Glory, Praise and Confession

“give glory to the Lord, the God of Israel, and give praise to Him; and tell me now what you have done” Joshua 7:19

What you have done – The angels rejoice when men confess.  God smiles.  Jesus exults.  The great plan of redemption is working.  Did you notice the connection?  Public confession is not humiliation no matter how terrible it feels.  Public confession is giving glory to God and praise to His name.  Joshua understood.  Open the secret vaults of your soul to the prodding of God and the universe sings hymns of thanksgiving.  When we confess, we proclaim that God is Lord, Ruler and Judge.  When we confess we enter into a treaty that depends entirely on His grace and that makes Him glad.  We have stopped living the myth of self-protection.  We throw ourselves on Him and accept what comes next.  And what comes next is peace!

The relationship between public confession and worship is quite old and very deep.  Does that make you wonder why we rarely if ever hear this kind of praise and worship in our congregations?  We have moved a long way away from our ancestors – a long way into the dark.  Maybe we wouldn’t need liability insurance and lawyers for churches if we understood confession.  Maybe we wouldn’t need bigger building budgets and more programs if we knew that confession is worship.  Maybe we would become the real salt and light in a world plagued with plastic facades.  When the church does not practice confession, it isn’t long before it isn’t practicing much at all.

Once I heard a minister say, “But I can’t let people just stand up in the congregation and tell others about their experience with God.  Who knows what they might say?  It could get out of control.”  Yes, let’s make sure that the Spirit of God is always in our control.  After all, it’s our church, not His.

Many Christians today pray for revival.  Revival will never come without confession.  Maybe we should be praying that the church would become open enough on the inside for its own members to open their hearts before the Lord and their fellow sinners.  The New Testament instructs us to begin the cleaning within the house of God.  Where there is no confession, there is no worship.  There is only loud music and rigid schedules.