Our Responsibilities to one another

Open: Troy’s wife Yvette had a tragic family experience when she was young. Her younger brother was handicapped and in a wheelchair. The family attended a Benny Hinn crusade in Florida in the late 70’s or early 80’s. The family was shocked, dismayed, and severely disappointed when Hinn’s security people wouldn’t even let them near the platform for the “healing service”

Transition: The family felt betrayed and let down. That experience caused them to turn away from the heretical ‘word of faith’ movement, but by God’s grace some of the family still came to a genuine faith in Christ at a later date.

Our words and actions as believers, or in this case, deluded believers, have consequences to others. Though these charlatans are not genuine, the world as a whole views them as Christians and judges us accordingly. It is therefore crucial for those of us who are genuine believers to exercise responsibility one to another.

READ the Text: James 5:12-20

Believers have the responsibility to speak with integrity to one another (James 5:12)

Explanation: James wraps up his letter to the Church by encouraging them to step it up in the area of community. These Christians are starting to experience hardship for their faith. They are on the beginnings of the persecution that is ongoing to this day. The forces of darkness have no love for the Children of Light, and they will oppose and try to destroy in any way possible.

One way that it has generally been easy for the Accuser to trip up believers is in our speech. James has already dealt with the misuse of words in an earlier section (James 3:1-12), but he adds some final guidelines that will protect the community of faith and help it flourish and prosper.

He begins with an admonition to speak truth without evasion. On the surface it appears that James is simply telling them not to take oaths. What he is actually telling them is that they are not to use oaths to avoid being people of integrity.

Illustrate:

Argument: Christians are to be people of integrity. When we say something, our word should be our bond. We should not have to swear an oath for another person to believe us. Even though the times we live in require contracts and notarized signatures, we should live in accordance with what we have stated, even if the contract hasn’t been signed

Application: You CAN be a person of integrity. Think before you make a statement, and when you do, follow through. with God’s help we can be the one “who walks blamelessly and does what is right and speaks truth in his heart” (Psalm 15:2)

Believers have the responsibility to pray for one another (James 5:13-18)

Explanation: James spends some time in this next area, and it concerns prayer. He addresses believers who find themselves in different places in life: those who are struggling, those who are happy, and those who are sick. We can move in and out of these groups depending upon our circumstances, but the answer is always the same - we are to be in prayer!

Sometimes we struggle in this life. We can become overwhelmed by our circumstances and we just feel beat down and defeated. We were discussing this very thing in our Wed. night prayer meeting, how the isolation of the Covid pandemic is causing people to struggle. James gives the remedy of being in a constant and continual state of prayer. I addressed believers who are struggling with anxiety in my latest Blameless FB video (Episode 17), and Philippians 4:6-7 was the remedy I offered.

Sometimes we excel in this walk of life. Everything is going well: the kids are performing in school, the job is yielding promotions, the vehicles are running smoothly, and the family is healthy. We are walking in the blessings of the Lord.

Too much success can cause believers to lose touch with ever-present reality of our dependence upon God. We are told to guard against forgetting who it is that provides the blessings. [this is where America finds itself today - we have forgotten the God who blessed us, and we are living on credit from the godly generations in the past]

Again, the remedy is a form of prayer through the singing of praises. Through songs from grateful hearts, we can have our hope fixed on the One True God who is the fountain of the blessings. As James has already shared, “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights” (James 1:17)

The third group addressed is those who are physically ill with a serious illness. Before going any further, it would be wise to acknowledge that verses 14-18 are among the most controversial and most difficult to understand in the entire letter.

There are some conservative Bible students who interpret this passage along the lines of those who are spiritually weak, not physically ill. These men are in the minority, but the Greek word does have that meaning in other instances in the NT. Dr. MacArthur is one such scholar and he believes this fits better in the context of the entire section on suffering from oppressors. These who are weak are those who are at the bottom and can’t even effectively pray for themselves. These folks need the spiritually mature (the elders) to come and to pray for them to energize their prayer lives.

This interpretation does resolve some of the more difficult issues in this section, but I lean towards the understanding, along with the majority of conservative scholars, that this passage deals with serious physical illness.

Having determined that understanding, there are still problems for the serious bible student. The focus on the physical healing through prayer has given rise to the abominations of the modern heretical faith healing movement. The likes of Kenneth Copeland and Benny Hinn (and others) hijack this verse in their healing services. While they screen out people with visible physical defects, they perform their mumbo - jumbo over others. And if those others later claim they weren’t really healed, the so-called healer simply claims they didn’t have enough faith.

The anointing with oil in v. 14 gave rise to the Roman Catholic ritual of Extreme Unction (or last rites) sometime in the 700’s. Like one scholar pointed out, “I find it hard to understand how a passage about restoring a person to health has come to be used for those who are about to die”

With these examples before us, we move cautiously into our own understanding of the text. James is declaring that those who are dealing with a serious physical issue are to the call the elders. The initiative is with the believer, not the elders. But the elders, when called, will come and anoint the sick believer and they are to pray over him or her. The text states that “the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up” (James 5:15)

The second part of v. 15 and v. 16 deal with the presence of sin and it confession as it relates to the illness the sick person is facing. It must be quickly pointed out that all sickness in the life of a believer IS NOT the result of sin (cf. John 9:1-3). In this specific passage, however, the presence of sin leading up to physical illness is present. In this situation, confession

Time doesn’t permit an exhaustive study of the believer’s role in prayer along with the sovereignty of God, but both elements are present. We are to pray in faith, AND we are to be willing to accept the sovereign will of God in the matter as well. This is not a magic spell that obligates God to act in a particular manner. He is God, and He will not be manipulated by His creatures.

For our part we are to pray in faith, asking God to heal those who are sick. We are also to pray seeking the will of God in each of these circumstances.

Believers have the responsibility to hold one another accountable (James 5:19-20)

Explanation: James finishes his letter to his fellow believers with an admonition to hold each other accountable. He reminds them of their calling as members of community. James is aware that believers can fall into sin, but when they do, they should not be allowed to fall by themselves. It is the responsibility of others to attempt to rescue and restore them.

Argument: The community of faith is to watch out for its own. Too many times we turn a blind eye to a brother or sister who begins to wander off the straight and narrow. We think it best if we just mind our own business. If we really care for each other and take what the Bible says seriously, we cannot ignore those who are being overtaken by bad choices. We can’t force the issue or control the outcome, be we are called on to make the attempt. “Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness” (Gal 6:1)

Application: When we make the effort to restore, trusting in the leading of the Holy Spirit, we can be used to prevent untold future pain and suffering.