Four Signs of Jesus:
3-Calling for Repentance
Matthew 4:12-23
by Jim Westmoreland
All is not right with the world! Is that news to anyone? Isn’t it just a statement of the obvious? Pick the area of society–homes, schools, churches, industry, employees, the well-off and the not-so-well-off–all is not right!
Last night, I was at a social event and was visiting with a prominent man in our community. He had been a manager of a business for over 30 years and had hired hundreds of people during that time. He retired two years ago and asked, “Do you know what the most enjoyable part of my retirement is?” I guessed, “Not having all of those goals and deadlines to meet?” He said, “No, it is not having to put up with people who don’t know how to work, who don’t want to be accountable, and who think that they should be praised and rewarded for doing the minimum.”
Our approach to religion has become like some of those unmotivated employees. We want the benefits, but not the responsibilities of a Life-Directing faith. We have become so afraid to decide who we are that our spirituality is diluted beyond recognition. The non-specific, deeply passionate spirituality talk of TV and movie personalities has been widely imitated. These non-specific, highly passionate expressions of religion survive by ignoring the basics of Christian spirituality: a sense of sin, a way to deal with the tragedies of life, and a love that conquers suffering and death and leads us to life in all of its fullness and to resurrection and victory over all that has held us back.
Today’s cultural spirituality is superficial. It is a “feel-good spirituality” that has no God, no transcendent Creator, no purposeful Covenant-maker and Lawgiver, no Redeemer, no Savior and certainly no Lord. Those things are just too old-fashioned for today. Karl Menninger helped found the Menninger Clinic in Topeka, KS, now in Houston, TX. The Menninger Clinic has been internationally recognized as a leader in treating psychiatric illnesses. In 1974 Dr. Menninger wrote a telling book, titled “Whatever Became of Sin?”
Today’s message on “Four Signs of Jesus” is that, when Jesus comes to us, He comes not only loving us, not only accepting us, He comes “Calling for Repentance.” Repentance comes before forgiveness, before baptism. It opens the door for faith and forgiveness and following Jesus.
Hear the word of the Lord from Matthew 4:12-17. “Now when Jesus heard that John had been arrested, he withdrew to Galilee. He left Nazareth and made his home in Capernaum by the lake, in the territory of Zebulun and Naphtali, so that what had been spoken through the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled:
`Land of Zebulun, land of Naphtali, on the road by the sea, across the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles-- the people who sat in darkness have seen a great light, and for those who sat in the region and shadow of death light has dawned.'
Matthew tells us,“From that time Jesus began to proclaim, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near (is at hand, is near).’” Throughout the Bible those who spoke God’s message to the people included a call for repentance. Over and over God revealed Himself to the people through the prophets who called the people to be faithful to the covenant they had made with God, but had forgotten it. They must repent and turn from their wicked ways.
What does it mean to repent? We rarely hear it used, and so it may be vague to us what it means. To repent means to turn around. If all is not right with the world, then, more than likely, all is not right with us either. Through the words of the prophets God still speaks to us. Through the words of Jesus, He is still calling us to repentance. Whatever has caused us to drift away from Him as the Center of our lives, as the One who gives our lives meaning and purpose and values, He calls us to turn our hearts toward Him. We may be running in all directions trying to get everything right and still feel hopeless and empty inside. I believe that the Spirit of God calls to us, calls to our families, our neighbors, our community. He calls us to repent, to turn from the direction that we are going and to turn in the direction of Jesus.
We have trouble with this idea of repentance. It means admitting wrong. Our cultural values deceive us. We have been taught not to admit fault or weakness. I wonder how that is going to work when we stand before God to give account of our lives. Do we really think that we are going to plead the 5th Amendment and refuse to answer on the grounds that it could incriminate us?
We are uncomfortable with the notion of repentance of sin. Say
it briefly, privately and without emotion and move on. We are
more comfortable with that way of dealing with repentance.
That's why this story by Garrison Keillor finds us identifying
with the staid, respectability of the majority. Garrison Keillor
writes about Larry, a resident of the fictional town of Lake
Wobegon. Larry was saved 12 times at the Lutheran Church, an
all-time record for a church that never gave altar calls. There
wasn't even an organ playing "Just As I Am Without One Plea"
in the background. Regardless of that, between 1953 and 1961,
Larry Sorenson came forward 12 times, weeping buckets and
crumpled up at the communion rail, to the shock of the minister,
who had delivered a dry sermon on stewardship. But now he
needed to put his arm around this person, pray with him and be
certain he had a way to get home. "Even we fundamentalists got
tired of him," Keillor writes. God didn't mean for you to feel
guilty all your life. There comes a time when you should dry
your tears and join the building committee and grapple with the
problems of the church furnace and the church roof. But, Larry
just kept repenting and repenting."
In Keillor’s story Larry appears to be neurotic, obsessive, not quite right. We feel better keeping repentance as an private, initiation rite when we first make our confession of faith. Biblical Repentance is not neurotic behavior. Neither is it just being sorry for getting caught–“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’ll never do that again.” There is a strong indication that there is not much genuine repentance going on by anyone.
The famous poll-taker, George Gallup writes, “There's little
difference in ethical behavior between the churched and the
unchurched. There's as much pilferage and dishonesty among
the churched as the unchurched. And I'm afraid that applies
pretty much across the board: religion, per se, is not really life
changing.”
In his book I Surrender, Patrick Morley writes that the church's
integrity problem is in the misconception "that we can add
Christ to our lives, but not subtract sin. It is a change in belief
without a change in behavior." He goes on to say, "It is revival
without reformation, without repentance."
But things don’t have to be that way. People do get changed, get their lives straightened out. People do find that God has become the center of their lives and has given them a love for one another that they never had. God has a way of transforming us in ways we could not imagine.
When you start looking for the signs of Jesus, look for a desire to be engaged in ministry by those who have been baptized and identified themselves with Jesus. Do people feel compelled and led to serve and care for others?
When you look for the signs of Jesus, look for “come and see” invitations from people who say that heir lives were changed because of their faith in and relationship with Jesus. Is anyone saying, let me tell you the difference that Jesus is making in my life?
And, as we think about today’s message, when you look for the signs of Jesus, do you hear a call for repentance, an expectation that we turn from our sins and turn to Jesus. Repentance cuts across the grain of a self-pleasing, self-justifying way of living, because everything that feels good for the moment is not good and is not right and will hurt us and those we love.
Gipsy Smith (1860-1947) was an English evangelist who made over forty evangelistic trips abroad to such countries as the United States, Australia and South Africa, and he wrote, “When I was in South Africa, a fine, handsome Dutchman came into my service, and God laid His hand on him and convicted him of sin. The next morning he went to the beautiful home of another Dutchman and said to him, "Do you recognize this old watch?"
"Why, yes," answered the other. "Those are my initials; that is my watch. I lost it eight years ago. How did you get it, and how long have you had it?"
"I stole it," was the reply.
"What made you bring it back now?"
"I was converted last night," was the answer, "and I have
brought it back first thing this morning. If you had been up, I
would have brought it last night."
A sign of Jesus is changed lives, and a sign of changed lives is repentance. When the Spirit of God is at work among us, there will be a Calling for Repentance. Amen.
Century Christian Church, January 27, 2008 - Sermon by Jim Westmoreland
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