Overcoming the Circumstances of Life
James 5:12-20
Someone once said that life is 10% of what happens to you and 90% of how you respond to what happens to you.
One of the greatest hymn writers of all time was Miss Fanny Crosby. She wrote over 9,000 hymns. There are many in our hymn book, To God Be The Glory, Tell Me The Story Of Jesus, and probably her best known hymn, Blessed Assurance, Jesus Is Mine. One biographer called her one of the greatest in America and gave her the title “Hymn Queen.”
One thing you may not know about Miss Crosby is she accomplished all this totally blind. She lost her sight due to an illness at 6 weeks of age and she was never bitter. One preacher told her he thought it was a great pity that God would give her so many talents but not give her sight. She said quickly, “Do you know that if at birth I could have made one request it would have been to be born blind.” “Why,” asked the surprised preacher. She said, “Because when I get to heaven, the first face I’ll see will be my Savior.”
At the age of 95 Miss Crosby passed away and on the grave at Bridgeport Connecticut there is a simple headstone with these words:
Blessed Assurance Jesus is mine,
Oh, what a foretaste of glory divine.
I don’t know about you but that story blesses me. Miss Crosby was an over-comer. She didn’t let her circumstances in life dictate her responses or her destiny.
As we look at the end of the book of James that is precisely what God’s Word is trying to tell us. James inspired by the Holy Spirit ends his book with an exhortation to overcome circumstances that tend to knock others down for the count.
God doesn’t want the believer in Jesus Christ to be a reactionary to the situations that come our way. Last week we learned how to be people of patience. Now we see how we are to live above the circumstances of life.
We have an expression, “When life gives you lemons, make lemonade.” When the enemy throws turmoil and tragedy your way live in such a way that all will see Jesus in your life.
The text is a great encouragement to every believer. The enemy uses the same tactics and deception on all of us and here we see that we have within us the ability to rise above our circumstances. Let me give you today the 5 circumstances and the ways we have to overcome them.
I. When the Heat is on: Guard your Tongue (v.12)
James is back to the tongue again, aren’t you glad? We have a tendency to say too much when we are upset or under pressure. This is an echo of the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5:33-37. Jesus said there, “Again you have heard that it was said to those of old, 'You shall not swear falsely, but shall perform your oaths to the Lord.
But I say to you, do not swear at all: neither by heaven, for it is God's throne; nor by the earth, for it is His footstool; nor by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. Nor shall you swear by your head, because you cannot make one hair white or black. But let your 'Yes' be 'Yes,' and your 'No,' 'No.' For whatever is more than these is from the evil one.” (NKJ)
A Christian should be a man of his word. We should never use the Lord’s name in vain and that means we should never have to say I swear to Him, that what I am saying is the truth.
That really implies o few things; First of all, it’s like saying I’ve been known to lie before but since I swear by Him this is really truthful. Secondly, it’s like saying I’m really telling the truth and we are implying that if we are lying then God is now under orders to punish us.
A Christian’s word should be his bond. If we say yes it should not be yes to this person and then no to another. We should be able to speak the truth and stand on what we say. People should be able to count on us even when we are under enormous pressure to conform to whatever wind the world is blowing towards.
Guard your Tongue!
II. When you’re Sick Pray (v.13a, 14-15) Probably no one in Jerusalem was more qualified to speak on the subject of prayer than James. Church history records these words: “He used to enter alone into the temple and be found kneeling and praying for forgiveness for the people, so that his knees grew hard like a camel because of his constant worship of God. So often did he pray that he was referred to as ‘Old camel knees,’ because of the knots on his knees from long seasons of prayer. From his excessive righteousness he was called the ‘Just.’”
In James 5:7-12 the word “patience” is used 7 times. Here in our text the word “prayer appears 7 times. When situation arise where patience is required prayer is the key.
A. Personal Prayer (v.13a) The martyred missionary Jim Eliot wrote, “The saint who advances on his knees never retreats.” The word suffering in v.13 means “afflicted, smitten with trouble, hardship.” It is in the context of great emotional, mental and spiritual anguish. How do you spell relief?
P-R-A-Y.
Notice it says “let him pray.” God doesn’t promise relief, but implies a promise of strength to endure the suffering.
B. Corporate Prayer (v.14-15) The sick and distressed person is to call upon the elders of the church. The person takes the initiative. The elders refer to the pastoral leadership and they represent the body of Christ.
The anointing of oil was used because oil was widely used for medicinal purposes in those days. It also is a representation of the Holy Spirit. The idea is that the sick person comes to the pastor and requests the corporate prayer of the church for God’s will.
“the prayer of faith” should shut the mouths of those who want to place the blame for the sickness on the person for lack of faith. This means we pray believing God; not based on what He does, but Who He is. Amen!
I have had the privilege of anointing people with oil and praying for them with the deacons laying hands on them praying as a corporate body of Christ. And if God would lead someone in our congregation to approach me and request this I would devote the entire worship service if need be to pray for the sick. Because brothers and sisters Prayer unlocks the Power of Almighty God!
Notice the third circumstance we overcome in:
III. When you’re Happy Praise (v.13b) ‘is anyone cheerful? Let him sing psalms.” Cheerful isn’t that a good word? We should never feel guilty because we are blessed, enjoying good health and able to laugh and rejoice because these things are a gift from God.
We should praise God in good times and what seems like bad times. Every time I think of praising God in difficult situations I am reminded of Paul and Silas in jail praising God in Acts chapter 16.
Here they are in jail for preaching the Word of God at Philippi, quite possibly to be executed the next morning, and the Bible says about midnight they began to pray and sing hymns. I in my sanctified imagination believe that Paul started the singing…I got the joy, joy, joy, joy down in my heart, Silas, where, down in my heart…where? Down in my heart…I got the joy…
There was a great earthquake, all the cells were opened and the jailer and his entire family were saved that night. PRAISE GOD!
I remember when our Noah was born. There were complications and he had to have surgery the next day. Brenda and I knew God was in charge, and in the hallway we got to pray with the Doctors and the nurses. They couldn’t believe how calm we were, this mom who had just given birth the day before. We simply said this, “He was God’s child long before he was our child.
Hey when you’re happy or when you’re not happy, praise Him, trust him and He will see you through. AMEN!
IV. When you sin Confess and Pray (**v.16-18**)
Here we see that prayer and confession of sin go hand in hand. If we are to overcome the spiritual bondage the enemy tempts us with we must not try to go it alone. If I think I’m the only one who is going through this temptation then chances are I’ll get discouraged and lose heart. I will also more easily give into the temptation if I don’t have a human accountability to my struggle.
That is why we are to:
A. Confess to One Another (v.16a) confess means to agree with. We confess to one another not to shame the offender but to share the burden. This is a beautiful picture of the church of Jesus Christ here in this verse. The church is a hospital for sinners helping to cure one another, rather than condemning one another.
We all need that person or persons that we can share our burdens with. The other day I was grumpy. You ever get grumpy? I needed someone to unload my burden on. I’m grateful for friends that I can talk to and just be myself around.
The Bible says in Galatians 6:2, “Bear one another’s burdens.” Listen brothers and sisters sometimes people say well I don’t want to burden you with my problems. The way I understand the body that our precious Lord Jesus died for it’s no burden to bear it is a blessing and benefit of being a child of our Lord.
B. Pray for One Another (v.16b-18) J.H. Jowett said, “I had rather teach one man to pray then ten to preach.” Jesus said in Luke 18:1. “that men always ought to pray and not lose heart,” (NKJ) Prayer brings the resources of heaven into ever situation we face.
See these few verses deal with confession and intercession. It is a privilege to pray for one another. We are in the process of renovating our prayer list for Wednesday night. It is going to be more functional so we can better pray for one another.
The Bible says here that we are to pray for one another’s healing physical and spiritual. There are people who need a physical healing within this body of the Lord Jesus Christ. There are also some right here this morning who are caught in sin and feel trapped by the enemy. I want to encourage you to come forward in the invitation and ask for prayer from the staff. Not because we have a special line but because you need special prayer.
But notice v.16. The effective, that means in its working; in putting forth its effective energy; dynamic power working within us. The bible says in Ephesians 3:20, “Now to Him that is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us.”
We are to have fervent prayer earnest and continual. Not only that when we are working out this scripture passage confessing our sins and seeking more of Jesus in our lives then we are walking in the righteousness of Christ and that prayer “avails much.” Means to have power and influence with God.
Tennyson wrote, “more things are wrought by prayer that this world dreams of. Prayer can do anything God can do.” That is why James reminds us of the power and influence Elijah had with God. The prayers of an ordinary Christian can do great things because of the extra ordinary Jesus we serve.
Notice our last circumstance:
V. When they Fall Away Find Them (v.19-20) The enemy wants us to give up. Satan and his army are trying to get you and to get me to just quit. To doubt, disbelieve and even fall so far away from Jesus that we can’t find our own way back.
This last circumstance affects the entire church body. James now writes as a pastor who does not seek to condemn but to encourage. The word “wanders,” means to err or slip away. It is the Greek word we get our English word planet. It’s a brother or sister in Christ who has drifted away from the truth they once believed.
We are to turn them back to the truth. James uses the word “someone” in v.19 it means precious one someone who cares enough to win them back. That is the same word Jesus used when He told Peter when you are converted, or when you are restored to right fellowship Peter strengthen your brothers.
We don’t practice this effectively in the body of Christ today. Every church has a large number who have wandered away. What they need to know is that we love them and care about them and we are not going to let the enemy destroy their lives.
Conclusion: James wanted his church family to be able to grow in their walk with the Lord. He did what every pastor is called to do in 2 Timothy 4:2, “Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage-- with great patience and careful instruction.” (NIV)
This is precisely what he did in these five chapters. He corrected the wandering ones, rebuked the sinning ones and encouraged the faithful ones.
All of us will be faced at one time or another with these five circumstances. If we are to truly be the Christian and the church God has called us to be we must be over comers. Overcome that temptation to say too much, overcome that sin, that sickness, overcome that hurt, go find the wandering brother or sister, and always praise the God who has called us to be His children. Pray for one another because the enemy wants to destroy us all.
Overcome whatever circumstance by trusting Jesus to help you through it.
PRAY
