Questioning God

How can we know the way?

John14.4-7
02 May 2010

Introduction

John Lewis ad (shown separately on FB group)

Personally I would set the video to another tune…

Do you know where you’re going to?

It is a question about which many if not most people are unaware or

unconcerned and yet a question that lies at the heart of our human
experience, as this building bears witness most weeks and did do
again on Friday.

Daily it seems, I receive reminders of the same truth. Perhaps that is

because I am now a member of Saga?! However, you don’t need to
be a member of Saga, to appreciate what I am saying.

Anyone who stops to reflect for a moment on life is aware of the

fleeting nature of human life. All we need to do is look in a mirror or
at the people who are all around us

c.f. my school re-union

Or, alternatively, we might look in the bible which contains many
powerful metaphors for human mortality

o mist
o chaff
o water
o dream
o grass
o sigh

It is this question that is central to the dialogue between Jesus and His
followers here in Ch.14 of John’s Gospel
1
"Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. 2 My
Father's house has plenty of room; if that were not so, would I have told you
that I am going there to prepare a place for you? 3 And if I go and prepare a
place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be
where I am. 4 You know the way to the place where I am going." 5 Thomas said
to him, "Lord, we don't know where you are going, so how can we know the
way?"

Thank God that, if we are Christians, this life is not all there is. That,
if we are Christians, we are on a journey to a new world, a better
home and, as today’s reading emphasises, we have a reliable guide.

As we sung on Friday at Cyril Thompson’s funeral

And thou, our sister, gentle death,

waiting to hush our latest breath,
Alleluia! Alleluia!
Thou leadest home the child of God,
and Christ our Lord the way has trod,
O praise ye! O praise ye!
Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!

Let’s think a little further about that way…

2
 1. It’s personal

The way to God & the eternal city is not

o a theory
o a technique
o a philosophy
o a lifestyle
o a programme

Rather it is a person
5
Thomas said to him, "Lord, we don't know where you are going, so how can
we know the way?" 6 Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life.
No one comes to the Father except through me.

The way to God and the eternal city is not achieved by

o an act of self discovery

o a religious experience
o a life of devotion
o a commitment to the greater good
o an in depth knowledge of the bible
o an involvement with a local church

It is achieved by a knowledge of, and a trust in, Jesus Christ

5
Thomas said to him, "Lord, we don't know where you are going, so how can
we know the way?" 6 Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life.
No one comes to the Father except through me.

Jesus Christ, the One who brings God know to us by making Him
known to us
7
If you really know me, you will know my Father as well. From now on, you do
know him and have seen him."

3
Jesus Christ, the One who brings us to God by preparing the way for
us
3
And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be
with me that you also may be where I am.

In other words, taking in the context as a whole, by dying for us on the

Cross.

These qualifications make Jesus utterly unique and set Him apart from
all other religious teachers or prophets

Quote from CS Lewis in Green Religions p.43

Effectively, this is a summary of the message of John’s Gospel with

its twin themes of revelation and redemption.

4
 2. It’s particular

Jesus is the way to God. It sounds sort of nice and comforting, which,
I suppose, is why these verses are so often read at funerals (I’m a
Psalm 23 man myself).

However, we can’t leave it there, for John doesn’t.

6
Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the
Father except through me.

Jesus is not simply the way to God. He is the only way to God and
that sort of message is not quite so nice not quite so comforting. In
fact, it is totally inimical to modern ways of thinking.

Although it is one of the ‘stand out’ verses for teaching this truth, such
exclusivism runs throughout the bible

e.g. David & Goliath story in assembly

The cultural ‘mood music’ in which we have to operate was brilliantly

captured in the poem Creed by Steve Turner written many years ago
We believe in Marxfreudanddarwin.
We believe everything is OK
as long as you don't hurt anyone,
to the best of your definition of hurt,
and to the best of your knowledge.

We believe in sex before during

and after marriage.
We believe in the therapy of sin.
We believe that adultery is fun.
We believe that sodomy's OK
We believe that taboos are taboo.

We believe that everything's getting better

despite evidence to the contrary.
The evidence must be investigated.

5
You can prove anything with evidence.

We believe there's something in horoscopes,

UFO's and bent spoons;
Jesus was a good man just like Buddha
Mohammed and ourselves.
He was a good moral teacher although we think
his good morals were bad.

We believe that all religions are basically the same,

at least the one that we read was.
They all believe in love and goodness.
They only differ on matters of
creation sin heaven hell God and salvation.

We believe that after death comes The Nothing

because when you ask the dead what happens
they say Nothing.
If death is not the end, if the dead have lied,
then it's compulsory heaven for all
excepting perhaps Hitler, Stalin and Genghis Khan.

We believe in Masters and Johnson.

What's selected is average.
What's average is normal.
What's normal is good.

We believe in total disarmament.

We believe there are direct links between
warfare and bloodshed.
Americans should beat their guns into tractors
and the Russians would be sure to follow.

We believe that man is essentially good.

It's only his behaviour that lets him down.
This is the fault of society.
Society is the fault of conditions.
Conditions are the fault of society.

We believe that each man must find the truth

that is right for him.
Reality will adapt accordingly.
The universe will readjust. History will alter.
We believe that there is no absolute truth
excepting the truth that there is no absolute truth.

We believe in the rejection of creeds.

6
We live, then, in a world that is both relativistic – that is, in which all
opinions are considered equally valid for no one can know anything
for sure – and pluralistic, that is, where every view has to be treated as
being of equal worth. Which means that the Christian claim that Jesus
is the only way to God is, first, viewed simply as our perspective and,
second, is seen as only one option amongst many across the spectrum
of religious belief.

How should we respond?

o Relativism should be relativised

The philosopher Roger Scruton once put it this way

If someone tells you that there is no such thing as truth they are asking you not
to believe them so don’t Quoted in Amy Orr-Ewing

And, anyway, added to that, we know that all views are not equally
valid

H20 epitaph

o Pluralism should be challenged and that on several fronts

i. it is illogical

As we saw a few moments ago, Christianity is different from other

religions and you cannot have two opposing views that are equally
right

ii. it is impractical

If we don’t make Jesus our No.1 then something else will take His
place. In other words, in practice we will worship something or
someone, its just a case of who or what it or they will be (NTW)

7
 iii. it is disrespectful

Afghanistan quote from US Admiral

iv. it is unfaithful
12
Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name given under
heaven by which we must be saved."

8
 3. A vital message

This, therefore, is a message people need to hear both for God’s glory
and there own sake. But how is that to be achieved? John must have
wrestled with this question. So too must we.

The first thing to say is that it cannot be achieved by moderating the

message. The very thing that we so often find awkward is the very
thing, as we have seen today, that gives the Christian faith its life
force and energy.

The second thing to say, is that the message was not exactly a ‘shoe
in’ then and so neither is it likely to be today. This is deeply counter-
cultural and wildly subversive stuff. The church has been trying to
process it for 2000 years and still we haven’t got it, at least in its
fulness, and so what chance has anyone else?

The third thing to say is that proclamation has its place. We must be
known as people who clearly and unambiguously bear witness to
Jesus Christ as the only way to God

c.f. All Hallow’s poster

The fourth thing to say is that, if we are true to Jesus, there must be
something else. The something else is something I wanted to say
more about when we thought about mission a couple of months back,
but didn’t get around to and that is dialogue – discussion to use a less
technical word.

And so I sat there yesterday in Waterworld, Stoke on Trent, thinking

how could I work something about dialogue into this sermon? Then it
hit me, the whole Upper Room discourse with its Q & A is a dialogue.
Yes, Jesus is teaching, but He is also listening and responding
according to the questions that His followers ask.

9
That is why No.1 on GAP is a church and community audit
That is why Door 2 Door is a priority
That is why Alpha is important
That is why you folks are the missionaries

Quote Stott from Christian Mission today

10
Conclusion
Follow thou me. I am the way and the truth and the life. Without the way there
is no going; without the truth there is no knowing; without the life there is no
living. I am the way which thou must follow; the truth which thou must believe;
the life for which thou must hope. I am the inviolable way; the infallible truth;
the never-ending life. I am the straightest way; the sovereign truth; life true, life
blessed, life uncreated. If thou remain in my way thou shalt know the truth, and
the truth shall make thee free, and thou salt lay hold on eternal life.
Thomas a Kempis The Imitation of Christ

11
David Watson quote
In 1971, David Watson was asked to speak at the International Fountain Trust Conference in
Guildford. On his arrival he was shocked to discover that he would be sharing the platform
with a popular leader from the Roman Catholic church . It is important to realise that Watson
had been groomed as a young Christian man at the seminal Iwerne Minster camps for public
school boys, run by the inimitable Eric Nash. In such an environment, Roman Catholicism
was cast as an aberration to be avoided.

He was very much taken aback, therefore, to discover that he had much in common with his
Roman Catholic colleague at the conference. Praying about this earnestly later, Watson had
the impression that God was telling him to sort out his attitude towards people with other
beliefs, rather than revel in his own ‘sound’ theological convictions. This moment of prayer
was to have a profound impact on Watson and the shape of his later ministry: he worked hard
to build bridges with Roman Catholics who shared his fundamental beliefs about Christ,
while never compromising his own, deep-felt evangelical principles. This got him into hot
water with more stringent evangelicals who saw this as compromise.

David did not help matters by telling the National Evangelical Anglican Conference in 1977
that, ‘in many ways, the Reformation was one of the greatest tragedies that ever happened to
the church’. However, it is important to understand Watson’s point here. He wasn’t arguing
for a watering-down of evangelical theology or identity; he himself preached the harder
evangelical truths unflinchingly, as we’ll see later in this article. Instead, Watson was
decrying the messy disunity brought about by the Reformation in general and the
subsequently unloving attitude of many evangelicals towards Roman Catholics, many of
whom worshipped Christ as Lord and trusted in his death and resurrection for their
salvation. Christian comedian and writer Adrian Plass worked with David Watson in the
early 1980s and observed Watson’s renewed attitude first-hand. Through Watson’s example
of ‘enthusiastic respect’ for a Roman Catholic acquaintance, Plass ‘learned something quite
new... about meeting people where they are, and not dragging them crudely into the arena of
my own beliefs in order to club theirs to death’.

12
Pascal
Mission to Islam quote

13
Acts 4.1-22
St Mary’s
18.04.2010
Introduction

How does the church grow? It is an important and perennial question.

Not important we are important, but because God is and people are
and the church and its message are the means by which the two can be
connected – one is tempted to say, in view of 4.12, the only means by
which the two can be connected, but we’ll come to that.

Because it is important, we start to fret when it isn’t happening.

Sometimes this is a good thing – we start to pray. Sometimes it’s a
bad thing – we start to panic, fearing that God is neither big enough
nor smart enough to have the situation under control.

Another response is to start looking at various schemes and strategies

to get things moving along. One such is G-A-P. There have been
many others besides, stretching back a fair old way:

o Mission England
o The Decade of Evangelism
o Fresh Expressions
o Alpha
o Christianity Explored
o Purpose Driven Church / Life

There is nothing wrong with any of these, indeed there is a lot that is
good, the danger though is that they can distract us from the real
questions which concern not so much strategy as what we believe,
how thoroughly we believe it and how convincingly we practice it,
that is, live it out.

14
An American and a Japanese company decided to have a boat race on the
Detroit River.

Both teams practiced hard and long to reach their peak performance.

On the big day, they were as ready as they could be.

The Japanese team won by a mile.

Afterwards, the American team became discouraged by the loss and their
morale sagged.

Corporate management decided that the reason for the crushing defeat had to
be found.

A Continuous Measurable Improvement Team of "Executives" was set up to

investigate the problem and to recommend appropriate corrective action.

Their conclusion: The problem was that the Japanese team had 8 people rowing
and 1 person steering, whereas the American team had 1 person rowing and 8
people steering.

The American Corporate Steering Committee immediately hired a consulting

firm to do a study on the management structure.

After some time and billions of dollars, the consulting firm concluded that "too
many people were steering and not enough rowing.

" To prevent losing to the Japanese again next year, the management structure
was changed to "4 Steering Managers, 3 Area Steering Managers, and 1 Staff
Steering Manager" and a new performance system for the person rowing the
boat to give more incentive to work harder.

The next year the Japanese team won by two miles.

The American Corporation laid off the rower for poor performance, sold all of
the paddles, cancelled all capital investments for new equipment, halted
development of a new canoe, awarded high performance awards to the
consulting firm, and distributed the money saved as bonuses to the senior
executives.

15
 1. Ordinary people

This is the starting point. People like you and me. We might even say
people unlike you and me, because many of us are intelligent, well
trained and in possess considerable resources

Peter and John were not trained – at least in the art of discourse and
biblical interpretation, though they did know a bit about fishing – nor
did they possess much by the way of resources – they’d left their
businesses back home in Galilee and so when asked for alms were
able to offer none (3.6) – nor were they, at least in Peter’s case,
particularly intelligent. They were ordinary men (c.f. meaning of the
word).
13
When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were
unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished…

Ordinary men then, but ordinary men whom God used.

Peter and John versus the Sanhedrin? You’ve got to be joking! It’s
like England versus Brazil without Rooney. But what happened
defies all expectations
8
Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them: "Rulers and elders of
the people! 9 If we are being called to account today for an act of kindness
shown to a man who was lame and are being asked how he was healed, 10 then
know this, you and all the people of Israel: It is by the name of Jesus Christ of
Nazareth, whom you crucified but whom God raised from the dead, that this
man stands before you healed. 11 Jesus is
" 'the stone you builders rejected,
which has become the cornerstone.'
12
Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name given under
heaven by which we must be saved."

In his address, Peter shows considerable savvy (v.9), great courage

(v.10), theological acumen (v.11) and enormous conviction (v.12).
More than likely, Luke has given us a condensed form of what was
said, but even as its stands, it is an incredibly potent piece of oratory.

16
It’s a bit like Martin Luther before the Diet of Worms if you
remember that story.

The very ordinariness of the first Christians represents, then, both an

encouragement and a challenge

o an encouragement because it means that there is no reason why

any of us should not follow in the apostle’s footsteps

Abraham was old; Jacob insecure; Leah unattractive; Joseph had been abused;
Moses stuttered; Gideon was poor; Samson co-dependent; Rahab immoral;
David had had an affair and all kinds of family problems; Elijah was suicidal;
Jeremiah depressed; Jonah reluctant; Naomi a widow; John the Baptist
eccentric, to say the least; Peter impulsive and hot-tempered; Martha worried a
lot; the Samaritan woman had had several failed marriages; Zacchaeus was
unpopular; Thomas had doubts; Paul had poor health; Timothy was timid—a
variety of misfits, and God used each of them in his service.
Rick Warren PDL p.233

God uses ordinary people. That is a profoundly encouraging truth.

You know some days I don’t feel good enough to be a Christian let
alone a Vicar…. That may surprise you, but God can still use me and
you even when we feel like that.

Quote Eugene Peterson p.25

o a challenge because so often our experience seems to be so

remote from that described.

I realise that it would not be proper to draw an exact parallel between

our circumstances and that of the early church e.g. this was the first
great revival. Nevertheless, the ordinariness of the first Christians
does rather stand as a rebuke against our frequent excuses and sense of
inadequacy.

Don’t feel qualified for the job? So what!

17
 2. Great faith

Ordinary people, then, but used by God. How come? Because they
had great faith…

How did that faith manifest itself?

o Great faith caused Peter and John to stop and pray for a man
who had been crippled from birth to be healed (3.1f)
o Great faith caused Peter to speak to the crowd, telling them of
God’s plan of salvation, exalting the name of Jesus and calling
on them to repent and receive the forgiveness (3.11f)
o Great faith caused Peter to make his defence before the
Sanhedrin, the most powerful body in the land and, perhaps
more worryingly the very people who had been the instigators
of Jesus’ death – did you notice the names of Annas and
Caiaphas (c.f. John 18.24)? – this was the very same group of
people who had ‘spooked’ Peter only a few days beforehand
(Luke 22.54f)
o Great faith caused Peter to argue that Jesus had been raised
from the dead even when he knew that the Sadducees didn’t
believe in the resurrection.
o Great faith caused Peter to turn to the words of the OT – Psalm
118 – and find in them find inspiration and meaning for
himself and a challenge for his hearers (v.11)
o Great faith caused Peter and John to refuse to back down even
when ordered to do so (4.18f) and that after a night in prison.
o Great faith caused Peter and the other apostles to go on
preaching in violation of the order they were given (5.29f)

By any account, it is a remarkable turn around (on a par with

yesterday’s Premiership results?!) Such boldness and clarity.

18
So what explains it?

There are probably a number of factors that are work both in terms of
Peter and the early church – for the faith I have described was not his
alone c.f. 4.23f

High on the list must be

o a personal encounter with the risen Christ (1.3)

o a commitment to prayer following the example of Jesus (c.f.
1.14f; 2.42f; 4.23f)
o a sense of joy and gratitude arising out of a knowledge of
God’s forgiveness (c.f. 3.19)
o a conviction that God was at work in a new way (c.f. 3.21)

Here in this particular context

o a grounding in the scriptures supplied by Jesus (c.f. 1.1-3) c.f.

Peter’s use of the OT
o a personal experience of the truths they were propagating
(4.19)
o the knowledge that Jesus was, indeed, Lord (4.12)
o the gift of the Holy Spirit as promised by Jesus, both generally
as fulfilled at Pentecost and more particularly as those called to
face their accusers (c.f. Luke )
8
Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them: "Rulers and elders of the
people!

I have struggled to find a non-simplistic way of bringing all these

different strands together and, in a sense, they cannot be separated for
we are whole people and the Gospel involves a revolution in the
whole of our lives. If pushed, though, it is surely the combination of
preparation and Pentecost that best describes Peter and the early
church’s faith. The material was ready formed and then the Spirit
came and set it ablaze. Therein lies the lesson for us… to eb prepared
and then to step out in faith

19
Believe great things of God. Attempt greats things for God

I can hoist a sail….

Peter's example is our challenge and encouragement. "What are we attempting

which could not be accomplished without the Holy Spirit? What is there about
our lives which demands an explanation? We will be `filled with the Holy Spirit'
when we dare to do what could never be accomplished on our own strength and
insight" (Ogilvie 1983:98).

20
 3. Extraordinary message

Ordinary people. Great faith. An extraordinary message. It is the

latter I want to focus on for my final point for that is where Luke
places his emphasis in the Acts with his telling summaries e.g. 6.7 and
where the heart of this passage lies e.g. 4.12

o Extraordinary in its offence

12
Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name given under
heaven by which we must be saved."

The double negative stands out – no one else, no other name – Luke
uses both Greek words

This would have been disturbing to the Jews – the name Peter refers to
is the name of Jesus – hence the growing antipathy chronicled through
the Book of Acts and, in turn, equally disturbing to non-Jews, like
those amongst whom Theophilus lived.

It is equally controversial in our own day for it divides people and we

don’t like to do that

c.f. Vice-Admiral McRaven

Why is pluralism wrong?

o illogical

o disrespectful

McRaven

o unfaithful

Acts 4.12 c.f. also the list of titles in Chs. 3 & 4

21
 o Extraordinary in its power

No other name by which we must be saved.

What does Peter mean by that?

He means more than physical healing – though the word can be used
to describe healing. No, the healing is a sign of something greater
(c.f. v.15) – that is, the forgiveness and new life that come only
through faith in Jesus Christ and His death (c.f. 3.19f; 5.26f)

22
Conclusion

Story from The Times

“If you find yourself flying into a cloud of ash turn away and get out of there as soon as you
can.”

The advice came today from the British airline captain whose epic brush with disaster in 1982
taught the aviation world the peril of volcanos.

Eric Moody was in command of British Airways Flight 9, a Boeing 747 that turned into a
jumbo glider over Indonesia when volcanic ash put all four engines out of action. After 14
minutes of silent flight and aiming to ditch in the ocean, Mr Moody and his two fellow
officers managed to relight the engines in clear air and land their 260 passengers and cabin
crew in Jakarta.

Surprisingly, the landmark incident of June 1982 was the first potentially catastrophic
encounter between an airliner and high altitude ash. “They copied what we did and published
it in every pilot’s manual in the world,” Mr Moody told The Times.

Mr Moody’s announcement to the passengers after losing power has gone down in airline
lore. “Ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain speaking. We have a small problem. All four
engines have stopped. We are doing our damnedest to get it under control. I trust you are not
in too much distress.” The problems of Speedbird 9 — Flight 9’s BA call-sign — and a few
other incidents led to a global tracking system for volcano cloud. Pilots are now trained to
look for signs, including the odour of sulphur in the cabin and electrification on the leading
edges of the wings from sandblasting by dust particles.

The big difference now is that crew have warning. When Speedbird 9 ran into trouble on its
way from Kuala Lumpur to Perth the pilots had no idea why their engines had stopped.
“Before us, I don’t think they even saw ash as a danger,” Mr Moody said.

Ash clouds can be seen in daylight but they do not show on weather radar, designed to detect
humidity and the electrical discharge of lightning. Speedbird 9 was flying in the dark and the
crew saw only saw a bizarre, bright light on the windshield as the glass was being
sandblasted.

There were fumes and a smell of sulphur in the cabin and the passengers had a fine view of
fire as unburnt fuel ignited behind the stopped engines. Only when they were back on the
ground did the crew hear that the nearby Mount Galunggung had erupted several days earlier
and that its ash had choked their engines at 37,000 feet (11,280m).

“I was talking to the first class passengers after landing and noticed that I had black hands,”
Mr Moody said. “The flight engineer said it looked like ash and I said don’t be so bloody
stupid.” Until they heard the explanation, the crew believed that the engines had failed

23
because they had made some error and they would get the blame whether or not they survived
the unprecedented feat of putting an airliner down on the sea at night.

“If the ash had gone all the way to the ground it would have been different. It would have
been pilot error ... The pilots always feel that they are going to be blamed,” Mr Moody said.

Even with three of their four engines running again, Flight 9 had difficulty landing because
the pilots could see almost nothing through the opaque windshield. It was, in the words of
Captain Moody, “a bit like negotiating one’s way up a badger’s arse”.

The captain and his two fellow officers were decorated and the passengers acclaimed them as
heroes. They still take part in what they call the “Mount Galunggung Gliding Club”.

Captain Moody, who lives in Hampshire and has kept his pilot’s sense of humour, said that
today’s precautionary closure of British airspace was not an overreaction. “It all depends on
the density of the ash. They will look at it in daylight to see if it’s bad.”

1
The priests and the captain of the temple guard and the Sadducees came up to
Peter and John while they were speaking to the people. 2 They were greatly
disturbed because the apostles were teaching the people, proclaiming in Jesus
the resurrection of the dead. 3 They seized Peter and John, and because it was
evening, they put them in jail until the next day. 4 But many who heard the
message believed; so the number of men who believed grew to about five
thousand.
5
The next day the rulers, the elders and the teachers of the law met in
Jerusalem. 6 Annas the high priest was there, and so were Caiaphas, John,
Alexander and others of the high priest's family. 7 They had Peter and John
brought before them and began to question them: "By what power or what name
did you do this?"
8
Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them: "Rulers and elders of
the people! 9 If we are being called to account today for an act of kindness
shown to a man who was lame and are being asked how he was healed, 10 then
know this, you and all the people of Israel: It is by the name of Jesus Christ of

24
Nazareth, whom you crucified but whom God raised from the dead, that this
man stands before you healed. 11 Jesus is
" 'the stone you builders rejected,
which has become the cornerstone.' [a]
12
Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name given under
heaven by which we must be saved."
13
When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were
unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these
men had been with Jesus. 14 But since they could see the man who had been
healed standing there with them, there was nothing they could say. 15 So they
ordered them to withdraw from the Sanhedrin and then conferred together. 16
"What are we going to do with these men?" they asked. "Everyone living in
Jerusalem knows they have performed a notable sign, and we cannot deny it. 17
But to stop this thing from spreading any further among the people, we must
warn them to speak no longer to anyone in this name."
18
Then they called them in again and commanded them not to speak or teach
at all in the name of Jesus. 19 But Peter and John replied, "Which is right in
God's eyes: to listen to you, or to him? You be the judges! 20 As for us, we
cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard."
21
After further threats they let them go. They could not decide how to punish
them, because all the people were praising God for what had happened. 22 For
the man who was miraculously healed was over forty years old.

Learning to swim?
Cola explosion
Obituaries

Tests of Life – Confidence & Vigilance

1 John 5.13-21
11 April 2010
Introduction

Deal or no deal

25
Quotes from the game summaries

o uncertainty...
o tension...
o superstition galore

GKC quote

For some the Christian life might seem like that – a sort of hopeful
‘punt’ on eternity

c.f. Pascal’s wager?!

From the perspective of the NT, in particular, John’s first letter,

nothing could be further from the truth, for John writes to his hearers –
and so indirectly us - precisely in order that they / we might have
confidence

c.f. the repeated use of the expression ‘you may know’ (x 6 NIV)

I. Confidence that we possess eternal life v.13

13
I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that
you may know that you have eternal life.

If you thought those words had a familiar ring to them, you’d be right
30
Jesus performed many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are
not recorded in this book. 31 But these are written that you may believe that
Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life
in his name.

26
The Gospel is evangelistic / The epistle is pastoral

We have seen that this has been the purpose of the letter over the last
few weeks as we have looked at its various ‘tests of life’ = indicators
of spiritual well being:

Truth
Obedience
Love
Witness
Testimony

If you want one, v.13, then, provides as good a summary as any of the
purpose of John’s letter encapsulating the heart of its message.

How confident are you of eternal life?

When Sir James Simpson the discoverer of chloroform was on his death bed, a
friend asked him, "Sir what are your speculations?" Simpson replied:
"Speculations! I have no speculations! For I know whom I have believed, and
am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him
against that day".

On a practical note, it is worth emphasising that

o such confidence is not the same as arrogance

o nor is it worked out identically in every person or every situation.
o nor does a lack of it s mean that we are not a Christian otherwise
why did John bother to write?
o but it should be a part of our Christian experience

27
 II. Confidence that our prayers are heard v.14
. 14 This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything
according to his will, he hears us. 15 And if we know that he hears us—whatever
we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him.

Prayer provides a reliable indicator of the state of our relationship

with God

Quote DMLJ

28
This is nothing, necessarily, to do with whether we feel comfortable
praying out loud or not. It is at a deeper level than that. Are we able
to approach God with confidence? If not, something is not right, for
our attitude at this point is an essential NT hallmark of what it means
to be a Christian (c.f. ‘Abba’ Galatians 4, Romans 8)

Quote from Richard Foster, Prayer

Of course, the ‘whatever we ask’ of v.15 is not a ‘free pass’ entitling

us to whatever we might decide that the Lord should give us. We
have all heard prayers like the following which most certainly does
not accord with his will…
0 Lord, thou knowest that I have nine houses in the city of London, and likewise
that I have lately purchased an estate in fee-simple in the county of Essex. Lord,
I beseech Thee to preserve the two counties of Essex and Middlesex from fires
and earthquakes; and as I have a mortgage in Hertfordshire, I beg Thee
likewise to have an eye of compassion on that county. And, Lord, for the rest of
the counties, Thou mayest deal with them as Thou art pleased. 0 Lord, enable
the Bank to answer all their bills, and make all my debtors good men. Give a
prosperous voyage and return to the Mermaid sloop, which I have insured; and
Lord, Thou hast said, “That the days of the wicked are short,” and I trust Thou
wilt not forget Thy promises, having purchased an estate in reversion of Sir J.
P., a profligate young man. Lord, keep our fund from sinking; and if it be Thy
will, let there be no sinking fund. Keep my son Caleb out of evil company, and
from gaming -houses. And sanctify, 0 Lord, this night to me, by preserving me
from thieves and fire, and make my servant honest and careful, whilst I, Thy
servant, lie down in Thee, 0 Lord. Amen.’ John Ward of Hackney, 18th century.

The confidence John speaks of is like that of a child approaching a

loving, but non-indulgent parent

Father,
Your will be done,
Your kingdom come…

Quote Stott p.185

29
 III. Confidence that our prayers have been answered v.14
15
And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have
what we asked of him.

The believer knows, therefore, that God hears their prayers, but he or
she also knows that their prayers are answered. This is quite
remarkable and came as a definite challenge to me though it shouldn’t
have done.

Matthew Parris, in recent article, talks about his experience of

emails…

30
That is how it sometimes feels with God. But if our thinking is to be
framed by the bible, it is a feeling that must be resisted, even if at
times, it is a feeling to which we need to give voice.

I suppose its back to the old traffic light principle

o Yes
o No
o Wait

In each case an answer is given.

After all, if God is God and we are seeking His will in our prayers, we
should be able to cope with a wait or even a no, for bring confident in
Him, if He does say no then, as John Stott says,

`the things are not good in themselves, or not good for us or for others, directly or
indirectly, immediately or ultimately.'

IV. Confidence in our prayer for others vv.16,17

The content of vv.16 & 17 is really a specific application of what has

gone beforehand
16
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. There is a sin that leads to death. I
am not saying that you should pray about that. 17 All wrongdoing is sin, and
there is sin that does not lead to death.

However, it raises a whole other set of questions with which we must

quickly deal. What is the difference between a ‘sin that leads to

31
death’ and a ‘sin that does not lead to death’ and why should we pray
about the one and not the other?

The correct way of understanding the distinction between the two

‘sins’, I believe, is to see that what is being described are not so much
specific acts as more general approaches. That is to say, if someone
sins through neglect or ignorance or frailty or forgetfulness or
thoughtfulness or even deliberate decision and the Holy Spirit brings
conviction of that sin and the person subsequently confesses it to God
and, where necessary, others, then that person’s sin clearly does not
lead to death. John has already made it clear that Christian’s are not
perfect and that God has made specific provision for that through the
death of Jesus – that’s the entire wonder of the Gospel.

c.f. 1 John 2.8,9

However, if one sins in any or all of the ways I mentioned and the
Holy Spirit brings conviction of that sin and the person refuses to
confess their sin to God and, where necessary, others then that
person’s sin clearly does lead to death. That is not because they have
committed some ‘unpardonable sin’, but rather because they have
closed their hearts to the love of God and have put themselves in a
position where they are unable to receive His forgiveness.

Herein lies the answer to the second question, because it is not worth
praying for such folk.

Quote Wesley in Moody Smith p.135

The practical spin off here is not only that we should be confident in
our prayers for other Christians, but implicitly we must pray for them.
Hence the importance of the prayer diary.

We tend to assume that all is well at St Cuthbert’s – it is a friendly and

welcoming church etc. – but why is that? Only by the grace of God
and the prayers of His people!

32
 V. Confidence in our walk with God vv.18
18
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.

Although, on the surface, what is said in v.18 appears to contradict

what has just been said in the previous couple of verses viz. that
Christians do sin but can be restored where it is not ‘the sin that leads
to death’, it actually sits well alongside it.. This is part of John’s style.

Once again, John is not saying that Christians never sin. He is

describing not so much isolated acts of sin – we all do things wrong -
nor the disposition we all have to commit sin – all of us have to battle

33
with a fallen human nature – so much as the direction in which our life
is orientated and the location where, spiritually, we are based. That is
to say, a Christian is someone who has begun a new life – we are born
of God – and who, in the conduct of their daily life receives strength
and protection from Christ – ‘the One who was born of God’.

Christians, then, are changed people and so should be able to echo the
famous words of John Newton

I’m not what I ought to be; I’m not what I want to be; I’m not what I’m going to
be; but, thank God: I’m not what I was

And if we cannot see change in ourselves or perhaps better others

cannot see change in us, then we have a problem.

VI. Confidence in our relationship with God

19
We know that we are children of God, and that the whole world is under the
control of the evil one.

To put it another way – using language that John uses elsewhere –

Christians are enlightened people (v.19). We live in the light of God’s
revelation.

Recalling the situation John addresses, what makes the Christian so

sure that they are right and others are wrong? Taken on its own, one
has to admit that John’s is a bit of a ‘circular’ argument akin to that of

34
the Jehovah’s witnesses, Mormons or a thousand other sects. But set
as it is within the context of the wider discussion, the most important
point of which we will be reminded in a moment, it does make good
sense.

As with answers to prayer, John’s black and white approach is perhaps

not one we naturally tend to adopt. But it has a certain logic to it –
truth is truth and error is error

c.f. H20

The fact that this cuts against the spirit of the age makes it all the more
important to hear..

Quote Carson from NDBTh p.364

VII. Confidence in Jesus Christ

20
We know also that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding,
so that we may know him who is true. And we are in him who is true by being in
his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life. 21 Dear children,
keep yourselves from idols.

Where does the ultimate grounds of our assurance lie? It lies with
Christ Himself! Here John brings us full circle to where he began his
letter, that is, with the apostolic testimony and our response to it. The
truth about God is not something that we have dreamed up, it is
something that has been revealed to us and not by some esoteric
mystery, but in a life lived out in real flesh and real blood.

35
1
That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have
seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched—this
we proclaim concerning the Word of life. 2 The life appeared; we have seen it
and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the
Father and has appeared to us. 3 We proclaim to you what we have seen and
heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with
the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. 4 We write this to make our [a] joy
complete.
1 John1.1f

This is the ultimate apologetic and the ultimate argument which is

why we must patiently and persuasively and passionately and politely
bear witness to Christ.

Conclusion

36
37
38