The Gospel of Lent

There are plenty of legitimate concerns with a season like Lent. Some people can only smell oppressive Roman Catholicism, works righteousness, legalistic burdens, scoring brownie points with God, competing for holiness, superficial-hypocritical spirituality, pharisaism, washing the outside of the cup, white-washed tombs, making a show of piety, and why would forgiven saints want to wallow in their sins for forty days anyway?

And in so far as people take up a Lenten observance with any of that in mind or in their hearts, I say to hell with Lent. God hates all of that.

But consider me an optimistic hold out for the benefits of reclaiming a joyful, faithful Lent.

Lent comes from the old English which means "lengthening," and it originally referred to the fact that the days were getting longer. It means Springtime. And I can't think of a better way of getting geared up for Easter.

In other words, Lent is the season that celebrates Postmillenialism. Postmillenialism is the name for the view of eschatology that says the story of this world is the story of God remaking this world into the garden-city it was always meant to be. Rather than planet earth bursting into flames and the rapture occurring just in time to medivac the last few faithful survivors into another dimension, the Bible teaches that the death and resurrection of Jesus was the down payment for the glorification of this world, this planet, this universe. The Spirit was poured out at Pentecost in order to re-create this broken paradise, and postmillenialism is one theological name to describe the basic gospel proclamation that Jesus wins and everyone might as well come along cheerfully. Whether it takes another few hundred years or thirty-thousand more years, the history of this planet will be the story of salvation, the victory of grace, and the vast majority of humanity will be saved. Hell will be a small, dark speck populated with a tiny band of gollums making love to their darkness.

In other words, the story of history is an enormous Springtime. It is the story of Lent, the story of days getting longer, the world getting lighter.

The darkest night in the history of the world was the night before Jesus was born, the night before the Light was born into this world. That night was the winter solstice of all human history. In Adam the world could only grow darker, but when the Light of the World burst into the world, it began to get lighter. And the last two thousand years are the story of this world getting lighter, the days getting longer, the nights getting shorter.

Lent means it's getting lighter. The Sun is risen, and the Light of the World is growing.

And this means that Lent is always a call to walk in the light as He is in the light. It is a call to cast away all the works of darkness, to cast away the shadows and to come into the light. Lent is a call to join the mission of this Kingdom of Light, the mission of being light and bringing light to this dark world. Lent celebrates God's victory over darkness and rejoices in the shadows fleeing away.

So far as people try to cover up their guilt with false pietistic fasting, they are only hiding in the shadows. In so far as people try to make a show of their piety through pharisaical fasting from Facebook and coffee, God is not impressed.

But in so far as Lent is a wonderful annual reminder that the Sun is up, and it is getting lighter, Lent is a call to come into the light, a call to hope, a call to struggle against sin, the flesh, and the devil. And in so far as faithful believers take up their crosses and cry out to God with tears and fasting and prayer, God will see in heaven and answer the cries of the weak and the broken. In so far as Lent is a cry of defiant hope, a battle cry that insists against all odds, against what seems impossible, against the patterns and habits and powers of this dark world, in so far as Lent insists that it is getting lighter, and that nothing can stop the Light, in so far as that is what we celebrate and renew year after year, that is good news. That is the wonderful gospel of Lent.

Lent means it is getting lighter. Lent means that the Sun is risen, and it will continue to rise until it bursts out at the last great Easter, when the saints rise up in glory like the Son.

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Ash Wednesday Homily: Lent is for Evangelism

Stephen was stoned to death. James was beheaded. Matthew was pinned to the ground and beheaded. James the brother of Jesus was thrown off the temple tower and clubbed to death. Following Jesus is dangerous.

Matthias was stoned and then beheaded. Andrew was crucified on an X-shaped cross. Mark was dragged to his death. Peter was crucified upside down.

Paul was beheaded. Jude was crucified. Bartholomew was beaten and crucified. Thomas was tortured, run through with spears, and thrown into the flames of an oven. Luke was hung from an olive tree.

If the season of Lent is an annual, concentrated reminder of the call of discipleship, the call to follow Jesus, then Lent is dangerous.

Lent is dangerous because there is historical controversy associated with it. While it had been celebrated for over a thousand years by the time of Calvin, there was so much superstition associated with it that he counseled against keeping Lent. Lent is dangerous because there are a number of ways to celebrate it badly: morbid introspection, conjuring up vague guilt and feeling holy for it, prideful abstaining from food and drink, looking down on those who don’t celebrate. False humility is as easy as lighting a dead Christmas tree on fire. One little spark and we puff up.

But Lent is dangerous ultimately because the cross is dangerous. The message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing but to those who are being saved it is the power of God (1 Cor. 1:18). To those who want to find another way to grace, another path to mercy, the cross is an offense (Gal. 5:11). The sinful heart of man is offended by grace, offended by the folly of the cross. We would rather be proud in all sorts of ways.

In the first century it was Jews who wanted to put guard rails up around the cross, the old Jewish laws – circumcision and Sabbath – were safe and established “marks,” identifying the people of God. But Paul says that he will only boast in the cross of Christ, he will only boast in the victory of God in Jesus, “by whom the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world” (Gal. 6:14).

The cross is Paul’s mark, his only pride. He writes the Thessalonians: “You became followers of us and of the Lord, having received the word in much affliction, with joy of the Holy Spirit, so that you became examples to all in Macedonia and Achaia who believe. For from you the word of the Lord has sounded forth, not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but also in every place. Your faith toward God has gone out, so that we do not need to say anything” (1 Thess. 1:6-8).

Paul says that the Thessalonians followed the apostles and the Lord Jesus such that they became examples or “marks” to everyone. They became “marks” to all those who believe in Macedonia and Achaia, but even beyond that, he says that the “word of the Lord has sounded forth” not just locally but “also in every place.” Paul says that they have become examples, types, marks displayed for the world to see so that the apostles don’t need to remind anyone about the Thessalonians. It’s clear for everyone to see; the apostles don’t need to say anything. Everyone knows.
And Paul describes how they became marks and examples for the world. They became these marks through receiving the word in affliction and with joy. From Acts we know that the city of Thessalonica had been roused into an angry mob by jealous Jews when some members of the synagogue began following the gospel preached by Paul. The Thessalonian Christians faced affliction and persecution for following Jesus, but they did so with joy in the Holy Spirit.

Following Jesus has always been a call to take risks, to risk reputation, risk danger, risk all pride. The call to follow Jesus is not a call to comfort, dignity, or respectability. Jesus says, “Remember the word that I said to you, ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will keep yours also.” (Jn. 15:20) And the witness of thousands of Christians down through the centuries calls us to follow Jesus, taking up the cross, taking up the dangers, taking up the risks.

Ignatius was the pastor of the church in Antioch when he was arrested and extradited to Rome. He wrote to the Roman church pleading with them not to try to deliver him because that would deprive him of what he most longed and hoped for. He wrote: “Now I begin to be a disciple. I care for nothing of visible or invisible things so that I may but win Christ. Let fire and the cross, let the companies of wild beasts, let breaking of bones and tearing of limbs, let the grinding of the whole body, and all the malice of the devil, come upon me; be it so, only may I win Christ Jesus.” It is said that as he was sentenced to be fed to lions, Ignatius said, “I am the wheat of Christ: I am going to be ground with the teeth of wild beasts that I may be found pure bread.”

Following Jesus is dangerous. The call to follow Jesus is the call to take up our cross and follow Him. And that cross is not just for decoration. The cross is not merely a symbol. The cross is the power of God for salvation. It displays God’s love and justice for the world. The cross is foolishness to Greeks and blasphemy to the Jews. The cross is the glory of God. God loves that part in the story where death dies, where weakness triumphs, where mercy bursts out of violence.

Peter exhorts the elders of the church not to rule the churches as “lords” over those entrusted to them, but as “examples to the flock.” As Paul said that the Thessalonians had become examples or marks, Peter calls the elders to be “marks” for the flock to see. Likewise, Paul exhorted Timothy and Titus to be “marks” for the believers in their churches (1 Tim. 4:12, Tit. 2:7). Where does this idea come from? What does it mean to be “marks” for others to see?

This idea goes back to Jesus. The same word is only used once in the gospels in John: Thomas says that he will not believe that Jesus is risen from the dead unless he sees the marks of the nails in the hands of Jesus and puts his fingers in the holes and places his hand into His side (Jn. 20:25).

What Paul and Peter and the rest of the apostles and disciples came to understand was their calling to be the marks of Jesus for all to see. We are called to be the nail marks of Jesus for the world so that the world will see and believe. The call to follow Jesus is always a call to look like Jesus, to display the life of Jesus in our lives, in our words, in our actions, to bear the marks of the Lord Jesus in our bodies. Many Christians are hunted down by unbelievers and God displays His grace in their suffering. But if we are not being turned into marks through violent oppression, our marching orders are pretty straightforward. We are called into all the world to preach the gospel. If Lent is for remembering the cross in order that the marks of Jesus might be evident in our lives then Lent is for evangelism.

Several Practical Suggestions
First, if you plan to fast during Lent, do not kid yourself into thinking that fasting is the same thing as suffering for Jesus. Just because the pastor said that Lent is dangerous doesn’t mean you’re being a great risk taker by abstaining from chocolate or coffee or beer. Do not come up here and take the sign of the cross upon your forehead and pat yourself on the back and say that you have somehow done something courageous for Jesus. The point of abstaining, the point of taking the cross upon your brow, the point of prayer and fasting, the point of all this must be evangelistic, inviting the gospel to fill our lives, our families, our communities. The point is to make time to pray for the lost, to love the lost, to invite the lost and the hurting into our homes, and to share life with the lost and dying in our community. Abstaining from something is not the mark of Christ, but if you give yourself to heart-aching prayer for your neighbors, you have begun to be a disciple. If you plead with an unbelieving loved one to submit to Christ, the word of the Lord is going forth. If you graciously confront your roommate for obvious sin and folly, realizing that you may lose or strain a friendship, you are beginning to be a disciple. If you love your wife like Christ loved the church, and give yourself away for her more and more sacrificially, you are beginning to be a disciple.

And if you fast, let your fasting and prayer be toward particular ends, particular needs, particular hurts, not vague feelings. Fasting does not benefit us. Fasting is a bodily posture. Just as you might kneel or lift your hands in prayer, so too fasting is a posture of humility and urgency. Some of you need to learn to fast and pray. You might dedicate one day a week, one meal a week, you might do it individually, or as a family. But the point is not for a show of piety, the point is not to harness some mystical power. The point is to cry out to God. Peter says that humility is evidenced in casting all our cares upon the God who cares for us. Some of you need to cry out to God because you haven’t been. Some of you need to cry out to God because you’ve been carrying all your cares yourself, because you are weighed down with burdens and stress and fear and unbelief. Use this season of Lent to repent. Set aside time to pray, to pour out your heart to the Lord. And pray it out. Pray until it’s all out. Pray your cares on to the God who cares for you.

Next, and related to the first point is that abstaining ought to always be pointed toward some sort of giving. If we celebrate Lent as a community it ought to be an obvious blessing to everyone around us. People ought to be glad that Trinity celebrates Lent. Last year, you will recall that we encouraged you all to consider spending one evening a week with the elderly folks at Aspen Park. That Tuesday evening visit is still going on every week, and I would encourage you to consider participating in that again. There are a number of students who still regularly attend, but those of you with young children cannot overestimate the kind of joy and blessing you can bring to the elderly by sharing your little ones with them. So consider visiting Aspen Park on a Tuesday evening during Lent. Or if you have other elderly friends or relatives, plan to visit them and encourage them and show them the love of Christ in the coming weeks.

Lastly, this year, the elders would like you to give particular attention and consideration to evangelism. First, we want to ask all of you to consider having your neighbors over for dinner or dessert. And by neighbors we mean the people who live next door and across the street. Maybe you could plan one meal a week or just two or three meals over the next number of weeks. And focus your attention particularly on neighbors who are unbelievers or who don’t attend church. The point is not to trap them in your house and then stand up on your chair at dinner and deliver a lengthy sermon. The point is to love them as your neighbors, get to know them and if possible invite them to church. The elders are also organizing a couple of other opportunities. Over the next number of weeks we are aiming to take time on at least two Saturdays to go into some of our neighborhoods, to introduce ourselves as members of Trinity Reformed Church and invite folks to come to church. Again, the idea isn’t for everyone in the church to be street preachers; the idea is that we all have neighbors that we are commanded to love. Watch your email over the next few days as we finalize details, and please plan to join us.

Lent is all about the cross, the message of the cross, the marks of the cross, the risk of the cross, the danger of the cross, the joy of the cross. And tonight we are gathered together to renew our commitment to this cross, to this scandal, to this danger, to this Savior.

Polycarp was a disciple of the Apostle John. He was arrested as an old man and taken before the governor who sentenced him to be burned at the stake. Yet the governor offered to release Polycarp if he would curse Christ, and Polycarp answered: “Eighty-six years I have served him, and he never once wronged me. How then shall I blaspheme my king who has saved me?” He was tied to the stake rather than nailed, as was the usual custom because he assured them that he would stand still in the flames. After the fire was lit and it had burned for a while without consuming him, the order was given and the executioner pierced him with a sword.

May God give us grace to follow the Lord Jesus with the same joy and faith and loyalty. And may we become the marks of Christ, calling the world to faith in our crucified and risen King.

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

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Confession and the Lenten Life

At the beginning of our service, we confess our sins every week, but this is not an invitation to save up all your sins for Sunday. If you come here with a pile of sins to confess then you really must confess all of those sins and the sin of waiting until now to confess them all. This confession in this service is a reminder to you to always be confessing your sins immediately as you are confronted with them. And in the off chance that you walked in here this morning huffing and puffing about something or another make it right now. And if you snapped at your husband or wife or one of the kids at the soonest opportunity ask their forgiveness. Confession of sin does not happen only once in the Christian life. There is not just one cataclysmic conversion with tears and long laundry list of sins to confess and viola! You’re a Christian and everything is bright and shiny from then on. Sometimes God does confront people like Saul in a sudden mid-life sort of way which presents the need for a great mountain of confession at that point. But the entire Christian life, which normally lasts from your baptism when you were a newborn baby to your last dying breath in old age is an entire life of conversion, an entire life of confession and repentance. Saving sins up for Sunday is a miniature version of revivalism, the heresy that thinks it can put the Spirit of God in a bottle only to be unleashed on Wednesday nights from 7 to 9pm. And we must not be so dull as to think that that cannot happen with a season like Lent. It is important to take regular and scheduled opportunities to reflect and take inventories of our lives, and make proper confession and repentance as needed. And that is what our weekly confession is for; that is what Lent is for. But it most certainly does not mean that you are off the hook the rest of the week or the rest of the year. We do this as regular reminder, even a profession of faith, that we are sin confessing people. So don’t come here and go through the motions of confessing your sins and go out there and live like a hypocrite. If you confess your sins here, you must go right on confessing them as you leave here today and as you get up tomorrow morning. You are the temples of the Holy Spirit. Do not quench the Spirit by saving sin up, and thereby cluttering up your Temple. Confess your sins regularly, constantly, continually offering the sacrifices of God.

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Mediation 2: Moses on the Mountain receiving the law for Forty Days (Ex. 24, 34, Dt. 9)

Opening Prayer: Almighty God, we thank you for the presence of your Spirit that you have poured out in your church. We ask that your refining work would continue in us and through us. Empower your word now through Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen.

Introduction
Last week as we began Lent, we considered the first instance of the theme of forty in Scripture in the Flood. This week we consider the next instance in Moses’ sojourn on Mt. Sinai for forty days and forty nights. He actually does this twice with the incident of the gold calf at the center.


Forty Days and Forty Nights: On Mt. Sinai (Ex. 24, 34, Dt. 9)
The sight of the glory of Yahweh is described as a “consuming fire” in Ex. 24:17. There Moses spends forty days and nights receiving instructions for constructing the tabernacle and the law (Ex. 25-31). One of the only other places God is described as a “consuming fire” is Dt. 4:24, and there it comes on the heels of reminding Israel that they have been brought out Egypt, the “iron furnace” (Dt. 4:20). Literally, Israel went “out of the furnace and into the fire.” In Dt. 9, Yahweh explains that the “consuming fire” that Moses encountered on the top of the mountain is going to go before Israel into Canaan to destroy the great and mighty nations living there (9:3). But the presence of God is not safe for the unfaithful. If Israel is not faithful to drive out the nations in Canaan, instead of destroying the nations, God’s anger will burn against Israel and destroy them (4:26, 9:8, 14, 19, 20, 25). As Moses recounts the bumpy history of Israel in the wilderness, Yahweh determines to destroy Israel at least three times (v. 7-9, 17-19, 23-25, cf. 10:10). And Moses responds to each of these threats by fasting forty days and forty nights interceding on behalf of Israel. Moses goes up into the “consuming fire” for the salvation of Israel.

Conclusions and Applications
Israel eventually goes into the land, and while Yahweh does consume the nations before them, many years later when they have turned their backs on him, they are consumed by him in the fires of exile, the furnace of affliction (Is. 48:10, Ez. 22:15-22).

Lent is an annual reminder that our God is a consuming fire, and we are called to serve him with reverence and fear (Heb. 12:29). But this is a call to conquest by intercession. We have seen that Israel took the land of Canaan because Moses prayed and fasted for them. We too are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, but the stakes are higher. The entire world is now the land of promise, and the consuming fire goes before us. Therefore, we not only fast and pray for ourselves and our families but for the nations in the land.

In the Name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, Amen!

Closing Prayer: Gracious Father, we thank you that you have called us to be priests to the nations. Grant us hearts and minds that are given to interceding for your people and for those who are far off whom you will call. Amen.

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Ash Wednesday: The Flood: Forty Days and Forty Nights (Gen. 7-9)

Opening Prayer: Gracious God, we ask that you would be gracious unto us, show your kindness and favor now by empowering your word. Teach us that we might be your faithful servants. Through Jesus Christ has suffered for us and now lives and reigns…

Introduction
Celebrating Lent is new to many of us, and therefore it’s fitting that we consider carefully what Lent is or ought to be. Lent is the forty days leading up to Resurrection Sunday. In Lent the Church reaffirms its commitment to follow Jesus to the cross and grave. The first time the theme of forty appears in Scripture is in the story of the Flood.

Forty Days and Forty Nights: The Flood
One of the most wonderful phrases in the Bible is found in the statement that “Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord” (Gen. 6:8). The word for “grace” means favor, and it is found throughout the Old Testament to indicate not only averting judgment or disaster but often includes promotion and blessing as well (Gen. 33:8, 39:4, Ex. 11:3, 33:11-23, Est. 2:15ff, Zech. 12:10). Not only is Noah being saved from destruction, the fact that God is making covenant with him (6:18, 9:9-17) also means that God is granting Noah fellowship with him. Yahweh is making Noah a new Adam, giving him authority over the animals (6:19-20, 7:2-3, 9:1-2, etc.). But God is saving Noah through a tremendous trial. Not only is Noah called upon to build the Ark and prepare for the flood, but the flood comes and the rain continues for forty days and nights (7:4, 12, 17). All said Noah is in the Ark for a little over one year (7:11, 8:14). But at the heart of that is a forty day storm during which he is remaking the world. The writer of Hebrews tells us that it was by faith that Noah feared and obeyed God, condemned the wicked, and became an heir of the righteousness by faith (Heb. 11:7). This is what Yahweh had said to Noah, declaring that he had seen him to be righteous (Gen. 7:1). Peter says that Noah and his family were saved through the water and says that baptism is the antitype which now saves us (1 Pet. 3:20-21).

Conclusion and Applications
What is striking is that Peter says that the water saved Noah rather than the ark. The storm was Noah’s salvation. Of course it was not salvation for countless others, but because Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord, and by faith heeded the word of the Lord, he was seen as righteous and saved by a storm.

Lent is not a season where we pretend to be in a storm. It is not a simulation for real life. Rather, Lent is an annual reminder that life is a storm. But Lent is a call to remember where you are in the storm. You have found grace in the eyes of the Lord; you are in the Ark. Lent is a call to faith in the God of the storms.

In the Name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, Amen!

Closing Prayer: Almighty and most merciful God, we are ever before your eyes. We are ever before your face, and you know our lives far better than we do. Teach us to trust you in the wilderness, and save us through the storms that you bring. Through Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen.

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Preparing for Lent

Next Wednesday is Ash Wednesday, the first day of the season of Lent. As is our custom, we will be having an Ash Wednesday service Wednesday evening at 7pm at the church building. Please plan to come out for a service of prayers and psalms and meditation as we begin the season of Lent together as a community.

As we begin our celebration of Lent, it would be helpful to outline what it is we are doing and equally important to state what we are NOT doing. Recovering traditions and the rich heritage in the Christian Church is truly a great gift, but we must also recognize that our fathers in the faith have stumbled in various places. Our job is to study and recover the riches and leave behind any of the dross. We also need to recognize what our particular temptations are likely to be as we do so. Surely some of you are completely new to the whole idea of celebrating any seasons of the church calendar, much less Lent.

As with other seasons of the church year, we utilize these times throughout the year to learn from the Scriptures and the wisdom of our fathers in the faith. In particular, we direct our prayers and devotions in a concentrated way toward the spiritual warfare that we are called to wage at all times. Lent is the forty days (not counting Sundays) which lead up to Holy Saturday, the day before Resurrection Sunday. During these weeks, we look back to the repeated themes of trial, testing, and sanctification found in the forty days and forty years motifs throughout Scripture. Ultimately, we look to the faithfulness of Jesus under temptation, we look back to his willingness to suffer for us and for our salvation, and we consider his resolution to accomplish the calling that his Father had put before him.

But Lent should not be thought of as a time to wallow in sins or doubt one's salvation. Some traditions of the Christian Church have tended toward this, but that is not our intention. Rather, it is an opportunity to be reminded that we have been called to battle, summonsed to take up our crosses and follow our risen Savior as faithful disciples. We do not pretend that Jesus has not risen from the dead, nor do we pretend that we are lost or on the verge of being overwhelmed by sin and death. On the contrary, this season points us to the reality of the cross and resurrection as the only firm reason for believing that we are more than conquerors, that death has been swallowed up in victory, and that we endure all our struggles, battles, and trials for the joy that is set before us. We face the various "wilderness" experiences of our lives fully confident of victory, salvation, and the Promised Land. In this sense, Lent should be celebrated much like Advent. It is a season of preparation and expectation. It is of course fully fitting to add prayers, fasting, and other elements to your celebration of this season as a family. But your celebration should be just that, a celebration, a remembrance of forgiven sin, salvation accomplished, the glorious hope that is ours in Christ, and a renewed committment to follow in the steps of our King. And remember that every Sunday, every Lord's Day, continues to be a miniature Easter, and if anything, your Sabbath tables should only be more glorious, more joyful, and more festive like a slowly growing roar ready to errupt on Resurrrection Sunday.

As we take upon ourselves the ash of Ash Wednesday and remember that we are 'but dust and it is to dust that we will return', we do so with joy and expectation, eagerly awaiting the resurrection of our bodies and the renewal of the entire world. And far from making this life irrelevant, this gives our day to day duties and activies deep and abiding meaning. Your life now, your children, your spouse, your hobbies, and all that you do and say is part of the world that God is remaking and redeeming. We serve the God who constantly spreads a table for us, even in the presence of our enemies, constantly reminding us and assuring us that He rejoices over us as his people and promises to be God for us. And truly, if God is for us, who can be against us?

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