Examine any of the prayers of the apostles and it will be seen at a glance that theirs were like those of their Master’s in Matthew 6:9-13 and John 17, made up of definite adorations and sharply defined petitions. There is no moralizing, no uttering of pious platitudes, but a spreading before God of certain needs and a simple asking for the supply of the same. Arthur W. Pink
In the next and final section of the letter, James leaves his congregation with several pieces of practical advice to help them get through these trying times.
James 5:13 Is anyone among you in trouble? Let them pray. Is anyone happy? Let them sing songs of praise. 14 Is anyone among you sick? Let them call the elders of the church to pray over them and anoint them with oil in the name of the Lord. 15 And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise them up. If they have sinned, they will be forgiven. 16 Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.
17 Elijah was a human being, even as we are. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years. 18 Again he prayed, and the heavens gave rain, and the earth produced its crops. 19 My brothers and sisters, if one of you should wander from the truth and someone should bring that person back, 20 remember this: Whoever turns a sinner from the error of their way will save them from death and cover over a multitude of sins.
James ends his letter by asking; Is anyone among you in trouble?
When facing trouble James instructs his congregation to do two things, pray and practice community.
First, James looks at prayer.
Are you facing any kind of trouble? Pray.
God has given Christians an amazing resource to teach us how he desires for us to pray: The Psalms.
The prayers of the Psalms, the prayers that God desires us to pray are, many times, the prayers of a warrior. These prayers reject the “Precious Moments” theology taught by modern evangelical pastors intent on securing their empires by tickling the ears of their congregants. Ignoring the Scriptures, above all things, these pastors always preach what Voddie Bauchman has dubbed the eleventh Commandment: Thou shalt be nice.
In contrast, look at how David prays in the beautiful Psalm 139:19-24.
If only you, God, would slay the wicked. Away from me, you who are bloodthirsty! They speak of you with evil intent; Your adversaries misuse your name. Do I not hate those who hate you, Lord, And abhor those who are in rebellion against you? I have nothing but hatred for them; I count them my enemies. Search me, God and know my heart; Test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, And lead me in the way everlasting.
Are you willing to pray as God teaches you to pray?
Of course vengeance belongs to the Lord, Romans 12:19. But in asking that God’s will be done on earth as it is in heaven, Matthew 6:10, we must pray that God come in a mighty way to judge the wicked that oppose his way, his Gospel, and his children. (While it is beyond the scope of this study to go into further detail here, check out the Psalm pages on this website)
Whenever the Psalms are abandoned, an incomparable treasure vanishes from the Christian church. With their recovery will come unsuspected power. Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Are you happy? God wants his people to pray by singing songs of praise.
It is good to praise the Lord and make music to your name, O Most High, proclaiming your love in the morning and your faithfulness at night, to the music of the ten-stringed lyre and the melody of the harp. For you make me glad by your deeds, Lord; I sing for joy at what your hands have done. How great are your works, Lord, how profound your thoughts! Psalm 92
Are you sick? Call the elders of the church to pray.
In the beginning of his letter James mentioned various trials. He wrote about the outward trials of persecution and the inward trials of temptation. Here he addresses the third trial, illness. C.S. Lewis called sicknesses the ‘blockades on the road to hell’ because they stop us in our tracks and remind us of our mortality. These blockades stop us and cause us to take stock of what is really important in our lives. It is easy, when we are in good health, to forget God. We get involved and busy and, to quote Bill Mallonee; we live our lives like they never will run out. Sand through the hourglass, but we’ve lost the count.
And what does sickness have to teach us? Paul, who endured racking pain, 2 Corinthians 12:7-9 answers, telling us what God never wants us to forget:
My grace is sufficient for you.
No matter the illness, even illness leading to death, God’s grace is sufficient. God will see us through all trials, even sickness and death.
For the last year the world has lived in the grip of the fear of death. Irrationally, fearing COVID 19, families and folks of every kind have stayed cloistered in their homes and apartments. Fearing death, adult children refuse to visit their parents. Grandparents are isolated alone to die in hospitals. Theaters, restaurants, businesses, and even churches have closed, allowing the fear of death to outweigh the most basic joys of life. This universal fear of COVID has given the Church the unique opportunity to speak to the world about the inevitability of death and judgment, and God’s forgiveness of sin and the offer of life eternal through Christ. Churches throughout the world should demonstrate the boldness of Peter who implored: Repent and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. Acts 2:37-40 The church is the only true refuge offering truth, comfort, and healing to the lost, isolated, and fearful.
Fear to die? Thank God, I do not. The cholera may come again next summer. If it does it matters not to me. I will toil and visit the sick by night and by day until I drop. And if it takes me, sudden death is sudden glory. Charles Spurgeon
When sick, Christians are to call the elders of the church to pray for them. James also says that the elders should anoint the sick with oil. The Greek word translated anoint here is not the word used for sacramental anointing. Rather it is the word used for first century medical treatment. For example, see the doctor Luke’s use of the term in Luke 10:34. James is saying, call the elders to pray while using the best medical treatment available. The prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise them up.
Next, John reminds his congregation that sometimes God sends sickness as discipline for sins. If that is the case James advises them; If they have sinned, they will be forgiven. 16 Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. When we try to cover our sins, God will reveal them. When we confess our sins to each other, God will cover them.
If you have sinned against your brother you must go to him and confess your sin against him. Likewise he should confess his sins against you so that your relationship can be restored… so that you may be healed. James understands that sins are frequently reciprocal. You may have discriminated against me and I responded in bitterness and anger. Both of us need to confess. I may have cheated you and you responded by gossiping about and slandering me. Both of us need to confess. James is saying that there are times when God graciously sends sickness our way to stop us; stop us from sinning, stop us from rationalizing away our sins, and stop us from destroying the fellowship of believers. We are to be reconciled with those we have sinned against.
Reconciliation can be a tricky business. Christ taught his disciples about reconciliation.
“If your brother or sister sins against you, rebuke them; and if they repent, forgive them. 4 Even if they sin against you seven times in a day and seven times come back to you saying ‘I repent, ’you must forgive them.” Luke 17:3-4
Hearing this, the disciples objected. What Christ was asking was too difficult. How could they forgive someone seven times in one day? This was unfair. What if they didn’t feel like forgiving the one who had offended them? So that they could be obedient; to make forgiveness possible, they asked Christ to, increase our faith. Requesting more faith sounds like a reasonable and appropriately religious request. However, Christ brushed off their request as an excuse that they had come up with to justify their refusal to forgive.
In response, He replied, “If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea, ’and it will obey you.” Luke 17:5-6 Christ is telling his disciples that the problem is not a lack of faith. A tiny amount of faith is all they need. Christ then told his disciples a parable illustrating his point.
“Suppose one of you has a servant plowing or looking after the sheep. Will he say to the servant when he comes in from the field, ‘Come along now and sit down to eat’? 8 Won’t he rather say, ‘Prepare my supper, get yourself ready and wait on me while I eat and drink; after that you may eat and drink’? Luke 17:7-8
A servant has worked in the fields all day. He comes home tired and hungry. But instead of being offered food he is told to do even more work; he must prepare and serve supper to his master.
Christ then drops the hammer, by asking the disciples a question. Will he thank the servant because he did what he was told to do? No. The servant is just doing what he was hired to do. 10 So you also, when you have done everything you were told to do, should say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty.’” Luke 17:9-10
Christ is making the point that granting forgiveness is not a matter of faith or feelings. Granting forgiveness is a matter of duty. We are never to resort to manufacturing rationalizations to excuse ourselves from our duty to forgive others. You may not nurture bitterness, anger, resentment, or any other excuse, refusing to grant forgiveness.
James says, of the offended parties, if they both respond in righteousness, doing their duty and granting forgiveness, they will discover that; The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective. As proof that the prayer of the righteous person is effective James gives his congregation an example found in 1 Kings 17-18:
Elijah was a human being, even as we are. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years. 18 Again he prayed, and the heavens gave rain, and the earth produced its crops.
The answer to prayer is within the reach of every Christian. Elijah was not an angel or Superman. He was a human being, even as we are. Because he was not double minded when he prayed that it would not rain and God answered his prayer. He then prayed that it would rain and God answered those prayers. You, too, can do this.
We are to; Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves. 11 Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. 12 Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. Romans 12:10-12
Because we are a people that have been given hope, we can be patient, knowing that God answers the prayers of the faithful.
Second, James says, that if a believer becomes too overwhelmed with the world, the persecution, the discrimination, or discouraged in his sickness and frailty, and tangled up so deep in his own deceptions that he considers leaving the faith; wandering from the truth; we are to restore him.
19 My brothers and sisters, if one of you should wander from the truth and someone should bring that person back, 20 remember this: Whoever turns a sinner from the error of their way will save them from death and cover over a multitude of sins.
Many times when we cling to our self-justifications and rationalizations, we fall into the same pattern of behavior that Adam fell into; He had sinned but rather than owning his sin he tried to divert God’s attention by pointing out the sin of Eve. Adam makes the argument that he is actually the victim here; after all… Eve! James is reminding us of our same tendency here. When someone is obviously wandering from the truth, rather than pursue them, we use them. We use them to, what we think is, our advantage. We rationalize. Have you ever caught yourself thinking, I might sin, but I’m not as bad as them? Look, they are wandering away from the faith. We sometimes secretly like it when people fall because, in our selfish, limited view, by comparison, we are not too bad!
Instead of this twisted thinking, we are to be willing to go out of our way to consider how to provoke one another to love and good works. Hebrews 10:24 We are commanded by our Savior to make every effort to support each other, encourage each other, and offer forgiveness to each other; even when we don’t feel like it. Christ said, Greater love has no man than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. John 15:13-14 We may not find ourselves in a situation where we are called on to lay down our lives for our friends but many of us will find ourselves in situations where our friends have wandered from the truth. In such a case we must pursue the wanderer so that they may come back to God; the God who is always ready to forgive and cover over a multitude of sins.
Friendship seemed the happiest and most fully human of all loves; the crown of life and the school of virtue. C.S. Lewis
Just like in James’ day, many Christians, in every corner of the world today continue to face the uncertainty and pain of persecution. We all, whether living in repressive regimes around the world or in the affluent West, are tempted to be unfaithful to our Lord and Savior. Those in repressive regimes need the prayers, encouragement and financial support of those that God has blessed with wealth; wealth that is to be freely given, not hoarded. Those Christians living in affluence need to learn from the boldness of the impoverished and persecuted Christians. They stand firm knowing that their treasure is in heaven. They have much to teach us about true wealth, wisdom, courage, and contentment. We must learn to consider it pure joy whenever we face trials of many kinds. We must never learn to become so comfortable in our ease that we forget God, or so wrapped up in compromise with the wisdom of the world, that we neglect to pursue the fruits of God’s Spirit: love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Galatians 5:22-23
And finally, all Christians the world over, should be praying for reformation and revival. And as we saw above, we should pray that those who persecute Christ’s church will themselves become trapped in their schemes; that the violence and trouble that they direct against Christ and his children would recoil onto them so that they might come to their senses and come to saving faith in Christ. Psalm 7:15-16, Psalm 57:6
Conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ… without being frightened in any way by those who oppose you. This is a sign to them that they will be destroyed, and you will be saved – and that by God. Philippians 1:27 & 28
Return to The Letter of James.