Proper 21

James 5:13-20

13 Is anyone among you in trouble? Let them pray. Is anyone happy? Let them sing songs of praise. 14 Is anyone among you sick? Let them call the elders of the church to pray over them and anoint them with oil in the name of the Lord. 15 And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise them up. If they have sinned, they will be forgiven. 16 Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.

17 Elijah 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. 18 Again he prayed, and the heavens gave rain, and the earth produced its crops.

19 My brothers and sisters, if one of you should wander from the truth and someone should bring that person back, 20 remember this: Whoever turns a sinner from the error of their way will save them from death and cover over a multitude of sins.

Sermon

Last week, James encouraged those to whom he was writing to draw near to God. In fact, he said, “If you draw near to God, He will draw near to you.” This week, James reminds us that drawing near to the Lord isn’t simply a thing to be said, but a reality to be experienced. I don’t know if we truly appreciate what this means. It means an infinite God wants a relationship with you. With every single one of us.

But what does this word relationship mean? In John 3:16 the Bible says, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” That’s a great verse. It’s a wonderful verse. It’s a verse every believer should have memorized. It’s a verse that places salvation in a nutshell. But I’m afraid that many Christians have stopped here.

In other words, those who have accepted Christ at a time in their life and now spend the rest of their lives with the confidence of “I’ve got my ticket and when my time comes, I’m going to heaven. And the rest of life is about me, and if I do a good deed, it just makes my mansion a little larger, or adds a jewel to my crown.” Salvation, for some, is simply a transaction. By faith, I receive.

But James has been expressing to the readers of this letter God wants a relationship. James wants his readers to understand salvation is not a transaction, but a transformation. Paul expressed this transformation in his letter to the church at Corinth. 2 Corinthians 5:17 “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!” That is not the language of transaction but of transformation.

Think about the Great Commandment Jesus gave his disciples. When asked what the greatest commandment was, Jesus responded, “To love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. And to love your neighbor as yourself.” Notice, again, this is the language of relationship. Christ isn’t passing out a sheet of paper simply asking people to sign up. He came and developed relationships with people. He noticed those who had been unnoticed. He saw those who were often looked over. He loved those considered unlovable. His entire ministry was about relationships.

And now we have James writing to the church. And while we sometimes read this passage with the idea of what power prayer has. And it does have power. There is no question about that. Probably we have all experienced the lives of people who are changed because of prayer. Perhaps we have heard testimonies of people being healed through prayer. Or lives being changed. I listened to the testimony of a woman who went to a prayer meeting asking God to deliver her alcoholic husband and when she got home, God had wonderfully answered her prayer.

Now I know some will hear this passage and think, “I should pray more.” or “I should pray harder.” Some people might even think they need to spend hours and hours in prayer. But if you read this text again, you will find this passage isn’t so much about prayer, or how long, or how hard, but once again, it’s about relationships. It’s about the fact that we as Christians are not alone but we have each other.

James tells the church to pray for each other, confess their sins to each other, and to warn each other against walking away from their faith. He does this because the Christian life is one of relationship. Relationship with God. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength. And relationship with each other. Love your neighbor as yourself. The Christian walk is not a solo journey. We really do need each other.