Struggling to pray for someone who keeps making bad choices? Whether it’s your rebellious teen, wayward spouse, or that friend who never seems to “get it,” this message from 1 John 5:14-17 will transform how you pray for the messy people you love. PLUS: A special prayer for kids starting school—because only God can protect what we can’t control!
You can pack the backpack, but you can’t control what happens after the bell rings. John shows how to trade anxious micromanaging for bold, aligned prayer that places messy people in God’s capable hands.
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. 17 All wrongdoing is sin, but there is sin that does not lead to death. 1 John 5:16-17 (ESV)
These ordinary struggles invite restoration, not resignation; God is in the renovation business.
14 And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us. 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. 1 John 5:14-15 (ESV)
And this is his commandment, that we believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ… (1 Jn 3:23)
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. (Jn 3:16)
Some Ideas: Take-Home Applications - Backpack Checklist for Prayer
BBCC Verse of the Week: 1 John 5:14 (ESV) And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us.
Interpreters throughout church history have offered various explanations of the sin that does lead to death that involve a distinction either between different kinds of sin or between different kinds of sinners:
Deliberate, intentional sin will surely destroy a believer’s assurance that they have eternal life ... The one who sins is of the devil and is not living in Christ (3:6 – 9). If a professing Christian deliberately and intentionally chooses to sin, they have every reason to doubt their salvation and need to repent. How much more the danger if the sin is a grave one, such as murder, adultery, or idolatry.
Since the time of Thomas Aquinas, heinous behaviors ... earned the special term of mortal sin ... But against this view is Jesus’ teaching that anger is as bad as murder, and lust as bad as adultery (Matt 5:21 – 22, 27 – 28). ... All of these were premeditated and deliberate sins, and yet Moses, David, and Paul found the grace of God’s forgiveness. As Westcott understands it, “The thought is not of specific acts as such, but of acts which have a certain character: There is that which must be described as sin unto death, there is that which wholly separates us from Christ.”
The thought of Mark 3:28 – 30 brings us closer ... for there Jesus states explicitly that blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is an eternal sin that will never be forgiven. ... As long as one rejected Jesus, no forgiveness would be possible because Jesus is the only means of forgiveness. Therefore, such blasphemy remains unforgiven.|
... In 1 John 3, John introduced the word “lawlessness” (ἀνομία), which is used throughout the NT to refer to the sin that characterizes those who are perishing ... So understood, in 1 John 5:16 the sin that leads to death is of that same nature. And yet, even anomia can be forgiven by Christ’s atonement ... unless one persists in refusing the only means of forgiveness that God offers in Christ.
In the context of 1 John, the sin that leads to death must be related to the statement in 5:12, “The one who has the Son has life; the one who does not have the Son of God does not have life” and is therefore on the path that leads to death. ... Sin that leads to death is that which excludes one from the realm of life, sin that prevents one from having the Son. As Thompson suggests, “ ‘sin unto death’ is already evidence that one lives in the realm of death, in the world, under the control of the evil one, and not in the sphere of life and righteousness granted by God to those who trust in Christ’s work on their behalf.” ... The sin that leads to death, therefore, is the sin of rejecting Christ’s atonement, the sin of calling God’s testimony a lie (1:10; 2:22; 5:10). – Karen Jobes
The assurance of eternal life which the Christian should enjoy (13) ought not to lead him into a preoccupation with himself to the neglect of others. On the contrary, he will recognize his duty in love to care for his brother or sister in need, whether the need which he ‘sees’ be material (as in 3:17–18) or, as here, spiritual: if anyone sees his brother commit a sin. He cannot say ‘Am I my brother’s keeper?’ and do nothing. The way to deal with sin in the congregation is to pray. And God hears such prayer. - John Stott
For next week – read 1 John 5:18-21 Pastor Samuel Sutter // sam@BBCCOnline.org
