THE ABC'S OF LENT
Tonight we are going to get naked for Jesus. Actually Josh gave me that line and I thought it would get your attention!
I want to talk about taking things off for lent. Next week we will talk about putting things on for lent. Specifically I want to talk tonight about attitudes. And as we role into the season of lent its worth thinking about what is it that we can do without. And what is it that we need.
Wicky says that ‘Many Christian consider the observation of Lent to be a choice, rather than an obligation. They may decide to give up a favorite food or drink (e.g. chocolate, alcohol) or activity (e.g. going to the movies, playing video games) for Lent, or they may instead decide to take on a Lenten discipline such as devotions, volunteering for charity work, and so forth.’
But I want to push us further than chocolate and coffee! Chocolate is not the biggest danger that many of you are going to face and I don’t think that coffee is hazardous to your spiritual health! Should there be more to Lent than just this?
So what would Jesus say to us about our attitudes? Actually if we care to look for a few minutes through the Bible we can see that Jesus says a fair bit! The be-attitudes!
So tonight I want to challenge you about putting off some attitudes that are not what Jesus would endorse. Its time to get naked for Jesus!
Your dictionary.com says that Attitude is a doing word, ‘a manner of acting, feeling, or thinking that shows one's disposition, opinion, etc.’
It’s a bit like this joke that Guy gave me during the week
A woman was at work when she received a phone call that her daughter was very sick with a fever. She left her work and stopped by the pharmacy to get some medication. She got back to her car and found that she had locked her keys in the car.
She didn't know what to do, so she called home and told the baby sitter what had happened. The baby sitter told her that her fever was getting worse. She said, "You might find a coat hanger and use that to open the door."
The woman looked around and found an old rusty coat hanger that had been thrown down on the ground, possibly by someone else who at some time or other had locked their keys in their car. Then she looked at the hanger and said, "I don't know how to use this."
So she bowed her head and asked God to send her some help. Within a couple of minutes an old rusty car pulled up, with a dirty, grimy, bearded man who was wearing an old biker skull rag on his head. The woman thought, "This is what you sent to help me?" But, she was desperate, so she was also very thankful.
The man got out of his car and asked her if he could help. She said, "Yes, my daughter is very sick. I stopped to get her some medication and I locked my keys in my car. I must get home to her. Please, can you use this hanger to unlock my car?"
He said, "Sure". He walked over to the car, and in a few seconds the car was opened. She hugged the man and through her tears she said, "Thank You So Much! You are a very nice man."
The man replied, "Lady, I am not a nice man. I just got out of prison today. I was in prison for car theft and have only been out for about a day."
The woman hugged the man again and with sobbing tears cried out loud, "Oh, Thank you God! You even sent me a Professional!"
Now that’s an attitude I would like to have! Next week I will tell you what to put on but for now
There are 3 Attitudes that we need to put off.
Fear, lack of appreciation and Despair
Listen to what the bible says about this from Ephesians 4:22-24 22You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; 23to be made new in the attitude of your minds; 24and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness (some translations say cloth yourself).
Let me talk about fear
The greatest enemy of faith is not doubt; one of the greatest enemy of faith is fear. Most of the world is controlled by fear. Petty fears control people; great fears control nations. We could feed all the people in this world if we would stop building arms, but we are afraid.
Fear is rampant in the world. The Americans in particular are entering into an age of fear. But we aussies aren’t immune from it. A lot of our current attitudes come out of the database of fear. I think I have spoken to you before about what fences that people are constructing around there houses tell us.
Fear immobilizes us. It makes us unable to live the way we were intended. It makes us react instead of respond – do you see the difference.
Living with an attitude of fear is like only living half a life. It’s like only driving your car in first gear (the other day while driving to work. Living with an attitude of fear hampers your ability to do what you were made to do. Fear says that’s to risky to undertake and so it stops your heart from reaching out.
One of the controlling factors of western society – since 9/11 has been fear. And you, all of us have felt the impact of it. And the media knows it. Boy have they made a lot of news and a heap of money out of this gospel of fear! They know how to sell this message so that each one of us has a good measure of fear inside of us and we become addicted to finding out from them (the media) what things we should be fearful about. They know that if they can push that fear button then they stand to make a bucket load of cash.
Fear has got us trapped in its vice.
An attitude of fear looks something like this;
· There is a voice inside your head telling you that ‘they’ are out to get you and its not safe - even when you have no evidence to the contrary.
· Its when you can picture bad, violent things happening to your family and yourself. And you start to worry about it.
· Its when you hear a story on the news about a horrific crime and you find yourself agreeing that these things are just sooo much more common these days.
· Its when you treat everyone with suspicion
When you find yourself responding out of a fearful attitude that’s when you know its permeated your life and its something we need to get rid off. We have to remove its influence from our lives because it controls us.
Next week I will give you the antidote to fear – so you have to come next week, but let me remind you right now what the gospel says to an attitude of fear it says perfect love drives out all fear. In other words the presence of God does not leave room for fear. When God is present, fear is gone.
We must choose God over fear. We must listen to what the gospel says and refuse to be controlled by fear. Now you can have fear inside of you but when you choose to act despite it that’s when you are not operating out of fear. I know that this is a deep issue but you can choose to not let it control you and your actions.
The next attitude that I believe we need to have a think about is ingratitude, or living with an unthankful mindset.
The old story goes that always pulls me up short goes like this; I was unhappy because I had no shoes until I met a man who had no feet.
Living with un-thankfulness in our heart means that we are always wanting more and we are never satisfied with what we have. Now I don’t know about you but I don’t want to go through life like that. God has blessed us with so much. We have the benefit of so many resources, so many good things.
And I will not let us be corrupted by the rampant consumerism that is destroying our nation. This afluenza is driven by our inability to be thankful for what we have. There is currently an inability in society to ever be content. Don’t let it fool you. Don’t retain the attitude that says more and more is better! That you have to have the newest and the latest. I know the pressure that comes on us to be like this. I feel its pull every single day. But don’t let it bring this disease into your life. Because if we sell out to the attitude of wanting more an more and being un happy with what we have then we simply prostitute ourselves before the temple of stuff. We are slaves to the culture.
Lets begin this lent to discover what we really have. To understand the riches of our circumstance and to rail against the trend of consumerism.
Maybe some of us should think about this;
· Don’t by anything new this season of lent!
· Don’t use eBay until Easter.
· Make a mental note of what we actually have and use in a single day
· For the next week do some research on a disadvantaged group either here or abroad.
· And give away %20 of your income to the church or to directly benefit someone disadvantaged.
If you can or cannot do that would be a good litmus test to see just how much we have sold out to culture.
Living with ingratitude is pulling us down. Its making our lives unhappy, and its leaving us dissatisfied with life.
The simple fact that we are not thankful is harming us. And we have got to get rid of it.
The last thing that I want to talk about taking off for lent is despair.
This, my friends is a big problem. This is something that has got us in its grip like a vice and does not want to let us go.
Despair does not factor in Gods involvement in the world. To despair, when you truly believe that here is no hope, is a very ugly place to be. If you have know anybody who has despaired then you will know what I mean. We must ferret it out and not let it take any ground in our lives.
An attitude of despair says that there is no way out of a problem. It says that God has deserted us and we are doomed.
We hear it all the time in things like ‘I am a failure’ I am hopeless, no one will like me. And we get to see it all the time in the lives of the A list. Heath Ledger is the current example. Despair destroys and shuts down life.
We despair that a situation will ever change; we give up on the notion that God will ever be able to change our world. And in doing so we join in with the rest of humanity and only see what is right in front of us rather than seeing with the eyes of faith that God has given us.
And we let these things conquer over us!
You see its in that moment of absolute struggle, in the context of that hardship that Gods way emerges, if we don’t give up, if we retain hope.
Think about this for a moment. It was Friday and Jesus had been crucified, it was Saturday and Jesus was still dead, but boy oh boy these days turned to Sunday and what a Sunday it was. You see we are not Friday people – even though everyone else is, we are not Saturday people, even though some others are. We see beyond these two events and become Sunday people. Sunday where despair turns to hope and a hope that does not disappoint us.
Even in the midst of struggle despair is not for the people of God.
After having dug to a depth of 10 metres last year, Scottish Archaeologistsfound traces of copper wire dating back 100 years and came to the conclusionthat their ancestors already had a telephone network more than 100 yearsago.Not to be outdone by the Scots, in the weeks that followed Englishscientists dug to a depth of 20 metres, and shortly after, headlines in theUK newspapers read: "English Archaeologists have found traces of 200 yearold copper wire and have concluded that their ancestors already had anadvanced high-tech communications network a hundred years earlier than theScots."One week later, "The Kerryman," a southwest Irish newsletter, reported thefollowing: "After digging as deep as 30 metres in peat bog near Tralee,Paddy O'Droll, a self taught Archaeologist, reported that he foundabsolutely nothing. Paddy has therefore concluded that 300 years agoIreland had already gone wireless."
Its time for us to get rid of these perverse attitudes of fear, ingratitude and despair. Its time to stop being like everyone else. Its time to respond in the freedom that God gives us.
My prayer for you this lent is that you will discard the things that don’t matter and put on the things that do.
I want to talk about taking things off for lent. Next week we will talk about putting things on for lent. Specifically I want to talk tonight about attitudes. And as we role into the season of lent its worth thinking about what is it that we can do without. And what is it that we need.
Wicky says that ‘Many Christian consider the observation of Lent to be a choice, rather than an obligation. They may decide to give up a favorite food or drink (e.g. chocolate, alcohol) or activity (e.g. going to the movies, playing video games) for Lent, or they may instead decide to take on a Lenten discipline such as devotions, volunteering for charity work, and so forth.’
But I want to push us further than chocolate and coffee! Chocolate is not the biggest danger that many of you are going to face and I don’t think that coffee is hazardous to your spiritual health! Should there be more to Lent than just this?
So what would Jesus say to us about our attitudes? Actually if we care to look for a few minutes through the Bible we can see that Jesus says a fair bit! The be-attitudes!
So tonight I want to challenge you about putting off some attitudes that are not what Jesus would endorse. Its time to get naked for Jesus!
Your dictionary.com says that Attitude is a doing word, ‘a manner of acting, feeling, or thinking that shows one's disposition, opinion, etc.’
It’s a bit like this joke that Guy gave me during the week
A woman was at work when she received a phone call that her daughter was very sick with a fever. She left her work and stopped by the pharmacy to get some medication. She got back to her car and found that she had locked her keys in the car.
She didn't know what to do, so she called home and told the baby sitter what had happened. The baby sitter told her that her fever was getting worse. She said, "You might find a coat hanger and use that to open the door."
The woman looked around and found an old rusty coat hanger that had been thrown down on the ground, possibly by someone else who at some time or other had locked their keys in their car. Then she looked at the hanger and said, "I don't know how to use this."
So she bowed her head and asked God to send her some help. Within a couple of minutes an old rusty car pulled up, with a dirty, grimy, bearded man who was wearing an old biker skull rag on his head. The woman thought, "This is what you sent to help me?" But, she was desperate, so she was also very thankful.
The man got out of his car and asked her if he could help. She said, "Yes, my daughter is very sick. I stopped to get her some medication and I locked my keys in my car. I must get home to her. Please, can you use this hanger to unlock my car?"
He said, "Sure". He walked over to the car, and in a few seconds the car was opened. She hugged the man and through her tears she said, "Thank You So Much! You are a very nice man."
The man replied, "Lady, I am not a nice man. I just got out of prison today. I was in prison for car theft and have only been out for about a day."
The woman hugged the man again and with sobbing tears cried out loud, "Oh, Thank you God! You even sent me a Professional!"
Now that’s an attitude I would like to have! Next week I will tell you what to put on but for now
There are 3 Attitudes that we need to put off.
Fear, lack of appreciation and Despair
Listen to what the bible says about this from Ephesians 4:22-24 22You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; 23to be made new in the attitude of your minds; 24and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness (some translations say cloth yourself).
Let me talk about fear
The greatest enemy of faith is not doubt; one of the greatest enemy of faith is fear. Most of the world is controlled by fear. Petty fears control people; great fears control nations. We could feed all the people in this world if we would stop building arms, but we are afraid.
Fear is rampant in the world. The Americans in particular are entering into an age of fear. But we aussies aren’t immune from it. A lot of our current attitudes come out of the database of fear. I think I have spoken to you before about what fences that people are constructing around there houses tell us.
Fear immobilizes us. It makes us unable to live the way we were intended. It makes us react instead of respond – do you see the difference.
Living with an attitude of fear is like only living half a life. It’s like only driving your car in first gear (the other day while driving to work. Living with an attitude of fear hampers your ability to do what you were made to do. Fear says that’s to risky to undertake and so it stops your heart from reaching out.
One of the controlling factors of western society – since 9/11 has been fear. And you, all of us have felt the impact of it. And the media knows it. Boy have they made a lot of news and a heap of money out of this gospel of fear! They know how to sell this message so that each one of us has a good measure of fear inside of us and we become addicted to finding out from them (the media) what things we should be fearful about. They know that if they can push that fear button then they stand to make a bucket load of cash.
Fear has got us trapped in its vice.
An attitude of fear looks something like this;
· There is a voice inside your head telling you that ‘they’ are out to get you and its not safe - even when you have no evidence to the contrary.
· Its when you can picture bad, violent things happening to your family and yourself. And you start to worry about it.
· Its when you hear a story on the news about a horrific crime and you find yourself agreeing that these things are just sooo much more common these days.
· Its when you treat everyone with suspicion
When you find yourself responding out of a fearful attitude that’s when you know its permeated your life and its something we need to get rid off. We have to remove its influence from our lives because it controls us.
Next week I will give you the antidote to fear – so you have to come next week, but let me remind you right now what the gospel says to an attitude of fear it says perfect love drives out all fear. In other words the presence of God does not leave room for fear. When God is present, fear is gone.
We must choose God over fear. We must listen to what the gospel says and refuse to be controlled by fear. Now you can have fear inside of you but when you choose to act despite it that’s when you are not operating out of fear. I know that this is a deep issue but you can choose to not let it control you and your actions.
The next attitude that I believe we need to have a think about is ingratitude, or living with an unthankful mindset.
The old story goes that always pulls me up short goes like this; I was unhappy because I had no shoes until I met a man who had no feet.
Living with un-thankfulness in our heart means that we are always wanting more and we are never satisfied with what we have. Now I don’t know about you but I don’t want to go through life like that. God has blessed us with so much. We have the benefit of so many resources, so many good things.
And I will not let us be corrupted by the rampant consumerism that is destroying our nation. This afluenza is driven by our inability to be thankful for what we have. There is currently an inability in society to ever be content. Don’t let it fool you. Don’t retain the attitude that says more and more is better! That you have to have the newest and the latest. I know the pressure that comes on us to be like this. I feel its pull every single day. But don’t let it bring this disease into your life. Because if we sell out to the attitude of wanting more an more and being un happy with what we have then we simply prostitute ourselves before the temple of stuff. We are slaves to the culture.
Lets begin this lent to discover what we really have. To understand the riches of our circumstance and to rail against the trend of consumerism.
Maybe some of us should think about this;
· Don’t by anything new this season of lent!
· Don’t use eBay until Easter.
· Make a mental note of what we actually have and use in a single day
· For the next week do some research on a disadvantaged group either here or abroad.
· And give away %20 of your income to the church or to directly benefit someone disadvantaged.
If you can or cannot do that would be a good litmus test to see just how much we have sold out to culture.
Living with ingratitude is pulling us down. Its making our lives unhappy, and its leaving us dissatisfied with life.
The simple fact that we are not thankful is harming us. And we have got to get rid of it.
The last thing that I want to talk about taking off for lent is despair.
This, my friends is a big problem. This is something that has got us in its grip like a vice and does not want to let us go.
Despair does not factor in Gods involvement in the world. To despair, when you truly believe that here is no hope, is a very ugly place to be. If you have know anybody who has despaired then you will know what I mean. We must ferret it out and not let it take any ground in our lives.
An attitude of despair says that there is no way out of a problem. It says that God has deserted us and we are doomed.
We hear it all the time in things like ‘I am a failure’ I am hopeless, no one will like me. And we get to see it all the time in the lives of the A list. Heath Ledger is the current example. Despair destroys and shuts down life.
We despair that a situation will ever change; we give up on the notion that God will ever be able to change our world. And in doing so we join in with the rest of humanity and only see what is right in front of us rather than seeing with the eyes of faith that God has given us.
And we let these things conquer over us!
You see its in that moment of absolute struggle, in the context of that hardship that Gods way emerges, if we don’t give up, if we retain hope.
Think about this for a moment. It was Friday and Jesus had been crucified, it was Saturday and Jesus was still dead, but boy oh boy these days turned to Sunday and what a Sunday it was. You see we are not Friday people – even though everyone else is, we are not Saturday people, even though some others are. We see beyond these two events and become Sunday people. Sunday where despair turns to hope and a hope that does not disappoint us.
Even in the midst of struggle despair is not for the people of God.
After having dug to a depth of 10 metres last year, Scottish Archaeologistsfound traces of copper wire dating back 100 years and came to the conclusionthat their ancestors already had a telephone network more than 100 yearsago.Not to be outdone by the Scots, in the weeks that followed Englishscientists dug to a depth of 20 metres, and shortly after, headlines in theUK newspapers read: "English Archaeologists have found traces of 200 yearold copper wire and have concluded that their ancestors already had anadvanced high-tech communications network a hundred years earlier than theScots."One week later, "The Kerryman," a southwest Irish newsletter, reported thefollowing: "After digging as deep as 30 metres in peat bog near Tralee,Paddy O'Droll, a self taught Archaeologist, reported that he foundabsolutely nothing. Paddy has therefore concluded that 300 years agoIreland had already gone wireless."
Its time for us to get rid of these perverse attitudes of fear, ingratitude and despair. Its time to stop being like everyone else. Its time to respond in the freedom that God gives us.
My prayer for you this lent is that you will discard the things that don’t matter and put on the things that do.
posted by Jonathan at 1:36 PM
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