In a previous blog, I introduced the ACTS acronym for prayer. I argued that while most of us don’t take issue with the S, the other three may be a little hard to take on. This is especially true of our second letter in the acronym, ‘C’: Confess. How often do you make a prayer of confession before God? Have you publicly heard a prayer of confession being prayed at your church?
Unfortunately, I fear most readers will answer no to those questions. However, I am not shocked, to say the least. We live in a culture that already scoffs at the idea of confessing sin or admitting when one is wrong. We would rather dance around the issue than acknowledge that, in one way or another, we were the ones in the wrong. If that’s true of basic life situations, how much harder would it get when it comes to God? As long as we are in the flesh, we’ll always be tempted to be those who obscure our sins before him. That’s even though we would be running a fool’s errand in doing so, as he knows all our deepest thoughts. However, this shouldn’t be the case. We mustn’t live in ignorance of confessing our sins. For as long as we are still in these bodies of sin, even though Jesus already saved us from the power of sin, confession of sin remains necessary.
Confession Must Agree with God
Confession basically means ‘to agree with, ‘admit to,’ or ‘to reveal.’ In the context of our Christian life, it means we are agreeing with God. What is it that we are agreeing with or admitting to God about? It is ‘agreeing with’ God that we are sinners (1 John 1:8-10). It is admitting to God that we have fallen short of his glory (Romans 3:23). As we pray this prayer of confession, we agree with God that we are sinners who deserve judgment, but we ask for mercy through prayer. We pray this prayer, knowing that we don’t deserve what we are asking for. We pray it, trusting that Jesus Christ, who is the propitiation of our sins, will advocate for us (1 John 2:1-2).
The Model Prayer of Confession
The most famous prayer of confession in all of Scripture is Psalm 51. This portion of Scripture exists because David sinned against the Lord (Psalm 51:4). David had committed adultery with Bathsheba and then indirectly killed Uriah (2 Samuel 11:1-27). Nathan confronted him (2 Samuel 12:1-15), and that confrontation caused David to prostrate himself before God.
We can already see the appropriate heart posture we should have when we sin against God as Christians. Instead of dancing around the issue or suppressing the reality of our sin, we should acknowledge it. When we are called out or realize that we have sinned, we ought to confess it quickly before God and not wait it out. This means confession ought to be, in a sense, an everyday occurrence. We shouldn’t be those who say we haven’t sinned, as we deceive ourselves when we do so. David presents us with the necessity to pray these prayers when he said that he “was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did [his] mother conceive [him]” (Psalm 51:5). That we are born sinners necessitates that we pray this prayer every day, or have days when our prayers are nothing but confession.
Don’t Hang On to Sin
In Psalm 32:1-6, David declared, “Blessed is the one whose transgressions Yahweh doesn’t count against them, and whose sin Yahweh does not count against them” (Psalm 32:1-2). How are they counted as those forgiven and of whom God doesn’t count iniquity? They are counted as such because they ACKNOWLEDGED [CONFESS] their sins against a holy God (Psalm 32:5). Moreover, we see how devastating it can be for us if we hang on to our sins (Psalm 32:3-4). In those two verses, David shows how the guilt of sin can weigh us down so much that it can affect us physically. Therefore, as David implores us, let’s strive to constantly confess our sins before God (Psalm 32:6).
The Beauty of Corporate Confession
While personal confession of sin is crucial, Scripture also shows why we should confess sins corporately in a worship service. In 2 Chronicles 7:14, God promised that if the Israelites publicly confessed their sins, he would restore them. Public confession therefore renews us. This is why Ezra, in Ezra 9:1-10:14, leads the people in a public prayer of confession for intermarrying with foreign women, which went against the command not to mingle with nations that were not set apart for God as they were. In Nehemiah 9:1-37, we see another public confession of sins by the Israelites.
Moreover, corporate confession of sin on the Lord’s Day encourages us to confess our sins to one another (James 5:16). Hearing sin we might be struggling with confessed publicly trains us to confess those sins privately, as we realize we aren’t the only ones struggling with such-and-such a sin. It reminds us that we aren’t alone in the fight against sin, as fellow saints are fighting alongside us. It is a helpful reminder that our private sins adversely affect the wider church community. It is very easy for us to live as though our sins and their consequences are ours alone. However, they usually ripple through every facet of our lives. Ultimately, corporate confession reminds us that we are God’s workmanship and that we are indeed in Christ Jesus, especially with the word of assurance that comes at the end.
The Importance of Confessing Sin
It Aids Our Christian Witness – In Psalm 51:13-14. David said he desired Yahweh to blot out his transgressions so he could teach other transgressors God’s ways. It is harder to proclaim the truths we hold so dear when we are weighed down by a guilty conscience. However, when we have confessed our sin and are assured of God’s forgiveness like David, we “will sing aloud of [Yahweh’s] righteousness” (Psalm 51:14). Cherishing sin deals considerable damage to our Christian witness.
Reminds Us of Our Hope – Confessing sin reminds us that our hope doesn’t lie in us. David reminds us in Psalm 51:16-17 that it isn’t what we do that matters, but the broken and contrite heart we bring to God. Only God can fix what is broken in us. If he weren’t the only one who could do this, then Jesus’ finished work would have been completely unnecessary. Praise God for Christ’s very necessary finished work. Confessing sin points us to the ultimate renewal that awaits us when Christ returns.
Therefore, dear saint, make it a practice to confess your sins to God for your present renewal and the one to come.