Well today I wanted to talk about fasting. This is the beginning of Lent,
and it is the first full fasting Lent that I will have ever experienced in my
life, which is sort of a sad commentary, but I'm simply being transparent. I tried
to fast during Lent last year, but then came down with a diagnosis of mantle
cell lymphoma, and couldn't complete the fast so
this is my maiden voyage into a full forty-day fast. And I am now full into
this, as this is clean Monday. A fasting of course is a it's a living discipline
by which we master our appetites. Why? So that we can partake of heavenly manna.
Fasting vitalizes our vigor. I think about it in terms of amplifying our
affections, or compounding our contentment. And while food of course is
a glorious gift from God, little compares with mastery over the
appetites that seek to master us. You know the Apostle Paul uses the analogy
of athletics, and he tells us that we in a race run, but only one in the race gets
the prize. And therefore, Paul exhorts us to run in such a way as to get the prize.
Everyone who competes in the games of course goes into strict training. They do it
to get a crown that will not last, but we do it to get a crown that will last
forever, and therefore Paul exhorts us to not run like a man running aimlessly, not
to fight like a man just beating the air, but beating your body, making it your
slave, so that after you preach to others, you yourself will not be disqualified for the prize.
Wishing does not win a race. To compete in the games takes strict training. It takes disciplining the
appetites - making them your slave. And thus like a coach, Paul urges his young
protege to forego endless myths and legends, and to train hard in the
gymnasium of life. For physical training is of some value, but godliness has
value for all things holding promise for both the present life, and for the life to come.
Speaking about fasting in a culture
screaming "indulgence" is no small task, I will tell you that. Prejudice against the
spiritual gymnasium - well it's breathtaking. To abstain from food or sex or a
favorite sport even an evening cocktail, or television.
It's foreign to our sensibilities. Why, because we live in this self-indulgent culture in which
feeling good is esteemed to be the highest value.
Or the apostles had a decidedly different perspective. Paul practiced fasting because emulating
Christ was the highest virtue, and thus as Christ fasted, Paul fasted too. He lived
he practiced the things his Lord had taught in practice so that he might be
empowered by God's energies, not just his own energies. You know, many talk a
good game. But what about the walk? If we're brutally honest with ourselves,
more often than not, we walk in the way of the world. How many of us can truly
say that we have been crucified? That we have crucified the sinful nature with
its passions and desires? I mean who among us can truthfully say
that they are engaged in mastering the passions that have for far too long
mastered them? And yet this is precisely what Christ calls his disciples to do.
Think about that verse - if if anyone would come after me he must deny himself
and take up his cross and follow me. Paul knew precisely what that meant. And so he
wisely enrolled in the school of self-restraint. The world, according to
the apostle Paul, has given itself over to sensuality so that they might indulge in
every kind of impurity with a continual lust for more. But, then Paul says you did
not come to know Christ in that manner. Instead, you were taught with regard to
your former way of life, to put off your old self - which is being corrupted by its
deceitful desires - to be made new in your attitude - the attitude of your minds, and
to put on the new self created to be like God in true righteousness and
holiness. So make no mistake. Giving assent to the truth propositions of the
historic Christian faith - well that's very very important. I've done that all
my Christian life. And I've said truth matters. But the reality is this - mental
assent and good intentions do not in and of itself produce transformation. It's
not good intentions alone. It is not just our beliefs that need changing. It's our
behaviors. If our habits remain the same, our lives will remain the same as well. I
can't tell you how many people have told me that they would dearly love to
memorize the Word of God, and yet few are willing to embrace the disciplines
necessary to carve the scripture into the canvas of their consciousness. Good
intentions are many. Disciplines unfortunately are few. In the end, we must willingly yield
the members of our body to the rigors of the spiritual gymnasium. I'm talking of
course about the church. Yesterday was forgiveness Sunday, a day in which we
intentionally sought forgiveness so that we might start afresh, anew. Today, clean
Monday, the springtime of the fast has truly dawned. The flower of repentance
has begun to open. The forty-day fast has begun in earnest. And I hope you'll join
me for the journey, in part or in whole, as I talk to you during this month
about the disciplines, about the spiritual gymnasium, about fasting, about
preparation for Holy Week, a week that is the high point of the Christian calendar.
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