Lenten Reflection: True Repentance
By David Lindberg, March 9, 2022.
“We we were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, In order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.” - Romans 6:4
Last week we considered the wages of sin, the unavoidable enemy of all humanity that is death. We considered some of the ways in which we seek to avoid and/or have mastery over this reality that ought to instead humble us. We are but dust, and to dust we shall return!
Our mortality, rather than triggering our flight or fight mentality, should lead us to surrender to the only one who has power over death, the author and giver of life. It is only in Jesus that one can find, not only the promise but also the present reality of eternal life in the loving presence of the Triune God. Only in Jesus can we begin, now, to taste the goodness of eternal life that will be oursin the eternal banquet hall of the new heavens and new earth.
But how do we begin to taste this reality in the midst of the culture of death that is our exile east of Eden?
First, we begin to taste this reality as we rest in Jesus and receive his justifying and adopting grace. This alone restores us to right relationship with God, the one who acts on our behalf in Christ thus making us righteous (justified) in his sight. This is our passive reception of the righteousness and life given us in Jesus. It is this faith that drove King David to cry out, in recognition of his sin: “Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin!” (Ps. 51:1-2)
David’s cry is not far from that of the tax collector, in juxtaposition to the self-righteous Pharisee, in Luke 18 who stands at a distance–humbled by his sin–and without even looking to heaven beats his chest and prays with a sense of urgent dependence, “God, be merciful to me, a sinner!” This justifying and adopting faith is the first taste of the eternal life given us in Jesus.
Second, we begin to taste this reality of eternal life in Jesus through both our initial and ongoing repentance. Repentance is something that is necessary as we enter the way of Jesus by faith. In fact our first expressions of faith are often confessions of sin that demonstrate the inseparable nature of faith and repentance. This is true as we enter into the way of Jesus and during the dance of faith-and-repentance that is an ongoing reality that marks our lives in Christ. No matter how aware we are of our sin upon conversion (or as we grow up in the Church) it doesn’t take long for us to become aware of remaining sin. In fact, the older we get (or the longer we have clung to Jesus in the gospel) the more often we will find ourselves repenting, because the more aware of our sin we will be and the more we will be offended by that which we know offends the God we love (and who loves us!). That is to say, the more we will echo—with greater and greater depths of awareness—David’s words: “Against you and you only have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you are justified in your words and blameless in your judgment. Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me. ” (Ps. 51:4-5)
Now, if you are anything like me, you probably find yourself caught up in the rush of life. There is always something grabbing our attention–news, social media, books, streaming, and relationships, and the needs of ourselves and those around us. Often this is all (mostly) good stuff! However, there are times when we realize that the fullness of our lives can distract us from true introspection and self-evaluation. Awareness of sin, patterns of brokenness and expressions of unhealth within our own heart, mind, body, and relational network can all get reduced to fleeting moments of lamenting recognition that just as quickly fade out of mind as the next “urgent” matter grabs our attention. We know that the Lord delights in truth in our inward being, but we often fail to take the time to receive the inward teaching of wisdom from the Holy Spirit (cf. Ps. 51:6).
This last point is one reason I have become (and am becoming) more and more appreciative of the church calendar. This ancient discipleship curriculum requires us to slow down and be more reflective and focused on certain aspects of who Jesus is, what he came to accomplish, and how we are supposed to respond. To that end, Lent is an opportunity to slow down and be more intentional in the excavation of our hearts as we look critically at the absences or excesses that our mental, emotional, bodily, and relational patterns reveal. This is why the Lenten Fast—in remembrance and imitation of Jesus 40 days in the wilderness—has always (as far as I know) focused on either practices of abstinence (giving something up for a season in order to better focus on one’s spiritual well-being in Christ) or practices of addition (in which one seeks to establish, or re-establish, better habits that cultivate spiritual well-being in Christ). In either case, repentance and or/the cultivation of a life-of-repentance is at the center of Lenten practice.
Whether one is abstaining (you hope permanently) from something you know to be sin, abstaining from something good so as to remove distractions, or adding a new habit, repentance is what is being practiced or pursued; if it is being done well this repentance is truly focused on the God of grace . That is, it is a true turning away from habits and patterns of sin, or unhealthy patterns of brokenness that are the result of living in a fallen world, and a turning to God in Christ.
It is important to note that practices of abstinence or addition are not effective in-and-of-themselves. They must be intentional acts of faith that pursue greater appreciation of and participation in the sanctifying work of God’s free grace within the hearts and lives of his people (cf. WLC 75). And here is the good part, when we engage in these practices—during Lent, and hopefully more and more in all seasons of our lives—we get to taste the reality of our eternal life in Jesus as we experience the fulfillment of his promises (rooted in his character of steadfast love) to cleanse us of our sin (1 John 1:9). We in time and space hear “joy and gladness” even as the pain and sorrow caused by our sin (and the accompanying shame and guilt) is turned to rejoicing (cf. Ps. 51:7-8).
Lent calls us to reflect on, and to rehearse, the 40 days of Jesus’ temptation so that we—in our daily battles against the world, the flesh, and the devil—can become more and more reliant upon the grace of God the Holy Spirit. It is he who feeds us with the words from the Father’s mouth (the Bible) which nourish us with the person of Jesus (the Son) into whose death we were buried in baptism “in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead…we too might walk in newness of life” (cf. Matt. 4:1-4; Romans 6:4).
Lent is a chance for each of us to slow down, corporately and personally, in order that we might take stock of our lives (our desires, our spiritual habits and disciplines, and our community/relationships) with the intention that we bring them all more and more into the freeing captivity of Christ. Even as we confess, abstain, and build new habits we do so with the full knowledge that God has in fact hidden his face from our sins, he has blotted out our transgressions, he has given us new hearts, and promised to be with us even to the end of the age having restored us in the gospel with the hope of eternal life in His presence (Ps. 51:9-12; Matt. 28:20; Revelation 21-22). It is to this hope that we will turn our attention next week.
