Confession in Community - James 5:16, 5:19-20
Pastor Tim Brown, Calvary Chapel Fremont, Sunday June 14, 2009
Confession in community
James 5:16, 19-20 p2
Last week: confess your sin (spiritual failure) to one another and confront sin in one another.
James: be serious about sin individually and be serious as a church community about sin. Deal w/ it in yourself and others. I want to belong to a community that embodies the closing counsel of James – confession and confrontation. I want you to love me enough to speak to me about the sin I can’t see or don’t want to deal with.
Sin isn’t the failure to live up to some arbitrary standard of conduct invented by some church or religious community. Sin sets in motion a process of spiritual/moral decay/death because a person chooses to live in defiance of a holy God. And if you see me…
Hurdle in church: I don’t trust you enough to confess my sin to you nor do I love you enough to confront you in your sin. If I confess my sin to you might not like me and reject me. If I confront you in your sin, you might not like me and reject me.
Bible is full of confrontation: prophets/Jesus/Peter/Paul… There is a confrontation that is judgmental and condescending, belittling and demeaning; there is a confrontation that is full of the love of God. How can we be a community who trust enough to confess sin to one another and love enough to confront sin in one another?
1 Samuel 22:1-2 Adullam = ‘sealed off place’
Distress – 4 of the 6 times it refers to people eating their children because of the distress they are in – siege/famine. End of their rope – do anything to survive – break any rule if necessary – but they found a captain in David. He didn’t send them away. Not able to get jobs/on corners w/ cardboard signs/walking down street w/ sleeping bag on back/sleeping off a drunk in the back alley/stealing money from work/lying to spouses. They’ve come to a time and place in their lives where everything has collapsed. But they found a place w/ David and the other men gathering around David.
Debt – owed somebody they couldn’t repay/broken a trust/on the run. These are men who are guilty before the law/running away from their responsibility and the consequences for not living up to their word. These are men who were greedy/unthinking/ overwhelmed by mess they had made/leaving others to clean it up.
Discontented – “bitter in soul”. 1st use: Esau cried out bitterly because Jacob had stolen his blessing. “I’ve been robbed/ripped off/it’s not fair.” Job/Naomi cry out that God has embittered their soul. Bitter: I am not getting what I deserve or there is something happening that is not right – victims of injustice. These are men whom life has passed by, men who are discontent w/ the reign of King Saul - they are grieved/bitter/angry/betrayed by others/hurt and wounded/chip on shoulder.
David gathered about himself the desperate/guilty/wounded/angry. What a dysfunctional group! “Why are you here?” “I thought this would be a safe place for a failure like me. I thought this would be a safe place for someone who just can’t seem to dot all the ‘Is’ and cross all the ‘Ts’”. David was an outcast, too –They could trust, be safe w/ David. They could come w/ all their dysfunction to David and it would be OK.
David’s men – this most dysfunctional group of men became the most functional community. What they couldn’t find and achieve in and by themselves, they found and achieved as they gathered to and around David. They didn’t become an outlaw gang. They became the seed and root of a new kingdom – a new reign was about to be birthed and these were the 1st fruits.
David’s greater Son is gathering a group of misfits/dysfunctionals around Him who are the seed and root of a new kingdom. But our problem is that we can’t let on that we are in distress or in debt or discontented in any way. The church is to be like the camp of David – a ‘sealed off place’. The church is to be a place where God is so loved and the holiness of God is so valued that sin is hated. But more than we hate our sin, we hate each other knowing about it.
We hide our sin and bondages/strongholds and fears. We can’t let anyone know that our life isn’t in the fast lane, zipping along on cruise control. Any problem we may have is an indication that we aren’t trusting God/haven’t been walking in obedience to the Word/ haven’t surrendered to the Holy Spirit/don’t love Jesus.
I can’t bear the thought that you would think that I am less than perfect. I fear that my sin/failure won’t bring love/forgiveness, but judgment and rejection. Oh yes, I hate my sin. But I hate the fact that you know about it more.
Just the fact of being in David’s camp broadcast the news that not all was right w/ you. Just being there said that you were either in distress/debt/discontented. “Well, which one are you?” David’s camp was a safe place to come clean w/ your stuff – no more running and hiding and looking over your shoulder. The church is to be like the camp of David – a ‘sealed off place’ – a place that’s safe to walk out James 5:16, 19-20.
But many see confession as end, not beginning. “If I confess this, people will judge/reject me.” Two challenges here: 1) For you to humble yourself and trust enough, 2) To find people who are trustworthy. Men’s Accountability Groups
We confess our sin to God for forgiveness and we confess our sin to man and receive prayer for healing/deliverance/set free. Confession to God breaks the penalty of sin and confession to man, w/ prayer, breaks the power of sin. Confess addictions/ strongholds/ sinful attractions/distress/ debt/discontent/panic attacks. James says that w/ confession and prayer comes healing. W/ confession comes freedom, w/ denial and hiding comes weakness and bondage.
Problem: confess same thing over and over again – never getting the victory. Bigger problem: not forgiving 7x70. Your love is to outlast my failure. When your love outlasts my failure, that’s when church happens. So often, failure outlasts love and there is accusation/division. Where there is love, there is safety – covering and not exposing.
Your love outlasted the failure in my family. We (you and I) are still together. Had there been fingers pointed, accusations/ recriminations/bitterness/resentment – there would be wounded people/division/bitter people. But instead, we have the body of Christ as God intended it. We have peace and unity and love. Love doesn’t mean no rebuking, it means no rejection.
Bill Bjorkman and CCSC – their love is greater than his failure. The love of Jesus is greater than your failure and the love of the body of Christ is to be greater than your failure.
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Confession in community
James 5:16, 19-20 p2
Last week: confess your sin (spiritual failure) to one another and confront sin in one another.
James: be serious about sin individually and be serious as a church community about sin. Deal w/ it in yourself and others. I want to belong to a community that embodies the closing counsel of James – confession and confrontation. I want you to love me enough to speak to me about the sin I can’t see or don’t want to deal with.
Sin isn’t the failure to live up to some arbitrary standard of conduct invented by some church or religious community. Sin sets in motion a process of spiritual/moral decay/death because a person chooses to live in defiance of a holy God. And if you see me…
Hurdle in church: I don’t trust you enough to confess my sin to you nor do I love you enough to confront you in your sin. If I confess my sin to you might not like me and reject me. If I confront you in your sin, you might not like me and reject me.
Bible is full of confrontation: prophets/Jesus/Peter/Paul… There is a confrontation that is judgmental and condescending, belittling and demeaning; there is a confrontation that is full of the love of God. How can we be a community who trust enough to confess sin to one another and love enough to confront sin in one another?
1 Samuel 22:1-2 Adullam = ‘sealed off place’
Distress – 4 of the 6 times it refers to people eating their children because of the distress they are in – siege/famine. End of their rope – do anything to survive – break any rule if necessary – but they found a captain in David. He didn’t send them away. Not able to get jobs/on corners w/ cardboard signs/walking down street w/ sleeping bag on back/sleeping off a drunk in the back alley/stealing money from work/lying to spouses. They’ve come to a time and place in their lives where everything has collapsed. But they found a place w/ David and the other men gathering around David.
Debt – owed somebody they couldn’t repay/broken a trust/on the run. These are men who are guilty before the law/running away from their responsibility and the consequences for not living up to their word. These are men who were greedy/unthinking/ overwhelmed by mess they had made/leaving others to clean it up.
Discontented – “bitter in soul”. 1st use: Esau cried out bitterly because Jacob had stolen his blessing. “I’ve been robbed/ripped off/it’s not fair.” Job/Naomi cry out that God has embittered their soul. Bitter: I am not getting what I deserve or there is something happening that is not right – victims of injustice. These are men whom life has passed by, men who are discontent w/ the reign of King Saul - they are grieved/bitter/angry/betrayed by others/hurt and wounded/chip on shoulder.
David gathered about himself the desperate/guilty/wounded/angry. What a dysfunctional group! “Why are you here?” “I thought this would be a safe place for a failure like me. I thought this would be a safe place for someone who just can’t seem to dot all the ‘Is’ and cross all the ‘Ts’”. David was an outcast, too –They could trust, be safe w/ David. They could come w/ all their dysfunction to David and it would be OK.
David’s men – this most dysfunctional group of men became the most functional community. What they couldn’t find and achieve in and by themselves, they found and achieved as they gathered to and around David. They didn’t become an outlaw gang. They became the seed and root of a new kingdom – a new reign was about to be birthed and these were the 1st fruits.
David’s greater Son is gathering a group of misfits/dysfunctionals around Him who are the seed and root of a new kingdom. But our problem is that we can’t let on that we are in distress or in debt or discontented in any way. The church is to be like the camp of David – a ‘sealed off place’. The church is to be a place where God is so loved and the holiness of God is so valued that sin is hated. But more than we hate our sin, we hate each other knowing about it.
We hide our sin and bondages/strongholds and fears. We can’t let anyone know that our life isn’t in the fast lane, zipping along on cruise control. Any problem we may have is an indication that we aren’t trusting God/haven’t been walking in obedience to the Word/ haven’t surrendered to the Holy Spirit/don’t love Jesus.
I can’t bear the thought that you would think that I am less than perfect. I fear that my sin/failure won’t bring love/forgiveness, but judgment and rejection. Oh yes, I hate my sin. But I hate the fact that you know about it more.
Just the fact of being in David’s camp broadcast the news that not all was right w/ you. Just being there said that you were either in distress/debt/discontented. “Well, which one are you?” David’s camp was a safe place to come clean w/ your stuff – no more running and hiding and looking over your shoulder. The church is to be like the camp of David – a ‘sealed off place’ – a place that’s safe to walk out James 5:16, 19-20.
But many see confession as end, not beginning. “If I confess this, people will judge/reject me.” Two challenges here: 1) For you to humble yourself and trust enough, 2) To find people who are trustworthy. Men’s Accountability Groups
We confess our sin to God for forgiveness and we confess our sin to man and receive prayer for healing/deliverance/set free. Confession to God breaks the penalty of sin and confession to man, w/ prayer, breaks the power of sin. Confess addictions/ strongholds/ sinful attractions/distress/ debt/discontent/panic attacks. James says that w/ confession and prayer comes healing. W/ confession comes freedom, w/ denial and hiding comes weakness and bondage.
Problem: confess same thing over and over again – never getting the victory. Bigger problem: not forgiving 7x70. Your love is to outlast my failure. When your love outlasts my failure, that’s when church happens. So often, failure outlasts love and there is accusation/division. Where there is love, there is safety – covering and not exposing.
Your love outlasted the failure in my family. We (you and I) are still together. Had there been fingers pointed, accusations/ recriminations/bitterness/resentment – there would be wounded people/division/bitter people. But instead, we have the body of Christ as God intended it. We have peace and unity and love. Love doesn’t mean no rebuking, it means no rejection.
Bill Bjorkman and CCSC – their love is greater than his failure. The love of Jesus is greater than your failure and the love of the body of Christ is to be greater than your failure.
Yes, many Christians don't like to confess sin one to another nor confront each other. This is a good article that I would recommend people to read or listen online.
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