Grace and Repentance

Matthew 4:17 - From then on Jesus began to preach, “Repent of your sins and turn to God, for the Kingdom of heaven is near.”

In recent days I have struggled with the balance of grace vs. holiness.  We do not often hear the words repentance, holiness, or even hell these days.  Our message has become one that is much more focused on grace, which is an important doctrine, but are we guilty of an unbalanced approach?

As a man who stands in the pulpit each week, I struggle with these issues.  Obviously, people do not come to church to leave feeling guilty or bad about themselves.  However, just as is the case when I go to the doctor, certainly we want to leave with the truth, not just feeling good about ourselves.

I find Jesus’ words in Matthew 4 comforting, though challenging.  The first word of Jesus’ gospel message is “repent”.  If the first word of Jesus’ gospel message is “repent,” then certainly the first word of “our” gospel message should be repent.  Not only should the first word of our message be “repent,” but the first word of our practice ought to be “repent”.

It has been said many times that the word “repent” is a military term that means “about face”.  This definition is accurate but we are given much more in Matthew 4…we are given an example.  Jesus says to Simon Peter and Andrew, “Come, follow me, and I will show you how to fish for people.”  We are then told that “they left their nets at once and followed him.”  The scripture continues, “A little farther up the shore he saw two other brothers, James and John, sitting in a boat with their father, Zebedee, repairing their nets.  He called to them to come, too.”  Their response, “They immediately followed him, leaving the boat and their father behind.”

The call to follow Christ is a call to repentance.  It is a call to stop what we are doing, leave it all behind and follow him.  To be saved does not come by praying a simple prayer.  To be saved is to recognize that Christ is who scripture describes Him to be, to recognize that He is who He claimed to be.  To follow Christ is to leave behind the life I have known and follow Him.  Grace is real and it is available to all who will repent and follow Christ.