The Test Of Prayer

Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing praise. Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick. And the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working. Elijah was a man with a nature just like ours. And he prayed fervently that it might not rain. And for three years and six months, it did not rain on the earth. Then he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth bore its fruit.

James 5:13–18

This is the word of the Lord. Would you pray with me and for me as we begin this morning? Father, we ask again for your help. Bring the comforter. Illuminate our minds. Help us to understand this difficult passage. Help us to live by it. Help us to rely on you in all that we do. And not to come to you when times are hard only, but to come to you in the good and the bad, and to pray without ceasing. Help us to be a church that prays, for that is where the power lies for all of us. We pray these things in Christ’s name. Amen.

In 2013, the Canadian airline company called WestJet set up a virtual Santa who greeted the customers as they waited to board their flight. And when the passengers would scan their boarding pass, it would activate this, showing a virtual Santa who was nearby on a camera, greeting them by name, and then asked them what they wanted for Christmas.

Some of the kids said a toy that they really wanted. Maybe they saw the commercial and they said, that’s what I really want, Santa. I want this. Others asked for a new camera. Another, a new tablet. And one even asked for a very expensive big screen TV. They thought it was cute, but thinking nothing of it, the passengers then boarded the plane, took off, landed, and they did not at all expect what would happen next.

When the passengers went to pick up their luggage from the luggage carousel, they noticed that their luggage had already been collected and that there was a present next to it with their names on it.

See, what had happened was after the virtual Santa asked them what they wanted, he wrote it down and the airline gave it to their employees at the destination and they went out and purchased the gifts that they had requested. And so here were these passengers shocked and just blown away that they had been given such wonderful gifts.

Pretty nice, right?

Well, that is, so long as you asked for something good.

But not everyone did. In fact, one guy asked for new socks, which he got. And I’m sure he was grateful for those new socks, but how grateful would you be seeing you asked for cheap socks and the person next to you was opening a brand new laptop? Be a little disappointed, would you not? You would feel a little bit of regret. In fact, I would venture to say that you would be wishing that you had simply asked for more, especially knowing that you would have received it if you had simply asked.

In the book of James, chapter 5, as we just read, it says,

Is anyone among you in trouble? Let them pray. Is anyone happy? Let them sing songs of praise. For the prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.

James 5:13, 16

Our passage this morning is verses 13 through 18 from James chapter 5. So if you have your Bibles, I would encourage you to open them there with me this morning.

And in this text, James is turning our attention to the power of prayer. And so far in the book of James, we’ve been looking at what real faith looks like. Because there is such a thing as fake faith. There is such a thing as counterfeit faith that many, though, trust in and believe will save them, does not actually save them.

For instance, last week, we looked at the test of lying, and we saw how our yes should be yes and our no should be no. And that’s kind of an idea of what the whole book of James has been about. It’s a series of tests, not that we pass and then earn and acquire faith, it’s a series of tests that indicate what’s really in our hearts. That’s what it’s about.

And so this morning, we’re going to look next to the one test, one of two tests that we have left, which is the test of prayer. We have one more left, and we’re done with the book of James. That’s next Sunday. It’s gone fast, sort of.

But real faith prays. And not only does real faith pray, but real faith prays in a way expecting things to happen. Real faith prays knowing that prayer makes a dent on our lives, on each other’s lives, and the world around us. And why is that? Because real faith understands this: prayer is powerful. Why is prayer powerful? Because prayer moves the hand of an omnipotent God.

Prayer moves the hand of an all-powerful God, and He has told us to come to Him and pray and to ask for things.

Let’s look at three verses quickly. In John 14:13, it says, “Whatever you ask in my name,” this is Jesus talking, “this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.” Christ promises that if we pray in His name and we pray according to His name, He will do it. And what’s the reason He will do it? Because we’re so special? Absolutely not. That the Father may be glorified in the Son.

Matthew 7:7–11 says this:

Ask and it will be given to you. Seek and you will find. Knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, the one who seeks finds. And the one who knocks, the door will be opened.

Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you, then though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him?

Matthew 7:7–11

The Bible is full of passages calling us to pray, that God wants to answer our prayer.

And so, church, I ask you this morning: do you believe that prayer works? Do you believe that God actually answers prayer?

You know, if I’m honest, for a large part of my life, I kind of did, but really didn’t ultimately. Sure, I prayed. You know, I prayed before my meals. I prayed before I went to bed at night. Those kind of good habits that I had baked into my life. But really, deep down, I’m not convinced I really believe that prayer mattered. Not really. And part of my thinking was this: God is all-powerful. God is completely sovereign. And sovereign, what does that mean? He’s in control. God is the author of human history. He’s not running around haphazardly trying to keep up. No, God knew before the foundations of the world that Christ would be slain. They planned for it.

And so because I understood God’s sovereignty and his complete control over human history, I found myself thinking, why should I pray? What’s the point? Isn’t that sort of like asking God to make the sun come up tomorrow? Why? It’s going to happen. Why am I praying for it? That’s how I thought.

But then something changed my thinking. And it wasn’t even a sermon on this text. It was just a sermon that referenced this text. And the Lord used this in a special way in my life. And I want to read it for you. It comes from Isaiah 37. Here’s what it says. And don’t zone out for this. This is huge. This is very helpful, I think.

Then Isaiah, the son of Amoz, sent to Hezekiah, saying, ‘Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: Because you have prayed to me concerning Sennacherib, king of Assyria,’

Isaiah 37:21

And he skips down a few verses and says,

He shall not come into this city or shoot an arrow there or come before it with a shield or cast up a siege mound against it. By the way that he came, by the same he shall return. And he shall not come into this city, declares the Lord. For I will defend this city to save it,

Isaiah 37:33–35

Why? For my own sake and for the sake of my servant David.

Well, we quickly say we believe that God answers prayer. Sometimes the lack of prayer in our life shows that we really don’t believe that he does. And clearly in that passage, many lives were saved. Israel was victorious because of one prayer. You see that in the text? Prayer is powerful.

Now think about this a second. If you were one of the passengers and one of the employees came up to you before you went and checked in and stopped at that secret Santa and said, hey, guess what? They’re going to ask you what you want for. So think about it because you’re actually going to get it. Would you ask for socks? Of course not. Definitely would not. Yet, church, aren’t we often guilty of small prayers, of little prayers, not believing, not prayers based upon faith that honestly believes that God delights to give his children gifts, spiritual blessings? We pray asking for spiritual socks when the reality is we could be asking for heaven’s spiritual riches. And all we have to do is ask. They’re there. They’re for us. They’re set aside.

In fact, I would encourage you this week to go read Ephesians chapter 1 and see the wonderful spiritual riches that are in heaven, Christ’s riches, which for those who have real faith and are in Christ, all of those are yours. They wait there, and they are accessed by prayer.

There is absolutely nothing that God keeps back from us. Do you realize that? He doesn’t sit there and say, oh, you know what? These spiritual riches you need. No, no, no, no, no, no. I’m going to hoard these. These are for myself. No, he doesn’t do that. We have access to heaven’s throne room. We have access to heaven’s vaults. And now some false teachers will wrongly tell you that that means you can pray to God and he will make you rich. And that’s the sign of good faith, of strong faith. But that’s not the case. Prayer accesses heaven’s spiritual riches to us. Prayer is important. Prayer is massive.

The 19th century Methodist preacher Samuel Chadwick once said this about prayer: Satan dreads nothing but prayer. His one concern is to keep the saints from praying. He fears nothing from prayerless studies, prayerless work, prayerless religion. He laughs at our toil. He mocks our wisdom, but he trembles when we pray. That’s a good quote. Chadwick was right.

On our own, we are weak. We are clay vessels, Paul tells us. We shatter easily, but we are filled with the Holy Spirit of God, which brings great power to us. And when we pray, things happen. On our own, we cannot accomplish a single thing for eternity. It doesn’t matter if we fill this building and build another building and fill five buildings. It doesn’t matter. If we are prayerless, if we are relying on our own strength, it’s all for naught.

Satan laughs. He laughs at our toil. But through the power of God, we finite creatures can find infinite power at work on our behalf. Do you believe that? Don’t answer too quickly.

Do you believe that? James does. And this morning, James is calling us to as well.

So far in the book of James, we have been called to action. This is not a theological treatise like Romans is. James is a call to action. For as we saw earlier, faith without works is what? Dead. It’s useless. It does you nothing. And so it is fitting that James closes out his book by turning us to the true source of power that enables us to do everything he’s called us to do so far. Because if it doesn’t end with prayer, if we don’t have prayer in this equation, you can look and learn and understand everything we saw in the first five chapters of James, and it’s only going to make you a more clever devil. We need the Holy Spirit. We need the Holy Spirit within us. And that’s what real faith brings. And when the Holy Spirit of God is within us, only then can we pray to God and access the power of God that we need to fight spiritual battles.

In our passage this morning, we’re going to see two things. We are going to see that real faith understands the power of prayer. And secondly, real faith understands the conditions for powerful prayer. Okay? Two things. That’s what we’re going to see this morning. Because real faith depends upon God through prayer, right? That’s James’s point.

1. Real Faith Understands the Power of Prayer

Let’s tackle this first one: the power of prayer. Real faith understands the power of prayer. Verse 13 says,

Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing praise. Is anyone among you sick? Let them call for the elders of the church and let them pray over him.

James 5:13–14

James’s first example here of the power of prayer has to do with the power of healing. And we have to be extremely careful with this text, don’t we? Right? Because we are surrounded by all sorts of harebrained theology that is derived from this text.

And to be fair, this is actually a really difficult passage. Last week’s passage was a whole lot easier. Stop lying, tell the truth, right? It’s pretty straightforward. This one, it’s not so straightforward. In fact, this passage is considered by many theologians to be one of the most difficult passages in the entire New Testament, if not the whole Bible. And I’m sure you can see why.

Is this physical healing that James is talking about? Or is it spiritual healing? Is the condition for this healing based upon the power and strength of our faith or upon the will of God? What kind of forgiveness does James reference as being offered here? That was a hard question when I first read this. I’m like, what are you talking about, James? Okay? So what kind of forgiveness is being offered and how does it connect to our sin?

Now, to make matters worse with this passage, there’s a lot of different views on it.

For instance, John Calvin said that it had nothing to do with the gift of healing because he understood this text as being about the specific gift of healing, which he said was only for the early first century church, which ceased. That was John Calvin’s view.

There’s another John, and I won’t say his last name, but many of you have heard his name. He says this has very little to do with physical healing at all and is primarily addressing spiritual healing and restoration. Still, other theologians will say, no, no, no, no, no. This is about physical healing. Come on, read the text. It’s clearly about physical healing. And if we do the things that James tells us to do here, we can be healers. We can heal the sick. And all of this isn’t very helpful for me because it leaves a young pastor like myself standing here on Sunday morning thinking, would you guys just get this figured out so I have something to preach?

Well, often it is the case that the theologians are pretty much unanimous, but this morning they are not.

Nevertheless, all scripture is God-breathed. It is profitable for us, and so we’re not going to skip over even difficult passages. And we’re going to do our best to understand this text while being faithful to this text. And by being faithful, what we’re not going to do is draw conclusions that the text doesn’t support, nor are we going to avoid conclusions that the text supports.

Now, how are we going to attempt to do this? Well, here I got an idea. As Sherlock Holmes would often say to Watson, eliminate the impossible, and whatever remains, however unlikely, must be the truth. All right, let’s use that lens and apply that a little bit to this text. Let’s see what we can shave off here, see if we can get some of the fat cut, and hopefully we’ll have some meat left over to work with.

To begin with, I think Calvin was wrong. All right? I think he misunderstood this text. And I say that very, very hesitantly, knowing that he is a massive, massive theologian who was very, very intelligent. But I think he was wrong to conclude that this passage has nothing to do with physical healing for us today.

However, James isn’t at all suggesting either that all sickness can be healed if you have enough faith. James is not saying that. All right?

And we need to remember this, being that we live in a culture where we are surrounded by fake charlatan healers, all right? These guys who are super good at leg lengthening, right? Or fixing migraines or back pain or all these wimpy, pitiful miracles that they claim to be able to perform. And yet these faith healers go running when a global virus pops up. They’re nowhere to be found. They’re under the rocks. They head for the hills. And so we need to remember that.

And while James understands that all sickness isn’t due to sin, did you catch that? James understands that all sickness is not due to sin. He also understands that sickness is sometimes due to sin. It’s not either or. Both and. It depends on the situation. Because the truth is, sometimes sickness is because of sin, and sometimes sickness is not because of sin.

And notice the language James uses in this passage. Look closely at it. He doesn’t say, because they have sinned, they are sick, nor does he say, it is never due to sin that causes sickness. He uses the word if. If they have sinned. Right? They’re sick. We see they’re sick. And if they have sinned, then he explains that. The Bible tells us that sometimes sickness and suffering in a Christian’s life is absolutely due to sin.

And about once a month, typically when we look at 1 Corinthians 11 with the Lord’s Supper, we see this.

We see how suffering and sickness sometimes is the hand of a loving God trying to stir our hearts to repentance. That’s what it is. In fact, in John 5:14, Jesus warns the man he had just healed. He says, stop sinning, lest something worse happen to you.

James also brings up the example at the end of our passage here of Elijah from 1 and 2 Kings, who prayed to God and he prevented rain for three years and six months. And what was that? It was an act of judgment upon God’s people for turning to idolatry and for their sin.

We also have the early New Testament example of Ananias and Sapphira. And you remember what happened to them. They lied about how much they gave in the offering. So don’t lie about that. And what happened to them? God struck them dead. One at a time. They came in, prophesied that they would die. It happened. Took them out and buried them right afterwards. And so we must not say that suffering and sickness in the life of a believer is never due to sin. For we know that God disciplines those he loves. Which is why James calls us to pray in faith and confess our sins so that we will be healed? No, that we may be healed. Very important difference there. It’s not will, it’s may.

The Apostle Paul knew all too well that sickness and suffering wasn’t always due to sin. How do we know that? 2 Corinthians 12.

What was the deal with Paul? Well, Paul explained there how he suffered a physical affliction, what he called a thorn in the flesh. And does Paul attribute his thorn in the flesh to some sin on his behalf? Is it punishment or discipline for a sin he’s done in his life? Absolutely not. Look at the text. Here’s what Paul says.

So to keep me from becoming conceited, because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited. Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore, I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of God may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with my weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

2 Corinthians 12:7–10

Sometimes sickness and suffering is because of sin. But sometimes sickness and suffering is not due to sin. Clearly.

Which means that since we don’t know everything, I shouldn’t come up to you or you up to me if I get sick and say, hey, you got sin in your life, brother. What is it? Job’s friends did that. That was terrible advice. Right? A couple weeks ago, we looked at the book of Job, and sorry, we looked at the early part of chapter 5 of the book of James, and James references Job. And does he say, hey, look at Job. He suffered because of his sin. No. Job in the scriptures is an example of somebody who suffered greatly, and it had nothing to do with sin. It was God bringing suffering into Job’s life to accomplish greater purposes than merely punishment for sin. Job was a man who suffered greatly. And yet there were reasons that God brought suffering into Job’s life, but it wasn’t because of sin.

And so when somebody is around us in pain or sick or struggling, don’t you dare walk up to them and say, You’ve got sin in your life. If you only had more faith, you would be healed. Let me show you what James says, because you will be taking James out of context. That is not James’ point. That’s not the Bible’s point.

Church, do you realize that sickness and suffering are tools in the hands of an omnipotent God used to shape you into the image of Christ? All things work together for good for those who love God, which includes evil and suffering. It’s true.

Suffering then is sandpaper upon our hearts. Yes, it hurts. Yes, we don’t like it, but it’s necessary for smoothing out those rough edges in our life that wouldn’t be smoothed out otherwise. And because God cares more about our holiness than He does about our happiness, He often permits and plans for suffering the lives of His children to accomplish a great work in us.

This is not something you will hear very often, right? The common message is: suffering is bad, run from it, it’s always terrible, and if you have enough faith, God won’t put you through it. It’s a lie, it’s not true. And if you believe that way, when suffering comes, you’re going to be crushed because you’re going to start thinking, man, what’s going on with my faith, Lord? Is there a sin in my life? I’m just not seeing. You’re going to have a panic attack. Now, don’t get me wrong. You should absolutely question that when there is sin or when there is pain and suffering in your life, but that’s not a default conclusion. Absolutely not. Romans 8:16–17, here’s what Paul writes:

The Spirit Himself bears witness with our Spirit that we are children of God. And if children, then heirs, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ.

Romans 8:16–17

What’s the condition for this? Provided that we suffer with Christ. Provided that we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him. It never feels good. I get it. We never like suffering. But make no mistake about it. Suffering is a tool in our loving Father’s hands used to shape us to become more like Jesus.

But if you know that and you believe that it’s true, do you see how that will help you in the middle of suffering? May not feel good, but at least you’ll know that it’s working out for a greater good.

For those with real faith, then, when we experience suffering, one of two things is going to happen. Well, actually, one thing is going to happen if we have real faith. We’re going to be drawn towards God. If we don’t have real faith and suffering hits, it’s going to drive us further away from him.

The only thing it will absolutely not do is leave you in the same spot. It’s not possible. That sandpaper is going to do something on you. It’s going to work.

For those with real faith, when you come out then of the suffering, and this is always the fun part of it, you will look back and you will see the hand of God that was at work. Realizing that though it hurt, it was the cut of the great physician who was harming you in order to heal you. That’s what it was. And I’m sure many of you have experience of that, where there was a time in your life where it was hard. It was dark. And you’re like, God, where are you? Get this burden out of here. Lift my afflictions. And you heard silence from heaven. But then after you came out of that, you look back and you see the hand of God. And you praise God for what he did with the suffering. Yes, you want to ask for it again, but you would never, ever dare not want that experience because you see how God used it.

And so recognizing this, we are called to pray. But we are always to pray how? As James says, in the name of the Lord.

2. Real Faith Understands the Conditions for Powerful Prayer

Which brings us to our second point. Real faith understands the power of prayer, and real faith understands the conditions for powerful prayer. James says to pray in the name of the Lord. And similarly, in John 14:13–14, Jesus tells his followers,

Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it.

John 14:13–14

Okay, so does that mean we can just ask for a million bucks and we’ll all get it if we have enough faith? No, it’s not what this is talking about. What does that mean then to pray in the name of the Lord? We do this all the time around here. We close our prayers in Jesus’ name.

Well, again, let’s incorporate Sherlock’s advice and eliminate what it doesn’t mean.

Is this an incantation that builds power the more we say it? Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Lord, Jesus. I keep mumbling that. Will that build the power of my prayer? Is that what this is? Should we chant it like many of the modern-day false teachers do? No, absolutely not. For it is not a hocus-pocus spell that we simply attach to our prayers without meaning or thought.

To pray in Jesus’ name means this: it means to pray on behalf of God, in accordance to the will of God, with his authority. It’s saying, I am asking these things, and may they only come true if this is your will, God, not my will. And I ask so on God’s authority, not my own. And that tells us that means it’s not magic words for getting any greedy thing our hearts desire. And praise God, it’s not, because if God said, I will give my children whatever they ask for, that would be a curse. That’d be a Midas curse is what that would be. That’d be awful for us. Because if God said yes to all of our prayers, it would result in terribleness in our life.

Have you ever prayed to God for something in your life that you thought was good, that you thought you needed, and if you had, it would make your life better and it would be good for the kingdom? But all you got from God was a no? And then, have you ever had it where you look back on that no and say, God, thank you for not saying yes to that, for that would have been the worst possible thing for me? I’ve had that happen. I trust you have as well.

Because God is a loving father, we must remember that when he withholds from us, it’s for our good. He’s doing something in your life. He’s not an abusive father who’s just keeping back the basic necessities for fun, no, or slapping you around for fun. No, he’s doing things for our good and his glory. Which is why in the Lord’s Prayer we are instructed to pray, what? Thy will be done, not my will be done. That’s a massive difference.

So, yes, let us absolutely pray to God, asking him for much bigger things than new socks. Don’t hold back. Go before him, but always pray in Jesus’ name. Ask for great and wonderful things. Ask for healing when you’re sick. Ask for healing for others when they are sick. But let us ask in the name of our Lord Jesus, knowing that God’s will is always better than our own. So, if I ask something I shouldn’t ask, I trust God to not give me that because God is in control and He gives us what we need.

I got a quick question here before we move on. If you had a friend who only called you when they needed money, how would you feel about that friendship? And with that said, I ask you: do you only pray to God when things are bad? Or, as James instructs us to do, do you pray in the good times with praise and thanksgiving when things are going well? We should. We shouldn’t just be calling God every time we’re low on money. No, we should be rejoicing, praising him, thanking him for even the basic necessities like a wonderful warm building we have, a nice sound equipment, people in this church.

There’s many churches across this nation that are closing down. And praise God, we’re not. We should thank him for that.

In verse 14, James instructs us to call the elders, which are pastors. We know that. We’ve talked a lot about that. An elder is a pastor, is a bishop, is a shepherd. It’s all the same office, different functions.

But we are to call the elders to pray over the sick and anoint them with oil. Catch that? Anoint them with oil. What’s the deal here with that? Do I need to go back to school and get my masseuse license so I can start giving everybody oil massages? Is that what James is talking about?

Now, maybe you’re ready to go there with our relationship, but I’m sorry, I’m not quite there yet. But thankfully, I don’t have to be because I don’t think that’s what James is saying.

Now, there are a lot of different views on this oil thing. That’s part of the thing that makes this text confusing. But let’s apply Sherlock’s thing and let’s eliminate what we know it can’t be. Because there are other scriptures that speak to this that help us get some insight in how to understand this.

One, the oil for sure is not something that heals us on its own in and of itself. It’s not like the oil has some magic properties that when you bless it and pray over it, it becomes magical and we can go around and flick it on people and it’ll start healing them. That’s not what it does, all right? It’s not a sacrament.

In fact, as good old Baptists, we don’t even believe in sacraments. We believe in ordinances, the Lord’s Supper and baptism. And why do we make that distinction? Because we are saved by grace through faith, not of ourselves. It is the gift of God that no one may boast. And a sacrament is a means of gaining grace through our actions. An ordinance is something we do and observe out of faithful obedience. So we don’t even believe in sacraments. So this is definitely not a sacrament. All right? And in fact, it’s not even an ordinance. This is not just the command that we are supposed to do as a symbol.

So what is it then? Well, there’s a couple other options. We know in biblical times, in the ancient world, that oil was often used as medicine. There we go, get the words out. What they would do is they would take the oil. I don’t know if it was olive oil, I don’t know what it was, but they would take the oil and they’d mix alcohol with it. They would mix wine with it because it had disinfectant properties. All right?

And we see that in Luke chapter 10, verse 34 with the Good Samaritan. The people walked by, they prayed for him, and they’re like, oh, yes, yes, on my way, you know, I’m too busy, but I’ll pray for you. The guy’s laying there, about to die, because he got snot kicked out of him. All right? He’s almost dead.

And so what happened then was the Good Samaritan comes along, finds this man who had been robbed and severely beaten. And do you remember how he helped him? He bandaged his wounds and poured oil and wine on him. He mixed them together and poured it on him. Now, I don’t think this guy was cooking. All right? I think what he was doing was mixing them together to help heal him. It was a medicine, is what it was. It was relaxing. The oil would soothe and relax, and the alcohol would disinfect. And it brought a smoothing, healing effect.

Now, is this for sure the reason that James is bringing up the oil? Honestly, I’m not sure. I can see good reason why that might be. But the reality is, we’re not totally sure.

In fact, there’s a good argument to be made that this might actually just be symbolic. What did Jesus do when he healed the guy with the mud? Or the guy with, I just told you the answer.

What did Jesus do when he healed the guy’s vision? He took the mud, spit in it a little bit, and rubbed it on his eyes. Now, did that mud have like healing properties in it? Absolutely not. It was symbolic of what was going on. He was using it as an object lesson. So, either way, if it’s medical, we have good reasons to think it is. If it’s symbolic, we have good reasons to think that it is. But thankfully, that’s all it is. Because I don’t want to get into masseuse business here.

But the biggest point is this: we are called to pray, and we are called to take care of one another.

Think of those guys who saw the Good Samaritan laying there. If they had just said, Oh, I pray you will be healed, and walked on their way, they wouldn’t have done their whole job. They wouldn’t have done it right. No, what they needed to do was stop and help the man. They had the power within them, just like the Good Samaritan did, to do something for the guy’s suffering and pain, but they didn’t. And so there’s a good argument here to be made that what James is telling us to do, church, is don’t just sit there passively and pray. If you have the ability to do something about it, get off your seat of your couch and go out and help the person, do something for their physical hurting.

Also, this means that if we get bad disease, we don’t sit in our house refusing to go to the doctor’s office and pray. There’s many cults around us who will say that. Don’t use the medical community at all. Just pray. You’ve got to have more faith. Just sit there until that faith level keeps going through the roof and then eventually you’ll be healed. No. Because it is often the case that God’s means of healing is via natural means.

Yes, he can absolutely heal supernaturally. He could think the thought and we’d be healed. We know that. But at the same time, we find that through God’s sovereignty, he often does heal through natural means.

And so as a church, yes, we should pray for one another for healing. But if we can actually do something to aid in the healing of our brothers and sisters in Christ, we should do what we can to help.

Now, the next difficult question here in this passage, there’s lots of difficult questions here, and that’s fun. We’ll deal with them.

Why do we call the elders or the pastors to come visit the sick? What is so magical about that? Well, the answer is nothing magical about that, but there’s good reasons for that. Look what the text says: the prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.

Church, there will eventually come a time in your life when you will be physically hurting or spiritually hurting or sometimes both hurting, spiritually and physically. It’s going to come. Many of you have been there or are there right now. And if it hasn’t happened to you very much, just wait a while, it will. And when this happens, what James tells you that you need to do is lean on those who are spiritually strong.

Have you ever felt like such a failure when it comes to your Christian living and your faith that you’re ready to throw in the towel? You’re like, what is the point? I am awful at this. I keep making the same mistakes. Lord, where are you? Do you ever feel that way? Of course we do. Have you ever been so down in the dumps that prayer was the absolute last thing you wanted to do? Why pray? God’s not going to change my situation, anyways. Often it’s easy to think that way.

And actually, it’s funny because James brings up a man who did think that way. Who was it? Elijah. What did the great prophet Elijah, who the Israelites revered, what did he do when he got down in the dumps? Prayed for death. He had suicidal prayers. And so, if a man like Elijah can hit that, make no mistake, you absolutely can too.

And when we hit these low points in our lives, James has some instructions for us: Rely on those who are standing. When you’re too weak to stand, lean on those who are able to stand.

Psalm 66:18 gives us a good reason for this as well. It says,

If I had cherished iniquity in my heart, the Lord would not have listened.

Psalm 66:18

When you are suffering physically or suffering spiritually because of sin in your life, you need to rely on others, which is why James instructs the church when they are suffering, whether that’s spiritually, whether that’s physically, whether that’s due to sin or not, go to the pastors. Go to the elders. For the prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.

It’s like Galatians 6. You who are spiritual, restore the brother who is fallen. That’s kind of the idea James is pointing us to.

But think about this with me. If the prayer of a righteous man accomplishes much, we can also logically conclude that the prayer of a more righteous man accomplishes even more, right? Pretty straightforward. That makes sense. However, this also means, don’t miss this, the prayer of a perfectly righteous man accomplishes perfectly. Did you catch that? I’ll say it again. If the prayer of a righteous man accomplishes much, we can conclude that the prayer of a more righteous man accomplishes even more. But also, this means that the prayer of a perfectly righteous man accomplishes perfectly.

Now, I hate to break it to you, but your pastor isn’t even close to that. I know the guy. Trust me. He’s not. So what can we do? Where can we find a perfectly righteous man to pray for us when we are hurting on our behalf? Surely that’s what we need.

Well, praise God we have one. Romans 8, it reads this:

Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn?

Romans 8:33–34

Christ Jesus is the one who died. More than that, who was raised, who was at the right hand of God, doing what? Interceding for us. That’s prayer. That’s Christ, the Son of the living God, the one and only Son, interceding, praying for us on our behalf. Christ is that perfectly righteous man who prays for us. And it is only because he prays on our behalf that we can actually be healed. Not just physically, but spiritually. We can be healed. We can be forgiven. And ultimately, one day that healing will lead to us being perfectly and finally glorified, healed forever as we are with him.

In John 17, we find Jesus’ high priestly prayer that he prays not just for his disciples, but for all of those who would one day follow him. And he prays that our faith might last so that we would one day be with him. Speaking to the Father, Jesus prayed this: Father, I desire that they also whom you have given me, going beyond the disciples here, this is us.

Father, I desire that they also whom you have given me may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you’ve loved me before the foundation of the world.

John 17:24

Are you sick or suffering? Are you here this morning down in the spiritual dumps? Then pray. Ask your pastor to pray for you. Ask your church to pray for you. But mostly, and don’t miss this this morning, remember that if you have real faith, the ultimate righteous man has already prayed for you on your behalf. And that prayer, make no mistake, will not go unanswered. It is a yes to that prayer, and we praise God for that.

Romans 8 also goes on to say,

If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?

Romans 8:31–32

This is why our prayers can be answered. It is because of the Father’s love for us that he sent his one and only Son to die for us, that he could graciously give us all things. Not just a few things, not just several things, not just some cheap things from the dollar store. No, in Christ, the spiritually rich, the spiritually poor, are made rich. In Christ, the weak become what? Strong. In Christ, and this is the most remarkable thing about it, sinners can approach the throne of God, not as slaves, not as his enemy, but as his children, whom he loves and delights in, to give to whom what we ask. And he only gives it to us when it is good for us, when it is fitting in with his sovereign will.

And so may we be a church that regularly storms the throne of God in prayer, asking him for big things, asking him for mighty things, for wonderful things, and not measly things like socks.

Would you pray with me? Father, I thank you for this text.

And so we come to you in prayer, recognizing that we are woefully incapable of even praying for the things we ought to pray for. But you also tell us in Romans 8 that not only does Christ pray for us, but your spirit does as well, with groanings that are too deep for words. And so we thank you, Lord, that you pray for us on our behalf, because we’re bad at prayer. We don’t know what to pray for. We can’t often easily discern the will of God, and it is only sometimes when we look back that we can barely see it.

And so, Father, we ask that you would help us as a church. Help us to pray not just in the hard times, but in the good times as well, when we are experiencing blessing. Help us never to take that for granted. We thank you for the unity we have in this church. Help us never to take that for granted. Help us to constantly be pursuing unity of the faith as you call us to.

Help us to rely on you and not ourselves. For we know that if we rely on our own strength, the devil laughs. He scoffs at us, knowing that we will fail every time. Help us to be a church that understands this, not just in our heads, but in our hearts, so that we might look for ways to prioritize prayer in the life of this church. We need to be praying more than we are.

So, Lord, we ask that you would help raise up leaders in our church who would understand this, who would realize the power of prayer and the importance of prayer, and who would lead in our church to take steps to be better prayer warriors. Keep us free from sickness. Heal those who are hurting, both physically and spiritually. But ultimately, we pray that thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. We pray these things in Jesus’ mighty name. Amen.