Here’s What We DO Know!

22nd Sunday after Pentecost, 10/20/13
1 John 5:13-15


Here’s What We DO Know!
I. We have eternal life.
II. We have confidence in prayer.


With each passing day in our modern world more information gets shared than ever before. In fact, we get so much of it that we ignore more of it than we pay attention to. We simply don’t have the time to take it all in. TMI—too much information.

And yet there are still so many things that we don’t know. I’m sure you’re not surprised that there are web sites devoted to informing us about what we don’t know. I found one that stated there are many things we don’t know about our own brains. For instance, just what is consciousness? Here’s another one: how does the brain sort impressions such as pain, taste and color?

And our lack of information becomes cosmic when we consider our own galaxy and others. Just what is a black hole? Is there life on another planet? How long will the sun continue to shine?
Our lack of information even extends into our spiritual lives. We have questions which the Bible doesn’t answer. For instance, where does the soul come from? If our God knew that our world would become so sinful and so evil, why did he create it in the first place? If there is intelligent life on another planet, is it sinful? I’m sure you can think of a few more things that we just don’t know because our God hasn’t revealed them to us.

But he has revealed to us what we need to know. And that’s a comforting thought. Our God is not hiding some information from us that we absolutely need to know.

The Apostle John wrote these words of our text to early Christians who weren’t so sure about that. They were being told by false teachers that the information in the Bible is fine, but it’s not complete. They said there is more you need to know and we’re here to tell you what it is. In doing so, they were actually denying Jesus as the all-sufficient Savior from sin.

John patiently and simply reminded them of what they had in Jesus, the eternal Son of God and Savior of the world. In this portion of his letter to them, he reminded them and he reminds us of what we do know. Here’s what we DO know. May our God comfort and strengthen us through his eternal, saving truth this morning!

Part I.

Ever since the appearance of the movie Bucket List in 2007, it’s been popular for people to make their own list. A friend might tell you that they went sky diving and when you ask why, they tell you it was on their bucket list. And we can admire that. It’s a good thing to have a few items to accomplish before “kicking the bucket.”

Sad to say, attaining eternal life is absent from far too many bucket lists. Some people are convinced that this life is it; there is no life hereafter. Others are so busy either enjoying this life or trying to get ahead in this life, that they never get around to attaining eternal life. Even more people think they have it, but they’re wrong. They’re trusting in a way to the life after this one that simply doesn’t exist.

And then there are those who hope they have attained it but they aren’t sure. They hope they’ve lived a good enough life here to earn life in heaven, but they aren’t sure. Even some Christians in moments of tremendous weakness of faith when they’re overwhelmed by their sinfulness and unworthiness before God, state that they only hope to get to heaven. How sad! They just don’t know.

The Apostle John would tell such people, “Here’s what we DO know.” Listen to what he wrote, “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.” John tells us something we already know, namely, that we believe in the saving name of the Son of God. Why did John say it that way? Why did he write “you believe in the saving name of the Son of God” instead of just saying, “you believe in Jesus”? He could have. But the false teachers that were pestering these Christians were picking and choosing what they wanted to believe about Jesus. When John uses the term “the saving name of the Son of God,” he points to the full revelation of who Jesus is and what he came to this earth to do. He reminds these Christians that they have everything Jesus wants them to know about himself in order that they can come to faith in him and have eternal life. In his gospel, John quoted Jesus saying, “God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16). Do you trust in Jesus as your Savior? Then you don’t have to hope you have eternal life, you definitely have it.

God the Holy Spirit gave you that faith in Jesus and he nurtures and strengthens that faith in Jesus. At your baptism he entered your heart to bring you to faith in Jesus, make you a child of God and an heir of eternal life. Each time you hear or read the good news that Jesus is your Savior from sin, he strengthens that faith. Every time you receive your Savior’s body and blood in the Lord’s Supper, he is feeding your faith in Jesus who has prepared an eternal, heavenly banquet for you. This is what your faith is all about—attaining eternal life. And it’s all yours by faith in Jesus.
Here’s what we DO know! We know we have eternal life.

I think you’d agree with me that knowing that makes everything else pale in comparison. What we need most of all—eternal life with our Savior—we already have. And we know that. But we get so consumed with living life here that we forget. Not a day goes by when we don’t encounter at least one disappointment, one aggravation, one frustration, one tragedy. There are days when our lives are filled with them. And we’re still pestered by yesterday’s problems when today piles more on us. It feels as if we stagger and reel from one to the next. And the fact that we know we have eternal life is pushed back into a crowded corner of our minds and hearts.

People of God, stop for a moment and think! We don’t know how all these issues and problems will be solved or even if they will be solved. We don’t know if our God is going to remove them from our lives or if he will allow them to linger in order to drive us closer to him. But we DO know this: Our greatest problem—our sinfulness—has been solved by our sinless Savior, Jesus. He came to win eternal life for all people and I know he accomplished it because he not only died, he rose again. We know that we have that eternal life because we trust in him as our Savior. Now doesn’t that great truth bring us daily comfort and assurance as we press on? Doesn’t that great truth drive frustration and despair far from us? Indeed it does!

Part II.

People who trust in Jesus have many great spiritual blessings in addition to forgiveness and eternal life. We have the fellowship of believers. We have the assurance of our God’s presence with us. We have an eternal purpose for our lives. And we have the privilege of prayer to our almighty and all-knowing God.

That’s the second blessing that John points to in our text. He speaks about the confidence we have in going to our God in prayer. Listen again to what he says, “This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him.” In spite of the fact that John speaks so confidently about our prayers, some Christians aren’t so sure. So let’s review what we know about prayer.

First, God always listens to the prayers of his people and he answers every one of them. It is never the case that God is too busy or is distracted by other concerns so that our prayers pass by his ears unheard. In fact, the Bible says that God knows what we’re going to pray for even before we pray it. Of course he does! We know that! And he always answers every one our prayers. It may not be the answer we want, but it’s the answer that is best for us according to his divine wisdom. His answer might be, “No.”

And yet John tells us this about our prayers, “We know that we have what we asked of him.” Really? How can that be true? It is when we do as John states—that we ask for things that are in keeping with God’s will, in other words, what God wants for us. Well, how do I know what God wants for me? I only know what he tells me in his word. In his word he tells me that he wants to give me trust in him, comfort for my troubles, strength to face temptation, guidance for life from his word. In other words, he wants an abundance of spiritual blessings for me. When I pray for those blessings which are the most important blessings to have, I can count on receiving them through his word. I don’t know if God wants to me or you to have fame or fortune, to have a spouse or remain single, to keep working or to retire, to move or to stay where I am, to keep this job or find another one. But here’s what we DO know: we have confidence in prayer when we pray according to his will.

Is your prayer life what it should be? I know mine isn’t. If Jesus considered prayer to his heavenly Father to be so important that he would go away by himself to pray for extended periods of time, shouldn’t prayer be even more important for you and me? But we get so busy that we forget to pray. And when we do pray and it doesn’t seem to help, we wonder what’s the use. We’re not sure what to think about prayer. Listen, fellow Christian! Here’s what we DO know. We have a Savior who wants an eternal relationship with us so much, that he sacrificed himself on the cross to accomplish it. He’s made us his own dear children. And he wants to hear from us in prayer. We can go to him about anything and everything and he will always do what is best for us. In fact, when we pray for something that he also wants for us, we can be sure that we will receive. So pray, fellow Christians! Pray! Be persistent in prayer, knowing that you can pray with confidence. Amen.