Sermon Title: The Motives of Prayer
Scripture: James 5:12-20
Wesleyan Community Church
Terry, Mississippi
Sunday Morning - January 6, 2002
Scripture Introduction:
This morning we will be looking at the final section of Scripture out of the Book of James. Just as a fireworks display ends with a grand finale, so does this Epistle of James. James concludes with the most important requirement for any Christian and that is their obligation to lift their voices to the Lord in Prayer. Prayer is a privilege, I think of the song, What a Friend We Have in Jesus, and the words that are written:
What a Friend we have in Jesus, all our sins and griefs to bear!
What a privilege to carry everything to God in prayer!
O what peace we often forfeit, O what needless pain we bear,
All because we do not carry everything to God in prayer.
Have we trials and temptations? Is there trouble anywhere?
We should never be discouraged; take it to the Lord in prayer.
Can we find a friend so faithful who will all our sorrows share?
Jesus knows our every weakness; take it to the Lord in prayer.
Are we weak and heavy laden, cumbered with a load of care?
Precious Savior, still our refuge, take it to the Lord in prayer.
Do your friends despise, forsake you? Take it to the Lord in prayer!
In His arms He’ll take and shield you; you will find a solace there.
And a fourth verse that I didn’t even know existed
Blessed Savior, Thou hast promised Thou wilt all our burdens bear
May we ever, Lord, be bringing all to Thee in earnest prayer.
Soon in glory bright unclouded there will be no need for prayer
Rapture, praise and endless worship will be our sweet portion there.
These words written by Joseph Scriven in 1855 to his mother that was separated from him in Ireland. These words were first written anonymously and were not credited to Scriven until thirty years later. Scriven graduated from Trinity College. After his fiancée drowned the night before they were to marry, he moved to Canada in 1846. There he taught in Woodstock and Brantford, Ontario, and was a tutor for the Pengelly family near Bewdley. It was there he met and became engaged to Eliza Roche, a relative of the Pengellys. In what seems too amazing to be coincidence, Eliza died shortly before their wedding. Following the death of his second fiancée, Scriven joined the Plymouth Brethren, helping the aged members of the community.
Without the power of prayer, Scrivens life would have held less meaning and the same holds equally for us each day as well. Please join me in reading James’ words in this final section of his epistle.
Scripture Reading: James 5:12-20
12 But above all things, my brethren, swear not, neither by heaven, neither by the earth, neither by any other oath: but let your yea be yea; and your nay, nay; lest ye fall into condemnation. 13 Is any among you afflicted let him pray Is any merry let him sing psalms 14 Is any sick among you? 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 shall save the sick and the Lord shall raise him up and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him. 16 Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. 17 Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months. 18 And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit. 19 Brethren, if any of you do err from the truth, and one convert him; 20 Let him know that he which converteth the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins.
Sermon Introduction:
James brings out a very serious ailment that affects the Christian community today, and that is the fact that what we have in mind and what we actually say are usually quite a bit different. We are afraid to say what is on our minds, and at times that is a good thing. We have a hidden agenda as the reason behind what we say and do being different. As Christians, honesty is a necessity and not an option we must Say what we mean and mean what we say.
Another problem that confronts us today is that we are either fair weather Christians, or we only allow God out of the box that we have put him in unless we need Him.We have duties unto the Lord in times of good and not just bad. We only pray when we are in need and many times we only testify about our relationship with Him when things are going good.
We have also lost the ability to request the prayers of others. We should not fear calling for help. However the requests that we present and the problems that we need help with is too often the fuel that fires the gossip that still permeates almost every single congregation. How would we feel if the situation was reversed?
Many of us ask why our prayers are not answered. What motivations drive our requests? We know what God requires of us, then let us fulfill his requisites. We must Pray with a clear conscience.
Let us pause for a moment of prayer!
Point 1: Why do we have such a hard time saying what we mean and mean what we say? James writes in verse 12:
12 But above all things, my brethren, swear not, neither by heaven, neither by the earth, neither by any other oath: but let your yea be yea; and your nay, nay; lest ye fall into condemnation.
It is interesting that this particular Scripture dealing with the swearing of oaths should find itself at the beginning of a section of God’s Word that deals heavily with prayer. The Jews had taken the offering of oaths to such an extreme, that their guarantee was worthless. These oaths were sprinkled throughout the course of their conversation just as ums and ahs embellish our conversations of this day. Do we even mean the things that we say anymore? An example that slaps many of us directly in the face is when we see people in a predicament or hear about a predicament and we say that we will pray for their situation. IF THOSE ARE THE WORDS THAT HAVE LEFT OUR LIPS, THEN WE HAD BEST FULFILL THEM. Even as Christians, we have our pat little responses that allow us to seem religious while our end motive was to remove ourselves with any further unpleasantness that the other person finds themselves in. We were neck-deep in the swill when Jesus gave us His hand and pulled us out. What if He had simply offered an empty promise of prayer, turned His back, and allowed us to slip into eternal damnation?
On just the other side of the coin of meaning what we say is the problem of saying what we really mean. We soft-peddle, minimize, dilute and compromise what needed to be said that the Gospel message never even finds its way to those who need it. We have become so concerned to the point of becoming overly concerned with other peoples feelings that we are caring some of them right to their eternal doom. We have become obsessed with being found wrong that it seems at times that we are seeking to be proclaimed some type of deity. Yes we are to be compassionate, but when it gets to the point where someone is on their death-bed before we finally ask them if they know where they are going to spend eternity, we are cutting it too close, we are not called to play with the eternity of our fellow brothers and sisters soul. If it needs to be said, then say it with as much compassion as the situation warrants, but get it said. Even if it causes some uncomfortable moments, the eternity is ultimately more important.
Point 2: As born-again children of God, we oftentimes forget that we have duties unto the Lord in times of good and not just bad. We read in verse 13:
13 Is any among you afflicted let him pray Is any merry let him sing psalms
For the most part we have no problem dropping to our knees in times of need or distress, but we often overlook the effect that our praises and testimonies of the wonderful things that God has done in our lives can do for others. We need to look at this another way as well. We may pray for our deliverance out of a situation that looms just ahead of us, but what if it is not to be avoided? To often we cease to pray when we are not spared the unpleasantness that is soon to overtake us, and in so doing we miss out on the blessing of feeling the lord’s comfort as He stands by with us and assists us as we endure. Think of the testimony that it would be to those that are facing the worst of trials just ahead of them?
Point 3: Prayer needs to become a greater portion of our life. We need to pray for ourselves, we need to pray for others, we need to come to our brothers and sisters and ask them to pray with us and for us. We should not fear calling for help. James writes in verses 14 and 15:
14 Is any sick among you? 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 shall save the sick and the Lord shall raise him up and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him.
If we are ill, then it is our responsibility to call on the church to pray for us. It is the churches responsibility to respond to the prayer needs of others. If there is a sin problem at the root of all of this then it is forgiven and the healing can begin. This sounds almost too straightforward to even mention does it not? However, for some reason we have complicated the entire issue. I can’t remember how many times I simply wanted to go to the altar to pray for something, but I held back for the simple reason that I was concerned about the impression that others in the congregation might have. We all know the thoughts. There goes brother and sister so-and-so to the altar, their lives must be consumed with sin. May God forgive us for those kind of thoughts. Perhaps the visit is for spiritual strengthening, perhaps there is a minor health concern, and perhaps there is a sin issue involved, the business that needs done is between the one at the altar and our Father in heaven, our duty is to lift them up that their needs be met – nothing more.
There are many times when request need to be of the silent variety, however there are also times when pray concerns are not shared because of the fuel that they at times become for congregational gossip.
We miss out in so many instances where we could have prayed more and had more prayers spoken on our behalf, but because prayer is such an effective means of our communication with our Father, that Satan would stop at nothing to keep us off of our knees and lifting our petitions toward heaven.
Point 4: Why is prayer so difficult for us at times? We have allowed ourselves to become so engrossed by the world around us that we have no time for talking and listening to God. The TV is blaring, the radio is going full blast, magazines and newspapers cover a table, while our Bibles draw dust and the crease of our trousers or skirts and dresses are never laid flat. If we don’t have time for God, how can we Pray with a clear conscience? Let us finish reading this mornings text with verse 16:
16 Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. 17 Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months. 18 And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit. 19 Brethren, if any of you do err from the truth, and one convert him; 20 Let him know that he which converteth the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins.
There are a number of things that we need to look at in this section of Scripture.
· Confess our faults – we should share with others what is causing our grief. We must find a person that we can trust and allow them to help us through the things that we must bring before our Lord. If we cannot figure out how to pray then perhaps some guidance is in order. The other side of that is to be willing to listen to the needs of others.
· Pray for one another – to often we run down a list of our needs and never concern ourselves with the needs of others. Now this is in area that I must say that all that I have met here follow that advice. There is a promise that accompanies this, and that is the result of those prayers are healing, healing according to God’s will. We have seen so many instances where we have prayed and then heard the praises and testimonies of the healings that have followed.
· The prayers of a righteous man – We need to be where God wants us to be in order for our prayers to be effective. If God wants us in Mississippi and we pray to be in Alaska, then are our prayers going to be effective? If we are not living the way that God wishes for us to live, and we pray for His blessing upon our life, is our prayer going to be effective? If we pray for more money and yet fail to give a portion back in return, can we really expect to be blessed financially?
· Correct each other – At times things just need to be said, but if we fail when we had ample opportunity, and a souls is eventually lost, would we want to have to live with that kind of situation? We should compassionately correct all that we can affect.
Conclusion:
How good is our word? As we prepare to close this morning, let us look at what we have already said and temper what we will say in the future based on what Jesus would have us to respond. Are we remaining silent when words need to be spoken?
What kind of relationship do we have with our Lord and Savior? Is it based on our blessings? Is our Love for Jesus proportionate with the good fortunes in our lives at the moment. We are not created to live on the mountain, but are meant to work for our Lord in the deepest of valleys.
How is our prayer life? One of the greatest indicators of our relationship with God is how content we are when we look at the time that we spend with Him. The other is the time that we spend in His Word.
If we know that we can’t Pray without a clear conscience, and have the prayers be effective, then why don’t we do something about it.
