Lent and Repentance

Lent and Repentance

For Chapel at

Skylark Christian School March 7, 2018

Jacob and Madison are brother and sister. They are cute kids with brown hair and brown eyes. They live in a house with their dad and mom and a dog named Skippy and a rat they call Reggie.

One day, Madison climbed onto her bicycle as her foot took the first peddle Jacob grabbed her handle bars. “Where do you think you’re going?”

“Hey! Let go!” shouted Madison.

“You can’t go anywhere. Mom said you have to stay home. Remember?”

“No she didn’t!”

Jacob nodded his head. “Yes she did. She said we had to stay together so that means you have to stay home.”

“Go get your bike and come with me. I’m just going over to Emily’s. We want to play with her new doll. See, I brought Becca.” She pointed to her doll in the carrier.

“I’m not going so you have to get off your bike and come in. I want to play my new video game.”

Madison crossed her arms. “You never let me play. You say it’s only a one person game. I want to go to Emily’s!”

Just then their mom pulled her car into the driveway. She turned off the motor and scooted out. “What are you two arguing about?”

“Notin.” said Jacob.

Madison glared at Jacob.

Their mom said, “Jacob, go get the sack of groceries in the back seat and then into the house. Madison put your bike away and meet us in the living room.”

Jacob and their mom went inside. Madison jumped off her bike and wheeled it into the garage and shut the door. She slowly walked into the house carrying her doll, Becca.

Madison sat down in the corner of the couch. She picked up Becca and said, “What do you think? I bet Jacob blames me for everything.”

In a moment Jacob walked in followed by their mom. Jacob plopped down on the other corner of the couch.

Mom said, “Now, let’s start at the beginning. Madison go first.”

Madison glanced up and said, “I wanted to ride my bike and Jacob stopped me.”

“You couldn’t go by yourself.” Jacob chimed in.

“I asked you to go and you wouldn’t. You said Mom said I couldn’t ride my bike. That was a lie! I can too ride my bike and go to Emily’s.” a tear fell from Madison’s eye.

“Moummm!”

“Woe. Hold on. I think I get a clear picture. Madison, did Jacob ask you to play with him?”

Madison shook her head, no.

“Jacob, did I say Madison could not ride her bike?”

“No.”

“Jacob. What exactly did I tell you children before I went to the store?”

He mumbled.

“Jacob, speak up.”

“You said we needed to play nicely together while you were gone and to stay with each other and if we both agreed we could go to Emily’s.”

“That is correct. What do you think I meant?”

“We could play here together or we could play outside together.”

“Jacob you’re the big brother and should look out for your sister. She wanted to play with you but you didn’t share your video game and would not go with her to Emily’s. How should you have acted?”

“I should offer Madison the controller to my game or go with her to Emily’s. You put me in charge. I’m sorry.”

Boys and girls, what do you think of this story of Madison and Jacob?

Did Jacob obey his mom? Did he tell a lie? Was he being kind?

Today is the middle of Lent. Lent is a special time when we think about what the Lord Jesus did for us by dying on the cross to pay the payment for our sin.

Sin is anything we do in thought, word, or deed against God. Those are some of the things Jacob did in our story. The Bible says we are all sinners. When we are born, we have a sin nature. God is holy and cannot allow sin into His presence. What are we to do? If we are sinners and God can’t have sin in his presence, we cannot go to heaven! Oh no!

Sin has to be paid for. A blood sacrifice. We should be that sacrifice or payment. God knew this and made a way so we wouldn’t have pay to for our sin. He sent His only Son Jesus to the earth to be born and grow up and die on the cross to pay for our sin.

Wow! Imagine that. God himself became man and took our sin on Him and paid for all our sin by spilling His blood and dying.

But it gets better! He rose again! He is alive! He is in heaven waiting for us. But wait. There must be something we need to do to go to heaven someday. We need to trust in what Jesus did for us on the cross to pay for our sin. We need to accept Him as our personal Savior.

You see, when we accept what Jesus did for us we get His righteousness. Now when God the Father looks at us He sees His son Jesus Righteousness.

Lent is more than thinking about what Jesus did for us on the cross. Lent is a time of thinking about our sin. Like Jacob said he was sorry, we need to say we are sorry for our sins we commit every day. When we asked Jesus to be our Savior, we repent. Repent means to turn around. We asked for forgiveness of our sin. We repented.

That was at salvation. But repentance is something we need to do every time we sin. Jacob told a lie. That is sin. Jacob fought with his sister. That is sin. Jacob didn’t obey his mother. That was sin. Jacob needed to tell his mother he was sorry, his sister he was sorry and tell the Lord he is sorry. He needed to repent. To turn form sin and to do what is right.

Lent is a time of reflecting on what Jesus Christ did for us on the cross and how we should live our lives. Many Christians give up something especially food during Lent. Fasting is a time of limiting or stopping something you enjoy doing. Most people refer to fasting as a time of limiting or abstaining from food and or drink. A person can also fast from say, your favorite game, movie, television show, sport, video game or anything that gives you pleasure.

Why fast? True fasting is a time when you focus on the Lord Jesus in prayer and reading His word. The time you would spend on the activity like eating or playing your favorite video game, you would then spend in prayer and reading the Bible.

When the temptation to eat or play the game surfaces, you then take your mind off the desire by praying and reading God’s word. Prayer refocuses your mind on what is important rather than a physical desire.

Lent is a special time where people take a look at their lives and see anything they are doing against God. What might be some things in our lives against God? Not telling the complete truth, not obeying our parents or others in authority over us like teachers right away and also with a good attitude, or taking something that doesn’t belong to us, arguing or fighting with our classmates or siblings, not being kind to one another, and maybe wanting something that belongs to someone else. All those and many more things are sin and we need to repent and ask for forgiveness.

Lent is a time to focus on what Jesus did on His last 40 days on the earth and His death and resurrection. The best way to do that is to limit time on things we love and use that time to pray and read His word, focusing on Him.

At this time I want you to close your eyes and ask the Father to show you any sin you may have in your life and ask for forgiveness.

In this way, you are showing your love for Jesus and what He did for you on the cross. You are repenting and doing what Lent is meant to be. We have three more weeks of Lent and the Easter season. What should you give up so you can have more time in prayer and reading the Bible? Giving up something gives you more time with the Lord.

 Please memorize one or more of the verses below:

Psalm 193: 23 Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me, and know my thoughts! ESV

Ezekiel 18: 30b Repent and turn from all your transgressions lest iniquity be your ruin. ESV

Acts 17:30 The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent. ESV