(Psalm 51:1-12)
To the leader. A Psalm of David, when the prophet Nathan came to him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba.
[1]Have mercy on me, O God,
according to your steadfast love;
according to your abundant mercy
blot out my transgressions.
[2] Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity,
and cleanse me from my sin.
[3] For I know my transgressions,
and my sin is ever before me.
[4] Against 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.
[5] Indeed, I was born guilty,
a sinner when my mother conceived me.
[6] You desire truth in the inward being;
therefore teach me wisdom in my secret heart.
[7] Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean;
wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
[8] Let me hear joy and gladness;
let the bones that you have crushed rejoice.
[9] Hide your face from my sins,
and blot out all my iniquities.
[10] Create in me a clean heart, O God,
and put a new and right spirit within me.
[11] Do not cast me away from your presence,
and do not take your holy spirit from me.
[12] Restore to me the joy of your salvation,
and sustain in me a willing spirit.
(NRSV)
INTRODUCTION:
I love this Psalm. It's a very personal prayer of confession and a cry for forgiveness. I can really identify with the author. Can't you? Not with what the author did but with the author's own sense and need for forgiveness. It's obvious that the author has been convicted by his sin and his guilt. The introduction before this Psalm says this is David's Psalm of repentance concerning his affair with Bathsheba.
David hadn't fooled anyone, not even himself. He knew that what he did was wrong in God's eyes and in his own eyes. He knew that his disobedience and sin had broken God's heart, and broken his relationship with God. And as a result, his spirit and his heart were broken; broken to the point of contrition. In that spirit of repentance he asked God to create in him a clean heart and to renew a right spirit within his soul. And that's the basic spirit of Lent.
A week ago Saturday I started cleaning out the garage. I say that I started cleaning it out because that's all I really did even though I worked out there for a couple of hours. You can now actually get in the garage. There's even enough room to park Mary's car in there if need be. There's more yet to be done, but I started cleaning it.
There were certain steps I had to take in order to start the cleaning process though. The first thing I had to do was get up and go do it. You see, I had thought about doing it for a long time. But something always came up. Or I just didn't get around to it. So I had to get my gumption in motion and move the project from the "gonna do" list to the "do it now" list.
Then I had to consider all the tools I was going to need. Things like my pickup truck. I had about three months worth of recyclables to load plus a few bags and boxes that I've been meaning to get to Goodwill. Then I needed a few trash bags and a trash can. I needed a broom and a dustpan. And I needed a big dose of patience.
The reason I tell you that is because when we come to God, like David, asking God to create a clean heart within us, there are a few things which we need as well.
I. CONFESSION:
A. First of all we need to come to God with a spirit of confession. That's what David did. Confession is an honest look at our lives and our relationship with God. It recognizes both strengths and weaknesses. And it has at the heart of it a desire to change our relationship with God.
You see, sin separates us from God and our spirits feel that. We may not know what it is at first but our spirits do. There is a longing within us to be in relationship with God, to be close and to see God. With each sin we commit we get further and further from God. And another brick goes up in the wall that separates us from God. We can sin so much and the wall get so high that we can no longer see God. Or we can sin so much and get so far away from God that we feel totally cut off and alone. It's then, that our spirits cry out and lead us, like David, to seek a "clean heart and a new and right spirit."
Confession allows that process to begin. Confession is letting God know that we know what we did wrong. And when we don't take time to confess our sins, then it builds up like in the poem "Sarah Cynthia Sylvia Stout Would Not Take The Garbage Out" by Shel Silverstein. (Read Poem) (1)
B. Sin is like garbage in our spiritual lives. And in a sense, each of us are equipped with a trash sack. When we're born it is empty. But as we go through life we slowly fill it up. (Here use a large garbage sack and several boxes and cans of different sizes to symbolize sin. They can even be labeled.)
At first they don't amount to much. The little white lies don't weigh much. One little incident of gossip or jealousy doesn't seem too bad. But then the little white grows into a larger lie. And jealousy grows into envy which grows into hate. Then there are the unkind words. Or the blatant prejudice. Or . . .
With each sin we turn away from God, we keep tossing garbage into the sack until it fills up and weighs us down. The Good News of Scripture and of Christ is that it's a burden that we don't need; a burden we don't have to carry; a burden that impedes our journey of faith. Confession is taking the garbage out.
II. REPENTANCE:
A. But Confession isn't enough. You see a lot of us don't mind confessing at all. We rummage through the garbage of our lives with relish. We parade it before others without even thinking about it. Some of us even love to pull it out and show it off like some badge of honor. So confession isn't enough.
The other tool we need is repentance. You see confession without repentance is like dumping all the garbage out of the sack; rummaging through it; naming it before God and then picking it all up again. Confession didn't really do any good at all. It didn't have any effect on our lives or our faith. It didn't mend the relationship. All we did was name those things that separate us from God. We already know them and God already knows them. Confession without repentance is like trying to drive a car without and engine. It doesn't really get you any where.
B. Besides, Jesus didn't die on the cross just so we could wallow in the dirt and the filth of our sin without ever getting cleaned up. Jesus gives us a way to be free of the burden of our sin. Jesus offers us a way to tear down the wall that separates us from God and a way bring us as close to God as God's heart. And that's through both confession and repentance.
Confession is realizing what we did and naming it before God. Repentance is leaving it there and turning away from it. You see, that is what the literal translation of the word repentance means: "To turnabout," "to turn away," or "to turn around." It means to make a 180; to do a "U-ey"; to hit reverse; to head a new direction. It means to head in God's direction, not our own.
Confession and repentance mean taking out the garbage, dumping it at the foot of the cross and leaving it there. We are able to do that because of the cross. And when we do that, when we bring our sins and confess them to God; then repent of them and leave them at the foot of the cross, we can walk away with that clean heart and the new and right spirit put there and created by God.
III. PARDON:
With the garbage gone and the new heart, we experience God's forgiveness. And that's what this Psalm is all about. This Psalm is not about sin and confession. This Psalm is not about how rotten David was or how many of the ten commandments David broke. This Psalm is about God and God's love, mercy and grace. This Psalm is about forgiveness. This Psalm is not so much about human nature as it is about God's Nature.
It is human nature to sin but it is God's nature to forgive. Sin is a powerful reality in life and in our individual lives. But the truth of this passage and the Biblical witness is that the grace of God is even more powerful. By the grace of God, disobedient disciples get turned around and become obedient disciples. The garbage is taken out. The burdened are set free from their burden. The wayward are brought home. The lost are found. The hopeless are filled with hope.
CONCLUSION:
As we prepare for the celebration of Easter, take time to examine your lives and your garbage sacks. Is it time to take out the garbage? Are your sacks full? Do they need to be emptied? Even one or two little items can weigh a ton.
What do you need to empty yourself of and leave at the foot of the cross today? Whatever it is, please don't leave until you've done so. Please don't leave until you can leave unburdened. Empty your sack through confession and repentance and leave your burdens at the foot of the cross Then go from here with a clean heart and a new and right spirit. Remember our words of assurance. "Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, died for us while we were yet sinners. That proves God's love for us. In the name of Jesus Christ, your sins are forgiven."
Dump your garbage at the foot of the cross and know that you are forgiven.
This is the Word of the Lord for this day.
1. Shel Silverstein, Where The Sidewalk Ends (New York, NY: Harper & Row Publishers, 1974), pp. 70-71.