STUDY 9 - JAMES 5:13-20 POSSIBLE QUESTIONS Look at verse 13. Is there any time in our life in which we should not be communicating with God? Look at verses 14-16. What is clear about these verses? - Who should the sick call? - What should they do? - What is promised? What is unclear/ confusing? You might want to mention the double meaning of some of the words used see the notes below. Where is anointing with oil most often used in the rest of the Bible? (See Ex 29:7, 21, 1 Sam 16:13) What was the problem with God s people at the time that Elijah prayed for rain (Vs 17-18)? See 1 Kings 18:18-21 (especially vs 21 compare with James 1:8, 4:4). How can these verses be seen as the conclusion of the whole of James letter? If so what comfort are they? What does James say about the importance of drawing each other back to follow the truth? What makes this hard to do? NOTES As Christians our biggest and most common danger is not necessarily complete apostasy turning our back on the gospel, but uncertainty. This can happen gradually, slowly, so much so that we don t notice it. This is what James calls doublemindedness, being half-hearted Christians, trusting God but not fully. Saying we believe, but letting sin reign in our bodies. The original readers of this letter had an advanced case of this. It had affected their life together as a people. It was affecting their speech, their attitudes, everything. And it s a constant danger for us, no matter who we are. Because we all have the source of that double-mindedness in our hearts, our sinful nature which though defeated at the cross, is still at work in us, resisting the Spirit. As James brings his letter to a close he brings hope. How can we resist this doublemindedness? How can we change if we have given into it in our lives. He says, only God can keep us and transform us 1
Vs 13 THE LIFE OF DEPENDENCE The first thing James does in these verses is to call us to a life of dependence, a life which calls on and trusts and prays to God in all circumstances. This has been a theme throughout the letter, in chapter 1 James has spoken about how we can trust God in trials, and by the illustrations he used of trials we know that all circumstances can be a trial for our faith. James has just said that we are to live as patient people, waiting for the Lord s coming as we recognise that this life is not all there is. So how we react to this life will be proof of our patience. Do we go to God no matter what our circumstances are? John Calvin wrote on these verses that there is no time in which God does not call us to himself. In troubles financial trouble, health trouble, relationship troubles pray. Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you. In good times, recognise that the goodness comes from God, the giver of every good and perfect gift. Sing songs of praise! When things are going well we often feel like singing James says direct those songs to God, because he has given you what you have and he deserves to be praised. Cultivate that life of dependence no matter what happens. Think through your life what am I struggling with? Jot it down, and pray! Think what am I happy about (there s often more than we realise) then praise God for them. If we see God as the source of our blessings and our help in trouble, then we will begin to go some way not to be knocked off course by the events and circumstances themselves. Vs 14-18 THE POWER OF PRAYER The second thing James does in these verses is to particularly emphasise the power of prayer in verses 14-18. As we ve seen as we ve been going through this letter James is a pretty straightforward letter. It s challenging, but it s not hard to understand. But there are questions about this section about healing. When you come to these verses they take you a bit by surprise what are they doing here? Now, one strong possibility is that they mean exactly what they appear to say in our translations. That James is addressing those who are physically sick and giving a remedy for their sickness. But there are some questions which we need to tackle head on if we are to understand what James is saying here. This text is used by people who say that God always heals the sick, and that if you are not healed there is either some sin in your life, or you have not prayed with enough faith. I ve certainly come across people who ve been very damaged by that kind of teaching but does James teach that? It s always good practice when dealing with a Bible passage to notice what is clear in the verses. It is clear that James is addressing people in a particular condition in the church the sick. It is also clear that they the sick are to call the elders of the church. That s important to notice for two reasons firstly because the initiative 2
here is with the sick person. James is not giving warrant to any kind of public healing ministry or healing services (like those you see in some churches). Also, because the local church elders are mentioned, James does not seem to be restricting what s going on to a particular age in church history he doesn t say call the apostles, nor is he talking about people with a particular spectacular spiritual gift. No matter how you read these verses there is a promise attached to all that s going on. Verse 15 talks about the prayer of faith being answered positively. Also, there is a clear connection between the sickness James is talking about and sin. Verse 15 says if he has sinned, but James goes on to stress sin in verse 16. As we interpret scripture by scripture we know that God does not promise that every illness will be healed in this life. We also know that we cannot say that you are sick directly because of some unrepentant sin in your life. I want to suggest an understanding of what s going on in these verses which fits them in with the rest of the letter. It s a minority interpretation, so please pray and think and sift it and come and argue with me afterwards if you disagree. But I believe, through reading and hearing others on this passage that it s fairly convincing. What s slightly hidden in these verses is that some of the words James uses have more than one meaning. The word for sick, for example is also used in Romans 8 to talk about being spiritually weak, rather than physically ill. In verse 15 the prayer of faith is said to literally save the sick person (rather than make him well) a word with an obvious spiritual overtone. The Lord will raise him up again it s not entirely certain that that is simply referring to his sick bed. It is highly likely that what James is doing here is giving a remedy to all those who feel convicted by what he s taught in his letter. He s writing to those who think I m convicted. I am the double minded man James is talking about. My speech is terrible. I m greedy. I m crushed by trials. What do you do? James is giving hope to those who are spiritually sick in the church. He s saying, don t struggle on your own. He says, call the elders. Now, once you see the problem, it becomes more natural that the elders those entrusted with the spiritual care of the church - should get involved. It s not that they have the gift of healing but that they have a particular responsibility to care for the flock. As the one who is spiritually sick recognises he has a problem, and as the elders pray God promises to hear that prayer. He promises to give back spiritual life, raise him up both now and at the last day. God promises to forgive those sins of half heartedness and double mindedness. There is hope even at the lowest point! This also makes sense of another little detail in this passage the oil. A lot of ink has been spilt arguing whether oil was used in James day as medication or not. But that seems to miss the point. Where does anointing with oil happen most in the Bible? When someone is set apart for single-minded service to God (like the prophets kings 3
in the Old Testament). It s a symbol of devotion to God the very thing that you are lacking when you are double minded and spiritually sick. Now, you may be unconvinced so far. I want to stress that this is not me trying to dodge the issue of physical healing God can and does heal physically if he chooses to. But I think the force of this passage comes through far more when you see it in the context of and as the climax to James whole letter. Just look at the illustration James give of this kind of prayer in verses 17 and 18 the example of Elijah. Now if James was just talking about physical healing then don t you think the illustration of his conflict with the prophets of Baal and the drought which happened then is a bit odd? There is an obvious illustration of Elijah praying for healing isn t there? When the widow s son is raised from the dead in 1 Kings 17. But what s going on at the time of the drought in 1 Kings 18t? God s people are going through the same kind of sinful double mindedness that the people James is addressing are. Elijah has to challenge them how long will you waver between two opinions? If the Lord is God follow him; but if Baal is God, follow him. It is Elijah s intercession, that restores rain and some degree of health. If this is an illustration of what James is talking about, then it points to a spiritual problem. These verses are verses of hope, not confusion. I m sure we all know times when we are convicted by sin, weighed down by our disobedience, not knowing what to do. Often we make promises to God, to control our tongues, or minds, or change our attitudes to trial and that resolve just doesn t last five minutes. And we get into a cycle of despair. James says there is hope. It lies with God. Only he can give the forgiveness and restore us to spiritual health and keep us going to the last day. But we may need to seek the help of others. You know how it is when someone is physically ill. They are laid up in bed, and simply can t do anything for themselves, sometimes they rely on the help of others. It is not unusual to be like that spiritually. Yes, we seem fine on the surface, but our prayer life is non existent. Sins overwhelm us. We need help, and part of that help is calling in others to pray. James says, take that responsibility. Call those you know are spiritually mature. Yes, this takes humility, to admit we struggle, but James has already said that God gives grace to the humble. James says the prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective. Why? Not because of technique or anything like that, but because God is powerful and effective. Because he promises to work, and forgive and change us as we pray. And sometimes, like when you re climbing up a steep hill and you lose all your energy you need to grab the hand of someone else to pull you up and keep you going, when we struggle to come to God we need to grab the hand of someone else to come to God together so we can restore our strength. 4
Vs 19-20 THE RESPONSIBILITY OF ALL Finally in the final two verses of his letter James broadens out the point he has just made. It is the responsibility of us all to be looking out for and helping those who are in trouble in their Christian walk. James says to us work together. You are a body. If one is struggling, help them. The churches James was originally writing to were fighting one another, and dividing and preferring the rich over the poor. James says, that s not how it should be. You have one God and one enemy, the devil. You should be caring for one another and fighting the devil together. We should be constantly on the look out and caring for each others. James has said that if you know you are struggling, take the initiative and get help, but now James says to us all don t just wait to be asked. James talks about those who wander from the truth. Those who go their own way and not in the way of the truth this doesn t just mean having odd beliefs (like denying the trinity), but those who in their behaviour are not walking in the way of the truth, following Jesus. It s like if you are on a hike at night up a steep mountain. You know there is only one safe path, and you need to keep together as a group to keep safely on the path. If anyone wanders off they are in big trouble, so you keep a look out to keep them safe. If you see someone wandering from the truth, be like the farmer in Jesus parable. Do all you can to bring them back. Follow Jesus example who did not wait for us to come to him, but left his comforts and sought and saved the lost. So if we see one of us cooling in their love for Jesus, or not being concerned about their sin (in whatever form) James says we should step in and gently help them. Now, we are to do this carefully and lovingly. We are to do it for the right reasons not to point the finger, but out of real love for their welfare. But we have a responsibility to each other. Now, this isn t easy, and I think there are many reasons why we don t care for each other in this way. Often we simply don t know each other well enough. We don t know each other enough to know what s going on in our lives, whether our attitude on Sunday is just for show or not. If we don t know each other it s hard to come along side to help when things go wrong, because it s difficult to show that we are doing it out of love. Often we don t care enough about each other at least enough to help in this way. It s a very difficult thing to step in carefully when someone is wandering from the truth. It s high risk there is a risk of rejection, or being misinterpreted. It s relationally risky. But if we really cared for others, we would risk that sacrifice. All true love is sacrificial. Often we ourselves don t help those in sin because we too are not serious enough about our own sin. Often in churches we have this unspoken agreement. I wont challenge or ask you about your sin if you don t challenge or ask me about mine. So we make peace with the enemy who is set out to destroy us. 5
We also often just don t think sin or wandering from the truth is serious. But see what James says. To turn a sinner from the error of his ways is to save him from death. Life and death is at stake. I don t know if you ve ever daydreamed about what it would be like to be a hero, to save a life, to save someone from drowning, and how you d feel afterwards what a significant thing that would be? James says more is at stake for those who wander from the truth. The warning is real, so we must be on the lookout and bring him back. Yes, God does it, but like evangelism, we are often the means God uses to rescue his children. James final verses show how churches can grow, and get out of the sad mess they often get into. As we ve been looking at James you might still have the impression that he is a man writing God s words who is harsh and angry and enjoys making his readers feel bad. But actually, James heart is love. God s heart is love. The warnings are there for a reason. I think the heart of James, the heart of God is summed up in 1:12 a verse we looked at right when we began to look at this letter, Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him. 6