James 5:13-20; Keep Praying

Introduction

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This past Wednesday, we had our prayer meeting. I asked Sandy if she could lead the meeting. It was a great time. We had a time for a member to share her testimony, we had a time for a member to read a short devotion, and we had a time where we prayed for one another. And it was a really great time!

At one point, Sandy was sharing with the group. She was telling us about this Jewish man. She and others prayed for him to come to know Jesus. Well years passed and this man had moved. He met some Messianic Jews and through their influence, this man came to faith in Jesus. Sandy heard about this man’s salvation and told brother Jim. She was so excited and shocked because this guy wasn’t the easiest guy to get along with.

She told brother Jim how happy and surprised she was that this man came to salvation. Sandy told us that brother Jim asked her why she was surprised. She prayed for this man’s salvation and the almighty God of the universe answered her prayer. Saints, every single one of us have times that we are surprised when God answers our prayers.

Need

Dear brothers and sisters, we need to pray like we expect our God to answer us. It may not be the way we want it, but God will answer us. We should be people of constant prayer. We need to be people that pray until we see God!

Referent

James 5:13-20

Organization

Bring Health (vs. 13-15a)

Bring Repentance (vs. 15b-16)

Bring Miracles (vs. 17-18)

Bring Restoration (vs. 19-20)

In our last section (5:7-12), James told his audience to be patient, wait, and be steadfast 7 times. Here in our text this morning, as we read, I want you to count how many times James tells his reader to pray.

Sermon in a sentence:

I will pray until I see God.

Bring Health (vs. 13-15b)

James comes back to the same place where he began: suffering and steadfastness.

James commands his audience to respond appropriately to the situations God has placed them.

Prayer

Praise - literally Psalming

James connects sin and sickness

Paul also warns the Corinthian church that they have become ill because of their sin of mistreating the Lord’s Supper.

We must be careful with this. Jesus tells his disciples in John 9 (the blind son) that not all sickness is brought about by sin.

James tells the church to have elders anoint and pray over the sick.

Alec Motyer’s commentary on this passage is incredibly helpful. I will attempt to highlight some different things than he does.

First, it is the universal expectation of the NT that a church has elders. The elders of the church oversee, shepherd, and rule the congregation.

With love and care for your souls, why does Colgate Baptist Church not have elders?

This sickness appears to be different from the average sniffle.

This is a practice for the church today! Extreme Unction (Anointing the Sick) or Last Rites.

vs. 14 aleipho is used not chrio

Mark 6:13 “13 And they cast out many demons and anointed with oil many who were sick and healed them.”

Saints, there are times that the Bible may ask us to do things that we think are odd or strange. Yet, our faith is one that should be visible and tangible.

Rob Plummer

Hebrews–Revelation Comment

The oil, both there and in

5. verse 15 uses the word sozo - and it carries this spiritual salvation connotation. Health is more than merely physical. We should want healthy churches, marriages, families, etc.

Bring Repentance (vs. 15b-16)

We should pray until our brothers and sisters repent.

The first step of repentance is confession.

Our own salvation begins with our confession of sin and need of salvation!

Romans 10:9 “9 because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”

Confession is corporate and private!

Nations, clans, families, and individuals confessed sins and repented in the OT.

The Passover is a family event.

Job personally morns and confesses God’s goodness.

The entire city of Nineveh repents and fasts.

We are not catholic! We do not have priests in the NT! No matter how wrong their doctrine of confession is, this does not mean we should stop following Scripture because Catholics twist it.

We need a revival of corporate confession. We need a revival of confessing our sins to our brothers and sisters.

Bring Miracles (vs. 17-18)

God is still a miracle working God!

We need to not fall into either ditch of this truth.

We do not get to declare over things or “release” some anointing.

We do not want to give up praying for God to do the miracles because of really bad theology!

James reminds his audience that Elijah was human just like us.

1 Kings 19 tells us that Elijah fled Jezebel after he struck down the prophets of Baal.

He had fears and doubts. He didn’t always want to do what God called him to do.

He was like us. Yet he was a righteous man that prayed.

Saints, what miracles are you praying for? Does the God you serve still do miracles? If the God you worship doesn’t still do miracles, then I am afraid that we do not serve the same God.

Can we pray that God would fill up our sanctuary again? Imagine if someone came into our gathering and they started looking at all the space our church has. They see the basketball court we have. They look at the education wing. They look at the two nursery rooms we have. They look at our fellowship hall. And they look at all the seats in the sanctuary.

Then they come to you. And they ask you, “Can these seats be filled again?” How do you reply?

“Idk” “Nah” “Well, you know the world is going to hell in a hand basket.”

This is especially true of our leaders. Deacons, Music Minister, Committee leaders, Sunday School teachers, Pastor - did you really think God can still do miracles? How would you feel if I told someone that God couldn’t fill this church up with people to worship his name?

Maybe some of us want the miracles of God without his means. We want God to do a miracle like fill the church, but we don’t want to do the things necessary to accomplish God’s will.

Bring Restoration (vs. 19-20)

This whole section, James has called his audience to pray in a way that leads to action.

The prayer for the sick leads to the anointing and gathering of the elders.

The prayer of a righteous man brings about the will of God.

A believer praying for his fellow believer causes that person to seek out those that wander.

Those that reject truth are liable to the judgement of God.

As the church, we do not want anyone to wander from the truth.

Our first tool for the wandering brother or sister is constant prayer.

Then we must recognize our responsibility to engage with our fellow believers.

As part of our spiritual disciplines, we ought to be praying for and seeking those who have wandered from the truth.

Saints, how can we effectively engage those who have wandered or doubted if we have no understand of our own. This is one of the reasons we have Wednesday night service. I promise you, that you will benefit from coming. There is not a single week that you will come here and not engage with God’s Word. Every single time we meet we pray for each other, we read God’s Word, and we discuss. It is rare that I leave a Wednesday night before 8.

I have seen so many churches where people will lie. They will say things like, “I wasn’t getting feed there.” Now that may be true! A lot of churches have week man-centered theology. But most of the time they weren’t getting feed because they missed more Sundays than they were there. They didn’t go to midweek prayer service. But they asked the pastor to do a Bible study or small group on prayer. Then when the pastor or his wife did a small group those people didn’t come.

I’ve seen people say, “I can’t understand any of that.” I’ve been in churches with new believers and young teenagers that were not in Christian homes understanding perfectly. I have personally never met a pastor, that was not willing to stay after service and explain it in a simpler manner or help a member understand.

3. James ends his epistle with reminding his audience that there is coming judgement.

Eschatology is not the biggest theme in his letter, but it is a key theme.

James 1:9; 12; 2:5; 4:12; 5:1; 8

The final exhortation from James is the remind that the Lord is coming again. Saints, what a better response than to be praying until we see God!

Conclusion

George Muller - a man of prayer and faith

The Milk and Bread Miracle

Context: One morning, the orphanages had no food for the children's breakfast. 

Prayer: George Müller led the children in a prayer of thanks, trusting God would provide. 

Provision: Immediately after the prayer, a baker arrived, having felt impressed by the Lord to bake extra bread. He was followed by a milkman whose milk cart had broken down, and he offered the fresh milk to the orphans. 

The Prayer of Salvation

1. The Initial Prayer:In November 1844, George Müller began praying daily for the conversion of five of his friends. 

2. The First Four Friends:

The first friend was converted after about 18 months of prayer. 

Two more friends came to faith about five years later. 

The fourth friend was saved after 25 years of Müller's persistent prayer. 

3. The Last Friend:Müller continued to pray for the fifth friend for almost 52 years. He prayed for this friend until the day of his death. 

4. Answered After Death:The fifth friend was finally saved a few months after George Müller passed away. 

Muller prayed for his friends until he saw God show up! He was able to see four of his friends meet God. Muller prayed for his final friend until he himself was able to see God!

Application

Confess your sin and pray to God for his salvation!

This week, confess your sin to one another and this week, pray big prayers. Pray for God to show up in your life and the life of Colgate!