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Why Lent?

24 Feb , 2012 1 Comment

Growing up I didn’t know anything about Lent.  I only knew Lent as a strange “Catholic” practice. I’ve gained a broader picture of the Body of Christ through the study of Church history and I’ve been able to experience a deeper expression of prayer and worship as a result.  I want to help you do the same.  Most Protestants think of Ash Wednesday and the Lenten season as a “Catholic thing” while, in reality it was part of the early church’s consistent pattern of worship.  Our earliest known reference is that of Ireneus (who died in 202 A.D.).  What I’ve sought to do is strip the Lenten season of anything that is not biblical but maintain a simple and clear focus of prayer, repentance, and personal sacrifice.  I’ve heard many sermons on Christ’s instructions to pray when He says, “When you pray…” pray like this…  But He also says, “When you fast…” fast like this…  He didn’t say “if” you fast, but “when”.  Jesus expected His followers to pray, and at times, fast as a regular part of our spiritual pattern of worship.  Could it be that we (in the U.S. in particular) could learn a few things about giving up so much of what we want and dying to our selfish needs for more?  I am certain that prayer and fasting is greatly needed among believers- particularly in the affluent West.

What many have written off as “weird” (ashes on the forehead, giving up certain foods, etc.) I’ve sought to recapture in its purest biblical sense.  It is true that Ash Wednesday or “Lent” are not in the Bible (of course, neither are Christmas Eve services, Good Friday services, Advent, and so much of what others of us would call “normal”).  You don’t see “Easter Sunday” in the Bible either (because every Sunday is Easter Sunday- or better, Resurrection Sunday for the believer.

“Lent” may not be in the Bible but focused seasons of sacrifice, confession, and repentance clearly are.  In the church I grew up in we rushed to Easter Sunday without any preparation of the heart before God.  I’ve learned much from the larger Body of Christ as it relates to the spiritual disciplines solitude, prayer, and fasting. “Lent” of comes from the Middle English word “Lenten” which means “Spring”.  The Lenten or Easter Season is a focused time of confession and repentance from “Ash Wednesday” to Easter Sunday.  Forty Days from Ash Wednesday to Easter Sunday (minus the Sundays leading up to Easter- because the early believers would not fast on Sundays).  Later many would go from Ash Wednesday to Maundy Thursday (forty days later).  Maundy comes from “mandatum”, meaning “mandate” or “command”.  Jesus said, “A new commandment” (mandatum nuevum) I give to you.”   So the Lenten season is a period of focused prayer and fasting (with a focus on confession, sacrifice, and repentance). Why forty Days?  Forty days shows up throughout the Bible.  Moses, Elijah, and Jesus (Luke 4:1-2) all fasted for forty days.

 “Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” Genesis 3:19

The ashes are to remind you of your mortality and of the need to repent of sin in your life.  It was common for Jews and early believers to mourn the loss of a loved one with “sackcloth and ashes”.  Ashes were also a sign of brokenness and repentance of sin.  Confession of sin is a private thing between you and God.  It is not something to be paraded around and seen by everyone but a private moment between you and your Savior.

Fasting is the act of the will through which the follower of Jesus puts forth spiritual control over the flesh (through sacrifice- i.e. not eating, or some other form of self-denial) with a view to a more personal and powerful experience with God in prayer.  Fasting involves giving up but is much more about receiving.  You give up in order to receive.  You die in order to live.

 Types of fasts:

  • Total fast  (be careful and receive guidance)
  • Water only Prepare your body for it.  Hunger pangs will go away- first 2 days hardest.
  • Liquid only Juices- not milkshakes! (When you don’t eat, more time for prayer)
  • Eliminate certain foods No deserts, no caffeine, no junk food- “Daniel fast”- healthy
  • Media fast NO television, NO movies, NO paper, NO internet, NO video games, etc.
  • Multiple possibilities Be creative and specific-but a sacrifice- must cost you something.

During a fast, when your earthly desires kick in, you turn to the Lord and you are reminded that He is more than enough to meet your every need.  It is a wonderful way to be drawn to the Lord and to overcome the desires of the flesh in many areas of your life.

 “If I had cherished sin in my heart, the Lord would not have listened; but God has surely listened and heard my voice in prayer.”  Psalm 66:18-19 What is David saying here?  I cannot harbor unconfessed sin or unresolved sin in my life.  Any Christian who desires to fully serve God and follow Him must attack sin from all fronts.  We cannot hold on to sin but release it and the first step is to confess it- to God first and then, to others.

 “For me, to live is Christ and die is gain.” Philippians 1:21 

To be alive to Christ and to live for Him means I must die to myself, my needs, my wants- continually.  “In the body” is where dying of Jesus is seen through my life and revealed to others.  It is, at the same time, the place where this life (the resurrection life) of Jesus is seen.  In the same passage he says, “so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in my body.”  My life then becomes a presentation of a Story- the Story of the passion of Christ.  I die to myself in order to reveal His life in my.  You see, you are called not only to tell the story of the Passion, but to LIVE it, experience it.  How?  By dying to self.

But the language used by Paul is a continual dying- the process of dying- you are continually dying.  To remind you of your mortality- your body is dying and to get you focused and busy on the eternal that does not die.  You see, death for Jesus was not the end- He lives. So, how can we position ourselves to move to this dying of self?  How can I be touched by God to go to deeper levels?  By confessing my sin to Him, by showing Him that He is all I want- all I need.  Fasting is that spiritual discipline that helps us live that out in unique ways.  It’s why Jesus says, “When you fast…” (Matthew 6:16)- it was an expected practice of the believer.  It’s a way to deny yourself of earthly things in order to focus on heavenly things.

 “My food” Jesus said, “is to do the will of Him who sent me and to finish His work.”  John 4:34  During a fast He is your food.  The will of God becomes your sustenance.

 May you walk to the cross with the Lord Jesus this Easter season as never before.

 “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.” (Psalm 51:10) 

A Christmas Masterpiece- an artful journey to the manger

11 Dec , 2011 No Comments

Christmas is the most wonderful, colorful, and artful time of the year. Like no other time of the year, the arts burst forth in all forms to celebrate the season. From concert halls and theaters to popular music and television, Christmas themes prevail in all art forms. While red and green tend to dominate the pallet of Christmas, we see lights of all colors, gold ribbons, and silver bells. While some are dreaming of a white Christmas others struggle through a blue Christmas.

The way a culture views life will be reflected in its art. Just pause for a moment and consider what that means when we take a hard look at our culture. What do we see in the arts today? Consider the visual arts, video, cinema, the performing arts, theater, popular music- mostly vanity, sex, violence, chaos, relativism, even fatalism. There’s a spiritual principle at work here. Who we are is what we create. What’s in the heart of a culture will be expressed through the arts. Jesus said,

“Out of an overflow of the heart the mouth will speak.” Matthew 12:34

Out of the heart comes all of life. As an art student on the university campus, I found myself in a Philosophy of Art class and in the middle of a debate over a phrase you’ve probably heard before: “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.” This of course, plays into the subjective reality of the arts- music, painting, sculpture, theater- but is it true? Or is their some objective standard by which we measure beauty? I remember when grades were handed out for certain projects. How would you grade an artist who had randomly flung paint across a canvas up against one who had worked tirelessly on a magnificent, intricate landscape? Is it all subjective? Is it all relative? Or is there an objective reality by which one can judge art, or anything in life, for that matter? I remember having passionate discussions with other students that spilled over into contrasting of worldviews. One would argue for objective truth and others would argue that there is no such thing as truth. As one modern philosopher said, “The truth is there is no truth.” Of course, if that statement is true then it’s not.

Christmas is, at its core, the declaration- an expression of ultimate reality, ultimate beauty and of Truth. At its core- Christmas is God’s proclamation that He exists and there is Truth- and we now know exactly Who He is and what He’s like. All of this came into full clarity when God- the Master Artist expressed Himself to humanity. And He did so from His divine pallet with two primary colors: grace and truth.

“The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us. We have seen His glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.” John 1:14

“For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.” John 1:17 And, of course, it was Jesus who said,

“I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life; no one comes to the Father but through me.” John 14:6

Dorothy Sayers, in her book, the “Mind of the Maker” presents God as a Creative Artist. If you imagine God as an engineer or a clockmaker or immovable force you’ll go astray. God’s image shines through to us clearly in His act of creation. And interestingly, His Revelation of Himself to us is comprised of three stages which I think gives us a powerful analogy of the Trinity. Christmas means God has revealed Himself to us as the Trinity. Theologians have explained this as “God in three Persons”- Even the word “persona” was invented or transferred over by theologians to explain the Trinity- the persona referred to the mask of the actor. The same actor would wear different masks- same person, different forms.

The Artistic Process
• The Idea All art begins in the creative mind of the artist as an idea.
• The Expression Then the artist must choose the best medium for the expression of that idea. Some expressed themselves through writing- through prose or epic poetry like Dante or Milton. John Wesley wrote sermons, his brother Charles wrote hymns. Michelangelo chose sculpture, others have chosen opera, painting, movie, theater, cinema to express the idea with which he or she desires to convey. The expression comes in many forms and many mediums in art. Then..
• The Response Finally someone reacts- responds to the art- once an idea, now expressed, meets the “beholder”. The response completes the creative cycle. Art is not art until someone has responded to it.
Think about how you have responded to God’s expression of Himself to you. The Bible calls His artwork to us- “Revelation”. He is the Revealer, the Revelator and we are the responders. God is always the Initiator- we are not. I want you to notice how John follows this pattern of God’s revelation to us. Although God is one, within that unity we can distinguish the work of three distinct persons. God the Father is the “Idea” or Essence, of all reality. “I AM that I AM”. Everything that exists- everything- flows from His existence. Consider how God has revealed Himself to us:

The Idea: “In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God.” John 1:1 “Logos”- the Divine Idea. We learn something about God from all of creation- quasars to kangaroos, aardvarks and anteaters, and especially from human beings- but ONE human Being, the Divine Incarnate Son of God, represents the perfect Expression of His Essence. He is the exact representation of His being” and “the image of the invisible God.”

The Expression: “The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us. We have seen His glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.” John 1:14 Let’s talk about responding to God’s Masterpiece- Jesus. If you’re like me, you can understand the Trinity when you think about how you came to Jesus Christ. God expressed Himself to me and I responded. First, I came to know God the Father. I learned early on that He was awesome, loving, holy- deserving of our worship. Then I became acquainted with Jesus, a Man I wanted to follow the rest of my life. And then- almost like a second conversion- I became aware of the Power of the Spirit, of the Living God inside of me. That’s how I captured the progression of God’s revelation to me. I think His revelation is perceived by all of us time-bound humans.
The final step in God’s creative revelation came to fruition at Pentecost, when God took up residence inside human beings. Something of God’s Essence, the same Spirit who hovered over the waters at Creation, now lives inside flawed human beings, giving us the Recognition of a new identity. The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children and God’s act of creation reached its pinnacle.

The Response: “He came to that which was His own, but His own did not receive Him. Yet to all who received Him, to those who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God.” John 1:11-12
Though everyone is created by God, not everyone is a child of God,-only those who have received Him. John said he, “beheld His glory”. As the beholder of God’s expression, how do you respond to this Christmas Masterpiece? Your personal response is required. God has revealed Himself to you and responding to God always requires change.- not on His part, but yours. The Truth of who Jesus is does not change (Hebrews 13:8). We are the ones who must do the changing. Once we have beheld Jesus, it demands a response. God loves you. His Idea was to save you; His expression was His Son; the response is up to you. As you consider the colors of Christmas this season, consider the words from the prophet Isaiah, 700 years before Christ was born.

“Come now, let us reason together,” says the LORD. “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool.” Isaiah 1:18

When Christianity Becomes Idolatry

01 Sep , 2011 No Comments

Excerpt from Matt Johnson

Even good Christian theology can become an idol. When Christian belief is information detached from the substance of Jesus’ objective work on the cross for sinners, it becomes idolatry. Like it or not, you and I are guilty of it. How so?

• Do you live for the approval of others in the church?
• Do you stew over your spiritual performance and personal holiness more than you steep in what God has already accomplished for you in Jesus?
• Are you prideful about your biblical knowledge?
• Do you love to debate finer points of theology with others and get angry when you’re challenged by your views?
• Are you feeling burnt out and joyless in your service to those in the church?
• Are you uncomfortable with suffering people and find you’re quick to recite Bible verses as a way to avoid awkward, personal engagement?

If you answered “yes” to any of these, there is a good chance you have taken God’s good gifts and used them for your own selfish purpose. You have used God to make yourself look good through your service, your knowledge, and personal growth. This form of idolatry is hard to detect because the “fruit bearing” looks good to everyone else. Let’s face facts though; it’s idolatry.

The problem is, like the Pharisees, we prefer our safe religion over the death of our selfish spiritual aspirations.

The law kills. Grace brings freedom.

19 Aug , 2011 No Comments

“He has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant- not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.” 2 Corinthians 3:6

http://youtu.be/ztDndBqJAZw

What’s the Gospel?

13 Aug , 2011 1 Comment

At the core of our Message, our ministries, our lives, our hope, and life is the Gospel.  The longer I preach the more convinced I am that I (we) have but one message: the Gospel of Grace found only in Christ. Surely all of Scripture is inspired by God and all of the Bible is profitable for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness- but it is the Gospel that is central. I’ve heard Christians through the years express a desire to go “deeper” in the Word. Sometimes this is a true desire to get beyond the surface preaching that seems to come from many of our pulpits. But most of the time this is a desire for more knowledge (and not a desire nor evidence of obedience to what is already known- i.e. kindness, compassion, care for the poor, the marginalized, a lack of grace and purity, etc..).

I ask, “What’s deeper than the Gospel?” How can we ever tire of studying, scrutinizing, exploring, and- indeed- applying the Gospel to every aspect of life. The Gospel is the well that never runs dry. Jesus is eternal and the exploration of His majesty is never-ending. Let’s preach, teach, and apply the Gospel. It is (HE is) the Only hope of salvation for those who believe.

Here Tim Keller (who is always Gospel-centered) answers the question: “What is the Gospel?”

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w0g-s4Qhtyk&feature=youtu.be]