I Must Confess

Posted on by January 19, 2014
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John 20:23 — whosesoever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them; and whosesoever sins ye retain, they are retained.
Confession to one another is an aspect of Christian life that seems to get little coverage in Protestant — and especially evangelical — circles. Perhaps it is because of a fear of association with the Catholic sacrament. If so, the fear is misplaced, and a vital resource is being neglected.
John 20:23 should play a key part in understanding the place of confession in our lives. It is important to understand that Jesus was not just addressing the apostles in that room. He was addressing a group of disciples. By proxy, He was chartering the whole church — every member — not a limited group. Note that He was not granting the ability to forgive sins but, as we find in Barnes’ Notes:

To establish in all the churches the terms and conditions on which men might be pardoned, with a promise that God would confirm all that they taught; that all might have assurance of forgiveness who would comply with those terms; and that those who did not comply should not be forgiven, but that their sins should be retained.

We should understand that this is very different from a special group — priests — having the ability to grant and deny forgiveness!
We should not fear to confess one to another. More, we are instructed to do so: “Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.” (James 5:16). We are to confess to each other, and pray for each other. None of us is above sin, nor is anyone of us above the need for strengthening from the prayers of others. It is interesting that in talking of sickness James uses two words. The first — “kakopathei” suggests suffering from hardship and troubles (it is sometimes used of the rigors of military service). The second — “asthenei” implies feebleness, tiredness — from which we may all suffer. Confession, in sharing the burden of sin, can ease the burden and give us strength. The Bible tells us that it can have many other benefits.

  • One of the thieves on the cross found that confessing his guilt led to communion with Jesus.
  • Proverbs 28:30 tell us that confession leads to divine mercy.
  • One of the sinners most beloved verses, 1 John 1:9, assures us that confession is followed by forgiveness.

    • Personally, I have found confession to be essential. Even before I was saved I found it hard to maintain a denial of guilt. Since I was saved I have found that I must confess — most particularly when I have offended a particular individual. Jesus’s words in Matthew 5:23-26 weigh heavily on me. I must confess.

    How Does That Joy Work?

    Posted on by January 18, 2014
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    Nehemiah 8:9-10 — And Nehemiah, which is the Tirshatha, and Ezra the priest the scribe, and the Levites that taught the people, said unto all the people, This day is holy unto the Lord your God; mourn not, nor weep. For all the people wept, when they heard the words of the law. Then he said unto them, Go your way, eat the fat, and drink the sweet, and send portions unto them for whom nothing is prepared: for this day is holy unto our Lord: neither be ye sorry; for the joy of the Lord is your strength.

    This Christian life is full of paradoxes. Here’s another one. “Blessed are they that mourn”. …”Rejoice in The Lord always”. Well which one is it? Mourn, or rejoice?
    The same paradox occurred to me this morning when we read the verses from Nehemiah, above. The people requested that the law be read to them. The governor (Nehemiah), priests and scribes complied, and made sure the people understood what they were hearing. The people, realizing how neglectful they had been were properly moved to mourn.
    Are you the same? I am, and I hope that you are. When I realize that I have wondered off the right path, I am moved to mourn.
    But Nehemiah told the people not to mourn, but rather to rejoice, and to be strengthened by their joy. How are we to do that? It comes from the realization that our God — who is the only God — is a gracious God, and when our sins are forgiven, they are forgotten. “As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us.” (Psalm 103:12) Yes, indeed, we should mourn, and know the blackness of our sin — but when we set that against the knowledge that we are justified and are being made holy, and that insofar as we are faithful to confess our sins, He is faithful to forgive them, how great our joy should be.
    Joy is more than just a natural result of knowing that we are redeemed and being sanctified. Maclaran points out that it is a duty. “Rejoice in The Lord” is not a suggestion. There is a popular misconception that we are at the mercy of our emotions. In truth, of course, we do have some control and can develop more. And we must “Rejoice evermore” (1 Thessalonians 5:16) — even when circumstances, however dire, might suggest otherwise!
    So then, even when we are repentant, even when times are hard, we are to rejoice — and when we rejoice, therein lies our strength. The merry heart, the proverb says, is good medicine. When we are filled with the joy of The Lord we have a barrier against attacks of sin, the world, and the Devil! When we allow ourselves to be undermined by depression, morbidly linger over our sins or fail to recognize the hand of God in even the direst of circumstances, we are at risk — so mourn not, nor weep!

    Let Him Who Is Without Sin

    Posted on by January 17, 2014
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    John 8:7 — So when they continued asking him, he lifted up himself, and said unto them, He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.

    A friend and colleague at work stepped into my office today. We chatted about a discussion in his Homeowners Association about whether to start “vetting” potential buyers.
    It’s the sort of thing that makes my hackles rise … but it seems to be more and more prevalent nowadays. But when I heard this, John 8:7 popped into my mind — How quick we are to judge people and categorize them as “OK” or “Not OK”. (And notice I said “we” — I’m not without sin in this respect!)
    I know the application is not exact — Jesus shifted the threat to the woman taken in adultery from the legal realm to the moral realm, and then asked her accusers to consider their own purity (or lack of it) before taking the law into their own hands. The HOA is considering whether to take perfectly lawful action … But still, it’s a matter of judgment isn’t it? — saying “you’re not good enough to live with people like us”
    Thinking about this, I started to wonder what was OK in a potential buyer and what wasn’t. I don’t have hard evidence, but I’m pretty sure that most residential developments have their share of adulterers, thieves, wife-beaters and other scoundrels!
    Another thing occurred to me as I thought about this. What does it say about our view of property and ownership? The Christian view might be that what we have is all from God, and should be held loosely. I know that’s not the world’s view — but a view that says property is so precious that it must not be exposed to this risk of contamination by the “wrong sort” of neighbor seems like taking possessiveness a little too far.
    That led to another thought. Why does God give us anything? What are we supposed to do with what He gives us? Now I don’t mean to take a too (self-)righteous point of view. Of course “He gives us all things richly to enjoy” — but isn’t there more to it than that? Shouldn’t we be using what we have to encourage and include people, instead of using it to isolate and exclude them?
    Now picking on an HOA is a bit like shooting sitting ducks. What really strikes me is that it’s a symptom of a really nasty long term trend. Our society is disassembling the ties of community and family that bind us. Instead of joining together in the Church of Christ, and encouraging others to join, we put up fences — and are surprised when people don’t like us, or attack us. Time to change direction. Instead of casting stones, it’s time to welcome some sinners in!

    Did I Say That Already?

    Posted on by January 16, 2014
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    Numbers 19:1-2 — “The LORD said to Moses and Aaron: ”This is a requirement of the law that the LORD has commanded: Tell the Israelites to bring you a red heifer without defect or blemish and that has never been under a yoke.”

    Did I say this already? We need to keep the law!We’re driving into work this morning, and Myra is getting people driving up to our back bumper … speeding past us, cutting in front of us … What’s going on??
    It all goes back to something that happened a year or two back. We were driving back from Gainesville, and a Police Cruiser came up behind us, flashing lights. An eye in the sky has spotted that, though we were only moving with the flow, we were a few miles over the speed limit! Myra took the lesson very much to heart, and committed to do her best to observe all traffic rules and regulations in future.
    Well, a lot of you probably think that speed limits, and perhaps some of the other rules of the road, are a bit pointless. In fact you might even feel that slavishly observing them while all around you are ignoring them is being a bit of a nuisance.
    I beg to differ!
    What’s the standard for deciding whether laws should be obeyed or not?
    Numbers 19:1-2 begins the telling of the rules for ritual purification with the ashes of a red heifer. It’s quite mysterious because although the ashes of the red heifer can cleanse all those who have become unclean, for those who are pure contact with the ashes has the opposite effect… it makes them unclean!
    The commandment of the red heifer might be the best example of a “chok” — ordinances that belong to the category of chok — a law that the Lord has decided that cannot be understood with human logic. Instead, they are laws that we must obey just because we love and fear Him.
    Obedience to the law doesn’t depend on our understanding of the law, or our opinion of its worth. In his first letter Peter says:

    Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord’s sake: whether it be to the king, as supreme; or unto governors, as unto them that are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers, and for the praise of them that do well. For so is the will of God, that with well doing ye may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men.

    It is God’s will that Christians obey the law. Let go of that basic principle and all laws become optional. I have to say I think we see plenty of evidence around us that says that’s exactly what is happening in our world today. In fact there’s a philosophical basis for exactly that.
    Postmodernism is the foundation of many people’s worldview today. It might loosely be summarized as claiming that there is no absolute truth — all “knowledge” is effectively the sum of the beliefs of the most powerful culture in a society. Or, as some people might express it “that might be true for you, but it isn’t true for me.”
    George Saalman writes about postmodern legal theorists in an article for the Xenos Christian Fellowship:

    Principles of law could never reflect universal truths, they argue, only allocations of power among social groups. According to these scholars, it is senseless to talk about whether a law is right or wrong or moral or amoral. Law is whatever the most powerful cultural group in society makes it. (http://www.xenos.org/ministries/crossroads/dotlaw.htm)

    It is this kind of thinking that leads to the undermining of laws that ten or twenty years ago would have been regarded as sacrosanct. And sadly, Christians who start to regard some laws as optional are part of the postmodern drift.
    We need to keep the law. Did I say that already?

    (Christian) Life It Ain’t Easy!

    Posted on by January 15, 2014
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    Ecclesiastes 5:1 — Keep thy foot when thou goest to the house of God, and be more ready to hear, than to give the sacrifice of fools: for they consider not that they do evil.

    Sometimes I could slap Mary’s sister Martha! I know I’m wrong … but there’s Martha running herself ragged and Mary is merrily enjoying her faith life and letting her get on with it. Martha seems a much more realistic model for most of us.
    Does it seem to you, sometimes, that there’s an idealized view of how a Christian should live? Quiet time, devotions, practicing the presence all day long, separate time for Bible study, praying instantly, giving thanks in all things and for all things, evening devotions, church on Sunday and Wednesday and on any other special occasion, involvement in ministry … all this while pursuing a career and managing a full and productive family life and enjoying a rich leisure time! I’m reminded of a song — “The Ballad of John and Yoko.” Please don’t be offended by my use of it — you know I have no blasphemous intent, but sometimes these words do resonate with me: “Christ, you know it ain’t easy, You know how hard it can be, The way things are going, They’re gonna crucify me.”
    Sometimes, in the middle of a long hard day at work in particular, I find myself forgetting to practice God’s presence. Sometimes, if I’ve had a late night or not slept really well I might struggle to focus during devotions. I can get distracted when I pray … you get the picture. I’m more of a “Martha” and less of a “Martha Stewart” when it comes to my faith life. Absolutely not the perfect poster child. I don’t think I’m the only one …
    I know, you’re all feeling sorry for me. So what am I going to do about all of this? I know I’m not going to be able to fix this on my own! I’m going to need the help of the Holy Spirit — but I expect to have to help myself as well. There are some things I’m going to try — but I’d be really interested in knowing what some of you are doing to make sure you keep on track.
    One thing I’m trying to do during the day is to slow down. I think that, when I go from task to task, without pause I risk getting off the path.
    I’m going to negotiate with my sweetheart to take more long weekends, because I recall that when we’ve done it it has often helped me reset my spiritual engine.
    I’m also working to improve my reading habits. Too much “worldly” stuff pollutes the mind (I do love a good mystery!).
    There’s probably other things I need to do too. I don’t know what they are … but this whole business of being a better disciple is going to be part of my prayer focus for a while. Of course I don’t really want to slap Mary … “She has chosen what is better” … I just wish I could figure out how to be more like her!

    Doing Church Right

    Posted on by January 14, 2014
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    Ecclesiastes 5:1 — Keep thy foot when thou goest to the house of God, and be more ready to hear, than to give the sacrifice of fools: for they consider not that they do evil.

    I’ve been thinking about the way I “do church”, and I realized that sometimes I have a bad attitude. Ecclesiastes 5:1-7 points out some things that I’m aware of, but sometimes forget, and that I’m trying to work harder at.
    The first issue is about how I prepare my heart for worship. Sometimes I’m really not preparing my heart properly. “Keep thy foot when thou goest to the house of God” really means “Be careful” … don’t just take your worldly concerns to church, drop them at the door and pick them up on the way out! Alexander Maclaran nails this issue: “Our forefathers’ Sunday began on Saturday night, and partly for that reason the hallowing influence of it ran over into Monday, at all events. What likelihood is there that much good will come of worship to people who talk politics or scandal right up to the church door?”. I’m trying to do better with this issue, making a determined effort to focus my heart and mind in my quiet time.
    The second issue is that sometimes I let my head get into the wrong place when I’m listening to teaching or a Pastor’s message. (Nobody tell Mr. Rider or Pastor Hayes — it’s usually when there’s a substitute … But still!). I find myself editorializing / criticizing — about content or even style. Now I know that if I start doing that I can’t be open to what the Holy Spirit means me to hear. I know, too, that when the message “isn’t working” the problem is usually with me, not the messenger!
    The last issue that I would like to do better with is the one that Maclaran points to. I’d like to think that what I hear on Sunday stays with me on Monday … But I’m not sure it always reaches all the way to the following Saturday! I feel I’ve been doing better with this one since we added evening devotions to our daily schedule — but it still needs work.
    I wouldn’t like you to think that thus happens every Sunday. More often than not I’m preparing, focusing and acting on what I hear. But you can see that when I allow one or other of these issues to prevail on a Sunday (or through the week) I’m not doing church right. Failing to prepare, failing to be attentive or failing to act on what I hear is to turn worship into a mere formal observance — and that is the “sacrifice of fools”!

    Spiritual Investments

    Posted on by January 13, 2014
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    Ephesians 4:11-13 — And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ:

    Well I can’t deny that sometimes the inspiration for these devotions come from bizarre places! This morning, as Myra drove me into work, we passed a hairstylist displaying a banner saying “Great New Stylists Always Wanted”! That lead us to a discussion of modern short-term perspectives on investment, and thence to these thoughts about spiritual investment!
    Now before I go to far, I should say what I mean by “investment (non spiritual)” and “spiritual investment”.
    There are several ways of defining “invest”. Merriam-Webster’s Free Online Dictionary gives several, including the following:

    To furnish with power or authority

    To endow with a quality : infuse

    To commit (money) in order to earn a financial return

    To make use of for future benefits or advantages

    To endow with a quality or characteristic

    Most definitions derive from the Latin word that means “to clothe”. The main “worldly” meaning, of course, is that one that has “money” in it — and “making use of” fits in pretty well too! For spiritual investing, though, I want to focus on the ideas of furnishing with power or authority and endowing with qualities or characteristics.
    I suppose I should say what I think Spiritual investments are. They come in two kinds … investment in our own spiritual growth, and investment in others through evangelism and discipleship.
    Myra pointed out that the world’s investments seem to have an increasingly short-sighted perspective while spiritual investments can be made with a view to eternity. That set me thinking … There are some other differences.
    The world’s investments are made for the profit of the investor. Spiritual investments, as suggested above, can be for own benefit or for that of other people.
    Financial investment grows earthly wealth — if all goes well. Even when it goes well, it cannot be certain that the extra wealth will be a good thing. Spiritual investment grows people — and it never fails — it is guaranteed to be a blessing, not just to the invested but also to the investor! The end of Christian investment is that both investor and invested have, as Paul says in Romans 13:14 “clothed themselves with The Lord Jesus Christ”.

    Sunday Again

    Posted on by January 12, 2014
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    Isaiah 58:13-14 — If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day; and call the sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honorable; and shalt honor him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words: then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.

    I haven’t been moved to write one of my “Sunday / Sabbath / Lord’s Day” Devotions for a while, but today has seemed very sweet, and I wanted to talk about how blessed this day can be.
    I have two places where I have my quiet time — usually inside on weekdays, or outside on our lanai at weekends.
    I’d prefer always to be outside, but during the week it’s just too loud, even at 5:30 in the morning. Yesterday and today, however, I could sit outside — and I was blessed by some moments of rare peace.
    Yesterday, there was a moment — just a moment — of magical calm, that washed over me. Everything was quiet, the wind was gone, the sun was at just that height that cast a golden glow, and the wind sighed through the trees and, for a moment I felt that I was in the Lord’s presence.
    This morning the glory of creation was impressed on me even more firmly. As I looked across the pond (officially it’s a “lake”, but if I can see into a neighbors backyard I reckon it’s a pond!) I saw two Great Egret’s roosting and a Little Blue Heron fishing … And then this years duck family passed by in fleet review … The glory of The Lord settled on me for a few short moments. It was wonderful, though not entirely comfortable.
    For some moments a few of the things I long for in my quiet time happened. I saw myself, and my sin, a little as God might see me. You won’t be surprised (I wasn’t too surprised) to see that I was a little small, and a little shabby. It didn’t distress me. In fact my confession was more cleansing than it often is. The happy state persisted for twenty minutes or so, and then the unusual morning quiet was broken as the dog across the pond started to bark, the egrets took fright and flew away, the heron followed and fleet passed on.
    My worship this morning was made sweeter by the earlier quiet time. Spending the rest of the day doing nothing that might be reckoned as “regular employment” has helped me keep a quiet spirit all day. This Sabbath has been a delight!

    Be Nice!

    Posted on by January 11, 2014
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    Leviticus 19:16-17 — Thou shalt not go up and down as a talebearer among thy people; neither shalt thou stand against the blood of thy neighbor: I am the Lord. Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thine heart: thou shalt in any wise rebuke thy neighbor, and not suffer sin upon him.

    Saturday is “social media” day for me. It’s the day I get more time to read blogs and look at Facebook. I’ve been increasingly burdened about the bile spewed out in some of what I read.
    On any day of the week you can read comments after news and sports reports that are at the very least unkind and objectionable to the writers and to others who might see fit to comment. I don’t suppose any of you have missed the speed at which the comment descends into vulgarity and profanity.
    It’s not really the secular blogs that bother me. It’s not the political abuse from those I disagree. It’s certainly not the occasional brick thrown at my own head. No, what bothers me — grieves me — is the way people that I know to claim themselves to be Christians — and otherwise bear all the hallmarks — hurl abuse at each other and at those who disagree with them.
    From one end of the Bible to the other — from Leviticus to James — there is clear instruction against this sort of thing. The Bible, of course, focuses on the “tongue” — which James calls “a fire, … that defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the course of nature; and is set on fire of hell.”
    Of course the Bible did not talk of blogs, and social media, and of all the other electronic means we have at our disposal to share our thoughts with the world — but it laid out the clearest principles on which we should base our behavior.
    The heart of it is in the verses in Leviticus. We are not to slander our neighbors. We are not to conspire to harm them. We must rebuke our neighbors when they need it — but never in an unkind way. We must “speak the truth in love”. The end of it is that we shall not hate our brother. (And we might remember that to old-fashioned grammarians “you shall not” has the force of a prohibition.)
    But how has this spewing forth of verbal bile come about? I fear it was always there. I know that I think thoughts that I would be ashamed to speak or write. I don’t believe I am the only one! I’ve usually managed not to publish them — but I used to be a verbal assassin. I am not ashamed to say — in fact I am grateful to say — that the Holy Spirit has mostly enabled me to control my tongue … But I still struggle to control my thoughts. I have to pray, often, for help in “taking every thought captive”. The best I can say is that I’m doing better! But if you use Facebook, or Twitter, or Bunches, or LinkedIn — or if you write a blog, or comment on them, won’t you join me in trying to bring civility back to the written word?

    Causes

    Posted on by January 10, 2014
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    Matthew 6:1-4 — Take heed that ye do not your alms before men, to be seen of them: otherwise ye have no reward of your Father which is in heaven. Therefore when thou doest thine alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. But when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth: that thine alms may be in secret: and thy Father which seeth in secret himself shall reward thee openly.

    A week or so ago, I talked about rethinking our giving as one of our year end / New Year’s activities. I said I might share about what we had decided to do.
    Well, yes and no. I’ve decided the text above suggests that sharing any details about what we have and haven’t decided to do might not be right. But I do want to talk about the thought process, and what it led to.
    The first thing that was clear to us was that we must do as much as we felt able, and maybe a little more. This chapter starts with Jesus’s instructions on how to carry out three duties that He clearly assumes we will undertake. “When you give alms … When you pray … When you fast …”.
    Jesus was reminding His hearers of one of the four cardinal Jewish virtues, of which the Talmud says “The merit of charitable works is in proportion to the love with which they are practised.” And “Blessed is he who gives from his substance to the poor, twice blessed he who accompanies his gift with kind, comforting words.” “The noblest of all charities is enabling the poor to earn a livelihood.”
    The second thing that became clear to us as we prayed was that we should be more focused in our giving — and that as we give, we should pray. In the coming year, our prayers will follow our gifts. If you say they always should, of course you’re right.
    As part of that greater focus, we landed on four major areas to concentrate on — the Christian family, Christian education, Christians in need, and Christians yet to be (that is evangelism!).
    There is nothing more important to a healthy nation than a healthy family culture. There is a direct link between the decline of family life, and the rise of all kinds of social evil.
    I believe that my life has, in some ways, been saved by education. There is one thing, though, that my education failed to do for me. It did not help me to build a living faith, nor a sound ethical framework. For me (I hope) that came much later.
    We have discovered that even in the affluent area in which we live there are people with no safe roofs over their heads, no certainty of where their next meals will come from, no more clothes than they stand up in.
    No Christian can need reminding of the priority of evangelism. We can all witness — but we cannot all “go” to be evangelists. Yet “The harvest truly is great, but the laborers are few:”
    So there you have it — it seemed to us that, for now, we are directed to give, and pray, in those four areas. It left us with a pile of requests we couldn’t respond to. There were probably another four just as worthwhile, and another four … We’ll pray for them, but we have to follow where we were led.