Lent 1

Welcome

Good morning everyone and welcome once again. This morning we are going to begin a short break from the Gospel of John. For the next 4 weeks we are going to be looking at what Lent can and should mean for us since it begins this Wednesday. Which this is another reminder that we will have our Lenten bible studies on Wednesday nights starting at 6. So come enjoy some soup together as we study the Bible. So today we are going to examine what lent is and what how we have to be careful we don’t twist this season on the church calendar in a way that is actually harmful for us. As usual though, let’s have a word of prayer together and ask that God would teach us.

Prayer

Lent

While I am sure many of you know what Lent is, I thought it would be helpful to briefly talk about what it is. So hopefully you all are okay with a little history lesson that will segue into our scripture passage. Lent is a period of time on the church calendar that is meant to prepare us for Easter (very similar to what Advent is for us at Christmas). It takes place 40 days before Easter Sunday excluding Sundays. These 40 days are meant to represent Jesus’ time in the wilderness after he was baptized and before he began his public ministry. The period of time that we now consider Lent was first really started around 325 AD where the Council of Nicaea, the same council who wrote the Nicene Creed, wrote about the period of Lent being 40 days. Before this Christians had celebrated Easter Sunday for Jesus’ resurrection, then they included a few days before Easter as a time of preparation, which we often refer to as Holy Week now. But this council is the first place we see the period of time for lent extending to 40 days.

The English word Lent comes from an old Anglo-Saxon word that means to “lengthen.” So Lent comes at a time when our days are quite literally lengthening. Ash Wednesday this year should have around 11 hours of daylight while Easter Sunday should have a little over 13. (I’m by now means an expert in this, this is what google told me.)

But as the days lengthen, Lent is supposed to be a time when we lengthen ourselves spiritually. It is meant to be a time for us to stretch out and grow in our relationship with God. This is why often during lent we talk about fasting and spiritual disciplines. But, if you’re anything like me, instead of fasting to grow closer to God we end up “fasting” from things just because it would be good for us. Sure, it might be helpful to fast from social media or certain kinds of food, but there’s more to it than that. That time should be spent then in prayer or scripture reading, something to grow closer to God in.

But there is also another way we misuse lent. There are times where we go through lent and we fast, pray, volunteer, but we do it out of our selfish desire to feel more righteous. We want to feel better about ourselves and we want others to see how good of a person we are.

The Pharisee and the Tax Collector

This doesn’t work for us though because when we try to think we are better than people and our works are contributing to our salvation, we are taking away from the power of Jesus’ work on the cross. This is the same kind of attitude that many of the pharisees had and we see how Jesus adressed this problem in Luke 18:9-14

Luke 18:9–14 NIV

9 To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everyone else, Jesus told this parable: 10 “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11 The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. 12 I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’ 13 “But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’ 14 “I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”

First, notice who Jesus is addressing this parable to. He is speaking directly to the people who think they are righteous and look down on everyone else. Jesus may have been targeting the pharisees but there were also others who likely had the same mindset. The Jews thought that simply as Abraham’s descendents they were better than their gentile neighbors simply because of their heritage. So Jesus paints them a picture by using this parable.

Luke points out two different people. The first being a Pharisee. The pharisee stood by himself and prays and I love how some translations actually say what the Pharisee is doing. The NKJV for examples says,

Luke 18:11 NKJV

11 The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, ‘God, I thank You that I am not like other men—extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this tax collector.

The Pharisee isn’t praying sincerely, instead he is making a show of it. Thank you God that I am a good church going man, who doesn’t sin in these certain ways, thank you especially that I am not like this tax collector over here. In Matthew 23 Jesus warned about people like this.

Matthew 23:1–13 NIV

1 Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples: 2 “The teachers of the law and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat. 3 So you must be careful to do everything they tell you. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach. 4 They tie up heavy, cumbersome loads and put them on other people’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them. 5 “Everything they do is done for people to see: They make their phylacteries wide and the tassels on their garments long; 6 they love the place of honor at banquets and the most important seats in the synagogues; 7 they love to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces and to be called ‘Rabbi’ by others. 8 “But you are not to be called ‘Rabbi,’ for you have one Teacher, and you are all brothers. 9 And do not call anyone on earth ‘father,’ for you have one Father, and he is in heaven. 10 Nor are you to be called instructors, for you have one Instructor, the Messiah. 11 The greatest among you will be your servant. 12 For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted. 13 “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the door of the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to.

The pharisee in this parable represents all who try to come before God on the basis of their own good works. If we rely on our good works like this pharisee, we are revealing a few things about us. First, we trust more in ourselves than in the gospel. If Jesus’ death and resurrection save us by grace through faith alone, then we cannot add to our salvation. We don’t earn a “better” salvation. Either Christ’s work on the cross is enough for us, or it is nothing. Second, it reveals that we think we can be better than others. This pharisee clearly thought that he was better than a lot of people. He even expressed that in his prayer. Thank you that I am not an adulterer, a murderer, a tax collector, thank you that I am not like these people. Thank you that I am better than them.

Now, we all likely agree that what the pharisee does here is wrong, just as Jesus points it out. But yet how often do we do the exact same thing? I know I have issues, but thank goodness I’m not as messed up as that guy. I know I sin, but at least I don’t sin in this way. We’re all guilty of this at different times in our lives, and I think to convince ourselves otherwise is a sin as well. Instead of thinking that at least we are good people, instead of looking down on others for what sin they have, we too have to approach God, admit that we are sinners and ask for mercy.

One pastor/author Steven Cole says this about recognizing his own depravity.

I was raised in a Christian home and outwardly I have lived a moral life. I have never been close to being drunk. I have never used drugs. I have been faithful to my wife. I seek to be honest, even in little matters. I have gone to church almost every Sunday since I was born. But, God had to show me that my heart is just as corrupt as that of the worst criminal on earth. If I had been born to a drug addict mother in the ghetto, instead of to Christian parents who loved me and brought me up to know God, I would be exactly where most of the ghetto kids are: doing drugs, stealing, and killing each other. If you think that you are somehow better than others, you are probably trusting in your own good works, not in the grace of God.

Instead of trusting in ourselves, we need to approach God as an unworthy sinner pleading for his mercy. When we approach God in this way, while not glamorous compared to someone like the pharisee, we ensure that we are not merely putting on a show for others to see.

Jesus knows when we are acting and when we are genuine in our relationship with him. It is important that throughout lent, we don’t merely act like we are doing certain things for God, but that we approach God as sinners in need of mercy.

Jesus says that those who stage this outward religion have received their reward, the praise of the crowd.

This does not please God. God desires us to express our love for him with heart, soul, and might, in secret.

When one gives, without their left hand knowing what their right hand is doing; when one prays behind closed doors in private; when one fasts, with freshly washed face, then the heart’s devotion is revealed. God is the heart, soul, and might of their love and He will reward them in the future. They may very well not reap the rewards of instant gratification from the adulation of the crowd, but they can anticipate God’s approval which is beyond any human praise.

Jesus also tells us in Matthew 6:21

Matthew 6:21 NIV

21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

If we do good deeds in order to be seen, if we pray only to be heard by others, if we fast so others might see our devotion, we are actually telling others that the place of our treasure in life is found in human praise. If that is why you want to do certain things during lent, so that others might be impressed, then that will be your only reward, the praise of the crowd.

Application

What is it that our hearts treasure? What motivates us to act religiously and devoutly? Is it duty, approval, guilt, to please people, or something else other than God? What masks do we wear on the stage of life that obscure our true intentions? What might it look like to enter the secret places of devotion that bring pleasure to God, to take off our masks and come as we are expectantly devoted to the God who gives us light and life, with the entirety of heart, soul, and might?

Inspiration

Mistaken Identity

A man is being tailgated by a woman who is in a hurry. He comes to an intersection, and when the light turns yellow, he hits the brakes. The woman behind him goes ballistic. She honks her horn at him; she yells her frustration in no uncertain terms; she rants and gestures.

While she is mid-rant, someone taps on her window. She looks up and sees a policeman. He invites her out of the car and takes her to the station where she is searched and fingerprinted and put in a cell. After a couple of hours, she is released, and the arresting officer gives her her personal effects, saying, “I’m very sorry for the mistake ma’am. I pulled up behind your car while you were blowing your horn, using bad gestures and bad language. I noticed the ‘What Would Jesus Do?’ bumper sticker, the ‘Choose Life’ license plate holder, the ‘Follow Me to Sunday School’ window sign, the Christian fish emblem on your trunk, and I naturally assumed you had stolen the car.”

The world gets pretty tired of people who have Christian bumper stickers on their cars, Christian fish signs on their trunks, Christian books on their shelves, Christian stations on their radios, Christian jewelry around their necks, Christian videos for their kids, and Christian magazines for their coffee tables but don’t actually have the life of Jesus in their bones or the love of Jesus in their hearts.

John Ortberg, When the Game Is Over, It All Goes Back in the Box (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2007).

Action

God bestows more consideration on the purity of the intention with which our actions are performed than on the actions themselves.

Augustine of Hippo

Prayer