From Matt at Gad(d)about:

. . . something amazing happened at one of our friends’ church on Sunday. An assistant pastor was welcomed back into the fold after leaving and falling into sin. The pastor preached on sin, on redemption in Christ, on restoration in the Body. Then the man got up and apologized to the church, confessed his sin, and asked to be restored as a member. He just wants to attend church and sit at the foot of the Cross. He was broken and contrite.

The pastor then took the mic as the man broke down and sat in a pew. People were expecting some kind of ceremonial “we love you and we welcome you back.” Instead, the pastor looked intently into the audience and said, “OK, I know some of you out there are going through the same thing, the same kind of sin. You need to come forward and repent.”

After a few seconds a 20-year-old man from the back row that people barely knew came to the front. He started the grab the mic and was prepared to confess as well, but the pastor just spoke to him quietly and prayed for him as he sought forgiveness. Then others started to come.

It didn’t take long for half the church, about 100 people, to come forward. It was a full-blown church renewal. God has used the brokeness of this man to speak conviction into these people’s hearts.

That night one of the more prominent members of the church called the pastor. This man told the pastor he had scheduled to commit suicide that night, that he had been despondent for months, and had been thinking about death ever since. That act of contrition changed his heart, and the Holy Spirit renewed him. He said he has been dramatically changed and has a new desire to live to honor God.

Confession. It appears to be one of the main vehicles that God uses to bring revival and restoration to his church. In the case described above it touched over 100 people, including one who was planning on committing suicide.

Confession is scary. When you confess your failings and sins to someone you are opening yourself up to rejection and judgement. And yet the Bible has this to say:

Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed.

– James 5:16a (ESV)

The context of this verse has to do with physical healing, but I believe it is appropriately applied to emotional and spiritual healing too. And notice the balance – confess your sins to one another and pray for one another. We are to unburden ourselves of the weight of our failings as we carry the burdens of others in prayer to our Father. That is fellowship. That is beauty. And it’s what we’re called to do.

I find confession hard. I don’t have anything spectacular to confess; I mean I don’t drink, smoke or chew or hang with women who do. But there are plenty of those internal sins that tend to take root in my life. Petty jealousies. Greed. Pride. Sloth. Envy. These are the biggies. It’s the ongoing and frightening battle between my love and desire for God, and my love of self and desire to be my own god and to chase after the gods of this world. Part of me is with Moses atop mount Sinai, with unveiled face, communing with the Lord. But another part is down in the valley dancing before the golden calf (I think I’m doing the “frug”). Wholeness is elusive.

Yet wholeness and healing can come – they are coming. Through confession and repentance. Through the work of the Spirit. To revisit a passage I blogged on yesterday:

Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.

– 2 Corinthians 3:17-18 ESV

This all brought to mind something Jared at Thinklings recently wrote:

1. The churches are broken.

There are lots of reasons for this, and they’re not all broken in the same way, but the things the churches are currently doing aren’t helping and most of the things the churches are doing to fix themselves don’t work

Yes, many churches and people are broken and are in need of healing. I am beginning to think that what we in the church need is confession.

[hat tip: The Broken Messenger]