Tag: repentance

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No Peace Without Repentance – Matthew 3:1-12

John the Baptist was playing the role of the Grinch to the celebrations of the rich and powerful of his time. He was the ultimate party-pooper, bringing down the vibe and warning the Pharisees that their time was coming. You better watch out, you better not cry, you better not pout, John’s telling you why – the Messiah is coming to town.

He warned them not to rest on their ethnicity and generic heritage. He warned them that an axe was at their roots, and “unquenchable fire” is in the offing. It’s not what we generally think of as a Christmas message.

But John is calling us to do exactly what Advent is there for – preparation, clearing the way, and removing those things that get in the way of our straight path to the savior.

How can there be peace when we have oppression and violence and sin? Ultimately, there can’t be peace without repentance, and there can’t be repentance without confrontation. There is real sin that impacts others and must be addressed before we can have peace – in our lives, in our neighborhoods, in our nation.

What are the obstacles in the roads of your heart that need to be flattened? Where are we going in the wrong direction and need to turn around? How do we as a church be prophetic and speak the truths that need to be told?

Where are the places we need to repent? Where are the wells we go back to that are not life-giving? What does repentance look like for us in our lives individually? What does it look like as a nation collectively? Where do we have privilege and position that we can use for the good of others?

— Sermon Notes, Dave Sim, Renew Church, Lynnwood WA, December 7, 2025

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The Psalm of Psalms – Psalm 51

Anglican liturgist J. M. Neale calls Psalm 51 “the psalm of all psalms” ranking it as among the most vital texts in the Old Testament for understanding sin, atonement and grace.

It’s a psalm with a specific origin, coming in the wake of David’s great sin, the rape of Bathsheba and murder of her husband. Specifically, it comes after God’s first act of mercy towards David, the sending of Nathan to confront him publicly.

The psalm uses three different words or sin: hatta, pesa and avown. Hatta is the classic “missing the mark” concept. Pesa is a specific crime or offense. Avown is the perverse spirit within us, what Paul calls “the flesh.” Sin, however it is referred to, is the breaking of God’s covenant with His people. What David is banking on is that the love and mercy of God will outweigh his sin and repair that break.

That is how he opens the psalm, begging for mercy. We have all been hurt and had mercy withheld from us. We have all withheld mercy from others. But God does offer His mercy to all of us through the death and resurrection of Christ. The steadfast love and abundant mercy David called on was put into direct practice on the cross. Adam and Eve ran from a merciful God, but David relied upon Him.

David does owe a debt to others – while his and our sin is ultimately against God, there are others who need restitution. But he also sees that his sin runs even deeper than his actions, that they spring from a broken inward being that needs restoration.

He seeks a “purging with hyssop” and herb used in rituals from the original Passover to the cleansing of disease and uncleanness. He has confidence that the purifying work of God can ultimately make him pure, even whiter than the whitest thing he can imagine. Even though it comes in the wake of crushing consequences, he looks forward to the work of restoration.

Quick notes from the rest, pieces of which I missed:

  • Verse 10 is one we should memorize and repeat in our own prayers.
  • There was no real concept of the trinity in the Old Testament, so the appearance of the Holy Spirit here, fairly clearly, is remarkable.
  • Remember that God is merciful but He is not stupid.
  • The full mercy of God leads to the most abundant life.

– Sermon Notes, Bart Hodgson, Seed Church, Lynnwood WA, June 13, 2021

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Off With the Soiled Clothes – Ephesians 4:17-24

This passage matches up well with Colossians 3,hitting many of the same themes likely around the same time in Paul’s life. Both passages call the members of the church first to stop behaving as nonbelievers – referred to as “Gentiles” which is notable since the church itself was full of Gentiles! But as he makes clear elsewhere the gentiles of the church have been “grafted in” – and the Jews in the church are certainly not exempt from behaving like those in the culture around them.

What does that look like? A hardened heart, calloused to sin, but instead seeking the impure and wicked. Even greedy for it!

Paul specifically is serving against antinomianism, the idea that one we are saved we no longer have to worry about following the law. There were those in the church at Ephesus and other congregations who pushed the idea, and Paul here and elsewhere objects to it emphatically.

“That is not how you learned Christ” – not just “about” Christ, but Christ Himself in relationship. There is a difference between learning about someone, and learning them themselves. Though Paul does not assume that this is true of everyone there.

They learned to put off the old self, through Paul’s teaching in person and his letter to the Romans that would likely have circulated by now. The language is the same as changing out of old clothes, from soiled or otherwise dirty clothing into the clothes that are worthy and appropriate for their status as children of God. You can reference the letter to Sardis in Revelation, where some have soiled their white garments – or you can look to Lazarus, raised from the dead and taking off the old grave clothes right away.

Or you can look at the prodigal son – and like the prodigal son, we have to recognize when we are at the pig sty that life is better in our father’s house – where he will put a new robe on us and celebrate.

We are all called to this kind of repentance, and the more we become like Christ, the more we see in our lives that does not line up and needs repentance.

We also need to change ourselves at the mental level – not just responding to a feeling of guilt, but a fundamental renewing of how we think about ourselves, others and God.

This conviction of sin may feel like a heavy load, but it is a part of God’s grace, showing us the path to oneness with Him.

– Sermon Notes, Bart Hodgson, Seed Church, Lynnwood WA, November 8, 2020