Remember the Wages
The Veil & the Seamstress
During the Memento Mori service, we walked together through three movements which each included three focuses: hearing from God’s Word, confessing our sins before him, and singing in remembrance of his mercy. These movements were ordered around three divisions the Apostle John gives us for sin (or “all that is in the world”) in 1 John 2:15–16. The passage reads, "Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world — the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life — is not from the Father but is from the world."
One of the reasons we focused here is that the church has used these three categories as an apt description of what living contrary to the will of God looks like — and therefore, they are an apt description of the sins of which we need forgiveness and the unrighteousness from which we need cleansing (1 John 1:9). Further, this classification takes us all the way back to the garden, just like we read during our service:
"So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food [the lust of the flesh], and that it was a delight to the eyes [the lust of the eyes], and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise [the pride of life], she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate" (Genesis 3:6).
This comes to a point in our reflection upon death — and onward through the season of Lent — because ever since the fall, sin and death have walked hand in hand. One is the seed, the other is the fruit; one is the work, the other is the wage. We do well to remember, therefore, that the pervasiveness of death is a signpost to the pervasiveness of our rebellion. If death is a covering cast over all people, a veil spread over all nations (Isaiah 25:7), then the seamstress of that covering is sin — our desertion from the God of
Life.
One of the reasons we focused here is that the church has used these three categories as an apt description of what living contrary to the will of God looks like — and therefore, they are an apt description of the sins of which we need forgiveness and the unrighteousness from which we need cleansing (1 John 1:9). Further, this classification takes us all the way back to the garden, just like we read during our service:
"So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food [the lust of the flesh], and that it was a delight to the eyes [the lust of the eyes], and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise [the pride of life], she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate" (Genesis 3:6).
This comes to a point in our reflection upon death — and onward through the season of Lent — because ever since the fall, sin and death have walked hand in hand. One is the seed, the other is the fruit; one is the work, the other is the wage. We do well to remember, therefore, that the pervasiveness of death is a signpost to the pervasiveness of our rebellion. If death is a covering cast over all people, a veil spread over all nations (Isaiah 25:7), then the seamstress of that covering is sin — our desertion from the God of
Life.
The Desires of the Flesh
In light of this, we brought with us the following words to humble ourselves before God, owning the works of sin in light of the wage: our death. Regarding the lust (or desires) of the flesh, we read Joel 2:1–2, 12–17 and said: Come, let us "return to the Lord with our whole heart," confessing our sins with regard to the lust of the flesh. This includes every inordinate appetite and desire of our bodily nature that is not submitted to the will of God: all gluttony and overeating, all gratification of unlawful sexual desire, all drunkenness and illicit use of drugs, all laziness and neglect of responsibility; anything in which bodily gratification has ruled over spiritual welfare.
The Desires of the Eyes
Regarding the lust of the eyes, we read Ecclesiastes 3:1–11, 12:1–1 and said: For everything there is a season, so let us take time now to remember our Creator and call to mind our sins in relation to the lust of the eyes. This includes all covetousness and excessive passion for things we have perceived through our senses, represented foremost in what our eyes have looked upon: all inordinate desire for things that are pleasing to the eyes, all discontentment with regard to finances, all complaining for want of material possessions, all obsessive shopping and spending, all envy of another person's house, position, spouse, prosperity, or possessions.
The Pride of Life
And finally, regarding the pride of life, we read Psalm 90 and said: God is the one who ordained that man would return to dust, and God is the one who causes man to return to it. Let us not forget "the power of his anger," but instead — with a heart of wisdom that knows our days will soon run out — let us confess our sins with regard to the pride of life. Everything self-reliant, self-promoting, and self-absorbed; all angling toward compliments and posturing for prominence; all grasping for power and recognition, whether among friends, or coworkers, or family members; all boasting in intelligence, strength, looks, or moral fortitude; all false humility and self-pity; all forgetfulness of that fact that we are not
God.
God.
The Invoice Paid
So let us bring with us words to return to the Lord with all our heart. In this season we are brought low in the remembrance of death and the sin which produced it. And as we humble ourselves, from that very place, we must also remember the One who took upon himself our dust and received to himself the invoice of our rebellion. He never sinned, yet he ate sin’s fruit. Though flawlessly obedient, he accepted the wages of a rebel in order to win rebels and abolish the penalty of our treason. As George Herbert once wrote (from Christ’s perspective):
O all ye who pass by, behold and see;
Man stole the fruit, but I must climb the tree;
The tree of life to all, but only me.
So, brothers and sisters, remember your death, remember the cause of it, and remember the one who paid out its wages in full so that we could live to God.
O all ye who pass by, behold and see;
Man stole the fruit, but I must climb the tree;
The tree of life to all, but only me.
So, brothers and sisters, remember your death, remember the cause of it, and remember the one who paid out its wages in full so that we could live to God.