This sermon by Dan Kent helps us understand the meaning of repentance and why it is so crucial to our walk with Jesus. In it, we discover how we misunderstand what repentance is and see how repentance is a path to true freedom.
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Light Chasers
• Dan Kent
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In Revelation 8:2, we read about the trumpets that were given to the angels. Trumpets symbolize a call to repentance, which is the theme that Dan Kent explores in this sermon.
In Matthew 4:17, Jesus called people to repent. Matthew placed these words of Jesus after a quote from Isaiah 9:1-2, which reads:
The people living in darkness
Have seen a great light
On those living in the land
Of the shadow of death
A light has dawned.
Many times we view repentance negatively, but the repentance Jesus offers is a call to turn from darkness and chase the light. It is a good thing that is a cause for joy. Basically, it means to turn around. It means that we recognize that we are going in the wrong direction and that we turn to go in the right direction.
However, there are some practical reasons that many struggle with the idea of repentance. First, many don’t understand what it is. Popular images of religious people preaching on street corners barking condemnation dominate the way that people understand it. As a result they want nothing to do with repentance. Second, many of us don’t know that we are in the dark. The darkness has been a good experience, and therefore, the darkness appears to be light. Third, many don’t trust Jesus as the light. To trust this radical claim about Jesus is not something that is easy to do. It truly is a high calling.
To repent is to turn from the common life of darkness and move toward the freedom found in the light of Jesus. Practically, it might mean turning from the pursuit of more to the practice of contentment. Or it might entail making an about face away from envy and practicing gratitude. Instead of only loving those who love you, we learn to love our enemies. And it might mean replacing vengeance with reconciliation. This is not a one time thing in our life. We repent every time we turn from anything that entraps us in darkness and instead move toward Jesus’ light.
We must hear this call and refuse to downplay the darkness that so easily ensnares us. We must look at sin for what it is. It keeps us from living freely in the light, no matter how many people might be doing it. This is why we need trumpets. To face sin, we need a loud blast that will wake us up to the reality of the darkness that is so commonplace. We can be light chasers and refuse to go with the flow of the darkness.
Hide Extended SummaryTopics: Repentance, Sin, Transformation
Sermon Series: The Unveiling, Crescendo of Chaos
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The MuseCast: May 6
Focus Scripture:
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Revelation 8:2
And I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and seven trumpets were given to them.
One thought on “Light Chasers”
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I love Dan’s definition of the Gospel: “God has returned as King to take possession of His creation and to push out darkness and evil and to push the Deceiver out of His good creation.” Often in evangelical circles we narrow the Gospel down to just “Jesus dying on the Cross so my sins can be forgiven and I get to go to heaven when I die.” Some call this a “Skinny Gospel” as the Gospel is MUCH bigger than this. A pastor at our church recently put it like this: “Easter (Christ’s death on the Cross forgiving my sin) is to the Gospel as a wedding is to a marriage. I like that – a good illustration of what the Gospel is.