REPENTANCE
In the first section on “Becoming like the god we serve; Serve Christ, share his destiny” we explored to some extent what it means that “the kingdom of God has come near.” With Jesus the kingdom became manifest in a new way. Through his miracles Jesus displayed the power of God; through his teaching he taught what kingdom living is like. In his human body Jesus brought heaven to earth. When he began his ministry Jesus was saying, “Watch me. Listen to me. I’m telling you who I am. Give me the honor that I deserve.” And the proper response was not to watch and demand more miracles–more food, more displays of power and more healings. The proper response was not to join him in a revolt against the Roman occupiers of Israelite territory. The proper response was, “Repent. Believe the good news” Mark 1:15).
What did Jesus mean by calling us to repent? Repent means to change our mind, change the direction of our life, change our allegiance, loyalty, and citizenship. Repentance means to change from following false gods to following the true God.
On Pentecost Peter called the people to repent. By killing Jesus, they showed themselves to belong to another kingdom, serving a different god. Jesus had said, “You have a “fine way of setting aside the commands of God in order to follow your own traditions!” (Mark 7:9). By creating their own tradition, they were creating a god after their own image instead of submitting to the true God revealed through the prophets. So, Peter spoke about Jesus using the Old Testament prophecies, and he ended his message by saying, “God has raised this Jesus to life . . . . God made this Jesus whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ” (Acts 2:32-33, 36). The audience was cut to the heart. They realized that they were not following the true God. They had not realized that it was Jesus who came from God. This Jesus whom they had rejected was shown to be Messiah from God. With the resurrection the truth came home. They asked Peter and the other disciples, “Brothers, what shall we do?” Peter’s response, “Repent and be baptized.” (Acts 2:38).
Later on, in Athens, Paul was distressed when he saw all of the idols there. To the Greek philosophers Paul spoke about the unknown God who is the Creator of all things, and on whom we are all dependent for everything. He concludes with these words, “Therefore since we are God’s offspring, we should not think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone—an image made by human design and skill. In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent. For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to everyone by raising him from the dead” (Acts 17:29-31). This was an urgent call to leave false gods to serve the true God.
Repentance means to transfer of allegiance from false gods to the true God. When immigrants become citizens, they pledge allegiance to our country. They swear, “I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one Nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.” By taking the step to come to America, they were repenting. They changed their mind. They saw no hope or future in their place of birth, so they decided to become part of a new country with a new way of life. They transferred their loyalty from their old country to their new one.
John in his first letter (2:15-16) tells us, “Do not love the world or anything in the world.” What is the world like? It dominated by the “lust of the flesh,” sexual pleasure, addictions of every sort, and bodily comfort and ease. It also lures with the “lust of the eyes,” prompting us to covet the latest new thing, and promising that this will make us happy and satisfied. And those of the world are characterized by the pride of life, the drive for power, position, and praise. John concludes by writing, “The world and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives forever.” Or as Peter puts it, “As foreigners and exiles in this world (we’re citizens of heaven) keep away from sinful desires that wage war against your soul. (1Peter 2:11). By not loving the world or anything in the world we are repenting. We are transferring our allegiance from a kingdom that has no future to a kingdom that promises eternal life.
Near the end of his life Frank Sinatra wrote a song that ends with these words. They are the words of an unrepentant soul:
For what is man, what has he got?
If not himself, then he has naught
To say the things he truly feels
And not the words of one who kneels
The record shows I took the blows
And did it my way, and did it my way
He says, and many Americans like him echo his words, “I say what I feel, I obey myself. I do what I want, I may suffer, but that’s OK. I do it my way.” Listen to Jesus’ probing question, “What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul?” (Mark 8:36). To repent would be to “say the words of one who kneels.” I no longer want to do it my way. I’ll do it your way, O Lord.
Jesus healed 10 lepers; only one returned to give thanks
We need to change direction. Jesus told the story of a wayward son who went away and then when he came to his sense returned to his father. The son didn’t like his father’s rules on the farm, so he took his father’s wealth and squandered it on partying and wild living. His friends were nothing more than leaches who sucked the life out of him. They got him hooked on drugs, alcohol, sex, and the drive for success. As a result, he lost family and everything of value, and became a slave to a pig farmer. There he wished that he could eat the fodder that the pigs ate, but no one gave his even that. Finally, after hitting bottom, he came to his senses, “I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired servants. So, he got up and went to his father.” (Lk 15:17-20). He returned, willing to be a servant and serve his father. He left from wanting to serve himself to wanting to serve his father.
Now, for someone to identify their false god, and turn from it, is not easy. It can start with remorse for doing something wrong and suffering the consequences. During one-on-counseling at the county jail an Inmate would sometimes say, “I just can’t forgive myself.” Besides being in jail for some infraction, he was abandoned by a wife who divorced him and who convinced a judge to bar him from seeing his children. He was sorry and vowed never to do “it” again, but it was too late to for him to get back what he had lost.
The important thing here is to help the person understand that his sin is first of all against God. He may have hurt others and himself, but that was secondary to his offense against God. Psalm 107 says, “Some sat in darkness, in utter darkness, prisoners suffering in iron chains, because they rebelled against God’s commands and despised the plans of the Most High. So he subjected them to bitter labor; they stumbled, and there was no one to help. Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble, and he save them from their distress” (107:10-13). “Let them give thanks to the Lord for his unfailing love” (107:15).
A person may not be able to forgive himself. What he needs is God’s forgiveness and then an acceptance of God’s discipline in his life. Both Judas and Peter had an agenda for the Messiah other than what Jesus outlined for himself (Matthew 16:21-23). Judas betrayed Jesus and could not forgive himself, nor could he face the other disciples; so, he went out and killed himself. Peter denied Jesus and went out weeping bitterly (Luke 22:62). Judas was not serving Jesus; he never was. He was intent on profiting from the disciples’ money bag, their expense account, so to speak (John 12:6). Peter was serving the Lord, and he returned to the Lord for grace and forgiveness. Not only was he forgiven, but he was reinstated into apostolic leadership (John 21:15-17). Paul wrote, “Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death” (2 Corinthians 7:10). To be sorry for doing wrong and suffering the consequences is not enough. We need to feel sorry for a broken relationship with God and return to him. Worldly repentance leads to self-pity and self-punishment. Repentance towards God produces peace because of the payment for our sin by Christ on the cross.