The Prayer of the Righteous - The Letter of James - James 5:13-18

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The Prayer of the Righteous - The Letter of James - James 5:13-18

March 3, 2024 • Andrey Bulanov • James 5:13–18

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Text: James 5:13-18

Outline:

1. The Power of Prayer in Suffering

2. The Power of Prayer in Joy

3. The Power of Prayer in Sickness

4. The Power of Prayer in Battling Sin

Scripture passages:

• James 5:13-18

• Psalm 16:11

• Mark 16:13

• John 14:12-14

• 1 Corinthians 11:28-30

Discussion Questions:

• What is the pathway through which James tries to teach us the power of prayer?

◦ Just do it more!

• What stops us from turning to prayer more consistently and automatically in trouble and blessing?

• What role do pastors play in prayer and what role does the rest of the church play? Is there a difference?

• Why pray for healing if we know God doesn't always heal?

• What is the point of confessing our sins? What is the use if God already forgave our sins?

• How does our understanding of justification and total forgiveness by faith alone help us also understand God's constant and present power in our lives, available through prayer?

Application Questions:

• What is our automatic reaction in difficulty or joy?

• Do you view God as an ever present Father who is ready to hear, to help and to heal?

◦ Our understanding of justification leads us to see God's grace and power as always present in our lives to work, and helps us see prayer as an ever present power.

• Does your spiritual life regularly and constantly depend on the prayers of others around you?

• Are you battling sin alone?

• Are you rooted in the fact that Jesus as died for your sin once and for all - and that he has not only given you forgiveness, but also the church - to hold you up and give you victory over sin?

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We come back to the final verses in our study of James.

the epistles often finish on a note of prayer

James finishes with a section on prayer that is longer than others.

Also, we see here that he comes full circle to where he started. He started the epistle with asking God for help in hard times, and he essentially finishes with that.

The point that he leads everything to, the core truth that James wants to leave us with here is the essential and powerful nature of prayer in our lives.

"the prayer of the righteous person is very powerful in its effect."

This is where he leads everything.

He lists many different situations in life and he is not so much proving as he is highlighting - that one of the most important and powerful things we can do in these circumstances is to pray.

As we approach this passage, the question that I want to challenge you with is - when you think of prayer, do you think of power?

This is what James is trying to highlight about it here.

The prayer of the righteous person, the person who is depending on God, leaning in and trusting in GOD's strength and salvation - even though that person may FEEL very weak in that moment - his prayer carries great power.

Lets see how that idea works its way in the text.

1. The power of prayer in suffering

13 Is anyone among you suffering?

He should pray.

mental, physical, relational, financial, spiritual, emotional....

"suffering" - a very broad word that carries many different situations in life

Thats pretty much all of us isn't it?

The temptation in difficult is to try to solve it yourself or to be frustrated and angry - maybe have bitterness as to why God allowed this to happen.

We tend to get locked into our situations in our minds

James says, the knee jerk reaction to this should be prayer.

Especially when our trails persist - we may think - what is the point?

We see the illustration of the power of prayer in our difficulty in Psalm 18 - notice the massive and dramatic response of God to the call for help.

Its interesting.

Wouldn't it be easier for God not to allow David to fall into such terrible situations?

Efficiency is not God's biggest value.

God loves to save his people in need

God loves to strengthen us and empower us through the challenges we face

God loves to work powerfully in a thousand ways through our trails - but James says its essential that you PRAY!

It doesn't have to be elaborate

"Jesus please help"

"Father..."

This needs to be our deeply engraved habit of heart.

Paul tells us in Romans that in our prayers in the midst of difficulty - sometimes we don't know what to say but we come to God and the Spirit of God in us INTERCEDES for us with groanings too deep for words - isn't that amazing??

There is great power in our prayers in the times we feel most weak.

Is anyone suffering? pray!

2. The power of prayer in joy

"is anyone cheerful? He should sing praises"

The equally important reminder to us is that in the midst of our peace and joy - we must turn to God in praise!

When all is well we have a tendency to focus on ourselves and our good things - and we neglect to take the next and valuable step of praising God for all he gives.

Joe Rigney in his book, "The things of Earth" speaks of a "godward orientation" of the heart and mind that is critical for us to cultivate.

This is because the true end of all our joys is God himself

And if we fail to take the next step of delighting in God's goodness in the midst of our blessings - we actually miss out on the best part of the joy.

Our joy is so much more grounded and solid when it is planted on an awareness that all good things come from him.

Psalm 16:11

You reveal the path of life to me;

in your presence is abundant joy;

at your right hand are eternal pleasures.

When our joy is detached from God and his presence it becomes very fickle and unstable.

When our joy is brought into his presence it is secured and multiplied.

We go from these simple and straight forward exhortations to a much more detailed and easily misunderstood text -

3. The power of prayer in sickness

14 Is anyone among you sick? He should call for the elders of the church, and they are to pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. 15 The prayer of faith will save the sick person, and the Lord will raise him up; if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven.

we should pray in hardships, we should praise in joy.

But physical sickness is an experience of special need and vulnerability.

More than anything else, our physicality reminds us of our weakness.

You can be living life to the fullness, not a care in the world - and then you are seized with sudden and crippling abdominal pain - and all your power is gone. You are curled up in a ball, hanging on desperately - anxiety and fear washing in with the pain - wondering what is going on.

"is anyone among you sick?"

I think its pretty clear that James is referring here to physical sickness or illness - some people try to deal with the complexity of this passage by making it into a spiritual sickness - then it makes it easier to explain how the elders pray for healing.

I think its clear he's talking about physical illness from the language he uses here

Just as physical illness puts us in a place of special vulnerability before God it also puts us in need of others - and here James opens the door to addressing that a HUGE aspect of our prayer life NEEDs to be our dependence upon the prayers of OTHERS for us.

Here he starts out with the prayer of the pastors for a sick person but clearly he expands on from there to highlight the power of the church praying for each other.

There are a few big ways this passage is misunderstood - and all of them are surrounding the prayer and anointing with oil - and the healing of the sick person.

The Roman Catholic Church uses this passage as a basis for the ritual of the priest anointing a person who is about to die with oil as preparation for death.

They believe that the act in and of itself carries some power.

This text does not support this idea because there is nothing here about death - actually the opposite - healing.

What do we make of this whole practice of anointing with oil?

This practice is mentioned here and only one other place in the NT - Mark 6:13

"13 They drove out many demons, anointed many sick people with oil and healed them.

The practice of anointing with oil is pretty common in the OT - as a sign of something or someone being set apart for God's special attention or special purpose. They did this with the priests in the OT.

Both James and Mark extend this practice to the NT as an expression of prayer and God's special attention to a person in physical suffering.

Some people may say "Why isn't this a more common practice for us today?"

James says, "If you are sick, you can call the elders of the church" - he doesn't say that the pastors need to run around town to every person with a cough anointing them with oil and praying for them.

This is an area of life where the church is called to invite the ministry of the pastors in times of significant suffering and need.

"But why the oil? Why can't the pastors pray without the oil?"

Sure they can, and James calls the whole church to pray for each other in the next verse. The practice of anointing with oil is a practice that symbolizes a special need and a special attention that the pastors of the church are bringing to the physical need of the person to God's healing work.

Its like communion - is the bread and wine a reminder of the body and blood of Christ? Then why can't we just remember and pray, why do we need all this bread and wine? Its a practice God has instituted which, when done in faith and obedience invites and brings God's presence and work in a special way.

What about the healing part?

James says "the prayer of faith will save the sick person, and the Lord will raise him up..."

A lot of misunderstanding about this - claiming if you just have enough faith - you will be healed. Then if you don't get healed, you didn't have enough faith.

Notice its technically talking about the prayer of faith of the pastors not the person -

Does God always heal everyone who truly believes in him?

• Yes! - but on his timing

God is working throughout all history to heal and restore ALL that is broken. He is a healer. He never stops working in our lives his gracious process of healing us spiritually, emotionally, physically. But there is a process he is working on. There is a timeline that we don't always catch, that we may struggle with.

This points to the key phrase here -

What is the "prayer of faith" and how does God bring healing?

John 14:12-14

12 “Truly I tell you, the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do. And he will do even greater works than these, because I am going to the Father. 13 Whatever you ask in my name, I will do it so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it.

It is also clear in the NT that its not Jesus' plan to heal every single ailment or sickness that his people experience RIGHT AWAY - take Paul in 2 Corinthians 12 - THREE times he prayed he would take away his pain.

If you ask anything in my name i will do it - the prayer of faith will save the sick person...

I think this is a clear practice that our prayer in times of need - such as this prayer for the sick - is a prayer that ASKES BOLDLY for healing - but at the same time, comes with the heart that is totally submitted to and seeking GOD's will and God's perfect purposes IN that struggle.

Jesus himself models in the garden this exact thing - let this cup pass before me, BUT NOT MY WILL but yours be done.

Sometimes God heals now. Sometimes he heals later. ALWAYS he answers prayer in faith and builds up his people who come to him for help.

The prayer of the righteous person has great power.

4. The power of prayer in battling sin.

"....is he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. Therefore confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, so that you may be healed..."

Is all sickness the result of sin?

• Yes! But not necessarily your own....

James inserts a very important qualifier here "IF he has sinned..."

All the way back to the times of Job, we have a tendency to assume that if something bad is happening in your life - its because you have sinned and cursed yourself.

James says, IF - meaning the person suffering in sickness may well have NOTHING to do with sin in his life.

But then again it MIGHT.

When there is persistent sin in our lives God will use a variety of means to get it out.

Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 11:28-30

28 Let a person examine himself; in this way let him eat the bread and drink from the cup. 29 For whoever eats and drinks without recognizing the body, eats and drinks judgment on himself. 30 This is why many are sick and ill among you, and many have fallen asleep.

James says this prayer and this illness may be the occasion for exposing and healing from sin, which is so much more dangerous than physical illness.

And that brings him to address the whole church together -

"therefore confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, so that you may be healed. The prayer of the righteous person is very powerful in its effect..."

This passage seems to be one sadly lost on many christians today - both praying for the sick and confessing our sins. Maybe we are too afraid of associating with practices in the roman catholic or orthodox churches - but the instructions here are very plain and clear.

It is a healthy part of the normal christian life to live in such community with saints around us that we are regularly bringing our struggles, failures and sins to another another - not so that we may just talk and gossip or even try to think of our own solutions - but that we might PRAY for one another.

It is the prayer of the saints for one another, addressing the specific struggles and sins - that carries GREAT POWER to restore, heal and build up our faith.

This also answers the question - if Jesus already forgave us our sins, why do we need to confess them?

TO BE CLEAR - the church does not dispense the forgiveness of sin.

God grants us forgiveness from his grace. Jesus came into our world and lived the life we could not live - so that at the end of it, HE could stand condemned like a sinner - so that he could stand before God to receive all the punishment that was due to us for our sins. HE came to pay our infinite death with his infinite sacrifice.

We are sinners and first and foremost we need forgiveness for our sins. We need to be cleared of our guilt. We need our punishment removed.

This gift of total and complete forgiveness is given to EVERYONE who humbly acknowledges their sin, their desperate need of God's grace and forgiveness, and turns to surrender to Jesus as their one and only Master and King.

"by grace you are saved, though faith - and this is not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, so that no one may boast!"

Jesus gives forgiveness to all who believe - and no one can take that away.

But as you receive his forgiveness, you now begin on a path of GROWTH in practical godliness where the remaining habits of sin are cleaned out from your life.

THIS is something that church is given to help you in.

This is why we are called to confess our sins and struggles, to pray for one another, and to strengthen each other to grow in practicing the new life that we are ALREADY GIVEN.

How does this whole confessing sin work?

• We should regularly depend upon the prayers of christians in our church for strength in our struggles

• We should be regularly sharing more general sins and struggles in our groups and ask for prayer

◦ example

• We should regularly confess more specific sins and struggles to a trusted and close few people in our lives so that they might pray for us and keep our struggles private

This is very new for some who never did it. But if you are struggling with your sins alone and in total isolation, you should not be surprised to find that these struggles present and sometimes grow over the years - you are closing yourself off from a key source of spiritual power.

"confess your sins to one another and pray for one another - so that you may be healed. The prayer of the righteous person is very powerful in its effect..."

Application Questions:

• What is our automatic reaction in difficulty or joy?

• Do you view God as an ever present Father who is ready to hear, to help and to heal?

◦ Our understanding of justification leads us to see God's grace and power as always present in our lives to work, and helps us see prayer as an ever present power.

• Does your spiritual life regularly and constantly depend on the prayers of others around you?

• Are you battling sin alone?

◦ Are you rooted in the fact that Jesus as died for your sin once and for all - and that he has not only given you forgiveness, but also the church - to hold you up and give you victory over sin?

Hopeful Waiting - The Letter of James - James 5:7-12

February 18, 2024 • Vitaly Kunda • James 5:7–12

The False Security of Money and Possessions - The Letter of James - James 5:1-6

February 4, 2024 • Andrey Bulanov • James 5:1–6

Outline: 1. The sin of materialism will be judged. 2. The false security of materialism will quickly be exposed. 3. Materialism gives us a sense of power and superiority over others that leads to many other evils. Scripture References: - James 5:1-6 - Prov. 10:15 - Prov. 11:4 Application: - Where does your true sense of security and strength lie today? Is it in the security of God's present care and promises in your life? Or is it in the things you hope to accomplish or acquire? - What is your view of the rich and powerful? Be honest. - What is your view of the things and opportunities God has given you? Do you see them as primarily for yourself? Or do you see all you have as a tool to worship God and serve others? Discussion Questions: - Why does James include a passage that is addressed to unbelievers? What are the purposes of this passage to all who hear it? - What is James saying about money and possessions in this passage and what is he NOT saying? - How are asceticism and materialism similar and how are they different? - Which of these false ideas is more prevalent in our lives today? - What is so evil about relying on our money and possessions? - How does the battle against materialism play out in our lives today? How do we battle against it? - How does the gospel of Jesus confront AND CURE materialism and asceticism in our hearts? - How does this passage help us to look out onto the world around us more accurately and correctly? ------ Materialism is one of the most destructive forces for human life. Why is this the case? Because essentially sin is a rebellion against the kingdom of God in our lives. When we seek to build our own little kingdom, the primary thing we’re gonna latch onto material things we can acquire things that make us feel safe and secure. The Bible speaks about materialism a lot. Money was the subject that Jesus spoke more about than any other subject. 13% of the Bible directly addresses the topic of money and material Possessions In our passage today, James continues his confrontation of a false philosophy of life. Last week we saw how James confronted the mindset of people who planned their life without reference to God. They plan their life as if God doesn’t control it, and as if they don’t live daily and full dependence on God sovereign purposes In this paragraph, James continues the confrontation, but he takes it a little deeper and he takes on a tone that’s a little bit stronger. James goes all Testament profit on us here and he pronounces a announcement of judgment that comes upon people whose lives are completely submerged and driven by the desires of riches and materialism. His words here are extremely valuable to all of us today, even if you are not a billionaire who is lying cheating, and abusing other people and living in extravagant luxury Sin of materialism and wealth is one of the primary gods of our age, and of the western world, in which we live, if we compare our standard of living to the rest of the world today. This passage helps our hearts and teaches us how to view ourselves as Christians, and how to view the people around us in the world, who live in luxury 1. The sin of materialism will be judged. "Come now, you rich people, weep and wail over the miseries that are coming on you." Who is James addressing here? This is actually something that makes this passage a bit unique. In the previous passage he is addressing christian merchants and business people who planned on wealth and success without ever thinking about how their life depends on God. But here, his pronouncement is a lot more harsh and judgmental. Also, these people he is addressing are clearly oppressing christian people who work for them. you see that in verse 6 Because of this most scholars agree that this section specifically is directed at wealthy and corrupt non christian land owners that the original readers lived under. As we have mentioned in the past, James was written to christians living during persecution and likely displaced from their original homes. these kinds of people often ended up working for wealth farm owners for little to no wages. the ancient near eastern world was a lot more segregated when it came to wealth than our modern western world. a very tiny fraction of very rich people often controlled the majority of land and power - and the majority of the population was trapped in poverty with no power to get out These people were very easy to take advantage of. So as part of his desire to give these christians a sense of justice and hope and encouragement, James takes a moment here to directly speak to these corrupt unbelievers. This also helps the members of the church who ARE wealthy to listen and think carefully about how they relate their their wealth. He pronounces judgement on these wealthy ppl Weep and wail!!!! This is serious - this is real - this is reality. Materialism can be deceptive. The psalm we read highlights this When it comes to how we sin in relation to our stuff - there are two options Materialism and asceticism. asceticism is a negative view of material things. Rooted in a false idea of spirituality as being opposite to material things. This idea came from the Greeks who views spirt as good and matter as bad. Gods creation is good. OT theology shows us that God blessed his ppl and instituted feasts!! Christians often embrace asceticism - thinking being poor is more spiritual. This is false. The other extreme however is materialism - making wealth and material things the foundation of our joy and happiness In our modern western world this is by far our greater danger We can look at the rich and powerful on social media or tv and we can envy and desire it But James says this to them - weep and wail!!! Both materialism and asceticism are rooted in the same sin - the sin to establish our own sense of confidence. Asceticism builds confidence in self made religion and self control and renunciation. Materialism builds confidence in amassing our own power with our own hands. Both of these responses are wrong because they use things to get FURTHER from God. God's creation is good and it is given to us for fruitful lives of service to God and dominion over creation as those who represent and obey God the Maker of all things. the things we have are meant to be thankfully enjoyed and used in service to God and others. 2. The false security of materialism will quickly be exposed. 2 Your wealth has rotted and your clothes are moth-eaten. 3 Your gold and silver are corroded, and their corrosion will be a witness against you and will eat your flesh like fire. You have stored up treasure in the last days. Perhaps the number one reason we fall prey to building our lives around money and possessions is because they give us a sense of security. We are anxious and stressed when we have a hard time figuring out how we will pay the bills. But when we see that we have plenty - there is a an ease of heart and spirit that takes over. A sense of well being. A sense of energy. I always love to bring the example of how even our sense of energy is often a subjective mindset rather than a physical state. You may feel exhausted and burned out from a very hard week of work. Your mind feels so worn out. You are grumpy with the kids or with your family - and you tell yourself its because its been a tough week and you are only human. But how would you feel if in that moment you were handed 1,000,000 dollars? Like someone told you won something and you look at your accounts and sure enough SIX ZEROS!! you would probably (hopefully) quickly clear out your credit cards and debits - and seeing that didn't even make a DENT in your account - you are washed over a sense of lightness, joy and energy!! We have forgotten all about he fatigue and exhaustion and mental stupor you felt only minutes before. what happened to it?? Money and possessions have great power to give a false sense of security and power. Prov. 10:15 "The wealth of the rich is his fortified city..." The fundamental posture of unbelief is to have security without God. To have a sense of control and power in life without reference to our Creator. It is to extinguish that feeling of DEPENDENCE upon another - the One who made us. James points right into this impulse and says that everything that a person works for when he seeks to puts his trust in money or things - is false hope. "your wealth has rotted and your clothes are moth-eaten..." He speaks in the present tense, as if it is already happening. "what do you mean James? my clothes are doin just fine - and my dollar bills are still there in the bank lookin happy" No - but the CONFIDENCE that those things gives you is rotting because it was never a real sense of peace and security. Yaro mentioned to me a few weeks ago how he was talking to his dad about the challenges of family life and paying bills and planning ahead and hopefully getting to a place of stability. And his dad made the remark, "Stability is an illusion." Lets get back to our analogy from before - your previously sad and evening has turned into a celebration - you've popped open a bottle of, we a baptists so its most likely not champagne - a bottle of Martinelli's and you are having a great time. And then you get a call that someone you love very much has gotten in a car crash and died. (sorry its a rough evening!) How does the news of a death of a loved one change your view of your newly acquired wealth?? All of a sudden it does not matter at all. your life is devastated by pain and loss - and no amount of money can help with that. James is trying to make this point - the stability and power your wealth gives is FAKE. Everything can change in an instant - and you have spent all the time pursuing something that does not deliver. 3 Your gold and silver are corroded, and their corrosion will be a witness against you and will eat your flesh like fire. You have stored up treasure in the last days. Here James adds another element - here is the reason why wealth can't give you real security - because the security that you are after is a security that is eternal. All our lives is lived out in accountability to GOD and there is coming a day when we ALL stand before him to give an account. James says in the day of judgement, when you should have spent all your energy investing into eternal things - you have put all your mind to worldly pleasures - and you have NOTHING to cling to when you stand before God. In this sense, your very own riches become the thing that speaks to your guilt. you have lived in God's world and you have used his good gifts to drown out the need in your soul for his salvation and forgiveness and restoration that only HE can give. Prov. 11:4 "Wealth is not profitable on a day of wrath, but righteousness rescues from death." Wealth is not evil, possession are not evil. What is evil is that lie that takes over our hearts so easily that says - if only I had that, I would be good. this is evil because is actively leads you away from knowing, relying and walking in the power of your heavenly Father. 3. Materialism gives us a sense of power and superiority over others that leads to many other evils. 4 Look! The pay that you withheld from the workers who mowed your fields cries out, and the outcry of the harvesters has reached the ears of the Lord of Armies. 5 You have lived luxuriously on the earth and have indulged yourselves. You have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter. 6 You have condemned, you have murdered the righteous, who does not resist you. No only does the sin of loving money and possessions lead away from depending on God - it also leads to abuse of others and evils that we otherwise would not have considered doing. The more power a sinful human being gets, the more power he wants and the more he will do to get it and protect it at all costs. back to the money scenario - its the wrong account and you have to return it. examples: - people not paying others for work done - Lying on taxes - Using ministry money for personal agendas - the temptation for dishonesty in order to gain something More power has more potential to bring out more evil from the human heart Its amazing to see that the way that our God entered the world to save us from our sins - he came having nothing and boasting no power or wealth or status. And in living a life of speaking the truth to the people he came to save - its is the wealthy and powerful that were MOST enraged by his work. In his suffering he exposed the evil of sin and he made a preliminary judgement of sin and evil as he rose victorious over the grave. Jesus who died for our sins has conquered sin and death and now sits exalted to the ultimate seat of power over the universe - as King of kings and Lord of lords. And this means that the timer on all evil is ticking. This is also the hope that James gives. All evil, all abuse, all perversion of justice - ALL OF IT WILL VERY SOON BE JUDGED This is the foundation of our hope. This is where we anchor ourselves - not in a desire to establish our own security - and not in a desire to avenge all the injustice we have experienced or witnessed. Application: - Where does your true sense of security and strength lie today? Is it in the security of God's present care and promises in your life? Or is it in the things you hope to accomplish or acquire? - What is your view of the rich and powerful? Be honest. - What is your view of the things and opportunities God has given you? Do you see them as primarily for yourself? Or do you see all you have as a tool to worship God and serve others?

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