Lone Rangers Are Dead Rangers - James 5:14 Series

Introduction

Open your Bibles please to James 5. If you made a list of all the commands in the New Testament, would you be surprised to find out that one of them is this: call the elders of the church to your house? It is in James 5:14. God commands you, under certain circumstances, to summon the elders. And when you do so, we have to come.

James 4:13 Is any one of you in trouble? Let him pray. Is anyone happy? Let him sing songs of praise. 14 Is any one of you sick? Let him call the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord.

Why healing?

That is a controversial and difficult passage. It is difficult for a few reasons, not the least of which is the context. This seems like such an odd place for a discussion of physical healing. It doesn’t appear to have anything to do with the rest of the book or the immediate context. A verse on integrity, then private prayer, then sickness and healing, then restoring a wandering sinner. It’s no wonder that several commentators say this is just a jumble of completely unrelated thoughts at the end of the book. One of them said it’s like when you are writing a letter and you see the mailman coming so you quick jot down all the rest of your miscellaneous thoughts. Is that what happened here? James saw the mailman walking down the street?

Why Relief?

And here is another question – all through this book when James refers to suffering, he never says anything about how to alleviate the suffering – only how to handle it and respond to it well. But now, with the suffering of sickness, the only focus is on how to get relief. He doesn’t say, “If you are sick, persevere in faith.” He tells us, “If you’re sick, seek healing.” Why is that? Is it more important to be delivered from physical problems than it is to be delivered from other problems? If you have a financial problem, persevere. If you have an emotional problem, persevere. If you have a relational problem, persevere. If you have a physical problem, seek healing. Is that the message of Scripture? And if so, why?

Why Elders?

And why call the elders of all people? If healing is what is needed, why not call for someone with the gift of healing? Or a doctor? They had doctors back then – why not call them?

Community Project

If you back up one verse you will see that James brings up three scenarios. Are you in this situation? Do this. This situation? Do this. This situation? Do this. And after the first two we think we know what’s coming on the third one. But James throws a curveball. He says, are you suffering hardship? Go to God! Are you happy? Go to God! Everything in between – go to God! But then he says, “Are you sick? Go to… the elders of the church. Go to God, go to God, then go to people - the elders of the church. Then from there he starts talking about confessing our sins to one another in the church, and everyone praying for one another. Then he talks about rescuing one another when we stray. Twice he actually uses the word “to save” and both times that saving, or rescuing, comes through people in the church.

It is still all about prayer, so it is ultimately God who does all the healing and restoring and saving. But it comes through the prayers of others. James started with private prayer, but now he is moving to praying for one another. And it is only through those prayers that the restoration comes in this passage.

So the reality that is staring us in the face here is this (and I know some of you just really don’t want to hear this, but there is no escaping it) – your walk with God is a community project. That is the inescapable reality of this and countless other passages in the New Testament. We have to reject the privatized “Jesus and me” religion of Western culture, where we prize our individualism and privacy. God has not equipped you to live the Christian life by yourself. He has not given you what you need to do it on your own. In this spiritual war, lone rangers are dead rangers. Take any body part – any part, and cut it off and put it on the table, and it will die. (And even if it didn’t die – what good would it be sitting by itself on a table? It would be totally useless and worthless.) God designed you to need the rest of the body, and the body to need you. The more you cut yourself off from the body the more worthless you make yourself, and ultimately it is suicide.