Monday, March 28, 2011
Why Should I Forgive, Part 11 of 34
TEXT: "And if he sins against you seven times in a day, and seven times in a day returns to you, saying, 'I repent,' you shall forgive him" (Luke 17:4).
IDEA: Repentance is an act based on a proper attitude about our sin and how it has affected others.
PURPOSE: To help listeners understand what is involved in saying, “I repent.”
Jesus commands in Luke 17:3-4, “Take heed to yourselves. If your brother sins against you, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him. And if he sins against you seven times in a day, and seven times in a day returns to you, saying, 'I repent,' you shall forgive him.”
Doesn’t Luke 17:3 sound rather superficial? It is easy to say “I repent” and not mean a word of it.
My 3-year-old grandson quickly says “I’m sorry” when he hits me, then laughs and hits me again. Do you think he has done what Jesus commands?
We talk quite a bit about forgiveness, but what is involved in true repentance when we have sinned against another person? What should go on behind the words “I repent” if they are sincere?
There are at least four factors or phases involved in true repentance.
I. There is a change of perception: the word repent in the Greek means a change of mind.
You come to recognize that what you did to the other person was sin. It was a moral wrong, not merely a “mistake.”
That may be the result of being confronted by another Christian. That person helps you to “see” that your conduct was morally wrong.
You perceive how the person you have damaged sees what you have done as evil and sinful.
You are guilty before God and before the other person.
Repentance differs from an apology.
The two are sometimes confused. Repentance isn’t an “apology” for making-someone else feel bad or for unintentional acts that may have hurt someone. You may apologize for upsetting someone but not believe that you yourself have done anything sinful. While an apology may be very much in order, it isn’t repentance.
If you spill coffee on the tablecloth when you are a guest for dinner, you apologize, but you don’t repent.
If a young woman breaks up a relationship with a young man, he may feel deep hurt, but she doesn’t have to repent.
