"Humility, Confession, and Faithfulness" - Luke 15:1-10; Psalm 51
A Sermon by Alex Evans, Pastor
Second Presbyterian Church, Richmond VA
Sunday, September 11, 2022
Texts: Luke 15:1-10; Psalm 51
“Humility, Confession, and Faithfulness”
There is a powerful quote that I have shared before. This quote comes from 19th century German professor, philosopher, and social critic, Friedrich Nietzsche, and it goes like this:
“Show me that you are redeemed, and I will believe in your Redeemer.”
If you look up Nietzsche quotes, he has lots of good ones:
“Become who you are.”
“Without music, life would be a mistake.”
“He who has a why to live for can bear almost any how.”
“Those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music.”
And then this one too: “That which does not kill us makes us stronger.”
But that first statement – “show me that you are redeemed, and I will believe in your Redeemer.” That Nietzsche quote has long haunted me.
Do our lives reflect that we are redeemed?
Do others notice the why for which we live?
As Christians, one of the regular practices of our faith and life includes CONFESSION. We strive, within weekly worship, with daily life, to be honest with who we are, and sincere about our shortcomings and failings. We do this not to berate or beat up ourselves, not to dwell on our sins, but to have fuller and richer and more wholesome life with and for God.
Our second Scripture today, from Psalms, does not just urge us to confess. This psalm – 51 - shows us someone actually practicing Confession before God. We do not just get an invitation to be confessional, we see the importance of confession for faithful life. And the person practicing confession is not just some unknown psalm writer; tradition says it is none other than King David – a central figure in the very full Biblical story.
Listen now to Psalm 51:
1Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love;
according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions.
2Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin.
3For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me.
4Against you, you alone, have I sinned, and done what is evil in your sight, so that you are justified in your sentence and blameless when you pass judgment. 5Indeed, I was born guilty, a sinner when my mother conceived me. 6You desire truth in the inward being; therefore teach me wisdom in my secret heart. 7Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. 8Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones that you have crushed rejoice. 9Hide your face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities. 10Create in me a clean heart, O God, and put a new and right spirit within me. 11Do not cast me away from your presence, and do not take your holy spirit from me. 12Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and sustain in me a willing spirit. 13Then I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners will return to you. 14Deliver me from bloodshed, O God, O God of my salvation, and my tongue will sing aloud of your deliverance.
15O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will declare your praise.
16For you have no delight in sacrifice; if I were to give a burnt offering, you would not be pleased. 17The sacrifice acceptable to God is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise. 18Do good to Zion in your good pleasure; rebuild the walls of Jerusalem, 19then you will delight in right sacrifices, in burnt offerings and whole burnt offerings; then bulls will be offered on your altar.
This is the Word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.
If I ask you – what do you know about the story of David in the Bible – I bet that you would come up with two names connected to King David. People otherwise illiterate in the Scriptures connect David to two names: one name that goes with David is the giant, Goliath; the other name is a woman – Bathsheba.
The physical forms of these two people – Goliath and Bathsheba – could not be more different: Goliath – an ugly, cruel, warrior giant; Bathsheba – a beautiful, sensual, young woman. (See E. Peterson, Leap Over A Wall, p. 181)
The David and Goliath story comes early, when David is a young boy.
The David and Bathsheba story comes in David’s mature years, when he is in his prime, a courageous leader and a wise king of God’s people.
Psalm 51 emerges – depicting the practice of confession, central to faithful life – according to tradition, out of the story of David and Bathsheba.
That story unfolds like this – David, King of Israel, has power, credibility, and fame. One afternoon, while walking on the palace roof, positioned so he can see the courtyards below, David sees a woman lying in the sun. She is extraordinarily beautiful. He sends for her, takes her into his bed (he is king) and then sends her home. Her name is Bathsheba. Her husband, Uriah, is off fighting in David’s army against David’s enemies.
A month or so later, Bathsheba learns she is pregnant, and sends word to David: “I am with child.” All of this is in II Samuel 11.
David, good at dealing with problems, figures he better get Uriah home from the battlefield – to cover up the King’s misdeeds; so, the king arranges for a one month leave for Uriah. But when Uriah comes home, Uriah does not feel good about sleeping in his own bed with his wife when his fellow soldiers are still out fighting. He sleeps on the porch of David’s palace. New problem for the King! David solves this by sending Uriah back to battle, with special orders to his general – send Uriah out to the very front lines, to the thick of the fighting. That happens. David learns that Uriah is killed in battle the next day. After an appropriate time of mourning, David sends for Bathsheba and marries her.
Who could ever say that the Bible is boring? Sounds like the latest Netflix drama with all the ingredients – beauty and power, lust and sex, scheming and colluding, lies and cover-up, murder and sinister activities – and everyone hoping it comes together in the end. But the story is not over.
Everything in this David and Bathsheba story shifts when Nathan, David’s pastor, shows up and preaches a sermon to the king. When Nathan arrives, David does not know he is listening to a sermon. He is not in church or synagogue. There is no pulpit or pew. There are no explicit references to God and there is no alter call or benediction. Nathan simply tells David a story about a rich man with large flocks of sheep, who needs a lamb for a dinner he is hosting. But instead of the rich man taking a lamb from his own flock, he arrogantly takes the pet lamb from a poor man living down the street. The rich man kills the poor man’s lamb and serves it to his guests. David, drawn into the story, is outraged at the callousness and cruelty. David says the man ought to be sentenced to death for such an egregious offense. Then Nathan speaks one of the most poignant and powerful sentences in Scripture – straight to the King - “You are the man!” (II Sam 12:7).
Here is the bigger point: Bible stories are not just about Bible figures like David and Bathsheba; they are about our lives. Bible stories are not just stories to entertain and inspire us. They are a lens through which we are to see ourselves – and move toward more faith, more wholeness, more in line with God.
(See Peterson, Leap, p. 184)
It is both easy and common to let the message of Bible stories blur into general pronouncements, or godly purposes. That’s what happened to David in listening to Nathan – someone else doing wrong, and our getting all worked up about someone else’s sin, or someone else’s plight. That is religion of self-righteousness, or religion of moral judgmentalism, or finger-pointing, never letting the message touch our hearts.
But when David heard Nathan say – “you are the man!” – there was likely a deep pause – and a major Spirit-moment. And before long, David is speaking Psalm 51: Have mercy on me, O God according to your steadfast love;
according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions.
2Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin.
3For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me.
4Against you, you alone, have I sinned, and done what is evil in your sight, so that you are justified in your sentence and blameless when you pass judgment. . . . . 7Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. . . . . 10Create in me a clean heart, O God, and put a new and right spirit within me. 11Do not cast me away from your presence, and do not take your holy spirit from me. . . . 15O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will declare your praise.
David quits making excuses and gets on his knees.
David quits giving out opinions on other people’s lives, and opens his heart to God.
He quits thinking that he is in charge – and knows he is accountable to God alone.
He quits acting like he can control everything and seeks to fold his life into God’s life.
Eugene Peterson puts it like this: All through the story of David and Bathsheba, God receded into the background, and David was front and center. The more David, the less God. The less David was paying attention to God, the more he was acting as if he were God, acting like he could control everything, pulling Bathsheba into his orbit, acting like a god in relation to Uriah, and determining his fate.
David did not feel like a sinner when he sent for Bathsheba – he felt like a lover – and what is better than that? David did not feel like a sinner when he sent for Uriah – he felt like a king – and what is better than that? But somewhere along that way, he departed from a life of honesty, a life of adoration of God, and life of serving God. It became all about himself – his pursuits, his passions, his plans – obsession with himself had taken over. (Peterson, p. 187)
Nietzsche says – “Show me you are redeemed, and I will believe in your Redeemer.”
Friends, we continue to live through the challenges of a global pandemic. We are trying to figure out again what it means to be a church, a civil society, and hopeful world. Yesterday, a number of us were at an important worship – lament, confession, repentance, and new commitment, related to white privilege and white supremacy. It was difficult and moving, honest and hard. We have much work to do – but it starts with owning the racist and problematic heritage that is ours as white people, and striving for a better way forward.
We know that there has been a resurgence of public White supremacy clashing with the prophetic movement for Black lives. We continue to see hyper-partisanship grind our political imagination to a halt. We have growing issues with gun violence and climate change and abortion and other deep concerns.
Psalm 51 – and the story of David – remind us to root our lives in humility, confession, and faithfulness.
We are so good – and so inclined – to think and act like we are in charge – without humility - that our ways are the best ways, that our plans are the best plans. The psalm says, “Have mercy on us, O God, according to your steadfast love.” Humility and confession set us always on a better path.
Where in your heart and life would a pause like this help the most? Life is lived with and before God. When we know we need God’s cleansing ways, when we know we fall short of God’s intentions, when we live receptive of God’s goodness, we have a different and faithful focus.
Humility, confession, faithfulness are a long way from arrogance, certitude, and selfishness – which we see so often in these days.
Humility, confession, faithfulness – this is our calling. We cannot grow weary with all that hurts our hearts and plagues our world. We remember to whom we belong. We know that we are always accountable to God. Our lives are always lived with and before God. And we have much work to do – to right so many wrongs, to spread God’s love, to serve the needs of others, to share what we have been given, to make the world more peaceful and gracious.
Create in us a clean heart, O God. Renew a right spirit within us. This is a wonderful refrain for everyday living. It is the way of faith, wisdom, hope.
We have been redeemed. We seek to live and love in the faithful ways of the one who loves us, who redeems us, and promises life, and life in abundance. Humility. Confession. Faithfulness. Amen.
Prayer of Commitment: Pour out your Spirit of grace and love, fortitude and faith, so we can live with humility, confession, and faithfulness all our days, following Jesus. Amen
Alex W. Evans, Pastor, Second Presbyterian Church, Richmond, VA preached this sermon during Sunday worship on Sunday, September 11, 2022. This is a rough manuscript.