Jul 26, 2010
Jesus call to repent and believe
Posted by Mitch Sliwa in Gospel Living - Theology | Comments (2)
In Mark 1:15 Jesus begins his ministry by proclaiming “The time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the gospel!”. This call to repent and believe is something very important to the scriptures and to the Christian faith. Apart from this call, Christianity would be no different than other religions. Theologians will call this the "External Gospel Call" because it is something done openly to all people. God has called everyone, everywhere to repent and believe the Gospel and it is our job as Christians to share this Gospel call with people. This call is not exclusive in any way, but it is for all people. There is something about this call, that if misunderstood leads to a very serious error.
Some folks have truncated the meaning of this call and understand it to only apply to those who don't have faith in Jesus. Many people believe that the Gospel is for people who don't have faith in Jesus. Some people might not actually say they believe that, but based off their actions they believe it functionally. I used to visit a church where the pastor would address the Christians in the service with one message, and then turn his attention to folks he called "unbelievers" and then changed the demeanor in which he spoke. He would always address them separately and "preach the gospel" to them. This is very disconnected to the true meaning of the call of Jesus to "repent and believe the gospel"! When Jesus called folks to repent and believe, it applied to the Apostle Paul, Pharisees, Tax collectors and all of the 12 disciples. The command to repent and believe is for all people at all times whether they are Christian, Buddhist, atheist, Rastafarian or agnostic. I need to repent and believe every time I am living in a way that shows I am actively not believing the Gospel.
A few weeks ago, Pastor Todd was preaching about this subject and talked about how Christians are Theotropic just as a plant is heliotropic. The plant grows through heliotropism, which is when it grows as it points toward the sun. If the plant did not do this, it would either starve and die or its growth would be stunted significantly. The Christian is like the plant in this regard. We must always repent of our sin, which is to turn away from our idols and believe the Gospel, which is to turn towards God and find our satisfaction in Him and his promises.
The life of a Christian is one of daily asking God for help to repent and believe the Gospel! If we refuse to repent and believe our growth in Jesus will be stunted and we will find very little if any true lasting joy in our lives. The Christian who continually realigns their focus to Jesus and His Gospel will find true joy and peace in their hearts. I spend much of my life turned away from the Son and focused towards other things. I run harder after my idols than I do after God hoping to find some sort of happiness. The idols always lie and promise something good, in the end I am always shown that the idol is a lie because I find no true lasting joy.
I hope and pray that as you read this, you don't allow yourself to view the Gospel as a little "thing" that gets tagged on at the end of a sermon which is directed to people who haven't gone to the front of the church yet. Many church's use the Gospel as a means to convince people to go up front and "choose Jesus". The Gospel is not a means to manipulate people into an emotional decision. The Gospel is meant to plow up our stony hearts so that we desire God. This is true for the unconverted as much as it is the converted.
Posted by Mitch Sliwa in Gospel Living - Theology | Comments (2)
Mitch Sliwa
Tracy, great comments! Its very true, Jesus feeds our hunger in life. I still forget and try and fill up on other stuff, I always end up hungry and searching for more.
Tracy
great article! “The Christian who continually realigns their focus to Jesus and His Gospel will find true joy and peace in their hearts.” - This really stuck out to me and puts focus on what truly is important. For the longest time, the Gospel was just pages and nothing applied to me. Now, it’s just as important as food or water. We all need it to grow, be healthy and be whole…same thing with the Gospel. It feeds the hunger and thirst that Jesus can only provide and without it, we starve.