Repentance is relationship. Nathaniel Hawthorne wrote a short story titled, The Birthmark. It is a story about a man who married a very beautiful woman who had a birthmark on her left cheek. She had always thought of it as a beauty spot, but her husband saw the birthmark to be a sign of imperfection, a flaw. It began wearing on him so much that all he could see was that birthmark. He could not see her beauty, her graciousness, or her great personality. He could only focus on what he perceived to be a flaw. He hounded her until she finally submitted to surgery to remove the so-called flaw. The birthmark eventually faded and so did she. In Hawthorne's mind, that birthmark was tied to her identity and shortly thereafter she died. A man who sought perfection ended up with nothing.
That is not the God and Father of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. That is not the God that we come to worship today. Nevertheless, when we think about Lent and hear words like "repentance" and "perfection," many times we get negative connotations in our minds. It conjures up negative images in our memories. From my own background, when I hear the word, "repent," I picture a preacher standing red faced, a loud voice, veins popping on his neck, pounding the Bible, pointing a finger, sweating profusely like a politician without a vote proclaiming, "Repent! Repent!" In other words, God is going to zap you if you do not repent. If you are bad, God is going to zap you. Not stated but implied is that if you are good, God will protect you.
It was exactly that kind of theology that Jesus blew out of the water. There were some who came to Jesus and mentioned the Galileans who had lost their lives at worship when Pilate turned loose his soldiers upon them. As they were making sacrifices, they were murdered right on the spot so that their blood mingled with the blood of their sacrifices. And Jesus said, "Do you think they were worse sinners than anybody else and that is the reason they died? I tell you, ‘No!' It just isn't so." Jesus said, "Unless you repent you shall also perish."
Jesus made a comparison with natural evil when he said, "What about those eighteen who died when the tower of Siloam fell upon them? Do you think they were the worst sinners of the lot? Do you think they were worse sinners than the rest of the people living in Jerusalem? I tell you, ‘No!' It just isn't so. But I will tell you this, ‘Unless you repent, you too, shall perish.' " Jesus is saying it is easy sitting around asking ourselves questions for which there are no answers because it allows us to evade the very things we can do. Jesus is saying that we are not to sit around trying to answer those questions. He is saying, "There are some things you can do and one thing you can do is repent."
In our text today is a very clear call to repentance. What does the word "repent" mean? It might fill your mind as it sometimes does mine with, "Just what is it we are to do?" What is repentance? Well, first of all, repentance is not the fear of God. I talked to an individual once and he said, "Well, sure, I'm scared of the old man," meaning God. So what! Repentance is not conviction of sin. I was witnessing to a person on one occasion and this person said, "Well, I'm sorry but I know it." So what! Fear of God and knowledge of sin is not repentance. Fear of God and knowledge of sin is essential, but not the essence of repentance. Repentance is not remorse. You can break a stone and that stone does not change its nature. It is still the same stone. It is just in smaller pieces. It is not just enough to be broken. It is not just enough to be contrite. It is not just enough to turn over a new leaf to mess up a clean page.
What is repentance? It is more than turning over our lives. It is more than just feeling sorry for our sins. Repentance means to change the direction of your life. It means to stop walking toward selfishness, self-centeredness, and a life that is centered upon what the self desires. It means to make a 180-degree turn, start walking toward God, his vision, his aim, and his goal for your life.
When Jesus came into the world, the dominant view of sin was going through one of God's red lights. Sin was doing something wrong. But Jesus helped us to see that sin was more than just doing bad things and not doing good things. Sin is missing the mark, missing God's purpose, goal, and ambition for your life. You are a dream in the mind of God and to be in sin means to be out of God's purpose for your life. It means not going in the direction that God would have you to go. To repent means to turn from your sinfulness and turn toward the life that God has for you. There is definitely a clear call to repentance in our text for today.
Also in our text is a warning that the time can be short. Notice the parable of the fig tree. A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard. He went again to the tree looking for fruit but did not find any. He said to the man that tended the vineyard, "For three years I have come seeking fruit on this fig tree, and have found none: cut it down." By the third year, fig trees are supposed to bear fruit. That's why you have a fig tree. Bearing fruit is the nature of a fig tree. By the third year, none! He said, "Cut it down!" Cut it down — strong words of judgment. It is not fulfilling its purpose. Chop it!
It has been said that W. C. Fields was reading the Bible on his death bed when someone asked him why he was doing that. He answered, "I'm looking for loopholes." There are none! I'm reminded of the individual who said, "I have misjudged two things in life. I have misjudged the brevity of life and I have misjudged the breadth of eternity." We're all going to die. For some the time is shorter than for others. A clear call that time is running out. Christian, bear Christian fruit! That's what Jesus is talking about. Is that not what we are to do as Christians? That's why we are called Christians. We are to bear Christian fruit. We are to live a life that exudes Christlikeness.
A story is told by Alexander Whyte of a man by the name of Rigby. Mr. Rigby was a traveling salesman, and every time he traveled through the city of Edinburgh, he would attend worship services on Sunday night. He would always bring someone from the boarding house where he stayed to the services. On a particular Sunday night, he brought a young man who made a profession of faith. He made Jesus his Lord and Savior. The next day, Rigby passed by the house of Alexander Whyte, the preacher, and decided to stop and share with him the decision this young man made. The preacher said, "Thank you. I really thought I made a mess of last night's sermon and this really helps me to hear what happened. By the way, what is your name?" The man said, "My name is Rigby." Alexander Whyte said, "What?" He said, "My name is Rigby." Whyte said, "Man, I've been looking for you for years." He went into a nearby room and came back with a stack of twelve letters. Those letters were from individuals whom Rigby had brought to the evening worship services and all twelve had accepted Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior and two of those twelve had already entered the ministry. What did he do? He invited others to Christ. He brought people to church with him. That is a Christlike quality.
We are called to produce Christlike fruit in our lives. It is a clear call to repentance, and it is a warning that the time could be short. How many of us are guaranteed tomorrow? Today is the day, yet this parable ends on a note of grace because the man who tended the tree said, "Give me one more year. I will dig around the tree and fertilize the tree. Just give me one more year and if at the end of that year the tree does not produce fruit, then we will cut it down." This is a parable of mercy! This is a parable of grace! This is a parable of delayed judgment to give us time to repent! For you see, the Bible explicitly says God does not demand moral perfection. God knew we couldn't; God knew we wouldn't and that is why he sent his Son. God does not demand from us moral perfection! It is impossible! God knew we would sin! He knew we could not be perfect!
The book of Numbers, chapter 19, has an interesting passage beginning with verse 1. The priest was told to take a red heifer that was without blemish or spot, literally a heifer that was perfect, and he was to kill the heifer. How strange. Why would you take a heifer that was perfect, spotless, blameless, without blemish or flaw and kill it? Does that mean in some way that perfection does not belong in this world? There has only been one who was perfect. The rest of us, every single one of us, have flaws and blemishes. We are imperfect. God never expects us to be morally perfect. It is impossible for us to be morally perfect and that is why repentance is the nature of relationship with God.
Every day is a day of repentance. Every day is a day of turning toward God. God doesn't demand moral perfection, but he does demand a continual personal relationship to him; whereby we continually repent of our sins and turn toward him every day, sometimes every hour. God has not given up on failures. Thank God!
In 1986, an outstanding young man by the name of Donnie Moore was a major league baseball pitcher. He was pitching in the championship series and all he had to do was get one more out. Just one out and the California Angels would be in the World Series. Donnie Moore surrendered a homerun and his team lost. They did not make it to the World Series because of Donnie Moore's one mistake! A Cy Young Award winner — great athlete — one mistake — never got over it. A few years later, Donnie Moore took his own life.
A few years ago, in this thing we call March Madness, there was a nineteen-year-old forward for the University of Michigan Wolverines by the name of Chris Webber. They were playing for the national championship. Seconds were winding down in a very close game when Chris Webber got the ball and called time out. Only one thing wrong. They didn't have any more time outs. The ball went to the other team, and Michigan lost the national championship because of Chris Webber's mistake. He didn't dwell on it. He didn't let it defeat him. In fact, the very next year he was NBA rookie of the year.
Now, let me ask you a personal question. Which one was more in the will of God? The one who made a mistake and despairingly took his life or the one who made a mistake, found forgiveness, went on, and lived life? Which one? God has not given up on failures. God does not demand, nor does he expect, moral perfection. We are incapable of moral perfection, but we are capable of a life that is characterized by continual repentance as we live life in his presence.
The book of Genesis says that God created our world and he said, "It is good! Everything about this world is good!" The best thing about this world is you. You are the zenith, the apex, and the climax of God's creation. You are the very best that God can do. Man and woman are the height of creation! God created us good. We are not bad people. We are good people who do bad. When we do bad, we need to turn back to God and repent of our sins. When we repent, a bunch of wonderful things happen: God restores us to life, he restores us to health, he restores us to a relationship with him and with others, and he clears the air. The greatest joy in life is to be forgiven and to walk in grace and mercy knowing that God loves and cares for you. God gave to us a way to deal with our sinfulness by Jesus' death on the cross. The Bible says that there is more joy in heaven over one sinner's repentance than over 99 people who have no need to repent.
What a special day I had this past week. I was walking out of a restaurant when a little girl ran up to me and hugged my leg and her little eyes were just dancing. She said, "I've decided to ask Jesus to come into my life." She had decided to repent and I'll tell you what, the angels in heaven rejoiced! All of heaven rejoiced! I hope all of heaven will be rejoicing because of the decision you make today.