February 25, 2007
Rev. Terry D. Campbell

Why Should I Repent?
Mark 1:14-15

“After John was put in prison, Jesus went into Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God. ¹⁵’The time has come,’ he said. ‘The kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news!’”

In our text, Jesus is just beginning His earthly ministry. John the Baptist has now been put in prison. Jesus is alone in building God’s kingdom on the earth. He has just spent extended time in the wilderness with God the Father for reflection, preparation and inspiration. He could say anything to start His Kingdom building—and what does Jesus open with? “Repent and believe the Good News of God!”

You’ve got to be kidding, Jesus! You couldn’t come up with anything more original than that? That is not very creative or exciting. It won’t attract people into your ranks or swell your numbers. Jesus, what were you thinking?

By the sentence sequence Jesus uses He explains what He means—The time has come and the Kingdom of God is now near—so repent and believe the good news of God so you can experience it. Repentance is the beginning of us living in God’s kingdom!

I. Examine your life to discover where you are not walking with the Lord.

Jesus knows that because of the pervasiveness of sin, to take hold of God and God’s life, we must begin by examining how we think, feel and act. To live as a part of God’s Kingdom, we all need to learn to live as citizens of God’s realm. Repentance begins with examining one’s life. Compare how you are doing living by God’s standard. Are you plumb with it? (hold up plumb line)

The Greek word for “repent”, “metanoia,” means a change of heart that shows up in a lifestyle or behavior change.[i] When we start to honestly examine our lives and discover that we are not being faithful as Kingdom citizens, we begin to realize our need to change and can continue that process by faith.

Sometimes it’s more obvious than other times that we need to change and return to God. If you’re in a desperate situation, sitting in a lonely motel room with nothing to live for, thinking you have no friends, control over your life, no finances, it is more obvious you need a change for a better life. But what if you are continually snapping at your children and wounding their self-esteem; What if you grow to think that business success must involve fudging on the truth to make a sale; What if you develop a pattern of going along with the crowd in ridiculing someone so that the crowd won’t turn on you? These are just our way of “surviving.” It is not as easy for us to see our need to repent.

Regularly examining our lives or observing just how you have been living in the light of God’s Kingdom is like watching game films so you can get better. If we just do what comes naturally, often we’ll get it wrong.

We see that we are NOT currently living a Godly life and indeed, try as we may, can not seem to do it by our own strength. We must admit that we need help—we need a Savior. Our sinning has not just been making some mistakes, or errors in judgment. We have lived in the rebellion of self against God. We have done this both by doing things we should not have and by not doing the things we should have done.

Psalm 119:9-11-“How can a young man keep his way pure? By living according to your word. ¹⁰I seek you with all my heart; do not let me stray from your commands. ¹¹I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.”

The plumb line of God’s Kingdom is the standard by which we measure “plumb.” Our desires or societies preferences don’t count. Abraham Lincoln once asked a deputation, “How many legs would a sheep have if it called his tail a leg?” The deputation promptly answered, “five.” “No,” said Lincoln, “it would not. It would have only four. Calling a tail a leg doesn’t make it one.” Sin is sin no matter what people call it. Examine your life! Where are you not living like a citizen of the Kingdom of God? There is the need for change!

II. Choose which you want more.

Repentance gives us a chance to be deliberate in what we do. As you reflect on what you have done, or think or say, is it right? How does God feel about it? How would you react if it were done to you? How does this reflect back on Jesus?

Not everything we crave or instinct for action is good for us. Radio personality Paul Harvey tells the story of how an Eskimo kills a wolf. The account is grisly, yet it offers fresh insight into the consuming, self-destructive nature of sin. “First, the Eskimo coats his knife blade with animal blood and allows it to freeze. Then he adds another layer of blood, and another, until the blade is completely concealed by frozen blood. “Next, the hunter fixes his knife in the ground with the blade up. When a wolf follows his sensitive nose to the source of the scent and discovers the bait, he licks it, tasting the fresh frozen blood. He begins to lick faster, more and more vigorously, lapping the blade until the keen edge is bare. Feverishly now, harder and harder the wolf licks the blade in the arctic night.

So great becomes his craving for blood that the wolf does not notice the razor-sharp sting of the naked blade on his own tongue, nor does he recognize the instant at which his insatiable thirst is being satisfied by his OWN warm blood. His carnivorous appetite just craves more—until the dawn finds him dead in the snow!”

Repentance gives us the opportunity to honestly see our lives and then choose not just our actions, but the consequences that will necessarily come from those actions. It is a fearful thing that people can be “consumed by their own lusts.” Only God’s grace keeps us from the wolf’s fate.[ii]

III. Enlist others to help you be truly honest.

Repentance involves our making a plan to better guarantee the desired behavior. God tells us, as well as our knowledge of human nature, that our plan had better involve some neutral observers. God tells us in James 5:16-“Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.”

As a diabetic, I am limited on my carbohydrates. I am supposed to have some protein with my carbs to make my body work better and peanut butter is a good choice for me. The question is, how much I am eating. There is disagreement between my wife and me as to how much I am eating. Pam thinks I have been eating more than I think I have in terms of serving size. My suspicion is that she is right. We can deceive ourselves because we want to deceive ourselves. As a partner, Pam can help me stay more honest and help me do the right thing—better than I can do it on my own. Teammates don’t become responsible for OUR behavior—that is OUR responsibility—but they can ask the questions that help us be honest and encouraged to keep me on target living Kingdom life on earth.

Dr. Larry Crabb wrote, “A spiritual community consists of people who have the integrity to come clean.”[iii] Wisdom says that we will seek out that kind of small covenantal community in which our honest and spiritual development are regularly challenged to grow. If that happens, repentance will definitely lead to living belief!

What will you do now?

To fail to examine one’s life actions is to run roughshod through life, hurting and not helping appropriately. It is to exist by instinct, rather than to live by choice. We know life in the Kingdom of God is different than the sin-filled life we experience so frequently on earth. Through the process called repentance, we begin to find God’s victory—and God’s reign in our lives. Amen.