Scripture: 1 John 1:5-9
The First Covenant Church in Cadillac once hosted a New Year’s Eve party. It was special. It was hosted by the local Narcotics Anonymous and Alcoholics Anonymous groups. So, it was a “dry” party, a safe place for those in recovery. About 30 or so people came, from as far away as Traverse City, to celebrate the New Year. I also managed to encourage about ten members of my congregation to be there with them. One member, who had previously been married to an alcoholic husband, understandably exclaimed that she would never again go near “those people.” However, God moved in her heart and she did attend and was blessed and encouraged to see that some of “those people” can change!
One thing that they did at the party was to make it official, so those who were on probation could get credit for going to a meeting. So, they conducted AA meetings for part of the time. It was really funny when the leader said, “Raise your hand if this is your first AA meeting.” I looked around at the church members as they realized that they ought to raise their hands. I raised my hand too.
What was really powerful about the meeting though was listening to the stories people told about the troubles they had had and the troubles they had gotten themselves into, how hard it was to change and the progress they were making. They were confessing to us and to each other. There was no shame, no guilt trips, no judgmental glances. There was only support and sympathy for the struggle. And there was celebration of victory. I couldn’t help but think, this is what church is really supposed to be like. There ought to be honest and open confession of failure with no fear of rejection. There ought to be loving support and encouragement because that’s the best motivator toward victory.
But church isn’t always like that is it? People tend to put on a good face. We sometimes call it wearing masks. It’s a defense against criticism. Sometimes, it turns us into real hypocrites. There is a danger that many fellowship groups play a game of “I’m ok. You’re ok.” The rules are: I have to be ok because that’s what you expect from me. And you have to be ok because it looks to me like you are ok. The result is, a person can end up struggling and suffering alone, it can often feel like it’s unsafe to share our burdens. It seems like nobody else is having a problem and we are ashamed of what’s troubling us.
This is an old problem. John has addressed it already in what we read in his epistle today. Remember, he was saying this to Christians in the very early days of the church. “If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.” But we love to claim to be without sin. There is a social compulsion to protect ourselves from rebuke by claiming to be without sin. Never mind social, there is a natural compulsion born into us, we call it a sin nature, that makes our toddlers say, “I didn’t do it!”
Our behavior is driven by fear of punishment. Indeed, most religions of the world enforce their moral codes on society by instilling a fear of punishment. Even our own criminal justice system is built on the premise of threats of heavy fines or imprisonment for those who break the law. People are supposed to be afraid of those consequences enough so that they won’t break the law for fear of being caught. And enforcement of the law is also supposed to be a deterrent so that other potential crooks are afraid of the punishment so they behave better.
For safety sake, the laws must remain and be enforced, but rarely do they lead to repentance. They only help to control outward behavior, or outward appearances, and many crimes just become more hidden in the dark. Besides, for most of us, the sins we need to confess are not those of breaking man’s law, but of breaking God’s Law of Love. More often we punish ourselves by living with guilt and shame that keeps us locked inside of ourselves, isolated from healing relationships.
The power of sin is to keep us feeling unworthy and unfit for service in God’s kingdom. The power of confession is the power to break those chains. That’s why God offers the way of humble confession. He bids us come out of the dark corners where we hide our sin for fear of rebuke. God offers forgiveness and grace. He sent his Son to die on the cross so that we could see how much he loves us and wants to forgive and not punish. His unfailing love gives us the courage to confess, knowing we will not be condemned.
It is a principle of life in Christ that is hard for us to grasp. We are much more prone to keep on hiding. But this is a very old principle that God has been talking about for centuries. Even in the Old Testament, God had said, and I am sure you’ve heard this before: “If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.” That’s 2 Chronicles 7:14.
The word, “confess,” is not in that passage, but the only proper way to humble ourselves before God is to confess our sins. And how can we turn from our wicked ways if we don’t confess them and acknowledge that we have been sinning? And then God adds that he will forgive and even heal the land. The power of confession is the power to bring the return of God’s blessings to us and to our environment. The same truth is also found in the Proverbs. One good example is Proverbs 28:13, “He who conceals his sin does not prosper, but whoever confesses and renounces finds mercy.”
There is also the word in James, 5:13-15 “Is anyone among you in trouble? Let them pray. Is anyone happy? Let them sing songs of praise. Is anyone among you sick? Let them call the elders of the church to pray over them and anoint them with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise them up. If they have sinned, they will be forgiven. Therefore, confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.”
This is a message about how to do church! He didn’t talk much about singing or listening to a sermon. But James did bring up some things that we in the modern church have all too often neglected. Our shame causes us to avoid the blessings of confession. Some bad theology in our history, and some harmful practices in churches, have led many of us to think that confession should be “just between me and God.”
But the Bible says otherwise, and in calling us to confess our sins to each other, the Bible holds out hope for us that we can do it right and enjoy the benefits of confession. The power of confession is the power to create a healthy community where we really do love and care for each other in ways that help us grow, be healed and become more effective in our prayers as we acknowledge that our only righteousness is what we have in Christ.
I should also quote our Westminster Catechism on this point, so here you go: Chapter 15 is called Repentance Leading to Life. I quote: Repentance which leads to life is the blessed product of the gospel working in believers’ lives. Along with the doctrine of faith in Christ, it is a doctrine to be preached by every minister of the gospel.
In this repentance the sinner is able to see his sins as God sees them, as filthy and hateful, and as involving great danger to the sinner, because they are completely contrary to the holy nature and righteous law of God. Understanding that God in Christ is merciful to those who repent, the sinner suffers deep sorrow for and hates his sins, and so he determines to turn away from all of them. And turning to God, he tries to walk with him according to all his commandments.
Although repentance is not any satisfaction for sin and does not cause the forgiveness of sins (since forgiveness is an act of God’s voluntary grace in Christ), yet it is necessary to all sinners, and no one may expect to be forgiven without it.
Believers should not be satisfied with general repentance. Rather, it is everyone’s duty to try to repent of every individual sin individually. In keeping with that, everyone is also bound to confess privately his sins to God and to pray for forgiveness for them. Confession, prayer for forgiveness, and the forsaking of sins which have been forgiven will find God’s mercy.
Similarly, anyone who sins against his spiritual brother or the church should be willing to confess, privately or publicly, to demonstrate sorrow for his sin, and openly to state his repentance to those whom he has hurt. They in turn are to be reconciled to him and to receive him in love. End quote.
The fellowship of confession is what enables sinners to confront and confess their own sin, because everybody has sinned and ought to confess. I wonder how many of you have seen the old movie called, “The Robe.” It came out in 1953, so I imagine it’s before your time for most of you. But, somehow, we got a video of it some years ago. I’m talking about it because there is a powerful scene in it where the Roman Centurion who crucified Jesus meets up with Peter the Apostle.
The Centurion has been on a journey to faith in Jesus, but he really feels he cannot be forgiven for his great crime. When Peter asks him to join them in the faith of following Jesus, the risen Savior, the Centurion bows his head and says, “But, I crucified him.” Peter says, “I know.” And the Centurion is amazed that Peter would have anything to do with him. But then Peter confesses, “I denied him.” The Centurion already knew that Peter is the leader of the Church. Now he discovers that Peter has that place of honor in spite of his great sin, and that is what convinces the centurion that he can be forgiven too.
Confession has the power to open another heart to receive the same gospel. You will never win souls if you try to stand in a position of superiority and tell people that they need to go to church. You can never win souls if you act like you’ve got it all together so they wonder what’s wrong with them. But the power of confession is to be able to acknowledge that all I am is like a beggar who found food and can show another beggar where to get it so they can eat too.
Another thing that happened at that New Year’s Eve party that connects to what we are dealing with here is the lady from Traverse City who said, “I have been in recovery for 23 years. And it’s not that I am still struggling to overcome my addiction. I haven’t touched a drop in all that time. Here in the groups I can be myself. And I can help other addicts overcome their addictions because I used to be just like them. And if I can change, it gives them hope that they can change too. And we’ve usually met in church basements. But I still don’t go to regular church because of what people might say if they knew the truth about me. So, I’ve been to lots of churches, just not on Sunday morning. But, in all that time, 23 years, this is the first time ever that regular church members came to my meeting to be with me. Thank you.”
You see the impression that is made on people, when they are in a group of people who call themselves Christians, but who are not really honest about their own shortcomings, and not really welcoming of people who are honest about their shortcomings? You see the difference it makes when we can all be authentic, take off the masks, and seek each other’s help and encouragement to grow in grace?
Our text says, “God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.”
The power of confession is the power to stop denying what is wrong with us, so that we let God do his good work of purifying us. Even the AA and NA groups, though they do not acknowledge Jesus, do acknowledge that the first step to overcoming addiction is to admit that you have a problem. Folks, that’s confession of sin! The power of confession is the power to set the captives free.
I am involved in another kind of recovery support group that’s kind of like AA. Celebrate Recovery was founded by a Christian who initially was helped to recover from alcoholism by going to an AA group. But he wanted to talk about Jesus as his higher power, in fact the only higher power that really exists. Well, he wasn’t allowed to because one of AA’s principles is to help alcoholics no matter what they believe, without requiring them to be specifically Christian.
So, this man, named John Baker, wrote a letter to his pastor, Rick Warren, about forming a recovery group that is a Christian ministry, boldly proclaiming that Jesus is everyone’s higher power. In working out the details of how that was to be done, Pastor Rick discovered that the twelve steps in the AA and NA programs, roughly correspond to the Beatitudes in Matthew 5. And the twelve steps follow the beatitudes as a path of discipleship that applies to all believers. Everyone is addicted to sin.
Celebrate Recovery is founded on the Beatitudes, of which the first one says, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of Heaven.” That’s the first step. Undo denial by admitting to the facts, that you are powerless to control your own sinful nature without God’s gracious help. Jesus even gave us a picture of what this looks like in Luke 18:9-14.
To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everyone else, (that is, people who refuse to confess sin and don’t even know they are sinning by that refusal,) Jesus told this parable: “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’
“But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’ (That is, he confessed.)
“I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”
We know from Scripture that all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. But I am afraid many people think of that as a fancy way of saying, “Well, nobody’s perfect.” And by that they excuse their sin and excuse themselves from the effort to overcome sin. Such people are not honestly confessing. In Celebrate Recovery I realized that everyone is addicted to sin. Everyone has hurts, habits and hang ups of many kinds. I have seen the connection between Celebrate Recovery and real Christian discipleship. We are all addicted to sin. The power of confession is to break free from slavery to sin. Every Church ought to be a Celebrate Recovery Church.
As it says in 1 John 8, if we are not willing to confess sin, we lose all hope of forgiveness. “If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.” And then 9 assures us that on the other hand, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.”
So, this is part two in my series on prayer. Confession is an important part of prayer. Last week, under adoration, I pointed out how important it is for us think about who God is, who it is that has invited us into relationship with him. It is important for us to acknowledge how mighty, powerful, holy, wonderful, loving, gracious, compassionate and kind he is. It is just as important for us to regularly acknowledge who we are as we come before him; how weak, selfish, unkind, unholy and dispassionate we are when left to ourselves. The contrast between his goodness and our sinfulness is ever so vast. Some have described it as a wide chasm that separates us from God. Christ is the bridge who has made a way of salvation so that we can draw near to god. But to go that way, we have to go through the forgiveness of our sins, and we can only fully appreciate that forgiveness when we confess our sins that need forgiving.
I recently heard a story of a woman who was speaking to a minister about how she kept on feeling distant from God even though she prayed to receive him several times over. The Spirit gave him the insight to ask whether she had ever confessed her sins before God, to which she responded that she didn’t think she was that bad. The point was then made, that if we want to receive Christ, for all the blessings we may think he could provide, but we don’t confess our sins and ask for his help to repent and turn away from them, then we are essentially asking God to allow our sins to continue. When we think we don’t need him to forgive our sins, we are asking him to condone them. God just can’t get near that.
I believe with all my heart, that as we adore God for all he really is, we would be led to confess our sins also. The only other way to respond to God’s holy Glory is to try to hide from him as Adam and Eve did in the garden. So, in prayer, the practice that I want to support and encourage is that of first adoring God, and then confessing our sin before him, giving thanks for the righteousness we have in Christ and for God’s faithfulness to forgive our sin whenever we confess.
Now, I am not advocating that anyone should just publicly announce anything they feel guilty about, as if just getting it off your chest that way will solve everything. That kind of behavior can create more problems for you. Right now, I just want to add a sentence of confession to our prayer insert each week and incorporate it into our worship practice from here on out. I also want to encourage any of you, who may be dealing with weightier matters, that I want to be available to you as a minister of the gospel. I am willing to hear private confessions of sin and struggles. I promise to be a safe person you can trust. I want to pray with you and for you.
There is one final point to be made about confession. It is not just about admitting how bad we are. Confession really means telling the truth. And so, we have Romans 10:9 where it says, “If you declare (or confess) with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess your faith and are saved.
Let us therefore make the good confession, both of our need of Christ because of our sin, and our need of Jesus Christ’s sufficiency and grace to cover all our sins if we confess. The power of confession really comes down to the way it opens our hearts to receive God’s grace and mercy in our lives.
Let us pray. Here we are Lord, still not perfect, still plagued by sins, great or small, that separate us from fuller fellowship with you. In these next few moments Lord, we will sit here and silently, privately confess to you whatever of our sins you bring to mind as we allow you to examine our hearts and show us what we need to hand over to you.
In Jesus’ name, amen.
The First Covenant Church in Cadillac once hosted a New Year’s Eve party. It was special. It was hosted by the local Narcotics Anonymous and Alcoholics Anonymous groups. So, it was a “dry” party, a safe place for those in recovery. About 30 or so people came, from as far away as Traverse City, to celebrate the New Year. I also managed to encourage about ten members of my congregation to be there with them. One member, who had previously been married to an alcoholic husband, understandably exclaimed that she would never again go near “those people.” However, God moved in her heart and she did attend and was blessed and encouraged to see that some of “those people” can change!
One thing that they did at the party was to make it official, so those who were on probation could get credit for going to a meeting. So, they conducted AA meetings for part of the time. It was really funny when the leader said, “Raise your hand if this is your first AA meeting.” I looked around at the church members as they realized that they ought to raise their hands. I raised my hand too.
What was really powerful about the meeting though was listening to the stories people told about the troubles they had had and the troubles they had gotten themselves into, how hard it was to change and the progress they were making. They were confessing to us and to each other. There was no shame, no guilt trips, no judgmental glances. There was only support and sympathy for the struggle. And there was celebration of victory. I couldn’t help but think, this is what church is really supposed to be like. There ought to be honest and open confession of failure with no fear of rejection. There ought to be loving support and encouragement because that’s the best motivator toward victory.
But church isn’t always like that is it? People tend to put on a good face. We sometimes call it wearing masks. It’s a defense against criticism. Sometimes, it turns us into real hypocrites. There is a danger that many fellowship groups play a game of “I’m ok. You’re ok.” The rules are: I have to be ok because that’s what you expect from me. And you have to be ok because it looks to me like you are ok. The result is, a person can end up struggling and suffering alone, it can often feel like it’s unsafe to share our burdens. It seems like nobody else is having a problem and we are ashamed of what’s troubling us.
This is an old problem. John has addressed it already in what we read in his epistle today. Remember, he was saying this to Christians in the very early days of the church. “If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.” But we love to claim to be without sin. There is a social compulsion to protect ourselves from rebuke by claiming to be without sin. Never mind social, there is a natural compulsion born into us, we call it a sin nature, that makes our toddlers say, “I didn’t do it!”
Our behavior is driven by fear of punishment. Indeed, most religions of the world enforce their moral codes on society by instilling a fear of punishment. Even our own criminal justice system is built on the premise of threats of heavy fines or imprisonment for those who break the law. People are supposed to be afraid of those consequences enough so that they won’t break the law for fear of being caught. And enforcement of the law is also supposed to be a deterrent so that other potential crooks are afraid of the punishment so they behave better.
For safety sake, the laws must remain and be enforced, but rarely do they lead to repentance. They only help to control outward behavior, or outward appearances, and many crimes just become more hidden in the dark. Besides, for most of us, the sins we need to confess are not those of breaking man’s law, but of breaking God’s Law of Love. More often we punish ourselves by living with guilt and shame that keeps us locked inside of ourselves, isolated from healing relationships.
The power of sin is to keep us feeling unworthy and unfit for service in God’s kingdom. The power of confession is the power to break those chains. That’s why God offers the way of humble confession. He bids us come out of the dark corners where we hide our sin for fear of rebuke. God offers forgiveness and grace. He sent his Son to die on the cross so that we could see how much he loves us and wants to forgive and not punish. His unfailing love gives us the courage to confess, knowing we will not be condemned.
It is a principle of life in Christ that is hard for us to grasp. We are much more prone to keep on hiding. But this is a very old principle that God has been talking about for centuries. Even in the Old Testament, God had said, and I am sure you’ve heard this before: “If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.” That’s 2 Chronicles 7:14.
The word, “confess,” is not in that passage, but the only proper way to humble ourselves before God is to confess our sins. And how can we turn from our wicked ways if we don’t confess them and acknowledge that we have been sinning? And then God adds that he will forgive and even heal the land. The power of confession is the power to bring the return of God’s blessings to us and to our environment. The same truth is also found in the Proverbs. One good example is Proverbs 28:13, “He who conceals his sin does not prosper, but whoever confesses and renounces finds mercy.”
There is also the word in James, 5:13-15 “Is anyone among you in trouble? Let them pray. Is anyone happy? Let them sing songs of praise. Is anyone among you sick? Let them call the elders of the church to pray over them and anoint them with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise them up. If they have sinned, they will be forgiven. Therefore, confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.”
This is a message about how to do church! He didn’t talk much about singing or listening to a sermon. But James did bring up some things that we in the modern church have all too often neglected. Our shame causes us to avoid the blessings of confession. Some bad theology in our history, and some harmful practices in churches, have led many of us to think that confession should be “just between me and God.”
But the Bible says otherwise, and in calling us to confess our sins to each other, the Bible holds out hope for us that we can do it right and enjoy the benefits of confession. The power of confession is the power to create a healthy community where we really do love and care for each other in ways that help us grow, be healed and become more effective in our prayers as we acknowledge that our only righteousness is what we have in Christ.
I should also quote our Westminster Catechism on this point, so here you go: Chapter 15 is called Repentance Leading to Life. I quote: Repentance which leads to life is the blessed product of the gospel working in believers’ lives. Along with the doctrine of faith in Christ, it is a doctrine to be preached by every minister of the gospel.
In this repentance the sinner is able to see his sins as God sees them, as filthy and hateful, and as involving great danger to the sinner, because they are completely contrary to the holy nature and righteous law of God. Understanding that God in Christ is merciful to those who repent, the sinner suffers deep sorrow for and hates his sins, and so he determines to turn away from all of them. And turning to God, he tries to walk with him according to all his commandments.
Although repentance is not any satisfaction for sin and does not cause the forgiveness of sins (since forgiveness is an act of God’s voluntary grace in Christ), yet it is necessary to all sinners, and no one may expect to be forgiven without it.
Believers should not be satisfied with general repentance. Rather, it is everyone’s duty to try to repent of every individual sin individually. In keeping with that, everyone is also bound to confess privately his sins to God and to pray for forgiveness for them. Confession, prayer for forgiveness, and the forsaking of sins which have been forgiven will find God’s mercy.
Similarly, anyone who sins against his spiritual brother or the church should be willing to confess, privately or publicly, to demonstrate sorrow for his sin, and openly to state his repentance to those whom he has hurt. They in turn are to be reconciled to him and to receive him in love. End quote.
The fellowship of confession is what enables sinners to confront and confess their own sin, because everybody has sinned and ought to confess. I wonder how many of you have seen the old movie called, “The Robe.” It came out in 1953, so I imagine it’s before your time for most of you. But, somehow, we got a video of it some years ago. I’m talking about it because there is a powerful scene in it where the Roman Centurion who crucified Jesus meets up with Peter the Apostle.
The Centurion has been on a journey to faith in Jesus, but he really feels he cannot be forgiven for his great crime. When Peter asks him to join them in the faith of following Jesus, the risen Savior, the Centurion bows his head and says, “But, I crucified him.” Peter says, “I know.” And the Centurion is amazed that Peter would have anything to do with him. But then Peter confesses, “I denied him.” The Centurion already knew that Peter is the leader of the Church. Now he discovers that Peter has that place of honor in spite of his great sin, and that is what convinces the centurion that he can be forgiven too.
Confession has the power to open another heart to receive the same gospel. You will never win souls if you try to stand in a position of superiority and tell people that they need to go to church. You can never win souls if you act like you’ve got it all together so they wonder what’s wrong with them. But the power of confession is to be able to acknowledge that all I am is like a beggar who found food and can show another beggar where to get it so they can eat too.
Another thing that happened at that New Year’s Eve party that connects to what we are dealing with here is the lady from Traverse City who said, “I have been in recovery for 23 years. And it’s not that I am still struggling to overcome my addiction. I haven’t touched a drop in all that time. Here in the groups I can be myself. And I can help other addicts overcome their addictions because I used to be just like them. And if I can change, it gives them hope that they can change too. And we’ve usually met in church basements. But I still don’t go to regular church because of what people might say if they knew the truth about me. So, I’ve been to lots of churches, just not on Sunday morning. But, in all that time, 23 years, this is the first time ever that regular church members came to my meeting to be with me. Thank you.”
You see the impression that is made on people, when they are in a group of people who call themselves Christians, but who are not really honest about their own shortcomings, and not really welcoming of people who are honest about their shortcomings? You see the difference it makes when we can all be authentic, take off the masks, and seek each other’s help and encouragement to grow in grace?
Our text says, “God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.”
The power of confession is the power to stop denying what is wrong with us, so that we let God do his good work of purifying us. Even the AA and NA groups, though they do not acknowledge Jesus, do acknowledge that the first step to overcoming addiction is to admit that you have a problem. Folks, that’s confession of sin! The power of confession is the power to set the captives free.
I am involved in another kind of recovery support group that’s kind of like AA. Celebrate Recovery was founded by a Christian who initially was helped to recover from alcoholism by going to an AA group. But he wanted to talk about Jesus as his higher power, in fact the only higher power that really exists. Well, he wasn’t allowed to because one of AA’s principles is to help alcoholics no matter what they believe, without requiring them to be specifically Christian.
So, this man, named John Baker, wrote a letter to his pastor, Rick Warren, about forming a recovery group that is a Christian ministry, boldly proclaiming that Jesus is everyone’s higher power. In working out the details of how that was to be done, Pastor Rick discovered that the twelve steps in the AA and NA programs, roughly correspond to the Beatitudes in Matthew 5. And the twelve steps follow the beatitudes as a path of discipleship that applies to all believers. Everyone is addicted to sin.
Celebrate Recovery is founded on the Beatitudes, of which the first one says, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of Heaven.” That’s the first step. Undo denial by admitting to the facts, that you are powerless to control your own sinful nature without God’s gracious help. Jesus even gave us a picture of what this looks like in Luke 18:9-14.
To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everyone else, (that is, people who refuse to confess sin and don’t even know they are sinning by that refusal,) Jesus told this parable: “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’
“But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’ (That is, he confessed.)
“I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”
We know from Scripture that all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. But I am afraid many people think of that as a fancy way of saying, “Well, nobody’s perfect.” And by that they excuse their sin and excuse themselves from the effort to overcome sin. Such people are not honestly confessing. In Celebrate Recovery I realized that everyone is addicted to sin. Everyone has hurts, habits and hang ups of many kinds. I have seen the connection between Celebrate Recovery and real Christian discipleship. We are all addicted to sin. The power of confession is to break free from slavery to sin. Every Church ought to be a Celebrate Recovery Church.
As it says in 1 John 8, if we are not willing to confess sin, we lose all hope of forgiveness. “If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.” And then 9 assures us that on the other hand, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.”
So, this is part two in my series on prayer. Confession is an important part of prayer. Last week, under adoration, I pointed out how important it is for us think about who God is, who it is that has invited us into relationship with him. It is important for us to acknowledge how mighty, powerful, holy, wonderful, loving, gracious, compassionate and kind he is. It is just as important for us to regularly acknowledge who we are as we come before him; how weak, selfish, unkind, unholy and dispassionate we are when left to ourselves. The contrast between his goodness and our sinfulness is ever so vast. Some have described it as a wide chasm that separates us from God. Christ is the bridge who has made a way of salvation so that we can draw near to god. But to go that way, we have to go through the forgiveness of our sins, and we can only fully appreciate that forgiveness when we confess our sins that need forgiving.
I recently heard a story of a woman who was speaking to a minister about how she kept on feeling distant from God even though she prayed to receive him several times over. The Spirit gave him the insight to ask whether she had ever confessed her sins before God, to which she responded that she didn’t think she was that bad. The point was then made, that if we want to receive Christ, for all the blessings we may think he could provide, but we don’t confess our sins and ask for his help to repent and turn away from them, then we are essentially asking God to allow our sins to continue. When we think we don’t need him to forgive our sins, we are asking him to condone them. God just can’t get near that.
I believe with all my heart, that as we adore God for all he really is, we would be led to confess our sins also. The only other way to respond to God’s holy Glory is to try to hide from him as Adam and Eve did in the garden. So, in prayer, the practice that I want to support and encourage is that of first adoring God, and then confessing our sin before him, giving thanks for the righteousness we have in Christ and for God’s faithfulness to forgive our sin whenever we confess.
Now, I am not advocating that anyone should just publicly announce anything they feel guilty about, as if just getting it off your chest that way will solve everything. That kind of behavior can create more problems for you. Right now, I just want to add a sentence of confession to our prayer insert each week and incorporate it into our worship practice from here on out. I also want to encourage any of you, who may be dealing with weightier matters, that I want to be available to you as a minister of the gospel. I am willing to hear private confessions of sin and struggles. I promise to be a safe person you can trust. I want to pray with you and for you.
There is one final point to be made about confession. It is not just about admitting how bad we are. Confession really means telling the truth. And so, we have Romans 10:9 where it says, “If you declare (or confess) with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess your faith and are saved.
Let us therefore make the good confession, both of our need of Christ because of our sin, and our need of Jesus Christ’s sufficiency and grace to cover all our sins if we confess. The power of confession really comes down to the way it opens our hearts to receive God’s grace and mercy in our lives.
Let us pray. Here we are Lord, still not perfect, still plagued by sins, great or small, that separate us from fuller fellowship with you. In these next few moments Lord, we will sit here and silently, privately confess to you whatever of our sins you bring to mind as we allow you to examine our hearts and show us what we need to hand over to you.
In Jesus’ name, amen.
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