Confession - Good for the Fellowship (4 of 4)

Confession allows us to break through to the cross and to the freedom available for us there.

Bonhoeffer: Confession in the presence of a brother is the profoundest kind of humiliation. It hurts, it cuts a man down, it is a dreadful blow to pride . . . in the confession of concrete sins the old man dies a painful, shameful death before the eyes of a brother. Because this humiliation is so hard we continually scheme to evade confessing to a brother. [1]

As the saying goes: The truth will set you free, but first it will make you miserable. What we don't realize now, is the incredible peace awaiting us on the other side of confession. It is that dying to self that opens our souls to the light and joy and peace of the Lord Jesus Christ.

While pride would convince us of our right to secrecy and our need for self-protection, confession destroys pride. We cannot find the Cross of Jesus if we shrink from going to the place where it is to be found, namely, the public death of the sinner. [2]

So, what are your thoughts on the subject?

How have you found freedom through confession?

[1] Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Life Together (San Francisco: Harper and Row, 1954), 114.

[2] Ibid.

Two Weeks Can Make a Difference

Two weeks ago.
Today.

Confession - Good for the Fellowship (3 of 4)

Greetings from snowy southwest Pennsylvania. Why is it snow makes everything feel so much... warmer? It's 27 degrees outside, snowing, and it's wonderful!

Anyway, back to our series on confession.

Unconfessed sin destroys fellowship, and without fellowship, what’s the church?

Back to Bonhoeffer: Sin demands to have a man by himself. It withdraws him from the community. The more isolated a person is, the more destructive will be the power of sin over him . . . Sin wants to remain unknown. It shuns the light. In the darkness of the unexpressed it poisons the whole being of a person . . . [but] in confession the light of the Gospel breaks into the darkness and seclusion of the heart. [1]

We strongly grasp our right to keep secrets because we wrongly think our sin affects no one but ourselves. There is no sin in thought, word, or deed, no matter how personal or secret, that does not inflict injury upon the whole fellowship. [2]

Keeping my confession between me and Christ does nothing to defuse the secret. It is still a bomb waiting to detonate when it can do the most harm. But in confessing to another Christian, what was a secret becomes merely a private matter. There is little fear of exposure, for the power of sin has been broken in our being accountable to another. If the private matter becomes public, there is great freedom in being able to say, Yes, I’ve confessed that to Frank, and it’s made a world of difference in my life.

How have you experienced confession as the defusing of the ‘secret bomb’?

[1] Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Life Together (San Francisco: Harper and Row, 1954), 112.

[2] Ibid., 89.

Confession - Good for the Fellowship (2 of 4)

This is Dietrich Bonhoeffer. I've been turning some of his writings over in my head, influencing this series of posts.

I know a family whose child was diagnosed with a mild case of Cerebral Palsy. Seeing the look on the faces of the child’s parents, the doctor offered these comforting words: Nothing has changed since yesterday. You’re still the same people; your child is the same child. CP is just a name for what you already know is going on.

Confession doesn’t make real what we’re confessing. It's there whether we confess it or not. Confession is just agreeing with God. It gives our brothers and sisters the opportunity to assure us, Yes, God has forgiven you. You are loved just as you are; enjoy the fellowship of others who have found the same forgiveness that you’re enjoying now. You are a sinner, a great, desperate sinner; now come, as the sinner that you are: He does not want anything from you, a sacrifice, a work; He wants you alone . . . He wants to be gracious to you. You do not have to go on lying to yourself and your brothers, as if you were without sin; you can dare to be a sinner. [1] Read this.

Paul writes: My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness. Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong (2 Corinthians 12:9-10).

According to Paul, if I boast about (confess) my weaknesses (sins, shortcomings) I can expect Christ’s power to rest on me (I can expect help).

What’s that mean for me if I refuse to confess?

How have you experienced Christ’s help through confession?

[1] Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Life Together (San Francisco: Harper and Row, 1954), 111.

Cats and Dogs

Will snapped this photo today. I'm thinking maybe Tess has it too easy. Tess has grown up with my kids. She's been part of our family for 10 years... but I'm not sure how I feel about this; I mean it was after lunch and she was still in bed!


Reminds me of a joke.

A dog was sitting in the sun thinking. My human feeds me and keeps my water bowl filled; he walks me when I need it and gives me a warm place to sleep. He supplies my every need. Hmmm... he must be a god!

Meanwhile a cat was sitting in the sun thinking. My human feeds me and keeps my water bowl filled; he cleans my litter box and gives me a warm place to sleep. He supplies my every need. Hmmm... I must be a god!

Who are the furry members of your family?

Confession - Good for the Fellowship (1 of 4)

Why do we care so much about what others think? Why would we rather be thought well of than find the forgiveness and cleansing that comes with confession? Because we’d rather look good than feel good. We’d rather save face than find the joy and healing and wholeness that come with being transparent.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer writes in Life Together:

He who is alone with his sin is utterly alone. It may be that Christians, notwithstanding corporate worship, common prayer, and all their fellowship in service, may still be left to their loneliness. The final break-through to fellowship does not occur, because, though they have fellowship with one another as believers and devout people, they do not have fellowship as the undevout, as sinners. The pious fellowship permits no one to be a sinner. So everybody must conceal his sin from himself and from the fellowship. We dare not be sinners. Many Christians are unthinkably horrified when a real sinner is suddenly discovered among the righteous. So we remain alone with our sin, living in lies and hypocrisy. [1]

My paraphrase: We embrace fellowship as saints, but reject fellowship as sinners.

I’ve been reading through The Imitation of Christ by Thomas à Kempis. This is what caught my attention and then pushed me back to Bonhoeffer: The person who cares nothing about the approval or disapproval of people enjoys great peace of mind. [2]

But we do fear that disapproval; we fear being rejected by fellow church members. After all, what might they say?

Thomas again: You are not more holy when you are being praised, or more worthless when you are disparaged. [3]

Why does it matter more to us what others think than what God thinks?

[1] Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Life Together (San Francisco: Harper and Row, 1954), 110.

[2] Thomas à Kempis, The Imitation of Christ, ed. Harold J. Chadwick (New Brunswick, NJ: Bridge Logos, 1999), 84.

[3] Ibid.

Happy New Year!

Advent. Only a few more weeks until Christmas as the year winds down. Not for the church. The First Sunday of Advent is the first Sunday of the Christian Calendar, so Happy New Year!

Advent is about preparing for Christ's coming... coming to Bethlehem in the Incarnation, coming into one's heart in conversion, and coming in the Parousia--the second coming or second Advent. This is a time to get ready to receive Christ.

Christmas can be disappointing for kids. If it weren't, every family would have a pony! Sometimes our expectations don't match up with reality. I remember a disappointing Christmas as a kid in the 60s. There was a great toy on the market that allowed a kid to make his own mini action figures. It involved a mold, plastic pellets, and the main part: a device that melted the plastic pellets into molten plastic allowing it to be injected into the mold. After it cooled, you had your action figure.

I wanted it so bad.

Flash forward to Christmas morning. I opened my present. It was a refill kit of the little plastic pellets. The toy was such a hot seller that my parents couldn't find one, so on Christmas morning I got the refill kit--and a promise. As soon as it's back in stock, we'll get it for you. Now 40-some years later, I don't know why, but let's just say I'm still waiting.

Peter had expectations. Because of his Jewish upbringing he expected the Messiah to be the Son of David establishing a kingdom that would never end. In so doing, Peter expected this conquering hero to free Israel from Roman oppression. On a retreat to Caesarea Philippi, Jesus asked his disciples, Who do you say that I am? Sometimes our expectations can obscure the realities standing right in front of us, but Peter had already begun a journey of discovery that would last a lifetime, as he re-evaluated his expectations of the Messiah in light of his one-on-one Christ revelation. Peter's answer: You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.

What are you expecting for Christmas?

What are you expecting from Jesus?

(I owe some of the ideas in this post to Janet Lilly Wanner of Women of the Church of God. Thanks, Janet.)