Turning from Sin (Acts 3:19)
The other day Tammy FaceTimed me, and, when I answered, she started cackling hysterically. I thought my hair was messed up; it wasn’t. I thought my collar was up; it wasn’t. I thought I had a stain on my shirt; I didn’t. I finally said, “Tammy, tell me what’s so funny?” She said, “Don’t you notice I’m wearing one of Mom’s wigs?” “Well,” I said, “I thought you just hadn’t combed your hair yet.”
She said, “Wait a minute, honey. Do you really not know what color your wife’s hair is?” RJ rescued me and said, “Mom, you’ve changed your hair color so many times that Dad never knows what color it’s going to be.” Truer words have never been spoken!
How many of you have changed something about yourself? Have you ever needed to change your health—your weight or your cholesterol or your blood pressure? Have you ever needed to change your financial situation—maybe look for a better paying job or watch your spending more carefully? Have you ever realized that you were about to get fired and that you needed to make some professional changes?
Peter told the Jewish nation that they needed to change: “Repent therefore, and turn back, that your sins may be blotted out” (Acts 3:19). In Greek, Peter told them to change their thinking and then to change their actions. Last week, we explored the need to change thinking; this morning, let’s explore changing actions. “Repentance means change.”
Body
When some Pharisees and Sadducees approached John the Baptizer, he told them, “Bear fruit in keeping with repentance” (Matt 3:8). That’s what changing actions really means—bear fruit [to live life] in light of repentance. How does someone “bear fruit in keeping with repentance?”
One: Educate
To change one’s actions, he must Educate himself on what’s right and wrong. Only if someone is educated in what is wrong can he avoid the wrong; only if someone is educated in what is right can he do the right.
Ignorance does not excuse sin: “The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent” (Acts 17:30). Therefore, you need to Educate yourself.
The Sadducees asked the Lord about the resurrection. Jesus told them, “You are wrong, because you know neither the Scriptures nor the power of God” (Matt 22:29). Those folks were wrong about the resurrection because they didn’t know the Scriptures. How many folks are wrong today because they don’t know the Scriptures?
If someone wants to know righteous living, he must Educate himself in the Scriptures. “How can a young man keep his way pure? By guarding it according to your word. I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you” (Ps 119:9, 11).
How good is your education in the holy scriptures? Do you know what is right and what is wrong because you’ve explored the truth? Or, does it come down to a matter of what feels right or wrong? Spend time in the Book every single day that you might transform your life into what God requires.
Two: Examine
To change one’s actions, he must carefully Examine his life. Why does a doctor examine you? So he can see what’s wrong and what needs to be changed. Why Examine your life? In order to see what’s wrong and what needs to be changed.
“Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves” (2 Cor 13:5). “Let each one test his own work” (Gal 6:4). Take a careful look at your thoughts, your actions, and your motives over the past week. What do they reveal? Where do you need repentance? Examine yourself.
Three: Expire
To change one’s actions, he must Expire, i.e., he must die to this world. All of your hopes, all of your aspirations, all of your desires must Expire.
“You . . . must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus” (Rom 6:11). “Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires” (Gal 5:24). “You have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God” (Col 3:3).
If you are a Christian, you gave up the right to have your own thoughts and you gave up the right to live how you want. You gave up your life. When you came to Jesus, you decided to Expire and live a new life in him. Are you living a new life in Christ?
Four: Encouragement
As one changes his actions, he will need the Encouragement of others. Repentance is no easy task. Rather, repentance is one of the most difficult tasks God has laid before us. Think about it: Repentance requires you to undergo a radical transformation in your thinking and then to undergo a radical change in your actions.
Because repentance is such a difficult task, Encouragement goes a long way. “Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ” (Gal 6:2). “And we urge you, brothers, admonish the idle, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with them all” (1 Thess 5:14). Those texts speak about a Christian’s offering Encouragement to a brother. For a Christian to offer Encouragement there must be someone who needs encouraging.
It’s time the church normalizes seeking help—Encouragement— when someone needs it. In American culture, we celebrate the “self-made man” and believe in pulling ourselves up from the bootstraps. That mythology may work to puff up a successful man with pride, but it will not work in the church. In a context of leading others to sin, Paul said, “None of us lives to himself, and none of us dies to himself” (Rom 14:7). As a community, Christians support one another. Where do you need help? Will you ask for the Encouragement you need?
Do you need Encouragement this morning? Do you need to seek our help right now and we stand and sing?
This sermon was originally preached by Dr. Justin Imel, Sr., at Church of Christ Deer Park in Deer Park, Texas.