The Heart Towards Repentance - Luke 15:1-10

Leo’s Barbershop was the home for my first haircuts.  My dad would take my brothers and I to Leo’s on Saturday mornings.  Leo’s Barbershop was owned and operated by Leo, who was a fine gentleman and a wonderfully talented barber.  Leo worked alongside his longtime friend and partner, Hank, who was a fine gentleman and a wonderfully un-talented barber.  My brothers and I would often try to make excuses so we would not have to sit in Hank’s chair.  We would feign politeness in allowing the others to go first because of the fear of the “Hankcut”.  My mother was always able to recognize which one of us had sat in Hank’s chair. No one likes a bad haircut.  It really is an awful experience to receive a tragic haircut.  I still laugh at my good friend, Kurt Heath, response to his bad haircut which he grumbled about to the Facebook world on June 3rd, 2013,

I don't think its hyperbole to say that I just received the worst hair cut...of all time. I don't mean simply in terms of my own personal history. I mean in the history of the world. $16 doesn't get you what it used to...C'mon Super Cuts!!! And let me just add that I've had some very bad haircuts in my day. I once had a wonderful barber with moderate to severe hand tremors--enough to make you nervous. Though he wasn't very adept at dealing with the nuances of my double crown, he always gave sage advice. I can deal with a muffed doo as long as you give me some life wisdom...[1]

If you have ever had a bad haircut, you know how he feels.  Doesn’t it seem somehow acceptable to grumble about a bad haircut? It just feels right.  

            There are certain events in life where grumbling seems to be the most appropriate response: a bad haircut, food poisoning, or an empty box of Krispy Kreme donuts.  How we respond to life’s success and failures reveal a lot about our hearts. Our natural response reveals the truth about our heart.  We should pay close attention to our natural responses so that we can see how far our natural responses are from God’s desired responses for our hearts.  This morning we are going to ask one question in the hopes that our natural response would be revealed so that we can strive to conform our natural response to God’s desired response. The question we must ask and truthfully answer, “How does your heart respond towards repentance?”  How does heart respond to a sinner coming to Christ?

Does your heart respond towards repentance with Grumbling or with Gladness?

Luke 15:1-2,

Now the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to him (Jesus). And the Pharisees and the scribes grumbled, saying, “This man receives sinners and eats with them.”

Tax collectors and sinners were drawing near to Jesus.  Tax collectors were hated by the Jewish people.  They were looked at as traitors because they were working for the oppressive gentile Roman government to collect taxes. The Roman government set a specific rate, but allowed the tax collectors to increase the rate beyond what was needed.  Most tax collectors cheated their own people for their own gain.  They were hated by the people.  Sinners were regarded as living contrary to God’s law and therefore were viewed as forfeiting their relationship with God.[2] The bottom-line was that these were two groups of people were hated by Pharisees and the Scribes. It was clear that no self-respecting Pharisee would ever be seen with “those” people. 

            And to a degree, the Pharisees had a point.  These people were living in ways that God hated.  These tax collectors were extorted money from their own people for their own gain.  Biblicaly these were God’s enemies. 

Proverbs 20:23,

Unequal weights are an abomination to the Lord, and false scales are not good.

Psalm 5:4-6,

For you are not a God who delights in wickedness; evil may not dwell with you. The boastful shall not stand before your eyes; you hate all evildoers. You destroy those who speak lies; the LORD abhors the bloodthirsty and deceitful man.

God does not take sin casually.  The Lord hates all evildoers and abhors the deceitful man. The Pharisees and Scribes rightly understood that “these” people were sinners, but they did not understand they were sinners.  They did not understand their need for God’s grace. They did not understand their need for God’s forgiveness. They did not understand their sin so they grumbled saying, “This man receives sinners and eats with them.” 

            A grumbler always is able to see the sin of others.  Grumblers see how others fall short of the glory of God. They see how others struggle with sin and how others have lived contrary to God’s Word.  A grumbler understands judgment.  They understand condemnation.  Do you grumble when sinners are drawing near to hear the Word of Christ? Are you grumbling over how people act during our service? Are you grumbling over their dress? Are you grumbling in seeing their sins while ignoring your own? 

Self-righteousness leads to grumbling and this grumbling leads you against Jesus Christ. Listen again to this self-righteous grumbling, “This man receives sinners and eats with them” (emphasis added).  Do you see how they are placing themselves against Jesus Christ? “This man, as opposed to us, receives sinners and eats with them.” This was the whole point of the Messiah.  Luke 5:31-32,

And Jesus answered them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.”

Jesus came to call sinners. Therefore Jesus came to call all people to repentance, because there is none righteous, no not one.  Jesus came for those who were far from God that they might be saved.  The Lord says in Isaiah 49:6,

It is too light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to bring back the preserved of Israel; I will make you as a light for the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth.”

The Pharisees did not understand, so they grumbled. 

            Beloved, your grumbling is a dangerous thing for the mission of God.  God came to reach the lost. Listen to Philippians 2:14-15, 

Do all things without grumbling or disputing, that you may be blameless and innocent children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world.

A person who does not grumble shines as a light in the world, but on the other hand a person who grumbles darkens and dulls the gospel proclamation. If this is true for the individual, how much more true is it for the church? If we are a people who do not grumble we shine as a beacon of hope in a crooked and twisted generation, but if are grumblers we dull the gospel to a condemned world.  Grumbling is unacceptable!!

Does your heart respond towards repentance with Grumbling or with Gladness?

 Jesus responds to their grumbling with 3 parables we know the parables are in response to their grumbling because of the purpose word of “so” to begin verse 3. Listen to how Jesus would answer our question this morning and how he would want you to answer it,

So he told them this parable: “What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the open country, and go after the one that is lost, until he finds it? And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost.’ Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance. “Or what woman, having ten silver coins, if she loses one coin, does not light a lamp and sweep the house and seek diligently until she finds it? And when she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin that I had lost.’ Just so, I tell you, there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”

Jesus Christ responds to repentance with gladness.  Jesus shares two different parables to highlight similar themes: Being Lost, Being Pursued, Being Found, Being Glad.

Being Lost

            In order to understand the Christian message, we first have to understand what it means to be lost. The parables picture a lost sheep and a lost coin which both picture a sinner (v. 7; 10). After God made the world, He said it was very good.  His world was perfect and his relationship with man was perfect.  Adam and Eve rejected God’s good word and corrupted his good world with sin. Sin brought separation from God. We were put out of God’s place and were lost in a fallen world. Romans 5:12, “Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned.” The consequence of sin is a physical death followed by eternal death with eternal punishment with unquenchable fire.  This is the reality of everyone without God which is why the Pharisees and Scribes grumbled at Jesus because they knew how God treated those who are lost apart separate from God’s favor.

Being Pursued

            God put us out of His place, the Garden, to be lost wandering in the world.  We were lost, but look at God’s pursuit of the lost.  Verse 4, “What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the open country, and go after the one that is lost, until he finds it(emphasis added)?” And again in verse 8, “Or what woman, having ten silver coins, if she loses one coin, does not light a lamp and sweep the house and seek diligently until she finds it?” (emphasis added).  God pursues his sheep until He finds them.  Isaiah 53:6, “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned –everyone—to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.” Jesus Christ pursued his lost sheep until he found them in the cross. Our iniquity was laid upon Jesus Christ.  He pursued us through His perfect obedience so that He could die a perfect death in our place and to give us His perfect life on the basis of his resurrection from the day.  He pursued us. 

            It is a wonderful thing to be pursued.  During my senior year in High School, I was pursued by a number of colleges to play football.  They sent letters, made phone calls, and brought me to their campuses.  Their pursuit showed me that I was valuable to their program.  How much more does God’s pursuit show us how valuable we are to Him? We walked away from Him. We rejected Him. And yet, He pursued us. We should never feel unloved because God demonstrated his love for us that while we were yet sinners He died for us (Romans 5:8).  

Being Found

            In these two parables, both the coin and the sheep symbolize sinners.  God pursues us until we are found.  How do we know we are found by God? Sinners are found when they repent. Verses 7 and 10 have the same refrain “over one sinner who repents.”  This is how people are found. Repentance is a fundamental change in how we think. We change our mind about who God is in our life and our relation to Him.  We renounce all that we have and submit our lives to His will.  He rightly acknowledge Him as Lord, therefore we change our behavior. Beloved, repentance starts with a proper view of God.  Let us bring people to Jesus before we demand they change their behavior.  When people see Jesus as Lord and Savior, it is only then that they will change.  What is the response to repentance?

Being Glad  

            God loves to save sinners.  Verse 7, “Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.” And verse 10, “Just so, I tell you, there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”  Joy and gladness explode in heaven when sinners turn to God.  This should be our hearts.  If we do not have this joy, then we do not fully understand the gospel.  In repentance, people are transferred from the kingdom of darkness and condemnation, to the kingdom of the Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.  They are moved from being God’s enemies facing His wrath to being adopted as His sons and daughters by His Spirit.  God’s people should rejoice, because this is what has happened to us. Every time we see a sinner repent and turn to God should be a reminder of the gracious pursuit and rescue our God has given us from our sins. 

            Do you see how God wants to share this?  Verse 6, “And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost.” And Verse 9, “And when she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, “Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin that I had lost.’ God says to us, “Rejoice with me. Celebrate Salvation. Clap your hands. Sing for Joy. Rejoice with me.” The Christian life should be a life of celebration. We celebrate salvation again and again and again.  It should never become routine. 

Does your heart respond towards repentance with Grumbling or with Gladness?

            It is clear in the text where in how God wants our hearts to respond. The real question, “is this our response?” I think if we are honest with ourselves, most of us probably fall somewhere in the middle.  We may not grumble, but we also may not rejoice as the angels in heaven rejoice. I think the average Christian lives with more indifference.  We are not against people being saved, but we also do not see the salvation of others with God’s gladness. If truly saw the salvation of others with God’s gladness, we would pursue sinners until they were found by God. Our inaction shows our indifference.  These two parables show us the heart of God towards sinners. He rejoices over the repentance of sinners and looks at us and says, “Rejoice with me.” We can rejoice with Him if we strive to follow after God’s heart for the lost?  Will we light our lamps and sweep the house and search diligently until they are found? Will we make our highest joy the joy of heavenly rejoicing over the repentance of sinners?

            God has given us the opportunity today to realign our hearts with Him in the Lord’s Supper.  The Pharisees and the scribes grumbled, saying, “This man receives sinners and eats with them.” We rejoice today that this man, Jesus Christ, still receives sinners and eats with them.  The Lord’s Supper is an invitation for sinners to commune with God through His Son Jesus Christ.  As we approach the Lord’s Table, we remember how we were lost and how God pursued us.  1 Peter 2:24-25,

He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed. For you were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.

We remember how Jesus’ body was broken with our sins. We remember how we were straying like sheep and have returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of our souls.  We come to this Table proclaiming the Lord’s death on our behalf until his return and we recommit our lives to Him in dying to sin and living for righteousness and for the repentance of sinners. 

As we approach the table, we must examine ourselves.  1 Corinthians 11:28-29, “Let a person examine himself, then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself.” As we prepare the Table, examine your life and if necessary ask for the Lord’s forgiveness.  He delights and rejoices over any sinner who repents

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[1] https://www.facebook.com/kurt.n.heath?fref=ts&ref=br_tf june3, 2013 accessed on 6.28.14

[2] Bock, D. L. (1996). Luke: 9:51–24:53 (Vol. 2). Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic. Commentary 15:1

This is Just Who I Am

“This is just who I am, they are going to just have to learn how to deal with it.”  I have heard that basic sentiment in a number of different ways, by a number of different people.  “I was made sarcastic so people have to learn to deal with my sarcasm.” “It is just my nature to speak my mind. If people do not like it then they do not have to be my friend.” Even Miley Cyrus uses excused her outlandish behavior at a recent awards show when she said on the today show, "This is just who I am" Although many may applaud these statements, they reveal a tremendous flaw in one’s theology. 

We have a sin nature.  We are products of the fall.  We all have different predominant sin struggles inherent with our personality.  It may be anger or anxiety. It could be drunkenness or deception.  Regardless of what sin struggles may denominate our lives the Bible does not allow us to use our struggles as an excuse against sin. 

Romans 8:3b-8, “By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.  For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit.  For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed it cannot. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.”

Jesus came to destroy the works of the flesh by condemning sin in the flesh.  Jesus does not excuse our natural inclinations of sin, but came to pay the penalty for them. His death eliminates our excuse to rest in our flesh. He died so we could overcome our natural desires to sin in being freed to walk according to the Spirit.  When we live according to the Spirit, we live for the glory of God and the good of our neighbor.  When people justify their sinful behavior because it was “how they were made,” they are not living for the glory of God and not seeking the good of their neighbor. 

If your sarcasm offends people, stop using sarcasm. I love to make people laugh and love to joke around with people.  I have had to learn (and am still learning) that my efforts to bring laughter can also hurt the feelings of those I love.  Would it be right for me to say, “I was made with a desire to make people laugh and if people are offended so be it?” Or would it better to say, “I need to learn to control my natural desires so they are led by the Spirit and are used to build up my neighbor and to not tear them down.”

The flesh and the Spirit are in opposition to one another. Paul continues to show this in Romans 8:12-14,

So then, brothers, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.

I am a debtor.  God’s grace has freed me to live by His Spirit.  Are you a debtor to the flesh or the Spirit? Are you resting in the flesh or being renewed by the Spirit?  We have to be thoughtful about our lives for listen again to the grave consequences of those who fall on the wrong side, “if you live according to the flesh you will die.”

When was the last time you said something like, “this is just who I am people are going to have to learn to deal with it?” It is a selfish way of thinking. It is of the flesh. It does not consider God’s Word or the good of our neighbor. 

God never allows us to use our natural desires as an excuse for sin.  Jesus came and put an end to that excuse in condemning sin in the flesh so we could live in righteousness. 

Listen out for the excuses you make in your own heart to sin.  And help those you love by listening to their excuses to sin. And then remind your own heart and the hearts of those you love that Jesus has condemned sin in the flesh so we might no longer walk according to the flesh, but by the Spirit. For to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace.  Look to Jesus.  He died so that you could no longer live by the flesh and to serve yourself. He died so that you could live for Him in righteousness leaning to lay down your natural desires for better ones. 

Don’t make excuses for who you are, but strive to be who you supposed to be in Christ. Follow in John Newton’s steps, (the author of the great hymn of the faith Amazing Grace),

“I am not what I ought to be, I am not what I want to be, I am not what I hope to be in another world; but still I am not what I once used to be, and by the grace of God I am what I am.”[1]

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[1] http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/17247-i-am-not-what-i-ought-to-be-i-am accessed 6.27.14

Keep Yourself From Idols (James 5:18-21)

The Bible is one book with unified themes.  In the beginning of God's people, following the Exodus from Egypt, God gave His people the Ten Commandments to govern their community. He started,

Exodus 20:1-3, “And God spoke all these words, saying, “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. You shall have no other gods before me.” 

The bedrock of God's community is worship.  God wants all of our worship.  He wants to be supreme in our life. He wants us to worship and serve Him, rather than falling before creation.  Sadly, we too often want to elevate created things to the place of the Creator. Romans 1:24-25,

Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshipped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.

The shift is subtle and often undetected.  Anything that supplants God as our supreme object of worship is an idol or a small –g “god.”  In one sense, the entire epistle of 1 John is an attempt to eradicate idols by confronting the schemes of the devil with the truth of the gospel.  There were false teachers among the church who were leading people away from God.  The false teachers were instructing the people of their need for “special knowledge.”  John refuted their claims by teaching the church that they could know God and know they were in God.  John uses the historical events and historical records to prove his case. He wants the church to steer clear of idols so he ends the book with a final exhortation, “Little children, keep yourselves from idols.” We can keep ourselves from idols:

By Knowing the Reality of Sin

            1 John 5:18, “We know everyone who has been born of God does not keep on sinning, but he who was born of God protects him, and the evil one does not touch him.”

John has already made this point several times in this short letter.  A Christian should be marked by his new life in Christ. He should no longer continue to sin, but should live a distinct and set apart life for God. No one who has truly been born of God can continue in sin. 

1 John 3:6, “No one who abides in him keeps on sinning; no one who keeps on sinning has either seen him or known him.

1 John 3:9, “No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God’s seed abides in him, and he cannot keep on sinning because he has been born of God.”

Christians will not be able to remain in sin, because it is against their new nature. If we understand the true nature of our sin, we will be aware of our sin.  Christians whom are aware of their sins can turn from them.  If we are unaware of our sins, odds are we are content to stay in them. If we never ask ourselves the question of how we can live a more holy life or how we can grow in love for God or for His people, we are probably content in our sin. 

            The best way to avoid idols is to love God more than your sin.  All sin is idolatry.  We love something or someone more than God.  John in no way minimizes sin.  “All wrongdoing is sin,” he writes in the previous verse.  We fall into idolitry, if we are lulled into believing that sin is no big deal.  We say things like, “It is only a little lie.” “It doesn’t hurt anyone else.”  “What’s the big deal?” Sin replaces God as your Lord and Savior.  If God says do not get drunk, and you repeatedly get drunk, than drunkenness is an idol that has replaced God. If God says give your tithe to the church, and you cannot give to the church because you had to have a certain size house or car, then your possessions are an idol and have replaced God as supreme.  A true Christian wants to honor Jesus as Lord in every area of their life and when they are confronted with sin, they will agree with God against their sin and against themselves. 

            There is also a great promise in the second half of this verse. Jesus protects Christians when they fall into sin.  John changes the verb form from a past present to an aorist form which indicates a reference to a specific point in history. This would be referencing Jesus Christ being born of God as a man in the incarnation.   John 17:12,

¹² While I was with them, I kept them in your name, which you have given me. I have guarded them, and not one of them has been lost except the son of destruction, that the Scripture might be fulfilled.  

And Jude 24,

²⁴ Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy,

Jesus will never lose one of his children.  Ever. Period.  We still will face evil in this world, but that evil will never be allowed to ultimately harm us. We have no need to fear those who could take our lives and then doing nothing else because we fear Him who after destroying our bodies could throw our soul into hell. We have no need to fear because we have Jesus Christ standing before the Father as our Advocate.  His Righteousness will always intercede for our lack of righteousness (1 John 2:1-2).

By Knowing the Reality of the World        

            We will keep ourselves from idols when we open our eyes to the reality of the world around us.  1 John 5:19,

            We know that we are from God, and the whole world lies in the power of the evil one. We are from God.  We are different than this world.  When we put our faith in Jesus Christ as our Lord, we are transferred from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of the Beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.  We are no longer of this world, but we still live in this world.  And the whole world lies in the power of the evil one.  Consider these verses:

John 12:31, “Now is the judgment of this world; now will the ruler of this world be cast out.

John 14:30, “I will no longer talk much with you, for the ruler of this world is coming. He has no claim on me,

John 16:11, “concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged.

Ephesians 2:2, “in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience—

2 Corinthians 4:3-4, “And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.” 

Galatians 1:3-4, “Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, 4 who gave himself for our sins to deliver us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, 5 to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen.”

Ephesians 5:16, “making the best use of the time, because the days are evil.”
It is clear that this world is evil and ruled by the devil. The first step in overcoming our idols is to understand the reality of our world. It is rough out there. The second step is to look for the schemes or designs of this evil age. Two more Scriptures to consider, 

2 Cor 2:10-11, “Anyone whom you forgive, I also forgive. Indeed, what I have forgiven, if I have forgiven anything, has been for your sake in the presence of Christ, so that we would not be outwitted by Satan; for we are not ignorant of his designs.”

Eph 6:10-11, “Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil.

Satan has designs and schemes in this evil age to drive us to idols. How does he do this? Here are only a small number of examples. 

Education - Whoever controls the schools, rules the world.

One of the greatest dangers is that it limits or attempts to silence the message of the gospel. Schools are trying to silence the Christian message because of its exclusive claims. Listen to how God refers to those who hinder the proclamation of the gospel.

“the Jews, who killed both the Lord Jesus and the prophets, and drove us out, and displease God and oppose all mankind, by hindering us from speaking to the Gentiles that they might be saved—so as always to fill up the measure of their sins. But God’s wrath has come upon them at last! 1 Thess 2:15-16.

And this is not limited to public schools K-12, but our universities are a bastion of anti-Christ doctrine.  We want our children to go to good colleges, but are we taking as much care in researching the spiritual well-being of our child in those “good” colleges.

Misinformation or lack of information - Whoever controls the media, rules the mind. Information is power.  Ignorance or misinformation is one of the greatest dangers of our age, because we make decision based on all the facts.  The media leans against the Lord and does not broadcast news that is against their worldview.  Read the Herald…It is not balanced. It often puts forward a message that is against the Lord Jesus Christ.

Materialism/Consumerism– If we live for our possessions, and do not renounce all we have under the authority of Jesus, we cannot be his disciples (Luke 14).  We cannot serve both God and money. If we fall to consumerism, church is no longer a place to serve others’ needs, but a place to have my needs met.

Freedom – Freedom is a great word and a great concept, but it has been hijacked for evil purposes.  Think of how our society teaches on "freedom" : Sexual Freedom, Reproductive Freedom, etc.  There is no freedom without God. We are slaves to whom we obey (Romans 6).

Authentic Community – The quest for an “authentic community” often leads people only to love people who are like themselves (only love people who are real and vulnerable etc.).  Any idea that pulls you away from loving God’s people is an idol. Do we love the idea of community more than God’s blood-bought community? We must be willing to love all of God’s people and not just those who we want to be around.

Idols are everywhere.  They appeal to the desires of our hearts.  

The problem is that our desires are not strong enough, but too weak. We are satisfied with things that are less than God, Himself. We are satisfied with measly idols and forsake the Creator who is blessed forever. 

By Knowing the Reality of the Son

We can keep ourselves from idols by knowing and loving Jesus Christ more than everything else.  Jesus has given our hearts understanding that we may know Him who is true.  He is the true God and He alone gives eternal life.  If we know the one true God, why would we let our hearts be satisfied with less? Jesus laid down His own life for our sin.  He died to pay the penalty of my lust, my greed, and my anger.  He died to pay the debt of my discontentment, jealous and pride.  And He gives me righteousness, holiness, and love.  He marks us by His name and gives us His place to live with His people in His presence for all eternity. 

1 John was written so our hearts would rejoice in the truth.  Beloved, we know Him who is true, and we are in Him who is true, and in the Son, Jesus Christ.  We know Jesus as our Lord. And that glorious thought should keep our hearts from idols!!! 

Complete Restoration

For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross. (Colossians 1:19-20 ESV)

Beloved,

My best friend’s dad loved to restore old cars. He started with restoring an old Ford Model A. The Ford

last sold the Model A in 1931. It was so exciting to watch the progress of the restoration during my high school years. After being on the road for 60 plus years, the car needed a lot of work as it had been subjected to years of decay. It needed a complete restoration: new tires, new engine, and a new everything. After the full restoration the car was able to function for its original purpose and my best friend drove that Model A to our senior prom.

The Ford Model A was subject to corruption before my best friend’s dad restored it back to its original design. Since the Fall of man, the earth and everything in it has also been subject to corruption. Romans 8:20-21,

For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God.

The earth and everything in it is under the bondage of corruption. Jesus promises to restore not only His people, but also to reconcile to Himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven. The blood of the cross of Jesus Christ brings peace with humanity and with our world. The earth is perishing and needs a complete restoration. The earth needs to be restored to its original state of perfection after years of decay. The shed blood and resurrection of the Lord Christ promises that our world will be fully restored.

Our world is beautiful, and yet, it is under the curse. Just imagine what our world will be like when it is fully restored as far as the curse is found. The promise of restoration is not only for God’s people, but God’s world. Revelation 21:5-6,

And he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” Also he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.”

Jesus Christ brings joy to the world as He makes His blessings flow as far as the curse is found, as far as the curse is found. Jesus Christ is reconciling all things to Himself, whether on earth or in heaven, through the blood of His cross.

Threats to True Discipleship (Luke 14:25-35)

On March 12, 2002 Tom Ridge the head of Department of Homeland Security unveiled the Homeland Security Advisory System. It was developed in response to the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001.

The system was modeled after the forest fire system which consists of 5 color-coded threat levels. The system was designed to inform the public about the probability of a terrorist attack to the United States. The color coded system consists of 5 stages: Green (Low Risk), Blue (General Risk), Yellow (Elevated Risk), Orange (High Risk) and Red (Severe Risk of Terrorist Attack). The system was effective for 9 years until the system was changed in 2011. The New Head of the Department of Homeland Security, Janet Napolitano, introduced the change on January 27, 2011 in a speech given at George Washington University by saying:

Today I announce the end of the old system of color-coded alerts. In its place, we will implement a new system that's built on a clear and simple premise: When a threat develops that could impact you—the public—we will tell you. We will provide whatever information we can so you know how to protect yourselves, your families, and your communities.[1]

The United States government did not want to bother the American people unless there was a serious threat to their lives.

The change reveals a serious flaw in our thinking of potential dangers. The greatest threats are not the ones we are expecting, but the threats that come without notice. In only informing our society of imminent threats, we are lulled into thinking that we are safe from all threats. There are real threats in our culture, but the greatest of these threats are the ones we are not anticipating.

Listen to what Kevin Spacey aptly states in his Academy Award winning role as villain Keyser Soze (Verbal Kint), in the Usual Suspects, when he says, “The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was to convince the world he didn’t exist.” When we ignore the real threats to our faith, we can be easily destroyed by them.

The United States Government informs you of a threat when it could hurt your life; similarly, the Lord Jesus informs you of the imminent threats that could destroy your faith. Jesus lists three threats in this text that could destroy true discipleship. The first threat to true discipleship is the threat of Family.

The Threat of Family
It is important to first see the context of the threats to true discipleship. Jesus has just finished a meal with the Pharisees, rebuking then for not accepting His invitation to the banquet. Now Jesus turns towards the crowds. This passage is not directly speaking to the Pharisees, but to all people who desire to follow Jesus. Luke 14:25:

Now great crowds accompanied him, and he turned and said to them, “If anyone comes to me, and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple.

Before we dig into the specific threat, let’s zoom out and see how Jesus approaches the crowds. Jesus is not concerned with gathering crowds. He is not concerned with filling the pews. Can we learn a lesson from Jesus here? Jesus did not care about the crowds, so neither should we.

In September 2005 issue of Rev magazine, Tim Stevens and Tony Morgan of Granger Community Church in Granger, IN wrote an article which provide a number of ideas for drawing a crowd to their church which included:

• Address specific need, such as marriages, raising families, money, fulfillment, etc.
• Entertain people.
• Make children a priority. Granger is well known for their incredible children’s ministry. Sponge Bob would be jealous.
• Raise the energy level of worship. Turn up the volume.
• Give people hope. Grace, not condemnation. People should leave challenged, but encouraged.
• Offer multiple services regardless of how full your church is.[2]

Notice that none of their ideas involve preaching the Word of God and the gospel of Jesus Christ. We have to resolve in our hearts that we are not going to serve the needs of the crowds, but we are going to reach people the way Jesus reached people; calling people to repentance and faith in the gospel. Jesus did not try to attract the crowd by appealing to their desires, but by appealing to their true need. They needed the gospel; they didn’t need to be entertained. Beloved, our world does not need to be entertained, they need the gospel. What would Jesus think of the modern church’s methods of drawing a crowd? Jesus wants us to reach people. He tells us to go the highways and hedges to reach people two verses earlier in Luke 14:23. We reach people by compelling them with the gospel of Christ and not the allure of the world. 1 John 2: 15-17,

Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.

Beloved, let us reach people, but let us do it God’s way.

Jesus uses very strong language here in verse 26, “If anyone comes to me and does not hate…(his family), he cannot be my disciple.” What does he mean? The idea is not literal, but rhetorical. The call to hate simply means to love less.[3] We see this language in Genesis 29:30b-31,

He (Jacob) loved Rachel more than Leah, and served Laban for another seven years. When the Lord saw that Leah was hated, he opened her womb, but Rachel was barren.

Jacob loved Rachel more than Leah, so Moses described Leah being hated. Jacob did not hate Leah in our

modern sense, but loved her less than Rachel. Jesus is saying that if you do not love your family and even your own life less than Jesus, then you cannot be his disciple. The language is strong, but does not mean we mistreat our family. We are called to love our neighbors, even our closest neighbors, but when we come to Christ, we shift our allegiance from ourselves and our families to Christ. Jesus is the Lord over all.

Remember, for a Jew to become a Christian in the first century, it would have meant abandonment and estrangement from their families. By putting their faith in Christ, they would immediately bring reproach upon themselves. It is hard to understand in our modern southern context, but this is clearly seen in Middle East. When I was in D.C. we were part of a Bible study when our leader and his wife started to read the Bible together with a Muslim woman, Sarai. Sarai, came to faith, and upon putting her faith in Christ, she was kicked out of her home and renounced as a daughter. She made a choice to love Jesus more than her family. This is the calling of all true disciples of Jesus Christ. Our primary allegiance is to Jesus Christ and His Word.

There is a great pressure to please our families. We want to honor them. We want to have them think well of us, but we must never allow the desire to please our families to overtake our desire to please Jesus. Family is a gift from God, but it also is a threat to true discipleship. In a survey done in 2012, 603 women ages 18 years or older who would describe themselves as a Christian and had attended a Christian church service within the last 6 months (excluding holidays) were randomly selected from the 48 continental United States. 

Of those women surveyed, (all professing Christians), 53 % claim their highest priority is their family while only 16% said their highest priority was their faith in Jesus Christ. When asked to define themselves, 63% called themselves a mother or parent first, while only 13% claimed themselves as a follower of Christ[4].

These studies could reveal that most women primarily see their role as a disciple of Christ in their role of a mother, but it also may reveal that family has become an idol. David Kinnamen responds to this survey with a series of questions that would be good to ask ourselves:

Has raising children and doing it well become central to the definition of being a good Christian? What happens to a mom who struggles in her role as a parent or to a woman who wants to but cannot become (or never becomes) a parent? Are these women somehow perceived as less Christian by fellow believers? Could a grace-based theology of faith in Christ be undermined if many Christians embrace a parallel works-based theology when it comes to their parenting[5]?
Regardless of what roles we have within our families, we must heed Jesus’ warning, “if you come to Me and do not love Me more than your family, you cannot be my disciple.” The first threat to true discipleship is the threat of loving family more than Christ. The second threat is that of comfort.

The Threat of Comfort

Jesus continues in verse 27, “Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.” We hear the refrain again, “cannot be my disciple.” Jesus says we must bear our cross. Jesus again speaks to the crowd, not offering them a new ipad for following him, but an object of torture. If you want to come after me, you must bear a public execution to your former way of life. Listen to scholar Darrell Bock,

“Cross-bearing publicly displayed a person’s submission to the state. The criminal rebelled against the state, and so bore the penalty of punishment from it. Cross-bearing was a visible, public affair that visualized a person’s humility before the state. Thus, the fundamental idea is of submitting to the authority of another—in this case God.[6]

Jesus is asking for complete and total submission. He is asking for his disciples to walk the way of the cross. The Christian life is not one of ease or comfort, but it is a call to die.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer was a German pastor/theologian who on April 5th, 1943 was arrested for an assassination plot against Adolf Hitler. Bonhoeffer was safe in America when the war began, but returned to Germany to serve his countrymen. In a letter to Reinhold Niebuhr, Bonhoeffer wrote the, “finest logic of Christian martyrdom. I shall have no right to participate in the reconstruction of Christian life in Germany after the war if I do not share the trials of this time with my people.” 

Bonhoeffer lived out what he preached, “When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die.” And die Bonhoeffer did. He was executed on April 9th, 1945 only a few days before the Allies liberated his concentration camp. When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die. Die to your comfort. Die to your desires. Die to your way of life. God calls you to walk the road of the cross. This is the road that our Savior walked.

Jesus is calling us to submit to His authority whatever comes our way. 1 Peter 2:20-23,

But if when you do good and suffer for it you endure, this is a gracious thing in the sight of God. For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps. He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth. When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly. He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.

Bonhoeffer knew that he was not called to walk any other way, but the way of his master. Jesus did nothing wrong and yet he died in the place of sinners. His bore our sins in His body. And in His death, he purchased our life. We are no longer our own, but belong completely and fully to Christ. We have no rights, but to joyfully and willfully submit to the Word of our Master.

Do we want temporal comfort more than Christ? Do we want temporal pleasures more than eternal glory? Are we willing to walk the road of earthly suffering so we can experience heavenly joy? God has not promised us worldly comfort, but rather worldly strife. This destroys our seeker-sensitive, consumer-driven, crowd-gathering church culture. The call to Christ is not a call to your own way and your own desires, but it is a call to lay down your comforts for the sake of others. Suffering forces us to grow. Suffering and bearing with people forces us to grow in holiness, in love and in patience. Comfort leads to complacency. Our comfort hinders our growth. The entire Christian life is a life of growing into Christ-likeness, therefore we should not desire a comfort which stagnates our growth. We should challenge our comfort so we can grow into Him who is the head. It has been often said that the role of a preacher, “is to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable.” Do not seek after comfort, for it is a threat to true discipleship. Heed the warning of Jesus, “Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.” The last threat to true discipleship that Jesus highlights is the threat of possessions.

The Threat of Possessions

Jesus illustrates this point with two parables before offering the application. Luke 14:28-33,

For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it? Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish.’ Or what king, going out to encounter another king in war, will not sit down first and deliberate whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand? And if not, while the other is yet a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace. So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple.
Both of these parables express the idea of counting the costs before making a decision. The first parable references those who begin to build to make sure that they have enough to complete the building. For if they

do not finish the building they will be mocked by those who pass by the structure. Westminster Abbey is one of the most famous and beautiful churches in all of England. Surprisingly, the mother church for all Catholicism in the country is not held by Westminster Abbey, but the Westminster Cathedral which began construction in 1895 and has still not been completed because the interior work was too expensive. Before you start, you should have a plan to finish. As it is with your relationship with Christ, consider if you are really willing to give up all before you come to him. He would rather have you cold towards him, then to be lukewarm in your devotion. Following Jesus is not a casual decision, but one that deserves serious contemplation.

In the second parable, Jesus points out another situation where a king would first consider his forces and the possibility of victory before entering into war against a stronger opponent. Jesus sums up the parable in the first three words, “Or what king?” It is clear from the parable that there would be no king foolish enough to engage in war without first seriously deliberating over the possible outcome. In verse 33, Jesus drives his point home to the crowd, “So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple.” Do you see how Jesus is asking people to think about the true cost of discipleship? He does not want half-hearted, band-wagon followers. He wants people who are willing to give up all they have!! Jesus is expecting you to renounce all that you have… so what do you have? What do you possess: Money, houses, clothing, friends, vocations, reputations, status, hobbies, even your life? When you come to Jesus Christ, he expects you to renounce it all. All your possessions are now to be used for God’s glory and God’s mission to make disciples of the nations.

And although it seems like God is asking you to give up a lot (“all that he has”), he offers so much more. You renounce temporal, fleeting pleasures, and receive eternal life with eternal pleasures at his right hand forevermore. You renounce your home that will rust, spoil, and fade, but receive a heavenly home that is unblemished, undefiled and unfading. And Jesus is not asking you to give up any more than He has already given up. He stepped out of eternal glory to take the form of servant to die and be forsaken by His Father…for you. In response to that kind of love, count the costs of coming to Christ, and the choice will be easy. He offers you His “forever,” but you have to give up your “present.”

In 1519, Hernan Cortes arrived with 600 men on the shores of America. Cortes came at the behest of the Spanish King to defeat the Aztec and bring their treasure back to Spain. After arriving on shore, Cortes intentionally sank all of their ships, but one ship which was left for their war plunder. Before sinking the ships, they removed all necessary materials for housing and for war. These 600 men where left in a strange land with no opportunity to escape. They had one option: victory or death. Cortes wrote later that his men, “had nothing to rely on, apart from his own hands, and the assurance that they would conquer and win the land, or die in the attempt. We’re all in and there’s no turning back.”[7] Cortes modeled for us the level of commitment that Jesus is expecting from us. The only difference is Jesus wants you to destroy the last ship as well. For if, “any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple.”

Jesus concludes his warning to the crowd in verse 34-35,

Salt is good, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is of no use either for the soil or for the manure pile. It is thrown away. He who has ears to hear, let him hear.
Salt had a purpose to preserve and to give flavor for food. If salt no longer could serve its purpose, it was thrown away for it was of no use. Every person is created in the image of God and has a purpose. Every person was created to give God glory (Col 1:16). Jesus wants us to live for his glory, but if we love family more than faith, comfort more than the cross, possessions more than praise, then we cannot be his disciples and will one day be thrown away.

Jesus does not want half-hearted followers. He does not want lukewarm Christians. He wants your all. He deserves your all for He gave His all for you. He who has ears to hear, let him hear.

---

[1] Ryan, Jason; Thomas, Pierre (January 27, 2011). "Color Coded Terror Alerts Retired by Department of Homeland Security". ABC News (ABC News Internet Ventures).

[2] http://pastorhistorian.com/2007/10/15/the-authority-of-the-king-jesus-and-discipleship-exposition-of-matthew-818-22/ accessed on 6.19.14

[3] Bock, D. L. (1996). Luke: 9:51–24:53 (Vol. 2). Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic. P.1284

[4] https://www.barna.org/culture-articles/585-christian-women-today-part-2-of-4-a-look-at-womens-lifestyles-priorities-and-time-commitments/#infographic accessed on 6.19.14

[5] https://www.barna.org/culture-articles/585-christian-women-today-part-2-of-4-a-look-at-womens-lifestyles-priorities-and-time-commitments/#infographic accessed on 6.19.14

[6]^[6] Bock, D. L. (1994). Luke Volume 1: 1:1–9:50. Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament (p. 853). Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic.

[7] http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.2307/335707?uid=3739896&uid=2&uid=4&uid=3739256&sid=21104189093947 accessed on 6.21.14

Thoughtful Church Member

I believe people should regularly gather with God’s people in a local church.

Hebrews 10:25, “not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.”

I think this verse has often been used as a guilt trip to encourage people to go to church. We should be convicted if we are not regularly gathering with God’s people, because neglecting to meet shows a lack of love and thoughtfulness towards our neighbors. When we encourage our brothers and sisters to attend our gatherings with Hebrews 10:25, can we make sure we all preface verse 25 with verse 24? See them together,

And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.
The author starts with the exhortation not to neglect to meet together by first starting with the motivation. The motivation to gather should never spring from guilt, but love. The author of Hebrews begins through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, “Let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works.” We have to think about others. We think about their lives, their hurts, their challenges and their sin. And we consider their lives so that we will know how to stir them up to love and good works. We cannot love people well if we do not know them. And we will never know people well if we neglect meeting together.

Those of you who regular miss your church’s gatherings, have you ever thought that not how your lack of attendance may reveal your lack of love or at least your lack of thinking how to love others? God wants you to gather with His people, not only for your own good, but also so you can be a blessing to others.

Simply put, be a thoughtful churchgoer. Do not neglect to meet with your local church and as you meet consider how you can better love the people God has joined together through the blood of his Son.

Confident Faith - 1 John 5:13-17

            Doubt is to have no confidence in someone or in something. When someone is consistently late, but they give you assurance that they will be on time it would be natural to doubt or have no confidence that they would arrive on time.  We can be conditioned to doubt by our environment or by our previous experience.  I regularly meet people who have little to no confidence in the church because of their previous experiences at church.  It is hard for people to continue to have confidence in others when they have been let down.  Doubt leads to cynicism.  

            As someone who has worked within impoverished communities, I have developed a good dose of cynicism. I have heard a lot of lies and seen a lot of people fail to change.  So now, when someone comes to me wanting help I have to fight off my doubts. I have to fight my own heart which lacks confidence in people’s ability to change.  I have been conditioned by my own experiences to lack confidence in people’s words.  My previous experiences shape how I am currently viewing the world.  And if I am not careful, my doubts will start to cloud not only my confidence in people, but in God. God does not want us to doubt Him, but to have confident assurance that we have eternal life. 

1 John 5:12, “Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.”

Confident Assurance

Can we ever be sure that we have the Son?  Can we ever be confident that we have eternal life?  According to the Apostle John that is the point of this entire epistle. 

1 John 5:13, “I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God that you may know that you have eternal life.” 

Some scholars believe that the “these things” only refer to the beginning of chapter 5, but it is more accurate to see “these things” as a reference to the entire letter. 

John mentions “eternal life” six different times in this letter (1:2, 2:25, 3:15, 5:11, 5:13, 5:20)

He mentions “Son of God” eight different times (3:8, 4:15, 5:5, 5:6, 5:10, 5:12, 5:13, 5:20).

He mentions “believe” five different times (3:23, 4:1, 4:16, 5:10, 5:13).

And he mentions “know” twenty-nine different times throughout this letter. So out of the one hundred and five total verses in this epistle twenty-nine of them contain a form of the verb “know.” Twenty-eight percent of this epistle teaches us things we can know. 

It is clear that “these things” refer to the entire letter.  This letter was written so we can believe that Jesus is the Son of God and to know that we have eternal life in Him. 

Repetition is the mother of learning so by the mere repetition John wants us to know that we have eternal life.  The question is “Who are the ‘we’ that has eternal life?”  The “we” are those who believe in the name of the Son of God and love one another in the fellowship. John was writing against the heretics that left the fellowship who were teaching that people needed special knowledge from within to be saved.  The letter was written to encourage those who remained in the fellowship that they had eternal life.  John would give no confident assurance to those who were outside of the fellowship. 

I find it extremely interesting that many people who are extremely confident that they are in the faith have no connection to a local church.  What are they basing their confidence on?  I presume that most are basing their confidence that they have eternal life on a decision that they made once in their life to accept Jesus into their heart.  Unfortunately, that is a false confidence.  True confidence is built (biblically) on your connection to a church body where you are living out your faith in fellowship with other believers.  Church membership does not save you, but it is one of the ways the Lord gives us to be assured that we are in the faith.  

Confident Appeal

            John reminds the people that they are the true believers who have remained faithful to their confession and to each other and therefore, likewise they are not like those who claimed to have true faith only to walk away from the body.  He then reminds them of the great confidence we have in prayer. 

1 John 5:14, “And this is the confidence that we have toward 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 that we have asked of him.”

This is a great verse for the believer.  God hears our prayers.  But does God hear all our prayers? If we read this casually, we could believe that God promises to give us whatever we ask.  Listen to verse 15, “And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him.”  Based on this verse would it be accurate for me to say that if I pray to win the lottery God promises to give me that request?  What about if I pray that God would heal me of my sickness?  Can I “claim” healing based on this verse? 

Context is king in interpreting the Scripture.  What is the condition of the Lord hearing our prayers? 1 John 5:14, “And this is the confidence we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us” (emphasis added).  God does not answer our prayers just because we trust that He will answer them.  John Stott says,

Prayer is not a convenient device for imposing our will upon God, or for bending his will to ours, but the prescribed way of subordinating our will to his. It is by prayer that we seek God’s will, embrace it and align ourselves with it. Every true prayer is a variation of the theme “your will be done.”[1]

God gives us prayer to conform our wills to His will; our desires to His desires.  There are many experiences I have had where I struggled before I went to the Lord in prayer, but upon praying my burdens were lifted and my heart was changed. Prayer reminds me that God is good and that He loves me and wants what is best for me.  His will for me is what I want my will for me to be.  And this happens in prayer. 

So how do we pray according to God’s will? First, we learn what God’s will is from the Scripture.  We can pray the Scripture. After preaching I often pray that God would apply the message of the Bible to our hearts.  For example, after studying this text, I will ask God to give us a confident assurance that we have eternal life and that we trust we can make confident appeals according to God’s will.  I am praying the message of the Bible for me and for us all.  In your own quiet times as you finish take a few moments to confidently appeal to God to apply the promises of the Word to your life. 

Romans 12:1-2, “I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.”

God can also communicate to us through other means, but we cannot be 100% certain what God’s will is in every situation.  Preachers that claim guarantees to know God’s will outside of Scriptures are lying.  If we fill our minds with the things of God, we are able to discern what the will of God is.  God is free to communicate to us any way He sees fit, but our only 100% guarantee comes from the Word.

Confident Atonement

            John gives us one specific way we can pray God’s will; by praying for our brothers and sisters in Christ. 

1 John 5:16-17, “If anyone sees his brother committing a sin not leading to death, he shall ask, and God will give him life—to those who commit sins that do not lead to death. There is a sin that leads to death; I do not say that one should pray for that. All wrongdoing is sin, but there is a sin that does not lead to death.”

The life that God gives always comes through Jesus Christ.  Jesus Christ atoned for our sins by giving Himself as our ransom.  He purchased us with His blood so that we could experience life.  Those who are in Christ are covered with the blood of Christ. 

1 John 2:1-2, “My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.”

It is God’s will that we pray for our brothers and sisters struggling with sin. We do not talk about them or malign them, but we pray for them.  We appeal to God on their behalf and the Lord will give them life.  John has spoken often about those who continue in sin not being born of God, so it is vital that those who are identified with the community must fight to put sin to death in their life. 

It is important to remember that victory over sin is a community project.  Our sin affects other people. We must fight to overcome our sin and help others overcome their sin.  So if we see a brother committing sin, we pray for them.  A prayerful approach to our brothers and sisters fights against the judgmental “sin policing” that the church is so often known for.  We should never trivialize sin, but we also do not have to point out everyone’s sin.  We simply can confidently appeal to the Father through Christ that He would convict them of sin and turn them to Christ.  Jesus says in Matthew 18 that if someone sins against us we go to them, but here John is saying that if we see sin in our community we go to God in prayer.  And by praying, our hearts will be turned to treat our brother according to God’s will; forgiving them as God has forgiven us. 

John does not explicitly explain the difference between a “sin not leading to death” and a “sin that leads to death.” We can assume that the original hearers would have known clearly what he was referring to so he did not need to add commentary. We have to do a little digging to understand what he means.  There are three possible options:

1.)    A Specific Deadly Sin – John could be refereeing to “mortal sins” such as murder, injustice, idolatry, apostasy, adultery, and/or fornication. The Old Testament does distinguished between deliberate vs. unintentional sins.

2.)    Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit – Jesus told the Pharisees that the rejection of the Holy Spirit would be unforgiven.  John could be referring not to pray for people who have hardened their heart to a point that they have little hope of ever repenting and turning to Christ.

3.)    Total Rejection of the Gospel – John is probably referring to those who have walked away from the gospel and totally turned away from Jesus Christ and the church.  The sin that leads to death does not mention the person as a brother, implying that they have rejected the gospel. This view makes the most sense in light of the content of the epistle and the context surrounding the reason the epistle was written. [2]

John is not soft on sin, but Christians who commit sin will be forgiven on account of Jesus Christ the Righteous. He is our advocate who stands forever before the Father interceding for His own. He will not lose one of us that has been given to Him by the Father. Those who have totally rejected the gospel and walked away from Jesus have no assurance they will be saved.  John encourages us to focus on those who remain in the church community.   

Beloved, we should have much more confidence in God’s Word because we have seen God successfully keeps his promises again and again and again.

Romans 3:4, “Let God be true though everyone were a liar, as it is written, “That you may be justified in your words, and prevail when you are judged.”

God’s Word is true and can be trusted.  Let us have Confident Assurance that we have eternal life; Confident Appeals, for our God hears us as we pray according to His Will; and Confident Atonement, knowing that we have been purchased through the blood of Jesus Christ who lives to intercede for us before the Father forever. 

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[1] Akin, Danny. The New American Commentary:1, 2, 3 John. P.206

[2] Adapted from [2] Akin, Danny. The New American Commentary:1, 2, 3 John.