The Joy of Repentance
Pastor Mathew Magera – 3/1/17 – Sermon 213
St. Thomas Lutheran Church, Trufant, MI
To God be the Glory!
Grace and peace to you from
God our Father, from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
Lent is a time that makes
you think of fasting and repentance. Repentance is the theme that tends to fit
Ash Wednesday like a glove and Ash Wednesday is one of those darker services
that people might tend to avoid. When we think of repentance I think we usually
see it as something negative. Not negative in that it is bad for us, but
negative in that we have to suffer through guilt and shame while admitting to
ourselves or possibly others and God that we are wrong and that we need help.
Maybe it’s even embarrassing. What I want to venture out to say is that what
I’ve described is not what repentance is all about. Yes, repentance is about
turning away from our sin but repentance should be and is one of the greatest
joys of being a Christian. So, since Lent is a time to make us think. Let’s
think about how repentance is a joy of a Christian.
In Luther's Small Catechism,
the fourth question of Baptism says this: What does Baptism mean for daily
living? It means that the sinful self is drowned through daily repentance that
a new self might arise to live with Christ in righteousness and purity forever.
Daily living involves daily repentance. Not every other day. Not anytime we
feel like it. Daily living in our baptism no matter how long ago it has been
involves daily repentance.
A group of Lutheran pastors
went out golfing one Saturday. One of them was not having a good game at all
and by the 13th hole he was hitting shot after shot into the pond.
He got so frustrated that he picked up his bag, swung around like a discus
thrower and hurled it into the water and stormed off the course. The other
pastors stood there just watching waiting to see if he would have a change of
heart. To their amazement, he did. He returned and waded into the water and
began looking for his golf bag. The other pastors were impressed and told him
that this was a good example of his daily repentance. He found his bag,
unzipped one of the pockets and then threw his golf bag back into the water and
started storming off the course. “What happened?” they asked. “Forgot my car
keys.”
That may not be the greatest
lesson or story of repentance, but luckily for us tonight, Psalm 51 is one of
the greatest stories of repentance. It was written by David after his affair
with Bathsheba. You know the story, how David saw her bathing, wanted her, took
her, and then after she got pregnant, sent her husband out to war and
successfully having him killed off so that he could be with her. The prophet
Nathan knew what David had done and knew he had to confront him with his sins.
Now, this isn't to say that Bathsheba was sin free during this process, but
Nathan had to confront David so that he would stop his behavior. So, David is
confronted and Psalm 51 is David's response of repentance. It's a great Psalm
of repentance because it focuses on an actual sin committed by an actual
person. We get to see first-hand how David deals with guilt, with shame, and
with self-loss. Now, there doesn’t seem to be any joy here yet. But that’s
because we haven’t gotten to repentance yet.
Repentance has often been
thought to be something that we initiate. We volunteer to repent of our sins.
It's good for us so we ought to do it. So we set aside time to do it at worship
on Sunday, page 56, right? We set aside seasons of the church year, Advent and
Lent, to concentrate on repentance. It's as if we consider these times of year
to be like when we take our car in for an oil change. After 3,000 miles, it's
time to take it in to get some fresh oil. Lent, for many of us, is like a
spiritual oil change. The light comes on in our minds, we know it needs to be
done, we schedule Lent on our calendar and we go to church and spend six weeks
in this oil change. But, repentance is not something that we do, it is something
that is created within us and I want you remember how I said that because I’m
going to bring it up again later. Repentance is something that is created
within us. The reason we do not initiate repentance is because repentance is
not a natural response to sin. Our natural response to sin is to say oh yes, I
like it, give me more, not to say, I think I need to stop what I'm doing.
Repentance is not natural to a sinner. We also associate it with guilt and
shame maybe to think that if you feel guilty of your sin you must be repenting.
That's not repentance. That's just guilt and shame. Let me explain what that
guilt and shame is.
As David is contemplating
his sins, he likely feels that guilt and shame after Nathan tells him what he
has done. He's not quite ready to write this Psalm yet, but he's going through
a process called contrition. Contrition is the general sense of being in the
wrong, the suspicion that goes through his mind saying, "you know what, I
think I blew it. I screwed up." You're at the point where you have a
suspicion that something that you are doing could possibly have a miniscule
chance of being wrong. You have this inkling that something isn't right. This
is the work, not of your own heart or mind but of the Holy Spirit. It's like when
you go to the doctor. There is something going on, some pain that just doesn't
feel quite right and you go to the doctor. You explain your symptoms and the
doctor says, here's your problem. The pain you are feeling is because something
isn't right and then your suspicions are confirmed. So, this is what someone
would mean if they say they have a contrite heart, it means the Holy Spirit is
working on them and showing them that what they have done is sinful. David is
feeling that guilt as he is being told by Nathan of his sin and the Law quickly
accuses him as he begins to realize this. This is what the Law does, it
accuses, it confirms, yes, what you did was wrong. David, you are wrong. Enter
your name here, you are wrong. Are we sensing any joy yet? No, because we
aren’t quite to repentance yet. We actually have to go past this guilty feeling
to get repentance.
We may have realized that
something has gone wrong. David may have been told by Nathan that what he did
was wrong, but just because you know you did something wrong doesn't mean you
are anywhere near repentance. I think we often assume that the feeling of guilt
and shame is the repentance that is going on. Until we know and admit that what
we have done is wrong, repentance has not taken place. Until we own up to it,
there is no repentance. But that’s not all that is necessary for repentance.
While we know it is wrong we also have to know where there is mercy. This is
where the Law’s work of accusing us stops, it can’t take us any further because
the Law doesn’t give us any hope. The Gospel has to break in now and take over.
This is one reason why repentance is a joy is because it can only take place
because of the hope of new life.
So then, repentance begins where
the good news of the Gospel message comes to us. We don't go to it, it comes to
us. There has to be something there for us to turn to. Since we think of
repentance as a complete turning around and going the other direction and
walking the other way, the turning can only take place if there is something to
turn toward. That's why the good news is so important in repentance. Because
there is hope, because that hope was created, we are made able to turn toward
it and pray that this hope be created within us in place of the sin that is
there. Only then is repentance created within us. When there is hope, when
there is mercy, repentance is possible and it is created within us as that very
hope.
In Psalm 51, David is
pleading for that mercy, for that hope. We plead for mercy when we realize that
we have done something wrong and that mercy comes to us. David wants God to
blot out his sin. Because Christ went to die for us, we we can plead to him.
Don't just hide my sins under the rug, don't just put them aside for now. Blot
them out. Clean us up. That is the repentance. We desire the good news to take
over. Clean us up. Not just a spit shine but clean us up. Release us from this
position. That is repentance. And the good news is that he does. He does
exactly that. With his blood shed on the cross, he sees our repentance and he
grants us forgiveness. Not because of who we are or because of anything we have
done or because we have just been trying so hard but forgiveness is granted to
us because Jesus loves sinners and when he gets ahold of us he gives us new
life. He gives us absolution. Your sins are forgiven. Now, repentance is over.
We're standing face to face with Jesus, standing in the pure forgiveness of
sins and now it is when faith begins.
Therefore, when we think
about that question about Baptism and about what it means for daily living, it
means that our sinful self is drowned in daily repentance, turning from the
bad, but not turning blindly, rather turning toward the good. Each and every
day the Good News desires to create repentance within us, to turn us around.
Each day that we wake up we should be ready to hear the good news. I was
watching a webinar this week led by Pastor Gemechis Buba on renewing
congregations and toward the end of the end of his talk he was talking about
starting each day with the good news of the Gospel. He said, when you wake up
in the morning, don't turn on the news on your television, don't open the
newspaper, don't get the news on your phone or on your computer. When you wake
up in the morning, open the Word of God and receive the Good News that Jesus
Christ has died for you. This is how we daily live into our baptism, to daily
be drowned in repentance as Jesus washes us clean once again, and to daily
receive that news that you, a child of God have been forgiven.
Our Lenten journey is about
repentance and the joy that it is to turn around and see Jesus standing there.
It is about renewing our walk with Him each and every day. It is about
remembering the work of the cross and how Jesus' blood saves us and redeems us.
The ashes on our heads reminds us of the black stain of our sin but it also
reminds us of the sin-stained cross as Jesus directed all of its attention onto
himself, leaving us pure and righteous in God’s sight. The Law declares to us,
"you are sin" and we know that sin destroys life. But, Jesus says,
"Your sin... is forgiven" and we know that forgiveness creates life.
May each of us, this Lent, and on through the Easter season, dwell in the
presence of our Lord and live out our baptism through the daily drowning of our
sin through repentance so that we might daily experience that life given to us
through the forgiveness of sins. To God be the glory, now and always. Amen.