A Servant Church Heals
Text: James 5: 13 – 20
Focus: “That ye may be healed”
We have looked at the Servant Church loves, the servant church empowers, the servant church trains, the servant church forgives and this Sunday we conclude our series with the Servant Church heals.
To heal means to restore or to bring one to wholeness in all aspect of human life.
Therefore, the servant church can heal if it manifests the reality of a tender, loving, merciful and compassionate God who can raise you up and make you whole in the midst of an evil world.
I’m talking about a God whose throne you can boldly approach knowing if you are suffering, or knowing if you are sick: you can go to God for healing.
There are two Greek translations that I need to l lift up. When James speaks of afflictions or suffering, the word he uses means literally weary.
When James speaks of sick, the word he uses means literally weak.
James is not just referring to the bedridden, the diseased, or the ill. James includes in his language those who have grown weary, who have become weak both morally and spiritually. You who are weary come home.
Therefore, if you are weary; if you are weak, if you are having problems navigating through life with you moral and spiritual anchor griping the solid rock of Jesus Christ.
Don’t despair, don’t become depressed, and don’t become dejected: there is something you can do!
I happen to turn on the television late one night and saw the ministry show of Action Jackson. Late at night he is telling people over the airwaves that they can call into an 800 number and he will send them a prayer cloth that had been dipped in anointed oil. Just like someone hawking watermelons on the side of the road, he was selling prayer cloths. I wondered how many people have reduced the power of God to heal into selling snake oil.
How many people are so superstitious that they have become gullible to schemes concocted by devious and despicable people?
How many people stand in lines waiting for the next faith healer to come through town? I watched a gentleman recently set-up a tent for a healing service. He erected a swimming pool on the sidewalk. I believe to simulate one being dipped in the Pool of Siloam. The evening of the healing service we had a wind storm in the city. The day when I passed by the place I saw the swimming pool he erected had been turned over and damaged by the wind storm.
How many people are so superstitious that they have become gullible to schemes concocted by devious and despicable people?
I want you to know that James provides a solid and sensible way to address moral and spiritual weariness and weakness.
Go to the servant church where you can be healed.
Is there anyone afflicted? Is there anyone sick? Is there anyone suffering? Is there anyone who needs forgiveness?
Go to the servant church where you can be healed.
Because in the servant church you should be able to call on some elders, an elder is one who is spiritually and biblically mature. An elder is one who is experienced with God’s ways. An elder is one who has met Jesus Christ for themselves and Jesus is for them Savior and Lord.
When you go to the servant church you need to be able to call on some elders.
I want you to know that there is no gender bias in being an elder. An elder is one who takes time to be holy. Who walks often with the Lord? Who has the praises of God continuously in their mouth? An elder is one who can get a prayer through.
Because an elder is one who God deems righteous; in other words an elder is in right standing with God.
Right standing is not what you put one the outside: a robe, a collar, a uniform, a hat, or a scarf. Right standing is not determined by what on the outside.
Right standing is determined by what’s on the inside. Right standing is the condition of your heart, the condition of your mind, the condition of your spirit, the condition of your prayer life, the condition of your faith walk. All of that deals with right standing and through maturity – experiences with God where you have been found worthy – you become recognized as an elder in the faith community.
Is there anyone afflicted? Is there anyone sick? Is there anyone suffering? Is there anyone who needs forgiveness?
When you go to the servant church you need to be able to call on some elders.
Elders have something that you need when you are weak and weary.
Elders have prayers.
1. Prayers of the righteous are expected.
An elder should be in constant communication with God. There should not be any iniquity in the heart of an elder that would block a prayer getting through. An elder can’t be rebellious and at the same time spiritual. An elder doesn’t use prayer as a last resort. An elder uses prayer as a first resort. An elder acknowledges that God’s power is greater than one’s own. The prayers of the righteous are expected.
2. Prayers of the righteous are effective.
A prayer from a righteous person will touch God’s heart. Why? Because a righteous person’s feelings, thoughts and actions will conform to God’s will. A righteous person will have a close relationship with God. And no good thing will he withhold from those who diligently seek him.
3. Prayers of the righteous are eternal.
A prayer from a righteous person should encompass their whole being. The good times and the bad should be lived in an atmosphere of prayer. Everything that happens should be co joined with prayer.
Elders anoint with oil.
The Greek translation in this sense is not ceremoniously taking some olive oil and making the sign of the cross on one’s forehead. Anoint in this sense is a deep rubbing massage.
I miss the old days of neighborhood pharmacies where you could get fountain sodas. In the Pimilico area there was such a pharmacy. I would go there and get some Absorbine Jr. Horse liniment. My mother would love the liniment because of its deep penetrating power. She would use it to fight old Arthur. You didn’t pat it on. You had to massage the liniment deep into the muscle for the best effect. She would tell her friends I became the local horse liniment dealer until the pharmacy sold its location to a hair weave shop. It’s gone and my access to the horse liniment is gone, now that I need it!
Elder anoints with oil.
I believe James want to emphasis the touching aspect of anointing. He was drawing upon the Matthew 18 account where Jesus was discussing what to do if a person trespasses against you. Go and tell his fault between you. If he hears you, you have gained a friend. If not, go back with two or three witnesses. If that doesn’t work, bring it to the church. If that doesn’t work, let them go unto the heathens. Jesus says, “If two of you shall agree on earth as touching any thing that they shall ask, it shall do done for them of my Father which is in heaven.
For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them. This anointing, this touching, this agreeing brings the power of God.
Is there anyone afflicted? Is there anyone sick? Is there anyone suffering? Is there anyone who needs forgiveness?
When you go to the servant church you need to be able to call on some elders.
Because in the servant church you should be able to call on some elders, an elder is one who is spiritually and biblically mature. An elder is one who is experienced with God’s ways. An elder is one who has met Jesus Christ for themselves and Jesus is for them Savior and Lord.
Therefore, the servant church can heal if it manifests the reality of a tender, loving, merciful and compassionate God who can raise you up and make you whole in the midst of an evil world.
Let me close this out. There’s one other thing you need to know. Not only is the servant church good for those who are healed, but its also good for those who participate in the healing.
Eugene Petersons translates James this way: Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you can live together whole and healed. The prayer of a person living right with God is something powerful to be reckoned with. If you know people who have wandered off from God’s truth, don’t write them off. Go after them. Get them back and you will have rescued precious lives from destruction and prevented an epidemic of wandering away from God.
Not only is the servant church good for those who are healed, but its also good for those who participate in the healing.
That’s why you can trust Jesus when he asks do you want to be healed.
Do you need a second touch?
Do you need a balm in Gilead?
Do you want to be made whole?
I here to tell you, that you can trust in Jesus.
You can depend upon his word.
Jesus will be with you all the way until the end.
