Many Christians miss this.  They have a wrong view of repentance.  They believe that repentance is more about sin than it is about Christ.  They would define repentance this way: “Repentance is identifying our sin and then turning away from it.”  But, where is Christ in that definition?  That is a horrible perspective.  That is not Biblical repentance at all.  Repentance is not primarily given to us so that we might turn away from sin.  It is given to us so that we might turn to Christ.  It is the kind of gift that, once unwrapped, leads us to a greater gift.  Let me use an illustration to help you get the point…

A young man bought his girlfriend a beautiful engagement ring for Christmas.  But, the man decided to give the woman the ring by wrapping it up a box that the woman would open on Christmas morning.  When Christmas morning came, the woman unwrapped the box and saw that she had a brand new ring.  But tragically, she thought that the gift was the ring and not the man.  So, she took the ring and put it on a necklace and wore it around her neck and told all of her friends, “Hey, look at this beautiful diamond ring.  Doesn’t it make me look lovely!”  The woman considered the ring as more valuable than her prospective husband.  The man was the real gift, not the ring.  But the woman never enjoyed the greater gift because she failed to see the proper connection between the gift of the ring and the greater gift of the husband.  To be sure, I have seen many a young bride make this mistake.  They make much of their ring; they much of their wedding dress; they become enamored with their own glory; and they forget to make much of their groom.

This is how it is with repentance.  Repentance is a lesser gift that is designed to bind our hearts to the greater gift of our Husband Christ.  The Holy Spirit certainly reveals our sin, lets not lose that point, but in more glorious measure, He also reveals our need for Jesus.  So then repentance is not first and foremost about “turning away from sin.”  No indeed.  This kind of repentance is self-powered and self-glorifying where we say “I have the power to turn from sin on my own steam” and “I will turn from sin and then glorify myself for being able to do so.”  This perspective would lead someone to turn away from the more obvious sin of lust, for example, by employing and embracing the internal sin of pride.  So then, the sin of pride, and not the Holy Spirit, fuels their rejection of lust.  Then they wear the “ring” of that false repentance around their necks and glorify themselves rather than Christ.  Believe me, this sort of fleshly, ungodly repentance creates the worst kind of Pharisee and casts us into even greater spiritual bondage.

Gospel repentance works the other way round.  It is the kind of repentance that is Holy Spirit empowered and Christ glorifying.  Repentance is our Husband’s Kiss, that creates deeper affection for our Husband.  It is the beautiful diamond ring from Christ that leads us to the greater gift of Christ.  We repent because we desire Jesus.  We repent of sin because our sin is keeping us from Jesus.  We repent so we can fall into the embrace our Beloved Jesus.  Repentance is all about Jesus.  It is turning to Jesus, by the power of Jesus, that we might enjoy Jesus, for the glory of Jesus.  The idol of our goodness is not the goal.  Dealing with our sin is not the goal.  Worship of Christ is the goal.   So remember, that among all the gifts that God provides, Christ Himself is the most precious prize of the Gospel.  Solus Christus ad Soli Deo Gloria!

In the midst of these challenges, we approach Christmas – the season of buying and selling and giving gifts. I think it is safe to assume that this is not good news for most of us. In fact, instead of a time of celebration and cheer, the Christmas Season may feel like a swift kick to the head of a guy who is already down.  If you identify with what I’m saying, allow me to offer a word of spiritual encouragement.

First of all, let’s admit that there is not a lot we can do to change our circumstances. Our economy is in trouble and none of us can change that by working harder. Not one person that I have talked to is hurting financially because they are lazy. They are willing to work hard, but that is not the issue. No amount of hard work and ingenuity can change their situation. We are now beginning to feel the weight of our true needs.  It’s not as if we didn’t have those needs before, but without the cushion of financial security, we feel those needs more deeply.  Aren’t we all in desperate Spiritual need all the time? Isn’t this why we needed Jesus to “move in next door” to us, to become a man, to give His life? This Christmas season provides us with a great opportunity to worship Jesus. We are desperate. We have come to the end of ourselves. We need Jesus to dwell with us.

Secondly, let’s admit that we do not consist of the things we own or the money we have or the jobs that we do. The Scripture tells us that we are more than what we wear or what we eat. Now more than ever, we have the opportunity to feel that truth. We may not have jobs or money or financial security, but we do have our spouses, our children, our church family and most of all, we have Christ Jesus – the greatest gift that God could give us. Jesus never owned a home. Never had a savings account. The Son of Man had no place to lay his head. Yet, he was satisfied with the love of His Father. He trusted that His Father would commune with Him and ultimately would provide for Him. When He was tempted by Satan in the wilderness, Jesus said, “Man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the Lord.” Jesus makes it clear that His greatest need was not food or shelter, but His greatest need was to commune with His Father. As hard as it may seem, and as foreign as it may be to our flesh, isn’t this also true for us.  We may not want to believe it.  But ultimately, we need Jesus to feed us.

Finally, let’s admit that we can still celebrate this Christmas season by giving gifts of the gospel, of hope, of love and encouragement. What an opportunity we have. Jesus came into the earth as the King of Kings and gave us the greatest gift He could possibly give – He gave us Himself. He sacrificed Himself that He might give us Freedom; that He might give us Hope, that He might give us Love. Church, you can do the same. Maybe you do not have “silver or gold” but what do you have? You have the Love of Christ. You have Hope. You have Freedom. So, this Christmas season feel free to mourn over what you have lost.  That is perfectly legitimate.  Cry out to the Father.  Cry out to Christ.  Jesus mourns with you.  He knows what you are going through.  Do not allow your circumstances to drive you away from Christ.  Instead, allow your desperation to drive you to the foot of the Cross.  Yet, do not simply mourn what you have lost.  Allow Christ to take you further, so that you might also celebrate what you have. You have Jesus!  If the Lord has blessed you financially, give to others who are need.  Give sacrificially and celebrate the Gospel. If you have no money, consider what you do have and give that. Give cheer. Give hope. Give time. Give your heart. Give your love. Remember Christian, no man is impoverished who has Christ.

O come, O come Immanuel
And ransom captive Israel
Who mourns in lonely exile here
Until the Son of God appear
Rejoice! Rejoice!

_______________________________________________

In “A Good Man is Hard to Find,” Flannery O’Connor tells the story of a confrontation that takes place between a kindly old Grandmother and a murderous serial killer named The Misfit.  In keeping with her with her distinctive Christian perspective, O’Connor masterfully weaves a parable that subtly reveals the insidious nature of sin and the shocking nature of grace.  The reference “A Good Man is Hard to Find” obviously correlates to the character of the amoral serial killer in the story known as The Misfit, but she also intends the phrase to describe the Grandmother.

Of the phrase itself, O’Connor uses it as a double entendre.  One one hand it is reference to a popular song that was originally recorded in 1919 by Marion Harris.  The dark lyrics could have easily been written by O’Connor herself.

My happiness is less today
My heart is broke, that’s why I say
A good man is hard to find
You always get the other kind

On the other hand, the phrase is also designed to call to mind that provocative passage in Romans 3:10-18:

“There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands; there is no one who seeks God.
All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one.
Their throats are open graves; their tongues practice deceit.
The poison of vipers is on their lips.
Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness.
Their feet are swift to shed blood; ruin and misery mark their ways, and the way of peace they do not know.
There is no fear of God before their eyes.”

And so, this is The Misfit.  He is, like all men, not a good man.  He is the other kind.  He is evil.  His throat is an open grave.  His tongue practices deceit.  His mouth is full of cursing and bitterness.  He is swift to shed blood.  And most unsettling of all, as is certainly clear in his speech near the end of the story, there is no fear of God in the eyes of the Misfit.  Again, he is not a good man.  Yet, O’Connor wants the reader to know that, despite the Grandmother’s self-evaluation, she is not good either.  The ‘evil man’ is not good.  But neither is the ‘good man’ good.  The self respecting Grandmother maintains a façade of goodness, but underneath her veneer, poison is also on her lips.  Bitterness is in her heart.  Her feet are also swift to shed blood.  She also has no fear of God in her eyes.  And this is ultimately what O’Connor is driving at.  The unrighteousness of The Misfit and the so-called righteousness of the Grandmother are equally worthless.  At the end of the day, all that matters is Christ, the Cross, the Resurrection…The Gospel.  Because without the reality of the Gospel, no man is good.  This is why Flannery said in Mystery and Manners that this story is a definitive “parable of grace and redemption” and for the believer “there can be no further discussion” other than this perspective.

In the story, the Misfit is to be viewed as the overtly obvious bad man who needs to hear the Gospel.  With the perspective that ‘bad company corrupts good morals’, he is the kind of man that churchy religious people like the Grandmother avoid.  Moving further, the Grandmother is a symbol of the church in a graceless state. She is like the Pharisees of old.  Her aim is to keep herself and her children unsullied by the bad people in the world.  The Grandmother’s son, Bailey, symbolizes the impotent and banal priest or pastor.  Instead of teaching, leading, and nourishing others with the Gospel, Bailey represents the kind of pastor that is controlled by the church.  He is a milk toast leader, who allows the church constituency to nag him into compliance.  Bailey’s job is to keep the ‘good’ people of the church away from the ‘bad’ people of the world.  At one point in the story the Grandmother warns Bailey against men like The Misfit.

“Now look here, Bailey,” she said, “see here, read this,” and she stood with one hand on her thin hip and the other rattling the newspaper at his bald head. “Here this fellow that calls himself The Misfit is aloose from the Federal Pen and headed toward Florida and you read here what it says he did to these people. Just you read it. I wouldn’t take my children in any direction with a criminal like that aloose in it. I couldn’t answer to my conscience if I did.”

And so, the Grandmother, like the graceless church, thinks that she is a good woman and her children are good children.  She is prideful, manipulative, and self pleased.  She continually “measures herself against others.”  She also has a remarkable capacity to make others ‘respectful’ of her because she uses her goodness and ‘kindly old lady’ persona to control others.  There is an unspoken agreement between her and everyone she meets.  She plays the kindly old woman who “ain’t doing anybody any harm.”  Society, like whiny Red Sammy, plays the patient, eye-rolling patron who puts up with her because, after all, she is a good woman.  This describes the modern relationship between the church and the world.  The church is kindly and means no harm.  Therefore, the world is patient because, although the church is misguided and fussy, she does bring a moral goodness to the world.  So just put her in the back seat and leave her be.  Yet, things will not stay this way.  The “cat gets out of the bag.”  When Pitty Sing escapes from the grandmother’s purse, causing the car to crash, everything changes.  The Misfit is about to burst on the scene.

The Misfit, like Parker in “Parker’s Back,” is a prophetic anti-prophet.  The big difference is this: Parker avoids being a prophet by trying to run away from God, the Misfit avoids being a prophet by going to war with God.  The Misfit will disqualify himself by attacking God and trying to make God hate him.  We get the sense that the Misfit wants to believe in Jesus.  He wants to believe that Jesus is God and he wants to believe that Jesus is good.  But, he has never found any proof. When speaking about Jesus to the grandmother, the Misfit says,

“It ain’t right I wasn’t there (at the Resurrection) because if I had of been there I would of known…If Christ did what He said, then it’s nothing for you to do but throw away everything and follow Him, and if He didn’t, then it’s nothing for you to do but enjoy the few minutes you got left the best way you can – by killing somebody or burning down his house or doing some other meanness to him. No pleasure but meanness.” 

Again, the Misfit wants to believe in Christ, but he wasn’t there to see the empty tomb and he refuses to believe in anything that he can’t measure, or see or touch.  Yet, in his estimation, the idea of Christ confused everything.  It turned everything upside down.  The whole issue of Christ is a primary irritation in his life.  He wants to believe, and in one sense, he does believe.  Yet, he cannot allow this belief because it requires blind faith.  And so, his solution is a showdown.  He will go to war with this supposed God.  He will flush Him out of hiding.  If there is a God, then He must prove Himself to the Misfit by stopping his murderous rampage.  If Christ is indeed God, the Misfit will throw away everything and follow him.  If He is not God, the Misfit will go out in blaze of inglorious meanness and murder.

So here is the Misfit, killing and murdering and searching for some evidence that Christ is who he says he is.  At the end of the story, we find this murderous anti-prophet in the presence of the church – the Grandmother – needing some tangible indication that the Gospel is valid, that the Gospel is true, that it is good. Yet, all the grandmother can manage is to try to manipulate, to try to prove the validity of her own existence.  In the face of the murderous Misfit, she grasps at self-preservation by playing the same game that she has always played – I’m a good woman. I don’t mean any harm to anybody.  You don’t want to kill a kindly old lady.  But, in her pleading, the Grandmother unintentionally stumbles upon the one thing that resonates with the Misfit – Jesus…the Gospel.  She doesn’t intend it to preach the Gospel.  In fact O’Connor says that the way she mutters the name of Jesus, “sounded as if she may be cursing” but she mutters it just the same.  She exclaims, “If you would pray…Jesus would help you!”  It is clear that this is merely an act of desperation on her part.  The Grandmother’s religion is entirely of the lip-serving variety. “Maybe He didn’t raise the dead,” she mutters, for it hardly makes any difference to her, one way or the other.  In the midst of the blood-bath that has engulfed her family, she is only concerned with her survival. The fact that Bailey, his wife, and their children now lie dead nearby seems to have as little meaning for her as the divinity of Jesus.  They both are irrelevant.  The Gospel was simply one of many things in her “I am a good person” goodie-bag.  Yet, the Gospel is there. And she preaches it.  She preaches it from bad intentions. She preaches it poorly.  Like Jonah of old, she preaches it as a curse instead of a blessing.  She uses Jesus as a bargaining chip.  But in the end, the Gospel is still preached.  And unexpectedly, it takes hold of her.  She can’t help it.  At this moment of crisis, the Gospel begins to melt her icy heart toward the Misfit.  At her moment of grace, the Gospel changes her view of herself and her view of the Misfit.  She and the Misfit are no longer on opposite sides.  She does not see herself as good and the Misfit as evil.  They are one.

As the Grandmother reaches out to touch the Misfit on the shoulder she says, “Why you’re one of my babies,” she says.  “You’re one of my own children!” And indeed he is one of her babies, for as she touches the Misfit, he is bitten by the Gospel.  O’Connor described this final gesture as an “action of grace in the Grandmother’s soul” (Mystery and Manners 113).  She adds,

“…however unlikely this may seem, the old lady’s gesture, like the mustard-seed, will grow to be a great crow-filled tree in the Misfit’s heart, and will be enough of a pain to him there to turn him into the prophet he was meant to become (Mystery and Manners 113).”

When the Grandmother touched him, the Misfit sprang back as if a snake had bitten him and he shot the Grandmother three times through the chest.”  The response of the Misfit is hostile, immediate, and explosive.  The Grandmother has her moment of grace and at the same time that the Misfit has his.  The righteous and the unrighteous must come to the Cross the same way – not by their own efforts, but by Grace.  They must be bitten.  Or they must be shot.  In either case, Christ must subdue them by His Grace.  So now, at this moment of grace, the Misfit becomes the prophet and his first sermon to the church is resolute.  He fires three bullets into her heart, symbolically announcing the arrival of the Triune God.  The Gospel has arrived in full force.  Eerily, after this moment of salvation, the Misfit takes a moment to clean his glasses (the prophet can finally see).  He looks at the grandmother and says, “She would have been a good woman, if it had been somebody there to shoot her every minute of her life.”  Now, the Misfit is that somebody.  He has been touched by the Holy Spirit.  He has been bitten by the Gospel. He is no longer a “missed fit.”  He knows his place.  He knows his role.  There is no turning back.  The Misfit is compelled to shoot the Grandmother with grace just as a prophet is called to preach the gospel to the Church.  So just like the Apostle Paul, the Misfit was a murderous god-hater, but now he is a prophet of God.  In order to make her truly good, the Misfit is now called to preach the unadulterated Gospel into the very heart of the church of Jesus Christ.  And with clear vision and a true faith, preach it, he will.

“Praise and Thanksgiving: Responsive Reading” – (adapted from Valley of Vision, p. 15)

Leader: Thank You O my God
Congregation:
For You are the fairest of all things, the greatest, the first and the last
My heart admires you, adores you, loves you
My heart is as full as it can be
And I would pour out all that fullness before You in a ceaseless flow

Leader: Thank You, that when I think about You and talk with You
Congregation:
Ten thousand delightful thoughts spring forth
Ten thousand sources of pleasure are unsealed
Ten thousand refreshing joys spread over my heart
All these are sowing gospel happiness that will lead to eternal joy

Leader: Thank You, for the soul that You have created
Congregation:
for brining it to life, sanctifying it, adorning it, until the day You glorify it
though it is fixed in barren soil
it will bear life and yield fruit under Your cultivating care

Leader: Thank You, for the body that You have given me
Congregation:
for preserving its strength and vitality
for providing senses to enjoy delights
for the ease and freedom of my limbs
for hands, and eyes, and ears that enjoy Your creation
and are learning to do Your will

Leader: Thank You, for Your royal bounty that provides my daily support
Congregation:
for a full table and an overflowing cup
for delightful appetite, taste, and sweetness
for pleasing aromas and majestic sights

Leader: Thank You, for social joys of relatives and friends
Congregation:
for the ability to love my brother as myself
for a heart that feels sorrow and is sympathetic to the needs of others
for a mind to care for my neighbor, the stranger, the alien, and the orphan
for opportunities to spread good will
for my loved ones who are now in the joys of heaven

Leader: Thank You, for the gift of Your Glorious Presence
Congregation:
That I now see You in a mirror dimly but I will one day see You face to face
That I am growing to love You above the power of language to express it
That You are a treasure to those who call on Your name
That You will Increase my love, O God, through time and eternity
That I might love the Father, rest in the Spirit, and bow before Christ my King

Leader: Thank You Three in One, Thank You One in Three
Congregation:  Praise, Thanksgiving, and Glory to Christ, the King of all Creation!

Leader: Thank You God, for who You are, and thank You for all things
Congregation:  Praise, Thanksgiving, and Glory to Christ, the King of our Salvation!

I love the group Page CXVI (page 116).  The name comes from a reference to page 116 in The Magician’s Nephew by C.S. Lewis. It is a poignant passage where Aslan begins to sing Narnia into creation out of a black void.

It starts, “In the darkness something was happening at last. A voice had begun to sing. It was very far away and Digory found it hard to decide from what direction it was coming. Sometimes it seemed to come from all directions at once. Sometimes he almost thought it was coming out of the earth beneath them. Its lower notes were deep enough to be the voice of the earth herself. There were no words. There was hardly even a tune. But it was, beyond comparison, the most beautiful noise he had ever heard. It was so beautiful he could hardly bear it.”
~ C.S. Lewis

Here is Page CXVI singing “Come Thou Fount.”  They added the line “I am bound for the kingdom, want you come with me?”

The Valley of Vision, “The Divine Will” – Pg. 9 (my paraphrase)

O LORD, I weakly cling to you; but your grip on me is firm
I see, I believe, and I live, when Your will is called Divine, and so may Your will be done, not mine
There is no worthiness or goodness in me that could deserve Your grace
Your providence and promises are not mine because I’m good
But only Your good pleasure holds me firm and only Your good will holds my hand in Thine

So let Your will be done, not mine, for only Your Will is called Divine

If your mercy makes me poor and vile, then blessed are You!
Prayers arising from my current poverty are preparation for future grace;
Help me to honor You now, by believing before I feel
Help me to trust You now, before I know that you will come and heal
My sin is great if I make my feelings the cause of my faith, and
My worship is idolatrous if my comfort is the reason that I bring You praise

So show me what sins I hide from you that, in loathing shadows, eclipse the Son of Your love;
Open my eyes in humility and show me the evil lurking in my hidden plans
Reveal Yourself, so that I might walk in your light with your glorious presence giving me sight
For if I walk in darkness, how can I know that I am Yours, or trust the working of my hands

So let Your will be done, not mine, for only Your Will is called Divine

It is only the meek and humble

• Who know Your will, are pardoned and healed
• Who know Your covenant love in the favor of Your face
• Who are sanctified and brought to life
• Who by faith depend and rest upon Your grace
• Who show the evidence of living in Your abundant care

So in humility, Help me to pray in faith, to find Your will, and know that You are there.

For Your will, not mine, is called Divine, so let Your will be done

Strengthen me to lean hard on Your rich free mercy
Help me to believe that You will give what You have promised and even more
Strengthen me to pray with the conviction that whatever I receive, it is your gift
Help me to pray until my prayers be granted; and then to pray some more
Strengthen me to believe that fullness of mercy arises from fullness of prayer

Teach me that when faith is begun it is imperfect and must from weakness grow
Teach me by Your grace to obey, and to hope, and to truly believe even before I truly know
Teach me to wait upon Your will, and pray Your will be done
Teach me that chapped ground opens wider and wider until the water finally comes
Teach me that your will is good even though it causes pain
Teach me to trust that my desert will become a garden when at last You send the rain
Teach me to believe with gospel hope that I will bloom when I see the Son

And that Your will, O Christ, is called Divine, not mine.  So let Your Will be done!

Psalm 29:2 says, “Ascribe to the LORD the glory due his name; worship the LORD in the splendor of his holiness.”  ‘Ascribe’ means “to credit, or assign, or give unto.“  In short, ‘ascribing’ is the act of naming something.  Often, when we ascribe an attribute or a name to something, it is in the hopes that the thing will “live up” to our ascription.   For example, when I was born my mother named me “Timothy” which means “to honor God.”  She named me this in the hope that I would someday live up to that name.  Appraisers also ascribe.  They ascribe value to a diamond, or to a property, or to a car.  They say, “This house is worth 180,000 dollars.”  They ascribe worth.  They make a judgment call.  Bank lenders acknowledge the value that the appraiser ascribes to the house and they will not lend any more than the appraised amount.  The appraiser sets the value.  He alone determines the worth.

But, this is not how we should ascribe value to God.  Our worship is not an act of saying something about God and then hoping that He lives up to our words.  Our worship of God should not depend upon what we determine God is worth.  That’s idolatry. Nonetheless, this is how we often approach worship.  We make a judgment call.  We sinfully decide whether or not God is pleasing to us. Do we like Him? Is He following our agenda?  Is He protecting our idols?  Is He keeping our perception of His promises?  Is He making us happy in the moment?  If not, then we ascribe a very low value to God.  He is not worth much in our eyes.  As idolatrous appraisers, we say “This God is not worth anything.” Then, in our hearts, we spurn Him as our sovereign Lord, we cast Him aside, and we run after other lovers.”  With this approach, we only worship God if we find Him pleasing to our flesh.  Yet, if this is how we worship, then we are not worshiping at all.  We are appraising.

Biblical worship is different.  True worship does not ascribe value to God because we find Him pleasing.  True worship ascribes glory to God because He is glorious.  Worship ascribes worth to God because God is infinitely worthy – all the time, no matter what we think, no matter what happens.  Worship is recognizing the lordship of Christ and bowing before Him, even when we don’t like Him, even when we don’t understand Him.  Worship is saying, “You are my Husband, You are my King, and I love you even though I’m confused and hurting and undone.”  Worship is “recognizing” God for who He is and worship is faithfully surrendering to God’s will.  Worship says to God, “If I do not see You as worthy, it is because my idols have blinded my eyes.  Help me to see You in the splendor of Your holiness.  You are glorious.  Help me to see Your glory.”

So at the end of it all, worship does not ascribe worth to God in the hopes that He will live up to our proclamation.  Worship ascribes worth to God in the hopes that we will be lifted up to see His beauty.

“Ascribe to the LORD the glory due his name; worship the LORD in the splendor of his holiness.” – Psalm 29:2