Life Together – Week #3
Confess your sins to one another.
Life Together – James 5:13-20 (CGS #3)
INTRODUCTION – The letter of James begins this way, “Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. Let steadfastness have its full effect that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.” James’s opening words are sober for us as modern-day readers. They remind us that there was something tragic and truly difficult going on in the lives of those to whom this letter was written. They were believers who had been scattered and persecuted for their faith. They lost jobs, lost homes, lost their good reputations within their communities, and as a result had to search for new places to live and to work. The curious thing is that James fully acknowledges all of these hardships while at the same time beginning his letter by telling them to count these trials as a thing of joy. What God would actually do through them is to produce maturity, to build them up in steadfastness so that they would lack nothing. That is an amazing perspective on the hard things that we go through in our lives. Then James goes through his letter page by page and section by section with incredibly helpful and practical advice on how to live out their faith in a world that is hostile. One of the core themes in this letter is how believers are supposed to live in order to exalt Jesus in front of a watching world so that the lost might be saved.
To do this, James addresses the issue of sin over and over again through the letter’s five chapters and concludes, in the final chapter, with the statement to confess your sins to one another. Believers are to give no quarter to sin, and believers are to be reminded of the gospel of grace that has saved them. In 5:15, James uses the phrase, “the Lord will raise him up.” This phrase roots us in the gospel because it reminds us that it is God who does the saving and raising. Too often, people confuse James to say we need works to save us, but that is not James’s message. James is over and over again reminding believers to endure, persevere in the face of hardship, and not give up on acting like Jesus’ people. Resilient faith takes sin seriously, and it walks in good works that glorify God. To take sin seriously, we have to confess it. We can’t simply go on in a pattern of hiding or ignoring it. God has saved us from our sin and brought us into new life in Jesus. Having a laissez-faire attitude towards sin doesn’t necessarily mean that we aren’t saved or that salvation can be lost. But it does mean that we are walking in an ongoing brokenness that is preventing us from experiencing God’s best for us.
That is what James is talking about when he says confessing our sins to one another brings healing. In some cases it’s physical healing. In other cases it’s emotional healing or even relational healing. Confessing the things that we have done to hurt one another or the right things of God that we have ignored helps us to bring into God’s healing light the things that we’ve done in the darkness.
Confessing sin can be scary and intimidating, yet it is a crucial part of walking in community with other believers. It reminds us that we are not alone and that we don’t struggle alone. It reminds us that we are recipients of grace, and it propels us to be a distributor of grace.
When we confess sin to one another, it’s not merely to heap blame upon one another, but it is to experience restoration, reconciliation, and renewal over and over again through Christ Jesus. Our Christian life also has a horizontal component, and sin affects our relationships with one another. Confessing sin not only brings relief and healing it also drives mission. We are a people who have received grace and new life; when I confess my sin, I am regularly reminded of the grace that I have received, and it should drive me in the mission of extending the gospel to those who haven’t heard yet. Confessing sin isn’t merely about talking about the things that I have done wrong; it is about participating in God’s best for me personally and inviting others to experience that very same thing.
GETTING STARTED – Discuss this question as a group: When was a time when you needed to acknowledge something that you did wrong that resulted in a hard but positive outcome? What did you learn from that?
IN THE WORD – Let’s dig back into the passage. It’s important to strengthen our muscles in reading God’s Word. On Sunday, we walked through the passage in the sermon. Hopefully, that helped you to see the landmarks of the passage with fresh eyes. Now, with your group, go back through it and see what God is saying to you specifically.
First, before you read the passage, take a moment to ask God’s Spirit to quiet your mind and heart and to illuminate the text to you. Second, read the passage aloud to the group. Then, follow the simple method below (O.P.A.).
Observe: Make 8-10 observations from the passage. Pay close attention to observe and note repeated words and phrases, names, places, and themes.
Principles: From your list of observations, what patterns or big ideas do you see emerging? Can you distill it down into 2-4 big idea truths?
Apply: Moving from your list of principles, it is time to apply God’s Word. Remember, we believe that God’s Word is living and active and that it can change the way we live Monday-Friday. What is one tangible way to apply a truth from your list above?
DISCUSS – Another way to approach your time together is to talk through the following discussion questions:
- What did you hear God’s Spirit say to you through the passage this week? How does it encourage you? How does it sharpen you?
- How have you seen God at work in your life this week? Have you enjoyed him? Have you heard his voice and the leading of his Spirit? Big ways or small ways.
- The motivation for the believer is always grace received. What does it look like for you to delight in God’s grace on a regular basis? If you struggle to delight in God’s grace, what makes it hard?
- When we think about our sins, we often think about the “big” sins. But what are some socially polite sins that we need to get in the habit of regularly confessing? What do you think God might do in your life through that process?
- The “one another” statements in the NT focus on community and following Jesus together. How might a regular habit of confessing your sin strengthen your view of gathered worship, Bible study, or small group environments (Connect Groups and Huddles)? Specifically, how does it position you to receive and give grace in those environments?