The gift of speech is a marvelous blessing, if it is used to the glory of God. As we have seen, James had a great deal to say about tongue; and this section (James 5:13 - 20) is no exception. He mentioned some of the lowest uses of the tongue - complaining (James 5:9) and swearing (James 5:12). But he also named some of the highest uses of the tongue - proclaiming God's Word (James 5:10) and praying and praising God (James 5:13).
Prayer is certainly a high and holy privilege. To think that, as God's children, we can come freely and boldly to His throne and share with Him our needs! Seven times in this section James mentioned prayer. The mature Christian is prayerful in the troubles of life. Instead of complaining about his situation, he talks to God about it; and God hears and answers his prayers. "Taking it to the Lord in prayer" is certainly a mark of spiritual maturity.
James said: "Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing psalms. 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. And the prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much. Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain; and it did not rain on the land for three years and six months. And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth produces its fruit. Brethren, if anyone among you wanders from the truth, and someone turns him back, let him know that he who turns a sinner from the error of his way will save a soul from death and cover a multitude of sins" (James 5:13 - 20, NKJV).
In this section, James encourages us to pray by describing four situations in which God answers prayer - Prayer for the suffering, prayer for the sick, prayer for the nation and prayer for the straying.
Prayer for the suffering (James 5:13)
James said: "Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing psalms" (James 5:13).
What should we do when we find ourselves in such trying circumstances? We must not grumble and criticize the saints who are having an easier time of it (James 5:9) nor should we blame the Lord. We should pray, asking God for the wisdom we need to understand the situation and use it to His glory (James 1:5).
Prayer can remove affliction or suffering, if that is God's will. But prayer can also give us the grace we need to endure troubles and use them to accomplish God's perfect will. God can transform troubles into triumphs - "He gives more grace" (James 4:6). Paul prayed that God might change his circumstances, but instead, God gave Paul the grace he need to turn his weakness into strength (2 Cor. 12:7 - 10). Our Lord paryed in Gethsemane that the cup might be removed, and it was not. Yet the Father gave Him the strength He needed to go to the cross and die for our sins.
James indicated that everybody does not go through troubles at the same time - "Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing psalms" (James 5:13). God balances our lives and gives us hours of suffering and days of singing. The mature Christian know how to sing while he is suffering. God is able to give "songs in the night" (Job 35:10). He did this for Paul and Silas when they were suffering in the Philippian Jail - "But at midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, ..." (Acts 16:25).
Praying and singing were important elements in worship in the early Church, and they should be important to us too. Our singing ought to be an expression of our inner spiritual life. The believer's praise should be intelligent (1 Cor. 14:15), and it should come from the heart (Eph. 5:19) and be motivated by the Holy Spirit (Eph. 5:18). Christian songs must be based on the Word of God (Col. 3:16) and not simply on the clever ideas of men. If a song is not Biblical, it is not acceptable to God.
Prayer for the sick (James 5:14 - 16)
James said: "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. And the prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he wil be forgiven. Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much" (James 5:14 - 16, emphasis added).
I do not think that James gave us a blanket formula for healing the sick. James was describing a Church member who was sick because he had been desciplined by God. This explains why the elders of the Church were called. The man could not go to Church to confess his sins, so he asked the spiritual leader to come to him. The leaders would be in charge of the discipline of the congregation.
In the early Church, the believers practiced Church discipline. First Corinthians 5 is a good example. Paul told the believers at Corinth to dismiss the sinning member from the assembly until he repented of sins and made things right.
In the case of this sick person, he was healed by "the prayer of faith" - a prayer offered when you know the will of God. The elders would seek the mind of God in the matter, and then pray according to His will. God does not heal every case and it is not true that every sickness is out of His will. But where we have the inner conviction from the Word and the Spirit that it is God's will to heal, then we can pray "the prayer of faith" and expect God to work.
Keep in mind that it is not one individual who is praying; it is the body of elders (spiritual men of God) who seek God's will and pray. James did not instruct believer to send for a faith healer. The matter is in the hands of the leaders of the Local Church.
The "confessing" that James wrote about is done among the saints. He was not suggesting confessing our sins to a preacher or priest. We confess our sins first of all to the Lord (1 John1:9), but we must also confess them to those who have been affected by them. We must never confess sin beyond the circle of that sin's influence. Private sin requires private confession; public sin requires public confession.
Prayer for the nation (James 5:17, 18)
James said: "Elijah was a man with nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain; and it did not rain on the land for three years and six months. And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth produced its fruit" (James 5:17, 18).
The background of this incident is found in 1 King 17, 18. Wicked King Ahab and Jezebel, his queen, had led Israel away from the Lord and into the worship of Baal. God punished the nation by holding back the rain that they needed (read Deut. 18:12, 23). For three and one-half years, the heavens were as brass and the earth unable to produce the crops so necessary for life.
Then Elijah challenged the priests of Baal on Mt. Carmel. All day long the priests cried out to their god, but no answer came. At the time of the evening sacrifice, Elijah repaired the altar and prepared the sacrifice. He paryed but once, and fire came from heaven to consume the sacrifice. He had proved that Jehovah was the true God.
But the nation still needed rain. Elijah went to the top of Mt. Carmel and fell down before the Lord in prayer. He prayed and sent his servant seven times to see if there was evidence of rain. And the seventh time his servant saw a little cloud. Before long, there was a great rain, and the nation was saved.
James said: "Elijah was a man with nature like ours, ..." (James 5:17). In other words, he was not perfect. In fact, right after his victory on Mount Carmel, Elijah became afraid and discouraged and ran away. But he was a "righteous man," that is, obedient to the Lord and trusting Him. God's promises of answered prayer are for all his children, not just for ones we may call the "spiritual elite."
Elijah prayed in faith, for God told him He would sent the rain (1 Kings 18:1). Someone said, "Prayer is not getting man's will done in heaven. It is getting God's will done on earth." You cannot separate the Word of God and prayer, for in His Word He gives us the promises that we claim when we pray.
Elijah was not only believing in his praying, but he was persistent just as James said - "... he prayed earnestly ... And he prayed again" (James 5:17, 18). On Mount Carmel, Elijah continued to pray for rain until his servant reported "a cloud the size of a man's hand." Too many times we fail to get what God promises because we stop praying too sonn. It is true that Jesus said that "we will not be heard for our many words" (Matt. 6:7), but there is a difference between vain repetitions and true believing persistence in prayer. Our Lord prayed three times in the Garden, and Paul pray three times that his thorn in the flesh might be taken from him.
Elijah was determined and concerned in his praying - "... he prayed earnestly ..." (James 5:17). The literal Greek reads "... he prayed in prayer." Many people do not pray in their prayers. They just lazily say religious words, and their hearts are not in their prayers.
I believer prayer power is the greatest power in the world today. Tremendous power is made available through earnest prayer. History shows how mankind has progressed from manpower to horsepower, and then to dynamite and TNT, and now to nuclear power.
But greater that nuclear power is prayer power. Elijah prayed for his nation, and God answered prayer. We need to pray for our nation today, that God will bring conviction and revival, and that "showers of blessing" will come to the land. One of the first responsibilities of the Local Church is to pray for government leaders (1 Tim. 2:1 - 3).
Prayer for the straying (James 5:19, 20)
James said: "Brethren, if anyone among you wanders from the truth, and someone turns him back, let him know that he who turns a sinner from the error of his way will save a soul from death and cover a multitude of sins" (James 5:19, 20, emphasis added).
The "truth" means the Word of God - "Your word is truth" (John 17:17).
While James did not specifically name prayer in these verses, the implication is there. If we pray for the afflicted and the sick, surely we must also pray for the brother who wanders from the truth.
These verses deal with our ministry to a fellow believer who, through deceiption, strays from the truth and gets into sin. The ward "wanders" suggest a gradual moving away from the truth of God's Word which is the will of God. The Old Testament term for this is "backsliding." Sad to say, we see this tragedy occurring in our Churches regularly. Usually the sin is the result of slow, gradual spiritual decline. Paul said; "Brethren, if a man is overtaken in any trespass, you who are spiritual restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness, considering yourself lest you also be tempted" (Gal. 6:1).
Such a condition (straying from the truth) is, of course, very dangerous. It is dangerous to the offender because he may be disciplined (chastised) by the Lord (Heb. 12). He also faces the danger of committing "sin leading to death" (1 John 5:16, 17). God disciplined the sinning members of the Corinthian Church, even to the point of taking some of them to heaven" (1 Cor. 11:30)
But this backsliding is also dangerous to the Church. A wandering offender can influence other and lead them astray - "... one sinner destroys much good" (Ecc. 9:18). This is why spiritually matured members of the Local Church must step in and help the man who has wandered away.
I believe unless the believer stays close to the truth, he will start to drift away. The writer of Hebrews said: "Therefore we must give the more earnest heed to the things we have heard, lest we drift away" (Heb. 2:1). Jesus warned Peter that Satan was at hand to tempt him, and Peter refused to believe the Word. He even argued with the Lord! When he should have been praying with the Lord in the Garden, Peter was sleeping. No wonder he denied the Lord three times.
The outcome of this wandering is "sin" and possible "death" (James 5:20). The sinner here is a beliver, not an unbeliever; and sin in the life of a Christian is worse than sin in the life of an unbeliever. We expect unsaved people to sin, but God expects His children to obey His Word.
What are we to do when we see a fellow believer wandering from the truth? We should pray for him, to be sure; but we must also seek to help him. He needs to be "converted" - turned back into the right path again. Many Christians think believers need not to be converted. Look at Peter. Jesus said to him: "... when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren" (Luke 22:32, KJV).
It is important that we seek to win the lost, but it is also important to win the save. Jesus said: "Moreover if your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. If he hears you, you have gained your brother" (Matt. 18:15, emphasis added). The word "gain" means "won." It is important to win the saved as well as the lost!
If we are going to help an erring brother, we must have an attitude of love, for "love will cover a multitude of sins" (1 Peter 4:8). Both James and Peter learned this principle from Proverbs - "Hatred stirs up strife, but love covers all sins" (Prov. 10:12).
This does not mean that love "sweeps the dirt under the carpet." Where there is love, there must also be truth - "... speaking the truth in love, ..." (Eph. 4:15). Where there is truth, there is honest confession of sin and cleansing from God. Love not only helps the offender to face his sins and deal with them, but love also assures the offender that those sins, once forgiven, are remembered no more.
Conclusion
This brings us to the end of our study of the Epistle of James. His emphasis has been spiritual maturity. We need to bear in mind that the born-again experience is only the beginning. After that, you have to grow up! Many problesms in our lives are caused by spiritual immaturity. God wants us to grow up, not just grow old. And He has given us the formula for maturity in the Epistle of James.
No comments:
Post a Comment