Lenten Thoughts

Nearly two weeks ago, we kicked of the Lenten season in Chapel by observing Ash Wednesday. We are now well into the season.  The idea of Lent is to take the opportunity to more fully identify with the life of Jesus as he walked in the Way of the Cross.  In doing so, we recognize the themes of Life and Death, which are integral to our faith. 

In short, at the risk of oversimplification, it could be summarized by “we live to the extent we die” . No cross- no resurrection….

While there are many texts that speak to this, consider the words of Jesus as He declares that the time for His departure is imminent. 

²³ Jesus replied, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. ²⁴ Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. ²⁵ Anyone who loves their life will lose it, while anyone who hates their life in this world will keep it for eternal life. ²⁶ Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be. My Father will honor the one who serves me.  John 12:23-26

From the human end, Lent can be seen as ‘deprivation’.  It is a period when we deny ourselves, whether of food or things that we might find pleasurable. However, if it simply ends there, we miss the point entirely.  It  is a period where we make space in our lives in order to receive what God would graciously give. Too often we are so absorbed by the fulfillment of our appetites and basic urges that we are quite unreceptive to what He would graciously give of Himself. 

You may have missed the beginning of Lent. It’s not too late to start.  Jump in. Do something.  In fact, whatever steps you take towards God, in faith, are of benefit. 

Consider the following exhortations from the Writer to the Hebrews.

12 Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. Hb 12:1

Those two categories cover a lot of options. There are those things that we can identify as sin. We need to break free from them. That means  renouncing and repenting. And there are those things, whether good, neutral or not so good that entangle us. They steal our attention, time or resources.  There is something powerful that happens when we make a choice to throw them off,  for whatever period of time, so that we can pursue God and fulfill His purposes.

And finally, these words which speak so powerfully for themselves.

…let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings… Hb 10:22b

Saving the World

 Now when Joshua was near Jericho, he looked up and saw a man standing in front of him with a drawn sword in his hand. Joshua went up to him and asked, “Are you for us or for our enemies?”

“Neither,” he replied, “but as commander of the army of the Lord I have now come.” Then Joshua fell facedown to the ground in reverence, and asked him, “What message does my Lord have for his servant?”

… Then the Lord said to Joshua, “See, I have delivered Jericho into your hands, along with its king and its fighting men.” (Joshua 5:13-14, 6:2)

Ever feel like it’s up to you to save the world? My fiancée and I have recently started working our way through season 2 of the TV show “24” on Netflix. (We’re a bit behind the times since the season first aired in 2002-03). In the show, counter-terrorism agent Jack Bauer has to save Los Angeles from a nuclear bomb threat. As the clock ticks down, he is driven to increasingly desperate acts because he knows the fate of the city rests on his shoulders.

I’ve never had to save anyone from a nuclear bomb. But sometimes I catch myself feeling as if the fate of the world rested on my shoulders. If I would only write one more article, teach one more class, join one more committee, I’d be doing my part to save the world, by explaining church decline in Canada, or developing the perfect program of study, or inspiring a student—whatever the task at hand is.

I’d never put it that way out loud, of course. But if I’m honest, something like that drives me to work a little harder. It ramps up my blood pressure and makes my heart beat a little faster. Sometimes, it crowds Sabbath out of my life and leaves me feeling drained and overwhelmed at the end of the day.

Maybe you feel it too, though in your case it might be saving the world by passing that course that will help you to get that job where you will feed starving kids halfway around the world. Or maybe it’s recruiting the students who will keep Redeemer going strong in its mission to save the world through Christian higher education.

But in this passage from the book of Joshua, we are reminded that God sees things differently. Joshua is about to lead the Israelites into a fight for the Promised Land against strong, fortified cities filled with strong, numerous people. The stakes are high: if he fails, his people will die in the wilderness.

Yet on the eve of the battle, Joshua is visited by the commander of the army of the Lord. I want you to notice two things about this passage. First of all, God shows up! Joshua and the Israelites aren’t alone in their fight; in fact, God has already determined the outcome of the battle. Second, the commander answers “neither” to Joshua’s question; God’s army isn’t part of Joshua’s army. It depends on God, not Joshua, for its orders and its tactics.

This doesn’t mean Joshua is supposed to sit on his hands. To the contrary, he has a key role to play in God’s plan, and God has specific instructions for him to carry out (6:3-5). But it does remind him that this is God’s battle before it is Joshua’s battle. It allows him to move forward with purpose, but also the assurance that God is in control.

This week, before we turn into wild-eyed Jack Bauers driven to desperation by holding the fate of the world in our hands, let’s slow down and remember whose battle this is. Let’s remember that he is here, sword in hand. Let’s remember that he has already given us the victory. And then let’s join him in saving the world.

Grace and Effort

1 Corinthians 15:10
But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them—yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me.

As a young pastor, I was approached by older congregants who let me know that when I said the Christian life involved ‘effort’, that they felt that I did not understand the ‘Grace Message’.  They looked at me reproachfully as some sort of ‘legalist’, and suggested that perhaps, someday, I might see the light, as they. In response,  I spent a considerable amount of time trying to understand what this ‘Grace Message’ might be, only to conclude that it involved separating “Grace” from “Truth” , lifting the word out of any context it might find itself in scripture, and simply  making it a synonym of “permission”.

This isn’t the only time I encountered imbalanced teaching on grace. It has been a recurring theme….as it was in the generation of Dietrich Bonhoeffer  

Cheap grace is the grace we bestow on ourselves. Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline, Communion without confession.... Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate.”
― Dietrich Bonhoeffer, The Cost of Discipleship

A rule of thumb in Biblical study is to allow the context of the word to inform what it means in that context.  Given that, let’s consider what the apostle is saying, here, in our quoted scripture ( 1 Cor 15:10), which is representative of several other texts.

But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them—yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me.

·         He owes who He is to grace.  He is what he is, by grace.

·         This grace is effectual.

·         It caused him to worker harder than everyone.

·         In fact, he would not even say that it was he that worked, but instead the grace of God that was with him.

Let’s be clear. Effort can never produce grace.  Grace is not contingent upon my effort. However, my effort is a consequence of grace. Grace makes effort possible.

Why do I write this?

Well,  by nature we tend to spiritual passivity. You know we do.  If we are honest, we know it is an ongoing battle. If we have a view of grace that justifies our passivity, we are dead in the water. Any view of grace that leads to spiritual passivity needs to be challenged. We need a robust view of His grace which is “ not without effect”.  This is grace that transforms and empowers. It is  grace that releases and enables us to do what we could otherwise never do. This is God’s grace.  

Robb Powell