"We must all hang together, or assuredly we shall all hang separately." So said Benjamin Franklin at the signing of the Declaration of Independence. The American colonists were declaring themselves free of one powerful authority and committing themselves to another. They expected to be attacked, and knew that their only hope was in solidarity. Christians are in precisely the same position.
In declaring ourselves for Christ, we declare ourselves in opposition to the world, and we will be attacked. Sometimes we get complacent and careless, because in America we rejoice in singular liberties. Our disregard of danger, combined with our preoccupation with the cares of daily living, make us especially vulnerable. Although the attacks Christians suffer are still more indirect than direct, they are nonetheless real. We are criticized - attacked - by the media, on our jobs, and through our children. Like the American colonials, in order to withstand these assaults we must hang together.
The apostles and the early church also knew how crucial to survival it was to stick together. But even more important than defense, which is essentially negative, is the task of building a radically new kind of community. It is only in this way that we will have a lasting positive impact on our world.
How does the Holy Spirit turn a motley collection of individuals into an organic unity? As we have seen, what the process boils down to is Jesus' commandment in John 13 to love one another. This loving isn't just a matter of feeling warm fuzzy thoughts, though, but of doing things, of behaving in certain ways. The Holy Spirit empowers believers to love one another, and Paul and the other apostles give us specific instructions about how to do it in practice.
In Romans Paul tells us to honor one another, to live in harmony with one another, and to accept one another. In Galatians he tells us to serve one another in love, and to carry each other's burdens. We are told to forgive one another, to teach one another, to be kind to one another, and to encourage one another. And in 1 Corinthians 12 he tells us why: "If one part [of the body] suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it." We belong to one another. We are members of one another. We are to do everything we can to strengthen the bonds which unite the members of the church.
The central focus of this section of James letter is that the proper response to all circumstances is prayer. Equally important, however, is his emphasis on mutual responsibility. The members of the church and the leaders of the church have a responsibility toward one another. The person who is suffering has an obligation to come forward and ask for the help he or she needs; the elders and the other members of the body have an obligation to respond to those requests in love and faith.
Verse 14 has caused a lot of conflict and confusion, because of the difference between Greek and English. The words translated "sick" also mean weak or helpless or exhausted. They are words used to describe physical, emotional or spiritual malfunction. The verse seems deliberately ambiguous; it is correct to interpret the verse either way.
The lesson is, I think, that the elders are to pray in faith - not faith in particular outcomes, but faith in God - and it is up to God to determine whether spiritual, emotional or physical healing is in order. We believe that God is concerned with all kinds of healing, and we have seen Him do all kinds of healing.
Verse 16 has to do with daily interaction between the members of the body of Christ. It has to do with being open with one another about our struggles. It doesn't mean that God punishes unconfessed sin with illness, and it isn't restricted only to the acts we customarily think of as "sins." What verse 16 is talking about is the fact that we all fall short of the glory of God, and that to the extent that we try to keep our imperfections from one another we are inhibiting the free circulation of the healing grace of God from one part of the body of Christ to another.
That metaphor works at a number of levels, by the way: think about what the circulation of blood does for our bodies. Among other things it cleanses, it nourishes, and it heals. In exactly the same way the right kind of communication between members of the body of Christ nourishes, cleanses, and heals.
We are here tonight in response to James’ instructions, coming together in love and concern for one another and in faith in the healing power of God. We are here out of obedience to the Lord Jesus Christ the Great Physician and healer of souls. We are here to lift one another up to God, as the paralytic was brought to Jesus when he could not come himself, to seek his mercy and ask him to use his power to restore the bodies which he made. We are here to offer ourselves up to God, body and soul alike, so that he may in his own time heal that within us which needs healing.
We know that it is the power of God which brings healing, not our own faith, our own standing before God. The great apostle Paul, through whom God worked many miracles of healing, was not given the gift of healing for himself, for which he asked three times from God. But we also know that there are things within us which can frustrate the Holy Spirit, which can block God’s desires for us. These obstacles can include lack of faith, or unconfessed sin, of course. But it may be something quite different, or it may be that what most needs to be healed in us is not what we are focusing on but something else altogether.
Let me give you an example. I am asthmatic. After 20 years in remission, the asthma from which I suffered as a child returned in full force shortly after I became a Christian. In obedience to James, and following the practice of the church to which I belonged, I asked the elders for anointing and prayer.
Well, nothing happened. I have been prayed for half a dozen times since, and guess what? I still have asthma. BUT during those years when I was praying for the asthma to go away, God healed me of a number of far more important things. And I am satisfied.
So we come before God tonight in obedience and faith, knowing that God can heal, trusting that God will heal, asking God to heal, giving God permission to work on whatever in us most needs healing, but still willing to trust God’s goodness and love for us even if he chooses not to heal at this time.
God wastes nothing, even our brokenness. Let us therefore offer ourselves up to him to be used in whatever ways glorify him most, whether it is by healing us of our illness, or giving us the power to praise him regardless.
