Turn Away from your Sins

Reading: Matthew 3.1-17

Do you ever feel that some things come on you so quickly that you don't have time to catch your breath? Perhaps there has been a decision to make, or a new situation to face... You know it is coming up, but then, all of a sudden, the time has come and it has popped "out of the blue" and you feel rather unprepared. It has suddenly rushed up on us when we weren't expecting it!

Time is funny. You look at the second hand on the clock and it is so regular, so measured all the time. But our experience of time seems different from this. When we are waiting for something, time passes ever so slowly. But when we are enjoying ourselves, it can be gone in a flash! The Latin saying, "Tempus fugit" - time flies - expresses the feeling of frustration and urgency that we feel when time seems to be slipping away on us.

Of course, we have other ways of reckoning our time. When we say, "I don't have time to do this or that", we are expressing our values and priorities - not just the number of hours and minutes available to us. We all have the same number of hours in each day. Basically that is true, though there are some variations we need to acknowledge. For various physical reasons, some people need a different amount of sleep from others. Some people work at a different energy level. These factors can affect the useful hours available to us and what is possible in those hours. Having said that, however, we need to recognise that what we "have time for" will be governed by our values and priorities. In general, we will always have time for what is most important for us and will have difficulty finding time for what is less important.

This same principle from our own lives we also find in Matthew's account of the life of Christ. Not all that happened could be told in reasonable compass. The focus had to be on Jesus' ministry, his teaching and miracles,, a great deal of attention on his last week, crucifixion and resurrection, and his final instructions.

Following the Christmas story in chapter 2, we have a thirty-year jump to the beginning of chapter 3 - no insight into family life in Nazareth, the carpenter's shop, the death of Joseph... In fact, the Good News Bible begins ch. 3 with "At that time..." which almost seems to put the coming of John at the same time as the return from Egypt and the settling in Nazareth. The more general "in those days..." (as the old Bible put it) is much more helpful - because it was some time later.

Repentance

Central to the message of John was a call to repentance - "Turn away from your sins, because the kingdom of heaven is near!" Jesus also announced this theme as he began his ministry.

When John called people to repent, he was not just asking them to be sorry for their sins. Judas Iscariot, the disciple who betrayed Jesus into the hands of his enemies, was sorry for what he had done. He even brought back to the Jewish religious leaders the thirty pieces of silver that they had paid him. But although he was remorseful, he had no peace of heart - he went out and hanged himself.

Judas was sorry for his sins, but his sorrow did not bring about a change of heart, nor did it turn him to the Christ he had wronged and who was dying for his sins. In his wretchedness, his sorrow led him to commit suicide.

Repentance does involve sorrow for sin, but essentially it is a change of heart, a turning from sin to God. We cannot, of course, make ourselves right before God, but we repent as we acknowledge our failure and rebellion and turn to God who is offering us forgiveness and grace through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Why Repent?

John said, "Turn away from your sins, because the Kingdom of heaven is near!" The great promised Deliverer is at hand, but you cannot enter into his deliverance unless you prepare to be delivered; the King is about to appear, but, if you are to be subjects of his Kingdom, you must show yourselves ready to be submissive to his rule. He comes to bring moral deliverance to the slaves of sin; he comes to bring boundless spiritual riches. "Repent, for the Kingdom of heaven is at hand!"

Today we sometimes try to take a shortcut to spiritual blessing with the sort of faith that claims the blessings without surrendering the heart. We need to understand clearly that becoming and being a Christian involves radical moral change - it is described as a new birth, a new creation. a change from death to life. Not one of us can become and be a Christian without repenting. Paul wrote, "Everyone has sinned and is far away from God's saving presence" (Rom.3.23). In some way every one of us has missed the mark. Some sinners murder. steal, cheat and commit adultery. Others are arrogant and proud. All are living self-centred, autonomous lives. All are called to quit our own sins and failure by turning to God's way of dealing with sin - our Saviour Christ who himself died for our sins. "Repent, for the Kingdom of heaven is at hand!"

The Results of Repentance

By repentance we are not making ourselves good, but rather turning to God's mercy and grace. Yet there is a certain character of life which marks out true repentance from what is just a self­centred remorse.

John could see that many of the people who were coming to be baptised in the Jordan had not really repented at all. Perhaps some were moved only by curiosity, others by a sort of mass emotionalism, but, if God was about to send the Messiah they had better do everything possible (that is, every outward and visible thing possible) to cash in on the proceeds.

Among them were the Pharisees and Sadducees, prominent religious leaders - there as P.R. representatives? "You snakes - who told you that you could escape from the punishment God is about to send? Do those things that will show that you have turned from your sins." You are here as good children of Abraham to claim the promises God made to Abraham. But your claim means nothing to God unless your repentance has resulted in good fruit - God's judgment will surely fall on you!

For all, repentance was to be quite practical, involving a change of life and the readiness to do God's will.

And for us...

Well, "tempus fugit" - time flies! We don't have time to gather moss, but we sure end up with a lot of baggage that weighs us down!

Repent? We don't need to do that! We are already the Lord's people! Tell that to Zacchaeus! Tell that to the Romans! Call on the Serbs to repent! Send it out to the Moslems and the Buddhists! Call on the prostitutes, the homosexuals, the wife-beaters, the drug-peddlers! Get the message out to all the parliamentarians! Convince the media barons and the publishers of soft and hard porn! Repent! Society needs to hear it! The nation needs to hear it! The world needs to hear it! Take it out to them!

But John was preaching to the people of God ­ circumcised, brought up on the Law, regularly involved in worship. His words probe below the surface, behind appearances. The King is at hand ­ are you ready for him, you who say you are waiting for him?

At this stage in the New Year we all need a spiritual check­up. We need to clear away the rubbish that clutters our lives. We can't afford to hold on to wrongs we may have done to others or that they may have done to us. As far as it depend on us, we are called to reconciliation and forgiveness. God sees us as no one else does ­ completely. He knows our secret sins ­ in thought, word or action. He expects repentance ­ leading to action that shows it is real.

The King is coming! Are we ready to welcome him now?


© Peter J. Blackburn, Buderim Uniting Church, 8 January 1995
Except where otherwise noted, Scripture quotations are from the Good News Bible, (c) American Bible Society, 1992.

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