Title: Don’t Beat Yourself Up

It will happen on Good Friday at 12 noon - 10 people including a woman will be crucified in the Central Luzon district of the Philippines. It may sound bizarre but this impulse for penance is closer to home than we think. I’m Charles Morris and this is Haven Today. What God wants from us as Christians if not penance but something very different something the Bible calls “the repentance that leads to life”. We need to understand the difference between the two so we can fully receive the Great News of the Great Story that we celebrate at Easter time. Metropolitan opera singer Jubilant Sykes takes us back to that first Easter weekend.

Song: Were You There?

That song will take you back to where we need to be especially this Easter. Jubilant Sykes singing for us “Were You There?” from his album called “Jubilant”. Easter customs come and go, religious practices are not always the same. On a secular level I recall as a little child at Easter being given a baby chick, I think it was dyed pastel green. All the kids I knew got one too but usually the new pets didn’t last. The chicks would die within a few days because we didn’t know how to take care of them. There are religious customs that stick, the words are different because they come out different languages but the meaning is the same; “passion” and “Passover”. The first important word in Judaism is “passion”, the second important word is “Passover” and they are important to Christians because they mean the same. Jesus began his passion with a Passover meal. That custom continues by Christians taking communion all over the world but for different reasons. Taking the Lord's Supper is more than a custom coming out of Judaism, it’s an institution - a sacrament that Christians can and must observe of Jesus’ death for them till he comes and we sit together for the marriage supper of the Lamb. Repentance and penance are also words some of us hear at Easter time and these two words are very different. You see this borne out in a country like the Philippines. On the line with me from Manila is Bob Bartz the Director of Overseas Service for Far East Broadcasting Company. Bob I want to welcome you to Haven Today. Thanks Charles, it’s great to join you today, I’m glad we are getting connected even though we are on the other side of the Pacific Ocean. Bob, there is in Asia, but in particular the Philippines, a reenactment of the crucifixion. Could you explain that to our listeners? Sure, every time between Palm Sunday and Easter, we call it Holy Week. It is a very important time for Filipinos, it’s a time for them to really focus on the spiritual part of their lives. And included in that there are a number of reenactment or recreations of the Passion all the way from processions that Palm Sunday - procession throughout the week they will have actual reenactment of the beating that Christ took and they also do crucifixions where people will actually be nailed to crosses for about 10 minutes or 15 minutes depending on how long they want to stay up there. Charles is speaking: I’ve see a picture of one woman but it's usually men that allow themselves to be nailed to a cross right? That’s correct it’s usually men but interestingly enough in 1994 they had a Belgian woman who volunteered to be crucified in that way. It’s both Filipino and other foreigners as well. There's a fading tradition though, tell me about that, you've mentioned to me in the past. Basically during the Holy Week there is a sense amongst the Filipino culture that on Good Friday, when we remember the death of Christ on the cross, at that time God actually dies and at that point if not safe to be out and around because you don't have the protection of God, because in their mind for all practical purposes, God is dead. So from Friday on until Saturday things are pretty quiet around here. Nobody really gets out all that much, many people go out to the provinces and stay out there anyway and then on Sunday when we celebrate Jesus’ Resurrection, usually with an early morning dawn worship service, we celebrate that and then everything goes back to normal because God is living again. So they literally practice that period of time that Jesus spent in the tomb acting as though God is dead and living in the fear of the consequences of that. Why do people think they need to be reenacting the crucifixion personally? Many of them see it as a way of redeeming their own sin as an active participating in the suffering of Christ and in so doing they feel that that’s a way for them to get closer to God, to be more one with him and also to redeem their own sinfulness. Often times the people that participate (that are in the crucifixions regularly) are people that have been known to be criminals and the past or feel that they have some major sin that they have to try and atone for and by participating in that suffering they feel that they have gained a forgiveness of what they've done. We will talk about that in a moment in light of what the Scriptures teach but Bob thank you very much for being with us from Manila, the Director of the Overseas Service for Fareast Broadcasting Co. Thank you and God bless you and Happy Easter. Thank you very much.

Song: At That Name

This is Haven Today at Easter time, I’m Charles Morris, thank you for being with us and the program is called “Don’t Beat Yourself Up”. Look to the New Testament with me in the book of Acts, that's the early history book of the beginning of the church. When the Jewish Christians back in Jerusalem had heard that the Gentile non-Jew Cornelius as well as everyone in his household (which would've been Gentile's as well) had received the Holy Spirit, do you know what they said back in Jerusalem? “Well then, it looks like God has also granted to the Gentiles the repentance that leads to life.” They knew that this outpouring of the Spirit meant that the Gentiles had repented and they knew that they can only have repented if God had granted them the great gift of repentance. They were very surprised that God had granted that great gift to somebody who wasn't Jewish. Repentance, it's a very sweet heartbreak, it's a joyous life giving brokenness and it's a gift of God. A preparation for the outpouring of the Spirit, without it there is no transformation, no life. Repentance is something we should be seeking daily in our lives but true repentance is a very different thing from penance. Penance is a counterfeit form of repentance it's what you see demonstrated in an extreme form in these Filipino reenactments of the crucifixion of Jesus that Bob Bartz just told us about. It's also something we all have a tendency to practice in subtle less obvious ways. It's very important for us to understand the difference between repentance and penance to draw the line between the two. First penance, it has deep roots in our heart. There is something in us that wants to pay for what we've done that wants to do good work sort of suffer in some special way so that we can make atonement for our failures. This may appear to be very pious very self-denying but we need to see that it's really just the opposite. It's really a form of self justification of trying to make ourselves right before God it's just a way of avoiding the real meaning of the crucifixion of Good Friday. Here is the problem with penance; it keeps us at the center. Our regrets for our sins are all self-centered, we beat ourselves up because we failed ourselves and haven't been what we would like ourselves to be. We are at the center of the whole deal. We are oftentimes full of misery because of how rotten we are but this isn't repentance it's really a form of self pity and then we do penance. We try to pay, we make ourselves suffer and we deny ourselves, also we can shake off our bad feelings and maybe put God in a position where he owes us something. Sometimes we even blame God for our misery. With penance we are just running circles around ourselves, that's penance. Repentance though is very different; it's different in three ways. First, repentance is all about the Lord – second, repentance leads to faith - and third, repentance opens the door to life. Look at that with me; first repentance is all about the Lord. Repentance comes when God intrudes himself into the picture, he causes us to see his great glory in a way that totally changes our perspective so that he becomes the issue. Let me share some examples of repentance from the Bible where you can see this happening. In Isaiah, when Isaiah came into the temple and saw the glory of the Lord he had a true repentance. There was no self-pity, no trying to pay for his sins. No, Isaiah was undone as the Bible says he saw the Lord and that intrusion of the reality of God and God's glory brought Isaiah to his knees. He said; “woe to me for I am a man of unclean lips and I dwell among a people of unclean lips.” His woe was not because he failed himself but because it seen the Holy Lord of Glory. He knew that he had lived presumptuously without knowing this God. Without truly grasping his reality and without giving him glory. When he finally saw him he saw what he had done he was horrified. Then there is Peter, you see the same thing happening with the apostle Peter - Jesus tells him to cast off the boat to let down the nets. Peter humors Jesus who is after all just a carpenter and not a fisherman but when the nets are filled to bursting with fish Peter’s foolish pride and presumption fall away. He sees Jesus for who he is, the Lord of Glory, the one who commands the creation itself and he too is undone. He falls on his knees and says; “get away from me Lord for I am a sinful man.” Then look at the Jews at Pentecost, the Jews had gathered in Jerusalem to observe a special feast, the feast of Pentecost. In the midst of carrying out their religious duties God had broke in on them and pierced their hard hearts. It happened when Peter stood up and told them that they have crucified the Lord of Glory. When they realized what God had done with the one they had crucified, that he raised him up from the dead and seated him on the throne of heaven and glory they were also completely undone. Peter said to them let all Israel know and be fully assured that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified and the Bible says they were cut to the heart. Whether it's the initial repentance of unbelieving or the daily repentance of the believer - true repentance that leads to life is all about the glory of the Lord. We aren’t thinking about our personal regrets, we aren’t thinking we can somehow suffer enough to make it right, we’re not making any excuses anymore. We’re saying like David did against you and you only have I sinned. Repentance is something for the Lord and repentance leads to faith. Repentance by itself is not true repentance there's no inherent value in brokenness the value of repentance is that it leads to faith and faith is all about Jesus. The Filipinos who reenact the
death of Jesus are missing the point of Good Friday. God put Jesus on center stage as the great sufferer for sins and when we try to pay for our own sins were putting ourselves on center stage. Jesus told the men who came to arrest him, I'm the one you want let these men go free. That's the message of Good Friday, he went to the cross - it's all about him so look to him - he suffered for your sins - you go free - he made atonement for all your transgressions a full and complete atonement. He cried out “it is finished”. You don’t have to redo what he has done you just have to receive it, that’s all faith is. Repentance opens the door to life. Penance doesn't accomplish anything but repentance is full of promise. God lavishes his grace on the brokenhearted he pours out his spirit on those who repent and believe. His power rests on us when we acknowledge our weakness and look to Christ, not only initially but as a daily way of walking. You see in how Jesus responded to Peter's repentance, he didn't say take this whip beat yourself up. He didn’t even say okay but don't do it again - he said don't be afraid I'll make you a fisher of men. He lavished Peter with reassurances of the great things he would do in Peter's life. This Easter may we understand repentance as oppose to penance and may repentance set us free.

Song: Rock of Ages

Father in heaven we are grateful to you, in fact that is such an understatement that I shouldn't even be saying it. But I fall on my knees right now in prayer asking you to teach me about repentance so that I don't fall into the trap of penance. Lord we've all beat ourselves up too much but Jesus Christ has gone to the cross and died for our sins and risen from the dead to bring us new life and Lord we claim that for ourselves this Easter time. We don’t just need it at one point in time when we become a Christian we need it every day as we walk as Christians and live the Christian life. Give us joy - give us peace - not a peace from beating ourselves up but a peace that comes from the joy of Christ living in us today. I pray this name in the power of the risen Savior Jesus Christ, Amen. This is Haven Today and the program is called “Don't Beat Yourself Up”. I want to thank you for being with me and I want to thank Jubilant Sykes for joining us as well. Thank you for sharing with us some of the wonderful music that this brother in the Lord has put together and been able to share with us on this Easter week. We have the album called “Jubilant” it's a CD and we have it in our warehouse right now and it contains a lot of great Easter music, I say that because Easter lasts year-round. In this album of spirituals, hymns and Christian songs Jubilant shares with us his faith, a lasting faith that he has in Jesus Christ alone. I would like you to have a copy of his album “Jubilant” as a thank you for you making an Easter gift to Haven today. We are asking for a gift of $25 or more but I want to thank all those people who have given even more than that, just ask for a copy of the album if you believe in what Haven Today is doing. If Jesus is ministering to you as we tell The Great Story every day then I would boldly ask for your help. You can get a copy of the CD “Jubilant” and you make your Easter gift if you'll give us a call at 1-800-65-HAVEN, that's 1-800-654-2836. Please let us know the station you're listening to as well when you call or you can go online at Haventoday.org. When you get in touch with us, I want you to know that we are a ministry of prayer. If you have a prayer request, you can call us or go online. We would love to pray for you. I’m Charles Morris and thank you for being with us today. Come back again tomorrow when again we will share The Great Story; it’s all about Jesus especially at Easter time here on Haven Today.