BEHIND THE BOOK August 22, The Power of Prayer James 5:12-20

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1 BEHIND THE BOOK August 22, 2108 The Power of Prayer James 5: But above all, my brothers, do not swear, either by heaven or by earth or by any other oath, but let your yes be yes and your no be no, so that you may not fall under condemnation. 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. 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. 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. 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. 19 My brothers, if anyone among you wanders from the truth and someone brings him back, 20 let him know that whoever brings back a sinner from his wandering will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins. James seems to understand the harsh nature of his epistle as he concludes it with words of encouragement. In verses 7-11 of chapter 5 he gives an exhortation to those who are beat down with conviction, suffering persecution, or are simply struggling to hold on to their faith. He encourages them to be patient and look to Christ as they endure their trials. James continues this encouragement in verses but not before emphasizing one last prohibition. In verse 12 James explicitly forbids his readers from swearing oaths by heaven or by the earth. He elevates this command above all else because he is about to reveal the ultimate solution to all the believer s woes, which is stands in contrast to swearing oaths, namely prayer. Prayer is the answer to any struggle for all believers regardless of the nuances of their situation. Prayer was the answer for the fist century believers and pray remains the answer for us today. James is going to implore his people to pray, give some specifics on how to approach prayer for certain contexts, reveal 1

2 the enemies of prayer, give an encouraging example from the Old Testament, and encourage us to rescue the fallen. 1. Take it to the Lord in Prayer (v a) 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. 15 And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up. Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. The Greek word for suffering is kakopatheo, which is the same word used in verse 10 for suffering. This gives us the context for verse 13 as spiritual suffering by way of persecution. The remedy for this suffering is prayer. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing praise. If there are people among these congregations that are not suffering let them pray through songs of praise and thanksgiving. There is no doubt that in times of heavy persecution there would have been some debate about whether those not suffering should demonstrate their joy during worship gatherings. James is encouraging them to allow each person to express where they were spiritually. The Greek word for cheerful is euthumeo, which refers to being well in spirit or having a joyful attitude. 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 one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up. Here is where things can get a little tricky. Most people interpret this passage as referring to physical sickness. While this does appear to be the obvious interpretation, it does not come without its difficulties. - James has not made mention of physical sickness yet, why would he interject it right here? The context has been on persecution and spiritual weakness throughout chapter 5 thus far. - Does James believe that all elders possess the gift of physical healing? There were others in the church that were not elders who possessed the gift of healing physical illnesses and diseases (1 Cor. 12:9,28,30). Why not call them? 2

3 If it is not referring to physical ailments, then what is it referring too and is there any reason to think this? I ll John MacArthur explain, The Scripture says, "Is any among you..." and then the Greek verb is astheneo, the root verb. The translations have always said "sick." As a result of that, everybody assumes that he's talking about sickness. But what does it refer to? There are several terms in the New Testament that can refer to sickness or disease. The term here is a very, very important one. Astheneo may refer to sickness, it may and it is so used in the New Testament, but all Greek lexicons agree that its primary meaning...and I checked out about five different ones...that its primary meaning is to be weak, to be feeble, to be impotent. In fact, in the epistles and Acts, it is used most of the time for that kind of weakness. In Romans 4:19, in Romans 14:1 and 2, in Romans 14:21, it is used of being weak in faith. In 1 Corinthians 8:9 and also in verses 11 and 12 of that same chapter, it is used of spiritual weakness. In Romans 5:6 it is used of spiritual weakness, the impotence of the unsaved. In 2 Corinthians 11:21 it is used to refer to the weakness of personality. Let s look at one particular example where Paul s usage of this term fits clearly in the context of James epistle. After describing all the spiritual and physical attacks he has endured Paul says in 2 Cor. 12:10 For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong. Here Paul clearly uses the same word to describe a spiritual state that has resulted from persecutions and hardships. So what s the point? James is saying that to all who are beat down, weak, and ready to throw in the towel, call for the elders of the church to have them pray over you and anoint you with oil. I am not going to say that I fully understand anointing. Some possibilities are ceremonial anointing like the Old Testament practice, rubbing medicine on the injured, outward sign of the power or prayer, sign of the authority of the healer, or metaphorically teaching that elders are to give healing care to the sick. The main point is that there are times when believers are too weak to simply pray their way back to health. Sometimes we need the elders to pray over us and we need to trust that their prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up. 2. The Two Greatest Enemies of Prayer (v. 12; 15b-16) 3

4 The first of the two enemies of prayer is self-determination. James forbids this from taking the place of dependent and humble prayer by forbidding the swearing of oaths. He says, above all, my brothers, do not swear, either by heaven or by earth or by any other oath, but let your yes be yes and your no be no, so that you may not fall under condemnation. Oaths were taken in the Old Testament, but Jesus forbade the swearing of oaths in Matthew 5: Again you have heard that it was said to those of old, You shall not swear falsely, but shall perform to the Lord what you have sworn. 34 But I say to you, Do not take an oath at all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of God, 35 or by the earth, for it is his footstool, or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. 36 And do not take an oath by your head, for you cannot make one hair white or black. 37 Let what you say be simply Yes or No ; anything more than this comes from evil. James is using much of Jesus language that his audience would have heard in order to emphasize his authority. It is possible that the oaths James would have had in mind were linked to the persecution and suffering these Christians were experiencing. Perhaps they were making unrealistic oaths that were not honoring to God and would eventually lead them to condemnation. James really wants us to know that prayer is the answer and self-reliance is the enemy when it comes to patiently enduring trials of various kinds. The second enemy of prayer is sin. Therefore, James says in verses 15b-16 And if he (the weak believer) has committed sins, he will be forgiven. 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. Sin affects our prayer lives and the effectiveness of our prayers. Sin is another form of self-reliance. Sin is our attempt to self medicate and escape difficulties rather than face them head on trusting in God. Sin is an enemy of effective prayer and we need to confess it. We need to confess it to one another, which means we need to establish a culture of safety and grace. We must believe that The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working. 3. The Example of Elijah (v ) 4

5 Remember how James told us to look to the example of the prophets to find encouragement? Now James wants to give us an example of the great power of prayer through the prophet Elijah. He says, 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. Though he was a mighty prophet and man of God he was also a human being just like us. James is referring to the drought recorded in 1 Kings 17:1-18:46. The record in Kings does not connect Elijah s prayer with the drought but later Jewish tradition did. James is the one who actually records the duration of 3 and one half years. The point being that through a prayer God acted in such a powerful way as to start and end a drought on the earth. It could also be alluding to how God provided Elijah with food and used him to minister during such a difficult period of time. 4. Rescue the Fallen (v ) 19 My brothers, if anyone among you wanders from the truth and someone brings him back, 20 let him know that whoever brings back a sinner from his wandering will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins. James has taught us that if we are simply struggling with persecution and suffering to pray. He taught us that if we are too beaten down and weak to pray ourselves, call for the elders to pray over us. Now he is teaching us what to do about those who have given up and succumb to the wide path that leads to destruction. They are those who have wandered from the truth. We are not to simply let them go. We are to go get them and make every effort to bring them back. This is not a command to physically bring them back in their fallen state and reinstate them against their will. It is a call to restore them spiritually in order that they may return in heart, mind, and body to the fold. How are we to pursue this? It begins with genuine love. If we love them we will not let them go. We know that spiritual abandonment of the gospel is death and eternal destruction. If we love someone we cannot be satisfied letting them 5

6 go in that direction. The process of restoration begins by making our love known through prayer and contact with the fallen soldier. The goal of church discipline is not to get rid of the bad guys, it is to restore the fallen sheep and have them return. When that happens a sinners soul is saved and forgiven of a multitude of sins. James uses this expression to assure us that there is not amount of sins that can keep us from God s grace. Paul says in Romans 8:38-39 For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. 6