Spiritual Disciplines: Confession
June 13, 2021
This week, we’re looking at the spiritual discipline of confession, so I thought I would start with a confession. Well, before I start, let me preface this with the fact that confession is not easy to do.
In my family I am probably the most persnickity / particular / meticulous / nitpicky person, especially about certain things. I’m trying to not use a certain word. Don’t judge me, because some of you are this way, too, but won’t admit it.
I believe when you open a package, you need to open it carefully. You cut the corner off, or you gently rip the bag open. That’s how it’s supposed to be. I think that makes sense. You know what I mean?
Well, one day I came in and there was a bag of chips, just ripped open. It’s like these pictures. You cannot cleanly put the bag away. It gripes me.
So, I got everyone together. I know I was innocent, because I wouldn’t do that and if I did, I would make sure to fix the bag. So, I showed everyone the bag. Then I asked Debbie, Joshua, and Zachary. . . did you do this?
Everyone looked at me with blank looks and said they didn’t do it. Are you serious?! Someone had to do it. In the whole scheme of things, it wasn’t a big deal. I was more irritated than mad. I just wanted to know the culprit. Nobody, absolutely nobody would confess! And they all did it with straight faces.
To this day, I still don’t know who did it. I have my suspicions.
I have 2 points - 1) I need help. 2) and most importantly, confession isn’t easy.
Is it that way with you? Have you ever done something and admitting what you did, was not easy? It may have been no big deal, but you were freaked out about it, so you kept quiet. Maybe it was an accident, or you forgot to tell someone something or you stained that new white sofa.
We don’t teach children to lie, but when you ask them, ‘did you eat that cookie?’ They quickly learn to say NO, while their face is cookie stained. Confession isn’t easy. Have you ever been there?
You made that stain, committed that sin, messed up somewhere along the way. You see, the truth is, we’ve all stained the sofa. Some of the stains are small and barely noticeable. But some of them bleed through the entire fabric of our lives. They are the stains we regret and think about as we lay in bed at night, staring at the ceiling, wishing we could go back in time and change those moments.
As difficult as confessing to one another might be, many of us struggle with living in the reality of God’s forgiveness. We can intellectualize God’s gift of forgiveness, yet it doesn’t work its way into our everyday living.
This inability to accept the reality of forgiveness is the reason God has given us the practice of confession. Sometimes people wonder, ‘If I’m a Christian and God has already forgiven me, why should I have to confess?’ It’s a good question.
Confession is not something God has us do because He needs it. God isn’t clutching tightly to His mercy, as if we have to pry it from His fingers. We confess in order to heal and be changed.
When we practice confession, we’re liberated from our guilt; and hopefully we enter the transformational process in which we will become less likely to sin in the same way in the future. Sin begins to look and feel less attractive.
There are two audiences we come before in confession. In James 5, James has been telling the people to offer prayers for one another – which can bring healing to those who are sick. Then James said,
16 ... confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective” - James 5:16
James gives us one type of confession - confession to one another. One very important point to keep in mind is that James was speaking to Christians confessing to other Christians. The belief is that we can listen and encourage in a way others who are not Christ followers can’t. Not that they can’t be helpful, but our ultimate forgiver is Jesus. This hopefully helps the confessor to find peace as they move forward in their relationship with others and with God.
When we confess to one another, we find our burdens can be lifted as we find comfort from a spiritually mature brother or sister in Christ. This helps us experience reconciliation with God and others and find freedom from our sins. Sometimes we need to talk to someone and talk out what’s going on in our lives.
A couple other quick thoughts on this aspect of confession - -
• Always find a safe person - who you trust (intimate / vulnerable)
• Practice accountability - make it reciprocal with a partner
• Experience their grace = as they lead you to Christ
A second type of confession comes when we confess to God. We see this many times in the Scriptures. One of my favorite confessional statements occurs in 1 John 1:9, where we read --
9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. - 1 John 1:9
It is one of the great statements of the Bible. For we realize that IF we confess our sins, God will hear our confession, then He will forgive us, but not only will He forgive us, He will also cleanse us from our unrighteousness. This gives us the opportunity to move back to our relationship with God, which was broken because of our sins, and is now restored, because of our confession.
I believe this passage joins confession and repentance. You see, we can’t only confess. Confession only takes us part way to the promised land. When we confess, we admit to our sinfulness. And that’s a HUGE first step. But we can’t stop there, and I believe this passage helps us see that when God cleanses us, that is part of the repentance aspect.
When we confess, we admit I did this or that. We can clearly state it. I took that last cookie. I took that money. I cheated, I coveted. Whatever it is . . . we admit it. Now we move into repentance, that’s the final cleansing. Repentance means we turn from our sin and move in the opposite direction. If I took something of yours, it’s not enough to admit it, but now I need to return it or pay you for it. I need to make up for what I did, if possible.
Sometimes, you can’t take back what you did. You can’t make up for the words which flew off your tongue or the words you typed in that nasty email or text. But repentance can occur when you acknowledge to that person what you did, and ask them to forgive you and intentional attempt to change your behavior.
When we move through the process of confession we have a greater opportunity to experience the power of forgiveness.
OK - - - At this point as I was writing I came to a cross roads. Do I talk more about the process or steps in confession, or talk about the hope we have in receiving God’s grace and reconciliation. I’m going with the reconciliation aspect, because so foundational, freeing and empowering.
If you have questions about steps, please come and talk to me.
To help us see the amazing effects of reconciliation, we’re going to use Paul’s words in Romans 5:9-11 as our framework - - -
9 Since, therefore, we have now been justified by His blood, much more shall we be saved by Him from the wrath of God.
10 For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by His life.
11 More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation. - Romans 5:9-11
It’s really cool what Paul’s doing. He’s using a form of speech called a fortiori.
A fortiori literally means "from the stronger argument." It’s used when drawing a conclusion that's even more obvious or convincing than the one just mentioned.
Basically it works like this - - If the greater thing is true, then the lesser thing must also be true. Paul uses that in each of these verses. If God has done the harder thing, then surely He will do the easier one as well.
Paul’s making remarkable statements showing that we are to live within the tension of what we “already” have and what is “still to come.” Look at verse 9 --
9 Since, therefore, we have now been justified by His blood, much more shall we be saved by Him from the wrath of God.
I’m going to look at each verse from the Bible paraphrase called The Message by Eugene Peterson. He wrote ---
9 Now that we are set right with God by means of this sacrificial death, the consummate blood sacrifice, there is no longer a question of being at odds with God in any way.
Paul is telling us that we’ve been justified by the blood of Christ. He shed His blood for us so that we could be proclaimed not guilty / innocent. It’s called Forensic justification. A big theological phrase which is a legal term, meaning God, as the righteous judge, has declared us NOT GUILTY!! It’s an instantaneous legal act by God in which God now views our sins as washed away. We’re cleansed by the blood of Jesus, our burdens are lifted at Calvary.
To add to this, Paul also said - -
21 For our sake God made Him (Jesus) to be sin who knew no sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God. - 2 Corinthians 5:21
and in Romans 8:1 -
8 There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. - Romans 8:1
We aren’t condemned! We are made righteous because of Jesus. We’re saved by the shed blood of Jesus. This is so crucial, I can say it over and over . . . we are not saved by any other way!! Salvation comes through the shed blood of Jesus. It’s vitally important. Listen to these passages - -
22 . . . without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins. - Hebrews 9:22
18 You were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold,
19 but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot. - 1 Peter 1:18-19
7 . . . the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin. - 1 John 1:7
There is no forgiveness without blood. The blood redeems and cleanses us.
OK, now we come to verse 10 of Romans 5, Paul said --
10 For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by His life.
This is what Paul is getting at - - -
Since Jesus shed His blood for us, He died for us. So, through the death of the Savior do we experience redemption, reconciliation and renewal. Now, don’t you think a living Savior can give us a more abundant life?
The resurrected Jesus now lives within us through the power of the Holy Spirit. I think the way Eugene Peterson paraphrased verse 10 makes this easier to understand.
10 If, when we were at our worst, we were put on friendly terms with God by the sacrificial death of His Son, now that we’re at our best,
just think of how our lives will expand and deepen by means of His resurrection life!
You see, we’re at our best, because we’re no longer enemies with God. We are reconciled, we’re on the same team, so just imagine how much more our lives will be better through His resurrected life. That’s what Paul is getting at. Make sense?
As Paul argues from the greater to the lesser, again using fortiori. He’s telling us that since believers are now reconciled to God through Christ’s death, we can be assured we are saved. And this is hugely important - - - - the word salvation in the Bible not only means salvation at the start of the Christian life but also completed sanctification, glorification, and freedom from final condemnation, and heavenly rewards.
That’s what Paul was getting at in 1 Thessalonians 5, when he said --
9 For God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ,
10 who died for us so that whether we are AWAKE or ASLEEP we might live with Him. - 1 Thessalonians 5:9-10
If you have faith in Christ, whether you’re alive or died, you have salvation because of your faith. That cannot ever be taken away.
Isn’t that great news?! We should be celebrating the Jesus’ offer!
As we practice confession. Remember, that’s what this is about. Because if we don’t confess, we can’t receive these gifts from Jesus. So, we’re justified by His blood and saved from His wrath. Secondly, we’re reconciled by His death and saved by His life. And now we move to our final verse. Paul tells us - - -
11 More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation. - Romans 5:9-11
Paul’s telling us that we’ve now received reconciliation and therefore we rejoice in God. Let’s go back to the summary from Eugene Peterson for verse 11 - -
11 Now that we have actually received this amazing friendship with God, we are no longer content to simply say it in plodding prose.
We sing and shout our praises to God through Jesus, the Messiah!
In some ways that becomes our impetus to worship and praise Jesus. As Peterson wrote, and I love it, and yet we so powerfully struggle with it . . .
WE CAN’T STAY CONTENT AND PLOD ALONG - - -
INSTEAD WE NEED TO SING AND SHOUT AND PRAISE GOD!!
Our confession comes in stating to God we are sinners in need of His grace and mercy. That’s really the starting point in the faith process. It’s admitting each of us is a sinner in need of reconciliation, because we were enemies with God.
Through the death of Jesus, the shedding of His blood, we are now redeemed, no longer subject to His wrath. Now we receive His mercy, His grace, the promise of eternal life, the promise of the Spirit, the promise God will never abandon us, a hope that will never end, an inheritance fit for a king / queen.
John tells us - -
12 But to all who did receive Jesus, who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God - John 1:12
And Paul tells us in Galatians 4:7 -
7 So you are no longer a slave, but a child, and if a child, then an heir through God. - Galatians 4:7
Now that is worth shouting and celebrating!!
Finally, Jesus tells us - -
24 Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes Him who sent me has eternal life. You do not come into judgment, but have passed from death to life. - John 5:24
There’s no other way. Confessing to one another is healing, encouraging and really so vital for you and I in our journey to grow in Christ.
But, it must always start with confessing Jesus as Lord and Savior in our lives. When we do that we are assured as Jesus tells us that we have crossed over from death to life.
Through faith in Jesus,
• We have been justified by His blood and saved from God’s wrath.
• We are reconciled by His death and are eternally saved through Jesus.
• We have received reconciliation and we rejoice in God.
Our burdens are lifted at Calvary!!
FINAL SONG - Burdens are Lifted at Calvary
