Sermon Tone Analysis

Welcome

Well, good morning friends!

If we haven’t met yet, my name is Dan Osborn and I serve as one of the pastors here at Park | Forest Glen.

I’m grateful you’re able to join us this morning as we continue in our series through the Old Testament book of Daniel in a series we’ve been calling ‘Wavering People, Unwavering God” because that is what we have seen over and over again in this book; that while you and I have this tendency to waver back and forth, Daniel shows us that God is unwavering.

He is consistent.

If you have a bible with you, open up to Daniel 9. If you need a bible, you can grab one from the seat in front of you and you’ll find Daniel 9 on page ***.

Introduction

I’m not afraid of the dark, I’m afraid of what thrives in the dark.

As a Christian, I’ve often wondered what the point of things like this are…they are horrifyingly creepy…what on earth is the point.

And after much contemplation I’ve come to what I think is a profound conclusion…a universal truth: icky things live in the dark.

There is something about being in those spaces where you know there are things crawling around but you just can’t see them…makes my skin crawl.

The same is true for our spiritual lives…there are dark places where things hide and thrive…like the spiritually poisonous things…they love the dark and want to stay there.

What we’re looking at today is the process of shedding light those dark places of our lives—things that are hidden, that if we’re honest, we’d rather keep hidden.

We are talking about the practice of confession.

Now, even as we get started, I know that is a word that means different things to a lot of us.

It’s a word that tends to bring up a lot of shame…or even painful memories.

Some of you think of heading to a booth and telling a priest what you’ve done…other’s of you may think of ‘getting caught’, ‘found out’ or having to admit something you’d rather not share....something like that.

Whatever it is you associate with ‘confession’ it’s generally not something that makes us feel very good.

And yet, the art of confession is a practice that, when viewed in the right way, can have a rich and healing impact in our lives…much in the same way that initially walking out of a dark theatre in the afternoon hurts at first, but once your eyes readjust you being to see the world around you again.

So here is how we’re going to use our time this morning.

I’m going to read the first half of Daniel 9—and Daniel is offering his practice as a model for confession.

And as we unpack this, we’ll see four lessons on the art of biblical confession.

And my hope is that when we’re finished, confession will no longer be this strange idea that brings about shame, but we’ll see it as life-giving and freeing.

Finally, before we get started, I want to say that the kind of confession we’re talking about today has to do with areas in our lives where we have fallen short—where we have sinned and missed the mark.

I am not talking about things you may have experienced that were done to you at the hands of others.

And I’m calling this out because if I’m not careful in talking about confession, I could end up communicating that things like abuse and trauma…things that can also be hidden away for very different reasons need to be dealt with in the way we see Daniel talking about confession.

And while I firmly believe the scriptures give wisdom and guidance about how to talk about those kinds of experience, I do not believe Daniel 9 is one of those places.

Alright, that said, I’ll read the passage, pray, and then we’ll get started.

PRAY

What is Confession?

Alright, let’s get started.

We’re going to work through four lessons on the art of confession.

But, real quick, before we do that…let’s get on the same page.

What is confession?

Look with me at v. 3 (Dan.

9:3-4a

Daniel 9:3–4 (ESV)

3 Then I turned my face to the Lord God, seeking him by prayer and pleas for mercy with fasting and sackcloth and ashes.

4 I prayed to the Lord my God and made confession....

The first thing we see is that Daniel makes this confession through prayer and what that tells us initially is that practice of ‘Confession’ is closely tied to prayer, or approaching God.

Even the word we translate as ‘confession’ here, in the original language of Hebrew, is a word that means ‘to acknowledge’ or ‘recognize’.

It recognizes what is true about God and us.

A helpful way to think of it is this way…and this is broad: confession is saying back to God what he already knows to be true.

It’s not informing God of anything…it’s not giving him new information that he doesn’t know…it’s affirming that we see what he already sees.

And I think it’s important to pause here for a moment because we need to put this context of what we know about God from the rest of Bible.

Because what we imagine God to be like will have a profound impact on how we understand practice and purpose of confession.

Do we see him as the angry authority figure trying to catch us doing wrong or do we see him like a loving parent who knows us, wants what is good for us?

And I think the book of Psalms are a great place for us to look and two things come to mind.

1.

The Kindness of God

Psalm 145 says this so well, let me just read a portion of it

Psalm 145:8–9 (ESV)

8 The Lord is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.

9 The Lord is good to all, and his mercy is over all that he has made.

Psalm 145:14–16 (ESV)

14 The Lord upholds all who are falling and raises up all who are bowed down.

15 The eyes of all look to you, and you give them their food in due season.

16 You open your hand; you satisfy the desire of every living thing.

That first part may be one of the most repeated phrases in the Old Testament—that God’s is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in love.

Here’s the second thing that comes to mind from the Psalms: that God knows each of us perfectly.

Psalm 139:1–3 (ESV)

1 O Lord, you have searched me and known me! 2 You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from afar. 3 You search out my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways.

God is abounding in steadfast love, and in that love, He knows us perfectly.

And it is to this God that we are invited to confess.

My son is about 5 years old…and he is a terrible liar.

Which I guess is a good thing.

We’re working on some bedtime routines in our home and lately we’ve been having the same conversation with him…that when his little night light is on, that means he has to stay in his bed.

He’s learning…though his main problem is he gets so lost in his own world that when his cars are crashing into one another, exploding, fall off the bed with loud bangs…it tends to tip me off that he’s not actually asleep.

But I’ve noticed recently that when he hears me coming over to his room, I can hear him sprint across the room, crash into his bed and quickly pull the covers up…and the dude just lays there…doesn’t crack a smile…just playing it off like he pulled a fast one on me.

And the amazing thing is, every time, he’s convinced he got away with it.

He’s convinced that he’s fooled me…and he’s never been remotely close to it.

So when I pop in the room and I ask him what’s going on, I am, in a sense, inviting him to say back to me, what I already know to be true.

And the thing is: I want him to do this.

I want him to be honest with me…I want him to bring to light the disobedience that’s hiding in the darkness…and it is because I love him that I want this from him.

In a sense, this is what confession is.

It is God, out of his steadfast love, inviting us to be open and honest with Him…to say back to him what He already knows to be true of us.

Because without it, we are lying…hiding…and often, ashamed.

We end up staying in the dark…this is not how God has created us to live, in shame and fear.

The reality is, we all know what it’s like to hide something from someone else…we know what it feels like to feel like we have to keep something hidden.

It’s why we often hear people talk about the ‘weight of guilt’.

It’s trying to put words to what it feels like to walk in darkness…out of fear of what would happen if we brought it to light.

But from the beginning, what we need to see is that the biblical art of confession starts with a God who wants and desires real relationship with people and so he invites us to a real kind of relationship with him through confession.

Now, we can look at Daniel 9 and what we’ll, briefly, are four lessons on the art of biblical confession.

Confession Focuses on God’s Goodness and Our Brokenness

Here’s the first one: confession focuses on God’s goodness…and our brokenness.

Look at how Daniel starts at the end of v. 4, (Dan.

9:4

Daniel 9:4 (ESV)

4...“O Lord, the great and awesome God, who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments...

This sets the tone from the beginning about who God is and what he is like.

And Daniel will come back to these kinds of statements often, confessing what is true about God to God.

Verse 14 and 15, he does the same thing (Dan.

9:14-15

Daniel 9:14–15 (ESV)

14...for the Lord our God is righteous in all the works that he has done...15…O Lord our God, who brought your people out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand, and have made a name for yourself...”

But, while part of the focus is on God’s goodness, Daniel also focuses on the failure and brokenness of God’s people.

That while God is this way, we are that way.

Or, while we are wavering, God is unwavering.

And so again, verse 4 (Dan.

9:4-5

Daniel 9:4–5 (ESV)

4...“O Lord, the great and awesome God, who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments, 5 we have sinned and done wrong and acted wickedly and rebelled, turning aside from your commandments and rules.

And I think this is where things start to get messy with confession because it requires that we have an honest and realistic view of ourselves—not as perfect people, but as flawed.

In the biblical worldview, humanity is not basically good with just a few bumps in the road every now and then…we are fundamentally flawed.