Jason McKnight

Our church services do not matter to God. Our multi-church community services don’t matter, nor do our mission projects and women’s circles, our help for the homeless, feeding the hungry, youth groups and community action groups. They simply don’t matter to God. 

In Psalm 51:16, David says to God, “I know you aren’t into dead animals. They do nothing for you”: you do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it. You take no pleasure in burnt offerings. 

Didn’t God tell his people to make these sacrifices back in Exodus and Leviticus? He explained in minute detail what is to be sacrificed when and in what way. 

But, David catches on: “You don’t care about those things, do you God?” I wonder if we’ve caught on? Today, we don’t offer animals. We come to church, we help the hungry, we have bible studies. If David were writing today, he’d write, “God, you don’t delight in our church services, or I would bring them. You do not take pleasure when we feed the hungry.” 

This is a crucial word from God for us to hear today. It’s difficult, puts us off balance. And, it should. We need to be very careful as we come to God. 

But, verse 17 shows David’s hope: “The sacrifices of God (aka, that God delights in) are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise (or, you will take pleasure in).”   

God doesn’t want our church services. He wants our hearts. Our broken hearts, our contrite hearts. Our penitent hearts. Hearts that are no longer self-sufficient, but are hungry for God. Hearts that are no longer a self-starter, but are waiting for God. Hearts that are no longer self-justifiying, but are confessing before God. 

Confessing our need and our needs. Our needs are our sins, our errors, our wrongs. The things I have done—in word, deed, thought or action—the things I have left undone. Those things that dishonor God, that rebel against his gracious Word, that go against his character. That’s sin.  

We confess, too, our need – our need of his sustaining power for our very breath. Our need of his gracious presence for our very life. Our need of his only Son for our eternal future. 

So what does God want? A broken heart and a contrite spirit. He wants us to live Psalm 51:1-4 as our daily prayer:   

“Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love; according to your great compassion blot out my transgressions. Wash away all m y iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. For I know my transgressions, and my sin is always before me. Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight…” 

He wants confession – confession from a hungry and waiting soul. This is Lent, the time of the year, above all others, when we ponder what it means to confess. 

In his book Your God is too Safe, Mark Buchanan notes that confession is “presenting our real self to God. It’s bringing before God not the person we hope to be, but the person we actually are.” (p.166) 

I think that’s spot-on. Presenting our real self to God. How are you at doing that? We don’t get a lot of practice in being real with people. We keep our appearances up before strangers and co-workers. We try to keep up with the Joneses in the neighborhood. We don’t let our in-laws get the better of us. 

Even church, which is supposed to be a home (where people feel welcomed) and a hospital (a place of healing), is often more like a hotel – where a bunch of fairly strangers gather trying to look like we belong at such a place. 

Confession is presenting our real self to God. Buchanan continues: “[it’s] when we quit all the deal making, the sidestepping, the mask wearing, the pretense and preening, and we get bone-deep honest before God: I am the man!” (P.167) 

Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love. This is our life-blood. Thanks be to God that his love is really unfailing, it’s totally committed, not petty and conditional like ours. Thanks be to God that his compassion is great – so great it looked beyond my fault and saw my need. Thanks be to God that cleansing and forgiveness are total and true and final. 

Confession is so hard, isn’t it?  The last thing I want to do after my wife and I have an argument is go to her and apologize. And, if I do apologize, the last thing I want to do is ask for her forgiveness. I’m giving her all the power over that wrong. 

But, confession is the doorway to a pure heart, a new spirit. Through confession we see the joy of our salvation restored. When we keep silent about our sin, our bones waste away… By owning our stuff, God restores to us the joy of our salvation.  

How do we know? Because our salvation first comes to us when we look heavenward, with arms outstretched, and say, “I can’t, but you Lord Jesus can! Father, I’ve sinned, I’m done for. Have mercy on me in Christ.” And, then what happens? God moves in response to our confession. It’s what he was waiting for. He pours out his love into our hearts, his Spirit, his joy and peace. 

As a child of God, we cannot hope to hang onto our sin and also bask in joy. We’ve got to get rid of the one, so that the other can take its place. A broken spirit becomes a steadfast spirit. And a contrite heart becomes a pure heart. And our brokenness, our confession, when we own our sin in all its ugliness becomes the doorway to the joy of our salvation. 

One last thought: God never means for confession to be solely me to God. True confession, true brokenness always leads us back to the one on earth whom we have wronged. During Lent, as we hear the call to live with a contrite spirit before God our Savior, will we also hear the call to confess and seek the forgiveness of those we’ve wronged? 

Jesus said, “If your brother has something against you, leave your gift at the altar and be reconciled to him.” God doesn’t care about our gifts at the altar. Remember? He cares about our hearts behind the gifts.  

If someone has something against me, it’s because I’ve most likely wronged him. I need to make it right – confess, apologize, seek forgiveness, offer to help the mess I made. 

Who is it on this day that you need to live Psalm 51 toward? In our spirit of penitence and preparation before God in Lent, who is he calling you to make things right with? 

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