The Role of Confession
Confession is Part of Our Language of Faith
Nehemiah chapter nine is a story about the people of God entering into a time of confession for their sin. They were brought to the point of confession because as the law was being read over them, they realized they could never live up to the standards outlined in the law.
This seems a bit odd in light of chapter eight. In chapter eight, they responded with sorrow for their fault before God, but Nehemiah and other leaders call them to respond with joy. I’ve already written why the leaders would call the people to joy in light of their failure. What is odd about chapter nine is that the same leaders who called the people to joy, allow them to return to their sorrow in chapter nine.
The point, while subtle, is that our language of faith must include joy & lament. In Nehemiah’s culture, the people of God were drawn to lament and mourning as a natural language and so the leaders needed to call them to joy. Leaders worked to give them a language of joy with the message that even under the burden of law, there was grace! In our culture, the people of God are drawn to joy & praise as a natural language (as we should be in light of what Christ has done), but we cannot let go of the need for confession, mourning, and lament. It is worthy work for modern leaders to help give their communities a language for mourning so they will know how to walk through disappointment, hurt, and pain faithfully.
The truth is, there is a deep relationship between joy and mourning; praise and confession. Our joy is increased after we have known what it is to mourn. Our praise for His forgiveness is strengthened when we have cause for confession. The relationship between these two apparent opposites is so strong that both the Jewish & Christian calendars connect seasons of joy & mourning to one another.
The Jewish calendar begins with Rosh Hashanah. A season that marks the new year with joy and blowing of the trumpet. It is followed by Yom Kippur which is marked with self-denial, prayer, and fasting. Following that is the Festival of Booths, a seven-day festival that celebrates God’s protection and presence with them while they were traveling in the desert.
The Christian calendar follows a similar joy-mourning-joy pattern. The Christian year begins with Advent, a season of anticipation and joy. That is followed by Lent, a forty-day season of self-denial, prayer, and fasting as we recognize our sinfulness before God and need for the Savior. Lent is followed immediately with Easter, a fifty-day season in celebration of resurrection, new life, and victory in Christ.
Joy, mourning, joy. Joy brings depth to the mourning while mourning brings life to the season of joy!
Joy & mourning are connected!
The people of God in Nehemiah nine acknowledged their sinfulness before God and it led them to a time of mourning and confession.
There’s that word: confession.
Most protestants are uncomfortable with confession. We think that to confess is to deny victory in Christ. Or that confession is a way of saying, “Everything is not ok all the time.” Modern evangelicals have never been very good at that! And to many, confession is just plain uncomfortable!
I submit to you that confession has a place in our lives and expression of faith.
What Does Confession Really Mean?
The Hebrew root of the word confession means “to praise.” The Greek root means “to acknowledge or agree.” With these root meanings in mind, I suggest this definition of confession. Confession is acknowledging the beauty of Christ against our brokenness, and naming some of the ways we fall short. Because confession involves seeing the beauty of Christ, it often is preceded by or followed by praise, as illustrated in the ninth chapter of Nehemiah.
As you read Nehemiah chapter nine, you see the people start by praising God, then move to confession, before renewing their commitment to God. This is often the pattern of our lives! We praise God for sending Jesus, and we place our faith in him.
Soon, we see his beauty more and more, and seeing his beauty reveals our brokenness more and more, so we are moved to confess, “God, I don’t live up.” That confession leads us into a deeper appreciation for His forgiveness and thus, a deeper commitment to Him. This cycles repeats for a lifetime. Unless, of course, we get to a point where we think we have everything figured out or are living perfectly perfectly before God. As a staunch Wesleyan, I’m a big believer in living victoriously over habitual sin, but there is always room for growth in our lives. Many times, that growth comes when we see the beauty of Christ against our own human condition.
My point is simply this: there must be room in our lives for confession for us to continue to grow in Christ!
At Emmaus Road Church in Fort Collins, we do our best to help you walk through a similar joy-mourning-joy pattern in our weekly worship service. We begin our service praising God that we are once again gathered together as His people. We praise Him because He has been with us during the week and worked in our lives and hearts. Next, we take time to recognize our need for the Savior. Sometimes it’s a scripture reading, a thought, song, or corporate confession. Whatever form it takes, we take a few moments to say, “God we are people who cannot live in perfect obedience all the time. We need you.” Finally, we move quickly to the Good News that we have been forgiven and made new in Christ.
I encourage you to take a moment to read Nehemiah 9:5b-28; 33. Pay special attention to the following:
- Hear how worship & confession are often tied together.
- Notice how the confession happens in the context of their story. Each of you were born into the story of your family, town, and culture. When you became (or become) a Christian, you enter the Christian story. When they confess, they confess sin on behalf of their ancestors and themselves. This shows us that sin is never just personal. It is always also corporate because our sin affects other people. Our confession of sin, therefore, should also be personal and corporate. Take the time to connect your brokenness to your story. Tell the story of the addiction, abuse, neglect, conditional love, hurt, etc. that are part of your story and the brokenness you experience because of those things and confess, “God, we have fallen short! Forgive us! Make us new!”
- Notice the declarations of God’s character.
This beautiful chapter in Nehemiah shows us that confession, along with joy and praise is an important part of our language and expression of faith.
To learn more about confession, visit Emmaus Road Church, a church in Fort Collins or click on the resources below.
Download the sermon discussion guide
You can listen to other sermons from the Nehemiah series by clicking on the following links: