Today we bring to a close our series entitled True Faith Works, our series on the epistle of James. Now, we’ve seen James deal with a lot of very important biblical doctrines and biblical truths during the past few months. Sometimes it’s hard to believe that there’s so much stuff, so much information crammed into only 5 chapters (only 3 pages in your pew Bibles). We’ve talked about the relationship of faith and works. We said that faith produces works and that we are not saved by our works. We’ve talked about sin and the severity with which we are to treat it. Sin is no trivial matter. We talked about how we are to go about fighting sin in this world. We talked about the complete reliance that we must have upon God to overcome sin in this fight. We don’t have the power to overcome it, that must come from God and God alone. Last week, we saw James tell us that we have to be patient. We saw him tell us that all of this hard work that we are going to be doing isn’t going to be easy and it’s not going to be a short process, but we have to keep going. Even when we’re tired, even when we’re weak, and even when we wonder if we’re even making a difference, we have to keep going. Well, now we come to the closing words of James for his Jewish-Christian audience. Basically (and this is really simplifying it), James’ final words are that we should pray and praise God. So, he follows up all of this hard work and suffering and patience and endurance with the sweet reminder that we are to pray and praise.
“Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing praise. Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him…” In other words, if you’re in trouble then pray. If you’re in a time of blessing then pray. If you’re sick (the Greek word literally meaning “weak”) then call the leaders of the church and have them pray with and for you. Regardless of what your situation or your circumstances in life may be, you ought to be praying. I often find it funny that many Christians only really pray when things are going poorly. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard stories about people exhausting every possible avenue of help and healing, so they went to God in prayer. Now, we’ve all heard stories where people came to know Christ in those moments and I’m greatly thankful for them. Maybe the story of how you came to know Christ happened in a situation like that; praise be to God. However, I often get a little bit cenacle or upset feeling when I hear those stories. Now, I’m not trying to say that God ought to not listen to those prayers. God doesn’t need to be like us. You know that person that calls you only when something is wrong and you don’t even want to answer it when their name comes up on the caller I.D. “He must be in trouble now because he’s calling me.” No, I’m thankful that God isn’t like that; however, I will often say that if someone is constantly in prayer, then maybe they wouldn’t reach the point that they are at when they have nowhere to turn. When we are constantly engaging ourselves with the things of God through prayer and careful reading and study of His Word, then we are much more likely to stay anchored to Him. However, bad things will still happen and that’s just the way it is.
James follows up his charge for constant prayer by saying, “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. Therefore confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed.” Now, one quick word of caution here; James is not saying that praying a particular prayer or having certain people pray and anoint someone with oil will heal everyone. He’s not even saying that every follower of Christ that prays over the sick will see healing. Remember, I told you that the word translated as “sick” actually means “weak” in the original Greek. Well, there is a great deal of difference between sickness and weakness. And this weakness that is in mind is a complete lack of strength, almost like that of being completely wiped out due to dehydration, starvation, or illness. It’s really an inability to do anything. Recently, Amy and I attended a funeral service for a distant family member of hers. This guy was a devoted and devout Christian, but he had more health problems than all five members of my family put together. He had been in bad health for as long as Amy has been alive; he had had heart issues for well over 30 years with his first heart surgery being in 1981. And as if that wasn’t enough, he had even had several accidents while working his land involving large metal gates and massive tractors. He couldn’t wear pants that fit him because they irritated the scars that he had as a result of so many surgeries. Now, he was a faithful man, but God never healed him of his infirmities. The Apostle Paul was never healed of his infirmities. Paul very famously speaks in 2 Corinthians of his “thorn in the flesh” which is often seen as a physical injury. However, in both the case of Paul and this man who had been in poor health, Mr. Cooley, God overcame their weaknesses and gave them strength. He gave them strength to run the race that was before them to use more Pauline language. You see, it isn’t about necessarily being healed of all physical infirmities (although God certainly has the power to do that), but about overcoming whatever your limitations may be and serving and honoring God. That’s the healing that James has in mind here that we are to pray for. Overcoming physical and spiritual maladies and being able to praise God through it all. Overcoming the fallenness of this world and the way in which we are seen as the bad guys. Overcoming the trials and hardships and continuing to strive forward for the kingdom and for the sake of Christ’s righteousness, that’s the true healing that is found in Christ.
What we find next is a Biblical (Old Testament) example of a faithful prayer. I don’t really use the term prayer warrior much, but if I did, then I would definitely classify Elijah as the Lieutenant General of that Army (with Christ rightly being the General). James gives the story that we find in 1 Kings at the beginning of 17 and end of 18 about Elijah’s faithful prayers being answered and a 3½ year drought coming about and ending when he changed his prayers to be for rain instead of against it. Now, one little thing that I want to point out here is that we might take the wrong impression from these words. Now, this isn’t an issue with James, but an issue with us, that we might misunderstand what James is referencing here if we don’t properly or correctly understand what happened with Elijah and this drought. You see, Elijah did pray for this drought, but it was also a vision given to him as well. Before the drought ever began, we find these words in 1 Kings 17, “Now Elijah the Tishbite…said to Ahab, ‘As the Lord the God of Israel lives, before whom I stand, there shall be neither dew nor rain these years, except by my word.’ And the word of the Lord came to him: ‘Depart from here and turn eastward…’” Then God continues to give Elijah instructions as to how he should proceed. The point of the matter is that God was using this drought to accomplish His purposes. The will of God could be accomplished by this drought and so He consented to the petition made by Elijah. God’s glory and power was shown through this drought. Had Elijah’s prayer been outside of the sovereign will of the Father, then it would not have happened. Some of y’all looked a few weeks ago at that petition in the Lord’s Prayer that says, “Thy will be done” or “God’s will be done.” We have to understand that sometimes God’s will isn’t to heal everyone; it isn’t always God’s will to save every person. I’m sure that there were those who looked to God during that drought and wondered why He wouldn’t cause it to rain. The family member that I referenced earlier, Mr. Cooley, might not have been as devout of a Christian as he was had he been healed of all of his physical ailments. Much of his faith came from his experience of going through life and dealing with his infirmities. You might could say that his scars were what lead him to Christ.
Now, the final words of James’ epistle almost seem to begin a new concept. However, I want to read these words to you and then tell you why it is just a re-emphasizing of several of the themes that James has already introduced. James says, “My brothers, if anyone among you wanders from the truth and someone brings him back, 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.” Now, upon first reading this, we might be tempted to get the impression that one sure-fire way to gain eternal life is to find someone who is living in sin, apart from God, and to lead them to a saving faith. However, we know that Jesus Christ is the only way to heaven, and we know that because Jesus himself tells us that in John 14:6. So, what do these final two verses mean? Well, first off just because some of these folks are wandering from the truth doesn’t mean that they were ever even in the truth. We know that once God claims us as His own, that we may stray, but we will never fall away. However, just because we are members of a local church and part of a congregation, that doesn’t necessarily indicate membership in the invisible church. Secondly, when James says that “someone” may bring him back, he is opening up the responsibilities of the community (i.e. the Christian community of the church), to all members and not just the leaders. He’s letting us know that it isn’t about your place within the church, but about your place within Christ. If you are a Christian, then you have a responsibility to seek out the lost. It’s isn’t just the job of the pastor or the Elders to seek the lost, but it is the responsibility of the entirety of the church.
So, the question still remains about what to make of this “save his soul from death” talk. Well, let’s come full-circle shall we? As I mentioned earlier, the epistle of James begins (in fact it really is the first half of the epistle) by really dealing with the notion of faith and works. True saving faith produces good works. Well, would you classify leading someone who is lost and wandering back into the fold of God as a good work? I certainly would. Well, working from James’ logic that he’s presented earlier, what must that “someone” who brings him back possess before carrying out this good work? He must have a real, right, and saving faith. As we’ve said, good works are indicators of true saving faith. Well, being able to do the good work of leading others to a real faith is an indicator itself of a true saving faith, and that true saving faith is found in none other than Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. It is because of Jesus Christ and his death and resurrection that this covering of a multitude of sins takes place. It’s not because of the work of the person, but because of the work of Jesus that we find salvation, forgiveness, and reconciliation between ourselves and the Father.
James is telling us here that basically everything that we have is because of Jesus. We can seek out the lost because of the faith that is in us because of Christ. We can be healed of, or overcome, all of our physical and spiritual afflictions because of Christ. We can pray, cry out to God our Father in heaven knowing that He will hear us because of the work of Jesus Christ. It is because of Christ that we have any standing with God that is not condemnation. It is by God’s grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone that we have hope for our salvation. Friends, everything that you have and everything that you claim as your own is because of Jesus Christ. Yes, you have worked hard and made good decisions, but it is because of the sovereignty, providence, grace, and mercy of God shown and given to us in the person and work of Jesus Christ that we can enjoy them. Let us continue to praise God, and thank him for giving us His one and only Son. Glory be to God; in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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