Isaiah 58:1-12: A True Fast

Ash Wednesday Talk

  

•  What does Lent mean for you?

History of Lent

• Observance of Lent, goes back to apostolic times, but the length of time varied, it wasn’t until the Council of Nicea in 325 AD, that Lent was fixed to 40 days.     
• Observant amongst you may realise that it is 46 days to Easter, that is because Sunday’s aren’t included in the Lenten observance, because Sunday’s are mini Easters, when we celebrate Christ’s resurrection.
• The reason Lent lasts 40 days is because 40 is a significant number in Scripture, and often signifies a time of trial & testing.
• Moses spent 40 years in Egypt & then 40 years in the desert before being called by God to lead the Israelite’s out of slavery.
• Moses spent 40 days and nights on Mount Sinai to receive God’s laws.
• Israelites spent 40 years wandering through desert before reaching the promised land.
• Ezekiel lay on his right side for 40 days to symbolise Judah’s sins.
• Elijah went without food and water for 40 days on Mount Horeb. 
• Jesus spent 40 days fasting and praying in the wilderness, and being tempted by Satan following his baptism.
• In the early church Lent historically was a period of preparation for those people who were going to be baptised at Easter.  And this developed into a time of renewal and recommitment to the Christian life.
• Although you won’t find Lent mentioned in Scripture, it’s a discipline many Christians find helpful.
• But if you ask many people want Lent is about, they would view it as a rather dour, sombre, even depressing time of the year: 
• ‘It’s the season when we give up things or activities that we normally enjoy – denying ourselves pleasure. It’s the season when we make sacrifices and fast. It’s the season when we do penance….’
• As one person said Lent was a time when he “spent the whole season just wishing it were over!”
• Is this really what Lent is all about?  Is it really all about giving up sweets, chocolate, alcohol, caffeine?  Or could Lent be so much more than this?  Could we be missing out on what Lent is really about? 

Lent - A Springtime

• Word Lent comes from old English “lencten” – meaning spring. 
• Spring – a time of renewal, new life, growth, transformation (think about the transformation that takes place in a forest as spring arrives). 
• Lent properly observed can be a spring time in our walk with God. A time of growth & renewal, new life. 
• Many people spring clean their homes, Lent gives us the opportunity to do some spiritual spring cleaning. It’s an opportunity to look afresh at our relationship with God. Getting rid on the things that hinder our relationship with God.

Fasting & Lent

• Focus for Lent for many people is on what they are going to ‘give up’. 
• Fasting is something Jesus encouraged us to do.  He said “WHEN you fast…” - not ‘If you fast.’ (Matthew 6:16)
• The purpose of fasting is to take our eyes off the things of this world and instead focus on God. It’s to re-orientate ourselves to God.  
• Analogy of listening to radio, with lots of noise & distortion & trying to tune into the one clear signal.
• The danger comes however, when the focus of fasting switches from God to ourselves.
• There was a brand new lawyer in his brand new office on his first day in practice, when he saw a prospective client walk through the door. He decided to make himself look busy and important, and so he picked up his phone and started talking. “Look, Harry, about that amalgamation deal. I think I better run down to the factory and handle it personally.  Yes.  No.  I don’t think 3 million will swing it.  We better have Rogers meet us there.  OK, call you back later.”  He then looked up at the visitor and says, “Good morning, how may I help you?” And the prospective client says, “You can’t help me at all.  I’m just here to hook up your phone.” 
• If we see Lent as a time of spiritual one upmanship trying to outdo one another in our Lenten discipline, to look good in the eyes of others, or simply seeing it as an opportunity to try to lose some weight (a second attempt at our New Year’s resolutions), then we’re missing the point of it. 
• That is why Jesus said “when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, so that it will not be obvious to others that you are fasting, but only to your Father, who is unseen; and your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.” (Matthew 6:17-18)
• Lent is not about us. It’s about God.

Fasting & Isaiah

• This is was the problem in Isaiah.  People were fasting, but their focus wasn’t on God.

“Shout! A full-throated shout!
    Hold nothing back—a trumpet-blast shout!
Tell my people what’s wrong with their lives,
    face my family Jacob with their sins!
They’re busy, busy, busy at worship,
    and love studying all about me.
To all appearances they’re a nation of right-living people—
    law-abiding, God-honouring.
They ask me, ‘What’s the right thing to do?’
    and love having me on their side.
But they also complain,
    ‘Why do we fast and you don’t look our way?
    Why do we humble ourselves and you don’t even notice?’

• Their fasting and degenerated into self-righteousness. 
• Outwardly it looked like they were doing everything right, ‘They’re busy, busy, busy at worship, and love studying all about me,’ says Isaiah.
• But God is not impressed with the external trappings of religious rituals, it’s what goes on in the heart that really matters.
• They were trying to show off to God, by their religious observances, but this masked the fact that their hearts were far from God.
• There is a challenge for us here, what is the thing that motivates us as Christians?  Are we doing it for God, or to look good in the eyes of others?
• Warren Wiersbe writes: “True fasting will lead to humility before God and ministry to others. We deprive ourselves so that we might share with others and do so to the glory of God…. BUT If we fast in order to get something for ourselves from God, instead of to become better people for the sake of others, then we have missed the meaning of worship. It delights the Lord when we delight in the Lord” (S. Is 56:9).  

The fasting that matters to God

“This is the kind of fast day I’m after:
    to break the chains of injustice,
    get rid of exploitation in the workplace,
    free the oppressed,
    cancel debts.
What I’m interested in seeing you do is:
    sharing your food with the hungry,
    inviting the homeless poor into your homes,
    putting clothes on the shivering ill-clad,
    being available to your own families."

• Here we see the fasting that mattes to God. Here we see the heart of God.
• It’s fasting that is accompanied by genuine repentance.
• It’s not simply about abstaining from food, or TV, or the internet for a few days or weeks, but about the loving quality of our relationships, and how we care for the weakest and most vulnerable in society. The poor, the sick, the stranger, the refugee.
• This is what matters to God, this is what Jesus’ ministry was all about, not personal piety, but service to others.
• Archbishop of Canterbury: “The more the church cares for the poor, the more people recognise it for what it is: the Jesus movement.”  
• This is what Lent should be about, focusing on the things that matter to God, and drawing nearer him. 
• You will know if you have had a successful Lent, if at the end of it, you can say I have grown closer to God, and the things that matter to God.
• So for me, Lent isn’t a sombre, dour season, to want to get through as quickly as possible, but a wonderful joyful opportunity to draw closer to God, and re-orientate ourselves to God.

 Break my heart for what breaks yours 

• There is a wonderful modern worship song called Hosanna which has these wonderful words:
• Heal my heart and make it clean. Open up my eyes to the things unseen. Show me how to love like You have loved me. Break my heart for what breaks Yours, everything I am for Your Kingdom’s cause, as I walk from nothing to eternity.
• May that be our prayer this season of Lent.

Ideas for Lent

Lent is due to start tomorrow, and like many other people I have been thinking about how to observe this special season.  Many people I know try to give up sweets and alcohol during Lent, and whilst I think depriving of ourselves of things we enjoy, and trying to live more simply is a great idea, I do worry that sometimes we do it for the wrong reasons.  The focus during Lent should be on how we can nurture and develop our relationship with God, not simply an opportunity to loose a few pounds, or go on an alcohol detox (no matter how good this may be).

I don't think that fasting is a bad idea, quite the opposite I think it's a great idea, but I think it is important that we think through why we are fasting, and what we hope to achieve through our fasting.  But what about a different type of fast?  For example fasting from social media, spending less time on Facebook and Twitter, and using the time saved to pray more, read the Bible, go for a walk, or spending time in face to face contact with family and friends.  Or how about fasting from TV, or going on a carbon fast - walking or cycling to work or school, rather than using the car.  

The focus during Lent should not only be on what we can give up, but also on new things we can do.  So for example, one of our Lenten disciplines this year is to set aside two days during Lent, to go away by myself in order to spend the day to do some reading and praying, and most importantly of all waiting on God.  

If you're stuck with ideas on how to use Lent, why not check out these pages, which are full of creative ideas and suggestions on how to observe this special season.

• 40 Acts - sign up as an individual, family, church, small group, workplace, school or youth group, in order to receive 40 simple inspiring acts of generosity to do during Lent.

• 15 Ways To Fast For Lent - 15 creative fasts for Lent, including fasting from TV, money, sex and even church!
• Love Life Live Lent - Do you ever wish the world could be a better place? Do you think that if only people could be more caring, more generous, less selfish, more loving, that the world we live in would be so different? Mahatma Gandhi once said, 'Be the change you want to see in the world.' What he meant is that if we want the world to be a better place, each one of us has to change it ourselves, one action at a time. Why not start this Lent?
  
  From Shrove Tuesday (Pancake Day) to Easter Day there is an action for you to do on six days in each week of Lent. The actions are quite simple. What makes them challenging is how you do them, and if we all do them, then the world really could become the place that God wants it to be: one person at a time, one action at a time.

• 40 Ideas For Lent - lots of imaginative ideas for Lent.
• What To Give Up For Lent - 25 Creative Ideas - Here are some very unconventional ideas of what to give up during Lent.  Many of the ideas come from teenagers.
• Count Your Blessings - Christian Aid's Lent Resources, aimed at helping people count their blessings, and also to raise money for Christian Aid. They have resources for adults and children, which are free to download.  There is even a 'Count Your Blessings' app that you can download onto your phone or tablet.
• I'm Not Busy - helping people to give up busyness for Lent. On the website it states 'People who give up busyness for Lent will each find their own way of doing it. However, the core idea is to spend a limited time each day – between 10 and 30 minutes - doing absolutely nothing, just letting time pass.'  The website includes 10 top tips on how to not be busy (assuming you're not too busy to visit the site!)

These are just a few of the websites I've found giving some great ideas on how to observe Lent. Lent is a wonderful opportunity to make more time and space for God in our lives, learn to live more simply, and to appreciate those things that we often take for granted.  However you choose to observe Lent, I hope it is a fruitful and enriching time for you.