Reformation Takes Root in a Repentant Church

By Dave Jenkins
Always Reforming: Fidelity to God’s Word in Every Generation

A church can affirm the authority of Scripture and still resist what Scripture says. We can defend sound doctrine, recognize false teaching, and speak appreciatively about the Reformers while avoiding the sins God’s Word exposes in our own lives.

That should sober us. Fidelity to Scripture involves more than saying that the Bible is true. It means receiving its teaching, believing its promises, and submitting to its correction. When the Lord reveals our sin, faithfulness calls us to repent.

The church belongs to Jesus Christ. He purchased His people with His blood, governs them by His Word, and cares for them as their risen Lord. The continuing work of reformation therefore reaches into the life of every congregation and every Christian. We must ask whether our worship, teaching, relationships, and conduct reflect the truth we profess.

Revelation 2:1–7 helps us see why this matters. Christ addresses a church that had much to commend, yet still needed to hear and obey His call to repentance.

Christ Sees the Church Clearly

The church in Ephesus was hardworking and discerning. Jesus knew its labor and patient endurance. He commended its refusal to tolerate evil and its testing of those who claimed to be apostles but were not. These believers had endured for His name without growing weary (Revelation 2:2–3).

Their discernment mattered. Jesus did not rebuke them for caring about truth or resisting false teachers. A faithful church must examine teaching, protect the flock, and refuse to give spiritual authority to those who contradict God’s Word.

Yet Christ’s commendation did not mean that everything was well. In Revelation 2:4, He confronted the church for abandoning the love it had at first.

The passage does not invite us to choose between doctrinal faithfulness and love. The Lord who praised their discernment also exposed their failure in love. His church needs both.

We should receive that warning personally. It is possible to recognize another person’s doctrinal error while excusing bitterness in our own heart. We may defend biblical preaching while neglecting prayer. We may insist that the church honor Christ while treating His people with impatience or contempt.

Christ sees all of it. He knows the public ministry and the private heart. His assessment reaches beyond a congregation’s reputation, activity, or ability to articulate its convictions.

That is good news for the church, even when His words are painful. Our Savior cares enough to expose what threatens our faithfulness. His correction calls us to return to Him.

Remember, Repent, and Return to Faithful Obedience

In Revelation 2:5, Jesus directs the Ephesian church to remember where it had fallen, repent, and do the works it had done at first.

Remembering requires an honest assessment. These Christians needed to acknowledge a real departure in their life together. Their continuing labor did not cancel their need for repentance.

We need that same honesty. When Scripture exposes a pattern of sin, we must resist the temptation to explain it away. Busyness in ministry cannot excuse neglect of our family. Theological knowledge cannot excuse pride. A history of faithful service cannot make present disobedience harmless.

Repentance means turning from sin to God. It involves acknowledging that His judgment is right, seeking His forgiveness, and taking concrete steps of obedience. For the Ephesians, that meant returning to the works that expressed the love they had abandoned.

The same principle applies to us. If we have sinned against someone, repentance includes seeking reconciliation. If we have neglected the gathering of the church, repentance includes returning to faithful participation. If we have tolerated teaching that contradicts Scripture, repentance includes rejecting that teaching and receiving the truth.

Repentance also bears fruit over time. A brief expression of regret cannot substitute for a willingness to walk in obedience. We may need help from our pastors, patient accountability from another believer, or repeated conversations with someone we have hurt.

Christ’s warning to Ephesus was serious. He warned that He would remove its lampstand unless it repented. Churches must never assume that a respected history or an active ministry makes them exempt from His judgment.

The Gospel Gives Us Reason to Confess Our Sin

Some Christians struggle to acknowledge sin because they fear what confession will reveal. They want to appear mature, dependable, and spiritually strong. Admitting failure feels like losing that standing.

The gospel frees us to tell the truth.

Our acceptance before God rests on Jesus Christ. He lived in perfect obedience, died for our sins, and rose from the dead. Those who trust in Him are justified by grace through faith, apart from works. We do not preserve our standing before God by pretending that we no longer need His mercy.

First John 1:8–9 addresses believers with both a warning and a promise. Denying our sin is self-deception. Confessing our sin brings us to the God who is faithful and just to forgive and cleanse us.

John then points us to Jesus Christ, our righteous Advocate with the Father (1 John 2:1–2). His purpose is that believers would not sin. Yet when they do, their hope remains in the Savior who has dealt with their guilt.

That truth produces humility. We can acknowledge wrong without trying to protect a reputation for perfection. We can receive correction without treating every concern as an attack. We can ask forgiveness because we know that Christ is sufficient for sinners.

Grace also teaches us to turn from ungodliness and live in a way that honors the Lord (Titus 2:11–14). Forgiveness never makes obedience unnecessary. The Savior who pardons His people also trains them in holiness.

Scripture Must Shape the Life of the Congregation

Paul tells Timothy that all Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, reproof, correction, and training in righteousness (2 Timothy 3:16–17). Each of those purposes matters for the church.

We need teaching because we must know what God has revealed. We need reproof because we wander into error and sin. We need correction because the Lord directs us back to the right path. We need training because faithful obedience must grow throughout our lives.

A congregation that welcomes biblical instruction but consistently resists biblical correction is failing to receive the full ministry of the Word.

Pastors must preach passages that confront the church as well as passages that comfort it. Church members must listen with a willingness to be corrected. Leaders must examine decisions and practices by Scripture, including practices that have become familiar or popular.

This requires care. Personal preferences must not be presented as divine commands. Accusations require truthfulness and fairness. Correction should seek restoration with gentleness, remembering our own vulnerability to temptation (Galatians 6:1).

Yet gentleness does not require silence about sin. Loving one another includes helping one another walk faithfully before the Lord.

In an ordinary congregation, this may look like a pastor acknowledging an unwise decision, a member seeking forgiveness for gossip, or two believers addressing a conflict they have allowed to linger. These moments rarely attract attention. They matter deeply to the health of Christ’s church.

Begin with the Sin God Has Shown You

It is easy to read an article about repentance and immediately think of someone else. We may identify a troubled church, an unfaithful leader, or a Christian whose conduct concerns us.

There are times when those concerns require action. But we must also bring our own lives before the Lord.

James 1:22–25 warns against hearing God’s Word without doing it. The person who hears and walks away unchanged is like someone who looks in a mirror and then forgets what he saw. Scripture calls us to continue in the Word and act upon it.

Consider what the Lord has already made clear. Is there a sin you have been excusing? A person whose forgiveness you need to seek? A responsibility you have neglected? A biblical command you affirm publicly but resist privately?

Bring that matter to the Lord. Confess it plainly. Ask for the help you need. Take the next step of obedience.

For some, that step will be a difficult conversation. For others, it will mean abandoning a sinful habit, receiving pastoral counsel, or returning to neglected duties. Faithfulness often begins with an ordinary act of obedience that pride has delayed.

You do not take that step alone. The Holy Spirit works in God’s people, and the Lord provides His Word, prayer, and the fellowship of the church to strengthen them.

Reformation takes root where God’s people receive His Word with faith and repentance. The church must continue to defend sound doctrine, proclaim the gospel, and reject false teaching. It must also allow that same truth to search its own life.

The Lord Jesus still addresses His church through His Word. His call to Ephesus reminds us that hard work and discernment do not remove our need to examine our love and obedience.

Let us hear Him with humility. Let us confess what He exposes, trust His mercy, and return to faithful obedience. A church willing to be corrected by Christ displays its dependence on Him.

Our hope rests in the Savior who loves His church and gave Himself for her. By His grace, we can keep growing in truth, holiness, and love.

Continue Growing in Biblical Truth

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