Matthew 4:12-17, Hebrews 9:24-26
This is from Matthew’s Gospel, 4:17.
When Jesus heard that John had been arrested, He left Judea and returned to Galilee. He went first to Nazareth, then left there and moved to Capernaum, beside the Sea of Galilee, in the region of Zebulun and Naphtali.This fulfilled what God said through the prophet Isaiah: “In the land of Zebulun and of Naphtali, beside the sea, beyond the Jordan River, in Galilee where so many Gentiles live, the people who sat in darkness have seen a great light. And for those who lived in the land where death casts its shadow, a light has shined.” From then on Jesus began to preach, “Repent of your sins and turn to God, for the Kingdom of Heaven is near.”
Interesting how the very first instruction Jesus delivers to those who may want to follow Him is to repent. This tells us that repentance is a big deal. In fact, a willingness to repent of our sins is foundational to Jesus’ teachings and yet as important as it is, there’s this ongoing misperception as to what repentance is. Say the word and for most people the first thing that comes to mind is apologize. We like to equate repenting to saying, “I’m sorry”, when in fact they are two distinctly different things. And understanding that as it relates to our knowing Jesus is critical.
When we apologize, we tend to do two things. We express regret for having done someone wrong, but then we offer up a defense as to why that wrong thing happened. “I’m sorry I backed into your car; my wife keeps texting me!”
The roots of repentance are found in two Hebrew words. The first is Nachum which is a term for expressing grief or lament. It refers to emotions that are stirred up when we see that a different course of action is required. The other word is small but has big meaning. It is Shub. Shub expresses a radical change of mind towards sin and implies a conscious moral decision to separate from sin, forsake it, and agree with God.
Bingo.
Back in the 70’s there was this very cheesy movie called Love Story. The promotional tagline for the movie was, “Love means never having to say you’re sorry.” As remarkably bad as the movie was, this line is fairly biblical. When Jesus went to the cross, it was His perfect demonstration of His perfect love.
On our behalf He absorbed God’s wrath over the ongoing disobedience of all mankind. That sacrifice makes Heaven accessible to all of us even though not a one of us deserves it. And here’s the thing. When you sin, as instinctive as it is to tell Jesus you’re sorry, because He loves you the way He does an apology for sinning isn’t what Jesus is looking for. You’re forgiven already so there’s no need to.
What Jesus wants in lieu of that apology is for you to tell Him that you recognize how desperately you need Him to help you turn away from sin. Because life is so much better living in His light than it is fumbling around in our darkness.
Here’s a compelling insight from the Book of Hebrews 9:24-26.
For Christ did not enter into a holy place made with human hands, which was only a copy of the true one in Heaven. He entered into Heaven itself to appear now before God on our behalf. And he did not enter Heaven to offer Himself again and again, like the high priest here on earth who enters the Most Holy Place year after year with the blood of an animal. If that had been necessary, Christ would have had to die again and again, ever since the world began. But now, once for all time, He has appeared at the end of the age to remove sin by His own death as a sacrifice.
So, what Jesus wants from us in those times when we mess up royally is to actively seek Him as the remedy for our sin issues. In this life we will never not be sinners. But through faith, confession, and a humble, heartfelt desire to repent we can get to a place where we find ourselves repenting – turning to Jesus and away from sin – more often than we find ourselves just giving into the next temptation that Satan throws our way.
Through Jesus, and only through Jesus do we find the strength to realize that His grace is sufficient. It’s through Him and only through Him that we find the strength to stand firm against the attacks of the enemy and grace when that firm stance falters. That right there should be a big-time praise for somebody…
If today you find yourself caught up in the burden of some ongoing or lingering act of disobedience, don’t limit yourself to a simple apology. Cry out Jesus to help you find shub, a radical change in the way you live that draws you ever closer to Him!