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The Power of Confession/Accountability
Over the years many have discovered the power of real priesthood of believers-of the transforming power of confession. Or, if you want to state it positively, the power of accountability.
One such person was a missionary in China. He arrived in Beijing-then called Peking-in 1917. He was from an upstanding family and had a genuine call to ministry…but the harder he worked, the less he saw results.
He came into contact with another group of missionaries led by a man named Frank Buchanan. Their mission was effective and saw much fruit. At one point, the missionary asked Buchanan to see a Chinese man who was on the verge of accepting Christ.
Why don't you lead the man to Christ? asked Frank.
He stammered out that he wasn't really trained for that.
Come on, he said. What's the real reason? Buchanan explained that sin-resentment for example-may be the reason for his ineffectiveness. He then shared four principles that he'd been taught by Robert Speer, the founder of their mission:
1. Absolute honesty
2. Absolute purity
3. Absolute unselfishness
4. Absolute love
That missionary went home that night and prayed through the darkness. He had to admit that he was not living this way. The foundation of his fruitlessness was found in his corrupted and unrepentant heart. The next day, walking in a power he had never known before, he led that man to Christ. Two years later he returned to the US.
Fast-forward nearly 20 years. That young missionary is now the pastor of Calvary Episcopal Church in New York City. And that man, Sam Shoemaker, is counseling an alcoholic. Based on the principles he learned from Frank Buchanan, Shoemaker and others formulates the 12 Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous.
Yes, over the years those steps have been watered down from the pure power of the gospel. But consider how profoundly Christian those steps are in their origin…and how God has used them over the years to make such a profound difference in people's lives:
- You admit that you are powerless over sin
- You confess that only God can straighten you out
- You surrender your will to Him
- You engage in a searching and fearless moral inventory
- You admit to God, yourself and to another human being the exact nature of your wrongdoing (that's what I'm focusing on today)
- You are ready to have God change you
- You ask God to change you
- You list out the people you have hurt
- You make amends to people you have harmed
- You keep on repenting (Martin Luther said that the Christian life is not just about repenting once, but a lifestyle of repentance.)
- You commit to a life of prayer, seeking God's guidance and the power to carry it out
- You pass on what God has done in your life to the benefit of others…
But is this just something for alcoholics? Is the idea of this kind of accountability, this kind of confession, one that is fully grounded in Scripture? Well, let's look around.
- Old Testament Teaching: Proverbs 28:13
He who conceals his sins does not prosper, but whoever confesses and renounces them finds mercy.
Think of David. He had to come clean about his sins with his accountability partner, the prophet Nathan, before he could get past that episode in his life.
- John the Baptist's converts: Matthew 3:6
Confessing their sins, they were baptized by him in the Jordan River.
Right there out under the sun, people were confessing their sins. Not just confessing that they were sinners, but really confessing their sins: I stole from my neighbor's vineyard…I have lusted over the woman in my village…I swore and took God's name in vain.
Ancient times? Thirty years ago, the great Asbury Revival broke out on the campus of Asbury College and Seminary in Willmore, Kentucky. It began when a chapel service was hijacked by the Holy Spirit, and students began confessing their sins. That service went for more that 24 hours-and propelled a whole generation of leaders into a deeper commitment to Christ.
- Converts in Ephesus: Acts 19:18
Many of those who believed now came and openly confessed their evil deeds.
In this case, raw converts from paganism confessed their reliance on what we'd call the occult: astrology, witchcraft, and idol worship. But the passage in James tells us that that's not the only time to confess our sins to one another.
- Not Just for converts: James 5:14-15
- Spiritual Healing: Hebrews 12:12-13
Therefore, strengthen your feeble arms and weak knees. Make level paths for your feet, so that the lame may not be disabled, but rather healed.
Hebrews 12 speaks of God's discipline in our lives. God disciplines whom He loves; He trains us in righteousness and toward holiness.
At the end of this passage about discipline, we are told to get in spiritual training so we don't end up disabled, but rather healed.
This is spiritual healing-the healing of the soul.
And I have discovered that it is the rare soul who heals himself. The healing of the soul comes from Jesus alone, but it is rarely received alone.
He has called us to walk this walk with brothers and sisters in Christ at our sides.
I mentioned St. Augustine earlier. His brother who helped him through was a preacher named Ambrose. Ambrose was his guide out of the wilderness. Ambrose was there for Augustine both before he surrendered to Christ and for a long time after. Ambrose was the man Augustine opened his life to. Augustine struggle mightily for a long time (modern psychologists would be tempted to label Augustine sexually addicted).
With Ambrose's help-by the power of the Spirit-Augustine broke through to real freedom-freedom and healing of the soul by the power of the Cross.
In 1 Peter 2:24, the apostle cites Isaiah's prophecy: By His wounds/strips, you have been healed. Yes, we who have been wounded deep in the soul and be healed-really healed by the cross of Jesus. And that is the best news of all.
Pastor Glenn Layne, www.templecitybaptist.org