Repentance. The message of Jesus' forerunner, John the Baptist, was "repent for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand." What is repentance? Why is it necessary in order to enter the Kingdom of Heaven? Repentance is a lost concept in much of the modern church. It is the act of "turning from" something (making an about face). It is an action that we must take in order for real change to take place in our lives. In regard to the Kingdom of Heaven, what are we to turn from? In its simplest form, repentance is turning from Sin. Sin begins dominating our earthly existence at the moment we arrive. This world that we live in is marred by Sin. Sin is anything that separates us from God. Sometimes it is the things that we do. Sometimes it is the things we do not do. The problem with Sin is that only the Holy Spirit is able to show us what is Sin and what is not. Sin can be not only bad things but also good things according to the view of the world. An example is selfishness (putting self before others). However, the world tells us that selfishness is just good psychology. Focus on taking care of self and you'll be better able to take care of others. The Bible, illuminated by the Holy Spirit, teaches us that selfishness is Sin. We are to put others before ourselves and trust God to take care of us. See the difference? In regard to this issue, much of the modern church has tried to blend the teachings of the world (which are often a propagation of Sin), with the teachings of the Bible. We are told that if we tithe, God will meet our needs. If we are faithful, God will make us well. All of these are veiled ways of putting self first. The Bible way is to seek the Kingdom of God first, and all these things that we long for are promised (but in the context of fulfilling God's Will for our lives). Part of the difficulty of what we are promised is the phrase "according to His Will." It is true that Jesus said that if we ask anything according to the Father's Will, it will be done. However, our will must be lined up and in sync with His Will. There is a narrative in the gospels where Jesus is "late" in praying for Lazarus who was sick and subsequently died before he arrived. Jesus made this statement when questioned about it. "This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God that the Son might be glorified.' The implication is that some sicknesses are unto death while others are an opportunity for the Son to be glorified through the healing of the person. This is a truth that is not circulated in the modern church to a large degree. It is a fallacy to believe that when we ask for healing, God grants that request in every instance. Even experience will testify that this is false. How many of you have prayed or had some Godly person or group of people who are seeking God to pray for someone and they did not get well but rather died and left this present world with Christians wondering who didn't have enough faith to believe for the healing. Was it the person who was sick or the people praying for the person who was sick who did not have enough faith? Sometimes it is neither. Rather, that sickness was unto death. Remember, God does not view life as linear with a set end as many Christians do. He views us as eternal beings that he wants to have fellowship with throughout eternity. That means that His will is not confined to the things we see in this present sin dominated world, but rather he sees us as eternal creatures with whom this "life" we call our lifetime is only a small blip on the line of eternity. This is just one example of how we misinterpret God's plan for us and those around us. We often have a different agenda. We are looking at our life times and what we want out of this life. God, who has been reminding man repeatedly since sin entered the world, has been communicating His eternal Kingdom as the focus of not only the time to come but NOW. John the Baptist's message was that the Kingdom of God was here NOW. Jesus made it possible for us to live in Kingdom authority and Kingdom rule because of his reconciliatory death on the cross.
Back to our subject of the day, repentance. What is repentance? It is the act of turning back toward God and His plans for our lives in the Kingdom of God instead of our pursuit of our own self goals in the kingdoms of this world. Repentance is saying, "I want to turn back to being submissive to the laws and principles of the Kingdom of God rather than all of the ever changing goals and pursuits of this present world. Keep in mind that often these pursuits of the world are not necessarily bad things but they keep us from the Kingdom things. Kingdom people begin to live from a Kingdom perspective. This is the process of discipleship in our lives. Our outlook changes. Eternity becomes more of a reality because an eternal perspective is a Kingdom characteristic.
Recently, there has been a movie production on the life of Dietrick Bonhoeffer. He was a man dedicated to God and to others. His life exemplified sacrifice even to the point of death at the hands of the Nazi regime. How does someone live this way? The only way to live that type of life is to live in another Kingdom that is not of this world. It is a Kingdom where this world's fears and goals pale in comparison to the Kingdom truths and principles of life. Why were the disciples of Jesus who struggled with accepting His teaching while he was with them in this world able to suffer martyrdom at the hands of those who persecuted them for their faith in the Son of God? Simply because they lived as citizens of another Kingdom and were willing to give their lives up in service to the Kingdom in which they live. The law of the Kingdom is that we will never die. Only those who live by the laws of this earthly kingdom see death as an end.
Repentance is often forgotten in our discussions about salvation. Remember however that the Bible mentions repentance as a pre-cursor to salvation. "Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins." When salvation is discussed many places in the New Testament, repentance is implied if not explicitly stated in every case. Why is it so important? It is the catalyst for change. The implication is that we must give up something in order to be able to receive something else. We cannot be heading in two opposing directions at the same time. To move toward God is to move away from the world. That is repentance. There is even a passage of scripture that says to bring forth fruit worthy of repentance. What does that mean? It means that the responsibility of making the change begins with our willingness to embrace what God has for us. In order to do that, we must release or give up our way (the way that seems right to a worldly man).
The fruit of the life of a person who experiences true salvation is radical change (repentance). It is turning away from the worldly things that dominated our lives to having the Holy Spirit dominate our life by filling it with the things of God. "By their fruits you shall know them..."
