Walking with confidence
Pastor’s Corner
John Wesley, once said, “When I was young I was sure of everything. But after a few years, having been mistaken a thousand times, I was not half as sure of most things as I was before. And at present, I am hardly sure of anything except what God has revealed to me.”
I think that most of us can relate with that. We live in a world of uncertainty filled with unclear messages. But, the undisputed champion of muddled messages is Hall of Fame-er and former manager of the New York Yankees, Yogi Berra. Here’s just a few of his better know ‘yogi-isms’:
- Baseball is 90% mental, the other half is physical.
- Nobody goes there anymore; it’s too crowded.
- You gotta be careful if you don’t know where you’re going, because you might not get there.
- You should always go to other people’s funerals; otherwise they won’t come to yours.
- When you come to a fork in the road, take it!
Now this whole ‘sin that leads to death’ and ‘sin that doesn’t lead to death’ matter is confusing. I wish he’d given us a list of which sins are mortal and which ones aren’t so we don’t have to guess! So, is the bible talking about physical or spiritual death? We’ve seen sins that lead to physical death. (Ananias and Sapphira). There can also be sins that lead to spiritual death. (Rejection of Christ or blasphemy of the Holy Spirit). So, John gives a promise and then a qualification. The promise: If we pray for a person who’s not committing a sin unto death, God will give life to him. John doesn’t say, “If anyone sees his brother sinning, go tell the pastor so he can deal with it.” Nor does he say, “If anyone sees his brother sinning, call up all of your friends and tell them about it so that they can pray.” That’s a thin spiritual cover for gossip. Nor does he say, “If anyone sees his brother sinning, he should shake his head in disgust and ask, ‘How could he do such a thing?’” That’s called “judging your brother.” The Christian attitude is intercession, not condemnation! If you’re going to talk about other Christians, then do it on your knees! Rather, he says that if you see a brother in sin, pray for God to give life to him. We’re all responsible for our own sins, but only God can truly deliver us from sin, because only God can impart life. So we’re dependent on God to deliver, but at the same time; the sinning brother is responsible to turn from his sin and take the necessary steps not to fall into it again. Also, before we speak to a brother about his sin, we need to speak to God about the brother.
We have to remember to take all of this in context. The whole book of 1 John deals with tests of life, tests designed to give assurance of salvation to believers and to expose those who really aren’t believers. The fact that one is and another isn’t a believer isn’t always obvious, but remaining in the truth is a test that will reflect the validity of that person’s profession of faith. Earlier in this book John wrote: “Whoever has the Son has life; whoever doesn’t have the Son of God doesn’t have life.” That’s critical in understanding what John means by the “sin that leads to death.” John teaches that life comes by union with the Son, likewise he teaches that death comes by lack of union with the Son. So: Union with Christ = Forgiveness and Life; Lack of union with Christ= Condemnation and death.
But even if we can’t understand these difficult verses, we should pray for God to bring sinners to repentance and salvation and leave the results to Him. He alone has the power to deliver from sin. Now, a word of caution; actually the article “a” shouldn’t be in this verse, it’s misleading. It gives the idea that John is talking about a specific act of sin. A better translation would be: “there’s sin leading to or leaning toward death, there’s sin moving in the direction of death.” There’s a condition of heart and soul and spirit than can result in death. He’s not necessarily talking about a specific act of sin, but a condition of the heart; an attitude, a spirit that leads toward death.The main theme here in these verses in 1 John is that “true” believers don’t practice sin. Although there may be occasional sins, the believer’s life won’t be characterized by sin as a lifestyle. The New Testament teaches that those who are immoral, covetous, idolatrous, revilers, drunkards, and swindlers won’t inherit the kingdom; their works are of the flesh. Continual and habitual pursuit of such activities is inconsistent with a believer’s life in Christ. An isolated act doesn’t necessarily deny one an inheritance in the kingdom of God, but the constant practice of such things does.
The entire bible is the story of God building a family who will love Him, Honor Him, and reign with Him forever. When we place our faith in Jesus, God becomes our Father, we become His children, other believers become our brothers and sisters, and the church becomes our spiritual family. Christians aren’t just called to believe, we’re also called to belong. Every human being was created by God, but not everyone is a child of God. That’s a special position held only by believers. The only way to get into God’s family is by being born again into it; which is signified in your baptism. You became a part of your human family by your first birth; you become a part of God’s family by your second birth.
So, let me try and put all this together for you. John appears to have in mind an unsaved man who professes to be a believer, but who is actually in need of salvation. On the one hand, John refers to a man who’s sinning but isn’t doing so to the point of the impossibility of being granted eternal life; he hasn’t yet come to the place where the possibility of divine forgiveness has been revoked. On the other hand, the apostle states that if a man does sin to such an extent that repentance and forgiveness is impossible, it would lead to death.
Experience has illustrated the power of God to regenerate the most reprobate of sinners, and therefore the believer should be careful not to judge that status of another too quickly. But, John adds that the habitual practice of sin does indicate the spiritual state of a man; while the believer is to pray for this sinning brother until God reveals otherwise. A Christian who continues to sin when he’s been warned by God, is playing with fire! Don’t pretend to be what you’re not. Don’t presume on the mercy of God; because the bible teaches there comes a time when God says, that’s enough, that’s enough and God will end it.