The Prayer of Faith (2)

CONTEXT

Current theme: Faith That Works. Faith works because it takes action. Faith works because it makes life more effective.

Our guide has been James, brother of the Lord Jesus, became a believer in his brother’s divinity after the resurrection, a leader of the ancient church.

Last time: Faith in Christ is shown by spiritual wisdom.

This week, concluding James, faith in Christ results in a life of prayer.

Text

James 5:13-20

James 5:13–20 NRSV

Are any among you suffering? They should pray. Are any cheerful? They should sing songs of praise. Are any among you sick? They should call for the elders of the church and have them pray over them, anointing them with oil in the name of the Lord. The prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise them up; and anyone who has committed sins will be forgiven. Therefore confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another, so that you may be healed. The prayer of the righteous is powerful and effective. Elijah was a human being like us, and he prayed fervently that it might not rain, and for three years and six months it did not rain on the earth. Then he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain and the earth yielded its harvest. My brothers and sisters, if anyone among you wanders from the truth and is brought back by another, you should know that whoever brings back a sinner from wandering will save the sinner’s soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins.

INTRODUCTION

Hurricane. Our first hurricane experience. Lot of activity. Prepping: sandbags, shutters, evacuating. Afterwards, lots of clean-up: flooding; foliage debris, downed trees, housing. How many of you were doing those kinds of things…?

Another action: People praying. Praying for protection, for relief, for loved ones, in grief, in gratitude. How many of you doing those things…?

Some would say: practical actions — sandbagging, shuttering — worthwhile, prayer just emotional. Not practical. Secular mind drives a wedge between what is spiritual and what is useful.

James does not. He wants us to bring our spirituality and our concrete life together…prayer is a practical way that we as Christians face the events of life..

Exegesis 1: Continual

James 5:13-4 “Are any among you suffering? They should pray. Are any cheerful? They should sing songs of praise….sick? call the elders to pray! struggling with sin?…pray for one another…

James encourages prayer in ALL situations. You should!

Knowing his Bible, so many examples of saints praying in times of suffering:

Genesis: Joseph prayed to God when betrayed by his brothers and sold into slavery.

1 Samuel: Hannah, barren; shamed because of it. Prayed to the LORD in tears.

James: when you have occasion to be sad: you have occasion to pray!

Cheerful - things are going well. Pray and give praise!

Genesis - after the flood, Noah offered sacrifices and praised God.

Exodus - when God rescued Israel, but drowned Egypt in the Red Sea, Miriam led the women in song and prayer.

James: When you have occasion to be glad, you have occasion to pray!

He knew Jesus role-modeled a life of prayer:

After healing the crowds all night at Peter’s house, he got up early in the morning before sunrise to pray.

When he raised Lazarus to life, he prayed.

When he offered the bread and wine, he prayed for his disciples.

At Gethsemane, for strength and guidance.

On the cross, forgive them, why have you abandoned, into your hand I commend.

God’s people pray…good, wise, people pray…it has value! You SHOULD always pray.

Application 1: we should pray in all circumstances

Example of staying connected with a loved one. During the hurricane. Texting calling. How are you doing? Play by play, good, bad, whatever happens. We are in a relationship.

Prayer at all times shows that we are living our lives not disconnected from God, but that we believe in God and God is involved. Inviting God into our lives. Living our lives in presence of God.

Communication with GOD. Not self-talk. Not just emotional, but relational. Talking to God. God hearing and being present.

A God-ward orientation in spirit, reciprocated by God.

We practice prayer in worship service.

Centering prayer, Opening prayer; prayer of confession, prayer of illumination, prayer after sermon, prayer for offering, prayer of dedication, pastoral prayer, Lord’s prayer.

How prayer saturates our service is how we would like to have prayer saturate our lives all the time.

Thankful: pray. Grief and loss: pray. Working hard to recover: pray.

Prayer keeps us connected to God.

Exegesis 2: Communal

James also teaches us that prayer is communal.

Sing praises. Implied: together. suffering. pray together. Explicit: when sick, call the elders. When struggling with sin: pray for one another.

In special need, there is a special move toward community.

Sick of body, mind, or spirit…or circumstance.

Initiative: Call the elders. The elders are the spiritually mature of the congregation. Discerning in matters of prayer and community. Elders raise your hands!

Responsive: The elders come.

The elders “pray over” the person. They speak for the person. When one’s faith is flagging because of suffering, other pray for and over.

example of a man walking in rain with a woman, holding the umbrella over her.

They anoint with oil. A symbol of God’s presence, favor, choosing, and healing.

When this is done, there will be a variety of outcomes: “Save” “raise up” “Forgiven” “Healed”, some of these words refer to physical, some to spiritual.

God will act because of the faith of the community.

James reflecting on Jesus: Immanuel: God with us. He promised: Matthew 18:20 “For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them.””

James says pray together because Jesus will be with you.

Application 2: We should give and receive prayer

Calamity can reveal our need for and our desire to give community.

In this hurricane event, people reaching out to people to help: donations, repair work, neighbors asking how you made it through, giving coffee to each other, opening their homes.

Desire for community at time of need is a reflection of God’s nature in us, who wants to be with us in our need.

When we pray together, we explicitly invite Jesus to be with us. What could be better than that?

I was on study leave recently. Describing to someone what I was working on. May I pray for you?

Christ connecting with me through another person.

Hurricane situation, some other difficulty:

We should offer to pray for one another.

We should ask a brother of sister to pray for us.

CALL: your pastor, your elder, your deacon, church friend. Would you pray for me?

Elder, deacon, any member: May I pray for you?

What a comfort we can be to each other in prayer.

When we pray with another Christian Christ is there. Where Jesus is, We get raised up, healed, helped.

Exegesis 3: Supported by Righteousness

Lastly, James connects prayer with integrity.

The prayer of faith will save ….The prayer of the righteous is powerful and effective.

As an example, well known to his first reader: Elijah. Icon of faith and righteousness and powerful prayer.

Elijah was a great prophet. 1 Kings 17-18. At the risk of life and limb he opposed King Ahab and Queen Jezebel. He refused any and all temptations toward the idolatry they were exporting. He fasted, he prayed, he wept, he prayed, he preached, he prayed. Through prayer he caused a drought that lasted over three years — to show the people they had to turn back to the true God. When he prayed again, the rains returned.

Elijah: faith and righteousness = powerful prayer!

First reaction of readers: I’m not sure I have sufficient faith. I’m not sure I am righteous enough. That my prayers would make any difference, why would God listen to me? I’m no Elijah!

Jame says: Elijah was a human being too, just like you and me. He did not have super powers. He was just fervent. He kept himself sacred to God and he prayed with passion. He cared about God, he cared about the people he was praying for, he cared about their situation.

Our prayers can be effective. We just have to dedicate ourselves to God and pray hard…we have to care.

Application 3: we are all called to pray

Bishop Hall: “It is not the arithmetic of our prayers, how many they are; nor the rhetoric of our prayers, how eloquent they be; nor the geometry of our prayers, how long they be; nor the music of our prayers, how sweet our voice may be; nor the method of our prayers, how orderly they may be; …—which God cares for. Fervency of spirit is that which availeth much.”

God cares. God wants us to care. He wants to act on what we care about.

Example: well, if you want to….so I didn’t. I really, really, want you to! So, I did. MJ and an animal. Dao and a parent.

One of the ways we show we care for others is by maintaining our own integrity of faith and righteousness.

When we want something from God we straighten up our lives to show we care and really want it. Well and good.

What about straightening up our lives for someone else? What about keep ourselves straight for the sake of prayer.

1 Peter 4:7 “The end of all things is at hand; therefore be self-controlled and sober-minded for the sake of your prayers.”

John 17:19 “And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth.”

Avoid sin, be committed to God for someone else. Fast, pray, weep, for others. Next level of prayer.

God approves because God is other oriented. Jesus showed this.

CONCLUSION

Lots of activity going on. Prayer should be going on.

If important. Pray. Pray together. Pray fervently.

PRAYERS OF INTERCESSION

Scripture promises us that the prayers of God’s people are powerful and effective. In this hope, we call on God’s name, saying:

Lord, in your mercy…hear our prayer.

For those who are sick and suffering . . . Lord, in your mercy…hear our prayer.

For those who are burdened by sin . . . Lord, in your mercy…hear our prayer.

For nations, crumbling in conflict . . . Lord, in your mercy…hear our prayer.

For neighbors, divided by fear . . . Lord, in your mercy…hear our prayer.

For the church, longing for renewal . . . Lord, in your mercy…hear our prayer.

For the earth, groaning for peace . . . Lord, in your mercy…hear our prayer.

God of new life, raise us up in the power of the risen Lord so that we may lift our hearts again in songs of thanks and praise; through Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.