21.08.07
James (14): Community Life - James 5:12-18
Community life, even Christian community life, can be difficult. And yet, the Christian faith is one which must be lived out in community – for a Christian to be effective and to grow, he must be part of a community where his gifts can be honed and the fruit of the Spirit within him can come forth. The book of James helps us to understand how we can lived together as Christians in this community we call the Church – it helps us to be the kind of congregation and people God wants us to be here in St. V’s. In this penultimate study in the Book of James, we encounter two more directions for our lives together as Christians – first, in the area of honest communication, or straight talking with each other – or as James talks about it – the making of oaths, and then in the area of prayer with and for each other.
[A] Oaths (vs. 12)
Although we might not be affected as much by the making of oaths as the Jewish Christians to whom James was writing were, the principle behind what James is saying here is timelessly relevant. Let’s see two things about the making of oaths:
1. What is an Oath? – to make an oath is to invoke the name of God or someone, or something else, to ensure the reliability of what you say. So, if you make an oath saying, ‘As God is my witness, I promise…’, what you are doing is saying that God is the witness of your honesty on this matter, and if you are being dishonest, you are willing for your witness, that’s God in this instance, to judge you for your lies. As Christians, I would hope we wouldn’t make oaths like this anyway, but there are what one commentator calls, ‘minced oaths’ that sometimes we make – oaths like, ‘on my mother’s life’, ‘take it in good faith’, or others like that.
2. Why Shouldn’t We Make Oaths? – there are some occasions when it is OK to take an oath – for example in an official setting in court – oaths others ask us to take for official purposes. The oaths James has in view are those made in a voluntary setting, where we are only making the oath to ensure our truthfulness or reliability. But why shouldn’t we make these oaths? There are two reasons James gives:
i. Because we must be trustworthy – our yes must be yes and our no, no. As Christians, we should be so committed to honesty and integrity in our speech that we should never require to take an oath to prove that. We should be trustworthy in everything we say. To make an oath is to suggest that in this matter you are being honest, but in other matters you are being economical with the truth. But the Christian must never be anything less than honest.
ii. Because we will be condemned – to take God’s name in an oath is a fearful thing. The preacher Thomas Boston says of God’s name, “The angels adore it, the devils tremble at it; and shall only men trample it under foot without fear?” If you call God as your witness, and you are lying, the punishment of God rests upon you because before the eyes of men and those to whom you are making an oath, you have made God out to be a liar.
Our word should be as good and as honest as a legally signed document. Anything less than honesty and we will destroy the community of the Church.
[B] Prayers (vs. 13-18)
By far, the main theme of this section is the power and effectiveness of prayer in the Christian community. James mentions four aspects of prayer here:
1. Personal Prayer (vs. 13) – the principle behind this verse is – do not forget God! Do not forget God when you are suffering misfortune – when you are being persecuted and are enduring difficulties, don’t fight back, but don’t just be passively resigned, pray to God that He would correct the evil and redress the wrong. After all, as one commentator says, “God is the one who can be trusted in the dark.” On the other hand, when you are cheerful, despite the bad circumstances or because God has intervened to alleviate your suffering, praise God. Don’t forget Him in the good times. Pray and praise, whether in the good times or in the bad times.
2. Elders’ Prayer (vs. 14-15) – The suffering of vs. 13 does not include personal illness – so what is a person to do when he is sick? He is to call the elders to him, and the elders will do three things – they will pray over him, anoint him with oil and call out the name of the Lord. This is no magical ceremony, but it is a symbolic action, whereby by anointing the sick person with oil, the elders are setting him apart for the special care of the Lord. Anointing with oil was often used in the Old Testament to set people apart for certain functions - and so here, the oil is also being used to set apart this person for God’s special interest. The elders pray and call out the name of the Lord to show that it is only by God’s power that this sick person can be healed, and that through prayer. This is still practiced today in the Free Church – I know of at least two very sick people who have been anointed with oil by the elders of the church. Vs. 15 tells us that the prayer of faith will save the sick and the Lord will raise him – the prayer of faith is the prayer offered up in the will of God and the promise is clear – as the elders understand the will of God for this person, they pray for God for intervene and bring healing for him. See then the vital importance and power of prayer in community life – it can literally raise people from their death-beds!
It may be that during the illness, the person has realised that to be truly healed, he needs to be healed on the outside from illness, but also inside from spiritual illness – sin. To be truly whole and right before God, he needs his sins forgiven – and so he opens himself out to the elders and asks them to pray for him. But it won’t be the elders who forgive Him, it will be through prayer that He will be forgiven by God.
3. Friends’ Prayer (vs. 16a) – the setting of the first part of vs. 16 is when one Christian has sinned against another Christian – perhaps by gossiping about him, miscalling him, or insulting him. That man goes to his offended brother and confesses his particular sin to him, and together they pray for spiritual healing between them. It is never easy to say sorry to someone and it is equally hard to forgive someone – you feel hurt and you don’t think that there is any way the fellowship between you can ever be strong again. But look at what prayer can do – it can raise sick people from their beds, it can lead to the forgiveness of your sins, it can heal the relationship between two warring Christians. And remember what James is talking about in this section – community life – there is no greater destroyer of community life than grudges between Christians – a broken relationship between two people can destroy an entire church. But through prayer, the fellowship can be restored. James doesn’t say it’s easy, but he says it’s possible, and more than that, he says it is necessary. Is your relationship with someone marred by your sin – then go to them, confess your sin to them and pray together for healing.
4. Righteous Prayer (vs. 16b-18) – these few words would take up a whole year’s preaching, but let’s just summarise them by saying that the words in vs. 16b are the principle of the power of prayer, and vs. 17-18 are a picture of what prayer can do. Prayer is a mighty thing – there is no more powerful force in the universe than prayer, since it joins us to the infinite power of God. Prayer is powerful enough to stop the clouds from raining for three and a half years, and then to pour down rain again. That’s all Elijah did – vs. 17 literally reads, “Elijah was a man of like passions to you and with prayer he prayed” – we don’t even know if the prayer was particularly fervent, all we know is that he prayed. And what happened – no rain, and then rain and fruit. But then, you will notice that prayer only really works powerfully for a righteous person – so that rules us out right? Wrong! It worked for Elijah – a man James tells us was just like us – who went through the highs and lows of faithfulness and unfaithfulness to God. What made Elijah righteous was that he had faith in God and he worked his faith out in his actions. What makes us righteous is what Jesus has done for us on the cross, and that we have faith in Him. In other words, your prayers can be as powerful as Elijah’s – there is nothing so powerful in the Christian life as prayer – it can heal the physically sick, restore the broken relationship and bring down the supernatural power of God into this natural world.
Think then of your non-Christian friends and pray for them to be converted – that is the most powerful thing you can do. Think of your sick friends and pray for them – that is the most powerful thing you can do. Think of Christians you find it difficult to get along with and pray for them – that is the most powerful thing you can do. And pray for yourself. Remember the overall message of the Book of James – don’t be double-minded with one eye on Jesus and another on the world, but keep focussing the eyes of your heart upon the Lord. Pray then that God would give you single mindedness and an eye only for Jesus. AMEN