Belonging in Christian Community

James 5:13–20 NASB95

13 Is anyone among you suffering? Then he must pray. Is anyone cheerful? He is to sing praises. 14 Is anyone among you sick? Then he must call for the elders of the church and they are to pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord; 15 and the prayer offered in faith will restore the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up, and if he has committed sins, they will be forgiven him. 16 Therefore, confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another so that you may be healed. The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much. 17 Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the earth for three years and six months. 18 Then he prayed again, and the sky poured rain and the earth produced its fruit. 19 My brethren, if any among you strays from the truth and one turns him back, 20 let him know that he who turns a sinner from the error of his way will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins.

INTRO: How many of you like puzzles? (I know Karen Mitchell does!) I’m not sure that I’m patient enough for puzzles, but I do like to see a bunch of seemingly random pieces come together. When I was about my son’s age, we had a game called Tetris. Anyone remember that? For you younger folks, that was a game played on the gameboy where you would arrange a series of about 6 shapes into rows and when you had a complete row, it would disappear. But the shapes kept falling. You lose if you run out of space because you haven’t connected the rows.

Sometimes it just seemed like none of the pieces belonged. At times, people can feel like those tetris shapes… we keep looking for the place to fit in or belong, but it hasn’t worked out for us. We try to fit in at work, in school, even in church...

I’d like to ask you this morning: Have you found a place to belong? And what does that mean anyway?

I think that we have a tendency to wall off certain portions of our life. At work and school, we don’t talk about our families or faith because we feel like we’re not supposed to… or we are embarrassed. At church, we don’t talk about things that might get a reaction… But, if we only fit in when we don’t think about certain parts of life, then do we really fit in?

As Christians, God has designed for us to belong in Christian Community. In 1 Cor. 12, Paul speaks of the church as a single body, made of several parts. If you are in Christ and you are here, then God says you belong. But what does that look like? Is belonging something that is effortless? Does it mean that we never have conflict or that all of our personalities will always jive?

Well, I want you to think about the physical body for a minute: My arm belongs on my body.

It might look funny because of my farmer’s tan, but it still belongs.

It doesn’t look like other parts of my body, but it still belongs and has a purpose.

When it’s hurt, I may have to ice it down, compensate for weakness, or even have surgery… but it still belongs. And you know what? I cannot imagine my arm just out there living life without me.

Christian Community is like that. You and I should not be trying to live life apart from the body of believers that God has placed us in. But living in Christian community requires effort, humility, and grace.

Throughout the book of James, we have looked at different parts of Christian living: We’ve looked at faithfulness, leadership, conflict, evangelism and discipleship and others. Today, I hope to show you a bit of what it looks like to belong in Christian community where all of these elements of Christian living are fleshed out.

So, I encourage you to use your sermon guides and follow along as we examine James 5:13-20. The message is entitled, “Belonging in Christian Community.” Let’s dive in.

The first element of Christian Community James points out is one of:

Connection (13-15)

There is a subtle implication that you may have picked up on: James is speaking to a group. Not just in these verses, but throughout, we see language of connection: ‘among you’, “one another.”

Earlier in the letter, we saw that he addressed those who were scattered. This was a letter circulated among Jewish Christians who had settled outside Jerusalem and were part of different congregations. Everyone was not in the same town or village, but we see that James is certainly speaking to groups:

When you are connected, you are part of a group. You have a role. You know others in the group and are known by them.

In v. 13-15, James speaks about this connection this way- (READ)

Now, these are commands:

If you are suffering- pray. And, James has in mind a prayer that involved others in the church. Why? Because God has led each person here as one body. When one member of the body is suffering, the rest of the body should feel that and respond to it. But that does not mean that the whole body is constantly consumed by suffering.

ILL: We were on vacation a couple weeks ago. The first day, I was on a kayak and ended up getting too close to a cable holding the dock and I flipped out, resulting in me losing a nice chunk of ankle meat. You know, my whole body was aware of that. I gave attention to that… and I still enjoyed my vacation.

When we pray as a body- we can comfort, encourage, and strengthen one another through our individual suffering. But if we never let anyone know that we are suffering, then nobody can help you bear the pain.

Soapbox: Folks, listen, if you are suffering, then you need to be connected so that you are not isolated. Some of you might need to swallow your pride here and realize that God has called us into genuine community.

Look with me at . v.14 - When you are sick, then you MUST call the elders of the church to pray over you. The term elders is another word for pastors / shepherds of the congregation. The idea here is that God wants you to be connected to elders who will not only love you, but will help point you to the hope of Christ.

Christian community means connecting with others so that they know what you are facing and can pray with you, talk with you, and maybe even be a physical help. And you know what, you get to do that for others as well!

And the other side of the coin is also true: If you are cheerful- then sing praises! Christian community also means celebrating the high notes of life together and praising the Lord.

When God heals you, when your child confesses faith in Christ, when you get a promotion at work, or when you finally get through Calculus class… PRAISE THE LORD Together! Christians ought to be able to truly celebrate when God blesses someone other than me.

Romans 12:15 NASB95

15 Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep.

You and I need to be connected to each other in the church. So look, I know that it’s not practical that each person be truly connected with every other person. We are all like lego blocks- we only have so many little connectors that we can maintain.

The way that you connect to one another is through small groups: Sunday School, Life Groups, which we’ll be ramping back up soon, or just connecting with other families in the church. Listen, I cannot stress this enough. I am convinced that your life will be markedly better when you are connected in authentic Christian community.

When you connect with other Christians, you can be known and confident that you belong here. If you are not connected, will you take steps this fall to join a small group?

Christian Community means Connection. Next, James shows us the element of:

Confession (16-18)

(READ)

Sin creates barriers - it separates us from fellowship with God, but also with other believers in the church. We’ve talked about confessing our sins to God before- in 1 John 1:9 “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

But James’ instructions here are to confess our sins to one another. This might sound a bit off-putting to you. Our tendency is to try to hide our sin- conceal it, maybe attempt to overcome it in our own power. But all the while, we feel uncomfortable in church and especially in small groups.

We don’t want others to think poorly of us, so we just try to fight it on our own.

ILL: Have you ever played with a beach ball in the pool? Ok, have you ever pushed it under water and tried to hold it there? It’s hard because that crazy thing turns and slips through our hands and out of the water like a rocket!

That’s what it’s like trying to wrestle sin on our own. But when sin is brought to light, we don’t have to wrestle with it the same way. The shame is no longer present because we have confessed that sin and Christ has already taken the guilt- No longer can Satan hold that over your head.

Lee Shepherd shared a good quote with me: He said, when we refuse to confess sin, we choose to fight the devil in the dark. And when we fight the devil in the dark, we are gonna get out tails whooped.

But confessing our sin brings our struggles out of the dark to those who will walk with us through them, pray on our behalf, and even help us overcome them. You see, confession demonstrates our humility, our need for God’s power, and it brings about natural accountability among believers.

Accountability means that your desire to grow in your walk with Christ is enough that you would admit your need for grace and community. God does not intend for you to be lone ranger Christians- you were designed for community. You and I need others who will walk with us not only through suffering and joy but through temptation and weakness.

James brings up Elijah here in v. 17 - we studied Elijah not too long ago. He uses Elijah as an example of a righteous man with effective prayers… prayers that heal (16b) We could talk about the purpose of his prayer or ask “Why not mention that prayer about fire coming down on Mt. Carmel?” - But in doing so we miss his point.

I think James’ main point is that Elijah was a normal person like you and me. But he followed God when all the known world was following Baal and the effectiveness of his prayers rested not in his power, but in God’s. It was Elijah’s dependence upon God- His authentic, faith-filled prayer that was answered.

Friends, our healing - from sin and sickness, rests in the grace and power of God. I want to encourage you to find brothers and sisters whom you can be transparent with so that you may confess your sins to one another. In this way, our lives are brought under the lordship of Christ as we put sin to death through prayer.

Christian community means connection; it means confession, and finally James show us that Christian Community means:

Correction (19-20)

(READ)

Sometimes, we are blind to our sin. Sometimes, we get caught up in something that we don’t see as wrong or destructive. That’s how Satan works. He is the great deceiver. And, as we’ve said before, when you are deceived, you don’t know that you are deceived.

But often there are indicators that we have strayed from the truth. Perhaps we find that we do not have joy like we once did when we come to church. Maybe we find ourselves trying to keep people at a distance- we stop going to Sunday School or stop serving on that serving team...

James says that if we see someone begin to stray, it is our responsibility to turn that person back. What does that mean?

Well, it means that we go to them- in love and grace - not unlike Jesus’ instructions in Matthew 18. Maybe we ask them questions to see what’s going on, pray with them, give them opportunities to confess any sins, and renew their commitment.

I wonder how many people we have allowed to stray and stay away because we are unwilling to engage in true Christian community.

Now, I know what you are thinking: “Pastor, that sounds awful. That’s like confronting someone and I don’t want anything to do with it!”

Well, actually this is an act of love and it has the potential be one of the greatest blessings that a straying Christian will receive on this side of eternity. It is the opportunity to extend, as an instrument of God, the grace and forgiveness that Jesus secured on the cross.

It is your chance to be a part of God’s renewing power in their life- to be a part of their testimony that they were on a path of rebellion, but then a brother or sister in Christ came in love to help show in truth that sin has lost its power and shame has been removed through the blood of Jesus!

But you know what? If you are not part of a Christian community, nobody will see when you go astray. If you are not engaged with other believers, you are putting yourself at risk of becoming hard-hearted to the things of Christ. You might be at that point already.

Maybe you are here this morning, and you have felt yourself straying from the church - from God. You see how your priorities seem to be more about you than our Lord...

Folks, I want to invite you this morning to commit to this community of believers- maybe you need to take steps to join, to plug in, to invest in the life of this church.

Perhaps you are here and have heard for the first time that Jesus has paid the price for your sins- you just need to confess them and ask Him to be lord of your life.

I want to encourage you to come to the altar and pray during our invitation song.

[PRAY]

Discuss: What do you need in order to ‘belong’ in Christian community?

Discuss: What feelings do you have about confessing sins to one another?

Discuss: What step of commitment do you need to take to engage in Christian Community?