Lent – Giving Up

Lent is that period from Ash Wednesday through Easter.  During this period of time Christians often “give up” something.  Over the years what people give up has changed from generation to generation.  But throughout history the purpose has been preparation by means of sacrifice.

As a means of sacrificing, some give eating of meat during this time.  Others may give up things like pop or candy. In addition to guilty pleasures such as chocolate, alcohol and cigarettes, some German Christians are also planning on giving up social networking site Facebook during the traditional fasting period of Lent.  Still others may give up things like our cell phones, the Internet or even TV.  The decision as to just what object or activity to abstain from is personal.  The idea behind all of these are that by “sacrificing” something, I am saying that whatever that may be, however necessary or beneficial it is to me, it does not control me.

But here’s the deal.  It is not enough simply to give up something… we must also replace it with something better.  That’s the idea of the word repentance.  Repentance is not just turning away from sin.  Repentance must also be turning toward God.  It is simply not sufficient to turn away from my sin without replacing it with something better.

Traditionally, alternative activities that can be done to replace what is being given up include praying, alms giving, and reading of scripture.  I’m sure you would agree that we can all grow in each of these spiritual disciplines.  Actually, we should focus on growing in these areas all year long, but Lent provides an excellent opportunity to help us re-examine ways to get involved and opportunities to resolve to continue growing in these disciplines.

Lent is the season for the experience of giving your life over -- in each moment, bodily, deliberately, to Christ and to what the Spirit is showing you. God wants you to surrender yourself, and let the Spirit work in you. In Lent, we take responsibility for our acts and thoughts, and treat certain of those as the killers they are. Lent is self-discovery of the parts of ourselves we don't want to discover, through prayer, fasting, and other disciplines. It is the opening up, the turning over to God, the repenting of our sins, the turning away from that which does not please God. Yet there is just a glimpse of Easter through the heavy clouds of Good Friday -- that Christ has taken the burden, and you don't have to carry it anymore. Don't you want to follow that kind of a God? 

GPS

02/16/11   GPS – God’s Perfect System

Oh, what a culture we have become.  It seems we can barely go across the street without using those little GPS devices.  These little boxes can determine our position and if you have programmed an address, it will give you directions on how to reach your destination.

You would think people would find it contrary to our nature to follow those little things so obediently.  Wherever it tells us to go, we go.  When it tells us to turn, we turn.  Even when it seems to be sending us in the wrong direction, we listen and obey.

Sometimes, we don’t follow the advice that is given to us and the GPS will recalculate the steps needed to reach our destination.  It never seems to get angry with me that I can’t follow the instructions given.  It just recalculates and gives me the new instructions.  Sometimes, it means a U-turn to get back on the right road.

Wouldn't it be great if we had a spiritual GPS system that would do the same thing for us spiritually- help us get from where we are where we want to be spiritually?   I believe we do have such a thing and we come with it already pre-programmed with our final destination.  Christianity also has a GPS – it’s God’s Perfect System – the Bible.  Think of the Bible as a roadmap that will show us our current position in our relationship to God and man and it tells us what steps we need to take in order to get where we really want to go.  Like using those little boxes, sometimes, it means a U-turn.  That’s literally what repent means… to turn around and go in the opposite direction.

Sometimes we follow God’s GPS… sometimes we don’t.  Many times we think we know the better way to get there only to find ourselves on another dead-end street and so we have re-evaluate our priorities, re-think what is really important, and remember where it is we want to ultimately go.

And God doesn’t get mad when I have trouble following the instructions.  He patiently reminds us that He knows the best way to get us there.  Jesus boldly claimed, "I am the way, the truth, and the life." (John 14:6) That statement describes both a trustworthy map and an unfailing power source, all in one.

Jesus repeatedly gave the invitation to "Follow me." Unlike a religious system that tells you what to do, what turns to make, Jesus invites us to join him on a journey that will end in his Father's house.  While being lost on a road trip is no fun, being lost in life and eternity is tragic.

Valentines

As I write this, today is Valentine’s Day.  Valentine’s Day is a time for Cupid, hearts, candy, and all of these are  supposed to be symbols of love.  Sometimes people ask, “How many times does the word “love” appear in the Bible?”  And the answer, of course, depends on what translation you use, but when I put “love” into the search at Biblegateway.com, for the NIV translation, it reports 686 occurrences.  But it really is much broader isn’t it?

There are different Hebrew and Greek words that all get translated as love.  And there are countless places in the Bible where the concept of love is shared without using the words.

We’re told to love our spouses.  We’re told to love each other.  We’re told to love our neighbors.  We’re even told to love our enemies.  But at the center of it all, we are told to “Love the God with all our heart, with all our soul, and with all our strength.” (Deuteronomy 6:5)

And to some degree, there is the problem.  Whenever I try to love God without loving Him with all my heart, soul and strength, I am actually sinning.  So, we try to “do” a whole list of things just show ourselves and others that our love for God is real.  We cannot walk in love if we are doing this in an effort to follow God’s commandments. The world will quash us the first time we try.  Often, Christians make the grave error of “trying” to be a Christian and forcing themselves to “act” like a Christian.  But being a Christian does not require you to try anything or act like anything.  A Christian does it naturally.

So Christianity isn’t about what we do… it’s about what’s been done, through Christ, of course.  In Christ, God has sent us the ultimate Valentine.  He’s demonstrated His love for us.  1 John tells us, “This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.… And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them.”

Only God can generate within us the kind of self-sacrificing love which is the proof that we are His children.  It is only because of God’s love for us that we are able to love others.  And Jesus told His disciples that it was through a sacrificial love for others that people will know we are Christians.

The next time you get or send a Valentine, remember the real love that we know as Christians.  And remember our promise to love God with all our hearts, all our souls, and all our strength.

Salt and Light

In our worship time, we are currently examining what Jesus taught in the Sermon on the Mount.  Early into the sermon, Jesus says, “You are the salt of the earth… You are the light of the world.”  Did you notice, he didn’t say, “you could be”, or “you someday will be”, he said “you are”.  What a compliment, what a challenge!

In essence he is saying, “You my disciples live in a very corrupt world.  It is a sick world out there.  It is a messed up world all around you.  And you my disciples are to be the salt of the earth; you are to be the moral preservative just as salt preserves fish and just as salt preserves meat.  So you my disciples are to be the moral preservative of society.  You are to help society from decaying morally.”

“But not only are you to help society from decaying, you are to be the light of the world.  You are to be the light of God and show people how to walk in the ways of God.  You are to be a light to people’s paths and show people the difference between right and wrong.  You are to show people how to live in this world of ours.  You are to be the salt of the earth; you are to be the light of the world.”

“But Dave, you don’t know the people I have to work with”, or “I’m the only Christian in my family.  I can’t be that kind of influence!”  You are right.  I don’t know the people you work with or the family with which you live.  But I know it doesn’t take much salt to season the whole pot of beans.  I doesn’t take much light to make me feel comfortable in some dark, desolate place.  I also know that salt is useless if it never gets out of the shaker and the light won’t come on unless I turn on the switch.

There are some things we all need to do to impact the world around us.  Sometimes it doesn’t come easily.  Sometimes it requires hard work.  You may not even know who is watching to see how you react to a given situation.  You don’t have to be sensational.  You don’t have to be spectacular.  We just have to be faithful and affect our little corner of the world!

So how are you doing at your job of preserving the decay of society around you?  How are you doing at your job of showing how people ought to live?  How are you doing at being salt and light?  The truth is we’re never going to be perfect (here on earth) but we need to continually strive to walk closer with God each and every day.  Only then will we really have that kind of impact on the people around us as we are salt and light.

Shiny Gates

01/27/11   Shiny Gates

The calendar on my wall has a picture “Weathered Reminiscence” showing a winter scene of weathered and obviously abandoned old barn.  But what strikes me as interesting in this photo is the fence surrounding this property seems well taken care of and the gates are even shiny.

Isn’t that the way we live our lives?  We put up these shiny gates to keep people out of those areas of our life that may not have been taken care of or kept up.  We try to put on false fronts so people will think better of us.  Why do we do that?  Are we really fooling anyone?  Probably not.  Well, maybe we’re fooling ourselves.

In Luke 18, Jesus tells the story of two men who came to church at the same time.  One is a very influential person, the other runs that bookstore down the street, with the XXX’s in the window, the one “good people” don’t go to.  The first man puts on a show – but the only thing showing is his shiny gate.  He reminds God (but he speaks loud enough for others to hear) of all the things he does and how shiny life is.  He is not about to show the ugly old barn of sin in his life.  The second man is just the opposite and can only say, “God, I’ve blown it”.  No shiny gates, no hiding the weathered, un-kept areas of his life.

And Jesus said, it was the second man that impressed God.

“But Dave,” you may say.  “The gates in the picture are not to keep things out, but rather there to keep things in.”  That may be true.  However, a gate is still a gate.  And by trying to keep things in are we trying to keep things always the way they once were at least in our mind?  Either way, there’s something wrong with these shiny gates.  And the problem is they keep me from getting closer to God.

I can tell you that I’ve put up my share of shiny gates and fences trying to impress.  But I’ll also tell you that I’m tired of trying to keep the fences and gates of life in good shiny shape, while life inside the fence is not taken care of. 

Will you join me in this?  Will you examine your life to see if you too are putting up fences so the ugly barn of sin remains untouched?  Let’s not try to impress God or others with our list of all the things we do and instead trust God for what He has done through His Son, Jesus Christ.

Let’s take down some of those gates and fences and let’s not keep him and others out of certain areas of our life.  Let’s make an effort to be who we really are… no fences, no shiny gates, just old weathered abandoned barns in need of a touch of restoration.

Listening to God

02/03/11   Listening

You can almost feel the excitement in the air!  People have gathered from all over the surrounding area and are anxiously awaiting the news.  Several are wondering, “what will he say.”  The announcement is only moments away and people can now only prepare for the news.  And then it comes… “Phil didn’t see his shadow, so we will have an early Spring!”

Of course I’m referring to the annual celebration known as Groundhog Day.  All of this begs the question, “Who are we listening to?” I mean really, do we really believe what a groundhog has to say about the weather.

When I want to know about weather, I listen to a weatherman.  When I desire to know about what is going on, I listen to the TV news anchor.  If I want to learn about finances, I listen to those that that know about such things.  In other words, I listen to the one that knows what I need to know.

So who do we listen to when we want to know more about God?  A friend?  Our spouse?  An employer or employee?  Your pastor?  Now all of these are good sources and they all have good insights to share.  But if I want to learn more about God, why not listen to God Himself?

Listening to God is like listening to anyone else – before you can hear Him, you must be ready to listen and you have to be free from other distractions.  And you can’t do all of the talking.  Regular conversations with God can transform your life, but it isn’t always easy.  It sometimes takes work on our part to remain focused.

We live in a world of noise.  Almost everywhere we go, we find sounds competing with our minds, keeping us from letting our thoughts get below the surface level.   Hearing God's voice means not listening to the noise of the world around us.   It's not easy, but it can be done.

Listening to God requires a right attitude in our hearts.  In order to listen to God and receive His instruction, we must want to do His will. God honors the heart that is fully surrendered to Him. If we are stubbornly clinging to our own desires, we are likely to get a garbled message that will not be God's voice at all. As a result, we are likely to continue pursuing a path that is contrary to the one God has designed for our lives.

Psalm 40:8 says, "I desire to do your will, O my God; your law is within my heart."

Do you desire God's will for your life above every other desire? If you do, you can trust that He will direct your path. Listen to His message, and be quick to obey.