CHURCH CONCEPTS LETTTER

Volume 1, Number 1 - July 23, 2006 - Church@cross-purpose.org

REPENTANCE

It seems that our churches are often not effective in fulfilling their mission to preach Christ and make disciples.  This occurs even in churches that are attempting to engage in evangelism, and which may even have programs that are designed, in theory, to produce genuine disciples. Is it possible that this ineffectiveness stems from a failure in repentance?

Many of us have heard and spoken the message of "repentance  all our lives.  We know that John the Baptist and Jesus both told people to "repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand. On the day of Pentecost, Peter told the 3000 seekers that responded to his message to "repent, and be baptized.   But do we know what repentance really is?

INDIVIDUAL REPENTANCE - HOW IT WORKS

One of  the best models of repentance in scripture is that of King Josiah.  All of the necessary elements are present.  First, we see Josiah's awareness of the need for God in his life, and a basic desire to be pleasing to Him.  In 2 Kings 22:4-7, Josiah takes action to restore God's presence in Israel by beginning to restore the temple.    At this point, God's Word is called to Josiah's attention and it is made clear that the people of Israel have failed to remain true to God.  Josiah's response is to inquire of God, recognizing the failure of the people to honor Him.  II Kings 22:13.

In many of our own lives, as in the people of Israel's, this is the point where we fail - instead of inquiring of God as to how to remedy the flaws that have been exposed by His Word, we instead defend ourselves ("I'm basically a good person"), or decide the message is unimportant ("my sin is not that bad, unlike some people"), or flatly defy God ("you are attacking me as a person when you say I am sinning - I have a right to be what I choose to be.").  What this really amounts to is a denial of the authority that God has in our lives.   Acceptance of God's right to judge us is a prerequisite for true repentance.

 God told Josiah that:

"because your heart was tender and you humbled yourself before the Lord when you heard what I spoke against this place and against its inhabitants that they should become a desolation and a curse, and you have torn your clothes and wept before Me, I truly have heard you."  II Kings 22:19

There is one last thing that, although not a part of the repentance process, is a necessary outcome:  the desire to tell the Truth that has been found to others.  After receiving God's response, Josiah gathered Israel together to share what he had found with them.  II Kings 23:1-3. James expresses this concept in New Testament terms when he writes "But someone may well say,   You have faith, and I have works; show me your faith without the works, and I will show you my faith by my works.   James 2:18.  True repentance is characterized by true change.

GROUP RESPONSIBILITY- THE LACK OF A CULTURE OF REPENTANCE

We generally tend to think of repentance in terms of our initial salvation experience, and certainly salvation includes all of the elements of Josiah's dealings with God.  There must be an initial desire for God in one's life - prompted by the Holy Spirit's conviction.  The truth of the message of Christ must be spoken.  And there must be a point of humility and recognition of God's authority in which His plan of salvation through the sacrifice of Christ must be accepted. But this does not end a discussion of repentance in the life of a follower of Christ.  In many instances in the New Testament, believers are called to repentance, both individually, and as assemblies.

Perhaps the most sobering idea illustrated by the story of Josiah's repentance is that, although an individual may repent, this does not serve as repentance for the group.  Contrast the actions of Israel - who clearly only gave lip service to the covenant Josiah called them to (II Kings: 22:16-17)  - to the actions of the people of Ninevah, when Jonah came to tell them of God's judgment.  Jonah 3:5-10.  Ninevah was saved.  In Israel's case though, immediately after Josiah's death, Israel returned to its denial of God's authority.  The people of Israel were shortly thereafter taken into captivity in Babylon.  Josiah's repentance was not sufficient to serve as repentance for Israel.

Repentance, therefore is not always something that is required from individuals only.  God calls identifiable groups (assemblies, dare we say . . . . churches?) of His people to repent. Five of the seven churches of Asia - Ephesus, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, and Laodicia - were sent messengers specifically calling them as churches to repentance.  Revelation 2-3.

In our modern world, most people  tend to come to church out of some sense of a need to please God.  We often have God's word presented as Josiah did.  It is in our response to the word, however, that we fail.  We remain as the people of Israel did, in pride and denial of our need to humbly approach God as a body.  In fact we often don't even believe that our church could fail to please Him.

For different churches, the repentance process may be broken  in different places.  Some have lost the desire even to seek to do God's will, instead making the church itself an object of worship.  We see this tendency in many modern churches where the goal is not Christ, but numbers in church.  Websites, news ads and other communications all extol the benefits of a particular church, but Jesus is an afterthought if He is discussed at all.  Some churches, as with the Pharisees (Romans 10:1-4), want to serve God, but want service to be on their own terms, serving out of pride rather than humility.  And some churches act in open defiance of God's authority, refusing to consider the mission we have been given in decision making, refusing to acknowledge Christ as the defining point of what we are, and instead choosing to build the church they want for themselves.

APPLICATION

Repentance as a body is no longer really a part of our church culture.  We have adopted a pseudo-theology that can best be characterized as saying "the majority is always holy.   In many assemblies, we no longer evaluate messages that are brought to the church from those other than the pastor except to dismiss them as not being from God.  We very rarely consult God about church direction except to say "God, we have this idea for a new building, a new program, or a new ministry, and so we want you to bless it.   Worst of all, we practically never acknowledge past mistakes - instead choosing to live with them, either as ingrained tradition, or as the "things we don?t talk about.  

How can we take steps to change a church culture of non-repentance?  Because I have written this letter primarily to pastors and others in speaking positions in the body, in application I am addressing those who are responsible for shaping church thought:

1.        If this discussion makes you defensive, either personally or about your church, ask yourself why?   Defensiveness is often a characteristic of a failure in the repentance process.  It is almost certainly a sign that there is a problem you or your church are resisting dealing with.

2.        Ask whether prayer is an integral part of your church's community life.  We all tend to claim our churches pray, but when was the last time your church prayed together in a non-rushed, serious context, not for something it wanted, but for God?s will in its fulfillment of the mission it has been given?

3.        Teach repentance as a core value of the life of Christ-followers.

4.          Call your church to introspection - call special services of prayerful consideration for your church's direction.  And most of all, encourage members of the body to speak if God speaks to them.  The church as a whole can then evaluate what they hear in terms of the truth of scripture.  I Corinthians 14:29.

5.        Begin a practice in conducting business and developing ministry of, at the very least, always asking the question - is this decision consistent with God?s purpose for our body.  Does it facilitate our mission of sharing Christ and making disciples, or is it for our own comfort and sense of self-satisfaction.

6.        Begin a serious, discussion-based study of the book of James as it relates to your church as a whole, with a focus on issues of repentance.

Our churches are held down in fulfilling their mission by years of un-Godly decision-making.  We carry the burden of classism, racism, gossip, pride, greed, self-indulgence, bitterness, and a myriad of other evil acts and bad motivations for which the body has never repented.  We will never be free on God's terms until we humble ourselves before God with tender, broken hearts, and pray.  Then, as He did with Josiah, God will truly hear us.

Yours in Christ,

Jeremy B. Lowrey