When the Church is united, Christ is delighted

Key Principle #6: Communion-ity (part 3)

“And through the hands of the apostles many signs

and wonders were done among the people. 

And they were all with one accord in Solomon’s Porch…

(and the unchurched) people esteemed them highly.”

Acts 5:12

A Powerful Witness And Great Grace

        I mentioned in a previous blog posting something about getting in a support group like Celebrate Recovery. What I like about C.R. is that you can go there and absolutely be yourself and for some of us, that is not always a good thing! But it sure beats superficiality.

        That wonderful sense of communionity provided such a powerful witness for the Resurrection to the church leadership and the apostles. When the church is united, Christ is delighted. When the church is divided, Christ is so slighted.

        Acts 4:33 talks about great power and great grace. The Great Power was given in providing a witness to Christ. Being of "one heart and one soul" (Acts 4:32) can provide a marvelous platform. Was it that the body of believers had nothing about which to divide themselves? Hardly! Remember the disciples were constantly divided when they walked with Jesus, refusing to wash one another's feet and jockeying for a seat at Jesus' right hand and at His left hand. Someone pointed out to me just today that if a disciple was in fact to be seated at Jesus' left hand, he would be sitting in the very lap of Jehovah! Talk about "be careful what you ask for." 
       So what made the change in the apostles and the early believers to where people like Barnabas, a nickname meaning the "Son of Encouragement," would want to be with this newly formed faith? To paraphrase a line from Spiderman, "with great power comes great grace." It was the grace and favor of God which brought about that communionity. 

       Sometimes it’s hard to know what type of “grace” the Bible is speaking about. In this case, it seems that the people had more patience, forgiveness, and understanding with others, especially those who were in financial need. If someone needed something, there was plenty of gracious people who were willing to help out. Where did the church get that type of grace? From God, yes, but from God within, the Holy Spirit. One Bible dictionary defines grace as "of the merciful kindness by which God, exerting his holy influence upon souls, turns them to Christ, keeps, strengthens, increases them in Christian faith, knowledge, affection, and kindles them to the exercise of the Christian virtues."
       Once you truly receive that type of grace, it's easy to give it but you cannot give it away. Why can't you give it away? Because the Lord will replenish more grace when you give it. What happens if you "hold back" on grace? I think it is interesting that the death of Ananias and Sapphira occurs right in between two passages on grace. Nowhere does it say that God killed them. No! It was sin that killed them, perhaps a stressed and guilt-ridden heart led to a sick body and heart attack. 
       Be a dispenser of grace and you will likely find you will live longer and certainly you will live more freely. Last time I looked, no one appointed you or me to be the dispenser of guilt. But God has appointed us to be dispensers of grace. Great grace.

        John Maxwell preached a sermon years ago called “Five Things I Know About People” which was broadcasted on Focus on the Family. In every church I’ve been at since then, I’ve tried to get my leaders to listen to these five principles, because the early church knew them so well. The five principles are:

1. Everybody Wants Be Somebody

2. Nobody Cares How Much You Know, Until They Know How Much You Care

3. Everybody Who Belongs to the Body of Christ Belongs to Everybody Who Belongs to the Body of Christ

4. Anybody Who Helps Somebody Influences A Lot of Bodies

5. God Loves Everybody.

        It was especially principle number four that helped the early church grow. No one was too low to help another and the ministry to “the least of these” never escaped anyone’s attention, especially the Lord’s (see Matthew 25). The apostles were literally hands-on in the ministry. "And through the hands of the apostles many signs and wonders were done among the people. And ... the people esteemed them highly" (Acts 5:12a, 13b). Neither did it escape the attention of others.

        Five times in the first five chapters of Acts, Dr. Luke records that the believers were of "one accord." Ask God to give you a sincere love for every Christian and that as a result, you will “have all things in common” with one another, meaning that everyone will be on the same level in everything.
 

What Kills Communion-ity?

Key Principle #6: Communionity (part 2)

³ But Peter said, “Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and keep back part of the price of the land for yourself? ⁴ While it remained, was it not your own? And after it was sold, was it not in your own control? Why have you conceived this thing in your heart?  You have not lied to men but to God.”

Acts 5

        As you look at the book of Acts, notice that in the church, there was a submission to and a trust of leadership. All of the funds were voluntarily laid at the feet of the apostles, a poetic way of stating that once they sold their property, it was no longer under their control, but rather under the direction of the leaders of the early church. That speaks highly of both sides, because the leadership had proved themselves trustworthy. Would you trust the leaders in your church with all of your finances? If you are a leader, would you deserve it?

        Again, I’m not recommending that this would be a practice that we could do today, but would you be willing to trust others that much? Someone has said if you want to know what is truly important to people, look at their calendars and their checkbooks (although people don’t use checkbooks now, so look at their "bookings and budget").  Many today are not willing to trust the church with even one percent of their income, let alone ten percent and certainly not 100 percent.

        Communionity can be shown by a resource more important than money and that is with time. People have different amounts of money, but everyone has the same amount of time and all of it is precious. You can lose a fortune and gain it back, but you cannot regain one single moment of time. When people give time to the community of the church, the church needs to be as careful with it as it is with money. And even more so.

    Are you and others in the church at a point where you could be described as of one heart and one soul (Acts 4:32)? If not, commit now to pray for the church that they (and you) would be deserving of such trust and that you would be willing to not hold back in areas that are needed for the church to be where God wants it to be.

        My experience has been that we are sadly a far cry from where God wants us to be as a communionity. In Chapter 5, the sin of Ananias and Sapphira was not that they kept a portion of the money back. In fact, their sacrificial giving was actually quite commendable. It probably would be welcomed today in many churches, even if they were a little disingenuous to the leaders…and, oh yeah, to God…and to the Holy Spirit.

        But therein lies the problem. They weren’t just a little disingenuous, they lied to the leaders and they lied to God. And the motivation for their lie was demonic.

        There is a danger of appearing to be spiritual and yet all the while, harboring a willful sin and hypocrisy within. The key principle of communionity is that we need to be sincere. That means to be transparent, open, and not “two-faced,” not only privately with God but with one another.

        If you didn’t catch it, Ananias and Sapphira saw what others were doing, especially Barnabas, and saw the applause they were getting and decided they wanted to do something like that.

        They probably originally planned to give the whole proceeds of the sale to the church. But Ananias decided to hold some of it back. He talked to his wife, and she didn’t have any problems with it either. He could have kept the possessions, and he would have spared his life. Or he could have sold it and kept the money, and not even tell the church. Or he could have just been honest and gave a portion of it in all sincerity. But he lied, held back on God and held back on honesty to the church. As a result, he was struck down. So, the issue was not what he did but why he did it.

   Communionity occurs when the church does not “hold back” on God. It may not be money or time, but it could be your sincerity, or in your openness, or your spiritual giftedness, or something else. Ask God what is holding the church back from true communion within the community.

   One last thought: Communionity is important not only in the church, but any relationship, especially marriage and families. Are there friendships, work relationships and other areas that you are holding back on? Just remember the lessons of Ananias and Sapphira: Holding back can be a killer in communionity.

For an introduction to communionity, go to Timothy McKeown: Coining a Koinonia Communion-ity 

 

 

Coining a Koinonia Communion-ity

Key Principle #6: Communion-ity (part 1)

³² Now the multitude of those who believed
were of one heart and one soul;
neither did anyone say that any
of the things he possessed was his own,
but they had all things in common.  

Acts 4:32

        That is not a typo in the Key Principle, it is a word I coined to convey two words that have lost their meanings due to the faultiness of the church. I could have called it simply community, but many churches today are going by “community” or “fellowship” rather than “church.” While the churches may have put those words in their name, they are really a church, going by another name. They are not necessarily a communion-ity (pronounce it like communion and then put an “-ity” at the end). Or, I could have called the key word study “communion” but that would convey the Lord’s Supper. (Many Baptists think communion is for Catholics anyway, but I know I’m writing to a lot of non-Baptists. Also, “Lord’s-Supper-ity” sounds even stranger than “communionity.”)

        The early church did something extremely radical. Actually, virtually everything they did was extremely radical, so much so that 2,000 years later, we can hardly relate to what was a common occurrence for them. Churches even 100 years ago could do things like the New Testament church did, and several have tried, but such good-intentioned believers who want to go back to the New Testament church should be advised to remember this: the New Testament church wasn’t perfect and what it sometimes did was inadvisable in their day too and was soon abandoned. But what they did as described in Acts 4:32-Acts 5:11, was unusual even in their day but based with good intentions. Members within the congregation gave up all of their possessions and gave the proceeds to be distributed as needed within the church.

I Bet You Think I Wrote This About You

        I knew someone in a previous church that no matter what you shared with him, he would turn it around and make it about himself. No matter what you told him, he would, within a matter of moments, start talking about himself. You probably know someone like that. If not, you might look in the mirror and ask yourself if it is you who is like that. Some people can be so self-absorbed that they think they are being empathetic, but they are only thinking of themselves.

        After being around this person for a certain length of time, I came across Philippians 2 and committed it to memory, just so that I would always have a mental and spiritual guard rail up for myself so that I too wouldn’t become so egocentric.

        I smile as I write this, because I’m reminded of Carly Simon’s song You’re So Vain (you probably think this song is about you). If this book ever does get published (or if he reads this blog) and my brother in Christ reads it, he’ll likely think I’m talking about him.

        At another church where I served as pastor, one of my deacons would jokingly say, “Well, you must have had my picture on your desk when you wrote that sermon, because that’s exactly what I needed to hear.” The funny thing about that was that he only thought he was joking!

        It’s okay to be egocentric sometimes but at some point in our Christian life, we need to get over ourselves and put the needs of others first at least every once in a while. The early church did that in Acts Chapter five.

        That attitude of sacrificial sharing is essential in the church today and needs to extend beyond sharing materially with one another. In Philippians 2, Paul wrote about how we should esteem the needs of others as more important than ourselves.

         Read some excerpts from Philippians 2 below and put a check beside the ones that describes

you.

• I’m like-minded with other believers in love and without conflict. (v. 2)
• I don’t do anything for selfish ambition or conceitedly. (v. 3)
•  I look out for the needs of others as much as I do for my own needs. (v. 3)
•  I have a Christ-like attitude and mindset. (v. 5)
•  I purposely empty myself of privileges that rightfully belong to me. (v. 7)
•  It doesn’t bother me to be treated like a servant (v. 7)
•  I voluntarily obey others, sacrificially, even if I don’t have to. (v. 8)
•  I don’t ever complain or dispute with others. (v. 14)
•  I am really happy when I serve others, even if they don’t appreciate it. (v. 17)
•  When someone talks to me about their needs, I sincerely listen. (v. 20)
•  If I’m sick, I still think about what others need (v. 26)
•  I would be willing to die for someone else (v. 30)

        Now if you checked that all of the above apply to you, you need to quickly get involved in a Celebrate Recovery group for being co-dependent. No one could possibly be all of those things, but the problem is that in the church and as Christians, few are even trying to do even a portion of those things.

Getting Bolder

Key Principle #5: BOLDNESS (part 2)

²⁹Now, Lord, look on their threats, and grant to Your servants that with all boldness
they may speak Your word, ³⁰ by stretching out Your hand to heal,
and that signs and wonders may be done
through the name of Your holy Servant Jesus.”

Acts 4:29-30

How To Get Bolder

        Just as it was in the days of Peter, few today can argue with a changed life. If you lack boldness and find it difficult to speak about your faith with others, perhaps at work, with your family, or even to total strangers, imagine how Peter must have felt with such hostility. Yet notice what he says, “we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard.” One thing that will give you more boldness is to experience Jesus in your own life by following Him.

        But if you truly want boldness in your life, and you pray for such, God will put you in situations where you will absolutely need the infilling of the Holy Spirit to have such power to overcome intimidation. And the church and the Christian who truly seek to be filled with the fullness of the Almighty Holy Spirit will be a magnet which will attract persecution. So how badly do you want boldness?

        If you’ve ever done something heroic and only later realize just how heroic you were or how closely you came to injury or death because of what you did, you’ll probably appreciate the fact that after Peter and John went back to the disciples, they probably only then began to tremble.

        Perhaps their companions wondered aloud if they would have been able to have done what Peter and John did. They were soon to find out. If you do feel intimidated and afraid to seek for bold, you are wise. But don’t avoid it, instead, counter your fear with a prayer like the prayer which the disciples prayed in Acts 4:24-30.

²⁴ So when they heard that, they raised their voice to God with one accord and said: “Lord, You are God, who made heaven and earth and the sea, and all that is in them, ²⁵ who by the mouth of Your servant David have said: ‘Why did the nations rage, And the people plot vain things? ²⁶ The kings of the earth took their stand, and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord and against His Christ.’ ²⁷For truly against Your holy Servant Jesus, whom You anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and the people of Israel, were gathered together ²⁸to do whatever Your hand and Your purpose determined before to be done. ²⁹Now, Lord, look on their threats, and grant to Your servants that with all boldness they may speak Your word, ³⁰ by stretching out Your hand to heal, and that signs and wonders may be done through the name of Your holy Servant Jesus.”

        Notice what the disciples did not pray. They did not pray to ask that the threats and intimidation stop. They did not ask for their own protection. They did not say, “God, make the mean people leave us alone!” Instead, they prayed and acknowledge that heaven and earth and the sea and all of the contents of them were made and in control by God. They acknowledged that troublesome times were nothing new or surprising to the people of God, even for David. They confessed that it was God’s hand and purpose for Christ to have been crucified.

        And like God’s servant David, and like God’s Servant Jesus, the disciples squared their jaws, tightened their belts, lowered their chin and figuratively extended their hands out and palms up toward the adversaries in the physical and spiritual realm, and motioned their fingers to come here and bring it on! “Grant to Your servants that with all boldness they may speak Your Word.”

        They knew that God often uses our weaknesses and fears in order to show Himself strong and bold through us. After their prayer, the Bible says they were filled with the Spirit (verse 31). As a reminder of what being “filled with the Spirit” means, read Ephesians 5:18, “And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit…”

        Being drunk with wine means to be in the state where you are so intoxicated by the alcohol that it is controlling you, making you do things that you’ll later regret. Being “filled” with the Spirit means to be under the influence and so invigorated by God’s Spirit, you’ll do things you will never forget and never regret. Being filled with the Spirit is the opposite of being drunk; the Spirit of God is in control. 

Key Principle #5: Grant to Your servants...boldness

Key Principle #5: BOLDNESS (part 1)

Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John,
and perceived that they were uneducated and untrained men,
they marveled.
And they realized that they had been with Jesus.

Acts 4:13

        We saw in Acts 3 that God promises refreshing, blessing and the very presence of the Lord when we repent of our sins. And when we do that, everything will go smoothly the rest of our lives.

        Well, not exactly.

        If that were true, then Peter and John would not have been arrested in Acts 4. “Yes, and all those who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution,” (2 Tim. 3:12). Peter and John were arrested but that was a small consequence of having a total number of 5,000 men to be converted.

        Sadducees did not believe in the resurrection of the dead or the afterlife at all. In our walk with Christ, we face those of different beliefs. Imagine the intimidation Peter, a lowly fisherman, could have felt, standing in before priests and the captain of the Temple and the extremely well-educated men who didn’t even believe in any type of resurrection, let alone that Jesus was raised from the dead. Not to add any pressure, but the next day, they brought in Annas, the high priest, Caiaphas, John and Alexander, the family of the high priest. They might as well have brought in Caesar himself!

        Now let’s see, where have we heard the name Caiaphas before? Oh, yes, seems that Jesus went before Caiaphas in Matthew 26:57-58 and look, who was that following there in distance. “But Peter followed Him at a distance to the high priest’s courtyard. And he went in and sat with the servants to see the end.” This didn’t look good for Peter. The last time he was in this predicament, he was anything but bold.

The Growing Need for Boldness

        During the 20^th century, the church, at least in the Western world, didn’t struggle with a need for boldness because many Christians didn’t suffer much in persecution for living godly lives. However, with the dawn of the 21^st century, we are seeing this change rather quickly, militant groups target those who take a stand for godliness and protesting Christians as “hate-groups.” Pastors are willing to forgo their tax-exempt status for their churches and some have even faced jail sentences for preaching the Word of God in the United States. Christians who go into predominately hostile neighborhoods, proclaiming salvation and freedom through Christ, need police escorts for their safety. But this is nothing new for the church compared to its 2,000 year history and it is certainly not new for churches in the rest of the world, especially areas dominated by other religions.

        The church, even the church in America, will be needing boldness in the coming days.

        So how did Peter, the man who denied Christ three times in the court of the high priest, do in front of the man who accused Jesus Christ of blasphemy on months earlier?

⁸Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, “Rulers of the people and elders of Israel…¹⁰ let it be known to you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, by Him this man stands here before you whole. ¹¹ This is the ‘stone which was rejected by you builders, which has become the chief cornerstone.’ ¹² Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” ¹³ Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated and untrained men, they marveled. And they realized that they had been with Jesus.

        Not bad for a rookie preacher. Now what gave Peter and John such boldness? It wasn’t their education, for they were lowly fishermen. It wasn’t their proper training because they were untrained by the “accredited schools,” of the religious leaders. However, it was very apparent that Peter and John had been clearly trained by Jesus. Being “filled with the Holy Spirit” put a fiery boldness on Peter’s tongue.

        The boldness of Peter’s proclamation in verse 12 was especially profound when you remember that this was only a few short weeks since Jesus was crucified. Peter not only stated that there was a resurrection, but it can only be achieved through the power of Jesus’ name.  There was no earthly reason why the religious leaders could not have been harsher with Peter for what he said, especially by claiming that very man, “whom you crucified,” was the very Chief Cornerstone rejected by the builders.

 

Repentance is Foundational to the Faith

Key Principle #4: Repentance (part 4)

 

Repentance is one of the most positive words. God urges us to repent when the path we are taking leads to destruction. Repentance will save us from disastrous results. What a wonderful Word. How comforting that the Creator loves us enough to warn us from impending danger! Our problem is that we think of repentance as something negative.

Henry Blackaby

Repentance Is Foundational to the Christian Faith

You may have heard it said that repentance is a change of mind. Like some whimsical carefree fanciful choice we make, like “Oops I’ve changed my mind.”

Better said that it a change of the mind. A brain transplant, or in Biblical language, it is a "renewing of your mindset" (Romans 12:1-2).

Even better, repentance is a change of heart which results in a change in behavior. The entire basis of the "New Covenant" or the "New Testament" is found in Hebrews 10:16, "This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, says the Lord: I will put My laws into their hearts, and in their minds I will write them."

Repentance could be defined in this way: Repentance is a work initiated by God, participated in by us, demonstrated by Christ, explained by the Scriptures, and performed by the Holy Spirit resulting in the ongoing changing of our attitude, affections and actions in all things.

If you have ever received a $100 bill with a Ben Franklin on one side and a totally blank reverse side, you would have to say something was wrong. More than likely, it would be a counterfeit rather than a real $100 bill. Or even if it was a collector’s item, it would have been due to a defect. Worse of all, it could even be a counterfeit for a collector’s item. At any rate, it would be taken out of circulation.

In the same way, some people think of salvation as being like a one-sided currency. They have faith on one side, but never realize that in order to be put into circulation; that is, in order to be legitimate, it needs to have the other side: Repentance. Here are some Biblical reasons we should see that Repentance is just as much a part of our salvation as Independence Hall needs to be on the reverse of Ben Franklin.

John’s message: Mark 1:4 (First Gospel written) 4 And so John came, baptizing in the desert region and preaching a baptism of repentance  for the forgiveness of sins.  

Jesus’ first recorded message  (11 verses into Mark 1) ^14bJesus went into Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God. ¹⁵“The time has come," he said.   "The kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news!"

Peter’s first sermon (Acts 2:37-38) ³⁷ When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, "Brothers, what shall we do?"  ^38b Peter replied, "Repent and be baptized, every one of you…

Peter’s second sermon (Acts 3:19-20) ¹⁹ Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord, ²⁰ and that he may send the Christ, who has been appointed for you --even Jesus.

Proof of Gentiles’ salvation (Acts 11:17-18) ¹⁷ So if God gave them the same gift as he gave us, who believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I to think that I could oppose God?"  ¹⁸ When they heard this, they had no further objections and praised God, saying, "So then, God has granted even the Gentiles repentance unto life."

Paul’s major sermon in Athens (Acts 17:30-31) ³⁰ In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent. ³¹ For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to all men by raising him from the dead."

 

The only letters we have dictated from the lips of Jesus (Revelation 2 and 3) Repentance is the most often repeated command in the letters written to the seven churches of Revelation.  

From the first recorded entrance of the New Testament to the last recorded message from Christ, repentance is at the very essence of the church’s beginning.

 

 

 

 

Repentance is Service to God

Key Principle #4: Repentance (part 3)

¹³ The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of our fathers, glorified His Servant Jesus, whom you delivered up and denied in the presence of Pilate, when he was determined to let Him go. ¹⁴ But you denied the Holy One and the Just, and asked for a murderer to be granted to you, ¹⁵ and killed the Prince of life, whom God raised from the dead, of which we are witnesses.

Acts 3:13-15

Repentance Is Service to God

        In Peter’s sermon, did you notice that he calls Jesus God’s “Servant” (Acts 3:13)? What an odd title for the Son of God! It was no fluke, because he also uses it in verse 26 and it is found in Acts 4:27, 30. It is not unique to the book of Acts. “Behold! My Servant whom I have chosen, My Beloved in whom My soul is well pleased! I will put My Spirit upon Him, And He will declare justice to the Gentiles” (Matt. 12:18).

         We must note that Jesus is not referred to as our Servant, but rather as God’s Servant. Jesus humbled Himself by leaving the glories of heaven and became obedient to even death on the cross. He did it provide our salvation, but also to show us an example. Read John 13:12-17.

¹² So when He had washed their feet, taken His garments, and sat down again, He said to them, “Do you know what I have done to you? ¹³ You call me Teacher and Lord, and you say well, for so I am. ¹⁴ If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. ¹⁵ For I have given you an example, that you should do as I have done to you. ¹⁶ Most assuredly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master; nor is he who is sent greater than he who sent him. ¹⁷ If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them.

      Clearly, Jesus did not have any sins to repent of, but He was God’s Servant in that He fully obeyed His heavenly Father in all ways, including washing the feet of the disciples. Remember, repentance is a change of the mindset, and surely Jesus’ mindset was vastly different from the world and from the disciples. While they were arguing over who was the greatest, Jesus was washing their feet. He was God’s Servant.

      Even before this, when Jesus was making His way to Jerusalem to die on the cross, the disciples were arguing over who was the greatest, and Jesus said, “Whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant, just as the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve and give His life a ransom for many” (Matt. 20:26-27). We should become a servant, just as Jesus did. Jesus called such service a cup to drink and a baptism to be immersed with, and that meant even if it meant serving someone to the point of our own death.

      Some believers say “I don’t have to _____ to be a Christian,” and they fill in a blank with something that they don’t want to do. (Can’t you hear Peter’s thoughts, “I don't have to wash feet, I walked on water with Jesus.”) Those people somehow think that because they were saved by God’s grace through faith as a gift of God, that somehow that salvation makes them God’s gift to this earth! Those people want the blessings but are not willing to drink the cup Jesus drank.

      But if God commands us to do something, shouldn’t we want to, and even if we don’t want to, shouldn’t we obey? Serving God generally calls us to do things our natural selves do not want to do.

      Those people are like the ones whom Paul questioned in asking, “Do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? For you were bought at a price, therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s” (1 Cor. 6:19-20). 

      Those same people (not you or me, I’m talking about those people) also will say, “I can _____ and still be a Christian,” and they fill in that blank by listing some questionable or even some admittedly open sin that they would contest they can continue to practice even though it contradicts God’s commands and teachings in the Bible. Or maybe even if they don't do those things, they will support the lifestyles of others whose lives contradict God’s commands or Biblical teachings. “You are being legalistic,” that person may say if he or she is questioned about their unrepentant lifestyle. Those people want the honor of being along side of Christ but are not willing to be baptized with the immersion of sacrifice and service in which Jesus was baptized.

      Such a person is like one of those whom Paul again questioned in Romans 6:16, asking, “Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one’s slaves whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death, or of obedience leading to righteousness?” 

     But we are better than those people, are we not? But who are those people? They were the disciples of Christ, who walked with him, cast out demons, baptized others, yet were unwilling to wash each other's feet on the night Jesus was betrayed. Oh, yes, we are certainly better than those people.

      Do you want a test to see if you are one of those people? Do this: When you read the Bible and it tells you to do something you don’t want to do or when God tells you to not do something you really want to do, do you respond in OBEDIENCE or OBJECTIONS. Do you provide excuses or provide an example for what a true servant of God is.

Repentance is Transformational

Key Principle #4: Repentance (part 2)

11 Now as the lame man who was healed held on to Peter and John, all the people ran together to them in the porch which is called Solomon's, greatly amazed. 12 So when Peter saw it, he responded to the people: "Men of Israel, why do you marvel at this? Or why look so intently at us, as though by our own power or godliness we had made this man walk? … 19 Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord…”

Acts 3:11-12, 19

Repentance Is Transformational

        When we are saved, we undergo a transformation. Peter had denied Christ only a few months earlier but now was boldly preaching in the temple. It’s more than just a change in our attitude or outlook on life. It is a total transformation of our mindset.

        When I was in school, there was a paddle that one of my teachers had (this was in the day when corporal punishment was not an optional choice to be made by the parents and even if it were, most parents would have opted for it). The teacher called it an “attitude adjustment” board.

        The teacher told the story about the farmer who also had an attitude adjustment board in his mule-driven cart. The farmer got married and as they were coming home from the church, the mule stopped abruptly in the road, jerking the farmer and his bride suddenly forward. “Now, Mule, that’s one,” the farmer said and the mule looked back and then went forward. A few minutes later, the mule stopped suddenly again and the farmer said, “Now, Mule, that’s two.” The mule looked back and then started clopping down the road. Sure enough the mule jerked to a stop for no reason, and the farmer took the “attitude adjustment” board down off the wagon, went to the mule and “BAM!” The farmer had swung the board as hard as he could at the head of the mule, and said, “Mule, that’s three.”

        The newlywed bride was aghast as the farmer’s sudden temper and his poor treatment of the mule. She started yelling at her groom, saying didn’t he know how cruel he was and how much they needed that mule and how he could have killed the poor animal. The farmer looked at his wife, and said to her quietly, “Honey, I love you, but woman, that’s one!”

        Repentance is not an attitude adjustment. It is not a result of the “board of education applied to the seat of knowledge.” It is a change in your heart and spirit, resulting in a change of your minds, which leads to a change in your actions. It literally means to “think again” and actually comes before, during and after salvation. You can no more have salvation without repentance than a company of soldiers can have an “about face” without changing directions.

        I hesitate to say repentance comes after salvation because then would imply that repentance is somehow optional for the believer. But I also am reluctant to say it comes as a part of salvation, for that would imply that we are saved by something meritorious that we do to earn or deserve our salvation. And I recoil at saying it comes prior to salvation, as we who are dead in our trespasses and sins have no inclination in our fallen state to repent or to be converted. Therefore (have you ever noticed we never say therefore unless we are doing a Bible study…but I digress) Therefore, I say that repentance comes before, during and after our salvation!

        Perhaps the best thing to say is that if you think you are saved, but you do not have a change in your heart and mind, which is repentance, to the point where your actions and lifestyle is changed, which is conversion, then you are no more saved than the lame man was healed if he refused to rise up and walk, though God gave him strength to do so. What would happen to such a man? His healed feet would atrophy to the point that they would do him no good.

        In fact, you may be worse than such man. What if you only thought you were healed, errantly supposing that at any time you could simply rise up and walk, but didn’t because you feared losing your income as an alms collector. You rather like being carried around by others and the familiarity of your regular spot at the Temple. So you continue to be carried by others and never make use of your feet, never testing the strength of your ankles. You would be delusional, thinking, “Someday, when I’m good and ready, I’ll rise up and walk,” but in reality, your legs, ankles, and feet are a lame as that of a rubber duck.

        Such is the case of a professed Christian man or woman who is a Christian in name only, but has no works or only nominal works to show for the praise of others in this life. Such a woman may think she has “repented” when in reality, she will die in her sins. “One of these days, I’ll surprise you, preacher, and I’ll come to church,” such a man may say. Such a woman may even get baptized, but not because she has truly repented of her sins and had them washed away, but because she thought it was what all good people were supposed to do or because her friends, her husband, her boyfriend or her children did so.

      Such a person may be like the person Jesus spoke of in that day of judgment in the greatest sermon ever given, found in Matthew 7. Such unrepentant persons will call out to the Lord Jesus Christ, only to hear Him whom they called Lord, but never obeyed Him as Lord, declare to them, “I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.”

     Are you being transformed? If not, you likely have not repented and you therefore have not been saved from your sins, your spiritual lameness.