The Good Confession

"Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses. In the sight of God, who gives life to everything, and of Christ Jesus, who while testifying before Pontius Pilate made the good confession, I charge you to keep this command without spot or blame until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, which God will bring about in his own time." I Timothy 6:12-15

Isn't this interesting that there's this little teaser to what the "good confession" is? Now before you go through your Bible or search Biblegateway for what the conversation between Pilate and Jesus is like, i want you to think about what your mind already tells you the "good confession" is.

If you are like me, you just LOVE frosted brown sugar cinnamon pop tarts.

But you also probably thought of a confession like, "Jesus Christ is my Lord and Savior."

Well, ok then, let's put this, and whatever other instant reactions you had, to the test. Here's the passage in Matthew 27 Pilate asks Him, "Are you the King of the Jews?" And Jesus responds with, "Yes, it is as you say."

But in John 18 we get even more of this conversation. Stunning.

Pilate then went back inside the palace, summoned Jesus and asked him, “Are you the king of the Jews?”

³⁴ “Is that your own idea,” Jesus asked, “or did others talk to you about me?”

³⁵ “Am I a Jew?” Pilate replied. “It was your people and your chief priests who handed you over to me. What is it you have done?”

³⁶ Jesus said, “My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jews. But now my kingdom is from another place.”

³⁷ “You are a king, then!” said Pilate.

Jesus answered, “You are right in saying I am a king. In fact, for this reason I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me.”

³⁸ “What is truth?” Pilate asked.

Here's an attempt at summarizing this "good confession":

1) Jesus states that His Kingdom is not of this world.

What if our good confession included yet went beyond Jesus being Lord and Savior but admitting that "what rules over me is not the ways of the world. My ruler is not money, my job, my grades, sex, drugs, obsessions, addictions, NOTHING rules over me except Jesus Himself and all His ways of living life."

B) Jesus is truth.

Around the Christmas season i love reminding myself of this passage because Jesus says, "For this reason I was born... to testify to the truth." Which earlier in the book of John Jesus called Himself "the Truth" (14:6). What's even more amazing is that Pilate asks, "What is Truth" right before dismissing it/Him to His death. What if part of our good confession included standing by what is Truth at all costs.

III) Jesus is speaking.

"Everyone on the side of truth (an earlier part of our "good confession") listens to me." Jesus could have said "listened" but didn't. What if part of our good confession included to constantly gain an ear for His voice in our lives. Through His Spirit inside of us, through others speaking into our lives, through Scriptures, through praying, and through listening.

Perhaps we should reconsider what it means to confess our faith to something more expansive than just WHO Jesus is but also to WHAT He is, what He is like, and having nothing else maintain rule over us.