Lengthening LENT

I have a personal fascination with commemorative events on the Christian calendar.

There is just something beautiful about walking through certain events in the life of Jesus when He was on earth – His birth, death, resurrection and ascension, or understanding the symbolic practices the Jewish people carried out in remembrance of God’s deliverance and faithfulness. Significant dates are made all the richer when time is taken to fully appreciate the history behind and cultural context that surrounded them!

Furthermore, the stipulated period of time leading up to an event, as opposed to just a single day, gives me the much-needed time in reflection and preparation before the oft-busy season descends on the church.

It hardly seemed two months ago that Advent preceded Christmas, and now we are already into the second week of Lent.

Lent what, you may ask?

Foreign as this term may be to some of us, Lent actually is one of the oldest observations on the Christian calendar. Historically in Western Christianity, Lent is the 40-day period, not counting Sundays, lasting from Ash Wednesday to Easter Sunday. This is a time set aside in preparation for Easter, to be spent in quiet self-examination and repentance of sin, demonstrated by self-denial of some form – usually fasting. These forty days are an imitation of Jesus’ withdrawal into the wilderness for forty days before He was tempted by the devil (Matthew 4:1-2).

Lent is more commonly observed by churches with a more liturgical tradition, while it comes and goes without a mention for others. Although we may frown upon the ritualistic observances and mandatory adherence to a fast that are practiced in some places, Lent can possibly be adopted as a useful period for reflection and taking stock for us. It offers us ways to ‘lengthen’ the Good Friday and Easter season through the time of meditation on the deep significance of Christ’s suffering, death and resurrection for our own lives and for the world.

For the more convicted, this might be an appropriate time to be involved in prayer and daily fasting. For others, it might be a call to give up a coffee or meal each week or even ‘fasting’ from the media such as television, computer games, or lifestyle magazines. Quite often, our bodily appetites control our actions. The purpose of fasting is to make our bodily appetites our servant rather than our master. The emphasis ought not to be so much on the fasting in and of itself, as on the spiritual renewal desired as Easter approaches through the cultivation of humility and reliance on the Father. The purpose of Lent is fulfilled when the desire is created in us to do God’s will and to make His kingdom come by making it come first of all in our hearts.

Today in our day, age, and church culture, Lent can become a purposeful time when material things are put again in their proper secondary position; when we make the effort to adjust our lenses to sharpen our ability to see the spiritual in our daily lives. If we missed the opportunity twice over in the new years recently passed to contemplate the year past and set resolutions, this can be an opportune time to take that long overdue spiritual inventory as we reflect upon our present position in the journey and double-check our directions. However, more than just mental resolutions to do better, this time of personal readjustment can be about yielding ourselves afresh to the God who demands to be obeyed, and identifying again with the Saviour who makes all things new…

Go ahead and take up the challenge to spend protected time with the Lord in the days leading up to Easter beginning today. Give something up, or simplify an area of life. And in doing so, not let the busyness of our lives and the season be yet another excuse for the irony of missing the very One we want to celebrate and worship.

35 Days to Easter!

The Mind of a Servant

Jesus knowing that...
the Father had given all things into His hands,
and that He was come from God,
and went to God;
He riseth from supper, and laid aside His garments
...and began to wash the disciples’ feet.
John 13:3-5

Dedication Sunday took place last Sunday and each year, I find a quiet joy receiving the prayer of blessing as we corporately dedicate our service afresh to the Lord’s work and people. The reminder of His faithful sustaining in the year past and the necessity for dependence on God in the journey ahead in yet another year, is needful. It also brought to mind some personal reflections on service during a bible study we had at the YF ExCo Leaders’ Retreat not too long ago.

We were looking at the all-too-familiar passage in John, chronicling the account of Jesus washing the feet of His disciples the night before His crucifixion. Without a doubt, humility was at the very core of Jesus’ words and actions. John, in recording this event, does not gloss over the details. He makes it a point to carefully narrate each step Jesus takes in the entire process - Him rising from the supper, laying aside His outer garment, taking a linen cloth, tying it around His waist to be used to dry their feet after the wash, pouring water into a basin, before finally proceeding to do the deed. One can almost imagine the scene playing out in slow motion, with each deliberate step a literal and figurative stripping away of Himself in a demonstration of humility - a visual demonstration of a greater one to follow, a humiliation unto death on a cross.

In service, in ministry, in working with others who may or may not think or act like us, we need humility. But how exactly does this humility come about? There is a humorous saying that goes we cannot know for sure if we are humble, as one who is truly humble will never admit that he is! However, I believe that the key to this question lies at what was going through the mind of Jesus at that point when He decided to wash His disciples’ feet in John 13:3. It was the knowledge of these 3 truths that enabled the Master to serve the disciples which we ought to emulate:

1. Know...God’s AUTHORITY (the Father had given all things into His hands)
In service, do you sometimes feel burnt out, overwhelmed, or inadequate?

Just as Jesus came into the world with the authority of the Father to serve mankind, we too go out with His authority (Matt 28:18-20) to render unto others what Christ had demonstrated to us. Our time, money and giftings are given into our hands from the Father that we may use them to serve God and others, and not serve ourselves. When we do that, our source of power and strength, is the source of power and strength, God Himself. When we feel like we are running on empty, check to see the real source of our fuel...

2. Know...our IDENTITY (He was come from God)
In service, do you sometimes feel like you need to always try harder, be impressive, or are unwilling to fail?

Our identity is in Christ and Christ alone. How smart we are, how rich we are, how talented we are, how attractive to others we are, how healthy we are, whatever, does not change our position as sons and daughters, and heirs of God (Romans 8:17). Our identity in Christ or lack thereof has repercussions in the way we behave toward God and others. Once we iron that out and come to the realisation that we do not need to work or be of a certain calibre to earn our position in Christ, we learn that what we do, does not determine who we are, and that there is nothing ‘beneath us’ to get our hands dirty with. We can thus find the freedom and security to do even the most menial of tasks...

3. Know...our final HOPE (He went [was going back] to God)
In service, do you sometimes feel unappreciated, short-changed, or discouraged?

In order to allow Himself to be made of no reputation, to take upon Himself the form of a servant, a man, before finally having to be humbled by dying on a cross, Jesus fixed His eyes on the final and eternal hope of not just returning back to God’s presence, but also of eventually being highly exalted (Philippians 2). We likewise, have that hope - that as we suffer for His sake, we will also be glorified together with Him (Romans 8:17). As we have come to realise in one way or another, the world more often than not does not operate on the law of fairness, made evident by the exploitation and material inequality around us. Someone works, but another claims the credit or enjoys the benefits. However, what keeps us going will be the rewards that await us beyond this world, and the new world where God’s chosen will not labour in vain - they, and not another, will live in the houses they build and eat the fruit of their own vineyards (Isaiah 65:21-23). As we toil and labour for His kingdom, we persevere and eagerly anticipate our just rewards and new inhabitance...

Looking at the perfect example of Jesus, I believe these are the 3 keys of successful service as we look ahead to a brand new year. In rendering any kind of service - big or small, we need to put on the mind of the ultimate Servant; to put on the mind of Christ - by having the knowledge that we go in God’s authority, that our identity comes from Him, and that we are eventually returning back to Him... only then will be able to begin to wash the dusty feet of others.

Ascension Day - The Grand Culmination

Christmas means cantatas, joyful singing, month-long festivities to celebrate Christ’s birth – undisputedly the most exciting event in our Christian calendar; Good Friday arrives sombrely, we reflect on the cost of our sin – His suffering and journey to the cross, as we partake the Lord’s supper; Easter, we rejoice with resounding hallelujahs that the tomb is empty and the Christ has risen victoriously conquering sin and death! However 40 days on, Ascension Day usually comes and goes quietly without half as much notice. Yet it is a most essential part of the Christian story…

Ascension Day always falls on a Thursday, 40 days after Easter, and is usually remembered the following Sunday – today in which case. It commemorates the bodily ascension of Jesus into heaven after His resurrection, the grand culmination of Jesus’ earthly ministry and mission.

The Significance

What is so significant about the fact that Jesus ascended into heaven? Why did He have to leave us for that very matter if we read in the gospels of how much He accomplished in person? Would things be any different if He lived amongst us till today? I for one would find that very helpful in finding answers to my questions, being assured when doubt sets in, and most of all, convincing non-believers of His existence and transforming power… Doesn’t sound like too bad a plan!

“So then after the Lord had spoken unto them, he was received up into heaven, and sat on the right hand of God.” Mark 16:19

In being received up into heaven by God, Christ’s ascension proclaims His rightful Lordship over all as He reigns with the sovereign authority of God, sharing in His glory and His majesty. In being seated on the right hand of God, we have the reassuring comfort that we have a great Mediator…the best Mediator who acts as our Advocate, our defence, and intercedes on our behalf in the presence of the holy Father. Instead of looking on our sin and blemish, God looks on the garments of righteousness that Christ has placed over us. In times of loneliness, suffering and persecution, we know that Jesus has walked the road before us. He hears our prayers and cries. He will come again to deliver us and crush His enemies.

“And [the disciples] went forth, and preached every where, the Lord working with them, and confirming the word with signs following.” Mark 16:20

The Ascension also marks the beginning of the church age, and propels us forward as His chosen means through which His Message will be heard. Christ has imbued His power in us through the Holy Spirit that we might carry on His work. This is the role of the church, our church – to be an extension of Christ through the ages, an extension of Christ throughout the community, throughout the nations. Is that really what the world can testify of us? It is most pertinent for us to stop and ponder every once in a while how much we are living up to this great calling…

Expected of Us

“And He said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. Ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto Me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.” Mark 16:15, Acts 1:8

Over the last 40 days that Jesus was on earth, He spent it appearing to many – affirming His deity and victory over death, and speaking of things concerning the kingdom of God. His final commands to His disciples, and still is to us His people today, is to go into all the world, to all the ends of the earth to bring the gospel to all creation. And He promises His presence with us. He promises the Holy Spirit.

His mission is now our mission. He has no hands and feet on earth but ours. No voice of hope, mercy and love but ours. Our hearts are to beat in union with Christ’s for the concern of God’s kingdom until He restores it wholly and completely again. Until all creation can reflect His glory perfectly and worship Him as we were made to do.

Philip Yancey words the significance of Christ’s ascension most beautifully...

The law and the prophets had focused like a beam of light
on the One who was to come,
and now that light, as if hitting a prism,
would fracture and shoot out
in a human spectrum of waves and colours.

May we truly be that burst of brilliance and colour to pierce this dark world blind to Jesus… He is risen and has ascended!

Consider Christ

Last month, the youths had a combined meeting with several other B-P churches with the theme – Consider Christ, and I am sure many of you can recall the dramatic presentation on the death and resurrection of Christ that they reproduced at Communion Sunday two weeks ago. During the combined meeting, each group was taken back in time and transformed into the group of disciples who followed Jesus and were closest to Him during His earthly ministry. Each game station was organised to walk them through the life of Jesus as it might have been had they lived in His midst, witnessing His miracles, His teachings, His triumphal entry, and finally His humiliation and crucifixion. The aim of this whole theme was to help remind the youths afresh of the person who was Christ – God Himself walking on earth as a man, and the incomprehensible work that He accomplished when He obeyed the will of the Father by being made willing to suffer and die undeservingly on the cross. Oftentimes when meditating on Christ and what He has done for us, especially in preparation to partake of the Holy Communion, what is the picture that comes to mind?

Christ the Contradiction
If you were to have met and interacted with Jesus in person while He was on earth, have you ever wondered what aspect of Him would strike you the hardest? What would it have been really like to follow multitudes upon multitudes to hear Him speak words of faith and conviction, and witness miracles performed before your very eyes? Or how it might have felt if perhaps you were one of the despised of society with whom He bothered to sit down to have a meal with, or one of the disciples whose dusty feet our Lord knelt over to wash and make clean? Jesus was able to identify with those He came into contact with, with such penetrating intimacy. Yet He was also radically different from the rest of the religious teachers of His day with His authoritative claims to be God, and words and actions to back His assertions. Would it have been Christ’s meekness or majesty that drew crowds to Him? His manhood or deity? Or the explosive fusion of the “perfect harmony the Man who is God”, as the familiar song goes… Such is the apparent contradiction of Christ because there is no other, and never will be any like Him who is fully God and fully man in essence and being. In Philippians 2, this is the Christ “Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: but made Himself of no reputation, and took upon Him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men.”

Christ the Covenant
Not only was Christ an enigma when He entered this world in the form of a human, but He also had a larger purpose to accomplish through His suffering, death and resurrection that even Peter, one of His disciples who were closest to Him and were probably His most trusted, could not understand and tried to oppose unwittingly, earning His harsh admonishment of “Get thee behind me, Satan: thou art an offence unto me” (Matthew 16:23). Christ Jesus came, not only to reach out to His creation and demonstrate His power, but more importantly to accomplish and fulfil the Old Covenant of ritual and sacrifice by becoming the Mediator of a better covenant – the New Covenant of grace. What does that mean to us as Christians today? It means that our status before God has changed completely, and we now stand worthy to claim the awesome privilege of a direct, intimate relationship with Him. The insatiable wrath of God that threatened to consume us has been appeased once and for all, and we no longer have to contend with meeting the unattainable, absolute standard of the Mosaic Law…

Cost of Christ Crucified
The penalty has been taken. We crucified Jesus with our sins – for such was the heavy price to be paid so that a beautiful new chapter could be written in God’s salvation plan for you and me. However the question is, are we short-changing ourselves by still choosing to go down the old road that the Pharisees continued to blindly and stubbornly follow instead of seeing the new path the Christ has laid down for us with His precious blood? We often picture the Pharisees as the obvious “bad guys” in opposition to Jesus. But actually, their good intentions of desiring to please God and obey Him are often overlooked. Their intended end point was the same, but they were totally wrong and misguided in their method of getting there. They were sincere, no doubt about it. But they were sincerely wrong. Now how does that relate to us? Simply this: God will not fault us for our sincere desire to please and honour Him, but the crucial point that Jesus tried to bring across time and again in His encounters with the Pharisees was that the means of reaching God is just as important as the end, or Christ’s death would be for naught. Service and sacrifice are part of Christian living, but that should follow a living, breathing relationship with Christ or we would stand just as guilty as the Pharisees before God when we meet Him face to face one day; guilty of rejecting Christ as the Mediator of the New Covenant. So, let us resolve like Mary to, “choose that good part, which shall not be taken away from her” (Luke 10:42), and choose to sit and listen at our Master’s feet.