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Mark Wheeler
James 5:13-18
07/16/2023
“Preach Practicing: What Do We Do Now?”
Lidgerwood Presbyterian Church
Welcome to worship, friends! For those of us in Spokane, we’ve been almost 10* cooler all week, which is nice. But we’re meeting downstairs where it’s another 15* cooler than the Sanctuary. Feel free to get yourself some coffee or a snack while we’re worshiping today. It’s Summer, so we can be a little more casual. Still though, if you need a fan, let us know and we’ll get one for you. OK, so what do we do now? Have you ever asked yourself that question? For Father’s Day one year, my family gave me a new BBQ … that needed to be put together. I laid out all the parts, started into it, and found myself one bolt shy … what do I do now?
It’s amazing how many bad things can happen. Bill Flick, a columnist for The Pantagraph newspaper, gathered these true stories:
—In Connecticut, a man driving a stolen car inadvertently stopped a police officer to ask for directions out of the city. What Does He Do Now?
—A man in England, who sneezed several hundred times each day for 35 years, was told by health officials that he was allergic to himself. He was cured after another doctor discovered that he simply had a reaction to the oatmeal he’d been eating for breakfast since childhood. What Does He Do Now?
—And, in Thailand, an elephant ate 110 pounds of dried rice and then drank 65 gallons of water and, within a half hour, exploded. What Do They Do Now?
In our passage for today, James starts out by asking a question: “Is any one of you in trouble?” While none of us have ever eaten that much rice or been sneezing for 35 years, most of us have had more than one bad day in our life. In fact, some of us, right here, are in the middle of some pretty tough stuff right now.
As we’re about to wrap-up our series in James, we’re going to discover What We Do Now from James 5:13-18.
Let’s join into God’s Word and in worship together!
2-6 Join in as Pastor Kathy leads us in our Call to Worship –
7-9 And our Prelude of Praise and Worship –– #130 … O for a Thousand Tongues to Sing –
10 Good morning Friends! Welcome to worship at Lidgerwood!! Shalom Aleichem!
Welcome, friends, from around the world, to this worshipping community!
Let’s take a second to welcome each other, those in the room and across the globe, to a moment of Sabbath in God’s presence and peace, and with others whom we love and with whom we grow together. Friends, may “The Peace of Christ be with you – and also in you!!”
Welcome to this “gathering” in God’s name. We are assembled in NorthEast Spokane, WA, along with people from all over the world. We are very glad you are “here” with us.
Be filled with God’s Holy Spirit presence and power, in your homes, through your phones and computers, in this building here, and in your lives. Pray with us … and hear and be transformed by God’s Word.
11 Our Summer Special Music today comes from Hope Davis and her dad – “Hallelujah” – Listen to this beautiful song of praise
12 Thank You, Lord, for Hope’s and Jake’s voices and the courage and the wonder of the lyrics in this song. Bless them, and hold them close and safe. Amen.
13 This morning we have re-arranged our order of Worship a little, so we invite you to stand as Pastor Kathy opens our Prayer time in Confession and Thanksgiving
14 Gloria Patri
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16 And please remain standing as we sing ourSong of Devotion and Preparation to receive God’s Word – #447 – Seek ye First –
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The Promise and the Power of Your vision for us, O God, is brought to Life as we recognize Your resurrection! Challenge us to make the changes Your vision requires. Call us to Your passion for living lives that are full and abundant! Christ the Lord is risen today! Praise God. Amen.
As we almost wrap-up our series in James, we’re going to discover What We Do Now from James 5:13-18. Please follow along with me as I read… —
18 13 Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing praise. 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.
19 15 And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven.
20 16 Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.
21 17 Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed fervently that it might not rain, and for three years and six months it did not rain on the earth. 18 Then he prayed again, and heaven gave rain, and the earth bore its fruit.
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When we find ourselves in trouble, What do we do now? We pray! James lists here 3 Kinds of Praying.
1st, we are to pray for ourselves, in verse 13: “Is any one of you in trouble? He should pray…”
2nd, we are to call for the church leaders when we are really sick, in verses 14-15: “Is any one of you sick? He should call the elders of the church to pray over him…” 3rd, we are to pray for each other, in verse 16: “Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed…”
This passage not only gives us some indication of how to pray, but it also helps us determine when we are to pray. There are 4 distinct times that we’re to come to God. We’re to look to Him…
1. When we’re suffering. (13a) 2. When we have success. (13b) 3. When we have sickness. (14-15a) 4. And, when we’re in sin. (15b-16)
James recognizes that life is made up of triumph and tragedy, joy and sorrow, wins and losses. Illness and sickness trip us up and sin entangles us. We never know what to expect. Life is totally unpredictable. Anyone who has had an accident or has had a family member suddenly get sick understands that life can change dramatically in just a matter of seconds. And, we all know firsthand how sin can destroy lives; some of us are living today with the consequences of those wrong choices.
Let’s take a quick look at each one of these.
1. Pray when we’re suffering. The 1st part of verse 13 asks a question: “Is any one of you in trouble? He should pray.” The word James uses here refers to suffering of any kind. It includes sickness but it also covers death, disappointment, and persecution.
When we’re in trouble, we have the privilege of prayer where we can go to God at any time, in any situation with whatever is on our hearts. To be perfectly honest, I don’t know how people can go through hard times without the Lord in their lives.
The Bible is pretty clear that suffering is the normal expectation for every believer. Peter puts it rather bluntly in I Peter 4:12: “Dear friends, do not be surprised at the painful trial you are suffering, as though something strange were happening to you.” But, even though we know life is never easy, we can give way to self-pity or get resentful and discouraged. When the pressures of life are greater than we can bear, James says, “Pray.”
2. Pray when we have success. Look at the last part of verse 13: “Is anyone happy? Let him sing songs of praise.” “Songs of praise” is another form of prayer. James is saying here that not everyone goes through troubles at the same time. God balances our lives and gives us hours of suffering and days of singing. Praying and singing were important elements of worship in the early church, as they are in ours.
The word “happy” suggests being in a state of mind that is free from trouble. When we’re happy we sing songs of praise. In Psalm 96:1-2, David calls us to, “Sing to the Lord a new song; sing to the Lord, all the earth. Sing to the Lord, praise His name; proclaim His salvation day after day.” We are called to sing songs of praise when we’re going through times of success because good times can lead to spiritual indifference.
And so, we’re to pray when we suffer and we’re to pray when we have success. Now, let’s look at what we’re to do when we have sickness.
3. When we have sickness. This is the one we’ll spend the most time on this morning. Follow along with me as I read verses 14-15: “Is any one of you sick? He should call the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him w/ oil in the name of the Lord. The prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise him up. If he has sinned, he will be forgiven.”
This is a difficult passage to understand. Let me state up front what the question is not:
The question is not, “Does God answer prayer?” We know He does. The question is not, “Does God answer prayer for the sick?” Yes, He does.
The question is not, “Does God sometimes answer in ways that seem miraculous?” Again, the answer is yes. All these things are true.
Furthermore, the focus here is not on what God is able to do. We know that God can do anything He wants to do. Paul writes that God is “able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us” (Eph 3:20).
The focus in this passage is on what the church can do. These verses tell us how a Bible-believing church responds to sickness in its midst. What should we do for the sick? The answer is both simple and profound. We should pray that God would raise them up.
There are at least 4 steps in the process of praying for the sick.
Step #1: The sick person calls for the elders. The word “sick” is very broad. It includes any serious physical, mental, emotional, spiritual, or relational problem that has become too heavy to bear. The elders are called because they represent the church and because they know how to get in touch with God. Our Church Elders are the men and women called by God and recognized by this church as spiritually mature. They serve on our Session [our Elder Board], or they used to serve on Session. But I once heard a pastor define Elders as those in the Church that “eld”. If you want to be one who is called on for prayer, start “eld”ing – grow in your faith; live out your faith; share your faith; pray for the sick!
Step #2: The elders go to the sick person. They go together because there are strength in numbers. It’s OK to go alone, but when we meet in community we are a stronger force. And, by going in person, our prayers can be much more fervent, heartfelt & earnest. In addition, by going to the sick person, the elders communicate the message that the church has not forgotten those who are sick.
Step #3: The elders pray and anoint with oil. When the elders come to pray, James tells them to anoint the sick person with oil. The word literally means to “rub” oil on him. The type of oil is not specified but it was probably not 10-w 40 or 3-in-1! More than likely it was olive oil.
Oil in the Bible was often used as a symbol of health and vitality. Kings were anointed with it as a visible symbol of God’s presence. The same is true here. There’s nothing magical or supernatural about anointing. By anointing with oil, we are giving a humble reminder that all healing must come from God. It builds faith and says to the sick person, “God is here and He is able to heal you.”
Notice that the anointing is to be done “in the name of the Lord.” This is very important because it reminds us that God is the ultimate source of all blessing and healing. The power is not in the elders, in the oil, or even in the prayers – but in the name of the Lord.
Step #4: There is healing – God heals the sick person. Verse 15 makes a rather bold promise: “And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise him up.” This 4th step is simply the expected result of steps 1-3: The sick person is healed. James uses an unusual expression to describe the elders’ prayer. He calls it “the prayer offered in faith.” This particular phrase is used nowhere else in the New Testament. In one sense every sincere prayer must be offered in faith or it can hardly be called prayer at all. When the elders pray, they are to come to God with an attitude of complete trust that He can and will do what is needed in every situation.
The text says nothing about how the healing will come, nor does it rule out medical care. In fact, oil also had a medicinal property to it and may have communicated to James’ 1st century readers that God heals through prayer and medicine. Whether quickly or slowly, by miracle or by medicine, or by some combination of the two, God is able to heal His children.
And so, we are to pray when we suffer, we are to pray when we have success, & we are to call the elders for prayer when we have sickness. There’s one more significant factor in this text: we are to pray when we’re in sin.
4. When we have sin. Notice the last part of verse 15 and verse 16: “If he has sinned, he will be forgiven. Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.”
Do you see the close relationship between the physical and the spiritual here? The Greek construction of the “if”-clause suggests that sin may be a contributing factor to the sickness.
Friends, it’s extremely important that we confess our sins to God and to eachother. Sin can work its way into our bodies, causing us to feel like we’re wasting away – ulcers, eating disorders, heart problems, etc.
We need to own our sins don’t we? If we can think of something right now that we’ve done, or are still doing, confess it to someone. The word “confess” in this verse means, “to say the same thing out.” Find a fellow believer and agree with what God says about our sin.
Not all sickness is caused by a particular sin, but some illnesses stem directly from our sinful actions and attitudes. Until those things are confronted and confessed, it is pointless to pray for healing. It’s a good idea to ask if the sick person we are praying for is conscious of any sin that is standing between them and God, blocking God’s healing power. Sometimes they make a confession, sometimes they don’t.
Our greatest problem with this entire passage comes in verse 15. It seems too confident and too dogmatic for us. James states without any qualification that the sick person will be healed. Period. We’d probably like this verse better if it said “the prayer of faith might heal the sick.”
It is an undeniable fact that not everyone we pray for and not everyone we anoint is healed. There are various ways of dealing with this reality and none of them satisfy me completely. There is a mystery here that I cannot fully explain. I do think it helps to compare this passage with other statements about prayer in the New Testament where similar sweeping promises are made. Those statements are meant to encourage us about the boundless possibilities of prayer. They encourage us to believe that no situation is hopeless with God. Just because the doctors have lost hope doesn’t mean the Great Physician has given up.
Can anyone here name a time when the doctors had given up on someone, but, by God, that person came out of their coma, or recovered from cancer, or walked again? Let’s hear one story of a miracle… —
We should be encouraged to pray. F.B. Meyer once wrote, “The greatest tragedy is not unanswered prayer, but unoffered prayer.” What do we do now? Everybody: we should pray!
It is true that it is not always God’s will to heal physically or no sick believer would ever die. But it is often God’s will to heal. That’s why this passage is in the Bible.
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When Hudson Taylor first went to China, he made the voyage on a sailing ship. As it neared the channel between the southern Malay Peninsula and the island of Sumatra, the missionary heard an urgent knock on his stateroom door. He opened it, and there stood the captain of the ship.
“Mr. Taylor,” he said, “We have no wind. We are drifting toward an island where the people are heathen, and I fear they are cannibals.” “What can I do?” asked Taylor.
“I understand that you believe in God. I want you to pray for wind.” Taylor responded, “All right, Captain, I will; but you must set the sail.”
The captain was agitated and said, “Why, that’s ridiculous! There’s not even the slightest breeze. Besides, the sailors will think I’m crazy.” Nevertheless, the captain finally agreed. 45 minutes later he returned and found the missionary still on his knees.
“You can stop praying now,” said the captain. “We’ve got more wind than we know what to do with!”
Friends, God is willing to answer when we pray with faith. He will heal and He will lead through times of suffering, during times of success, in times of sickness, and even when we’re trapped in sin.
What do we do now? Brothers and sisters, let’s pray … and set the sails!
Let’s submit ourselves to God, and give testimony to His greatness in everything we say and do! … Now is the time of God’s favor! Today is the day of salvation! Amen!
… Now is the time of God’s favor! Today is the day of salvation! Amen!
24-27 Mark receives the praises, thanksgivings, adorations, concerns and Kathy prays
[The Lord’s Prayer]
28 Receive our tithes and offerings as symbols of our very lives and livelihood, given as response to Your life given for us! Bless it, and by it bless the world around us. In Christ’s name, Amen.
– Offering (4449 N Nevada St, Spokane, 99207 ; or click HERE, or go to www.givlia.com/g/lidgerwoodpresbychurch, or text 833-976-1333, code “Lidgerwood”)
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30-32 Expedition Song #621 – I Must Tell Jesus!
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34 Benediction: May we Grow in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ.
Be filled with God’s Holy Spirit. And give glory to God, today, and forever! Amen.
“May the Lord bless you and protect you; may the Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you; may the Lord look with favor on you and give you peace.”
35 Announcements
- Furnace Fundraiser
- Garden o’ Feedin’ – Thursday afternoons – or whenever!
Resources:
Bill, Brian; How to Pray for Healing; Pontiac Bible Church, Pontiac, IL; 07/2000.
Wheeler, Mark; “What Do We Do Now?”; Lidgerwood Presbyterian Church; 06/25/2006.
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