#SorryNotSorry

I know you’ve done this yourself. If you have little kids you’ve seen this happen before your very eyes. When a Hollywood movie star does it, you stand and applaud their Oscar winning performance knowing full well that it’s a sham. We all know how the ‘Sorry, not sorry’ works. Whether it’s apologizing for hitting a sibling or apologizing for the most recent offensive thing to cross the lips of an athlete or celebrity, we all know a false apology when we see one. They may be sorry that they got caught, or sorry that you were offended, but it is not the kind of sorrow they are trying to portray or want you to buy. Slow movements. Keep your head down. Lower your voice a few decibels. "I’m sorry for throwing my toy at your head." Ten minutes later the apology is forgotten but you have learned a lesson. You didn’t learn ‘your’ lesson but ‘a’ lesson. Don’t get caught next time or at least have an excuse ready if you do.

In 2 Corinthians 7 Paul does his own ‘Sorry, not sorry’ and then tells us about another kind of ‘Sorry, not sorry’:
Even if I caused you sorrow by my letter, I do not regret it. Though I did regret it—I see that my letter hurt you, but only for a little while— yet now I am happy, not because you were made sorry, but because your sorrow led you to repentance. For you became sorrowful as God intended and so were not harmed in any way by us. Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death.—2Corinthians 7:8-10

If you know anything about the church in Corinth you already know that it was MESSED UP! A young guy is sleeping with his stepmother, people are gorging themselves on the Lord’s Supper so that some don’t even get any, and there are divisions everywhere. The letter Paul refers to was probably tough to write and even tougher to read or listen to. He is sorry that he had to send that letter because he doesn’t know how they will respond. Earlier, in chapter 2 he says:
Another reason I wrote you was to see if you would stand the test and be obedient in everything.—2 Corinthians 2:8

He sends the letter off, unsure of how things will go, but here in chapter 7 we see that Paul’s regret turned to happiness because of what actually happened in the church that he loves. The people in Corinth are sorry! But not just any kind of sorry, they are ‘Sorry, Really Sorry’ and that true kind of sorrow leads to repentance and salvation.

　
Before we get to our New Year’s Resolutions I want to suggest that we start with a big ‘R’ that we see in scripture: Repent. As we kickoff 2014 take a look at how Jesus kicks off his ministry.
From that time on Jesus began to preach, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near."—Matthew 4:17

Jesus’ opening message has us dealing in a very particular way with our past as a way of preparing for the coming kingdom, and that is the way of repentance. Before we can step into something new (a new year that is on our doorstep) it is important that we adequately and honestly address where we are coming from (a year that is in the books). Many times we look back and see a year that has some missed opportunities or things we wish we had done different. We can look back in a way that fills us with regret for past actions or keeps us from being hopeful about the future. However, Paul is clear that Godly sorrow leaves no regret and Jesus is clear that this coming kingdom is something worth hoping for. The sorrow and repentance that they are talking about lead to something worthwhile.

Did you host any gatherings during this holiday season? If you did, I’m pretty sure you did a decent amount of cleaning before anyone arrived. If you’re a bit on the OCD side like myself you probably had a nice little checklist to make sure you didn’t miss anything. Get things clean before people can come in. Repentance isn’t about cleaning ourselves up first. Isn’t that what most New Year’s Resolutions are about? We list our intentions to get ourselves straightened out and cleaned up so we are presentable by this time next year.  Repentance is about inviting someone into the mess we’ve made. Isn’t that exactly what we celebrated last week? Christ entered into our mess before we cleaned up. We didn’t even have a room ready for him.

Repentance is hard to do. Either we don’t want to admit there’s a mess or we don’t want to let someone else try and fix it. Have you ever seen how tough it is for people on the show Hoarders to let go of things? They are afraid to let others clean things up because of what they may lose in the process, so they fight to be in control of the cleanup. How crazy is that! In the midst of the absolute chaos that they created they want to be in control! How easy is it for us to have that same posture towards God when it comes to getting our lives together?

Being sorrowful and repentant frees us up for Christ to take residence within us.

Jesus,

Sorry for my mess. Thank you for coming anyway.

Love,

Ryan