For most of us “confession” does not sound like a very liberating idea. For me it used to conjure images of self-loathing, as I enumerated my sins with with heaps of guilt on the side. (Martin Luther was plagued by such feelings early in his life – often returning to confession right after he left in the belief he wasn’t quite contrite enough the first 10 times…) How tragic!
The truth – from a biblical perspective – is that confession is meant to be a source of liberation and new life! God does not need to hear our sins so as to forgive them (as though the omniscient God is unaware). And, as we’ve seen, atonement comes not from our confessions, but by means of the cross. (It is not our efforts that accomplish our welcome before God or the forgiveness of sin, but the redeeming work of Jesus.)
What, then, is the purpose of confession? And what does it mean to repent? And how does the process of confession and repentance bring us to new health, vitality and joy in the life of faith?
This is a sermon that was originally presented at Canvas (a Presbyterian church in Irvine, CA), February 15, 2015. To learn more about Canvas, click here!
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