A Faith That Shows Up

Well, this morning we conclude our series in the book of James.

It's been a fun ride, but all good things have to come to an end.

What's been unique about the book of James is there's one common thread from the first chapter to the closing chapter of chapter five, and that is James is weaving in this theme of what are ways we can test for authentic, genuine faith.

Many of us who are Christ followers don't often struggle with what we should do, but we struggle with doing what we know we should do.

We struggle with actually living out what we say we believe.

And that's what James has been saying.

If you claim to have faith, that faith should be made visible through your deeds as a doer of the word.

And as James closes this letter and chat this letter in chapter five, he presses his audience and us with a rather searching question.

Is our faith real enough to show up in our prayer, in our repentance, in our confessions, and our love for one another when it is costly?

So as we come to the end of James, he's asking us a simple but searching and pressing question.

Is your faith real enough to act?

Is your faith real enough to act, or is it just faith for namesake?

Now, James, as I've said in the first sermon, I would encourage you if you didn't listen to the very first sermon, which is an overview of the whole book, I would encourage you to go check that out to get a grasp of the whole core message of the book of James.

But James is like the pocketbook version of the book of Proverbs.

He's a straight shooter.

He's true, you know, he was raised a Jew.

He was very familiar with the Old Testament.

And a lot of James's exhortations resemble a lot of wisdom literature we see in the book of Proverbs.

And James has given a condensed, more pointed version to these New Covenant Christians who are primarily Jews who had converted to Christianity.

But now he he's given more corporate applications, talking about prayer, confession, and restoring those who are straying from the truth.

And in our text this morning, I just want to spend some time walking through James's concluding words here and then address some, well, I would say the most controversial and debated aspect of this entire letter and what he talks about praying for the sick.

But he starts off in verse 13, saying, therefore, oh, I'm sorry, in verse 13, is anyone among you suffering, he should pray.

Is anyone cheerful?

He should sing praises.

Now there's some passages of scripture that are very straightforward.

They don't take a lot of exegetical uh untangling to help us understand.

But James has been addressing this theme of suffering to these Christians throughout his letter, and he circles back to say, is there if there is any among you suffering, their default reaction should be to seek their heavenly father in prayer.

But notice what he says after that.

Is anyone cheerful?

James is just giving a practical exhortation here.

I think most of us by default might more naturally go to the Lord in prayer when we are suffering, when things are difficult.

But James says, not only in your suffering, but even if you are cheerful, even if the Lord is blessing you and you see evidence of grace in your life, you should go to him and praise, sing praises to him, pray, thanking God for what he has done and is doing in your life.

This is something I try to train myself to make a practice of because I know it's not my default reaction.

Like, how often in my prayer time do I just go to the Lord to just praise him and thank him for what he's doing in my life instead of asking him for something, or starting with praising him so that he can better listen to my request for something?

But just sitting before the Lord and thanking him for what he has done.

But here's where we're going to spend the most of our time.

Verse 14.

He goes on to say, Is anyone among you sick?

He should call for the elders of the church, and they are to pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord.

The prayer of faith will save the sick person, and the Lord will raise him up.

If he has committed sins, he will be forgiven.

This is the most misunderstood and debated verse in the letter of James.

At first glance, at first glance, it appears that James is teaching that sick believers who are severely ill can expect full physical healing by the prayer of their pastors.

Now, if I'm fully transparent here, some of these passages like this make me a little uncomfortable because in my theological camp, things like anointing people with oil and whatnot sounds a little weird.

But we can't let our personalities or our church preferences and our theological camps shape how we interpret scripture.

We want to know when the Holy Spirit inspired James to pin these words to these Christians, what did he intend for them to do and believe in light of what he has said?

Now I will say, real quick before I get into verses 14 and on, it is noteworthy that James, in his exhortation to these Christians who are part of a church community, it is noteworthy that James assumes that there is a plurality or team of elders among them, which shows even in the early church, it was normative for churches to be filled with a team of pastors, not one solo pastor who ran the show.

Because if you look at his words in verse 14, is anyone among you sick?

He should call for the elders.

He doesn't say he should call for the singer pastor.

He should call for the elders of the church, and they are to pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord.

All right, let's let's dive into what on earth is James talking about here with anointing sick people with oil?

What does this mean?

What does this signify?

There's a lot of theological debate.

I'm not going to get into all that because I don't think it's helpful.

However, I will say this.

I want to help you see what James is commending here by slowing down and asking good questions of the text.

A good hermeneutical rule is when you run into a problematic text, let clearer parts of scripture help you interpret the more difficult parts of scripture.

So find what else God has said about a certain topic that is more clear to help you better understand the passage that might be more unclear to you from your human perspective.

But let me just point out a few things about James' exhortation.

Notice in verse 14 that the sick person is the one who's being encouraged to take the initiative to reach out to the elders to implore their help through prayer.

He calls for the elders and asks for prayer and anointing.

So, on the part of that member, that is an act of faith.

That is an act of seeking God's love.

It's an act of humility, a way of saying, I'm dependent on the God who alone gives life and sustains it.

It also may indicate the severity of this brother's illness.

This person is not someone who, I know right now, as the weather changes, even in our church, we've got a wave of sickness right now, right?

So should we just anoint the whole congregation with oil and pray over everyone?

In this context, it seems that this brother is suffering from a severe illness.

He's not even able to come to the corporate gathering to ask the elders for prayer, which is why he's encouraged by James, initiate for the elders to come and pray over you and anoint you with oil.

So it seems this is a severe illness.

It's hindering even his corporate worship.

Now we have to address, okay, what's up with the oil?

Like what's what's going on with that?

Well, let me let me help us rule out what it doesn't mean.

So in the Roman Catholic Church, for example, there is a teaching of extreme unction.

Extreme unction, which they now often call the anointing of the sick, the Catholic Church would uh say this is a sacrament of the church given to priests, in which they would anoint someone who is seriously ill, uh, on the verge of death, or very old in age.

And they believe that the act of anointing by a priest of this severely ill individual is actually the priest administering God's grace and even forgiveness of sins.

That is not what James 5.14 is teaching or describing in any way, shape, or form.

Because in James's words, if you look down, the emphasis is on humble, faith-filled prayer by the elders and the congregation as a means of grace to bless this severely ill brother.

So any teaching that says anointing of oil by a priest in the church is a sacrament in which that priest has the authority entrusted to him by God to heal someone and to forgive them of their sins is heresy.

Because that is a different gospel.

Only God can forgive sins.

But I would assume most in this room would agree with that.

Second, the oil in James 5.14, if you read carefully, has no power in and of itself.

It's symbolic.

The power comes from the Lord who works through the ordinary means of grace, which is his people, and prayer, prayer offered by the elders and the prayers of the church community on behalf of the severely ill brother in this context.

So the oil has no significance.

The oil has no juju sauce.

It's not anointed by God, where, well, if you just if you get at least one tablespoon on their forehead, that'll heal them, right?

No, that's not what's happening as well.

Which brings me to my third uh point here.

The oil James is referring to is not medicinal.

It has no healing properties.

It wasn't a form of medicine, as best as we could tell, and you know, the society in that culture and day and age.

As a matter of fact, the the closest passage we have in scripture describing a similar event is in the Gospel of Mark, chapter 6, verse 13, when Jesus commissions the 12 and they go out and they're performing miracles through the power of the Spirit, and it says they drove out many demons, anointed many sick people with oil, and healed them.

Mark 6:13

So even there, the oil had no supernatural properties.

It was the spirit supernaturally healing people.

So anointing with oil, I would suggest, based on the context here, what we see in Mark, or even when you look in the Old Testament, you saw this practice of Israel's kings being anointed with oil.

There was no power in the oil there as well.

It was more of a symbolic significance of this person is being consecrated unto God.

It was symbolic.

So similar in the New Testament, what James is saying here is anointing with oil serves as a visible sign of setting someone apart to the Lord.

It's a physical act that points to a spiritual reality, which is we all as God's children belong to God our Father, are entrusting ourselves fully to his care when we are severely ill.

And prayer says that with our words, but the oil shows that in action.

So to illustrate that in a practical sense, if someone in our church fell under some severe illness where they might even be on the brink of death, it is appropriate for the elders of the church and the congregation to come together.

You're not required to, but you could anoint them with some olive oil and to say this oil has no saving grace, it has no power to heal you.

It's just a visible expression of what we are coming to do as a body, which is to separate you unto the Lord for special prayerful attention for him to do you bodily good.

That is what I believe James is encouraging this congregation and this individual to do.

So, bringing that to churches today in our modern era, should we anoint people with oil who are severely sick?

I would say it depends.

It depends.

On the one hand, God doesn't command Christians to seek out every sick brother and sister in the church and anoint them.

So every man cold, every child flew, every everything under the sun shouldn't lead to an email and a call to the elders and the congregation and say we gotta, you know, we'll end with the Lord's Supper every service and then anoint everyone's heads who is under the weather and we'll pray for you.

That's not what James is saying here.

So I would say it depends.

However, this member, again, the context, he clearly was severely ill and was encouraged.

And notice this, he is being encouraged by James, one of the elders of the church in Jerusalem, to take the initiative to reach out, to seek the elders in the congregation's prayer and care on his behalf.

So hopefully that is clear.

There's no, there's not there's no weird juju spiritual sauce happening here.

It's just more of a physical, um sorry, a physical uh and visible expression of a heavenly reality of separating someone unto the Lord.

But praise God, look at the things just just God's grace and how he's designed the church.

Just the little things that shows God cares for his children, even when it comes to your severe illnesses.

God has mechanisms built into place to care for us and to draw us to himself.

But let's look at verse 15.

He gets into some more language that might be a little confusing for us.

He says in verse 15, the prayer of faith will save the sick person, and the Lord will raise him up.

If he has committed sins, he will be forgiven.

Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another so that you may be healed.

The prayer of a righteous person is very powerful in its effect.

What on earth does jud does James mean by the prayer of faith?

Let me let me address maybe some misconceptions to help us bring some clarity here.

Does the prayer of faith mean that when you pray for God to heal you, if that's your prayer, does it mean that in that prayer you can have no doubts?

So James did say something similar in chapter one, right?

If you are suffering and if you lack wisdom to ask of the Lord and He will grant you wisdom because He's generous.

However, don't, don't, don't be like, you know, the waves of the sea, because you'll he will not answer your prayer, kind of a thing.

So, but when you read verse 15, it sounds like a promise.

The prayer of faith will save, right?

The sick person, and the Lord will raise him up.

And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven.

So, does this mean when we pray for healing, when we pray for God to do something on our behalf, do we have to make sure we have zero doubts in our hearts?

I would, I would push back against that a little bit.

Because number one, none of us in this room has the spiritual capacity to flip some kind of switch to guarantee there will be not an ounce of doubt in our hearts when we go to the Father in prayer.

Even times when you might think you are most confident in God, you might have some doubt that you're just blinded to, but God knows that because he's all knowing, but you might be blinded to that.

But we also have biblical data that says the contrary.

So, for example, in Mark chapter 9, we see the father of this demon-possessed son who implores Jesus to heal his son.

Mark 9 · chapter mention

And the text says this the father speaking to Jesus says, But if you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us.

And Jesus' response, he says, Jesus said to him, If you can, I love Jesus.

If you can, everything is possible for the one who believes.

Which means Jesus is highlighting as this father who is desperate, can you imagine your child who you love, possessed by a demon, and no one has been able to help him?

And then you hear of Jesus claiming to be the savior of the world, and you bring your child who's a victim of this spiritual warfare to him, and you're honest, you're saying, if, if you can, and Jesus publicly but lovingly rebukes you a little bit, I'm like, What do you mean, if?

Do you know who I am?

But look at the father's response.

Immediately the father of the boy cried out, you can just hear the anguish in his voice.

I do believe, but help my unbelief.

And Jesus answered that man's prayer.

He doubted, but he also believed.

But he was honest about it.

I believe you can do this, but I kind of struggle to believe you can do this.

And Jesus says, I can work with that.

So we gotta be careful if we think that Jesus only answers prayers that are filled with zero doubts.

Praise be to God that Jesus knows our human limitations and our weaknesses and our doubts, and still, through the power of the Holy Spirit, can offer up prayers to God in the way that we should be praying, according to Romans.

Another example is Jesus Himself.

Jesus had perfect faith when he was on earth living as a man, and yet his prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane was answered with a no, wasn't it?

But notice this, why?

Why was his ge why was Jesus' prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane when he said, Father, if there is any other way to save your people from their sins, besides me dying on the cross and taking on your wrath and being abandoned by you, is there if there's any other way, let it be done?

And God said, There isn't.

You must go to the cross.

Why did God say no to that prayer?

Because Jesus lacked knowledge.

Now that might sound like heresy, right?

We can't, I don't have a time to do a whole sermon on Christology here.

But in Jesus' human nature, he willingly took on human limitations, which means Jesus as God knew all things because God is omniscient.

But when he condescended and put on human flesh, he decided to limit his knowledge, which is why he said things like, I do not know the hour when you know the Lord will return.

He didn't know certain things.

So in the Garden of Gethsemane, when he's praying that prayer, he's praying based on the knowledge he had, but not as God who knows all things, who would have understood he had to go to the cross.

So even then, Jesus received a no because he lacked knowledge.

Or some might think, okay, so is this prayer of faith, is this a um like a prayer of authority?

What I mean by that is, you know, some maybe in like the word of faith movement will sometimes teach this posture of you have to command sickness to obey you and Jesus.

You have to speak in your prayers with boldness, which then turns your prayers into a command, rebuking sickness as if we possess some type of authority over the outcomes of people's lives rather than humble dependence on a sovereign God who heals according to his wise and loving direction and not our own.

I don't think that's what James is referring to either.

I don't think any of us in here has any kind of authority or power to cast out a spirit of, you know, cancer or something like that in somebody who is severely ill.

Does this passage then promise physical healing?

Some who are of the more charismatic persuasion will say yes.

They will say faith equals healing.

If you have enough faith, if you speak authoritatively in your prayer before the Lord, then he will grant healing and prosperity.

Therefore, if healing does not come, it was because you did not have enough faith.

And I would say that has harmed many Christians spiritually and is completely unbiblical.

I mean, the greatest example would be Jesus Himself.

So did Jesus not have enough faith?

Did he die on the cross then with not enough faith as a human example for us to follow?

Absolutely not.

When we pray, we are always acknowledging that God is the sovereign ruler of the entire universe.

We are submitting our prayers to him, asking that they be conformed to his will, and that ultimately he does what is best because only he knows all things.

So let me let me just briefly give a brief primer on prayer.

I could do a whole sermon series on this, but I just want to say a few things because I think it'll help us understand James's words here.

If I had to give a simple definition of prayer, I would say prayer is simply personal communication with God.

That's it.

Prayer is personal communication with God, which means you just talk to God, whether it's individually, whether it's with your family, whether it's together as a church corporately, which means it's just communication.

However, you communicate, you don't have to use fancy words, you don't have to talk like a King James Bible for God to hear your prayers, you don't have to recite verses, you just communicate personally with your Heavenly Father.

Now, why does God want us to pray?

If God knows all things, if He's sovereign over the entire universe, if He has already decreed everything that's going to take place, why does He want His children to pray?

Well, let me give three reasons.

Number one, prayer expresses and cultivates trust in God.

If you are truly praying with a humble heart, asking God to do something, you're acknowledging that God is the one who has the power and the authority to do that thing.

Therefore, you are entrusting yourself to God, saying, God, I give myself or the person I love that I'm praying for over to you, and I trust you to do what is good.

So prayer expresses and cultivates trust or childlike dependence on the Father.

But second, it brings us into deeper intimacy with God.

Because if prayer is personal communication, then the more you personally communicate with God, the more intimate you grow in your relationship to Him.

Imagine if you had a friend, a spouse, or a child who you only talk to quarterly.

Just every three months, you just shot a text to him and say, Hey, how's it going?

How's your week?

Would you say that's a very intimate relationship?

Absolutely not.

We grow in intimacy with God through personal communication with him through prayer.

But third, God wants us to pray.

This is the one that humbles me the most, because God desires to invite us into his sovereign plans for the universe.

God has ordained everything that's going to come to pass in human history.

However, he has also ordained the means by which he will bring those things to be.

And one of those means is through the prayers of his people.

Which means, friends, think about this.

Even though God is sovereign, he has already eternally decreed all things.

There are some things in human history that will not happen unless certain people pray.

There are certain things that will happen because certain people pray.

It has been like this all the way back to Genesis and on to today.

This is the power and effectiveness of prayer.

God genuinely responds to our prayers.

And I think we need to get rid of this language.

I know a lot of people say they talk about unanswered prayer.

I don't know if I agree with that.

I think there's like three categories.

God, either when we pray, he says yes, he says no, or he says yes, but not yet.

Unanswered prayer, I don't see a concept for that.

God always answers prayer.

It's either yes, no, or yes, but not now.

But God genuinely responds to our prayers.

Look at 2 Chronicles 7.14 when the text says, And my people who bear my name humble themselves, pray, and seek my face and turn from their evil ways.

Then I will hear from heaven, forgive their sin, and heal their land.

So God is saying, I am willing to do something on behalf of the nation of Israel on the condition that they repent, confess, and seek my face through prayer.

Which is why we need to also stop quoting this verse about America.

This has nothing to do about the United States.

This is a nation of Israel who has strayed from God, and he gives them a promise.

If only you will repent, humble yourselves, pray and seek my face, and turn from your evil ways, I will hear your prayers, forgive your sin, and heal your land.

A clear demonstration that God works through the means of his people seeking his face in prayer.

We also need to keep in mind that our prayers, and James would agree with this, our prayers are only effective because Jesus Christ is our mediator.

We now, if you're in Christ, have access to the Father through the Son.

Because of Jesus' atoning sacrifice in your behalf, because he spilt his blood and gave you his righteousness, you now have a standing before the God of heaven to bring your request to him as an adopted child, and he will hear your prayers because of the mediator, Jesus Christ, stands in your place.

Which brings me to this is just a word of encouragement.

This is why praying in Jesus' name is important.

And I don't mean like tagging on the phrase in Jesus' name at the end of all of our prayers.

Jesus says in John 14, whatever you ask in my name, I will do it so that the Father may be glorified in the Son.

Now we have to ask the question.

So, as Christians, what does it mean to pray in Jesus' name?

I'll put it this way: praying in Jesus' name means coming to God on his authority and trusting Jesus' finished work as the only reason that we have an audience with the Father.

That's what it means to pray in Jesus' name.

We are coming on someone else's authority, not our own, Jesus's.

And we are basing our prayers, our requests and petitions on God's authoritative, sufficient word, which is why this is just a quick sidebar here.

Adding in Jesus' name to the end of every prayer is not necessarily the most biblical thing to do.

I'm not saying it's unbiblical, so don't look, don't email me.

But I would suggest, friends, it's probably wise to avoid making frequent use of in Jesus' name at the end of every prayer, because you could slip into the danger of just making it just formulism, where it's like, I'm just checking a box to make sure I say in Jesus' name to make sure my prayer, like an email, gets sent off to the Father and he receives it.

However, tagging on that phrase has no spiritual significance.

It's the posture of your heart praying on the authority of Jesus as your mediator to the Father.

That's what's praying in Jesus' name, not just reciting the phrase, and in Jesus' name.

So, for example, a way to just practically do that is you could actually start a prayer by saying something like, Father, I come to you in prayer on the authority of your word and the Lord Jesus Christ, which captures the heart posture of praying in Jesus' name.

All right, off my soapbox, going back to verse 15.

So with that little primer on prayer, looking back at what James is saying here of this prayer of faith, praying for the sick.

And then he talks about in verse 15, the prayer of faith will save the sick person and the Lord will raise him up.

If he has committed sins, he will be forgiven.

What is this language about sickness and being forgiven of sin?

This may be hard to hear, but James friends is teaching that sometimes sickness is connected to personal sin.

This might be a hard thing to think about, but according to the Bible, not just James, sometimes sickness, severe sickness, is connected to unconfessed hidden sin.

That doesn't mean every illness is caused by sin.

So that doesn't mean every time you get a flu or something or any type of sickness comes and ails you.

It doesn't necessarily automatically mean this is God's doing intentionally.

A lot of it, I would say, is just the product of living in a fallen, broken world.

But there is biblical data that shows us that sickness can at times be connected to personal unconfessed sin.

And it doesn't mean, though, that God delights in harming his children.

It doesn't mean God is in the sky just punitively punishing his children.

We never see examples of that.

But we do see in God's fatherly care of his children, especially when you look at the book of Hebrews, God may at times use sickness as loving discipline to draw his children back to his self through repentance, confession, and faith.

But to be clear, I would suggest majority of the sickness we face is simply the result of living in a fallen world.

But as I said, there is biblical data for this.

Let me just give a few examples.

This is why we do something every Sunday when we take the Lord's Supper called fencing the table, where we give clear instructions on, according to the Bible, who has the authority to come and take of the elements.

And we would say those are those who are walking in a manner worthy of the gospel, who are baptized members of a gospel preaching church.

In 1 Corinthians chapter 11, Paul was addressing a group of people who were taking the Lord's Supper in an ungodly manner, and they were falling ill, and some had even died.

1 Corinthians 11 · chapter mention

Paul says, some in the church, if you want to look at this, 1 Corinthians 11, 29 through 30, you can look at that later.

But Paul says some in the church were weak and ill, some had died because they were partaking of the Lord's Supper in a unrepentant and careless way.

This is one of the clearest examples of sickness connected to divine discipline.

Or in Psalm 38, verses 3 through 5.

Psalms 38:3–5

This is David speaking of himself.

He says, There is no soundness in my body because of your indignation.

There is no health in my bones because of my sin.

For my iniquities has flooded over my head.

They are a burden too heavy for me to bear.

My wounds are foul and festering because of my foolishness.

We have to understand, we are holistic beings.

We are both body and soul.

They are interconnected.

There could be sins you commit that have physical effects.

There could be spiritual things that bother you that could have physical effects.

This is how God has designed us.

In Psalm 66, verse 18, the text says, If I had been aware of malice in my heart, the Lord would not have listened, showing there harboring iniquity in our hearts could lead to God not listening to our prayers.

Psalms 66:18

So all that to say there is a connection at times, not ordinarily, to God as a father, bringing in loving discipline through illness to draw people to repentance in himself.

But he goes on and says, if, so he's not assuming there's sin involved, James says, if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven.

Therefore, now he goes corporate, therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another so that you may be healed.

So notice there, friends, the application is not just to the elders.

He says, the body, pray for one another, confess your sins to one another, part one and part two, and pray for one another so that you may be healed.

Now, what does he mean by the prayer of a righteous person?

Who is that?

Because he says the prayer of a righteous person is very powerful in its effect.

Now, to some extent, everyone in here who's a Christ follower, you are righteous.

You are a Christian, which means you have been set apart from sin, the devil, and death, and you now belong to the Lord, and you are righteous.

We are a royal priesthood.

But there are those, it seems James is suggesting, a righteous person would be someone who is walking uprightly with the Lord, who's humbly dependent on him and his word, and he's saying, Go to those types of people for prayer and to confess your sins.

A righteous person is someone walking in repentance and faith, and God delights to work through prayers that flow from humble, obedient, dependent children who are trusting in God on the behalf of struggling saints.

This does not mean that God has a collection of Navy SEAL Christians in local churches and everyone should only go to them for prayer, but it is showing.

So let's back up.

He starts out telling this severely ill brother to reach out to the elders.

The elders of a church typically should be men who are biblically qualified to serve in that office according to 1 Timothy, Titus, and other passages that describe the role of a pastor.

But let's keep in mind the role of an elder is to be an example to the entire congregation of an example and a model to follow, which means the qualifications for an elder should be character traits every member of a local church should be striving towards themselves, not just the pastors.

So it should trickle down like a domino effect into every, like a reverberating effect rather, throughout the congregation.

But those who would be deemed as a righteous person, James says, go to them for prayer and to confess your sins.

Now, as James closes his letter, he moves us from praying for one another to pursuing one another, showing that real faith doesn't speak truth.

It lovingly goes after the wandering believer.

But before we go to 19 and 20, I just want to highlight something significant about James here and what he said so far.

It seems, not just from James, but the entire teaching in the New Testament, that the Lord expects a praying culture in local churches.

That that should just be normative, not just in our corporate gathering.

I'm grateful, you know, every Sunday we have prayer all throughout the service.

We we encourage people to be praying for each other in your homes individually.

But I love that the New Testament shows us it is a, it should be a normative pattern for churches to have a praying culture.

Praying for one another, praying for your own families, praying for your own spiritual health.

And that is a means of God's grace to his children to edify us and build us in the faith, which means we should take priority to figure out how can we, and I would be careful by saying strategically pray on behalf of one another.

I'm not going to say ourselves because I think we do that easily already.

But how often, for example, if have you ever just slowly just read Paul's Paul's prayers and his letters?

What stands out to me, and I again I'm not bashing this, but in a lot of prayer gatherings, sometimes, if you open up, like, hey, who has some prayer requests?

Where are the typical things that are brought up?

You know, my kids starting school, I'm starting a new job, my neighbors, you know, has, you know, some sickness.

God cares about those things.

They're not unimportant.

But if you just look at Paul's prayers as an example, I'm thinking of Paul's prayers.

Uh, he has two of them in the letter of Ephesians to on behalf of the Church of Ephesus.

He prays specifically that those brothers and sisters would grow experientially in their knowledge of exactly how much God loves them.

And with that knowledge, that they would walk in a manner worthy of the gospel and be imitators of God as dearly loved children.

Like Paul often prayed for the spiritual flourishing of the people he loved.

So think about that.

How often as a church member do you pray by name for the spiritual flourishing of other members of this church and then tell them you've done that?

Have you ever been on the receiving end of that where someone has been praying for you and they just reach out, even if it's just a text and say, hey, brother or sister, I just want you to know, like, I just prayed for you and your family.

May the Lord bless you and edify you in the faith.

Like, doesn't that do something to you to know, like, man, someone went before the throne room of God on my behalf?

Praise be to God.

But let's look down at verses 19 through 20.

James is getting real corporate here in the conclusion here.

Now, I'm sorry, let me back up.

I'm not going to say much about verse 17.

It's pretty straightforward.

If you want the story, go read it uh back in the Old Testament.

Essentially, he's using Elijah there as an example of a man who was righteous, who God used to do extraordinary things with extraordinary grace on behalf of his people.

And so he's encouraging them, like Elijah, you can be a righteous person whom God hears on behalf of others.

Elijah didn't have special access to God.

He was a human who was a sinner just like you and I, but the Lord heard his prayers.

But I want to spend some time in verses 19 through 20.

Verse 19, he says, My brothers and sisters, if any among you strays from the truth, the core doctrine of the gospel that makes us Christians, that's what the truth means, and someone turns him back, let that person know that whoever turns a sinner from the error of his way will save his soul from death and cover a multitude of sins.

One of the sobering realities in the local church is that many Christians struggle to live out commands like this.

Not because they're unclear, but because they're costly, because they're a little scary and intimidating.

Yet I would suggest friends, that is deeply concerning.

That is concerning because these instructions go to the very heart of Christianity and what it means to be a local church, a family that watches over one another's souls, not a crowd that simply sits together for two hours on a Sunday morning.

Think about passages like Galatians 6, where Paul says, Brothers and sisters, if someone is overtaken in any wrongdoing, you who are spiritual, restore such a person with a gentle spirit, watching out for yourselves so that you also won't be tempted.

Carry one another's burdens.

That is a command.

In this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.

Or 1 Peter 4:8, above all, maintain constant love for one another.

1 Peter 4:8

What does constant mean?

It's ongoing, it's not a one-time attempt.

Above all, maintain constant love for one another, since love covers a multitude of sins.

James closes his letter by reminding us that God uses ordinary broken sinners to minister to other broken sinners.

Restoring someone who is drifting is not meddling, it's not getting up in someone's business.

Well, it is, but in a redemptive way.

Friends, it is love and action.

And God treats it as a serious, life-preserving work.

When you pursue a brother or sister who has wondered, who is wandering into sin, you are reflecting the heart of your savior who is willing to lead the 99 to go after one.

To not show such love is deeply concerning for someone who professes to be a Christian.

And friends, this is not about playing spiritual police.

This is not us putting on our Holy Spirit badge and acting like we're just, you know, walking around looking for everybody's sin.

No, those people have their own issues.

It's about caring enough to step in before sin hardens someone's heart.

Faith erodes and destruction follows for that person.

Look at the strong warning James uses.

He's not playing games, friends.

He says, let, verse 20, let that person know that whoever turns a sinner from error of from the error of his way will save his soul from death.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer once said, Nothing can be more cruel than the leniency which abandons others to their sin.

Nothing can be more cruel than the leniency which abandons others to their sin.

James, as a wise pastor, ends this letter pulling us outward, not just to pray for one another, but to pursue one another.

A church that loves well does not watch people drift quietly.

It moves toward them with truth, humility, and hope, and honest persuasion.

Charles Burgeon once said this if sinners be damned, at least let them leap to hell over our bodies.

I would encourage everyone in this church to read our church covenant.

As you walk out, it's right before the coffee table on the wall.

Let me just read a few lines from our church covenant.

Our church covenant did not fall from the sky from heaven on golden tablets.

It's our way of summarizing what we clearly see the New Testament teaching about how a church is to live amongst each other.

These are just the four of the first four lines.

But notice every line in our church covenant begins or has corporate language in it.

Line one says, we will submit to the authority of the scriptures as the final word on all matters of life and doctrine, simply meaning we will submit to the Bible as our rule of life.

We will follow God's word.

Number two, we will work and pray for the unity of the Holy Spirit in the bond of peace with one another.

Number three, we will, with God's help, live carefully in the world, denying ungodliness and worldly desires as the new creations in Christ.

And number four, we will be devoted to one another in brotherly love.

With humility and gentleness, we will patiently bear with each other, forgive, encourage, build one another up, and admonish one another when necessary.

I say this very pointedly but lovingly.

If you claim to be a disciple of Jesus Christ, but you don't pursue others entangled in sin with the desire to restore them to Christ, I'm just confused what you mean when you say you're a follower of Jesus.

If your Christianity is only about what's convenient, I don't want to confront that person because that might be a hard conversation.

They might not talk to me anymore.

They might sit on the opposite side of the sanctuary on Sundays if I tell them about that sin I see them doing.

Well, imagine if Jesus had that posture towards you when you were dead in your sins and a slave to sin and Satan.

You are not reflecting the heart of Jesus, you're reflecting the heart of Satan.

I know that's hard to hear, but friends, we exist as a church for a reason.

We are all here to help each other make it to heaven.

We are all here to help each other persevere.

And if God has ordained to work through the means of his people, whether that's prayer or the means of you lovingly opening your mouth and saying, brother and sister, I am concerned for you because of what I am seeing.

That is what God is seeking to do.

If Jesus left the one, left the 99 to go after the one, then we are faithful in resembling that same heart posture by going after those in our church.

You don't need to have a ton of Bible knowledge.

You don't need to be a leader in the church.

You don't, here's a here's something surprising.

You don't need a pastor's permission.

If you see something and it concerns you, the most loving thing you can do is go to that brother or sister, call them to repentance, walk alongside them and make yourself available as an instrument in God's hands to redeem broken, weak people who might be ensnared with sin and bring them back to the Lord.

And what a precious gift it is when the Lord works through that means of grace and you get a front row seat to watch the Holy Spirit change his people before your eyes.

Now, let me be completely candid here.

I've been in ministry long enough where I have done that exact thing.

And to this day, those people I have pursued are loving their sin and want nothing to do with Jesus Christ.

And you know what?

That's between them and the Lord.

Friends, you have no power or authority to convict anyone of sin, to change anyone, to save anyone's soul.

Our job is to go to bed at night with a clear conscience, knowing based on What I understand from your word, Lord, I did everything humanly possible to reflect you in your word to this person, and I entrust the fruit to you.

However, think about Ezekiel.

In the book of Ezekiel, there's this warning.

The warning is if you do not go to my people and tell them what I tell you to tell them, I'm giving the new Cameron Urban translation, so that they stop their ratchetness and repent of their sin, then their blood will be on your hands.

But if you do what I tell you to do, if you preach to them repentance and they repent, then their blood is clear of your conscience.

That applies to us today as well, friends.

So it's kind of like when I'm doing counseling with people who have like relational conflict, and sometimes if someone sinned against the other person, and there's like this wrestling of, well, who goes first?

Like who should be the first one to go and say, I'm sorry and take responsibility?

Well, I would say, according to the Bible, the first person who's aware there's something wrong.

We're not playing this game of, well, you know, you were the one who committed the first act, so I'll wait for you to move towards me.

No, friends, if you see something, say something.

So, in conclusion, throughout this letter, friends, James has been giving us several tests of genuine living faith to reveal whether our faith is real.

James, books like 1 John are great if you wrestle with assurance of your salvation to see does my life line up to what I see in this book?

According to James, we have learned that real faith, praise independence, it confesses sin honestly and loves others enough to pursue them when they wander from the truth.

It doesn't settle for words alone, it shows up visibly in life, which is shaped by humility, gospel grace, repentance, and joyful obedience to the Lord.

James ends by reminding us that authentic Christianity is lived out in community.

Notice how throughout this book, James's exhortations are not to individual Christians primarily, but to the church body corporately as a whole.

A church shaped by the gospel, prays together, bears one another's burdens, and moves towards those who are drifting, not as judges, not as self-righteous jerks, not as Bible thumpers, but as people who recognize if it wasn't for the grace of Jesus Christ, I would be on the other end of this conversation.

We do this looking to Christ, our mediator and shepherd, who pursued us when we were lost and who will one day make his people whole forever.

I am so grateful for how the Lord has designed the local church.

I just feel like, man, God in his kindness has made this system failproof.

If only we will do our part and be faithful to what we see in the text, to be the hands and feet of Jesus.

But if we step back and abdicate ourselves from our role, well, then the church starts, the culture of a church starts to erode a little bit, doesn't it?

Just like in a home, if a husband and a wife decide, you know what, I know the Bible gives me certain roles and functions, but you know what?

I'm gonna do things my way.

If a husband refuse to lead his family and disciple his wife and children, well, guess what?

Something's gonna erode in that family because they're going against God's design.

The same is true of the institution of the local church.

So I'll leave you with this, friends.

Let's take James's words very seriously in the opening of this letter when he admonishes these Christians to not just be hearers of the word, but to be doers also.

One of the greatest marks of condemnations for professing Christians would be to sit in churches for decades, constantly hearing the word of God exposited to you, but doing very little to take that biblical data and actually put it into practice as a doer of the word.

If there's that disconnect that shows, then maybe something's going on there.

How on earth can you receive special revelation from the heart of God Himself, agree with it, and then walk out these doors and say, but I'm not really interested in applying it.

I think Jesus will say, Well, then we need to talk about do you even truly know saving grace?

I hope these sermons have been an encouragement to you.

Let us encourage one another in the faith.

Let us live out our church covenant.

Let's not let it just be a neat document we have or some random sign in the lobby, but something that says, no, these this reminds us what Jesus has saved us to as Christ followers in helping other people follow Jesus as I follow Jesus.

Amen.

Let's pray together.