Health Care Plan
James 5:14-15
8-09-09
Intro
I want to address a subject that seems to be on a lot of people’s minds these days—health care. Almost everyone agrees there are aspects of the current health care system in America that need reform. Almost nobody agrees as to how to fix it. Town hall meetings have exploded with emotion. Friday Sarah Palin called Obama’s health plan “downright evil” In her speech she said, “The America I know and love is not one in which my parents or my baby with Down Syndrome will have to stand in front of Obama’s ’death panel’ so his bureaucrats can decide, based on a subjective judgment of their ’level of productivity in society,’ whether they are worthy of health care.” President Obama fired back yesterday saying, “Let me start by dispelling the outlandish rumors that reform will promote euthanasia, cut Medicaid, or bring about a government takeover of health care.” And the debate will go on.
Today I offer you a health care plan that rises above the current debate. What is God’s health care plan for His people?
God’s plan is very costly. Congress’s chief budget analyst estimates that the Obama plan would cost more than a trillion dollars pushing the deficit higher than it already is. But that pales in significance compared to the cost of God’s plan. What is the price tag on God’s health care plan? Nothing less than the precious blood of Jesus, listen to Isaiah’s messianic prophesy in chapter 53:4-5. “Surely He has borne our griefs And carried our sorrows; Yet we esteemed Him stricken, Smitten by God, and afflicted.
5 But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities;The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed.”
Now here is the good news about God’s plan. The premiums are already paid. This is a costly plan but you get it free as a gift from God.
God’s plan is quite simple. It can be communicated using a hand full of Bible verses. In contrast the House of Representative’s bill is over 1,000 pages long. God’s health care plan is actually understandable.
So, here are the provisions of God’s Health Care Plan. I believe by the end of the message you will be excited about the health care plan your Heavenly Father has provided for you. By the way, the bill has already been passed and the plan is in effect now.
Provision I: Your Physical Healing (James 5:14-15)
Look with me at James 5:14-15 “Is anyone among you sick? 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 sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven.”
What should I do when I get sick? I get some of God’s people to pray for me. I want you to notice a few specifics in this directive.
First, who is responsible to take the initiative in this situation? The person who is sick is supposed to start the process. The sick person is to ask for prayer. Often at the end of a church service we invite people to come and receive prayer, just to make it easy to obey this scripture. But the responsibility rests on the sick person to ask for the prayer.
Second, who is the sick person to call on for the prayer? In the New Testament elders are those who are recognized in pastoral leadership. This verse is not saying, “Get an old person to pray for you.” There’s nothing wrong with that. It’s simply not what this verse is saying. Why are these Christians told to get elders to pray for them? To begin with, they are to be under the leadership of elders. They are to be a part of a community of believers that are under authority. There is a popular movement right now that says, “I don’t need to go to church; I just need to be the church.” I agree that we need to be the church. I agree that we need to reach out to the lost in ministry. I even agree that there are a lot of shortcomings and imperfections in church as we know it today. What I don’t agree with is the conclusion that all that means I don’t have to submit to the authority of a local church. That plays right into the lawlessness that characterizes our society. This is really nothing new at all. It’s presented as if someone discovered first century Christianity for the first time. “They didn’t meet in church buildings back then so that must be the answer.” Of course they didn’t, they didn’t have any church buildings and didn’t have the means to get them. They also didn’t use cars or computers. The building is a neutral matter. Attitudes of independence and rebellion are not so neutral. Over the years we’ve seen a number of movements like this. The shepherding movement in the 70’s was very similar. The house church movement in the 80’s was another. The problem is not whether people meet in a home or church building. There are Home Churches that are that have sound leadership and are healthy. But there’s a problem when people simply don’t want to be under authority. The promise found in James 5:15 assumes submission to spiritual authority and connection to biblical community.
Third, how are the elders to pray? They are to anoint the person with oil. There is no healing power in the oil itself. The oil is symbolic of the Holy Spirit. Anointing with oil is a visual recognition that only the Holy Spirit can do the actual healing. Anointing with oil is an act of obedience and of faith—faith that the Holy Spirit will touch the person. The prayer of the elders is to be “in the name of the Lord.” To act in someone’s name is to act in that person’s authority. Why does the policeman say to the fleeing criminal, “Stop in the name of the Lord”? He is backed by the full resources of the whole police department. The criminal is not just dealing with one police officer. He is dealing with all those resources that back his authority. When those elders pray over the sick, they are not limited by the own power and ability. The Lord’s kingdom stands behind that prayer.
Look at verse 15 “And the prayer of faith will save the sick....” What is the prayer of faith? It is a prayer that expects an answer. In Mark 11:12 Jesus and His disciples were on their way to Jerusalem from Bethany. Bethany is about two miles east of Jerusalem. Up ahead Jesus saw a fig tree that looked like it might have some figs on it. Even though the season for figs had not yet come, the lush leaves on the tree made it appear to be in season early. However, when Jesus got there it only had leaves. So Jesus said to the tree, “Let no one eat fruit from you ever again.” When Jesus got to Jerusalem He cleansed the temple and went back to Bethany that evening. The next morning on their walk back to Jerusalem they saw the fig tree; Peter pointed out how it had dried up from the roots just as Jesus had spoken over it. It was at that point Jesus taught the disciples what the prayer of faith is all about. Mark 11:22-24 “So Jesus answered and said to them, "Have faith in God. 23 For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ’Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says. 24 Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them.” The challenge we so often face is this: Will I believe what God has said or will I believe what my five senses are telling me. Think this through with me. Right after Jesus spoke to the tree and said, “Let no one eat fruit from you ever again” did the tree look any different? No, if you were there relying on your five senses you might say, “That was strange. And the tree looks no different than it did before. The leaves are just as green and lush as they were before Jesus prayed.” Faith looks beyond the appearance of things. In reality, the moment Jesus spoke the roots of that tree began to dry up. But the visual manifestation of the answer took some time. Now let’s say you come forward this morning for prayer and we pray over you. There is the possibility that God would work a miracle and the answer might be evident immediately. But that’s not how healing usually works. The sickness usually dries up from the roots just like it happened with this fig tree. We pray in faith and the healing process begins. At that point our five senses tell us nothing has changed. Just like with that tree; something is happening but we can’t see its effects yet. So what often happens? We look at the person and see no change. So we conclude that it didn’t work. And sure enough it doesn’t work because our unbelief aborted the process. What did Jesus say in Mark 16:17-18 when giving the Great Commission? “And these signs will follow those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues; 18 they will take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.” The word recover implies a process. It doesn’t say they will immediately be well. This verse says they will recover. The Greek is two words kalos (which in this context means “well”) and echo (which means to “be”); echo is in the future tense. So the NIV translation is a very good one, “they will get well.”
Why am I taking time for all this? I think most Christians don’t know that supernatural healing is a process. Miracles are instantaneous. But healing reverses the destructive process and accelerates recovery.
Our text in James gives this promise, James 5:15, “And the prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise him up.” The KJV really misses it here on its translation of sozo as save. The context requires the NIV translation. “And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well.” The promise continues, “and the Lord will raise him up.” Raise him up from where? He will raise him up from his sick bed. That promise needs to be understood and relied upon when we pray for the sick.
This is the Health Care Plan we’re supposed to be working from. Amen? This is the Health Care Plan that I want. And it may be the one we have to have in the future. I’m not sure America going to have the future resources to make good on all their promises—Democrat and Republican. I’m not trusting the secular system to keep me healthy. I’ve got a better resource than that. Will I receive benefits that are offered? Probably so. The issue is in whom am I trusting. I’m not in any way saying we should just disconnect from the culture. But we need to be very clear who we’re trusting as our source.
God had this complaint concerning the nation of Israel. Jer. 2:13 “For My people have committed two evils: They have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters, And hewn themselves cisterns -- broken cisterns that can hold no water.” Instead of enjoying the flow of God’s grace in their lives, they decided on a course of independence from God. They would take care of themselves. They would dig into the ground to create ponds to collect the water when it rains. Its a lot of work and it still doesn’t provide the clear pure water of a flowing fountain. Cistern might refer to a well; but even if it’s a well, there are cracks and holes where the water gets lost. The point is this: they wouldn’t take the living waters God was trying to give them—they life that flowed out of their relationship with Him. Instead they devised their own plan that did not include Him in the picture. You can draw the parallel with America’s plans. Our answer is not a man-made American cistern, whether it’s Democrat or Republican. Our answer is God! We’re going to need God in the days ahead. We’re going to need to know how to pray for one another and get healed!
So the Provision I in God’s Health Plan for His people is laid out in James 5:14-15. It is a provision for your healing if you get sick.
Provision II might be termed preventive care: A provision for Your Divine Health (Exodus 15:26)
In Exodus 15 the children of Israel hit a test. They couldn’t find any water. When they did find water at Marah it was not drinkable. Now this was only three days after God had parted the Red Sea and delivered them from Pharaoh’s army—three days. What did they do in that situation? They started complaining. Now this wasn’t the first time they complained; and it won’t be the last. But it’s amazing to me how soon we forget. You and I have done it as well. We have a precious encounter with the Lord and are on the mountain top. Within three days we’re down in the dumps in the valley of despair. I don’t want to be too hard on these Israelites because I’m more like them than I want to admit. God mercifully answered their complaint and purified the waters. God’s mercy did not stop there. It is in that context that we read this amazing promise from God. Ex 15:26 “...If you diligently heed the voice of the LORD your God and do what is right in His sight, give ear to His commandments and keep all His statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you which I have brought on the Egyptians. For I am the LORD who heals you.” They thought they were going to die of thirst right there in the wilderness. But God says to His people, “I’ll take care of you. I’ll keep you well.” He is revealing Himself as Jehovah-Rophe – the Healer. “I am the LORD who heals you.”
I noticed they changed the name of swine flu to H1N1. That seemed to calm people down some; but I’m not sure changing the name of something makes it any less of a threat. Maybe it helps the sale of bacon. Why is there such a rush to get a vaccine in place? Because the danger is very real. The influenza pandemic (from 1918-1920) infected 1/3 of the world’s population and killed somewhere between 50 and 100 million people. I remember watching a PBS documentary about the early 1900s. Because of significant scientific advances, people were boasting how mankind could now solve any problem through science. The influenza revealed the folly of their arrogance. During the epidemic they were treating patients for bacteria instead of virus. At best their treatment did no good at all.
I am amazed at the faith people can have in man-made cisterns while not having faith in God. The Mayo Clinic was at least honest enough to release a report in 2003 that indicated their treatment of anorexia patients made no difference in survival rate. I’m not saying we shouldn’t avail ourselves of the best health care possible. I am saying our faith must be placed in the Lord rather than man.
In 2 Chron 16 we have a brief summary of King Asa’s life. Verses 12 and 13 say, “And in the thirty-ninth year of his reign, Asa became diseased in his feet, and his malady was severe; yet in his disease he did not seek the LORD, but the physicians. So Asa rested with his fathers; he died in the forty-first year of his reign.” That verse has been used to say we should not go to the doctor. But it doesn’t say he shouldn’t have used physicians. His problem was that he looked to the physicians INSTEAD of the Lord. It would have been fine to use the best medical care available, as long as he looked to the Lord for his health.
Now I want to go back to Ex 15:26 and hear what God says to His people one more time. “I am the LORD who heals you.” He is the one who holds the keys to life and death. Regardless of whether I have doctors involved or not, He is the Lord who heals me. I appreciate the knowledge and skills of a good doctor; but ultimately my times are in God’s hands. And when I am well, I will appreciate the hard work those in the medical profession do. But I will give God the glory for my health.
Ex. 15:26 is the best preventive medicine I know. “I will put none of the diseases on you...” That’s what I want to hear from the Lord. Divine health, I’d rather not get sick in the first place. Now there is a great big “if” in Ex 15:26. “...If you diligently heed the voice of the LORD your God and do what is right in His sight, give ear to His commandments and keep all His statutes....” In other words, walk with me, do what I tell you to do and I’ll take care of you. We should be believing the Lord to cover us and protect us from disease and injury; and thank Him for doing so.
Does sickness necessarily mean we didn’t do that? I don’t think so. Sickness is a problem that has invaded humanity because of Adam’s fall. Because of the fall this is a very imperfect world and we deal with a lot of stuff. When a Christian gets sick they need the support and prayers of the other Christians. They don’t need the added pain of accusations and judgment. They don’t need to be told they just don’t have enough faith. They don’t need friends like Job had who try to find some hidden sin to explain why they’re sick. They need us to stand with them in prayer and believe for their healing.
There are times when sickness is tied to personal sin. When that’s the case and we humble ourselves before God and ask His help, He will not only heal our bodies but will also forgive our sin. Remember what we read in 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” (NIV). That is not a message of condemnation but a message of assurance. Even if the sickness is somehow associated with personal sin, God has provision for that as well. The blood of Jesus cleanses from all sin. All we have to do is confess that sin and ask forgiveness—and seventy times seven God will forgive. Our focus this morning is physical healing; but God has provided for us every kind of healing we need: spirit, soul, and body. In fact, He has an ultimate healing in store for us as well. One day we will receive a glorified body that is absolutely free of every effect of the Fall including every form of infirmity or sickness.
I have talked with you about two provisions of God’s Health Care Plan. Provision I is discussed in James 5:14-15: Provision for Your Healing.
Provision II is preventive care revealed in Exodus 15:26: Your Divine Health.
Provision III I will only touch upon: Your Healing Ministry (Matthew 10:7-8).
Not only is the power of the Lord available for our healing, but He grants us the privilege of sharing that with others. In Matthew 10:7-8 Jesus sent the disciples out with this instruction. “And as you go, preach, saying, ’The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’ 8 Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out demons. Freely you have received, freely give.” As a part of sharing the gospel, we are also authorized to heal the sick. We are authorized to lay hands on the sick and expect them to recover. Our part is to pray in faith; God does all the rest.
What do you do if you’re not seeing results? You keep obeying Scripture. How many people are familiar with the name, John Wimber? He was the founder of the Vineyard movement and was used mightily in healing ministry. But prior to that, he was a pastor in a non-Pentecostal church that did not believe in divine healing. He was a professor at Fuller Seminary and in 1977 God told him to start a church in Southern California. As he preached through the Gospel of Luke he was confronted again and again with Jesus, the Healer. During that time God revealed to him the biblical truth of divine healing and told him to pray for the sick in the church services. He accepted the revelation God had given him and began calling the sick forward for prayer at the end of the service. He said the first time he obeyed the Lord and did this not only was no one healed but he and his staff got sick with the flu and headaches. But God kept commanding him to pray for the sick. Every Sunday for 8 or 9 weeks he did that and not one person was healed. But he kept obeying what God had told him to do. They kept praying for the sick and were experiencing one failure after another. At the end of 10 months they were praying for a sick man at the altar. They prayed for two hours but nothing happened. Finally, in frustration, Wimber threw himself on the floor weeping. He screamed to God, “It’s not fair. You tell us to teach what your book says, but you don’t back up our act. Here we are; we’re doing the best we can do—and nothing happens. You tell us to believe in healing and pray for healing but You’re not doing anything. Oh, God, it’s not fair!” Can anybody here identify with that kind of frustration and despair? The next day God worked a powerful miracle and his healing ministry began. I tell that story to help us understand that the process is not as neat and easy as some would have us believe. When we step out to obey God’s command we may experience frustration. We may not understand how God is working. Our oldest daughter received a healing when she was a baby. The healing came the moment I got so frustrated praying for her that I hit the wall with my fist. Who would think that God would heal in that context? But God is not near as religious as most Christians. He’s looking on our hearts and He knew that the reason I did that was that I could not stand to see my baby girl in that kind of pain. John Wimber obeyed God’s command—he passed some hard tests—and God showed Himself strong in his behalf. We don’t pray for the sick because we see result—of course, that is wonderful—but we pray for the sick because we’re commanded to do so.
A couple of years ago we preached on healing and asked for feedback on what had happened. In that one service thirteen people were healed and fourteen more had some improvement as a result of prayer. God is still the Healer. He still has the best possible Health Care Plan. I recommend that we embrace it.
Pray for the Sick.
For FOOTNOTES/SOURCES go to www.GatewayNixa.org
Richard Tow
Gateway Foursquare Church
Nixa, Missouri
