Random Thoughts in Lent

Some thoughts in the season of Lent, culled from my random file. About baptism, repentance, discipleship … and the impossible Christian life. Some have come to me in moments of quiet reflection, some in interaction with others. Many have been tweets and updates. Offered for your edification, inspiration and preparation in this season.

• Ash Wednesday and the season of Lent remind us that we are the dust of the earth ~ and the breath of God.
• The point of Ash Wednesday is to reckon ourselves dead to sin but alive to God through King Jesus the Messiah.
• Lent is a good time to take time ~ to watch, listen and think about what King Jesus is doing in the world ... and what he wants to do through you.
• Lent is an opportunity to enter into the purpose, passion and power of the Lord Jesus Christ, and be made more like Him.
• What to give up for Lent: The vain struggle to overcome sin. It has already been overcome by Jesus the Messiah. Dwell on that.
• The fast God desires is a fast that never ends, an ongoing process of faith being formed by the love of God and expressed through love for others.
• Embrace your doubt in faith, like the man who came to Jesus for healing for his son (Mark 9:24). Here’s a simple breath prayer. Breathe in: “Lord, I believe.” Breathe out: “Help my unbelief.”
• The Christian life is impossible. Only Christ can live it — and he comes to live it in you. Let him.
• Jesus’ first words in the Gospel of John are, “What do you seek?”
• A disciple is someone who is learning to live in the reality of King Jesus.
• In the humility of baptism, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world identified with the people who very much needed to have their sin taken away.
• The power of baptism is not that I was baptized but that I am baptized, and the life of Christ is mine — now and always.
• Baptism is an epiphany, a revelation of Jesus Christ. When you’ve had an epiphany, it changes everything. It changes you and you can’t go back to the way things were before.
• I am baptized in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit — and that is a wonderful fellowship to be immersed in.
• The most fearful thing that can happen to a person is for God to let him have his own way.
• Lord, fill me with the desire for You. Fill me with the desire for the things You desire. Then fill all those desires. Amen.
• Repentance is turning to God, away from dependence on everything that isn’t God. Every day is a good day to repent and learn to trust God more.
• Discipleship is learning to live daily in the reality of King Jesus and the love of God.
• Today I am living out of the new creation and ignoring the remnant echoes of the old.
• Today I silence all the voices that speak out against me. The blood of King Jesus declares much better things over me.
• The devil is defeated. King Jesus reigns. See everything through that lens and dwell on that reality.
• Lent is not a “Spiritual Strongman” competition, a season for striving to prove our mettle. It is for knowing our weakness and finding our strength in Christ.
  

More random thoughts …

Isn’t This What I Chose for You?

These are the lyrics to a song I wrote many years ago, but it is appropriate to the season of Lent and the series I have been doing on Isaiah 58.

ISN'T THIS WHAT I CHOSE FOR YOU?

Here’s another Sunday morning

And you set aside the day.

But is there something you’ve forgotten on the way?

You offer me your worship

And you offer me your prayer

But the burden of my own heart do you bear?

Isn’t this what I chose for you?

Isn’t this the thing I planned?

Not some sentimental journey

Into the Promised Land.

Is there room for the wanderer

And provision for the poor?

Is there something for the hungry at your door?

For if you would be a blessing,

You would find that you’ve been blessed

And I would be your healing and your rest.

Isn’t this what I chose for you,

That you might learn to understand?

To remember they’re a part of you

And be my blessing in the land

Isn’t this what I chose for you?

Isn’t this the thing I planned?

Not some sentimental journey

Into the Promised Land.

© 1992 by Jeff Doles

The Fruit of the Fast God Desires

Then your light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing will quickly appear; then your righteousness will go before you, and the glory of the LORD will be your rear guard. Then you will call, and the LORD will answer; you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I.

If you do away with the yoke of oppression, with the pointing finger and malicious talk, and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness, and your night will become like the noonday. The LORD will guide you always; he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame.

You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail. Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins and will raise up the age-old foundations; you will be called Repairer of Broken Walls, Restorer of Streets with Dwellings. (Isaiah 58:8-12)

Israel was in a scrape (Isaiah 58 probably addresses them during their time of exile and captivity in Babylon) and they wanted the Lord to come and deliver them. They thought they could manipulate God by the emptiness of fasts and rituals when their hearts were far away from him — and from each other. (Is This What You Call a Fast?)

But God desired a fast that was altogether different, one in which yokes were broken, the oppressed were set free, the hungry were fed, the naked clothed, the stranger welcomed and the poor give shelter. This is faith expressing itself through love. It is a fast God honors because it expresses the heart of God, who is love, and it is the nature of love to give and to serve. (The Fast God Desires)

In this next section, verses 8 through 12, God speaks about the change such a fast brings — and it is really a “night and day” difference, beginning with the light of morning:

• Your light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing will quickly appear. It will bring forth a new day for you and your healing will begin.
• Your righteousness will go before you, and the glory of the LORD will be your rear guard. This righteous fast of faith working through love will prepare the way before you, and God will back you up all the way. It will be a revelation of his glory.
• Then you will call, and the LORD will answer; you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I. God always responds to those who call on him in faith and whose hearts are turned toward him.
• Your light will rise in the darkness, and your night will become like the noonday. The new day God promises will continue and increase, regardless of the darkness in the world. It will shine in the night and make it like noonday.
• The LORD will guide you always; he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame. God is always ready to take care of us completely and in every way, even in a drought time. When we are turned toward him and our hearts are aligned with his, we are ready to receive his guidance, provision and strength.
• You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail. This is a picture of prosperity and blessing, like the man in Psalm 1, who follows the instruction of the Lord and becomes like a tree planted by streams of water, yielding its fruit in season, its leaves always fresh and green — and whatever he does prospers!
• Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins and raise up the age-old foundations. This is exactly what Israel was seeking by their empty ritual. God longed to do it for them, but only if they would keep his chosen fast of loving and caring for their neighbor as themselves. And then,
• You will be called Repairer of Broken Walls, Restorer of Streets with Dwellings. God is speaking not just to individuals but to a people and a generation. The more we live out the fast God desires, the more we will become repairers of the broken and restorers of the good and ancient paths that lead to righteousness and peace.

The Fast God Desires

Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke? Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter — when you see the naked, to clothe them, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood? (Isaiah 58:6-7)

God has no problem with fasting. He is not against rituals and symbolic expressions of faith. What he hates, though, are empty symbols and hollow rituals that are not joined to the life and faith they are intended to express. What he is after is the heart. Earlier in Isaiah, God complained against his people, “These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their heart are far from me. Their worship of me is based on merely human rules they have been taught” (Isaiah 29:13).

In the New Testament, Paul shows the way of the gospel in regard to ritual. In this case the ritual of circumcision, but it is applicable in all things: “For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love” (Galatians 5:6). Whether or not one performs the ritual is secondary. The primary thing — the only thing that ultimately counts with God — is faith expressing itself through love. That is the kind of “fast” God desires from us.

In the false fast God denounced in Isaiah 58:1-5 (see Is This What You Call a Fast?), the people had the ritual down cold, with all the right moves. But it was empty because it was not connected to how they were actually living their lives. They continued exploiting and oppressing their workers. They continued quarreling and fighting and even coming to blows with each other. They were accusing and slandering each other (see vv. 9-10). They were abusing each other instead of taking care of one another.

What they were doing, God was looking for the exact opposite. The fast God desired from them was one in which they would act justly toward each other. Releasing each other instead of enslaving each other. Helping each other instead of exploiting each other.

• The fast God desires is to treat people justly.
• The fast God desires is to set people free from bondage
• The fast God desires is to share our food with the hungry.
• The fast God desires is to provide shelter for the wanderer.
• The fast God desires is to clothe the naked.
• The fast God desires does not turn away from those who are in need — for they are our flesh and blood.

In short, the fast God desires is nothing other than faith expressing itself through love. It is the fast God expects and the only one God honors. It is also the fast God enables — by Christ, who supremely revealed the love of God for us at the cross, and through the Holy Spirit, whose fruit in us is love. As we journey through this season of Lent, then, let us consider how the Lord Jesus desires to live out this fast through us.

Is This What You Call a Fast?

Is this the kind of fast I have chosen, only a day for people to humble themselves? Is it only for bowing one’s head like a reed and for lying in sackcloth and ashes? Is that what you call a fast, a day acceptable to the LORD? (Isaiah 58:5)

Is this the kind of fast that God intends, the kind that pleases God? That’s an important question as we approach the season of Lent. You might be surprised to hear that the answer is No, this is not the fast God is looking for from his people. To find out why, let’s drop back a few verses, to the beginning of the chapter.

Shout it aloud, do not hold back. Raise your voice like a trumpet. Declare to my people their rebellion and to the descendants of Jacob their sins. (v. 1)

God has a bone to pick with his people. They were rebellious. They had perfected the practice of sin. They were unrepentant. But they sure knew how to put on a good religious show.

For day after day they seek me out; they seem eager to know my ways, as if they were a nation that does what is right and has not forsaken the commands of its God. They ask me for just decisions and seem eager for God to come near them. (v. 2)

As if. They were acting as if they were eager to know God’s ways. As if they were a nation that did what was right. As if they were a people who had not forsaken the commands of God. As if they wanted just decisions from God. As if they really wanted God to come close to them. But it was all an act, a front, and not the reality of their hearts. God came near enough to see that.

“Why have we fasted,” they say, “and you have not seen it? Why have we humbled ourselves, and you have not noticed?” (v. 3)

But now they were perplexed. They fasted. They “humbled” themselves, getting out the sackcloth, scattering themselves with ashes, putting on the mournful face and getting all hangdog. Yet, God had no regard for any of it. What’s up with that? Ah, but here’s the problem:

Yet on the day of your fasting, you do as you please and exploit all your workers. Your fasting ends in quarreling and strife, and in striking each other with wicked fists. You cannot fast as you do today and expect your voice to be heard on high. (v. 4)

For all their fasting, all their supposed humility, there was this huge disconnect. It did not reflect what was going on inside. How they actually treated others gave the lie to their religious show before God, and it is about this falseness that God challenges them:

Is this the kind of fast I have chosen, only a day for people to humble themselves? Is it only for bowing one’s head like a reed and for lying in sackcloth and ashes? Is that what you call a fast, a day acceptable to the LORD? (v. 5)

There is a fast God does desire, and we will look at that next time. But for Ash Wednesday, we must first reckon with the old dead ways so that we may embrace the new and living way God has for us in Jesus the Messiah.

Between Transfiguration Sunday and Ash Wednesday

After six days Jesus took Peter, James and John with him and led them up a high mountain, where they were all alone. There he was transfigured before them. His clothes became dazzling white, whiter than anyone in the world could bleach them. And there appeared before them Elijah and Moses, who were talking with Jesus. Peter said to Jesus, “Rabbi, it is good for us to be here. Let us put up three shelters — one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.” (He did not know what to say, they were so frightened.) Then a cloud appeared and covered them, and a voice came from the cloud: “This is my Son, whom I love. Listen to him!” Suddenly, when they looked around, they no longer saw anyone with them except Jesus. (Mark 9:2-8)

Last Sunday was Transfiguration Sunday, a celebration of the Lord Jesus Christ in his unveiled glory. Tomorrow is Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent, a forty day journey with Jesus in the desert, where he was led by the Spirit, tested by the devil and ministered to by angels.

It is an interesting transition between these two days. On the “Mount of Transfiguration,” the glory of God was fully unveiled in Jesus the Messiah, and it shone brilliantly. “His clothes became dazzling white, whiter than anyone in the world could bleach them” (Mark 9:3). Suddenly, Peter, James and John saw him in a way they could not have done before. To use the words of John 1:18, they beheld his glory, “the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.”

Jesus, in his humanity, was reflecting the glory of God, as we all were created to do. In Genesis 1, on the sixth day of creation, God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground” (Genesis 1:26). We were created to represent God on the earth, to reflect his glory to the rest of creation.

Of course, we have done a miserable job of it. It is hard to reflect the glory of God when he are in rebellion against him. As Paul reminds us, “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). Like mud on a mirror, sin terribly obscures the divine glory we were created to reflect.

But now on the mount, here was Jesus manifesting the true role of humanity, revealing the dazzling brilliance of God. Moses and Elijah were with him, representing the Law and the Prophets. Peter wanted to make three tabernacles — one for Jesus, one for Moses and one for Elijah. But he completely missed the point. Not knowing what to say, he blurted it out.

However, God had his own idea for a shelter and overshadowed Moses and Elijah with a cloud — they were not to be the focal point but were there to direct all the attention to Jesus. That was their role in the history of Israel and in the Old Testament, and that was their purpose here. Then the voice of the Father spoke concerning Jesus: “This is my beloved Son, listen to him.”

We remember all that on Transfiguration Sunday. But then, just a couple of days later, we turn our attention to Ash Wednesday, when we remember our humanity, and the divine glory we have obscured by sin. We are the dust of the earth, for that is the stuff from which God formed us. But our rebellion against God and our failure to reflect his glory has reduced us to ashes.

So Ash Wednesday is a time for repentance. But it is also a time for embracing God’s forgiveness, symbolized by receiving the sign of the cross made upon our foreheads with ashes. And it is a time to consider again, as we enter into the journey of Lent, how God desires to reveal his dazzling glory to us and through us if we will but let him. For we are also the breath of heaven, for it was God himself who puffed into us the breath of life. Then at the end of this journey, suddenly we will look around and no longer see anyone but Jesus. And we will be glad.

Lenten Thoughts

Ash Wednesday and the season of Lent remind us that we are the dust of the earth ~ and the breath of God. The season of Lent is a time to consider again what it means to live out our Baptism in the world.

Here is a quote I came across in my reading. I was impressed enough with it to put it up on my Facebook page, though I did not initially think of it in the context of Lent. But upon reflection, I see that it does have a Lenten meaning.

And to the question, “What is meant by the Fall?” I could answer with complete sincerity, “That whatever I am, I am not myself.” This is the prime paradox of our religion; something that we have never in any full sense known, is not only better than ourselves, but even more natural to us than ourselves. ~ G. K. Chesterton, Orthodoxy

Lent is a season to consider King Jesus the Messiah, who He is and who we are in Him, to become who we are. Not only in what we leave behind, but also in the yoke we are called to take upon ourselves — His yoke, which is easy and the burden light. To learn from Him who is gentle and lowly in heart, and so find the rest for which our souls are so desperate (Matthew 11:29).

Lent begins on Ash Wednesday, six weeks before Easter Sunday. Like Advent, it is a time of repentance and preparation. The ashes on the first day of this season represent mourning over sin and the longing for holiness. In Lent, we remember the temptation of Christ in the wilderness and His journey to the Cross. We become aware of how Christ humbled Himself and how God calls us, also, to humility as we participate in His redemptive purposes. We consider, also, what our own place of service and sacrifice is in His divine plan.

Lent concludes with Holy Week. On Palm Sunday, we think of the triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem, knowing that soon He would be rejected by the very ones who waved their branches and shouted Hosanna! The irony of this is subtly observed by the burning of this year's palms to become next year’s Lenten ashes.

Holy Thursday commemorates the institution of the Lord’s Supper. It is also called Maundy Thursday because of the new commandment Jesus gave His disciples to love one another (maundy comes from an Old Latin term for “mandate” or “command”). On Good Friday, we think of Jesus on the Cross and behold the “Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.” Holy Saturday recalls how the world hung between death and life, sin and righteousness, darkness and light. It is a vigil for the Light.

A New Commandment

A new commandment I give to you that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. (John 13:34)

We have come to the end of the season of Lent. Today is Holy Thursday, which commemorates the institution of the Lord's Supper. It is also called Maundy Thursday because of the new commandment Jesus gave His disciples to love one another (maundy comes from an Old Latin term for “mandate” or “command”).

One day, a scribe asked Jesus which was the first and greatest commandment. Jesus answered:

The first of all the commandments is: “Hear, O Israel, the LORD our God, the LORD is one. And you shall love the LORD you God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength. This is the first commandment. And the second, like it, is this: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” There is no other commandment greater than these. (Mark 12:29-31)

James, the brother of the Lord Jesus, understood the law of love: “If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself,’ you do well” (James 2:8).

John, who has been called the “apostle of love,” also understood this very well. In his first letter, he wrote:

Brethren, I write no new commandment to you, but an old commandment which you have had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word which you heard from the beginning. Again, a new commandment I write to you, which thing is true in Him and in you, because the darkness is passing away, and the true light is already shining. He who says he is in the light, and hates his brother, is in darkness until now. He who loves his brother abides in the light, and there is no cause for stumbling in him. (1 John 2:7-10)

In his Gospel, John called Jesus “the true Light which gives light to every man coming into the world” (John 1:9). In Christ we no longer belong to the darkness, which is passing away, but are of the light, which is already shining. The essence and expression of this light is love. Those who do not love are living in darkness; those who walk in love are those who walk in the light of Christ — it is, in fact, his love which is being expressed through them.

The apostle Paul was captured by the commandment of love:

Owe no one anything except to love one another; for he who loves another has fulfilled the law. For the commandments, “You shall not commit adultery,” “You shall not murder,” “You shall not steal,” “You shall not bear false witness,” “You shall not covet,” and if there is any other commandment, are all summed up in this saying, namely, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself” Love does not harm to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law. (Romans 8-10)

For you, brethren, have been called to liberty; only do not use liberty as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” (Galatians 5:13-14)

Love is about much more than refraining from harming another. Love is proactive — it is the nature of love to give and to serve.

For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life. (John 3:16)

Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends. (John 15:13)

For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many. (Mark 10:45)

Tomorrow, Good Friday, we will celebrate the greatest act of love: The Father gave his Son; the Son gave his life to save us from our sins and the power of death. But on the night he was betrayed, and abandoned by all, and knowing full well what was about to happen, he gave this commandment to his disciples: “Love one another.”

In Jesus Christ, we belong, not to that which is passing away, but to that which has already begun to shine. When we walk in love, we are abiding in the light of Christ.

Taking On Lent

Lent begins today, Ash Wednesday, six weeks before Easter Sunday. It is a time of repentance and preparation. The ashes on the first day of this season represent mourning over sin and the longing for holiness. In Lent, we remember the temptation of Christ in the wilderness and His journey to the Cross. We become aware of how Christ humbled himself and how God calls us, also, to humility as we participate in his redemptive purposes. We consider, also, what our own place of service and sacrifice is in his divine plan.

Lent concludes with Holy Week. On Palm Sunday, we think of the triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem, knowing that soon he would be rejected by the Jewish leaders. The irony of this is subtly observed by the burning of this year’s palms to become next year's Lenten ashes.

Many Christians talk about what they are “giving up” for Lent. But that needs to be understood in the context of what we are taking on. That is, what am I willing to let go of so that I may accomplish the destiny God has for me? Jesus extends this invitation:

Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give your rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light. (Matthew 11:29-30)

Paul reckoned it this way:

I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me. (Galatians 2:20)

The forty days of Lent is an opportunity to enter again into the purpose, passion and power of the Lord Jesus Christ, and be made more like him.