Confession is a 4-Letter Word

 Confession is a 4-letter word. I know some of you will start counting the letters to see if I am correct. Well, I know it is a 10-letter word. But for many Christians it may just as well be a four-letter word, that is, a swear word or an insult. Christians are supposed to be without sin, so they have nothing to confess, right? Most Christians seem to think this way. They hardly practice the spiritual discipline of confession. Sometimes it is simply because it is uncomfortable to confess. It is like undressing in public. For most of us undressing in public is a no-no, and if others undressed you in public, it is one of the worst embarrassment in life.

Unfortunately that is the nature of sin. When you have sinned, and people know about it, you feel naked. You just want to hide away. That is exactly what Adam and Eve did after they sinned. They felt naked, and they hid away in the bushes. In order to cover their nakedness, "they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves." (Genesis 3:7 NIV)

Many Christians still think they can hide their sins from God. Jesus told a story of the Pharisee and tax collector who went to pray. The Pharisee did not know how to confess his sins. He told God about all his good works. The tax collector on the other hand confessed his sinfulness. 

Confession of sins is hardly understood. Why should we confess our sins? Doesn't God know everything? If I committed a sin, he already knows about it, right? Why do I have to confess it? When Adam and Eve sinned, God knew what they did before they told him. One of the most puzzling verses in scripture is 1 John 1:9. It says "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness." (1 John 1:9 NIV).

This verse seems to suggest that if we don't confess, God will not forgive us. The question that arises is: IF we are forgiven IF and only IF we confess our sins, why did Jesus have to die? Surely if we just confess our sins, God would forgive us? Was Jesus' sacrifice necessary? To answer those questions, we need to understand what is happening when we confess our sins.

The classic illustration of confession of sins is found in the Old Testament. God gave the people of Israel this ritual to perform every day, and once a year, on a special day. This Special Day was called the Day of Atonement. The Jews call it Yom Kippur. In 2013, the Day of Atonement will come early on 14 September. The 14th of September is the earliest that the Day of Atonement can be on our calendar. The last time this day came so early was 114 years ago in 1899. So this year is somewhat special when it comes to the Day of Atonement. What does this Day have to do with Confession, though? Well, everything!

The first kind of confession happened everyday. Every time a person sinned, they were supposed to confess their sin and bring a lamb or goat to the priest to offer it as a sacrifice. If you could not afford a lamb or goat, you were allowed to bring two doves or young pigeons. If you could not afford two doves, you were allowed to bring 3.6 litres of fine flour. All these sacrifices were preceded by confession. Once this was done, "they will be forgiven.” (Leviticus 5:13 NIV) See also Leviticus 5 as a whole.

On the Day of Atonement, there was a more elaborate ritual, which was performed by the High Priest. This is described in more detail in Leviticus 16. For the purposes of this article see what it says about confession of sins: 

"He is to lay both hands on the head of the live goat and confess over it all the wickedness and rebellion of the Israelites—all their sins—and put them on the goat’s head. He shall send the goat away into the wilderness in the care of someone appointed for the task. The goat will carry on itself all their sins to a remote place; and the man shall release it in the wilderness." Leviticus 16:21, 22 NIV)

This ritual foreshadowed the sacrifice of Jesus Christ who is the ultimate sacrifice, offered by Himself as the High Priest. "...When Christ came as high priest of the good things that are now already here, he went through the greater and more perfect tabernacle that is not made with human hands, that is to say, is not a part of this creation. He did not enter by means of the blood of goats and calves; but he entered the Most Holy Place once for all by his own blood, thus obtaining eternal redemption." (Hebrews 9:11, 12 NIV)

The ritual in Leviticus 16 on the Day of Atonement foreshadowed Jesus, who was represented by both the live goat on whose head the sins of ALL the people were confessed, and was led to  Golgotha, and was crucified there in the wilderness, outside the city, and the goat that was killed as a scarifice. That means that when Jesus was crucified, all the sins of humanity were on his head. But how did they get onto his head? They were confessed onto his head. Who confessed them onto his head? Christ himself as the High Priest. You do not have to confess them yourself. Jesus did that for you 2000 years ago. When you confess you share in his confession.

However, as you read in Leviticus 5 above, there was another daily ritual of confession of sin and sacrifice which happened everyday as people sinned. This confession was done by the priest. The priests foreshadowed all Christians, all believers. As Peter puts it, we are "a royal priesthood" which serves under the High Priest, Jesus Christ. (1Pet. 2:9).  Each day as we commit sin, we are to confess our sins onto the head of our perfect sacrifice, Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God. However, this confession is also a participation in the perfect confession of Jesus Christ, our High Priest. It is the Christ in us who leads us to this confession. By ourselves, we would rather hide in the bushes like Adam and Eve did, instead of confessing.

If we do not confess, we choose to continue carrying our sins ourselves. Therefore, to confess is a way of saying "I have sinned. I deserve to die. I am naked. I need to be covered up." In response, God the Father says you do not need to carry those sins anymore. "God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God."(2 Corinthians 5:21 NIV). You do not need to die for your sins, "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. (John 3:16, 17 NIV).

You don't need to feel naked, Jesus has been stripped naked on your behalf at Golgotha, but he covers you with his righteousness. You do not need to walk around with the load of sin. Jesus calls on all who are burdened by the weight of sin to come to him, so that he can take it away as symbolized by the Azazel goat on the Day of Atonement.

Confession is a means of receiving grace, just like Holy Communion and baptism. They are a way of sharing in Jesus' death, thereby receiving the grace of God. To confess is to put down your load of sins at the foot of the cross. If you do not confess your sins, you are refusing to put them on the head of Jesus the Lamb of God. You are effectively saying I will carry my own sins, I will die for my own sins. God cannot forgive you in that case. Forgiveness is in and through Jesus Christ only. As you confess your sins each day, each week, each month, each year, you declare the sufficiency of Jesus' sacrifice over your sins. When you confess your sins, you accept the sacrifice of Jesus. When you do that, God "...is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness." (1 John 1:9 NIV)

"But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’ “I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God....” (Luke 18:13, 14 NIV)

Please note that John says that not only will God forgive us when we confess our sins, but he will also purify us from all unrighteousness. The Greek word for purify is katharizo, from which we get the English word catharsis. Catharsis is a psychological term used for emotional healing that comes from talking about one's painful secrets. For example, if you have murdered somebody, and the guilt is killing you, a Psychologist will help you talk about the murder, and most people find healing from that. Even victims of rape and incest find healing from talking about their experiences. Confession, however, is about accepting and acknowledging your sin, your guilt, and by so doing passing it on to the head of one who can take it away from you and make things right.

Confession is like a coupon of grace. Christians have limitless supply of these coupons. Each day they can hand them in for God's grace, freely given, to be freely received. It is unthinkable that anybody will starve, when they have a bag full of coupons, which they can hand in at their local supermarket to receive groceries for free. By not practicing this discipline of confession, many Christians are living lives starved of God's grace. 

Some may ask: are you saying we must just keep sinning and confessing so that grace may abound? Well of course not! John seems to have anticipated this question. See what he says next as he continues in chapter 2 "My dear children, I write this to you SO THAT YOU WILL NOT SIN. BUT IF ANYBODY DOES SIN,  WE HAVE an advocate with the Father—JESUS CHRIST, the Righteous One. He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world." (1 John 2:1, 2 NIV). John is saying that when you confess, it is like pleading guilty in a court of law. The good news is that you will not be condemned, because you have an advocate in Jesus Christ, who has already atoned for your sins. That's great news! That's the gospel.

As you start practicing this discipline of Confession of Sins, may you "...grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever! Amen." (2 Peter 3:18 NIV). Confession need not be a four-letter word!

Christmas is your birthday

Christmas is a celebration that Jesus, who was God, became flesh like us.
“In the beginning was the Word,… and the Word was God… And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.” Jn. 1:1,14

When He became flesh, he took all humans past and future in himself, just as all humans were in Adam when he was created. As the second Adam, all humans were objectively born again in Jesus when he was born of the virgin Mary. (Yes, a man can enter the womb and be born again-we all did when Jesus was in the virgin womb, and we were with him when he went into the virgin tomb.)

So, when Jesus was born, we were born with him, when he lived, we lived with him, when he died, we died with him, when he rose, we rose with him, when he ascended to the Father we ascended with him and are now seated in heavenly places.
“Or are you ignorant that all who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? Therefore, we were buried with Him through baptism into death.” (Rom. 6:3,4)

“We being dead in trangression, He made us alive together with Christ (by grace you are being saved), and raised us up together and seated us together in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus” (Eph 2:5, 6)

“For you died, and your life has been hidden with Christ in God” (Col. 3:3).

We share in the life of Jesus, his mission, his suffering, his glory, and his Triune life with the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. This is what the angel announced when he said: “For, behold, I proclaim good news to you, a great joy, which will be to all people, because today a Savior, who is Christ the Lord was born…” (Lk. 2:10,11)

What good news! Share it! Tweet it! BBM it! MixIt!

I am an addict

It is very difficult to admit that one is an addict. Throughout my life I have been lying to myself and those around me. Fortunately, one day it hit me on my forehead. I was an addict. I needed help. If you know somebody who is addicted, or are addicted yourself, read on…From one addict to another, you may find help.

Throughout my life I have come across many addicts. These are people who were addicted to different things like alcohol, cocaine, dagga (marijuana), heroine, tik (common in RSA) and many others.

In all the cases that I witnessed, the results of the addiction are the same. Firstly, the person’s body starts to deteriorate. I have watched people die a painful death from liver cirrhosis due to alcohol abuse. I have seen people’s bodies shred to pieces in vehicle accidents caused by drugs or alcohol. You might have seen pictures of celebrities who turned into shadows or skeletons of their old self.

Secondly, I have seen how the addict’s relationships are utterly destroyed around them. The addict is alienated from family and friends, from children, parents, brothers and sisters, from bosses at work, from neighbours. The only friends that remain for the addict, if you can call them that, are the drug dealers or the suppliers of the alcohol. Some of the addicts end up completely enslaved to their drug dealers through prostitution, committing crime and other illegal dealings for the benefit of the drug dealer. For example, Thandeka (not her real name) prostituted herself for food and drugs from her pimp until somebody saved her out of that life.

Thirdly, I have noted that the addict’s thinking is also affected. Some start hallucinating, seeing and hearing things that do not exist. They start thinking anybody who denies them the drugs does not love them. A life of drugs becomes the only thing there is for them. They actually start believing that they cannot get out. In fact, they start believing that drugs are good, and should be legalized for everybody to enjoy them.

In all cases where the addict lived to tell their story, I have always found somebody who took pity on the addict and offered them help. In most cases this person will take the addict out of the drug den and straight into the rehabilitation centre. They will pay everything that the rehabilitation centre requires. Those who run rehabilitation centres say that the chances of success are good if the addict accepts that they are addicted and need help. In fact, some try up to 5 rehab centres before they succeed.

I have met and talked to people who run rehabilitation centres. Ironically, some of them are ex addicts. They are the first to admit that even after 10 years free of drugs, each day remains a struggle to stay clean. The struggle continues.

Back to my addiction and my story. My addiction started with my ancestors. Somebody told them to eat of a certain plant because it would make them wise. No, the plant was not Cannabis from which dagga (marijuana) is made, nor was it coca plant from which cocaine is made. But it was similar. Like it is with most addicts, their relationship with their father fell apart. In fact, relationships broke down so much that one of their sons killed his brother. After they ate of that plant, their bodies became addicted. I have inherited the addiction from them. I have heard of alcoholics who inherited their alcoholism from their parents.

Let me tell you how I came to know of my addiction. If it was not for my brother Paul, who was also an addict, I would probably be still oblivious to my addiction. After Paul realized he was an addict, he started writing letters to us, his brothers and sisters, to warn us about the addiction. Those addicted to alcohol are called alcoholics, others are simply called users, or junkies, or crackpots, or dopers. Those with my kind of addiction are called sinners.

In one of his letters, my brother Paul said, “When Adam sinned, sin entered the world. Adam’s sin brought death, so death spread to everyone, for everyone sinned.” (Rom. 5:12). Paul realized he was a sinner. Because of his addiction, his sin, he was busy going around killing his brothers and putting others in jail. In his warped, addicted (sinful) mind he thought he was doing a good thing. Like all addicts do, Paul needed a Savior to show him he needed help. So one day whilst he was on his way to Damascus on one of his murderous trips, Paul met the man Jesus. This man Jesus showed so much love to us. He came to the house of sin to take us out. Like the man who went into the brothel to take Thandeka out of prostitution, he came and lived amongst us the sinners, so that he could help us.

Sadly, even when he was in the house of sin, offering his help, some thought they do not need his help. Jesus himself said, “I have come to call not those who think they are righteous, but those who know they are sinners and need to repent.”(Luke 5:32)
Paul came to his senses. He realized he needed help. He realized that his addiction was so strong that despite telling himself he will stop, he kept doing the very things he detested. In one of his letters he lamented his condition, “I don’t really understand myself, for I want to do what is right, but I don’t do it. Instead, I do what I hate.”(Rom. 7:15). Like most addicts who cannot resist another fix, Paul realized he can’t help himself. Even when he was in rehab (some sinners call it church), the addiction remained so powerful he could have given up. But he realized his Savior was serious about helping him escape that life of sin.

“But there is another power within me that is at war with my mind. This power makes me a slave to the sin that is still within me. Oh, what a miserable person I am! Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin and death? 25 Thank God! The answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord. So you see how it is: In my mind I really want to obey God’s law, but because of my sinful nature I am a slave to sin.” (Rom. 7:23-25)

Like dagga or cocaine or heroine, this sin drug is as addictive. You become a slave to it. Jesus warned about it. If you have seen an alcoholic or drug addict, you will have realized that they are enslaved to their drug. They have lost control. Unless somebody offers them help, and unless they see they need help, they will perish by their addiction. When Jesus was offering help to some of the sin addicts like me, some thought they are not slaves to anything or anybody.

“Jesus said to the people who believed in him, “You are truly my disciples if you remain faithful to my teachings. And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” “But we are descendants of Abraham,” they said. “We have never been slaves to anyone. What do you mean, ‘You will be set free’?” Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave of sin.” (John 8:31-34)

About 25 years ago, I realized I am an addict to sin. I realized I was a sinner. Like Paul, I realized I needed help. Some recovering addicts told me there was a rehab centre they went to. They told me if I came along, I could be encouraged by those who were also trying to live behind a life of sin. I started attending their meetings on Sundays. It has been tough going. I still sin from time to time, but Jesus told me I must focus on his life. He took my sinful life and made it his own, and he gave me his sinless life.

So the life I live now, I live by trusting in Jesus. This is a secret that seemed to help Paul. He said,

“I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.” (Gal. 2:20)

I have come to realize that in this addicted body, I have no hope. But Jesus is transforming me. Sin has completely destroyed my body. I need a new one. Jesus has promised it. He came to live in me to help me fight my addiction. In the end, though, he will actually give me a brand new body, which will no longer be enslaved to sin. It is possible. He lived his whole life without sin. I can’t wait for that day. I currently facilitate meetings of a rehab centre for sinners in Johannesburg. It is called Hope Christian Fellowship. It is commonly know as a church. There are many of these around the world. If you think you are an addict, you can join us in our walk. You can be free. No, you can experience freedom.

You see, the truth is that Jesus has already set you free. It is knowing the truth that sets us free. If you can meet Jesus face to face, he will help you too. “And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” (John 8:32). You do not have to do anything for Jesus to want to help you. In fact he died for me when I was still a sinner. “God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. 9 Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it.” (Eph. 2:8-9)

I know many people look down on addicts, they condemn them. But Jesus doesn’t. He said he came to save sinners, not to condemn them. “For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved”( John 3:17)