Get to Work

INTRO / HONOR

James 5:13–20 ESV

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.

James is the blue-collar scholar. He is the most practical man you could ever meet.

James, was the half-brother of Jesus. His biological dad, and Jesus earthly dad, Joesph, was a carpenter

He was a blue-collar, hardworking, man.

Tell a story about Dennis Chappell

These guys are much for philosophy or intellectual conversations. These aren’t the guys that studied chess and read for fun in High School.

These are the guys that just liked to get it done!

James is closing out his letter, emphasizing his main goal: YOUR FAITH IS PRACTICAL, SO GET TO WORK.

He writes:

James 1:22 “But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.”

James 1:27 “Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.”

James 2:14-17 “What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.”

James 2:26 “For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead.”

You see, you are SAVED through FAITH, not of works unless any man should boast (Eph. 2:9). But that faith must be put into action!

James 2:18 “Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works.”

Faith makes you justified - Works make you sanctified.

You cant accept Jesus as Savior and then never live like He’s Lord.

Some people love Jesus — they just hate what He said.

They don’t believe what He said about marriage, sexuality, gender, Hell — Are these people even following Christ then?? James would say NO. That faith is DEAD.

It’s great that you believe that God is real and that Jesus loves you! But what good is that if it is never put into practice? Soap can’t clean you unless you take it out of the bottle and put it to work.

Some of you may have your faith in a bottle on a shelf and it’s time to take it out and GET TO WORK

Your faith MUST be lived PRACTICALLY.

For James, faith is less about how much intellectual understanding you have than the deeds you do. James could care less if you can win Bible memorizing competitions in Sunday school if you live like hell the other six days a week.

The core of our faith is not just understanding a book — but knowing that this Book - the BIBLE - understands ME and so I HAVE TO LIVE IN ALIGNMENT WITH HIS WORD.

Who cares how much you read the thing if you never let it change you!

James is like a dad who teaches you how to drive by throwing you the keys, rather than giving us long complicated detailed instructions,

As you would expect from someone like that, he gives us some of the clearest ministry directives you will ever find, expecting the Holy Spirit to help you figure it out by doing it.

1. Suffering? Pray for them. 2. Cheerful? Sing with them. 3. Sick? Anoint and pray for them. 4. Sinning? Confess it. — The more isolated a person is, the more destructive the power of sin. 5. Unhealthy? Pray for each other. 6. Powerless? Pray some more. 7. Wandering? Bring them back. 8. Don’t believe me? Elijah was a regular guy like you and God used him for big things so go do something and see what God does.

BAND

It is the most practical, simple Bible instructions you will ever find.

He must of worked for Nike because his motto is JUST DO IT.

GET TO WORK.

Hear me — There are moments and season that we wait on the Lord. Some of you God is trying to build patience in you and you need to wait.

You need to wait for the right person.

You need to wait for that freedom and continue to honor your parents and respect their wishes.

You need to wait to pursue that dream of your YouTube career and finish High School

But there other areas and season that we are not waiting on God — God is waiting on us.

You never have to question — well, should I pray for this sick person to be healed?

WHY? Because He already told you to do it! The command has been given.

I see James like this old Ranch Hand, whose just an old rough, tough guy. He’s saying things like this:

Faith don’t need to be fancy.

Holiness don’t need to be haughtiness.

Ministry don’t need to be misery.

Wisdom don’t need be witty.

Christianity don’t need to be complicated.

What is God calling you to do? Who is God calling you to serve? Where is God calling you to work?

Time to get to work...

IF THIS IS YOU …

1. Suffering? Pray for them. 2. Cheerful? Sing with them. 3. Sick? Anoint and pray for them. 4. Sinning? Confess it. 5. Unhealthy? Pray for each other. 6. Powerless? Pray some more. 7. Wandering? Bring them back. Don’t believe me? Elijah was a regular guy like you and God used him for big things so go do something and see what God does.

SALVATION CALL

COME PRAY …