I think repentance is one of the most commonly misunderstood theological concepts. In yesterday’s sermon I walked through what it means to repent using the words from the prayer book’s confession. I am reprinting that section of my sermon here:

What does it mean to repent?

Repentance is the act of turning away from one thing and towards something else. To repent is to turn our backs on the world, the flesh, and the devil (as we say in our baptismal vows) and to turn to Jesus as our only Savior and Lord. 

Repentance begins with knowledge of sin. It begins with us recognizing that we have done something wrong:

Most merciful God, we confess that we have sinned against you in thought, word, and deed, by what we have done, and by what we have left undone. We have not loved you with our whole heart; we have not loved our neighbors as ourselves.

The recognition of our sin leads to sorrow for our sin:

We are truly sorry; and we humbly repent.

Oftentimes though that’s where we get stuck. We either think that the work of repentance is completed in our acknowledgment of our sin; or we become concerned about whether or not we have been sorry enough. How sorry, how contrite do we have to be before God will forgive us; and along with this, how will we know when we are finally sorry enough? We must be sorry for our sins, but we cannot stop there. We must be sorry for our sins, but sorrow alone doesn’t bring about forgiveness and reconciliation.

One of my heroes of Church History is an 18th century Church of England Minister named Charles Simeon. He puts it this way:

if we could shed rivers of tears, they never could wash away the smallest sin:

And experientially we know this to be true. When we mess up, when we say something harsh to someone, or gossip about them, or harm them in any way and then come to them to make it right, our sorrow, our tears are not what makes it right. We can be as truly sorry as we can possibly be, and the person we hurt can still decide not to forgive us.

Returning to Charles Simeon;

if we could shed rivers of tears, they never could wash away the smallest sin: it is the blood of Christ only, that can cleanse from sin: no other fountain ever was, or ever can be, opened for sin and for unclean-ness, but that which issued from the wounds of our [wonderful] Redeemer.

This is why in our confession we pray For the sake of your Son Jesus Christ, have mercy on us and forgive us;

The final step of repentance we pray for at the end of our confession:

that we may delight in your will, and walk in your ways, to the glory of your Name.

In other words, our repentance, thanks to the grace of God, will lead us to want to and to be able to do what God wants us to do.