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Transcript

“Repent: A Different Perspective” Ep#22 · Spiritual Hot Sauce

0:00
Chris Jones: Most Christians have been taught to repent, but what if we've only understood in part what that word actually means?
0:08
Chris Jones: Jesus emerged from 40 days of testing in the wilderness with one primary message, repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
0:18
Chris Jones: That single word repent became the foundation of everything he taught.
0:24
Chris Jones: Today we're going back to the original Hebrew shruv and the Greek mentanoe to discover what we've been missing.
0:33
Chris Jones: Welcome.
0:34
Chris Jones: I'm Chris Jones.
0:35
Chris Jones: This is where believers and skeptics alike are invited to embark on a journey of faith, philosophy, and life from a different perspective.
0:44
Chris Jones: Whether we are joined by an insightful guest or we just jump into the deep end, this exploration promises to challenge us all.
0:52
Chris Jones: Are we getting it right?
0:54
Chris Jones: This is Spiritual Hot Sauce.
1:03
Chris Jones: A large number of the people that practice the religion of Christianity define repent or have been taught repent means to be sorryful for and regrets to turn from and do no more.
1:16
Chris Jones: And from that posturing, we are left in a place of refrain of what we don't do.
1:22
Chris Jones: And I'm not debating or challenging that.
1:25
Chris Jones: I'm simply saying that's not the whole definition of repent.
1:28
Chris Jones: That's not what it truly means.
1:30
Chris Jones: That is just a piece or a part of it.
1:33
Chris Jones: That's the equivalent of saying if you're going to leave your driveway, your house in the morning as you drive, you look at what you are turning away from.
1:43
Chris Jones: But you should be heading to something.
1:45
Chris Jones: This should have much more to do with what you are becoming rather than what you are unbecoming.
1:52
Chris Jones: And if your understanding of repentance is incomplete, then your repentance will be incomplete.
1:59
Chris Jones: Repentance is more than just stop sinning.
2:03
Chris Jones: Now, if you've listened to me in the past, you've heard me say there is a difference in being someone who practices the religion of the worship of the deity of Christ versus those who become disciples of Christ.
2:16
Chris Jones: I think what determines the difference is how we define repent, and how we define it will be the outcome of whether we are believers or disciples.
2:27
Chris Jones: Two different behaviors, two different outcomes.
2:30
Chris Jones: See, I think traditionally, and I'm not talking about just Christianity, I'm talking about ancient Hebrew faith as well, ancient Judaism, but it's always been seen as me refraining from something in isolation.
2:43
Chris Jones: And I'm not saying that's not part of it, that that's not where we start, but that's where we seem to leave it.
2:50
Chris Jones: If you look back at the ancient text, there was a long period where how they practiced repenting was with sackcloth and ashes and fasting.
3:01
Chris Jones: Job, the people of Nineveh, I mean the Israelites as a group, this was just how it was done.
3:07
Chris Jones: Up until Isaiah 58.
3:10
Chris Jones: Let me set the scene for you.
3:12
Chris Jones: All of Israel is in a place of repentance.
3:15
Chris Jones: They're repenting by fasting, sackcloth, ashes, as they always had for 1,300 to 1400 years.
3:24
Chris Jones: Now everybody starts getting really frustrated because they don't see God moving or changing anything or giving them justice.
3:32
Chris Jones: They don't feel any closer to God than when they started repenting this way.
3:38
Chris Jones: So God tells Isaiah, his prophet, let your voice cry out loud like a shofar, which was a ram's horn or it was a trumpet.
3:48
Chris Jones: It was used to sound an alarm or to call to assembly or an important announcement.
3:54
Chris Jones: This would have been heard as drop everything and come immediately.
4:00
Chris Jones: This gives us the idea of the weight these words are to carry and how it's to be received.
4:05
Chris Jones: Now, once he has everyone's attention, he delivers to them the message from God.
4:12
Chris Jones: He says, day after day you seek me out, you seem very eager to know me.
4:17
Chris Jones: You're a nation that obeys my commandments.
4:20
Chris Jones: However, while you are repenting, while you are fasting on sack, cloth and ashes, when you're done, there's dissension amongst you, there is strife, there's even fighting.
4:32
Chris Jones: You cannot fast the way you do and expect for your voice to be heard by me.
4:38
Chris Jones: He goes on to tell them, This is how I want you to repent, this is how I want you to fast, to break the chains of the wickedness, to untie the ropes of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and tear off every yoke.
4:52
Chris Jones: Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, to bring the poor and the homeless into your house, to clothe the naked when you see him, and not to ignore your own flesh and blood?
5:03
Chris Jones: Then your light will appear like the dawn.
5:06
Chris Jones: Your recovery will come quickly, your righteousness will go before you, and the Lord's glory will be your rear guard.
5:13
Chris Jones: At that time when you call, the Lord will answer.
5:17
Chris Jones: When you cry out, he will say, Here I am.
5:20
Chris Jones: They were understanding repent, much like we understand repent, and that's to be sorry for what you've done and do it no more.
5:28
Chris Jones: But God is saying that's simply the starting point.
5:32
Chris Jones: This is about transitioning and journey and becoming something else.
5:36
Chris Jones: You want justice for you, but this is about justice for everyone.
5:42
Chris Jones: Now in Judaism, they have a word called teshuva.
5:45
Chris Jones: Now you hear the word shuvah in there, which means to repent, but teshuva means literally return to God through the process of repenting.
5:56
Chris Jones: It has a number, the number is 40.
5:59
Chris Jones: And so they believe that every time you see the number 40 in the Bible, it is us being returned to God.
6:05
Chris Jones: But it's typically through testings or trials or our will being changed of what we want and receiving what he wants, which takes us to a much better place, not just for us, but for everyone.
6:19
Chris Jones: Now, these testings and trials aren't there to punish us, but they are to prepare us, much like Jesus was prepared for 40 days in the wilderness to bring the message of repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
6:34
Chris Jones: After his crucifixion and resurrection, he spent 40 days witnessing.
6:40
Chris Jones: But this isn't the only place the number 40 appears.
6:44
Chris Jones: The number 40 appears in text at least 145 times in the Old and New Testament.
6:52
Chris Jones: Noah's Ark, it reigned for 40 days and 40 nights.
6:56
Chris Jones: King Saul reigned for 40 years.
6:58
Chris Jones: King David reigned for 40 years.
7:03
Chris Jones: Moses was 40 days on the mount receiving the Ten Commandments.
7:07
Chris Jones: The tabernacle, later the temple, the number 40 was so architecturally embedded in it, it becomes overwhelming how important this number is.
7:18
Chris Jones: So every time you see the number 40 in the Bible, it is the path of humanity being changed and being redirected towards God.
7:27
Chris Jones: It is the number of completeness.
7:30
Chris Jones: It's really important that we understand that Teshuvah is about returning to God through journey and your path.
7:40
Chris Jones: It's a process, not an event, and it's done through repentance.
7:45
Chris Jones: Here's how it's practiced: it starts in the month of Alul.
7:49
Chris Jones: It's a lot of time of self-reflection and doing some serious soul searching.
7:55
Chris Jones: It's preparing for what you're going to change in your life, the wrongs you're going to right, where you've hurt other people, how you're going to feed others, how you're going to take care of others, and what you're going to change in your path, in your journey.
8:10
Chris Jones: Now, this is to be taken very seriously.
8:12
Chris Jones: You turn off your phone, you turn off all electronics and distractions, you isolate yourself.
8:18
Chris Jones: This isn't done in community.
8:20
Chris Jones: This is done with great sincerity and prayer and fasting between you and God and self-reflection.
8:26
Chris Jones: Now, on the 30th day, the shofar, the ram's horn, sounds, signaling it's New Year's.
8:33
Chris Jones: It's the day of moving towards atonement with God.
8:37
Chris Jones: This is where we begin.
8:39
Chris Jones: This is where we start actually going to other people and making amends, righting our wrongs.
8:45
Chris Jones: It's where we start actually changing our path.
8:47
Chris Jones: And we do that through service.
8:50
Chris Jones: By helping others, by feeding others, it changes our direction of where we ordinarily would go.
8:57
Chris Jones: By our path being changed by loving and helping others.
9:02
Chris Jones: That is the path that returns us back to God.
9:06
Chris Jones: And on the fortieth day it marks Yom Kippur, the atonement, return to God, if not but just for one day.
9:16
Chris Jones: Now on that morning in the synagogue they have haftarah, and the rabbi will read Isaiah fifty-eight, six and seven, of how God wants repentance to be done.
9:28
Chris Jones: Isn't this the fast that I have chosen?
9:31
Chris Jones: To break the chains of the wickedness, to untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and tear off every yoke.
9:38
Chris Jones: Isn't it to share your bread with the hungry, to bring the poor and the homeless into your home, to clothe the naked when you see him, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?
9:50
Chris Jones: This is the completion and the fulfillment of Teshuvah, of how they are returned to God through this journey and this path of repenting.
10:00
Chris Jones: Hearing verses six and seven, the attributes that God wants to see, the behaviors that he wants to see come out of repentance.
10:09
Chris Jones: Does any of that sound familiar?
10:11
Chris Jones: Does any of that remind you of the behaviors of Jesus?
10:16
Chris Jones: Acts 1038 says how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, and how Jesus went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil because God was with him.
10:32
Chris Jones: Jesus loved based on need versus deserve.
10:37
Chris Jones: If Jesus would have healed based on deserve, no one gets healed.
10:44
Chris Jones: The justice that Jesus delivered was healing and feeding and loving based on need.
10:52
Chris Jones: When Jesus was asked, What's the most important law in Mosaic law, the mitzvat?
10:59
Chris Jones: Jesus quotes Leviticus 19, 18, of love your neighbor as yourself, because that's what God sees as the fulfillment of repentance.
11:09
Chris Jones: When he's asked by the lawyer, how do I inherit eternal life?
11:14
Chris Jones: Jesus asks him how he reads it.
11:16
Chris Jones: And he says, he quotes Leviticus 19, 18, love thy neighbor as yourself.
11:21
Chris Jones: Jesus says you are correct, do this and you will live.
11:24
Chris Jones: But then the man asks him and challenges him, Well, define my neighbor.
11:28
Chris Jones: Who is my neighbor?
11:29
Chris Jones: He's thinking geographical location.
11:31
Chris Jones: Jesus goes into the parable of the Good Samaritan.
11:34
Chris Jones: And it's the story of this man traveling that is attacked by robbers on this road to Jericho, to Jerusalem, and he is beat severely and badly.
11:44
Chris Jones: They take everything from him.
11:46
Chris Jones: He is left on the side of the road in great distress.
11:50
Chris Jones: Then it says a Levite and a Levite priest travel by on the road and they see the man, but they don't stop.
11:57
Chris Jones: Then he says, a Samaritan, he sees the man and he has compassion on him.
12:02
Chris Jones: And he goes to the man, puts him on his own animal, takes him to the end, tells the innkeeper, I'll pay the bill, just nurture him back to health and help him.
12:12
Chris Jones: And then Jesus asks the man from the perspective of the guy on the side of the rope that was beaten and in distress, who would he say his neighbor is?
12:22
Chris Jones: And the lawyer says, the one that did good.
12:24
Chris Jones: Jesus says, You are correct.
12:27
Chris Jones: So Jesus is demonstrating the robbers are unrepentant.
12:31
Chris Jones: They do what they want, they don't care.
12:34
Chris Jones: Then he shows the religious two, the Levite and the Levite priest.
12:39
Chris Jones: In their minds, they are repentant, they are refraining from sinning.
12:43
Chris Jones: They're not hurting other people.
12:45
Chris Jones: See, they are a lot like the people that Isaiah was talking to in Isaiah 58.
12:50
Chris Jones: They're fasting, they're on their sackcloth and ashes, they're refraining from hurting other people, they're not disobeying the laws of God, but they haven't done anything for anyone else either.
13:02
Chris Jones: They are just living for themselves.
13:05
Chris Jones: They are in incomplete repentance.
13:09
Chris Jones: They understand it in part, so therefore they repent in part.
13:14
Chris Jones: Now the Samaritan would have also been a practitioner of Abrahamic faith, except he was practicing it in accordance with Isaiah 58.
13:24
Chris Jones: Now when Jesus gives his commandment in John 13, 34 and 35, he tells his disciples right before he goes to the cross, this is my commandment, that you love one another, that you love one another as I have loved you.
13:40
Chris Jones: By this the world will know you're my disciple.
13:45
Chris Jones: See, when he is asked what the most important law is, he says, Leviticus 19, 18, to love thy neighbor as thyself.
13:53
Chris Jones: Then when he is asked, Well, who is my neighbor?
13:56
Chris Jones: Jesus describes that it's not geographical location to where you live, but in proximity to where you are to those who have need.
14:06
Chris Jones: And he goes on to explain of how you love somebody in that situation.
14:12
Chris Jones: So now through all of that, he has told us, he has shown us, he has demonstrated it, and then commanded it of us in discipleship, of following his lead and love like he loved, which is Isaiah 58, 6 and 7.
14:31
Chris Jones: See, Jesus is demonstrating for us what correct repentance looks like.
14:36
Chris Jones: And I'm not saying that Jesus had sin in his life that he had to turn from.
14:41
Chris Jones: No, I think if you are hearing it that way, it's because you misunderstand it in part.
14:46
Chris Jones: It has more to do with where you're going and what you're doing than what you're moving away from.
14:52
Chris Jones: Jesus demonstrates true repentance, not just turning from sin, but perpetual teshuvah, becoming mercy for the needy, like Isaiah 58 commands.
15:05
Chris Jones: Disciples live this daily, administering God's justice based on need, not deserved.
15:14
Chris Jones: Thanks for joining me here on Spiritual Hot Sauce.
15:17
Chris Jones: I'd love to hear from you.
15:19
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15:23
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15:26
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15:30
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15:34
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15:36
Chris Jones: We'll see you next time.