Opener:
Well Good Morning Church! We are so excited that you have decided to join us here this morning. What a blessing to be here worshiping the Lord together!
We also want to take a moment to welcome our online community as well. Thank you for taking the time to watch and allowing us to be a part of your spiritual journey!
As you may recall, last week we talked about James chapter four. We learned that there were some problems in the early church. There were some disagreements between believers. These disagreements were rooted in the fact that some had an ulterior motive. We shifted a bit and then talked about that in order to grow in our faith, we must not allow pride in our lives. Pride will rob us from doing God’s will. It is important to remain humble and to place our trust in the Lord. Finally, we talked about when we draw closer to God, He in turn, will draw closer to us.
James writes from an impassioned perspective as the leader of a church who’s facing stiff persecution. Truly, he is a good pastor that cares for the body of Christ. This letter gives us practical advice on how to lead a godly life that is full of love and compassion.
This week, we are concluding our sermon series on the book of James. It has been a wonderful blessing for me in studying and preaching this series. The main discussion in James five really speaks to how we are called to live out our faith in the sight of God.
The first parts of James chapter five deals with those that have allowed money to become the most important thing in their lives. Instead of trusting or relying on God, they are depending on their own resources. James provides a stark warning to those that are self-reliant as they will have a great disappointment on the day of judgment.
James then discusses how important it is for the believers to be patient concerning the judgment of the ungodly. Truly, the coming of the Lord is at hand and His return requires us to have a heart that is rooted in His eternal purposes. James reminds us of the truth that even though we may face challenging times, we are encouraged to keep our head up and not to grumble and complain in our hardship.
Lynn Jost shares a beautiful story and I want to pass that on to your this morning:
During his reign, King Frederick William III of Prussia found himself in trouble. Wars had been costly, and in trying to build the nation, he was seriously short of finances. He couldn’t disappoint his people, and to capitulate to the enemy was unthinkable. After careful reflection, he decided to ask the women of Prussia to bring their jewelry of gold and silver to be melted down for their country. For each ornament received, he determined to exchange a decoration of bronze or iron as a symbol of his gratitude. Each decoration would be inscribed, “I gave gold for iron, 18l3.”
The response was overwhelming. Even more important, these women prized their gifts from the king more highly than their former jewelry. The reason, of course, is clear. The decorations were proof that they had sacrificed for their king. Indeed, it became unfashionable to wear jewelry, and thus was established the Order of the Iron Cross. Members wore no ornaments except a cross of iron for all to see.
When Christians come to their King, they too exchange the flourishes of their former life for a cross.
I. Perseverance
A. Patient endurance
a. As we pick up our study in James chapter five we will begin in verse ten which says: James 5:10-11(NKJV) 10 My brethren, take the prophets, who spoke in the name of the Lord, as an example of suffering and patience. 11 Indeed we count them blessed who endure. You have heard of the perseverance of Job and seen the end intended by the Lord—that the Lord is very compassionate and merciful.
b. Look to the farmers, look to the prophets… These are practical examples of patience James points to.
c. And then he makes the ultimate point and encourages the church to remember the story of Job… Which if you’re familiar with, you know that Job lost everything; His family, his fortune, and even his friends through a prolonged season of suffering in his life.
d. But, as we now know, Job’s perseverance in the midst of suffering was greatly rewarded.
e. In fact, I think we can all agree that we greatly esteem the stories and testimonies of those who’ve suffered greatly, and persevered in patience.
f. Eric shared his testimony last Sunday night and it was a powerful example of how God can restore us even from our lowest moments.
g. There is a word that really stands out to me in our text and that is the word perseverance.
i. Webster dictionary defines the word as follows: continued effort to do or achieve something despite difficulties, failure, or opposition; the action or condition or an instance of persevering.
ii. When we look at this word biblically, perseverance means to have the endurance that whatever trials or difficulties that we face, we never lose our faith in the Lord.
h. These versus are a good reminder for us of the hardship that the Old Testament prophets endured. Yet, they did not give up and remained faithful to the Lord.
i. We saw how the life of Job caved in on him. He lost his material possessions, he lost his children and his wife who was so supportive (not!!!) telling Job he should just curse God already. However, Job’s faith was strong and he trusted the Lord in his trial.
i. Sometimes life can throw us a curveball. Regardless of what we face, James is showing us that God is concerned for His children and their suffering. Certainly, He will sustain us with His love and shower us with His mercy. We see the end result of Jobs trials and he was given double. So Job got double for his trouble!!!!!!
B. Not easy
a. We can probably all agree that waiting is not the easiest thing in the world.
b. After all, we live in a fast paced world that wants immediate gratification, I suspect waiting is a distant afterthought for most of us.
c. Why wait when we can fix most of our problems with a few simple mouse clicks?
d. Why wait when there are things like 60-day same as cash financing, or YouTube, instant coffee, and 5-minute rice?
e. We’ve built our entire culture to be efficient, precise, and productive.
f. Even with all these efficiencies and creature comforts, it is amazing that we are no closer to being peaceful, content, and satisfied as a result of these.
C. Not grow faint
a. Let’s take a look at what the bible says about waiting on the Lord in the book of Isaiah 40:30-31 NKJV 30 Even the youths shall faint and be weary, And the young men shall utterly fall, 31 But those who wait on the LORD Shall renew their strength; They shall mount up with wings like eagles, They shall run and not be weary, They shall walk and not faint.
b. The Psalmist wrote in Psalm 27:14 NKJV 14 Wait] on the LORD; Be of good courage, And He shall strengthen your heart; Wait, I say, on the LORD!
c. The bible further say in 2 Peter 3:9 NKJV 9 The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.
d. Waiting isn’t passive. Waiting is powerful. And adopting a posture of patience is a strength, not a detriment to all of those who profess to be followers of Jesus.
e. And there are some other things we do in the midst of waiting that make it even more powerful. They supercharge the waiting you could say.
f. James tells us not to grumble against one another, not to swear by heaven or earth, and finally, to be prayerful all while waiting on the Lord.
D. Person of your word
a. After waiting the Lord, James tackles one of the challenges of being a Christian which is to be a person of your word.
b. While it is difficult to do and unforeseen circumstance and situation may arise, but biblically speaking, we are called let our yes be yes and our no be no.
c. For all my people pleaser friends, saying no can be one of the hardest things to do.
d. Let’s look at James 5:12(NKJV) 12 But above all, my brethren, do not swear, either by heaven or by earth or with any other oath. But let your “Yes” be “Yes,” and your “No,” “No,” lest you fall into judgment.
e. Here is a little background of this text as James was dealing with a specific issue. The Jewish people during this time period had two distinct oaths: One that was binding, while the other was not.
i. Kind of like today when people make an oath and then they put their fingers behind their back. What are they doing with those fingers?
ii. They are crossing them.
f. Let us be encouraged and challenged to be a people of our word. If we say we are going to be somewhere, we need to work hard to be there.
g. While there may be extenuating circumstances, we need to do our best to letting our yes be yes and no, no.
h. We cannot be afraid to say no. If we are unable to commit, it is better we say no up front. If we do say yes, then we need to be committed to what we said.
E. Storms of life
a. James then shifts a bit in verse 13 (NKJV) 13 Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing psalms.
b. When the storms of life are blowing our way, when things are stressful, the Word of God invites us to draw our strength from the Lord.
c. I love the bible verse found in 1 Peter 5:7 (NKJV) casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you.
i. The Lord cares about every minuet detail of our lives. It is His desire to be involved every minute of our lives. Whether these are mountain top moments or valley moments!
d. Truly, Jesus care for us and He wants the best for us.
II. Healing
A. Healing
a. James after talking about suffering, let’s us know that there is healing available for those that are suffering.
b. Let’s look at James 5:14-15 (NKJV) 14 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.
c. Here James is encouraging those that are dealing with a physical sickness to go to the elders or leaders of the church and to have them pray.
i. Pastor Leon regularly shares the acrostic: Push - Pray Until Something Happens. Truly, Prayer changes things!
d. It is the duty of the pastor and the elders to pray for people. When praying, we need to have faith that the Lord will not only hear the prayer, but will respond and will bring divine healing in the person’s life.
e. James here also recognizes that the reason that the person may be sick is due to sin.
f. We have to be very careful here and that we do not rush to judgment and say it is because of sin. It may be though.
g. It is not our job to judge others, rather to Pray and ask in faith!!!!!
a. If sick, one should examine oneself and ask the Holy Spirit to search your heart to see if this sickness is a result of sin.
B. Habit
a. The response to every one of these situations is the same… Which really begs the question, should that be our default response too?
b. Should prayer be a habitual response to each and every situation we may or may not find ourselves in? I know this sounds crazy, but elsewhere in the Bible the answer to these questions would in fact be yes!
c. The bible tells us in 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 NKJV 16 Rejoice always, 17 pray without ceasing, 18 in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.
d. Church, the will of God is that we would always rejoice, always pray, always be giving thanks. And I know how impossible this all sound.
e. For most of us we find it hard to even sneak away for 15 minutes to pray, let alone praying and rejoicing all day long! But let’s suspend our disbelief for a moment and just consider the heart behind this instruction.
C. Confess
a. When our hearts are in the right place, our prayers are really effective. The bible says in James 5:16-17 NKJV -16 Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much. 17 Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain; and it did not rain on the land for three years and six months.
b. The prayers of the righteous are powerful. Singing songs of praise in the midst of suffering is powerful.
c. As we learned last week, our words matter… And in the kingdom economy they carry an immeasurable value.
d. So, if you want to supercharge the waiting and maximize the returns on your patience, then add prayer to the waiting. Whether you’re in trouble, happy, sad, or sick… make a habit of prayer and trust that every word offered up to the Lord carries with it the power to effect change in the midst of your circumstance.
e. This is the attitude Elijah had when he prayed again and again that rain would fall on the land:
f. Obviously, we know Elijah was one of God’s chosen prophets of old, but pastor James reminds his hearers that at the end of the day, he was still just a human.
g. The extraordinary thing he did was pray fervently and believe, and God brought healing rain on the land.
h. Prayer matters. And when you add fervent prayer in the mouths of the righteous, you supercharge the season of waiting. For those who believe, patience and prayer are two of the most powerful forces on earth.
D. Confession is healthy
a. Verse 16 Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.
b. Notice that much prayer is not the antidote, eloquent prayers is not the answer. Rather a prayer that is fervent in nature.
i. A lukewarm prayer is one that is offered from a lukewarm heart and does not move the hand of God.
c. To be fervent means to be passionate, to be excited, it is filled with faith.
d. Not only must we be fervent, we must be righteous in God’s eyes. Who is righteous?
i. Those who put their trust in Jesus, those that have been washed in the blood of the Lamb, it is those that are in right standing with the Lord!
e. Their prayer will be effective, in other words, their prayer will be successful producing a positive outcome.
III. Reaching others
A. Restoration
a. James goes on and saves the best for last as we close up this wonderful book.
b. These final two verses speak to God’s ideology of bringing restoration to mankind.
c. It speaks to God’s kindness and mercy towards His creation.
B. An important job
a. Let’s go ahead and read James 5:19-20(NKJV) 19 Brethren, if anyone among you wanders from the truth, and someone turns him back, 20 let him know that he who turns a sinner from the error of his way will save a soul from death and cover a multitude of sins.
b. This task was not only given to the churches at this time period but also to the church of ages.
c. To work to reach those that have strayed from the church, those that have strayed from the truth.
C. Wanders from the truth
a. James reminds us that we need to confront those that wander from God’s Word.
b. Most people do not intentionally wander, it just seem to happen.
c. Regardless, those that wander are in real danger of hells fire.
D. Sin covering
a. There is a blessing in turning a sinner from the error of his ways.
b. That blessings comes in the form of covering a multitude of sin
c. There is another thing that covers sin and that is shared in 1 Peter 4:8 (NKJV) the bible shares with us: “ And above all things have fervent love for one another, for “love will cover a multitude of sins.”
E. Hard work
a. Let me say, the restoration of the backslider is not the work for the weary. It is not for the faint of heart or those that are not mature in their faith.
b. Winning back those that once followed Jesus takes a special anointing.
i. It requires a gentleness in one’s life as this will require some soul searching with the person.
c. There is also a caution here, that caution is that this person restoring others, must be careful not to fall into the same trap that caused this backslider to fall.
d. Therefore, they must approach this situation with extreme caution and with a heart of self examination.
e. This will take a patient heart and one that is armed with the Word of God. No doubt it will take the Word to penetrate through a hardened heart.
F. Completely cleansed
a. Once restoration has taken place. This person is fully restored. They have been cleansed from the inside out.
b. 1 John 1:7(NKJV) 7 But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.
Closing:
As we close out this sermon and this wonderful series, I trust that this has been beneficial. James is such a wonderful book, such a powerful book of truths with so many different nuggets contained within these pages. This series had many different themes and practical tips for living for God in our lives. As you may recall, James one teaches us to maintain our faith through the pressure of trials and tribulations. This true faith will push us into action and will change the way that we think. When we have a genuine faith it will motivate us to wait on the Lord. As we close this morning, let me challenge you to be containers of God’s love, containers of God’s grace as we encounter a world that is lost and dying. May we be the hands and feet of Jesus in the places that we go.
