One of Satan's greatest strangleholds on congregations of Christ's church is made possible by Christian ignorance about repentance. The Christian who understands the meaning and the concept of repentance is the exception. The typical Christian does not understand repentance.
Why does ignorance about repentance allow Satan to choke a congregation? To understand this insight, answer the following questions. Is it God's will that a congregation experience division (1 Corinthians 1:10)? Destroy the weak (Romans 14:1; 15:1)? "Run off" the struggling (Galatians 6:1,2)? Create and sustain a cold environment (1 Peter 1:22)? Hold grudges and bad attitudes (Ephesians 4:31,32)? Nurture strife and contention (Galatians 5:14,15)? Refuse to practice genuine forgiveness (Matthew 6:14,15)? No!
Do such things characterize the behavior of many Christians in too many congregations? Yes! If such behavior is not God's will, by whose influence do those things occur? They occur through Satan's influence.
If any of these things occur in a congregation, how must Christians respond to the situation? They must repent. Will repentance change such behaviors? Yes! Will repentance change the Christians by transforming them? Yes! If individual Christians repent, will that result in the whole congregation repenting? Yes! Through the repentance of individuals and the whole body, will the congregation be changed? Yes! Will division be replaced with unity, the weak grow, the struggling be nurtured, the environment become caring, evil attitudes be replaced with Christlike attitudes, kindness and love be nurtured, and forgiveness flow? Yes!
How can that happen? It happens because Christians understand repentance, AND THEY REPENT!
Those ungodly conditions came into existence because Christians did not understand repentance at conversion. When Christians surrender to repentance, ungodly conditions are replaced with godly conditions. Why? Repentance transforms evil minds and hearts into godly minds and hearts.
Read Luke 15:11-32
Briefly focus on the well known story of the prodigal son.
He demanded his inheritance. He wanted his father to divide his wealth. In that time, the oldest son received a double share of the inheritance. In this situation, the inheritance was divided into three parts, and the younger son received one third. The older son would also assume the position of "family head" when the father died. Perhaps the younger brother did not want to be under the oversight and control of his older brother.
In a few days, he took everything that was his and went far away from home to another country. He moved away from his family's influence. He intentionally made ties and bonds with his family impossible.
He found himself in desperate circumstances. A severe famine occurred. That made food scarce. He was abandoned. He was reduced to accepting work that no self-respecting, God-respecting Jew would accept--feeding pigs. He was so hungry that he would have eaten the carob pods he fed the pigs, but humans cannot sustain life with carob pods. No one concerned himself or herself with his desperate need. The fact that he was literally starving to death stirred no one's sense of compassion.
He came to his senses. He realized the truth. He knew, correctly, that his father's servants were properly cared for. He knew that he had no one to blame for his desperate circumstances but himself. He knew that his current circumstances would not improve. He knew that he would die if he continued in those circumstances. He knew that he had hurt his father horribly. He knew that he had sinned against God horribly. He knew that he did not deserve to be treated like a son. He did not want to ask his father to restore him to the position of a son. He wondered if his father had enough compassion to allow him be a hired servant (which meant in time he would work as a servant for his brother).
He found the courage to leave the pigs and distant country, and to walk home. He left home in splendor; he returned in rags. He left home in wealth; he returned in total poverty. He left home well fed in good health; he returned in rags as a starving man. He left home in pride and arrogance; he returned an humble, broken man. He left home self-assured; he returned with no sense of self worth. He left home a deceived fool; he returned an honest but devastated person.
His father saw him in the distance and, amazingly, recognized the approaching ragged, skinny man as his son. He ran to met him. He put his arms around his neck and continued to kiss him. He had his slaves clothe him, put sandals on his feet, and place a family ring on his finger. He had his servants prepare a celebration banquet because his son had returned to him "from the dead" (death could not have produced a more complete separation of the two).
This tells us that the father never stopped loving his son and never stopped hoping that someday his son would come home.
When he was informed that the celebration was to welcome his brother back home, he was angry. He refused to go to the house, and he refused to be part of the celebration.
He was jealous of his brother's reception. He accused his father of partiality and injustice. He accused his father of failing to appreciate his faithfulness, hard work, dependability, and devotion.
You have always been with me. Everything I have is yours. But it was right for us to be glad and to rejoice when your brother returned. He was dead to us, but now he is alive to us. He was lost, but now he is found.
Focus on the prodigal son's repentance in Luke 15:17-20. Perhaps this is the best "window" into the nature and anatomy of repentance found in the Bible.
He came to himself, or he came to his senses.
He was dying, and he knew it. He was starving to death. His father's servants were treated better; they were not starving.
He decided to do three things. (a) Go home [with no promise of success]. (b) Beg to be made a servant because he knew that he was not worthy to be considered a son. [He knew that he had disgraced his father and his family.] (c) Literally live and work as a servant [a hired man--see Leviticus 25:35-55] in his own family.
He was not worthy to be called his father's son. He was fully aware of the disgrace and shame that his life and actions brought upon the family.
His request was to be received back as a hired man. It shows that his heart was humble, remorseful, penitent, and broken. To be a servant under his older brother would be difficult! The older brother would have punished his younger brother in the name of justice!
He walked home. He had no way of knowing what reception he would receive. The closer he came, the harder the journey became. He could not predict his father's reaction. He knew what he deserved. He hoped for enough compassion to become a hired servant.
Basically repentance involves three things: an awareness filled with regret; an honest acceptance of responsibility; and a redirecting of one's behavior. The English word in the New Testament is a translation of Greek words that mean "to have another mind, to change the mind." It signifies a turning, a redirection of life because the person feels remorse. In the New Testament the concept is captured by the English words "to convert" or "to turn around."
Suggestion to the teacher: Stress the fact that repentance combines heart [emotions], mind [thoughts], and body [action]. When a person repents, he or she accepts responsibility for wrong behavior, thoughts, and emotions. Then he or she takes action to reverse the evil behavior, thoughts, and emotions.
In the parable, both sons needed to repent. One son repented, and one did not. Which son repented? Which son did not? What is unexpected in this situation?
The son who left home to live an ungodly life repented. The son who stayed home to live a responsible life refused to repent. His heart and attitude were evil, and he refused to see the evil or to accept any responsibility for his heart and attitude.
Read Luke 13:6-9
When a person repents, God gives him or her another opportunity. That is incredible! That is obvious in the father's reception of the prodigal son. It is obvious in this parable.
Cut it down! It is wasting the ground it grows on!
He looked for fruit on the tree for three years.
Allow me to loosen and fertilize the soil around it.
The servant said that if the tree did not respond to his cultivation and fertilization within a year, he would cut it down.
It addresses God's patience. It addresses God's kindness. But it also addresses God's expectation. The tree was expected to produce fruit. If it did not bear the figs it was capable of producing, it would be cut down.
Read Romans 2:1-4 and 2 Corinthians 7:8-10. What is the relationship between God's kindness, a person's godly sorrow, and repentance? If a person acknowledges God is kind, has he or she repented? If a person is sorry for what he or she did, has he or she repented? What must happen in addition to acknowledging God's kindness and being sorry in order for repentance to occur? Repentance does not replace one kind of evil behavior with another kind of evil behavior. Why? It comes from a heart and mind that is changing, turning around.
The person sees himself or herself in contrast to God's kindness. He or she regrets that his or her life has unjustly caused the kind God pain. The combination of awakening to God's kindness and feeling sorrow for offending God motivates the person to turn his or her life around. The change in awareness produces a change in heart that results in a change in behavior.
Acknowledging that God is kind is not repentance. Being sorry for your behavior is not repentance. Being "sorry" cannot be substituted for repenting. A person can be sorry because he or she was caught, or because he or she is paying the consequences of foolish, wicked behavior. For repentance to occur, the person takes action to change.
The right kind of sorrow opens the door to repentance. Repentance produces changes that move the person away from evil behavior toward godly behavior.
Please give this caution: never act as the judge of other people's repentance. We cannot know the struggle and war occurring in a penitent person's life, but God does. The person may be making enormous changes within the heart and mind that are not evident to someone who has not experienced his or her struggle. Those changes may produce life changes that are not visible to the person who has not had the problem, but God sees them. Do not assume that anyone can do or react as you do. Do not assume that if you did it anyone can do it. A person who repents does not have to meet our human expectations to receive God's forgiveness and compassion. Reflect on Matthew 18:21,22. If a person repents and asks forgiveness three times in a day, do you generally consider him or her to be serious?
Link to Student Guide
Quarter 3, Lesson 3