What It Means to Have Power
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. James 5:15
James 5:13–20 – Doing the Word: Directions for life to a scattered church from The Letter of James
Fourteenth Sunday after Pentecost – September 6, 2020 (am)
We’re going to jump right into it today, our last Sunday in James. Back in c.3, James wrote, 2 … if anyone does not stumble in what he says, he is a perfect man, able also to bridle his whole body. So, when we hear v.12 here in c.5, we should recognize its significance. 12 But above all, my brothers, do not swear, either by heaven or by earth or by any other oath, but let your “yes” be yes and your “no” be no, so that you may not fall under condemnation. James is describing the perfect man (3:2), not meaning flawlessly perfect but [spiritually mature] and complete, lacking in nothing (1:4). He’s describing the man who’s trusting God so he’s not double-minded, he’s not unstable in all his ways (1:8). He’s [hearing] and [doing] the word James has proclaimed in this letter. By God’s grace he has [tamed his] tongue (cf. 3:8) to the extent that his words are reliable. They can be trusted. [His] “yes” [is] yes and [his] “no” [is] no (12), meaning, you don’t need to work hard to grasp or discern or believe what he says. He says want he means, he means what he says, and what he says is good—it leads to good, produces good.
James is a book of wisdom. It establishes a distinctly Christian ethic. And we could almost see 5:12 as summary description of the man who embodies that ethic, who’s living that ethic. [His] “yes” [is] yes, [his] “no” [is] no, and his life does not in any sense fall under condemnation (12). He’s steadfast (1:3, 4, 12; 5:11). He’s living in [pure] joy even in the midst of all the various kinds of trials, the suffering (13) he and all of us face in this life (cf. 1:2).
That’s where James began this letter, and that’s where he finishes. 13 Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. … He knows his people are suffering! That’s why he wrote the letter, their trials! He opened saying: Pray; ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach and [His wisdom, with all it entails,] will be given [to you] (1:5). Now here again: 14 Is anyone among you sick? Is that the form of your suffering? 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.
Prayer is mentioned in every verse, 13-18. So, clearly, it’s the theme of this next-to-last paragraph of James’ letter. In fact, that could be the most important thing [we learn] today (scroll, lower right): Pray! God answers, and [saves]!
But there’s something very rich, and just a bit hidden, about how this passage teaches us that lesson!
As we read through the closing portion of this unique little letter, we can read it like it’s a concrete prescription from a doctor or a counselor. Just check the list of what you’re supposed to do in each situation, then do it, and move on! Let’s see. Suffering? Pray. Cheerful? Sing praise (13). Sick? Call the elders. Then the elders will pray over him, anointing with oil (14). And [the person] should then be [well], and forgiven of his sins (15). Then we just move on, yes?
No, not so fast! This isn’t just a prescription for what Christians are supposed to do when they’re sick—even though it’s also that. This is a word from James to his suffering, scattered congregation. It’s a word of comfort as much as it’s a word of instruction. It’s a reminder as much as it’s a requirement.
To put it differently, James is not just interested in making sure his people know what to do when they’re sick, or that the elders have a special method for how to pray for the suffering. He wants his people to be engaged in the life of the church, even during the hardest of times, so that they can be strengthened in their faith—strengthened by the leadership of their leaders, stabilized by the spiritual fellowship of their [friends], pursuing the [wayward], and trusting fully in the [presence] and power of their [saving], [healing], [loving], [forgiving] God Who is dwelling right there among them, right there in their midst!
So, where do we see all this? It’s interwoven into this description.
This is not just a word to the suffering (13), to the sick (14). James also has a word for the cheerful (13). This is for all of them.
Though James is writing to those who are scattered (1:1) because of their suffering, he wants them to be in community—with their elders (14), among their [friends] who can [fellowship] and pray with them (16), where they see when someone is [slipping away] into isolation, into some [destructive] pattern of [sin] (19-20; cf. 1:14-15). What he’s describing here is healthy Christian community!
And there’s nothing magical about the oil, or particularly even about prayer offered by the elders! (14) The suggestion is that this anointing with oil is uniquely something elders do (14), so it’s not really something you do in a circle of [friends] (16). But even so, the prayers of your [friends] can still bring [healing] because the same God Who answered when Elijah prayed—drying up the heavens for three-and-a-half years, then opening them when he prayed again (17-18; 1Ki.17-18)—the same God Who answers when the elders pray, is the One Who answers when we, all of us, pray!
So, what’s with the oil? Many have asked. Some say it’s a sort of medicine; it helps physically. Others say it’s a pastoral aid, stimulating faith; it helps spiritually. Still others say it’s sacramental; it is a means of grace, God working directly through the application of oil. Or perhaps it is symbolic, intended to set the sick person apart for God’s special attention (Moo 186), like OT prophets, priests, and kings were set apart for God’s special attention, special use, by anointing.
I tend to agree with this latter category. But I think we could stretch the symbolism a bit further than just setting apart the person in need of God’s help. It seems to me it could be a unique reminder of God’s invisible, and even mysterious, yet undeniable presence with His suffering people, perhaps even uniquely in response to the [prayers] of their elders whom He has gifted and called to that role.
So, God doesn’t answer only the [prayers] of the elders (cf. 16). But He does seem to have a special place for them. So, perhaps He even blesses uniquely in response to the elders’ [prayers] when His people are willing to humble [themselves] in their time of need and honor the authority structure He has placed over them.
But even so we must make note of the fact that it’s still the Lord Who [heals]. It’s not the oil. It’s not the elders’ [prayers] alone. It’s surely not their faith. The anointing happens in the name of the Lord (14). And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick because the Lord will raise Him up (15). And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven (15), not by the prayer of faith but by the Lord Himself, by the God Who hears and answers prayer.
One additional place where we see that this closing paragraph is urging God’s people toward life together in the church is v.16 where prayer in the body is emphasized. 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. Kids, draw that! This is another place where we can be sure that James is not just issuing theological principles, not just giving prescriptions for how to handle different matters in the Christian life.
It’s not theologically necessary for us to confess to one another to be cleansed of [sin]. Jesus alone cleanses us from [sin] and reconciles us to the Father. But James is saying something important here, just like when he said that faith apart from works is dead (2:26) even though we know that we’re justified by faith alone apart from works of the law (Rom.3:28).
Here is perhaps the clearest place where we recognize that James is talking about the vibrancy of life together in the church. The more tightly connected we are in our fellowship as the body of Christ, the more interdependent we become with one another and upon one another, which is just as it should be. We strengthen and encourage one another. We speak life to one another. We share one another’s joys and bear one another’s sorrows.
We’ve prayed in our Wednesday PM Prayer Meeting for young Chase, for the Ewoldt and Poole families. We’ve prayed when the Ewoldts and Pooles are present and we’ve prayed when they’re not. And you know what? There is little discernible difference between the two. We pray for Chase just as intensely, just as fervently, just as emotionally when he and his family are not there as we do when they are! Our lives are interconnected in the body of Christ so tightly that we Rom.12:15 Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. That’s life in the body; that’s how it works.
The lesson, then, is not that it doesn’t matter who shows up to pray. The lesson is that we’re so tightly united as a body in Christ that we pray for your needs as if they were our needs. That’s what James wants for his people. That’s what He’s teaching them here.
And that’s the context in which it really is [healing] to confess your sins to one another and pray for one another! (16) When you’re engaging with a [brother or sister] who longs for your spiritual health and wellbeing as deeply and as passionately as you do, it really is helpful. It really is beneficial. It’s strengthening, [healing], to share your need with them, and pray with them for the [presence] and power of God to meet you at that point of need.
And when you have that sort of loving community among you, it really is compelling to a [brother or sister] to return to the fellowship of the body even when they’re trapped in the clutches of some stubborn [sin] (19-20). In Peter’s first letter he names what it is that sends us out in pursuit of a wandering [brother or sister] (19). He called it [earnest] love (1Pe.4:8). But whatever you call it, it [covers] a multitude of sins (20)—not like sweeping them under the carpet, but like swallowing them up in grace!
When we’re seeking God for His wisdom in the midst of our trials, and finding it in new covenant community fellowship where His power is palpably [present] with His people, we are experiencing the [blessedness] of steadfastness, the fullness of the righteous life that God desires (1:20 NIV). That’s what James wants for his people, and I for us!
Pastoral Prayer of Intercession
Heavenly Father, we come before you today as a people who are living in a season of trials, a season of testing, in days of unique suffering. Not all of this suffering is physically painful, but much of it can confuse us in the same way pain can do.
How do we respond when we’re being told how many people can attend church, and what they must wear in order to do so? How do we love one another earnestly when we can see from a distance whether we will even feel safe in their presence?
Such is some of the suffering of our day. But it doesn’t preclude the suffering of physical disability, of terminal illness, of stubborn temptation, and of frustrating weakness. It doesn’t preclude the suffering of financial need or of relational loneliness or of unfulfilled desire. We suffer in so many ways Lord God. We’re just so, so needy.
And the strangest part is that we suffer in the presence of an all powerful God Who can not only meet us in all of our needs but satisfy us in all of our longings!
We suffer in the presence of the God Who has made us and knows precisely what will satisfy us because, in our rebellion and pride, we refuse to call out to Him for help!
You have promised us that any of us who lacks wisdom can have it for the asking, and you won’t even blame us for our need! And even if we don’t have enough insight and discernment to recognize that it truly is primarily your wisdom that we lack, you have told us that your wisdom includes all that is pure, peaceable, gentle, reasonable, merciful, good, impartial, and sincere! What more could we want than that?
You have promised us that your presence and power among us can work for our healing and health, both individually and within our community of faith. And you have told us that the two are so inextricably intertwined that the joy of knowing such healing and health personally will be matched by the joy of knowing it anywhere and everywhere throughout our body!
Such is the community into which you have called us! Such is the faith with which you have blessed us!
O, Father, accomplish this among us for your glory and for our good! Bless us richly with these good and perfect gifts that can come only from You!
Help us not just to be hearers of Your Word but, having heard these amazing truths of Your grace, help us to experience them! Help us to be doers of Your Word, and in so doing to experience the fullness of the blessed life that James describes, the blessedness of steadfastness and single-minded faith, of unswerving and unwavering trust in You to walk in the way You have prepared for us.
In Jesus Name we pray, amen.
Next Sunday: Lovey Dovey: God's Pursuit of the Prophet in the Book of Jonah, Jonah 1, Dan Brendsel