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The 3rd Commandment is “Remember the Sabbath Day by keeping it holy.” While most of the commandments speak about what God forbids, the 3rd Commandment is about what God calls us to honor and hold sacred. Ulitimately the Sabbath is about more than a day of the week, it points us to Jesus (see Colossians 2:16-17). The reading is from Deuteronomy 5:6-15.
Today is Ash Wednesday. It begins the 40 day journey through the season of Lent. Sackcloth and ashes were an ancient symbol of sorrow. On Ash Wednesday we receive the mark of Ashes upon our foreheads to remind us of our sinfulness and mortality. Both Ash Wednesday and Lent are about taking a good hard look in the mirror to remind us of where we stand before God. We are sinners. We are just beggars before his throne of grace. But the astounding thing is that as we come to a greater realization of our depravity, we come to a greater realization of how amazing his love and grace is. In the words of the Apostle Paul we are “sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; poor, yet making many rich; having nothing, and yet possessing everything” (2 Corinthians 6:10).
As we begin the Lenten journey I want to invite you to come out tonight at 7pm for our Ash Wednesday worship at Lord of Life. We will celebrate the Lord’s Supper and together with the traditional imposition of Ashes where the worshippers will receive the mark of the cross in ashes upon their foreheads. The Ashes serve as a reminder of our mortality and our need for Jesus.
Another opportunity I would like to extend an invitation to you is for our Morning Prayer services at Lord of Life each weekday at 6:30am and 11:30am and on Saturdays at 9am. These are opportunities to come together during Lent as the people of God and to offer our common prayers before the Lord. It is an opportunity to seek greater intimacy with the Lord.
You should also know that this is the very last Sunday, February 26, to get your tickets for the Seder Dinner. Because the Seder Dinner is so early this year it may have snuck up on you. If you have been to the Seder Dinner in the past, it will be a little different this year. Greg Savitt of Chosen People Ministries will be our special guest. He will be leading the presentation called Messiah in the Passover. The Messiah in the Passover presentation is a powerful visual message no only of Israel’s freedom from slavery in Egypt, but of the redemption of individuals from the bondage of sin through the atoning work of Jesus. The presentation is designed to give participants a deeper understanding both of the Passover and of the Lord’s Supper.
It is my prayer that through your participation in the Seder Dinner you will develop a greater understanding of Jesus’ sacrifice upon the cross and the Lord’s Supper we receive each Sunday at Lord of Life. It was during a Passover Seder that Jesus instituted this meal where we receive his body and blood in the bread and the wine.
I pray for God’s blessings upon your Lent journey. We humble ourselves these next 40 days, but it is not without hope. We expectantly anticipate the coming celebration of the resurrection on Easter Sunday. As you humble yourself these next 6 weeks in prayer and fasting, think about how wonderful it will be to burst with joy on that most blessed day.
Download the 2nd Commandment Study Guide
Today, we look at the 2nd Commandment: You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God. This commandment is about honoring the name of God and about the wise use of the tongue. The reading is from Deuteronomy 5:6-11.
We are less than a week away from Lent. There are a few peculiar practices within the church during this time of the year and I wanted to use this email to address some of these practices that go back centuries. These are traditions that have been practice over the years to help people develop a deeper and more intimate relationship with the Lord. We would do well to make use of these practices as there is good reason they have stood the test of time.
The first is Ash Wednesday. Ash Wednesday is the first day of the season of Lent. This year it Wednesday, February 22. This is next Wednesday. Worship at Lord of Life will be at 7pm. During the worship we practice what is called the Imposition of Ashes. Ashes are placed upon the heads of worshippers in the sign of the cross. In the Old Testament, ashes were a symbol of mourning and sorrow. People would put on sackcloth and ashes in the event of a tragedy, a death, or the revelation of a great sin. The season of Lent is a season of sorrow. We mourn over our sin and our waywardness. We grieve that Jesus had to die because we are sinners. So the mark of the ashes signal the beginning of this season of sorrow.
Another thing that happens during the season of Lent is that people will often give something up. Some might give up chocolate and others might give up television. Some might give up alcohol and others might give up soda. The idea of giving something up is a form of fasting. Fasting is an ancient spiritual discipline. Fasting typically involved the abstaining from food. This is a discipline that has largely been lost on most Americans. We do not do well with the idea of depriving ourselves of anything when we live in a culture of excess. We talk about the disciplines of prayer, worship, studying the Bible, and tithing. However, we don’t talk very often about the discipline of fasting. When we do talk about fasting, we miss often miss the main point of what fasting is all about. We focus on what is given up rather than on what is gained. The idea of fasting from food is to gain extra time to feast upon the Word of God. Fasting is about eliminating distractions that hinder our relationship with God.
So if you consider giving something up for Lent, consider doing it for more than the sake of just giving something up. Do it with purpose. Eliminate the television to open up the Bible or eliminate your lunch to spend time in prayer.
During this season of Lent I plan to practice fasting on Wednesdays. I plan to take that time I would have spent eating my lunch and use it in prayer for our church that we would see God more and more every day and every week. I would invite you to consider doing the same. Pray for the most incredible Easter as we come out of the season of sorrow and into a season of grasping the victory, know we are more than conquerors.
One final thing! Please note that during the season of Lent, Lord of Life will offer services of Morning Prayer every weekday morning at 6:30am and 11:30am. Services will also be at 9am on Saturday morning. These services will be a half hour or less. We want to encourage you to come out and join together for God to move among us.
In this commandment we look at the 1st Commandment which is “you shall have no other gods.” The reading is from Deuteronomy 5:1-10.
God gives us the 1st Commandment so that we will love him and serve him because there are no other gods worth loving and serving.
Our God is a God of freedom. Before God gave the Israelites the 10 Commandments he freed them from their slavery in Egypt. He doesn’t give them the 10 Commandments to Lord over them. He doesn’t give them the 10 Commandments to hold them down and enslave them. He gives him the 10 Commandments so that they might continue to live in the freedom and victory that he has blessed them with. If we are to understand the true meaning behind the 10 Commandments is not about what they forbid but about how they empower us to live.
The 1st commandment is “you shall have no other gods.” Why does God not want us to have any other gods? The answer is that there are no other gods worth having. There are no other gods that can save us. There are no other gods who overcome the challenges we face in this world. There are no other gods that enable us to achieve victory over the challenges we face.
In 1 John 5:5 it says: “who is it that overcomes the world? Only he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.”
Is there any other who overcomes the world besides Jesus? No! Anyone or anything else that we make to be God will fail us. It might be sooner or it might be later, but unless we trust in Jesus the day will inevitably come when everything around us will come crashing down.
So why does God want us to trust in him? Because he loves us! Because he wants us to experience all that he has created us for. God wants us to experience victory.
Right now you might be facing a great challenge in your life. You have a great burden you are trying to overcome, but you just can’t break through.
Here is something I want you to think about: if you are failing to live in victory, maybe God is not in the proper place in your life. At the foundation of so many problems in our lives is an idol problem. Maybe you have made your God to be success in the workplace. You have made your work desk to be your pagan altar. At that altar you sacrifice your time, passion, energy, health, and family. But there is a hole in your heart and you do not feel satisfied. It is time to set aside serving the god of success in the workplace and worship the true God.
God does not want us to bow down to other gods because no other god is worth living for. There is no other God worthy of our time and our effort.
But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. 1 Corinthians 15:57
Happy Thursday to everyone! I just wanted to start off by reminding you that there will be a special celebration worship on Sunday, February 12 at 4:30pm where we will install Brian Zielke as Director of Christian Education at Lord of Life. To go along there will be a dinner that will follow. I look forward to this time together with you. We are also asking that you would RSVP so that we can get a count for the dinner. You can RSVP with your Connection Card on Sunday morning or by following this link.
This weekend we begin a new message series at Lord of Life. It is all about the 10 Commandments. The Commandments are found in two different places in the Scriptures. You can find them in Exodus 20 and Deuteronomy 5.
Deuteronomy 5 begins with Moses summoning “all” Israel. I want to emphasize he summoned all the people. It was not just some of the people. This was important for everyone. And it was not just for the people who first received these commandments more than 3000 years ago. These commandments were for all people in all times. They are just as applicable to us today as they were to the people then.
Moses would later say in Deuteronomy 32:47 that these are not just idle words. These words are your life and by them you will live.
When we turn to the New Testament the Peter, the disciple of Jesus, says, “Lord to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.” (John 6:68)
We cannot emphasize enough the importance of these words that God gives us as commands. These are more than mere suggestions, they are the pathway to the full and abundant life that God created us for.
Some might say that these commandments are in the Old Testament and because of Jesus we don’t need them anymore. Nothing could be further from the truth. Jesus did not come to abolish the Law, but to fulfill the Law. (see Matthew 5:17). Jesus gives us even more reason to take these commandments to heart, to learn them, and to live them.
Think about the reasons why God gave us the Commandments. He did not give us the Commandments for his benefit. He gave us the Commandments for our benefit. They are true and certain. We think we might be able to get away with something. It seems like a small thing. We think to ourselves, “What is a little lie? Who is it hurting? It pales in comparison to murdering someone.” But there is a reason these Commandments are written on stone. They are are hard and fast. We might think it was an innocent lie we told, but that lie will catch up with us. We are not getting away with anything and there will be consequences to pay.
A loving parent sets boundaries for his children. That parent wants to protect his children. He wants the best for them. In the same way God is our loving Heavenly Father. He sets these boundaries not to spite us, but because he loves us. He wants the best for us. He wants us to live life to its fullest.
It is my prayer that as we go through these Commandments over the next couple of weeks we will recognize that they are not so much about what God keeping us from, but what God is empowering us for. It is my prayer we would not see them as a burden, but as the path of life.