The Monster on the Porch
The primary function of the Exhortation in our worship service is as an on-ramp to confession of sin. We lay out what God calls us to do so that we can confess to God what we have failed to do, so we can receive mercy because of what Christ has done.
Let me give you an image from the book of Genesis. God said to Cain, “Sin is crouching at your door; its desire is for you, but you must rule over it.” Sin, like a predator, like a monster, crouches on your porch, desiring to possess you, to own you, to master you, to devour you.
Let me get more specific. Because if Paul is any example, sometimes you just need a list of sins. Here is what is crouching at your door. Listen for the monster on your porch.
Envy and rivalry
Covetousness - wanting what other people have so bad that it makes you sad
Discontentment, grumbling, ingratitude for God’s kindness to you
Sexual immorality - pursuing sexual gratification outside of marriage, whether through pornography, fornicaction, or adultery
Drunkenness and gluttony
Unrighteous anger, hatred, malice, and bitterness
Gossip, slander, malicious speech
Cruelty
Cowardice
Laziness and sloth
Disobedience to parents
Plain old selfishness
Lying and deceit - either believing lies or spreading lies or both
Pride, haughtiness, boasting, self-righteousness
So hear these exhortations. First, if that monster is still crouching on your porch, beware. Don’t make peace with it. Don’t coddle your sinful desires. Don’t nurse it and try to befriend it. Don’t secretly feed it scraps under the table. You can’t carry fire next to your chest and expect not to get burned. You can’t raise a dragon in your house and expect not to get eaten.
Second, I expect for some of you, the monster already pounced. You’ve fallen into the ditch. Maybe you even jumped. You’ve presented your members–your eyes, your ears, your mouth, your belly, your hands, your feet, your body, your mind–as instruments of unrighteousness, as tools of sin. You’ve committed great evil. Don’t rationalize your sin. Don’t make excuses for the dragon. Don’t let explanations of sin become excuses for sin.
Third, Don’t bow up. Don’t turn your sin of error and folly and passion into a high-handed, stiff-necked sort of sin. Don’t double down. Don’t make God break your back because you won’t bow. Don’t spurn his kindness. And Don’t hide. Don’t wallow in ungodly grief. Come out into the light. Some of you are terrified that someone is going to find out. I have some bad news: He already knows. And he’s on his way.
And I have some good news: He already knows, and he’s on his way. But I’m getting ahead of myself. That image, and that list, and those exhortations remind us of our need to confess our sins, so let’s seek God’s mercy together.
Prayer of Confession
Our Father and God, we live among a wicked people, a nation that massages and coddles its sinful desires and rationalizes and excuses its unrighteous actions. Rather than making war on ungodliness, we have made peace with all manner of evil. Indeed we call good evil and evil good, and we mock at virtue and godliness. We suppress truth in unrighteousness and expect you not to see. Our presumption is a form of idolatry. We are stiff-necked, hard-hearted, and high-handed in our rebellion. And this is a great evil.
More than that, Lord, as your covenant people, we too have followed the passions of our flesh and been led away by deceitful desires. We have gone along to get along. We may not parade our sins like the world, but we nurse and coddle them in secret, expecting your blessing while withholding heartfelt obedience. Forgive us, we pray, good Lord, for giving sin a foothold among us. Forgive our compromises, our errors, our follies, and our deliberate decisions. Turn our hearts back to you in sincere repentance.
We know that if we in the church regard sin in our own hearts, our prayers will be ineffectual, so we confess our individual sins to you now. […]
Father, when we love darkness, your holy light is hateful to us. Your knowledge of our sinful hearts is bad news. But when, by your Spirit, we turn back to you, we find that it was goodness and mercy pursuing us all along. You are not another monster seeking to devour, but our great Savior who delivers us from the world, the flesh, and the devil. Thank you for Jesus who died for our sins and was raised for our justification. Help us to walk in the newness of the resurrection life that he offers us by the Spirit. In Jesus name, Amen.