The Challenge of Lent - Preparing for Service (Part 1)

The three churches in the Wiltshire village of Dilton Marsh where I was pastoring an Evangelical church, enjoyed regular fellowship as we met quarterly for prayer and bible study. Easter was approaching and it was my turn to bring a study at our pre-Easter fellowship which was to take place in the Anglican church. I felt the Spirit leading me to consider the practice of Lent. The following two part study is the result. Please read Exodus 34:10-35, Leviticus 16:29-31 & 23:27-32, and Numbers 29:7. Lent, is traditionally a time when people give up some of the luxuries of life in the pious hope of gaining some spiritual benefit. In the Church of Rome it is regarded as a time of penance, of forgiving others, a time of self-denial in favour of those in need thus it becomes works of mercy. Sadly Lent has become a ritualised precursor to Easter. But should it be like this?

Well for the more spiritually minded it is period of self-denial, fasting and prayer for a period of 40 days leading up to Easter. A time for reflection, for remembering our baptismal promises; a time to rededicate our lives to Christ and His cause, anew. It is a time for contemplation on the temptations of Jesus and His fasting in the desert over a period of 40 days and nights. A time when we are to afflict our souls (Leviticus 16:29) or put to death the flesh 'For if you live according to the flesh you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death (mortify) the deeds of the body, you will live.' (Romans 8:13) as we seek to live a more holy life. But is that all?

First we must ask, why was Lent instituted?

Lent was instituted by the Early church fathers Circa 345 AD - because the primitive church did not retain its perfection unbroken - it’s apostolic fervour declined post Pentecost, and that rapidly. The case of Ananias and Sapphira (Acts 5) shows how quickly the principle of having all things common lapsed. Selfish thoughts began to make inroads into the faith. The early fathers alarmed at how quickly believers lapsed into sin and half-hearted service of the Lord concluded that ‘of a truth sin cannot exercise dominion over those who live faithfully under the liberty of grace.’ So it seemed good to the clergy to institute a fast whereby men could be recalled to their pious duties of faithful living. Now that is a very laudable aim. It is one we readily identify with today in these days of spiritual apathy and decline in the church. However the problem here is that the fast itself soon became a duty, and thus part of the ritual of the Church which is seldom performed heartily as unto the Lord. So, although Lent is still observed, we have lost sight of its true purpose as its keeping has become a matter of individual choice. True times of prayer and fasting, times of solemn assembly, have become extremely rare, but have been attended by great blessing as in the 1845 Welsh revival under Daniel Rowlands.

However it was in (AD 350) St. Cyril the then bishop of Jerusalem began to use military terms in his traditional Lenten call for baptismal candidates, as a call to service. This is a concept I want to explore today, linking it to the biblical teaching on prayer and fasting.

So let us explore this concept of Lent as a call to service.
The primary role model is of course the Lord who prior to commencing His public ministry / service - to establish the kingdom of God - spent forty days and nights in fasting, prayer, and being tempted by Satan in the desert (Matthew 4:1; Mark 1:12 and Luke 4:1).

We could also look at Moses, forty days and nights on Mount Sinai, before presenting and implementing God’s law in the newly constituted nation. We might also think of Paul who spent an unspecified time in the desert of Arabia before commencing his great missionary work.

Thus self mortification, fasting, periods of intense spiritual exercises, communion with God, may be seen as preparation for service. It is not merely a pious way of increasing our standing in righteousness, its purpose is to enable us to serve God more fully.

Who should prepare for this service, and how? When Israel assembled before God on the Day of Atonement they were instructed, by God, to afflict your souls (Leviticus 16:29,31 & 23:27-32 and Numbers 29:7).

What does it mean to afflict ones soul? John Gill puts it thus - abstaining from eating and from drinking, and from the use of baths, and from anointing, and from the use of shoes, and of the marriage bed; thus we see it is a means to deny ourselves those things which bring us personal comfort.

Now those who were required to afflict their souls were those whom God called ‘My People’ - Israel, and who in obedience to Him brought and made a sin offering. Thus they would be reckoned by God as righteous children called to His service. Today they would be those who are born again and in a right relationship with God. JOHN 3 tells how when Jesus was baptised in Jordan, heaven opened and acknowledged Him as the Son with whom God was well pleased, and upon whom the Spirit rested. Clearly Jesus was in a right relationship with God.

Jesus here of course typifies every baptised believer in whom God’s spirit dwells. Thus we can say only true believers benefit from this service of prayer and fasting (Lent). Only those who know God in this way will truly be blessed by this fast, for others it will be nothing more than a ritual of works.

What is true of the body of God's people is also true for individuals called to particular service. Here we consider the OT example of Moses, he was very evidently called by God even from birth, remember the burning bush experience of God. But his calling and burning bush experience is not sufficient for the task ahead. He needs to afflict his soul and mortify the flesh to equip him for the kind of service God had in store for him. Only a man fully and humbly committed to the Lord could spend forty days and nights there with the Lord (Exodus 34:24). From that experience Moses emerged arguably the greatest leader Israel ever knew. Furthermore his encounter with God was evident to all as the glory of God shone in his face. Oh that we might emerge from our meeting with God the stronger and more fruitful in ministry and service of Him.

Sadly what had been designated as a means of blessing quickly fell into disrepute as men presumed upon the blessing of God. Little wonder that God through His prophets warned Israel time and again that their service was unacceptable, and rejected their fasts because they were not done for Me - for Me (Zechariah 7:3-7). Jesus criticised the Pharisees for fasting in order to be seen by men (Matthew 6:16) and for boasting about the frequency of their fasting (Luke 18:12). But He told us how to fast v18 - without show (even to disguise the fact) - secretly. He would then reward openly.

There lies before us, the Church, a great task. The task of serving the Lord and representing Him in the community. For that great task we must prepare ourselves as Ezra prepared that little band of exiles returning to Jerusalem - by prayer and fasting to seek from God the right way for us our little ones and all our possessions.