The author of James was likely the half-brother of Jesus, James. He knew Jesus far longer than any of the Apostles, yet he wasn’t a follower of Christ until after the resurrection. The proof is in the pudding so to speak. But James rose up in the Jerusalem church, where he was an elder and in prominent leadership. He led the church.
This Epistle was written to the Twelve Tribes of the dispersion, which broadly seems to suggest it was written to Christians, followers of Jesus, generally. It does not seem to have a specific audience in mind. Nor does the text seem to have any logical thought progression. It’s filled with different points (or pericopes) and moves onto something completely different. For this reason, Martin Luther – the Reformer in the 1500s – called the book “the Epistle of straw”. He almost left it out of his German Translation of the Bible! Some scholars suggest the genre of the text is that of a homily, a sermon. Perhaps this is right, but I think it can aptly be understood as a work of wisdom. You could think of it in a similar light to Proverbs. And as such, we come to the text for this sermon:
“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.”
James 5:13-20 ESV.
Will Smith, some of you may know him for this:
Others know him from the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, where he rose to fame. It’s a great series, and its theme song begins:
Now, this is a story all about how
The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.
My life got flipped-turned upside down
Where do you go when your life gets “flipped-turned upside down”? What do you do? What’s your reaction when the rug is pulled out from under your feet? You might not move interstate and be forced to live with your aunt and uncle. But perhaps out of nowhere, you might be hit with depression. Perhaps your marriage is falling apart. Your grades aren’t as high as you’d hoped. Something happens and your children no longer speak to you. What do you do, when your life gets “flipped-turned upside down”?
In verse 13, James asks the question: “are you suffering?” He uses the Greek word Kakopathei which is incredibly broad. It literally means: “to suffer or endure hardships. It means to be afflicted. There’s no specific context in mind here, James is talking widespread, general suffering. We all suffer, don’t we? It might be physical, emotional, financial, relational. The whole works! If you are suffering, pray. If you are suffering, pray! But how are we to pray? The theologian Douglas Moo suggests the following:
The prayer believers are to offer in such circumstances is not necessarily for deliverance from the trial, but for the strength to endure it faithfully.
Douglas Moo.
In other words, pray for a stronger back to bear the burden! It’s true, God may deliver you from your suffering, but He may not. Instead, He may use these times to grow you. That’s certainly been my experience.
“Is anyone cheerful?” Here’s another broad question! Is there joy in your heart? Perhaps you’re deeply content with where God has you right at this very moment. These are the moments we live for, we want these moments to never end! Ultimately, this posture of contentedness is where God will slowly draw us to: in Philippians, the Apostle Paul tells us: “for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content.” There’s peace in his heart! But in these moments, we often forget where this joy, peace and contentment comes from. So, what does James say? Praise. Bring praise to God for the gift He’s given you. Praise is a form of prayer. But how do you do that? You could sing a song of worship, or write in your journal, thanking God for all He’s done. Perhaps you read the Psalms and offer it up to God in prayer. I love Psalm 51. I’ll sing it, sometimes internally depending on the situation, in the tune from Keith Green:
Create in me a clean heart, O God,
Psalm 51 – Keith Green.
And renew a right spirit within me.
Cast me not away from your presence, O Lord,
Take not your Holy Spirit from me.
Restore unto to me the joy of your salvation,
And renew a right spirit within me.
James provides a third point: is anyone among you sick? Again, it’s a general statement and I don’t need to go into depth here. James’ point is clear. Whatever situation you’re in, pray and bring praise and glory to God. The way by which we pray can change, whether we include the eldership or not, James is imploring us to continue the relationship with our Maker. So, what is your attitude like? How can you bring a posture of prayer into your workplace, your home, sporting club, school or any other community?
In verse 15 James highlights what brings healing in people’s lives. It’s not the gift of healing. It’s the gift of faith. Now, what is faith?
Hebrews 11:1: “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.”
It’s a deep seeded conviction, not just head knowledge, it’s within your heart. You know it to be true. And while we talk about faith a lot, we need to understand that the faith of a child is completely different to an adult. We go through stages – there are seasons of faith where we are intimate with God and seasons where we grow cold. Of course, that’s not what we desire, but it’s true! Think of doubting Thomas, the Apostle who wouldn’t believe Christ had resurrected until he touched Jesus’ pierced hands and side. In the Gospel of Matthew, right before the Great Commission, we read that “And when they saw Jesus they worshipped him, but some doubted.” These were His closest followers! And yet some doubted. Even still, Jesus called them to go. If you have doubts, pray that God will strengthen your faith! Pray that He’ll give you the faith required to get you through the journey He’s planned for you.
In faith, will God raise up the people we pray for? Perhaps. If it is God’s will. When we have our moments of deep faith and connection with God, we’re seeking His will in everything. And this isn’t individualistic – I believe God will heal my mother, or brother, or whoever it is that’s close to us and struggling. It’s the community of elders, all present will feel the conviction and leading of the Holy Spirit to pray in faith, for that healing. If that is not present, then perhaps it is not God’s will for healing to occur. At the end of the day, what Jesus was all about was repentance – the healing of sin. His first words in the Gospel of Mark: “the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.” Turn from sin, your sins, where you fall short, will be forgiven through Christ’s work at Calvary.
We live in community. We’re a community of Jesus disciples. So, “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.”
Part of the spiritual journey, our walk with Christ, is being open to His Spirit and formation within our lives. To do that, we have to journey alongside others. And that requires vulnerability. Brené Brown tells us:
“Vulnerability is not winning or losing; it’s having the courage to show up and be seen when we have no control over the outcome. Vulnerability is not weakness; it’s our greatest measure of courage.”
Brené Brown
The fact of the matter is it can be scary talking about your deepest regrets and the darkest points in your life. Why? I think often it’s because we’re scared of how it will be received. Not only do we need the courage to be vulnerable within our community, but we need to ensure we’re a community that encourages and facilitates such vulnerability. When we provide a listening ear, without judgement or the desire to fix said person, that in and of itself can be an incredibly healing space. Are we, as the body of Christ, open to creating a space for people to explore their past trauma and work together in our journey of becoming like Christ? Let’s pray for that! Let’s pray together!
When we’re in such a community, we notice when people start to grow cold. We notice when they’re drifting away. “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 are we here for? Is it for ourselves? Or is it for God, His Kingdom and His people? If we’re truly to become the kind of community where people are comfortable being vulnerable with each other, where there is mutual love and respect, where new people feel welcomed into such a community, we’ll miss those who fall away. It starts slowly, and they might miss a few weeks. Give them a call, and check in on them. The fact of the matter is that all of us can wander away. Including church leadership. None of us are immune. We need to pray that God will continue to keep us in His care, in His community. If we fall away, the consequences are very real.
Recently I had the pleasure of taking my family to Caloundra. It’s a local spot on the coast of Queensland where we like to visit. It was a short trip, but I got to spend hours upon hours with my son swimming in a pool. It was a great time. As I reflect on that time, I’m reminded of God’s desire – to spend that sort of time with us! At the end of the day, we were made for relationship with God and He has continually opened the door, seeking that from and with us. How can we go about facilitating and creating the space where we can focus our eyes on Jesus?
What we need is a posture of prayer. Just like we need good posture when sitting in an office chair, we need a posture of prayer to grow our relationship with Christ. We need to spend time with our our Father in Heaven. That’s what James is pointing us too!
Last year, about a month before our second son was due to arrive, I took a 24-hour silent retreat with God – away from family. I turned off devices and spent the time wandering, praying and reading God’s word. It was a fruitful time, not just for my mental state, but also for my spiritual journey and joy in life. I learned a lot from those 24 hours and I’m still learning. Can you consider adding such a spiritual discipline into your routine?
When I was at school, I heard a sermon on prayer. I had the novel idea to write the word “pray” on my hand. I figured that every time I saw the word “pray” in my hand, I was determined to pray.
I don’t think it lasted a day.
What I’ve since realised is that my focus was wrong. Rules are hard to follow. We don’t like them, because it’s hard work! What I should have done was written Jesus. Just the simple reminder of His name points me in His direction and it is the relationship that brings forth the desire to pray!
In 1 Thessalonians, the Apostle Paul asks the readers to “pray without ceasing”. It’s an often quoted text and a real challenge to us to follow. How can we do that? I’ve found that if we try our normal routines of prayer we simply fall short. It’s too hard of work to constantly be in prayer interceding on people’s behalves or praying for the community or any other common form you have in mind. Our minds simply can’t focus on the task. Thankfully, the Spirit has “inner groanings” on our behalf, God knows we’re fallen and can’t live up to His standard.
But I have found one method of prayer quite beneficial and it goes a long way towards the words from Paul. It’s the idea of Centring Prayer. It is really simple and as you pray, you repeat a phrase and continue repeating the phrase. It can last for as long as you desire. Personally, I like using the “sinner’s prayer” found in Luke 18:
“10 Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11 The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. 12 I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get. 13 But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, God, be merciful to me, a sinner!”
Lord Jesus, Son of the Living God, have mercy upon me a sinner.
Lord Jesus, Son of the Living God, have mercy upon me a sinner.
Repeat.
Centring prayer such as this can be a very humbling experience. It removes our importance from the situation and highlights God’s importance. It helps bring God into our daily conversations and keeps us attuned to His Spirit’s leading. It removes our distractions, but is certainly a practice we can employ on a daily basis, throughout whatever our routine is. We can use it at school, work, or anywhere else we find ourselves.
Returning to the text in James, he offered the wisdom of praying the Psalms. Let’s bring praise to God! Again, that can be singing, or through the words we speak. The Psalms are a great resource, highlighting so much of the human condition from the highs and lows of life.
At the end of the day, will you intentionally seek to foster your relationship with God? Will you seek to employ a posture of prayer within your life? Let’s thank God for the good and the bad. For the hard times and the good times. Let’s be a welcome community that earnestly seeks God’s will in all we do, where people can be challenged and changed by the leading of God’s Spirit.
Praise God.
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