The more we recognize Christ and His work as sufficient, the less we need man’s endless legislation of rituals and observances to feel spiritually complete. However, the less we see Christ as sufficient the more vulnerable we will be to all sorts of clever ways to either add to the gospel’s sufficiency and/or efficiency. 

It seems that in the recent years Lent has been trending in Evangelical churches where it was not a part of their practice.  In a period where things like woke religion, an inflated and ever-increasing civil government, and the general world of Pandemic are excessively binding the conscience and endlessly legislating all spheres of life, it seems timely to address the legalistic nature of Lent.  Below are thirteen reasons why Evangelicals in general, and the Reformed churches in particular, should leave Lent behind.

God never commands the church to observe annual fasts to remember the cross. God has always been specific about special days and certain rituals that the church is to observe; where God has not been specific on such things there is no need to fill in the blanks.
We have been given two sacraments in the New Testament church, baptism and the Lord’s Supper. So there is no need to add anymore sacraments and/or sacramental like signs. The sign that God gave us to regularly focus on Christ is the Table with faith and repentance, not an ashy cross on one’s forehead 40 days of avoiding burgers, social media or the like.
Jesus fasted in the wilderness before He went to the cross and that fast is sufficient. There is no need for us to deprive ourselves to come to the cross of Christ as Jesus sufficiently did that for us.
Lent began in a superstitious way where it was believed that there was something extra spiritual and special about avoiding certain foods. 1 Timothy 4:3 says that those who claim to be spiritual due to avoiding certain foods are being demonically deceived. There is nothing spiritual about avoiding French toast, there is nothing sinful about having bacon; spiritual is eating or drinking through faith in Christ in thanksgiving for His grace.
Christ commands us to fast in secret with no need to broadcast it to the world (Matthew 6:16-18). He tells us to go out of our way to not be obviously seen as fasting. Lent is an annual virtue signal fast that runs contrary to the way God calls us to fast when and if we believe the need to.
Colossians 2:20-23 says that merely abstaining from things has no value in making us godly or curbing our fleshly desires. Lent and the pseudo spirituality of asceticism are closely related. Finding our joy and satisfaction in Christ is that which makes us holy, not creating an annual rule of deprivation and abstinence of some particular thing.
We are called to repent of idols and receive Christ as a regular part of our walk with him, not a set month on a scheduled calendar (Colossians 3:1-8). We do not schedule repentance, rather we walk in repentance as a lifestyle.
Lent comes historically from Roman Catholicism which has an elaborate system of works and penance to add to the gospel. I personally am not interested in redeeming that system of works and penance at all.
Lent is part of enforcing a liturgical calendar throughout the whole year where the church mandates endless observances rather than simply acknowledging the one observance Christ has prescribed which is the one day in seven Lord’s Day.
The Reformation and what it stood for was sparked by Zwingli eating sausage during the season of Lent. He protested the extra-biblical binding of the conscience and the superficial view of sanctification taught by the Roman Catholic Church overall and in the practice of Lent in particular. The Reformed tradition is to protest the endless traditions of men that add to the commands of God, and not to observe them.
Lent (though people now define and practice Lent however they want) goes against the nature of the New Covenant where God has declared all foods to be clean (Mark 7:20-23; Acts 10:9-16); Lent takes the church back to the Mosaic era of types and shadows.
We are commanded to focus on the cross not by images of the cross but by the word of the cross (Colossians 3:16).
Contra the reasons for Lent, Jesus’ fast in the wilderness was not for exemplary purposes but objective, redemptive ones. His fast wasn’t a model but a unique and finished work for us to believe. It is inappropriate to see Jesus’ ministry as nothing more than moralistic acts of “go and do likewise,” rather than the unique and finished work to believe and apply.

The more we recognize Christ and His work as sufficient, the less we need man’s endless legislation of rituals and observances to feel spiritually complete. However, the less we see Christ as sufficient the more vulnerable we will be to all sorts of clever ways to either add to the gospel’s sufficiency and/or efficiency.  It is Jesus, fasting for 40 days to obey and fulfill where Adam and Israel failed, emptying, humbling, and sacrificing himself that makes us spiritually whole (Philippians 2:5-8).  And it is by God’s ordained and prescribed means of Word, sacrament, prayer, and weekly Sabbath worship, empowered by the Holy Spirit, that are the simple and sufficient means by which we are connected to Christ’s finished work.
Aldo Leon is a Minister in the Presbyterian Church in America and is Pastor of Pinelands PCA in Miami, Fla.

In the Alabama case, the court established that the moral nature of an embryo gives it the same legal protections as a born human under the state’s “wrongful death” statute. Why, then, should the same embryos not be afforded protection from imprisonment, trafficking, experimentation, and eventual destruction? Strictly speaking, IVF can be done in a way that does not lead to the creation of “excess” embryos.

A decision by the Supreme Court of Alabama, that the state’s Wrongful Death of a Minor Act applies to “all unborn children, regardless of their location” including “extrauterine” embryos stored in a “cryogenic nursery,” has resulted in at least three fertility clinics suspending in vitro fertilization (IVF) services. In an interview on The Daily podcast, New York Times reporter Azeen Ghorayshi claimed that the decision “puts all fertility care in Alabama in limbo.”   
It sets a huge and quite scary precedent for anyone who is undergoing IVF, anyone who works in the fertility industry in Alabama who is working with these embryos that are suddenly considered children.  
That panic, which has been typical of the media coverage about the decision, makes sense given that the court finally addressed the central question of IVF, a question that the IVF industry has largely depended upon not being answered in order to grow and expand. Specifically, the court’s decision has only put a certain kind of fertility care “in limbo”: fertility care that involves the creating, storing, preserving, and destroying of human embryos. Asking the question “what are they?” was long overdue, given that approximately 1.5 million embryos left over from IVF services are currently stored in freezers in the United States, the vast majority of which are destined for either destruction or donation for medical testing,  
Even if late in coming, pro-lifers have been right to celebrate this small bit of ethical clarity for an industry with little of it. During IVF, eggs are fertilized with sperm in a lab. Often, multiple embryos are created and tested for viability before being transferred into the uterus of the mother or a surrogate. This is done in rounds of one to five embryos at a time. If a pregnancy occurs, the remaining embryos are frozen. 
Read More
Related Posts:

Until we realize that God is able to do “far more abundantly” than all that we can pray about or dream, we’ll keep operating in the kingdom of this world. We’ll develop a scarcity mindset that leads to anxiety and fear and exhaustion and apathy and impotence toward the kingdom of God. We can risk our money by giving generously to what God is doing. We can risk our own reputation because God already delights in us. Christians should be the most entrepreneurial, the most risk taking, the most audacious people in the world—because the Bible promises that God can do far more “than all that we ask or think.”

In Ephesians 3, the apostle Paul is praying for the Ephesian church, and his prayer is for us too. We see two themes emerge as he prays, and the first is for strength: “He may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being” (v. 16). He’s saying, Deep in your very being, I want you to be strong in the Spirit.
Then in verse 18, he prays that we would “have strength to comprehend” with the whole church, the fullness of God’s love. The world is in opposition to the kingdom of God, and it’s fighting to pull you away, to lure you back into its kingdom. You need strength, endurance and steadfastness to increase in your knowledge and everyday experience of the love of God. So, the second theme is God’s love. In verse 17, he prays that we would be “rooted and grounded in love,” and in verse 19, that we would “know the love of God that surpasses knowledge.” Paul wants you to experience God’s love, not just know that it exists. We need spiritual strength to increase our experiential knowledge of God’s love.
I listen to the Huberman Lab podcast, and one episode discussed the science of muscle growth. For a muscle to get stronger, it has to be stressed; there has to be weight, tension, exertion. Likewise, our spiritual heart—our spiritual strength—needs the same thing. God wants to stretch our faith, he wants us to seek him, to live daringly, to put our hands to the plow. Paul is essentially saying that our spiritual strength needs to grow to receive all that God is doing—to be filled with all the fullness of God. Jesus is ready to call you into something more than you can even ask or think or imagine, but maybe you’re not ready yet to receive it.
There’s a prayer from the Valley of Vision (a collection of Puritan prayers) that says, “There is still so much unconquered territory in my heart.”[1] Are there corners of your heart that are not given over to him? The book, Why Revival Tarries, asks something similar: “Can the Holy Spirit be invited to take us by the hand down the corridors of our souls? Are there not secret springs, and secret motives that control, and secret chambers where other things hold empire over the soul?”[2] That phrase, where other things hold empire over the soul, haunted me when I first read it. Likewise, the great theologian Augustine pleaded with the Lord: “Set love in order in me!”[3]
Your spiritual heart needs to get bigger to contain all that God has for you.
Read More

Related Posts:

.kb-row-layout-id223392_4ab238-bd > .kt-row-column-wrap{align-content:start;}:where(.kb-row-layout-id223392_4ab238-bd > .kt-row-column-wrap) > .wp-block-kadence-column{justify-content:start;}.kb-row-layout-id223392_4ab238-bd > .kt-row-column-wrap{column-gap:var(–global-kb-gap-md, 2rem);row-gap:var(–global-kb-gap-md, 2rem);padding-top:var(–global-kb-spacing-sm, 1.5rem);padding-bottom:var(–global-kb-spacing-sm, 1.5rem);grid-template-columns:minmax(0, 1fr);}.kb-row-layout-id223392_4ab238-bd{background-color:#dddddd;}.kb-row-layout-id223392_4ab238-bd > .kt-row-layout-overlay{opacity:0.30;}@media all and (max-width: 1024px){.kb-row-layout-id223392_4ab238-bd > .kt-row-column-wrap{grid-template-columns:minmax(0, 1fr);}}@media all and (max-width: 767px){.kb-row-layout-id223392_4ab238-bd > .kt-row-column-wrap{grid-template-columns:minmax(0, 1fr);}}
.kadence-column223392_96a96c-18 > .kt-inside-inner-col,.kadence-column223392_96a96c-18 > .kt-inside-inner-col:before{border-top-left-radius:0px;border-top-right-radius:0px;border-bottom-right-radius:0px;border-bottom-left-radius:0px;}.kadence-column223392_96a96c-18 > .kt-inside-inner-col{column-gap:var(–global-kb-gap-sm, 1rem);}.kadence-column223392_96a96c-18 > .kt-inside-inner-col{flex-direction:column;}.kadence-column223392_96a96c-18 > .kt-inside-inner-col > .aligncenter{width:100%;}.kadence-column223392_96a96c-18 > .kt-inside-inner-col:before{opacity:0.3;}.kadence-column223392_96a96c-18{position:relative;}@media all and (max-width: 1024px){.kadence-column223392_96a96c-18 > .kt-inside-inner-col{flex-direction:column;}}@media all and (max-width: 767px){.kadence-column223392_96a96c-18 > .kt-inside-inner-col{flex-direction:column;}}

Subscribe to Free “Top 10 Stories” Email
Get the top 10 stories from The Aquila Report in your inbox every Tuesday morning.