Do You Have A Praying Perspective? (AM Sermon Notes)
(First Sunday back inside, with restrictions, after COVID-19 pandemic.)
GIST: Prayer should be our constant perspective—including in times that appear hard, happy, hurtful, or hopeless.
SCRIPTURE: James 5:13-20
This morning is kind of a big deal for several reasons. Most obvious for anyone attending services today, we’re actually offering an “inside edition” for the first time since March 15th. It’s been twelve Sundays since we’ve walked through those doors together, and nine of those were before it was advisable to conduct outdoor services. I do not know what the future will hold, and I am not immune to the nerves that come from opening those doors after being physically distanced for so long, but I do know these two things. First, God is still good and still moving and doing something beautiful today, and second, it’s just good to see even your mask covered faces in person ☺️. (In fact, I’ve been told this is a good look for me☺️!)
What might be less apparent to many of you, especially if you’ve been unable to track with our online messages, is that we’re coming to the end of our James study we started back in February. This is exciting, at least for me, because we’re coming to the end of our third book study together! That’s always a bittersweet moment. I love this letter and have benefited so much from studying it with you. That being said, we’re going to dive into the last seven verses here, James 5:13-20. In the interest of your time and our abbreviated services, I’m going to give you the gist first, then we’ll pray and walk through the passage together. So, here’s the big picture of this final passage in James’ letter telling believers what they need more than anything else is a true and active faith. He ends by telling them to… pray. Oh, how we need to not just hear this but actually let it transform our lives! Here’s our gist: Prayer should be our constant perspective—including in times that appear hard, happy, hurtful, or hopeless. We’ve actually had 2 point sermons for, I believe, the last month or so, but this one is a four-pointer. Don’t freak out though, none of the points will be too long ☺️.
So, we have a praying perspective first→
I. IN TIMES THAT ARE HARD
Look at the first part of verse 13. “13 Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray.” Let me just make two quick observations here, and I will try to be quick because I realize I tend to go much longer on my first points and then condense as I go. I’m going to try and do the opposite this week, partially for fun ☺️, but mainly because this is actually a point James has been developing from the very beginning of the letter when he started by talking about us facing trials of various kinds. So here’s the question for this section:
How do we handle pain and setbacks? What do we do when life isn’t going well, when everything is crumbling, when it’s difficult to find the energy to face each day? Complain? Rant? Try to solve our problems in our own strength? Maybe just get in the fetal position and cry? Does any of that accomplish anything? No. We can’t solve these problems, but we know the one who can! So→
When life is hard, remind yourself of who God is and come to Him in prayer. Oh, I’ve said this several times in the past, but I need to hear this as much as you, prayer shouldn’t be our last resort but our primary objective! Is 2020 getting you down? Don’t post about it. Pray. Come to Him. Seek His face. Remember His grace. And do the same thing→
II. IN TIMES THAT ARE HAPPY
Look at the second part here. “Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing praise.” Now, this might seem like the easier one, but it’s not. It’s actually easier to cry out when you realize you need help. My kids call for me all the time when they need me. If they’re hurt or frustrated or mad at the injustice of their siblings, I hear about it. When they’re hungry, they moan in despair. However, when we actually give them food, they don’t typically spend a lot of time thanking us for it. Our kids are awesome, but they’re just as sinful as we are, and we all need to remember this truth this morning.
Don’t seek Him in the valley and forget Him on the mountain top! When everything is going well it’s easy to let yourself believe that you got yourself here. You didn’t. You’re experiencing His grace in a more tangible way in those moments, so take time to→
Sing Praise! Make a joyful noise and thank Him, speak of His goodness, and provision, and plan. This singing might look different for each of us, and we all know it sounds different ☺️, but I cannot express enough the importance of lifting up our hearts in praise to Him. Really, we have the same principle here as above→
When you’re rejoicing, remind yourself of who God is and come to Him with prayers of praise!
So, have a praying perspective in times that are hard and happy and→
III. IN TIMES THAT ARE HURTFUL
This next portion is a passage that has given interpreters fits over the years and has led to many erroneous practices because entire doctrines have been based on this passage without any outside context. Admittedly, there are some difficult thoughts here, and I am more than willing to talk about these after the service or on the phone with anyone who’s so inclined. However, rather than muddy the waters, I just want to focus on what we can see clearly here because, as Alistair Begg reminds me every week, the main things are the plain things. Let’s take verse 14 first.
“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.”
First, we have a picture of the sick taking the initiative and calling for the elders, the spiritual leaders of the local church, to come. They would then pray and anoint the sick with oil. That anointing probably had a twofold purpose. Traditionally, this was symbolic of the Holy Spirit coming upon someone. However, oils were also widely used at this time for medicinal purposes. Either way, this was done in the name of the Lord, so the point is the same. They are coming and committing your healing to God’s will. I think that part we can wrap our minds around fairly well. It’s the next part that gets more complicated.
“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.” What has complicated this passage for so many is that it seems to imply physical healing for any who pray with the right kind of faith. However, what is being pointed out here is bigger than that. Just like when you’re hurting or happy, what you need more than anything else when you’re ill is to have your eyes focused on Jesus. Doing so puts you in the right position for receiving the kind of healing you need. Let me just make a couple observations here.
1. We won’t always get the healing we expect. Remember, for a believer, being with Jesus is the ultimate healing, so death might be exactly the answer to our prayers for restitution...just not in the way we were looking for.
2. We will always get the healing we need. This is key. He brings up sin here and piggybacks it in with the context of physical sickness, not because all sicknesses result from sin but some do. So, if you’re ill and you’re seeking God’s face and your illness has nothing to do with any particular sin, that’s ok. You’re in the right spot for receiving His grace anyway, and you’re looking where you should be for the hope you need! But, if your sickness is the result of sin, well won’t this kind of praying put you exactly where you need to be to experience that conviction and forgiveness?
3. There is an emphasis here on the importance of Christian community. I know I say this a lot, but we’re not meant to face this life isolated from other believers. We’re meant to come alongside one another. When we’re ill, we should pray for each other and remind each other of God’s sovereignty. When we’re struggling with sin, we need to have strong Christian friends and mentors, people who are living this life with us, in whom we can confide and with whom we can pray. This is the body of Christ. We’re meant to walk together. There is much healing in a body of believers which clings to Jesus together, calling sin “sin”, and loving each other for Him through everything.
4. Prayer is central here, and the healing comes from God. Too often this passage can be used to emphasize the importance of types of faith or the roles of types of ministers. That’s not the focus. The focus is we need prayer to remind us that we need Jesus, and He’s the one who does all the healing anyway!
So we need a praying perspective in times that are hard, happy, hurtful, and also→
IV. IN TIMES THAT SEEM HOPELESS
Look with me at the last portion of this chapter. “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.” Oh, that’s awesome isn’t it? Three observations.
1. Prayer is Powerful. This isn’t just something we mumble before we eat or sleep. Prayer is talking directly to the King of the Universe. And it’s powerful→
2. Because God is Powerful. Elijah did incredible things because he went to God in prayer. Elijah wasn’t special. God is special. Elijah just listened to Him.
3. So why are we worried about tomorrow? Whatever you’re facing right now that seems out of your hands, whatever concerns are crushing you, have you prayed about them? There’s no such thing as hopelessness when you belong to Jesus. That doesn’t mean you can do whatever you put your mind to. That’s just a graduation card. But you can do whatever He puts your mind to! Those He purposes He equips!
And He does have a beautiful purpose. Look at the last two verses here. Then, we’ll close. “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.”
This Is The Ultimate Hopelessness. Wandering from the truth and finding ourselves trapped in the sin you know you can be set free from just results in Hell. And this is→
A Real Danger. It doesn’t matter how long you’ve been a church goer. You need to take up your cross every day and follow Him for real. It’s a slow fade, guys, as we compromise and slip away. And this is→
Our Real Purpose. You want to face unseens and unknowns? You want to have the kind of faith that is firm in the midst of storms? Pray always and have this purpose— pointing others always to Jesus. This world is broken. God isn’t. Sin is a slippery slope that leads straight to Hell. Let’s not be so bogged down by the concerns of life that we miss this mission. People need to see Him. They need to be transformed by Him. Do we spend our time speaking to Him? Are we pointing people back to the cross? Or, are we just biding our time?
Let’s just recap here for our→
TAKEAWAYS
How can we have a faith that is real and transformative? Prayer should be our constant perspective. That means…
- In times that are hard.
- In times that are happy.
- In times that are hurtful.
- In times that seem hopeless.
Come to Jesus in prayer.
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