Date: 5.11.17
Text: James 5:13-19
Title: Quick call the elder!
Place: Rhema
File: James 5b
Preacher: Stephen Taylor
My youngest boy Joshua was sick recently. He had a sore ear. He was swallowing hard to get rid of the blockage. He was trying to yawn and to burp. He was walking up and down with his head on an angle, hoping the problem would fall out. And when nothing was doing any good and the pain got worse and worse we took him to the doctor. The next day I sat down to write my last sermon on the book of James and came to this passage! Now should I have not taken Joshua to the doctor? Should I have rung instead for an elder?
Well what do you do when you are sick? Do you go to the doctor and think nothing more of it? Or do you go to the doctor after praying that God would use the doctor to make you better? Do you hate doctors and just hope that it will all go away? Or do you ring up an elder for a home visit?
James 5 leads us to the thorny problem of healing. Does God still heal today? If so does He do it through modern medicine or just through prayer? And if you do pray and God doesn’t heal was it a problem with your faith, the elder’s faith, the oil used or was God not telling the truth?
For as James finishes his letter he wants to emphasise the power that is available for us to live the Christian life. It is not just about hearing the word, it is doing what it says. It is not just about faith but about actions. And so before he signs off he wants to emphasise to us that we can’t do this on our own. We need the power of prayer and the power of care.
- The Power of Prayer (verse 13)
Praying Christians 13”Is anyone among you in trouble? Let them pray.Is anyone happy? Let them sing songs of praise.“There is power in the praying Christian because if you are in trouble, you can speak to the one who has the whole world in his hands. If you are in trouble, you don’t have to face it alone. If you are in trouble God is only a prayer away.
Pain should then take us to God. When we feel pain, disappointment, loss, grief, trouble we have in our grasp the power of prayer. We can talk to God about it. Now you would think that the type of prayer that James would be talking about is something that goes like “Lord, please take it away.” Or maybe something a bit more pious “Lord please take it away, if this be your will.” A bit like Psalm 4:1 “Answer me when I call to you, O my righteous God. Give me relief from my distress.” We could pray for God to change the situation. But not all prayers are like that.
For if you read the Psalms there is also prayers of lament. Psalm 4:2 “How long, O men, will you turn my glory into shame. How long will you love delusions and seek false gods.” Prayer can be one way we can express our frustrations, knowing that God is the one who cares about what we are going through.
Prayer could be one of confession. Psalm 51:1 “Have mercy on me O God, according to your unfailing love. Wash away all my iniquity and cleans me from every sin. Against you I have sinned and done what is evil in your sight.” Sometimes, not always, sometimes the trouble is our fault and we need God to forgive us and fix up our mess.
And sometimes in our pain we pray as a way of trusting God. Back to Psalm 4 again, verse 8 “I will lie down and sleep in peace for you alone O Lord, make me dwell in safety.” Prayer then is an incredibly powerful thing. Where we can put our trust in the one who holds the whole world in his hand. We can seek his help, his presence or his reassurance.
Two men rested at the top of a high mountain. The first man turned to the second climber and said, “What brings you way up here? This is a tough climb.” The man replied, “Well, it’s like this. All my troubles and heartaches are down in that little valley, and when I’m down there, they seem pretty big. But up here they seem pretty small...”And this is what prayer does for us. When we are “up there” with God in prayer our troubles “down here” seem much smaller.
But prayer is not only available when we are in trouble but also when we are happy. James continues, “Is any of you happy? Let him sing songs of praise.” We can talk to God when we are happy as well. We can pray a prayer of praise. Or we can sing a song of praise to God. God is only a word away in both the highs of this life and in the lows of this life. In the words of one preacher“Our whole life should be so angled towards God that whatever strikes upon us, whether sorrow or joy, should be deflected upwards at once into His presence.”
James message here is very clear. In all of your life, prayer is a great option. Life good? Pray. Life tough? Pray. Life a struggle? Pray. Life a joy? Pray. Prayer is always appropriate. But I wonder when do you find it easier to pray to God during? Tough times or good time? In the past tough times drew people to God in prayer. Wars brought them back to God. Tragedies would see churches open and people coming to pray. But now tough times takes us away from God. Instead people ask why Goddid you allow this to happen? But here James is encouraging us to always keep the lines of communication open to God.
Praying Christians and praying Elders. 14“Is anyone among you sick? Let themcall the eldersof the church to pray over them and anoint them with oilin the name of the Lord 15And the prayer offered in faithwill make the sick person well; the Lord will raise them up. If they have sinned, they will be forgiven”.
So if you are in trouble you pray or happy you sing praises and if you are sick you get the elders to pray. You see it’s still all about prayer. This time we need God and each other. We need God and the Church. For if the sheep are unwell, why not call the shepherds to speak to the chief shepherd?
Now this passage has been greatly confused. So let’s just try and work our way through what is happening before we think about how it applies to us. For there seems to me to be four steps happening here.
Step #1: The sick person calls for the elders. The word “sick” is very broad. It includes any serious physical, mental, emotional, spiritual, or relational problem that has become too heavy to bear. The elders are called because they represent the church and because they know how to pray to God. But the callis initiated by the sick person.
Step #2: The elders go to the sick person. They go together because there is strength in numbers. And, by going in person, they can pray for them in a way that the sick person may not be able to do themselves. But they also communicate the message that the church has not forgotten those who are sick, that they are a greatly loved part of the family.
Step #3: The elders pray and anoint with oil. So prayer is at the heart of what is happening here. But James also tells them to anoint the sick person with oil. In the OT priests and kings were anointed with oil to set them apart for God’s service. It also symbolised God’s presence. So it is like the elders are saying “God is here and He is able to heal you.”But notice that the anointing is to be done “in the name of the Lord.” This is very important because it reminds us that God is the ultimate source of all blessing and healing. The power is not in the elders, in the oil, or even in the prayers -- but in the name of the Lord.
Now oil was also a medicine in those days. So by anointing the sick person with oil it might also be saying go to the elders but also take your medicine as well. Which I think is an important point because God will use the ordinary means as well as the extraordinary means to heal people. But I think here the oil is more symbolic than medicinal.
Step #4: And lastly there is healing. Verse 15 makes a rather bold promise: “And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well.” This fourth step is simply the expected result of steps 1-3: The sick person is healed.
So is the sick person always healed? I’ve heard of plenty of healing services where the person wasn’t healed or where the faith healer said the person was healed but the future proved them to be wrong. But don’t forget that at the end of James 4 we read about the businessman who boasted about what would happen in the future and was told not to boast and instead say if the Lord wills this will happen. So everything is ultimately up to the Lord whether he will heal the sick person or not.
But I want to point out that the word healed is also the same word for saved. The sick person might be cured or he might be saved. She might come back to full health in this life or die and come back to full health in the life to come. God is sovereign. We don’t demand that things work out according to our plans and purposes. We commit them to the Lord and ask that He will heal them, that He will save them. That he will keep them in his grasp.
For James the apostle who wrote this book died. He wasn’t healed from his old age. And Paul in 2 Corinthians 12 prays three times that the thorn is flesh, whatever that was, is taken away but it didn’t ever leave him. Instead he was told by God, “my grace is sufficient for you.” God doesn’t always heal. But the prayer of faith will always find God is at work.
American preacher Tony Compolo tells a story about being in a church in Oregon where he was asked to pray for a man who had cancer. Compolo prayed boldly for the man’s healing. That next week he got a telephone call from the man’s wife. She said, "You prayed for my husband. He had cancer. He died."
Compolo felt terrible.But she continued, "Don’t feel bad. When he came into that church that Sunday he was filled with anger. He knew he was going to be dead in a short period of time & he hated God. He was 58 years old and he wanted to see his children and grandchildren grow up. He was angry that this all-powerful God didn’t take away his sickness and heal him. He would lie in bed and curse God. The more his anger grew towards God, the more miserable he was to everybody around him. It was an awful thing to be around him.
But the lady told Compolo, “After you prayed for him, a peace had come over him and a joy had come into him. Tony, the last three days have been the best days of our lives. We’ve sung. We’ve laughed. We’ve read Scripture. We prayed. Oh, they’ve been wonderful days. And I called to thank you for praying for healing.”And then she said something incredibly profound. She said, "He wasn’t cured, but he was healed." (Tony Campolo, "Year of Jubilee," Preaching Today Tape #212)And we see that a bit clearer when we go onto the next verse and see praying Christians, praying elders and
Praying friends.“Therefore confess your sinsto each other & pray for each other so that you may be healed.The prayer of a righteous person is powerful & effective.”
Because it is not just you as a Christian who prays or the elders who pray but you need to go to fellow Christians, your friends, your brothers and sisters in Christ and pray for one another. James says we are to confess our sins to one another and pray for healing for one another. Now, I want you to notice here that James does not say “Go confess your sins to a priest”. Nor does he say get together in your small group and talk about the problem that you and your friend have had. He says, “Go to your friend” and pray.
Friends one way that we can grow in our faith is having people that are committed to us, praying for us, keeping us accountable. When I was studying to be a minister I met with three other guys each fortnight and we asked ourselves these questions…
1. Have you been in a compromising position with a woman anywhere this past week?
2. Have any of your financial dealings lacked integrity?
3. Have you exposed yourself to any sexually explicit material?
4. Have you spent adequate time in Bible study and prayer?
5. Have you given priority time to your family?
6. Have you fulfilled the mandate of your calling?
And then we ended with the killer question. 7. Have you just lied to me? Friends that is the power of having a Christian friend in your corner. Praying for you. So think who might that be for you? How could you open yourself up to that sort of prayer and support?
Praying Christians, praying elders, praying friends andPraying Prophets.The prayer of a righteous person is powerful & effective.17Elijah was a human being, even as we are.He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years.18Again he prayed, and the heavens gave rain, and the earth produced its crops.
Prayer is powerful. Prayer is effective. James says look at Elijah, he was a human being just as us. He was like us. A man with great strengths and massive insecurities. An ordinary man who did extraordinary things through prayer. He prayed and caused a drought for 3 1/2 years. Imagine that. He then prayed & broke a drought of 3 1/2 years.
Because the power of prayer is not in the one who prays. It is the one you pray to. And you can pray to your Mum, or Saint Anthony or Buddha and it will have no power. But if you pray to the God of Creation, the father of the Lord Jesus Christ, then anything can happen. Sicknesses can be healed. Sins can be forgiven. Droughts can be stopped. In fact Jesus says if you ask this mountain to get up and go land in the sea, it will do it. Friends we want to unleash the power of prayer as well as be open to
- The Power of Care
That is why the book of James ends with these words, 19“My brothers and sisters, if one of you should wander from the truthand someone should bring that person back,20remember this: Whoever turns a sinner from the error of their way will savethem from death and cover over a multitude of sins”
For sometimes people in our fellowship slip away. At times it is because of sickness, they can’t get to Church and we can forget that they are still there. Sometimes it is due to sin and they are embarrassed and they isolate themselves to deal with their guilty conscience. And sometimes they wander from the truth and soon they find themselves along way from God and from us.
That is when we have to have the power to care enough to chase them. To teach them. To confront them. To warn them. To challenge them. To love them. And sometimes when we care like that God will use us to bring them back. Sometimes he will use us to turn a sinner from the error of their ways. Sometimes he will use us to save them, because we care.
There is a power in prayer and there is a power in care. And in the same way that God often heals with medicine as well as prayer. So he can bring people back supernaturally without us and naturally with us. But when he uses us we get to share in the blessings. We get to see the work of God at close hand. We get to do things that last for eternity.
So it’s a funny way for the book of James to end. No signing of James name. No personal notes. No yours sincerely or even regards. Instead the last word is about doing something powerful. Being men and women of prayer and men and women who care. So the time for listening is gone and the time for action has begun. The real work of the book of James is now going to start. So don’t just hear what James says,go out and do it!