Pray Confidently For Those Who’ve Strayed (1 John 5:13-17)
I was in a seminary class that was over the history of the Southern Baptist Convention when I learned of the more personal nature of Baptist churches many years ago. It was an interesting class, and it began with Baptists in England, their coming to America, and moved through the creation of the Southern Baptist Convention all the way up to today. In Baptist churches in early America they didn’t really have business meetings like we have today. They had membership meetings. At these membership meetings, the members would state concerns for those people who had not been at church in a while or discuss how they would deal with sin amid their congregation.
Now, I don’t think dealing with every sin publicly is the appropriate way to do things. But they were concerned about the right things. Now, rather than discuss righteousness and godliness we discuss church business. I’m not saying that business meetings are unimportant, but I am saying that the godliness and righteousness of a congregation is of far greater importance than most anything else we can discuss in this world. And apparently being a member of a Baptist church was so terrifying that most people wouldn’t officially join. As a general rule, attendance was usually double the membership for fear of being called out for sin and held accountable.
So, what’s my point?
As Christians we should be greatly concerned for those who profess faith in Christ that do not live as if they are Christians anymore. We should have great concern for those who were formerly called backslidden. And here we find that we should be people who pray confidently for those who have strayed.
Have confidence before God in prayer, especially as we pray for those who have strayed.
Have Confidence Before God (1 John 5:13-15)
This verse is John’s purpose statement. It is the reason for writing this letter. He wanted the people in these congregations to know that they have eternal life (1 John 5:13). It is helpful if we compare this with the purpose statement for the Gospel of John.
Here is the purpose for the writing of the Gospel of John. Notice why John chose to write down the things that he wrote in the Gospel of John.
“Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.” (John 20:30-31 ESV)
In the Gospel of John, John wrote what he did so that people would believe in Jesus. The Gospel of John was very evangelistic in its message and that was the purpose for the book.
Now, take a look at the purpose statement of 1 John and note the difference. You will likely find this exercise very instructive.
“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.” (1 John 5:13 ESV)
John was writing to believers. He was writing to those who remained in the body of Christ, who continued to believe rightly about who Jesus was to encourage them in the faith. As John Stott put it,
“The Gospel was written for unbelievers, that they might read the testimony of God to His Son, believe in Him to whom the testimony pointed, and thus receive life through faith. This letter, on the other hand, was written for believers. John’s desire for them is not that they may believe and receive, but that having believed, they may now that they have received, and therefore continue to have (present), eternal life….Putting together the purposes of the Gospel and letter, John’s purpose is in four stages, namely that his readers may hear, hearing may believe, believing may live, and living may know.”—John Stott, The Letters of John, p. 184
In other words, when we look at the two purpose statements and think about why John is writing as He is here so that we who have trusted in Christ will know that we have eternal life. This is about assurance of our salvation.
We find the message of what Christ has done within both writings. We see in them that we rebelled against God and that God the Son took on human flesh and dwelt among us. He lived a perfect life on our behalf and died on the cross when He paid the punishment for our sins. We also see that He rose from the grave three days later having conquered the power of sin and death and accomplished for all those who would ever believe the declaration of righteousness from the throne of God. The Gospel of John pushes us to make that decision, to see and believe in the Gospel of John who Jesus is and what He did for us. In 1 John, he is encouraging us and helping us to have an assurance of our salvation.
This assurance does not just give us good feelings within ourselves. This assurance gives us confidence in prayer (1 John 5:14). And what is the confidence that we have before God? It is boldness and a trust that God hears us favorably.
Used in this way, “to hear” means “to hear favorably”. That is to say that God listens intently to our prayers and is inclined in a kind way toward us and favorably toward our requests. It is like when my kids ask me for things. I love them and want to give them everything they ask for. Sometimes I can’t. And sometimes getting something for them would be bad for them, so I don’t. But I love them. I care about them. And I want to give them what is best for them. I hear their requests.
In 1 John 3:21-22 he said much the same thing.
“Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God; and whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do what pleases Him.” (1 John 3:21-22 ESV)
We noted there that the person who has assurance of their salvation can go boldly to the throne and make their requests known to God confidently. We are His children. And as those people who are in fellowship with God, we know that God’s ear is inclined to us. He hears our prayers, and much like when our kids ask us for things He wants to answer our prayers. Another way of saying this is simply that God looks favorably upon His children.
I Howard Marshall pointed out in his commentary over this text that,
“It is as we freely yield ourselves to God that He is able to accomplish His will through us and our prayers. In a very real sense, therefore, the accomplishment of God’s will in the world does depend on our prayers. Through prayer we make ourselves instruments of God’s will, and at the same time, in a manner that lies beyond human comprehension, He is able to act powerfully to answer our payers. When we learn to want what God wants, we have the joy of receiving His answer to our petitions.”—I. Howard Marshall, The Epistles of John, pp. 244-255.
And so, we proceed with real confidence that God hears us and will answer our prayers (1 John 5:15). This is the confidence that we have as believers.
I have personally had more “no’s” in response to my prayers than I would like to count. I sometimes struggle in this area because of that, but that is not the response of faith to God in prayer. I want to think and first look for exceptions to what John says here, but that is not how I am supposed to pray. I am supposed to pray confidently and boldly. I am to pray confidently, knowing that God hears me favorably and answers my prayer.
Years ago, now I was in a van riding with a student. I was in the middle of dropping everyone off after church on a Wednesday Night. A student came to me and wanted to talk. His Dad had left his family a few years earlier and he just wanted me to pray for his family. His Mom was struggling to make ends meet and it looked like they were not going to be able to pay the rent. So, I told him that I would pray for him. I also went to my pastor. He was able to talk with the person who rented the property, somehow he knew that the owner of the property was a church member. And he also was able to get money from our benevolence fund to pay for the month’s utilities. Man, I felt good about things. But God was not finished. I did pray, as I told him that I would. And I felt that God had answered prayers through the work of the church in that situation. But God was going to do more.
The student approached me after church the next week and told me that his Dad, the one who left, suddenly began paying his child support. He had not paid a bit of it over the 2 or 3 years he was gone and now he was paying it with back pay. The family was now going to be able to breathe a little with no bills for the month and more money coming in.
Here is the embarrassing part of the story. I was in complete shock. I could not believe that all this had happened. But why was I shocked? I was shocked because I was not looking upon God at that moment in time as having a favorable ear toward my requests.
Those who John wrote to probably lacked confidence before God and in prayer. I can only imagine the kind of turmoil that dwelt in these churches after people left to follow Cerinthus. It must have been rough. But John wants them to have confidence in prayer and helps them to understand that their assurance of salvation should lead them to confidence before God.
The reason we can have confidence before God is that we are part of God’s family. Through the work of Christ we have been brought into the light. We are now part of that glorious and eternal fellowship that John spoke about all the way back in chapter 1. If we have the confidence in our salvation that John has been moving us toward then we should have confidence in our prayers. This means that we can pray knowing that God hears us and He hears us favorably.
Fathers, are you praying with your family? Are you teaching your family that God hears the prayers of His people favorably? Mothers, what about you? The best way for your children to learn that you believe in the power of prayer is for you to be praying yourself.
And don’t be embarrassed by answered prayer. Share that information with others. Let others know how God has answered your prayers. It may seem and feel strange for you to do, but letting others know about those answers to prayer is a good thing and it builds up the courage of others.
We are a praying church and that is a wonderful thing. Continue to do so and grow in confidence and boldness before the Lord. God hears our prayers favorably because we are His.
Confidently Pray For Those Who Have Strayed (1 John 5:16-17)
I have occasionally been asked about praying according to God’s will. What things can we pray for that are according to God’s will. Look. Here’s one. John tells us one right here in verse 16.
“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 sin that leads to death; I do not say that one should pray for that.” (1 John 5:16 ESV)
John is telling us something that should most definitely be part of our prayer lists. We should be praying for those Christians who have strayed. And that is a prayer that God will answer, John says here, “and God will give him life”.
When did we become so corporate minded that we don’t pray for our straying brothers and sisters?
When did we start thinking it was uncouth to pray for those people who have not been to church in a few years?
This is one thing that we know God wants us to pray for and it is accompanied by a promise to bless and answer the prayer that goes up for the true believer. Notice what is going on here. John is saying that God will bring those who are truly His people back to Himself if you will pray for them.
John does emphasize the fact that it is the prayer for the Christian that God will answer. He makes a special effort to state that this does not concern those who commit sins that lead to death. And then he says, “there is a sin that leads to death; I do not say that one should pray for that.” (1 John 5:16 ESV)
So, what is this sin leading to death and what is the difference between those who have committed this sin and those who are true believers that have strayed. The sin leading to death is the sin of the heretics. They have believed and taught a false Jesus, a false God, and a false Gospel. It is something that we see all around us today. Rare is the person who is interested in what Jesus said about sin, righteousness, and judgment. Rare is the person who cares about a holy and righteous God, and rare is the person who believes and trusts in the finished work of Christ. The true believer who has strayed has temporarily fallen into sin. And that is different than what was happening with the heretics. There is an objective moral standard, “all wrongdoing is sin” (1 John 5:17 ESV). But not every sin is the same. Nor is every circumstance of someone falling away.
I have met and talked with a lot of people who have fallen away from the faith. Some are violent and do not believe any longer what the Apostles taught about who Jesus was. And I have met a lot of people who were once faithful to go to church, fell away, and returned again when they were a little older. And there is a difference between the two groups.
Do we pray for both? Absolutely.
Only one of those groups has a promise applied to it.
I cannot imagine all the turmoil that was caused by the heretics. But when I think about the situation, it is easy for me to imagine a lot of people falling away from the church that were just tired of all the drama and the fighting. Or, they didn’t know what to believe anymore so they just stayed home.
We believe that God answers prayer, so we pray for those that have strayed and we do it confidently. God has attached a promise to this prayer. So, we rest confidently in the fact that God will bring those back to Himself who have wandered from the faith.
God the Son took on human flesh and dwelt among us in order to bring us to God (1 Peter 3:18). And He will not let them go forever. This causes us to pray confidently and fervently, knowing that He will bring those back to Himself who have wandered away.
And this is something that can be done as a family. Teach your children this boldness and confidence before the Lord. Pray for those who have strayed. Let their straying be something that both incites us to prayer and is a warning to your family about what can happen if someone falls into sin and worldliness.
And as we see prayers answered, we should shout them from the rooftops.
Closing
I want to end differently today. We are going to hand out simple notecards and pens. And I want you to quietly pray for those that you know that have wandered away from the faith. It is okay to pray with others at this time if a few of you are close to this person. And pray for them. Pray that they would return to the Lord and they would come back to church.
The notecard is so that you will write down the name of that person and keep that card as a reminder to pray for them. Continue to pray for them. Pray for them daily. Pray that God would work on them and bring them back to Himself.
R. Dwain Minor