An author writes: “When I was a boy growing up in
the Baptist church, I was told by the adults, "Baptists don't do
Lent." But when I asked, no one
knew why. I suspect now that it was an
anti-Catholic thing. It was the old argument, "whatever they do, we
don't!" Whatever the reason I think
it is a great loss for any Christian not to prepare for Good Friday and
Easter. Every spring baseball players’
prepare for the season with “spring training;” every spring people prepare for
summer by doing "spring cleaning." So why shouldn't Christians
prepare for the most important events in Jesus' ministry - what he did for us
and the world on Good Friday and Easter Sunday, on Golgotha's cross and at the
empty tomb? If it helps you, think of Lent as a kind of Christian spring
training or spring cleaning.”
In light of this Lenten season, we
turn to our passage from the O.T. Psalm
51. This psalm focuses attention on a
critical aspect of our spiritual life.
The psalmist begins by acknowledging the greatness, the awesomeness of
God. “Have mercy on me, according to your steadfast love; according to your
abundant mercy.”
He prays to God in humility and
honesty: “Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, cleanse me from sin.” He confesses His sin to God, he confesses His
sin from birth, he knows that God desires truth and asks God for wisdom. He prays for God to purge him, to wash him
whiter than snow, to blot out his iniquities. Create in me a clean heart, O God
and put a new and right spirit within me.
Restore to me the joy of your salvation.”
It is a prayer of repentance. The psalmist had turned away from God. He now seeks to turn back to God and once
more experience the joy of walking with the Lord. The Bible says the first step in getting
right with God is repentance.
Repentance is a change of heart.
“Repentance means we love our Savior more than we love our sin."
“Repentance means we want freedom more than bondage.”
A man was praying with his pastor at
the altar. He prayed the same prayer the pastor had heard countless times
before. “O Lord, take the cobwebs out of my life.” Frustrated
the pastor couldn’t help himself and interrupted, “And Lord, please get rid
of the spider.” How often do we ask
the Lord to forgive us of some sin, yet we leave the source of temptation in
our life? The psalmist prays because he
desires a changed heart and seeks to be in a right relationship with God. Do you need a change of heart?
The state of our heart is
critical. Heart is a familiar concept in
music. In 1960 Elvis, who inspired me to
learn to play the guitar, sang a song titled Wooden Heart. Don’t worry, I’m not going to try to sing
it. Listen to the words: “Can't you
see I love you, please don't break my heart in two, That's not hard to do,
Cause I don't have a wooden heart. And
if you say goodbye, Then I know that I would cry, maybe I would die, cause I
don't have a wooden heart. There's no
strings upon this love of mine, it was always yours from the start. Treat me nice, treat me good, treat me like
you really should, cause I'm not made of wood, and I don't have a wooden
heart.”
Today we use the word heart in
everyday conversation: “My heart is broken, my heart if full, my heart
overflows, my heart is heavy, my heart is sad, my heart aches, my heart is
happy.” Heart is likewise a concept that
we see frequently throughout scripture.
Ps. 24 says: “Those who have clean hands and pure hearts.” Hebrews 10 says: “Let us approach God with a
true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an
evil conscience.” Matthew 22 Jesus
says: “Love God with your heart, soul, strength, and mind.” In Matthew 15 Jesus
says: “The things that come out of the mouth, come from the heart and these
make a person unclean. For out of the
heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false
testimony, slander.”
Medically, we know that having a
healthy heart is crucial. Heart disease
is a serious condition. This is also
true emotionally and spiritually. Jesus
is saying the spiritual condition of your heart is paramount. Jesus is saying repentance is the way to a
healthy heart. The biblical teaching about repentance involves four
aspects. True repentance in terms of
the Bible is different than the popular notion of repentance. It involves not only feeling sorry for your
sin inwardly, but also outwardly attempting to do what is possible to rectify
it. Jesus began his ministry in Galilee
by preaching this message: “The time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God
Here are the four aspects of the
biblical understanding of repentance:
·
Feeling sorry,
remorseful.
·
Admitting to God, ourselves and to the person
that we have done wrong.
·
Striving to change so that we don’t repeat the
behavior or sin again.
·
Seeking to repay
the person wronged for the damage we have done.
That is, striving trying to repair things, to make things right again
with that person.
In our scripture passage from the
Gospel of Mark, Jesus is teaching about temptations to sin. He says if anyone puts a stumbling block
before a child, it would be better if a great millstone were hung around your
neck and you were thrown into the sea.
Jesus loved children. He is
speaking about sinning against children. There can be severe consequences for
anyone who intentionally hurts a child or leads a child astray.
And what does Jesus command if you
sin? If your hand causes you to stumble,
cut it off, if your foot causes you to stumble cut if off, if you eye causes
you to stumble, pluck it out. How do we
interpret Jesus' words? Should they be
taken literally? No, I don't believe
Jesus intended his teaching to be taken literally, and neither do other
interpreters of scripture down through the ages. The reason is that Jesus often spoke in
hyperbole. Like he does on the subject
of judging others. “Why do you see
the speck in your neighbor’s eye, but you do not notice the log in your own
eye. You hypocrite, first take the log
out of your own eye, then you will be able to see the speck in your neighbor's
eye.”
Many people in Jesus day were
illiterate. Jesus employed imagery,
symbols, metaphors in his teaching to paint word pictures in people’s
minds. Jesus taught in parables and stories. Jesus wanted people to remember his
teachings.
So we interpret Jesus' words about
cutting off hands and feet figuratively.
Basically, this is a word picture about repentance from sin. Jesus is calling people to repent from their
sins. He is saying whatever is causing
you to sin, whatever in your life is leading you to sin, separate yourself from
it, sever yourself from it, cut it out of your life, remove it from your
life. Both the psalmist and Jesus are
speaking about the importance of repentance in the spiritual life.
The goal of repentance is to
embrace, to receive, to accept God’s forgiveness and the joy of God’s saving
grace. “Lord I repent, I am sorry for
straying away from you, I am sorry for acting as if you don't exist, I am sorry
for what I said or didn’t say, I am sorry for what I have done or didn’t do,
make me right with you, bring me back to you O Lord. The aim of repentance is to return to
the lord, our God.
God's priority for us, for you and
me, is a clean heart, a new and right spirit within us. For when our heart is unclean, beauty or
wealth or knowledge or power will not stop us from leading a sinful and even
evil life. I don't have to give examples
for you to believe this truth.
Conversely, a clean heart, a life lived in and under God’s grace, will
enable us to lead a life that is pleasing to God and that is constructive and
loving and beneficial to others.
What is the spiritual condition of
your heart? Do you need to pray the
psalmist’s prayer of repentance? “Create
in me a clean heart, O God, and put a new and right spirit within me. Do not cast me away from your presence, and
do not take your Holy Spirit from me, restore to me the joy of your salvation
and sustain in me a willing spirit.” Have
mercy on me O Lord. Amen!
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