Thursday, October 27, 2011

Can Unconfessed Sin Block Answers to our Prayers?

Just yesterday I was reading through some material written by Beth Moore – a popular and gifted Evangelical Bible teacher. She was teaching on the life of David, and about how the unrepentant sin of King Saul kept God from hearing his prayers. From an Old Covenant framework, I was in general agreement with what she was saying. But as I read on, she began to shift this Old Covenant reality into a New Covenant frame of reference, suggesting that unconfessed, unrepentant sin in the life of a Christian can cause God to choose not to hear our prayers. This kind of teaching is common among Evangelicals, but is it Biblical?

Allow me to preface my remarks by saying that I have a high level of admiration for Beth Moore. I think her ministry is an asset to the Body of Christ in many ways, and in no way am I attempting to cause division in the Body of Christ by critiquing her teaching in this area. Beth Moore is a passionate believer in Christ and I'm proud to call her my sister in the faith.

That being said, I have some very passionate views regarding the importance of our belief in the absolute, finished work of Jesus Christ as our Advocate, Redeemer, High Priest, Savior and King. In my opinion, what I read in Beth Moore’s workbook reflects a very typical view among Evangelicals who routinely mix Old Covenant with New Covenant. This mixture is usually not intentional deception on the part of the teacher, but is nonetheless unfortunate because it minimizes (or in some cases, even denies) Christ’s victorious accomplishments through the cross and resurrection.

Among the many things Christ accomplished for us on the cross was to bring us into an irreversible condition of unbroken fellowship with God (1 John 1:4). Beth’s views expressed in the workbook reflect an error that I have sought to expose through sound exegesis of 1 John 1, among other passages, which some Christians interpret to suggest that if we don’t confess our sins, we are somehow “out of fellowship with God” and therefore subject to Him refusing to commune with us, answer our prayers, etc. until we “get right” with Him. The problems with these ideas are too many to count when you really get honest about what the New Testament thoroughly teaches.

When Christ “fulfilled the Law” (Matt. 5:17), He did so by perfectly keeping the Law so as to become our sinless Substitute and be qualified to die as a pure and unblemished sacrifice for our sins. By fulfilling the Law, Jesus is telling us that He not only DIED in our place, but LIVED in our place. What this means is that His perfect track-record of sinlessness is now credited to us as though it were our very own record of performance. He became sin for us, so that we might become the righteousness of God through faith in Him (2 Cor. 5:21). Because Christ suffered separation from God on the cross, we will NEVER suffer separation from God in any form of relationship, fellowship, etc. The idea that God chooses not to hear our prayers (or “won’t” hear, as Beth states) is a mixture of Old Covenant and New Covenant realities – plain and simple.

Under the New Covenant, God NEVER turns a deaf ear to our prayers on the basis of unconfessed sin. If this were taken to its logical conclusion, this would mean that we would have to confess EVERY sin in order for God to hear us. Beth Moore and others might suggest that she is merely talking about obvious, “major” sins like the ones she highlights from Saul’s life – but God doesn’t approach the issue of sin that way. He doesn’t operate by an economy of confession. He operates by an economy of blood, because He knows that only an eternal blood sacrifice that can be applied to ALL sin (even the “little” ones we forget to confess) is sufficient to unite us in unbroken fellowship with Him. If confession of sin could restore fellowship to God, the shed blood of Jesus was completely unnecessary.

I could go on and on, but I want to get to the issue of the subjective feeling we sometimes have when it seems like God is not hearing our prayers. While this is never actually the case in the life of a believer, there are times when it sure feels that way – and SOMETIMES this perception can be provoked by sin in our lives that we haven’t dealt with properly. When we are walking in unconfessed, unrepentant rebellion, it is easy to see why God seems distant even though He is actually not. Because we’ve been given a re-created spirit in our inner being, there is a battle between our spirit, which is perfectly righteous and submitted to God, and our flesh, which is often lured away by various temptations. When we walk in sin, we are not walking in accordance with our new nature, but in accordance with our flesh. Because we were not designed to feel fulfilled, secure and at peace while walking in the flesh, we subjectively feel as though God is “distant” or not hearing us.

For example, 1 Peter 3:7 speaks about husbands loving their wives properly so that their prayers will “not be hindered.” These texts in no way imply that God will refuse to answer their prayers, because these believers are already clothed in the righteousness of Christ. What the text IS getting at is that their prayers will be hindered from their subjective perspective. In other words, their prayer lives cannot be as rich, rewarding and fulfilling when they are walking in blatant rebellion against God because pride, guilt, anger, etc. will dull their ability to hear God’s voice and be sensitive to the gentle movement of His Spirit.

So the REAL issue under the New Covenant is not that God refuses to answer the prayers of a rebellious person. The REAL issue is that even though God will continue to answer their prayers on the basis of their irreversible righteousness in Christ, they will not enjoy the experiential peace of that sweet, unbroken fellowship because their own hearing has been dulled by a sinful frame of mind. As Paul explained so beautifully in Romans 8:5-6:

For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace.

As Paul told the Ephesians after spending three amazing chapters hammering home the reality of our irreversible righteous standing in Christ, he opens up chapter 4 with the words, “As a prisoner of the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received.” In other words, out of grateful response to the unconditional grace God has poured out upon us, we are to surrender to the Spirit’s leading in such a way that we live lives worthy of that incredible calling.

NEVER are we encouraged to live righteous lives in order to ensure that God will hear our prayers. Why? Because with Jesus Christ sitting at the right hand of the Father as our eternal Advocate and High Priest, our prayers will ALWAYS be heard by our gracious Father – no matter the current, temporary struggles of our hearts.

BOTTOM LINE: UNREPENTANT SIN CAN DULL OUR ABILITY TO HEAR GOD’S VOICE – BUT SIN CAN NEVER GET IN THE WAY OF GOD ANSWERING OUR PRAYERS. JESUS HAS FOREVER DEALT WITH THAT BY GOING TO THE CROSS AND RISING FROM THE GRAVE!

Feel free to chime in with your own thoughts about this...