Evangelical Discipline

Evangelical Discipline

Ash Wednesday – 2/18/2026

Matthew 6:1-6, 17-21

Rev. Dr. Christopher W. Brademeyer

That portion of God’s holy Word for consideration this evening is our Gospel lesson from the 6^th chapter of the holy Gospel according to St. Matthew with special emphasis on verse one which reads as follows:

“Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven.”[1]

Thus far the Scriptures.

In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Our Lord Jesus Christ speaks these words in the Gospel of Matthew as part of the Sermon on the Mount: “Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them… When you give to the needy… when you pray… when you fast… do not be like the hypocrites.”

These words are appointed for Ash Wednesday because they strike directly at the heart of what Lent is and what it is not. Lent is a season of discipline. It is a season of repentance. It is a season of self-examination. But if we misunderstand why we do these things, Lent becomes spiritually dangerous instead of spiritually beneficial. It becomes legalistic instead of evangelical, that is, Gospel oriented. There is a danger in spiritual discipline where our such works become about our righteousness instead of Christ’s righteousness.

Self-righteousness is exactly what our Lord here warns against. He says, “Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them.” This command from the Lord has been unfortunately misinterpreted in some Lutheran circles to mean, “do not do these things at all because if you do you will be seeking self-righteousness. But He does not say, “Do not practice righteousness.” To understand His words here in that way is to miss the point. In fact, He commands that His Christians will pray. He teaches that they will give. He assumes they will fast. These disciplines are not optional extras for super-Christians. They belong to the ordinary life of faith.

You should pray. Daily, with the great confidence that our Catechism reminds us comes with knowing God as your Father. You should give, freely, just as you have received freely from the hand of God. And you should fast to discipline the body, or, as preachers of old would have put it, to mortify the flesh.

But there are two fundamentally different ways to practice religious discipline. The first is legalistic. The legalistic approach treats discipline as a way of earning righteousness. Or for demonstrating superiority over other Christians. It treats fasting as deserving payment. It treats prayer as a transaction. It treats self-denial as a way of making oneself worthy of God. This approach turns the Christian life into a ladder. This ladder you must climb to reach God. This ladder you climb by effort, sacrifice, and self-improvement.

This appeals deeply to our sinful nature. Our sinful flesh wants control. It wants measurable progress. It wants something it can point to and say, “See? I did this. I sacrificed this. I achieved this.” The theologians call this the opinio legis, that is to say, the opinion of the Law. Or, to put it simply, the idea that seems to be innate to our sinful nature that we can earn our way into heaven and out of sin if we just work at it hard enough or in the right way.

However, this is precisely the kind of righteousness that our Lord condemns here.

Legalistic self-righteousness is a righteousness performed “to be seen.” It is intended to be noticed. It makes no difference if that attention comes from others we seek to impress or, more dangerously, from ourselves. The result is the same; this sort of righteousness turns us inward to rest in the self and to use what we do as the basis of our understanding of how we stand before God.

About people who seek righteousness in this way, our Lord says plainly: “They have received their reward.” Their reward is not forgiveness. Their reward is not salvation. Their reward is merely the fleeting satisfaction of human approval and self-approval. And that reward does not last.

But there is another way to practice the Christian life. There is an evangelical, Gospel-oriented way. The evangelical approach does not use discipline to earn righteousness. It uses discipline to keep us focused on the eternal things that matter, namely, on Christ. This is the key distinction. Christian discipline is not about becoming righteous. It is oriented to point us back to the One who is your righteousness.

Ash Wednesday is a reminder of our mortality and our inability to escape it by our own efforts. It is a stark reminder that we grow lazy in our Christian life and neglect prayer, charity, fasting, and bodily discipline. It is warning shot across the bow for all who are enticed to self-righteousness. Ash Wednesday strips away the lie of self-sufficiency.

This is exactly what makes Lent evangelical. Because only the one who knows he is dust, who realizes that he is unable to remedy his condition, that can receive everything as a gift. When a Christian fasts during Lent, he is not trying to impress God. God is not impressed by hunger.

He fasts to learn hunger. That is to say, the hunger of the body is meant to remind the one fasting of the deeper hunger of the soul. It is to remind us and teach us that that man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God. Fasting weakens the body in order to expose the deeper truth that our life does not come from ourselves. Life, eternal, blessed, everlasting life, comes from Christ.

When a Christian prays during Lent, he is not informing God of anything God does not know. He prays because prayer turns him outward. Away from himself. Away from his illusions of control. Away from his imagined independence. And toward depending more on his loving Father.

Our Lord says, “Your Father who sees in secret will reward you.” This reward is not payment. It is not wages. It is communion with God. It is the deepening of faith. It is the strengthening of trust. It is the quiet, hidden work of God sustaining you, His beloved child.

And when a Christian gives to the needy, he is not purchasing spiritual credit. He is living in the freedom of one who already possesses everything in Christ. As Martin Luther once observed, God does not need your good works, they do not save you. These disciplines do not make you a Christian. They flow from the fact that you already are one. This is why our Lord concludes with these words: “Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

Lent is a reminder about true treasure. Not earthly treasure. Not the treasure of reputation. Not the treasure of self-improvement. But the treasure given by Christ Himself. Because the truth is, your heart naturally treasures the wrong things. It treasures comfort. It treasures approval. It treasures control. It treasures the illusion of righteousness.

Christian discipline is a way that  God gently loosens your grip on these false treasures. This is not done to leave you empty, but to fill you with something infinitely better: Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit, and everlasting salvation.

Christ, did not practice righteousness to be seen by others, He went to the cross out of simple love for you and obedience to the will of His Father. Christ did not fast for His own sake, but who hungered forty days for your redemption. Christ did not give mere money to the needy, but gave His own precious and holy life for sinners. Christ, who became dust in death so that you who are dust might live forever.

This is why Lent is evangelical. Because every discipline, rightly understood, is not about climbing toward God. It is about being brought back to the God who came down to you. It is about repentance. And repentance is not merely sorrow. Repentance is a return. Return to your Baptism.

Return to Christ.

Put away your false works, your self-righteousness, and your attempts to justify yourself before God. You cannot save yourself. You never could. But Christ has saved you. Fully. Completely. Forever. Receive His righteousness. Receive His forgiveness. Receive His salvation. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

In the holy Name of + Jesus. Amen.

The peace of God that passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.

[1] Matthew 6:1