HEALTH CHECK
James 5:13-20
Do any of you use the internet? If so, how often do you use it? I was talking with a couple of my English students Friday and the both said they don’t use it at all. I use it several times during the day. I don’t know what I’d do without it. But I can also say I lived most of my life without it and got along OK. I guess it’s just once I get used to it, I don’t want to give it up. Because I can communicate with people anywhere in the world.
Whenever I sign into the internet I almost always see something relating to my health. My physical health that is. There are always advertisements promising you this or that, advertisements wanting you to try their products, advertisements offering specials and so on. Because there is so much emphasis on physical health today. When we pray we often get prayer requests for physical health. I was praying for Tamura San’s sister who had surgery. Her surgery went well. And earlier in the week I got an email from my pastor saying that his father was having open heart surgery. He said his father might not make it through the surgery but I found out yesterday the surgery went well. PTL. I talked to Graeme yesterday and asked about how his mother is doing. He said she is about finished with chemotherapy and for now they are not doing surgery. I am praying for a complete recovery for her. We often pray for restoration to health. You often heard me talk about Bill Rodenberg. I often prayed for him as he had cancer. And I have seen people healed in answer to prayer, but I have also seen people not healed in answer to prayer.
There is so much emphasis on our physical health. But there is another kind of health we need to look at and that is our spiritual health. Did you ever think how physical and spiritual health go hand and hand. I have often seen when one is physically ill it affects his spiritual health. And if a person’s spiritual health is not good, we might see the same thing with his physical health. When I was working in Houston I had friends in medical school and often we talked about faith, prayer and healing. They do work together.
We are going to finish James today. It’s been convicting, hasn’t it? And not always pleasant to hear, because James is really pushing us for life change leading to maturity. It’s not the book you can just read and ignore. If you do he says you are like the man who looks at his face in the mirror and then walks away, forgetting what you have seen.
James 1:23 Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror
James 1:24 and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like
But remember, like we’ve seen there are no shortcuts to spiritual maturity. It comes through persevering through trials, saying no to temptation, doing God’s word, not showing favoritism based on social status, control of the tongue, applying God’s wisdom, not loving the world, submitting to God and resisting the devil, not judging and oppressing the poor, submitting your plans to God, being patient in suffering, and today we’ll look at praying. Having to do all these might not be pleasant, but look at the end result; spiritual maturity. For those of you who have suffered patiently and endured my messages on James, thank you. But I don’t want to see just the fact you’ve listened to me. I want to see all of us press on to maturity like James says. I hope that this is not the last time you look at James. I encourage you to read it and study it for yourselves. I have used it long before I did this series, and I find myself turning back to it nearly every day. I hope you too will be able to say this was rewarding. Painful, but rewarding because I’m on the road to maturity.
OK, let’s finish it. One of the things I always look for in a church to see if it is healthy is by prayer and praise. Does the church pray regularly for needs? And when things are going well, is there praise? I enjoy praise and worship and I regret we didn’t do more in this service. Wherever I go next, I hope there is someone there who can lead in praise and worship. A church I was talking to sees worship as listening to a message from the Bible. We do need to hear God’s word. But we also need to spend time doing what James is going to tell us in these next verses. You will see him refer to sickness later. This might be physical sickness, but it can also be spiritual sickness. Because remember what I said? A person’s physical and spiritual health are often closely related.
Let’s look at prayer and praise first in verse 13. Let me also say this. James gives us some very simple answers as to what we should do in times of suffering, having plenty and being sick.
James 5:13 ¶ Is any one of you in trouble? He should pray. Is anyone happy? Let him sing songs of praise.
Very simple. If you are in trouble, pray. If you are happy praise. Or sing songs of praise. Have any of you spent times in the Psalms. I always like reading them and giving messages from them because we can often identify with the writers. There are Psalms of lament; that is the Psalmist is praying for God’s help and deliverance in suffering. And there are Psalms of praise and worship.
Are any of you in trouble? Are any of you suffering? Are you going through a difficult time? Is there someone or something you have been praying for and you haven’t seen an answer yet? Pray. You need to do this. Do share your prayer request with us because we will pray for you. But James makes it very clear; if you are suffering; you need to pray. Make sure you are praying in times of suffering. Because God hears and He cares. He knows what you are going through. So pray. Share you needs with us and we will pray for you. But above all be sure you pray.
Too often, and I’ve been guilty of this myself, is we come to church with a happy smile on our faces like nothing is wrong, but inside we are bleeding. I remember several years ago I was going through a very difficult time and I remember coming to church and people asking me, “How are you?” and “What’s going on?” I’d usually answer, “I’m fine.” One woman said to me, “You’re not doing OK, are you.” And I shared with her I’m not. Friends there are people all around you hurting. God might want to use you to bring some cheer to their lives.
Are any of you happy? I’m not talking about Sue with her glue; are you happy? Are you rejoicing over something that God has done or seen a long awaited answer to prayer? Are you so excited about it you want to tell everybody? Maybe you don’t want to sing because you can sing about as good as I can. But sing songs of praise. So often we come here with such gloomy faces and other people see us and they go away wondering why all the Christians are so sad. If you’re happy sing praises! And let others know about it.
James point is that you need to do these. If you are suffering, you need to pray. If you are happy, you need to sing praises. Someone said that the 2 weaknesses in the church today are lack of prayer and praise because of insensitivity. We need to be sensitive to what God is doing in our lives and the lives of others. There is a need for prayer and a reason to praise. Suffering should result in prayer, sufficiency should result in praise. Let’s remember Paul’s admonition when we are in times of suffering or sufficiency.
Romans 12:15 Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn.
Let’s be a church that does these things.
Let’s talk about what to do when we are sick. Look at verse 14.
James 5:14 Is any one of you sick? He should call the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord.
James might be talking about physical sickness or he might be talking about spiritual sickness. I think it can include both. What are we to do? Call the elders of the church to pray over you and anoint you with oil in the name of the Lord.
I often hear this verse misquoted. This says nothing about gifts of healing or a healing service. This is something you need to do if you are sick. You need to call the elders of the church. I have seen this done before, when a sick church member calls for the elders and they pray over them and anoint them with oil.
See the elders of the church have a ministry; they are overseers of the church. You can read about them in 1 Timothy 3 and Titus 1. These passages tell us about the qualifications of elders. You will notice that not everyone can be an elder. The qualifications are higher for elders than for others. Do you want to be an elder? Read these passages and see if you measure up. And also read the whole book of James again. Because being an elder is only for the spiritually mature. Elders are the ones who are responsible for the spiritual health of the church. I was privileged to sit in on elders meetings when I was at one church. These were some very godly men and from the way they prayed, interracted and discussed spiritual matters taught me a lot I did not learn in the classroom at the seminary.
When you call the elders they will come and pray over you and anoint you with oil. Do you notice that James is really emphasizing prayer in this passage? Some of these passages are difficult to interpret, but there is no difficulty in understanding he is telling us to pray.
What is the significance of oil? Do any of you know what oil symbolizes in the Bible? The Holy Spirit. So many think of this as an anointing of the Holy Spirit. To anoint also means to rub something in, and this is what James is saying here. Oil, in the time this was written had a medicinal value. Have any of you heard of a medicine called Ben Gay? Ben Gay is a cream for body aches. You rub it in to the affected part.
What is the result of this? Look at the next verse.
James 5:15 And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise him up. If he has sinned, he will be forgiven.
Remember what I said about prayer. This is an answer to prayer and it has 3 parts. It is a prayer of faith. Remember when we pray we pray in faith. We are trusting and believing God that He will hear and answer our prayer. We can pray with confidence knowing that God has the power to heal and restore to health.
The first thing that will happen is that the sick person will be well. OK, you’re asking me. We prayed for so and so to be healed but they died. I’m glad you asked. Do you remember what John said about prayer?
1 John 5:14 This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.
1 John 5:15 And if we know that he hears us-- whatever we ask-- we know that we have what we asked of him.
I have no question of God’s power to heal and the fact that He does heal. But we need to pray according to God’s will. We can pray confidently because when we pray we know God will answer if it is His will for us.
God will restore the sick person is the next part of the verse. I’m not talking about a resurrection from the dead, it is about restoration to health.
And if the sick person has sins they will be forgiven him. I think much of this has to do with spiritual sickness because we don’t have to wonder if our sins are forgiven. If we believe in Jesus, all of our sins were forgiven when we believed in Him. When we confess our sins as believers, we are doing it to restore our fellowship with him. Take the example of a husband and a wife. Let’s say they get into a fight and as a result they are no longer talking to each other. Does this mean they are no longer married? Of course not. It does mean they are out of fellowship with each other. Once they talk and confess any wrong doing the relationship has been restored. Same here when we confess our sins.
This verse offers wonderful promise to those who are sick. I think the spiritual element is what James is emphasizing here.
There is also the spiritual element when we are physically sick. Now remember this was written in the first century and the people then did not have the same medical ability and technology as it does today. But we still need to always remember the spiritual element. Medicine itself does not heal. The doctor himself does not heal. God heals. When you take aspirin for a headache, remember God is the one who gave man the ability to make aspirin. When you get stitches on Fuji San, remember God is the one who makes the cut heal. The doctor is cooperating with God in the healing process. I remember several years ago a pediatrician shared of prayer and healing. He shared how he felt God wanted him to pray over his patients, like we saw in verse 14. But he also went on to say God reminded him, “You pray, I heal.”
Let’s not leave out the spiritual element in healing, because it is God who made us and only God has the power to heal. Remember I shared how we often have prayer requests for someone’s health? I remember Chihoko sharing of how church members came to the hospital and prayed for her when she had her operation. I have visited many people in the hospitals and I would usually pray for them before I left. I remember people coming to visit Mom in the hospital and praying for her. When we do that we are combining faith and healing with medicine.
Notice the connection between spiritual and physical sickness. Because sickness often results from unrighteous spiritual behaviour. When you are sick, and go to a doctor, don’t leave God out. Pray for the doctor and pray for your healing as well.
What should we do in light of this? James tells us in verse 16.
James 5:16 Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective
Confession and prayer is what is necessary. You know one of the things I always look for in a church is how the people relate to one another. Often times we come to church just making small talk among each other, or talking about something other than Jesus Christ. When we do talk about Him, we often give Sunday School answers. What is a Sunday School answer? Ask me how I’m doing. Ask me what God has been showing me lately and see how I answer. Let me go around the room and ask you, what does this study of James make you want to do? If you give me a general answer like, “I want to live more fully for Him,” “I’m going to pray more each day,” or “I’m going to read my Bible every day,” you have given me a Sunday School answer. Think of something specifically you want to do. For example, I am an emotional person. I get upset, or I get angry. And I often find myself acting on my emotions. Instead of doing that, I remember what James said about it.
James 1:19 ¶ My dear brothers, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry,
Because I know what happens when I act in anger.
James 1:20 for man’s anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires.
When I act in anger or when I’m upset I usually do something that is not what God wants me to do. So I remember this verse when I get upset or angry.
This is just for starters but you see what I mean? We need to put what we hear and read into practice. So James tell us to confess our sins to one another and pray for one another. Do you ever do this? Do you ever tell someone of a problem you’re having and ask them to pray for you? I’m very thankful for my friendship with Graeme because we often did this. We both did it. He has come to me and I have also gone to him. As a matter of fact I talked to him yesterday. I’m not going to share what we talked about, but I’m very thankful I called him. We talked and prayed. Because there is a result of this; we might be healed. I think this includes both physical and spiritual healing. That’s the result of praying and confessions.
Now let me just give you some guidelines. I’m not saying you have to stand up at Wednesday prayer meeting and hang out all your dirty laundry. You need to be careful who you share with. But find someone you can trust and they can trust you too, and develop a relationship with that person where you do these things. It’s important for growth, when we share with one another. Because I believe one of the signs of a healthy church is how the people relate to one another. I am always big on transparency; that is being able to share with others. I don’t want to just talk small talk or Sunday School answers, I want to have some meaningful fellowship with that person. Today we broke up into fellowship groups after the service. We talked about Pastor Takao’s message and prayed. That’s great, but do we need to wait another 2 months to do it again? Find someone you can meet with for prayer and fellowship on a regular basis.
I’m very thankful for the group at Kasukabe EFC. Often I’m ready for bed Sunday afternoon as soon as this service is over. But I’m very thankful for the friendships and relationships I’ve built there and I will miss this group when I’m gone. I usually ride the train to Kasukabe and back. But when my friend Patrick comes and brings his car, he usually drives me home. Another friend just got a car and lives in Kashiwa so often she drives me home after church. I so much appreciate the times of prayer and fellowship.
There’s a lot more I can say about this, but let’s be those who confess our sins to one another and pray for one another so that we might be healed. Because what does James say about it?
The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective. Notice he is not talking about just the elders. No this applies to the righteous man, and I think I’m safe to say it also includes the righteous woman. Prayer is powerful and effective. Another translation says it can accomplish much.
Do you get the idea that James is telling us how important it is to pray? I believe prayer should undergird everything we do. One of the mission boards, SIM, which stands for Sudan International Mission has the motto “By prayer.”
This church prays. God hears and much happens. I know this church is praying for me and I appreciate it. And I know of someone else who always tells me how appreciative she is of my powerful prayers. Prayer accomplishes much. You don’t need to be a pastor or a missionary to get answers to your prayers. Are you a righteous man or woman? Are you doing what you know God wants you to do? Then pray; your prayers will be effective and powerful.
Just to show you this doesn’t apply to the pastor, missionary or super saint, James will give us an example of one who prayed in the next 2 verses, Elijah.
James 5:17 Elijah was a man just like us. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years.
James 5:18 Again he prayed, and the heavens gave rain, and the earth produced its crops.
Notice what he says about Elijah, he was a man just like us. Time does not permit me to tell his story, you can find it in 1 Kings 17-19. If you read Elijah’s story you will see that he is a man just like us, because after Jezebel threatened him, he ran in fear and hid himself. But he prayed, and God answered. Notice he didn’t just pray a one sentence prayer; he PRAYED. Take Elijah’s example and pray; you too can see spectacular answers to your prayers.
There is another way God wants to use us and that is the ministry of reconciliation. Or better yet, the ministry of turning others to the faith or back to the faith. Let’s look at the last 2 verses.
James 5:19 ¶ My brothers, if one of you should wander from the truth and someone should bring him back,
James 5:20 remember this: Whoever turns a sinner from the error of his way will save him from death and cover over a multitude of sins.
Have you ever seen this happen before? Someone who believes in Jesus turns away from the faith? I’ve seen it before. I was once that person when I was a new Christian. We have the ministry and privilege of restoring someone to the faith. How do we bring someone back? James doesn’t tell us specifically but I believe we are to do it in a spirit of gentleness. Paul tells this to Timothy.
2 Timothy 2:25 Those who oppose him he must gently instruct, in the hope that God will grant them repentance leading them to a knowledge of the truth,
Do it gently, not harshly. I turned my back on God only a few months after I became a Christian, because I thought my way was better than God’s way. He didn’t hit me over the head. And I found the other Christians didn’t pressure me or scold me. They just loved me, and in time I came back to the Lord.
Because look what James says about the one who does this in verse 20. He saves the person from death and covers a multitude of sins. I think what James is talking about is physical death for a believer who turns away from the faith and continually sins. I don’t think this means loss of salvation.
Usually when a person turns away from the Lord and comes back the first thing he or she usually does is confess a lot. And remember the promise when we confess our sins?
1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness
Most of the NT epistles end with a benediction. Not James. He is nuts and bolts. This is where the rubber meets the road. In his book James has covered several problems we face as Christians. He doesn’t mince words. He deals with solutions to the problems. Because when we have a problem, what are we usually looking for? Solutions. If you are having problems, say with temptation, remember James says that it is not God who is tempting you, it is your giving in to your evil desires and lusts. If you find yourself always quarreling with someone, it is usually because you want something you don’t have. The answer to that is to ask God, and to submit to Him.
I hope this time we have spent in James has helped you to see that God’s word does have answers we need. If you want to live your life as a mediocre Christian and not see God do anything, this book is not for you. But if you are the kind of person who wants to go for broke as a Christian, and really grow in the faith, you are at the right place.
I heard a message the other day on those who take risks in faith for God, and those who don’t and spend the rest of their lives wondering why they didn’t. I don’t want to be that kind of person. I want to experience all God has for me. I hope as a result of this study you do too. Let’s pray.
