The Power of Confession

"In confession there takes place a breakthrough to community. Sin wants to be alone with people. It takes them away from the community. The more lonely people become, the more destructive the power of sin over them. The more deeply they become entangled in it, the more unholy is their loneliness. Sin wants to remain unknown. It shuns the light. In the darkness of what is left unsaid sin poisons the whole being of a person. This can happen in the midst of a pious community. In confession, the light of the gospel breaks into the darkness and closed isolation of the heart. Sin must be brought into the light. What is unspoken is said openly and confessed. All that is secret and hidden comes to light. It is a hard struggle until the sin crosses one’s lips in confession. But God breaks down gates of bronze and cuts through bars of iron (Ps. 107:16) Since the confession of sin is made in the presence of another Christian, the last stronghold of self-justification is abandoned. The sinner surrenders, giving up all evil, giving the sinner’s heart to God and finding the forgiveness of all one’s sin in the community of Jesus Christ and other Christians. Sin that has been spoken and confessed has lost all of its power. It has been revealed and judged as sin. It can no longer tear apart the community."

- Dietrich Bonhoeffer in Life Together

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But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.
1 John 1:7 ESV

Not Mere Improvement

I am continually struck at the vivid language the Bible uses to describe the transformation that a Christian undergoes. The Gospel is not mere improvement, it is a complete overhaul. It is complete newness. It is an eternal change in identity. It is a sad reality that many life long church goers have not experienced this eternal identity change. For the most part, Christianity is merely viewed as an elevated moral code or a set of guidelines for an improved life. Both of these rob the Gospel of its radical call to new life.

One doesn't need to search hard to find the Bible's elicit use of transformational language. Notice the vivid contrasts, the complete newness, the eternal identity change. A Christian is one who, by the Gospel was

Dead in their trespasses but now made alive with Christ (Ephesians 2:5)

an enemy of God, but now reconciled (Romans 5:10)

alienated from God, far off, but now brought near (Colossians 1:21, Eph. 2:13)

walking in darkness, but now is in the light (Isaiah 9:2)

orphaned, but now adopted (Romans 8:15)

under condemnation, now free (Romans 8:1-2)

a slave to sin, but is now redeemed (John 8:34, 1 Peter 1:19)

guilty, but now justified (Romans 3:10, Galatians 2:16)

spiritually bankrupt, but now filled with the riches of God's grace (Eph. 1:7)

hungry, but now satisfied (John 6:35)

The list goes on.....

No More Shame

"Those who look to Him are radiant,

and their faces shall never be ashamed."

Psalm 34:5

Eradicate: 1. To remove or do away with completely 2. to pull up by the roots

At the Cross, Jesus eradicates all our sin and shame. Those who are in Him shine radiantly. There is no more shame. It has been completely removed by Christ.

The Light of the World (John 9:5) has stepped down to earth. He has come to those living in darkness. He has come to the lifeless, dirty, sin stained, and shameful and has shown His great light to them, that they may look to Him and be radiant, that they may have true life. In Him there is no darkness at all(1 John 1:5), and everything He touches, is made glorious. That's why when Jesus touches the heart of a sinner, they are forever changed. This glorious light changes everything. Reality (Truth) is seen for the first time. More so, the Light of the World carried all our darkness and dirt, all our shame on His back, so that we might be able to see the True Light. He became a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief, taking the full burden of shame, so that those who look to Him would have NO MORE SHAME, but shine radiantly.