paul's message. You have been catechized in the doctrine of Jesus. You have heard the Gospel Message of Christ crucified for the remission of your sins and you have believed and grasped this evangel by the power of the Holy Spirit.

It is the Word that has come to you and rescued you from yourself. It is Jesus the Word Incarnate Who has delivered you from sin and from Satan your adversary and finally from eternal death itself. You are the Lord's brethren because the Lord has done it. Christ's dessert obedience and His Holy Week suffering and death have established your status and your eventual glorification and coronation in Heaven. It's a done deal! You are saved because you are forgiven-period.

Well-now what?

The "now-not/yet" dynamic tension exists in the life of every brother and sister of the God/Man. You are saved now but you are not yet in heaven. You are counted righteous before the Father, in Jesus' Blood, now but you are not yet free from actual daily trespassing. So now what do you do? The saint, which is what you are because God says so and has made it so, in you looks to Christ the author and PERFECTOR of your salvation. The New Creation that you are is both busy with your daily vocation and also occupied in abounding more and more in Christ. The reality of the phrase "Be what you are" is not Law but joyous fact for the Christian as Christian.

Your Baptized self delights in abounding more and more. You believe, teach and confess that the Lord has sanctified you, i.e. declared you holy before the Throne of His Father, AND you likewise delight in the daily sanctification which adheres to the body of every single Christian. As a "little Christ" you are daily conformed to the Image of your big-brother Jesus. As a follower of the Master you carry a cross and you daily drown the "old Adam." Your weakness is made great in Christ's strength. Your own icon, image, "life-style" if you will, is that of the Crucifix.

Yes, sadly the fallen natures which still cling to you, and are you, break God's Law. You transgress the 6th Commandment as well as the others. You commit adultery, every one of you, at least in your minds-at least in spirit. You lust after other women or men. You don't do what Luther said-you don't lead a chaste life in thought, word and deed; you don't honor your spouse. Whether you fornicate like a prostitute or gigolo, or whether you simply act like a pagan and ascribe no holiness, sacredness, and Church typology to the sexual union, you nonetheless whore after the world and its false religions. This was the real sin of the Israelites. This is the sin of breaking the First Table. Sexual greed, envy and lust are damning but not just physical urgings violate the Lord's design-concupiscence of any kind for that which is not God is deadly.

But this Lent you fight not in the barren places. Christ is your warrior, general, and victor. You need not dread your inability to remain perfectly pure in order to obey the 6th Law any more than it falls to you to perfectly fulfill the other nine in order to stay out of hell. Jesus, born of a Virgin, is the Chaste, Celibate, Immaculate and Perfect One Who is now your Groom of Grace. Jesus abstained from the fornication of ALL SIN and possessed His vessel, His real body and real blood, in Holiness, Obedience and Honor before His Father, and your Father.

The wrath of God, the Divine vengeance of the Avenger of all evil, does not strike you down for your fraud against Him and your fraud against your neighbor-for it has already cut and burned and buried the innocent Lamb-in your place.

This Lent you fast perfectly because Jesus fasted perfectly. You wear ashes without the sin of hypocrisy or self-righteousness because Jesus repented perfectly of your sins. You are clean because Jesus WHO IS CLEANESS PERSONIFIED became your dirt and thus has washed you clean.

Fast on self. Eat the Word. These words can be Law of the Second Use-a mirror showing your deficiency, decay and death. These words can be Law of the Third Use-a guide for your eager-beaver New Man/Woman to delight in. But always believe that it is the Lord that Saves you and perfects you. You can't forgive yourself. The Lord forgives you. "Among whom also [you] all had (past tense) had-your conversation in times past in the lusts of the flesh and mind; and were (past tense )were by nature the children of wrath…but God, Who is rich in mercy for His great love wherewith He loved you. Even when you were dead in sins, hath quickened you together with Christ, by Grace ye are saved." [Eph. 2.3-5]

So, in those dark times when you've done filthy things, be they of a sexual nature or a non-sexual nature, do not despair over yourself. Do not give up hope even if the sin that beset you STILL plagues you like a thorn in the flesh; many trespasses are indeed life-long battles and chronic addictions that the devil uses to weaken your faith in Christ by getting you to wrongly focus on your own will-power and fortitude. The Spirit lifts you up and gives you Christ: "that He might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing + of water by the word. That He might present it to Himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish." [Eph. 5. 26-27]

You go in faith and you sin no more for Christ…He has done it and He will keep you pure and blameless until His reappearing.

In the Name of The Father and of + The Son and of The Holy Ghost