The confidence of fellowship, 1 John 5:13-17

We are coming to the close of the epistle of 1 John.  We will more than likely finish it next Sunday, Lord willing.  I came into this epistle with naive expectations that we would spend a short study in it, and then we would begin the gospel of Mark as we started out the summer season.  Turns out God had other plans. This is the seventeenth message in 1 John, with one more to go. This little epistle has taught me much concerning the life of a Christian, particularly in regards to what is Christian fellowship. There have been a number of interpretational challenges, as there is yet again today, but I believe God helped us navigate through them, and I for one, am the better for it.

 If you have been with us during this summer, you will know that I consider fellowship to be the theme of 1 John.  And fellowship with God can only be possible if you have been born again into eternal life. Eternal life is inseparable from fellowship with God.  Now, as I indicated last week, eternal life does not just refer to the longevity of life, but the quality of life.  That which is spiritual is eternal by definition, thus we have to be born again by the Spirit of God, in order to become spiritual, because in our natural state, we are dead spiritually. That is due to the curse of sin from the Garden of Eden, when man ate of the tree, and as God said, they surely died.  Adam and Eve died spiritually.  And as descendants of Adam, all have sinned according to our nature and are spiritually dead.  But once having received eternal life, we have fellowship with the Spirit who abides in us, and as such we now have eternal life in Christ.

Their is another aspect of the phrase eternal life, and that’s the word used for life; zoe in the original Greek.  In Greek there are three words used for life.  There is bios, from which we get the word biology.  It refers to the physical body.  Then there is psuche, from which we get the word psychology.  It refers to the soul, or the mind, emotions and will of man.  Sometimes it is also called the heart.  Heart and soul are interchangeable.  And then there is zoe, which refers to the zest of life, a life of special vitality or animation.  And that word zoe is what the apostles use to speak of spiritual life.  This is the life animated by God, the divine life that is eternal, abundant, and is the source of our fellowship with God.  Without zoe life, we cannot have fellowship with God.  

And by the way, eternal life does not begin when we get to heaven one day.  Eternal life begins at salvation.  Your life in Christ will never end.  Jesus said in John 11:25, “I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies, and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?”  When He said I am the life, He used the word zoe.  We receive the life of Christ, divine life, which is eternal life, the moment we believe in Christ. That zoe life is the full life, abundant life of fellowship with God when we abide in Him and He in us.  As Jesus affirmed in John 10:10, “I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.”  He’s not talking about physical prosperity, but about the full divine, spiritual life in Christ that results in fellowship with God.

Now John speaks to this indispensable principle of fellowship in vs.13.  We talked about this verse some last time, but we need to look at it again this week to keep  the following verses in context.  Note vs.13, “These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life.”

Since the very first chapter, John has been concerned that we know that we have real fellowship with God.  He is concerned that we know we have eternal life.  The word "know" appears 39 times in this epistle and seven times in these last verses. This whole epistle is about knowing you have fellowship with God for certain. 

And last time we showed that the way you know you have the eternal zoe life of God, that you have fellowship with God, is through the word of God.  The promises of God are our guarantee, the confidence of our salvation, and our confidence of  fellowship with Him.  We don’t trust in feelings, we don’t trust in experiences, though those things may be significant.  But we trust in the word of God.  And that is why John says that these things have been written down for us, that we might know for certain that we have fellowship with God.  The apostle’s doctrines which are written are scripture, which is inspired by the Spirit of God, that we may know the things of God.

Now John tells us in vs 14 that there is another proof, or evidence, that we have this fellowship, this zoe life of God abiding in us.  And that evidence is answered prayer.  Answered prayer is one of the most satisfying evidences of your fellowship with God.  Sometimes they are major things we have been praying for, and God answers them.  And sometimes there are small things we pray for, and God answers them.  But whether they are big or small, answered prayer is one of the best confirmations of our fellowship with God, and one of the most tangible evidences that we share the zoe life of Christ. 

But if the truth be known, answered prayer is an evidence which is sometimes lacking in our lives, is it not?  We pray for things, we try to muster up faith that God will answer it, and then oftentimes He doesn’t seem to answer.  And rather than encouraging our faith, it sometimes works to discourage us.  

However John seems to give us this blank check that if we ask, we will receive what we ask for.  But in actuality, it’s important to give full consideration to these verses if we hope to see this evidence of our life with Christ. Let’s look at the verses 14 and 15; “This is the confidence which we have before Him, that, if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests which we have asked from Him.”

Now let’s break this verse down.  First of all, I want you to notice that we are to pray confidently.  Now confidence is not presumption.  Confidence is not arrogance.  Confidence is not commanding God to do whatever we ask.  If that were so, then we should worship ourselves, rather than worship God.  If He exists to do our bidding, then He isn’t a God, He is a genie, and if we rub Aladdin’s lamp just so, and say the words just the right way, then abracadabra, God is at our service, and we get our wish!

No, that is not the God of the Bible.  But we are told to be confident. We have that confidence because of our relationship to God through Christ who is our Great High Priest.  Consider what 

Hebrews 4:14-16 says, “Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin. Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”

This kind of confidence arises from the knowledge of two fundamental principles of prayer, which John gives us here: the certainty of hearing, and the certainty of having. Notice both of these elements: "If we ask anything according to his will, we know that he hears us." Now also notice that there is a caveat; according to His will.  Perhaps the major reason for most of the unanswered prayers of the world is they are not according to God's will, and therefore they are not heard. John makes it explicitly clear that a prayer that is according to God's will is always heard. Thus he dismisses all those concepts of prayer which imply that prayer is a means of getting God to do our will. Prayer is never that.

In fact, James makes it clear that prayer offered on the wrong terms, according to our will rather than God’s, will not be answered.  Look at James 4:2,3; “You do not have because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures.”  The idea there is that you pray for things based on worldly lusts.  

Jesus said in John 14:14  "If you ask Me anything in My name, I will do it.”  That is the basis for the traditional ending to most of our prayers.  “We ask these things in Jesus’ name, Amen.”  That however, is not what Jesus intended.  To ask in His name is not simply to tack on Jesus’ name at the end of our prayer, but to ask according to Him, according to His nature, His character.  And we know that Jesus was the visible image of the invisible God.  He did everything which the Father was doing.  Jesus said, “I and the Father are one.”  So to ask in His name is to ask according to His will.  It means the same thing.  So when we ask according to His will, John says He hears us.  Or perhaps better, He listens to us. 

Now that is all that John explicitly says about prayer.  That is the only condition he seems to put upon it; that we ask in accordance with God’s will.  But that still leaves a lot of questions unanswered.  The Bible has much to say about prayer.  And if you go through the Old and New Testaments, you will find a lot of principles that apply to effective prayer.  But what John seems to be presuming to be understood, is that this effective prayer he is talking about happens as a result of true fellowship with God.  When you are in fellowship with God, abiding in Him, He abiding in you, His word abiding in you, and you abiding in obedience to His commandments, when all that encompasses true fellowship is in effect, then you will ask according to His will and He will do it.  

Now if you are living outside of His will, then that would mean you are living in sin, wouldn’t it?  If you sin, John says in chapter 1, then you don’t have fellowship with God.  Sin breaks fellowship with God.  As a Christian, sin will not make you lose your salvation, but it will disrupt your fellowship with God.  1John 1:6 “If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.”  So the answer to unconfessed sin is to confess it, and be cleansed of it, so that we can have restored fellowship with God.  But in an unconfessed state of sin, then we can expect not to have our prayers answered.  David said in Psalm 66:18, "If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me.” 

In fact, let me expand on that principle in a positive light.  After years of reading James 5 regarding what James calls “effective prayer”, I finally saw the connection.  James 5:16b, “The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much.”  It finally dawned on me one day that the secret to effective prayer is a “righteous man.”  A man that does not regard iniquity in his heart.  So James says in the same verse, “confess your sins one to another and pray for one another that you may be healed.”  He isn’t talking about being healed from physical illness, but from a spiritual illness.  Sin being an illness that besets the zoe life and disrupts the fellowship we have with God. So confessing our sins makes us whole again, restoring our full fellowship with God.  That whole fellowship is the secret to answered prayer.

Now John is going to give us an illustration that will help to explain this principle of how God answers the prayer of those in fellowship with Him.  And I will admit, that I wish John had come up with a different illustration.  John has a way of making something simple sound confusing.  But nevertheless, it is for our own good to be challenged by this type of illustration.  It forces us to consider scripture in light of scripture.  But I will say that the following verses have been the source of many a debate, and not a few false doctrines.  Now I don’t claim to be smarter than everyone else. But after much pray and consideration I think I know what John is saying here. I guess that God is showing that not many wise, not many noble are called, but God has chosen the foolish things to shame the wise.  So in that vein, let me try to explain John’s illustration.  First let’s read the word; vs.16-17 “If anyone sees his brother committing a sin not leading to death, he shall ask and God will for him give life to those who commit sin not leading to death. There is a sin leading to death; I do not say that he should make request for this. All unrighteousness is sin, and there is a sin not leading to death.”

Now as I alluded to while ago, there have been a lot of interpretations of these verses for centuries among theologians.  And there have also been some false teachings that have arisen out of these verses.  Some have tried to say this teaches that you can lose your salvation, or that you can somehow commit a sin which is not forgivable.  Well, in consideration of time, I cannot address every false teaching here today.  I will say, however, that you cannot lose what you have not acquired.  Christ purchased your salvation, and God granted it to you on the basis of faith in Christ.  It is eternal life that you received by grace.  Not eternal, then whoops, you lost it!  Eternal or better yet, everlasting life is a gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. 

Remember the verse I quoted Jesus saying a few minutes ago? “He who believes on Me will never die.”  There is an overwhelming  preponderance of scripture which we don’t have time to review this morning which support the eternal nature of our new birth, and it would be foolish to suggest a doctrine on the basis of this one passage which might seem on the surface contrary to other scriptures which so clearly teach the perseverance and eternal security of the saints.  

Throughout all of John’s epistle, he has been contrasting the true life of fellowship with that which is not in fellowship.  He has contrasted the walk in the Light, with the walk in darkness.  He has contrasted being born again, with being dead in your sins.  Now in this passage, he is affirming the eternal life that comes in response to our faith.  And he has shown multiple evidences of our faith; such as love, fellowship, keeping the commandments, and answered prayers.  So in that context, the same contrast of spiritual life vs spiritual death is being shown here.  

The life which is in fellowship with God, loves His brother in Christ.  John has emphasized that again and again.  So John says when we that are in fellowship with God see a brother who has sinned a sin not leading unto death, he shall ask and god will for him give life to those who commit sin not leading to death.  First of all then, we know that this is a fellow believer.  He is saved.  He has been born again.  But he has sinned.  However the sin is not unto death.  Now what does that mean? 

Well, Romans 6:23 has the answer.  “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”  So then, God has placed on Jesus the penalty of our sin, and He crucified Christ, putting Him to death for our sin, and transferred the life-giving righteousness of Christ to us, even eternal life. The believer cannot sin unto death, since he has been made spiritually, eternally alive.  So there is a sin for the believer which is not unto spiritual death.  That is the plain and simple meaning.  Christ has already died for their sin.  To punish that sin by death again would be double jeopardy.  And God is not an unjust judge.  

But nevertheless, we know that God’s will is that we do not sin.  And sin breaks our fellowship with God, and it carries with it the consequences of sin which can affect our mortal bodies.  So as a loving brother in Christ, we pray for our sinning brother, that he might be forgiven, and that he might be restored to life, that is restored to the full fellowship with God that we are designed to have.  

Now the interesting thing John is saying is that we can pray for this brother, for their restoration and God will do it.  John is giving this as an illustration of praying according to the will of God.  And if you remember that verse from James I quoted a few minutes ago, you will see that James said virtually the same thing.  He says, “Confess your sins one to another, and pray for one another that you may be healed, (spiritual healing).  The word translated healed also can mean making whole.  He goes on to say in James 5:15,  “and the prayer offered in faith will restore the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up, and if he has committed sins, they will be forgiven him.”  And then James adds, that the effective prayer of a righteous man accomplishes much.  

Now that’s a tremendous principle incorporating loving one another and answered prayer.  And it’s a tremendous example of praying in accordance to the will of God.  God’s desire is that we have fellowship with Him, and that we abide in Him, and He is us, and that we keep His commandments and that we love one another.  And we are able to help one another and express our love for one another as we pray for each other that God will restore our erring brother. 

Understanding that side of the equation then should make it easier to understand the other side of the equation.  And John expresses that as follows; “There is a sin leading to death; I do not say that he should make request for this.”  What is this sin leading to death?  Should we live in fear that somehow we could fall into this sin which plunges us to eternal death, which is unforgivable?  No, not at all.  If the brother who sins a sin not leading to death is saved because he has received the gift of salvation on the basis of faith in Christ’s atonement, then what is the contrast to that?  It’s the one who is not a believer.  The one who has not believed unto salvation is one whose sin leads to death.  He is still dead in his trespasses and sin.  

So if you see this unsaved person leading a sinful life, John is not suggesting that we pray an intercessory prayer for such a person that they might be restored to fellowship.  God will not restore someone to fellowship who has not first been born again spiritually having received eternal life.  We are not told not to pray for their restoration, but obviously we should pray for such a person’s salvation.  We should pray that God will bring them under the conviction of the Holy Spirit.  But we cannot pray for their fellowship, because fellowship must be predicated on a relationship with Jesus Christ as our Savior.

Now John is writing to believers.  He has just said he wants to affirm their faith, so that they may have confidence of eternal life, and confidence of answered prayers as a further evidence that they have fellowship with God.  And so he doesn’t want to end on emphasizing the life of an unbeliever, but the life of a believer.  So John says in vs.17, “All unrighteousness is sin, and there is a sin not leading to death.”  Sin is unfortunately a reality in the life of a believer.  It should become less and less frequent, as we are conformed to the image of Jesus Christ, and as we grow in maturity and faith in the process the Bible calls sanctification.  We learn to mortify the flesh.  We become more like Christ as we draw closer to Him and walk with Him. 

But as John said in chapter 1 vs. 10, “If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar and His word is not in us.”  So sin is going to happen occasionally in the life of a believer.  But it is not a sin unto death.  There is no death Jesus said for a believer.  He has died in our place that we might have life.  But when we sin as Christians, we hurt our fellowship with God, we get a guilty conscience, we hurt our testimony, and we hurt the cause of Christ.  So in 1John 1:9 he gives us the antidote; “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

Well, I hope that you know as John has written, that you have the eternal life which is given on the basis of faith in Christ. If you don’t know you have eternal life, then the invitation to be born again spiritually is extended to you today.  Christ has paid the penalty for your sins.  If you reject Him as your Lord and Savior, then you today are dead in your sins.  You will one day be subjected to eternal death for your decision to reject the truth of God.  But if you confess your sins, He is faithful and just to forgive you and cleanse you from all unrighteousness and give you eternal life.  Simply call on Jesus to save you today.

For those of you that are saved in the audience.  I trust that you have the confidence of your salvation.  I hope that you have the confidence to pray according to the will of God.  And I hope that you will pray for one another, especially those that are struggling in sin, that they might be restored to the life of fellowship we were designed to live.  That their joy and ours might be full.  Let us pray.