Repentance

Because Jesus never sinned, He had no need to repent. However, He said that without repentance, there is no forgiveness of sin. The two are inseparable, but like the chicken and the egg it is difficult to say which comes first.

According to Scripture, Jesus died for us while we were still sinners. He also freely justifies the ungodly apart from anything we can do. Salvation is by grace through faith, a gift from God, not by our works, including repentance. However, if repentance is not evident, then salvation is not genuine. They go together.

In a short post like this, the mystery of the Gospel can only be stated, not explained. I’m not too certain I can even state it clearly, but I do know one thing: if my repentance is not real, then my sin is still in me and will pop up again and again. Confession and repentance must happen for sin to be forgiven and cleansed.

Paul had chastened the Christians at Corinth because they sinned. They were sorry for their sin, but there is a worldly sorrow that can happen when sin is found out and exposed. It is a “sorry I got caught” and is not repentance. Repentance is more like an about-face. Instead of being sorry because the sin isn’t working, isn’t doing anything for me, isn’t as pleasant as I’d hoped, repentance is about sorrow that turns me away from that sin and toward God. It is about hating the sin so much that I’ve no regret leaving it behind.

“As it is, I rejoice, not because you were grieved, but because you were grieved into repenting. For you felt a godly grief, so that you suffered no loss through us. For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death. For see what earnestness this godly grief has produced in you, but also what eagerness to clear yourselves, what indignation, what fear, what longing, what zeal, what punishment! At every point you have proved yourselves innocent in the matter.” (2 Corinthians 7:9–11)

Repentance is about wanting to change, to make things right. Repentance hates the sin and fears its power. Repentance longs to be righteous and is even zealous for godliness. It goes so far as even wanting punishment rather than vindication, but also wanting to be pure and innocent rather than defiled by that sin.

In other words, repentance means a change of character. The person who was once easily drawn into sin now hates the very thing once loved and is eager to prove it. This is not because sin hurts, or sin isn’t fun anymore, or sin has made enemies, and so on, but because sin is against God and now also against the very heart of the repenting person.

So what comes first; a change of heart or forgiveness? I repented when I found out God forgave me. I also have repented so God would forgive me. For this, I’m sort of leaning toward this being what race people call a dead heat or photo-finish. Repentance and forgiveness are so close together that who knows for sure which comes first?

We are creative, but . . .

Yesterday we celebrated the birth of Christ with our son who was here, and our daughter who lives several thousand miles away. Using a cell phone with a camera and our unlimited calling plan, the four of us played Boggle for more than an hour. We even used the egg timer and laughed ourselves silly. It was as if everyone was at the table.

Modern technology is amazing. After turkey and all our favorite trims, we watched a movie that also evidenced the power of technology. It may have cost several million dollars to make, but showed the power of the human mind to invent almost unbelievable things.

Yet just in case I get too carried away with the creativity and ability of man, God gives me this Scripture that shows a far greater power. What God can do always puts me on my knees before Him. No mere mortal can even come close to this. Read it slowly and worship . . .  

“And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified. What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written, ‘For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.’ No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8:28–39) 

Covetous? Or rich toward God!

About a week ago we had an appointment with our lawyer to update our wills. In order to help us with the process, he was obligated to present us with all the ‘worst case scenarios’ that he could think of. By the time he was finished with all the ‘what-ifs’ I was becoming impatient. Most of what he said sounded as if they came from the script of a terrible soap opera. However, he assured us that things like this happen, that families do fight over wills and inheritances, even though I tried to convince him that our family does not.

Today’s reading takes me to Luke 12. Jesus is talking to a large gathering when someone in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.”

Our lawyer might mutter, “See, they fight and even ask God to pick sides,” but Jesus would not do it. He replied, “Man, who made me a judge or arbitrator over you?” Then, so all the crowd could hear, He said, “Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.”

This is so true. It even seems appropriate at Christmas to be reminded that our lives are not about stuff, not how much stuff we have, nor about how much stuff is placed under the Christmas tree. While most would nod in agreement, the truth comes out when a sibling tries to take that special item that “mom said I could have.”

In thinking about that, another truism comes to mind from the same passage in Luke. It gave me the second part of one of those ‘one-two punches’ that God often delivers . . .

The first came while we were at the Christmas Eve service in our church, singing and celebrating that God clothed Himself in human flesh and lived among us. I had struggled all day with something, one of those ‘I wants’ that I knew would never be under the Christmas tree, but the Lord used this special evening to speak to me. I was still thinking about it when He clearly said, “Your life is not about you.”

With that fresh in my mind, He took me today to the second part of Luke 12 where Jesus shared a parable with the crowd. He said, “The land of a rich man produced plentifully, and he thought to himself, ‘What shall I do, for I have nowhere to store my crops?’ And he said, ‘I will do this: I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.” ’ But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’ So is the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God.”

All that day I’d been wanting to lay up treasure for myself. It wasn’t more ‘stuff’ but it was something I thought would enrich my life. But God spoke two times stressing that my life is not about me, and if I try to make it about me, I will always feel impoverished. It is only when I’m fully consecrated to Him that I will feel rich and actually be rich.

“And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.” (Matthew 10:38–39)

Merry Christmas

“Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.” (James 1:17)

God is quicker at forgiving me than I am

In talking about making enemies and making friends, someone told me that he had been treated badly by someone he thought was a friend, then that person started to avoid him. I asked what he did about it. He said that he confronted the other person, punched his nose, and now they were the best of friends.

After laughing about this odd result, we decided that people expect to be punished for what they do, and when they are, their expectation is fulfilled and they are relieved. Both of us could remember other incidents where this proved to be the case. It is very common to expect punishment for doing the wrong thing.

But is that how God wants us to think? In studying the mind of Christ, the mind of sinners, and the minds of Christians who often fail to surrender to the mind of Christ, I’ve realized how much we do not understand the thoughts of God.

Today I looked up a verse about the judgment seat of Christ and found two opposite notions what it means. First, the verse: “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil.” (2 Corinthians 5:10)

The major response to this verse is that Christians will be judged at a raised platform much like Jesus stood on before Pilate. Knowing about this judgment seat is supposed to motivate us to do morally good things and avoid sin. We will be rewarded for the good we do and lose rewards because of any sinful actions. Some would add to this view that a believer’s deeds provide public evidence that shows our faith is real. This evidence is not the basis for salvation, but a demonstration of the genuineness of our faith.

The second notion about this verse says that the judgment seat refers to the place where the Lord will sit to evaluate believers’ lives for the purpose of giving them eternal rewards because it comes from the Greek word bēma. This was an elevated platform where victorious athletes (such as during the Olympics) went to receive their crowns. While this word is used in the NT to refer to the place of judging where Jesus stood before Pilate, the reference is definitely from the athletic analogy. Corinth had such a platform where both athletic rewards and legal justice were dispensed, so the Corinthians understood Paul’s reference.

But this is not the important part of this second view. It also says that the actions being judged in a believer’s life do not include sins because their judgment took place at the cross. As Ephesians 1:7 says, “In (Christ) we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace.”

This means 2 Corinthians 5:10 refers to all activities Christians do but the idea of those Greek terms “good or bad” are not about moral good and moral evil because sin has been completely dealt with by the death of the Savior. Rather, God will be comparing worthwhile, eternally valuable activities with useless or worthless ones. The point is that I am free to enjoy wholesome activities, but warned to spend most of my time and energy with what has eternal value.

I know there is something in me that wants to be punished for my sins. There must be, because every time that I disobey God, He does not strike me with lightning, but I spend days beating myself up. Yet as soon as I confess the matter to Him, I am forgiven and cleansed (1 John 1:9). He may chasten me for my own good, but He is not punishing me for sin. God has already put my sin on Christ who bore my punishment.

From this, it seems safe to say that the mind of Christ and the normal human mind are simply poles apart!