Lifestyle Repentance

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SOMA 101: LIVING INSIDE THE GOSPEL STORY: Session 6

Lifestyle Repentance SESSION SIX HAN D OUT

The Ongoing Work of the Gospel: Repent and Believe Our desire throughout the past several weeks is to learn to live life inside of the Gospel Story. One of the ways we do this is through a lifestyle of repentance. This was a theme of Jesus’ ministry because at the heart of the gospel is a turning from dependency on self and toward dependency on God. That is what repentance is – a turning from one thing and turning toward another. The entire problem of humanity can be summed up in Romans 1:21-32 – although we knew God, we did not glorify God or give thanks to Him; our thinking became futile and our hearts were darkened; we exchanged the truth of God for a lie and the Creator for created things; so God gave us over to our sinful desires. Jesus came to save us from this: His message was “Repent, and believe in the gospel” (Mark 1:15). Or as Matthew records it, “Repent, for the kingdom of Heaven is near” (Matthew 4:17). In effect, Jesus was saying turn back to God. Jesus is the light that shines into the darkness. He is the truth that dispels the lies. He is the way back and He is the life that replaces our depraved lives. Jesus goes on to say no one comes to the Father except through me (John 14:6).

Jesus’ message was repent and believe and the outcome was a return back to God through Him, because the goal of the gospel is God. And if the goal of the gospel is God, then our lives should be marked by ongoing repentance as we continue to turn back to God in belief. Martin Luther observed: “When our Lord and Master Jesus Christ said, ‘Repent,’ he willed the entire life of believers to be one of repentance.” In repentance, we confess our tendency to exchange the gospel with our performance and dishonesty, thus shrinking the cross. We turn from our dependency on false Saviors and fraudulent sources of righteousness and turn back again to Jesus as our only hope.

Repentance The words repent and believe can seem to be easily discernable concepts, however, like John Calvin said, “Our hearts are a factory of idols”. We are prone to make the concepts of repentance and belief vehicles for sin and selfishness. And at the core of our ongoing sanctification – being transformed into the image of Christ through the working out of the gospel – is gospel repentance and gospel belief. We are going to look at repentance this week and belief the next.

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SOMA 101: LIVING INSIDE THE GOSPEL STORY: Session 6

It is easy to become adept at counterfeit repentance in order to cover up our true heart motives and put on the façade of gospel living. This is why it is very important for us to understand the difference between false repentance and true repentance. Consider Hosea 6:1-4 and 7:14 At first it appears as though they are truly repentant, but what is really going on here?

Their repentance is not really repentance – it’s pain relief. They want their pain and suffering removed and they want it done quickly (After two days…on the third day). They are not crying out from their hearts – they are not really broken over sin – they just don’t like the consequences they’re experiencing. They don’t really want God, they just want God to fix their situation so that they can get on with life. Sadly, this is not all that different from how most of us repent. Consider the last time you experienced the fallout from your sinful behavior, what were you most upset about – your sinful behavior and outright rebellion toward God OR the outcome you experienced as a result of your sin. A good way to gauge this in thinking about a particular situation in the past is to ask what you were most concerned about changing in that moment – Did you want the circumstance to change or did you want your heart toward God to change? Think about the last time you sinned against someone, did you say something like, “I’m sorry that I hurt you. I shouldn’t have said that. Will you forgive me?”, hoping they will just forgive you and move back to relationship as normal? While all along there is a deeper motive – a sin beneath the sin – that led you to do what you did and the other person feels the impact of the deeper sin that you did not repent of – selfishness, greed, pride, resentment or hatred in your heart toward them. We both acknowledge those sins and that we have sinned against God and need to turn our hearts toward him again – if we do not, we are just going through the motions of repentance in order to receive ‘pain relief’. Consider some of the excuses we use in false repentance…Which ones can you identify with?
I was just being honest. (Can’t you handle the truth?)
I’m just saying what I feel. (There’s nothing sinful about my feelings.)
I was only kidding. (Didn’t you get the joke?)
I misunderstood you. (You’re not as crazy as I thought you were!)
You misunderstood me. (I’m not as bad as you think.)
That’s just who I am. (I’m a sinner, so that excuses my behavior.)
I made a mistake. (Don’t we all?)
I didn’t mean to do it. (I didn’t mean to get caught.)
I’m having a bad day. (I deserve better.)

Toward True Repentance Consider Paul’s second letter to the Corinthian Church: 2 Corinthians 7:8-11 Paul distinguishes between godly sorrow and worldly sorrow. The former leads to salvation and no regret because it leads to true repentance – turning back to God for

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SOMA 101: LIVING INSIDE THE GOSPEL STORY: Session 6 grace. The latter leads to death because instead of experiencing true God-centered sorrow over the wickedness of sin, it is self-centered sorrow over the consequences of sin – there is no grace to be received in this case because we remain opposed to God in our hearts. He gives grace to the humble, but He is opposed to the proud (James 4:6). What drives us toward false repentance? And how do we move toward true repentance? To answer these questions, we need to pause and reflect on how we respond to sin. Our usual response to sin is one of remorse and resolution. Remorse: “I can’t believe I did that!” Resolution: “I promise to do better next time.” Behind this way of living are two great misunderstandings about our hearts. First, we think too highly of ourselves. We do not truly believe the depth of our sin and brokenness (the bottom line of the cross chart). This leads us to react in surprise when sin manifests itself: “I can’t believe I just did that!” (In other words: “That’s not what I’m really like!”) Second, we think we have the power to change ourselves. We think that if we make resolutions or try harder next time, we’ll be able to fix the problem. These same two misunderstandings taint our attitudes toward other people. Because we think too highly of ourselves, we respond to others’ sin with harshness and disapproval. We are extremely lenient toward our own sin, but we resent their sin! And because we think we can change ourselves, we are frustrated that people around us aren’t changing themselves faster. We become judgmental, impatient, and critical. The gospel frees us from these sinful patterns. Instead of falling into remorse and resolution, the gospel moves us to realize and repent. Realize: “I did do that.” (“That IS what I’m really like!”) Repent: “Lord, forgive me! You are my only hope.” As we learn to live in light of the gospel, this kind of true repentance should become more and more normal for us. We will stop being surprised by our sin, so we will be able to more honestly admit it. And we will stop believing we can fix ourselves, so we will more quickly turn to Jesus for forgiveness and transformation. Discussion questions:
How would you explain the difference between true and false repentance in your own words?
What do you think are some evidences or marks of true repentance?
Looking at the bulleted list of excuses we use in false repentance. Which of these do you most personally identify with?
Can you think of a recent example of one? What would true repentance have looked like in that situation? (Feel free to help each other get to the sin beneath the sin)

(Some of this material was adapted from Gospel Centered Living, developed by Bob Thune and Will Walker for Coram Deo’s Missional Communities, 2007)

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