Freedom Through Confession
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 cleanses us from all sin. 8 If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. – 1 Jn. 1:7-9
Last Sunday, we started into a three-chapter unit (chaps. 8,9, 10) within Nehemiah that looks intently at the formation of the people from groups that were in exile to a covenant people that are about God’s purposes and glory. We will see this week that confession is a crucial part of their journey. And it is a vital part of our journey in following Jesus in a life-defining way. Author, pastor, and theologian, Richard Foster reflects on how confession plays a critical role in gaining freedom from his sin. He writes in a section titled “Diary of a Confession,”
“Although I had read in the Bible about the ministry of confession in the Christian brotherhood, I never experienced it until I was pastoring my first church. I did not take the difficult step of laying bare my inner life to another out of any deep burden or sense of sin. I did not feel there was anything wrong in the least except for one thing. I longed for more power to do the work of God. I felt inadequate to deal with many of the desperate needs that confronted me. There had to be more spiritual resources than I was experiencing (and I’d had all the Holy Spirit experiences you’re supposed to have; you name them, I’d had them!). “Lord”, I prayed, “is there more you want to bring into my life? I want to be conquered and ruled by you. If there is anything blocking the flow of your power, reveal it to me.” He did. Not by an audible voice or even through any human voice. But simply by a growing impression that perhaps something in my past was impeding the flow of his life so I devised a plan. I divided my life into three periods: childhood, adolescence, adulthood. On the first day I came before God in prayer and meditation, pencil and paper in hand. Inviting him to reveal to me anything during my childhood that needed either forgiveness or healing or both, I waited in absolute silence for some 10 minutes. Anything about my childhood that surfaced to my conscious mind, I wrote down. I made no attempt to analyze the items or put any value judgment on them. My assurance was that God would reveal anything that needed his healing touch. Having finished, I put the pencil and paper down for the day the next day I went through the same exercise for my adolescent years, and the third day for my adult years.
Paper in hand, then I went to a dear brother in Christ. I have made arrangements with him a week ahead so he understood the purpose of our meeting. Slowly, sometimes painfully, I read my sheet, adding only those comments necessary to make the sin clear. When I had finished, I began to return the paper to my briefcase. Wisely, my counselor/confessor gently stopped my hand and took the sheet of paper. Without a word he took a wastebasket, and, as I watched, he tore the paper into hundreds of tiny pieces and dropped them into it. That powerful, nonverbal expression of forgiveness which followed by a simple absolution. My sins, I knew, were as far away as the east is from the west.
Next, my friend, with the laying on of hands, pray to prayer of healing for all the sorrows and hurts of the past. The power of that prayer lives with me today. I cannot say I experienced any dramatic feelings. I did not. In fact, the entire experience was an act of sheer obedience with no compelling feelings in the least. But I am convinced that it set me free in ways I had not known before.”[1]
Personally, I appreciate how Foster notes that the action of confession was, for him, an act of obedience, and he didn’t have some mystical experience with it. That is a good reminder for us. Sometimes our obedience to God does not result in dramatic feelings but instead a quiet reminder of the life of Jesus that is in us. What Foster experiences is the profound freedom that comes through the discipline of confession. For Israel (in Nehemiah), they will experience that same reality of freedom through the process of confession. Confession can feel scary, heavy, or even silly. But what we see over and over again in the Scriptures is that when people confess, God meets them with grace, forgiveness, and freedom.
Sin causes us to hide.
Confession opens the door to freedom.
Remember, if we are faithful to confess our sins, our Father is faithful to forgive them and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
To shame our sins He blushed in blood;
He closed His eyes to show us God;
Let all the world fall down and know
That none but God such love can show.
- Bernard of Clairvaux[2]
[1] Richard Foster, Celebration of Discipline – The path to spiritual growth. (1978)
[2] Bernard of Clairvaux, “Of Him Who Did Salvation Bring” (hymn), as quoted in Martin Madan, A Collection of Psalms and Hymns Extracted from Various Authors, 1760.