Father in heaven, once again we come to you and say thank you. First of all, we say thank you for all of the moms here this morning. I want to thank you for my mother, for for her love and support and encouragement to me through the years. I thank you for the blessing upon all the mothers— I ask you for a blessing upon all the mothers here this morning. Thank you for the wonderful gift that they are to us. We also thank you for your word. It's living and active. We thank you for always being faithful to send your Holy Spirit who speaks to us through your word. We ask you to do that again this morning, Lord. We ask for your illuminating power So let Your Word shine in our lives. Draw us out of the darkness and into the light of Your truth. Work now, Lord, in our minds and our hearts so that we will understand, so that we will apply the truth that's written here. Please pour out more grace on us now as we study together for our good and for Your glory. In Jesus' name, amen.
This morning, we come to the end of this letter of James. We've been in it for several months now. And James has done a wonderful job laying out for us a picture of the messiness of the life of faith, of what the messiness of this life can be in this fallen world. There are struggles with trials, struggles with temptations, struggles with anger and conflict. There are struggles over partiality and favoritism, struggles with working out our faith and works. There are struggles of wisdom and conflict. In this small letter, we can all find areas that we can relate to. Since many of the struggles and the challenges and the issues that James has laid out, we can all find a place to relate to in that. So now we come this morning to James' final exhortations to us.
James 5, beginning in verse 13. Listen now to the Word of God and follow along. "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, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. 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. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working. Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed fervently that it might not rain. And for 3 years and 6 months it did not rain on the earth. Then he prayed again, and heaven gave rain, and the earth bore its fruit. 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.
The thing that James ends his letter with here is one of the most important perspectives that you or I could ever have as we live this life of faith. James ends the letter with an invitation to prayer, a prayer of faith. There's several aspects of prayer that James brings out and points out for us here. The first is individual prayer. Then we'll look at corporate prayer, the prayer of a righteous man, and we'll end with faith in gear, a final call to action.
So over the last few months, James has reminded us that our lives are no longer shaped by the small kingdom agenda of my wants, my needs, or my feelings. We've been invited by James to be a part of a bigger and better kingdom, the kingdom of God. And James has been brutally honest with us about the struggles of that life and what the walk of faith looks like at the street level where all of us live. We don't always welcome trials into our lives with joy. We want to point the finger when we sin. It's hard for us to imagine and acknowledge that our sin is caused by something that goes on inside of us. In moments of conflict, we're convinced that it's not our fault. We often think that we are wiser than we are, and we often act like we are more sovereign than we will ever be.
So in concluding with prayer, James reminds us of something that is very important to remember in the midst of trials and struggles, in the midst of the messiness of life. It's vital to remember day after day, again and again, to remember that God is with us and God is for us, and prayer helps us to do that.
6 · The pastor introduces the first major section on individual prayer by reading and framing James 5:13
So let's look at the individual prayer. First, the prayer of faith. James 5:13, "Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing praise."
7 · The pastor shares a humorous personal story about discovering he'd booked the wrong flight home, using it to illustrate the ambiguity between suffering and cheerfulness and the appropriateness of prayer in all circumstances
Now, James lays this out in kind of an either/or situation, but I had an experience this week and wasn't sure which category to fit myself into. Pam and I had an opportunity to get away for a few days. We went down to Phoenix for my mom's birthday. It was her birthday last Wednesday, so we took the opportunity to get away. And Thursday night, we flew down on Sunday after church thinking we were going to come home on Thursday night. Got in the car Thursday evening, we were all packed up, heading to the airport, and I thought, "Oh, let me just check on the status." And we were on Southwest. You always want to check and see what your boarding pass number is. And I Started looking on, got this new iPhone and making use of it. Found out we didn't have reservations to go home on Thursday night. It was Friday night. So we were 24 hours early. So far we were about, only about 5 minutes down the road. We just whipped around real quick, went home, unpacked, and stayed another day. But I didn't know what to think. Should I be, was I suffering? I was upset with myself for thinking I had made this mistake. How could I have done that? We had care group on Friday night. I wanted to be home for that. I am very intentional about being very careful when I make reservations like that, double-checking, triple-checking. And here I had made this mistake and thought, "How could that happen? What about care group tomorrow night? What about all the other things I needed to do on Friday?" On the other hand, Phoenix is nice this time of year. I got to sit out on my parents' porch all day Friday and work on my message. It was about 90 degrees. It was a beautiful sunny day. They live on a golf course. I thought, maybe I'm supposed to be cheerful about this. I couldn't quite make up my mind where I fit into it. So I prayed. Either one, James says, either way. If you're suffering, pray. If you're cheerful, pray. So I prayed. Then I run on a little bit further and said, if you're sick, I thought, how could I have done this mistake? I must be suffering early onset Alzheimer's. So I called for the elders and I prayed. I put my hands on myself and I prayed for myself. And I must have been healed because I don't remember anything else that I might have forgotten.
8 · The pastor exposes the doubts believers face in suffering—questioning God's control, power, and care—and frames James' call to prayer as the alternative to those doubts
But getting back to the text here, James says, "Is anyone among you suffering?" In that moment of trouble or suffering, what are all of us tempted to think? Perhaps we're tempted to think that God is not in control of this world or my life. Perhaps God doesn't have the power to rescue me. Perhaps God is not near or does not care. All of us have revisited the promises of God from time to time and wonder whether or not they are true. All of us have questioned God's sovereignty. We've doubted His power. But here James is offering us an alternative to those doubts. He says, "Seek God and His help." in the moment of trouble, in the moment of suffering.
9 · The pastor presents prayer as a radically counter-cultural act that affirms the reality of an unseen God and distinguishes believers from a world that trusts only what can be empirically verified
So I'd wonder if there isn't perhaps no more radical act in the Christian life than to pray. To take our life, to take our struggles, to take those things that we hold precious and dear to ourselves, to take our most difficult situations and circumstances and to place them into the hands of someone that we can't see, someone that we can't touch, even when we can't hear or feel. Isn't that an act that's so radical that it can barely be described at times? It's in prayer and through prayer that we live out our theology. It's in prayer that I say my life is greater than what I can measure, quantify, hear, or understand. It's in prayer that you and I set ourselves apart from the rest of humanity who believes that if you can't touch it or see it or feel it or hear it, then it's not real or it doesn't exist. Prayer invites us to embrace the reality and the existence of our God and to find contentment and satisfaction and peace there. So in this passage, James shows us where to turn in the midst of suffering. He invites us to come to the God of grace to embrace the reality of his existence, the reality of his rule, the reality of his power, and most importantly, to act and to behave like those things are real. And to believe that there is someone in this universe more powerful, more loving, and caring than anything that our natural senses can embrace.
10 · The pastor expounds on James' call to praise in cheerfulness by arguing that any good thing in a fallen world is evidence of God's grace restraining sin and sustaining order
James goes on and says, "If anyone is cheerful, if so, let him sing praise." Why should we turn to God in a moment of joy or delight or celebration? Think about it this way. If this world is as broken as Scripture describes it to be, if the reality of the fall has literally altered everything that exists so that there is a way in which nothing perfectly operates the way it was designed or created to, if it's true that this entire world is groaning and waiting for its redemption, if it's true that every human being is a flawed human, and if it's true that sin has damaged every aspect of our personhood. If all of that is true, and it is, how does anything good ever happen in our lives? A good argument can be made, if you wanted to make it, that this world should be a completely terrible place to live in. Yet all of us experience joys and things that we're to be cheerful about. All of us experience good things that come to us that we have never planned or could have never orchestrated on our own. So hear this truth. If ever in this fallen world you have a reason to be cheerful, you are experiencing at that moment God's grace in your life. It's God who contains the power of sin so that it doesn't reach its full expression. It's God who provides for us. It's God who protects us. It's God who defends us from others. It's God who defends us from ourselves. It's God who holds the world together in a level of unity and harmony that should not be possible given the brokenness of the world.
11 · The pastor illustrates God's restraining grace through the chaotic but surprisingly functional traffic in Chinese cities, showing that even in disorder, God brings order and prevents the full expression of chaos
I saw this lived out in a sense on a recent trip to China. If you've ever been to a big city, you know what the traffic can be like in big cities. But go to Shanghai or go to Beijing and it's just magnified. There are I was going to say trillions of cars. That's probably a little bit of an exaggeration. But there are cars everywhere, all the time. And if there's a 4-lane highway, the cars will be 5 or 6 wide. If there's a stoplight, maybe they'll stop. If you need to make a left-hand turn and you're at a red light and there's nobody else coming, then you just go. If you need to get off at an exit, you don't get off in line and wait patiently to get up to your exit. You zip around all the other cars and try to come in at the front. It was crazy. And, you know, Pam and I are in the cars and we're tempted to cover our eyes, you know, afraid that there's going to be an accident. But in all of that craziness, all these cars going everywhere, it seemed to work out. There were far fewer accidents I noticed and observed in that city with all these crazy drivers and all this craziness going on than I do see here in the United States in Kansas City. So somehow, out of all of this madness, God brought it together and made it work. And that's what He does for us in this world. Out of a mad, crazy world where sin reigns, He takes it and makes it work. And there are things in our lives to be joyful about.
12 · The pastor grounds the call to praise in the theological truth that all good things come from God, connecting it to James' earlier teaching and asserting that God's grace is present every day even when we fail to recognize it
And we're called to sing, to sing praises to God in those times. So when we experience good things in our lives, it is right to sing hymns of praise to God. Because those good things come from the hand of God. And James is simply reminding us of what he said earlier in this letter, that every good and every perfect thing comes from above. So there is never a day, no matter how bad we may perceive it to be, when we don't experience God's grace in some way, some shape, or some form in our lives. The problem is we don't often see it that way. So God welcomes us to come to Him in times of suffering, and invites us to seek Him and to sing to Him when we have reasons to celebrate.
13 · The pastor transitions from individual prayer to corporate prayer, signaling a structural shift in the sermon's argument
God has also provided us resources of help in times of sickness and in need. This takes us to the second nature of prayer that James brings to us, and that's the corporate aspect of corporate prayer.
14 · The pastor reads James 5:14-16a and introduces the theme of corporate prayer by asserting that the walk of faith is a community project, not an individualistic endeavor
Verse 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. 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, pray for one another, that you may be healed. Providence, God has given us resources to help us in our walk of faith. Your walk with God is a community project.
15 · The pastor applies the corporate nature of faith by calling the congregation to reject Western individualism and embrace the biblical vision of community, grounded in God's design and the church's calling
As we just read, as Matthew was dedicating his children, there was a community aspect to that, not only just the parents, but the church as well. We have to reject what is so common in Western culture today, this Jesus and me religion, that we are individuals, that we value privacy, we value individualism. But we weren't created, we weren't intended, we weren't saved to do this walk of faith alone. Providence is a a community of faith, and God demonstrates His faith to us or His love to us in tangible ways.
16 · The pastor expounds on the role of elders, presenting them as God's visible presence of care in the church—a tangible expression of God's shepherding love
So James begins this section with the corporate nature of prayer by pointing out to us the elders of the church. God has qualified and set apart men to lead the church. They are also called to care for the church, to shepherd it. So part of the job that Matthew and I have been called to is to care for you, to shepherd you. And in a sense, to be the visible presence of God in your midst. The visible presence of God's care, care for us. What a wonderful thing that is to realize that God has established a way for there to be physical, visible care for us through the elders in a real way that puts flesh and blood on the care that God provides for us.
17 · The pastor directly applies James 5:14 by exhorting the congregation to call the elders when sick, offering specific instructions on how to make contact and emphasizing the elders' willingness to pray
So let me just say this, that Matthew and I considered a privilege to pray for you, to pray for anyone in this church at a time of illness or sickness. We welcome the opportunity to remember you in our prayers, to ask God for healing for you. So please don't hesitate. Anytime if you're sick, not able to get here, not able to come to church, whatever the case may be, don't just assume that we know automatically that you're sick. Send someone, send us a text, send us an email, make a phone call, send your spouse, send a child, I don't care. To us and let us know. We would love to come and pray for you. So please don't hesitate. We love to do that. It's part of our job. It's a privilege. It's an honor to pray for you.
18 · The pastor expounds on the nature of the sickness in James 5:14—serious illness requiring the elders to come to the sick person—and clarifies that the responsibility to call for the elders rests with the sick person, not the elders
In this text, though, it appears that James is referring to some sort of serious illness or sickness. The elders are being called to come and pray over someone, likely an individual who couldn't come to the elders or to church. The elders are called for and they go to this person and they pray over them. So the application here is, in those moments of serious sickness or illness, are you seeking the help that God has established for you in His church? Are you calling on the elders to come and pray for you? And notice that James puts the onus on the person who is sick to call for the elders. Sometimes, as I said, sometimes Matthew and I hear about illnesses and sicknesses, but don't assume that always to be the case. James is clear, the person who is sick is to call for the elders.
19 · The pastor defines the prayer of faith as a prayer rooted in confidence in God's power, warning that prayer without faith is insulting to God
The presence of the elders in the body of Christ is God's visible sign of care and love and appreciation for you guys. James, in verse 15, James also notes that our prayers are to be a prayer of faith. When we pray, we are to believe. The prayer of faith is a prayer that springs forth out of a heart that is confident in the power of God. It's a hopeful prayer. It's a confident prayer. When we pray for people, we are simply taking their needs before God and then trusting in God that He is able to raise up people who are sick. If we come to God in prayer and do so without faith, we are insulting and mocking God by that act.
20 · The pastor expounds on the promise of James 5:15—that God will raise up the sick—clarifying that healing may occur in this life or in the resurrection, and that true prayer of faith includes submission to God's sovereignty
The result of this prayer of faith, or the result of a prayer of faith, is that God will save the one who is sick and raise him up. It may not be today. It may not be next week. It may not be even in this life. But the day will come when God will raise up that person and they will receive a complete healing. God wants us to pray. God wants us to pray because He wants to heal the sick. The prayer of faith, however, isn't a simple, cold, mechanical formula type of prayer which is nothing more than lip service to God. The prayer of faith is a prayer that isn't afraid to approach the Lord, to come into the presence of God. It finds delight in the presence of the Lord. And it causes us to pour out our hearts before Him. Faith is a confidence in God's ability and His love and His ability to raise up and to heal a sick person. But does this mean that the prayer of healing that is offered is always infallible? A true prayer of faith will also embrace the concept of sovereignty, of God's will.
21 · The pastor anchors the prayer of faith in submission to God's will, citing the Lord's Prayer and 1 John 5:14-15 to show that true faith prays according to God's sovereign purposes, not merely human desires
James wants us to know that prayer does mean something, that it does have value. He wants us to pray in faith. So while a prayer of faith is done with a confidence in God's ability to answer, it also needs to be done— prayer of faith also includes an understanding of God's will over this situation. His sovereignty in this person's life. So we see the importance of praying according to God's will in the Lord's Prayer in Matthew 5 when Jesus is teaching His disciples how to pray. He includes this phrase, "Your kingdom come, Your will be done." That's far different than what I hear my prayers, if I think about what I'm praying, where it says, "My will be done in my life right now." We see this also, the aspect of praying according to God's will in 1 John 4:3. James 5:15, it says, "And this is the confidence that we have toward Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the request that we have asked of Him."