"U-turn Permitted"
"And so, John came, baptizing in the desert region and preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins."
O God, Your almighty power is made known chiefly in showing mercy. Grant us the fullness of Your grace that we may be called to repentance and made partakers of Your heavenly treasures; through Your Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, One God, now and forever. Amen[1]
Often highway motorists see the sign, which reads
"No-U-turn". And how many of us have found ourselves traveling down
the interstate having realized that we were going in the wrong direction? How
many of us have looked in the rear view mirror and ahead into oncoming traffic and
with no state trooper in sight, have cut into the median past the clearly
marked sign that reads "authorized vehicles only no U-turns
permitted" and sped off in the opposite direction?
For the Christian a U-turn is not only permitted but
regarded as preparation for Christ’s coming to us with forgiveness. The U-turn
is another expression for repentance; a change of mind or a turning around. We
call this act repentance. Repeatedly, the Scriptures exhort, "Return to the Lord". It is
expressed in the words of the hymn "Turn back, o man, forsake your foolish
ways". For Jesus Christ to come to you, you must make a U-turn of
repentance. That is what the season of Advent is all about.
What does it mean for us to repent? What must I do? We
go through certain steps as we seek forgiveness from the Father. This morning
let’s consider The 5 R’s of Repentance.
1
Responsibility I take ownership of
what I have done. There are some who do not want to own up to the fact that
they have done any wrong. If you want forgiveness you first must ask to be
forgiven. As parents we see this often with a child who will say "don’t
look at me, I didn’t do it! It wasn’t me!"
If you refuse to acknowledge that you have stolen, for example, there is
no way that you will be forgiven for violating the 7th Commandment. The first R of repentance is responsibility.
2 Remorse There are some who will take the responsibility for their
actions. Yet they feel absolutely no guilt. They express no remorse. And that
is not merely the cold-blooded killer that we are speaking of here. Some are
rather bold as they will tell you that they are proud of the fact that they
have done what they have done or said what they said. They might even add the
statement "…and given the chance I’d
do it all over again!"
When you inflict pain on someone and seek forgiveness
you must experience the same pain that you inflicted through regret and
remorse. How many times have we heard it, or maybe said it ourselves as parents,
"say you’re sorry" and the child snaps back sarcastically
"sorry!" Is that child truly sorry? Does that child really desire
forgiveness? The first R is
responsibility. The second R of repentance is remorse.
3 Repair In the parish I served before coming here to Zion the
parsonage was located across the parking lot from the school. On Saturday
afternoon two of our high school kids borrowed the key to the school gym to
shoot hoops. They returned a few hours later with a sheepish look on their
faces. It seemed that there was a foam high jump pit in one corner of the gym.
They had drug the foam right under the backboard so they could jump off of the
foam and dunk the ball in the basket. There was only one problem with what they
were doing. The rims on the backboards were not meant for kids to be hanging on
them, they were not "break away rims" that we have now. As these two
lads hung on the rim the glass backboard shattered into a million pieces!
They took responsibility for their actions and yes,
they had genuine remorse, but they protested and cried "foul!" when
they were handed a bill for $750 to replace a new glass backboard! It’s easy to
say the words "I’m sorry!" we back up our words when we right the
wrong as we repair.
Notice how these steps become increasingly difficult!
This is how repentance goes. Notice also how some sins are virtually impossible
to repair – in fact, some we cannot repair – such as the taking of a life – or
a word that is spoken in anger – these cannot be taken back. Consider the
serenity prayer ‘LORD GRANT ME THE SERENITY TO ACCEPT THE THINGS I CAN NOT
CHANGE THE COURAGE TO CHANGE THE THINGS I CAN AND THE WISDOM TO KNOW THE
DIFFERENCE The word repent causes us to think before we act. Responsibilities, remorse, repair.
4 Repeat
Not! We do not have license to return
to the scene of the crime. We are not given the liberty to act up and act out
at will. As we take responsibility, feel genuine remorse, make repairs on the
damage we have done we change, we move on, we repeat not!
Now, many would say that if you follow these steps
that you have obtained forgiveness. Yet there is one thing missing. We cannot do these things on our own. There is
one thing lacking and one thing needful. This is our last word for today.
5 Redemption Paul reminds us "God was in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself…not counting our
sins against us" - 2 Corinthians 5:19 When John the Baptist tells us,
"Repent for the kingdom of God is at
hand!" he is calling for us to cling to Christ, the babe born in
Bethlehem and to trust in Him alone for salvation and life.
We turn. From the material to the spiritual. We turn.
From a sinful life to a holy life in Christ. We turn. From serving self to
serving God. We cannot do these ourselves. That is why we say, "By the assistance of God the Holy Ghost I
amend my sinful life."
The call to
repentance during this season of Advent is one, which needs to be heeded. Turn
back, o man. Return back to the Savior. Who has called you out of darkness into
His marvelous light.
Passive Sentences-11%
Readability –76.7%
Reading Level-6.0
The preaching of John the Baptist woodcut by Schnorr von Carolsfeld, copyright © WELS Permission to use these copyrighted items is limited to personal and congregational use.
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