A Sad, Sad Situation

Wonderful to see you tonight, folks.

Thank you so much, Hannah, for reading and for Al for praying for us as we set into this passage.

I just think you'll agree this is a non-controversial passage.

I'm sure you'll see as we've read it there.

But if we've got years to listen tonight, this is a fantastic passage.

It will challenge us, it will confront us, and I hope it will encourage us as well.

So tune in if you can tonight.

We'll bring this home, this whole series.

We've been in this letter of James for a while.

Let's finish it.

Together as we get into chapter 5 then.

So we're definitely going to need our Bibles tonight.

So please make every effort to get God's Word in front of you.

We'll be in James chapter 5.

James 5 · chapter mention

Heads up, we'll also be in 1 Kings chapter 16 and 17.

1 Kings 16 · chapter mention

And 18 as well, I think.

You might want to turn there.

Just as we're setting off tonight.

We'll get to it in maybe 15 or so minutes time.

But there's just a heads up so you're not frantically looking for 1 Kings at that point in the sermon.

But, okay, let me level with you.

Here is the song that has been in my head over the last couple of weeks of being James chapter 5.

James 5 · chapter mention

See if you recognise it.

Okay, here's the lyrics go like this.

So sad.

So sad.

And see if you can get the song right.

So sad.

So sad.

It's a sad, sad situation.

And it's getting more and more absurd.

So sad.

So sad.

Why can't we just talk it over?

Sorry seems to be, sorry seems to be the hardest word.

Okay, yeah.

Hardest word.

Vintage Elton John wasn't it back in the day if you remember it.

If you're my age, you remember there was a dodgy boy band called Blue that sang a cover of it back in the 90s.

The less said about that, the better.

But there's the song that's been in my head all week.

I wish I had something more spiritual for you, but I don't.

It's just how my brain works.

But it's a sad, sad situation.

Why have those words been in my head all week?

Because those words could have easily been penned by James as he thinks about the Christians that he's writing to.

Okay.

Now if James was a TV show, again this is how my mind works.

James was a TV show, this letter, this would be called Christians Behaving Badly.

Right.

This would be world's deadliest Christians.

This would be church uncut.

Now if you remember this way back at the start, we thought about the context of this letter who he's writing to.

These people, as a church, are all over the shop.

All the way through this letter, James has exposed the visible symptoms of their life together.

And man alive is ugly.

Okay.

If you've been tracking with us, we've seen this over the weeks.

We've seen quarrels.

We've seen fights, fisty cuffs.

We've seen disputes.

We've seen conflicts.

And we've seen rage.

And if this church had a website, right, and it was honest, you wouldn't see people hugging one another on the front page.

You would see people having each other in a headlock on the front page, wouldn't you?

This is what we've seen is going on in this church.

Now it was Albert Einstein, I think, who said famously, insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.

You heard that quote?

Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.

Here's what I want us to notice is that James the pastor has not just said, be better.

Right?

I can tell you for free as a parent, that never works.

Okay?

Just saying, be better.

Because if James had just said that, if this book was all about morals, then how long do you think that would have lasted?

We know our own hearts well enough to know, don't we, how long that would have lasted.

It wouldn't have lasted long.

But James' pastoral heart shines through in this letter.

He is not content simply with labeling and identifying the symptoms that he wants them to see.

He goes way deeper than that.

Okay?

He's got them to think about why these things are happening.

It's a great question in our own lives when we see things.

Know my own heart.

Lord, asking me often when I'm angry, why are you angry?

He says it to Cain, doesn't he?

Genesis 4.

Why are you angry?

Chapter 4, verse 1.

Have you got James there?

Give you an example of this.

What causes fights and quarrels among you?

Why?

Why does this stuff happen in your hearts?

What's going on?

Don't they come from the desires that battle within you?

Do you see it?

So this is not search for the hero inside yourself.

This is be honest about the Frankenstein inside yourself.

That's what he's gone for, isn't it?

The problem is a heart problem.

So he's gone from the symptoms to the heart.

He's talked about the pride and the jealousy and the envy and the rage which goes on in their lives.

What does he encourage?

He encourages them to know who God is.

That's the solution, isn't it?

To know who this God is and to know and to savour the gospel of his free grace.

So if anyone's got a heart transplant going on, if these are the things that are going on in their hearts, pride, jealousy, envy, rage, what he wants to be going on in their hearts.

And this can only happen by grace.

The fruit of the Spirit.

Some of the words that he's used.

Grace.

Humility.

Meekness.

Prayer.

Prayer.

And prayer is everywhere in this letter, particularly the beginning, the middle and the end.

And patience.

It's only going to come by God's work of grace through his indwelling Spirit.

As you cast yourselves upon the Lord.

But James goes even deeper than that.

What has been the big issue that's been right at the heart of everything that James has been saying is this issue of double-mindedness.

Double-mindedness.

Now let me just try and illustrate again.

So what I've been thinking of this week.

What's double-mindedness?

Now if you've ever been to a sports event, right?

You get these at rugby grounds all the time.

Football grounds as well.

People outside the grounds and they're selling 50-50 scarves.

You ever seen that before?

50-50 scarves.

Right?

See when I was growing up going to football games, that was not a thing.

Okay?

A 50-50 scarf.

If you'd ever done that, I don't think you would have made it out to tell the tale.

Okay?

A 50-50 scarf.

Half of the scarf that you've got, half is for one team.

And half is for the other team.

Blue and red.

Blue and green.

Whatever colours you want of the two teams that are playing.

One team scores a goal, you're cheering.

The other team scores a goal, you're cheering.

How does that work?

This doesn't work.

And that's these people.

With a 50-50 scarves.

Right?

They're trying to love the world and they're trying to love God.

And they think that they can do both at the same time.

Track with me.

Okay?

Chapter 1, verse 7.

Such a person.

It's from a prayer.

Such a person is double-minded.

There's a phrase.

Double-minded and unstable in all they do.

Chapter 4, verse 4.

Just showing you a few of these.

He calls them.

See it?

You adulterous people.

Don't you know that friendship with the world means enmity against God?

So you cannot be holding up the 50-50 scarf in the Christian life.

Okay?

So Jesus says, isn't it?

You can't serve two masters.

This doesn't work.

You'll love the one and hate the other.

Or you'll hate the other and love the other one.

Right?

But what is James' pastoral heart then?

It's that these people who he knows and who he loves would rededicate themselves wholly to the Lord.

And be restored to one another.

Okay?

And so here's what I want to suggest as we make our way through this passage.

With all its rabbit holes, with all its peculiarities, and potentially all its speculations.

Here's what I want to suggest.

That these are not some random verses about healing that have come out of nowhere.

And he's tagged on to the end of his letter to cover his bases.

Just in case at some point in the future these prove useful.

What I'm suggesting is that James is very much thinking about the sad, sad situation.

To these Christians behaving badly.

And he's not changed his tune when it comes to the thrust of the issue of double-mindedness.

Right?

That 50-50 scarf.

Just keep that in your mind.

That's what he's going after.

Now let's just deal with Dumbo.

Okay?

Watch Dumbo with the kids just there.

Okay?

Deal with Dumbo.

The elephant in the room.

The Dumbo.

Right?

Let's deal with Dumbo.

Come with me to verse 15 of chapter 5.

Here's probably the question you're asking.

All of us has read this through.

James writes, okay?

And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well.

And the Lord will raise them up.

Now what is that all about?

Right?

What is that all about?

Now there's a verse that at its best is potentially confusing.

And I think at its worst is potentially open to horrendous abuse.

And it's a verse that's loved by faith healers all over the world.

Remember my time in Malawi.

This guy called TB Joshua.

Huge in Nigeria.

They all...

Everyone was talking about him.

All on the radios as you walked around people's houses.

This guy was into faith healing.

It's horrendous using this verse for that.

Because if you take it that way, then you run into all sorts of thorny questions, do you not?

What does it mean to be healed?

What level of healing can I expect?

What if I'm not healed?

What counts as a healing?

How much faith do I need?

What does my faith need to be in?

It's confusing.

But also it's potentially hugely psychologically, spiritually, and maybe even physically damaging for us to take it that way.

Of course, friends, even someone is ill in our church.

We pray.

Of course we pray.

Right?

We do it every single Sunday.

We'll be doing it tomorrow night and Monday.

People in our church family who are sick.

We will pray for them.

Why will we pray for them?

Because we love them.

Right?

We love one another.

When part of the body is hurting, we are there in presence.

But we are there in prayer.

Because we love one another.

We're praying more, aren't we, than just that they'll get physically better.

We're praying that God's presence would be with them.

That they would know Jesus as their all-in-all, as we were singing just there, in their situation.

And that the thought, the hope of heaven and what's ahead when Christ comes to make all things new.

We're praying that people would know that.

By God's Spirit at work in us.

We pray for people that might get better, that people would get better.

Of course we do that.

But I don't think the general call to praying for the sick is what James is primarily encouraging here.

There's way more to it than that, I think.

And I think the key is seeing the Old Testament incident that James draws upon to make his case.

Do you see how James brings in Elijah to illustrate his point in verse 17?

And at this point, why don't you turn in your Bibles to 1 Kings 17?

I'll give you just a few moments to do that.

I think it's crucial that we see this just to get it right.

1 Kings 17.

So why is he brought in Elijah?

That's the question, isn't it?

Why is he brought in Elijah?

Now, if James did have catch-all physical healing of the sick in his mind,

and he wanted to use Elijah as an example,

surely he would have gone for that wonderful moment in Elijah's life that you can read about,

we can read about in 1 Kings 17, right?

Hopefully you've got it right there in front of you.

What happens there?

Verses 21 and 22, God working through Elijah.

He's his prophet.

Elijah raises a widow's son back to life.

It's an incredible story.

Incredible story.

He cries out to the Lord in prayer, and God hears him,

and the child's life came into him again.

That's the way the author puts it there.

It's a wonderful story.

It's an incredible miracle.

And here's the point, I think.

If the point, if you were James,

if the point you were making was about general physical healing,

then surely the book he's favourite for a passage that you would go to in Elijah's life

would be this one, would it not?

It would be this one.

If you were trying to rally the troops for a big prayer meeting,

for the sick to be cured, that's the one that you would go for.

But that's not the example that James draws upon.

The example he uses is the time in Israel's history

when they were apathetically drifting along spiritually as God's people,

and they were sliding into rebellion.

Okay, what were the nation marked by?

You can read about this in just the next chapter.

What was the defining feature of their life as a nation?

Double-mindedness.

As a nation, Israel drifting along.

Remember, they're meant to be the light to the nations,

that the nations of the world look in and say,

isn't Israel's God great?

Surely he is the true God.

Well, Israel at this point are holding their 50-50 scarves, right?

Thinking it was perfectly fine to worship Yahweh at the weekend

and in Baal during the week.

And all the while, the nation at this point in the story,

first king's story, are led by King Ahab,

who is heavily influenced by Queen Jezebel,

who has fallen into disastrous idolatry and rebellion himself.

This is a dark, dark moment for God's people.

That's what's going on.

And so in order to rouse them at this point in the story,

first kings, from their double-mindedness,

chapter 17, verse 1 of first kings,

Elijah prophesies that God would send a drought on Israel

as a judgment on them, right?

This is what God is going to do.

So it's almost like a wake-up call

to arouse them from their spiritual half-heartedness.

This is what God is doing, okay?

And God does so for three years.

Jump into chapter 18 if you've got it there.

You'll see it, okay?

Three years this goes on for.

Until that is, and this is one of my favorite chapters

in the whole of the Bible, right?

If you're wanting a serious chapter to read

when you go home, a thrilling bit of narrative and drama,

get into the first kings 17, 18, 19 chapters, okay?

What happens in chapter 18 is that they have a show,

there's a showdown in Mount Carmel

between Elijah and the prophets of Baal, right?

And Elijah challenges them, the prophets,

it's in 1 Kings, the people, sorry,

1 Kings 18, verse 21.

1 Kings 18:21

Here's what he says.

What's this all about?

How long will you waver between two opinions?

This is Elijah challenging Israel, right?

How long will you waver between two opinions?

If the Lord is God, follow him,

but if Baal is God, follow him.

In other words, make up your mind.

Stop wearing the 50-50 scarf.

It doesn't work.

And so what does he say?

The God who answers by fire is the true God.

So Baal and his prophets,

Baal and his prophets,

they should win this one easy, right?

They're on their home turf.

It's all going for them.

And they do their thing for ages and ages and ages.

Does Baal answer by fire?

No, he doesn't.

There's nothing that goes on.

And Elijah mocks him sarcastically.

Again, we said that this morning, right?

So there's sarcasm in the Bible.

You will notice it there in that chapter.

But he turns to Elijah.

Elijah prays to Yahweh.

And verse 38, the fire of the Lord falls.

And the whole chapter, the whole scene is about God

being declared, vindicated in front of all the people watching on,

that he is the true God.

And the whole scene ends with the people of Israel

rededicating themselves to the Lord.

Elijah prays again.

Verse 45, if you've got it there.

And behold, the rains come,

and the land bears fruit once more.

Now, back to James.

Isn't it interesting that the example that James picks

isn't an example of how prayer can heal the generally physically sicks,

although he could have easily opted for that one.

Isn't it interesting that the incident that he opts for in Elijah's life

is all about the power of prayer

to restore the spiritually rebellious and wayward

who have, as a result, come under God's judgment?

And so could it be that as he thinks,

remember this, he's the pastor,

pastor, sorry,

as he thinks about the sad, sad situation

into which he is writing,

is it that James is strongly implying

that something similar to what was happening

with the nation of Israel in the first kings

is happening to the people in James' church?

Could it be that some people in this church

have fallen seriously sick

as a direct result of their bad behavior towards God

and more particularly because of their bad behavior

towards others in the church?

It's sad, so sad.

It's a sad, sad situation,

and it's getting more and more absurd.

It's sad, so sad.

Why can't we talk it over?

Oh, it seems to me,

sorry seems to be the hardest word.

James' pastoral heart here for this people,

whom he knows, whom he loves,

is that they would rededicate themselves wholly to the Lord

and they would get right with one another.

So let's just take that interpretive lens

that I've just presented this with

and let's just read the verses

and let's see if they begin to make a little bit more sense

in that context.

Okay, verse 14, James chapter 5.

James 5 · chapter mention

Is anyone among you sick?

Let them call the elders of the church to pray over them

and anoint them with oil in the name of the Lord.

Now I take it here,

James is calling for the elders,

again I take it just as the representatives

of the church as a whole,

to be the ones who go after those

who are falling into sickness

because of their disobedience

and are leading them in repentance

and seeking to restore them relationally

to the church family.

Now perhaps the oil is symbolically representing

that person being set aside

and rededicated themselves to the Lord.

Could it be that the hands on them

are just again,

just that symbolic identifying

on behalf of the church

what's going on in this situation, right?

Verse 15,

And the prayer offered in faith

will make the sick person well.

The Lord will raise them up.

If they have sinned,

they will be forgiven.

Again, could it be

that the prayer of faith

that James has in mind

is the one of repentance,

of knowing forgiveness,

and of rededication to the Lord?

Two more of these.

Okay, verse 16,

Therefore confess your sins to each other

and pray for each other

that you might be healed.

Could it be

that there are individuals

in this church family

and you'll begin to see

where the application of this is going, okay?

Who have fallen out badly.

And it is influencing the church

in negative ways

and they are suffering as a result.

And what is James encouraging?

He's encouraging that they humble themselves

to the point that individuals

are willing to get together,

confess,

confess,

repent,

hug it out,

and forgive one another.

Because the prayer of the righteous person,

I take it,

just all that stuff,

is powerful and effective.

Culminating in verse 19,

my brothers and sisters,

if one of you should wander from the truth

and someone should bring that person back,

remember this,

whoever turns a sinner

from the error of their way

will save them from death

and cover a multitude of sins.

Friends,

and of course,

what is the heart of the gospel?

What is the heart of our faith?

Reconciliation.

Isn't it?

Being right with God,

our creator,

and being right reconciled

with one another.

When we looked at Ephesians

not so long ago,

it was the wonderful heart

of Paul's understanding

of the gospel,

wasn't it?

That by his blood

you have peace with one another.

The walls of hostility

broken down

because of what Jesus has

on the cross.

Two parties,

Jew and Gentile,

who would never come

under the same roof,

yet in Jesus,

united,

and more than playing happy families,

united in the same family

by his blood.

How powerful a witness

is it to the world

when our community

defies logic?

It can only be explained

because of what Jesus has done.

It's the very heartbeat

of our God.

The very heartbeat

of the gospel.

Reconciliation.

Friends, let me just say

the Bible never encourages us.

Remember this is a specific situation.

The Bible never encourages us,

never,

to draw straight lines

between sickness

and our sin, right?

Everything we've been thinking about

in Job, isn't it,

in the mornings.

The Bible never encourages us

to draw a straight line

between those things.

Okay, so I think

the application of this,

if somebody we know

in the church family

is sick, right,

we've not to go

mm-hmm to one another,

right, that's not the application

of this passage.

And yet,

I still think

there are two big principles

very close to God's heart

that we as a congregation

can learn from

this specific situation.

And with this,

I'm just going to try

and give us two

really quick things

and maybe pull a lot

of the strands

of the letter together

as we leave this tonight

and as we feel the challenge

that God makes us

as a church congregation

as we respond

to the letter of James

as a whole.

Right?

Two of these really quickly.

Here's the first one.

Here's what I think

what we need to take

really seriously.

Number one,

and it's the call

to single-mindedness.

How much of this letter

has been James

helping them see

how serious a thing

it is in the Lord's sight

when we try and wear

the two halves,

two halves,

50-50 scarf.

And how damaging

a thing that is

to our own hearts

and souls as well.

But what is it then

that James has consistently

brought his congregation

back to see

all the time,

all the way through

this letter,

is the very character

of God.

Remember what we said,

this is not just

trying to be better.

Right?

Be better.

Why can't you be better?

No, no, no.

We've got to have

an encounter

with the living God

who loves us.

That's what's going

to change our hearts.

The indwelling spirit.

It's why he's brought it out,

hasn't he,

in chapter four.

God yearns jealously

for the spirit

that he has made

to dwell where?

In us.

He's brought them back

to the very character

of God, right?

The all-wise,

generous,

and unchanging

father

of chapter one.

God

whose implanted word,

and I love that phrase,

the implanted word

at work in us

has the power

to save our souls

and has the power

to transform us.

The God who,

chapter four,

longs to give

more grace.

Longs to give

more grace.

Love that image.

Just longs to give it,

longs to bestow it

upon his people.

The merciful

and compassionate

God of chapter five.

Again,

do you see it?

He's just brought them

back to the character

of God.

And so when we,

when the call comes

for complete devotion

to him,

the call is not

to come begrudgingly

to a headmaster,

right?

You ever had that experience

of your headmaster

at school?

I remember mine.

I knew the power

he had.

I knew who he was.

I saw him coming

up the corridor

and didn't stop

for a chat.

I legged it

into another classroom,

right?

But that's not

the image of God

that James is

describing here

as a compassionate

father.

Our sins,

friends,

we shouldn't run

from him.

We should run

to him knowing

that he will

bestow grace

upon us.

And this God

does not share

the throne

of his people's

hearts with anyone.

And let me just say

it's for our joy

that God

is like that.

This letter

is a call

to single-mindedness.

And flowing

from that,

secondly,

this letter

is a call

to relational

oneness.

In other words,

our relationships

with one another.

One of the big

challenges

that's laid out

in this letter

is the challenge

to have a serious

think

in all of

every area

of our lives.

Have a think

about the way

in which we view

and we treat

other people.

And to see

how seriously

God takes that.

It was Francis Schaeffer,

famous American

evangelical thinker

back in the day

who famously said

that with God

there are no

little people.

right?

And what he meant

was that

every human being

has been made

in the image

of God.

Every single

human being

made in the image

of God.

And therefore,

friends,

we have not to do,

and he's outed this

in this church,

hasn't he,

all the way

through the letter,

we're not to play

favorites

with who we love.

We're not to pick

and choose

who we're kind to,

who we consider.

It's why,

and I love it

as you read

through the Gospels,

it's why the disciples

find it so baffling

that Jesus would

encourage the little

children to come to him.

You ever read that bit

in the Gospels

and you thought,

what's going on there?

Of course,

it's a very different

cultural setting,

isn't it?

Children in our day

treated very differently

from children in that day.

Children,

people who had nothing

to offer you in return,

people who were considered

not high up

in the social ladder,

and yet Jesus

uses them,

welcomes the children,

and uses it

as an opportunity

to show his followers

that how we treat

the least in our society

is a measure

of greatness,

according to him.

He just flips it

on his head,

doesn't he,

his definition of greatness.

How we treat

and how we view

other people

matters to God.

And I take it now,

just as we're speaking here,

that God's Spirit

will be moving amongst us.

Maybe, friends,

there's something

that we need to do

in response to this tonight.

Was there a harsh word

that we said?

You know,

I think about it

all the time sometimes.

When you're going to Tesco

to buy your groceries,

or you're at cost

to buy your coffee,

whatever it is you're doing,

right,

you're speaking to people.

Friends,

do we stop and consider

that this person

is made in the image

of God?

Right?

We don't just take it

for granted.

They're not just there

to serve us.

No, no, no.

We are there

to serve them.

How about tomorrow

when you go about

your business?

You ask people

how they're doing.

How was your day?

Right?

Always love it when I,

you know you've got

the name badges

with the names on it.

Always kind of freaks people

out when you use

their names, right?

But it's that way

of doing it.

I'm actually interested

in who you are

because you are a human being

made in the image of God.

Christ died for you.

I want to get to know you.

But just call and courtesy

in the way that we go

about our lives.

Jesus says,

how we treat the least

is the very definition

of greatness.

Our willingness

to get involved

and really care

for those

who have,

so to speak,

nothing to offer us

in return.

How counter-cultural

is that?

You know,

I get emails all the time.

Do you know who from?

I've never signed up

for it.

LinkedIn.

All the time.

Would you like to?

This person wants

to be your friend.

LinkedIn.

What is LinkedIn

all about, right?

It's this website

where you're actively

encouraged to put

yourselves out there.

Remember when the law

firm I worked for

down south,

business cards,

on your desk,

packets of them.

Just give them

out to everybody.

What are we encouraged

to do in this world?

Promote ourselves, right?

Always use people

to get ahead.

Climb the pole.

Advance yourselves.

See how Jesus

just flips it

on its head.

Maybe in particular

in the context

of this letter

as we think about it,

how we treat

one another

in the church.

How we use

our words.

You know,

I've got a friend

who says we should

have a license

for our words.

You've got a license

because there's just

so much harm

can come from our words

and particularly

how we use them

when we're thinking

about our brothers

and sisters.

Right?

Friends,

it would do well

to remember

that we are in

a spiritual battle.

And would the devil

not just love it

if he could somehow

get in between

our relationships

with one another?

Wouldn't he love it

if for the next

number of years

that you were

in this church family

that one person

sat over there,

one person sat over there

and never spoke

to one another?

And that rift

that existed

between them,

it went unchallenged,

it went undealt with

for years and years

and years and years.

We are in a spiritual battle

but we need to see

that damaged relationships

are a big thing

in the eyes of the Lord.

I take it, friends,

is there someone,

as we think about it

just now,

in our lives,

is there someone tonight

that we need to make

the first move towards?

You know,

let me just ask,

I ask myself this

all the time,

when was the last time

you said sorry?

Right?

Just, you said,

put your hands up,

I'm so sorry

I got it wrong.

When was the last time

we did that

with one another?

You know,

are there people

in this church family

who we need to get

right with?

You know,

that niggling thought

about somebody

that's been lingering

in the bottom of your heart,

this passage tonight

says deal with it.

Deal with it.

Who do you need

to text tonight?

Who do you need

to ring later in the week?

Who do you need

to visit?

Who do you need

to go out your way

for to make sure

that you are

right with one another?

You know,

it was D.A. Carson

and I love this quote,

he said,

all of us would be wiser

if we would resolve

never to put people down

except to put them down

in our prayer lists.

How many of our disagreements,

our misunderstandings,

our feelings of bitterness

and lack of forgiveness

in the body of Christ,

friends,

would disappear

if we looked at our conflict

in light of eternity?

Does it really matter?

What are we getting

all tight about,

thinking about

what is ahead of us,

what Christ has accomplished

for us on the cross?

James' pastoral heart here

is that these people

who he knows

and who he loves

would rededicate themselves

firstly to the Lord,

single-mindedness,

and secondly to one another,

their unity.

You know,

we started with Elton John.

Let me just finish

with Stuart Townend,

right,

to finish on a spiritual note.

As Stuart Townend wrote,

he's written this wonderful song

about the unity

that we're to have

as brothers and sisters

because of stemming

from our unity with God.

Friends,

let me just read these words

to us,

and then we're just going to have

a few moments of silence,

particularly before we

come before the Lord

and take communion

together tonight.

Wonderful thing to,

space for us to reflect

on the challenge

that's come from

God's word tonight.

The words of Stuart Townend,

Oh,

how good it is

when the family of God

dwell together in spirit

in love and unity,

where the bonds of peace,

of acceptance and love,

are the fruits of his presence

here among us.

And so with one voice,

we'll sing to the Lord,

and with one heart,

we'll live out his word,

till the whole world sees

the Redeemer has come,

for he dwells

in the presence of his people.

Why don't we just be silent

for a few moments,

and then I'll lead us in prayer.

Psalm 16.

You show me the path of life.

In your presence,

there is fullness of joy.

In your right hand

are pleasures forevermore.

And so, Father,

I pray tonight for us all,

Lord, as a church family,

Lord, that we would be marked

by a devotion to your son,

the Lord Jesus.

Father, thank you

for that wonderful description

of him in John chapter 1,

John 1 · chapter mention

that he is one full

of grace and truth.

Father, for some of us

here tonight,

as we've maybe responded

to James chapter 5 this evening,

James 5 · chapter mention

as we've maybe mulled

on all that James' letter

has contained.

Father, I pray for us,

perhaps tonight,

some of us who have gone cold.

Father, would you,

by your spirit,

ignite that deep love for you

as we grasp more

of the magnitude

of what you have done for us

in sending Jesus.

Father, there is no one like you.

And Father,

I pray for our relationships

with one another as well,

Lord, that you would be

at work in our lives.

Prompt us by your spirit,

challenge us,

put people on our minds.

Father, help us,

mould us,

challenge us,

make us into the people

that you have called us to be.

Thank you, Father,

for your commitment

to us as your people.

And we pray all these things

in Jesus' wonderful

and precious name.

Amen.