Please turn with me to 1 John 5 - starting at verse 14.  Today and next Sunday are our last two Sundays in our looking at First John.  Some of you are old enough to remember when we started looking at this letter.  You’ll see that our focus this morning is Part Twelve:  The Prayer of Fellowship. 

Fellowship is when we’re possessed by God and experience life in Jesus together.  Its significant that John closes his letter by writing about prayer.  Buried deep within each of us there seems to be a natural instinct for prayer.  All kinds of circumstances and experiences can prompt us to pray.  Sometimes we pray because we don’t know what else to do.  Prayer becomes our last resort.  Someone said, “There are no atheists in” - what? “fox holes.”  Have you heard that?

To get us started thinking about prayer I’d like you to watch this…

(Ballad of Jed Clampett)

I reckon - as many times as you’ve heard that song - you’ve probably never thought about it in relationship to prayer.  Jed - who barely kept his family fed - was shootin’ at what?  Food.  And up from the ground comes a what?  Bubbling crude - black gold - Texas tea.  So the first thing you know old Jed’s a what?  A millionaire!  There they was a livin’ on a farm - a poor mountaineer - sitting on a life transforming discovery.  Suddenly Jed and all his “kin” are a livin’ in Beverly Hills - Califor - nee.

As the church, prayer is a tremendous resource - just lying there beneath the surface of our life together.  An inexhaustible resource the wealth of which we can’t even begin to imagine.  Prayer is an amazing gift that God has given to us - to draw us deeper into fellowship with each other and with Him.  If we can learn to pray and grow in our effective use of prayer as a congregation our life together will never be the same.

1 John 5 - verses 14 and 15.  If you’re there or you have your sermon notes in front of you - lets read these verses out loud together - and then we’ll come back and make some observation.  Starting at verse 14:  This is the confidence which we have before 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 which we have asked from Him. 

John writes that we have CONFIDENCE BEFORE GOD.  Try that with me, “We have confidence before God.”

In 1876 a Western Union internal memo confidently stated:  “This ‘telephone’ has too many shortcomings to be seriously considered as a means of communication.  The device is inherently of no value to us.”

In 1962, Decca Records - while rejecting the Beatles - Decca Records  confidently stated:  “We don’t like their sound, and guitar music is on the way out.”

We have confidence - boldness - certainty - in prayer.  For us - prayer is not an experiment - wishful thinking - spiritual happy thoughts.  When we pray we know that God listens to us.  Its a certainty.

So, John writes:  This is the confidence which we have before Him, that, if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us.

Notice with me four confidence building truths.

First:  There are no categories for prayer.

Sometimes we think that we should only pray about the big things - death - disease - global catastrophe.  Or, we should only pray about spiritual things - world evangelism - a deepening walk with God.  But, an upcoming job interview - our finances or lack of them - arthritis - struggle in a relationship - or some other ordinary thing - somehow these are way down on the list of things that we can bother God with.

John writes - “in whatever we ask” - if we ask anything - not just this thing - or a few things - or even a lot of things - but anything.  That’s confidence:  Don’t hesitate - ASK!!!

Second confidence building truth:  John writes that God hears us.

Prayer isn’t Star Wars.  Its not like we tap into some impersonal force which helps us to fight a spiritual battle.  “Use the force Luke.”  When a lot of people pray it doesn’t redirect some kind of cosmic consciousness - or create a synergy - that becomes a positive force for good.

We’re talking with a real person.  The Almighty - living - God - listens to us - hears what’s on our heart - and is concerned with us - personally.

Have you ever been in a conversation with someone and they just mentally check out.  “Hello!”  You’re talking and they’re not even there.  Or, they keep looking around.  Maybe there’s someone else they’d rather talk to.  Prayer is the kind of intimate connection with God that we’re desperate for.  He listens.

In Isaiah 65:24, God says, “Before they call, I will answer; and while they are still speaking I will hear.”

Psalm 145:18:  “The Lord is near to all who call upon Him…”

Psalm 55:16,17:  “As for me, I shall call upon God, and the Lord will save me.  Evening and morning and at noon, I will complain and murmur, and He will hear my voice.”

We’re never left talking to the ceiling.  God is always listening.  Even before we speak - the Almighty God is intently focused on what’s happening in our hearts.

Third:  We are to pray according to God’s will - which means that we can.

Sometimes we think that when we pray we should have it our way - that God should do things the way we want them to work out.  “God heal so and so.”  “God send cash.”  Its like a vending machine - we put in a dollar and out comes a coke.  In goes the prayer and out comes our answer.  Anything less and God is incompetent or unloving.

I once read a prayer by a girl praying on her wedding day.  Listen:

Dear Father, please bless our marriage.  I don’t want to disobey You, but I do love him and I want to be his wife, so please be with us and please don’t spoil my wedding day.”

Stripped of its spiritual language - what’s she’s saying is something like....

“Dear God, I don’t want to disobey You, but I must have my own way at all costs.  For I love what You do not love, and I want what You do not want.  So please be a good God and deny Yourself, and move off Your throne, and let me take over.  If You don’t like this, then all I ask is that You bite Your lip and say nothing that will spoil my plans, and let me enjoy myself.”

Psalm 66:18 says, “If I regard wickedness in my heart - if I keep sin in my heart - the Lord will not hear me”

Ray Stedman said, “Prayer that lies outside the will of God is an insult to God.” (1)

When we looked at 1 John 3 - verses 23 and 24 - John was writing about our commitment to each other - and the importance of prayer to that commitment.  In chapter 3 John wrote - if we’re going to pray its crucial that we’re praying in Jesus’ name not ours.  Jesus’ name carries a whole lot more weight than yours or mine.  To do that - John wrote - we need to “abide” in Jesus.  That means knowing Jesus personally as our Savior and giving our lives to Him.

The closer we are to Jesus the more we’re in tune to His will.  Amen?  The tighter our relationship with Him - when we pray what flows out of us will be His will not ours.

There’s something of that here in these verses.  Whatever we’re speaking to God about - ask anything - whatever needs or circumstances - that prayer needs to be shaped by the life of Jesus in us.

Prayer isn’t trying to get God to do things our way.  Prayer must be according to God’s will - in the direction God is going - with a view towards obtaining the purpose God has in mind.  Prayer requires that we be focused and open to being drawn deeper in tune with the will of God - that the Holy Spirit has increasing control over our hearts and minds - prompting us - moving us - from deep within to pray according to God’s will.

We need to pray according to God’s will.  The confidence builder is that that’s possible because God makes it possible.

Confidence building truth number four:  John writes in verse 15:  We can be confident that God answers our prayers.

When and how our prayer is answered is not the issue.  The point is the certainty of having what is requested answered according to God’s will.  His answer may come at a time or in a way that may surprise us.  We may not like God’s answer.  May even get angry with Him.  But God will answer.

In verses 14 and 15 John writes - we have this confidence that when we ask God about anything - God will guide us in how to pray - God hears us - God is already answering us.  That’s an amazing promise and a tremendous resource He’s given us.

In verses 16 and 17 - John focuses on HOW WE’RE TO USE THIS RESOURCE OF PRAYER.  What kind of prayer fits within God’s will?  And, how does that help us with fellowship?

If you’re with us at verse 16 or you have your sermon notes - let’s read verses 16 and 17 together out loud:  If anyone sees his brother committing a sin not leading to death, he shall ask and God will for him give life to those who commit sin not leading to death.  There is a sin leading to death; I do not say that he should make request for this.  All unrighteousness is sin, and there is a sin not leading to death.

These are really difficult verses.  Commentators have been debating over these for as long as there have been commentators.  On one hand its easy to see what John is writing about.  On the other hand its hard to understand what he means.

John is writing about praying for each other according to the will of God.  And that’s pretty easy to understand.  If we see our brother or sister caught in sin, we need to pray for them and God will restore them - give them life.  Its an example of what our prayer life can be like in the Body of Christ.

But, then he goes off talking about sins leading to death and those that don’t.  That raises all kinds of questions.  Why does John bring this up?

We need to keep in mind that John is writing to believers.  He’s not writing about those who profess to be Christians - who talk about being Christians - who are raised Christian - who live Christian in the sense of their conduct and tradition.  He’s writing to Christians who are spiritually reborn - who have given their lives to Jesus and know Him personally as their Savior.

So, in these verses John is not writing about salvation issues - eternal life or eternal death and separation from God.  John is writing about the fellowship we have here in the church - the seriousness of sin - and the ministry of prayer that we have for each other today.

There are some sins which we commit that do not bring us to physical death.  They may damage our fellowship with each other and with God.  They may cause physical sickness - emotional struggles - other serious consequences - but not death.  There are other sins which we commit that are so serious that God chooses to end our lives here on earth - physical death.

In the Bible there are a number of examples of what John is talking about.  In the Old Testament - Moses - in pride and disobedience - striking the rock at Mirabah - dying at God’s command before he could enter the promised land. (Numbers 20:1-13)  In the New Testament - Ananias and Sapphira - lied before God and the church about money they had received - and were put to death by God. (Acts 5:1-11)

Paul writes to the Corinthians about sin in the church - 1 Corinthians 11:17ff. - the passage that we often read when we take communion:  Paul says - you’re drunk - selfish - showing no love for others - you’re living in sin - you’ve profaned the Lord’s Supper - “For this reason many among you are weak and sick, and a number sleep” - they’re physically dead.  (1 Corinthians 11:17-30) 

Years ago I worked in a church where there was a deacon who was against what God was doing in the congregation.  There was a particular issue and He was clearly in opposition to the church leadership.  What this deacon was openly advocating was sin and against God’s will.  At one point this conflict came to an ugly head.  Within one week we did the funeral for this deacon.

Twice I’ve watched God work that way in two separate congregations.  What John is writing about is that serious.

John could have written about a number of different ways in which we can pray for each other and pray together - prayers for healing - guidance - joys and concerns - outreach and missions.  But, its significant - focusing on fellowship - that he writes about our sin.

Prayer concerning our sin goes to the heart of our relationship with God and with each other.  It is that serious - that foundational.  When we focus on our struggles with sin - our individual need for Jesus - when we’re on our knees together before God - in humility - and open confession - there’s no room for pride or pretense - no one is elevated higher than the other - before God we’re all sinners - struggling together - to live lives pleasing to Him.

John writes that if we will come - according to God’s will - and pray for each other - then God will hear and bring forgiveness and healing and restoration and freedom from guilt.  God will give life.  Restored life in Jesus.

This is what Jesus says in John 10:10:  “I came that they may have life, and have it to the full.”  God’s life is the kind of life that we can’t wait to get out of bed to experience - full of joy - delight - vitality.  Its the kind of life that excites us to come here to experience together - to worship together - to serve together - that makes us miss each other when we’re away from each other.

For some that kind of life may be hard to imagine.  Maybe in our homes - in our church - we have a ways to go.  But, its possible.  We have a great gift - a resource that God has given us to use.

The Prayer Tree is an access point to that resource.  The Prayer Page on the website is an access point.  The first Sunday of the month when we pray in Room 10.  Gathering in groups here in the Service of Worship - or praying in smaller groups. 

Let’s comence to prayin'.

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1. Ray Stedman from his sermon Praying Boldly