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What is Lent? No, not the stuff you clean out of your dryer. The Lenten season. What is it? Why is it? Should we do it? Well, we'll be talking about that today and its connotation with scripture, when we understand the text.
You're listening to When We Understand the Text, committed to the sound teaching of the word of God. For questions and comments, email whenweunderstandthetext at gmail .com. And don't forget our website, www .utt .com.
Here's our host, Pastor Gabe.
Thank you, Becky. Yes, it is Friday and we're usually taking a question from a viewer or a listener, either having to do with something that they heard on this broadcast or having to do with one of our videos that we have made.
Our question today has to do with Lent. The Lenten season started this past week, so we're gonna talk about Lent after playing our video on Roman Catholicism. On October 31st, 1517, Martin Luther nailed his 95 thesis to the door of All Saints Church in Wittenberg, Saxony.
This began the Protestant Reformation, a protest against the corruption of Roman Catholicism in order to reform the church toward a more biblical and gospel-centered foundation. Still today, the doctrines of Roman Catholicism are far from sound.
Despite what a Catholic might tell you, the church actually does exalt the Virgin Mary as an object of worship and teaches that she brings us the gifts of eternal salvation as an intermediary between us and Christ.
However, 1 Timothy 2 .5 says there is one mediator between God and men, and that is Christ only. Nowhere in the Bible does it say anything about praying to Mary or any dead saint. In fact, Deuteronomy 18 .11 says that communicating with the dead is detestable to the Lord.
The Bible says that it is by grace you have been saved through faith, not of works. The Catholic Church, however, says that if a person claims that salvation is by grace through faith alone, they should be excommunicated.
Catholicism also teaches that a person can lose their salvation and must do acts of penance in order to get it back, but Romans 4 .5 says a person cannot be justified in such ways. The Catholic Church forbids their priests from marrying, but 1 Timothy 4 .3 calls this the teaching of demons.
It is possible for a person to be Catholic and also a born-again Christian, but if they truly read the doctrines of the Catholic Church and compare them with the Bible, a maturing Christian should not remain Catholic when we understand the text.
Our question today comes by email. Dear What, thank you for your videos and your podcast. They have been a blessing to me. Do you have a video on Lent or could you do a podcast episode? Do you think that Christians should observe Lent?
Is it wrong to observe Lent? How do you respond to people who observe Lent? Thank you for your ministry, Philip, Springfield, Massachusetts. Hey, thank you for your email, Philip. Hey, by the way, did you know that your city is the most popular city name in the country?
There are 41 states that have a Springfield, in case you didn't know that. Just a bonus fact for you today. Lent is commonly associated with Roman Catholicism, which is why I played the video on Roman Catholicism, but it's practiced by a number of traditions, including the Anglicans, Lutherans, Methodists.
A friend of mine attends a Methodist church and he's always poking fun of Lent every year. I don't think he participates. He's another one that has asked me to do a video on Lent. So I'm really behind here.
As soon as my voice gets done clearing up and I get all this gunk out of my throat and my lungs, I'll get back on these videos here, I promise. The whole thing behind Lent is supposed to be inspired by the 40 days that our Lord Christ fasted in the desert and prayed and was tempted by Satan.
Read about it in Matthew 4. The 40 days before Easter are to fast, depriving the person of something so that the day that we celebrate our risen Lord, Easter Sunday, is that much more amazing. It's the end of the fast.
So it's supposed to enhance the celebration. That's not always a fasting of food. It can be anything a person regularly craves. Being deprived of that thing causes the person to yearn and the body and the mind to ache.
Lent begins on Ash Wednesday, which of course was this past Wednesday. It's 46 days before Easter. So how is it that a person is fasting 40 days if the span of time is 46 days? Well, from Ash Wednesday to the following Saturday, a person is supposed to fast.
Then on Sunday, they can eat and then fast from Monday to Saturday, thus making the days 40 in total over that period of time. You've probably noticed that during Lent, certain fast food restaurants start serving fish and shrimp, whereas previously McDonald's doesn't have fish, but then they do during Lent.
Well, that's because the Catholic Church encourages that if a person is not gonna do a total fast, they should not consume meat with the exception of fish and dairy products. And this has actually caused a problem for my wife and I because she's allergic to shellfish.
So from the week that Lent starts up until a couple of weeks after Easter, we can't eat a lot of places. I don't think Taco Bell does this anymore, thankfully, but do you remember when they introduced the shrimp taco a few years back?
Did anyone have one of those? I had a gal in my church who was part of the youth group and she worked at a Taco Bell and she hated the shrimp tacos and hated it every year that they did the shrimp tacos.
That was a Lent inspired idea. That's why they did that. My wife and I were, we couldn't eat at Taco Bell even when that came up. So in a manner of speaking, we became unwilling participants in Lent simply because I didn't want my wife to die.
So we abstained from all fast food and eating out for like two months. There's still some places that do that. I don't think Taco Bell does the shrimp taco anymore. Whether or not a person wants to participate in Lent, that's really up to them.
There's nothing inherently wrong with it. I personally have never participated in Lent except for the fast food thing, I suppose. I have fasted and prayed before, which is a discipline that is very underutilized, by me as well.
And we just don't talk about it in our churches very often. It's a wonderful manner in seeking the Lord's will that even our Lord Christ undertook. He fasted. I've never done that during Lent, but a person can choose any time and any length of time to fast and pray.
And it doesn't just have to be food. I've heard people giving up technology for Lent, computers at home, smartphones, no television or movies. And when you think about it, that could sure help a person focus on the finer things, right, especially family and time with the Lord.
Sometimes the fasting gets joked about, like people will say they're gonna give up chocolate or politics or paying taxes or something like that. Me, I think I'll fast on breathing. I'm gonna give up that one for 40 days.
We'll see how that goes. I'm gonna fast from listening to anything that Donald Trump said. There's my fast for Lent. If you participate in Lent, or if you do any fasting, any other time, let me encourage you with the words of Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount.
This is Matthew 5, 16 through 18. You probably already know where I'm going with this. And when you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by others.
Truly I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face that your fasting may not be seen by others, but by your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
Consider also these 12 verses from Isaiah 58. Cry aloud, do not hold back. Lift up your voice like a trumpet. Declare to my people their transgression, to the house of Jacob their sins. Yet they seek me daily and delight to know my ways as if they were a nation that did righteousness and did not forsake the judgment of their God.
They ask of me righteous judgments. They delight to draw near to God. Why have we fasted and you see it not? Why have we humbled ourselves and you take no knowledge of it? Behold, in the day of your fast, you seek your own pleasure and oppress all your workers.
Behold, you fast only to quarrel and to fight and to hit with a wicked fist. Fasting like yours this day will not make your voice to be heard on high. Is such the fast that I choose a day for a person to humble himself?
Is it to bow down his head like a reed and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? Will you call this a fast and a day acceptable to the Lord? Is not this the fast that I choose to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the straps of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free and to break every yoke?
Is it not to share your bread with the hungry and bring the homeless poor into your house when you see the naked to cover him and not to hide yourself from your own flesh? Then shall your light break forth like the dawn and your healing shall spring up speedily.
Your righteousness shall go before you. The glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard. Then you shall call and the Lord will answer. You shall cry and he will say, here I am. If you take away the yoke from your midst, the pointing of the finger and speaking wickedness.
If you pour yourself out for the hungry and satisfy the desire of the afflicted, then shall your light rise in the darkness and your gloom be as the noonday. And the Lord will guide you continually and satisfy your desire in scorched places and make your bones strong.
And you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring of water whose waters do not fail. And your ancient ruins shall be rebuilt. You shall raise up the foundations of many generations. You shall be called the repairer of the breach, the restorer of streets to dwell in.
So here's the rules for fasting. Don't make a big deal out of it. Don't let anyone know you're doing it. Don't do it to get attention or recognition from anyone else. It's between you and God. Don't withdraw yourself from people, but rather help others.
And in those moments, maybe God will use the ache that you feel in your body because of your fasting to open your eyes and ears to the needs of others. Seek the Lord, meditate on the scriptures, pray with a humble heart and a contrite spirit.
Praise him, seek his glory. Now, while I'm all right with participating in Lent, I'm not as big a fan of Ash Wednesday. Why is that? Well, for reasons that I've already mentioned. It's a public declaration of what's supposed to be a private thing.
You're saying, look at me, I'm fasting. Matthew 6, 17 says, wash your face that your fasting may not be seen by others. There's another reason I don't like Ash Wednesday, and it's because of what is said in Isaiah 61.
The spirit of the Lord God is upon me because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and the opening of the prison to those who are bound, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn, to grant to those who mourn in Zion, to give them a beautiful headdress instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the garment of praise instead of a faint spirit, that they may be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that he may be glorified.
What we're talking about here in Isaiah 61 is a prophecy concerning Christ. And when he comes, he will comfort all those who mourn. He will give them a beautiful headdress instead of ashes. The time of mourning, that covering yourself with ashes that was supposed to represent, that's over.
Christ has come. Those who are in Christ have been brought from death to life. We've been raised from the ashes. Don't wear ashes on your head. Rejoice that you've been anointed with the oil of gladness.
If you are Lutheran or Methodist, it's up to you whether or not you wanna participate in Lent. Let each one be fully convinced in their own mind, as it says in Romans 14. I won't look down on you if you do it.
There's no evidence that Lent came exclusively from Roman Catholicism, despite what some critics say. Some have argued that it's older than even the Council of Nicaea in 325. Ash Wednesday, on the other hand, does come from the Roman Catholic Church.
For that reason, as well as the other scriptural arguments that I've given, let's just not do the Ash Wednesday part and call it good, all right? If you have any questions you'd like to submit, send them to whenweunderstandthetext at gmail .com.
Thank you so much for being with me. We continue our study of the Book of Romans on Monday.
Gabriel Hughes is the pastor of First Southern Baptist Church in Junction City, Kansas. Find out more online at www .utt .com.