Whenever New Year’s Day comes around, I tell people who ask me if I’ve made any New Year’s Resolutions that, in fact, I haven’t. I haven’t done so in a lot of years actually - because the last New Year’s Resolution I made I’ve been able to keep and I don’t want to press my luck! Some years ago, on New Year’s Day, I resolved to stop making New Year’s Resolutions. You see, they always seemed to set me up for failure. I’d convince myself that I would stop doing this or start doing that, and before you knew it I’d either be doing the thing I had resolved not to do or I had stopped doing the thing I had resolved to start doing. So what was the point? I was tired of setting myself up for failure, so I made the one New Year’s Resolution that I was pretty sure I could keep, and so far I’ve kept it - I resolved to stop making New Year’s Resolutions. I’ve adopted more or less the same principle with Lent. Many people mark Lent by choosing to give something up for Lent; something they love; something whose absence they’ll notice. Some of you here today have probably made that type of pledge, and I applaud you for it, and I respect you if you can stick to it. Me? Again, perhaps my will is simply weak, but I fear I’d be setting myself up for failure by promising to give something up that I love. What would I give up? Oh, I don’t know. I could give up watching hockey or basketball for Lent. I’d miss the Leafs and the Raptors. I could give up Facebook, but it’s become one of my prime tools for keeping in touch and up to date with people, so that wouldn’t actually be productive. I could give up preaching, but Central United Church wouldn’t be too pleased if I made that decision (or maybe they would! Maybe I shouldn’t ask!) The point is that if I committed to give something up for Lent, I think it would be like a New Year’s Resolution. I’m not sure I’d make it, and I’d be setting myself up for failure, and so, years ago, I decided to give up giving something up for Lent. So far, I’ve been successful at that.
Whether or not we choose to give something up for Lent, far more productive, I think, is getting ourselves into what you might call a better spiritual groove. I think it’s better to take something on for life, rather than to give something up. More prayer, more Bible reading, more meditation, more faithful church attendance, more giving to charity. The possibilities are endless. I want to read today from a portion of 1 Timothy. It’s from Chapter 6, and it’s where Timothy is told to teach properly, to flee from all the things that cause trouble, and to pursue “a righteous life.” I’m using Eugene Peterson’s translation, called “The Message.”
These are the things I want you to teach and preach. If you have leaders there who teach otherwise, who refuse the solid words of our Master Jesus and this godly instruction, tag them for what they are: ignorant windbags who infect the air with germs of envy, controversy, bad-mouthing, suspicious rumors. Eventually there’s an epidemic of backstabbing, and truth is but a distant memory. They think religion is a way to make a fast buck. A devout life does bring wealth, but it’s the rich simplicity of being yourself before God. Since we entered the world penniless and will leave it penniless, if we have bread on the table and shoes on our feet, that’s enough. But if it’s only money these leaders are after, they’ll self-destruct in no time. Lust for money brings trouble and nothing but trouble. Going down that path, some lose their footing in the faith completely and live to regret it bitterly ever after. But you, Timothy, man of God: Run for your life from all this. Pursue a righteous life - a life of wonder, faith, love, steadiness, courtesy. Run hard and fast in the faith. Seize the eternal life, the life you were called to, the life you so fervently embraced in the presence of so many witnesses. I’m charging you before the life-giving God and before Christ, who took His stand before Pontius Pilate and didn’t give an inch: Keep this command to the letter, and don’t slack off. Our Master, Jesus Christ, is on His way. He’ll show up right on time, His arrival guaranteed by the Blessed and Undisputed Ruler, High King, High God. He’s the only one death can’t touch, His light so bright no one can get close. He’s never been seen by human eyes - human eyes can’t take Him in! Honor to Him, and eternal rule! Oh, yes. Tell those rich in this world’s wealth to quit being so full of themselves and so obsessed with money, which is here today and gone tomorrow. Tell them to go after God, who piles on all the riches we could ever manage - to do good, to be rich in helping others, to be extravagantly generous. If they do that, they’ll build a treasury that will last, gaining life that is truly life. (1 Timothy 6:2-19, The Message)
Timothy is being challenged in this letter to give some things up, and to tell others that they should give things up. He’s also being challenged to pursue “a righteous life.” This, I think is the key, when we think about today’s Lenten practices. Giving something up is fine. Giving up something that’s enjoyable but that’s neither sinful nor harmful might be a sacrifice for a few weeks. Giving up some type of bad or even sinful behaviour is a right and proper thing, but I hope that will last far beyond Lent. But in 1 Timothy, the message for all of Christian life (and not just for Lent) seems to be that God is calling us to a radically changed life that’s lived in ways that are counter to the ways of the world and society around us. It’s not just a matter of giving something up or taking something on. Both of those can lead to pride - “I did it!” we might cry when it’s over. But Timothy is told to be changed; to be transformed by pursuing a life of righteousness; a life of right relationship with God and others; a life that stands as a contrast to the ways of the world and that serves as a light of hope to those who look around them and yearn for something different; for something better.
Timothy is basically being told to give up covetousness; to give up desiring those things that he doesn’t have; to give up wishing that he had more, more - always more. That’s so often the way of the world isn’t it. You never really have enough, so you always need more. And eventually, that type of thinking can work its way into a life of faith as well, so we start to think that we’re never really good enough, and we can never be good enough. And that impacts our life, it impacts our relationship with God, it impacts our relationship with those around us, it impacts how we feel about ourselves; it impacts our understanding of faith and why it’s important. It’s why Timothy is told to “pursue a righteous life.” This is what God wants of us; this is all God asks of us. Not to be righteous; but to “pursue righteousness.” To seek God, to love God, to desire to be closer to God. And then, by doing all that, to learn the meaning of true righteousness - which is caught up in the very concept of love as God displays love - sacrificial love, always directed outward to others.
Jesus died on a cross. There was God’s ultimate display of love. There was God’s ultimate example of righteousness. We’re not called to do that. But we are called to live righteously - by the principle of sacrificial love that we pour our for those around us, just as Jesus poured out His life for us. If a Lenten practice of giving something up for a few weeks is important, then so be it, but don’t let it be just a Lenten practice that comes to an end with the joy of Easter Sunday to be forgotten for another 11 months. Let is be the reminder of the sacrificial love that’s been shown to us and that we’re called to show to others. There are all sorts of opportunities to serve and sacrifice for others that will be all around us the moment we leave these doors. Seizing hold of such opportunities is one of the signs that we’ve chosen to pursue a righteous life, as God desires from us!
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