Sunday 02/17/13 RWJ/Pottersville UMC
Sermon: “What will you
give up for Lent?”
Scripture Lesson: Romans 10:8b-13
Gospel Lesson: Luke 4:1-13
Good morning brothers and sisters, it is pleasure once again to be in
worship with you here this morning! As many of us know, the Christian Lenten
Season started this past Wednesday, on a day in the Christian calendar which we
know as Ash Wednesday. We had a really good and well attended Ash Wednesday
service at the RWJ UMC in Johnsburg this past Wednesday, and at the service I
explained a little bit about the season of Lent.
Specifically, I explained that the
Lent Season is technically 46-days long, which means that if it started this
past Wednesday on February 13th, that Lent will go for the remaining
15-days of this month, and it will end on last day of March. With March being
31-days long and with Easter being on Sunday March 31st, you take
the 15-days of lent from this month, and then add them to the 31-days of lent
from March, and that is how we get the 46-days of Lent. The start of Lent and
Easter Sunday as many of you know though is different every year. So these
46-days will not always be the same calendar days every year.
For many Christians though, they
traditionally observed a 40-day Lenten season, which is technically what we
still largely observe in the Western World. By not counting the 6-Sundays of every
Lenten Season, we then knock down the day count from 46 to 40-days. This is
because every Sunday in the Christian Calendar is considered a “mini-Easter” or
a “mini-feast day”. For this reason, Sundays often don’t count as part of the sacrificial
nature of the Lenten Season. For example, if someone did not eat meat during
Lent, traditionally they could eat meat on Sundays. If they fasted during Lent,
they could then break that fast on Sundays only.
So, depending on how you look at it,
the Lenten Season is 46 or 40-days of preparation for Jesus Christ’s death and
resurrection. During this Lenten Season, it has been a tradition of Christians
to “give up” something for Lent. In the Lent Bible Study book by James W. Moore
that we will be starting at the RWJ UMC in Johnsburg tonight at 5:00p.m., Moore
talked about one year that he gave up desserts. One year, Moore said that he
gave up hamburgers. One year, Moore gave up pizza. Another year, Moore gave up
coffee, and one year he gave up chocolate. GASP! For many of us, we have
practiced this Lenten tradition of “giving up” something. We can probably think
right now in fact, of all the things that we have given up in past Lenten Seasons.
In fact, I have heard stories of Christians on their lunch breaks at work,
where they have went around lunch table saying, “so what are you giving up for
Lent”? I have even heard Lenten Sacrificial gossip. “Did you hear that so and
so is giving up wearing make up for Lent?” “Did you hear that so and so is
giving up donuts for Lent? Like that will happen!” For me these sacrifices are
ones we make to deny ourselves something pleasurable, out of the remembrance
and grieving over the crucifixion of Jesus Christ.
Now don’t get me wrong, this is technically
a mournful, repentant, and penitent season of the Christian calendar. It is a
season of prayer, fasting, reflection of one’s own conscience, and a time to
rededicate ourselves to the Lord. I have wondered sometimes though, how much
does Jesus really care if we don’t eat chocolate for 40 or 46-days? I don’t
mean to be sarcastic in saying this, but it does make our practice of “giving
up” something for Lent seems a little silly doesn’t it? I mean, Jesus dies for
us all, for the sins of the world, and in exchange we don’t eat Hershey Bars
for 6-weeks! Good deal for us, I guess!
I think that our tradition of “giving
up” something is not a bad one though, and maybe we should all give up
something tangible for Lent. I think it is a good tradition to help us to
better understand the sacrifice that Jesus made for us all. While it is good to
give up something tangible though, can we give up more? Further, can we give up
more, and for longer than just the 6-week Lenten season? Can we give up
anything for good completely?
What if we gave up anger? What if we gave up greed? What if we gave
envy? What if we gave up our lack of forgiveness? What if we gave up our
hatred? What if we gave up a bad habit” Jesus said, “There is no greater love than this: that a person would
lay down his life for the sake of his friends.”
You know I realized that as this
Lenten season started, that there was something big, really big, that I wanted
to give up. Something that I thought I had given up fully, but that I realized that
I was still holding onto more of than I thought I was. This thing I was holding
onto is control. You see I often want to do everything I can to serve God, and
do his work, but I realized that sometimes I want to steer the ship more than
letting God steer the ship. That I wanted to build this church and grow people’s
faith, but that this is God’s church, and Jesus Christ will do with it as he
will. That the Kingdom of Jesus Christ is his and his alone. While I wasn’t
fully aware that I was doing this at times, I am working on giving up control
in not only this Lenten Season, but for good.
The good news is, that I have given up
power and control to my wife in marriage. In fact, I did this many Lenten
Seasons ago! Granted, I put up a good fight for a couple of years, but
eventually I gave in!
You see for me then, this year
chocolate, soft drinks, desserts, the internet, and etc. will just not be good
enough things for me to give up for Lent. I want to give up more for Jesus, for
he gave up everything me and for us all. I want to find any area of my life
that I still feel like I am in control of, and I want to surrender that Jesus. Jesus
gave us everything, and we offer him chocolate or coffee. I wonder as Jesus
looks down us, if he laughs at this?
Like I said though, I think that our
tradition of giving up things we enjoy for Lent is a great Christian tradition,
but I would challenge you in this Lenten Season to up something greater, and
for longer than just Lent. Maybe we should all give up something bigger, and
give it up for good.
Maybe, we should also give something
away. Maybe we have possessions, old clothes, extra food, and etc. that we don’t
need or even use. I have gotten to the point in my young life that I give
people things I am not using. Many of us probably have things that others would
use, and we don’t use them. Maybe can give away a few more things in this Lent
Season. In this Lenten season then, we can give up many things, but also, we can
give things away. This season I think, is about reflecting upon the ultimate
sacrifice of Jesus Christ for us all. This is a season, were we should be
generous, repentant, still, and should give all we have to Jesus, as he gave
everything he has to us.
Our scripture reading from the Apostle
Paul’s letter to the church in Rome, or the Romans, talked about how “No one
who believes in him will be put shame”. Paul continued on to say in this
scripture from Romans, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be
saved”.
In the gospel reading from this
morning, Jesus was tempted for 40-days in the desert, and it was a challenging time
for Jesus. I don’t know if this was actually 46-days, and there was tempting in
Sundays though. My guess, is that Jesus was tempted for 40-days straight with
no breaks. During these 40-days, the devil tried to get Jesus to sin, to contradict
himself, and to get him to forsake everything he came to earth for, for money, for
power, for glory, and for etc. Avoiding the pitfalls of sin then, have become a
big part of the Lenten Season and our faith in general. This is why as I said,
that we traditionally “give up” something for Lent.
I would like to close this morning with a sort if funny story
called, “Jesus
cut a deal with Satan,” and the Author
is unknown. Here is how the story goes: One day Satan and Jesus were having a
conversation. Satan was telling Jesus about the Garden of Eden, and he was
gloating and boasting, as he had convinced Adam and Eve, many years before, to
eat that forbidden fruit. Satan realized that Adam and Eve were to be kicked
out of the Garden for this in fact. He then said to Jesus, "Yes, sir, I
just caught the world full of people down there. Set me a trap(!), used bait I
knew they couldn't resist. Got 'em all!" "What are you going to do
with them?" Jesus asked. Satan replied, "Oh, I'm gonna have fun! I'm
gonna teach them how to be dishonest and how to cheat each other, how to hate
and how to abuse each other, how to murder and how to be cruel. I'm gonna teach
them how to invent nuclear bombs and other powerful weapons so that eventually they
will kill each other. I'm really gonna have fun!" "And what will you do when you get done with them?"
Jesus asked. "Oh, I'll kill 'em," Satan glared proudly. Jesus then
shocked the Devil when he said to him, "How much do you want for them”?
The Devil said, "Oh, you don't want those people. They ain't no good. Why,
you'll take them and they'll just hate you. They'll spit on you, they will curse
you, and then Jesus, they will kill you! You don't want THOSE people!!" "How
much?" Jesus asked Satan again. Satan looked at Jesus and sneered,
"All your tears, and all your blood." Then Jesus said,
"DONE!" Then He paid the price for us all.
You see while our tradition of giving
up something for Lent is a good and worthwhile tradition, perhaps, just perhaps
though, we should seek in this Lenten Season to go further for Jesus. To give
up even more, and to give up these things up for good, not just for Lent.
Perhaps we need to consider what we can give away, and who we help, as we continue
through the season where Jesus will give himself up for us all, so that we may
live. Amen.
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