Acts 20:20-21 (ESV) – I did not shrink from declaring to you anything that was profitable, and teaching you in public and from house to house, testifying both to Jews and to Greeks of repentance toward God and of faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.
Some aspects of Christianity can be complicated. You can study for twelve years and get a PhD in Theology and still not fully understand it. Yet, when you boil it down to its basic components, it is not too hard to understand what it means to be a Christian.
The apostle Paul laid out that simple truth in these verses. He was on a quick trip back to what we would call Israel today with a big relief offering for the persecuted, mostly Jewish, Christians there from the newer and predominantly Gentile Christians in what is now Greece and Turkey. He wanted to avoid getting bogged down in the city he served the longest and saw the biggest impact: Ephesus. Yet, he chose to meet with the leaders and give them some important words of instruction and encouragement. He started that talk with a reminder of how he conducted his ministry there, and he summarized what it means to become a Christian with the two key elements of his message: “Repentance toward God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.”
The first part is definitely not political correct in our world today. Repentance means a total conversion of mind, attitude, and action away from a self-focused and evil past toward God and the life He has laid out for us. It means a hateful avoidance of sin that is transformed into a deep love and delight for God. This is tough in a world that not only tolerates, but often celebrates, things God does not want us to do. This mind and heart change begins our Christian journey. It is not a matter of us doing everything right first then coming to God. Repentance is acknowledging that we have made mistakes and are hopeless without the grace of God. However, although our spiritual journeys begin with regret for our past evil actions and thoughts, it does not bask in the mire of guilt. Freedom and joy come in the second step.
The second core element of Paul’s teaching is the outcome that brings us into God’s family and gives us eternal life. This is faith, but it is faith in a specific individual: Jesus. The unique thing about Christianity is that we believe the man Jesus was the Christ (“Messiah” in Hebrew) promised in hundreds of Hebrew Scriptures we now call the Old Testament to come to save and deliver us from our sins. He was also Lord, a word (“Kurios” in Greek) that means master and unquestioned boss but was also used in the Greek translation of the Old Testament for the name of God. When we put our faith in Him, He forgives all of that wrong doing and sin we repented of in the first step and we join a community of believers all over the world in experiencing eternal life as He is now “our Lord Jesus Christ.”
This same life-changing
Good News (“Gospel” in Latin) is available to all of us today, and there is
nothing I want more for you than for you to experience it, as well. If you have
not done so, I urge you to repent from selfishness, turn to God, and believe in
our Lord Jesus Christ.
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