May 10, 2023

If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 

(1 John 1:8–9 esv)

Restaurants are funny places; a gracious and hospitable atmosphere permeates the dining room as hosts, waiters, and waitresses greet and serve customers. The kitchen is a different world: it is hot, noisy, and dominated by sense of productivity that often produces panic and profanity. As we are gathered into worship these two worlds are present in each of us. Outwardly, we are warm and graciously smiling people - our “Sunday Best” inwardly, we are filled with conflict, noise, and judgment - our Sunday “Worst!” The peace of the dining room makes the chaos of the kitchen hard to imagine just as much as our “Sunday best” distracts attention from our “Sunday worst” But the God who calls us into worship knows this truth better than we do - because He took our sin upon himself so that we might be brought into his presence!  What is sin? The Westminster Shorter Catechism divides the definition of sin into two parts: Sins of Omission (any want [lack] of conformity unto) and Sins of Commission (or transgression of) against the biblical standard of righteousness (the law of God). Everything we do that fails to live up to, or actually violates the content of Scripture is sin. In Romans 14:23, the Apostle Paul says that anything that “does not proceed from faith is sin…” 

  On what basis can we have any assurance of God’s grace and pardon? Hebrews 10:20 says that we enter God’s presence through the “new and living way he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh.” We don’t receive any assurance from our good behavior, and certainly not from our act of confession. We receive it by grace through faith in Jesus’ life-giving death and resurrection. Our confession of sin is not an attempt to cajole God’s grace (He has given us that in Christ), but a way for us to see and receive God’s love for us in Christ. “For while we were still weak, at the right time,  Christ died for the ungodly.” The “kitchens” of our lives are truly messy but we can take heart - Jesus died for and delights to forgive sinners!

—Matt Allhands