The message given in the United Methodist churches of the Wheatland Parish on Sunday, September 12, 2021. The Bible verses used are 1 John 1:1-10.
When I was growing up and going to the Delmont
United Methodist church, there was always a part of the service called the
Prayer of Confession. It was a joint prayer, read by the pastor and the
congregation, in which we would confess our sins to God.
Somewhere along the line, that got dropped out of the
standard United Methodist worship service. It was not part of the service
when I came here, and we have not put it in since I’ve been here. But
maybe we should. Because confessing our sins is an important part of what
we’re supposed to do as Christians. The Bible talks over and over and
over about the importance of confessing our sins to God.
Maybe you wonder why. After all, God already knows
about our sins, right? God knows everything. So if God knows about
our sins already, why do we have to tell him about them? I mean, it’s not
a very fun thing to do, is it? To sit there and think of all the sins
we’ve committed? And then list them in a prayer? What a
downer. Why would we do that?
Well, again, the Bible tells us to, and that should
probably be a good enough reason right there. But if we think about it,
we can see why we need to do it. We don’t confess our sins for God’s
benefit. We confess our sins for our benefit.
The Apostle John, in our reading for today, says
this: “If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth
is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will
forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. If we claim
we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word is not in us.”
And we say, well, but I don’t claim to be without
sin. I know, as the Apostle Paul wrote, that we have all sinned and
fallen short of the glory of God.
And I’m sure that’s true of all of us. I don’t think
there’s a person here who would claim to be without sin. But it’s still
important for us to confess our sins to God.
Now, when I say “confess our sins”, it’s not enough for us
to do this in a generic way. It’s not enough for us to just make a
general statement that we have sinned. If we’re going to take this
seriously, we need to be specific. We need to truly think about what our
sins are and name them to God.
Also, a sin is not the same as a mistake. If Wanda
tells me to stop at the store on my way home and I forget, I have not
sinned. I’ve made a mistake. Now, I still need to apologize for
that and do what I can to make it right. But it’s not a sin. A sin
is when we violate God’s laws, either in the way we treat God himself or in the
way we treat other people.
And when I say “violate God’s laws”, I’m not talking in a
technical legal sense. Remember, Jesus said the most important
commandments are that we love God and that we love others. So, when we
treat God or others with disrespect, when we fail to show love to God or love
to others, we have sinned.
But we get back to the question--why do we need to do
this? Why is it so important that we specifically name our sins and
confess them to God?
Well, I’m sure there are several reasons, but one of the
biggest ones is so that we recognize them ourselves. It’s one thing to say,
in a general sense, that I’m a sinner. We’d all probably be able to do
that. But it’s another thing to think back on our day, or on our week,
and really think about all the sins we’ve committed. To think about all
the times we treated God with disrespect. To think about all the times we
failed to show love to God. To think about all the times we treated
others with disrespect, too. To think about all the times we failed to
show love to others.
Because the thing about sin is that it’s not only the things
we do. It’s also the things we don’t do. The Apostle James, in
James Chapter Four Verse Seventeen, says “anyone who knows the right thing to
do and fails to do it, commits sin.”
If we only say, in a general sense, “I’m a sinner”, but we
don’t actually think back on our actual sins, it becomes really easy for us to
minimize them. It becomes really easy for us to just kind of gloss over
them and forget about them. And if we do that, then we’ll never do
anything about them. We’ll just continue living the way we are.
And if we continue living the way we are, we may not
receive forgiveness for our sins. John says, “If we confess our sins, he
is faithful and just and will forgive our sins.” Unsaid, but a logical
conclusion, is that if we don’t confess our sins, God may not forgive
them. And you can understand why. Would it make sense for God to
forgive our sins if we have no intention of changing? Would it make sense
for God to forgive our sins, knowing that we fully intend to continue
committing those sins?
And to be clear, I’m not suggesting that the way we are now
is horrible. I’m not saying we’re all awful, terrible people. The
point is not for us to beat ourselves up for being sinners. The point is
not to dwell on our sins and convince ourselves that we’re miserable people
with no hope of changing.
But the question is, do we want to change? Do we want
to get better? Do we want to improve? Do we want to stop sinning,
or at least to sin less? Do we want to stop committing at least some of
the sins we commit? Do we want to at least commit them less often?
Do we want to be closer to God? Do we want to be closer to being the
people God wants us to be?
A sin that we gloss over, a sin that we just forget about
and ignore, is a sin that we’re never going to do anything about. We’re
just going to keep sinning in the same way. We’ll never get any closer to
God.
That’s why it’s important that we confess our sins.
That’s why it’s important that we examine our lives. That’s why it’s
important that we see all the sins we’ve committed, both by doing things we
should not have done and by failing to do things we should have done. And
it’s not just things we’ve done. It can also be things we said or failed
to say. It can even be our thoughts. The only way we can change is
by recognizing these things and confessing them to God.
And if we do recognize these things, look at what
happens. God Himself acts on our behalf and helps us. I said before
that if we confess our sins, God will forgive them, but there’s more to it than
that. Listen to the rest of it. “If we confess our sins, he is
faithful and just and will forgive our sins and purify us from all
unrighteousness.”
Can you imagine what that would be like? Can you
imagine what your life would be like? If you were purified from all
unrighteousness? Again, I’m not saying any of us are awful, horrible
people now, but think how much better we would be. Think how much better
we would feel. Think how much closer to God we would feel. Think
how much more peace we would have in our lives. To have God not just
forgive our sins, but purify us from all unrighteousness. To actually be
the people God wants us to be, the people God created us to be. The
people we are supposed to be.
I don’t think there could be anything like it. And
maybe you’re thinking, well, but that seems impossible. But it’s
not. God, speaking through the Apostle John, has promised it, and God
always keeps God’s promises. And if it seems impossible, well, remember,
as Jesus said, that with God, all things are possible. We really can be
purified from all unrighteousness. We really can be the people God
created us to be.
But it all starts with confessing our sins to God.
That’s the only way we can start down the road toward getting this awesome
feeling. We might wish we could take a shortcut, but we cannot. We
can only get that forgiveness and purification if we confess our sins to God.
So I encourage you to do this. And I’ll do it,
too. Let’s confess our sins to God. Not just in a general
way. Not just in a perfunctory way. Let’s really think about all
the times we’ve sinned. Let’s really confess those sins to God. It
may be hard. But it will lead to something awesome.
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