March 11, 2026
Lenten Service at
Farner Evangelical Presbyterian Church
During Lent, we are called to give special attention to our relationship with God. As one of the oldest observations in Christendom, Lenten tradition has changed over the years, but its purpose has always been the same: self-examination and repentance, demonstrated by self-denial, in preparation for Easter.
The word Lent, comes from a word for “spring,” it can be viewed as a spiritual spring cleaning: a time for taking spiritual inventory and then cleaning out everything which hinders a relationship with Christ.
However, we must realize that any Lenten disciplines we demonstrate before God should be practiced to help us become closer to Christ and become more like Him, it’s not to wallow in our repentance or try to gain favor or earn more love from God.
The message of Lent is a message of looking into our own souls, it is a message of reflecting on our sinfulness, facing our temptations, finding strength in scripture, and ultimately looking to the cross of Christ and seeing our sin being nailed there, our punishment being taken away by Christ.
Lent is intended to be a season of preparation. We prepare our hearts and minds for Easter. That preparation involves engaging in various spiritual practices. These traditionally include prayer, confession, acts of service, and almsgiving. It also can involve what’s called “denial of the flesh.” In other words, we give up something for Lent.
The season of Lent is intended to revive our faith. These extra spiritual practices breathe additional oxygen into us. They kindle the flames of faith.
So, with that let’s look at some of these.
1. THE LENTEN SEASON IS THE TIME OF PREPARATION, it is intentionally set aside for examination, instruction, repentance and prayer. This season is one of preparation for all the people of God.
Galatians 6:3-5 For if anyone thinks himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself. But let each one examine his own work, and then he will have rejoicing in himself alone, and not in another. For each one shall bear his own load.
Lent is the time for mourning, and sadness over our sins. In the Lenten season, self-examination is crucial. An individual’s response to the call for purposeful reflection on one’s need for God is an important factor in choosing a discipline with which to actively observe Lent.
For some, fasting is a means of self-examination and denial. The purpose of a Lenten discipline is to strip away those things which clutter one’s life or impede one from being in relationship with God.
Examine our self. That is precisely what the Bible teaches us to do every time we recall Jesus’ death by participating in the Lord’s Supper. But how do we examine ourselves? Allow me to suggest three areas that should be included as a part of our self-examination.
1. Examine our relationship with God.
What does our relationship with God consist of?
Does it consist of a true and total surrender of our will to the sovereign will of God; exchanging our agenda for His agenda?
Many people who have accepted the gospel have done so because of the benefits that are received as a result of knowing Christ. He gives joy, peace, healing, meaning for life, glue for a marriage, the promise of heaven, on and on.
So, they base their relationship with God on these benefits, but they never cross over into a relationship of total commitment. Consequently, we have an entire generation of nominal Christians who know nothing about power with God because they know little about true commitment and surrender to God.
Just how committed is God to us? Well, Jesus died for us to be saved; not only for us to receive the benefits of His death, but He died to have complete rule over us. (Romans 14:9)
So let’s Examine our relationship with God. Are we making our own decisions without regard to whether it’s God’s will or only our will? Let our relationship with God be one where only He rules.
2. Examine our relationship with others.
Before a person comes to God, he basically lives for himself because man’s basic nature is self-centered. An unsaved person has little or no awareness of God’s laws and certainly has no regard for them. But when that person is saved, he is also transformed by the power of God. That self-centeredness is replaced with a humility and love for others. In fact, the Bible clearly teaches what the basis of our relationship with others should be.
Philippians 2:3 (ESV)
3 Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.
Romans 10:12 (ESV)
12 For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him.
Unfortunately, we live in a society where we are taught to demand our rights. Some Christians have also demanded their right to make decisions without worrying about whether others are affected or not.
They say, “I can do whatever I want. I have no obligation to other believers.” The truth is no, we don’t have that right, and yes, we do have that obligation. In fact, if our actions confuse young Christians and cause them to stumble, we will be accountable to God.
Matthew 18:6 (ESV)
6 but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened around his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea.
God is committed to building a loving family, so much so that He does not even want us to approach Him if we are in conflict with a fellow believer.
Matthew 5:23-24 (ESV)
23 So if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you,
24 leave your gift there before the altar and go. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift.
So, examine our relationship with others. Are we placing our interests and desires before others? Are we making our decisions without any consideration for how others will be affected? Is there unresolved conflict with others?
3. Examine our relationship with the church.
a. What is this thing we call the Church. The church is the family of God, those who have been saved and transformed; those who have been called out of the world, living in community with one another. The church meets together for worship, the church is accountable to one another, and the church reaches out to the unsaved.
b. Why is it important to be committed to the church? Because God is committed to it, so much so that His son gave His life for the church.
Ephesians 5:25 (ESV)
25 Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, because in being committed to it, we have power that hell itself cannot overcome.
Matthew 16:18 (ESV)
18 And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
c. Examine our relationship to the church. Are we as committed to it as Jesus is? Are we fully involved in the life of the church? Are we and our family reaping the benefits that come as a result of being committed to the church of God?
It is also a time for people to experience and reflect on the sufferings of Jesus, in light of personal sin and unrighteousness.
Hebrews 12:1-3 Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, 2 looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. 3 For consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners against Himself, lest you become weary and discouraged in your soul.
III. THE LENTEN SEASON IS THE TIME FOR SPECIAL PRAYER
During Lent many people give extra time to personal and public prayer.
2 Chronicles 7:14 If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.
IV. THE LENTEN SEASON CAN BE A TIME OF SPIRITUAL RENEWAL AND GROWTH
As Christ fasted and prayed in the desert for forty days, we try to be mindful of Christ for the standards by which we live our lives, with goals of self-giving and suffering love. With such high goals, any response may seem to fall short, yet an attempt to incorporate prayer, meditation, and useful action in the path of Christ into our lives, is invaluable.
Luke 9:23 Then He said to them all, "If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.
V. THE LENTEN SEASON IS THE TIME TO SHARE WITH OTHERS THE HOPE FOUND IN A RELATIONSHIP WITH JESUS CHRIST.
Colossians 1:27 To them God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles: which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.
The mystery was this: That God would let anybody be acceptable to Him. The mystery was that God would allow those who had been His enemies to now be called His friends, The mystery was that God would forever accept anyone like you - or like me and allow us to become His children.
It’s even more of a mystery that God would accept those who EVEN we would have trouble accepting: The prostitutes, homosexuals, adulterers, murders, thieves & swindlers, and worse… sometimes our attitude says God certainly couldn’t forgive such people, the hurt and pain and loss they had caused others. And God agrees… these people don’t deserve to go to Heaven.
These people have no right to get into heaven… but that’s the mystery. They can get into heaven. Paul continues telling the Corinthian church “… that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.” 1 Corinthians 6:11
OH? What did they DO? What did we do to be acceptable to God? What act of contrition was sufficient to ever make God change His mind and forgive them, and us?
The answer: NOTHING…nothing… they, nor we could do nothing to make God change His mind. But now He has reconciled us by Christ’s physical body through death to present us holy in His sight, without blemish and free from accusation—“
Nothing we have done has merited our salvation. Neither our faith, nor our repentance, nor our confessing Him as our Lord, nor our baptism – none of that has EARNED us a place in heaven.
That’s how we respond to God’s gift… but those responses didn’t do one single thing to “purchase” our salvation. It is Christ’s death on the cross that gives us our salvation.
Paul is telling the Colossians (and us) this is reality. Now, Accept it… Believe it… Live like it.
So Lent is a time of the year when we put everything in perspective. We ponder this very big problem of sin, and we also ponder God’s reaction to this problem. He says those three words to us – “I love you.”
He does something that really is beyond our understanding – God becomes the slave of the world. The king becomes the servant. The owner of everything becomes someone who is homeless, one who sleeps outside. The one who is worshiped by angels becomes the one who is mocked by men.
God lowers Himself, humbles Himself, to take away our sins and the sins of the whole world – He gives His life as a ransom for all. Why are you doing all this, God? Why?
And what does God say? What are those three words? God does all of this because He loves us. There is nothing greater, nothing bigger, than this. That’s what Jesus was trying to tell His disciples who weren’t paying attention, and that’s what Jesus is telling us today.
Don’t let the earthly things of life cause you to miss out on what Jesus is saying. Resist the temptation to zone out, to not care, because you are so wrapped up in your earthly life.
During this season of Lent, take a moment and think about and ponder the amazing grace of God. He loved us so much that He died for us. And after doing that, He rose again from the dead. The Son of Man comes to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many.
I am encouraging you to think of some ways that you can employ some form of self-discipline and at the same time cultivate acts of love. The key elements are that you must exercise your will in a self-disciplined way and you must take that energy and offer it to God.
Summing it all up, Lent is a season of slowing down, of making space for God to speak into our hearts. And what better image for this season than a table — a place where we gather, share, and are nourished.
When Jesus sat at the table with the disciples after the resurrection, it wasn’t just about bread. It was about presence. In the breaking of bread, their eyes were opened to see Him for who He truly was.
Lenten lunches are more than a meal; they are a reminder that God meets us in the ordinary. A sandwich, a bowl of soup, a shared laugh — these can be holy moments when we pause to notice Christ among us.
Lent invites us to bring our hunger — not just for food, but for peace, forgiveness, and hope — to the table of grace. Here, no one is turned away. Here, we are reminded that God’s love is abundant and freely given.
As you share this meal today, what is one way you can “open your eyes” to see Christ in the people around you?
Lord, thank You for meeting us at the table — in bread, in fellowship, in grace. Open our eyes to see You in the faces we meet and the moments we share. Amen.