↪️ Repent
News worth hearing demands some kind of response.
In the last several posts, we’ve been reminded of the core truths of the gospel.
But how should we respond to this good news of the gospel?
🌎 When we looked at how Jesus came in humility, we were reminded that we are supposed to adopt a similar humble mindset.
✅ When we explored Jesus’ obedient life, we realised that we are supposed to adopt a similar obedient mindset.
⬇️ When we thought about how Jesus suffered for our sins, we were encouraged to receive what Christ brings and to imitate his sacrificial mindset.
⬆️ As we thought about his resurrection, we were urged to hold firm to the gospel and work hard to share it with others.
👑When we talked about Jesus’ rule, we were reminded to know our untouchability, pray with confidence, and suit up with the armour God provides.
🏠 As we looked at Jesus’ return, we were called to make every effort to be spotless, blameless and at peace, as we remember that Jesus’ patience in delaying his return means salvation for more people.
↪️ Repent and Believe 🛟
If we wanted to summarise all of these responses into two words, I can’t think of any better than these: repent and believe. These are two of the most common words given for responding to Jesus.
As he began to preach the good news of the gospel, these were the two words Jesus used:
14 After John was put in prison, Jesus went into Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God. 15 “The time has come,” he said. “The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news!
Mark 1:14–15
Repent and believe: that’s how we respond to the good news of the gospel.
But what do these words actually mean?
↪️ Repent
The word “repent” literally means a change of mind or heart regarding sin and a turning away from it, accompanied by a sincere commitment to live according to God’s will.
This is my more straightforward definition of repentance: stop living our way, start living God’s way.
When I want to define it with an emoji (which I often do), I say, “↪️”.
When I want to define it with some slang, I say, “Chuck a u-ie”.
Imagine you’re driving down a road in the wrong direction. Then, suddenly, you realise you’re going the wrong way. What do you do? You feel a bit silly, you admit to yourself (and anyone else in the car) that you’re going the wrong way, you stop going the wrong way, you turn around, and you start going the right way.
That’s what repentance is, but in this case, the “wrong way” is headed away from God, and the “right way” is God’s way.
Repentance involves the following steps:
1. Recognition of sin 😬
We need to recognise that we have sinned. After all, as we read in 1 John 1:8, “If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.” We won’t be able to repent if we never realise we’ve sinned.
2. Sorrow for sin 😔
We need to be genuinely sorry for our sin. As we read in 2 Corinthians 7:10, “Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation”. No sorrow, no repentance. No repentance, no salvation.
Sometimes, people leave repentance at “feeling sorry”. But there’s still more to it.
3. Confession of sin 🗣️
We need to confess our sins. We don’t have to do it in a “confession box”, as some people think. But we do need to confess that we’ve sinned. In 1 John 1:9, we read, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.”
4. Turning away from sin ✋
In Ezekiel 14:6, the LORD says to Israel,
“Repent! Turn from your idols and renounce all your detestable practices!”
Repentance involves turning away from sin, from idols, detestable practices, and anything else contrary to God’s ways. Bye-bye, sin.
5. Turn to God ↪️
In Acts 3:19, Peter calls the crowd to “Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out”. Repentance also involves a turning to God and his righteous ways. This involves obeying God and adopting a Christ-like mindset.
6. Seeking Reconciliation ✌️
Often, our sin against God will impact our relationships with others. Often, repentance will require more than turning away from sin and turning to God. It will also involve reconciliation and restoration with others. Failure to do less would be a failure to repent.
It’s hard to think of a better example of this than Zacchaeus, the tax collector. Zacchaeus betrayed his own people by taking their taxes, pocketing some of it, and giving the rest to the Romans, the enemies of his people. But, when he meets Jesus, he says,
“Look, Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount.”
Luke 19:8 (NIV)
He recognises that he has sinned against God, but he also recognises that he has sinned against others. He seeks reconciliation and restoration with those he has wronged.
God’s Spirit 🕊️
Finally, it’s worth recognising that repentance is only possible with God’s Spirit. We can’t do it on our own.
In Ezekiel 36:27, God promised, “I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.” After ascending to the Father after his resurrection, Jesus sent the Holy Spirit to enable us to do just this. Passages like Romans 8:13–14 and Galatians 5:16–25 reinforce how the Spirit enables us to kill off sin and bear fruit in keeping with God’s will.
↪️ REPENTING and repenting ↪️
Christians repent in two main ways.
Firstly, there is the uppercase ”REPENTING” we do when we first become Christians when we stop living our way and start living God’s way.
Second, there is the lowercase ”repenting” we do daily when we realise we’ve done wrong. We’ve already “REPENTED” and become Christians, but we continue doing the wrong thing, and we will continue to do so until Jesus returns. Every day, we need to “repent” (lowercase) and turn back to Jesus as we strive to stop living our way and start living God’s way.
This is what it means to “repent”.
And what does it mean to “believe”? More on that in the next post.
