James 5

James 5: 13 - 18

The Prayer of Faith

Jas 5:13  Is anyone among you in trouble? Let them pray. Is anyone happy? Let them sing songs of praise.

Jas 5:14  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.

Jas 5:15  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.

Jas 5:16  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.

Jas 5:17  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.

Jas 5:18  Again he prayed, and the heavens gave rain, and the earth produced its crops.

Jas 5:19  My brothers and sisters, if one of you should wander from the truth and someone should bring that person back,

Jas 5:20  remember this: Whoever turns a sinner from the error of their way will save them from death and cover over a multitude of sins.

We come tonight to the final session of our series on the letter of James, generally thought to be the brother of Jesus and one of the leaders of the early church in Jerusalem. James’ letter is an excellent example of applying the teachings of Jesus to the challenges of daily Christian living. Although he does not often quote Jesus, much of what he writes has its roots in the sermon on the mount. It is no accident that in our morning services Steve has been guiding us through the beatitudes.

James deals with coping with trials and temptations; what to say and do as a Christian; he warns agains favouritism; he talks of works as the mark of true faith; he reminds us of the dangers of an unbridled tongue; he tells us to ask for wisdom and explores what true wisdom is; he warns against what might bring division in the Christian community; he warns against boasting; he reminds us to store up treasure in heaven, not on earth; and he encourages us to be patient and to persevere.

And so the the last section:

You can see from these concluding verses of James’ letter that the theme is Prayer, which underpins or ought to underpin every aspect of our daily practical walk with God. 

We all know from our own personal experience that life can at times be wonderful and care free and at others difficult and challenging. The peace and calm of those good times can suddenly be shaken by events which are outside our control and we struggle and worry. Christians are not exempt from times of trouble. Psalm 34 says this

Psa 34:19  The righteous person may have many troubles, but the LORD delivers him from them all;

James is beautiful in his brevity. He is writing his letter to believers who certainly know what it is to go through times of trouble. The word that he uses for trouble here has the sense of “to suffer the blows of the outside world.”  

When Paul talks in Romans 8:22

We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time.

There is a sense in which troubles are natural because, since the fall, when sin entered into the world, God’s creation is now out of step with what God had planned and is waiting, just as mankind is waiting, for God’s complete restoration and redemption.

Trouble comes in many forms

There are physical troubles

Man’s sin in the Garden of Eden brought death into the world

Gen 2:17  but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.

Heb 9:27  Just as people are destined to die once, and after that to face judgment,

Before the fall man was without any physical defect, but since then our bodies are subject to death and sometimes that is preceded by all sorts of difficulties and pain.

Our troubles may be mental. 

You don’t have to look far to recognise that these are real problems in today’s world. From the earliest age to the latter stages in life, our society throws at us all sorts of pressures and fears. Mental illness seems to be a growing concern, and I am sure that I don’t need to list them. And many physical troubles stem from the mental troubles and indeed mental troubles may stem from physical troubles.

Our troubles can be spiritual in nature.

Eph 6:12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.

1Pe 5:8  Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.

Our troubles can come just because we are Christians

This is a verse that Steve briught to us this morning

2Ti 3:12  In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted,

Faced with all these troubles, what should we do.

James is direct:  He should pray. James knows it is effective. He knows it works.

As did the psalmist:

Psa 18:6  In my distress I called to the LORD; I cried to my God for help. From his temple he heard my voice; my cry came before him, into his ears.

Psa 50:15  and call on me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you will honour me.”

1Pe 3:12  For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and his ears are attentive to their prayer, but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.”

That’s a wonderful verse.:

God is looking

God is Listening

God will deliver

Isa 40:29  He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak.

Isa 40:30, 31  Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.

Our problems can be faced; the mountains in front of us can be climbed.

The next part of the first verse is also telling. Is anyone happy? Let them sing songs of praise.

The word “happy’ that James uses conveys the sense of inner well-being, a deep sense of inner joy. The sense is that whatever storms you are going through your faith is unshakeable. Paul used the same word to encourage the sailors during that storm off the coast of Malta, which eventually ended in shripwreck, but no lives were lost. You can read about that in Acts 27. The word is used 4 times.

If that is the condition, here is James’ advice: “sing songs of praise.” We find this exhortation throughout the Bible.

1Ch 16:8 - 10  Give praise to the LORD, proclaim his name; make known among the nations what he has done.Sing to him, sing praise to him; tell of all his wonderful acts.Glory in his holy name; let the hearts of those who seek the LORD rejoice.

Psa 95:1  Come, let us sing for joy to the LORD; let us shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation. Let us come before him with thanksgiving and extol him with music and song.

Luk 24:53  And they stayed continually at the temple, praising God.

Col 3:16  Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts.

This attitude of praise in all circumstances sets the Christian apart from unbelievers. Our focus is always turned in thankfulness to God. It is he who has given us a reason to be thankful. This inner well-being comes from him alone.

Compare that with the unbeliever;

Rom 1:21  For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened.

Our praise not only reflects our thankfulness at the inner well-being that we have, but it also brings glory to God

Psa 50:23  Those who sacrifice thank offerings honour me, and to the blameless I will show my salvation.”

Psa 96:8  Ascribe to the LORD the glory due his name; bring an offering and come into his courts.

Psa 34:3  Glorify the LORD with me; let us exalt his name together.

The next verse in James leads us to the question of healing

Jas 5:14  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.

Jas 5:15  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.

Jas 5:16  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.

These verses have caused much controversy in the church. It seems straightforward and simple. If you are ill, call for the elders who will pray and anoint with oil and the prayer will bring healing. 

Remember that the context of this whole passage is prayer, whether our circumstances are challenging, in this case sickness, or whether our circumstances are serene. James reminds us that not only are we physical beings; we are spiritual beings and we ought not to separate the two. 

In a very real sense we are a new creation, 

2Co 5:17  Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!

But while that is true, we still live in this fallen world, with all its faults, and we still live in a body that will grow old physically. Until the time that God will give us our new bodies and we are still liable to grow weak, or fall ill, and at some point we will die.

Paul felt the agony of that.

Rom 7:24  What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death?

The reality is that sickness began in this world when sin entered. Is James saying in these verses that a person’s sickness is a direct result of that person’s sin? No he is not saying that. He says “if they have sinned they will be forgiven.”

Sometimes sickness is a direct result of sin in a person’s life. In 1Co 11:30, we read of certain Corinthians who were sick because they participated in the Lord’s Supper without judging sin in their lives, that is, without confessing and forsaking it.

Not all sickness is a direct result of sin in a person’s life. Job was sick in spite of the fact that he was a most righteous man. 

Job 1:8  Then the LORD said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil.”

The man born blind was not suffering for sins he had committed (Joh 9:2-3). 

Epaphroditus was sick because of his tireless activity in the work of the Lord (Php 2:30). 

Gaius was spiritually healthy but apparently physically unwell (3Jn 1:2).

Sometimes sickness is a result of satanic activity. It was Satan who caused Job’s body to be covered with boils

Job 2:7  So Satan went out from the presence of the LORD and afflicted Job with painful sores from the soles of his feet to the crown of his head.

It was Satan who crippled the woman in Luk 13:10-17 so that she was bent double, unable to straighten herself up: “This woman ... whom Satan has bound—think of it—for eighteen years” (Luk 13:16). 

Luk 13:11  and a woman was there who had been crippled by a spirit for eighteen years. She was bent over and could not straighten up at all.

Luk 13:16  Then should not this woman, a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has kept bound for eighteen long years, be set free on the Sabbath day from what bound her?”

Paul had a physical infirmity caused by Satan. He called it “a thorn in the flesh ... a messenger of Satan to buffet me” (2Co 12:7).

God can and does heal. In a very real sense, all healing is divine. One of the names of God in the OT is Jehovah-Ropheka—“the Lord who heals you” (Exo 15:26). We should acknowledge God in every case of healing.

In v 14 James is being very practical and what he says can be read in a straightforward way. The word he uses for sick means to be without strength, so it is not just a minor ailment but a serious condition. James does not separate the spiritual from the physical. Rather, both go hand in hand. Call for the elders who will pray over the sick person and anoint with oil. The word used here does not imply some sort of magical or mystical solution. It’s more practical than that, like the oil used by the good Samaritan

Luk 10:34  He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. 

Or when Jesus sent out his disciples.

Mar 6:13  They drove out many demons and anointed many sick people with oil and healed them.

In old and New testament times, oil was used for its healing or soothing properties, and it also, but not always had the purpose of anointing or bringing God’s blessing.

Medicine and prayer are important. The whole person, physical and spiritual.                                 

So much that is incorrect has been taken from this passage. One is that the elders have a specific ministry of healing, or that there is a specific ministry of healing. The ministry here is prayer.

Another is the practice of extreme unction, where a dying person is anointed with oil.

James was writing about a sick person who was going to recover, not about someone who was about to die.

But here is a difficult verse: 

Jas 5:15  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.

How do we deal with a situation when we have prayed for healing and the healing doesn’t come? We know that God does heal and he heals in many different ways, occasionally miraculously, but often through doctors and nurses and prayer has an important part to play in all of it. Remember this passage in James is all about prayer and sickness is an example situation, where prayer is effective. But here’s the question: “does your faith depend on whether or not God heals you? Does your faith depend on whether or not God answers your prayers?”

Just compare some words of Jesus:

Mar 11:24  Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.

Joh 14:14  You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.

The key phrase here is “in my name” and in James 5 14 it is in the name of the Lord.

What we are learning here is that when our will is in line with God’s will, then whatever we ask will be in keeping with the thought: “not my will, but thine be done”.

I’m sure that Paul prayed earnestly for Epaphroditus

Php 2:27  Indeed he was ill, and almost died. But God had mercy on him, and not on him only but also on me, to spare me sorrow upon sorrow.

I’m sure he prayed also for Trophimus whom he had to leave behind at Miletus

2Ti 4:20  Erastus stayed in Corinth, and I left Trophimus sick in Miletus.

There may be many reasons why healing does not happen.

It may be lack of faith:

Mat 13:58  And he did not do many miracles there because of their lack of faith.

Maybe you do not ask

James 4: 2;  You do not have because you do not ask God.

It may be unrepented sin

It may be that it is not in God’s timing or it is not in God’s plan for you at this particular time. There are many times when we have to admit that we don’t understand why God doesn’t act in the way that we consider right and good and appropriate. We have to acknowledge that God is sovereign and he acts according to his will and purpose and we must submit to it: Nevertheless, not my will, but thine be done.”

Let’s go back to the main theme of this section: prayer.

The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.

James makes a statement or sets out a principle and then gives an example. He has done this earlier in the letter. He has reminded us of Abraham, of Rahab and last week we were reminded of Job.

Let’s try to understand what James means here when he uses the word prayer. James is using a term which conveys the sense of urgency, of importance, of earnestness. It’s the kind of prayer that Paul uses of Epaphras when he writes to the Church at Colossae:

Col 4:12  Epaphras, who is one of you and a servant of Christ Jesus, sends greetings. He is always wrestling in prayer for you, that you may stand firm in all the will of God, mature and fully assured.

This is the kind of prayer that James is talking about. Remember the story that Jesus told in Luke ch 11:

Luk 11:5 - 9 Then Jesus said to them, “Suppose you have a friend, and you go to him at midnight and say, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves of bread; a friend of mine on a journey has come to me, and I have no food to offer him.’ And suppose the one inside answers, ‘Don’t bother me. The door is already locked, and my children and I are in bed. I can’t get up and give you anything.’ I tell you, even though he will not get up and give you the bread because of friendship, yet because of your shameless audacity he will surely get up and give you as much as you need. “So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.

And what does he mean when he uses the word ‘righteous’? There is a sense in which all Christians, who have recognised Jesus as saviour are righteous. We have been put right with God. Our sins are gone. We have received the gift of God’s righteousness. Does it follow, then, that all our prayers will be powerful and effective?

This whole letter is about practical Christianity

Jas 1:22  Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.

Jas 2:14  What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them?

Jas 2:17  In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.

Jas 2:24  You see that a person is considered righteous by what they do and not by faith alone.

What James is emphasising here is that the righteousness that we have received as a gift from God (spiritual righteousness) should lead us to live a life worthy of that righteousness (moral righteousness). Faith worked out in deeds, not a faith that is dead. In that real sense, if we are seeking, with the help of God’s Spirit, to live the kind of life that God wants, then we can be confident in our prayers. 

It is a mystery, but God works through prayer. Does God need our prayers? No, he is sovereign and all sufficient and all powerful. But the wonder is that he wants to involve us in what he is doing and prayer is one of the ways in which he does that.

James gives us the example of Elijah

We often think of Old Testament characters as somehow special, different from us ordinary people. James, however, tells us that he was just like us. It’s worth having a look at his story in 1 Kings 17 & 18.

The King was Ahab whose wife was Jezebel and we pick up the story when Elijah tells him there will be no rain

1Ki 17:1  Now Elijah the Tishbite, from Tishbe in Gilead, said to Ahab, “As the LORD, the God of Israel, lives, whom I serve, there will be neither dew nor rain in the next few years except at my word.”

Then Elijah has to go and hide, first in the Kerith Ravine and then in Zarephath. Ahab had sought high and low for him, both inside the country and in the neighbouring countries, for more than two years

1Ki 18:1  After a long time, in the third year, the word of the LORD came to Elijah: “Go and present yourself to Ahab, and I will send rain on the land.”

What happens next is that contest on Mount Carmel with the 450 prophets of Baal.

That was a mighty demonstration of God’s power. But the bit of Elijah’s story wwe wantb to look at is not that. It is later that we pick up the story:

1Ki 18:42 ...Elijah climbed to the top of Carmel, bent down to the ground and put his face between his knees.

The scene we are witnessing is Elijah in fervent prayer. He believes that it is God’s will to send rain, yet he must still ask for it. We find Elijah bowed low to the ground with his face between his knees. He is serious in his praying and he is persistent in his praying.

“Go and look towards the sea,” he tells his servant

Nothing, says the servant and Elijah continues to pray

“Go and look again”

Again nothing.

Elijah goes on praying

Go and look once more

Still nothing.

Elijah continues to pray

Seven times Elijah told his servant to go and look

1Ki 18:44  The seventh time the servant reported, “A cloud as small as a man’s hand is rising from the sea.” So Elijah said, “Go and tell Ahab, ‘Hitch up your chariot and go down before the rain stops you.’”

Matthew Henry writes:

Though the answer of our fervent and believing supplications may not come quickly, yet we must continue instant in prayer, and not faint nor desist; for at the end it shall speak and not lie.

One further point I might make here that is just as relevant today as it was then. Don’t despise small beginnings. The servant saw a small cloud, no bigger than a man’s hand, but a deluge soon came. Many of the things that we have seen in the life of this church have had small beginnings, often perhaps the idea of one or two people who knew in their hearts that it was in the will of God. The story of Tytherington Family Worship is an example 

What are we to make of verse 16. 

Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed.

I don’t think that James is suggesting that all Christians should confess all their sins to everyone else. 

I think this follows on from Jesus’ command in John 13:34

Joh 13:34  “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.

Gal 5:13  You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love.

Eph 4:2  Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.

1Pe 1:22  Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for each other, love one another deeply, from the heart.

1Pe 3:8  Finally, all of you, be like-minded, be sympathetic, love one another, be compassionate and humble.

It is in the context of following that command of Jesus, of loving one another, that confession of any sin that mars or spoils the relationship can take place.

Our prayers will be effective, when there is nothing in our hearts that come between us and God and between us and our fellow Christians. Our prayers are effective when  our relationship with God and our relationship with each other is as it should be.

Jesus’ teaching on the sermon on the mount makes it abundantly clear:

Mat 5:23, 24  “Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother or sister has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to them; then come and offer your gift.

It is in that context, looking out for one another, that we can see that the final verses of this letter are perfectly in keeping with the whole letter. Ten times in this short letter James addresses “my brothers and sisters”. When he is teaching it is as brothers. When he is encouraging it is as brothers, when he is warning it is as brothers.

His concern is for the church as a community together and the spiritual health of every individual within that community is the responsibility of the whole fellowship.

There is always the danger that individuals can wander from the truth. Paul warned the Christians at Corinth:

1Co 10:12  So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall!

2Ti 2:16-18  Avoid godless chatter, because those who indulge in it will become more and more ungodly. Their teaching will spread like gangrene. Among them are Hymenaeus and Philetus, who have departed from the truth. They say that the resurrection has already taken place, and they destroy the faith of some.

We are living in a time when there is so much questioning of what the Bible teaches, where, even in churches, different standards and different interpretations of doctrine are set forth as “the truth”

It is important for us first of all to know the truth. None of us is perfect and we all stumble in many ways as James says in Chapter 2, but we can always ask for wisdom and as Jesus said in John 6.:

Joh 16:13  But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth.

It is important for us, secondly, to accept that we have a responsibility to each other, to guard each other as we seek together to live for Christ. Paul puts it this way in his letter to the Galatians:

Gal 6:1  Brothers and sisters, if someone is caught in a sin, you who live by the Spirit should restore that person gently. But watch yourselves, or you also may be tempted.

The whole purpose here is restoration, coming back once again into that relationship with God that the wanderer had when he was first saved. However far he has fallen away, all the sins, the multitude of sins are covered over.

Psa 32:1  Blessed is the one whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered.