Sermons About Confession
Confession and Discipleship
Week 33 in the Vintage Jesus series. Preached by Lead Pastor Paul Vroom on December 28, 2008 at Missio Dei Church in Mokena, Illinois (www.mdchurch.us). Scripture from Mark 8:27 - 9:1.
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Confessions, Part 4: A Tale of Two Confessions
Part 4 in the series, Confessions: The Joy and Pain of Coming Clean, this message looks at the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector. Discover what God looks for in a confession.
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House Rules Part 2
Two weeks ago at Sovereign King, we started our new series on the letters of John entitled "House Rules" where we talked about how John is going to describe what it looks like to be a believer. Essentially he says that if a person is a believer in Christ, then there are going to be some family characteristics just like there are in any family. For example, my mom is five feet tall. My dad is five seven. My hopes of playing in the NBA were greatly diminished because I bear the family trait of being short. Now, I remember one time in college where I went on a retreat and there was a basketball tournament for anyone that was 5 feet 6 inches or shorter. Technically, I'm 5' 7" and 1/2 but I told a little white like so I could dominate the tournament. Sorry, didn't mean to make that confession time. The point of the story is that my height is directly related to my family, and the curly nappy hair comes from my mom's side of the family as well. In the same way, the family of God will share some similar qualities and resemble each other as well. We won't look alike physically, and I'm sure you guys are all thankful you don't have to look like me and to be honest, I'm pretty thankful I'm don't have to look like you. But we will live our lives in some similar fashion. In fact, in chapter one, John identified five of those characteristics. He said, If you are part of the family of God then you will have a consistent growing life of obedience and transformation. o The children of God will not be perfect, but their life will be described as the habitual process of walking in the light and not in the darkness. o John doesn't pull any punches. We are liars if we claim to have fellowship with God but consistently walk in darkness. If you are part of the family of God, then you must have fellowship with other believers. o Specifically, we have fellowship with each other because we all stand cleansed of unrighteousness before God. o This is not a loose, "Hey I have Christian friends," but this is a created community that comes out of the design of God before the foundation of the world. If you are part of the family of God, you walk in humility. o If you or anyone else who claims to be a Christian say they have no sin in their life, you and they are deceived and don't know the truth. Humility is described by John as admitting and walking in the realization that we are sinners. o A recent book entitled, "Unchristian" by David Kinnaman and Gabe Lyons surveyed folks who do not claim to believe in Jesus and asked them to describe their impressions of the followers of Christ here in America. Their top three responses were "hypocritical," "insensitive," and "judgmental" - humility was no where near the top, in fact statistically, the number of people calling Christians humble was non-existent. o We should see something wrong with that. We should hear that and repent. If you are part of the family of God, you will confess your sins regularly and you will be forgiven regularly. o A regular habit of the believer is to walk before your God, confessing sin, and asking for forgiveness of that sin. o We should walk around with in the ever present reality of both the ugliness of our sin and the beauty of the grace of Christ. If you are part of the family of God, you will be honest and admit to each other and to the world that you are a sinner. o Listen, if you aren't honest about your sin, and you present yourself as not constantly needing forgiveness, by default you are calling God your Father a liar. o Lack of honesty about your sin is evidence that the word is not in you. So we see some consistent characteristics there: obedience, fellowship, humility, confession, and honesty. So knowing what characteristics should shape the life of a believer, we get to ask a really practical question this week. People who have those defining qualities, what can and what should those kind of people...do? Let's find out.
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Confessions, Part 3: It's All About Forgiveness
Part 3 in the series, Confessions: The Joy and Pain of Coming Clean
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Confessions, Part 2: The Next Level
The goal of confession is not a change in behavior; it is a complete change of heart. Listeners will be challenged to confess to God and another trusted person.
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House Rules Part 1
Every single family has rules that are specific just to their family. They are those little things that define individual households and to a certain extent, demonstrate the values of a particular family. For example, at our house we have a few of those. One of those is, "No whining and dining," which means you cannot whine at my dinner table. You may not like what we are having for dinner, but you can't whine about. Another one is that you must at least take a "No thank you bite," which means if you are eating something brand new for the first time, you have to at least take bite and say, "No thank you," before deciding you don't like it. When I was a kid, the rule was that it was always better to confess than to be found out which meant you were going to get a much less profound beating if you told your parents what you did rather than them founding out from someone else. I remember one time walking into the kitchen and my parents said, "We know what you have been up to." I was petrified. One family in our congregation has this rule about the dinner table: "Clear, Cheer, and Chore" - clear your plate, show gratitude and thankfulness with a cheer for Mom or Dad for having prepared the meal, and chore being help cleanup afterwards. (Isn't amazing how many rules we make for eating btw?) Well, the family of God is no different. Belonging to that family comes with certain expectations and values. As we approach the letters of John, those expectations and values are exactly what we are going to find. In fact, John, the brother of Jesus, is going to use a lot of family language. His most common way of addressing the people in the letter is, "my children," or "my dear children." Sometimes, he will sound like Hulk Hogan and say, "brothers," and once in a while he will even say, "my dear friends." But no matter how he addresses the letter, the tone is always one of a kind family elder dispensing wisdom as to how to live. The interesting thing though is that this not wisdom in a vacuum. What I mean is that He is not just giving you random truths to live by. He is giving theological truth by which to guide you in greater living. Let me explain what I mean. When someone just walks up to you and starts giving you advice or just tells you what to do, most folks don't respond well. The thought is that that their advice is more or less just veiled criticism because it is not based on prior understanding. It just feels like an attack. However, if you notice, the writers of Scripture, and very much Jesus Himself, frame the practical truths of how to live our lives around the solid theological truths of who God is. Let me give you an example. In Romans 8, Paul talks about how we should endure suffering with great joy. Now that truth alone is harsh. That's like walking up to someone who is suffering and saying, "Hey, stop your whining. Nobody likes a whiner." But Paul doesn't give that truth alone or truth in a vacuum. He says: Our present suffering doesn't compare to the glory we will have in heaven. If we suffer for Jesus, we will be glorified with Him. And as we struggle, we have a great hope for the future. Just in the same that the earth groans to be liberated from the effects of sin, so do we. Framing that truth in that way is lot more gracious, encouraging, and inspiring than just saying, "Hey buck up little camper. Have some joy." We find much greater meaning and much greater sensitivity in our hearts when wisdom, encouragement, and advice are attached to truths of scripture or to theological depth surrounding the person of Jesus. That is what we are going to find in the books of 1,2, and 3 John.
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