Jul 15, 2010
DISCIPLESHIP: Repentance
Posted by Pastor Todd Murphy in | Comments (5)
When John the Baptizer appeared on the opposite side of the Jordan river preaching the coming of the kingdom of God, his message was a call to repentance (Matt 3:2). In the same way so was the ministry of Jesus marked by a call to repentance as was the continuing ministries of the the apostles. What is repentance? It is the core biblical idea of man dealing with his sin problem. It includes both the mind and the behavior. It is a change of mind that results in corresponding action. It describes an “about-face” in someone’s life orientation. For the Gospel of the kingdom, it describes how someone hears the call of discipleship, recognizes his or her inherent sin problem, believes the Gospel message, and then makes a conscious decision to obey its call. It is to reorient one’s life around the call of the Gospel rather than one’s natural worldly pursuits.
Probably the biggest mistake that is often made today regarding repentance is the same one we spoke of earlier regarding faith, and that is to place the majority of emphasis on the first time. As we have said here, most evangelical varieties have their roots in the conversionist thinking of the Second Great Awakening. This means that they have a constant temptation among some to speak of repentance as something that is completed in the past. For instance one popular and fast growing evangelical tradition actually rejects the idea of the Christian even calling themselves sinners (even though the Apostle Paul does of himself often as in 1 Tim 1:15) and refer to this as a “negative confession.” But the bible and especially Paul never avoids this. As he says in Rom. 5:8: “but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” To embrace the cross includes not only the work of Christ on the Cross, but all that it implies, especially what it was for. Christ died on the Cross to pay the penalty for sinners. When we embrace the cross, we implicitly embrace the fact of our deep sinfulness and need for a savior. To not admit our sinfulness is a rejection of the Cross too. This is why Luther proposed the dictum describing the Christian as both a sinner and redeemed. He described us as simul justus et pecatorum meaning “simultaneously justified and sinful.
This means that while we are sinners, we are also recipients of Christ’s justifying work on the cross to pay the penalty for our sin. This is what we call the “penal substitutionary atonement” meaning Christ dies as a substitute sacrifice in our place to pay the penalty for our sins, so that we could be with him. This condition is why placing all the focus on our original conversion is so theologically dangerous. It fails to recognize the constant need of repentance in the life of every Christian. True Christian conversion is one a one time experience, but in fact a conversion from a life of constant rebellion against God, to a life of a constant repentance to God for our rebellion against him. That rebellion is also not a thing of the past, but an ongoing reality that constantly besets us constantly requiring us to return to God prayerfully in humble repentance and faith. The life of a disciple is the life of repentance and nothing short. If you are not practicing repentance in your thought life and the amending of your behavior, you are not living as a disciple of Christ. You may have been baptized, you may go to church and do religious things, and you may call yourself Christian, but if you are not practicing a constant pursuit of Christ in repentance, your faith is a show.
This is why the early disciples “devoted themselves continually” to these things. It is also why we have built the ministry of SJC around these things, because the life of the disciple is the life of repentance. Everything we do is oriented toward teaching the biblical Gospel and evoking a life of repentance. This is also why the weekly celebration of the Lord’s table is a regular part of what we do here at SJC.
The Lord’s supper is the key opportunity for repentance in the life of the Church, much to the surprise of some. Repentance is in no way limited to the Lord’s table, but rather, the Lord’s table leads us in how to live this continuous life of repentance. Look at the instruction Paul gives to the Corinthians in 1 Cor. 11:28: “Let a person examine himself, then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup.” The term “examine” implies an introspective assessment by the worshipper of their life, behavior, and motives. Paul is calling them to examine themselves to discover the sin in their own lives, confess it to Christ as they take the supper, and receive forgiveness. This is just like how the worshipper bringing the sin offering in the Old Testament would “confess” their sins to the priest for forgiveness (Lev. 5). In the Lord’s table, we are called to come examine ourselves and confess our sins to our great high priest, Jesus Christ. This is how we keep short accounts with God.
This act of self examination and repentance is what Paul calls judging ourselves. The call of the disciple is the call to humbly and willingly turn from our sin and avoid God’s coming wrath against mankind. The world is naturally unrepentant and so it is looming under the threat of a coming judgment of mankind that it does not take seriously, but unfortunately for most it will be quite real and tragic. But the Christian is called to embrace that judgment in the here and now. We are called to repent of our idolatry, our self-service, even our wealth and comfort to serve Christ unreservedly now so that we may avoid the coming wrath. Note Paul’s further words to the Corinthians about the Lord’s Table in 11:31-32.
31 But if we judged ourselves truly, we would not be judged. 32 But when we are judged by the Lord, we are disciplined so that we may not be condemned along with the world.
Paul’s point is that if we willing judge ourselves, we will not be judged with the world. This judgement of the self is another way to speak of repentance for our personal sin and rebellion against God. Further, as Paul notes, because we willing submit ourselves to this judgement, we are judged by the lord with the discipline of sons, not the judgement of enemies the way the writer of Hebrews in chapter 12 admonishes us.
Discipling communities are meant to support and help us work out this life of repentance that is demonstrated and practiced in the Lord’s Table. While we practice the Lord’s table only in our corporate worship services on the Lord’s day right now, the Missional communities are designed to create a safe, loving and comforting environment for us to continue confessing our faults to one another. Note James 5:16:
James 5:16 Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. aThe prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.
This is why it is so important for us to practice both the Lord’s table and repentance often. Do we really think it was God’s plan for the Church to just repent once a month or even worse, once a quarter? How dangerous is that? But unfortunately that is what many churches do now because they have completely misunderstood the Lord’s Table. Repentance is the what it means to be Christian. Our discipling communities are for supporting sinners in the daily repentant pursuit of Christ and the Gospel. Discipleship is nothing less than the art of learning to live repentantly, namely to constant turning away for the worship of ourselves to the single-minded worship of the risen savior who has bought redemption for us.
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