A Life of Repentance

The first of Martin Luther's 95 Theses declares the entire life of believers "to be one of repentance." Indeed, there is a sense in which we never progress beyond this repentance. Part of the Spirit's growing us into maturity in the image of Christ is an equally growing awareness of the number and depth of our sins, and a greater awareness of our dependence upon Christ. This is not a morbid or morose introspection, but a frank recognition of "the facts." As Paul said, "Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?" (Romans 7:24) and "Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost" (1 Timothy 1:15). Paul's assessment is right on; that is who we are. And that is why we must continually confess our sin and repent of it. This is not only a one time thing that we do to become a Christian. Interestingly, repentence and belief are joined in Scripture. In Mark 1:15 Jesus says, "Repent and believe in the gospel." Now, none of us thinks that he means to believe once and thereafter forget it. He calls us to a continual belief. Likewise, our repentance is not a one time turning from sin, but a continual one. Jesus also said, "If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me" (Luke 9:23).
Now, what is true of our daily living ought especially to be true of our weekly gathered worship as a church--the acknowledgement of my own sin and my utter need for a savior outside of myself is an absolutely fundamental reorientation for worship. So, as "worship leader" (a ridiculous title, because it is given to the guy who leads the singing, and so we begin to think only of the singing as "worship") at my church, I have somewhat successfully instituted a time of confession of sin in our worship service. This flows from everything the Bible says about worship. The psalmist says, "If I had cherished iniquity in my heart, the Lord would not have listened" (Psalm 66:18). When Isaiah saw the Lord his response was, "Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!" (Isaiah 6:5). Likewise, when Ezekiel saw a vision of God's glory, he wrote, "I fell on my face" (Ezekiel 1:28).
Okay, that's Old Testament you say. Well, all over the New Testament people are falling in worship at Jesus' feet. The word most often translated "worship" in the NT means just that, "to bow down or kneel before." It is the act of placing oneself literally underneath or below another. These people are bowing down before Jesus, and he accepts their worship. Never does he say, "Stop it! You're embarassing me!" He accepts their bowing down, speaks restorative words to them, and sends them away to "sin no more."
Alright, but those are strangers. We are believers who are in Christ! We have received forgiveness already! We should just bask in that glory and not rub our faces in our sins! Well, aside from the example of Paul above, perhaps the best example is John, the "beloved disciple." When John was confronted with the glorified Jesus he "fell at his feet as though dead" (Revelation 1:17). Now, I know it's a real downer to come to church and fall down as though dead, but that's what happens when sinners come into the presence of a holy God! I could go on much more, but let me end by encouraging you to look further into this and even to encourage your church leadership to do so. Repentance shoud be our daily individual practice, and our weekly corporate practice in the church. The complete lack of this in churches today is a serious oversight.