The Practice of Confession

Couple of things before reading the sermon. I didn't type the end... I just went with that last thought and connected confession with peacemaking. I got the idea for this sermon from a Rob Bell sermon on confession, but if you listen to his sermon, mine is VERY different. Still his did inspire this. Finally, I mention my friend Jonathan Malone, who helped with some history and theology. Thanks Malone.


Intro:
There has been a lot of apologizing in the news this past week. Taylor Swift, who is apparently a country music singer, won an award for a music video. A Rap star named Kanye West interrupted her acceptance speech to give the audience a lecture about how Taylor Swift didn’t deserve the award as much as Beyonce did. Afterword… he had to issue an apology. Serena Williams a tennis pro challenged John McEnroe when a line judge made a bad call… she verbally accosted the line judge in with a barrage of obscenities and threats, which eventually cost her the match. She had to apologize twice. (I’ll come back to that). A football player () had to apologize for having custom cleats made that challenged his team’s owner to pay him for money… he already make 9 million dollars and he feels he is getting cheated. And he had to apologize.
The interesting thing about these apologies is that most of them weren’t apologies. Kanye Apologized to Taylor Swift, but in his apology basically defended what he did by saying he was ‘keeping it real’… which is to say that he was just being honest… and so he apologized if anyone was hurt by it. That is how the football player apologized too. I’m sorry if anyone was offended. Now notice those apologies. I’m sorry if anyone was offended is not actually admitting that you have done something wrong. It isn’t taking responsibility for your actions. Its basically saying that the one’s offended are at fault.
The interesting thing about Serena Williams is that her first apology didn’t sound sincere so she issued another apology which sounded more sincere. I read one sports-writers opinion of this and basically he said that it didn’t really matter if Serena was sorry or not… she just needed to sound apologetic. It didn’t really matter is she meant her apology.
At issue here is honesty and integrity. We live in an age where both seem not only lacking, but it apparently doesn’t seem to matter to people that it is. One president tells the nation there are weapons of mass destruction in Iraq… which were never found… the claim never substantiated. And to be fair the previous president wanted to quibble about the meaning of the word is… remember that famous phrase.. it depends on what your definition of is, is.
Which got me to thinking about practice of the early church… a practice that we as Baptist’s don’t think of as a part of our heritage… but I want to suggest that we need to revisit it… just because the culture around us… the culture in which we raise children and grandchildren sets such a low standard for honesty and integrity. That practice is confession.

Turn with me to 1 John 1

Jn 1:8-10; 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives.

The Greek word translated confess is homologeo or exomologeo homou means at the same time… logos… word or say… to say or speak …homologeo… so speak at the same time. One translator suggests To be in harmony.
Just to add another perspective Hebrew word for confess is Yahdah… meaning to throw or cast away…
But to get the full effect of what the writer of 1 John is trying to say we have to read the verses that come before what we just read.
1 Jn 1:1-8
1:1 That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched — this we proclaim concerning the Word of life. 2 The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us. 3 We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. 4 We Write this to make our joy complete.
5 This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. 6 If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth. 7 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. 8 If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.

Now, you tell me… what does the first phrase of I John 1… That which was from the beginning… remind you of? It should remind you of the beginning of the gospel of John… which is… In the beginning was the word… and that in turn reminds you of? Genesis 1… In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
In just a few words… just one word in greek really arche… beginning… the writer of first John has taken the story of our human failings and frailty… our sin and connected it to a cosmic story… the story of God creating all things.

This is amazing stuff. Sin is such a difficult word because it carries such baggage doesn’t it. Often it is religious baggage… listening to preachers who attack and berate and judge from the pulpit… No wonder we avoid talking about it… thinking about it… facing it. It can be so painful to remember how isolated we felt, perhaps as kids , when the priest or preacher started condemning and warning and frightening us with sin and hell and punishment and God’s anger.

Notice what is happening in 1 John 1 though that is really quite amazingly different. There is honesty first…6 If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth. Ok, so the writer is warning us to be honest with ourselves. And that alone can be a challenge right? The time to honestly stop and take a good look at ourselves is difficult to come by… and if we are carrying baggage then to honestly look can hurt…7 But…the writer pens for us… 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.
Fellowship in Greek is koinonia and it means at its very root sharing….
But the writer of 1 John isn’t talking about sin and confession through scare tactics, judgment, self-righteousness or threats… He is telling us to remember creation. Remember In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth… Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.

1 John isn’t inviting us to a horror show of guilt and shame… but to be a part, a participant in this creative act. Whatever failures, mistakes, poor decisions, unhealthy habits… all summed in sin…whatever that sin is that is the formless, empty, deep, darkness that we are avoiding… we can confess… we can honestly admit… because honestly admitting sin leads to a new creation… in us.
Confession, according to 1 John 1 is meant to be a creative, life-affirming and confident act that frees us from the emptiness and darkness of sin and frees us to live into a full life freed from guilt and regret.

Now, lets look at another scripture where confession is mentioned.
Jas 5:15-16
15 And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise him up. If he has sinned, he will be forgiven. 16 Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed.
Where the writer of 1 John talks to us about the benefits of confessing to God our sins… so that we can be freed from darkness and emptiness, toward a new creation… James is a bit more challenging.

Confess your sins to each other, he says
Now, I was raised to believe that confession was all well and good, but that confession to priest or pastor was not necessary or appropriate for Baptists. That was a catholic thing…

I asked my friend Jonathan about confession and he told me something that was shocking. Some Baptist churches in the 1700’s, including the Swansea church, practiced confession. Now individual’s did not come to the preacher to confess. They held a Wednesday night meeting and confessions would be made before the group that had gathered… they would listen, discern, and pray.
Now, before you completely shut the whole idea out of your head…just follow me for a minute.
Remember that in 1 John we had the word fellowship… koinonia in greek… which means sharing. In James why does the writer, James say we should confess to one another? Healing.
Sin is isolation. In Genesis 1 before the Fall, Adam and Eve and Yahweh walk together in the garden. Adam and Eve eat the fruit and then they hide… they are isolated from God. Sin is a separation from God and from one another. And sin is isolating. When we are struggling with sin… we can feel like we are the only one, like no one will understand, that people will think poorly of us, not like or love us anymore… and so we avoid it. What James is urging us to realize is that the best way to deal with the isolation of sin… is to be a community that uses confession so that we can support one another. The church hearing the confession isn’t meant to judge, to banish, to gossip, to punish… but to listen and pray and offer support. I think that what James has in mind is a bit like a twelve step program and meeting… a place where we can confess that we are addicted to whatever… and the people listening do not judge or condone… but understand and offer support.
James idea of church is not that this is meant to be a social club for those who already have it all figured out… but that it would be a family in which the burden of our failings and mistakes wouldn’t have to be carried alone any longer. This isn’t meant to be a social club for those who have it all figured out and straightened out… but a place to come with our brokenness to find support… to find mentors who have had similar struggles… to be isolated no longer.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer in his book Life Together suggests that confession should be a regular part of the church’s life. He doesn’t suggest that we start admitting things to the whole church… but that we create partnerships… one on one relationships… where we can seek guidance and support with our struggles.
Jesus himself in Mt 18:15 "If your brother sins against you, go and show him his fault, just between the two of you. If he listens to you, you have won your brother over.
Notice that although confession isn’t mentioned specifically… what is described is confession. And the end result is not vengeance, anger, punishment… but reconciliation. And it just needs to be between two people who have experienced an event that caused isolation and break in their relationship.
I do think that as Baptists we can reclaim the practice of confession, not to a group, perhaps not even as Bonhoeffer suggested a regular practice with a partner… but just in those instances where we have wronged another… to start confession there. The tough part… but important part.. is that the wronged person… being confessed too… becomes the prayer partner… the supportive mentor…
1 John 1: fellowship comes from koinonia –sharer
James 5; the point of confession for James is healing… sin need no longer be isolating… through confession we are no longer alone or ashamed of our failings because we have the unconditional love and support of our sister and brothers in Christ. Confession leads to intimacy, community, confidence…
Confession is a part of the foundation of peacemaking