What Does
'Repentance' Mean?
By Rev. Paul
J. Bern
Having
spent last week commenting on politics as it applies to Christianity,
it has come to my attention that more of my readers want me to focus
on preaching and teaching the Word to the very best of my ability (so
help me God) and a little less on the political stuff. So this week –
after all, I work constantly at being a better listener – I'm going
to write about repentance and what it means in a Biblical context. I
have chosen repentance as a topic because I don't think there are
enough pastors talking about this topic on Sunday morning, or any
other for that matter. I'm seeing too much sugar-coated feel-good
Christianity and insufficient genuine teaching on how to remain a
Christian once one commits their life and faith to Jesus Christ.
Anyone can profess their faith in Christ, you can even call yourself
an 'apostle', 'bishop' or 'evangelist', or most any other title, but
if we're not living our faith, our words – no matter how many –
have no real meaning. As Jesus once said, “Not everyone who says
to me, 'Lord, Lord', will see the kingdom of God”.
Repentance
simply means to have a change of heart and a renewal of the mind. It
means that while we were once acting in a negative, destructive and
self-centered ways, we are now conducting ourselves in a positive and
uplifting manner that benefits others first and ourselves second, or
third if you're raising kids. Can we do this by ourselves? How about
with the help of others? The answer to both questions is no. The
simple fact is that nobody in and of their natural selves can be nice
to everybody all of the time. And then there are those who simply
refuse to be nice to anybody, but that's a separate topic. The only
way we as humans can accomplish this is by the indwelling of the Holy
Spirit. Can the Holy Spirit come in and dwell within anyone's heart
on his own volition? No, because Jesus is always the perfect
gentleman. He never forces his way into anyone's heart. We have to
ask Him. If we have never asked Jesus to come and live in our hearts
before, he's not yet there. But if we ask Him to come in and make his
home within us, not only will he take great pleasure in doing exactly
that, Jesus stays there for our entire lifetime on this planet. Jesus
stays with his children like a doting parent until it's time for us
to go and meet the Father and to live forever with his Son.
How is all
this accomplished? It starts with a simple prayer: “Dear Jesus,
I've been a sinner because of my lack of commitment to you, as well
as because of certain bad things I have done in my past. I'm really
sorry I did all those things, and for not believing in you with all
my heart, mind and soul. Please forgive me, Lord Jesus, and come into
my heart to live forever. Let the indwelling of your Holy Spirit
change me forever. Help me to better live the rest of my life for you
as best as I can. In Jesus' mighty name, amen.” For those reading
this who have never given their lives to Christ before, pray the
prayer I wrote above if you have not already done so. You have now
professed your faith in Jesus Christ, who is God's only Son, and you
have basically dedicated the rest of your life to serving Him first
before anything else. Does this mean we all have to become religious
zealots now that we have done this? Not at all! Being religious means
being an adherent to a set of beliefs, such as Catholicism, some of
the Southern Baptists, the Mormons, Jehovah's Witnesses and all the
other cult churches that are out there. Like it or not, too often
there are certain religious people who follow a certain faith instead
of the Man who was the very origin of it – Jesus Christ the Lord of
all. Being a follower of Christ means we follow Him alone. We don't
follow the cult churches – and all denominations have elements of
cultism within them to varying degrees. This is quite the contrary of
what organized religion ('Church, Inc.') teaches, which is that they
have the only correct answer when it comes to the interpretation of
the Gospels. Yet I continue to insist that if everybody else is wrong
but one, then no single church is completely correct in their
interpretation of the Scriptures, starting with the four gospels.
This is a regressive teaching, whereas what I teach as the Lord
commands is progressive teaching. They are polar opposites of one
another.
So after
making our commitment to Christ, the next step is repentance. I'm
going to use a small portion of Luke's gospel today to illustrate
what repentance actually means. For some people, it's not going to be
what you think. Let's go straight to the Source for the answer to
this question. “After this, Jesus went out and saw a tax
collector by the name of Levi sitting at his tax booth. 'Follow me',
Jesus said to him, and Levi got up, left everything and followed him.
Then Levi held a great banquet for Jesus at his house, and a large
crowd of tax collectors and others were eating with them. But the
Pharisees and the teachers of the law who belonged to their sect
complained to his disciples, 'Why do you eat and drink with tax
collectors and sinners?' Jesus answered them, 'It is not the healthy
who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the
righteous, but sinners to repentance.' They said to him, 'John's
disciples always fast and pray, and so do the disciples of the
Pharisees, but yours go on eating and drinking'.” (Luke chapter 5,
verses 27-35 NIV)
The
first thing I want to point out is how Levi the tax collector reacted
when Jesus called him. Let's pause to get a clear picture of what's
going on here. Did Levi follow Jesus just because his mom and dad
always taught him to 'do as you're told'? No, there was something
intangible in Jesus' voice that beckoned Matthew, or that attracted
him to Jesus right from the start. The flavor of that moment has been
lost to antiquity, but it can still be read in between the lines.
When you prayed the prayer I composed earlier in this posting, I was
beckoning you in the same way as Jesus did for Levi. We can all see
what happened next. Levi was so 'amped' about his new calling that he
threw a banquet for him and invited everybody he knew. But there is
so much more to this, and it has to do with the way I'm defining
repentance here through Levi's actions. Levi was a tax collector. He
had a function similar in some ways to the Internal Revenue Service
that we have here in the US today. As the text says, Levi was sitting
in his tax booth minding his own business when Jesus walked by and
simply said 'follow me'. Levi immediately got up and left his tax
booth. He willingly walked away from what must have been a very
successful career by modern standards. He wasn't worried about losing
his job. He didn't get very concerned about walking away from his
little one-man business. He didn't care about the loss of income like
we would today. Levi placed his complete faith and trust in Jesus, no
questions asked. If Jesus returned today, I wonder how many would
actually do that.
There
is something else going on here that continues unabated in some
churches to this very day – religious snobbery. The Pharisees of
Jesus' day literally thought they were better than the common folk
because of their alleged religious superiority. Certain
hyper-religious individuals that we have the misfortune of running
into occasionally have no problem conveying their smugness and
spiritual snobbery to anyone who has low enough self-esteem to listen
to such nonsense. Just look at the Pharisee's questions they were
asking. Hey Jesus, how come you hang out with tax collectors? Other
religious folks fast, so why don't you? You appear to eat and drink
to excess, don't you see how bad that looks to us? Why do you talk to
sinners (nonreligious people)? Jesus' response is spot-on, as always:
“It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have
not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”
Jesus didn't come to save the merciless, the arrogant, the conceited,
or the snobbish. Jesus came to save those who were man enough – or
woman enough – to admit they didn't have all the answers! Jesus
came for those who have come to the realization that they were
sinners in need of real salvation. This salvation of the individual
man or woman, as opposed to members of entire denominations, comes
from a personal commitment to have a personal 1-on-1 relationship
with Jesus Christ. He's the Son of God sure enough, but Jesus also
wants to be your best friend and confidant. The Pharisee's response
to this was to accuse Jesus and his disciples of eating and drinking
excessively. It was easier for them to condemn than it was to
consider Jesus' words. There are churches today that are still the
same way. Make no mistake – there will be no 'holier-than-thou's'
in heaven. God has a special place for those people to spend eternity
in, and it won't be paradise. So let's all be sure and repent of our
old ways and our sinful natures. It's the first step after believing,
and it's how we get close to Jesus.
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