Bring It Into the Light: Confess, Pray, Heal

Today is week four of our One Another series, and we're winding it up today,

but it's confess and pray for one another.

You know, God never intended his people to carry sin, suffering,

sickness, and weakness alone.

In Christ, the church becomes a healing community where confession is met with grace.

Prayer is practiced with faith, right? And ordinary believers help one another,

come into the light of God's mercy.

So let's open up our hearts in prayer today. Father, we ask you,

Lord, to teach us to stop hiding from you and from one another.

Lord, help us to become the kind of people who pray with honesty, humility, and faith.

In Jesus' name, amen. Amen. We're going to be in a couple of passages, but one main one today.

James 5 verses 13 through 20 in a few moments and 2 Corinthians 12 9 we'll mention

James 5:13–20

that one as well but most of us know what it's like to answer I'm fine.

When we're really not come on can anybody relate yeah how you doing today I'm fine,

you know right somebody ask how we're doing maybe as we come into the church

at work in a text message or maybe maybe while we're rushing through our week

and the answer comes out almost automatically doesn't it,

i'm good doing well doing great can't complain and sometimes that is true sometimes

we really are okay but there are other times when those words are more like

a locked door aren't they.

Behind them are maybe anxiety we haven't told anyone about.

There may be a marriage that looks fine in a public setting and feels fragile at home.

There may be a habit that we keep promising ourselves will stop.

There may be grief that we don't know how to explain. Anger we're embarrassed

by, loneliness possibly that we don't want to admit, or a prayer request that

may just feel too personal to say out loud.

And because we've learned how to keep functioning, we can even start to believe

that carrying things alone is normal.

And over the past few weeks, we've been talking and walking through this series

called One Another, and we've been reminding ourselves that the Christian life

was never meant to be lived in isolation.

In week one, think about it quickly, that we heard that Jesus said these words

in John 13, that his disciples would be known by their love for one another.

And love is the mark of his church. In week two, we looked at Hebrews 10 and

we saw that encouragement isn't optional.

We're called to consider how to spur one another on toward love and good deeds.

Then last week, we talked about serving one another because Christian community

involves, you know, being real.

And when love takes the shape of humility, sacrifice, and practical care for one another.

Community becomes real then. And today, again, as we close this series,

we're stepping into one of the most personal and powerful one another commands in the New Testament.

Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other.

That's a sentence that I think many of us believe is in the Bible.

But if we're honest, think about it, we may not practice it very often.

We believe prayer matters, yet we often pray alone.

We believe grace is real, yet we keep hiding sometimes.

We believe the church is a family, yet we sometimes suffer quietly in the same

room with people who would gladly help us if they only knew.

So we're going to step into James chapter 5 this morning, where the Bible gives

James 5 · chapter mention

us a picture of a church that brings real life into the presence of God together.

This is James 5, verses 13 through 20. So listen as I read this.

James 5:13–20

Is anyone among you suffering? Then he must pray.

Is anyone cheerful? He's to sing praises. Is anyone among you sick?

Then he must call for the elders of the church and there to pray over him,

anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord.

And the prayer offered in faith will save the one who is sick,

and the Lord will raise him up.

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

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

The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much.

Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it would

not rain, and it did not rain on the earth for three years and six months.

Then he prayed again, and the sky gave rain, and the earth produced its fruit.

Verse 19, my brothers, if any among you strays from the truth and one turns him back,

let him know that he who turns a sinner from the error of his way will save

his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins.

That brings us today to point number one, which is bring your whole life to God.

Bring your whole life to God. James begins this section with a very simple question.

Is anyone among you basically in trouble is what he's saying.

That's a broad word, by the way, because what can that mean?

It can mean suffering. It can mean hardship, pressure, distress, difficulty.

And James isn't only talking about one category of pain.

He's speaking to the person who's just overwhelmed, the person who's under pressure,

if you will, the person who feels like life has become heavier than they expected, right?

Then he says, what? Look at it. Let them pray.

After that, he asks the question, is anyone happy?

And his instruction is, let them sing songs of praise. Then he asks,

is anyone among you sick?

And he tells them to call the elders of the church to pray over them and anoint

them with oil in the name of the Lord.

So what's James doing here?

He's teaching the church to bring the whole range of human experience into the presence of God.

When you're suffering, church, pray. When you're joyful, worship.

When you're sick, call for spiritual care. When you're weak, don't disappear.

When things are good, don't forget the Lord.

When things are hard, don't assume you have to be strong enough on your own.

That sounds pretty simple, doesn't it?

But guess what? It's deeply challenging because many of us have learned to divide

our lives into these wonderful things called categories.

There are things we bring to God, and there are things we try to manage on our own.

There are parts of our life we share with our church family,

and there are parts we keep hidden because we don't want to feel needy or exposed

or inconvenient, right?

But James here in this passage gives us a better way.

He says, in effect, whatever condition you're in, bring it to who?

God. If you're hurting, you don't have to dress it up.

Like my foot's hurting again today. Pray if you're grateful.

Don't rush past it, right?

Praise. If you're sick, don't isolate yourself. Ask for prayer.

If you're struggling, don't pretend. Come where? Into the light.

The church that James describes here is very different from a group of people

who actually just gather once

a week, smile politely, and then go back to carrying everything alone.

Y'all, this is a community where people actually know when someone is suffering.

Elders are called. Prayers are offered.

Oil is used actually as a visible sign of dependence on the Lord.

The name of the Lord is spoken over weakness, sickness, and need.

And now, I think we need to say this pretty carefully today,

but James has not given us a formula that says that every sickness will immediately

be healed if we pray the right way.

Scripture actually teaches us to pray with faith. And Scripture also shows us

that faithful people who suffered,

who waited, and depended on God through it all in seasons where healing didn't

come maybe immediately sometimes.

Paul prayed, if you remember, for his thorn in the flesh, you remember that? To be removed.

In 2 Corinthians 12, 9, he said, my grace is sufficient for you,

the Lord told him, for my power is made perfect in weakness.

So we pray with confidence and we trust God with the outcome.

We ask boldly and we surrender humbly.

We believe God can heal and we also believe God is present when the healing

process looks different than we hoped for.

This passage would invite us to stop treating prayer like a last resort.

Prayer is the first movement of a dependent heart.

And for some of us, the most obedient step today may be surprisingly simple.

Tell somebody you're not okay. Ask for prayer.

Let your church family know where you're weak. Call an elder,

a deacon, a leader, pastor.

Reach out to your small group members.

That's why Sunday school is so important, by the way.

Send the text you've been avoiding. Walk to the front after the service in the

altar call today and let somebody pray for you or with you.

You see, you were never asked by Jesus to look strong enough to survive without help.

That's hard for many of us to receive because we've built lives around what? Being capable.

We're used to being the one who holds it together. Anybody got that one?

Who keeps things moving, right, who shows up for others and quietly swallows our own need.

But James here in this passage is inviting the church into a way of life where

trouble leads to prayer,

where joy leads to praise, where sickness leads to care, and where weakness leads to community.

In other words, like we said, bring your whole life to God and let God's people

come near enough to pray with you.

That leads us to number two, point number two.

Step into the light with people you trust.

James actually continues, look at it, verse 16, with one of the most direct

and vulnerable commands in the New Testament.

What does he say here? Look at it.

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

That verse can make us uncomfortable. Prayer sounds good, right? Healing sounds good.

Confession feels risky, right?

Because confession means, church, that I stop managing my image.

It means I allow somebody to know the truth about an area of life where I have

sinned, struggled, or failed, or maybe even wondered.

It means I don't only talk about the hard things that happened to me.

I also tell the truth about the sinful choices, patterns, attitudes, and desires within me.

James here, don't miss this, is writing to believers.

He's speaking to the church, and he says that healing is connected in some way

to confession and prayer within the community of faith.

That doesn't mean that we confess our sins to one another or to another person

instead of confessing them to God.

1 John 1, 9 says that if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will

forgive us our sins and purify us or cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

God alone forgives sin in the deepest and ultimate sense.

But our forgiveness is secured through Jesus Christ, through His death and resurrection,

through His mercy and His grace.

At the same time, James tells us that there is something spiritually healing,

about bringing sin into the light with trusted believers who will pray with us or for us.

Because get this, church, and I might sit down just a minute if y'all don't

care, but get this, sin grows in secrecy.

Shame thrives in silence.

Hidden compromise becomes easier to protect when nobody knows about it, right?

Think about it. Many of us may have experienced that. A thought becomes a pattern.

A pattern becomes a habit.

A habit becomes part of the way we cope.

And then, y'all, over time, we start actually organizing our lives around keeping it hidden.

We delete the message. We clear the browser history. We avoid certain questions.

We say we're just tired when we actually are spiritually dry.

We keep the conversation at a surface level because we're afraid that if somebody

gets too close, they'll see what we're trying to hide.

But James offers a different path here what does he say look at it confess pray be healed,

that doesn't mean you need to tell every person every detail of your life because

wisdom matters amen trust matters safety matters,

get this confession is not a public performance and vulnerability should not

be demanded from people in careless environments. Do you know what I'm saying?

James here in this passage is calling us into honest relationships with mature,

grace-filled believers who can carry the truth with humility.

Church, you need people who love Jesus, love you, who will keep confidence appropriately,

who will pray, who will tell you the truth and won't use your weakness as a weapon.

Now, that's real biblical community. How many of you want to be a part of that?

Maybe for you, confession sounds terrifying because you're afraid of rejection.

You imagine that what somebody might think if they knew the anger,

for example, you carry, the addiction you've fed, the bitterness you've rehearsed,

maybe the jealousy you feel,

the lies maybe you've told, the way you've been treating your spouse,

the private compromises that you keep excusing, or the distance between your

public faith and your private life.

And if we're all sitting here and we're all honest, we're talking about community, Eastwood.

We should understand that fear, right? Most of us do. But here's what I want you to hear today.

Confession is not about stepping into condemnation. in Christ confession is

stepping into mercy oh come on it's stepping into mercy,

Romans 8 1 actually says this therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus,

that means that if you belong to Jesus your sin is serious but it's not stronger than his grace,

somebody say amen come on it's not stronger than his grace your confession may

be painful but it doesn't have to destroy you.

Because in the hands of God, confession becomes part of healing church.

And when the church is healthy, it becomes a place, guess what,

where people can tell the truth and be met with grace that helps them change.

That's important. Grace doesn't shrug at sin, does it? Grace doesn't say it's no big deal.

The cross tells us sin is a very big deal.

Jesus died for it. Yet grace, church, also says your sin does not have to be

the final word over your life.

So what would it look like this morning, Eastwood, to practice James 5, 16?

It may look like asking a trusted believer, can I be honest with you about something I've been hiding?

Maybe it's saying to your spouse, I need to stop minimizing this.

It could mean telling your Sunday school leader, I need accountability and prayer.

And for some, it may involve contacting your pastor here, a counselor maybe

even, or a recovery ministry.

Because the pattern has gone on

possibly long enough and you may need help walking toward freedom, right?

So the goal, don't miss this passage today. The goal isn't embarrassment. The goal is healing.

How many of you want to really be healed in every area of your life?

That's what James is talking about.

The purpose isn't to expose you so people can look down on you.

The purpose is to bring what has been hidden into the light of Jesus Christ.

Where prayer, truth, love, and accountability can begin to do their work in

our hearts. That's the purpose.

And let's also receive this from the other side. If somebody confesses sin or

a struggle to you or me, handle that moment with holy care.

Don't gossip. Don't act shocked. Don't rush to fix everything in 30 seconds.

Listen pray speak truth with gentleness and grace love and grace help them take that next faithful step,

because y'all the church should be one of the safest places to tell the truth

about sin weakness and need since we actually are a people gathered around the

savior who gives mercy to sinners amen.

That's the gospel that leads us to the last point number three pray like god is listening.

Come on, pray like God is listening, church. After James tells us to confess

and pray, what does he say?

The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.

Then he gives us an example from the life of Elijah.

What does he say? Look in the text. Elijah was a human being, even as we are.

That little phrase matters, church. Elijah what? He was a prophet, wasn't he?

And when we read about him in the Old Testament, but his life can feel larger

than minor years, right?

Because what did he do? He confronted kings. He called Israel back to God.

He saw a fire fall from heaven. He prayed and rain stopped. And later he prayed

again. And what happened? The heavens gave rain.

Yet here in this passage, James pauses and reminds us that Elijah was human like you and me.

He wasn't a machine of faith. He wasn't immune to fear.

And in fact, in 1 Kings 19, after this great spiritual victory,

if you remember, Elijah became afraid and ran for his life. Y'all remember that?

He sat under a broom bush and prayed that he might die.

He was exhausted. He was discouraged. He was overwhelmed. So when James uses

Elijah here as an example of a powerful prayer, he's not saying prayer works

for spiritual superheroes. Rose.

Saying that God works through the prayers of ordinary dependent people.

That should encourage you and me. Some of us don't pray for one another because

we don't feel qualified.

We think pastors can pray, deacons, elders can pray, people who know the Bible

more can pray, people who sound more spiritual can pray.

So when somebody shares a need, we'll say, I'll be praying for you.

And sometimes we mean it, but sometimes we walk away and forget.

Or we may feel awkward praying out loud, so we just avoid the moment.

But James here in this passage, he presses us towards a more active faith,

church. Pray right there.

Pray simply. Pray sincerely. Pray because God is listening.

The power of prayer is not in impressive words.

It's not in volume it's not in sound and polished the power of prayer is in

the god who hears his children.

The power of prayer. You see, a righteous person here in James's context is

not someone who has never sinned.

It's somebody who belongs to God, who walks with God, who comes to God in faith

because of Jesus. Believers, y'all, are made right with God.

And as we walk in his ways, our prayers actually become part of his work in this whole world.

That means that your prayer over a friend, maybe in the parking lot, matters.

Your prayer with your child or grandchild before school matters.

Your prayer in a hospital room matters. Your prayer with your Sunday school class matters.

Your quiet prayer for a brother or sister who confessed a struggle actually matters.

God may use your ordinary, imperfect, heartfelt prayer, guess what?

As part of somebody else's healing, endurance, repentance, restoration, and hope for them.

And look in the passage here, because James ends this passage by talking about

somebody who wanders away from the truth. You see it there?

And another person who brings them back.

And I think that's just a deeply relational picture. And that's what this picture summarizes, right?

It means Christian community, don't miss this, Christian community includes pursuit.

Come on, it includes pursuit. If somebody drifts, we don't just notice and move on.

If somebody disappears, we don't only wonder where they went.

If somebody gets entangled in sin, we don't write them off. We pray,

we reach out, we speak with humility, we help them to what?

Come home.

No place like home, y'all. No place like home. And that's part of what it means,

to be a one another people.

Love one another. Encourage one another. Serve one another.

Confess to one another. Pray for one another.

See, over these four weeks, we haven't been talking about church as an event we attend, have we?

We've been talking about a family formed by who? By Jesus, filled by the Spirit,

and sent into the world as a living display of God's almighty love.

And today, James brings us to a very practical question. Are you ready?

Who actually knows where you need prayer?

Sit with that for a minute. Who actually knows where you need prayer?

The answer is nobody, that's not a reason for shame. It may just be an invitation from God.

Who knows where you're suffering? Who knows where you're tempted?

Who knows where you're grieving?

Who knows where you're sick? Who knows where you may be drifting?

Who knows where you need healing? You don't have to tell everyone, but you do need someone.

And for those of us who already have those relationships, the call here in this

passage is to practice them with more faith.

Don't let prayer become a polite phrase to somebody.

Don't let confession become something we only talk about in theory, right?

Don't let community become shallow because everybody's just too busy to ask

honest questions and stay long enough to hear honest answers.

Y'all enjoy this community of faith enjoy it,

don't leave out that door too quick get some of god's people right get some

fellowship imagine what could happen in any church including ours if james 5

became normal among everybody,

people would ask for prayer before everything falls apart,

sin would come into the light sooner shame would lose its grip the sick would

be surrounded with care.

The discouraged would be lifted up. Wanderers would be pursued with love.

Sunday school classes, small groups would become places of real healing.

Friendships would go deeper than just sharing interests and hobbies.

Families would learn to pray together with honesty. People who thought they

were alone would discover that God had placed brothers and sisters around them.

That's the kind of church the world needs to see more importantly that's the

kind of church Jesus is forming a church where love has hands and feet.

Church where encouragement has a voice, a church where service has a towel,

a church where confession is met with grace, and a church where prayer is practiced with faith.

You see, let me say it this way.

God grows his people through his people. You know that?

At this slide, bring your whole life to God, step into the light with people

you trust, and pray like God is listening.

So as we close this series today, I don't want you to let this become four weeks of just good ideas.

Ask God this morning for one concrete step.

Maybe today you need to receive prayer.

At the end of the service, again, I challenge you, don't run out. Don't rush out.

Come forward ask somebody to pray with you maybe you need to confess something

to a trusted believer this week set that meeting make that phone call,

send the message maybe you need to become the kind of person that other people come to with honesty,

ask god to make you gentle trustworthy prayerful and wise right maybe you know

somebody who's wondered or is wondering,

and the spirit is bringing that person to your mind, the name to your mind,

reach out with humility.

Don't send a harsh message, right?

Don't send it in all caps, in other words, right? For sure. Reach out with humility.

Don't send that in any kind of spirit other than love.

Don't avoid them because it feels awkward. What do we need to do? Invite them to coffee.

Tell them you care. Pray for them before you speak to them.

And maybe, church, the first step is simply admitting to God,

Lord, I've been hiding. That may be you today.

I'm tired. I need your mercy. And I need your people.

That's a good prayer. God hears that prayer. You see, we started today with

a simple phrase I think many of us use when we don't know how to say what's

really going on. What is it again? How you doing?

What i'm fine you see that's a phrase we use when.

It's not fine. Sometimes anyway, many times I think.

And James has brought us somewhere in this passage today, more honest and more hopeful.

He's shown us a church where trouble actually leads where? To prayer. It leads to the altar.

Joy leads to praise. Sickness leads to care. Sin comes into the light.

And God's people pray for one another with faith. Wow.

That's the life If Jesus invites us into Eastwood Baptist Church,

it's more vulnerable than pretending, isn't it?

It's more humbling than self-reliance. It's also where healing begins to take root, by the way.

So here's the call as we end it.

Don't live the Christian life alone.

Love someone on purpose. Engage someone this week.

Serve where there's a need. Confess what needs to come into the light.

Pray with somebody. Let somebody pray with you.

Take one faithful step toward being known and take one faithful step toward

knowing and caring for somebody else.

You see, this whole faith thing becomes so much more powerful when we travel with one another.

Do you get it? One another?

That's what James is telling us today. Let's pray.

Father, I pray you'd open our hearts today. Teach us to stop hiding from you and from one another.

Help us become the kind of people, Lord, who pray with honesty, humility, and faith.

In Jesus' mighty name we pray. Amen.