The “180”
Notes
Transcript
We are surviving birthday season at our house. Jan 30th was Grace’s birthday. This past Monday was David’s birthday. This week is Valentine’s Day. The following week is my birthday.
Crazy season. It’s a time of celebrating what God has done in each person’s life and remembering the journey to this point.
I think about laughter, I like about tears, and I think about moments of frustration. Like, how in the world do you distract a toddler who really wants to get into what they are not supposed to get into. Just as I figure out the key, they grow up a little more and that key changes.
Frustration.
But, the trick is always finding something that will distract them, that will turn them from this obsession to this other obsession.
But, that’s not just for toddlers. We are all called to turn from one obsession, complete 180 degrees to another thing. It’s called repentance.
Over the past month, we have seen that we are powerless in our own strength.
We must believe that God is the one whose power can restore us.
By faith, we must trust God with our life and will through the grace offered in Jesus Christ.
Knowing who we are and who God is, we are to look into a mirror and make a fearless moral inventory of ourselves.
All those are steps in believing the truth. Truth is what sets us free. But, truth must be acted upon. Truth must bring life-change.
Last week, we discussed that, because of the truth, we must be people who confess.
We have to make an honest admission to ourselves, to God, and to trusted friends.
Today, we must be people who repent.
We become entirely ready to turn away from our pattern of sin and turn to God.
Paul writes in 2 tim 2 22
Flee the evil desires of youth and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, along with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart.
We are going to define repentance, look at the way of Christ, and present some practical considerations.
Pray
1. Repentance Defined
1. Repentance Defined
What is repentance?
Well, theologically,
Repentance is the act whereby one turns from his or her sin, idolatry, and creaturely rebellion and turns to God in faith.
That is from the Lexham Bible Dictionary. And it is a great definition. However, it is focused mostly on the act of repentance in salvation, where we say “I am a sinner and I need Jesus”
So we turn away from our former life and turn to Jesus in faith.
Very important aspect of repentance.
But repentance does not stop with salvation. We as followers of Jesus Christ are called to be people of repentance.
Martin Luther wrote in his 95 Theses that he nailed to the door of that church in Germany:
When our Lord and Master Jesus Christ said, “Repent,” he willed the entire life of believers to be one of repentance.
That’s why Paul wrote:
Therefore, brothers and sisters, we have an obligation—but it is not to the flesh, to live according to it. For if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live.
We are called to look at ourselves in the mirror and see what ways we are living according to the flesh, according to our sinful nature. We are to confess those sins to ourselves, God, and each other. Then, we make the decision to turn from those sinful patterns and turn to God, as Paul says: living by the Spirit.
There are three important elements to repentance.
We see what we are doing as wrong, against God.
We turn away from it.
We turn toward God.
Paul writes to Timothy about repentance.
Flee the evil desires of youth and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, along with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart.
Timothy, along with members of his congregation at Ephesus, were indulging in the evil desires of youth, which in this case was not lustfulness or sensuality. Those desires had to do with the words that we use and the things that we talk about.
Paul told Timothy:
Don’t have anything to do with foolish and stupid arguments, because you know they produce quarrels. And the Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome but must be kind to everyone, able to teach, not resentful.
People who are youthful tend to argue about things that don’t matter and they tend to push their viewpoint in an unkind, proud way.
Paul warned Timothy about that propensity, and told Timothy to flee those desires.
Okay, so, we have step one: Timothy sees what he is doing as wrong, against God, they are evil desires.
And we have step two: flee them. Turn away from them.
Then, we have step three: pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart. Turning toward God.
Notice that the things Timothy was to turn away from is correlated with the things that he was to turn towards.
The evil desires of youth were arguing about things that don’t matter and pushing one’s viewpoint in an unkind, proud way.
That’s what Timothy was to turn away from.
He was supposed to turn towards righteousness, faith, love, and peace with those who are fellow Christians.
Take this sin out of your life and fill that spot with something else.
This concept of repentance is tied with what Paul writes in Ephesians about putting off the old self and taking on the new self:
You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.
Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to your neighbor, for we are all members of one body. “In your anger do not sin”: Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, and do not give the devil a foothold. Anyone who has been stealing must steal no longer, but must work, doing something useful with their own hands, that they may have something to share with those in need.
Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.
Each of these things: turn away from this and turn toward this godly action instead.
We turn away from our pattern of sin and we turn to God, pursuing the way of Christ.
2. The Way of Christ Developed
2. The Way of Christ Developed
To embrace repentance, we have to acknowledge two truths.
The way of Christ is good and the way of Christ is costly.
A. The Way of Christ is Good
A. The Way of Christ is Good
First, the way of Christ is good.
There must be something that compels us to turn from our sinful pattern. As we have talked about before, we are pursuing this thing because of what it will give us. It never really, fully, delivers, but it does deliver in a small amount, and we are okay with that. Pursuing the sinful pattern is better than completely uprooting our life and going through all the pain of grief and confession.
At least, that is what we tell ourselves.
There must be something that compels us to turn from our sinful pattern. That thing is Christ.
Jonathan Edwards, an old American preacher from before the revolution, when asked what makes someone turn to Jesus would say: His beauty. That he is the most lovely, sweet thing in the whole world.
Taste and see that the Lord is good;
blessed is the one who takes refuge in him.
As the King James writes:
Give unto the LORD the glory due unto his name; worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness.
Newer translations refer to the splendor of God’s holiness.
Jesus is the most beautiful, satisfying being in the whole universe, and outside of it. His way is completely good. His way is the way of life:
For the Lord God is a sun and shield;
the Lord bestows favor and honor;
no good thing does he withhold
from those whose walk is blameless.
His way is the way of surety.
Your word is a lamp for my feet,
a light on my path.
His way is the way of rest:
Therefore hear, you nations;
you who are witnesses,
observe what will happen to them.
His way is the way of purpose:
For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
His way is the way of comfort
Even though I walk
through the darkest valley,
I will fear no evil,
for you are with me;
your rod and your staff,
they comfort me.
His way is the way of eternal joy and pleasure
You make known to me the path of life;
you will fill me with joy in your presence,
with eternal pleasures at your right hand.
Jesus said:
Therefore Jesus said again, “Very truly I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. All who have come before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep have not listened to them. I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. They will come in and go out, and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.
When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”
It is clear that the path of sin has only truly brought pain. That which is promises to provide, it really doesn’t. And Jesus stands over here saying: follow me and all these blessings will come.
The Way of Christ Is Good!
B. The Way of Christ Is Costly
B. The Way of Christ Is Costly
However, the way of Christ is also costly.
To turn from the pattern of sin and turn to God means that we must say “no” to something that is an integral part of our life right now. And that comes at a cost.
Jesus said:
Then he said to them all: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it. What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit their very self?
If we are jump behind Christ and follow him in this life, we must take up our cross. What does that mean?
Well, Easter is coming up. When Jesus was handed over by Pilate to the soldiers, he was required to carry his cross, along with the other criminals, through the streets of Jerusalem up to Golgotha, where he would die.
In this time, to carry your cross meant that you were on your way to your death.
To take up one’s cross daily meant that you were to die daily. So, Jesus was not talking about physical death. Jesus went through that for us. He suffered physical death and God’s wrath for sin in our place on the cross.
“Jesus meant a daily denial of the desires of our sinful nature. To follow Christ and experience eternal life daily requires worldly sacrifice.”
Jesus told his disciples:
“No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.
Here, he is speaking of the addiction to money, which is greed. But, the truth remains across the board. We cannot serve both Jesus and our addiction. We cannot serve both Jesus and our sin. We must kick one to the curb. To often, it is Jesus that we kick to the curb because we say: I want to do this, I will stop later. It’s not that bad, everyone else is doing it. And, so the excuses go.
A.W. Tozer said this:
“How many Christians are there who pray every Sunday in church, “Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done!” without ever realizing the spiritual implications of such [a prayer]! What are we praying for? Should we edit that prayer so that it becomes a confrontation: “My kingdom go, Lord; let Thy kingdom come!” Certainly his kingdom can never be realized in my life until my own selfish kingdom is [removed]. It is when I resign, when I am no longer king of my domain that Jesus Christ will become king of my life.”
As one person wrote:
“Taking up your cross to follow Christ starts with dying to sin and your sinful nature. This does not mean physical death nor does it mean that you will never sin again. It means you are willing to let God rule all of your heart as both your Savior and your Lord.”
It means we take a long look at the sinful paths that we walk on and change, which comes at a cost.
3. Repentance Practiced
3. Repentance Practiced
So, If Christ’s way is truly good and we are willing to count the cost and change, repentance means, we see the sin that we are doing, we turn from it, and we go toward’s God.
But, this path is extremely difficult.
An addiction expert wrote this:
“Turning from sinful paths that you have walked for years is difficult. Most likely, you have built your home, life, career, and relationships among them. Your mind and body have worn deep ruts of sinful behavior that are easy to slip into but hard to get out of. To escape these ruts means changing what you love, seek, and rely upon. You will need to retrain your mind and body to know God’s path, hear his voice and respond to it first.
This process is painful. It’s like cutting off a hand.
Jesus said it this way:
And if your right hand causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell.
Jesus didn’t actually call for us to cut off our hand, but to take drastic steps to remove sinful patterns in our life.
The same addiction expert gives some examples of repentance:
Checking into an addiction center; changing jobs to honor God and family; ending an affair; confessing a crime; moving away from bad influences; ending internet access; starting to take medication; stoping to take medication; stopping dating; ceasing sexual activity; setting boundaries with the people you love; cutting up credit cards; getting counseling for a difficult marriage; telling the truth to someone it will hurt deeply; sharing sin struggles with others to ask for help; forgiving someone who deeply wounded you.
There are multiple ways that we turn away from our sin and turn toward God.
This process requires us to know the sinful patterns, our triggers and our paths toward our sin, and then taking steps to turn away from that sin path and actively, intentionally turn toward God.
How does this work. Well, I’ve already opened up about my past struggle with pornography. I know that when I am tired, I am susceptible to temptation.
So, all my devices have a time lock on them. Apple actually thinks that I am Maggie’s kid, which could be weird, but we don’t let them think about it. At 9:30, most of my electronics turn off. I can text people and call people and work on finances and work on foreign languages and watch the Chosen, and that’s about it.
I also have a tight filter on all my electronics and I have a spy program on each one of them that randomly takes pictures of my screen and sends those pictures to accountability partners.
I know my sinful patterns and I don’t want to go back down that path, so I have taken steps to turn away from it and turn towards God.
This works for any sin, such as pride, people-pleasing, gossiping, gluttony, work-aholism, substance abuse. We see the path, the triggers, of our sin, and we turn away from that path, 180 degrees, and turn towards God.
We must be people who repent.
We must become entirely ready to turn away from our pattern of sin and turn to God.