Getting Through It
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
In 2004 a man named Frank Warren started a blog called Postsecrets. Every Sunday he would feature a collection of postcards sent in to him anonymously with their confessions written on it.
Some are funny
Some admit crimes
Some are sad
All of them are things we’d rather not admit to
22 years later and he still gets a full mailbox every day.
What would you write on your postcard? All of us have something to confess, and I think the success of Postsecrets demonstrates that there’s a strong desire for us to confess.
But as strong as that desire may be, we don’t. We’re terrified of confession.
What will people think?
Will they forgive me?
What if they don’t love me anymore?
But what if confession was what could open the door to a kind of love and forgiveness we rarely if ever have experienced?
Text Connection
Text Connection
In James 5:13-20 James is talking to people who have been beat down. Here’s how you stay standing and get back up if you’ve fallen.
Prayer and Praise
Prayer and Praise
13 Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing praise. 14 Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. 15 And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. 16 Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working. 17 Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed fervently that it might not rain, and for three years and six months it did not rain on the earth. 18 Then he prayed again, and heaven gave rain, and the earth bore its fruit. 19 My brothers, if anyone among you wanders from the truth and someone brings him back, 20 let him know that whoever brings back a sinner from his wandering will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins.
The Suffering
The Suffering
13 Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing praise.
This is how we stay standing when times are tough. If we’re suffering, the answer is simple. Pray.
And we have a prayerbook that should be consulted often as we pray - the Psalms. A book that helps give shape to all those hard emotions we struggle to express. And when we pray the Psalms looking for comfort, our prayer is being answered in the very same process.
Psalms are poetry, and Richard Sima, a neuroscientist, did some research on how poetry helps us through dark times.
2021 study of hospitalized children found that providing opportunities for them to read and write poetry reduce their fear, sadness, anger, worry and fatigue.
A systematic review published in 2019 found that poetry can help healthcare workers combat burnout and increase empathy for patients.
“Our voices are embodiments of ourselves, whether written or spoken. It is in times of extremity that we long to find words or hear other human voice, letting us know we are not alone.” - UCLA psychiatrist and poetry therapist Robert Carroll.
God didn’t give prayers in poetic form just so they’d sound pretty. HE’s given us prayer that heal us as we pray them.
So if you’re suffering? Open your prayer book.
The Cheerful
The Cheerful
But if we’re cheerful? Sing praise!
James isn’t talking about just happy people. He’s describing people who have kept their endurance up, like Paul encourages his shipmates to do when they are hit by a storm
23 For this very night there stood before me an angel of the God to whom I belong and whom I worship, 24 and he said, ‘Do not be afraid, Paul; you must stand before Caesar. And behold, God has granted you all those who sail with you.’ 25 So take heart, men, for I have faith in God that it will be exactly as I have been told.
Take heart! Be Cheerful! Paul isn’t telling them to be happy, but to remain steadfast and maintain the course. Get through this tough spot now and relief will be yours!
Don’t give into despair
Take courage
Cheer up
And key to maintaining that kind of cheer is through singing praises. It’s similar to Paul’s advice in Ephesians 5:15-20.
15 Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, 16 making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. 17 Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. 18 And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit, 19 addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, 20 giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,
Because the days are evil… Sing! He’s not telling us here to say good, true, and uplifting things. He wants us to sing them.
In Deuteronomy 31 Israel is taught a song for a very practical purpose.
21 And when many evils and troubles have come upon them, this song shall confront them as a witness (for it will live unforgotten in the mouths of their offspring). For I know what they are inclined to do even today, before I have brought them into the land that I swore to give.”
When you look at the song Moses was taught, it’s written to accomplish a few things:
It teaches God’s love for Israel
Condemns Israel for the false god’s it has bowed down to
And when they’re walking along, wondering why life is so hard - the song stuck in their head is the answer.
How many songs do the same for us? How easy is it to sin with Lamb of God playing in your head? Or even Jesus Loves Me?
Songs aren’t just for God’s worship. Their for our own strength.
In short, James is telling us that we have tools to help us through these last days as we suffer and wait for God.
Confession
Confession
But what if it feels like prayer and singing songs isn’t enough?
14 Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. 15 And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. 16 Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.
Now we’re talking about a sick person. But we have to ask, sick in what way?
We might think James is telling us about how a church should care for someone who has the flu, but look at what else James is talking about.
If he’s committed sins
Confess your sins
Moving on to James 5:19-20
19 My brothers, if anyone among you wanders from the truth and someone brings him back, 20 let him know that whoever brings back a sinner from his wandering will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins.
Wandering from the truth
Bringing a sinner back
Covering a multitude of sins
The words James is using (sick, healing, raising up) are used elsewhere in the bible describe physically ill people, covering a whole range of things that can go wrong with the body.
Jesus healed the sick
Epaphras was sick and almost died
Lazarus was sick and did die (but he got better)
Spiritual Sickness
Spiritual Sickness
But these same words are also used throughout scripture to describe spiritual conditions.
James asks, “Is anyone among you sick?” using the same language of Paul in Romans 14:1-2
1 As for the one who is weak in faith, welcome him, but not to quarrel over opinions. 2 One person believes he may eat anything, while the weak person eats only vegetables.
The sick is one who is weak in faith.
As for being healed, James uses the same word we translate into salvation. When we’re healed we can think of it like Peter does in 1 Peter 2:24
24 He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.
My point is that, rather than James giving instructions on what elders should do when you get a cold, he’s instructing us on how to help those who have been overwhelmed by suffering, and begun drifting away from the faith.
When someone is so crushed by their sufferings the elders - the shepherds of our souls - are to go to them and pray over them. The anointing of oil is the same as in Matthew 6:17
16 “And when you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. 17 But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, 18 that your fasting may not be seen by others but by your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
Jesus tells us to no make ourselves look so beat up when we fast that it’s obvious to other people. Instead, don’t look gloomy - wash your face and anoint your head. Get yourself cleaned up.
James is describing a person who is overcome by the world and can’t do much beyond lay in bed with the curtains closed down. When that happens you should call for the elders who can pray over you and help you get cleaned up and put a pep in your step.
And through that prayer the one who was weak and falling away can be saved and the Lord will raise you up.
Fill in the blank sermon slide here splitting v 15.
AND if you’ve committed sins, you’ll be forgiven.
Sinning While Weak
Sinning While Weak
15 And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven.
Here’ why James is so concerned that we keep our strength up. The more beat down and discouraged that we get in life, the more likely we are to fall into sin.
After suffering so much on the straight and narrow, I’m ready for a break. I wanna go down the path that rocks.
When we get so beat down it may be that we haven’t been utilizing the comforts of song, prayer, and community that God has given us. So we find other ways of coping.
All that negative energy builds up and we find ourselves venting in destructive sinful ways.
The more we get beat down by the world, the more we suffer for our faith, the more we have to knuckle down and get through it all, the greater the temptation to throw it all off.
Sometimes we feel like giving up, and sometimes we do.
James has already given us two tools to keep up the fight - prayer and songs - but here’s a third one that we’d rather not use at all.
16 Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.
Why We Don’t Like Confession
Why We Don’t Like Confession
Some of us won’t practice confession because it’s scary. For some of those sins we’ve committed we’re beyond feeling guilt - we’re ashamed.
Guilt is feeling bad about what you’ve done.
Shame is feeling bad about what you are.
And with that fear and shame comes doubt.
Everyone here will say they love. But you’re worried they don’t really know who you are.
And what does God think of this? Shouldn’t you as a Christian be doing better than this?
And so you hide behind a facade of righteousness and at a distance. You never let people know how you’re actually doing, because then they might find out what you’re doing. Don’t let anyone come to close to see the log in your eye! We’ll stay nice and isolated. I’ll take my my private shame and fear over publicity any day thank you very much!
And Satan is more than happy to give it you. The more ashamed, afraid, and alone the better as far as he’s concerned!
He wants you to keep those sins all to yourself. Keep you by yourself and all alone, so that just like a lion who preys on the weakest of the herd, he can take you.
Why We Should Confess
Why We Should Confess
But when we do confess we can help each other, especially through prayer.
We’ll ask for prayer for just about anything.
Prayers for world disasters
Prayers for job interviews
Prayers for wisdom
Prayers for health
We’ll ask the church to pray Great Aunt Myrtle’s ingrown toenail
But rarely if ever do we ask for help with our sin. We’ll take care of that one on our own.
I’ve heard people talk about that one sin that they just can’t seem to kick. It’s always winning. You’ve dealt with it for about as long as you can remember. You hate it, but at the same time you’ve sort of accepted it as a part of yourself. Because after trying for so long to kick, You’ve determined that it’s here to stay.
You’ve tried everything - except asking someone for help. Those sins I hear people say they can’t get rid of are also the sins I’ve heard say they’ll never tell anyone.
If that’s the case then your sin is being handled, it’s being given the chance to grow worse and worse until you can’t hide it anymore.
But if we confess to each other, and help one another through prayer, we can see some incredible results:
17 Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed fervently that it might not rain, and for three years and six months it did not rain on the earth. 18 Then he prayed again, and heaven gave rain, and the earth bore its fruit.
Elijah wasn’t anything special. He was a person, just like us.
He wasn’t any holier
He wasn’t any better
He wasn’t any less tempted
He was someone who got beat down by the world and felt like giving up - much like we do at times.
But he did pray, and God took care of the rest. What are we missing out on when we don’t look to each other for help?
REPSS
REPSS
So let me give you some practical steps in how you can practice confessions. You gotta get your REPSS in.
I have the college aged members over once a week for dinner and a study. One of the goals in that was to help us all get closer together and be a community - not people who ran into each other at church.
And as we talked it became more and more apparent that it was hard to have a close knit community when there was nobody you could have a real conversation with.
It’s hard to talk to people about my relationships because I’ll mostly get teased about it.
I don’t share my emotions beyond telling people that I’m fine.
I don’t discuss my spirituality because I don’t want people to freak out if I’m at a low spot
I certainly don’t want to tell anybody about my struggles because I’m too ashamed
So I told them that we we’re going to get our REPSS in every week. We we’re going to sit down and openly share and discuss how we were doing in our
Relationships
Emotions
Physical health
Spiritual health
Because Paul said in 1 Corinthians 12:26 “If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together.”
We decided we we’re going to do suffer and rejoice together. If things aren’t going well in any of these areas we’ll talk about it and share advice and different perspectives. If things are going good then we praise and encourage each other.
Having a group of friends to talk about that alone will do wonders for you.
But REPSS is spelt with two S’s. The last thing we share with each other is the sin we struggle with, how we’ve handled temptations, and when we’ve failed to resist. We practice confession.
We’ve been doing this September.
The first week we did this all of them thought it was super weird and uncomfortable.
There was the temptation to just lie about things and keep up the facade - I’m doing fine.
By the third week everybody began looking forward to getting their REPSS in, because we knew we were getting stronger.
And we keep in touch throughout the week, letting each other know if we need prayers right then and there. And every time a group S.O.S. is sent out, that alone does so much to relieve the burden of temptation and give us strength.
And as a result we find it easier to fight against whatever temptations we face - because we talk about what led to those temptations, think about what we did right or wrong in the moment, and prepare for the following week.
Ever since we’ve started having these honest discussions and confessions, we all can tell you that we’re happier, closer, more at peace, and stronger in our fight against sin. Because we’re not alone in it anymore.
And don’t just take my word for it just talk to Jackson, Cale, Joey, and Spencer about it. They’ll tell you how much regular confession has helped them through everything.
So let’s be a place where we can be real about sin. It’s far more dangerous for our church to be a place that hides sin than to be a place where we all confess sin.
Conclusion
Conclusion
19 My brothers, if anyone among you wanders from the truth and someone brings him back, 20 let him know that whoever brings back a sinner from his wandering will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins.
What if you had a day where you could lay down the burdens of your guilt, share your griefs and grievances, and feel the strength and forgiveness of God?
God’s community is one that depends on each other for everything. We are here to help you come back from the wandering paths and help you to heaven.
