Always Pray

If you remain standing in honor of God's word as a reader together tonight in a wrap up our journey through this short book of James as we consider James chapter 5 verses 12 through 22 turn there with me. Alas, that you follow along as I read James chapter 5. Beginning of verse 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. Is anyone among you suffering and pray.

Is anyone cheerful let him sing praise. Is anyone among you sick let them call for the elders of the church, let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord in the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick and the Lord will raise him up 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 for three years and six months. It did not rain on the earth, and he prayed again in heaven gave rain in the earth or its fruit. My brothers, if anyone among you wanders from the truth, and someone brings him back let them know that whoever brings back a sinner from his wandering will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins is the word of the Lord pray together. Father, you are good to speak to us through your word, but thank you that you've also made provision whereby we can speak to you. Thank you for giving us access to your throne through prayer. Were you could've left us to fend for ourselves in this fallen world, but instead you you cover our sin, making it possible for us to come into your presence with all of our needs and worries are our fears, enjoys, and you invite us to cast these things upon you because you care for us. Or though you have done all of this for us. We are often shamefully neglectful of the sweet means of grace.

We don't pray as we should. We take matters into her own hands. We we run to 100 other things looking for help in consolation.

But you, Lord, are our only true help in consolation in life and death so teach us tonight to run to you in faith and in righteousness, and may we discover in running to you that you always make good on your promises, make us a praying people, Lord, for the sake of your glory and for the sake of our joy and peace pray this in Jesus name, amen to be seated. My sister-in-law Roberta met her. She's visited several times down from Michigan just a really good recipe that she often makes the day after Thanksgiving and it's it's a casserole made up from all the leftovers from a Thanksgiving dinner is delicious. You put one bite of this into your mouth and it's like you've just eaten a spoonful of every yummy thing you had the day before. These last few verses of the book of James are sort of like that it's it's a casserole of of some of the themes that he's already dealt with in in great detail and just sort of summarizes the book as James brings the whole thing to a close. I say that because it's sort of difficult to preach a single focused sermon from textural casserole like the one we have before us tonight. You just have to read it for what it is and and embrace the variety of things that are all mixed together in a lot of ways the whole book of James is like this. It's it's not so much a linear argument from start to finish. Like say Paul's letter to the Romans, James is more like the book of Proverbs. It's a collection of wise words of instruction that are necessarily intended to convey a lengthy and exhaustive argument. These verses are more like words of advice from a parent to a child do this don't do that.

Be careful with this, be carefree with that and so we come to the end of this book, and James has just a few more things to say before he stops writing we get the sense that he's wrapping things up by that opening phrase above all it's it's kind of like the saying when it's all been said and done.

Don't forget these things and he goes on to mention three things from our vantage point. These three things are are probably unrelated and they may have had some logical connection back and James is dated maybe was specific to his readers, but whatever that may have been the fact is, these these three themes still have application for Christians seeking to follow Christ today. So with that mindless jump in and discover what James includes in his last word to believers. First, the address is a matter that has to do with our speaking to one another are speaking to one another. You remember that James addressed speech back in chapter 3 in and he addressed it pretty extensively, but here he wants to say one more thing about the ethics of Christian speech verse 12 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. This first parallels very closely. Several verses in the sermon on the Mount. You may have recalled those verses as we read this and from Matthew five that the question that comes up here is our James and in Jesus before him teaching that oath taking is always wrong for the believer. It seems that that's what they're teaching and yet we read examples in the New Testament in which Christians even the apostles themselves did take oaths. Sometimes even take goes in the name of God. This leaves most Bible scholars to conclude that these verses are not prohibiting any and all oath taking, but rather that they are calling for Christians to be so honest in their speech so full of integrity in the way they use their mouths that owes are not necessary ever known someone who such a person of integrity that you know beyond a shadow of a doubt that they will tell the truth no matter what. That's the kind of integrity of speech that James is calling for. Certainly there are situations in which an oath is is taken as a means of verifying them and obligating a person in some official capacity.

One thinks of the courtroom wedding ceremonies.

Ordination ceremony's church membership.

These are all situations in which oaths are taken to demonstrate to a group of of witnesses that some official action is being taken but for the Christian your speech ought to be so full of integrity and transparency that nobody needs to hear you take an oath to know that you're telling the truth is not that oath taking is necessarily wrong is that it should be unnecessary if our speech is already characterized by integrity promises ought to add nothing to the reliability of a Christians speech. Remember, a godly older couple giving Laura and me some some very wise advice early on in our parenting. They told us that idle threats from a parents train a child to disobey idle threats that you just throw out the child train them to disobey usually goes something like this the parents as Johnny stopped doing that Johnny keeps on doing it so the parents as Johnny I said stop doing that. You don't stop at a motel.

Your father John keeps doing it the parents as Johnny. This is the last time I'm going to tell you, stop doing that Johnny keeps on doing it by the parents as Johnny one to three, and Johnny stops what just happened. The parent used several idle oaths promises that she never intended to keep, unless you absolutely had to end the child very quickly learns that my parents know doesn't really mean no until it's reached a certain fever pitch and we may think to ourselves what a smart parent.

She's able to manipulate her child into compliance without the child even realizing it when actually what she's been training her child to do is to disobey through four times before the child actually obeys because she's using speech in ways that God prohibits it's not savvy parenting. It's is lying. It's breaking her word is failing to let her yes be yes and her no be no end. We all do it in the doubt dozen different ways. When we exaggerate when we overstate or understate the facts in order to be more persuasive. We give out false compliments to flatter people James says above all Christian stop misusing your words because it will, it will incur condemnation, divine displeasure were to be a people of truthfulness and how we speak to each other, but then James addresses are speaking to God. In verses 13 through 18. And of course we have a name for that. We call it prayer if you were here last Sunday night, we looked at the first half of James chapter 5 and I told the story of how my sixth-grade teacher used in intercom one day to listen in on our classroom when she had stepped out and I use that story to make the point that God is listening so we ought always to live carefully to live wisely. Knowing that one day will give an account for how we live our lives with the beauty of verses 13 through 18 is that it reminds us that for Christians the intercom is a two way intercom. It works both ways. Yes, God is listening and watching us, but we also can listen and talk to him. We have access to God. Even now through this gracious means of prayer, and in these verses James addresses the occasions for prayer in verses 13 and 14 and then the prerequisites for prayer in verses 15 through 18.

The occasions and the prerequisites us.

Consider first the occasions for prayer verse 13 is anyone among you suffering. Let them pray. Is anyone cheerful let him sing praise. Is anyone among you sick let them call for the elders of the church and let them pray over him and certainly this is a nonexhaustive list of the occasions for prayer because we are to pray without ceasing right any occasion is an appropriate occasion for prayer.

But James gives three specific occasions for prayer were to pray when were suffering were to pray when were cheerful were to pray when were sick as techies at each in turn.

First of all suffering the worst suffering. Here is a very broad word that can refer to any sort of hardship.

It could include persecution and mistreatment from other people and can also simply refer to the difficulties of life in a fallen world, circumstances and limitations that make life hard weaknesses of our own bodies and in minds.

Life is full of hard things. James says are you up against some of those hard things is life particularly difficult for you at the moment than pray for out your heart to God run to him for help. James never defines prayer in these verses. He he rather assumes that we know what it is I love Westminster. The Westminster confession's definition of prayer, question 98 in the shorter catechism says what is prayer and the answer is this prayer is an offering up of our desires onto God for things agreeable to his will, in the name of Christ with confession of our sins and thankful acknowledgment of his mercies is just a very thorough way of saying that prayer is asking our daddy for help. Life is full hardship and suffering. If you're suffering run to God in prayer. He can help he can remove suffering he can give grace for suffering can give you wisdom to understand the purpose of your suffering so run to him in prayer but not all of life is miserable. There are times of of genuine joy of happiness.

And so James adds, is anyone cheerful let him sing praise were cheerful. Here is more descriptive of our inward attitude, our sense of well-being within rather than our external circumstances, you can be cheerful in this sense, whether your outward circumstances are good or bad.

I think the reason James includes this in his list of occasions for prayer is because it's relatively easy for us to remember to pray when were suffering right we don't usually need to be reminded many much prompting to decry Mayday when our our life is crashing and burning.

But it's all too easy for us to forget to pray and things are going well. The fact is there are times in the Christian life. When God overwhelms us with a sense of joy and contentment and peace when those times come, we ought to pray and notice James gives a specific instruction as to the form. Our prayer should take in such times of joy we should saying God's praise singing praise to God is a form of prayer is not just some sort of emotional outlet, or a mere means of of sentimental expression singing is not an extracurricular in the Christian life know it's a means of communicating to God, our joy, our contentment are gratitude are all in amazement at him and his goodness to us when we sing praise. We are praying to the triune God. We say that again when we sing praise. We are praying to the triune God, and I hope that thought elevates this spiritual activity in your mind and heart. When you find yourself overwhelmed with God's goodness to you is your natural impulse to saying you say using this weird normal people don't do that well maybe but shouldn't our our cue for what is normal be taken from from what God says and God says to you, who deserve pain and sorrow, and death and outer darkness for all eternity you who have instead been granted forgiveness and adoption into God's family and are treated as if you had never done anything wrong and are given eternal life in a place to wonderful for words when the when the realization of all those blessings floods you with an overwhelming sense of joy and gratitude to not sing praise to the God who made it all happen would be the abnormal ungrateful response. If you don't have a saying you need to learn how to sing. If you don't like singing. You need to change your like her. If your self-conscious singing praise to God, and we all are, to some degree you need to get over yourself by thinking more deeply more frequently about everything God has saved you from, and everything God has saved you to if. If that doesn't cheer your heart. Learn to let it tear your heart. If it does to your heart than saying sing your praise to the Lord. We just say a quick word by way of making this particular exhortation practical for us and I think sometimes Christians think that the way to make singing a meaningful and and comfortable part of their devotion to God is by conjuring up some emotional experience that will just spontaneously erupt in the song. I really don't think that's how we learn to get comfortable with with singing praise to God.

I think singing to God.

Like any other spiritual discipline in the Christian life is learned through practice and and I realize that sounds so unspiritual and mundane, but it's true. Singing becomes a natural expression of our devotion to God through the sheer act of doing it big about it.

Children who grow up in homes that never saying are the ones who grow up self-conscious and disinterested in singing the children who grow up singing in their homes.

Don't think anything of it.

It's not an abnormal embarrassing thing for them because it's all they've known you can train yourself to become comfortable with singing as an expression of praise and you do it by singing as I want to encourage everyone of us to saying something to the Lord every day. You may want to do this in the car or in the shower when nobody's listening. You may want to make it a part of your family worship and when everyone's together. Sometimes there's there's safety in numbers right, but saying and sing every day there. There are numerous resources these days that make singing so easy even for the person who who is perhaps uncomfortable with their own musical skill level, I came across an app, just a couple of days ago that contains lyrics music and even an accompaniment track for every Psalm and him in the Trinity Salter hymnal. Check it out. It's called the Trinity Salter hymnal Butter redeemed people need to be a singing people. The third and last occasion for prayer. The James mentions then is times of sickness and he includes a lot more instruction with regard to this occasion.

Look at verse 14 with me again. Is anyone among you sick and call for the elders of the church and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. So the command is to pray for the sick with the accompanying instruction to anoint the sick person with oil probably strikes us as as odd. Nothing requires some some explanation what's going on here is is this some sort of culturally specific practice from James's era that is is lost on us today, as is James really stooping to the tactics of a traveling salesman and then selling some sort of magic elixir that will heal the sick. What does this mean what's going on. How does it apply to us today in the year 2021 when they begin by talking about the concept of anointing with oil in the New Testament, there are two Greek words that both mean to anoint at one refers to physically applying something illiquid to someone or something the other refers figuratively to setting something apart for special purpose, so one is literal.

One is figurative or symbolic here in verse 14. It's the literal word it means to literally physically put oil on the sick person. I'm sure we Presbyterians we crunchy Presbyterians were hoping it was the figurative word that sounds so much safer, but now he uses the literal word were supposed to physically be putting something on someone. So we we conclude that James means for us to actually in real life. Put oil on the sick person out when this literal word for anointing is used it can refer to anointing for the purpose of hygiene or beauty.

In other words, of the anointing can be for medicinal or sometimes cosmetic reasons, but this literal word can also refer to anoint anointing for some ceremonial or religious purpose.

In other words, it can be a physical literal anointing that has an underlying symbolic significance.

This means that while James intends us to actually anoint the sick with real oil. The significance of that anointing might be medicinal or it might be symbolic. The word anoint here allows for either of those meaning. So the question is which is it. Is it medicinal is it symbolic and if it's symbolic. What does it symbolize some theologians believe James is meaning is that the oil is medicinal.

So one point for no Terra we have an example of this medicinal use of oil in the parable of the good Samaritan will recall that the good Samaritan found this man by the roadside, who had been beaten. He had been robbed in Scripture says he went to him and bound his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. It was it was for medicinal purposes. Luke 1034 if this is the meaning James intends to convey, and he's essentially calling us to use both spiritual and natural or medical means in treating the sick prayer and medicine. There are however a couple of problems with this. First of all, it's the elders that are called upon to administer the oil but elders aren't doctors. If James had intended this anointing for medical purposes. You would think he would've said elders pray for the sick, and then doctors give the medical treatment, but he doesn't say that. Also, oil was not the only medical remedy of the day medical practices of the time they they were certainly primitive, but they offer more options than merely just anointing with oil. So why would James call us to utilize the benefits of natural remedies by mentioning only one of the possible treatments that would be like saying.

Is anyone sick among you, let them get stitches that the prescribed treatment is unnecessarily surly limited. If James is calling for the use of of medical help and in a general sense, so there's nothing inherently wrong with using essential oils for their health benefits, but James 514 is not your proof text, this leads is then to the last option which is that the anointing with oil is merely symbolic in both Old Testament and New Testament times. Oil was often used in religious ceremony with symbolic significance receipt is for example an ordination of Levitical priests for ministry receipt and the coronation of Kings and they were anointed not for cosmetic reasons, not for medical reasons. It was merely symbolic of their being set apart for some special service. This seems to be what James intends to convey the oil used to anoint the sick is merely symbolic. It's a visible marker by which we set a suffering saint apart for God's special attention and care.

Now some speculate about what exactly the oil symbolizes I'm I'm hesitant to speculate because James doesn't tell us at the very least, this act of anointing is associated with the saint who was suffering and with the prayer of faith that heals the sick. So when we anoint a sick person among us with oil were simply saying God this person whom we are marking out with oil needs your help in a special way. Please be merciful and gracious, and come to their aid. Symbolic, not one more thing bears mentioning and they will will move on there.

There have been many throughout the centuries of church history who have seen this oil as more than merely symbolic and we need to we need to be cautious. We need to be aware of this danger, the Roman Catholic Church, for example, has use James 514 as the grounds for what they call the sacrament of divine unction or extreme unction, which is administered when a Catholic is near death. A person is anointed with oil in preparation for their transition to the afterlife and this anointing, they say, is vested with the power to actually forgive the sins of the person who is dying you can understand then why Roman Catholics ascribe such importance to the ceremony of light last rites of which extreme unction is a part of their very forgiveness of their sin depends on it and I will be very clear that James is not ever ascribing some sort of sacramental power to the anointing of the sick with oil.

In fact, if you read verse 14 carefully, you'll see that anointing with oil is not even being commanded. The command is to pray, the imperative is to pray, and it's the prayer of faith that heals the sick. This added the participle of anointing with oil is fine to do.

It's okay but it's certainly not imperatively required is not the oil that heals, certainly not the oil that forgive sin, so we need to be careful even as Protestants not to treat the active anointing the sick with oil as some sort of automatic supernatural guarantee of of healing. The oil is not God's magic potion is merely an optional symbol that marks out a person as being in need of God's special grace very quickly, then let's consider the prerequisites for prayer. James mentions in verses 15 through 17 in there to the first prerequisite prerequisite is faith and the second is righteousness. Prayer is effective when it is offered in faith from a righteous person.

So first there must be faith.

Verse 15 says in the prayer of faith will save that refers to physical healing will save the one who was sick and the Lord will raise him up. That is raise him up from his sick bed again referring to physical healing, not to spiritual salvation and resurrection as we might be tempted to read into this text.

What I want us to see is that prayer is made a factual, not by its frequency or intensity, not by its form or eloquence.

Prayer is made effectual by faith. We also need to realize that this effectual faith is not faith in prayer is not faith in faith itself. It's not even faith in the desired object coming to pass. Prayer isn't made affected by me just believing strongly enough that something will happen know God is the object of the faith. It's faith in God that makes prayer effectual. God is the object that I believing and not the act of prayer, not the desired results of prayer, but faith in God himself is very crucial for us to understand that the question then is this is James promising that whenever we pray for the healing of the sick, they will be healed. Is this an automatic guarantee well the qualification is that whenever we pray in faith, that prayer will be effectual and if the prayer of faith means faith in God, then implicit in the prayer of faith is an acknowledgment of God's sovereign purposes. In other words, the prayer of faith is a prayer that says out loud, or at least implied if the Lord wills, we know from the word of God that it's not always God's will to heal the sick. We have examples of that in Scripture. We've experienced examples of that in our lives, so we dare not presume upon a guarantee of physical healing every time we pray for it. The guarantee that the qualification of faith is that whenever we pray for healing and it is God's will will to heal it will happen one theologian put it this way. He said this faith, while certainly including the notion of confidence in God's ability to answer also involves absolute confidence in the perfection of God's will.

A trooper faith than always includes within it a tacit acknowledgment of God's sovereignty in all matters that it is God's will that must be done. It is clear that it is by no means always God's will to heal those who were ill. Therefore, the faith that is indispensable for our prayers for healing to be answered can be truly present only when it is God's will to heal prayer that believes in God is prayer that results in that rest in God's will, not prayer that rests in a certain guaranteed outcome, and I think in our name it. Claimant sort of culture that we find ourselves in. In evangelical world. We need to keep this in mind through faith is faith in God's power and in the perfection of his will, not in my praying ability or even in the outcome that I desire so the first prerequisite for effective prayer is faith. The second prerequisite, the James mentions is righteousness. Verse 15 goes on and if he is committed sins, he will be forgiven. This seems like a random unrelated comment by James.

But then, keep in mind that the typical mindset at the time it was common to view a common view to think that sickness was brought on by sin of somebody sick. Clearly they may have sin and we see for example the disciples asking Jesus in John nine regarding a man who was born blind. So who send this man or his parents.

It was just assumed that Sam brought on the blindness certainly sickness can bring on.

They can be brought on by sin, but James acknowledges that not all sickness is caused by sin when he says if he has committed sins, implying sins that that led to the sickness if he is committed sins, he will be forgiven. Folks don't miss the grace that is embedded right here the prayer of faith can lead to healing from sickness, even when that sickness is the result of sin. God in his grace is not only willing willing to heal from physical sickness. He is willing to heal us from our spiritual sickness from sin and death. And so James exhorts us to confess our sins to one another and then pray because the prayer of a righteous person that is that a person who has been made righteous through the forgiveness that only God can give. Has great power as it is working. I think implied in verses 15 and 16 is a principle that we see very clearly in Psalm 6618 which says if I regard our cherished iniquity in my heart.

The Lord will not hear me. So righteousness is a prerequisite to effective prayer. Psalm 66, 18, and righteousness comes through confession of sin. First John 19. Therefore, confession of sin that leads to righteousness is an essential component of effective prayer. So James ties together praying for the sick with confessing our sins to one another. There's so much more we could consider, but for the sake of time and just summarize verses 13 through 18.

James, this is calling us to pray in suffering and enjoy pray in sickness and in health, to pray with faith to pray with righteousness and God will hear because God is listening.

We ought always to pray. The letter then closes with a final call to walk in the truth.

Notice James doesn't conclude his letter with the customary greetings and farewell instead is very practical letter ends with a very practical call to live the Christian life and to do all you can to help other Christians live the Christian life wandering from the truth. In verse 19 is a is a very active behavior oriented word it doesn't refer simply to the danger of ceasing to believe the doctrines of faith. It refers to ceasing to live life in accordance with the doctrines of the faith walking in the truth is, is something that is to be done as well as believed and part of the doing of this truth is helping our brothers and sisters in Christ. Also, do the truth with us were in this together so it behooves us to take to heart all the expectations that James is given to us in this epistle to rejoice in trials to stop showing partiality to help those in need in in concrete ways to guard our hearts, remembering each other to guard our tongues from wounding and destroying each other to always live with an eye toward eternity. Because God is watching and to pray without ceasing, because God is listening and we do these things with the knowledge that all the while, God stands ready and willing to forgive, heal all who come to him in faith, pray Lord you are gracious and kind. You. You make us righteous and then you invite us to come into your presence along with all of the redeemed and worship you, and all we can say what is. Thank you.

In Jesus name,