Sermon Tone Analysis
Overall tone of the sermon
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It’s so good to see you all here on this Saturday evening!
Feels strange doesn’t it?
It’s a new rhythm we have to get used to in the short term.
I just remind myself that new, uncomfortable seasons challenge us and help us grow…and I know that is what God is going to do in our lives as we work through this new season as a church family.
In the future, when I look back on the date, 6.25.2022 one word will always come to my mind.
It’s the word: helplessness.
We are on vacation in Virginia and I recieved a phone call from Kendra Allen, that I let go to voice mail because it was really early.
Then a few minutes later, when Chris Coker called me, I knew something was wrong.
I knew I had to answer it.
His first words: “Tom, the church burned down.”
Helplessness.
Later that afternoon for vacation, we did a ropes course…a legit ropes course.
It had different difficulty levels, much like when you go skiing.
Of course I had to take the black diamond route first, I could take on anything this course could dish out!
Before I knew it, I found myself helplessly dangling twenty feet in the air.
My arms were like noodles, no strength left.
I had to be rescued by a very talented young lady.
I told her that she saved my life!
Once again that day I felt it.
Helplessness.
That feeling that comes over you when you have no more money to pay the bills.
When your spouse asks for a divorce.
When your child is in a car accident.
When your boss tells you that you’ve been let go.
When you keep repeating the same sin, again and again.
When you find yourself in a really bad relationship, but you can’t leave.
When your husband dies in your arms.
Why do we feel helplessness?
It’s because we’ve reached the end of our strength and ability.
We’ve reach that point where we have no control.
What limits all of us in this room from deepening our faith in God is our dependence upon our strength and ability.
Is there a problem?
Oh, I can fix that.
Something’s not going well?
I’ll just work harder.
The problem is that I am learning to put my faith in myself.
What our Heavenly Father wants is for us to learn to each day depend on him more and more.
To do that, what James would teach us from the conclusion of his letter is that we need to pray.
If you have a Bible or device, find James chapter five.
If you are using the YouVersion Bible app, go to Events.
Then look for Iowa City Church at The River Community Church.
All the sermon notes, and Scriptures will be right there on your device.
For the last 11 weeks we have been working through James’s letter and today we reach the conclusion, with James highlighting a truth that he has alluded to throughout the letter.
Here’s James parting truth to Christians living in this world:
James 5:16 (NIV)
16b The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.
The prayers of God’s people are powerful…and are effective.
The word there actually means continuous working.
I like how the ESV translates it: The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.
It reminds of this saying about prayer: When I work, I work.
But when I pray, God works.
As humans, we feel helplessness because our work isn’t good enough.
However, a faithful, regular rhythm of prayer connects us to the God of the universe who has the power and ability to do what we can’t even imagine.
Keep in mind the context of who James is writing to.
He’s writing to Jewish Christians.
He’s writing to Christians who are going through some difficult struggles.
Some who are facing injustices.
Some who are facing persecutions simply because they are Christians.
Others who are facing the hardships of life.
These are people who are having moments of helplessness.
Here is James’s concluding teaching on prayer.
James is acknowledging that in any moment, in any gathering of Christians there are going to be those who are in a struggle; where life isn’t going well.
Yet, in that same crowd there might people who are in fact feeling the joy and blessings of life.
His teaching focuses both groups of people on God.
Felling trouble?
Pray.
Feeling happiness?
Praise.
Both responses are acknowledging a dependence on God.
Helpless?
Pray.
Happy?
Praise.
These are important responses because they move us from focusing on ourselves and instead trusting where our help comes from.
Feeling helplessness?
Pray and praise.
James continues.
James 5:14–15 (NIV)
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.
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.
So what is going on with these verses?
Is James giving a formula for being cured of our sickness?
The answer is no.
Scripture itself demonstrates that to be a Christian doesn’t mean you won’t struggle with diseases or sicknesses that are never cured.
The apostle Paul dealt with a physical ailment as did the man he mentored, Timothy.
I’ve participated in anointing people with oil and praying over them.
Some were healed.
Some were not.
So what is James teaching?
The heart of the problem lies in just what James meant when he referred to the “sick.”
Actually there is no reason to consider “sick” as referring exclusively to physical illness.
The word asthenei literally means “to be weak.”
Though it is used in the Gospels for physical maladies, it is generally used in Acts and the Epistles to refer to a weak faith or a weak conscience (cf.
Acts 20:35; Rom.
6:19; 14:1; 1 Cor.
8:9-12).
That it should be considered “weak” in this verse is clear in that another Greek word (kamnonta) in James 5:15, translated sick person, literally means “to be weary.”
The only other use in the New Testament (Heb.
12:3) of that word clearly emphasizes this same meaning.
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