Series is a book review and study of Richard Foster’s Book, Celebration of Discipline. All quotes from the book are Foster unless otherwise denoted.
Today we embark on our journey through the corporate disciplines, beginning with confession.
Unless God gives grace, no genuine confession can be made… it is a consciously chosen course of action that brings us under the shadow of the Almighty. You see, love, not anger, brought Jesus to the cross. Jesus accomplished such a total identification with the sin of the race, that he experienced the abandonment of God. He knows what we are going through. (Luke 23: 39-43)
The Bible views salvation as both an event and a process. And part of that process involves our confession. Both initially, and daily, to lay down our sins at the foot of the cross and fully turn from our evil ways to follow after Him. We often see the believing community as a fellowship of saints before we see it as a fellowship of sinners, which is one reason why confession seems so difficult to us. We fear we are alone. The only ones who have anything to confess.
When the confessional system was first introduced into the church it sparked a genuine revival of personal piety and holiness. Since then, we have prayed, even begged, for forgiveness, and though we hope we have been forgiven, we sense no release. We doubt forgiveness and despair at our confession. We fear that perhaps we have made confession only to ourselves and not to God. And yet God has given us our brothers and sisters to stand in Christ’s stead and make God’s presence and forgiveness real to us.
While often we fear communal confession for the consequences or shame it may bring about, there are several advantages to confessional or sacrament or penance. It does not allow for excuses. When someone knows of our confession, there’s no explaining it away or finding an excuse as to why it doesn’t count. It builds accountability and leads to a pathway of change. The word of forgiveness is expected and given in the absolution. Which allows for penance (repentance, the desire to be forgiven) to occur. Unless we admit to whatever our confession is, it’s very hard to flee from doing it over and over again. Especially if we think no one will ever really know. Yet there is a power in nonverbal expressions of forgiveness…freedom begets freedom.
Counsel in the Giving of a Confession
His greatest delight is to forgive. We need only to confess.
“For a good confession three things are necessary: an examination of conscience, sorrow, and a determination to avoid sin.” -St Alphonsus Liguori
A generalized confession may save us from humiliation and shame, but it will not ignite inner healing. Until we face the facts, it is easy to skim over the deeper issues that need to be faced. Sorrow is an issue of the will before it is an issue of the emotions. We must desire to be conquered and ruled by God, or if we do not desire it, to desire to desire it. We have to want to sin no more.
While there are many who do not understand the nature and value of a confession, there are many who do and would be delighted to minister in this way. These people are found by asking God to reveal them to us and should be the ones we turn too in these times rather than those who would mock, ridicule, or shame us.
Counsel in the Receiving of a Confession
Once we see the awfulness of sin we know that regardless of what others have done, we ourselves are the chief of sinners. Regularly we pray for an increase of the light of Christ within us so that, as we are with others, we will radiate His life and light into them. We must keep in mind that while using the phrase “Biblical Worldview” may be a bit dangerous, we must remember that everything is filtered through the light of the cross. And most importantly, that honesty leads to confession, and confession leads to change. So in knowing these things, we must be available to receive the confession of others, and respond as Jesus would with simultaneous love and compassion as well as instruction to turn the other way. (John 8:1-11)
To recap all of the spiritual disciplines from Foster’s book, check out the full series: Celebrating the Spiritual Disciplines
