Getting On with the Gospel

CONSECRATE Wake up, sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.  Jesus, I belong to you. I lift up my heart to you. I set my mind on you. I fix my eyes on you. I offer my body to you as a living sacrifice. Jesus, we belong to you.  Praying in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, amen.  HEAR 1 John 5:16–17 (NIV) If you see any brother or sister commit a sin that does not lead to death, you should pray and God will give them life. I refer to those whose sin does not lead to death. There is a sin that leads to death. I am not saying that you should pray about that. All wrongdoing is sin, and there is sin that does not lead to death. CONSIDER Today’s text is difficult to understand. It’s hard to understand the context John is speaking into and the problem he is addressing when he advises against praying for people that commit sins that lead to death. Like you, I wish he said more. John has named three sins that lead to death: disbelief in Jesus Christ, disobeying God’s commands, and not loving brothers and sisters. He is basically speaking of people who are walking in the dark. What I find most interesting about today’s text is the idea that if we pray for brothers and sisters who are caught in some kind of sin—that doesn’t lead to death—the result is God will give them life. The bigger and, in this instance, more implicit implication is the incompatibility of eternal life with sin and death. As we come to the end of John’s message, we need to be reminded of one of the major assumptions of the New Testament: eternal life means freedom from sin and ultimate deliverance from death. Sin has lost its power, and death has lost its sting. The New Testament repeatedly calls us to live into the new reality of eternal life. Here’s another example. So, you too consider yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. (Romans 6:11 HCSB) Here’s my practical summary of today’s text: “It’s time to get on with the gospel, to receive the gift of the Holy Spirit, and to claim the promise of eternal life. And we must pray for, encourage, and help one another to do the same.” That’s exactly how I think about my ministry of encouraging others to look at Scripture day after day after day—to help us get on with the gospel, receive the gift of the Holy Spirit, and live into the promise of eternal life. Progress in the gospel does not advance by amping up our commitment. It happens through becoming gut-level honest with ourselves (and each other) about our own desires. We must keep asking ourselves the hard questions, like . . . Do I really desire to get on with the gospel? Do I desire to be continually filled with the Holy Spirit? Did I desire to live into the promise of eternal life today? PRAY Lord Jesus, you are eternal life, and to know you is to experience eternal life now. Reveal to me the plain truth that my lack of experience of eternal life is a revelation of the quality of my relationship with you. Come, Holy Spirit, and grow my relationship with Jesus in ways I can’t even imagine now. I pray in your name, Jesus. Amen.