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Episode 4: Why the Practice of Confession Is So Important
49 Plays3 years ago
Mentioned in this episode:
The Daily Practice of Confession
Review (think through your day)
Rejoice (praise God for the day)
Repent (confess sin from the day)
Request (ask God for help to overcome sin)
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Transcript
Introduction to 'Root Like Faith'
00:00:02
Speaker
Hey there, this is Ruth Schwank and I'm so thrilled you're listening in with us here at Root Like Faith. It is our deepest desire to encourage and equip men and women to be rooted in God's Word, transformed by the love of Jesus, and moved by His mission in the power of the Holy Spirit. Nothing is more
The Importance of Confession in Christianity
00:00:21
Speaker
important.
00:00:21
Speaker
Well, in today's episode of Root Like Faith, we are talking about something, well, that feels sometimes a bit uncomfortable. Or I guess I also should say it's not all bright and sunny like my personality likes. I'm in Enneagram 7 and we like the bright and sunny.
00:00:38
Speaker
But this topic is important and it matters and that is the practice of confession and why it is especially important in the Christian life. And you know, I just don't think we talk about this enough. So I'm really excited about this episode and I'm ready to get started. Let's go.
Understanding Lent: A Spiritual Journey
00:00:58
Speaker
Well, we are talking about a topic today that is deeply connected to the season that we are in right now of Lent. And if you haven't listened to last week's episode, we kind of introduced the season last week where we answered the question. The first question we answered was, what is Lent? And the second question was, as a Christian, should we be practicing Lent or celebrating Lent? And I don't know.
00:01:26
Speaker
I know I'm I don't know if I can say this because this is our podcast, but it was really helpful to me. I liked it. I liked it. I liked the episode, but mostly because it really helped me understand Lent better. So honey, would you give the listener just a quick recap of what Lent
The Practices of Lent: Fasting, Prayer, and Repentance
00:01:45
Speaker
is? So we're all on the same page.
00:01:47
Speaker
Like we said in our last episode, I mean, Lent is really just a 40-day preparation for Easter. And so it's that intentional time of the year on the church calendar where we draw near to Jesus and we oftentimes fast from something. We give up something. It's more of an intentional time of prayer and repentance.
00:02:06
Speaker
meditation on scripture. And again, it's really this time of drawing near to Jesus so that we might draw new life from Him, more life to Him. As we were talking about last week, it's really easy to go through life and just sort of not think about God, get distracted.
00:02:21
Speaker
and in the process get thirsty in Hungary. And so, Lent is meant to be a blessing to us. It's meant to be like an oasis in the desert, as some authors have said. And so, it's really that time of the year where we are more intentionally focusing on our relationship with Jesus.
Confession's Role in Lent
00:02:36
Speaker
It's oftentimes characterized
00:02:38
Speaker
by times of repentance, confession of sin, meditation on scripture, fasting, so that we might be resurrected to new life come Easter at that time of celebration. And so we said last week in that episode on Lent that the word Lent means springtime.
00:02:55
Speaker
And so even on the calendar, like you just think about it starts in kind of the cold, dark, gloomy days of winter, and then it ends in spring. I think one of the early church fathers, I think it was Gregory of Nisa, who was a Cappadocia, Cappadocia is what would be modern day Turkey.
00:03:11
Speaker
And he lived in the 300s, but he's famous for saying that spring does not come suddenly. And so you just think about that, you know, as you are living in a part of the country, we're living in a part of the country where, you know, winter begins to fade into spring and then into summer, but spring doesn't come all at once.
00:03:28
Speaker
No, we just keep thinking it's got to be coming soon. Yeah.
Spiritual Growth: A Gradual Process
00:03:32
Speaker
But I just, I love that because I think it's such a reminder, such a picture of the spiritual life that the discipleship following Jesus really is a lifelong journey of trust in Jesus and the spirit of God is transforming us into the likeness of Jesus. And that process, that transformation comes slowly and gradually kind of like spring comes slowly and gradually as we come out of winter. And so that's what Lent is all about.
00:03:56
Speaker
Yeah, and I mean, it's this idea of giving up so that we can get more of Jesus, really. Yeah, dying to live, I think is the language. Oh yeah, that's what we talked about last week, dying to live. So what we're talking about today in relation to Lent is just this whole idea. It's not just in relation to Lent, obviously. This is something that's vital for the Christian life in general, but that is confession.
Challenges and Necessity of Confession
00:04:20
Speaker
We're talking about confession.
00:04:23
Speaker
Honestly, I feel like we don't really talk about this enough because we don't think we're that bad. Well, we don't think we're that bad. And honestly, like, I don't know. We don't want to. We don't want to. You know, like that's not fun. I love how we were. I don't know if we've shared this or not, but we were headed into Ann Arbor. This is this was back in November. And I think
00:04:44
Speaker
our daughter was in the backseat and we were headed to maybe pick up some food. Our daughter who is 16 years old. And remember she just blurted out, you know, this confession of having looked at the Christmas presents and years gone by. No, this is what she said. This is how it went. All of a sudden from the backseat, she's like, I have a confession to make. I used to look at my Christmas presents in your closet and was like, where? So we grounded her.
00:05:08
Speaker
I was a little late for that. I'm like, where did that come from? All these years, has that been weighing on her? I don't know. But you're right. As followers of Jesus, we don't generally do great at confession. And when we do confess in
00:05:25
Speaker
prayer. It's oftentimes a very general confession, like, I just, Lord, I know that I'm a sinner. But as we're talking about today, as we enter into the land, it's this intentional effort to really name our sin. We'll be very specific about it so that Jesus might continue to crucify, that the Holy Spirit might give us victory, and again, so that ultimately it leads to more and more life.
00:05:45
Speaker
Yeah, well, and I think, like you just mentioned, for me, this is why I think this conversation is really good because it's like, how do we actually do this? I mean, I pray and I try to say, think of the things that maybe I've done wrong or whatever, and I try to confess. And I don't know.
00:06:06
Speaker
Am I even doing this right? Why is this important? So I think this is really good for us to be talking about this. And I think we can start right there with the question, answering the question, why is confession of sin so important? I feel like that's a really good place to start.
00:06:24
Speaker
Yeah, I was thinking, I've been thinking a lot over the last week or two, just about that story in Genesis chapter three, when Adam and Eve sin against God and they go into hiding and they run and hide from God.
Sin, Confession, and Repentance
00:06:39
Speaker
I mean, they run from the source of healing and forgiveness. And we live in a culture that doesn't hide anymore. And so I think sometimes we do think about that where we were scared to come out into the light because we were afraid
00:06:52
Speaker
being exposed, and that's the good news that Jesus covers us, that we have been made righteous by the righteousness of Jesus, that He gives us His righteousness. And yet we also live in this culture where as Christians sometimes we don't even go into hiding anymore, that we don't take sin
00:07:11
Speaker
Seriously. Very serious. And so I would just have been thinking about that. And I think at the core, sin is really, it's this personal offense against God. I mean, sin is serious. When you look at the cross, what it costs Jesus to come and to suffer in a very brutal, gruesome way. I mean, that's how serious our sin was to God and its offense to God. And it really is, I think, a refusal to worship God, to love God, to serve God.
00:07:40
Speaker
And sin is described in a variety of ways in the Bible. It's missing
Jesus' Sacrifice and Overcoming Sin's Power
00:07:44
Speaker
the mark. It's separation. Paul in Romans 6 talks about how sin is slavery. And so sin is everything in our life that is dead and dying. And it separates us from God who is the source of goodness and truth and life and wisdom. And what we need is a Savior. And so Jesus comes and He
00:08:05
Speaker
takes our place on the cross, and by our faith in Him, God washes us clean. He forgives us, and He destroys the power of sin, and yet the presence of sin in our life is still sometimes very, very real, very powerful, very destructive. And so even though we've been washed clean, we've been forgiven, we've been made righteous by Jesus' death on the cross,
00:08:26
Speaker
We still now have to live this Christian life of overcoming the presence of sin, growing in holiness, in righteousness. We've been justified. We've been declared righteous by God, but now we need to be sanctified. We need to go through this lifelong process of growing and being transformed.
Freedom through Confession
00:08:42
Speaker
So this discipline that we're talking about today,
00:08:45
Speaker
of confession is such an important practice in the Christian life for growing in holiness and righteousness and being set free from the power and presence of sin in our lives. Yeah, and I think, you know, you just said being set free. I think that, like, listen, we are missing out when we let sin have its way in our life and we don't come to Jesus and confess that because there is such freedom
00:09:09
Speaker
that comes when we can set those ways aside. And I think sometimes we can be so wrapped up in our sin that we don't even realize how miserable it's making us and the freedom that Jesus is saying, hey, listen, give this over to me. You don't have to carry this.
00:09:28
Speaker
Yeah, one of my favorite, I heard a quote recently, and the author said that sin is the failure to live freedom excellently. That's a hard word to say, excellently. Excellently. But it's the failure to live freedom excellently. I mean, who doesn't want to live an excellent life? And really what the author is talking about is that we were created to live this flourishing, abundant life. I mean, Jesus says in John 10-10 that I came to give you life and a life that is more abundant, that the enemy comes to steal life.
00:09:56
Speaker
And so sin robs us of the life that we were created to experience. It's not always an easy life. It's not always a convenient life or a comfortable life, but it is a good life because it's a life lived with God. And sin robs us of that life that we were created to live that flourishing, abundant life. And so sin is the failure to live the freedom that we've been given excellently. And so I love that. And so as we're talking today about
Regular Practice of Confession Beyond Lent
00:10:19
Speaker
the practice of confession, it's such a, I think an important thing to do, not only during Lent, but just in the Christian life in general. And I grew up learning the acronym AX, A-C-T-S, and maybe a lot of our listeners were taught that as well. How do you pray? You start out with adoration.
00:10:35
Speaker
and then you move to confession, and then you move to thanksgiving, and then you move to supplication. And so I was taught at a very early age to pray in that way, and yet I know, as I think back to my own prayer life, you know, confession wasn't really always a part, or at least maybe it was the smallest part of my prayer. No, I'm going right to the request. Lord, help me. Fast forward, Lord.
00:10:55
Speaker
Let's get to the supplication. Exactly. Oh, my word. OK, so let's talk about where we see this idea of confession in the Bible, because that's where we always start. Right. The Bible. I mean, I think you see it all over in the scriptures. I mean, you see it in the Old Testament when Israel would send God would send a prophet, a messenger, a mouthpiece for God and and call Israel to repentance. And the book of Nehemiah, the very first chapter in Nehemiah, when he learns of the walls in Jerusalem being destroyed.
00:11:24
Speaker
What you see is confession. You see repentance, prayer, fasting. And so there's lots of places where you see the practice of confessing sins to God and God being gracious to forgive his people. And yeah, I always think about in the Lord's Prayer, in the New Testament, where
00:11:42
Speaker
the disciples come to Jesus and they say, teach us how to pray. And he responds to them by saying, our Father who is in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. And then he goes on to say, lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. And so right there in the Lord's prayer, there is this regular practice of asking for forgiveness, of confession.
00:12:10
Speaker
And so you see that, and I know we've talked about before that in early Christian writings outside of the Bible, the Lord's Prayer was often prayed three times a day. And so you see that in the Lord's Prayer
Community Confession and Accountability
00:12:21
Speaker
as well. And then James 5 is another, I think, classic example. I don't know if you want to read that, but James 5, in verse 17, James there, as he's writing to that group of Christians, is encouraging them
00:12:35
Speaker
to not only confess their sins to God, but He's encouraging them to confess their sins to one another, that there's healing in that, there's accountability in that. And so that too can be an incredibly rewarding discipline as we confess our sins to God, He forgives us, but we also are called to confess our sins to one another.
00:12:55
Speaker
Okay, so I have the verse here and it's James five verse 16. And this is what it says. It says, therefore, confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective. I want to read that one more time. I love that. Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed.
00:13:22
Speaker
Yeah, again, I think that's so important. We're called to confess our sins, to repent of our sins, to express sorrow, and then to turn from those sins. It's not just to have a good cry over our sins. Well, we can do that too, right? But also to ultimately turn from our sins and begin to follow Jesus even more faithfully, more fully. And then as James is saying, we're called to confess our sins to one another, that there's healing in that,
00:13:48
Speaker
there's great restoration, even accountability in that. Yeah, and I'm thinking about that freedom that I was mentioning earlier that comes when we confess our sins. There's such freedom and healing in that. So I love that we see that right here in James. And I think this is such a reminder that we really are given the invitation by God to come out of hiding. I know we were talking about in Genesis chapter three that there really is something significant that happened
00:14:15
Speaker
at the cross, that Jesus really has made us holy, he really has cleansed us, he really has forgiven us, he really has made us righteous. And so to come out of hiding and to be loved as we are, to be a loved sinner, that we don't have to hide, we don't have to pretend, we don't have to fake it with God or with one another,
00:14:33
Speaker
that we have this secure relationship that God really has cleansed us. I've shared this story before in sermons, but when I was in sixth grade, P class, you'd put on your gym shirt and your gym shorts and you'd go and run outside or whatever the other thing was. That was the worst in the middle of the day and you're all sweaty and then you gotta go to class after. I love gym class. Gym and lunch were my favorite. Of course.
00:14:57
Speaker
I didn't enjoy the short shorts. But anyways, I remember when I was in sixth grade, I had a tiny little wart on the outside of my right knee. And I was so embarrassed about that. I was so like, I didn't want anybody to see it. And so you know what I did is I took a- I seriously have never heard this story before. You never heard this story? No. You must not be listening to my sermons very closely, because I've shared this before. Honey, you have not. Okay, anyways, go ahead. We'll talk about it later. Anyway, off the air.
00:15:23
Speaker
But I took a band-aid and I covered my ward, and I did that for maybe three weeks, four weeks, I don't remember. And I remember one day, a friend of mine, I know I only had a couple of friends, but one of them, who was quite observant, finally said to me, what did you do to my knee? Or what did you do to your knee?
00:15:41
Speaker
because he noticed that every day I had this bandaid over my knee. And so I lied. Like I completely fabricated a story and made up this story that I had injured my knee, that it was healing. And so I put this bandaid over. And so I was so embarrassed for somebody to see my ward. And I just, as I've thought back over the years, like that's such a good illustration of what we do with God. It's such a good illustration of what we do with one another.
00:16:10
Speaker
that we've all got warts. And we were also afraid for other people to see our warts and forgotten. So we do, we go into hiding, we cover up. I mean, the other thing that Adam and Eve did is that they tried to fix their sin themselves, that they covered up with fig leaves. And what you see at the end of Genesis three is that God says, no, I'll fix your sin, I'll cover you. And he clothes them.
00:16:32
Speaker
And that's a picture of what Jesus will one day do on the cross, that He clothes us in His righteousness and His holiness so that we don't have to hide, we don't have to pretend, we don't have to fake it. And we can come into the light and be loved as we are, warts and all. And it's really only in the light that we can have our sins adequately dealt with.
00:16:50
Speaker
It's only there that we can really experience true forgiveness and healing of those deep wounds, those deep sins, the sorrow of our sins. And so I think it's just a reminder that the gospel really is good news and that Jesus really has covered us. And so what we're doing again in confession is we're coming into the light because we've been given this invitation to walk in the light and to be known as we are. And we all desire to be known.
00:17:17
Speaker
And yet at the same time, we're scared to be known. And so the gospel says, no, you can come out of hiding. You can be known and loved. And so the confession of sin is allowing God to deal with those areas of our life that we're holding on to that are dead and dying. So we might experience more of the life that He wants to give us, more of the freedom
00:17:37
Speaker
that we were created to experience. That's so good.
The Examine Practice for Reflection and Confession
00:17:41
Speaker
So we've talked about why it's important and just, you know, where we can see a couple of examples in the Bible. And then I think that, of course, the best place to kind of wrap up is how does that look like? You know, how does that look? What's that look like in our life? How should we?
00:17:57
Speaker
practice confession. Well, I want to just share really quickly one simple way that we can begin incorporating this discipline of confession in our life. And this is nothing new. I mean, this is something that Christians have been doing for almost 2000 years. And when you read the writings of Athanasius, for example, you hear this language of it's called the examine.
00:18:17
Speaker
And the examine was a way of really allowing God to examine your life and helping you. I mean, God knows what our sin is, but God is allowing us to see what our sin is so that we can confess it. And so you see that as early as the 200s, 300s in Christian rights. So this is something that Christians have been doing a long time. And it was really a guy by the name of Ignatius who made the examine or the examination of conscience popular in the 1500s. And so a very simple
00:18:44
Speaker
practice that we can begin doing in our prayer life is called the examine or the examination of conscience. I love alliteration. If you can take words and start them with the same letter, then that must be from God. You're so good at it. That just would take me days, but anyways.
00:19:06
Speaker
So this is sort of a, this is my version of the examine and they all start, these four words start with the letter R. And so one of the things that we can do is at the end of the, I think this is the best thing to do at the end of the day if you're gonna begin doing this. And so start at the end of the day just before you go to bed, you're laying in bed at night. And so the first R is you review. And so just prayerfully, you're going back and you're sort of hitting rewind on your day and you're just reviewing.
00:19:32
Speaker
the different conversations you had, the different experiences, the different meaning, whatever it is, you're just reviewing your day and you're just allowing God to search you in Psalm 139, right? Search me and know my heart, see if there's anything offensive in me. And so you're really allowing the Holy Spirit to just search you and bring to the surface anything that is in your life that you need to hand over to God. So that's the first R is review.
00:19:58
Speaker
And then the second R is rejoice. And so you're just praising God for the different ways that He was present and for His grace, and you're just rejoicing. And so you review, you rejoice, but then the third R is that you repent. And so as you review and rejoice, you're now beginning to sort of name those sins. I got really short with the kids at dinnertime or, you know, we were driving to, we never do this, we're driving to the store.
00:20:20
Speaker
And we got in an argument. I was impatient, whatever that sin is. Or you weren't listening to me. I have never done that, honey. I just want to publicly state that right now. Whatever it is, in my entertainment, I was alone and I looked at something that I shouldn't have looked at. I lingered in a conversation at the office longer than I should have. Maybe I disclosed something that I really should have only disclosed to my spouse.
00:20:46
Speaker
real specific about the different sins. You're just naming those as you review, rejoice, and then you're beginning to repent of those sins that you encountered during the day. And then the fourth R is you're requesting. You're saying, God, I don't want to do that again. God, when I'm alone or when I'm with my spouse or with my kids, I mean, you're just requesting God's grace. God, give me your grace. Fill me with your spirit so that I might walk
00:21:10
Speaker
in victory. I mean, those are just four R's that really help us practice that discipline of confession. Again, the goal isn't so much to focus on our sin. I mean, that's part of it. Ultimately, the goal is that we might focus on the goodness, the grace, and the love of Jesus. That's what has the power to set us free from sin.
00:21:29
Speaker
Yeah, you know what I love about this? Just this whole idea of review, rejoice, repent, request is I really think there are times when, well, I don't know about you, but I get in bed at night and I'm so exhausted, I can't even like, I don't know Lord, what even happened today? You know what I mean? And I think we can miss out on confession, like confession, if I'm confessing tonight,
00:21:55
Speaker
some of the things that I was struggling with today, that's how God changes me. But if I, otherwise, day after day, I'm struggling, not that you won't struggle again with it, but when I recognize that this is a problem, I think it's less likely that it's going to become a habit. You're learning to outsmart the enemy.
00:22:18
Speaker
And I think that's one of the things, as I've been doing this over the last year probably, I have noticed that, yeah, you're exactly right, there's patterns as I start to examine my day or different sins that I'm struggling with. I go, oh, wow, there's a pattern to that particular sin of whatever it is. I noticed that after nine o'clock.
00:22:36
Speaker
more susceptible to being impatient with the kids because I'm tired, I'm a morning person, not a night person. Just sharing that from a friend's life. But it is, there are I think so many different benefits from that practice. And again, the goal is not to live under condemnation, but there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ, Paul says.
00:22:57
Speaker
Romans 8. The goal is to allow, you know, God through His Spirit to weed out the things that are stealing life from us and to confess those things. And I mean, we've talked about this before. I mean, God created us to know Him, to walk with Him, where His image bears in. And so to be restored into the image of God means being set free from the presence of sin.
Lent and Preparation for Easter
00:23:22
Speaker
And confession plays such an important role in
00:23:24
Speaker
Yeah, and what a better time to start learning this and making this a habit than during Lent. Yeah, absolutely. Again, that's the season we're in, and this really is why we're talking so specifically about this, because again, Lent is that 40-day preparation for Easter when we celebrate Jesus's death
00:23:46
Speaker
resurrection. And so, the goal is to go through this season of, again, intentional drawing near to Jesus, confessing of sin, fasting, so that we might experience more and more of the resurrection life that Jesus has for
Living by Faith for Transformation
00:24:00
Speaker
us. And so, we shared this in the last episode, you know, Galatians 2, 20, Paul says, I've been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.
00:24:08
Speaker
And the life that I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself up for me. And so we're just drawing near to Jesus what we're saying, Jesus, we want you to resurrect more and more of who we are. We want to experience the resurrection life that you want to give us. And so we're entering into this very intentional season of fasting, confession, prayer, so that come Easter, it's a party. And hopefully we're much more like Jesus because of it.
00:24:35
Speaker
Yes. And you know, I love a party. That's amazing. So, oh, this has been so good. And you know, sometimes we talk about hard or uncomfortable topics, but they are so, so important because if we want to learn and grow, like that whole idea of it becoming a habit, we have to talk about all the different areas of our Christian faith in life.
00:24:57
Speaker
And friend, we are so, so glad that you have joined us for this conversation. And can I just tell you this? It is just so fun for us to know that you're listening and learning and growing right alongside us. If we haven't met you, we want to get to know you. So be sure to follow us on Instagram.
00:25:18
Speaker
at Patrick W. Schwank and at Ruth Schwank, or we are also on Facebook. And don't forget that everything we talked about will be at rootlikefaith.com forward slash podcast. And as if we don't say it enough already, we are so, so thrilled you're joining us and we welcome you into our family here at Root Like Faith.
00:25:39
Speaker
Would you do us a big favor? We'd be so very grateful if you would leave us a review or rating and share this podcast with your friends. It just takes a second and it's a tremendous help to us as we spread the word about root like faith. We are so grateful for your help in getting the word out. All right, friend. Well, I'm so glad we had today to chat and we will chat again soon. Hope you have a great week.