Psalm 51:1-17 David's Confession of Sin (sermon for the start of Lent)

Ashes have been used down through the ages as a synbol of, grief, sorrow and suffering. They have been employed to mark occasions of personal loss; to acknowledge national catastrophes, and the loss of life and prosperity these brought with them. Ashes have been used as an outward sign of the inner devastation an individual or a community felt.

Today, Ash Wednesday, we employ the use of ashes as an emblem of grief and mourning to signal our awareness of our sinfulness, as we begin the season of Lent. Our reading this evening from Psalm 51, is in keeping with this theme of penitenance that runs throughout Lent, it is a confession of sin. But it is also a looks forward beyond the power of sin to the power of God’s grace. And that too is the message of Ash Wednesday and the journey of Lent.

Psalm 51 is David’s confession to God. David had committed adultery with Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah, a faithful warrior in David’s army. When Bathsheba discovered she was pregnant, David tried to conceal his sin, eventually plotting to have Uriah killed in battle. David then took Bathsheba to be his own wife. But no matter how crafty David was, he could not hide his sin from God. God sent the prophet Nathan – who exposed David’s sin and confronted him with God’s judgment. This psalm is said to be David’s heart wrenching confession after this encounter.

When we read the psalm we notice, however, that there is nothing in it that explicitly refers to these events. There is no mention of Bathsheba, or Uriah, Nathan or David. This is why this psalm has become so popular, David speaks for us all, because we have all experienced the pain of guilt, and we have all cried out for forgiveness and healing. Psalm 51 is for us a model of confession; a template, if you will.

The first thing we notice is David’s brutal honesty. He doesn’t hold anything back, he’s letting it all go. There is no argument on David’s lips, no indictment of God, no hint that there is anyone to blame but himself. He writes, “I know my transgressions – my sin is ever before me.” He doesn’t try to blame anyone else, or find excuses for his actions, he owns his sin. Until we own our sin we cannot begin to truly confess it before God.

This leads us to the next point – sin is confessed before God. When we think of sin, we tend to think in terms of the wrong we do to other people, but sin is first and foremost against God. Do we hurt others when we sin? Of course we do, but other people are not the standard of right and wrong, God is. Whenever we commit a sin, or hurt someone, we are first and foremost insulting God. That is why David says, “Against you – you alone have I sinned – and done what is evil in Thy sight.”

In relationship to God we have to own our sin as our own – without any excuses – and we have to stand squarely before God as the one whom we have offended and the one to whom we can say without qualification “you are justified when you speak and blameless when you judge.”

That would seem like a scary prospect if all we knew about our relationship with God was how different God is from us. Every Sunday we confess our sins together. When we do that we are not dwelling morbidly on our sins – as if there was no remedy or as if God simply wants us remind ourselves of how bad we are. Instead we pray as David prays here, with the assurance that God has a great plan for us beyond the clutches of sin. “You desire truth in the innermost part of me,” David acknowledges, “deep down you want me to know wisdom.”

Someone once said, “The ability to make good choices come from wisdom. Wisdom comes from experience. Most experience is the result of bad choices.” We grow in wisdom by acknowledging our faults. When we do this before God, God gives us the desire and the ability to avoid falling into the same traps of sin over and over again.

David pleads “Create in me a clean heart, O God, renew a steadfast spirit within me, do not cast me away, restore to me the joy of salvation…” As Christians, we should not get stuck in the rut of sin, but look beyond the emptiness and brokenness of the moment to the new possibilities God offers. In verse 13 we see that God is already beginning to plant ideas in David’s head of what a restored life will look like: I will teach so others also we believe in you; v. 14 I will joyfully sing; v.15 I will declare your praise. This psalm is insistent that to be forgiven is not to return to some status quo we had before – it is to be changed, it is to throw off the old and put on the new.

In verse 17 we read. “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.” This psalm shows us that we cannot ask for lips to praise until we have engaged in a profound yielding and emptying of ourselves before God.

The message of this psalm is that there is nothing that God cannot forgive, there is nothing that He does not know. The only question is will we be brutally honest with ourselves and place ourselves before God, will we cry out as David did – with total abandon, and yet with total faith – that the broken pieces of our lives will not be scattered, but will be taken up by the Master potter and fashioned into something new and beautiful, and worthy of worship.

God loves each of us just as we are; but because he loves us, he will not leave us as we are. In the prophet Ezekiel we hear this promise, “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to observe my voice.”

As we start this season of Lent, we acknolwedge that apart from the grace of God we are absolutely incapable of dealing with sin in our lives, but through God’s grace we are given the promise of new life.

Tonight we look forward and toward Jesus. Jesus, who knew no sin, but was made sin on our behalf. The great mercy of God that David anticipated, and the great sense of God’s utter justice that he respected, we see focused in Jesus Christ. God’s right judgment upon sin was poured, not on us, – but onto Him. Through Jesus’ submission to God on the cross, we can share in the God’s mercy and forgivness. Even from the cross upon which he suffered, Jesus pleaded for us “forgive them, for they do not know what they do.” Tonight we turn to Jesus; we behold the cross and look also beyond it, so that we may “consider ourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus.”

The Persecuted Church

"If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.” (Luke 9:23) The impact of these words spoken by Jesus, are possibly a bit lost on us today. But when Jesus spoke these words, the significance of these words would have been quite clear. In Jesus’ day, it was a common sight to see condemned men carrying their crosses through the streets to the place of execution. Jesus was saying, to follow him can be costly.

Living in twenty first century Britain, we face little or no opposition as Christians. We are free to practice our faith without fear or intimidation. But for many Christians the reality is very different. In the twentieth century more Christians died for their faith, than in the previous 19 centuries combined, and for millions of Christians around the world, persecution is part of the daily reality of life. And by persecution I mean a situation where people are repetitively, persistently and systematically inflicted with grave or serious suffering or harm and deprived of their basic human rights because of their faith.

In 1 Corinthians 12:26 Paul uses the analogy of the body to describe the church, and he says that “If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honoured, every part rejoices with it.” And our Gospel reading reminds us that we have a duty to support our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ, and that failure to do so will result in judgement.

In many countries where Christians are a minority group, they find themselves vulnerable to abuse and injustice of many kinds. They are often discriminated against, with no hope of redress, to violence with no hope of protection.

Pastor Daniel

Take for example Pastor Daniel. He and his wife run a home for orphans in India. Along with their own four children, they care for 20 Dalit ("untouchable") children.
A converted Hindu, he has experienced severe persecution from fundamentalist groups opposed to his Christian activities.

Since 1995, he has been severely beaten and left for dead, and his house stoned by violent mobs who once besieged his home for 15 days.

To date, the police have failed to arrest those responsible and in fact arrested Pastor Daniel once, on trumped-up charges.

Pastor Daniel and his wife have been ordered to leave the region by Hindu extremists, or be killed.

Rahmet from Ethiopia

Next there is Rahmet from Ethiopia. She became a Christian at the age of 15, but when her Muslim family found out of her new faith they were enraged, and have disowned her, as have many of her friends. Rahmet now lives with a Christian family.

Yousif Matt from Iraq

Yousif Matty has led many Muslims to Christ. The church that he founded in 1992 has over a 1000 members, most of whom come from a Muslim background. Yousif has received hundreds of death threats, and his Christian bookshops have been attacked.

Since the invasion of Iraq three years ago, the situation for Christians has worsened. Earlier this year Christians in Iraq were by Islamic extremists that that they must either leave, convert to Islam or be killed. The aim of these extremists is to cleanse Iraq of every last Christian, and to a certain extent they are succeeding as many Christians have fled to neighbouring countries.

Sarah from Uzbekistan

Sarah was the first person in her hometown to become a Christian. She shared her faith with friends and neighbours, and a church of 300 was soon established.

However, after spates of heavy persecution, many of the new converts were too frightened to attend church. Sarah herself was kidnapped by a Muslim and forced into marriage. She is forbidden to visit her Christian friends, and on many occasions she has been pelted with stones when walking through the streets.

SHOW SLIDE These are the stories of just four people, but it is estimated that up to 200 million Christians in 60 countries world wide are facing similar persecution and discrimination on the grounds of their religious beliefs.

Psalm 31

Our first reading this morning was composed by King David. In his own life David had to face many trials, the times in which he lived were fraught with uncertainty and violence. In the psalm he talks about being pursued by his enemies. The experiences that David writes about in this psalm, are similar to the experiences many Christians around the world face. Being pursued by their enemies, living in times of trial and uncertainty. For example, we have seen the rise of a very militant form of Islamic extremism. In Nigeria, where there is a large Muslim population 270 churches were burnt to the ground last year, and in one horrific attack 20 Nigerian Christian children were burnt to death when the bus they were travelling in was attacked. Other Christians are having to face discrimination of an institutional, legal and employment nature, or are finding their rights to practice their religion suppressed.

In the psalm David describes how his experiences, left him distressed and anxious. He describes how he was scorned by his neighbours, and forgotten by his friends, who treated him as though he were dead. And the burden for Christians living with the threat of persecution is similarly great.

But throughout the trials David had to face, his trust remained in the Lord. David was conscious of the fact that God was ultimately the one in control. He said, “I trust in you, O Lord, I saw, ‘You are my God’.

David’s confidence was based on his understanding that God is a righteous God, and that he is concerned with justice. He trusted in God’s unending goodness, whose abiding presence offers support and encouragement even when we are faced by great hardships. Paul who similarly faced similar hardships, writes in 2 Corinthians 4:8-9 “We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed.” He was able to say this, because his confidence was based not in men, but in God whose faithfulness endures for ever, and he knew that his future and his destiny lay in God’s hands.

In Exodus 3:7 we read that God hears the cries of his people, and is concerned with their suffering. Which is why, David is able to end the psalm with these words, “Be strong and take heart, all you who hope in the LORD.” (Psalm 31:29)

What I find so striking about hearing stories of Christians under persecution, is the strength of their faith, and their confidence in God’s goodness and justice. It is also striking that where the church is seeing some of it’s greatest growth, is in those places where Christians are facing the most opposition. Where does the confidence and joy of these Christians come from? It is based on the knowledge that they are suffering for Christ. In the 1st letter of Peter, he writes, “Dear friends, do not be surprised at the painful trial you are suffering, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice that you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed.” (1 Peter 4:12-13)

What is the main message that Christians who are suffering take from Psalm 31. I believe it is David’s message urging us all to be strong and to take heart, to wait expectantly for the Lord to bring justice for those who have put their trust in him. These are not glib words, but come from one who himself experienced extreme suffering, yet clung faithfully to the Lord and eventually saw him work.

So what should our response be to the suffering of other Christians?

Four main responses:

1. Pray for our Christian brothers & sisters who are facing persecution
2. Pray for those who are persecuting the, in Matthew 5:44 Jesus said “ “Love your enemies! Pray for those who persecute you!”
3. Support them with our gifts – many of these Christians suffer extreme poverty, and rely upon the support other Christians can give them.
4. We are to stand with those who are oppressed. Proverbs 31:8-9—“Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute. Speak up and judge fairly; defend the rights of the poor and needy.”