2002-01-01
Good Morning Faithful Ones,
If it seems strange to you to follow a message titled, “Encouragement and Prayer,” with one titled, “Sin That Leads To Death,” please understand that God gives us vital information because He wants us to understand His will. When we trust and obey Him, we soon learn that His way and His timing is always best; His love for us is perfect. Today’s passage, 1JN 5: 16-17, allows us to see the difference between sin which leads to death and sin which doesn’t. It is the first section of a passage we will finish tomorrow. “If you see your brother commit a sin that does not lead to death, you should pray to God, Who will give him life. This applies to those whose sins do not lead to death. But there is sin which leads to death, and I do not say that you should pray about that. All wrongdoing is sin but there is sin which does not lead to death.” The concept of sin which doesn’t lead to death may seem confusing at first, especially in view of citations like RO 6: 23, which essentially says, “The wages of sin is death.” However, we must put the subject of sin on the backdrop of God’s teachings on forgiveness. It surely can’t be righteous if we refuse to forgive a sin which after it is committed is confessed and not repeated. Of course, there are some specific exceptions to that such as capital crimes like premeditated murder, rape, and the like. Today’s passage demands that we look at the subject of just what is meant by sin that leads to death.
After I read the Scriptures, I decided to look at the Believer’s Commentary, which is one I feel we can trust for its accuracy. Let me share what I found. It isolated five types of sin which lead to death from a consensus of several reliable theologians. 1) Persistent sin which goes unconfessed by the perpetrator. An example of this is found in 1 COR 11: 27-29, “It follows that if anyone eats the Lord’s bread or drinks from His cup in a way that dishonors Him, he is guilty of sin against the Lord’s body and blood. So then, everyone should examine himself first, then eat the bread and drink from the cup. For if he does not recognize the meaning of the Lord’s body when he eats the bread and drinks from the cup, he brings judgment on himself as he eats and drinks.” The very first time that I went to a confirmation in our congregation, I was incredibly impressed with the fact that these youthful believers taking communion for the first time were doing so after three years of study. It is no wonder that we have such fabulous young people with such maturity in their faith. That is part of the secret of Woodbury Lutheran’s success. Yet we must also pay attention to the attitude that God wants adults to take in approaching taking the sacraments. I personally have a hard time with churches that practice closed communion. The decision as to whether one is ready to take the sacraments should be between himself and the Lord. In closed communion situations, a human is acting as an intermediary in that decision, something that I not only disagree with but that can also serve to deny deserving people access to the most intimate exchange between God and themselves available on earth. We are given this 1 COR 11: 27-29 with the understanding that God wants us to approach Him with reverence, righteousness, contrition (if appropriate), and understanding of what this rite means.
2) Premeditated murder. GN 9: 5-6, “If anyone takes human life, he will be punished. I will punish with death any animal that takes a human life. Man was made like God, so whoever murders a man will himself be killed by his fellow man.” Even our imperfect court system makes the distinction between accidental and premeditated murder. I don’t think it’s appropriate for me to use this forum to debate the death penalty, although I certainly have my opinions about it. However, I will say that we must ponder the question about who has the right to grant and to take life. I will hope that in dealing with this question, we all have the wisdom to look to God for direction.
3) Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. This sin is dealt with in MT 12: 22-28, which I hope you will read. This passage begins with Christ healing a blind and mute man in front of some of the Pharisees. They accuse Him in verse 24 of doing this because the power for Him to do so comes from Beelzebul (another name for the adversary). Christ said to them in (25), “Any country that divides itself into groups which fight each other will not last very long. And any town or family that dives itself into groups which fight each other will fall apart.” [How I wish modern day Israel would heed this message]. Later in (28), Christ tells the truth, “No, it is not Beelzebul, but God’s Spirit, Who gives Me the power to drive out demons, which proves that the Kingdom of God has already come upon you.”
4) While some of the theologians say the sins of Moses, Aaron, Ananias, and Sapphira are not forgiven, I beg to differ with them on those of the first two and don’t feel qualified to an opinion one way or the other about Ananias & Sapphira. Moses’s sin, that of striking the rock rather than speaking to it is outlined in NU 20-7-12, which I hope you will read. I think he was forgiven or he wouldn’t have been seen in the transfiguration vision of MT 17: 2-3. While Aaron’s sin in the golden calf incident described in EX 32: 1-35, which I hope you will read, was terrible. He did turn away from that behavior. The sins of Ananias and Sapphira were described in AC 5: 1-11, which I hope you will read. They were regrettable indeed, but only Christ has the right to judge. So, therefore, I have no right to usurp His sovereignty by offering an opinion on their spiritual fate. We know they died physically, but nothing more is said about their spiritual life or death.
5) Apostasy. RO 1: 18-32 makes it clear that when the truth is heard and rejected, there is no question that spiritual death will result. HE 6: 4-6 elaborates further on that. “For how can those who abandon their faith be brought back to repent again? They were once in God’s light; they tasted heaven’s gift and received their share of the Holy Spirit; they know from experience that God’s word is good, and they had felt the powers of the coming age. And then they abandoned their faith! It is impossible to bring them back to repent again, because they are again crucifying the Son of God and exposing Him to public shame.” God can’t be clearer on that issue than He is. Our responsibility is to take Him at His word (or should I say Word).
PRAYER: O Lord, again You demonstrate Your compassion for mankind when You reveal through the author of 1JN the distinction You make between sin which leads to death and that which does not. You have equipped us through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit to understand this rather sophisticated concept. You want us to mirror Your very own balance between forgiveness and understanding the consequences of sin that leads to death. When Christ died for us on the cross, we were given the opportunity to make a choice about whether we would sin or not. You provide us with excellent, clear direction on what constitutes sin and which sins could be forgiven and which ones could not be. When we are faced with the decision of what to do in a situation that is not clear to us, You provide guidance and leadership through Scriptures, prayer, other faithful Christians with greater spiritual maturity than ours, and the lessons of our circumstances and experience. Each person of the Trinity is with us at all times to help us. All we have to do is to seek You out and listen to Your direction. We humbly praise, adore, honor, worship, and glorify You for the wonderful Presence in our lives that You are. In Christ's name, amen.
Tomorrow, we will finish 1JN by looking at 1JN 5: 18-21 which deals with the protection we have from the adversary given us by God. What a blessed group of believers we are! Hallelujah! I hope you are enjoying the glow of God’s love surrounding you today. Peter and I send you our love too.
Grace Be With You Always,
Lynn