Repentance: Not Just a Prayer (Luke 5:27-33)
What does it mean to “repent”? Merriam-Webster’s online dictionary offered the following definitions: 1) to turn from sin and dedicate oneself to the amendment of one’s life. 2a) to feel regret or contrition b) to change one’s mind. I prefer the simple definition of doing a complete 180 of your life or turning in a new direction. If you are heading towards Paducah in your car and repent, you turn around and head back to Mayfield. But spiritual repentance is tougher than just pulling over and turning around. There are also a lot of people that attempt to say a prayer of repentance, but it’s so much more than that. Repentance is not a prayer –it’s a process. And because it’s a process it takes time to heal from the effects of the sin in which you have repented. Today, we are going to look at a man who sought repentance when found by Jesus.
Read Luke 5:27-33
Hear the Voice of God (v. 27)
Notice that verse 27 starts with the words “after this.” If you may recall in Luke chapter 4, Jesus was surrounded by a great crowd of people when four guys brought in their paralyzed friend for Jesus to be healed. Since they couldn’t get through the crowd, they carried their friend through the roof and lowered him down before Jesus. Luke 5:20 says, “Seeing their faith He [Jesus] said, ‘Friend, your sins are forgiven you’” (HCSB). Then the Pharisees and Scribes began to pitch a fit about Jesus forgiving sins and so forth. So, next Jesus shows them who is boss and tells the paralyzed man to take up his stretcher and go home. Now, we see Jesus depart from the sold-out venue and walking down the street. Luke 5:27 tells us that he “saw a tax collector named Levi sitting at the tax office” (HCSB). According to the other synoptic gospels, Levi is actually Matthew who wrote the good news of Jesus Christ to the Jewish audience. Now, a tax collector wasn’t a desirable character in Jesus’ time, much like an IRS agent today (just kidding) but on an entirely different level. Actually, tax collectors in biblical times were crooks. They were sent out to collect a tax for Rome, but overcharged people and kept the profits for themselves.
Notice also that Levi was sitting at the tax office. Isn’t it amazing how Jesus wasn’t afraid to share the good news in the workplace? He didn’t wait for Levi to be off the clock or come to synagogue on Saturday. No, he went to where Levi was immediately. I understand that some job places have policies for religious freedom, but they cannot stop you from living for Jesus and once someone inquires of your faith, you are free to discuss it with that person. Jesus realized the urgency of Levi’s unbelieving condition and that he needed to hear the gospel.
Jesus came into the tax office and said two simple words, “follow Me.” In verse 28, we see Levi get up and follow Him. He didn’t say, “Well, I will meet you after work” or “I’m off on Sunday, I’ll get my things in order and come and see you then.” He didn’t even say, “Let me close up shop and finish up these tax collections…” No, the Scripture says, “Leaving EVERYTHING behind, he got up and began to FOLLOW HIM” (HCSB).
Much like Levi, we need to hear and heed the voice of God. For those of you who are not Christians, perhaps God is or has been speaking to you, telling you that the life you are living is immoral. Perhaps you have been in church for years and heard preacher after preacher tell you that the lifestyle you are living is wrong, but it has never sunk in as deep as it has been lately. Maybe you have a hole in your life in which nothing seems to fit. You’ve tried money, power, prestige, drugs, alcohol, sex, and a variety of other worldly things. They don’t fit because it’s like trying to fit a square peg in a round hole. They don’t fit because that hole in your life is shaped like Jesus and meant to be filled with forgiveness, mercy, and loving-kindness that only a Savior can provide. For those of you that are “saved” (I use that term loosely, because it has been estimated that over half of church members are unsaved), maybe God is not happy with your current situation. Your church attendance has been lacking. Your prayer life has become non-existent. Your Bible-reading has been diminished to a verse the preacher posts on Facebook each day hoping that someone like you will be inspired and that your life will be changed as a result of reading it. You’ve heard the voice of God time and time again telling you to rid yourself of the “sin that so easily ensnares us” (Hebrews 12:1). You’ve heard it but you’ve haven’t heeded it. Maybe, just maybe, if I keep ignoring that still, small voice gnawing at my soul, it will eventually go away. But the truth is…it never goes away. You, lost person, were created by God to be loved by God and to love Him in return. You, Christian, have been chosen by God to serve Him, worship Him, exalt Him, and glorify Him! NO, that voice won’t go away until you surrender your life to Him. Until you leave EVERYTHING behind, get up, and FOLLOW HIM. But…in order to be an effective follower of Jesus, you must do something else besides get up and go… you’ve got to get rid of that sin…. How do I do this?
PUT THE SIN TO DEATH (Colossians 3:5-11)
Once Levi decided to follow Jesus, he left everything behind –that is, he repented. In Colossians 3:5-11, Paul tells the church at Colossae that they must “put to death whatever in you is worldly” (v. 5). He then goes into an abridged list of things they must no longer do: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desire, and greed (idolatry). He goes on to explain why: “Because of these, God’s wrath comes on the disobedient” (Colossian 3:6a, HCSB). Now that they were Christians, there were more things they must leave behind as well: “anger, wrath, malice, slander and filthy language from your mouth…don’t lie” (Colossians 3:8-9, HCSB). He emphasizes that they have put off the old man and put on the new. Once we repent, we become a new person. Once we are “born again,” we are regenerated into a new creature. God takes out our heart of stone and gives us a heart of flesh as the prophet of old, Ezekiel tells us in the Old Testament. YEAH! Just take that sin and put it to death! Some may ask, “I’ve got sin in my life, but it’s an addiction. Do I quit cold turkey or do I slow down until I eventually stop? God says cold turkey. If you’ve got sexual immorality –stop. If you’ve got impurity –stop. If you’ve got lust, greed, or evil desire –stop! But here’s the catch: YOU CANT DO IT ALONE! Seems easy doesn’t it? I mean, after all, God forgives all sin! You and I both know that even though we become Christians, the fight against temptation and sin never ends and that brings us to the next thing we must do in order to have complete repentance.
FIGHT THE DEVIL EVERYDAY
Repentance is not a prayer –it’s a process. Not only must we put the sin to death, but we must prove that we have done so. The devil is a deceiver and once you put that sin to death, he’ll have you out there in the graveyard digging it back up! You can get in this altar today and lay that sin down, but as soon as you hit the door Satan will be there waiting on you, making you feel guilty because of the sin you just gave to Jesus. Paul warned us that we must be wary of Satan’s devices because he transforms himself into an angel of light. Levi left everything behind and followed Jesus. Think about that –no job, no home, no food, and no family. Tax collectors were rich because they reaped a profit on greed and corruption. Levi left it all. After that, each day was a struggle with Satan. I can imagine Satan telling Levi that he could go back to his old job where he made a nice living. God would forgive him again and again. As a matter of fact, His forgiveness has no end. But that’s the difference between forgiveness and repentance. We find forgiveness in a prayer, but repentance is a process in which we overcome the addiction to a particular sin. Levi probably fought everyday in his repentance process, but we know he overcame because he down in the history books not as a wicked tax collector, but as an apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ. John the Apostle tells us, “You are from God, little children, and you have conquered them, because the One who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world” (1 John 4:4, HCSB). If you are a Christian, you have the Holy Spirit residing in you. And THAT is a power that Satan CANNOT overcome.
CONCLUSION:
Levi was a sinner who repented and put his sin to death and he proved it. Read vv. 29-31. Levi put together a big feast and invited other sinners to come and meet the Son of God who came to seek and to save that which was lost. Jesus told those who criticized him, “The healthy don’t need a doctor, gut the sick do. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance” (Luke 5:31, HCSB). That’s exactly what Jesus is still doing today…calling people to repentance. How about you? Do you have a personal relationship with Jesus? Have you sought forgiveness for your sins and repented? Have you PUT TO DEATH the sins that are holding you back from God’s blessing?
