Sunday, January 4, 2015

Corporate Confession



The very first of Martin Luther’s 95 theses was on repentance: “Our Lord and Master Jesus Christ, when he said [to repent], willed that the whole life of believers should be repentance.” Really Marty, repentance is our whole life?

There’s wisdom in this statement. If a believer is a repenter (Microsoft Word is accusing me of making up this word “repenter” with its little red squiggles, but hey, what does Microsoft know about theology?), then it would stand to reason that someone who is not a repenter is not in fact a believer. This gives us great cause to consider the importance of repentance, does it not? Now, there are few evangelicals who would argue that repentance is not a necessary vehicle to arrive at justification (and those who would argue this are called “non-lordship” folk, but they're hard to find these days--bless their souls--because they’ve been hiding out ever since the 80s, when John MacArthur showed ‘em a thing or two). The real question is how important this practice is after the initial moment of conversion. Should we really continue to perpetuate mini-conversions over and over again? Confess, repent, celebrate in forgiveness, repeat. The answer is yes; not only because Luther tells us so, but because the bible tells us so. 

Let’s take two examples. When Jesus is asked by his disciples how to pray, he gives them the instruction to ask for forgiveness (Matt. 6:9-13). This is not a one-and-done prayer; the very structure of the prayer implies that it’s a template for a regular prayer life. The second example is basically the first chapter of first John, in which John informs his readers (his Christian readers) that if they insist they have no sin to confess, they are big fat liars, but if they confess their sins, they are offered forgiveness and cleansing at the hand of their advocate, who just so happens to be Jesus Christ the Righteous (1 John 2:1).

Now, if confession and repentance should be a regular part of the Christian life on an individual level, why on earth should we think that this should be any different on a corporate level? Can't James 5:16 at least give us reason to consider incorporating this in our regular gatherings? I am not a very old man, but I have attended more than a few churches in my lifetime, and I have only seen confession woven into the corporate gathering in one church body (well, two if you count the church I’m serving in right now, but I’ll get there in a sec). Why is this? Whenever I ask this question to contemporary evangelicals, I pretty much get one answer (dressed up in different garb to disguise itself as different answers and claim to be nuanced): it’s too Catholic. Seriously, that’s the answer. I’m sorry, but I only have one word to describe the rejection of such a theologically rich, biblically foundational, and practically helpful practice on such trivial grounds: lamesauce.

Our position as a church should be pro-biblical and, by succession, pro-sanctifying, rather than anti-liturgical. If a practice can be used in a worship gathering as a consistent means of grace, we should enthusiastically endorse it. I may be running the risk of flattening too many theological concepts here, but if we, as believers, are made into a royal priesthood by virtue of our union with the Great High Priest, then we should understand some priestly privileges as being assigned to us. Obviously we are not offering any atoning sacrifices on behalf of each other, but the act of declaring the trustworthiness of Christ’s atoning sacrifice does lie with us. There is a sense in which God is speaking to us by speaking through us. To paraphrase R.C. Sproul, the Catholic practice of confessing one’s sin to a priest and receiving the assurance of pardon from him is not all that unbiblical, as long as one responds to said priest with a “OK, your turn.”

At Emmaus, we regularly confess our sins corporately, and we regularly hear God speak through our pastors when they preach the gospel faithfully. When the confession of our sins are followed by a declaration of the gospel, our pastors are essentially saying to us, “If you are in Christ, the sins you have just confessed are forgiven.” This is not presumptuous either, because the entire surety of one’s sins being forgiven hinges on one’s union to Christ; the one declaring the truth puts the forgiving prerogative on Christ, where it belongs. There is something truly powerful about this pattern; confessing sins, and then hearing the rock-solid declaration of God’s forgiveness of those sins is a glorious thing to experience. In that moment, the speaker stands in place of God and speaks his grace; and as long as the words are biblical and contain gospel truth, the hearer can receive them confidently with joy.

This past week I had the privilege of stepping in for our Worship Pastor, which gave me the opportunity to be that voice of comfort for Emmaus. I had the delight of leading our church in a corporate prayer of confession, and a triumphant declaration of the assurance of pardon. Per the request of my elders, I have included these prayers as an example of what this practice might look like. I hope they’re helpful.

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Prayer of Confession
Out of the depths I cry to you, O LORD! O Lord, hear my voice! Let your ears be attentive to the voice of my pleas for mercy! If you, O LORD, should mark iniquities, O Lord who could stand? But with you there is forgiveness, that you may be feared. (Psalm 130:1-4)

Almighty God, we come to you as a needy people; as weak creatures drawing near to a mighty Creator. We approach you this morning, fully aware of our inadequacies. We acknowledge that you are glorious, altogether holy, beautiful, and deserving of our complete affection; yet we seldom offer you this worship that you are due. We confess, on behalf of our nation, that we have been a people who have not only ignored your precepts, but have despised them. Forgive us this rebellion. As your church, we mourn over our sin, which interrupts our communion with you and thus starves our hungry souls. We acknowledge that judgment begins with the household of God, so Father, we ask that you would give us a heart of repentance, that we may show the world what reconciliation looks like. Lead us in this now, as we confess our own individual sins to you.

Assurance of Pardon
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness… And you who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. (1 John 1:9, Colossians 2:13-14)

If you have not hidden your sins, but have confessed them before God, and if you have been united to Christ by faith, then it is my privilege as your brother in Christ to declare to you that your sins are forgiven! For Jesus has nailed them to the cross, buried them in the grave, and he has left them there for all of eternity.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

This is great stuff. It is intellectually fulfilling and there is enough wit to bring it home. Praise be to God that he has fed our hungry souls.