{"id":3484,"date":"2022-04-22T07:20:59","date_gmt":"2022-04-22T11:20:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/riveroflifetwinlake.org\/riveroflife\/?p=3484"},"modified":"2022-04-22T19:20:34","modified_gmt":"2022-04-22T23:20:34","slug":"the-power-of-public-confessions-how-to-strengthen-others","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/riveroflifetwinlake.org\/riveroflife\/the-power-of-public-confessions-how-to-strengthen-others\/","title":{"rendered":"The Power of Public Confessions: How To Strengthen Others"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The great power of open confession is that it can bring conviction and repentance to others. There is no doubt that a public confession is always appropriate but not always required.\u00a0 This is proven by the many true spiritual revivals that spontaneously included public confession of sin. <\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"As James states, \u201cConfess your trespasses [sins] to one another<\/u><\/strong>, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. (James 5:16)<\/p>\n

But leaders need to be on guard for people who can destroy the Lord\u2019s work by publicly sharing \u201cprofane and idle babblings\u201d.\u00a0 Paul cautioned Timothy, \u201c\u2026Guard what was committed to your trust, avoiding the profane and idle babblings<\/strong> and contradictions of what is falsely called knowledge\u201d (1 Tim. 6:20).<\/p>\n

And as people truly admit their wrong and desire to make things right the Law of God has clear instruction on how to make that happen. For example, if someone has taken or destroyed someone\u2019s property God tells us \u201c\u2026then he shall confess the sin which he has committed. He shall make restitution for his trespass in full, plus one-fifth of it, and give it\u00a0 to the one he has wronged.\u201d (Numbers 5:7)<\/p>\n

The Canadian Revival in the 1970\u2019s saw waves of public confessions that led to many wrongs righted and people brought to true salvation. It was also true when spiritual awakening exploded at Asbury College in Kentucky also in the 70\u2019s. Restitution always follows confession when people are convicted by the Spirit of God.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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When we speak of pastors and deacons, they should be required to make public confessions of sin, but each member of the church should prayerfully consider if his or her confession would edify everyone<\/strong>. Since we are members of Christ\u2019s spiritual body every sin indirectly affects the spiritual condition of the church. The first-century church practiced public confessions and openly corrected one another.<\/p>\n

Today people are not committed to spiritual purity or are afraid of being hated and judged. But hiding sin will bring judgment, and the church that downplays Christ\u2019s directions for church purity grow in numbers and seem blessed. In contrast, the local church that dares to actually follow biblical purity is usually small and abandoned, deemed intolerant and harsh, or hypocritical judges.<\/p>\n

When the leaders of the church harden their hearts and do not confess or repent then God will act to purify His church. But scripture speaks clearly, \u201cDo not receive an accusation against an elder<\/strong> except from two or three witnesses. Those who are sinning rebuke in the presence of all, that the rest also may fear.<\/strong><\/u>\u201d (1 Timothy 5:19) As scripture states sin must be attacked and fought against so all will fear the Lord and live upright.<\/p>\n

When sin is practiced by believers or supposed believers, whether in ignorance or because of false teaching it still stirs Jesus to judge a local church. [See Revelation chapters two and three for details.] And Paul explains that sin affects others. \u201cAnd if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; or if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it.\u201d\u00a0 (1 Corinthians 12:26)<\/p>\n

This is serious business with God and Paul further commands a local church \u201cYour glorying is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump<\/strong>? Therefore purge out<\/strong><\/u> the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, since you truly are unleavened. For indeed Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us. Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness<\/strong>, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI wrote to you in my epistle not to keep company with sexually immoral people<\/strong><\/u>. Yet I certainly did not mean with the sexually immoral people of this world, or with the covetous, or extortioners, or idolaters, since then you would need to go out of the world. But now I have written to you not to keep company with anyone named a brother,<\/strong><\/u> who is sexually immoral, or covetous, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or an extortioner<\/strong><\/u>\u2014not even to eat with such a person. For what have I to do\u00a0 with judging those also who are outside? Do you not judge those who are inside?<\/strong><\/u> But those who are outside God judges. Therefore \u201cput away from yourselves the evil person.\u201d<\/strong><\/u> (1 Corinthians 5:6-13)<\/p>\n

Well, the American culture judges the church that judges the one who claims to be a Christian when they remove \u201cthe evil person\u201d from the local church membership. And even more alarming, many spiritual leaders ignore the scripture<\/em><\/strong> with the new tolerance of loving and accepting everybody. But then I am afraid that Jesus judges the popular churches that use false grace as the reason for such open tolerance. Be clear, we love the lost, but Christ demands change and confession of sin from all His real narrow road followers.<\/p>\n

It is never inappropriate to make a confession as long as certain guidelines are followed.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

1\/ A confession needs to acknowledge the conviction of the Holy Spirit.\u00a0 <\/strong>\u201cThen those who heard it, being convicted by their conscience,<\/strong><\/u> went out one by one\u2026\u201d (John 8:9) \u201cBut if all prophesy, and an unbeliever or an uninformed person comes in, he is convinced<\/strong><\/u> by all, he is convicted<\/strong><\/u> by all. And thus the secrets of his heart are revealed<\/strong><\/u>;\u201d (1 Corinthians 14:24) \u201cAnd when He has come, He will convict the world of sin<\/strong><\/u>, and of righteousness, and of judgment: of sin, because they do not believe in Me;\u201d (John 16:8)<\/p>\n

2\/ A confession needs to be very brief with just enough details that the church understands the nature of the sin<\/strong>. \u201cIn the multitude of words sin is not lacking, But he who restrains his lips is\u00a0 wise.\u201d (Proverbs 10:19) \u201cLet\u00a0 your speech always be with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer each one<\/strong>.\u201d (Colossians 4:6) \u201cLet no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth<\/strong>, but what is good for necessary edification<\/strong>, that it may impart grace to the hearers.\u201d (Ephesians 4:29)<\/p>\n

3\/ A confession needs to protect the reputation of others who may have been involved.<\/strong> \u201cYou sit and speak against your brother; You slander your own mother\u2019s son. These things\u00a0 you have done, and I kept silent; You thought that I was altogether like you; But I will rebuke you, And set them in order before your eyes.\u201d (Psalm 50:20,21) \u201cWhoever hides hatred has\u00a0 lying lips, And whoever spreads slander is\u00a0 a fool.\u201d (Proverbs 10:18)<\/p>\n

4\/<\/strong> A confession needs to be made with humility and remorse \u2013 avoid instructing others when you confess or explaining any solutions \u2013 leave this up to the leadership.<\/strong> \u201cHave mercy on me, O LORD, for I am in trouble; My eye wastes away with grief<\/strong><\/u>, Yes, my soul and my body! For my life is spent with grief<\/strong><\/u>, and my years with sighing; my strength fails<\/strong><\/u> because of my iniquity, and my bones waste away.\u201d (Psalm 31:9,10) \u201cFor I acknowledge my transgressions, And my sin is always before me.<\/strong><\/u> Against You, You only, have I sinned, And done this evil in Your sight\u2014That You may be found just when You speak, And\u00a0 blameless when You judge\u2026Restore to me the joy of Your salvation, And uphold me by Your generous Spirit. Then I will teach transgressors Your ways, And sinners shall be converted to You.\u201d<\/p>\n

5\/ A confession needs to be discreet \u2013 not defrauding by giving inappropriate details of evil<\/strong>. \u201cFor it is shameful even to speak of those things which are done by them in secret.\u201d (Ephesians 5:12) \u201cAnd besides they learn to be idle, wandering about from house to house, and not only idle but also gossips and busybodies, saying things which they ought not.\u201d (1 Timothy 5:13)<\/p>\n

6\/ A confession needs to end by seeking the forgiveness of the church, and the leaders of the church should lead the church to respond with a declaration of forgiveness.<\/strong> 2 Corinthians 2:5-11 (NLT2) “<\/b>I am not overstating it when I say that the man who caused all the trouble hurt all of you more than he hurt me. Most of you opposed him, and that was punishment enough. Now, however, it is time to forgive and comfort him<\/strong>. Otherwise he may be overcome by discouragement. So I urge you now to reaffirm your love for him. I wrote to you as I did to test you and see if you would fully comply with my instructions. When you forgive this man, I forgive him, too. And when I forgive whatever needs to be forgiven, I do so with Christ\u2019s authority for your benefit, so that Satan will not outsmart us. For we are familiar with his evil schemes.” <\/span><\/p>\n

REMEMBER, <\/strong>LOVE IS THE GOAL<\/strong> when the church gathers on Sunday or any time. Speaking to fellow believers in love is God\u2019s will as the greatest thing because it fulfills His goal of building up others. The \u201cone another commands\u201d<\/strong> are to be practiced as Christians gather together as the body of Christ.\u00a0 A good confession is the public practice of these one another commands, as long as you are speaking words of \u201cedification and exhortation and comfort to men.\u201d [1 Cor 14:3 (NKJV)]<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The great power of open confession is that it can bring conviction and repentance to others. There is no doubt that a public confession is always appropriate but not always required.\u00a0 This is proven by the many true spiritual revivals that spontaneously included public confession of sin. As James states, \u201cConfess your trespasses [sins] to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. (James 5:16) But leaders need to be on guard for people who can destroy the Lord\u2019s work by publicly sharing \u201cprofane and idle…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3485,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[323],"class_list":["post-3484","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-discipleship-3","tag-public-confessions"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/riveroflifetwinlake.org\/riveroflife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3484","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/riveroflifetwinlake.org\/riveroflife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/riveroflifetwinlake.org\/riveroflife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/riveroflifetwinlake.org\/riveroflife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/riveroflifetwinlake.org\/riveroflife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3484"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/riveroflifetwinlake.org\/riveroflife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3484\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3486,"href":"https:\/\/riveroflifetwinlake.org\/riveroflife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3484\/revisions\/3486"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/riveroflifetwinlake.org\/riveroflife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3485"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/riveroflifetwinlake.org\/riveroflife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3484"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/riveroflifetwinlake.org\/riveroflife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3484"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/riveroflifetwinlake.org\/riveroflife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3484"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}