Grace and peace to you from God our Father and from Jesus Christ, our Lord:

We can certainly feel the seasons changing.  The weather the last few days has been really nice fall weather.  There's Octoberfest going on everywhere, and what does that tell us but fall is here and October is just around the corner.  Maybe it feels very fast.  For a lot of us it feels like summer was just here and all of a sudden September is over in October is here. 

As Lutherans, there's a great holiday that we like to celebrate in October—Reformation.  That’s when we look at the origins of the Lutheran faith, when Luther began the Reformation to change the church and turn it back to grace and faith alone.  We love the Solas in Lutheranism; that we are saved and focus on scripture alone.  We're saved by faith alone, by grace alone, by Christ alone.  These are things we get to focus on in the Reformation and just to enjoy as Lutherans. 

But on that day when Luther started the Reformation, he nailed the 95 Theses to a door where he was starting to speak out against some of the things that the church was doing wrong.  And the first of these Theses said this:  When our Lord and Master Jesus Christ said, ``Repent'' (Mt 4:17), he willed the entire life of believers to be one of repentance.  You could say what he's telling us is that the Christian life is a life of repentance.  

This is really the focus that we're going to see in Ezekiel, a focus that we want to have in our lives, and a good reminder for us, because I think it's a fair question to ask, as Lutherans, are we always great at repentance?  Sometimes we love the Gospel so much, we love those Solas, and we talk a lot about forgiveness (as we should), but do we always focus on repentance?  Luther's First Theses was telling us our whole life should be one of repentance.  And yes, we say the words at the beginning of church, we have our confession and absolution, and we repent of our sins and receive that forgiveness, but how well do we do that in our personal life?  And what is the danger if we are not really practicing that and have kind of lost sight of what repentance is all about?  

Ezekiel explains what happened to the Israelites and what they were dealing with as God speaks words to them.  As Ezekiel and the Israelites were now in captivity, they had been sent away because of the sins of the people.  They had disobeyed God and gone after many gods for generations after generations and finally, God had enough.  So the people are in captivity and God speaks to Ezekiel and he tells them, he's quoting what the people are saying.  “What do you people mean by quoting this proverb about the land of Israel:  ‘The parents eat sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge’?”  Here in these words and the following words, God's going to warn through Ezekiel for the people to be aware of sin’s deception and hold, different things that keep people from repenting and seeing their own sin.  

This is a tale that's as old as sin, as we see Adam and Eve after they sin, and what do they do, but they blame.  Sin gets a hold on us.  It deceives us.  It tells us that there are good things or that our sin isn't that bad and we love to blame others.  As we talk about repentance, we think about, “Oh, we need to repent,” and we think about blame, but maybe if we break it down a little bit, it can help us to see how we can repent and think about things we're not repenting of.  

When the parents eat sour grapes and their children's teeth are set on edge, what they're saying there is maybe like eating lemons today and then having that face, but it's not the person eating it.  It's the kids that are eating it and are getting that flavor.  The children are being punished for the sins of their parents and they're not responsible.  The situation they are in is all due to what the people before them had done.  So the Lord tells them to no longer quote those words.  He says that they are also saying, “’The way of the Lord is not just.’  Hear, you Israelites:  Is my way unjust?  Is it not your ways that are unjust?”  The Israelites have been saying, “We haven't done anything wrong.  Why are you punishing us?  You're unjust!”  They are saying, “We haven't done anything wrong.”  

Is that similar to what we do all the time?  Think about how we handle things and how they are doing this as well.  What do we do with sin but we minimize it, rationalize it and we deny.  This is exactly what the Israelites were doing.  They minimized it and said, “It's the sin of our parents that are doing this.  It's not our fault.  We're not doing anything wrong.”  Or they rationalize it and were saying, “You know, it's just, God, you're being unfair.  You are being unjust.  We do pretty good but you're just being unfair to us, God.”  So they're minimizing the sins that they are committing or just completely denying.  “We haven't done anything wrong, God.  But we're in captivity.  You're just so unfair.”  

Maybe if you've been struggling in your life of repentance, think about this cycle and how it brings pain into your life, and maybe where in your life what sins you have been doing this with of minimizing.  “Well I don't do that very often.  It's not really that big of a deal.”  Or “What I do in my privacy only affects me.  It's not hurting else and it is no one else's business.”   We can minimize and say those things aren't a big deal, or we rationalize.  “Well, everyone else does it.  Everyone else lives together before marriage,” or “It's just the culture.”  “We live in a culture where there's a tavern on every corner.  Drink Wisconsinbly and you know, you go to the game and that's just what everyone does.”  We can rationalize so many sins.  And as you minimize and rationalize those sins, finally there are those that we just begin to flat out deny. 

When you've tried to cover your sin up with so many lies, just like David did with Bathsheba, where he had to hide his sin by lying and committing more sins until it got so bad, the sins that you are denying are a big deal.  What are those sins that you just don't want to tell anyone because if it got out, man, you feel like it would ruin everything?  So you deny it.  You can't tell the truth to other people.  

Each of us, we struggle with these things of minimizing, rationalizing, and denying the sins in our lives, and they get a hold of us, and it's dangerous.  And in the same way that God was calling the Israelites to repentance, he calls us to repentance.  

When the Israelites were struggling with this, what were they doing?  What were they examining?  They were saying, “The way of the Lord is not just.”  Or, “It's the parents’ fault.  They are the cause.”  But Jesus is saying, “No, the one who sins is the one who dies, and I will hold each individual responsible.”  

What is the encouragement that God is giving in this that the Israelites were not doing?  The Israelites were examining everyone else.  They were blaming God and blaming other people.  “God you're unjust and it's our parents fault.”  So what does God say?  He says, “But if a wicked person turns away from the wickedness they have committed and does what is just and right, they will save their life.  Repent!  Turn away from all your offenses; then sin will not be your downfall.  For I take no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the Sovereign Lord.  Repent and live!”  

His encouragement is for us to examine yourself, and not God or others; to look deep and to see where we are doing those things and to not say, “Well God, you put me in this place.  You allowed this thing to happen” or to just compare ourselves to others and say, “At least I don't do that thing.  At least I believe in God.  I'm here at church.”  It's so easy for us to deflect from our own sins and compare to others or to even make ourselves a victim of our circumstances.  “Well, I did this because, well, people have been treating me poorly or this other thing had happened.”  God is calling each of us to account.  

But as he tells the people, “You will no longer quote this proverb, this one of blaming others,” why is that?  It's not because he wants to bring punishment on them, but instead he wants them to change their hearts and ways.  In the ending verses, this gives us the idea of who God is and why he doesn't want them to quote this passage anymore.  He says, “Therefore, you Israelites, I will judge each of you according to your own ways, declares the Sovereign Lord.”  (If you want it about works, then fine.)  But he says, “Repent!  Turn away from all your offenses; then sin will not be your downfall.  Rid yourselves of all the offenses you have committed, and get a new heart and a new spirit.  Why will you die, people of Israel?  For I take no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the Sovereign Lord.  Repent and live!”  The people were saying to God, “You're not fair.”

Is it true that God is not fair?  In some ways, we can say that God is not fair.  Why?  Instead of putting all our sins upon each and every one of us and punishing us for our sins, God unfairly punished Jesus.  So instead of being so fair, God is unfair by giving us grace.  God is full of mercy and he gives new life.  He says, “I'll give you a new heart and a new spirit.  Repent and live!  You will no longer be these people who are destined to death and hell because of sin, but you are forgiven.”  God is the most just, but also the most unfair in that we are not punished for our sins.  We do not get hell, but Jesus suffered in our places.  So God is full of mercy for the Israelites and for us. 

What this needs to help us see is the blessings of repentance.  Why does God want us to repent?  Does God need your repentance?  Does God know, as we talked about it in the Children's Sermon, all the sins in your backpack?  Does he know all the things that you've committed?  Is he waiting for you to repent so he can find out what you did?  God knows.  So why does he want us to repent?  It’s because repentance brings forgiveness and change.  

When we are repenting, it's not for God's good but it's for our good.  There we hear the love of God.  There we hear “You are forgiven.”  There we see the cross and that all of our sins were nailed there.  There we know that peace and hope, that it's not about us and that we are doomed, but we are forgiven.  But it doesn't just end there.  Repentance is a turning.  And so yes, repentance is about forgiveness, but it's also about change, a new heart and a new spirit.  What does this mean?  

Well, we have our book that we're reading on Sunday nights.  In a future chapter, I think this explains it so well.  The author says this about forgiveness and repentance.  He says that in Mark 1:15, 

The phrase is intended to focus on the response of his announcement:  “Repent and believe the good news!”  In other words, “What I want you to do in response to this announcement is repent and believe this good news” (that I'm forgiven).  When we hear the word repent we may think it means something like stop doing naughty things (the change, right?).  And, indeed, we should stop doing naughty things.  But the Greek word which is translated here as repent is the word meta-noeo which is much bigger thing than stop doing naughty things.  Literally it means a changing of the mind which is accompanied by a correspondingly changed direction of life.  
In other words, Jesus is inviting us to completely reorient our minds and lives around this new reality of the kingdom being redemptively present and active around us.  He is saying, “Reorient your thinking and presumptions around it.  Reorient your values and priorities around it.  Reorient how you interpret what you are seeing and hearing around it.  And believe the good news I am telling you.”  (Joining Jesus on His Mission by Greg Finke.)  

It's not just that change of action, but it's a change of heart and spirit.  That change of heart and spirit will help us in changing; to leave that life of sin, to understand that you're not a victim of what has happened.  Yes, some of the things that have happened are big and deep and hard.  And I know some of the sins that we face are hard to escape.  So we go back to God to hear that forgiveness over and over again.  And that change of hearts and spirit doesn't happen on our own.  Who works it?  It's the God who loves us, who gives us that new life, that new spirit, that new heart to cling to that forgiveness, to cling to that hope, and to go forward reorienting our life in the Gospel.  Then we want to do what is good and right, to serve God and to serve others. 

So maybe you think about in your life of repentance as a Christian how we can do this.  We say those words of repentance on Sunday morning.  Do you do that daily?  Do you repent of your sins to God?  Do you share those sins that you're struggling with, with those in your life, a Christian friend, a pastor, so that you can hear those words of forgiveness?  And those sins that you want to really put away and be done minimizing and rationalizing or denying, maybe you ask someone to help you with them.  Say, “I struggle with this and I'm sorry, I don't want to do it, and I ask God to help me.  Give me that new life, that new spirit.”  We know God keeps his promise because God is full of mercy, and he gives you a new life.  As a Christian, that new life is a life of repentance that knows it's forgiven, because of the grace and mercy of God.  Amen.

And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:7) Amen.