Second Sunday of Lent - Saints by Calling

 Today is the second Sunday of Lent which is a Christian observance whose origins can be traced back to the Council of Nicaea in 325 AD. It was that same council that formulated what is known as the Nicene Creed – a response to the Arian heresy, claiming Jesus was a created being and not God in the form of a man. And, as an aside, Jehovah’s Witnesses are the theological descendants of the Arian heresy. Mormons and Judaism also deny the full deity of Jesus, who is coeternal, coequal, and coexistent with the Father and the Holy Spirit.

As I said last week, Lent is a season within the Church liturgical calendar intended to bring Christians into a deeper relationship with Christ. I’ll speak to that point again in a few moments, but first I want to address a misconception that Lent is simply a time to ‘fast,’ a time to give up something enjoyable during the 40 days of Lent. A simplistic example is how some give up chocolate or ice cream during Lent. But ‘fasting’ something just for the sake of a religious performance was never the intent of the men who first initiated the celebration of Lent back in that 4th century.

In fact, fasting from something enjoyable simply for the sake of doing something ‘religious’ misses the entire purpose of the season. Anyone can give up something enjoyable to demonstrate how religious they are – and yet, in their heart, displease God.

The idea of performing some external action without an accompanying internal change of heart is – well, ‘nothing new.’ Solomon said it well: “That which has been is that which will be, and that which has been done is that which will be done. So, there is nothing new under the sun.  .Is there anything of which one might say, “See this, it is new”? Already it has existed for ages which were before us.” (Ecclesiastes 1:8-10.

The prophet Amos lived several centuries before Jesus was born. Listen to God’s rebuke of Israel through that prophet: “I hate, I reject your festivals, nor do I delight in your solemn assemblies. “Even though you offer up to Me burnt offerings and your grain offerings, I will not accept them; And I will not even look at the peace offerings of your fatlings. “Take away from Me the noise of your songs; I will not even listen to the sound of your harps. “But let justice roll down like waters and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream. Amos 5:21-24 

Isaiah, a contemporary of Amos said similarly: “Is it a fast like this which I choose, a day for a man to humble himself? Is it for bowing one’s head like a reed and for spreading out sackcloth and ashes as a bed? Will you call this a fast, even an acceptable day to the Lord? “Is this not the fast which I choose, to loosen the bonds of wickedness, to undo the bands of the yoke, and to let the oppressed go free and break every yoke? “Is it not to divide your bread with the hungry and bring the homeless poor into the house; When you see the naked, to cover him?” Isaiah 58:5-7.

So, what good is fasting from chocolate if we continue to lie and cheat and gossip?  What good is giving up ice cream or television if we are unwilling to forgive those who have offended us? Lent is not about simply the fasting of pleasures. If our heart remains unchanged, the fasts are worthless.

For those who celebrate the season, the observance of Lent ought to be about where our heart is. As must ALSO be true of every other day around the calendar, the forty days of Lent are about whose we are, and to whom we belong.

And such questions provide a good segue into our examination of our text for today. Listen to the beginning of St Paul’s letter to the Christians at Rome. “Paul, a bond-servant of Christ Jesus, called as an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God . . . among whom you also are the called of Jesus Christ; to all who are beloved of God in Rome, called saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.” Romans 1:1,6-7

Above all things, Paul considered himself a ‘bondservant’ of Christ Jesus. But let’s pause a moment and examine the Greek word Paul used here, doulos, and is translated in some bibles as ‘bondservant.” But in the ancient Greek and Roman world, doulos was a person owned by a master. A slave. One who had absolutely no legal autonomy, who was kept in lifelong service to his or her master.

The apostle Paul deliberately applied the word to himself to amplify the point of Christ’s sovereignty, rule, and ownership over his life. He was willingly a ‘slave’ of Jesus Christ, owned by Christ and kept in lifelong service to his Master.

However, because modern English speakers often associate “slave” with race-based bondage and brutality, some Bibles soften the word by translating doulos as ‘servant.’ But, as theologian Douglas Moo correctly acknowledges, translating the Greek word as servant instead of slave simply “diminishes the radical claim of belonging to Christ.” (ChatGPT)

So, let’s go back to the text: “Paul, a bond-servant [slave] of Christ Jesus, called as an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God . . .

As many of you know, the word ‘apostle’ is a person ‘sent’ by someone as a messenger. In the New Testament the word is properly associated with the twelve apostles of Christ. But the word also has a broader sense in the Scriptures as one who is ‘sent’ to others with the message of the gospel. For example, Barnabas and James, the brother of the Lord, are both called apostles (see Acts 14:14, 1 Corinthians 15:7, and Galatians 1:19).

The point? Do you know that you are sent by Christ with His message? We know this to be true simply from the Lord’s commandment to us in that last chapter of Matthew’s gospel: “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:19-20)

That commandment is not only to the paid clergy. That commandment is to you. And to me. And to every other man or women who calls Jesus their Master and Lord. And this season of Lent is a perfect time to take that Biblical view into account. God has sent us into our world here at Ashwood Meadows with a message of hope and promise – and yes, of warning to repent and believe the gospel.

But – and this is important – there can be no ‘being sent’ for effective ministry without our first being a slave of Jesus Christ. There can be no ‘being sent’ for effective ministry without our willful and purposeful subordinating ourselves as a slave to the full and final authority of Jesus Christ in lifelong service.

That means, no bus driver can be sent by God into fruitful work among his coworkers apart from first being Christ’s slave. No CEO can be sent by God into fruitful work among his subordinates apart from first being Christ’s slave. No doctor can be fruitful for Jesus Christ apart from first being His slave. No lab technician, no hotel employee, no businessman or woman can be fruitful for Jesus Christ apart from first being His slave.

I’ll bring that point closer to home, no one can be fruitful for Jesus Christ as an aunt or uncle or grandparent apart from first being a slave of Jesus Christ. And now, let me drive the point even closer: no retiree can be fruitful for Jesus Christ apart from first being His slave.

The season of Lent, like every other season of the year, ought to be spent in some personal introspection, taking time to reflect on the integrity of our walk with Christ, including our willingness to not only hear His voice when we sin, but to also immediately repent and turn from that sin.

And Lent ought also to be a time of extrospection – taking time to turn our attention outward to the needs of others. As Paul wrote to the Christians at Philippi: “Do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others.” Philippians 2:4

There are perhaps dozens of ways the Christian can demonstrate kindness toward others – both here at Ashwood and those outside this facility. Listen to Paul’s words to the Christians at Rome: For through the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think; but to think so as to have sound judgment . . . [and] Since we have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, each of us is to exercise them accordingly: if prophecy, according to the proportion of his faith; if service, in his serving; or he who teaches, in his teaching; or he who exhorts, in his exhortation; he who gives, with liberality; he who leads, with diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness . . . devoted to prayer,  contributing to the needs of the saints, practicing hospitality.” (See Romans 12)

Some of you attended the service a few weeks ago when I included in your handout some ministries you might consider for financial support – whether with a lot of money or a little. I have other copies if you would like one.

And now, let’s turn our attention to the remainder of today’s text in verses six and seven: “Paul, a bond-servant of Christ Jesus, called as an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God . . . among whom you also are the called of Jesus Christ; to all who are beloved of God in Rome, called saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.” Romans 1:1,6-7

We’ve already examined verse six, concluding that every Christian is called by Christ to bring His message of salvation, righteousness, and judgment to others. But now I focus our attention on verse seven – a key text in our understanding of how God looks at each of His adopted children, born into His family through our faith in Christ. Paul writes in verse seven: “To all who are beloved of God in Rome, called saints.

The Greek word hagios means “A most holy thing; Sacred.”  It’s the same word used of the Holy Spirit (e.g. Matthew 1:20); It’s used of Jesus (Acts 4:27); and it’s used of the Scriptures (Romans 1:2).

I want us to get that idea in our hearts. The Holy Spirit, through the writers of the New Testament, calls every true Christian ‘holy.’ ‘Sacred.’

In his commentary on the book of Romans, James Montgomery Boice, writes, “A saint is not a person who has achieved a certain level of holiness. A saint is one whom God has set apart for himself. It is what God has done, not what we have done, that makes us saints.”

Other commentators stress the point that ‘sainthood’ is state of being before it is our behavior. Our godly transformation flows from what we already ARE because of what God has done for us in Christ.

The church at Rome was comprised of sinners, just like the church at Ashwood Meadows. But – and this is a CRITICAL ‘But’ – many of you know the research that tells us of the well-established psychological principle which suggests that we often become – at least in part – what others think of us.

In his book, Human Nature and the Social Order, sociologist Charles Horton Cooley postulated that people develop their self-concept based on their perception of how others view them. In other words, Cooley believed that we form our self-image according to how we think others think of us.

Now let’s make some personal application of Cooley’s point:

God thinks of you as a SAINT. That’s what He calls you because that is not only what He THINKS of you, but also it is what you ARE. You are a saint, washed and purified from sin through your faith in the cleansing power of the Blood of Jesus.

Does that mean we no longer sin? Of course not. Our sin nature remains in us, but it no longer reigns over us. Knowing God’s assessment of us ought to change our self-concept. Knowing God’s assessment of us as saints ought to work its work in us to say no to sin.

Listen to what Paul wrote to the Corinthians – a church plagued by a wide array of damnable sins: “Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God. Such were some of you; but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God.” 1 Corinthians 6:9b-11

Our godly transformation, slow as it may be for most of us, our godly transformation will inevitably conform us into the image of Christ, because the Father says it will. Listen again to Paul:

“For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren; and these whom He predestined, He also called; and these whom He called, He also justified; and these whom He justified, He also glorified. (Romans 8:29-30)

Notice the verb tenses. Predestined. Called. Justified. Glorified. All past tense. In other words, in God’s eternal view, it’s a fait accompli. It’s already accomplished.

In one of my recent messages, I reminded us that saints are just the sinners who fall down – and get up.

So? Look at yourself in the mirror later today and remember how often you’ve fallen in your life – AND how often you’ve gotten up. That’s why you’re here today, and each Sunday, isn’t it? You got up.

Some of you have faced terrible disappointments and unmet expectations in life. Some of you struggle with chronic pain that often takes over your thoughts. Others grapple with loss, loneliness and fractured families. On and one, the trials go.

But you’re here, in this sanctuary, still seeking Him. Still serving Him. Still following Him.

The Season of Lent reminds us of the path to Good Friday and Resurrection Sunday is pitted with the same setbacks and thorns, and blood, sweat, and tears that every saint of God has experienced to one degree or another in their journey toward that Celestial City.

I prepared this message hoping to stimulate our hearts to steadily continue to mature into the saint God not only calls us, but also knows us to be. I hope that each of us are encouraged to work day by day in His Vineyard – not only here at Ashwood Meadows, but wherever He will yet lead us. And I hope that the words of our mouths and the meditations of our hearts will always be acceptable and pleasing to Him to loves us. May God make is so.

Amen