Mark 1:14-15, Matthew 4:17, & Luke 4:14-15
14 Now after John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God, 15 and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.”
Mark1:14-15
17 From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”
Matthew 4:17
14 And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee, and a report about him went out through all the surrounding country. 15 And he taught in their synagogues, being glorified by all.
Luke 4: 14-15
Today I want to consider the idea of repentance as understood by Christ.
When I was in high school someone donated a ping pong table to the school. It was great. As a senior my friends and I played a lot of ping pong and then we didn’t. Our ping pong table was in the gymnasium on the stage. The stage was surrounded by nice, white, sheet rock walls. One of our games was going well but got a bit too competitive. A friend of mine striving not be defeated unintentionally made contact with the stage wall and his right elbow left a good sized hole in the drywall. As industries teenage boys we devised a plan to solve the problem. Find a picture behind the wall that had been used in a previous drama and hang it over the hole. Problem solved and the playing resumed. If I recall correctly we even accepted praise by one of the female faculty members for our desire to decorate our area of play with a beautiful picture. The scenario was wrong on so many fronts. Funny but wrong.
It was a couple of weeks before the issue was found by the drama teacher. I remember the scenario well. Interviews were conducted and before long a point of reconciliation occurred. The fix was the loss of our ping pong privilege and the guilty parties chipping in for the cost of the material to repair the wall. We were thankful the shop teacher helped us out.
As I think back on that spring of 1998 in light of our passages on Christ’s teaching this morning something clear strikes me. My buddies and I had little remorse for the fault that had occurred however we were upset when we got caught.
The idea of Biblical repentance creates a change. It is clear sorrow for past thoughts, actions, etc. accompanied with a desire not to do or be what one used to be.
The Bible is clear. Sin separates us from God. Sin is not good it is bad. Sin harms us and leaves us on a path with permeant and severe endings. I challenge you today to stop and pray asking God what sin exists in your life? What sins do you tolerate and have allowed to be normalized and as a result desensitized too?
To be honest when the picture was finally removed and the hole revealed in that drywall my buddies and I had almost forgot the discretion. Our sin is similar. It becomes normal, we mask it, at times even brag about it, and as a result the Bible says sin becomes bondage we learn to live with that grows heavier with time. What are you hiding and living with today? God sees the holes in our lives so I would suggest considering Jesus’ teaching. Repent of the wrong, trust Christ for forgiveness, and in His power leave the wrong in the past.
The 1998 shop crew was not the greatest bunch of sheetrock finishers. The whole was patched. Was it perfect? No, but it was covered and fixed. Jesus offers a fix for our wrongs if we will trust repent and trust Him. Like the poorly fixed sheet rocked wall our life will be left with scaring from our sinful past however in Christ our wrongs will be permanently covered. What do you need to repent of today? The Kingdom of God is near!
