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Christian Network

Repentance
James 4.8b-10


The more time that I spend with James, the more that I am impressed with
him. His devotion to the honor of Christ and his love of the people of God
as well as the depth of his piety are becoming more and more evident. In
this morning’s text these things show by some strong words. Along with all
the rest that we shall see this morning, this is a reminder that a loving
pastor will sometimes tell you things that you may not enjoy hearing. After
all, wasn’t Jesus that way also?

Our text is about repentance. James is aware of the sins of this
congregation and, in no uncertain terms, he calls them to repent. You might
be wondering what particular sins he has is mind. He lets us know in verse
eight when he labels these Christians ‘double-minded’. This gives us the
necessary clue. Our text is still a part of James’ comments that started
back in 3.13. Sometimes the chapter divisions are helpful, but sometimes
they cloud the structure of what has been written. With the last paragraph
of chapter three James opens a new topic and he isn’t finished with it until
at least 4.12. At the heart of this section are James’ comments about
worldliness. The people to whom James has written this letter are of two
minds. They want to be a part of the Church and at the same time they want
to be a part of the world. James sees that and responds to it. We’ve already
looked at some of what he had to say about their worldliness. Now, he is
calling them to repent of their worldliness. That’s the sin that he has in
mind.

You’ll notice that he doesn’t calmly reason with them. He hurls
thunderbolts. We saw the same thing when we looked at the beginning of
chapter four. Remember when he told them that they were lusting and
murdering and that they were adulterers? We see it again here. James is
being quite forceful. It is important for you to see why James thunders his
commands to repent. He is not having a temper tantrum. He understands
something that these Christians are missing. He understands that sin kills.
Sin is not just a little problem in the corner that can be safely ignored.
Sin is destructive. It kills. So, he fairly shouts at them: ‘Don’t you see
what you’re doing? Don’t you see the danger to your souls? Enough of this
foolishness! Repent! Repent now lest you die.’

Now we’re ready for our first question. What does it mean to repent? What
exactly does James want these people to do? What should their repentance
look like? There’s a popular definition of repentance making the rounds in
the Church and I’m guessing that you’ve heard it. Repentance is a change of
mind. Now, this is what a change of mind looks like. ‘I used to think that
it was important to have the latest computer equipment. But lately I’ve
changed my mind about that. Now, I see that having dated equipment is okay
as long as it works.’ That’s a change of mind. Now, does it sound like James
is commanding the people to have a ‘change of mind’? ‘Cleanse your hands,
you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded!’ Does that sound
like a calm change of mind to you?

Repentance is so much more than just some change of mind. The Westminster
Confession has a chapter about repentance. [It’s chapter 15. I would
encourage you to read it all.] In that context, it says that the repenting
person grieves for and hates his sin. Now, that sounds more like James.
There is an emotional aspect to repentance. And that makes perfect sense.
The person who is repenting has come to understand something about himself.
‘Look at what I’ve done! Look at how I’ve offended my God. How horrible! And
look at how I’ve endangered my soul! What foolishness!’ Repentance is no
mere intellectual change of mind. It is far more than some brief prayer,
‘Dear God, Sorry I did that. I’ll try to do better next time. Amen.’ Behind
real repentance is this awful awareness, ‘My hands are filthy. My heart is
polluted. I have sinned. And this before the holy God who has loved me so.’
James’ fiery commands make sense when you understand repentance in this way.

As with everything else in Scripture, there are those who twist this
teaching about repentance into something else. ‘Okay, so what you’re saying
is that I need to be really sorry for my sins. If I do that then God will
forgive me. Right?’ In an ever so subtle way these folk take being repentant
and turn it into doing penance. Many of you know that the Roman Catholic
Church teaches the necessity of penance. But it isn’t only Catholics who
believe in its importance. Lots of Protestants believe in the necessity of
penance also, though usually without knowing it. Penance is suffering some
sort of penalty because of sin. So, if you do your penance, if your suffer
enough, then you are forgiven. What this so often looks like is someone
beating up on himself. He tells himself terrible things about himself until
he feels like a piece of dirt. ‘You stupid jerk. What’s the matter with you?
You know better than that. Can’t you ever get it right?’ So, according to
this person, forgiveness comes if you believe in Jesus plus suffer a bit. Is
that the Gospel? These folk have confused the emotional aspects of
repentance with the idea of penance. Remember we come to Jesus with empty
hands. He gives grace not because we have proven our worthiness, nor because
we have satisfied some pre-requisites like suffering enough. It’s always
faith in Jesus plus nothing.

Now, let’s follow this a bit. Did you notice what comes before James’
commands to repent? ‘Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.’ So many
think that first we need to repent and get our act together – which includes
things like doing penance for our sin and working up the right emotions –
and then we can approach God. James thinks otherwise. He says, first, draw
near to God. What happens when you do that? As you draw near to your holy
Father, the Spirit of God does His amazing work. He blesses you with more
faith. In this case, it’s the faith to see your sin more clearly. What used
to slip by as no big deal is now seen for what it really is: sin against the
Father, ugly sin against the Father. The grief and the hatred and the
emotional response follow from this. But not because you’ve somehow worked
them up! They are fruit of the Spirit’s work in you. You don’t try to work
them up. He brings them about as He makes you see reality for what it is.
You have sinned! The desire to turn from such sin and to follow Christ more
faithfully also follows. But the key is the work of the Spirit. So, you see
again, the Christian religion really is a religion of grace. All you need do
is draw near to God with however much faith that you have. The Spirit takes
it from there.

But we’re not done with James. He calls us to lament, mourn or weep when we
repent of our sins. That’s strong language. Few of us experience such
feelings when it comes to repenting of our sins. The reason for that is
obvious. We don’t see the repulsiveness of our sin as clearly as we might.
Our sensitivity to such things is not that far advanced. But James, on the
other hand, was further along. I would not be surprised if James wrote as he
did because he did see his sin more clearly. He understood how foul his own
sin was and, as a result, he did lament and he did mourn and he did weep.
But he got there the same way that you will, by the work of the Spirit.
Sanctification is a process. It’s a matter of growth. And so, it takes time.
Your responsibility is to draw near to God. Then watch in amazement as the
Spirit graciously, bit by bit, does His work in you.

James isn’t done. He closes this section with a promise. ‘Humble yourselves
before the Lord, and he will lift you up.’ You draw near to God. The Spirit
opens your eyes to your sin. You see it and you repent. ‘You’re right, Lord.
That’s sin. I have no excuse. I simply ask that you would forgive me and
that you would change me so I would turn from such wickedness and live more
faithfully. And I ask this not because of what I have done, but only because
of Jesus, my Savior.’ In so doing you’ve humbled yourself before the Lord.
And how will God respond? Will He leave you on your face until you feel bad
enough? No. As the loving Father that He is, He lifts you up and rejoices at
your repentance.

It is appropriate that we have the Lord’s Supper today. This is simply one
way of drawing near to Christ, our God. As we do that, the Spirit once again
does His marvelous work. We draw near to Christ aware that we are sinners.
But we leave with greater assurance that our sins, though they are many,
have all been forgiven. We come humbly, seeking grace from Jesus. We leave
lifted up, secure in the knowledge that we have received His grace. The
Spirit does that. Praise be to our God, Father, Son and Spirit, for His
gracious ways with us, His children.