Does anyone repent anymore?

Welcome to “Word from The Center” MONDAY, a devotional word from the Center of our faith, Jesus Christ, with reflections on His Word. I’m Gregory Seltz. Today’s verse is Mark 1:4, where the Bible says,
John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.
In many Lutheran services, the congregation confesses words like these together on Sundays:
[O] almighty God, merciful Father, I, a poor, miserable sinner, confess unto Thee all my sins and iniquities with which I have ever offended Thee, and justly deserved Thy temporal and eternal punishment. But I am heartily sorry for them, and sincerely repent of them, and I pray Thee, of Thy boundless mercy and for the sake of the holy, innocent, bitter sufferings and death of Thy beloved Son, Jesus Christ, to be gracious and merciful to me, a poor, sinful being. [1]
This a prayer of repentance to God for His gracious forgiveness. It sounds like something that John the Baptist, the forerunner of Jesus, might say. Repentance, the God-induced sorrow for our sins revealed by His Law, also causes us to fall at the feet of Jesus seeking forgiveness for our sins, forgiveness only He can grant. Again, that sounds very much like something John the Baptist would plead for us to experience because he cares.
But there is a problem today with this simple, straightforward, and powerful truth. No one thinks that they sin anymore! One reason that many people don’t take comfort in God’s forgiveness is that they don’t think they actually need it. They take comfort in their sin instead, as if God is unconcerned at worst or tolerant at best with whatever one desires to do. In a Newsweek article way back in 1995, the author noted that “ninety percent of Americans say that they believe in God. Yet the urgent sense of personal sin has all but disappeared in the current upbeat style of American religion.” [2] It’s much worse today. The number of believers is reported to be continually falling, while the disregard for any notion of our actions being sinful is on the rise. Just look at what we consume for entertainment today as proof of our callousness to any notion of sin.
Nevertheless, here’s the point: John the Baptist’s message is just as relevant today as it was then. He was sent into a world that had a sin problem, a brokenness problem that sinful people could never fix on their own. The world was arrogant then just as it is today. It was full of people who believed that they had no need for God, a world full of hedonists, moralists, rationalists, secularists, and pragmatists who believed that life was under their control alone. In the face of all of that, the powerful, heart-transforming message then as today is proclaimed in Jesus’ words just a few verses after our reading, “The Kingdom of God is at hand, repent and believe in the gospel” (Mark 1:15). Why? Because life is all about being reconciled to the God who created and redeemed us. Without such a relationship with God, life ultimately means nothing. Modern people are just as foolish as ancient people, but, thanks be to God, Jesus came for us all!
Whenever I think about John the Baptist, I think about the fact that he was a bit of an oddity to many people back in his day (see Mark 1:6). So, it shouldn’t surprise us that his message seems odd today too. But, if you want to receive Jesus, you must take John’s words seriously. Does anyone repent today? Yes, today, like then, the message is still getting through. Let it start with you and me.
PRAYER: Dear Lord Jesus, John the Baptist prepared the way for Your saving work for all. May his call to repentance be heard in my heart today, for my life and salvation are in You alone. AMEN.
[1] The Lutheran Hymnal (St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1941), p. 15.
Today’s reading is John 16:31-33, where Jesus says,
31 “Do you now believe?” Jesus replied. 32 “A time is coming and in fact has come when you will be scattered, each to your own home. You will leave me all alone. Yet I am not alone, for my Father is with me.
33 “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”
There was a great wedding in Leipzig, Germany, in the mid-1730s. We don’t know whose wedding it was, and we wouldn’t think anything of it today at all, had not Johann Sebastian Bach composed a cantata for it. A cantata was a piece of concerted music, about 20 minutes long and split into various movements, made up of sung Scripture passages and poetic verses. Almost all of Bach’s cantatas end with a hymn stanza.
Think for a moment about which hymn stanza would best conclude a cantata at a wedding. What words should be echoing in the ears of bridegroom and bride as they prepare for married life together? Which would be best?
The Bulletin Insert is designed to be printed and cut in half to fit conveniently inside a Sunday worship bulletin. Each month an insert will offer insight, encouragement, and information from the LCRL on the topics of Religious Liberty, Life, Marriage, or Education.
The dates identifying the LCRL bulletin blurbs are only suggestions. Please feel free to use any and all of the bulletin blurbs as your ministry needs allow.
Today’s reading is John 13:34-35, where Jesus says,
“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. 35 By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”
What does it mean that Adam was created in God's image? Surely this includes righteousness, as well as the ability to be in conversation with God. But then, the same could be said of angels, who are not said to bear that image. This image also looks forward to God's eternal intention to become one of us in His eternal Son, who is the express image of God.
Today’s reading is Revelation 7:9-10, where the Apostle John tells us,
After these things I looked, and behold, I saw a great multitude, which no one could count, from every nation and all tribes and peoples and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, and palm branches were in their hands; 10 and they cry out with a loud voice, saying, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.”
Obergefell v. Hodges (2015) will go down in history as the landmark Supreme Court case which redefined marriage in this country, granting same-sex couples throughout the land the right to marry. Keen observers have noted, however, that nowhere in the opinion of the majority (written by Justice Kennedy) is marriage itself ever actually defined.
Today’s reading is these portions of John 21:15–19, beginning with Jesus asking Simon Peter,
“Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?” “Yes, Lord,” he said, “you know that I love you.” Jesus said, “Feed my lambs.”16 Again Jesus said, “Simon son of John, do you love me? ”He answered, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you. ”Jesus said, “Take care of my sheep.” 17 The third time he said to him, “Simon son of John, do you love me?” Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time, “Do you love me?” He said, “Lord, you know all things; you know that I love you.” Jesus said, “Feed my sheep….. 19… Then he said to him, “Follow me!”
“Savior.” “Lord.” “Son of God.” If you asked someone in the ancient world who these titles referred to, they might tell you “Jesus.” But depending on who you were talking to, they might also tell you “Caesar.” Modern readers of the Bible often miss the fact that some of the language the New Testament uses to talk about Jesus was also commonly used to talk about the Roman Emperor, who was not just a political leader, but someone whom people worshipped and even offered sacrifices to.
Prayer Partner Thursday provides a month-long prayer emphasis in one of the four Lutheran Center for Religious Liberty areas of emphasis: Religious Liberty, Sanctity of Life, Educational Freedom, and Marriage as an Institution (family).
Today’s reading is John 20: 28-29, where the Bible says,
Thomas said to Jesus, “My Lord and my God!”29 Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”
D.C. We have seen religious liberties for Christians now protected and defended rather than threatened and litigated. We have seen other constitutional protections undergirded as well. But sadly, we are also seeing a growing callousness to the issue of life, not just from a select group of secular elites, but even from American citizens who are religious. The Pew Research Center shows that while conservative Christians still see abortion as an illegal action against innocent Children in the womb, other Christians are beginning to support the “abortion in all circumstances” mantra in pop culture. The abortion euphemistic cover of a constitutional “right to choose” has been properly litigated, but now the deceptive phrases of “reproductive freedom” and “women’s health care” has many callously embracing the killing on demand of innocent children right up to the moment of birth. Politicians and citizens alike are growing in their support of the outrageous notion that a child can be aborted up to the time of birth and even after it is born, as long as the mother and the doctor decide.
The Bulletin Insert is designed to be printed and cut in half to fit conveniently inside a Sunday worship bulletin. Each month an insert will offer insight, encouragement, and information from the LCRL on the topics of Religious Liberty, Life, Marriage, or Education.
The dates identifying the LCRL bulletin blurbs are only suggestions. Please feel free to use any and all of the bulletin blurbs as your ministry needs allow.
Today’s reading is from Luke 24:5-7, where angels speak these words to the women at Jesus’ empty tomb:
Why do you look for the living among the dead? 6 He is not here; he has risen! Remember how he told you, while he was still with you in Galilee, 7 “The Son of Man must be delivered over to the hands of sinners, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.”
A blessed Good Friday, Easter morning to you all!!
One of my favorite recurring guests on the “Liberty Action Alert” is Cal Thomas. He is a clear-thinking, fearlessly-engaging, Christian voice in the public square. His columns and commentary always give “public” Christians a lot to think about as they try to live out their faith lives in the particular vocations in the world in which they serve. He wrote this Good Friday piece about 3 years ago,
Today’s reading is Philippians 2:5-8, where the Bible says,
Have this mind among yourselves, which is your in Christ Jesus, 6who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. 8And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
I recently began a wedding sermon addressing the couple, “Your marriage is going to be tough! It’s going to be filled with conflict and suffering and sorrow and pain. And, if you do it right, you’ll eventually get to watch each other get old, have more pain, carry more grief and watch each other move toward death.”
Their eyes got as big as saucers, and their huge smiles started to waver. I paused for a bit with a very serious look on my face, because it is all, sadly, true. I then continued, “However, you’re about to enter one of the most beautiful experiences you can ever have on earth. You’ll have glimpses of heaven that most will never see. You’ll delight in the love of Jesus overflowing to you from your spouse. When you fall, you’ll have each other to speak words of forgiveness and renewal. Your joy will grow and overflow to everyone. And I can say this with certainty.”
Today’s reading is Luke 20:17b-18, where Jesus says,
17 …. What then is this that is written: “THE STONE WHICH THE BUILDERS REJECTED, THIS BECAME THE CHIEF CORNER STONE?” 18 Everyone who falls on that stone will be broken to pieces; but on whomever it falls, it will scatter him like dust.
According to Luther’s teachings about the Christian life, the good works God desires of us are carried out in our vocations. That is to say, the Christian life does not necessarily involve heroic accomplishments and dramatic deeds. Rather, God calls us to love and serve our neighbors in our ordinary interactions with the members of our families, our coworkers and our fellow citizens.
Prayer Partner Thursday provides a month-long prayer emphasis in one of the four Lutheran Center for Religious Liberty areas of emphasis: Religious Liberty, Sanctity of Life, Educational Freedom, and Marriage as an Institution (family).
Today’s reading is 2 Corinthians 5:17-19, where the Scripture says,
17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! 18 All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: 19 that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation.
It’s easy to talk about your pro-life beliefs with your Christian friends. You’re all coming from the same source: the Bible. But what happens when you chat with friends or teachers who aren’t Christian, who don’t see the Bible as anything at all? How can you stand up for life in a pro-choice world?
Today’s reading is 1st Corinthians 10:11-13, where the Scripture says,
11 These things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us, on whom the culmination of the ages has come. 12 So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall! 13 No temptation] has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it.
Don't speak against abortion, though it will undermine everything you say about the sanctity of life and the Incarnation, our Lord who made His life in the womb. Oh, and babies will be killed. Don't be political and speak the truth of marriage, though God gave it for the sake of all children, so that they might have a mom and dad. Whatever you do, don't get into the whole male and female debate. Let the confused kids fend for themselves. Don't go out of your way, like some Good Samaritan to help them. Don't stand in the way of the predator wielding the knife.
The dates identifying the LCRL bulletin blurbs are only suggestions. Please feel free to use any and all of the bulletin blurbs as your ministry needs allow.
The Bulletin Insert is designed to be printed and cut in half to fit conveniently inside a Sunday worship bulletin. Each month an insert will offer insight, encouragement, and information from the LCRL on the topics of Religious Liberty, Life, Marriage, or Education.
Today’s reading is Philippians 3:20-21, where the Scripture says,
20 But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, 21 who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.
“What is marriage?” It seems like a silly question. But it’s one our society is vigorously fighting about. For thousands of years, and for all of recorded history prior to the year 2000, societies around the world recognized that marriage was an exclusive relationship of faithful permanence between one man and one woman, who vowed to remain together until death parts them.
However, in a matter of a few short years (in the scope of human history), the institution of marriage has gone from being exclusively defined between one man and one woman, to being debated by society (it’s now at the highest court in our land), to consider if it might also be applicable to two homosexual men or two homosexual women.