You Can't Staple Fruit to the Tree

Christ is not merely after people who aren't anxious. He's after people who aren't anxious because of how they trust so surely in Him as their Rock.

He is not after merely humble or devout people. He's after people who are humble and devout because they know the sweetness of knowing Him.

He is not after merely pure and holy people. He's after people who are pure and holy because they know the pleasure to be had from sin doesn't hold a candle to the pleasure to be had in seeing and knowing and following Him.

There are no shortcuts in the Christian life. Jesus gets no glory when we try to staple fruit to the tree. He gets glory when obedience is compelled by His own delightfulness, beauty, and pleasantness. When that happens, then the Holy Spirit -- and not we ourselves in our flesh -- is producing His fruit in us.

Recognize the Enemy

After a brief, yet hopefully beneficial, interruption from John Piper and Jonathan Edwards on the God's glory as it relates to His ordaining of evil, we come to the fourth lesson we can learn from Jeremiah about how to righteously respond to suffering.

The third lesson was to acknowledge God's absolute sovereignty in the suffering that we experience, and we noted how active a role God assigns to Himself in the most wicked actions of men. And yet, though Jeremiah attributes the destruction of Israel to God’s sovereign judgment, he neither blames Yahweh nor holds Him morally responsible for the evil inflicted on His people. Quite simply, a Bible-believing Christian has no choice but to admit that God sovereignly and actively brings about the evil events described in Lamentations. But if our understanding of God’s absolute sovereignty leads us to conclude that He is morally culpable, blameworthy, or in any way unrighteous, we’re wrong. The Scripture writers never seek to save God from His sovereignty in evil and sinful events, yet they also never attribute evil to Him directly. Apparently, there is a way for God to ordain that bad things come about without being the immediate, efficient cause for those things; i.e., without being at fault for them.

Rather, Jeremiah spoke about the arrogance of Israel’s enemies (Lam 2:15-16; 3:60-62), and called on Yahweh to judge them for the great wickedness that they had done to God’s people (Lam 1:21-22; 3:63-66; 4:21-22). Though Jeremiah explicitly states that Yahweh employed the Babylonians to accomplish His purpose, he also makes it clear that God’s absolute sovereignty in and over evil does not mitigate human responsibility for that evil.

How is this analogous to our situation when we suffer? Well, the point is: We must recognize who the enemy is in suffering. It is not God. The previous two posts taught us that He brings these events about to conform us more into the image of His Son, and thus to make us fit to see and know and enjoy more of Him, which is our highest happiness. So He is not the enemy. Rather, the enemy in suffering is (1) our own sin, (2) the Enemy, Satan, and (3) the last enemy: death (1Cor 15:26). And so when we go through suffering we can and should pray along with Jeremiah for the destruction of all of these enemies.

Hebrews 2:14-15 tells us that the Son of God became man in order to render Satan powerless. And how did He do that? He freed us who were enslaved to the fear of death so that the Enemy, who had the power of death, had no power over us any longer.

And how did He free us from the fear of death? Answer: by conquering death itself. Because Christ has suffered, died, and yet rose again, demonstrating His triumph over sin and death, we too also will be raised with Him. That's what the entire glorious chapter of 1 Corinthians 15 is about! And it concludes like this:

But when this perishable will have put on the imperishable, and this mortal will have put on immortality, then will come about the saying that is written, "Death is swallowed up in victory." "O Death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?" The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law; but thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

That victory taunt, "O Death, where is your victory?..." is a quote from Hosea 13:14. What's so interesting about that is in its original context, it wasn't a cry of victory for God's people. Instead, it was God pronouncing a curse upon His people. He was calling upon the thorns and the sting of death to rouse them against adulterous, idolatrous Ephraim, that unwise son whose iniquity was bound up upon him (Hos 13:12-14). Indeed, Yahweh arouses the sting of death against His people, declaring, "Compassion will be hidden from My sight."

But the stinging reality of the phrase's original context only makes Paul's use of it that much sweeter. Because at the end of 1 Corinthians 15, because of what Christ has accomplished, going before us as our Deliverer, the people of God can take what was once a taunt of victory against them and shout it out as a taunt of victory against their enemy!

And in the midst of suffering, such a taunt can be our cry. "O Death, where is your victory? Where is your sting? Arouse them! Bring your worst! You will nevertheless remain defeated. Your power over me is entirely broken, and your sting is scarcely felt because of the sweet balm of the truth that anoints and salves my soul! Would you remind me of my indwelling sin? I would remind you of His indwelling Spirit, sent to me by my Savior, who bled and died to cancel out the the debt I owed because of the hostile Law. He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross (Col 2:13)! Get behind me, Satan!"

And therefore, my beloved brethren, we may be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that our struggle against the flesh and the fight for joy in the midst of suffering is not in vain in the Lord (1Cor 15:58).

In the midst of suffering, as we recognize our enemy, we can look back to celebrate the demise both of our sin and of Satan that took place at the cross. And we can look forward to celebrate their final and consummate destruction, when we will have put on the imperishable (1Cor 15:54) and when death and Hades will have been thrown into the lake of fire (Rev 20:14).

It is right for Jeremiah to call for Yahweh's judgment upon the Babylonians for their responsibility in causing the intense suffering of an entire nation. In the same way, it is right for us to call for God's judgment upon and eradication of our own sin, upon the Enemy himself, and upon death, the last enemy (1Cor 15:26).


Jeremiah's Five Lessons

1. He identifies with, and suffers alongside, his people.
2. He acknowledges that sin is at the root of suffering (even though not all suffering is a direct result of personal sin).
3. He acknowledges God’s absolute sovereignty in his suffering.
4. He recognizes that although God is sovereign, He is not the enemy.
5. He sets his hope entirely on, and rests in, God’s character.

Our Wills Not Violated, But Transformed

In chapter three of The Mortification of Sin in Believers, John Owen writes,

[1.] It is no otherwise the work of the Spirit but as all graces and good works which are in us are His. He “works in us to will and to do of his own good pleasure” (Phil 2:13); He works “all our works in us” (Is 26:12), — “the work of faith with power” (2Thess 1:11; Col 2:12); He causes us to pray, and is a “Spirit of supplication” (Rom 8:26; Zech 12:10); and yet we are exhorted, and are to be exhorted, to all these.

See the contrast Owen is driving at here, even if it's veiled in 17th century English. Every bit of progress in grace that we make -- every single good work which we perform -- are most properly said to be the works of the Spirit. They "are His," as Owen says, and then supports his point by quoting passages that assign very active and causative terms to the Spirit's work in the believers' lives.

Yet having said all that, we, the believers, are rightly exhorted to do all the things that the Scriptures say the Spirit does. We are to want things and do things (i.e., to will and to do) according as it pleases God. We are to perform good works. We are to pray. But it's His work. How does this work?

[2.] The Spirit doth not so work our mortification in us as not to keep it still an act of our obedience.

Read that again. The sovereignty of the Holy Spirit in our lives, even in our progressive, step-by-step, process of sanctification, is not such a sovereignty that it absolves us of responsibility. He is sovereign. He works in us. Yet if we fail to will and to work to God's good pleasure, we have disobeyed. He continues:

The Holy Ghost works in us and upon us, as we are fit to be wrought in and upon; that is, so as to preserve our own liberty and free obedience. He works upon our understandings, wills, consciences, and affections, agreeably to their own natures; he works in us and with us, not against us or without us; so that his assistance is an encouragement as to the facilitating of the work, and no occasion of neglect as to the work itself.

In other words, someone who sits passively by, never lifting a finger -- let alone a sword -- in the faithful fight for holiness in the war against indwelling sin, all in the name of God's grace and sovereignty, is sorely mistaken. The Christian who sits and waits to be zapped with holiness, but never engages in the work of mortification (Rom 8:13), of putting off and putting on (Eph 4:17ff; Col 3:5ff), of making no provision for the flesh in regards to its lusts (Rom 13:14), has prostituted the glorious doctrine of God's absolute sovereignty in the service of his fleshly desires.

But at the same time, see in Owen's words the absolutely gracious ministry of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit, in all the beautiful luster of His sovereignty, doesn't turn us into unfeeling, mindless robots as He works in us to will and to work according to the good pleasure of the Father (no matter how much mileage that caricature has gotten). He doesn't simply force us against our will to obey God. Rather, in unspeakably miraculous sovereignty, He changes our hearts, our affections, our desires, bit by bit, so that when we obey we obey because we want to, because we delight to, because we love to!

Do you see why that's so awesome? It would be easy for God, entirely unfettered by anything in the universe (least of all the will of a mere man), to simply show up and force us to do whatever He wanted. Our hearts and minds would still be corrupt, but we would be "obeying." But that's not how He works. Instead, Christ pours out the Holy Spirit in our hearts, who then opens the eyes of our hearts to see the light of the knowledge of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God (2Cor 4:4). And when our hearts behold that beauty, it is won over, wooed out of its corruption, such that it freely and eagerly follows after that beauty, seeking to get more and more and more it, knowing that more of it comes in the path of obedience. The Spirit is so sovereign, and Christ is so glorious, that our hearts are changed agreeably. Our wills are not violated; they are transformed!

The Spirit works in our hearts and affections, not to present us as unwilling slaves to His wonderful Word, but to begin to see the Word as wonderful, Christ as beautiful, God as glorious, and obedience as satisfying. The Spirit illuminates our lives to have us see things as they are. Sin is devalued and Christ is exalted, and so we follow Him with all our hearts!

And so let us fall on our faces before the Lord God and pray that He would daily pour out His Spirit on us so generously that our affections would be changed, that our eyes would be opened, and that we would love the glory of the preeminent Christ more than the temporal gratification of our own sinful flesh.

Grounding our Experience of Fellowship in Objective Reality

I wonder what comes into your mind when you hear the word "fellowship." Some may think of friends. Others think of having interesting and inspiring conversations. Others think of sharing a meal or having a snack. Still others think of the time of a church service or Bible study where the teaching is officially over and everyone gets to just "hang out."

It's funny how certain words -- Biblical words -- come to be co-opted and used by our own circles of the Evangelical subculture. It's also kind of scary. We can be using the exact same language as the Bible, and thus suppose we are being Biblical, and yet mean something entirely different than the Bible means by it. We have refused to read such words in their Biblical contexts, and instead have ripped them from their contexts and then invest and infuse them with our own meanings. (For an example of how we've done that with the word 'love,' click here.)

The Lord Jesus recently blessed me with a wonderful opportunity to regularly teach and shepherd a terrific group of saints in a Bible study setting as a ministry of Grace Church. As I thought and prayed about what I'd wanted to teach on to begin my time with them, my heart was inclined to do something on fellowship. A home Bible study -- whether at a church with 70 members or 7,000 -- is a place where life is lived out together in community, a place where we can spur one another on to love and good deeds (Heb 10:24-25), and to encourage one another as long as it is called "Today," so that none will be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin (Heb 3:12).

And so I looked up the instances of the word koinonia in the New Testament. And I found that in an overwhelming number of instances, koinonia has very little to do with what mainstream American Christians call fellowship. Here's a breakdown of its use in the New Testament:

Fellowship with Each Other

• Acts 2:42 – They were continually devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.
• 1 John 1:3, 7 – …what we have seen and heard we proclaim to you also, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ. … but if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.
  

Contributing Resources

• Romans 15:26 – For Macedonia and Achaia have been pleased to make a contribution for the poor among the saints in Jerusalem.
• 2 Corinthians 8:4 – …begging us with much urging for the favor of participation in the support of the saints…
• 2 Corinthians 9:13 – Because of the proof given by this ministry, they will glorify God for your obedience to your confession of the gospel of Christ and for the liberality of your contribution to them and to all…
• Hebrews 13:16 – And do not neglect doing good and sharing, for with such sacrifices God is pleased.
  

Fellowship with The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit

• 1 Corinthians 1:9 – God is faithful, through whom you were called into fellowship with His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.
• 1 Corinthians 10:16 – Is not the cup of blessing which we bless a sharing in the blood of Christ? Is not the bread which we break a sharing in the body of Christ?
• 1 John 1:3, 6 – …what we have seen and heard we proclaim to you also, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ. … If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.
• 2 Corinthians 13:14 – The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with you all.
• Philippians 2:1 – Therefore if there is any encouragement in Christ, if there is any consolation of love, if there is any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and compassion…
  

Participation and Partnership

• 2 Corinthians 6:14 – Do not be bound together with unbelievers; for what partnership have righteousness and lawlessness, or what fellowship has light with darkness?
• Galatians 2:9 – …and recognizing the grace that had been given to me, James and Cephas and John, who were reputed to be pillars, gave to me and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship, so that we might go to the Gentiles and they to the circumcised.
• Philippians 1:5 – in view of your participation in the gospel from the first day until now.
• Philemon 1:6 – and I pray that the fellowship of your faith may become effective through the knowledge of every good thing which is in you for Christ’s sake.
• Philippians 3:10 – that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death.
  

Objective Reality

What I come away with as I read these uses of koinonia is the notion that fellowship is an objective reality. As noted above, it is an objective state of relationship with each of the Members of the Trinity. It is a sharing in the Good News of the Gospel (Phil 1:5), in faith in Christ (Phm 1:6), and even in sufferings (Phil 3:10). One is said to have fellowship in something when one gives his money and resources (Rom 15:24; 2Cor 8:6; 9:13; Heb 13:16). And even the fellowship that we have with each other is spoken of as an objective reality based upon the work of God in Christ, and not merely a subjective enjoyment of one another (1Jn 1:3, 7).

And even where the word koinonia is not used to describe this concept based on the objective work of Christ, the reality of it is apparent elsewhere in the Scriptures. In Romans 6, Paul speaks about our baptism into Christ (i.e., our salvation) in terms of union, or fellowship, with Him.

• Romans 6:3-7 - Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death? Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin; for he who has died is freed from sin.

Then in 1 Corinthians 12, he speaks of this same baptism in terms of our union with Christ's body. As we are united to the Head, we are also united to all those who are united to the Head.

• 1 Corinthians 12:12-14 - For even as the body is one and yet has many members, and all the members of the body, though they are many, are one body, so also is Christ. For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and we were all made to drink of one Spirit. For the body is not one member, but many.

And so, Biblically speaking, our fellowship is an objective reality that was accomplished by the atoning work of Christ.

Consider what James Montgomery Boice says about contemporary vs. Biblical concepts of fellowship (from his commentary on Philippians, p. 31):

“The word fellowship has been so watered down in contemporary speech that it conveys only a faint suggestion of what it meant in earlier times. When we speak of fellowship today, we generally mean no more than comradeship, the sharing of good times. But fellowship originally meant much more than a sharing of something, like the fellowship of bank robbers dividing their loot. It meant a sharing in something, participating in something greater than the people involved and more lasting than the activity of any given moment. When the Bible uses the word, it means being caught up into a communion created by God. […]

“This is the way the Bible regards fellowship, and it was this for which Paul was so thankful in the case of the young church at Philippi [1:5]. They may have had things in common. But Paul is not speaking of these. He is thankful for their share in the gospel of God. They had been taken up into a divine fellowship. They were united, not upon a social level, but by their commitment to the truths of the gospel.”

So this idea we have of fellowship as being the time in the worship service or Bible study where we all talk and have food is a misunderstanding of what the Bible says fellowship is. Of course it involves our interaction, conversation, and enjoyment of one another. But all of that – let's call it – subjective stuff is rooted in something objective: the fellowship we have with the Father and with each other by virtue of the saving work of Christ on the cross (Rom 6:3-7; 1Cor 12:12-14).

And one thing that can make our subjective experience of fellowship with each other seem awkward, or forced, is forgetting that our fellowship is grounded in this objective reality. We base our conversations and interactions with each other more on superficial things than on the fellowship we have as beneficiaries of the Gospel and as children of God. We base our "fellowship" with each other on shared interests, mutual hobbies, common experiences, being in similar "life stages," and so on, and so we exclude those who don't fit that mold – even though we may not intend to or even know that we're doing it.

Improving our Fellowship by Improving our Conversation

So what can we do to remedy this problem? How can we better ground our subjective fellowship in the reality of our objective fellowship?

Well, the primary way I believe we fail in this is in our conversation – the things we talk to each other about. And so I think that's the place to start improving. The big take-away application point from all of this talk about subjective and objective fellowship is that we must improve our everyday, relaxed, natural conversation, especially with other believers. We devote so much time to talking to each other about our families, our jobs, sports events, movies we’ve seen, TV shows we watch, aspirations we have and so on. And these are good things. But the things of Christ, spiritual things, the things of the Scriptures are so much more worthy of our attention and conversation than those other things. And comparatively, they often don't occupy enough of our interaction with each other.

In Deuteronomy 6, just after God gives Israel the Greatest Commandment to love Him with all their heart, soul, mind, and strength, the very next thing He says is, “These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand and they shall be as frontals on your forehead. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates” (Dt 6:6-9).

He commands them to be talking about His Word all the time. I think that it's significant that this command comes directly after the Greatest Commandment in all the Law (Mt 22:36-38). I take that to mean that there is no surer way to love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, than to be constantly meditating and musing over and speaking about His truth. And you’ll remember that keeping the first commandment is how you will keep the second greatest commandment (cf. 1Jn 5:2), which is: to love your neighbor as yourself.

Love for each other – the cornerstone of our fellowship – is based on our love for God. And our love for God is greatly affected by how great a place His Word and His truth occupies in our hearts and in our mouths.

So, after a sermon in church or a Bible lesson at a mid-week Bible study, don’t just immediately start talking about the weather. Talk with each other about the sermon or the lesson. Talk about the main Scripture text in the message, about significant things that stood out to you. Talk about how you were affected by God's Word.

Let the subjective experience of your fellowship with each other be rooted in the real, objective basis for that fellowship: the fellowship that we have as fellow-partakers of the grace of Christ.

Therefore, laying aside falsehood,
speak truth each one of you with his neighbor,
for we are members of one another.
- Ephesians 4:25 -

The Effect on My Personal Walk with Christ

I have greatly appreciated the effect that the study for this series on Biblical repentance has had on my personal spiritual walk. Thinking about these things at such depth for a prolonged time has shed light on how inclined I am to be a ‘functional Catholic’ when I confess my sin and seek to be restored to fellowship with God. Though I vehemently denounce the doctrine of penance as blasphemous, my flesh, ever seeking its own self-righteousness, is prone to try to earn God’s forgiveness. I’ve recognized how often, when I ask for forgiveness, my deep sorrow is more a reflection of my pride than my sadness over the offense of my sin to my God. While I never consciously or explicitly state it this way, my sadness is essentially saying, “I’m sorry, Lord. I should be better than this.”

But the point of the Gospel of grace and the scandal of Christ’s substitutionary atonement is that I am not better than this. It took the sinless Son of God to die in my place precisely because I could not do any better. Too often Paul’s admonition to the Galatians could be levied against me: “Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?” (Gal 3:3).

It has been freeing to be reminded of and to meditate on the truth that God is not pleased with a burnt offering (my works of penance), but that the sacrifices of God are a broken spirit and a contrite heart (Ps 51:16-17). Often, as I contemplate the grievousness of my sin, I feel that unless I feel badly enough, pray long enough, or do some act of service, God will not restore me to fellowship with Him. I’ve even felt like I was offending God by asking to be forgiven after so quick a confession. (What an unbelievably prideful thought! That is precisely why the Father sent His Son. Do I think I shouldn’t need Him?)

Yet what a joy it’s been to be reminded that in Christ God does not keep His children at bay with a stiffened arm until they have demonstrated themselves worthy of forgiveness and acceptance. Rather, He is the loving Father who once ran to embrace me at the first sign of my return (Lk 15:20). If I received such grace while I was His enemy (Rom 5:10), how much more can I hope to be reconciled to Him now that I am His friend! There is no more punishment for me to bear (Rom 8:1), no more atonement to make (Heb 9:24-26; 10:11-14). Therefore, I do not need to view confession as a burdensome or repulsive task. No, confession is sweet to my soul, a pleasant and delightful exercise that removes the burden of my sin and restores to me the joy of the Lord’s salvation (cf. Ps 32:3-5; 51:12).

Further, I’ve been impressed by the truth that any fruit that is borne in keeping with repentance is joyful obedience, flowing naturally from a heart that loves God and desires to experience even more of His grace. His gift of forgiveness does not indebt me to Him, forcing me to pay Him back by burdensome labor. Rather, past and present experiences of grace spur me on all the more to live a life of obedient faith in the hope of future grace. I obey because I get more of Him. Indeed, the one who keeps His commandments is the one who loves Him (Jn 14:15).

In a way that I have often failed to understand, my Christian walk becomes a fight to see the Lord Jesus; indeed, it is by beholding Him that I am transformed into the likeness of His glory (2Cor 3:18). I am motivated by the promise of blessing, as a son, and not by the fear of punishment, as a slave (Rom 8:15; Gal 4:7). Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift!

Biblical Repentance: Introduction

1. Exegesis
1.1. Nacham: Biblical Repentance Involves the Emotions
1.2. Shuv: The Heart's Obedient Turn from Sin to God
1.3. Metanoeo: A Fundamental Change of the Whole Man

2. Discussion
2.1. Summary and Discussion: Intellectual, Emotional, Volitional
2.2. Repentance for the Christian

3. Application
3.1. Repentance vs. Penance
3.2. Counsel to a Sinning Brother
3.3. Homework for Sinning Brother
3.4. The Effect on My Personal Walk with Christ

Homework for a Sinning Brother

Homework?!

Yes, homework.

In discussions like the one we've been having on repentance, there is a great need to be practical. It's easy to speak hypothetically and to throw around platitudes, but it's another thing to get into someone's life and really minister God's Word to them. This kind of discipleship involves not only unfolding the Word to each other, but also enfolding it back onto the lives of those with whom we live and grow in Christ.

In the last post in this series about Biblical repentance, I offered some ways that I would counsel a brother who has confessed to committing adultery and desires to repent Biblically. I encourage you to read that post.

But in a counseling situation -- whether a formal pastoral counseling session or just one-on-one, layperson-to-layperson discipleship -- it's easy to just get together and talk. We're all prone to the "take two verses and call me in the morning" approach to counseling, where we just throw Bible verses at people and expect that to take care of things. That rather careless approach hardly works, because sin is rarely, if ever, about a lack of information. Instead, it's about the clarity of our vision and the desires of our heart. Sheep don't need food thrown at them. They need to be led to a good, green pasture to graze. The pastor (or counselor) must feed his fellow sheep in a 'shepherdly' way.

In that situation, then, it's helpful to walk with a counselee through a thorough, Biblical understanding of the issue, as well as through practical ways to break bad habits and establish godly ones. One way that's often done is through homework. I know it sounds kinda quirky, but it's true for a couple of reasons.

• It sets expectations of actual change (cf. Prov 14:23) and gives hope by underscoring in the mind of the counselee that change is possible.
• It's obviously a helpful tool to evaluate progress.
  
• It gives the counselor an opportunity to "be with" the counselee in between the times that they can actually physically get together. Because he'll be consistently meditating on and working through the homework, the counselee's progress won't sag in between counseling sessions.
  
• It also helps wean the counselee's dependence off the counselor and on Christ Himself through the Word of God.
  

To that end, I offer a sample of four weeks of homework assignments for a sinning brother in Jim's position. You might notice that much of the material in the assignments comes from the material I've presented in this series. This is a way of applying our study to the real lives of the sheep. Also, I've provided sample answers to my questions in brackets to help the reader understand my intentions in asking these questions. The counselee would not see these answers before providing his own. These answers also provide a frame of reference for discussion of the counselee’s own answers in the following session. Here's the outline:

Week 1: The Nature of Biblical Repentance
Week 2: Sin and Obedience are Matters of Worship
Week 3: The Sweetness of Christ’s Lordship
Week 4: Putting Off and Putting On

Week One: The Nature of Biblical Repentance

The Bible teaches that when a believer has sinned, the appropriate response is repentance (Lk. 17:3). It is necessary, then, that you understand the nature of Biblical repentance. What does it look like? What does it involve? The following passages contain the words the Bible uses to describe repentance. Please look up these passages and read them carefully. Then, answer the questions that follow. A helpful pace might be one assignment per day coupled with a time of meditation on the indicated passages.

1. Read Psalm 32:3-4, Psalm 28:6-8, Jeremiah 31:19, Joel 2:12, Matthew 26:69-75, Romans 7:14-25, and 2 Corinthians 7:9-10. What do these passages teach are necessary components of repentance? If you had to summarize in one word a common theme in these passages, what would it be? [Sorrow, or remorse.] Does this characterize you? If so, how? If not, what would that look like in your life?
2. Read Psalm 32:5, Psalm 51:1-4, Hosea 14:2, and 1 John 1:8-10. What do these passages teach concerning repentance? In one word or phrase, what is the common theme? [Sin must be acknowledged and confessed.] Read the following passages and state how each character demonstrates this characteristic of repentance: (a) 2 Samuel 12:1-15, especially verse 13; (b) Job 38:1-2 and 42:1-6, especially 42:3. Have you evidenced repentance this way? If so, how? If not, how would your confession sound?
3. Read Jeremiah 18:11-12, Ezekiel 18:21, 27-28, 30-31, and Daniel 9:13. Now read Jesus’ admonitions to sinning churches in Revelation 2:4-5, 21-22, and 3:15-19. What is the common theme in repentance here? [Turning from sin.] Re-read Job 42:1-6. How does Job demonstrate this characteristic in 42:6? [He retracts his statement.] According to Hosea 5:4, can one continue in their sin and repent toward God? What might it look like for you to turn from the sin in your life?
4. Read Luke 3:7-14, Acts 26:19-20, and Revelation 2:5. What is the common theme in repentance in these passages? [Obedience.] In what three ways does David declare that he will bear fruit in keeping with repentance in Psalm 51:13-15? Also, read Luke 19:1-10. How does Zaccheus demonstrate his repentance? Finally, read Acts 4:8-11, 18-20 and 5:27-32, 41-42. How is Peter’s repentance of his denial of Christ made evident? In each of these cases (David, Zaccheus, and Peter), does their obedience happen before or after they are forgiven? [After. It’s a fruit, not a cause, of repentance.] Finally, read Deuteronomy 4:30, 2 Kings 17:13 and 23:25, Ezekiel 18:21, and Daniel 9:13. What is our standard of obedience? [The Word of God.]
5. Read Deuteronomy 4:29-30 and 30:2, 10, 1 Samuel 7:3, 1 Kings 8:47-48, Jeremiah 3:10 and 4:1-4, Joel 2:12-13, and Acts 8:21-22. Above all else, what is repentance concerned with? [The heart.] Is repentance merely external, or does it include the internal also? Does the external shape the internal, or does the internal shape the external? [The latter. Obedience is the free and joyful response of a truly repentant heart.]
6. Read the following passages and list some results of repentance: 1 Samuel 7:3, 2 Chronicles 30:9, Job 22:23, Psalm 32:5, Isaiah 1:27-28, Ezekiel 18:21-32, Acts 3:19, 2 Timothy 2:25.
   

Week Two: Sin and Obedience Are Matters of Worship

1. Read Isaiah 42:8, 43:7, and 48:11, Ezekiel 36:22-23, and Ephesians 1:11-12. What do these passages teach about the reason you exist? [To glorify/worship God.] Now read Romans 1:18-32. What are the fundamental sins of mankind that invite the wrath of God mentioned in 1:18? Focus particularly on 1:21, 1:23, 1:25, and 1:28. [They did not acknowledge, honor, nor give thanks to God; exchanged His glory for a glory-substitute and His truth for a lie; worshiped the creature not the Creator.]
2. Read Deuteronomy 29:2-4 and 30:6, Jeremiah 31:33, and Ezekiel 6:9 and 36:26. What is the common theme running throughout those passages? [Obedience from the heart.] Now, according to Mark 7:18-23, where does adultery come from? [The heart.]
3. Read Matthew 6:19-21. Ponder the statement in verse 21 for a few minutes. What is the relationship between your desires and the allegiance of your heart? [We worship what we desire, what we love, what we delight in.] How does this relate to Mark 7:21? [What we worship shapes our actions.] And according to Romans 1:25, to whom does our worship rightly belong? [God, not created things.]
4. According to Ephesians 5:3-5, sexual sin is related to covetousness. Examine your heart. What was it that you were coveting when you engaged in adultery? [Approval, appreciation, attention, comfort, etc.] How does this relate to worship? [I worship those things rather than Christ.]
5. Ephesians 5:5 calls covetous men idolaters. With this in mind, read Ezekiel 14:1-8. What idols have you erected in your heart that have led to your sin? (Hint: What were you coveting in #4?) In what ways are you worshiping these idols in the way you ought to be worshiping Christ? [I am shaping my life to receive the joy and satisfaction that they offer, when God tells me I was created to rejoice in and to be satisfied by Him, and nothing else.]
6. With Isaiah 43:7 in mind, read the following Psalms. What do they teach about what we were created to be satisfied by? Psalms 16:11, 17:14-15, 21:6, 26:8, 27:4, 36:8-9, 43:4, 63:1-5, 65:4, 73:25-28, 90:14, 107:9. [We are to rejoice in and be satisfied by the glory of God Himself.] Next, read Philippians 3:2-11. What did Paul worship, or treasure, more than anything else? [Christ. Paul counted Him more satisfying.] Finally, read Hebrews 11:23-27. How did Moses battle against being enticed to worship the idols of the sinful pleasures and treasures of Egypt? [He was looking to the reward, seeing, being enticed by, and preferring Christ Himself.]
7. What did/does your heart crave more than Christ? Why does it crave those things more than Christ? [I crave things more than I crave Christ because my sinful flesh deadens my spiritual taste buds so that they taste better to me than He does.]
   

Week Three: The Sweetness of Christ’s Lordship

Having discussed that true Biblical repentance results in obedience, as well as how that obedience comes from a worshiping heart, we will now turn to the Bible’s teaching of the Lordship of Christ. Romans 10:9 teaches that an essential characteristic of a Christian is that he confesses that Jesus is the Lord, or master, of his life. To not know Christ as Lord is to not know God.

1. Read 1 Thessalonians 4:1-8. What is the relationship between lust and the knowledge of God? [Lustful passion comes from a failure to know God as He is.]
2. Read Luke 9:23-27 and Luke 14:25-34. What does it mean to be a disciple of Christ? [I must submit all of my life to Him. He is my master.] In what areas of your life is Jesus to be Lord? [All of them.] What kinds of thoughts and emotions spring up in you as you read these passages? [This question evaluates the counselee’s desire to be lovingly ruled by Christ vs. his desire to rebel against Him.]
3. Read Matthew 11:28-30. What does it mean to take Jesus’ yoke upon you? [Receiving Him in faith means submitting to Him as Lord.] What is the nature of Christ’s Lordship according to this passage? Is Jesus a burdensome, tyrannical Lord? [No. His Lordship grants rest for the weary soul.]
4. Read Psalm 23:1-6 and Psalm 32:10, Proverbs 13:15, Jeremiah 31:25, Matthew 7:24-27, John 6:35, John 13:17, Romans 2:9-10, and James 1:22-25. What are the benefits of living according to Christ’s Lordship? What are the negative consequences of rebelling against His Lordship?
5. Read “Faith in Future Grace vs. Lust,” pp. 329-338 in John Piper’s Future Grace. Look up all of the Scriptures that are not fully quoted but only referred to. Underline at least 10, but not more than 15, statements in that chapter that you find particularly striking, important, and/or helpful. Come prepared to discuss the chapter.
   

Week Four: Putting Off and Putting On

1. A vital principle of the Christian life is that we continue to mortify the deeds of the body (read Romans 8:1-13). The strategy Scripture provides for doing this is putting off sinful attitudes and behaviors and replacing them by putting on godly ones (read Ephesians 4:17-24). Using these principles, as well as those you learned from the chapter in Future Grace, list at least five attitudes and behaviors which contribute to your lust that you will put off. List five that you will put on in their place. How will you go about putting these off and the others on in the context of your own life? Be specific.
2. What regular practices in your lifestyle need to change and/or be avoided to safeguard you from future temptation? [E.g., avoiding certain neighborhoods or restaurants, not allowing yourself to be alone, commitment to going on regular dates with your wife, etc.]
3. In the moments that you are tempted by lust, how will you take up the sword of the Spirit in the fight of faith against lust? What are some promises of God you will recall and trust in when sinful lust tempts you to trust in its promises? [E.g., setting my mind on the things of the flesh brings death, but setting my mind on the things of the Spirit brings life and peace, Romans 8:6].
4. This week, keep a folded sheet of 8.5"x11" paper in your back pocket at all times. Whenever you are tempted by lust (and/or adulterous thoughts or desires), immediately write the following on the paper: (1) Where you were, (2) what you were thinking immediately before, (3) what it was that lust was promising you that seemed enticing, (4) any Scripture passages that come to mind which expose those promises as lies, and (5) any Scripture passages that come to mind which promise greater happiness in Christ.
   

As should be obvious, none of this can be one-size-fits-all. The counselor/discipler will have to evaluate which topics need to be addressed in further detail and which can be gone through more quickly. Also, all of these answers provide a lot of data for discussion during the sessions. Just because it's homework doesn't mean it stays at home. If you're going to ask your counselee to be as serious as to do all this work, go through it with him. Don't make him feel like it's busy-work, but use this very personal and pointed feedback to shepherd him through to Biblical repentance.

So then, brethren, we are under obligation,
not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh--
for if you are living according to the flesh, you must die;
but if by the Spirit
you are putting to death the deeds of the body,
you will live.
- Romans 8:12-13 -

Do you mortify; do you make it your daily work;
be always at it whilst you live; cease not a day from this work.
Be killing sin, or it will be killing you.
- John Owen -

Biblical Repentance: Introduction

1. Exegesis
1.1. Nacham: Biblical Repentance Involves the Emotions
1.2. Shuv: The Heart's Obedient Turn from Sin to God
1.3. Metanoeo: A Fundamental Change of the Whole Man

2. Discussion
2.1. Summary and Discussion: Intellectual, Emotional, Volitional
2.2. Repentance for the Christian

3. Application
3.1. Repentance vs. Penance
3.2. Counsel to a Sinning Brother
3.3. Homework for Sinning Brother
3.4. The Effect on My Personal Walk with Christ

Counsel to a Sinning Brother

In our series on the doctrine of Biblical repentance, we've discussed a lot of what the Bible has to say concerning the nature of true repentance. Most recently, we distinguished between repentance and penance, and discussed how we might avoid penance and arrive at true repentance.

As we go further, it will be helpful to remove these principles from the realm of the abstract and theoretical and apply them to an actual counseling situation. Such a counseling situation might be a time of formal, pastoral counseling where a church member has come to his or her pastor for guidance. But it may also be a one-on-one, layperson-to-layperson discipleship situation. Ideally, exchanges like these are constantly taking place in the lives of individual Christians within the body of Christ. Though I will make primary application to the formal counseling situation, I'd hasten to say that the following could also take place between a sinning brother and a mature, Bible-saturated brother.

And so let us take for an example a church member, Jim, who has confessed to an immoral affair. How do the principles of Biblical repentance presented in previous posts apply when counseling a man such as this? How can we lead Jim to genuine repentance and away from the dangers of functional penance?

After an opening session in which I have had time to listen to Jim’s story and why he decided to come for counseling (Pr 18:13), I would be up front with him that among my goals for counseling would be that (1) he repent of his sins according to the teaching of God’s Word, (2) be prepared to be restored to fellowship with God and in his local church, and (3) ultimately would increase in Christlikeness. This would involve some instruction – both during the sessions and for homework – about the nature of Biblical repentance. I would ask him to look up particular verses about repentance (as presented in the previous posts) and draw conclusions about what Biblical repentance looks like. This way, when he sees me looking for appropriate sorrow, a desire to change, etc., he will understand that I am not the authority, but that I am seeking for both of us to submit to the authority of the Word of God.

First, it is important that Jim admit that he has sinned against God and against his wife and express a desire to confess that sin as sin. I would seek to draw out of him the effect that his sin has had on his soul by presenting to Him the loveliness of Christ. I would hope to lead him to see the repulsiveness of sin in the attractive light of God’s holiness. Thus, I would look for the godly sorrow and the mourning that characterizes Biblical repentance, and would be on guard against excuses that attempt to rationalize his sin. Does he feel genuinely sorry for what he has done? And does that sorrow compel him to confess his sin and ask for forgiveness?

Here, though, we must guard against the pride of false humility. There is a true shame that Jim should feel as a result of his sin. However, “the pain ought to be there, but it ought not to stay there” (John Piper, Future Grace, 137). The sinning woman who anointed Jesus’ feet with perfume felt an appropriate shame for her sin, but when Jesus declares that her sins are forgiven He declares that her shame is over.

He declared that past pardon would now yield future peace. So the issue for her was faith in this future grace rooted in the authority of Jesus’ forgiving work and freeing word. Would she believe the glowering condemnation of the guests? Or would she believe the reassuring words of Jesus that her shame was over—that she is now and in the future forgiven, that she may go in peace and wholeness and freedom? Whom will she trust? With whose promise will satisfy her soul? (Piper, Future Grace, 138)

This will be the issue for Jim as well. Will he wallow in prideful self-condemnation, or will the apprehension of the glory of the grace of Christ compel Him to trust in Jesus’ perfect sacrifice for sin? I must lead Jim through appropriate feelings of shame to faith in the promise that his sins have been forgiven.

Following this, I would encourage him and help him get to a point where his desire is to turn from the sin of immorality. I would want to equip him to purpose, in the Spirit and by God’s grace, to repudiate his sin. I would be looking for a genuine desire in him that wants nothing to do with further immoral relationships.

And corresponding to his turn from sin, I would hope to lead Jim to turn to God in Christ. By exalting the beauty and the sweetness of Christ, I would present to Jim the Lord’s easy yoke and light burden in comparison to the oppressive yoke and terrible burden of his sin (Mt 11:28-30). Here we would study the forgiveness of God and the restored fellowship with Him that comes by turning to Him. This is where I would want Jim to experience a change of functional lordship in his life; that is, that he would consciously seek to be a slave of his Lord Jesus and not of his old slave master: sin. I would labor to show him that the issue is ultimately one of idolatry, and that he must forsake the worship of the idols of sexual pleasure, stimulation, and acceptance, and return to worship the one true God in Christ Jesus. These exhortations must be laced with pleas to behold the objective beauty of Christ, because no change of allegiance will occur unless Jim’s heart delights in Jesus more than he delights in sin.

Finally, with such a foundation, I would lead him through the implications of his repentance. We would study the necessary obedience that accompanies true repentance, and that the Lord expects that repentant sinners bear fruits in keeping with repentance. We would work through the Ephesians 4 paradigm of putting off and putting on, considering the changes in activities, associations, and lifestyle that are necessary to putting off immorality. He would need to confess his sin to his wife, actively seek to be reconciled to her, and be willing to do whatever he could rebuild that broken relationship. He would also need to cut off all ties with his mistress – except maybe to ask her forgiveness – and burn those bridges to prevent later backsliding. It would also be appropriate to set up marriage counseling for Jim and his wife, if she was willing. Finally, I would seek to equip Jim to cultivate the humility and the joy necessary to be restored to his local church. I would look for a willingness to come under the loving rule of his elders, as well as his ability to use his gifts to minister to the body.

Throughout this process it is imperative that Jim know that he is not earning his forgiveness by his efforts. I must be explicit that the many imperatives that we discuss are grounded by the indicatives of what Christ has done objectively in the Gospel. I must labor to show him both the futility of attempting a self-atonement and the freedom of receiving a susbtitutionary atonement. I must constantly pursue Jim’s heart, and not merely his actions. Thus, I will watch out for begrudging obedience on his part, and I will present the sight of Christ’s glory as more satisfying to the soul than the passing faux-pleasures of sin. Thus, by God’s grace, his repentance will produce joyful obedience issuing from the heart, indicating that a true 'change of mind' has taken place. Richard Baxter provides a helpful summary:

If he appear to be truly sensible of the sinfulness of his conduct, and penitent on account of it, we must see that he confess his guilt, and that he promise to fly from such sins for the time to come, to watch more narrowly and to walk more warily, to avoid temptation, to distrust his own strength, and to rely on the grace which is in Christ Jesus. We must assure him of the riches of God’s love, and the sufficiency of Christ’s blood to pardon his sins, if he believe and repent. (Richard Baxter, The Reformed Pastor [Banner of Truth: PA, 1981], 109)

How to Evaluate Genuine Repentance

The above case study provides a good example for how I would encourage the elders of my church to evaluate the genuine repentance of a repentant member (cf. John Street, “The Danger of Neglecting Repentance,” Journal of Modern Ministry 5 [Spring 2008]: 27-28).

In the intellectual or cognitive domain, it should be evident that Jim understands which specific Biblical principles he has transgressed, acknowledges it as sin, and can articulate changes in his life as well as a plan for dealing with future temptations. In the emotional or affective domain, the elders should look for genuine, godly remorse that has led to his seeking forgiveness from God and other offended parties, a pervading humility as a result of his sinfulness, and a desire to be restored to fellowship with other believers. Finally, in the volitional or behavioral domain, the elders should be able to observe fruits in keeping with repentance. Jim himself, as well as his Christian friends, should be able to testify of a change in his lifestyle, and his wife should be able to testify to his desire to rebuild their relationship. There should be an evident delight in fellowship with Christ as evidenced by his joyful, willing obedience in the context of the local church.

Biblical Repentance: Introduction

1. Exegesis
1.1. Nacham: Biblical Repentance Involves the Emotions
1.2. Shuv: The Heart's Obedient Turn from Sin to God
1.3. Metanoeo: A Fundamental Change of the Whole Man

2. Discussion
2.1. Summary and Discussion: Intellectual, Emotional, Volitional
2.2. Repentance for the Christian

3. Application
3.1. Repentance vs. Penance
3.2. Counsel to a Sinning Brother

3.3. Homework for Sinning Brother
3.4. The Effect on My Personal Walk with Christ

Repentance versus Penance

In our discussion of Biblical repentance, we most recently narrowed our scope to apply specifically to Christians all the Scriptures have said about repentance. We mentioned that the intellectual, emotional and volitional components apply both to the sinner in justification and the believer's continual repentance in sanctification.

Today, I want to narrow the scope even further, and contrast the doctrine of Biblical repentance to the Roman Catholic doctrine of penance, and suggest that many Evangelical Protestants who would vehemently denounce penance unwittingly practice penance while thinking they are practicing Biblical repentance. This goes to the heart of the Gospel, because it calls into question the sufficiency of Christ's atonement.

The Doctrine of Penance

Though all Christians must heed the command of John the Baptist to “bear fruits in keeping with repentance” (Lk 3:8), there exists a tendency in every fallen human heart to conceive of such acts of obedience as currency by which we pay God back for his gift of the forgiveness of our sins. “The exhortations of the ancient prophets, of Jesus, and of the apostles show that the change of mind is the dominant idea of [repentance, and] the accompanying grief and reform of life are necessary consequences.” However, the Latin translation of metanoéō into the Vulgate emphasized the “grief over sin rather than the abandonment of sin as the primary idea of NT repentance” by translating it do penance (ISBE, 4:136). Penance, then, and not Biblical repentance, became the focus of the Roman Catholic Church through the middle ages.

The Roman Catholic sacrament of penance is the process by which the Church absolves a penitent sinner of his sin by requiring him to (1) confess that sin to a priest, (2) demonstrate adequate sorrow over that sin (usually by a prayer) and (3) endure any temporal punishments (such as repeating prayers or performing works of service) levied by the priest in order to make satisfaction for that sin before God. In a non-technical sense, penance is often spoken of as synonymous with satisfaction, which is “the voluntary enduring of the penalty imposed by the confessor in order to [a] compensate for the injury done to God and to [b] redeem or atone for the temporal punishment which is ordinarily due even after sin as been forgiven” [Adolphe Tanquerey, Manual of Dogmatic Theology. Trans. John J. Byrnes (Desclee: NY, 1959), 2:330]. Put simply, the sinner must atone for their sin by enduring the punishments assigned to them by themselves or by a priest (see the Canons of the Council of Trent, Session XIV, Chapter IX).

The Danger of Penance

The danger of this doctrine is damning. First, it makes provision for the act of repentance to quickly become mechanical. It removes the focus of the change of heart, will, and mind that is so central to Biblical repentance, and replaces it with an external, potentially mindless ritual. Confession of sin becomes a sort of quid pro quo transaction between the sinner and God in such a way that no real change of heart and abandonment of sin is required. The sinner may dispassionately recount his sins to a priest who assures him that he may have forgiveness if he recites a particular pre-written prayer a certain number of times. Such a practice, in effect, reverses the call of Yahweh in Joel 2:12-13 and instead commands, “Rend your garments, and not necessarily your hearts.”

Secondly, and perhaps much more severely, penance undermines the sufficient atonement for sin that Christ achieved by the sacrifice of Himself on the cross. This is subtle, yet extremely important. When we are convicted of sin, desire to repent, and seek God to receive the gift of forgiveness of sin (cf. 1Jn 1:9), impulses of initial sorrow followed by joy and gratitude are natural expressions of our repentance. However, requiring one to work up such sorrow or to demonstrate joy and gratitude in order to make satisfaction for his sins nullifies grace. “You would be treating [forgiveness] no longer as a gift, but a purchase. God would no longer be the free benefactor. And you would be enslaved to a new set of demands that he never dreamed of putting on you” (John Piper, Future Grace, 45). And if the believer tries to purchase his forgiveness with his deeds of repentance, he necessarily dishonors the sufficient, once-for-all purchase that Christ Himself made for sin by giving His life on the cross. Consider the following passages about the absolute sufficiency of Christ's work, with no need for supplementation:

• Hebrews 7:26-27 - For it was fitting for us to have such a high priest, holy, innocent, undefiled, separated from sinners and exalted above the heavens; who does not need daily, like those high priests, to offer up sacrifices, first for His own sins and then for the sins of the people, because this He did once for all when He offered up Himself.
• Hebrews 9:11-14 - But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things to come, He entered through the greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this creation; and not through the blood of goats and calves, but through His own blood, He entered the holy place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption. For if the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling those who have been defiled sanctify for the cleansing of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?
• Hebrews 9:25 - ...nor was it that He would offer Himself often, as the high priest enters the holy place year by year with blood that is not his own.
• Hebrews 10:11-14 - Every priest stands daily ministering and offering time after time the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins; but He, having offered one sacrifice for sins for all time, sat down at the right hand of God, waiting from that time onward until His enemies be made a footstool for His feet. For by one offering He has perfected for all time those who are sanctified.

That is all simply to say: If Christ’s sacrifice truly provided forgiveness – if it truly atoned for anything – “there is no longer any offering of sin” that can be added (Heb 10:18).

'Evangelical Penance'

Now, though penance is a Roman Catholic doctrine, the inclination to do penance – to attempt to make some satisfaction for our sins – is present even with many conservative evangelicals. In fact, there is a natural desire in all human beings to offer some payment for our sins. Frankly, we all seek to earn our way to God. Grace is insulting to us, because it highlights our inability and our need for an alien righteousness, since we don't have our own. And so because it's our nature to be legalists, we often slip back into that mindset. Rather than receiving the gift of forgiveness with a spontaneous response of heartfelt joy, we treat our Christian walk as “an effort to pay back the debt we owe to God. … Good deeds and religious acts are the installment payments we make on the unending debt we owe God” (Piper, Future Grace, 33).

When we sin and come to God in confession, after feeling badly about what we have done we resolve to read our Bibles more, pray more, go to church more, or even do acts of service to ‘make up for’ our sin. We often wonder if we have felt badly enough for our sin and we heap scorn upon ourselves to make sure that we are sorry enough. We recognize that we do not deserve forgiveness, and so we learn from Scripture and from others what the appropriate responses of genuine, heartfelt repentance ought to be, and we seek to manufacture those responses and offer them to God in order to earn our forgiveness. Yet the grace of God was never designed to indebt us to Him. No, grace does not create debts, but pays debts. Grace does not enslave believers, it makes us free. The Lord Jesus Christ, by His perfect obedience, has earned our forgiveness and bestows it upon us freely by faith.

Such ‘functional penance’ is a common practice among those in counseling and other kinds of accountability groups. Paul Tripp tells a story about Celia who, “like many counselees, thought that being in counseling was an act of repentance” (Paul Tripp, Instruments in the Redeemer’s Hands, 286). She conceived of her talking as confession and her remaining in counseling as her ‘fruits in keeping with repentance.’ However, Tripp says that Celia was treating the counseling process as penance:

She was blind to the fact that she was really participating in an act of self-atonement. I call this “Protestant absolution.” The counselee confesses, examines issues, participates in an ongoing discussion of self and the situation and, week by week, leaves the counseling time feeling atoned, cleansed, and right. Yet all of this is happening without any substantive heart or behavioral change (Tripp, Instruments, 286).

Such insights shed light on the wicked tendency of our hearts to seek our own self-righteousness through penance, even as conservative, orthodox, Protestant Evangelicals. With our feeble efforts at ‘Protestant absolution,’ we try to do enough or say enough or feel enough. But the reality is, we could never be enough. That is precisely why we needed a Savior to die on our behalf: because even our best would never have been enough. When we adopt such a mindset, we are just like Adam and Eve in the garden, who, knowing the shame of our nakedness, sew mere fig leaves together to cover the sin in our lives (Gen 3:7). Yet we refuse the better covering that God Himself provides (Gen 3:21) -- the perfect garment of Christ’s atonement (Gal 3:27; Rom 13:14).

The Antidote to Penance: Repentance Motivated by Delight in Superior Pleasures

Biblical repentance comes not as a result of our works; rather our works are the fruit that come from repentance. But if our performing deeds appropriate to repentance (Ac 26:20) does not come from a desire to earn favor or forgiveness with God, from where does it come? As Piper puts it, the fruits in keeping with our repentance come from the delightful root of faith in future grace.

With true gratitude [in repentance] there is such a delight in the worth of God’s past grace [e.g., forgiveness of a particular sin], that we are driven on to experience more and more of it in the future. But this is not done by ‘payments’ of debt in any ordinary sense. Rather, it is done by transforming gratitude into faith as it turns from contemplating the pleasures of past grace and starts contemplating the promises of the future. … True gratitude exults in the riches of God’s grace as it looks back on the benefits it has received. By cherishing past grace in this way, it inclines the heart to trust in future grace (Piper, Future Grace, 38-39).

The joyful gratitude for the forgiveness of sin that we experience in repentance drives us to forsake our sin and obey freely, because that gratitude is produced by the promise of future experiences of the sweet pleasures of God’s grace. Our repentant obedience, then, is driven by our faith in the promises of God. It is not the price we pay or the punishment we endure to gain acceptance, but the natural overflow of hearts that yearn to be satisfied with more of Christ. Both the alternative and antidote to penance -- even "Evangelical penance" -- is the delight and satisfaction we have in Christ.

So fight your sin that way. Battle against the faux-pleasures promised by your sin by preferring the superior pleasures of all God is for you in Christ. You are not under law, Christian, but under grace. So on the basis of Christ's death and resurrection -- the basis upon which grace was purchased for you -- consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ, and thus present your members as weapons of righteousness, not unrighteousness.

For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all;
but the life that He lives, He lives to God.
Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin,
but alive to God in Christ Jesus.
Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its lusts,
and do not go on presenting the members of your body to sin
as instruments of unrighteousness;
but present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead,
and your members as instruments of righteousness to God.
For sin shall not be master over you,
for you are not under law but under grace.
- Romans 6:10-14 -

Biblical Repentance: Introduction

1. Exegesis
1.1. Nacham: Biblical Repentance Involves the Emotions
1.2. Shuv: The Heart's Obedient Turn from Sin to God
1.3. Metanoeo: A Fundamental Change of the Whole Man

2. Discussion
2.1. Summary and Discussion: Intellectual, Emotional, Volitional
2.2. Repentance for the Christian

3. Application
3.1. Repentance vs. Penance
3.2. Counsel to a Sinning Brother

3.3. Homework for Sinning Brother
3.4. The Effect on My Personal Walk with Christ

Repentance for the Christian

As we've discussed what the Bible has to say about the concept of repentance, we have observed that the Scriptures speak about repentance in two different contexts. There is a repentance associated with conversion that leads to eternal life (Ac 11:18), as well as a repentance associated with the Christian life that is a part of daily sanctification. Thus, many of the same principles of repentance in the event of justification also hold true for repentance in the process of the believer’s sanctification. The intellectual, emotional, and volitional components apply to the Christian life as well as conversion, for the Scriptures demonstrate that a believer’s repentance should (1) be continual and ongoing, and (2) include a sorrow over sin which brings about (a) confession and turning from that sin, (b) a corresponding turn to God, and finally (c) the bearing of fruit in keeping with that professed repentance.

While many of the passages we've discussed in previous posts describe the nature of repentance at the moment of conversion from spiritual death to spiritual life, Scripture is clear that even God’s people are called to ongoing repentance as a result of their sin. Repentance is not to be considered a one-time act for Christians. Indeed, Christ intends that repentance be a staple of the Christian lifestyle. As He is discussing principles for ongoing life as a part of His church, specifically in the areas of sin, confrontation, forgiveness, and restoration (cf. Mt 18:15-20), Peter interjects and asks how often he should forgive a brother who sins against him. In the parallel account in Luke 17, Jesus says, “If your brother sins, rebuke him; and if he repents, forgive him. And if he sins against you seven times a day, and returns to you seven times, saying, ‘I repent,’ forgive him” (Lk 17:3-4). Here, Jesus teaches that ongoing repentance is the basis for Christians’ forgiveness of and restoration to fellowship with each other. Though our justification frees us from the penalty of sin, our remaining flesh causes the presence of sin to remain as well. Therefore, as we continually sin against God and others, we must continually repent. In a believer’s life, a spirit of repentance must be as “indwelling” as is his remaining sin. Chris Jenkins, in his 2008 article, What is Repentance? Settling the Debate, in the Journal of Modern Ministry, helpfully summarizes: “At conversion, a sinner purposes to turn from sin generally conceived (i.e., as the dominant principle of life), and yet throughout the sanctified life, he also turns from specific sins as they occur.”

While there is indeed no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus (Rom 8:1), it is plain that godly sorrow and mourning over one’s sin is a part of a believer’s repentant lifestyle. Paul rejoices that his severe letter made the Corinthian believers sorrowful for a time, because their sorrow produced in them a repentance without regret (2Cor 7:9-10). Paul himself, the very one to proclaim that great promise of Romans 8:1, only a few verses earlier lamented greatly over the wretchedness of his own continual battle with sin: I joyfully concur with the law of God in the inner man, but I see a different law in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin which is in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death? (Rom 7:22-24; cf. 7:14-25).

After his threefold denial of the Lord Jesus, the Apostle Peter was said to have "wept bitterly" (Mt 26:75), no doubt experiencing the emotional component of repentance signified by nacham. King David, the man after God’s own heart (1Sam 13:14), frequently expressed his repentant grief over his sin (Ps 40:12), and in some cases even experienced physical effects of “the agitation of his heart” (Ps 38:8), such as being “bent over and greatly bowed down” (Ps 38:6) experiencing the burning of his loins (Ps 38:7), and groaning over the wasting away of his body and the loss of his vitality (Ps 32:3-4). Even the writer of that queen of psalms in which he celebrates his delight in the Law of God nevertheless closes with the lamentation, “I have gone astray like a lost sheep” (Ps 119:176). Thus, the repentant believer should be being led to repentance by the grief he experiences over his sin.

Such godly sorrow will lead to the open acknowledgment, confession, and repudiation of sin. King David explicitly affirms this in two of his most classic penitential psalms. In Psalm 32:5, he said, "I acknowledged my sin to You, and my iniquity I did not hide; I said, 'I will confess my transgressions to Yahweh'; and You forgave the guilt of my sin." In Psalm 51, he cried out, "For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me. Against You, You only, I have sinned and done what is evil in Your sight, so that You are justified when You speak and blameless when You judge" (Ps 51:3-4). David is clear about acknowledging and confessing his sin, as well as purposing to continue his life before Yahweh without persisting in such sin.

These things are not limited to David. Job, unquestionably a believer in Yahweh (Job 1:1, 8), acknowledges his sinful attitude and speech by confessing, “Therefore I have declared that which I did not understand, things too wonderful for me, which I did not know” (Job 42:3). That repentance also involves his repudiating, or turning from, his specific sin is plain by his simple declaration: “Therefore I retract” (Job 42:6). Jesus confirms this need for believers' open acknowledgment, confession, and repudiation of sin in His stern warnings to the seven churches in Revelation, calling them to turn from their sins of weakening love (Rev 2:4-5), of tolerating false teaching (Rev 2:15-16), of deeds of immorality (Rev 2:21-22), and of indifference towards Christ (Rev 3:15-19). A repentant believer, therefore, should name and confess his specific sins before God and, based on the promises of God and by the power of the Holy Spirit, purpose to forsake such sins.

Almost indistinguishable from the believer’s turn from specific sin is his turn to God. Confession itself is an act of returning to God (or another offended party) and a looking to Him for forgiveness. The example of the sinning brother in Luke 17 is said to return to his brother seven times (Lk 17:4); his turning from sin is expressed in his turn to the one whom he sinned against. Also, David declares, “I acknowledged my sin to You,” and “I will confess my transgressions to Yahweh” (Ps 32:5). His plea for forgiveness is said to be “according to [God’s] lovingkindness” and “the greatness of [His] compassion” (Ps 51:1). In turning from his sin, then, the believer is to turn to the Lord God and wholly hope in His character for forgiveness.

Finally, the believer’s turning to God in repentance will always result in corresponding obedience. The Corinthians’ repentance led them to specific action that matched their profession, for which Paul rejoices (2Cor 7:11). David prays for forgiveness, and subsequently declares that he will teach sinners the ways of Yahweh (Ps 51:13), joyfully sing of His righteousness (Ps 51:14), and declare His praise (Ps 51:15). Even Peter’s turn from his sin of denial and his return to the Lord Jesus is evident in his fearless testimony of Christ before the rulers and elders of Israel on multiple occasions (Ac 4:8-11, 18-20; 5:27-32, 41-42). And indeed, Jesus Himself declares to the churches that amending their ways and performing righteous deeds is a necessary fruit of their repentance (Rev 2:5). While Christians are not forgiven or received by God because of these fruits of obedience, such obedience is the necessary evidence of true repentance.

In conclusion, then, whether speaking of the sinner’s conversion or the believer’s Christian life, Biblical repentance involves (1) the penitent’s intellectual recognition of his culpability because the offensiveness of his sin, along with (2) an emotional remorse and godly sorrow that he has offended God and has, for a time, forfeited the joy of fellowship with Him. These finally lead to (3) a conscious exercise of his volition as he freely and turns from his sin and delightfully turns to God in Christ. And as that turn of his will must be because he finds the glory of Christ more satisfying than the faux-pleasures of sin, it will therefore result in the believer’s joyful obedience to the Word of God.

Biblical Repentance: Introduction

1. Exegesis
1.1. Nacham: Biblical Repentance Involves the Emotions
1.2. Shuv: The Heart's Obedient Turn from Sin to God
1.3. Metanoeo: A Fundamental Change of the Whole Man

2. Discussion
2.1. Summary and Discussion: Intellectual, Emotional, Volitional
2.2. Repentance for the Christian

3. Application
3.1. Repentance vs. Penance
3.2. Counsel to a Sinning Brother
3.3. Homework for Sinning Brother
3.4. The Effect on My Personal Walk with Christ