Confession

Summit Welcome

Men, how are you? How’s your heart?

This weekend we’re going to get real, we’re going to be vulnerable and honest. we got 24hrs and so we’re jumping into the deep end out the gate. Why? We didn’t come here to waste time, we came here to seek the Lord and one another.

Intro

What is the greatest killer of the civil war? North? South? Or was it an invisible enemy?

The greatest killer of the civil war was infection.

What if the greatest threat to your spiritual life, the greatest threat to your family, was not a physical enemy but a invisible one? What if the most deadly force you faced wasn’t external but internal? How would you deal with it?

Preview

This weekend we’re going to look at the lives of three men of God who were close to Jesus, Peter, James and John.

Galatians 2:9 NIV

9 James, Cephas and John, those esteemed as pillars, gave me and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship when they recognized the grace given to me. They agreed that we should go to the Gentiles, and they to the circumcised.

And yet the James we are going to learn from was not the James of Jesus’s inner 3 disciples, but rather Jesus’s brother. Primarily the reason is we have a letter from Jesus’s brother and not from the disciple James. Also, we know more about his life. With this in mind, let’s consider the wisdom James gives us.

In his letter, one of the primary themes is that of perfection, of maturation, James says this:

James 3:2 NIV

2 We all stumble in many ways. Anyone who is never at fault in what they say is perfect, able to keep their whole body in check.

7 times in the book James uses this word Teleios, which means /perfect/mature/complete.

(Jas. 1:4; Jas. 1:17; Jas. 1:25; 2:8, 23; 3:2)

He says we are perfect and complete when we are without fault.

And yet he concludes his message the believers stating this:

James 5:16 NIV

16 Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.

Why would James conclude his letter with this statement and how does it fit in with his overall theme of being perfect and mature?

Here’s the truth: we can only be perfected and grow in our maturity if we’re willing to first address the problem of sin

Problem:

We are at fault, none of us live a perfect life. This is because of sin, and so it’s worth us deepening our understanding what is sin and why is it so problematic?

Sin is often described as bad behavior: disobeying God.

1 John 3:4 NIV

4 Everyone who sins breaks the law; in fact, sin is lawlessness.

Sin certainly results in disobedience, but it is not limited to disobeidence, in fact the root of sin runs much deeper. It originates in the human heart.

Is 64:6

New Living Translation Chapter 64

We are all infected and impure with sin.

Sin is not just a behavior, sin is a condition, an infection.

Sin is an infection.

The reason we as men struggle with a desire for power, pleasure, and pride regardless of our age is because of sin.

The reason every promotion leaves you longing for the next is because sin has an insatiable appetite for more.

The reason a woman’s beauty brings about lustful thoughts instead of God-honoring thoughts is because of sin. It doesn’t matter how many filters you buy, filters can help modify behavior but they can’t change the heart.

The reason we continually long for a bigger paycheck is because greed grows from within.

The reason we get angry with others and explode time and time again, no matter how many times we apologize is because there is a heart condition that hasn’t been dealt with in full.

Let’s say you get an infection of Streptococcus pneumoniae, this will inevitably lead to pneumonia.

Pneumonia, inevitably leads to symptoms such as: coughing, headache, fever, sweating, shaking, chills, vomiting, fatigue.

If you simply take some cough drops, you may help your throat feel better, but you haven’t addressed the issue.

If you put a cold rag on your forehead, it may cool your body temp a little, but it won’t lower your internal body temp.

If you take Advil, your headache may decrease a little, but you’re still infected.

Sin is infectious and thus, we cannot allow it to go untreated.

If you were shot with a bullet, you may conceal the wound in attempt to stop the bleeding.

But if you do not clean the wound and remove the bullet, you are left with a partially treated problem, a problem that is deadly.

Proverbs 28:13 NIV

13 Whoever conceals their sins does not prosper, but the one who confesses and renounces them finds mercy.

Do we confess our sin or conceal our sin?

Many of us respond not with confession but concealment.

The problem is concealed sin grows.

Infections, left untreated, grow.

The greatest killer of the civil war was infection.

It could have been Salmonella typhi, Malaria, Strep pneumonia, etc.

But the undeniable fact is that 2/3 of the soldiers of the civil war didn’t die from a physical war but from an invisible war - one within their own body. A war they lost to infection.

How many of us are losing an invisible war? A war no one knows is being waged within, a war not against microbes but sin.

In the civil war Confederate General Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson

was accidentally shot by his own Confederate soldiers while returning from a reconnaissance mission.

His left arm had to be amputated.

Initially, surgeons believed he was recovering well.

A few days later, however, he developed a pneumonia brought on by infection,

He died on , just eight days after being wounded.

Infections kill us from the inside out.

Some of you may think to yourself, “well, it’s good he died, he was on the wrong side of the war” but that’s true of all of us who don’t know Christ, we’re enemies of God and apart from Jesus will die from the lethal infection that is sin.

And even if you thought he fought for the right cause, here’s the reality, all of us, even if we think we’re on the right side of the war, have an infection.

Both those who have surrendered their lives to Christ and those who haven’t are infected with sin.

During the Civil War, thousands of soldiers survived the bullet. They made it through the battle. But then something invisible entered the wound. Infection spread quietly. What looked like a minor injury became a fatal disease. The wound wasn't what killed them—the infection was.

Sin works the same way. Left untreated, what begins as something hidden grows beneath the surface until it destroys relationships, joy, and even entire lives.

Perhaps none of this is new to you, you know sin is infectious and deadly,

Here’s my question for you: what sin in your life have you left unconfessed and unaddressed?

Diseases that are ineffectively dealt with become systemic - they affect every system of the body and the body then shuts down - it kills.

Not only does sin infect us, but sin kills us.

Infections are deadly.

Romans 6:23 NIV

23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Sin is deadly - sin is punishable with death. The payment for sin is death. The reason for death is sin. They are inseparable.

In genesis 1-3 there was no death before the Fall, before Adam and Even sinned. Ever since their sin, every human to ever live has died - because of the effects of sin.

No one is immune to death because no one is immune to sin.

If that is true, we need to be willing to deal with deadly things.

Many of you, if your wife, or family were under physical threat would respond to protect those in your care.

If someone hid a bomb in your house, you wouldn’t rest until everyone was safe, the bomb was removed and dealt with.

This summer, a 550-pound unexploded device found at a construction site in a public park and swimming pool, lead German authorities to clear the central railway station and surrounding areas.

Who placed the bomb? The U.S.

It was a remnant from WWII almost a century ago.

To this day, Germany is still discovering and uncovering bombs.

Here’s the problem: bombs don’t go away, bombs go off.

Many of us have bombs within our home, because we have bombs within our heart, we have this sin condition that needs to be dealt with.

What sin, is a bomb concealed in your life?

Is there hidden lust?

Hidden pride, masquerading as perfection and achievement.

Materialism and greed hidden by work-ethic and a desire to provide.

Gluttony hidden as an enjoyment of food.

Laziness hidden as rest.

What is it for you?

All of us have sin - this isn’t something only one of us is infected with.

Romans 3:23 NIV

23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

Guys, Satan’s lies saying either:

A) No one else struggles with this

or

B) You’re alone in this

Neither are true - and here’s the reality Jesus came to help heal us from this deadly disease. But, how?

Confession is the cure for our infection.

We are to confess in two directions. First, to Christ.

1 John 1:9 NIV

9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.

Sin is forgiven when we confess to God.

How do you know you’ve received the gospel? To the extent that confession and repentance are evident in your life is the extent to which you’ve allowed the gospel to impact you.

Regular confession and repentance are the mark of a true follower of Jesus.

Not only that, but Jesus’ brother, James tell us:

James 5:16 NIV

16 Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.

Why do we confess? That we may be healed.

Here’s what I want to encourage us to do tonight:

1) Be courageous enough to confess, not just to God but to one-another.

2) pray together that you may be healed.

CUT:

The Greek word Paul uses for "wages" is opsōnia — it's a soldier's ration. The pay you're owed for your service. And what sin pays out, every time, on schedule, no exceptions, is death.

Just as you and I go to work to get a paycheck, so likewise when we do works that are dishonoring to God we also accrue payment: death.

That’s true for our good deeds and bad. Because even our good deeds are often done with false motives and are nothing but filthy rags before a holy and perfect God.

The other day, I was super servant-hearted. My kids were hungry and my wife had just made some banana bread muffins. So I grabbed one that was chocolate chip for the kiddos and a cinnamon one for myself.

Noticing the gesture my wife called me out, saying you gave them a chocolate flavored one because you wanted more of the cinnamon didn’t you?

Even when I attempt to “serve” my kids I do so in a selfish way. That’s the effect of sin.

Even our good deeds are distorted by sin.

Sin is like a bullet wound, an infection so sever the consequences are: death.

Again, when we look at the teachings of James we see this. In fact he begins his letter addressing the issue saying:

James 1:13–15 NIV

13 When tempted, no one should say, “God is tempting me.” For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; 14 but each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed. 15 Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.

The pathway of sin is temptation, desire, sin, and death.

We are tempted, that temptation, creates desire, desire then directs our thoughts and our actions, and when we commit sin, it leads to death.

Show:

You know this to be true.

Marriages don’t dissolve randomly. The dissolve because issues have been left untended to and unaddressed.

Intimacy doesn’t die from a lack of sex. Intimacy dies when we’re too prideful to admit we’re wrong. Intimacy dies when we aren’t willing to prioritize are family properly. Intimacy dies when we don’t communicate welll.

Pornography not only rewires our mind, it develops habits of secrecy, in secrecy, trust erodes, and relationships die.

When you’re too prideful to ask for help, you fall into failure. The lie many men believe is “I can do this on my own” that prideful statement leads to decay and death in a man’s life not strength.

Maybe you’re young and single who spends a lot of time on social media. Social media isn’t bad, but if we’re not careful it can breed discontentment. Thus greed, and covetness are born and contentment and joy die.

And here’s the issue, we all have sins so numerous that they often go untreated and undelt with.

How many of us have bodies ridden with bullet wounds, wounds that are breeding infection and death, but we’re unwilling to confess our sin? To address our sins?