Jun202008
Learning the Spiritual Disciplines: Confession
Filed under Spiritual Disciplines by Paul at 12:21 pm on Jun 20 2008
Last Sunday, Calvary had Lloyd Vandenburg of New Generations Ministry as a guest speaker. He spoke about breaking free from sin and addiction. You can listen here.
At the close of his sermon, he asked the congregation to do something a little bit out of the normal persons comfort zone. First he asked for those that were struggling to raise their hand, then for them to come forward. Then he asked for the rest of the congregation to come up and stand behind one of the people already up front. After giving the person a hug, they were to share their struggle and then the two were to pray with each other. It was a powerful time!
The sermon and the prayer time made me think about the Spiritual Discipline of Confession.
Many Chrisitans are unthinkably horrified when a real sinner is suddenly discovered among the righteous. So we remain alone with our sin, living in lies and hypocrisy…He who is alone with his sins is utterly alone. - Dietrich Bonhoeffer
James 5:16 says this:
Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.
I also like the Message version
Make this your common practice: Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you can live together whole and healed.
Unfortunately I think that too often in the Evangelical world, Christians have neglected this practice in favor of only confessing our sins to God ("no one needs to know my business" we think to ourselves or "what would they think of me if they found out"). Additionally, many people tend to only associate confession with the Roman Catholic practice of confession to a priest. In learning this discipline, it is important to understand that confessing our sins to another person has to do more with our healing and growth than it does with our forgiveness. 1 John 1:9 affirms that we are to confess our sins directly to God and receive His forgiveness. And 1 Timothy 2:5 teaches us clearly that Jesus is the only mediator we need.
The discipline of confessing our sins to each other is not one that takes the place of confessing our sins to God; this is not an either/or situation. We are to confess our sins to the Father through the Son, but we are also to confess our sins to each other as we understand ourselves as a community of people who are all in the same boat - "a fellowship of sinners" as it were. In confessing our sins to each other, we come to the foot of the Cross together to receive mercy, forgiveness and healing.
This discipline is not counseling, rather we hear each others confession and resist the urge to immediately offer solutions and suggestions. We want to simply listen with the heart and compassion of Jesus and to journey to the Cross through prayer.
The practice itself is simple:
- find another Christian who is mature and is willing to join with you
- covenant with each other to share openly, to keep confidentiality, and to pray with compassion
- in confessing, be specific as opposed to confessing general sins. These can be outward sins as well as inward sins of the heart. However, don’t get overwhelmed with trying to confess every single particular sin. We can ask the Holy Spirit to help us identify sins to confess.
- in hearing a confession, again listen well and resist the urge to offer immediate solutions. also resist the temptation to try and pry out more information
- in prayer, pray simply for the healing and forgiveness of Jesus to flow into their life. Thank God for the forgiveness. Pray for the Holy Spirit to strengthen and to continue the process of making them holy.
- commit to follow up with each other (if it is needed or requested) and simply "check in" with each other on a periodic basis.
Richard Foster writes at the close of his excellent chapter on this discipline,
The Discipline of confession brings an end to pretense. God is calling into being a Church that can openly confess its frail humanity and know the forgiving and empowering graces of Christ. Honesty leads to confession, and confession leads to change.
Recommended Reading:
1 Yoby Henthornon 04 Jul 2008 at 2:17 am
Is anyone else here still reading the Celebration of the Disciplines - or reading any of Foster or Dallas Willard? I have the big workbook and use the weekly format, and have for several years. Have given away so many copies of Foster’s book that all myfriends know that is my favorite. Anyone read the theological and philosophical articals on Dallas Willards site?
Care to have a discussion week by week on the disciplines? Know of any other reading groups or discipleship groups using these two authors?
How about the books Foster has done that are anthologies of spiritual writings from the old masters, anyone reading those or know of groups or indifiduals that are? Would appreciate the help.
From Alaska.