Lent Devotional 2020

Singing the Redemption Song – Revelation 5

Then I saw in the right hand of him who sat on the throne a scroll with writing on both sides and sealed with seven seals. And I saw a mighty angel proclaiming in a loud voice, “Who is worthy to break the seals and open the scroll?” But no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth could open the scroll or even look inside it. I wept and wept because no one was found who was worthy to open the scroll or look inside. Then one of the elders said to me, “Do not weep! See, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has triumphed. He is able to open the scroll and its seven seals.

Then I saw a Lamb, looking as if it had been slain, standing at the center of the throne, encircled by the four living creatures and the elders. The Lamb had seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth. He went and took the scroll from the right hand of him who sat on the throne. And when he had taken it, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb. Each one had a harp and they were holding golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of God’s people. And they sang a new song, saying:

“You are worthy to take the scroll
    and to open its seals,
because you were slain,
    and with your blood you purchased for God
    persons from every tribe and language and people and nation.

You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God,
    and they will reign on the earth.”

Then I looked and heard the voice of many angels, numbering thousands upon thousands, and ten thousand times ten thousand. They encircled the throne and the living creatures and the elders. In a loud voice they were saying:

“Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain,
    to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength
    and honor and glory and praise!”

Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all that is in them, saying:

“To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb
    be praise and honor and glory and power,
for ever and ever!”

The four living creatures said, “Amen,” and the elders fell down and worshiped.

Celebrating Redemption 

Today, let’s focus on your story. Instead of watching someone else’s story, let’s focus on your story and your song. As we sit in this day before Resurrection Sunday, know your redemption has been sealed. Your story is to be told. Your song is to be sung! 

Reflection

• How do you see God at work in your story today? 
• Where are you currently celebrating redemption?
• With whom can you share your story today? 
• What will you share? 

Rest and receive His redemption song, His revelation song today. Revelation 22.12-21.

“Look, I am coming soon! My reward is with me, and I will give to each person according to what they have done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.

“Blessed are those who wash their robes, that they may have the right to the tree of life and may go through the gates into the city. Outside are the dogs, those who practice magic arts, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idolaters and everyone who loves and practices falsehood.

“I, Jesus, have sent my angel to give you this testimony for the churches. I am the Root and the Offspring of David, and the bright Morning Star.”

The Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” And let the one who hears say, “Come!” Let the one who is thirsty come; and let the one who wishes take the free gift of the water of life.

I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this scroll: If anyone adds anything to them, God will add to that person the plagues described in this scroll. And if anyone takes words away from this scroll of prophecy, God will take away from that person any share in the tree of life and in the Holy City, which are described in this scroll.

He who testifies to these things says, “Yes, I am coming soon.”

Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.

The grace of the Lord Jesus be with God’s people. Amen.

Reclaiming the Truth 

“Later, knowing that everything had now been finished, and so that Scripture would be fulfilled, Jesus said, “I am thirsty.” ²⁹ A jar of wine vinegar was there, so they soaked a sponge in it, put the sponge on a stalk of the hyssop plant, and lifted it to Jesus’ lips. ³⁰ When he had received the drink, Jesus said, “It is finished.” With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.” John 19.28-30

Redeeming the Time 

“It is finished.” What is finished? What exactly did Jesus finish? What didn’t Jesus finish? 

Jesus began his public ministry about three years earlier. It began near the Jordan River. When the forerunner of Jesus, John the Baptist, saw Him come toward him, he said to all those listening, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1.29)

“It is finished.” The Greek word is telios meaning “fully finished” or “accomplished to the uttermost.” That’s what Jesus accomplishes on the cross. Jesus makes atonement on the cross for your sin and the sins of the world! 

On the cross, God is treating Jesus Christ as if He committed every single sin that was ever committed by every single person. The full wrath of God is being placed on His Son instead of on you and me.

What’s happening on the cross is the single most important event in redemptive history. “It is finished.” It’s the moment when the wrath of God was poured on Jesus instead of us. When His body was broken, His blood was shed. Jesus atones for our sins. Jesus completes it. Not in defeat; this is absolute victory. In act of a heroic triumph, He screams, “It is finished.” 

So, what is finished? The reconciling work of relationship is finished. The work of justification is finished. The work of redemption is finished. Jesus is your perfect sacrifice. And because of that, God is completely and utterly pleased with you. Jesus declared a complete victory on your behalf. It is finished.

Reflection

• When are you most tempted to try and earn the redemptive work on your own?  
• What has He finished that you won’t (or don’t know how to) let be finished? 
• Because it is finished, what is He beginning? 

Resting in His Redemption

Rest and receive His redemption by reflection on the words of the hymn, “When I Survey the Wondrous Cross.”

When I survey the wondrous cross

On which the Prince of Glory died, 

My richest gain I count but loss,

And pour contempt on all my pride.

See, from His head, His hands, His feet,

Sorry and love flow mingled down. 

Did e’er such love and sorrow meet, 

Or thorns compose so rich a crown? 

Where the whole real of nature mine, 

That were a present far too small.

Love so amazing, so divine,

Demands my soul, my life, my all!

Reclaiming the Truth

When he had finished washing their feet, he put on his clothes and returned to his place. “Do you understand what I have done for you?” he asked them. ¹³ “You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and rightly so, for that is what I am. ¹⁴ Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. ¹⁵ I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. ¹⁶ Very truly I tell you, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. ¹⁷ Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them. – John 13.13-17

Redeeming the Time

Today we celebrate Maundy Thursday. It’s the opportunity to remember and celebrate the day when Jesus celebrated His final Passover with His disciples. It was at this meal when Jesus washed the feet of His disciples in an extraordinary display of humility. He then commanded them to do the same for each other. Note the word “command.” 

“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.” John 13.34

Christ’s “mandate” is commemorated on Maundy Thursday. “Maundy” being a shortened form of mandatum (Latin), which means “command.” 

Love is patient.

Love is kind.

Love is tender.  

Love does not fear.

Love does not shame.

Love never “should’s.”

Love is never self-seeking, self-serving or self-protecting.

Love is never forced. 

Love is not done in a subversive attempt to be loved. 

Love seeks only one thing – the good of the one loved. 

Love always desires to understand more than to be understood.

Love always listens.

Love always shows up.

Love receives.

Love frees.

Love blesses.

Love does. 

Reflection

• How does the humility of Jesus washing His disciple’s feet move you to action? 
• Jesus washes the feet of his disciples knowing they will abandon Him, even betray Him. Yet He acts in this incredible expression of love. How does His example challenge you and invite you to act in love today? 
• Love is never self-seeking. What is one way you can fully love another today? 

Resting in His Redemption

Today we’ll pray along with Ted Loder. Rest and receive – His love is with us. 

Catch me in my anxious scurrying, Lord, 

and hold me in this Lenten season: 

hold my feet to the fire of your grace 

and make me attentive to my mortality 

that I may begin to die now to those things that keep me from living with you

and my neighbors on this Earth; 

to grudges and indifference, to certainties that smother possibilities, 

to my fascination with false securities, to my addiction to sweatless dreams

to my arrogant insistence on how it has to be; 

to my corrosive fear of dying someday

which eats away the wonder of living this day, 

and the adventure of losing my life in order to find it in you. 

Catch me in my aimless scurrying, Lord, and hold me in this Lenten season: 

hold my heart to the beat of your grace and create in me a resting place, 

a kneeling place, a tip-toe place 

where I can recover from the dis-ease of my grandiosities 

which fill my mind and calendar with busy self-importance, 

that I may become vulnerable enough to dare intimacy with the familiar, 

to listen cup-eared for your summons, 

and to watch squint-eyed for your crooked finger in the crying child, 

in the hunger of the street people 

in the fear of the contagion of terrorism in all people, 

in the rage of those oppressed because of sex or race, 

in the smoldering resentments of exploited third world nations, 

in the sullen apathy of the poor and ghetto-strangled people, 

in my lonely doubt and limping ambivalence; 

and somehow, during this season of sacrifice, 

enable me to sacrifice time and possessions and securities, 

to do something… something about what I see, 

something to turn the water of my words into the wine of will and risk, 

into the bread of blood and blisters, 

into the blessedness of deed, of a cross picked up, a savior followed. 

Catch me in my mindless scurrying, Lord, and hold me in this Lenten season: 

hold my spirit to the beacon of your grace 

and grant me light enough to walk boldly, 

to feel passionately, to love aggressively; 

grant me peace enough to want more, 

to work for more and to submit to nothing less, and to fear only you… only you! 

Bequeath me not becalmed seas, slack sails and premature benedictions, 

but breathe into me a torment, 

storm enough to make within myself and from myself, something…something new, something saving, 

something true, a gladness of heart, 

a pitch for a song in the storm, 

a word of praise lived, 

a gratitude shared, a cross dared, 

a joy received.

Reclaiming the Truth

Jesus replied, “Truly I tell you, if you have faith and do not doubt, not only can you do what was done to the fig tree, but also you can say to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and it will be done. If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer.” Matthew 21.20-21

Redeeming the Time

During Passion Week, Jesus spoke gently and compassionately. He also spoke with great boldness and conviction. In this text, Jesus curses a fig tree. It was the season for this tree to produce fruit, the tree itself looked like it should have produced fruit, the leaves were in good shape, the soil, the structure and other trees in the area were full of figs, but not this one. Jesus speaks about the rejection of the nation of Israel. The religious leaders were only days away from arresting Jesus and finally being finished with Him, or so they thought. 

Jesus also uses this opportunity to teach His apprentices about prayer. “If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer.” Jesus even uses this tree as an object lesson. He has faith the tree will be cursed, and so it was as He spoke. His point was a little faith can accomplish great feats. Jesus makes a very important point here. He’s not saying we get everything we ask for, rather He is saying when we pray, we are to believe God can do anything we request, and He will do what is consistent with His will and what He has promised to do. 

One of the most repeated prayers at Sanctuary has been the prayers of the dad who brought his sick son to Jesus. After a brief interaction with Jesus, the man says, “I believe. Help me with my unbelief.” (Mark 9.24).

Jesus is not calling for us to muster up belief. He’s not saying if we only believed more then He would act. He’s inviting us to believe in greater things. He’s inviting us to believe He can, He will, and His love will prevail. 

Do you believe?

Reflection

• How do you resonate with the prayer, “I believe. Help my unbelief?” 
• How have you seen your faith grow during this season of Lent?
• Where and when are you most tempted to disbelieve? What brings you to that place? How has God met you there in the past? 

Resting in His Redemption

Rest and receive the words of Kathleen O’Meara (1839-1888).

“And the people stayed home. And read books, and listened, and rested, and exercised, and made art, and played games, and grew gardens full of fresh food, and learned new ways of being, and were still. And listened more deeply. Some meditated, some prayed, some danced.  Some met their shadows. And the people began to think differently.

And the people healed. And, in the absence of people living in ignorant, dangerous, mindless, and heartless ways, the earth began to heal.

And when the danger passed, and the people joined together again, they grieved their losses, and made new choices, and dreamed new images, and created new ways to live and heal the earth fully, as they themselves had been healed.”