Worship Through Confession

This morning we are going to consider the ways in which we worship God by looking at confession as an act of worship. Now, I know when I say the word, “confession”, it’s likely to get our Baptist cackles up, and that’s mainly because of our reaction against the practice of Confession that we find in the Roman Catholic Church. Yet, the Bible makes it clear that we should confess. At a very basic level, we all believe that the way we speak and what we speak about matters a great deal. We teach our children, from an early age, to watch what they say. My Dad tells a story of one day when he went out to our barn to find a tool. While he was out there, he overheard my brother, Patrick, and I talking behind the barn. We were discussing the various “bad” words that we knew. Patrick told me that he knew the worst word of all, but he couldn’t bring himself to say it. So, I set out to guess. I proposed one word, to which Patrick answered, “no, not that.” I asked, “well what about _____?” Patrick responded, “No, it’s even worse than that.” I finally gave up and just asked, “Well, what is it?!” Patrick answered, “Roll Tide!”

Even children know that certain words shouldn’t be said. Yet, it’s not just the words we use, but also the subjects that matter. What we talk about is ultimately a reflection of our desires. If you want to know what someone loves or hates the most, listen to what he or she talks about. For some, Sports is the center of their lives. They listen to the sports talk shows, read all the articles, watch every game, and all you can talk to them about is their favorite team. For others, politics takes the cake. They leave Fox News or CNN running in the background all day long. Every post on Facebook and every conversation in Walmart eventually turns to politics. For still others, relationships (and particularly the physical aspect of them) are most important. They love the crude joke, the demeaning comment about a woman, the flirtation at work. What we love and hate will show up in how we talk because speech is a reflection of our heart. In Matt. 5:18, Jesus says, “What comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this defiles a man.” Our speech is not idle and meaningless. It reflects who we are. The Bible calls this act of speaking from the heart “confession”. This morning, I want to survey Scripture to see three different types of confession: adoration, admission, and acknowledgement.

Let’s start by turning to Psalm 67:1-5. From this passage I want you to see confession as adoration. The Psalmist calls on all the nations to praise God. This word, “praise”, is the Hebrew word, “yadah”, which means “to tell out” or to confess. The act of praise is an often misunderstood concept. Praise is the act of speaking out about who God is. It is not primarily giving thanks for something that he has done (although that can be part of it), but rather speaking about the attributes and glory of God. The Psalmist gives us three reasons why we should praise God. In verse 1, he calls us to praise God for his gracious presence. God’s presence ought to call his people to praise him. In verse 2, he calls us to praise him for his saving power. The fact that God has saved you and given you a home in Heaven ought to motivate you to praise him. Finally, in verse 4, God’s wise provision is a reason to praise him. God provides justice and equity to the oppressed. While the governments of this world deal corruptly, God will ultimately bring about perfect justice.

The next way we confess is through admission. To see this, turn with me to 1 John 1:9-10. In this passage, John defines the whole of the Christian life as a constant act of repentance. John even goes so far as to say, in verse 10, that the one who refuses to confess and repent is not a believer. A life of repentance flows naturally from a life of praise. If we understand rightly who God is and who we are in relation to him, then we cannot help but confess our sins and seek his forgiveness. And, we can confess our sins knowing that we stand forgiven through Jesus Christ.

In Scripture, there are three ways that we can confess our sins. First, we should confess directly to God. Psalm 32:5 says, “I confessed my sin to you and did not cover my iniquity.” Second, we should confess our sins to other believers. There are two good reasons that we should confess our sins to a trusted brother or sister. One reason is that we might find help in the burden of sin and guilt. James 5:16 calls believers to confess our sins to each other so that we might be healed. Sin can literally make you sick. That sickness could be physical, as in the case of alcoholism or drug abuse. That sickness can also be mental, as when people who are so eaten up with guilt become depressed, anxious, and even psychotic. Whatever the sin and sickness, confessing our sins to other believers provides two means of healing. James says that believers can provide healing through prayer. If you tell me about a sin with which you struggle, I can pray that God will set you free of that temptation. I can pray that he will heal you of the consequences of that sin. Another way that other believers can help you is through the ministry of the Gospel. Divulging your struggles to a fellow believer allows that brother or sister to remind you of the Gospel. It also opens the door for the work of the Spirit as you and your brother or sister in Christ keep each other accountable.

The third way that we confess our sins is to the church. In Acts 19, Paul preaches the Gospel in Ephesus, and many who had formerly dabbled in magic and superstitions became believers. Verse 18 records that many of them came to the church and confessed their former lives of sorcery. As strange as it might sound, there are times when public confession of sin before the whole church is a good and necessary thing. If the sin is widely known or causes some damage to the church, it is important that the church deal with that sin publicly.

The final way of confession is through acknowledgement. To see that, let’s read Rom. 10:9-10. In this famous statement, Paul says that true faith in Christ results in a confession with the mouth. Notice that heart and mouth are tied together in these two verses. It is not enough to believe in your heart and never confess publicly that you believe in Christ. Public confession of faith in Christ is evidence of a changed heart. In fact, 1 John 4:15 says that God abides in the one who confesses that Jesus is the Son of God.

So now that we see the meaning of confession from Scripture, we need to understand how we can confess through personal and congregational worship. In our individual walk with Christ, our speech is an outgrowth of our delight. What is it that you cannot wait to talk about with your friends? Is it Auburn or Alabama football? Is it the latest gossip on that tramp down the street? Or, is it the latest testimony of what the Lord has done for you? We should guard our speech in what we praise and what we condemn.  James 3:9 warns that we should not use our tongues to praise God and then turn around and curse men. So, we should be ready to speak of the wonders of God. We should be excited to tell others about Jesus. But, we should be slow to speak on topics we do not understand or where we might misrepresent. We should be careful not to denigrate other people who are made in the image of God, whether they be our cashier at Walmart or the President of the United States.

We can also personally worship through the confession of our sins. Your daily prayer time should include a time of confession. I’ve found with my own confession that it can be helpful to ask the Lord to reveal the ways in which I have sinned so that I can confess them. When you do that, hold on to your seat!

As a church, our worship should be full of confession. This is the reason for all of the changes I made to the worship service early on. You’ll notice that we start our services with a time of personal confession of sin. We then move to hymns of adoration and confession where we sing praises to God and confess our faith in Christ. I want to add that Mrs. Glenda and Bill do such a great job of picking our hymns. I gave them some guidelines early on, and I’m refreshed every week with the songs they pick and the way the hymns flow from adoration to confession to assurance. As a congregation, confession also involves caring for one another. James 5:19-20 tells us to seek out the one who has fallen into sin so that we might rescue him from death. We have to take sin seriously as a congregation, and we have to be willing to go after those who have fallen into it, whether that means going to the bar to find them, calling them to be faithful to their spouse, or whatever else it may take.

Brothers and sisters, the words that we say matter, whether in our own personal life or here in this church. May we faithfully confess the Lord Jesus as we live out our faith in this world. May we faithfully confess our sins and call others to do the same.