Stop Sinning
Stop Sinning
1 John 5:13-21
It took me a long time to figure out how to begin this message. John covers a lot of ground here, but it appears that there are two main things we need to define first of all.
One of those things is the definition of “sin.” Some theologians want to define sin so broadly that there is no escape. Sin, to them, is anything less than the perfection of God. That means that our ignorance is sin, our sickness is sin, our failures are sin, even our very humanity is sin. By that definition, we sin every day in word, thought, and deed, inescapably, because we are not perfect as God is perfect. That puts any hope of peace out of our reach and does to us what it did to Martin Luther. Luther had read, “the righteous shall live by faith,” with an emphasis on “righteous.” He thought he had to be free of all sin, and wearied his confessor with hours-long sessions of confession. And when he left the confessional, he would think of some other failure, and go right back to confess all over again. He even slept on a cold, stone floor, wore burlap, and whipped himself to punish himself and do penance for his inescapable state of sinfulness. It was only when he read that verse with the emphasis on faith that the light dawned. It was faith, not righteousness. Righteousness is not ours, but only available to us through faith, fidelity, to Christ.
John Wesley recognized the futility of that definition of sin. We formulate his definition this way: sin is a willful transgression of a known law of God. And Wesley told us what “sinless perfection” is not. We are not perfect like Adam at his creation. We are not perfect like the angels in heaven. We are not perfect like Christ was perfect. We cannot be perfect in knowledge and thus are liable to make mistakes, so mistakes cannot be sin. We fail, so failure is not sin. We suffer from wandering thoughts, so temptation is not sin – and especially because Jesus was also tempted, and did not sin. When it comes to the Christian, sin is the failure to obey Christ. The sin we commit is to deny the full lordship of Jesus by not obeying his commands.
Now, some Christians define sin as two-fold: there are venial sins, those are the “minor” sins; and there are “mortal” sins. Here’s the definition I found: “mortal sins are grave violations that destroy sanctifying grace and lead to eternal damnation if unrepented, while venial sins are lesser offenses that weaken charity and wound the soul without breaking the divine covenant.” They may get that idea from John, because in our text this morning, John talks about “sins that lead to death” and “sins that do not lead to death.” Now, I disagree with the definition, based on what John has said earlier, that sin is lawlessness, and that breaking the law of God is sin. The vital thing for us is that Jesus (and John) tell us that the whole law is wrapped up in this: loving God and loving others. We love, honor, and revere God as our Sovereign Creator – and our worship is a reflection of that reverence. And John tells us what sort of love we are to show to the world around us: the same sort of love that Jesus demonstrated toward us on the cross.
John addresses the letter to a particular sort of person. And let me note that this is exclusive – it is only for those who fit this description. In fact, I would suggest that for John this is the proper definition of a Christian. I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God. We talked earlier about the depth of meaning here. In 5:1 – those who believe that Jesus is the Christ. In 4:2 – those who acknowledge that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh. Notice, please, that “belief” includes acknowledging that Jesus is God in the flesh and obeying his command. Belief is not static; it is active and expressive.
This definition of Christian, by the way, does not include those who mention Jesus in their scriptures, add him to their pantheon, consider him an enlightened man or even a great man, those who consider Jesus a prophet like some other, or those who claim the name of Jesus while they live in disobedience to his command. It does not include those who follow at a distance. If you are one of those, John is not writing to you. Sorry.
I write these things to you ... so that you may know that you have eternal life. Again, so that you will know with certainty what God has given you in Christ. You have received something precious. You have been given eternal life as a child of God. And as a child, you can go to your Father anytime for any reason. This is the confidence we have in approaching God ... Let me pause here for a moment. The writer to the Hebrews makes this a result of who Jesus is and what he has done: Hebrews 4: 15 – Because we have a great high priest who has ascended into heaven, Jesus the Son of God ... We do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weakness, but we have one who has been tempted in every way just as we are – yet he did not sin. [Because of that] let us approach the throne of grace with confidence (KJV says, boldness), so that we may receive mercy and find grace ... It is because Jesus is the Christ, because he is the Son of God, and because he came in the flesh, we are able to approach the Father confidently, boldly, with assurance, that he will answer our needs. And because he is our Father, because of Jesus, we know that he hears us – whatever we ask – we know that we have what we have asked of him.
Now that’s not carte blanche to ask for silly or frivolous things. It is a promise that we may ask for the things we need as disciples of Christ. If we are obedient to Christ, and if he is our Sovereign, then what we ask will be in line with what Jesus wants for us. Our prayers are not to be ours; they are to be Kingdom prayers, and our needs are those that advance his Kingdom. That does not mean we are not to ask regarding our health. I believe that God wants to bless us – for his glory. I believe he want to give us health – to do his work. I believe God wants to prosper us, not so that we will be wealthy, but so that we will have resources to advance his Kingdom. A lot of the prosperity gospel, the “health, wealth, and happiness” preaching of today is misguided. Those preachers make it about us, about our own health, wealth and prosperity. If it is Christ’s Kingdom, then it’s not about us; it’s about him and about how we can best serve him, about how we can help advance his Kingdom. Our will should be aligned with his will; our wants with his wants.
Which leads naturally to the next thing.
If you see a brother commit a sin that does not lead to death, you should pray and God will give them life. I had to go to the commentaries on this one. Adam Clarke suggests that John is thinking in Jewish terms regarding sins where restitution is required and sins for which the law prescribes execution. Sins that require the death penalty, for example, are sins that lead to death. Glen Barker raises the Levitical distinction between sins of presumption, deliberate rebellion against God’s law that are punishable by death, and sins of ignorance or inadvertent sins that can be atoned for. John’s point, though, is not to classify sin but to call the church to intercessory prayer. We are to pray for the sinner that he will be restored. We know that if one continues in sin, they will forfeit their relationship with God. John began chapter 2, I write this to you so that you will not sin, but if anyone does sin, we have an Advocate with the Father. If we see a brother in sin, it is not our place to condemn, criticize, or ostracize him, but to pray for his restoration.
I’m sure you’re aware of churches that practice “shunning,” believing that unrepentant sinners should be kicked out of the fellowship. In Matthew 18, Jesus gives us a process, and tells us that at the end of the process, if they still refuse to listen we are to treat them as [we] would a pagan or tax collector (Mt 18:17). How are we to treat pagans and tax collectors? By praying for their salvation. Not by shunning them or locking them out of our lives. We are to pray for the lost. We are to pray for the straying. We are to pray for the ignorant. We are to pray for our enemies. We are not to avoid contact with them. And we are not to use prayer requests as an opportunity to gossip about them or judge them. One of my pet peeves is when someone elaborates on a prayer request with gossip “so you’ll know better how to pray.” You don’t need to “know better how to pray;” you need to pray. Prayer requests need to be simple: a first name and a category - health, grief, salvation, etc. God knows the rest. John tells us to pray for them. Jesus told us to pray for them. Our job, as a church, as Christians, is to witness to the lost - regardless of how they got lost - and pray for their salvation.
All wrongdoing is sin, and there is sin that does not lead to death. We know that anyone born of God does not continue to sin; the One who was born of God keeps them safe, and the evil one cannot harm them. I put these verses together for continuity. We know what sin is and as a follower of Jesus, we are to stop sinning. In fact, Paul instructed us to put the sin nature to death. We died to sin, he says, and so it is unthinkable that we should just go on sinning. This does not mean that we never sin, or are no longer able to sin. God didn’t take away our will or translate us to utopia when we were saved. It means that we break the habit. We discontinue sin. When, or if, we sin, we don’t excuse it or rationalize it, we repent of it and leave it behind.
But if we sin, we have an Advocate, a way out. And the One, the only-begotten Son of God guards us. There’s a small Greek word here that means to protect, to watch over, to keep or preserve. It may be like guarding a prisoner, or keeping watch over a precious gem, or keeping your child safe from harm. Satan accused God of putting a hedge around Job to protect him from harm (Job 1:10). Isaiah spoke of a watchtower built to protect a vineyard (Is 5:2). When Jesus was crucifued, the soldiers sat down and kept watch while he died (Mt 27:36). The picture John paints for us here is that Jesus keeps watch over us to protect us from the evil one, so that he cannot harm them – so that he cannot drag us away from the loving care of Christ.
There is a fallacy we hear often: “God will not give you more than you can handle.” Utterly false! If you could handle it, you wouldn’t need God. The fact is, God often overwhelms us, or allows us to be overwhelmed. We find ourselves in places we can’t handle. Sometimes we can’t see a way out. We need God to help us through, help us out, or help us resist. Paul told the Believers in Corinth that there is no temptation they will face that is unusual. Temptation is normal; we all face them. But, he added, God will not let you be tempted more than you can bear, and when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it (1 Cor 10:13). He is watching over you, protecting you, so that you have an escape when temptation comes. By the way, that word temptation can also be translated test. Your tests will not overwhelm you, because God provides a solution, a way through. In sickness, poverty, old age, God is guarding your spirit, hold you close as a precious delight. We need to hear this from this perspective: you are a chosen people ... God’s special possession (1 Pe 2:9). In Christ, you are a child of God, and God is the perfect parent, watching out for us to keep us safe from the evil one.
John implies that there is a battle for your soul, and you are facing impossible odds because the whole world is under the control of the evil one. Three times Jesus calls Satan “the prince of this world” (Jn 12:31, 14:30, 16:11). Paul reminds the Ephesian believers that they used to be under the power of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient (Eph 2:2), and that our battle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms (Eph 6:12). That’s why we need the armor of God. That’s why we need the protection of our Heavenly Father watching over us.
Two final thoughts: We know that the Son of God has come and given us understanding, so that we can discern truth from lies, so that we can uncover the false prophets who would lead us astray. We are in him, held in his hand, protected by his love and watch-care. He is the way, the truth and the life. He is the one who is true and faithful. He will never deceive us or lead us astray. We can trust in him without fear. He is our hope and our life, and our one true God.
Cryptically, John ends the letter with this: My children, avoid false gods. Keep yourselves away from the idols and images. Many people ask how close to sin they can get and still be saved. The answer is, not at all. Our real question ought to be, how close to Jesus can we get? We don’t want to live close to the edge of salvation, but rather close to the throne of God. Stay away from the edge. Draw close to God and he will come close to you (Jas 4:8). John is urging us to stay close to the one who is true and who will keep us from being deceived. Get closer to Jesus. Closer, yet.