Read: Luke 3
When the crowds came to John for baptism, he said, “You brood of snakes! Who warned you to flee God’s coming wrath? Prove by the way you live that you have repented of your sins and turned to God.” (Luke 3:7-8, NLT)
One thing about John the Baptist—he was certainly no dispenser of cheap grace. Nor was he too concerned with being seeker sensitive. He was a preacher of repentance, and when people came looking for forgiveness of their sins, John forced them to show proof of their spiritual sincerity. Mr. Warm-and-Fuzzy, that John guy!
Actually, as tough as he was, John was doing people a huge favor. That’s because, no matter how you sliced it, the catalyst for reconciliation with God was authentic repentance. It still is! You cannot get right with God, be in a loving relationship with him, and live under his blessing without first having come to grips with your sinfulness through genuine, Biblical repentance. That’s why John made such a big deal about it.
Repentance is not simply an expression of regret over a wrong and a request to be forgiven for the offense, as many think. It is that, but it is more. Repentance is a change of direction that involves our heart (godly sorrow), our words (confession) and especially our behavior (righteous living). Repentance is not so much a noun, it is a verb—an action word, and the action it requires is three-fold:
First, in our understanding, it involves the knowledge of our sin that leads to a change of mind. Not a wishy-washy, double-mindedness, but a rational intellectual growth that our previous mindset was dead wrong and must be replaced by new and right thinking. In other words, the first step in true repentance involves rational awareness of wrongdoing and recognition that spiritual cleansing and behavioral change is required.
Second, true repentance involves our emotions. We must feel what our mind recognizes. We must feel the pain, disappointment and sorrow of offending God, and not just sorrow for getting caught. The fear of being exposed and the fear of punishment are motivations that only lead to inauthentic repentance—which is no repentance at all.
And third, true repentance involves appropriate action that springs from what our mind recognizes and what our heart feels. In fact, the word repentance—it is “metanoia” in the original Greek text of the New Testament—means a change of course; literally a 180-degree shift in our thinking and in our behavior. There is nothing like changed and consistent behavior to powerfully communicate authentic repentance before God.
Or, as John would says, when it comes to true repentance, the proof is in the pudding:
“Prove by the way you live that you have repented of your sins and turned to God.”
What If God Took Over?
Re-read Luke 3:10-14. Several different groups of people came to John asking what they must do to demonstrate genuine repentance. What action step did John assign to each group? What action step do you need to take to demonstrate repentance before God? (Remember, you cannot earn your salvation, but you are certainly called to give effort to it!)
Now this might seem like nothing more than otherwise unimportant and uninteresting biographical information on this old prophet, but there is something instructive here for you and me. You see, Simeon’s story has been included in Holy Scripture to remind us that God is still looking for people with the spirit of Simeon—people who are equally dedicated to the ways of God, who have learned to be led by the Spirit of God, who are obedient to the will of God and who will speak the Word of God. Those are the kind of people for whom God is looking, through whom God will speak and to whom God will fulfill his promises.
Since miracles are part and parcel of the Kingdom of God, since they are promised to believers, since they are taking place in the world today, then I think it is reasonable that we should desire them here in America, in your church and mine, and in your life and mine as well. I may be crazy, but until God shows me otherwise, I am going to keep asking for them. Not that I want them as some sort of crowd-boosting, attention-getting gimmick, I simply want them as an authentication of the kingdom, power and glory of God revealed among his people before a watching world!
That’s the beauty of the resurrection. No matter what you’re going through, the empty tomb stands as a constant and certain reminder that there is always reason for hopefulness. That’s why the psalmist, David, said, “Why are you hopeless? Why are you in turmoil? Put your hope in God!” (Psalm 42:5) Resurrection hope is not just wishful thinking or a pie-in-the-sky kind of attitude that says, “Oh well, things will turn out okay someday.” It’s not the breezy kind of optimism that Mary Martin sang about in South Pacific when she said “I’m stuck like a dope with a thing called hope.”
All the man could do was recognize his own guilt (“Don’t you fear God even when you have been sentenced to die? We deserve to die for our crimes…”), believe in the redemptive righteousness of Jesus (“but this man hasn’t done anything wrong….”), and entrust his eternity to the mercy and grace of God (“Jesus, remember me when you come into your Kingdom.”)
Yet it is not only about remembering, communion also calls us to look forward. Twice, as Jesus instituted this holy sacrament, he spoke to his disciples of a time in the future where he, himself, would again participate in this celebration. He was referring to his second coming. He was issuing a promise that he would come again, and each time they, and by extension, we, receive Holy Communion, partakers were to be reminded of that promise and rejoice in its future fulfillment.
Jesus didn’t say that the temple was unimportant. In fact, he had driven out the moneychangers who were corrupting that very place. (Matthew 21:12-13) He was upset that they had turned what should have been a house of prayer into a den of thieves. Jesus wasn’t down on this marvelous place of worship. He just knew that in the larger scheme of things, it was only temporary.