Word of Salvation – Vol. 22 No. 18 – January 1976

 

Intercessory Prayer: Its Power And Limitations

 

Sermon by Rev. D.J. van Garderen, Th.Grad. on 1John 5:16-17

Scripture Readings: 1John I (esp. v3). I John 5:13-17

Psalter Hymnal: 206:1,7,8; 94:3,4; 436:1,3; 263:4,5,6; 280:1,2,3 (or 325)

 

Dear congregation,

When John wrote his first letter to those who professed Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour, he was most concerned about the evil influence that Antichrist and the many Antichrists who have come (1John 2:18f) were having in the church.  True believers are under constant attack both from within the church community – they who “went out from us, but were not of us” (2:19) – and those who were outside it.

His concern is the preservation of the saints and their continued spiritual growth and maturity.  He therefore emphasises throughout his letter “that which we have seen and heard (and which) we proclaim also to you” (1John 1:3) namely the true Gospel, and the fact of the true fellowship or communion which believers share with each other and with the triune God.

Take hold of the Gospel…. of the marvellous fact of your salvation!  KNOW what you believe, and KNOW for sure the fact that you ARE in fellowship with God through the cleansing blood of Jesus Christ.

Listen to these concluding words of this letter when John states: “I write this to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, THAT YOU MAY KNOW THAT YOU HAVE ETERNAL LIFE.”  This is the foundation of our assurance, our sure confidence in sharing in eternal life, in building on the fact of our fellowship with God and fellow believers.

Once assured of this divine fellowship, we receive the divine assurance which permits spiritual growth and gives us strength to be able to withstand all the flaming darts of the evil one.

The wonder of fellowship, the divine, gracious assurance and confidence of this, is the God-given armour every believer receives in the battle against Satan and the means of growing in spiritual stature.

Fellowship with God and with His Son Jesus Christ, and fellowship with other believers, the communion of the saints are the truths with which every believer has been robed.

As an example of fellowship that builds up congregational life, we come to the words of our text.  It is as if someone has asked John the question:

“If fellowship is so important, how will it build up church life?  Will it also be effective if, when we see a brother in the church committing a sin, we pray to God asking for that brother’s forgiveness?”

Here is John’s answer:

I.  INTERCESSION FOR THE ERRING BROTHER

Indeed!  “If anyone sees his brother committing what is not a mortal sin, he will ask (pray) and God will give him life……!  You see, the miracle of fellowship with God in Christ Jesus is that we are able to PRAY!

Scripture repeatedly tells that: that the believer is RECONCILED with God, is in a Father-child relationship with Him and is therefore able to make known all our requests to Him.  A believer is able to PRAY….. knowing that through the Mediator, Jesus Christ, and in the power of the Holy Spirit, God HEARS and gives us to know that He ANSWERS.

John has just said:

“And this is the CONFIDENCE which we have in 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 obtained the requests made from Him.” (1John 5:14,15).  And did not Jesus Himself assure us of this when He said:

“Ask, and it will be given you; seek, and you shall find; knock, and it will be opened to you.  For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.” (Matt.6:7,8).

And again:

“Whatever you ask in my name, I will do it, that the Father may be glorified in the Son, if you ask anything in my name I will do it.” (John 14:13,14).

Sure, in the God-given CONFIDENCE of answered prayer…… ‘PRAY for that brother whom we see committing sin!

An unusual and oft forgotten idea, isn’t it?  Our church life, our communion is not really characterised by the idea of building up one another by means of actually praying directly to God for their forgiveness.  We prefer rather to point out to the sinning brother’s wife, or friends, or enemies, what we have seen him do.  It is easier to criticise and to rub a brother’s nose in his own sin rather than to intercede to God on his behalf!  When was it that you prayed to God for the forgiveness of that erring brother?

You see congregation, this example of intercessory prayer which John gives us tends to run so much counter to a lot of modern-day Christian thinking.

We tend to see belief and believers very much as individuals.  We stress the idea that the individual needs to be made aware of his own individual needs and that he himself must pray for his own forgiveness.  The erring brother’s sin is his concern and his personal responsibility before God.  We easily overlook the fact that a congregation is ONE body, that, as Paul says: “If one member suffers, ALL suffer together.” (1Cor.12:26).  We overlook the fact that we are a covenant fellowship which in Christ is ONE.  We prefer to say: “Paddle your own spiritual canoe”.

None of that! says John.  Remember that we have fellowship (communion), that we are bound to one another as well as to Christ!

Moreover, if prayer is “the Christian’s vital breath”, if the Bible gives us every confidence and assurance that God hears and grants us and answers our requests, then PRAY for what you see to be an expression of suffering in the Body of which you are a member!

Prayer of intercession, for the sin of a brother, is an expression of true fellowship, and a means of spiritual growth.

II.  SINS THAT ARE MORTAL AND THOSE THAT ARE NOT

Pray for that brother, and have confidence in the fact that God will give life (the life-restoring miracle of forgiveness) as an answer to your intercession.  God hears and grants that request we make.

But does He always answer such prayers?  Are there circumstances in which He may not?

Although John does not specifically forbid intercession for any and all sins of a brother, he nevertheless draws a boundary between when we may or may not know that God has answered us.

In some cases you may be assured that God grants your request, but in others you may not have this confidence.  Our text arrives at this conclusion by distinguishing between sin.  “There is sin which is mortal” (or, literally, “a sin unto death”) and there is sin which is not.

The confidence of answered prayer on a brother’s behalf is limited only to those sins which are NOT mortal.

Now although ALL wrongdoing is sin, a missing of the mark, a failure to meet God’s perfect demands for our lives, there is a distinction to be found.  But this begs the question: What is a mortal sin (or a sin unto death) and what isn’t?

1.  There is the answer of Roman Catholic theology.  In this system, proceeding to a large degree from this verse, there are two distinct classes or categories of sin, “mortal” and “venial”.  “Mortal” sins are those which a person commits knowingly and obviously.  Think of the so-called “seven deadly sins” such as murder or adultery.  “Venial” sins are the innocent sins and slip ups which are part and parcel of our general “humanness” and for these there is no need for confession and absolution.  There is no “life” for him who is guilty of “mortal” sins unless the Church grants absolution by members going to the confession box.  Unfortunately this distinction has led to the false impression that “venial” sins are not really anything to be unduly worried about.  This overlooks the statement of John, “ALL wrongdoing is sin” and that EVERY sin is transgression against God’s divine will for our lives and thus deserving of eternal punishment.

2.  The majority of Protestant commentators have understandably rejected the Roman Catholic distinction.  Most of them therefore see the “sin unto death” of which John speaks as being the same as the “sin against the Holy Spirit”, the unforgivable sin.  “Mortal sin” then becomes a continued, wilful and deliberate refusal to hear the Gospel being proclaimed.  It is an OPEN AND FULLY CONSCIOUS REJECTION of salvation in Jesus Christ.  However, this seems to overlook the fact that John is speaking about interceding for a BROTHER of the church.  The word “brother” is never used in Scripture for an unbeliever.  John seems rather to be speaking about a sin which occurs within the church community and not about unbelievers which is a completely different thing altogether.

3.  A Dutch commentator (S.Greijdanus in “Korte Verklaring”) suggests that this “sin unto death” may be the same as the Old Testament sin “with a high hand”.  This is described in Numbers 15:30 where we read:

“But the person who does anything with a high hand, whether he is a native or a sojourner, reviles the Lord and shall be cut off from among His people.”

Sin “with a high hand” implies that a person who belongs to the Covenant people knowingly and with disregard for God’s Law, breaks it in word or deed.  His words or actions belie the faith to which he claims to adhere.  Although this may be more correct, it still fails to draw a firm line between sin which is mortal and sin which is not.

Well, after all that are we any further?  Only insofar as it becomes clear that we do not know for sure where the exact boundary lies!  At best all we can say is this:

A sin which is mortal will be very, very obvious to the offending brother, while a sin which is not may not be.

However, this need not detract from the main point which our text makes.  Even if we cannot draw an exact line between the two categories of sin which John makes, there is still a very sound principle which our text proposes.

It calls us to pray for the sinning brother not in terms of, “Dear God, please wake John Brown up to the fact that he is doing the wrong thing”, but instead to intercede by praying “Dear God, please forgive John Brown.”  Such intercession says our text, is heard and the request is answered.  God will forgive your brother if you pray for him, and if God forgives, then we will be able to also!

CONCLUDING REMARKS:

We said in the introduction that John’s concern was with the promotion of Christian growth and maturity.  He saw that FELLOWSHIP was the God-given key which is able to bring this about.

Real fellowship with God, assured by our profession of faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour.  Real fellowship with fellow believers as the means God gave for encouraging, correction and admonishing each other in love.

Now watch it grow as John calls us to intercede for the brother whom we see committing what is not a mortal sin in our church fellowship.  Rather than criticise him, rather than shun him, rather than let a whole series of little things gradually build up and finally explode with an unamendable bang, we proceed to pray for his forgiveness.

We pray knowing that God hears and grants our requests.  If God forgives, so can we!  Rather than let all those small, irritating factors build up to disrupt and unsettle the fellowship in which God has placed us, they are removed by means of answered prayer.

What divine healing that is!

Is it not true congregation, that the things which disrupt, that the arguments and misunderstandings that are so much a part of church life are often caused by things that begin small and gradually pile up?

Is it not a fact that church life suffers most from the less obvious “little” sins which pile up ever higher?  If a brother or sister in the congregation commits what is an obvious sin both to himself and to us, it is clear cut and we know what disciplinary actions love dictates.  It is the small things that smoulder, brew, and eventually cause a holocaust!

John’s answer is amazingly simple, and something to be considered with utmost seriousness in our church life.  You want to be able to stand firm against antichrist, against peddlers of false doctrine, against all the wiles of the evil one?  You want to be able to grow in a true, vibrant and loving church where fellowship with God in Christ and with brothers and sisters in Christ is real?

We all do!

So take heed, apply what this passage of Scripture teaches us: If you see a brother committing a sin, guilty of some form of wrongdoing… then go, intercede for him, ask God to forgive, and KNOW with every confidence that God hears and grants your request.

The body, the church, is thus purified, your brother restored, evil removed, and there is room for spiritual growth and upbuilding.

God forgives…… so can the congregation who is assured that God does indeed hear its prayer!

May we consider this principle, apply it, and as a result grow in grace and love, for the glory of God and the upbuilding of our brothers and sisters in Christ.

Amen.