Repentance is When the Cows Come Home

Repentance is observable

“Do you mortify; do you make it your daily work; be always at it whilst you live; cease not a  day from this work; be killing sin or sin will be killing you.”

John Owen, Overcoming Sin and Temptation (Wheaton, Illinois: Crossway, 2006), p. 50, here is the pdf. This volume is edited by Kapic and Taylor.

The reformed church must always take practical steps to kill sin. Practical steps. I heard a strange word this morning, actionable. Repentance entails actionable, visible change. We, reformed, struggle with this. We are much more given to mental action, not observable. The mind is our specialty, not hands and feet. The 16th Reformation was a seismic shift, mentally. Luther nailed 95 theses; he did not begin a soup kitchen. As a corollary, we who have come to embrace the doctrines of grace, listened and read—or it was a combination of these two—in order to come to a cognitive rest. “Oh, OK. Now I see total depravity.” We wrestled mentally. We are too easily satisified with things like: opening the Word, listening to sermons and participating in a Bible study—we think, therefore we think we repent. Reformation, 99% of the time, is first read and heard, before it is seen.

This is why when we hear of our sin, we wrongly believe that we have repented. When we understand the preacher’s illustration of wrong-doing or doing that is left undone, we believe that we have repented.

Repentance is when the cows come home, not when the cows are thinking about going home.

“Lord, what I just did in this post was mental, give me legs and feet. I want to follow the cows home.”

G. Mark Sumpter

Occupy Till I Come

This is a good word that fits nicely with a small group Bible discussion group we take part in here in Grants Pass. We’re going through the book Unfashionable on Sunday nights.

“I pray not that Thou shouldst take them out of the world.”
John 17:15

It is a sweet and blessed event which will occur to all believers in God’s own time--the going home to be with Jesus. In a few more years the Lord’s soldiers, who are now fighting “the good fight of faith” will have done with conflict, and have entered into the joy of their Lord. But although Christ prays that His people may eventually be with Him where He is, He does not ask that they may be taken at once away from this world to heaven. He wishes them to stay here. Yet how frequently does the wearied pilgrim put up the prayer, “O that I had wings like a dove! for then would I fly away and be at rest;” Christ does not pray like that, He leaves us in His Father’s hands, until, like shocks of corn fully ripe, we shall each be gathered into our Master’s garner. Jesus does not plead for our instant removal by death, for to abide in the flesh is needful for others if not profitable for ourselves. He asks that we may be kept from evil, but He never asks for us to be admitted to the inheritance in glory till we are of full age. Christians often want to die when they have any trouble. Ask them why, and they tell you, “Because we would be with the Lord.” We fear it is not so much because they are longing to be with the Lord, as because they desire to get rid of their troubles; else they would feel the same wish to die at other times when not under the pressure of trial. They want to go home, not so much for the Savior’s company, as to be at rest.

Now it is quite right to desire to depart if we can do it in the same spirit that Paul did, because to be with Christ is far better, but the wish to escape from trouble is a selfish one. Rather let your care and wish be to glorify God by your life here as long as He pleases, even though it be in the midst of toil, and conflict, and suffering, and leave Him to say when “it is enough.”

Charles Spurgeon, from his Morning and Evening

G. Mark Sumpter

Resolve for Discipline in 2010 From the Tedd Tripp Prequel

Desire Important, Yes; Practice Has a Pace-Setting Role

I woke on a summer afternoon day in 1976, and within the space of a 15-20 minute conversation,Yank Sumpter said, "No, you're not." I shot back, "Dad, you don't know what it's like."

I wanted to quit throwing freight for Safeway 11:00 PM to 7:00 AM---I used to be a Night Crawler, a.k.a Animal in the Market.

On that afternoon on the front porch, my 18-year-old know-better attitude came out loud and proud.

Of course he knew what it was like to work on 3-4-5 hours of sleep for days on in. He's of the Greatest Generation, and he's the Vince Lombardi of the work ethic. I was reared on his: Head Down, Buttocks Up mantra. [Actually, Yank was the first one to publish the runaway bestseller from Shepherd's Press, you know, the Tedd Tripp prequel, Shepherding a Child's Butt.]

Yank kept at it. Thanks Dad. You kept working on the role of discipline in a young man's life.

What did he stay at with me? What did he keep before me? Practice works a love for responsibility. Practice works into the heart a love for hungering for more.

Practice does not make perfect, but practice acts on God's provision.

Just this past week the principle was at work. I re-started a 1994 fiction publication. I love to hate fiction. But the endurance paid off. I can't put the book down 5-6 days later.

The principle goes to work at my office about every other day: Sit down, Sumpter, strap yourself in the desk, open your study notebook to your Ezra notes, Romans notes, and then the verse by verse commentary study of the Book of Hebrews. Practice on the reality that God provides. 1 Corinthians 10:13.

But what about the heart? What about shepherding a pastor's heart? Doesn't desire have anything to do with duty, responsibility and discipline? To be sure.

1. An attitude of expecting God to meet me with blessing, help, provision, guidance and fruit is key. Heart-key, heart-big. Heart-expectation-filled.
2. An attitude of responsibility, too, is key. God works in His children (Phil. 2:12-13), therefore, get to work, Sumpter. Crack the memory verses, re-listen to the Hebrew recording, choose to open the Bible and your study notes, and/or get back at the phone work, prayer, planning and sermon preparation.
3. Write down something that's bothering you, maybe distracting you. Do something with it!
4. Thank God for His correction: He corrects me by bringing me back to specific responsibilities at hand. Thank Him for that, Sumpter, thank Him! [I read about that in John White's book called, The Fight.]
5. Rest in the Sonship of knowing Jesus Christ. Today, January 1, 2010, I will NOT bat 1000. Tomorrow, January 2, 2010, I will not bat 1000. But take your cuts at the plate, God's on the mound pitching!
6. Dick Gaffin of Westminster Seminary spoke in October of 2008 at our conference about the doctrine of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. He exhorted us, Act on the historical, bodily resurrection. Act on it. We're commended to obedience not merely out of a newness of heart with thanksgiving. We're commended to obedience not merely working out a thankful heart; it's not that alone; no. We're in Jesus Christ, the Risen One, act in Him. Today is the day of saving power--the Risen Jesus. Act in Him. That's been instructive. Amen, Dr. Gaffin. He was teaching from Colossians 3 and 1 Corinthians 15. Amen, Dr. Gaffin.

So, OK. Sumpter, get after it in Jesus. Reading, writing, teaching, praying, evangelizing, visiting, serving, cleaning. Now is the day of salvation.

Thoughtfulness toward my wife and children; specific acts of service in the home; taking the time to greet (hugs, words of encouragement), meet (special appointments), seat (take time and talk), and treat (have fun).

Thanks, Yank, for your work on forming my heart for discipline.

G. Mark Sumpter

Getting Up Off Our Bach Side

The story is told of Johann Sebastian Bach and his own reflections about diligence. He was asked about his growth in skill, his proficiency and expertise as a musician.

Occasionally he was asked what measures he had undertaken to reach so high a degree of skill in his art. He usually replied: "I have had to be diligent. If anyone will be equally diligent, he will be able to accomplish just as much." He did not make much of, even as he did not depend on, his superior native endowments.

From the book, Johann Sebastian Bach: The Master and His Work

Dick Kaufmann, my pastor and professor in Escondido, often exhorted us to turn away from laziness and sloppy work. If you don't want to work, don't go into the pastorate. Exacting diligence is required. I often found Dick having 3 X 5 cards upright and visible, attached to his car dashboard; he was rehearsing, meditating on, and re-working texts and thoughts of sermon notes. It was like looking at a GPS. Diligence to the 10th power.

G. Mark Sumpter