Let's start today by reading James 5:12:
(12) Now, above all, my brothers, don't take an oath, either by heaven nor by earth, nor any other oath.
Now, your "yes" must be "yes" and your "no," "no,"
in order that under judgment you don't fall ["under judgment" is focused].
As you go through life, you will hear people make oaths, once in a while. I feel like they are less commonly done today, in our society, than they used to be. But you still hear them. When people make oaths, they usually come out using slightly rough language. "God help me, I'm telling the truth." "I swear to you I didn't do it." "I swear on my mother's grave I'll do it."
If we stop and think about the oaths we hear, and maybe the oaths we've made, we can maybe think of two different reasons why we'd make an oath. I mean, apart from being a witness or defender in a court case.
(1) The first reason, is to convince someone you are telling the truth. Sometimes people want to believe you, but for one reason or another, they are struggling. You can use an oath to tip the scales, and give them a little nudge in the right direction.
(2) The second reason you might use an oath is to convince someone you will keep a promise. Maybe you're asking someone for a favor, and promising them you'll make it up to them. An oath can help persuade people you'll do what you say.
What these two reasons have in common, is that oaths are a way to compensate for being a little untrustworthy. Oaths are for people who have cried wolf in the past, or who have burned people by not keeping a promise, or who flat-out deceived people.
If you've done this to someone in the past, an oath is a way of signaling that this time is different. This time, you're being honest. This time, you'll keep your word.
And what James is saying here, in verse 12, is that none of this should be necessary. We are, by new nature, supposed to be truth-telling people. When we speak, people trust us. They don't wonder if this is one of those times when we are bending the truth to make ourselves look better, or persuade them to do something they shouldn't.
If you live this at work, and at home, and anywhere you go, you will develop a reputation as being a truth-teller. You may have other warts, and flaws. You might still be a work in progress, as far as character development goes. But you speak the truth.
Now, if you live this way, there's a few different benefits to this. When God commands us to tell the truth, He's pointing us toward a good path to take in life.
You'll find, if you are a truth-teller, that people trust you. You'll find that people are more likely to give you the benefit of the doubt. You'll find that you are the type of person who people want to be friends with-- depending on your other warts (smirking).
But above all these, James tells us another benefit of being truth-telling people, who don't take oaths. Let's reread verse 12:
(12) Now, above all, my brothers, don't take an oath, either by heaven nor by earth, nor any other oath.
Now, your "yes" must be "yes" and your "no," "no,"
in order that under judgment you don't fall ["under judgment" is focused].
If you live this way, you won't fall under God's judgment. because you don't fall under judgment. When you guarantee your speech with an oath, you are inviting God to do terrible things to you, if you are being deceitful, or if you don't keep your word. You're asking God to guarantee your words.
You don't need to do that. Don't do it.
Verse 13a:
(13) Is anyone suffering among you?
He should pray.
This seems obvious, right? If life is falling apart all around you, that's a great time to call out to God, and ask him what's he's doing, and ask him for help.
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The word for suffering here: Brill: ????p????, contr. ?a??pa??? impf. ??a??p????? ? fut. ?a??pa??s?, mid. ?a??pa??s?µa? P LOND. 1.98r.73 (I-IICE) ? aor. ??a??p???sa ? pf. ?e?a??p????a; to be in a bad state, be in dire straits, undergo humiliations or hurts, suffer
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Sometimes, we get so caught up in our suffering, we lose all perspective. Or, we somehow started to believe that God won't help. So James encourages you-- if you're suffering, pray. Your prayers are not wasted words. Your prayers, will move God to help you.
Verse 13b:
Is anyone joyful/cheerful?
He should sing songs of praise.
When you're in a good mood, that's a great time to praise God. When the sun is shining, and it's just the right temperature, and your day is going great, and every step you take is a good one, sing to God. That kind of mood naturally lends itself to great worship. Enjoy the good days, and use the good days to praise God.
With this, we come to verses 14-15. Listen carefully, and then I'll ask you three questions:
(14) Is anyone sick/suffering a debilitating condition (see Luke 4:40; John 5:7) among you?
He should call the church elders to himself,
and they should pray over him,
anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord,
and the prayer of faith will save the sick/suffering one,
and the Lord will raise him up,
and if sins, he has committed, they will be forgiven to him.
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The word for "sick/suffering" here is used to describe both sickness (Luke 4:40) and disabilities (the lame man of John 5:7).
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(1) If you're sick, or disabled in some way, what should you do? [call the elders]
(2) If you're an elder, and someone tells you they are sick, wanting prayer, what should you do? [pray for them, anointing them with oil].
(3) If you're sick, and an elder prays for you with faith, what will happen? [you'll be healed, and forgiven]
Nothing that James here, is at all complicated. He gives us one of the greatest promises in the entire Bible, and many of us view it, with... what?
Doubt? Skepticism? We read these verses, but we don't do them. We don't trust the verse. We don't trust the God who put that verse in our Bible. It's sort of comical, but mostly tragic, how hard we try to pretend that these verses aren't in the Bible.
If you reach the point where you truly want to be healthy, and whole-- and if you want this not only for yourself, but for your family, call the elders.
Now, why the elders?
Many of us struggle with fear, and doubt, and worry. It's hard to really trust God. For a few of us, perhaps, we've reached the point in life where we expect nothing good, concretely, from God. We've given up.
Elders are not like that. At least, James assumes, elders are not like that. Elders have faith. That's one of the marks of an elder. They know that God is a good Father, who gives good gifts, who is trustworthy, and powerful, and keeps his promises. So they have faith, and they have obedience. Go to them, asking them for prayer, and they will lay hands on you, and pray for you. They will get out a little bottle of olive oil, and anoint you as part of their prayer.
The other thing connected to this, is in the last part of verse 15. "And if sins, he has committed, they will be forgiven to him."
James here clearly connects sin, with suffering. Sometimes-- not always-- sometimes-- when you're sick, or disabled in some way, it's because of sin. Perhaps that sin has given Satan a path into your life, through your spiritual armor, where he is attacking you. Perhaps, you're like Miriam, and God has made you sick as a punishment or discipline (Read Numbers 12:1-16?). Or perhaps it's all more simple. God has created the world in such a way, that certain sins tend to lead to certain consequences. Being a drunk destroys your liver. Gluttony can lead to diabetes. Constant anxiety can lead to stomach and digestive problems. When things are off spiritually, sometimes your physical state tends to mirror your spiritual state.
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Pretty sure I used this story before, so I won't use it again, but it's a good story:
John G. Lake tells a story (somewhere in The Collected Writings of John G. Lake) about a man who started having an affair with some woman. Within two months of starting the affair, he developed this large, gross, cancerous tumor on his stomach. He came to Lake, asking him to pray for him, without telling him at first about the affair. But somehow, as part of this, the truth came out about the affair, and he and his wife reconciled, and the man was completely healed. Where Lake touched his stomach to pray for him, the cancer was immediately singed an inch into his body-- you could see the hand print. And it kept dying from there. But what I want you to see, is that his sin directly led to his cancer. And his confession, and Lake's prayer, led to his healing.
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The bottom line, is that in any given situation, sin and suffering might be linked. Or they might not. James is clear-- this is an "if."
But "if" sin has played a role here, and you go to the elders, your sins will be forgiven, as part of this process.
In verse 16, James clarifies a little bit, how all of this should work. And he also does something else:
(16) And so then ("oun"), confess to one another your sins,
and pray for one another, so that you may be healed.
If you're sick, and you're living in sin, part of seeking healing should be confessing your sin to the person praying for you.
Let me tell you another story. A man was badly sinned against, and mistreated, by the leadership of his church.
He struggled to forgive them. Over a year later, he still hadn't forgiven. And what happened during all of this, was that he developed really painful digestive problems, and life became really hard for him. Eventually, he opened up to a friend, confessed his sin, and had his friend pray for him, and he was completely healed. And when I say completely healed-- I mean, he was spiritually, and physically restored. He was made whole.
The other thing we should in verse 16, is that James opens this up to the wider church. We are no longer talking just about elders.
What should you do, if you're sick?
If you've been living in sin, embracing it, confess to one another your sins. Pray for one another. Do this, so that you may be healed.
There is something about confessing your sins to others, that is itself healing. When you confess, you stop hiding the sin. You stop giving it power over you. You stop bearing the shame, and the guilt. Confessing it, breaks its hold on you. Every once in a while, you'll hear about people getting caught with terrible images of children on their computers. And more often than not, those same stories will include that person saying something like this: "I'm glad I got caught."
Hiding sin wrecks people. Living in sin, wrecks people. And when you confess, it's like the light that you shine on it burns it off. I mean, don't get the wrong idea. You are forgiven, because God forgives you. But God set it up so that true healing comes through confessing your sins out loud to other people. [Where Catholics got it a little wrong, I think, is that they don't see how verse 16 broadens this to describe the church as a whole. Confess your sins "to one another." But my guess is that Catholics live without the constant feelings of guilt that plague Protestants.]
At this point in his letter, James knows that you might be struggling with what he said about healing. All of us know people who have been prayed for, who got no better, or who died. James makes all of this sound like a promise, but our own lives don't reflect that promise. And I don't mean to downplay this. If I was to talk about any of this with someone from my mother-in-law's family, every conversation will eventually lead to John Martinson-- a young dad, who died much too young, from cancer. If we find ourselves resisting James's words here, that resistance probably comes from a place of deep pain. It's a raw wound.
So. Verse 17-18:
Much, the prayer of the righteous one has the power to do. ["Much" is focused]
(17) Elijah, a man/human, he was, having similar feelings/circumstances to us,
and with prayer he prayed for it not to rain,
and it didn't rain on the earth for three years and six months,
(18) and again he prayed,
and the heaven/sky, rain, it gave,
and the earth produced its fruit.
When Elijah prayed, his prayers brought results. He got what he asked for. And he was asking for big things.
What is James saying here? What was it about Elijah, that made his prayers effective?
We tend to think that the saints we read about in the Bible were different than us. We think they were like Marvel super heroes. Like maybe, at some point, Elijah got bit by a spider.
But everyone in the Bible who was asked, says that "We are people just like you" (Acts 3:12; Acts 14:15).
What marks Elijah off as unique, is two things, possibly. The first, is Elijah's faith. Let's reread verses 14-15:
(14) Is anyone sick/suffering a debilitating condition among you?
He should call the church elders to himself,
and they should pray over him,
anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord,
AND THE PRAYER OF FAITH will save the sick/suffering one,
and the Lord will raise him up,
and if sins, he has committed, they will be forgiven to him.
There are two main ways to understand this (I think). The first, is to think of "faith" in terms of confidence in God. Faith has confidence that God is able, and willing, to keep his promises. People of faith pray, knowing that God is with them, fighting with them, and for them, and that God answers them when they call. This type of faith, is mountain-moving faith. It places a huge amount of trust in God, and takes risks.
The second way to understand this, is that when the elders pray, they pray a prayer of "faithfulness." "Faith" can have the sense of "faithfulness" (see Romans 3:3, where God's "faith(fulness)" is in view).
So the idea here, maybe, is that the elders are people of unwavering commitment to God and people. They are faithful. And when they ask God for anything, they ask out of (genitive of source) this faithfulness. What makes this interpretation attractive, is the way it ties in with verse 16. Let's reread this little section, starting in the last sentence of verse 16:
Much, the prayer of the righteous one has the power to do.
(17) Elijah, a man/human, he was, having similar feelings/circumstances to us,
and with prayer he prayed for it not to rain,
and it didn't rain on the earth for three years and six months,
(18) and again he prayed,
and the heaven/sky, rain, it gave,
and the earth produced its fruit.
What makes Elijah's prayers effective? Elijah was righteous. James here isn't talking about the (forensic) righteousness given to Elijah, on the basis of Jesus' death and resurrection. James isn't saying that God hears every disciple of Jesus the same way, because we are all righteous.
"Righteousness" here means what it often means in the NT. Righteousness here is about being rightly related to God and people. It's about living rightly (cf. Matthew 5:20). Elijah was all-in for God. He lived an unwavering life for God, risking everything, surrendering everything, suffering anything. And when you live this way for God, God puts your prayers on speed dial. What you want becomes more important to him. He answers you sooner, and bigger, and more frequently.
When we see this, it should drive us to our knees in repentance. This past week, I've started watching a TV show I shouldn't. It's not horrible, as far as TV goes. But it's not something I could sit and watch with Jesus, or James, or Paul, either. I read this verse, and think, I need to cut the cord, again.
Effective prayer is not just a matter of having confidence that if you say to a mountain, "Go from here, to there," that it will move. It's also a matter of walking rightly with God and people, and becoming the type of person that God really listens to.
So if you're prayed for, and you're not healed, what's the explanation? Or if you pray for someone, and they're not healed, what's the explanation?
If all we're reading is James, the answer is straightforward. It's not that God said "no." It's not that God wants you to be sick, or to die a miserable death from cancer or what-not. God will keep his promises.
But it's a particular type of prayer, that saves/rescues the suffering. It's the prayer of faith. It's the prayer, offered by the righteous one.
Spiritual power comes being all-in for God and people.
I think that's what James is saying. If you can find someone like Elijah to pray for you, you're golden. You'll come out the other side of this just fine. And if that means going outside of this church, across town, or across the state, or across the country-- you do what you have to do.
And for those of you who are elders, or aspire to be elders, chew on these verses. We are all called to be all-in for God. But not all of us have the responsibility of getting the phone call of someone who is suffering, who needs your help. And when you get that call, you don't want to be thinking about that cruddy TV show, and your compromised life. You want to be thinking about Elijah, and the promise James/God gives you.
Verse 19-20:
(19) My brothers, if any of you should wander from the truth,
and someone turns him back,
(20) he should know that the one turning a sinner back from his wandering way will save his soul/life from death,
and he will cover over a great number of sins.
There are few things more tragic, than when a brother or sister wanders from the faith. Usually, it happens over time. They become less and less all-in for God, and other things take God's place.
When that happens, how should you respond?
You could speculate that the person was never truly saved-- was never truly a brother or sister in Christ, and feel sadness and regret over that. You could tell yourself that God will bring that person back eventually.
OR.
Or, you could do what James says. You can encourage that brother or sister in Christ to come back, to recommit, to become all-in for God again. You can reach out to them, and pull them back. Do this, and you will save that brother or sister's life on the day of judgment (there's a total scholarly consensus on this, that James is talking about the final judgment). Do this, and you will be personally rewarded. Sins you have committed, that God otherwise sees, will be covered. What exactly that means, I don't know. But when God covers sins, it's a good thing. God covers sins, much better than I do.
So let's stop here in James, and try to put this all together. What James says is super practical, and straightforward. If you're suffering, talk to God about it. If you're happy, sing to God. And if you're sick, what should you do?
If you read verses 14-15, the place to start is with the elders. Get together with them, and tell them what's going on. If you're secretly living in sin, embracing a sinful lifestyle, be open about it. Confess your sin. Encourage them to bring their little bottles of olive oil. Maybe bring a little bottle of olive oil, in case they forgot theirs (or struggle to obey, because they aren't very charismatic/Pentecostal). Have the elder, or elders, pray for you, anointing you with oil, and your sins will be forgiven, and you will be healed.
Alternatively, if you're reading verse 16, it opens it up to the church as a whole. Maybe your small group can be the ones to pray for you. Maybe it's a trusted friend. But confess your sins to one another, if you have sins, and pray for one another, so that you're healed.
Sometimes, when you're prayed for, you will receive an immediate, total healing-- one like most of the healing we see in the NT. Other times, maybe most of the time, healing comes more slowly. There's different theories about this, and I think they're interesting, and important.
John G. Lake would say, that some people are more filled with the Spirit than others. And people are more filled with the Spirit, on some days than others. When you lay hands on people, the Spirit moves through you, into the other person. Sometimes, you can actually feel this happen. But regardless, you're giving out of what you have. Jesus was filled to overflowing with the Spirit (Luke 4:18-19; Luke 11:20). And so when he laid hands on people, people almost always got huge, instant healings.
As a rule, we are less filled, and so we pass a lesser degree of healing.
Another possibility, is that the effectiveness of our prayers depends in part on our righteousness. If we live a compromised life, our prayers aren't as powerful. God doesn't answer them the same way. And so the healing comes as a trickle. Or maybe, we are praying for rain. But we live a compromised life, and all we get, day after day, is a few rain drops. Enough to let us know God is listening. Enough to tease us, and encourage us, and make us realize that God wants more from us-- that we are not yet Elijah.
Now, if you're prayed for, and you aren't healed at all-- there's no progress, at all, and some time has passed, what should you do?
Understand that the problem doesn't lie with God. People act like it's safer to put the blame on him, and say, "It's God's will that you suffer." I think that's super dangerous. It's not safe at all to talk about God that way. You're saying, "God doesn't want to keep his promises, when it comes to you. God will heal lots of people, but not you."
I would encourage you, if you're still suffering, to go find someone else to pray for you-- someone who is more anointed by the Spirit, someone who has more faith in God's goodness, and power, and desire to keep his promises. Someone who lives a life all-in for God. Lots of people build family vacations around being in a particular place, with particular people, at a particular time. Andrew Womack has healing conferences in Colorado, where God gave a friend of mine a brand new heart. Curry Blake has a healing school in Texas. For my family, whenever we need healing, and it seems like it's not coming, we go to Burning Hearts Church in Fargo, ND. If we lived in the Twin Cities, we'd go to Winner's Chapel in Brooklyn Park, MN. If you go somewhere else for healing, no one here will be offended. We will send you out with prayer, if you'd like. We will celebrate your healing with you. And we will give you space, in this place, to give your testimony of God's faithfulness when you come back.
The bottom line, is that God's healing is available for you. Have faith in God. If you struggle in this, ask God to give you more faith. Be like the man who said, "I do believe. Help my unbelief." Ask God to make you like Elijah. If you've sinned, confess your sins to one another, have people pray for you, and be healed.
[Invitation to healing]
Translation:
(12) Now, above all, my brothers, don't take an oath, either by heaven or by earth, or any other oath.
Now, your "yes" must be "yes" and your "no," "no,"
in order that under judgment you don't fall.
(13) Is anyone suffering among you?
He should pray.
Is anyone joyful/cheerful?
He should sing songs of praise.
(14) Is anyone sick/suffering a debilitating condition among you?
He should call the church elders to himself,
and they should pray over him,
anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord,
and the prayer of faith will save the sick/suffering one,
and the Lord will raise him up,
and if sins, he has committed, they will be forgiven to him.
(16) And so then, confess to one another your sins,
and pray for one another, so that you may be healed.
Much, the prayer of the righteous one has the power to do.
(17) Elijah, a man/human, he was, having similar feelings/circumstances to us,
and with prayer he prayed for it not to rain,
and it didn't rain on the earth for three years and six months,
(18) and again he prayed,
and the heaven/sky, rain, it gave,
and the earth produced its fruit.
(19) My brothers, if any of you should wander from the truth,
and someone turns him back,
(20) he should know that the one turning a sinner back from his wandering way will save his soul/life from death,
and he will cover over a great number of sins.
