Anointing With Oil

Welcome to No Compromise Radio, a ministry coming to you from Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston. No Compromise Radio is a program dedicated to the ongoing proclamation of Jesus Christ, based on the theme in Galatians 2, verse 5, where the Apostle Paul said, �But we did not yield in subjection to them for even an hour, so that the truth of the gospel would remain with you.

In short, if you like smooth, watered-down words to make you simply feel good, this show isn�t for you. By purpose, we are first biblical, but we can also be controversial. Stay tuned for the next 25 minutes as we�re called by the Divine Trumpet to summon the troops for the honor and glory of her King.

Here�s our host, Pastor Mike Avendroth.

James 5 in the Context of Faith and Works

Welcome to No Compromise Radio, a ministry. My name is Mike Avendroth and we are back in the studio today. Actually, the sun is out, the sun is in my eyes. I�m looking outside. It is a, I guess by the time this show airs, it�s going to be a nice December day.

Maybe the mountain will be open by then, or as we call it in New England, the mountain. The mountain�s going to be open. Well, today on No Compromise Radio, let�s cut straight to the chase. Make sure you, if you just listen on radio and you like Pastor Steve, tune into the podcast at Facebook or No Compromise Radio or iTunes and you can get the free Saturday edition of Tuesday Guy.

I was his first guest, but then after that he�s going to have to do his own, I think. And he can record his own shows and they don�t have to be 24 and a half minutes and they don�t have to have any, the views expressed do not necessarily reflect those of the staff or management of WVNE.

So don�t forget about that. You can tune in if you like Pastor Steve Cooley. Today I�d like to talk about James chapter 5. One of our No Compromise staff people, Ray, said, �Would you please do a message on No Compromise Radio on James chapter 5 verses 13 through 18

So today, No Compromise Radio, for my own staff, see how needy my staff are? Steve needs his own Saturday show, Ray, he�s not busy enough writing emails, responding to people. We�ve got a new deal here, he takes care of all the people that are mad at me, because he knows how to butter them up, I think.

And so we have needy people, just so many needs here to be met at No Compromise Radio. James chapter 5 is set in the context of a book that talks about doing God�s Word, be doers of God�s Word, chapter 1 verse 22, Christians in light of who God is, live out their faith.

Faith does not save ultimately. Remember Jesus Christ, He saves. Faith didn�t die on the cross. Faith didn�t live a perfect life. Faith wasn�t raised from the dead. Faith didn�t ascend to heaven. Faith isn�t coming back.

But faith is a non-meritorious instrument of means, how about that, where we believe in what God has done. So we take God�s Word for it, and certainly faith works. Romans chapter 4 verse 2, we realize we can�t boast before God for our salvation, because salvation is all of grace, grace alone.

But when God saves you, then your faith works. You can�t work for your salvation, but your faith works. And if someone comes along and says all the time, �I�ve got faith, but they don�t have any works that faith, James chapter 2, can�t save.

So he comes to the end of the book, and he has some final exhortations and commands. And you know what, they come across in typical James style. James is very pungent. James is provocative. James uses a lot of words that his master, the Lord Jesus Christ, used.

He has pithy sayings, he has figures of speech, he has beautiful word pictures. You can look at James chapter 3 to see that. And here it�s almost kind of machine gun style at the end. James chapter 5 verses 13 and following, probably about six commands if I count them rightly.

And we will work through each one of those. Here a difficult situation for the people who are the recipients of the letter of James. Life is full of all kinds of variety, with sunshine and rain, with pain and pleasure.

And here at the very end, James directs the focus of every Christian to God himself. And so he gives the first command, �Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. And so the suffering word here is very generic.

It could be financial, it could be emotional, it could be spiritual, it could be religious. It�s the same verb form as an example, brethren, of suffering and patience. James chapter 5 verse 10, �Troubled world, what is your response

Well, when there�s a difficult time in life, you should pray. That�s the first thing he says. It�s a present command. One Greek word, have an attitude of prayer. May the Lord be your focus and you want to lean on him in hard times.

I know in my ministry when things seem most difficult is when I�m trying to hold everything up by myself and I realize that I can�t, my arms aren�t strong enough to do that. Andrew Murray said, �Let me say I am here, one, by God�s appointment, two, in his keeping, three, under his training, four, for his time.

So when you�re suffering, you should pray. He goes on, number two, and he says you should pray when you have lots of joy in your life as well, both sides. You don�t just pray when you�re hurting, you pray when you�ve got life by the tail.

Verse 13, �Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing praises. And so here we have cheerful, which is the opposite of suffering, and when you�re in good spirits, you should sing praises. It�s a present command of saleto, where we get the word psalm, to sing.

This is a form of prayer as well. No matter what situation, whether you�re in suffering or you�re in a spot that gives you cheer, you angle your life to God himself. Well, the third command that James gives at the end of this book, James chapter 5, �Call for the elders when you�re spiritually weak.

Verse 14, �Is any 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 offered in faith will restore the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up, and if he has committed sins, they will be forgiven him.

Now this is a passage that is debated in evangelicalism. What does it mean? Have you ever gone to your elders and said that you�re sick and could you have some oil anointed? Actually, I think it�d probably be good if elders kept oil in their desk, but for what purpose and for what reason?

We�ll see in just a moment. Let�s think about that word �sick. �Is any among you sick Astheneo is the word, 18 times in the New Testament for �sick like you�d think of �sick. I called in �sick today.

I didn�t call in �sick today actually. There�s no �sickness� for no-compromise radio, right? You can�t be sick. We have 260 shows per year to get going and do. What are we going to do? I think I�m going to run out of stuff eventually, aren�t I?

Aren�t we? Aren�t? All right, let�s try this coffee here. This is a Keurig Starbucks coffee. I don�t have Pete�s coffee here today because I didn�t feel like well, I had it, but I drank it, and since I�m tired today, I need a little coffee to kind of get me through.

I�ve already taped two shows. I must say, I didn�t think they were very good, so maybe coffee will help. Fourteen times �astaneo� is used for emotional or spiritual weakness. It means �to be without strength and it depicts either the effect of physical sickness causing bed rest or spiritual weakness.

What does it mean by what does James mean by �sick I don�t think we should automatically say only physical illness. It�s generally used in Acts and the Epistles to refer to people with weak faith or weak conscience, �sick.

In the Gospels, pretty much it�s used for people that are sick, physically sick. Let me give you some examples of spiritually weak in other contexts. Second Corinthians 12,. �Therefore, I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distress, with persecutions, with difficulties, for when I am weak, then I am strong.

The context here is not primarily physical illness, but spiritual weakness, spiritual exhaustion, and spiritual depression, so says a man named John MacArthur. Weak in this verse means to be weary, and the prayer offered will restore the one who is sick.

Hebrews chapter 12 uses the same word, �For consider him who has endured such hostility by sinners against himself, so that you may not grow weary and lose heart. I don�t think James is referring to people who are having bed rest because they�re sick.

James is talking about people who are weary because they are weak spiritually in the midst of suffering, and that certainly can happen, can�t it? If any among you is weak, 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.

One commentator said, �They are the fallen spiritual warriors, the exhausted, weary, depressed, defeated Christians. They�ve tried to draw on God�s power through prayer, but have lost motivation, even falling into sinful attitudes.

Having hit bottom, they are not able to pray effectively on their own. In that condition, the spiritually strong come to assist, and those spiritually strong are the elders. So the best way to translate this, I think, is James 5, verse 14, �Is any among you spiritually weak?

Let him call for the spiritually strong, the elders of the church. The duty is for the sick person to summon the elders. The elders then go to this weak person. The fifth command is found in this last section of James, the elders� fourth command actually, the elders must pray, �And let them pray over him verse 14, �anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord.

Pray over him. Pray is the main verb, anoint is the modifying word, which is a participle. If you�ve got two ministries that the elders do, prayer is the most important. Now anointing him with the oil, that�s where people have the question, what does this mean?

Option one, medicinal, �injuries due to persecution. You don�t really get good doctors around in those days, a lot of quacks, and so you pray and get medical help, in other words. The other option is, it�s a symbolic thing, �healing presence of the Lord, used to quicken and awaken the faith, both the persons and the elders.

In other words, like Jesus uses spit as an aid to the person. Well, how do we solve this dilemma, medicinal or symbolic? Well, there are two different Greek words for anoint. See, didn�t you know it was going to turn into a Greek thing?

Well, my Greek Bible says. Two different words for anoint. One means to daub or to smear, and the other means to anoint in a religious or sacred or symbolic sense. So, you�ve got one that kind of means to rub or you grease up a person, as one translator calls it.

The other one is to religiously anoint. So, if you were watching me through the lens of the radio now, if this was actually TV, I�d put my three fingers or two fingers to my forehead, then to my sternum, then to my left side, then to my right side.

There�s two at once. There�s a rubbing, like you�re going to rub some Bengay into your knee, and there�s a religious anointing. And so, which one is used here? Well, it�s fascinating that it�s not the religious one.

The one used in James chapter 5, verse 14 is a general term to be used of any kind of literal non-figurative anointing. Hmm. Isn�t that interesting? James Roskopf said, �It is more adequate to say that the anointing is for the purpose of symbolizing tangibly the setting apart of the man to a miraculous healing work of God.

It would be an aid to his faith by prompting a sense of expectancy. Jacob anointed the stone at Bethel to identify it as symbolizing the house of God in which he had been a guest. When he poured oil upon it, it was not to make it well.

Set apart for God�s special attention. The weak, what do they need, spiritually weak? They need to be refreshed and encouraged. How is this anointing to be done? In the name of the Lord, meaning that the elders are going to act on behalf of God, depending on God, trusting God, under the authority of God.

This is now a religious act, even though it�s rubbed on there, because it�s done according to Jesus Christ. Oil, soothing maybe, but when you link it to the name of the Lord, it becomes a visible expression and token of the descent of the healing authority and efficacy of the name, Moyer said.

So, what are you doing here? Well, if we go a little farther, I think it will be helpful on No Compromise Radio. The prayer offered in faith, verse 15, will restore the one who is sick and the Lord will raise him up and if he has committed sins, they will be forgiven him.

So the first promise is spiritual restitution. You've got a prayer offered in faith that restores the one who is sick. So the elders, fervent, strong prayer and petition offered in faith, a faith that knows God keeps His promises, God accomplishes His will, God loves His people, God sovereignly works out the results.

This will restore the one that is weak. Only use one other time, not for physical sickness, but weak, comno. This word was used to describe documents that were worn out by frequent use, Dick Mayhew says.

This is not physical restoration, but a restoration of weak Christians to spiritual wholeness. We don't know exactly when, it says we will restore, rather, future tense. And the Lord will raise him up.

It's not the oil, it's not some magic in the rubbing. It will be the Lord who wakens and arouses and restores a battered sheep. And we get a little more clarification. If he sinned, he will be forgiven.

Many physical, Vincent said, many physical ill Christians have called on elders to pray for them and to anoint them with oil, but a sizable percentage of them have remained sick. This fact suggests that the passage may have mistakenly understood as physical restoration rather than spiritual restoration.

If he's committed sins, they will be forgiven him. Of course, people sin, but related to this particular weakness, because weakness can be a result of sin. For this reason, many among you are weak and sick and a number sleep.

First Corinthians chapter 11, verse 30. If he's committed sins, they will be forgiven. God, please strengthen this battered sheep. God, please strengthen this weak one, this sick one, this one that's been worn out by frequent use in the middle of suffering and wrong responses to suffering.

And please grant forgiveness, Vincent said. For the fallen, discouraged, distressed, weary believer, restoration is assured and the elders' prayer offered in faith will make the weary one well. Restore him from discouragement and spiritual defeat and the Lord will raise him up.

So the question really here on No Compromise Radio, if this is not you're going to die and you have the last rites and the pastor comes and priest comes and gives you some oil at the end, this is when you are spiritually in a crisis and you seem like you can't really read your Bible and you can't pray and you can't do things that are working out your salvation with fear and trembling, that you are not doing the disciplines of grace and you need help, then you should call for the elders.

And you know what the elders do? They come and pray for you and they can take some oil and they can rub a little bit on your forehead, that's probably the best thing to do, and then pray for you and ask God to restore you.

And then their prayers God works through if you're too weak and weakened just to pray. And so when you're at the end of your rope, you call for the elders, doesn't that seem to make sense? Of course. And then there's another command here found in chapter five, verse 16, make confession a priority.

Confession of Sin and Mutual Prayer

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. Now here's a broader appeal for the power of prayer.

Present command, mutual activity, confess openly, frankly, to say the same thing. That's what the word confess means, to admit, it means to declare, to acknowledge. Roskapp said some see confession wrongly as a kind of glib rattling off of words by road and God is kind of a slot machine forgiving in a kind of mechanical auto way.

This can be hollow, insincere, trivial, just going through the motions. It can misuse God and cheapen his forgiveness. It is no more serious than a casual transaction at a store as you pass by the cash register.

That's not what we have. We know the saying, confession is good for the what? Soul. Confessing specific sins, your sins, not other people's sins, but yours. Confess your sins to one another. Confess your sins to the person you sinned against.

I'm not going to go confess my sins to a priest, one, I would confess my sins to a priest if I personally sinned against him, and Luther said he'd confess his sins to a priest if his first name was one and his last name was another.

A strange confessor, Luther called it. Of course you confess your sins to God too. Sin is always against God, against thee, and thee only have I sinned and done what is evil in thy sight, David said in Psalm 51.

Even though he sinned against Israel, he sinned against Uriah, he sinned against Bathsheba, he sinned against God mainly. Secret sins confessed secretly to God, private sins confessed privately to people, to the injured parties.

R. Ken Hughes said the confession should not exceed the range of commission. And the good news is, Proverbs 28, 13, he who conceals his transgressions will not prosper, but he who confesses and forsakes them will find compassion.

Don't you need the burden of sin off your back? Then confess your sins, for I confess my iniquity, Psalm 38, I am full of anxiety because of my sin. And then the final command is praying for one another, found in verse 16.

Prayer of the righteous man can accomplish much. Pray for one another so that you may be healed. Tied in with confession is the prayer for other people. Pray, present command for the whole group. Not just the general word for prayer here, this is a word for begging.

This isn't just general prayer, this is keep on begging for one another. The offender and the offended, they keep begging on behalf of one another and everyone else. Here do you notice it's not just the elders who pray, it's everyone.

So that you, plural, may be healed. Physical healing, spiritual healing. Psalm 41, as for me, I said, O Lord, be gracious to me, heal my soul, for I have sinned against thee. And this is all because we have a great Savior, Christ Jesus.

He himself bore our sins in his body on the cross that we might die to sin and live to righteousness for by his wounds you were, what? Healed. Say, well, you know, I'm not an elder. I don't know if God would listen to me.

The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective. Do you qualify as righteous? Well, if you're a believer, you have been declared righteous based on the work of another. You have an alien righteousness imputed to your account.

And then you live out who you are in a righteous manner. Proverbs 15, 29, the Lord is far from the wicked, but he hears the prayer of the righteous. Not just righteous, the other qualification of a prayer that works is fervent, effective, where we get our word energy, fervently, effectively, much power, used of God often when God is at work.

Remember the Bible, it performs its work in you who believe, 1 Thessalonians 2, verse 13. Be earnest, earnest, earnest, mad if thou wilt. Do what thou does as if the stake were heaven, said Kingsley. Pray like that.

It comes from the heart. It's not, now I lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lord my soul to keep. Come Lord Jesus, be our guest. Let us be blessed, amen. It's not that at all. It is coming from the heart and it does accomplish much.

It's strong. It's able to do much. It's very strong. Doesn't say you've got to pray beads here, does it? Doesn't say long prayers, frequency of prayers, eloquent words, King James only prayers, thou, dust, no.

Bishop Hall said, it is not the arithmetic of our prayers, how many they are, nor the rhetoric of our prayers, how eloquent they be, nor the geometry of our prayers, how long they be, nor the music of our prayers, how sweet the voice may be, nor the method of our prayers, how orderly they may be, nor even the theology of our prayers, how good the doctrine may be, which God cares for.

Fervency of spirit is that which availeth much. Colossians 4, laboring earnestly for you in his prayers. Genesis 32, I will not let you go unless you bless me. Well, my name is Mike Avendroth, No Compromise Radio.

The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much. And if you'd like to write us, you can write us at info at nocompromiseradio .com. If you'd like to email Steve, it's Tuesdayguy at nocompromiseradio .com.

Tuesdayguy at nocompromiseradio .com. And we will be on the air. Hopefully we'll be out in Sacramento soon doing a conference, more on that in days to come. Mike Avendroth, James Chapter 5, nocompromiseradio .com.

No Compromise Radio with Pastor Mike Avendroth is a production of Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston. Bethlehem Bible Church is a Bible teaching church firmly committed to unleashing the life transforming power of God's Word through verse by verse exposition of the sacred text.

Please come and join us. Our service times are Sunday morning at 1015 and in the evening at 6. We're right on route 110 in West Boylston. You can check us out online at bbchurch .org or by phone at 508 -835 -3400.

The thoughts and opinions expressed on No Compromise Radio do not necessarily reflect those of WVNE, its staff or management.