Advent 2 A, December 5, 2004
Text: Matthew 3:1-12
Confess Your Sin
Last week the theme of our Advent preparation was: “Clothe yourselves
with Christ!” (Romans 13:14). Each day we are to remember that in our
Baptism we have “put on” Christ and now “wear” His righteousness.
Today we journey with Christ to the banks of the Jordan River. There we
hear the voice of one crying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is
near!” We see people coming from everywhere. Confessing their sins, they
are baptized by John in the Jordan River. Today our theme of Advent
preparation is, “Confess your sins!”
“Repent, for the kingdom of Heaven is near!” Now is the time to confess
your sins. Not “later.” Now is time of God’s favour. Now is the time
when He can be found. As we approach Christmas we find God coming to us
in compassion and mercy. He offers us His Son to bear the burden of our
sin and heal us with His wounds. The time is now, not “later”! If we
fail to welcome Him now, we may not get another chance. Who knows when we
will have another opportunity?
John the Baptizer warns us: “The ax is already at the root of the
trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and
thrown into the fire.” The fruit God seeks is a life lived in daily
contrition and repentance. God seeks a heart that is sorrowful unto death
on account of its sin; a heart that freely admits its guilt and seeks
to be reconciled; a heart that is humble and not full of proud
pretensions.
It will not be enough to say to God: “Oh, but I’ve been a good Lutheran
all my life, I have never missed a Sunday service and I have always
given a tenth of everything I have earned! So why should I have to
repent?” This was the same proud attitude of the Pharisees. To them John said:
“You brood of vipers!” You stinking vermin! Unless you change your
heart and humble yourself, you will be cut down and thrown into the fire!
Here is the take-home message: Instead of comparing myself with others,
I must let the Holy Spirit apply the Word of God to my own heart and
open my eyes to the true condition of my soul before my Holy and
Righteous God.
Confess your sin! How do I do that? On those Sunday’s we have Holy
Communion we all make a general confession of sins at the beginning of the
service. But there is more to confessing your sins than saying a
general confession. When the people came to John to be baptized, they also
confessed their sins. But I do not believe that John simply asked them to
make a general confession of guilt. Luke gives us more information on
how the people confessed their sins:
“What should we do then?” The crowd asked. John answered, “The man who
has two tunics should share with him who has none, and the one who has
food should do the same.” Tax collectors also came to be baptized.
“Teacher they asked, “what should we do?” “Don’t collect more than you are
required to do,” He told them. Then some soldiers asked Him, “And what
should we do?” He replied, “Don’t extort money and don’t accuse people
falsely—be content with your pay.” (Luke 3:10-14)
We see that the people confess their sins individually and
specifically. Then God’s servant, John, applies God’s forgiveness to them
individually and specifically as they are baptized.
We also learn that confessing sins is not just an empty ritual, but
should—if done properly—have an effect in our lives. Our lives should
“produce fruit in keeping with repentance” (8). Repentance literally means
changing the direction of your life. Before you have been walking in
one direction, but now you turn yourself around and start walking in the
opposite direction. The fruit of repentance God wants to see in us is a
life that submits to His will and direction.
Where does the power to do that come from? The desire and ability to
produce the wholesome fruit of repentance is not something I can do. It
comes from the power of the Holy Spirit working in me. It comes from the
Gospel, the good news that God forgives all my sins and accepts me as
His child. It comes from the realization that I am truly and
unconditionally loved by my Creator and Lord. Through the message of God’s love
for me the Holy Spirit can begin to produce the fruit of repentance in my
life. This truly is God’s work.
In order for God to produce the fruit of repentance in my life, my
repentance must first be genuine. That means, unless I gain an accurate
picture of my utter sinfulness and lost-ness before God, I can never fully
appreciate and benefit from the Gospel message. If I am unable to take
my sin seriously neither can I take God’s remedy for my sin. As a
result, the Gospel is powerless to change my life in any significant way. In
fact, I resist the idea that my life needs to be changed. It is not
usually until my life becomes intolerable that I even consider letting God
change it.
Nobody likes change. But change I must because broad is the road that
leads to hell. If I do not want to end up there, I must let God take
over the reigns of my life. I must repent of my old ways, confess my sin
and begin each day renewed in the power of God’s Spirit.
So far we learned that for confession to be effective, each person must
individually confess their sins and be specific about the sins they
struggle with. But this is not all. We also notice in our lesson that the
people confess their sins not just secretly to God, but also verbally
to John, the servant of God. Jesus also instituted for His church the
Office of Private Confession and Absolution, when He gave His Spirit to
the disciples saying, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive anyone
his sins, they are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not
forgiven” (John 20:23).
Now, if it is possible to receive God’s forgiveness by simply asking
Him directly, why then does Jesus institute the Office of Private
Confession and Absolution? The reason is that we need it. God knows how easily
we continue to fall into the same sins even after we have confessed
them to Him; He knows how easily the Devil continues to accuse us of the
same sins we have already confessed to God. God also knows how easily we
distort His will for us and instead of having His word accuse us, we
begin to excuse ourselves when it comes to our sins; God knows how easily
we fall prey to the mind games the Devil uses to kill us spiritually.
That is why Jesus instituted the Office of Private Confession where His
called servants, pastors, are called by Him to hear the confessions His
people make so that they are not misled by the Devil, but produce the
fruits of repentance.
Think about it. As a sinner who is alone and isolated in your own sin,
after you confess your sin to God, do you not at times have difficulty
really feeling forgiven? That is why God has given you a pastor to hear
your specific confession of sins and to apply His specific Word of
admonition and personal forgiveness and healing to you. St. Paul writes
that “faith comes by hearing,” and so it is for the creating and
strengthening of our faith that God has provided for Christ’s forgiveness to be
spoken into our ears by the mouth of His called servant.
Advent time is a time for confessing our sins. Some of you may not be
in the practice of confessing your sins and may wonder: How is that
done? Allow me to share with you from my own experience the four steps or
stages of Private Confession.
First, there is a time of self-examination in preparation for
confession. If there is no particular sin that is burdening my conscience, an
excellent form of preparation is to go over Luther’s Small Catechism,
particularly his explanations to the 10 Commandments and the Lord’s
Prayer. Take the First Commandment for example:
“You shall have no other gods. What does this mean? We should fear,
love, and trust in God above all things.”
Now I ask myself, “Is there anything that I regard more highly than God
in my life?” Do I find it difficult to set aside time to study God’s
Word and to pray, both individually and with my wife? Do I have trouble
returning at least 10% of my income to the Lord? Do I worry excessively
about things in my life or about my future? Then perhaps I have another
god! This I must confess.
Secondly, I confess my sins to another pastor. I call him up and make
an appointment for Private Confession. In my own experience, the process
of self-examination is greatly enhanced when I know that I am going to
confess my sins to God and a human witness. It prompts me to
disentangle and actually examine my awareness of sin with great care and
precision. As a result, my preparation for Private Confession results in soul
searching which exceeds the rigor of my practice before I was in the
habit of confessing my sin to a pastor. I noticed how the Holy Spirit
restored my capacity to perceive genuine spiritual necessity, clarifying
and deepening my inner conviction that I am sinful, and stirring up
earnest sorrow and hunger for the mercy of a just God who is entitled to
holy wrath regarding my willful disobedience.
I have also been told that Private Confession is especially powerful in
dealing with habitual sins like drunkenness, sexual immorality,
laziness, greed, gluttony, etc. So, after I have examined myself in light of
God’s Word, the next step is to confess my sin before a pastor. You can
find an example of the rite of Private Confession in your small
catechism, or on page 310 of the hymnal.
Thirdly, after confessing my sins, the pastor may provide me with a
brief admonition and comfort from God’s Word. Here the pastor speaks
faithfully God’s Word of judgment and mercy in precisely the measures my
soul requires.
Then the pastor pronounces Holy Absolution: It is the divine miracle of
God’s grace given to a soul parched for mercy and pardon. Private
absolution results in a firm spiritual reassurance for my troubled
conscience; sins confessed and absolved are never again to cause doubt, fear,
guilt or separation from God. Holy Absolution in this private setting
engenders the uncompromising belief that the message of forgiveness is
intended for me. I had the blessed privilege of receiving Christ’s
personal acquittal from my sin. The Lord Jesus, in having called me to be your
pastor, offers the same to you.
May the Lord grant you His Spirit to work in your hearts true sorrow
for your sin so that you may also taste the undiluted sweetness of His
abundant grace and healing applied to you personally. Amen.