13 Is
anyone among you in trouble? Let them pray. Is anyone happy? Let them sing
songs of praise. 14 Is
anyone among you sick? Let them call the elders of the church to pray over
them and anoint them with oil in the name of the Lord. 15 And the prayer offered in
faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise them up. If they have
sinned, they will be forgiven. 16 Therefore
confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be
healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective. 17 Elijah was a human being, even
as we are. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain
on the land for three and a half years. 18 Again he prayed, and the heavens gave rain, and the earth
produced its crops. 19 My
brothers and sisters, if one of you should wander from the truth and
someone should bring that person back, 20 remember this: Whoever turns a sinner from the error of
their way will save them from death and cover over a multitude of sins.
This Sunday
marks the conclusion of our mini-series from the Epistle of James--and the broad
topic of FAITH THAT WORKS.
As I dig
into this final passage from James, one of the things I just can't get out of
my mind is the IMAGE James presents of the very earliest 'version' of
Christianity...at least, the very earliest version following the Ascension of
Jesus. Sometimes in our modern world we have a tendency to over-emphasize some elements of the ancient faith to
the neglect of others. So-called 'liberal' Christianity is known for stressing
social justice issues--citing, of course, the fact that Jesus spent a great
deal of his ministry advocating for the poor, the downtrodden, and society's
'voice-less.' On the other hand, so-called 'conservative' Christianity is known
for stressing personal morality and the authority of God's word.
The problem
with these condensed or compressed versions of The Faith is, that's exactly
what they are: condensed or compressed. They don't represent the whole thing. Ancient Christianity was
both liberal and conservative. It liberally reached out to everyone with the
unconditional grace, mercy, peace, and love of Christ; and it conservatively
held to the absolute authority of God's holy word, and preached an ethic of
personal morality (to **insiders... the
ancient church never appointed itself as the morality police of the pagan
outside world). And both sides of this 'coin' were accomplished by people who
had a FAITH THAT WORKS.
In this the
last of our series, James informs us that faith that works creates a PEOPLE OF
PRAYER. They pray for themselves in either bad or good situations (vs
13). This is the equivalent of St. Paul's admonition pray without ceasing (1Thess 5:17). They pray for others
(vss 15 & 16). This is actually a "ministry." God in his love has
designed a ministry that has no age limits, no health requirements, and no
pre-requisite education requirements. All are graciously invited to take part
in this ministry... to pray... for
others (v16). Lastly, as people of prayer, we pray with each other. When
vs 19 speaks of bringing a person back, the
"back" that James is talking about is a physical locale... the
worshiping community, hearing the word together, receiving the holy meal
together, and PRAYING TOGETHER.
Cheers,
T.M.
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