Okay. Matthew chapter four verses one through two. Let us now hear God's word. Then Jesus was led up by the spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. And when he had fasted 40 days and 40 nights afterward, he was hungry. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you for this opportunity to come and worship you and study your word. And we ask that you would illuminate us, Lord. Please grant that our minds would be enlightened by the Holy Spirit as we think about what are sometimes difficult matters to sort through about how we should think about human traditions and whether these things are biblical or not. And so we ask for your help as we do every Wednesday night. We ask for it again tonight and pray that you would be with us. Help us to honor you and how we interpret and imply your holy word. We pray in Jesus name. Amen. You perhaps know some of the famous events of the Protestant Reformation, and they're probably a number of people who know certain famous events that occurred during the Reformation. Perhaps you know about Martin Luther, Martin Luther nailing the 95 theses to the door of the castle church in Wittenberg in Germany. But there's one event that may not be as well known to you or to people in general, and that is the affair of the sausages. Now, let me first say that I really like sausage. So this story appeals to me. If you don't like sausage, I apologize to you. But this affair, this episode during the time of the Reformation is known as the affair of the sausages. It was 1522 and Ulrich Zwingli was in Zurich, Switzerland. And there's a picture of Mr. Zwingli on the screen there. And in Switzerland, the Reformation was in its infancy, it was just in its seed form, and there was a particular time when a printer named Christopher Froschauer had some men at his house. And these men were, you know, some of his workers who were helping him. He was a printer. He was working on a new printing of the letters of the apostle Paul. Zwingli was there. Froschauer was there. There were some important citizens of Zurich there. And they had a sausage supper. Now, shortly after the news of the sausage supper got out, and I think maybe some of the other ones were arrested for their participation in this sausage supper. Now you might ask yourself the question, why would eating sausage be illegal? Well, it was illegal because it was Lent. It was during the season of Lent. It was a Friday and church law, canon law forbid the eating of meat during Lent, which would have included Friday in this case. Now, Zwingli himself did not partake of the meal, but he was there, and others did eat sausage, among other things, on that particular occasion. After it went down, Zwingli defended the men who had eaten the sausage, and he preached a sermon directly addressing whether it was lawful for them to do that or not. And so this particular episode in church history is known as the Affair of the Sausages. Now you may consider yourself enlightened as to one of the important events during the history of the Protestant Reformation. This is one of the things that pushed the Reformation in Switzerland ahead under this gentleman Ulrich Zwingli. We are thinking about tradition and how tradition can undermine or deny the sufficiency of scripture. It can lead us away from the written word of God. And we have begun by thinking about Roman Catholic traditions or traditions typically associated with Roman Catholicism. We started with priestly celibacy. That's Rome's requirement that her priests be celibate. They're not allowed to be married. Then we moved on to their teaching on the Virgin Mary, which I've just labeled Mariolatry because that's what it is. It's a worship and an idolizing of the Virgin Mary. Now, number three tonight, we want to move on to Lent. We want to think about Lent. Now, strictly speaking, Lent is not a Roman Catholic tradition per se. There are numerous churches that practice and observe Lent. You'll find Lent, for example, observed in the Anglican Church. or the Church of England. You'll find Methodists observing Lent. You'll find Baptists observing Lent. You'll find all sorts of people observing Lent. However, I still think it is appropriate to put Lent under the Roman Catholic heading because it is so connected with them. And as you saw in the story that I just told, during the time of the Protestant Reformation, it's one of those flashpoints between Rome and the Reformers. So we want to think about Lent. What do we do with Lent? How are we to think about this particular observance, this practice? One of the reasons we want to think about it is not just because of Rome, the Roman Catholic Church and her tradition, but we also want to think about Lent because it has become somewhat popular in circles outside of, you know, Roman Catholicism or Anglicanism. And so you might have a friend, you might have someone you know, during the period of time of Lent, who is wearing ashes on their forehead, or they're abstaining from certain things during the period of Lent. And you may wonder, what is that about? Should I be doing this? Is this something that I should be practicing? Why does my church not do it? And things like that. So I think it's helpful and practical for us to consider Lent. Now, what is Lent? Let's start with a definition. Lent, also known as quadragesima. So if you're ever watching Jeopardy some night and the question comes up concerning Lent and the answer is actually quadragesima, you'll know the answer, okay? Piece of useless trivia for you there. Well, it's sometimes known as that, but more often just simply called Lent. Lent is a period of 40 days. And it begins on what is called Ash Wednesday. And maybe you're familiar with that. You know of people who on that particular day will take ashes and rub it on their forehead, maybe make the sign of the cross or a picture of the cross on their forehead. So it begins on Ash Wednesday and runs all the way up to the day before Easter, which would be a Saturday. So it is the 40 day period leading up to Easter. What do people do during Lent? Well, it's supposed to be a period or a time period in which people fast and engage in penitence. Supposed to be abstaining from certain things and repenting of their sins, being prayerful, being reflective about their relationship with God. And in particular, connected with this, okay? It's a period of preparation that involves fasting and repentance. but it's a period of preparation with a view to Easter, with a view to Holy Week, that is, you know, what Lent is leading up to. Now, you might be more familiar, not so much with the historical observation of Lent, but with its more modern observance. So you might find someone who says, I've given up Starbucks for Lent, or I've given up TV for Lent. Anybody ever heard people talk like that? Okay. So you'll see people observing Lent in that kind of way in the modern day. Now, where does this come from in history? Well, the first thing we need to say is that Lent does have a long history and it does go back quite a long ways into church history. The first mention of it, and it's just kind of a passing reference, is in the canons of the Council of Nicaea. Now let's have a historical pop quiz. In what year was the Council of Nicaea held? Hmm. Nicaea was in three, Okay? 325 A.D. That's a long time ago. And in canon number five of the Council of Nicaea, canon being like their pronouncements, what the decisions they made and what they had written out about the decisions that they made, there is a reference to this particular time period of Lent. Now, Lent has a complicated history. in the history of the church, but I'm just going to give you some of the basics concerning it. So you just have a feel for where it came from in history and how we got to this point. First of all, it was a time period of preparation for Easter. So Easter in the early church was held in very high esteem. And you might have people who are gonna be baptized on Easter and partake of communion for the first time. And so it was seen as a very special time and that time required preparation. People needed to prepare for it. How did they prepare? They would typically prepare for it by fasting and prayer. by abstaining from food and drink and devoting themselves to prayer. So there's a time period of preparation for Easter. And the practice of it is varied. So you might find in a certain place at a certain time period, you might find people fasting and praying for a couple of days prior to Easter. You might fast forward a little bit and you find them doing it for a week or two weeks or something like that. And then you fast forward to, you know, the sixth century or something like that. And you've got a full blown 40 day period that's getting more specific and more detailed in what people should be doing and how they should be observing it. So I think it's fair to say that when it comes to Lent, there is a great deal of development over time. it's kind of a snowball. So it starts here, relatively small, and then over time it builds and it gets bigger and more complicated, involving more things, until you get to 1522, and you're not permitted to eat sausage on Fridays during Lent. That is forbidden. It's against the law. It's not just a sin, it's against the law. When you get to the time of the Protestant Reformation, depending upon who you're talking about. But generally speaking, someone like Zwingli, for example, and some of the other reformers are not going to look very highly on Lent. They're going to see Lent as a Roman Catholic tradition and a Roman Catholic imposition. of her tradition upon the consciences of Christians. And again, the sausage thing is a good illustration of that. Now Zwingli in his sermon, in responding to the situation said, if you wanna fast, fast. If you don't want to, don't. If you wanna eat meat, eat meat. If you don't wanna eat meat, don't eat meat. So it was an issue of freedom for some of the reformers. Now, once you get beyond the Protestant Reformation, you'll find people like the Puritans who completely reject Lent, as well as the church calendar, things like Easter, Christmas, et cetera. We'll talk more about that in our next example. Okay, so there is some of the history behind Lent. Now, what we wanna do, of course, is we want to evaluate biblically. How should we think about Lent? Should we do it? Should we not do it? And if so, why? Okay, let's start with something very simple. And that is, Lent is not found in the Bible. You say, Pastor Nick, that's pretty simple. Yes, it is pretty simple. You cannot find anywhere in the New Testament or otherwise, a period of 40 days, but of course this would be peculiar to the New Testament. where Christians are required to observe a 40-day period of fasting and penitence prior to Easter. It's not there. Of course, what you will find are examples in the Bible of 40-day fasts. You do have that, right? Can you think of people who fasted for 40 days in the Bible? Jesus, of course, that's why we started with Matthew 4. Jesus, he fasts for 40 days and 40 nights in the temptation in the wilderness. Yes, who else? There's another big one. Moses, right? Moses on Mount Sinai, he fasts for 40 days and 40 nights. He doesn't eat bread or drink water. for that time period, Exodus 34 verse 28 tells us. Okay, so you do have that. You do have examples of 40 day fasts in the Bible. But this just raises the question of, are those things in the Bible meant for us to imitate? Are we meant to try and recreate in our own lives today the 40-day fast of Christ, for example. Now Lent is patterned after, it came to be patterned after the 40-day period of fasting that Jesus went through in his temptation in the wilderness. But this raises the question again of how is it, how are we supposed to figure out what we imitate and what we don't? Okay, so let's think about that for a moment. Imitating Jesus. The imitation of Christ. Are we supposed to imitate Jesus? Okay, Mitch says yes. Tiffany says yes. Christy says yes. Anybody say no? Hmm, okay. I would put it this way. This is a yes, no deal. Whoops. Yes and no. The question is, how, in what way do we imitate Jesus? First, let's start with the yes. What are some ways that we most certainly are to imitate, to mimic Jesus? Give me an example. Okay, prayer. Okay, be more specific, Mitch. Okay, maybe if I could help you here, compassion. Okay, compassion toward people, toward sinners. Sure. Okay, the will of God. Jesus was, of course, totally committed to the will of God. Should we be committed to the will of God? Yes, of course, we should be. Yes. What about this one? Let me give you an example here. This is from 1 Peter 2. Peter writes, for to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow his steps, who committed no sin, nor was deceit found in his mouth. Okay, so Peter says, you're meant to follow Jesus, you're meant to walk in his steps. But he gives you, there's a specific context for Peter's statement. He continues, who, speaking of Jesus, when he was reviled, did not revile in return. When he suffered, he did not threaten, but committed himself to him who judges righteously. Now you may not remember, but in 1 Peter 2, Peter is addressing servants or slaves and how they are to respond to their masters. And what he tells them to do is suffer wrong and don't retaliate. and then he brings in Jesus. It says, walk in his footsteps. So, should we imitate Jesus by, if I can spell the word, not retaliating and not taking revenge against other people? You punch me, I'm gonna punch you back. Yes, that's a specific example that Peter gives us. Okay, now what about the no? Okay. Now, there is a sense in which we are crucified with Christ, but it's not literally and physically, right? unless there were some reason, some circumstances that brought it about that that's how one died as a martyr, like the Apostle Peter. But perhaps you've seen maybe in some Latin American countries where you've got people who are, as part of their Holy Week observances, they are literally having themselves nailed to crosses. Is that what we're supposed to do? Is that a proper imitation of Jesus? We would say, no, it is not. That's misguided, terribly misguided. So yeah, that's a good example. What else? Okay, in what way? Okay. Yeah, so we... Okay. Yeah, so we could put that in the yes category here. We should strive to be sinless like Jesus. We could also throw it in the no category as well. Like, we're not sinless and we're not going to be sinless. Of course, that shouldn't be an excuse. Like, oh, well, so free for all then. No, of course not. What about... What about celibacy? Jesus wasn't married. If we're gonna follow Jesus, if we're gonna imitate Jesus, doesn't that mean we shouldn't get married either? No, it doesn't mean that. We don't look at the example of Jesus in the New Testament and say, oh, he never got married, that means I shouldn't get married. That's not how we make that decision. We don't make that decision on that basis. We make that decision based on another set of biblical truths about how God has gifted us, whether he's gifted us with self-control, all that sort of thing. So there is a sense in which we imitate Jesus, we follow Jesus, yes. But there is also a sense in which we do not. Should you embark on a 40-day fast with no food and no water? I would argue no, you should not. you will probably die or severely injure yourself. You look at, for example, you've got Moses on Mount Sinai. He fasts for 40 days and 40 nights. If God meant all the Israelites to copy that, then why didn't they do it? Why don't we see examples of that? Why don't we see legislation concerning that? In the Old Testament, it says, just as Moses fasted 40 days and 40 nights, so are you to do it once a year. In addition to that, that was a one-time event. That wasn't an annual event for Moses, which I'm sure he blessed God for, that it wasn't an annual event of 40 days of fasting. The same is true when it comes to what Jesus does here in Matthew 4. You don't find it repeated. in the New Testament, nor do you find commands telling you to repeat it. Okay, so that's number one. We have to think clearly about what it is we're meant to imitate and what we're not meant to imitate when it comes to the life of our Savior. Okay, now let's think next for a few moments about fasting. Fasting is a feature of Lent, although many Americans engage in a very weak form of fasting. I mean, okay, if someone's heart is in the right place and they give up Starbucks once a week, is that a sacrifice? Yeah, sort of. Yeah, it can be. But is that the same thing as abstaining from food and water all day long or for two days or three days? No, it's not quite in the same category. Now, do we find fasting in the Bible? Yes, we do. Do we have a Lenten fast in the Bible? No, we do not. but we do have fasting in scripture. So let's look at some examples of that. Turn from Matthew 4 to Matthew 6. Matthew 6, this is the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus assumed that his disciples would fast. And let's see that here in Matthew 6, verse 16. Moreover, when you fast, do not be like the hypocrites with a sad countenance, for they disfigure their faces that they may appear to men to be fasting. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward. But you, when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face so that you do not appear to men to be fasting, but to your father who is in the secret place. And your father who sees in secret will reward you openly." Okay, let's notice a few things here. Number one, Jesus assumes that they will fast. Verse 16, moreover, when you fast, not if you fast, but when you fast. Jesus assumes that this will be part of the life of his disciples. Now, it wasn't a part of their life while they were with Jesus in his earthly ministry, but after that, it will be, and we'll see that here in a moment. Number two, notice what Jesus enjoins upon his disciples here, what he commands them. He commands them not to engage in showy public fasts that are meant to draw attention to oneself. Now, not everyone who puts ashes on their forehead and proclaims on Facebook that they're fasting for Lent is a scribe or a Pharisee. but they might be in danger of being one. Or it's possible that they could be one, and they're trying to draw attention to the fact and let everybody know how spiritual they're being by engaging in this fast for Lent. This doesn't mean that there's never a place for a public fast. It's a different talk for a different time. But when it comes to this, Jesus tells his disciples not to follow the practice of the scribes and the Pharisees, which is to put on the sad face and go out in public so that everybody knows that you are super spiritual and you're engaged in a fast. So they can see you and think very highly of you for your spirituality. Jesus does not want his disciples to do that. He wants them to do it in secret. in the secret place with the father so that only the father knows about it. And he wants them in public to give no appearance of fasting. That's what anoint your head and wash your face is about. Okay, so there Jesus assumes that his disciples will fast and he tells them how to do it and how not to do it. Now let's see the practice of the early church. So go to Acts, Acts chapter 13. Is it biblical to fast? Yes, it is. Let's see the church engaged in the practice of fasting now. Acts 13, starting at verse 1. Now in the church that was at Antioch, there were certain prophets and teachers, Barnabas, Simeon, who was called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Mannion, who had been brought up with Herod the Tetrarch, and Saul. As they ministered to the Lord and fasted, there it is, verse two, as they ministered to the Lord and fasted, the Holy Spirit said, now separate to me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them. Then having fasted and prayed and laid hands on them, they sent them away. You see it again there in verse three. Then having fasted and prayed. Okay, now over to chapter 14. Chapter 14 and verse 23. So when they had appointed elders in every church and prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord, in whom they had believed." Again, what did they do? They prayed with fasting. So you see the disciples, the church, engaged in the practice of fasting. So is fasting biblical? Yes, it most certainly is. So if I exhorted you to fast, to begin or continue in the practice of fasting, assuming it wouldn't send you into a health tailspin or something like that. If I exhorted you to engage in the practice of fasting, am I exhorting you to do something biblical? Yes, I am. Now, we just looked at just a little bit of the biblical material as it relates to fasting. But if I set up a fast, for a particular period of time that was recurring, and I added rules to it that were not found in Holy Scripture, have I not gone too far? Have I not gone beyond what Scripture teaches? So if I come to you and say, you need to fast, and then you say, okay, I'm gonna fast, but I'm gonna eat sausage sandwiches on Friday. And I said, well, you can't do that. That's not possible. And you say, well, upon what basis? Well, the church says so. The church says you can't do that. You're not supposed to eat those things during your fast. Then we've gone beyond what scripture teaches. Now, one of the reasons why some people might be attracted to Lent is because people and Christians in many types of church circles, they don't do this. They don't do it at all. It's not part of their life. It's not a part of their spirituality. And then someone points it out to them in the Bible, and they're like, oh, wow, it's in the Bible. And then maybe they read church history, and they're like, wow, there's people fasting all over the place, all the time for different occasions and all sorts of situations. They're engaged in fasting. And maybe someone feels like, hey, the church I go to and the Christianity that I have learned is kind of weak. weak and frivolous, and this is serious business, this fasting. And so then Lent comes along, and you're like, oh, okay, here's some Christians who take things seriously, and they appear to be practicing a biblical practice of fasting. Well, does the biblical teaching on fasting point to Lent? Does it mean you should observe Lent? No. Does it mean you should engage in fasting? Yes, it does. So it shouldn't be the Bible teaches fasting, therefore Lent is justified. It should be the Bible teaches fasting. Now I have to implement this and apply this in my life, as well as churches.