Praying with Confidence and Compassion
Journey through 1 John • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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Now this is the confidence we have before Him—that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have the requests we have asked from Him. If anyone sees his brother committing a sin not leading to death, he should ask, and God will give life to those who commit sin not leading to death. There is a sin leading to death—I am not saying you should ask about that. All unrighteousness is sin, but there is sin not leading to death.
Introduction
Introduction
John is bringing his epistle in for a landing here. He moves to the subject of prayer.
This is not the first time he has broached this subject, for he has already mentioned...
The value of confessing our sins, which is done in prayer.
If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.
Our Advocate in prayer, Jesus Christ the righteous.
My children, I am writing these things to you so that you will not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an Intercessor with the Father—the righteous Messiah Yeshua.
One reason why we receive what we ask in prayer.
and whatever we ask, we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do what is pleasing in His sight.
In his final words on this subject, John does two things:
First, he expands upon a theme in prayer already introduced let’s call that praying with confidence.
Next he brings in another theme in prayer that is harmony with the tone throughout his epistle In other words, praying with compassion, consistent with his teachings on brotherly love.
As we examine his words in verses 14-17, we going to really dig in to what else John has written, and use this as the basis for this study which we call "Praying With Confidence And Compassion". First, let's consider how we can pray with confidence our prayers will be answered.
Praying with Confidence
Praying with Confidence
Requires Asking According to God’s Will
Requires Asking According to God’s Will
This is the point John is emphasizing in this passage.
Now this is the confidence we have before Him—that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have the requests we have asked from Him.
Confidence in prayer is not based upon some assumption that we have “carte blanche” in regards to prayer. I think this is the main problem of the Word of Faith movement. They assume this from some of Yeshua’s statements. For example:
And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask Me anything in My name, I will do it.”
But even Jesus' own example illustrates that answer to prayer depends upon whether or not it is in harmony with God's will.
Going a little farther, He fell face down and prayed, saying, “My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me! Yet not as I will, but as You will.”
Again for a second time He went away and prayed, saying, “My Father, if this cannot pass away unless I drink it, let Your will be done.”
Paul learned this same lesson first hand when he prayed about his “thorn in the flesh” f.
even in the extraordinary quality of the revelations. So that I would not exalt myself, a thorn in the flesh was given to me—a a messenger of satan to torment me, so I would not exalt myself. I pleaded with the Lord three times about this, that it might leave me. But He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly in my weaknesses, so that the power of Messiah may dwell in me.
However, the more we learn God's revealed will (i.e., the Word of God), the more likely we will pray according to His will. The greater confidence we can have that our prayers will be answered accordingly.
Requires Keeping God’s Commandments
Requires Keeping God’s Commandments
He stressed this back in chapter 3.
and whatever we ask, we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do what is pleasing in His sight.
Even if we are asking something that would normally be within God's will for us, if we are living in sin and not keeping His commandments can we really expect God to favorably answer our prayers?
Come, children, listen to me:
I will teach you the fear of Adonai.
Who is the one who delights in life,
and loves to see good days?
Keep your tongue from evil,
and your lips from speaking treachery.
Depart from evil and do good.
Seek shalom and pursue it.
The eyes of Adonai are on the righteous,
and His ears are attentive to their cry.
The face of Adonai is against evildoers,
to cut off the memory of them
from the earth.
But pastor, that’s Old Testament, we’re not under the law! Wanna bet?
For the eyes of Adonai
are on the righteous
and His ears open to their prayer,
but the face of Adonai is against
those who do evil.”
The apostles often quoted from the Tanakh because they understood that the will of God is found within its pages. They understood that while God may have given a new covenant, He never changed His nature.
Yeshua the Messiah is the same yesterday, today, and forever.
The righteous, then, are those who “do what ispleasing in His sight”.
and whatever we ask, we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do what is pleasing in His sight.
Especially in regard to believing in Jesus and loving the brethren, two commandments given to us.
Now this is His commandment—that we should believe in the name of His Son, Yeshua the Messiah, and love one another, just as He commanded us.
Requires Abiding in Messiah, and His Word Abiding in Us
Requires Abiding in Messiah, and His Word Abiding in Us
This was taught by Jesus Himself, and recorded by John.
“If you abide in Me and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it shall be done for you.
This should also help us avoid taking certain passages in isolation from its context.
And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask Me anything in My name, I will do it.”
These words of Jesus actually summarize what we have already seen John to say.
Confidence in prayer depends upon keeping the commandments, but keeping the commandments is the key to abiding in Jesus!
The one who keeps His commandments abides in God, and God in him. We know that He abides in us by this—by the Spirit He has given us.
Confidence in prayer depends upon asking according to God's Will, and if Jesus' words abide in us, it stands to reason that will help us know what God's will is, and what is proper to ask of Him.
Therefore, if we learn the words of Jesus, keep His commandments and thereby abide in Him, we will know what is in harmony with God's will and pray accordingly. In this way we can have the “confidence in prayer” of which John writes!
But from an apostle to whom the command to “love the brethren” was a recurring theme, we should not be surprised to find him teaching also about.
Praying With Compassion
Praying With Compassion
So we have come to know and trust in the love that God has for us. God is love. Now whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.
In this way, love is made perfect among us, so that we should have boldness on the Day of Judgment. For just as He is, so also are we in this world.
For a Brother
For a Brother
This epistle of John has been one in which John has stressed “brotherly love”. He has told us that we “ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters”
We have come to know love by this—Yeshua laid down His life for us, and we also ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters.
He has said...
But if someone has material possessions and sees his brother in need and closes his heart against him, how does the love of God abide in him?
Certainly, then, we should be willing and ready to pray for our brethren, especially when we see them in certain circumstances.
Sinning a Sin Not Unto Death
Sinning a Sin Not Unto Death
This is a difficult passage, one that raises several questions.
Does the present tense of the verb “sinning” necessarily imply that the brother is still engaged in the sin when we are to pray for him? What is the "sin not unto death” versus the “sin unto death”?
What is meant that “He will give him life”?
Whatever conclusions we draw should be in harmony with the rest of the scriptures, and with other principles revealed therein, just as we do not draw conclusions about praying with confidence based upon Jn 14:13-14 alone.
While I’m no Greek scholar, and admittedly my Hebrew understanding is better than my Greek, my present understanding of this passage is this:
The present tense of the verb does not demand that the brother is still engaged in the sin when we are to pray for him.
Present tense in the Greek can describe action that is either linear or punctiliar. Now this is the part where I get notes from Lizzie afterward telling me that people don’t know what punctiliar means, and I will admit that prior to Thursday I did not know what it meant either.
The best way of explaining it, John could just as easily be saying “If anyone sees his brother SIN (not SINNING) a sin.”
And thus the asking in his behalf is after the fact, in the future after the sin has been committed (note, "he WILL ask", suggesting in the future).
Now, about the difference between “a sin which does not lead to death” and “a sin leading to death”:
John says in 1Jn 5:17 All unrighteousness is sin,
All unrighteousness is sin, but there is sin not leading to death.
But there is sin "not leading to death"
That is, sin which does not progress to the point in which one experiences spiritual death, or separation from God, as indicated by James, sin does not produce "death" until it is “full grown".
Then when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and when sin is full grown, it brings forth death.
Sin which does not produce (lead to) death would therefore be sin “repented of”. Sin “leading to death”, producing spiritual death and separation from God would be sin “unrepented of”
We cannot expect God to forgive one who refuses to repent as John writes with some understatement: “I’m not saying you should as about that”
If anyone sees his brother committing a sin not leading to death, he should ask, and God will give life to those who commit sin not leading to death. There is a sin leading to death—I am not saying you should ask about that.
God Will Give Him Life
God Will Give Him Life
If the “death” in this passage is “spiritual death”, it is natural to assume the life is “spiritual life”.
The “life” which God will grant our penitent brother in answer to our prayers could also be described as “forgiveness”.
Which is a crucial element of the “eternal life” to which John has referred throughout this epistle.
Thus the promise offered in 1Jn 1:9 to the child of God who penitently confesses his own sin in prayer is offered in 1Jn 5:16 to the penitent brother when prayer is made on his behalf by another member of the family of God.
One might ask, “Why bother to pray for a penitent brother if his sins will be forgiven anyway as taught in verse 9 of Chapter 1?
If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.
One answer might be found in Jm 5:16, where we are taught to pray for one another:
So confess your offenses to one another and pray for one another so that you may be healed. The effective prayer of a righteous person is very powerful.
Putting it All Together
Putting it All Together
The privilege of prayer is a wonderful blessing, especially when we do so with.
Confidence
Compassion
Are we fulfilling the requirements to be able to pray with confidence?
Abiding in Jesus, and letting His words abide in us?
Keeping His commandments and doing the things pleasing in His sight?
Asking according to God's Will?
Are we praying with compassion?
Praying not only for ourselves, but for our brethren in need?
Praying for brethren overtaken by sin, but who have demonstrated that their sin is not one leading to death?
As we all need the fullness of God's blessings in our lives, let's encourage one another to do whatever we can to be able to pray with both confidence and compassion!
