Asking for a Friend

Passage- 1 John 5:14-18

Attention-

I heard a story about a little boy who had been sent to his room because he had been bad. A short time later he came out and said to his mother, "I've been thinking about what I did and I said a prayer." "That's fine," she said, "if you ask God to make you good, He will help you." "Oh, I didn't ask Him to help me be good," replied the boy. "I asked Him to help you put up with me."

Introduction-

We have one more sermon in this series after today and we have covered so much.

John has shared the reality of the person and work of Christ and then launched into the difficulties of living a life that represents Christ

John spends time on the false teachers and false beliefs that we choose to turn to

He has given the reasons for following Christ and the consequences for turning away.

A major part of rebuilding the church after these devastating false teachings is prayer

Main truth-

In this beginning of his conclusion John is challenging his readers that confidence in the Lord is not merely an intellectual exercise but is practically applied through a life of prayer

Transition #1-

What is being taught? (Explain the passage and draw out the 1st century truth)

Again, although it seems as though John is making a major shift in topics here he is still dealing with the same issue just changing how we remedy it

The issue is still sin and he now bring in prayer as a part of the equation.

And as much as we need to be in prayer about our own personal sin John is exhorting believers to be in prayer for others that are enslaved to sin.

He starts his discussion on prayer right where we all need it…the confidence we can have and the hope it brings

John gives us two areas of hope

-That we can have confidence that God hears and WILL answer

-Also, that we have others praying for us

First, we have confidence

Websters says that confidence is a belief that an outcome will be favorable OR it can mean belief in a certain thing.

This is a part of what John’s readers would have thought when hearing this word but it isn’t limited to just hopeful expectation.

We here in America have a freedom that illustrates this quite well

The freedom of speech

As citizens of this country we have the freedom and the right to openly express our feelings and opinions.

Now…do we have the freedom to express any and all of our thoughts and opinions or are there some restrictions on the 1st amendment?

There are restrictions, we wont get into a government lesson on the right and wrong of the limitations but they are there.

Defamation of character

Clear and present danger

Obscenity

This is how we can understand this word confidence

We have the openness to express our thoughts and feelings.

Are we able to express any and all of our thoughts and feelings?

No, like the first amendment there are some restrictions.

John gives us the restrictions in the next part of the verse… “if we ask anything according to His will”

Yes, we have a hopeful expectation and yet we need to understand this as an openness between God and the believer.

But we need to get back to the text

John is not just dealing with general prayers

He is dealing with the prayers for those involved in sin.

Verse 16

But now we come to the part of this passage that presents us some exegetical difficulties.

Johns use of the phrase “a sin which is not unto death” assumes that there is a sin unto death.

So what does John mean by sins unto and not unto death?

Please do not forget context, the life and death that John has been dealing with are eternal life and eternal death

John has been hammering home the reality that sin is incompatible with the Christian life

Before we go too much further I will note that the readers of this epistle most likely knew exactly what John meant by these sin to death and those not unto death.

We can only speculate.

I believe that based on the context John understands that believers will sin and therefore he is then referring to believers who sin and repent when he speaks of those who sin not unto death

What about the sin unto death?

I believe John is referring to those who completely and utterly reject God, the Bible, Jesus and His work on the cross.

So did these leaders in John’s church that are now spreading false teaching get “unsaved”?

You cannot receive Jesus and then change your mind…you cannot get unsaved

So I understand this to assume that those false teachers had a false profession of faith and never really believed.

And to that one John says “I do not say that he shall pray for it”

Here I think John is not closing the door on praying for false teachers but not commanding it

Verse 17...The stronger command is to pray for those who have not rejected Christ and are struggling with sin.

Verse 18…Again, sinneth, is referring to habitual sins that go unrepented

The end of verse 18 is the hope and confidence of the believer

We know that the will of God for the believer is to abstain from sin and that it is also God’s will that Satan not tempt us beyond our ability

“The wicked one toucheth him not” brings my mind back to Job

Satan was only able to tempt and persecute Job as far as God allowed

And that persecution was for Job to come to a more complete understanding of who God is.

Transition #2-

How do we understand this in our context? (Bridge 1st century truth to today)

So how do we pray in light of Johns teaching?

First of all…be praying

As I have said in the past, when we stand before the Lord I do not believe he will ask “Why did you spend so much time in prayer”

He may ask why we spent so much time on a number of things but not prayer

Second, be selflessly praying

In John 17 Jesus is giving us a picture into intercessory prayer for others.

Jesus mentions himself in this prayer but only in reference to glorifying God and drawing others to His saving work.

Other than that He intercedes for believers.

Jesus in John 17 should be a template for our prayer for fellow believers.

Pray in the will of God

Do we do this by praying “if it be your will” at the end of our prayer?

This is not a bad thing to do but I would caution that it could lend towards lazy praying.

By lazy praying I mean that it would be easy to just call out all of my thoughts, hopes, dreams, etc and end with “if it be your will” and feel that I have prayed within the will of God.

I would encourage us to meditate and search out the will of God for certain situations and relationships and pray within the precepts and commands of Scripture and then pray “if it be your will”.

Transition #3-

How do we live this out in our context? (Application of the biblical truth to us personally)

How should this change my thinking. (Mental understanding and/or reasoning?)

The question is often asked how to have a better prayer life

So when you come to Scripture and read and study it come with a desire to know God and His will.

I think one simple step would be to know and love the Lord enough to know Him and His will.

Martin Luther “The fewer the words, the better the prayer. To have prayed well is to have studied well.”

Have you ever had a really deep and honest conversation with a complete stranger?

Not usually…there needs to be some time to develop a relationship and to know the other party

Come to the Word of God to know the God of the Word

How should this change my heart? (What do I love?)

Ask God to give you a heart for prayer

Ask God to give you a heart for His will in prayer.

Ask Him to give you a heart for others so that you can pray for them

How should this change my whole being? (Behavioral change)

Then put it all into practice and get praying

Set aside some time for prayer

Come to Wednesday bible study and prayer

Be involved in the lives of others

It may be a bit uncomfortable

It may be a bit messy

But it’s biblical

It’s Christlike

Its what believers are to do for one another.

Closing song-