Repenting

[Riff]

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[QuiltAngel]

Try picking up a copy of Luther's Small Catechism with Explanations and read it.

 

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[DaRev]

I have one and I have read it over and over again. Don't know how that's supposed to help...

For one, it will show you where you're wrong in what you posted above.

 

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[Bryne]

Whoa...let's get one thing straight...Lutherans DO NOT teach that you should "Accept Jesus as your personal savior".

Faith doesn't mean don't repent. Faith doesn't mean stop trying. But faith does mean "believe that you have been forgiven"

 

[Bryne]

Oh...I found this article helpful in my struggle against sin.

Steadfast Lutherans » Legalism & License, by Todd Wilken

 

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[Bryne]

If we have faith, then we will repent. Repentance is a result of our faith. Our faith is a gift from God. If you don't have faith that your sins are forgiven, then what is the use of repenting?

 

[Riff]

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[Bryne]

Cling to the Cross. Let God change you. Don't neglect His Word or Sacraments.

 

[alexnbethmom]

Note: I've been through this before, and it also ended with me accepting Christ's forgiveness. Thing is, I kept slipping back into secularism and it took my focus off of Him. How can I change this time?

Pray. and keep in God's Word. and know that there is NOTHING that we can do to earn His forgiveness - absolutely NOTHING. i know you talked earlier about the "abuse" of Sola Fide - but it's not abuse, it's the honest to goodness truth.

Sola Scriptura.

Sola Fide.

Sola Gratia.

Solo Christo.

Amen.

 

[Studeclunker]

First of all Riff, you are behaving and thinking like a Baptist or Reformed.

Does this sound familliar:

Most merciful God, we confess that we are by nature sinful and unclean. 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. We justly deserve your present and eternal punishment. For the sake of your Son, Jesus Christ, have mercy on us. Forgive us, renew us, and lead us, so that we may delight in your will and walk in your ways to the glory of your holy name.
Amen.

Hmmm? I believe that would cover just about anything in your first post. YES, the Adamic nature asserts itself from time to time. Yes, we drown the old self only to find the bugger could not only swim, but hold it's breath quite a long time!

If the above confession (LW) is an accurate description of the larger population of Christian believers, then you are no worse or better than anyone else. Should we just give up and live as the unbelievers? Of course not. All the same, we can't beat ourselves up or neurotically check every jot and tittle of the law for our sins (like the Baptists and Reformed). Rest and trust in Christ. For HE is your perfection and salvation.

 

[MaryEmily]

Perhaps a suggestion from a fellow sinner. I hate the sins I do. I fall into the same traps again and again no matter how hard I try to avoid them. In the Lord, we have the Holy Spirit whose one purpose is to sanctify us. I trust in His ability to do so. I cannot save myself as in justification, how can I save myself in sanctification?

What I can do is to trust that the Lord has a wonderful plan for me to change into His image. It's not an overnight transition or even a few years. Each week I receive absolution from my pastor for the sins I commit both knowing and unknowing. Every day I pray for forgiveness of my sins and turn back to the Lord. Repentence means to "turn back." Not to become perfect in that area. We turn and turn.

What happens is that you will always be reminded (painfully so) of your shortcomings by the law. It is at that point you turn your attention to the gospel for your healing. Those words, show that of your own volition, you cannot and will not ever free yourself. Give those things to the Lord to deal with - His hands are far more capable than my own to heal me of my wounds and sins.

You try so hard and castigate yourself into submission - all you do is force obedience out of damnation rather than love and acceptance. It feels good in a sense to purge and purify yourself, but at the end, you are still human, still fail and will return to the old ways without the divine intervention of the Lord in your life. Use the law as it was meant to be used, not as a baseball bat to beat yourself senseless.

It's hard to let go of. But, the answer is really that simple. Stop trying so hard and let the Lord work in you rather than you trying to make it happen.

 

[Tangible]

Also, bear in mind that repentance, like faith, is not a work that we do. It is a gift from God.

Acts 11:18 (Show me Acts 11)
When they heard these things they fell silent. And they glorified God, saying, “Then to the Gentiles also God has granted repentance that leads to life.”

2 Timothy 2:25 (Show me 2 Timothy 2)
correcting his opponents with gentleness. God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth,

 

[Migdala]

Each week I receive absolution from my pastor for the sins I commit both knowing and unknowing. Every day I pray for forgiveness of my sins and turn back to the Lord.

I'm not trying to be difficult, but why do you do this? Jesus is the Mediator between God and man.....so how can your pastor "absolve your sins?" We're not under the Old Covenant anymore. I've never understood what that accomplishes...can you explain it to me?

Yeshua is all we need.

 

[alexnbethmom]

I'm not trying to be difficult, but why do you do this? Jesus is the Mediator between God and man.....so how can your pastor "absolve your sins?" We're not under the Old Covenant anymore. I've never understood what that accomplishes...can you explain it to me?

Yeshua is all we need.

God's Word Brings Life | The Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod

God's Word Brings Life

Words, words, words. We hear so many words every day of our lives that we come to believe that they have no meaning or power.

But then we enter the house of the Lord and hear words that are powerful, words that forgive: "I forgive you all your sins in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit." Here are words that convey to us what they say-forgiveness of sins.

But, those words are spoken to us by a man. It's a person, a pastor, who says to us, "I forgive you." Who gave him that authority? How can a man forgive us our sins? Only the Lord can do that, we say.

Let's listen again to the words that are spoken to us.

Upon this your confession, I, by virtue of my office as a called and ordained servant of the Word, announce the grace of God to all of you, and in the stead and by the command of my Lord Jesus Christ I forgive you all your sins.

Though this forgiveness comes from God, the person who speaks it is a man, a human being just like us. But he is speaking to us in an office; it is the office of a servant of the Word. The pastor is not his own man in this matter, but one who serves the Lord and his Word. Furthermore, he's "called and ordained," meaning that it is the Church that has placed him in this office to forgive sins according to Christ's command.

To make it even clearer, we're told that the pastor who is the servant of the Word is acting "in the stead and by the command" of Jesus Christ. The Lord gave to his Church the authority to forgive and retain sins. John 20:22-23 says it most clearly:

The Lord Jesus breathed on his disciples and said, "receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive anyone his sins, they are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven."

Here the Lord gives to his disciples the authority to act in his behalf, both to forgive sins and to withhold forgiveness.

Called by the Church and set under the orders of Christ, the pastor is obligated to fulfill the mandate of the Lord to forgive and retain sins. He doesn't do this as he pleases. The pastor always acts under the command of the Lord to forgive the sins of those who are penitent and to withhold forgiveness to the impenitent.

It is this absolution that Martin Luther, during the difficult days of the Reformation, prized so highly. In a sermon on June 29, 1522, Luther asserted that the minister is commissioned by the Church to exercise the Office of the Keys and quoted John 20. Later that same year he said in another sermon:

"Therefore we have ordained pastors and priests in order that they might perform such services (baptizing, absolving, preaching, etc.) in our stead, and these should yield the power as our representatives."

The power to absolve and grant forgiveness is the special church power granted by Christ and exercised in behalf of the entire Church by the called and ordained servants of the Word.

Words. Just words. But it is through these plain, ordinary words that the Lord's forgiveness is granted. They are powerful words. They do exactly what they say. They forgive. In the hearing of the Word, the believer who is penitent receives exactly what the word proclaims-forgiveness.

Confession is made. The absolution is given. We are at that very moment the receivers of all of the Lord's grace and mercy. We are forgiven.

 

[MaryEmily]

Thanks Alexnbethmom. I hoped I was awake enough last night to post.

 

[LilLamb219]

Mary Emily wrote:

It's hard to let go of. But, the answer is really that simple. Stop trying so hard and let the Lord work in you rather than you trying to make it happen.

This is wonderful! It takes a long time to learn this