A Christianity That Offends (Pt. 4)

Repentance: A repositioning of my stance towards God... to turn towards Him.

The value of this definition is that it focuses on God, not man's sin. If you reference one of my previous posts, I wrote that I believe that it is not adequate to say that repentance is remorse and sorrow over sin, but it must include a turning to God. I can weep over my sin all I want, but there is no repentance if I do not turn to a Savior.

Paul wrote I Corinthians as a sort of rebuke to the church in Corinth, and in II Corinthians he acknowledged that his first letter caused a certain degree of sorrow for the Church over their sin. Here is what he said in 7:8-10: For though I caused you sorrow by my letter, I do not regret it; though I did regret it - for I see that that letter caused you sorrow, though only for a while - I now rejoice, not that you were made sorrowful, but that you were made sorrowful to the point of repentance; for you were made sorrowful according to the will of God, that you might not suffer loss in anything through us. For the sorrow that is according to the will of God produces a repentance without regret, leading to salvation, but the sorrow of the world produces death.


There is a lot in that passage to be sure, but for now, this is the point I want to make: salvation does not occur through our sorrow alone. Sorrow must lead to repentance, which will in turn lead to salvation.

Several important thoughts:
1) Sorrow is necessary for true repentance.
2) This sorrow must be motivated by an encounter with the gospel of Jesus Christ.
3) God's Word reveals sin, which leads the humble heart to sorrow, which leads to a heart that is prepared
    for repentance.
4) Sin is worth being sorry for... and God is the one who defines sin. Responding with sorrow to the
    accusations of the Devil, and the moments where "I don't feel right," is not the sorrow that leads to
    repentance.
5) Walk in the Holy Spirit moment by moment, be in God's Word daily, and have godly, consistent accountability... these are good practices that will help produce the sorrow over sin that will lead to repentance.

Humbly Submitted,
JE