Introduction
Easter is less than a week away. If you’re like me, it feels as though the last few months have just flown by and suddenly Easter is upon us. Are we ready for Easter?
The Easter festival is a time of major significance for Christians around the world. It is the time of year that we most strongly reflect on the events surrounding the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. In many Christian traditions, the observance of Lent is an important part of preparing for Easter. So what is Lent, and why have millions of Christians since the early ages of the Church celebrated it?
The word “Lent” is derived from an ancient word for “Spring”, since that is the time of year in which Easter falls in the Northern Hemisphere. It denotes a period of 40 days leading up to Easter. This 40 days reflects the time that Jesus spent in the desert preparing for His earthly ministry, as well as other biblically significant examples of the number 40 (such as the 40 years in the desert for the Israelites). It is a time devoted to fasting, prayer and giving to the poor which begins on Ash Wednesday and ends on Easter Saturday. It actually covers a period of 46 days, as Sundays are not included in Lent (Sundays were considered to be the time of celebrating Christ’s resurrection and not appropriate for fasting). In some cases it was a time where candidates for baptism would receive instruction in the faith in preparation for baptism on Easter Saturday.
So Lent is essentially a time of preparation. Our church does not have a tradition of celebrating Lent, but we do have other ways of preparing ourselves to worship our Risen Lord and Saviour. Today we are going to be exploring the importance of preparing ourselves well.
Prayer
What are some of the Biblical examples of preparation, and what were people preparing for? There are a lot of examples we could look at, but I’ve selected just 2 key ones for us today:
1. Preparation of the Israelites to Enter the Promised Land
2. Preparation of Jesus to Commence His Ministry
1. Preparation of the Israelites to Enter the Promised Land
You remember the story of the Israelites who were rescued by God from the power of the Egyptians, who had held them in slavery for generations. God brings them out with many demonstrations of His power, and establishes a covenant with them at Mt Sinai. However even while they are camped at Mt Sinai, the people demonstrate that their hearts are not ready to be completely devoted to the Lord. While Moses is up on the mountain, the people revert to the sort of pagan worship that they should have left behind in
Finally they get to the land God has promised them. The scouts check it out and confirm that it is indeed a wonderful land. However instead of being thankful to the Lord and trusting Him to give them the land, they focus on the obstacles ahead of them. They complain again and again say they were better off in
So what does God do? He sends them back out into the desert for 40 years. Something within the nation of
The rest of the nation took 40 years to prepare. During that time there were several occasions where people were disciplined for rebellion. Korah and his followers were swallowed up by the earth. Another group of leaders who complained against Moses and Aaron were consumed by fire. On several occasions the people were struck by plague for disobedience or rebellion. Still another group were killed by venomous snakes for persistent complaining. Finally that disobedient generation had all passed away, and their children had learnt the importance of honouring God as they ought to. For forty years they had experienced God’s sustenance as He cared for their needs, and they had experienced His correction when they strayed from His ways. Now, finally, they were ready to enter the promised land.
2. Preparation of Jesus for Ministry
Read: Matthew 4:1-11
Straight after being baptised by John and being publicly affirmed as God’s son by a voice from heaven, you would think that Jesus would strike while the iron was hot and start straight away the process of selecting disciples and teaching the masses. If He waited too long the buzz about the voice from Heaven would die down and possibly become little more than a rumour. Yet Jesus is led by the Spirit into the desert for a time of solitude and fasting.
What was this time for? It was preparation for ministry. But look at verse 1 again – what was the purpose of Jesus’ time in the desert? He was there to be tempted by the devil. He spent 40 days and nights in preparation for temptation. Did that preparation make it easier or harder to withstand temptation? Verse 2 tells us that after this time he was hungry. That’s the opportunity Satan seizes and dives in with his first temptation.
With each temptation Jesus demonstrates that He is not in this for Himself. His desire is to serve and honour His Father. We talked about this last week. Sometimes we picture Scripture as a sword which we can wield against Satan in order to drive him off. However when the Bible describes how it is used, it is clear that the purpose of Scripture is to be used on ourselves to enable us to stand firm against Satan. It is a sword which is used to cut away anything in us that Satan could use against us. Then we are able to stand firm and resist the devil and he will flee from us.
Jesus uses each of these Scriptures in this manner. When tempted to provide food for Himself, Jesus shows that He believes the Scripture which says: “Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God”. Therefore that temptation has no power over Him.
When tempted to cast Himself off the corner of the temple, Jesus shows that He believes the Scripture which says “Do not put the Lord your God to the test.”, and so He would not test the Father by doing what Satan requests.
When tempted to worship Satan in return for power Jesus says “You have no claim on me Satan, for I will obey the Scripture that says ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.’”
It wasn’t the fact that Jesus could quote Scripture that made Satan flee, it was the fact that Jesus showed that He believed and obeyed Scripture that made all of Satan’s attacks futile. As a result it says in Luke 4:13 that Satan left Him until a more opportune time. Was Satan hoping that Jesus would become forgetful of what Scripture says? No. Satan was hoping that at some point Jesus would have a change of heart – that there would be some doubt or desire that Satan could use against Him. It never happened.
It is significant that before Jesus commenced His earthly ministry, God purposed for Him to be first tested by Satan. Was there any doubt in God’s mind about Jesus’ preparedness for ministry? No, but it is a good example for us. We read in 1 Timothy
Today I want to ask each of us to consider how we are being prepared by God in each area of life.
For example
- How do you prepare yourself to worship God as a family here on Sunday? Do you remind yourself of the purpose of getting together? Do you come seeking to honour God and serve others? Do you have barriers between yourself and others that need to be addressed? Do you have unconfessed sin in your life? Do you allow superficial things to distract you from worshipping God? Do you come eager to learn from God’s Word and eager for the Holy Spirit to refine you to be more like Jesus?
- How do you prepare yourself for each day? Do you start each day with a desire to please God? Do you acknowledge His presence with you at the start of each day? Are you being nourished by reflecting on His Word?
- How do you prepare yourself for an argument? Do you just go in with a determination to get your point across, or do you remind yourself to listen and care for the person you are in a disagreement with? Do you honestly seek God’s perspective, or do you care more about getting your own way?
- How do you prepare yourself for service? Do you remind yourself that you are actually serving God in what you do for others? Do you strive for recognition or reward? Do you take short-cuts or serve begrudgingly?
- How do you prepare yourself to spend time with people who do not know Jesus? Do you pray for opportunities to share? Do you think about ways that you can provide opportunities for others to express an interest or curiosity about what you believe? Do you think about ways that you can show an interest in what they believe or what is happening in their lives?
I’m not sure if you noticed, but every single question I asked springs from Scripture. As we get to know the Scriptures well the Holy Spirit is able to use them to refine us in every single area of life.
You see, even in the midst of worshipping here on Sunday or serving in some ministry during the week, it is possible for Satan to be working away and preventing you from really worshipping or really serving. Just like the Israelites of the Exodus were robbed of receiving the blessing of the promised land because of unprepared hearts, it is possible for us to robbed of the blessings of worship and service because of our unprepared hearts. It is possible for our witness to be tarnished. It is possible for us as a church family to discourage and pull each other down instead of encouraging and spurring each other on. It is possible for us to get caught up in sin.
However when we are giving the Holy Spirit the opportunity to prepare our hearts we guard ourselves against Satan’s attacks and we are able to stand firm.
Going back to the subject of Lent, remember the whole purpose of Lent is to have a season set aside for prayer, fasting, study and service in preparation for Easter. Of course, people can go through the motions of Lent without really doing any of those things, but at least the opportunity is there for those who are willing to take it up. The same can be said of anything that churches do.
You might have heard people speak of giving something up for Lent. This is meant to be a reminder of Jesus’ fasting in the desert.
Today I am going to ask something a little different. I’m going to go further back to the time of the Exodus. Remember a whole part of the Israelite community needed to die off before the nation was ready to enter into the promised land. I want you to ask God if there is something in you that needs to die off completely in order for you to be better prepared to fulfil God’s plan for your life. Not just something to give up for a season, but something that needs to be given up completely.
It might be a grudge that you have held on to. It might be a doubt that keeps nagging at you. It may be a desire for recognition or reward. It might be opinions that you hold strongly. It might be sin that you seem to keep coming back to. It might be habits that get in the way of what you should be doing. It might be ambitions that you have. Whatever it is, is it something that gives Satan a way in to your life – a way to tempt you, to tie you up and stop you from being a fully committed follower of Jesus.
Easter is the time where we particularly remember the sacrifice of Jesus Christ – He gave His life that we might live. What will you give up, so that you might really live?
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