The Key To Repentance

The Key to Repentance Acts 3:19-20 Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord…NIV Repentance can be an elusive idea that we struggle to grasp for much of our Christian life. Due to our human nature, (especially our proclivity toward a performance oriented lifestyle), we can also create distorted views of what repentance means that add additional burdens to our life. Eventually the word repentance carries a negative connotation, which fills us with guilt, hopelessness, and doubt, because of the seemingly insurmountable challenge of actually changing our lives. On the contrary, an interesting point about repentance is that something that we view as so complex, the apostle Paul qualified as part of the basic Christian teachings: Heb 6:1 6:1 Therefore let us leave the elementary teachings about Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again the foundation of repentance from acts that lead to death…NIV In its simplicity, the bible’s definition of repentance begins with a change of perspective that ends in a change of lifestyle. The complexity that we feel toward repentance is usually caused by an incomplete approach to repentance where we focus more on the change of our actions, yet neglect attending to changing our minds and hearts. Above all, we must understand that to truly repent, we must gain the perspective that God requires of us, that will lead to a godly life, and which will eventually result in our salvation. The Nature of Sin and the Power of Repentance In order to understand what the key to repentance is, we must understand and come to grips with the nature of the sin that we attempt to repent of. You see, sin is a symptom of a greater and deeper heart problem. Sin is a sign to us that there are morally deficient flaws within our hearts and that there is a major problem with our commitment to God. Sin is a byproduct of a much more important issue that must be dealt with if we are to maintain a relationship with God and ultimately make it to heaven. Instead of giving our attention to changing the sinful behaviors in our life, we need to focus on repairing the source of those behaviors, namely, our hearts: Mark 7:20-23

20 He went on: "What comes out of a man is what makes him 'unclean.' 21 For from within, out of men's hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, 22 greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. 23 All these evils come from inside and make a man 'unclean.'" NIV One simple yet profound truth about sin is that it has its foundation in selfishness and pride. We sin because we selfishly decide to put our needs above God’s needs. For example, if God says, “Be pure and patiently wait for me to fulfill you.” If our desire to meet the needs of self is greater than the desire to meet God’s desires, in our hearts we will say, “God I am not willing to sacrifice my needs to wait on you.” And, of course, the result is sin. On the other hand, if we die to ourselves, a dead person has no needs to compete with the needs of God; and the result is the willingness to suffer and a wholehearted obedience to God. This is why the bible says: Rom 6:5-7 6 For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin— 7 because anyone who has died has been freed from sin. NIV Or 1 Peter 4:1-3 4:1 Therefore, since Christ suffered in his body, arm yourselves also with the same attitude, because he who has suffered in his body is done with sin. 2 As a result, he does not live the rest of his earthly life for evil human desires, but rather for the will of God. NIV Sin also has its foundation in pride. We create the propensity toward sin when we trust our own perspective over God’s, (which is the definition of pride). What I mean is, God says, “I will fulfill you,” and sin says, “No, I will fulfill you.” When we sin we are telling God, “God, you don’t know what you are talking about; I think that the sinful way is a better choice.” Or, for example, if we are undergoing a challenging situation, God says, “Do not worry, do not fret, and do not be anxious, but put your faith in me.” In spite of God’s encouragement, we give in to our worry, fret and anxiety, which in essence, communicates to God, “God I know what you say about your love for me and your promise to help me; but what I think seems to me a better idea, so I will trust what I think and take matters into my own hands.” Since pride leads to sin, in order to combat sin we need to deal with our hearts by recommitting our lives to God, by humbling ourselves and making Jesus Lord. To make Jesus the Lord of our life, means that we will listen and honor what God says above what we think and what anyone else thinks. This will put us in situation that will make it impossible to sin; or if in a moment of weakness we do sin, to repent

quickly. This is because our commitment to God will not allow our pride to compete with Jesus’ lordship, and we will do what God says over what we believe. As the bible says: Luke 9:23 23 Then he said to them all: "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. NIV 2 Cor 5:13-15 14 For Christ's love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died . 15 And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again. NIV Luke 14:33 33 In the same way, any of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple. NIV Therefore, the key to repentance is our daily commitment to the Lordship of Christ, and the daily act of putting ourselves to death. Those words should sound familiar to us because these were the decisions that we made when we first became Christians: Acts 2:38-39 38 Peter replied, "Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. NIV Acts 3:19-20 Repent , then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord…NIV Rom 6:1-2 2 By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? NIV You see as Christ does not change, the repentance He expects from us does not change. He expects us to maintain the commitment that we made at our conversion every second of every day. If we struggle or give in to sin, it is because there is a problem with our commitment, rather than a problem with our selfdiscipline. If we are going through the cycle of indulging in sin, saying we repent, and then constantly falling back into sin; (and the sins I speak of are not just the blatant sins of sexual immorality, lust, murder, and malice, but also the more subtle sins such as: impatience, harshness, lack of gentleness, greed, worry, etc.), the

cause of this sinful cycle, is that we have probably allowed our old self to resurrect itself, and have decided to listen to our opinions rather than the voice of God. We should therefore, stop trying to change our behavior and focus more on changing our heart and mind. When I sin, I should remember the cross, and recommit to dying to myself and again make Jesus the Lord of my life. This in turn will help me develop my spiritual convictions, which will help me to maintain my wholehearted devotion to God that will eventually lead to a transformed life: Rom 12:1-2 12:1 Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God — this is your spiritual act of worship . 2 Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is — his good, pleasing and perfect will. NIV Ultimately, the stronger our convictions grow, and the more we are changed, the more chance we have of making it to heaven, because having deeper roots will prevent us from ever falling: 2 Peter 1:10-11 10 Therefore, my brothers, be all the more eager to make your calling and election sure. For if you do these things, you will never fall, 11 and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. NIV Tips for Daily Maintaining Our Commitment to God Here are some tips that will help us to daily maintain our commitment to Jesus’ lordship in our lives, and daily die to ourselves: 1. Proclaim, “Jesus is Lord.”: Actually saying the words out loud or to ourselves, helps remind us of the commitment we made to die to ourselves and make Jesus Lord, at our conversion. If you can say this when you first wake up and throughout the day, even better. 2. Read the bible often: The bible is what convicted our hearts and converted us to Christ originally (Acts 2:37), and it will continue to do so throughout our Christian life (Hebrews 4: 12-13). 3. Pray for a soft heart: We needed a soft heart to be converted to Christ, and God provided us with one at our conversion (Ezekiel 36:26); He will continue to keep our hearts soft if we ask Him. 4. Confess your sins: Confession helps us to see the stupidity of our sin, our unfaithfulness to God, and helps others to pray for our hearts and guide us to recommit ourselves to Christ (James 5:16). For those who listen to the

confessions of others, remember, our role is to help restore people’s hearts to Christ, not to help them regulate their behavior (Galatians 6: 1; James 5:20). In conclusion, the key to repentance is to live out the commitment we made at our conversion on a daily basis. We are to put to death our old self, and keep it dead; and we are to put God’s perspective above our own, by daily denying ourselves and making Jesus Lord. The continual pursuit of this godly lifestyle will develop in us a life no longer mired in a struggle with sin, but a life that will bring us glory, honor and praise when Jesus Christ is revealed. To Him be the glory forever and ever, Amen. WP