Repent and Believe (02/13/08)

Warren Sentinel "Weekly Pulpit" (02/13/08)

“The time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the gospel!”  Mark 1:15 

With these words, according to the Gospel of Mark, Jesus launched his earthly ministry. 

Repentance may be a strange theme to discuss the day before Valentines Day,  but today, the day I'm sitting at my desk writing these lines, is actually Shrove Tuesday – also known as Mardis Gras or Fat Tuesday.  At best, this day is known as a day of preparation and repentance.  At worst, it is known as a day of anything butpreparation and repentance. 

So what is repentance?  Repentance isn't just feeling bad about our actions or intentions.  Repentance is not just saying “sorry” or “my bad.”   Repentance may start with this, but it doesn't stop there. True repentance requires action.  Repentance, as described throughout the Bible, involves turning from our wrongdoing toward “rightdoing.” Repentance implies a change of heart, a change of mind, and a change of action. 

Jesus said, “Repent and believe the gospel.” He didn't say, “Repent or believe the gospel.” You see, truly believing the gospel (the Good News of Jesus) implies that our lives are being transformed by that News.  Believing something isn't just having head knowledge about it.  Many people know what Jesus said –they have heard the gospel– but their lives haven't been transformed by his words. 

To be a disciple of Jesus requires that we learn not only what he taught, but that we do what Jesus did.  Most of us have been shaped by a Western worldview which teaches that “knowledge is power” and that “we are what we know.” In contrast, the Jewish worldview of Jesus' time taught that “we are what we do.” In other words, to really believe something is to live it out. 

When a rabbi took on disciples, he fully expected them to live and act as he did. According to pastor and author Rob Bell, an ancient Jewish sage once said to disciples, “Cover yourself with the dust of your rabbi's feet.” You see, a good disciple would follow his rabbi so closely, going everywhere the rabbi went, and doing everything the rabbi did, that by the end of the day he would be –quite literally– covered with the dust of the rabbi's feet.  (For more on this, see Bell's book, Velvit Elvis.) 

To say that we are Christians –to say that we are disciples of Jesus– should mean that we have both learned the words of Jesus, and that we actually live them out.  Sadly, according to pollster David Kinnaman, many people (and, especially, most younger people) in our country today “think Christians no longer represent what Jesus had in mind, that Christianity in our society is not what it was meant to be ...” (For more on this, see Kinnaman's book, unchristian.) So should it surprise us that church attendance is dropping?! 

Jesus calls us to repent and believe the gospel.  He calls us to turn from wrongdoing to rightdoing.  He calls us to not only read the gospel, but to live it!  These are words, not of judgment and condemnation, but words of promise and hope.   Imagine what our churches, what our nation, and what our world would be like if we all took these words to heart and lived them out!