(Part 1, Part 2, and Part 4 can be found here).
Confession is an important but often neglected component of prayer. James 5:16 says this, “Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed.” You might have heard it said before that the word “confess” means “to say the same thing,” or “to concede.” But what are we conceding? What is the thing about which we are “saying the same thing”? Today we continue in our four-part series on prayer in the Book of Nehemiah, turning to chapter nine where we witness the people of Israel reflecting upon the holy law of God and humbly conceding before God the honest truth – that they had failed miserably to honor and obey that law.
First, some fundamentals. What is logically prior and essential to the idea of “confession” is that there exists an objective standard that is over and above humans and meant to govern human behavior. C.S. Lewis observed in Mere Christianity a difference between what he called “the laws of nature” and “the law of human nature.” The “laws of nature” describe the general course of causes and effects, for example, gravity, which governs the natural world. Bodies do not “choose” whether or not to obey such laws. If one were to drop a pebble from a bridge, the pebble would fall in accordance with the “laws of nature” and eventually hit the water below. The pebble has no “choice” in the matter.
In contrast to the “laws of nature” is the “law of human nature,” also sometimes called “natural law” or simply “the moral law.” Whatever term is used, this law is stamped on every human heart and serves as a guide to the conscience. The Apostle Paul made note of this in his letter to the Romans: “For when Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do what the law requires, they are a law to themselves, even though they do not have the law. They show that the work of the law is written on their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness, and their conflicting thoughts accuse or even excuse them.” Unlike the “laws of nature,” which simply describe the general course of nature, the “moral” law prescribes what people ought to do, but in fact often do not. For example, if someone were to cut in line ahead of you at the ATM machine, you would naturally think to yourself (or louder!), “That man ought not do that!” At such a point your reaction is not a matter of merely describing what he did, but rather prescribing what he should have done – he should have gone to the back of the line! Whether or not the man actually behaves in accordance with what he knows to be moral truth, based upon the moral law we assume that he should at least know better and ought to have conducted himself accordingly.
Two things thus become evident. One, there exists a moral standard which, like an umpire, stands over and above actual human behavior and is that by which human behavior is judged. Two, there is a matter of “choice” or “will” involved in how we are governed by the moral law. The moral law says, “Do no harm to a neighbor.” But that does not mean that in actuality we do no harm to a neighbor. We may in fact sow salt in his fields to destroy his crops. But our failure to live up to the moral law in no way changes what the law prescribes as the rule.
The natural moral law, while universal, objective, and valid, is, however, somewhat vague in its prescriptions. That then leaves room for another type of law also meant to govern human behavior: the revealed moral law of the Bible. The Israelites were recipients and guardians of the law of Moses. The moral component of the law of Moses is a reflection of the character and nature of the unchanging God. Thus, while the civil and ceremonial laws were either inapplicable to the church or fulfilled in Christ, God’s moral law endures because God Himself never changes. And here we return to Nehemiah 9.
After the wall was completely rebuilt and the enemies from without were no longer the main cause of concern, the narrative turns to focus on problems that issued forth from within the ranks of the Jews, the first of which was their longstanding neglect of the law of Moses. Thus, of first importance was the reestablishment of that law as the explicit standard for the people’s behavior and practices. Nehemiah 8:1–3 describes the birth of this revival:
And all the people gathered as one man into the square before the Water Gate. And they told Ezra the scribe to bring the Book of the Law of Moses that the LORD had commanded Israel. So Ezra the priest brought the Law before the assembly, both men and women and all who could understand what they heard, on the first day of the seventh month. And he read from it facing the square before the Water Gate from early morning until midday, in the presence of the men and the women and those who could understand. And the ears of all the people were attentive to the Book of the Law.
This was done on the first day of the seventh month. Twenty-three days later the people of Israel again assembled themselves before the Lord and this time made public confession for their sins. It all began with an act of devotion and consecration: “And the Israelites separated themselves from all foreigners and stood and confessed their sins and the iniquities of their fathers.” Notice: they “separated” themselves. In the Christian era, the idea of living “separate” from the world has been applied in quite far-ranging ways. Some Christians have ignored the exhortation so as to render it moot. Others have built entirely separate communities and walled themselves off from the larger culture. Some have dressed in distinctive fashion to demonstrate “separateness”; others have disavowed modern appliances and means of entertainment.
All that should be noted here is that however this is applied in an individual’s life, God has said to all who name the Name of Christ that we are in fact a “peculiar people.” We are different, whether we like it or not. And that alone makes us separate, at least in God’s eyes. As Peter put it, we Christians “are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, that we may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.” If we identify ourselves in the same manner that God Himself identifies us – as His saints – we should follow that with a recognition that we have been “set apart”- or “separated” for His glory. At a minimum, this separation should manifest itself in a substantive change in our character and lifestyle which in turn provides a God-honoring display to the world of the inner transformation that has and is taking place within us by the power of Christ.
So first the Israelites separated themselves, as we are also called to do, as exhorted in Romans 12, 2 Corinthians 6 and 1 John 2. Then, after consecrating themselves, they read for three hours from the Book of the Law! Now this may sound like quite the chore, but how else were they then – or we today – to have a clear understanding of the lofty moral standards to which our Heavenly Father has called us? We have to know God’s word, or more to the point, we have to know God. Even today, public reading of the Word of God should be a rule in our churches. Paul told Timothy, “devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation, to teaching.” The public reading of Scripture is what gave life to the spiritual revival in Nehemiah.
So the Levites read and, for the benefit of the people, explained the Law. Then the Israelites all together “made confession and worshiped the Lord their God.” What is recorded in the remainder of the chapter amounts to one of the most detailed confessions in all Scripture. Let’s take a minute to highlight some of the most relevant points.
Begin With Exclusive Worship
First, their confession began, as it should, with an acknowledgement of God’s exclusivity: “You are the LORD, you alone.” God has no rivals or equals. God is God alone; there is no other. This was a remarkable confession when one considers that for 1000 years of history, beginning with the day they worshiped a golden calf made with their own hands, Israel’s fundamental failure had been spiritual adultery. They were serial idolaters, consistently unfaithful to the one and only true God, their God. So this was a significant turnabout: “You alone are God.” It is an historical fact that the discipline of the exile effectively cured Israel of her idolatrous ways. From that time forward, even to the time of Christ, Israel never again “played the harlot” with the false gods of the surrounding nations.
So, let us pause for a moment and take some personal inventory: Is this an area where we too need to confess our own failings? Have we other “gods” in our lives who rival the true God for our affections and devotion? Jesus set the bar extremely high: “Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me.” Is there a need this morning for us to confess our own unworthiness in this regard? I know for me the answer is “yes.”
Acknowledge God’s Sovereignty
Second, the Israelites acknowledged God’s relationship to creation as its Sovereign. This too is a highly significant matter, because it recognizes that God is not some tribal deity with mere local jurisdiction but is Supreme over all. He is the One who created the heavens and the earth and sustains the entire creation. Romans 1 tells of the tendency among humans to worship the creation rather than its Creator. This is a grievous sin which begins with a deliberate suppression of the divine truth that God has revealed through nature. I read just recently that the country of Bolivia is petitioning the United Nations to recognize the moral equality of bugs, trees, and…humans. The initiative calls for Mother Earth to have the same rights as humans, and for there to be a Ministry of Mother Earth established to hear nature’s complaints against her occupants, or should I say, invaders. Few if any of us would be guilty of such blatant and utter nonsense. But can we say with complete honesty that our priorities are fully in line with regard to His supremacy over all? Are there any ways in which we personally have placed more value on the creation than on the Creator Himself? If so, we must concede our faults; we must “say the same thing” about this form of idolatry that God Himself says about it. That is what it means to confess.
Remember God’s Covenant Faithfulness
Third, the prayerful Israelites went on to acknowledge that God the Creator of all is also He who personally called Abraham to be the father of the Hebrew nation. Moreover, He is the One who delivered Israel after centuries of slavery in Egypt. He is the One who subsequently revealed to them the civil, ceremonial, and moral Law by which they were governed and protected. And He is the One who faithfully provided for them during their years of wandering in the wilderness where “they lacked nothing. Their clothes did not wear out and their feet did not swell.” In other words, not only is there but One God who is Maker and Creator of all, but that God is also the covenant God of Israel. With loving intentionality, He entered into a personal relationship with the people of Israel, choosing them from among the nations, and setting His affections on them. Yet, despite His patient lovingkindness and persistent faithfulness, for most of its history Israel treated their covenant God with either self-centered disinterest or downright contempt. Yet here they were at long last, assembled together in brokenness, making their confession before God. After years of prideful neglect, they were publicly conceding that they had “acted presumptuously and stiffened their neck;” that they had “disobeyed and rebelled against [God], killed those sent to warn them, and committed great acts of blasphemy,” and that they had “sinned against [God’s] rules, turned a stubborn shoulder, and would not give ear to God.” It took the exile to break them. Likewise, it frequently takes God’s discipline to break us as well. But just as brokenness eventually bore the fruit of repentance in the nation of Israel, so God our Father disciplines us that we may share in his holiness.
We freely admit: no one likes to confess fault. Pride blinds us to our personal indiscretions, and beyond that, it negatively influences our willingness to own up to our failings. Nevertheless, God is not impressed with our pride and stands unflinchingly opposed to human arrogance. One of my favorite parables memorably illustrates this:
Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.’ But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’ I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.
Luke 18:10-14
Rather than looking into the mirror of God’s righteous standard and thereby confessing his own unworthiness, the Pharisee measured himself against the lowly tax collector and judged himself as exemplary. The tax collector, on the other hand, recognized his utter lack of standing before an infinitely holy and righteous God, and subsequently cried out for mercy. He knew he was entirely unworthy of being in God’s presence, let alone deserving God’s favor. The one who appeared righteous was not, and the one who confessed his unrighteousness went away enjoying a right standing before God. The moral of the story and the message for today is captured well by Proverbs 28:13 which says, “whoever conceals his transgressions will not prosper, but he who confesses and forsakes them will obtain mercy.”
Amen.