Liturgy: The Confession of Sin
This is part three in a series on the liturgy at Renovation Church, which is a part of a larger series on worship. For an explanation of what liturgy is, start here. To go back to the beginning of our series on worship, click here.
Thus far, we have considered in the liturgy at Renovation Church the Call to Worship and the Prayer of Praise and Adoration. God sets the focus in His worship through His word by primarily directing us toward Himself. Being that the worship service in a church is about God, it is right to do this. We hear the command to worship God for who He is, and we respond to His self-revelation in His Word by praising Him. Do you know what happens when a light shines in a dark place? The objects in the room cast shadows. The light is glorious; it shines the way and provides new insight into what was once a place of dark wandering. We might consider the next step in the liturgy in a similar fashion.
As those who hear and receive the magnificent, righteous, and holy God by faith, we then turn inwardly. We turn around and we see the darkness of our shadow. It is at this point in the service when we confess our sins before the holy and righteous God. This sounds a little intimidating. Well, it kind of is. The reality of standing before a holy and righteous God has direct implications on who we are as sinful people. When Isaiah was in the temple, he gazed upon the glory of the “Holy, Holy, Holy” God. God’s presence shook the temple; it also pulled a response out of Isaiah. Isaiah said: “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!” (6:5). Isaiah’s response is a confession. Isaiah saw God and acknowledged his unworthiness before Him. Isaiah knew he needed cleansing.
Now, it is important to recognize that we do not come before God needing a good “re-saving.” When we confess our sins to God, we are merely acknowledging to Him what He already knows about us. We are not coming to be “re-forgiven.” We confess our sins to God because we are forgiven. We do not stand at the beginning of a worship service as unbelievers and then after the confession of sin recover our justified/forgiven and adopted status. We go into the confession of sin as sons and daughters of God. Which of you who is a parent would not delight in the acknowledgment of your child’s misbehavior? They started as a child, and they will continue as one after. Nonetheless, you desire their confession after some wrongdoing. In a more profound fashion, we, even as forgiven and adopted children of God, still continue to sin. At best, our good works are tainted with sin, or we have left something undone that we ought to have done. Or, at worst, we have willfully engaged in sin. Let us never think we have hidden our sins from God.
Therefore, we confess our sins. We do not hide as Adam did in the garden. We stand in the light of Christ and acknowledge our sins before Him. We fail to obey God’s law; we do not love God with our whole being and we often do not love our neighbors as ourselves. God knows that, so that is what we tell Him. We do not do so with an unengaged mind and heart. We ought to feel and know the twisted and broken state of our world and ourselves. We do not, as so many critics change against Christians, tell God we are sorry and go on living like nothing is different. We confess our sins week in and week out because we know how sinful we are; we know only God can do something about our sin. We turn to Christ in these moments by faith. For, Christ alone has paved the way by which we may confess our sins and not incur divine wrath. This is all of grace. We fail to keep God’s law as we ought, so we confess that. And, afterward, we receive from God’s very word the Assurance of Pardon. But, more on that next week.