‘You may know that you have eternal life.” (6) (1 John 5:13-21)

‘You may know that you have eternal life.” (6)

[1 John 5:13-21]

        The second assurance is the assurance of answering prayer. In other words, it is the assurance that God will hear our prayers if we only ask according to God's will.

        When you pray to God, are you confident that your prayers will be answered? On November 8, 2020, while meditating on the words of Psalm 55:16-17, I would like to share what I wrote under the title ‘Why am I not sure of answers to my prayers?’: Why am I not sure of answers to prayers? Why am I praying to God, but not convinced that God will hear me? Perhaps the reason is because I am being led by a situation when I am praying to God. So, when the situation seems to be getting better for me, I seem to have confidence in my prayer in the thought that God is hearing my prayer. But if the situation is getting worse in my opinion, I cannot have confidence in prayer. Maybe that's because right now I'm focusing on my expectations and praying to God. My expectation is that the suffering members enjoy freedom from that suffering. I don't want them to suffer anymore. I am praying for healing from addiction or disease. I think this expectation of prayer is reasonable and natural. But if I pray to God and things don't go as expected, how can I continue to pray to God with confidence in prayer? I will never be able to do so. I want to learn the prayer of Jesus: “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will” (Mt. 26:39). In order for me to pray to God with the assurance of answering prayer, I need to focus on who God is and instead of focusing on circumstances or expectations. God is salvation. The meaning of the name of Jesus is 'God is salvation'. The indwelling Holy Spirit makes us look to this God of salvation with faith and pray. And God is love (1 Jn. 4:8, 16). The God of love first loved and saved sinners like me who were enemies with God, who had no choice but to die spiritually and eternally. If we know and believe in the saving love of this Holy Trinity God, we have no choice but to have the assurance of answers our prayers when we pray in the name of the Son Jesus, following the guidance of the Holy Spirit who intercedes for us according to God's will (Rom. 8:27).

        In today's text, 1 John 5:14-15, the Bible says this: ”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.” The Apostle John says, ‘I have the confidence that God hears our prayers. This is not the assurance of answers prayer that only the Apostle John or the recipients of the letter of 1 John can have. You and I, who have received eternal life by believing in Jesus Christ, can also have the assurance of answering our prayers. The secret is if we only ask according to his will (v. 14). In other words, the secret to having the assurance that our prayers will be answered is that we ask according to God’s will. But I think there are at least three problems:

(1) The first problem is that most of us pray to God without knowing what God’s will is.

How much do we actually know God's will? In fact, we do not even know the will of God, which is spoken of in the 66 books of the Bible. For example, in 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18, the Bible says what God's will is: “Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.” However, when we pray to God, how many times have we prayed to God, saying, ‘God, please make me always rejoice, pray without ceasing, and give thanks in everything according to God’s will? Another example is in 1 Thessalonians 4:3, the Bible says, “It is God's will that you should be sanctified.” When we pray to God, how many times have we asked God to sanctify me according to His will? Another example is in John 6:40, where the Bible says, “For the will of my Father is that everyone who sees the Son and believes in him has eternal life ….” But how many times have we prayed to God for receiving eternal life by believing in Jesus according to our Heavenly Father’s will? As we do not know the will of God in the Bible, if we look at the contents of our prayers, I think that it is a big problem that we are not praying according to God's will.

(2) The second problem is that we seek our own will rather than God’s will.

Looking at the contents of our prayers, most of us have been asking God for our own will to be done instead God’s will be done. The reason is because we do not know what God's will is. How can we pray according to God's will when we do not know His will? Therefore, we have no choice but to pray to God according to our will.

(3) The third problem is that we often pray to God according to our will even though we know God's will.

To that extent, we pray not to submit to God's will, but to carry out our will to God. So we must imitate (learn) the prayer of Jesus who asked Heavenly Father on the Mount of Olives: “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done” (Lk. 22:42).

This is the lyric 3 of the hymn “My Jesus, as Thou Wilt”: “My Jesus, as Thou wilt! All shall be well for me; Each changing future scene I gladly trust with Thee. Straight to my home above I travel calmly on; And sing, in life or death, My Lord, Thy will be done. The person who wrote this hymn is Pastor Benjamin Schmolk (1672-1737). More than 100 years have passed since Martin Luther’s Reformation swept across Europe and Germany, and the Lutheran Church is on the verge of decline. Pastor Benjamin Schmolk, who is also a descendant of the Reformer, was the last pastor of a small church touring a wide area serving the members. However, it was not enough for the couple to tour a large area, and as time passed, they went to visit more distant places. That winter of 1704, the year that Rev. Benjamin Schmolck was 32 years old. Leaving their two sons behind, the Schmolcks and his wife went to a distant visitation. For some reason, they felt uncomfortable, but they had to go because they had been putting off a visit for a long time. The next day, when they returned home from a distant visit, the house they lived in was burned down and they could not find any traces of it. The problem wasn't the house, it was the two sons sleeping in it. The Schmolks frantically began digging through the ashes like howling beasts, and their two sleeping sons were burned to death, hugging each other. ‘Ah Ah! How could such a thing ... How could the two beloved sons burn to death after returning from God's work? ...’ The Schmolcks wept bitterly for a long time. Shumolk, exhausted during his suffering, remembered the figure of Jesus praying in the Garden of Gethsemane, who died for him at that moment, sweating blood and praying (Internet). So the lyrics written by Pastor Benjamin Schmolk are the hymns “My Jesus, as Thou wilt”: (1) My Jesus, as Thou wilt! O may Thy will be mine; Into Thy hand of love I would my all resign. Through sorrow, or thro' joy, Conduct me as Thine own; And help me still to say, My Lord, Thy will be done. (2) My Jesus, as Thou wilt! Though seen through many a tear, Let not my star of hope Grow dim or disappear. Since Thou on earth hast wept, And sorrowed oft alone, If I must weep with Thee, My Lord, Thy will be done. (3) My Jesus, as Thou wilt! All shall be well for me; Each changing future scene I gladly trust with Thee. Straight to my home above I travel calmly on; And sing, in life or death, My Lord, Thy will be done. Amen.

The Apostle John already mentioned prayer in 1 John 3:21-22 in addition to 1 John 5:14-15: “Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God and receive from him anything we ask, because we obey his commands and do what pleases him” (3:21-22). The Apostle John said in 1 John 3:21-22 that the secret to receiving answers to prayers from God is that we keep God’s commandments and do what is pleasing in His sight. Then, what pleases God? It is obedience to God's commandment, which is to believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and to love one another, as he commanded us (v. 23). In other words, our faith must be a living faith, and it must be a faith that loves one another according to the commandment of Jesus. And when we love one another as Jesus commanded, “we must not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth” (v. 18). Then we can know that we belong to the truth, and set out hearts at rest in God’s presence (v. 19). In doing so, our hearts do not condemn us and we have confidence before God (v. 21). This is the love where there is nothing in us to make us stumble (2:10). After this word, the Apostle John came to 1 John 5:14 in today's text and said, “This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.” The Korean modern Bible is translated as ‘If we ask anything according to God’s will, we have the conviction that God will hear our prayers.’ It is said that the assurance of answering God's prayers is "if we ask anything according to his will” (v. 14). But in 1 John 3:22, we are also taught that we should live according to God's will and pray to Him. In other words, the secret of receiving the God’s answer to our prayer is to live according to God's will and seek only God's will.

But the problem is that we do not know the will of God very well. That is why I believe that the words of Romans 8:26-27, 34 that I received grace while preparing the time to recite Romans 8 to commemorate the 41st anniversary of the establishment of Victory Presbyterian Church are the solution to that problem. Look at Romans 8:26-27, 34: “In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God's will. … Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died--more than that, who was raised to life--is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us.” The comfort and strength we receive from these words is the fact that the Holy Spirit also helps us in our weakness (v. 26). Our weakness here is that “We do not know what we ought to pray for” (v. 26). Why do we not know what we ought to pray for? The reason is because we do not know what the will of God is. That is why we cannot ask only according to the will of God as 1 John 5:14 says. This is “our weakness” (Rom. 8:26). But, Romans 8:26 says, “The Spirit also helps us in our weakness.” How does the Holy Spirit help us in our weakness? The Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God's will (v. 26). The Holy Spirit himself intercedes for us according to the will of God (v. 27). Interestingly, the Bible says “In the same way, the Spirit,” because Romans 8:34 says that Christ Jesus, who is at the right hand of God, also interceding for us. On the Mount of Olives, Jesus said, “Father, if it is your will, take this cup from me. But, not my will, but your will” (Lk. 22:42). It is Jesus who seeks and obeys the Father’s will. When that Jesus makes intercession for us at the right hand of God, won't He pray only according to the will of God the Father? That is, God the Son, Jesus Christ, intercedes for us according to the will of God the Father, and God the Holy Spirit also intercedes for us “according to the will of God” to God the Father. Will Heavenly Father turn away from the prayers of the Son Jesus and God the Holy Spirit? Heavenly Father hears the prayers that Jesus the Son and God the Holy Spirit pray for us only according to the will of God. That is why the Apostle John is saying this in 1 John 5:15 in today's text: “And if we know that he hears us--whatever we ask--we know that we have what we asked of him.” Because Jesus the Son and God the Holy Spirit are interceding for us only according to the will of God, we can know that God hears our prayers (v. 15) if we ask anything according to God’s will (v. 14). This is the assurance of answering prayers we should have.