All About That Christian Life

All About That Christian Life | James 5:13-20 It's hard to believe, but we're wrapping up our sermon series in James this morning. I don't know about you, but this book has been such a blessing. When we opened the series, we spoke about having joy, even in the most difficult of times. James spoke about this even in our passage last week, where he encouraged the Christian to be patient. James spoke to this church about temptation and how the Christian cannot blame God for temptation but must overcome their desires. He then reminded us that good intentions are not good enough as they must be followed by action. James warned these Christians in chapter two about showing partiality, in chapter three about our words and seeking godly wisdom instead of the wisdom from the world. And in chapters four and five, James condemned the arrogantly presumptuous, and the oppressive rich from taking advantage of those less fortunate. Today, we'll be in James 5:13-20 as we wrap up our sermon series. I want to share something quickly before we get into the passage. About a week and half ago, a mutual friend and acquaintance of Natalie and I reached out to us. Fairly random and unexpected. After engaging, she revealed that she was agnostic and had some questions about God and Christianity. During our conversation, I saw myself, not only speaking about God's grace and His plan of salvation through Jesus, but I found myself referencing relationship and - in so many words - the family like community of our church specifically. I've shared this before, but the acceptance and the relationships that I've built since surrendering to Christ when I was 17 were the things that attracted me to the faith to begin with. It is also one of the reasons why picking this church was very easy for us back in 2010. I share this because after studying the passage we're going to read in a few moments, I realized that James has done an incredible job in this section in pulling out what the Christian lifestyle should look like. Follow along as we read James 5:13-20. 13 IS ANYONE AMONG YOU SUFFERING? LET HIM PRAY. IS ANYONE CHEERFUL? LET HIM SING PRAISE. 14 IS ANYONE AMONG YOU SICK? LET HIM CALL FOR THE ELDERS OF THE CHURCH, AND LET THEM PRAY OVER HIM, ANOINTING HIM WITH OIL IN THE NAME OF THE LORD. 15 AND THE PRAYER OF FAITH WILL SAVE THE ONE WHO IS SICK, AND THE LORD WILL RAISE HIM UP. AND IF HE HAS COMMITTED SINS, HE WILL BE FORGIVEN. 16 THEREFORE, CONFESS YOUR SINS TO ONE ANOTHER AND PRAY FOR ONE ANOTHER, THAT YOU MAY BE HEALED. THE PRAYER OF A RIGHTEOUS PERSON HAS GREAT POWER AS IT IS WORKING. 17 ELIJAH WAS A MAN WITH A NATURE LIKE OURS, AND HE PRAYED FERVENTLY THAT IT MIGHT NOT RAIN, AND FOR THREE YEARS AND SIX MONTHS IT DID NOT RAIN ON THE EARTH. 18 THEN HE PRAYED AGAIN, AND HEAVEN GAVE RAIN, AND THE EARTH BORE ITS FRUIT. 19 MY BROTHERS, IF ANYONE AMONG YOU WANDERS FROM THE TRUTH AND SOMEONE BRINGS HIM BACK, 20 LET HIM KNOW THAT WHOEVER BRINGS BACK A SINNER FROM HIS WANDERING WILL SAVE HIS SOUL FROM DEATH AND WILL COVER A MULTITUDE OF SINS. While there seems to be a lot to unpack here, I'm going to try to make it as simple as possible. Let's begin by identifying the main idea from this passage: A Christian's life is characterized by prayer, worship, and fellowship. Not only will this be the main idea for our time today, but this will also be the outline in which we will discuss: THE LIFE OF A CHRISTIAN The life of a Christian is full, and what we'll see is that it is full of four primary areas that James describes for us in this passage today. First, the Christian's life is ... * Full of prayer o James addresses TWO TYPES OF PRAYER in this passage: * Individual prayer * Verse 13, James tells the suffering to pray. * The person he addresses here is the one who is afflicted. The one who is under duress or in the midst of a trail. * This is a command to that Christian that has been patiently waiting and enduring * The word used here is in the present tense, so it could literally be translated "let him keep on praying" * The Apostle Paul told the Thessalonians to do the same thing, "pray without ceasing" * Prayer drives us to fellowship with the Lord o In it, we can praise Him o In it, we can confess o In it, we can refocus o In it, we can make requests * There is so much prayer can do for a believer o Prayer is also how one can come to faith in the Lord * Prayer is hard though. Sometimes we don't know what to pray or even how to pray. * James, yet again, provides us another example, this time in the form of the prophet Elijah, a man that he describes is just like you and I. Elijah's prayer of faith caused it to stop raining - and it did, and when three and half years passed, he prayed for the rain to return - and it did. * Aside from reliance on the Holy Spirit, there are some prayer models out there that we can use to guide us. I'll provide you with two examples. o A.C.T.S. * Adoration * Confession * Thanksgiving * Supplication o Or my new favorite: T.A.C.O.S. * Thanksgiving * Adoration * Confession * Others * Self * In the end, prayer must be primary in the Christian's life. * Next, we see ... * Intercessory prayer * Intercessory prayer means that someone is praying for you and on your behalf. We see several examples of this in the Old and New Testaments: o Moses continually came before the Lord on behalf of Israel. o Jesus in John 17 prayed for His disciples o We read that Paul always prayed for his churches and his fellow workers. * This means that we're a part of each other's lives, and it also means that we're being open in dialogue with one another. * Prayer is important to God. So much in fact, we read in Revelation 5:8 that at least some of the prayers of the saints were stored up in golden bowls as incense. * James says in verse 14 that the sick are to go to the elders for prayer, and that the prayer of faith will save them. o Praying the prayer of faith indicates that the one who is praying believes that God can heal, so he leaves the results to Him. * This word "sick" here is an interesting one. It could refer to one who is physically sick, and it could refer to the one who is spiritually sick. * Sick could also be translated "weak" * Interestingly, this word, when used in the Gospels and Acts it is normally speaking of the physically sick, but when used in the letters, it generally speaks to the spiritually sick. * So, what does this tell us? In short ... o If you are physically sick, take it to the church leadership o If you are spiritually sick, take it to the church leadership o Why? Because they are super holy? No. o Why? Because they have special oil that can heal all things? No. o Prayer is powerful. When multiple people are lifting your weaknesses before God, it is powerful. * There is a sense that when you bring your prayers before God and man, you are publicly witnessing to your dependence on God. * Let's pause for a moment and speak to the oil and the prayers of the elders. How we read verses 14-15 may lead some to believe that James is promising healing through these two actions. o There are many ideas of what the oil here represents, to include the cultural medicinal usage of the day. It may also symbolically refer to some sort of consecration of the sick before God. Others believe that it may symbolize the Holy Spirit. But I agree with what one scholar said, "anointing [with oil], whatever it signifies, is clearly subordinate to James's main concern in these verses: [which is] prayer." o Next, the Christian's life is ... * Full of worship o James tackled this immediately following the call for the suffering to pray. o He says to the cheerful: sing praise. In other words, worship! o This call to worship could be individual, but the sense here is public and corporate worship. o This idea of worship goes hand in hand with prayer because when we lift our voices, it can be like a prayer to God. * Frankly, this is why the music that we choose during our corporate worship time together here is so important. * We don't just pick the most popular contemporary song that's on Christian radio, we pick music that is Biblical, and God focused. * The problem with a lot of churches is that they treat worship like a performance or entertainment. Here is an exact quote from a local church from their "about us" section of their website: "We start with a short concert for you with our all original music (which you will love!) and then we move into our teaching time which is filled with lots of illustrations, props, clips, and even a bunch of laughter." * Church and worship should never be about how fun and exciting the experience was, the question should always be: did I experience God? o When we worship, we're collectively acknowledging who God is and what He has done for us o Back in 2019, we did a sermon series on some of the Worship Psalms. One week, we were in Psalm 145. One of the major points that Pastor Pat made in that sermon was to worship God, regardless of your circumstances * When things are going well, we tend to go about life as though nothing happened - in other words, we are not giving the credit to where it belongs, with the Lord. * I think this is why James speaks to this. He says, maybe you haven't been dealing with these trials and temptations. Maybe you are not being oppressed. Maybe you are just skating by ... so, worship. Be thankful to God that you are being spared. * We tend to forget to seek God in those good times o Next, the Christian is also ... * Filled with fellowship o This is really sprinkled all throughout this passage. This is seen through the involvement of others in your spiritual life. * James spoke about prayer and worship in a corporate since * James told the sick to seek out the elders, which implies a community of believers that gather under the leadership of the elders o And in verse 16, James says we are to confess our sins to one another. There is a sense of togetherness in this passage. * This verse, as you can imagine, is an interesting one, particularly if applied improperly. * Simply put, this verse encourages the Christian to confess their sins to those they have affected with their sin. o This is probably best understood with the words of Jesus in Matthew 18: 15 "IF YOUR BROTHER SINS AGAINST YOU, GO AND TELL HIM HIS FAULT, BETWEEN YOU AND HIM ALONE. IF HE LISTENS TO YOU, YOU HAVE GAINED YOUR BROTHER. 16 BUT IF HE DOES NOT LISTEN, TAKE ONE OR TWO OTHERS ALONG WITH YOU, THAT EVERY CHARGE MAY BE ESTABLISHED BY THE EVIDENCE OF TWO OR THREE WITNESSES. 17 IF HE REFUSES TO LISTEN TO THEM, TELL IT TO THE CHURCH. AND IF HE REFUSES TO LISTEN EVEN TO THE CHURCH, LET HIM BE TO YOU AS A GENTILE AND A TAX COLLECTOR. o Sin affects others. Jesus said that it should be handled directly, first ... then escalated as needed. It doesn't always need to go before the body, as it could be handled directly. * If you've ever managed or parented people, you know this principle to be true o We see here that when unrepentant sin is not addressed it effects fellowship with others, and with God. o And while James is not speaking to non-Christians here, we can see the parallel with them. Those who have not placed their faith in Jesus are indeed separated from God. They too need to confess and repent from sin. o Fellowship is formed with Christians in the building of relationships * I believe there is a strong connection with verse 16 and verses 19-20. o When we are invested in each other's lives, we will hopefully open up to one another. o This may include confessing our sins to one another as we just saw, but it also may include helping someone return to the Lord o I've seen the fruits of this firsthand. Once someone is able to break through the bondage of sin by speaking to someone about it, it gives them a freedom that they haven't experienced before. During this process ... * They are prayed for * They are checked on from time to time * They are held accountable o Change is a normal result of this type of intersession * The way they see things is changed * The way they process things is changed * The way they communicate is changed * Their relationships are improved o This is possible through prayer, confession, repentance and through the support of a brother or sister. But most of all, through God who is the only One who can change our hearts. But, isn't it great that ... * God allows us to be part of the regeneration process. * That God allows us to intercede for others. * And, that God allows us to bless others. o Consider what Solomon said in Ecclesiastes 4: 9 TWO ARE BETTER THAN ONE, BECAUSE THEY HAVE A GOOD REWARD FOR THEIR TOIL. 10 FOR IF THEY FALL, ONE WILL LIFT UP HIS FELLOW. BUT WOE TO HIM WHO IS ALONE WHEN HE FALLS AND HAS NOT ANOTHER TO LIFT HIM UP! o God said it was not good for man to be alone. It's much harder to get up without a helping hand. o If we're not building relationships within the church, then we are doing ourselves and others a disservice. You may be able to be the one to bring the wandering Christian back. You may be able to come along side him or her and intercede on their behalf. Earlier, we said that ... A Christian's life is characterized by prayer, worship, and fellowship. So, as we close our time today, let's consider how James, throughout this letter has helped us - even today - to see what an active faith looks like. He never once said it would be easy. But he did say that we would get through it. James was able to say this because he is known to be a man of prayer, as evidenced in this passage today. According to church history, he was known as "old camel knees" because of his reputation as a man of prayer. We can learn much from him about walking in faith and walking with an attitude of prayer. Christian. Are you having a hard time? Pray! Are you cheerful and happy? Worship! Are you physically sick? Call for the elders. Are you spiritually weak? Call for the elders. Have you sinned against a brother or sister? Confess and pray together. Have you wandered from the Lord? Reach out to a brother and return to the Lord. If you're a Christian, then you must be all about that Christian life. One that is prayerful, has an attitude of worship, one that is involved in fellowship. James has given us much to consider. Let's go to the Lord and pray. 2