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Begin by reading Hebrews 12:18-29
Today marks our 40th and last day of our Living Sacrifice series. Let me take a moment to say how humbled I am that you have chosen to make this part of your spiritual growth. I’ve been moved by the emails and the encouragement. That means so much to me. So, thank you.
You know, the idea for doing this came to me just before we started our Living Sacrifice sermon series, and I knew it would be a lot of work. I just didn’t know how much work it would be. I thought it was a commitment to provide teaching to our church, but I think God has used it to teach me more than anyone else. It has been an intense 40 days, but I can’t tell you how much it has absolutely blessed me. In fact, it might have been one of the most rewarding spiritual endeavors I’ve ever done. Each day, I disciplined myself to read and study Scripture, reflect on it, write about it, and God really opened His Word to me. He has taught me so much about the church and moved in my heart making me a more godly leader. It has been utterly amazing.
We are about a week into the season of Lent, where many Christians choose to fast something for the forty days leading to Easter. The popular item to fast this year seems to be Facebook. On a lot of friends’ walls, there’s a message that says, “If you need to get a hold of me, email me, as I will be off Facebook until Easter.” I was reflecting on my last forty days, and I realized how much I had given up because I was busy working on these devotionals – time that otherwise I would have spent watching TV, on Facebook, or even more noble projects like washing dishes (I owe a huge thank you to my supportive wife Karlene – dinner dates and pampering to follow, I promise!). A lot of those things I gave up, I didn’t really miss. I can’t say that I wish I watched more TV instead of doing this exercise.
Suddenly, I had a revelation about Lent. You know, whenever we fast, we often think about what we are giving up, but what is it that we’re putting into it or gaining? Sometimes it’s good to fast something to learn not to be reliant on it, but I really liked what one friend said. “I’ve decided to take a break from Facebook in order to spend more time with the Lord and in His Word.” If all we’re doing is giving up something, I’m not sure we’re truly understanding the purpose of fasting.
I think that you’ll find that there may be times when you need to get away from something. Jesus removed Himself on occasion, and He even went into the wilderness fasting for forty days. While He was there to be tested, I imagine that Jesus was also communing with His Heavenly Father. The spiritual journey must have been so rewarding, as it says in Luke 4:14 that he returned in the power of the Spirit. Let me encourage you to make occasional intense spiritual journeys, as these will have a powerful impact on your life.
Have you ever heard the saying, “There are some people that just let life happen and others that make life happen.” I think the same could be said about our Christian lives. Some people just passively live the Christian life – they don’t do a lot of things wrong, they’re good to their family, and they go to church. And there are some that are active in their Christian walks. They’re not content to merely be pursued by God. No they’re the ones on the pursuit. Let me challenge you to be the latter.
Let me challenge you to be the Jacobs who wrestle with God and not let go, the Moses’ who venture up the mountains to find where God is and then bring His Word to an unbelieving generation. Let me dare you to be the Daniels and the Davids, the Enochs and the Elijahs, the prophets who seek the Lord’s voice and the priests who serve God’s people.
To be a living sacrifice, we must be consumed. Just as the fire fell from heaven on the soaked altar, so we must surrender our lives totally to God, and let His holy fire burn within us. In doing so, our actions become sweet aromas to the Lord and food for the Body of Christ. There is something wonderful that happens when we taste of the living water. We drink, are satisfied, and we want more. As A.W. Tozer said, “To have found God and still to pursue Him is the soul’s paradox of love, scorned indeed by the too-easily-satisfied religionist, but justified in happy experience by the children of the burning heart.”
While this concludes our forty day series, we still have a lifetime to go. Again, thank you for taking the time to join with me. I hope it was a blessing to you. I would love to hear from you about how this series has impacted your life. If you’d like, join our discussion on New Hope Chapel’s Facebook page (some of you may need to wait until after Easter). Just click on the discussion link under our picture and post your comments. If you missed any of our series, you can find both the text and the audio versions at newhopechapel.org. Stay tuned as we’re looking at doing more of this in the future. And if you’d like to join me in writing and podcasting, I would love for you to do so. If your experience is anything like mine has been, let me just say, “prepare to be blessed.”
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