July 9, 2006 Sermon Series on Confession: What sins should we confess?
As John the Baptist was preaching repentance out in the desert, he also told those who came to "produce fruit in keeping with repentance." (Luke 3) The natural response of the people was, "how? What should we do?" John's general answer was, "The man with two tunics should share with him who has none, and the one who has food should do the same." Start being more generous - less selfish with what you have. It's rather interesting to me how John's answer was not the same for everyone. Tax collectors were told, "Don't collect any more than you are required to." Soldiers were also told, "Don't extort money and don't accuse people falsely--be content with your pay." Both of these answers were connected to greed - but the advice applied to the roles that they had in life.
Isn't it interesting how the fruits of repentance and the conversion to faith DIDN'T - in these instances - require a complete change of lifestyle? It involved performing the duties they had before they were converted. This is in keeping with what Paul said in 1 Corinthians 7:20, "Each one should remain in the situation which he was in when God called him." So John told the soldiers, "be content with your pay." He didn't tell them to repent for not giving ten percent to church or for eating pork meat. He told them to repent for the way they were performing their every day jobs. From this we will see that -
Repentance Involves the Roles of Every Day Life
I. Every day life is not community service
A majority of the guilt we put ourselves usually has to do with the idea that we should be doing more - or we should really have more. What that "more" is, we really don't know. We see it in the smiles of our classmates. We observe it in the fitness gurus on TV and at the gymnasium. We envision it when we listen to the great mission journeys of Paul or go to a women's rally and listen to the foreign missionaries. We think to ourselves, "I wish I were in shape. I wish I had his job. I should be doing more with my life. I should be knocking on doors. I ought to go on a mission journey. Maybe I'll go down to New Orleans and help with the clean up down there when I get some time." We want to do "more" or be "more" - but it seems like we're locked in to our day to day jobs. Going on mission journeys doesn't pay the bills. Working out sounds like a nice ideal, but by the time we're done with work we don't have the energy. We'd like a nicer house, but our jobs won't allow us to afford the payments. So many people feel straddled or trapped by our jobs, families, or abilities. So we feel a little guilty about not doing more, but honestly we don't feel that guilty about it because "we're busy enough" the way it is.
This isn't true of all people of course. There are some people who are in shape. There are some who do a great job at work. Every promotion and raise is given to them and they are excellent teachers, workers, and leaders. Some children are known for being model students and excellent athletes. They achieve many exceptional things in life and are very productive people - regularly volunteering at church, school, and in the community as well. They find the time to do a lot more with their lives than we do. These kinds of people seem to be ubermensch - super producers who never slow down and get tons done. Most of us wish we were like them, but many of us aren't. We're lucky if get to work on time or just get our work done - not to mention volunteering anywhere else. Unfortunately, even though these people are very productive, they usually don't find themselves repenting too often, since they are so praised by the world.
The question is - should we feel guilty if we aren't as productive or motivated as others? Should we confess every night that we don't knock on doors or tell our neighbors about Christ? Should we feel we've been unproductive as Christians if we don't volunteer at church more or get involved in the local mom's club? Why? If you are genuinely busy with your spouse or job, should you load extra guilt on yourself for not singing in the choir? Should you put guilt on yourself for not raising money for leukemia? Is this where our primary confession should come from? Luther had to deal with this mind set often. It was commonly thought that the monastery lifestyle was much higher than that of the housewife or the coal miner. But he kept asking himself, "where does God's Word say this? God's Word does not say these have to be priorities.
II. Every day life is the roles we find ourselves in
When Luther talked about confession and absolution - notice that his consideration of "sin" had nothing to do with these kinds of activities that we often guilt ourselves over. He says, "if you want to recognize sins, let look at your every day life."
How can we recognize these sins?
Consider your place in life according to the Ten Commandments. Are you a father, mother, son, daughter, employer or employee? Have you been disobedient, unfaithful, or lazy? Have you hurt anyone by word or deed? Have you been dishonest, careless, wasteful or done other wrong?
In his college years Luther could have been a powerful lawyer or a doctor. Instead, he decided to join a monastery, saying that it was a calling from God. But the question that his father asked bit hard when he said, "would God approve of you breaking the Fourth Commandment?" In order to fulfill his "higher calling" Luther was ignoring what he considered a lower one. It's so simple and yet so profound. It's so easy to either excuse guilt or appease guilt by looking to the "extra" things we do in life beyond our immediate roles. But Luther's questions get us to thinking about what we're doing in our every day lives.
The first question to ask yourself is "what am I? Am I a boss? A mechanic? A grandma? A wife? A son?" Every place in life has specific responsibilities. If you are a mom, it is your responsibility to take care of your children - to feed them, listen to them, put them to bed at night. If you are a husband, God calls on you to take care of your wife. Pray for her. Pray with her. Tell her how much you love her. Look her in the eye and be attentive to her cries. If you are a child, it is your duty to do whatever your parents need - clean the dishes, vacuum the carpet, make your bed, or mow the lawn. If you are a maintenance man, then clean bathrooms with all your might. Vacuum as if the President were coming into the store. This is all straight from Paul's letters.
In line with this, Luther asks some biting questions, "have you been disobedient, unfaithful, or lazy?" Think about what kind of a mom you are being. Are you allowing your television to raise them? What kind of an employee are you being? Are you taking too many bathroom breaks at work - just to get out of some work? Are you being a lazy child? Do you complain every time your parents ask you to do something? Do you wait for an hour before doing it? When you are a disobedient or lazy child, you are sinning. When you are lazy at work, you are committing a sin. When you only work while the boss is looking, you are not being faithful.
Often times it happens that a person will excel at one role - but be terrible at another. A man may be an exemplary and hard working employee, but when he gets home, he doesn't spend a minute talking to his wife or playing with his kids. Some women just cater to their children hand and foot, but when their husbands ask for a glass of water they snidely respond, "you have two feet. Get it yourself!" Even those who are wonderful volunteers at church or in the community more than occasionally do it at the expense of their family. They give up their roles as fathers, mothers, and spouses so they can serve their friends and neighbors. Why? So the church thinks of them as being "great members." So their friends gush over how nice they are. Meanwhile their family sits and home and resents the church and their friends because it is taking mom or dad away from them. These are all sins to be considered - no matter how many people praise you for how "generous" you think you are.
The role that we have as Christians is to examine ourselves and ask ourselves these questions. "How am I doing as a dad? How am I doing as a spouse? How am I doing as an employee?" The problem is that we AREN'T considering these things. We are asking ourselves, "how is SHE doing as my wife? How is he doing as my child? How is she doing as an employee? What would I do if I were boss? Well. . . I wouldn't act like him!" Instead, we need to be more self aware. "How have I been sinning against my spouse? Have I went to sleep when she wanted to talk? Have I put my children above him? Have I ignored my children because I didn't want to spend the time or effort taking care of them?" Be willing to say to your wife, "I'm sorry I didn't talk to you last night. I should have stayed up and spent more time with you." Be willing to say to your parents, "I'm sorry I complained about doing my chores yesterday." Be willing to say to your boss, "I realize I haven't been putting enough effort into that account. I'll try better." Look into your specific roles, and confess where you are sinning. If you confess your sins to each other, then confess them at least to the LORD.
The fact is that we are not doing this - not enough. Women are constantly crying out to their husbands to just pay attention to them once in a while - treat them like they are special. But men are so consumed with the job they are doing at work that they convince themselves they are too tired to pay attention to their wives. You know you could get a lot more work done. But you convince yourself that since everyone else is lazy, you don't want to make them look bad. Anyway, you don't get paid enough, so why should you put yourself off for your employer anyway? Children are begging for more attention - but their parents are telling them to go watch TV. Even though we complain to each other about our weaknesses, we're too pigheaded to admit we're sinning.
So the sin becomes more pronounced. Everyone knows Mr. Johnson is a jerk to his wife - but she doesn't say anything and he's too consumed with how everyone treats him to see how he's treating her. Everyone knows Mrs. Smith is rude - but Mrs. Smith has been getting away with it for so many years that everyone just lives with it. The whole church knows that Mrs. Offended loves to talk about everyone else in the congregation. Unfortunately, Mrs. Offended never says to herself, "I shouldn't slander people like that", and neither does her husband - because he doesn't want a war at home. Nobody confronts anyone, and no sins are exposed, and no sins are confessed. Every Sunday we meet and harmlessly say, "I'm a sinner," but God forbid we actually confront or address any specific sins. Is this what God had in mind when he said in James 5:16, "Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed."?
The results are worse. Since spouses aren't examining themselves, they aren't living with it. Since spouses aren't willing to admit their sins, they're getting divorced. Since church members aren't addressing one another's sins, churches split apart. Since employees are looking for free handouts and bosses aren't looking after their employees, businesses go under. Why? Because Christians are not examining themselves. They aren't willing to look at their weaknesses. They aren't willing to confess their sins - their specific and personal sins that they are daily committing in every day life. They are only thinking of the fact that they aren't knocking on doors or traveling to Africa on a mission journey! If life were only so simple.
III. Repentance needs to cling to the specific roles of the LORD
When you sit and think about this whole concept, it has probably made you think about some aspect of life where you've been lacking. You've either lied to yourself and convinced yourself that "I've done pretty good at my roles," or you've honestly said to yourself, "man, I've messed up. Have I been lazy? Oh yeah. Have I been unfaithful. In many ways." Doesn't it make you sit and say to yourself, "why on earth has my spouse stuck with me so long? It's a miracle that God hasn't taken my children away from me. I can't believe I still have this job!" Why hasn't God given up on us? Because the LORD is faithful in His role. Jesus had one main role while He was on this earth - to live and die for us our substitute. He wasn't lazy in it. He wasn't unfaithful. He wasn't disobedient. He preached and healed people throughout the night. He taught the people what mercy was all about. When the Father told him to go on to the cross, even though He was stressed and tired, He went. Why are we still around? Because Jesus still fulfills that role. Christ Jesus, who died - more than that, who was raised to life - is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. (Ro 8:34) God's Word promises us that God is a faithful God. According to Exodus 34 it means that He is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness. According to Isaiah 42:3 it means that he will not break a bruised reed or snuff out a smoldering wick. The role of God - as a faithful and merciful God - is to put up with sinful people like us. The role of the LORD is to keep forgiving us because Jesus died for us. That's what He does as the LORD. That's who He is.
What does that mean to us? It means that He sees us neglect the wife that He gave us, but He still lovingly forgives us for it. He sees you disrespect and hears you complain about your husband, but Jesus says, "Father forgive them. I died for them too." He sees you whine and moan about your chores, but He also sees that the blood of Christ was poured on you at your baptism. He sees that in spite of your specific sins, you are still covered in Jesus righteousness. Even with your sins, you are still clinging to Christ in faith. It means exactly what Paul said to Timothy in 2 Timothy 2:13, "if we are faithless, he will remain faithful, for he cannot disown himself." God is specifically faithful to the unfaithful husband. He died specifically for children who would complain about their chores. His Spirit still dwells in the repentantly weak wife who verbally abuses her husband. This is what forgiveness is all about - it is for specific sins that are committed in the roles we are supposed to fulfill - but don't. Jesus didn't just die for original sin. He died for every specific sin committed in the world. 1 John 2:2 He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.
The question is - what kind of a husband do you want to be? What kind of child would you rather be? A lazy one - or an energetic one? How do you want your husband to think of you? If you've messed up, it's not too late to confess your specific sins. It's not too late to start fresh today. You can't take away your past mistakes as a child, parent, wife, or husband. You don't have to. Jesus already did. But through repentance of these specific sins and faith specifically in Jesus, you can start fresh. You can start being an energetic child, a faithful spouse, or an obedient employee. Perhaps you will never be able to repair your reputation with your spouse or your family. Perhaps your ex-wife will never forgive you. Perhaps your children will carry a grudge with them beyond your grave. There's nothing you can do about that. Remember what Paul told the Colossians? Colossians 3:22-24 Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. That last phrase is the key. You KNOW YOU WILL RECEIVE AN INHERITANCE FROM THE LORD as a reward. An inheritance is something that is earned by someone else - specifically Christ. Even though we may have earned a bad reputation, we have a holy reputation in God's sight through Christ. So even if you can't repair the reputation you've earned here on earth as a lousy husband, a lazy child, or a bad employee - you will still receive heaven. That's all the reward we need. That's all the motivation we need to start fresh.
In Mark 5 Jesus had healed a man who was possessed by a virtual legion of demons. You might remember the story of how he tore chains apart and could not be subdued by anyone. However, when Jesus came the demons begged Jesus not to be thrown into the Abyss. So Jesus threw them into a bunch of pigs who then went and drowned themselves. Later on, in verses 18-20 read, "As Jesus was getting into the boat, the man who had been demon-possessed begged to go with him. This man was eager to serve the LORD! He was so thankful for having been saved from the demons - he wanted to dedicate his life to the LORD and follow him wherever he went. However, Mark goes on by saying, Jesus did not let him, but said, "Go home to your family and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you." So the man went away and began to tell in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him. And all the people were amazed." Even though he wanted to go and do great things with Jesus - Jesus told him to go home. Why go abroad when he had work to do at home? He wanted the man to fulfill his role at home - around the Decapolis - and tell the people in his closest circles about what Jesus had done for him.
Confessing personal sins shouldn't be too difficult when we think about it. We don't need to let our minds wander and try to bring guilt upon ourselves for not volunteering at church more or being more involved in feeding the poor. Stop thinking about going on the boat with Jesus, and go back to your own Decapolis. Just look at your role at home and at work. You'll find plenty to confess. Hopefully, you'll also find plenty of reasons to keep clinging to Christ - and let Him continue to do His role of cleansing. Amen.