Lent Upside Down
Please stand as we read our newest memory Scripture together …
1 John 1:5-7
“This is the message we have heard from Him and declare to you: God is light; in Him there is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth.
“But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, His Son, purifies us from all sin.”
And our memory refresher verse(s) for today is(are) …
1 Thessalonians 5:23-24
“May God Himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The One who calls you is faithful and He will do it.”
Please open your Bibles to 1 Corinthians 9:19-27
Did you know that on three separate occasions the Old Testament has this command:
“Do not cook (or boil) a young goat in its mother’s milk.” - Exodus 23:19
That does sound kind of heartless, doesn’t it? A mama goat gives birth to a kid. A few days later you want some tender meat and you don’t need another goat so you go and slaughter, skin and prepare the newly born baby goat for a meal. You want to cook the meat of the young goat by boiling it in milk. So you go and milk the mama goat and use her milk as the fluid for boiling her own young offspring.
Now, culturally, most of us do not eat goat meat, especially from baby goats.
And, most of us do not boil our meat especially in goat milk, but food tastes change from culture to culture.
Now, you will notice that there is no prohibition against cooking a young goat in goat milk. The command only prohibits the cooking of the young goat in ITS OWN MOTHER’S MILK.
Do you know that based on this one command that is repeated three times, strict Jews will not eat a cheeseburger? Even if both the cheese and the meat are kosher they will not eat a cheeseburger because of a tradition that comes from this one Old Testament command.
Now, why would we be talking about such an odd thing today?
Hopefully it will become clear later in the message …
With that in mind let’s go ahead and read: 1 Corinthians 9:19-27
Do you see how the apostle Paul spared no effort in order to please the Lord?
Paul was consumed with his passion for Christ and His kingdom!
Was Paul just a crazy, psycho Christian or was he what we should be?
Here’s what we are to be …
We are to be a people who belong to the Lord; heart, soul and body!
We are urged in 1 John 1:7 to, “Walk in the Light as He is in the Light!”
We are called in 1 Thessalonians 5:23 to be, “sanctified through and through!”
We are commanded in Mark 12:30 to, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength!”
1 Peter 1:15-16 it says,
“But just as He [Jesus] who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: ‘Be holy, because I am holy.’”
And in 2 Corinthians 7:1 it says,
“Therefore, since we have these promises, dear friends, let us purify ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit, perfecting holiness out of reverence for God.”
Finally, 1 John 3:3 tells us,
“All who have this hope in Him [Jesus] purify themselves, just as He is pure.”
We as Bible believing Christians are charged to live pure lives. We are charged to live holy lives. Lives that are not only pleasing to God but are useful for Him as well. And, of course, we accomplish this by being filled with and cooperating with the Holy Spirit!
This is a pursuit of holiness in which we are to be continually engaged!
In a few days the season of Lent will begin.
Where did Lent come from? It’s not in the Bible. At all. Anywhere!
The apostles did not just write the words that are found in the Bible. They wrote many other letters as well and lent is not found in any of them either!
So, where did Lent come from?
Do you remember when we talked about the tradition of Jews not eating meat and milk products at the same meal? Do you remember that that tradition was derived from one command in the Old Testament about not boiling a young goat for food in its own mother’s milk?
Well, where did the tradition of Lent come from? Is it Biblical?
There was a man who died around AD 200 named Irenaeus. In a letter he wrote this regarding the differences between certain church traditions …
“The dispute is not only about the day, but also about the actual character of the fast. Some think that they ought to fast for one day, some for two, others for still more; some make their ‘day’ last 40 hours on end. Such variation in the observance did not originate in our own day, but very much earlier, in the time of our forefathers.”
Here’s the problem, when named Rufinus, translated this passage from Greek into Latin, the punctuation made between “40” and “hours” made the meaning to appear to be “40 days, twenty-four hours a day.”
OK, so almost 200 years after Jesus they were writing about whether the fast before the resurrection celebration of Jesus should be one day, two days or just a straight 40 hours.
Almost, 200 years later a mistake is made in the translation of a single scripted letter composed by one man to another and that mistake resulted in a change from 40 hours to 40 days.
So, where does it go from there?
Well, 40 was settled upon because of the frequency of its occurrence in the Bible,
Noah’s flood, Moses receiving the Ten Commandments, Elijah’s 40 day walk and Jesus’ testing in the wilderness.
Around the beginning of the 5th century it looked like this:
In Jerusalem they were observing 40 days of fasting, not including Saturday or Sunday … which resulted in a Lenten season of eight weeks
In Rome and in the West, fasting was done on Monday through Saturday, but not Sunday … this made Lent not quite six weeks so Ash Wednesday was added to bring the number of days to 40.
Over the years there have been so many variations as to such things as:
- How many meals per day
- What to eat at those meals
- When to eat the meals
And with all of these variations it’s almost impossible to remember that the focus is. And, what is the stated focus of Lent? The focus of Lent is, “to repent of sin, to renew our faith and to prepare to celebrate joyfully the mysteries of our salvation.”
Now, there is absolutely nothing wrong with setting aside a special time to examine your walk with the Lord. A time of reflecting to see if there is anything in your life that could be out of step with the will of God for your life.
But, this is something we are called to do continually not just at certain times of the year that are prescribed by ritual!
If you do choose to set aside some special time for spiritual self examination here is a command from the Lord that IS in the Bible.
Matthew 6:16-18 NLT
“And when you fast, don’t make it obvious, as the hypocrites do, for they try to look miserable and disheveled so people will admire them for their fasting. I tell you the truth, that is the only reward they will ever get.
“But when you fast, comb your hair and wash your face. Then no one will notice that you are fasting, except your Father, who knows what you do in private. And your Father, who sees everything, will reward you.”
What is this saying? If you are going to fast or make some change during the Lenten season, keep it between the Lord and you!
Fasting can be a good thing, and God is pleased when we repent of sinful habits.
There’s absolutely nothing wrong with setting aside some time to focus on Jesus’ death and resurrection. However, repenting of sin is something we should be doing every day of the year, not just for the 46 days of Lent.
If a Christian wishes to observe Lent, he is free to do so. The key is to focus on repenting of sin and consecrating oneself to God. Lent should not be a time of boasting of one’s sacrifice or trying to earn God’s favor or increasing His love. God’s love for us could not be any greater than it already is.
Do you remember the Scripture we read at the beginning of this message? It was the testimony of the apostle Paul and how he tried earnestly to reach everyone he could with the Gospel? That did not happen by chance. That was something he pursued!
He would look at his life and he would add to it whatever was missing. It was a continual, conscious effort.
Here is something I would like to suggest for this Lenten season.
Instead of giving something up, add something.
Try adding this … Are you continually trapped in a sin? What could you add to your life during the Lenten season that would help? Try committing yourself to spending as much time as necessary, asking the Lord to deliver you from the bondage of that sin. And then thank Him for the days when you don’t have to repent of that sin.
Perhaps you are a person who spends absolutely no time in dedicated of prayer at all.
If that is true then try adding a dedicated time of prayer each day during the Lenten season and make it a priority.
The Lord is worthy of having our full and undivided attention!
You may be a person who spends absolutely no time reading God’s Holy Word at all, ever! If that is true then add daily Bible reading to your day as a part of Lent and make it a priority.
There are so many ways to get God’s Word into your heart; you could read the Bible, or you could listen to the Bible on a CD or MP3.
You could have someone read the Bible to you, in person or over the phone. What a great idea this would be for someone who is unable to read the Bible for themselves.
What a great ministry it would be for you to take on!
At the very least you could take our Memory verse and put it where you could read it first thing in the morning before you start your day and read it again as your last thought for the day.
You might be a person who attends only worship on Sunday morning and you do not attend any other gathering with fellow believers. If that describes you, you could commit to attending a Bible study or prayer meeting during the season of Lent. Worship services are wonderful but you will never build relationships with other Christians unless you sit in church and talk through the sermon … hmmmm…
What else could you add during this Lenten season?
Do you have anyone in your life with whom you have a broken relationship?
Try adding the mending of that relationship into your Lenten commitment.
The list could be endless but let’s try turning Lent upside down this year. Instead of giving something up like sugar or coffee or some other thing this year, let’s add something that will improve our relationship with Jesus this year.
And then let’s not stop on the day we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus, let’s continue the practice until we go to see Jesus face to face! Amen? Amen!
(Lead into the time of communion.)
Prayer and dismissal
