The Season of Lent, A Season of Grace (Luke 4:25-30)

The Season of Lent, A Season of Grace (Luke 4:25-30)

 

25 But I tell you of a truth, many widows were in Israel in the days of Elias, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, when great famine was throughout all the land;

26 But unto none of them was Elias sent, save unto Sarepta, a city of Sidon, unto a woman that was a widow.

27 And many lepers were in Israel in the time of Eliseus the prophet; and none of them was cleansed, saving Naaman the Syrian.

28 And all they in the synagogue, when they heard these things, were filled with wrath,

29 And rose up, and thrust him out of the city, and led him unto the brow of the hill whereon their city was built, that they might cast him down headlong.

30 But he passing through the midst of them went his way,

 

Intro)

1. There are two religious seasons spanning 40 days that the church observes each year: Advent and Lent. Advent the is the season 40 days before Christmas, the birth of our savior Jesus Christ. The second season we celebrate is Lent, the 40 days (excluding Sundays) before Jesus was crucified on the cross. Lent is a time for Christians to reflect on Jesus’ suffering and resurrection and prepare for Easter through self-training and self-discipline.

 

The season of Lent signifies many things, including the coming of Spring. Just like the cold earth warms and brings new life in Spring, may our faith be renewed through Lent.

 

Body)

A) Faith Requires Training and Discipline

 

1. There are those who have been regularly attending church for years, yet they see no growth in their spiritual maturity. This is relatively common and there is a reason for it. It is because these people lack the spiritual training and discipline.

 

2. A 19^th century Japanese artist received a request from his friend to draw him a rooster. The artist accepted the request and told his friend to come get the drawing in a week. When the friend arrived a week later, the drawing was not done. He had not even started it!

 

When confronted about it the artist told his friend to come back a month later. When the friend returned a month later the drawing still was not done. He told his friend to come back next time. Of course the drawing was not done the next time his friend came. This went on for 3 years.

 

After 3 years his friend had had enough. He demanded the artist draw him a rooster immediately. The artist reluctantly drew out a rooster on a piece of paper. The friend took a look and was shocked. It was the best illustration of a rooster he had ever seen! It looked as if the creature would jump to life at any moment!

 

The friend was very perplexed. “Why did it take you so long to draw me a rooster when it was this easy?” The artist said nothing but gestured for his friend to follow him and led him to his studio. In the studio his friend saw the walls covered in drawings of roosters. This puzzled his friend even more. “Why didn’t you give me any of these drawings over the last 3 years?” To this the artist replied, “I wanted to gift you the best rooster drawing.”

 

A good drawing is not created from nothing. A truly good drawing requires practice and discipline. The same applies to faith. We can say our faith is in God again and again but if we continue to live life as we please, our faith will never mature.

 

What is training? What is discipline? It is not something we do because we always want to. It is not doing what is easiest. Training is supposed to be difficult. Discipline requires effort. It is not easy to brush your teeth 3 times a day, and we may forget a few times, but it is what keeps our teeth healthy.

 

We know eating healthy is the good thing to do. We know we should choose veggies over pizza. But putting that knowledge to practice is difficult. Resisting fried chicken, hamburgers, and pizza requires a lot of discipline.

 

3. We all know we must train and practice discipline in our lives of faith. But many of us fail to do so. Worship, prayer, stewardship, and offering are all areas we must train in. Through these disciplines we can grow as Christians and through us God’s grace will shine.

 

Today’s scripture tells about Jesus returning to his homeland and coming away disappointed. Disappointed might be an understatement since the people wanted to kill him.

 

Jesus performed many miracles everywhere he went. He healed the sick, cleansed the possessed, and gave the needy answers. But he performed no miracles in his hometown. Why? Because his own people drove him away. His homeland did not believe in who he was.

 

Jesus said to the people of his hometown, "In the Old Testament, in the days of Elijah, the unnamed widow of Sarepta and Naaman the Syrian (the army general of the Gentile Arab nation), experienced God's power and their problems were resolved." The people in his hometown became more angry when Jesus said this. Why? one was a Jew, but poor and a widow, and the other was a Gentile of power and wealth. 

The widow was someone the rest of the world would ignore and the other was a Gentile, a cursed foreigner. Neither was a person of God and the people deemed them unqualified to receive the grace of God. And yet they were the ones who received it. The people took this to mean Jesus despised the people of his own hometown.

But God does not bestow His blessings only the people we, society, or the world deem qualified. He blesses those and gives His grace to anyone and everyone. But what kind of grace does He give?

B) First, God Gave Us the Grace of Coming to Us

1. God comes to us and finds us during our times of hardship. Worldly people turn their backs on you. Look at the parable of the Prodigal Son. His so-called friends all left him as soon as he ran out of money. No one bothered to help him when he was down. That is the way of the world.

But the way of God is different. God stays beside us when things are hardest. He comes to us when we are at our lowest. He helps us and comforts us.

2. In Genesis 28, Jacob leaves his homeland and wanders the desert alone. There was no one with him or around him in the barren desert. He falls asleep exhausted and lonely.

That night he dreams of a stairway leading from the earth to Heaven with angels ascending and descending from it. At the top God stood and said, “I am the Lord, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac…15 I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.”

Genesis 32 records Jacob’s difficult travel back to his hometown. His brother, Esau, had vowed to kill Jacob with an army of 400. That night he fell asleep by the stream and in his dream he was wrestling with a man, God, until daybreak.

“26 Then the man said, “Let me go, for it is daybreak.” But Jacob replied, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.” 27 The man asked him, “What is your name?” “Jacob,” he answered. 28 Then the man said, “Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, because you have struggled with God and with humans and have overcome.”

God blessed Jacob and solved his problems. lived a new life of victory with a new name because of God.

3. Today’s scripture tells us about a widow from Sarepta (Zarephath). Her story is told in 1 Kings 17 when the prophet Elijah goes and finds her. He asks her for some water and bread. Normally this would have been a simple request, but at the time the region had been through a terrible drought for three and a half years.

“¹² “As surely as the Lord your God lives,” she replied, “I don’t have any bread—only a

handful of flour in a jar and a little olive oil in a jug. I am gathering a few sticks to take home and make a meal for myself and my son, that we may eat it—and die.”

¹³ Elijah said to her, “Don’t be afraid. Go home and do as you have said. But first make a small loaf of bread for me from what you have and bring it to me, and then make something for yourself and your son. ¹⁴ For this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘The jar of flour will not be used up and the jug of oil will not run dry until the day the Lord sends rain on the land.’”

What would you do? Would you give your last bit of food for a stranger? Would you give away your last lifeline to someone you just met? No one in their right mind would agree to Elijah’s request.

 

But because he was a man of God the widow complied. And what happened? “15 She went away and did as Elijah had told her. So there was food every day for Elijah and for the woman and her family. 16 For the jar of flour was not used up and the jug of oil did not run dry, in keeping with the word of the Lord spoken by Elijah.”

 

God’s grace does not just fall into our laps. Sometimes God will come to us at our lowest and ask for our last bit of time, energy, money, or even our lifeline. But if we obey, we will be blessed with so much more.

 

C) Second, God’s Grace Fixes and Gives Answers

 

1. God’s grace solves, not the trivial problems in our lives, but the large seemingly impossible ones. In the time of Elisha the prophet, there were many lepers. At the time leprosy was an incurable and terminal disease. Of all the lepers, only one was cured: Naaman the Syrian general. He was a Gentile, but because he obeyed, God healed him.

 

2. Former US President Jimmy Carter is often mentioned as one of the worst presidents in history. In 1980 he lost his re-election in a landslide difference. His campaign cost him his inheritance. He had lost everything. But he was a man of God.

 

He failed to be re-elected but his experience as president made him a figure of peace in world conflicts. From Ethiopia to Somalia to Haiti to Cuba to North Korea, Jimmy Carter went all over the world to help settle national disputes. In 2002 he received the Nobel Peace Prize.

 

He is often remembered as the worst president in office, but the best former president out of office. At his last visit to Korea, he said, “God’s plan for me was not as the President of the United States. It was to serve the world as the former US President.” God’s power is greater than our own plans.

 

4. An Irish poet named Joseph Scriven was engaged to be married but his wife drowned the night before their wedding. Filled his despair he blamed God. From that day on he was contemptuous and lived a crooked life.

 

Unable to bear living in his hometown any longer, he left Ireland for Canada. one day he ended up at a church. And from that day on he lived a new life in God. God never leaves your side even when you have given up on yourself. Joseph wrote a poem and praised God with joy:

 

“What a friend we have in Jesus, All our sins and griefs to bear!
What a privilege to carry Everything to God in prayer!
Oh, what peace we often forfeit, Oh, what needless pain we bear,
All because we do not carry Everything to God in prayer!

Have we trials and temptations? Is there trouble anywhere?
We should never be discouraged— Take it to the Lord in prayer.
Can we find a friend so faithful, Who will all our sorrows share?
Jesus knows our every weakness; Take it to the Lord in prayer.

Are we weak and heavy-laden, Cumbered with a load of care?
Precious Savior, still our refuge— Take it to the Lord in prayer.

Con)

Do thy friends despise, forsake thee? Take it to the Lord in prayer!
In His arms He’ll take and shield thee, Thou wilt find a solace there.”

 During this season of Lent, focus your mind, heart, and spirit on growing in your faith. Let your faith mature by training and disciplining yourself in progress, patience, and discovering God’s grace.

 

IK SUN AHN 031019