The Power of a Praying Church: Part 1

To James chapter 5 and We will be looking at verse beginning at verse 13 through 18. We're not going to be able to cover all this today. Actually, I just want to cover Just verse 13 today. Possibly like I said three parts out of this.

This is really the conclusion of this letter. We're almost finished. I was looking at my notes the other day and. And the orders of worship. We began this sermon series in the book of James on November 7th I believe November 7th or 4th.

I'm not for sure. I can't remember exactly what the date is there. I know it was November of 2018. We have taking It's been over a year and a half. And of course have been some sidetracks here and there and holidays and so forth.

But we have spent quite a bit of time in this wonderful epistle. And then I'm looking forward to going into the book of first Peter. And Lord willing we'll go through first Peter, which I believe ties right in with James.

And.

Then we'll be going to second Peter Lord willing to be going to book of Jude and we're gonna be making tracks all the way to Revelation. Yes Revelation who knows Jesus may be back before then but. And that'd be greater.

So.

Anyway, here we are in the book of James and actually these are concluding thoughts from the Holy Spirit to the Apostle. Let me read verse 13 through 18 and then we're going to have prayer. And then we're going to look at verse 13 specifically.

Hear the word of the Living God. Is anyone among you suffering. Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful. Let him sing Psalms. 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 was saved. The sick and the Lord will raise him up and If he has committed sins He will be forgiven. Verse 16. Confess your trespasses to one another and Pray for one another That you may be healed.

The effective fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much. I 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 land for three years and six months.

And he prayed again. And The heaven gave rain and the earth produced its fruit. Let's stop right there and let's seek our Lord in prayer this morning as we study his Wonderful word within this next hour.

Our father we do thank you for the wonderful privilege. To even come to you Lord may we never forget this. To even call you father.

Abba.

From our hearts. Is such a wonderful wonderful privilege as we are adopted into your kingdom as sons and daughters of the Living God. The Lord how gracious you are to us how good you are to us as it has already been said this morning.

It is your loving kindness and your tender mercies. That has saved us along with your power Lord how wonderful that is to know. And Lord we hollow your name Lord. That is our desire is to hallow your name to praise you for who you are of.

Your greatness and your goodness and your mercy and your loving kindness and your faithfulness. But above all your name is holy holy holy holy Lord God Almighty and father not only for who you are but for what you've done.

The mighty acts that you have brought. You have saved us. That is a miracle of miracles that you can save people that are so depraved. You come to us and rescue us from our sin. And father we ought to pray your kingdom to come your kingdom to come.

Our kingdom must go Father your glory your. Your kingdom is glorious and we desire for your kingdom to come in earth as it is in heaven. Your will be done father as our brother already said. For your will to be done.

Our will must be undone. Father we thank you for this. This should be our desire. It should be our agenda as people of the Living God. So father our eyes and our focus is upon you this morning. And we give you praise.

Father bless your people with your word this morning and may it go deep into our hearts as we look unto Jesus your son and Let us not forget for thine is the kingdom the power and the glory forever and ever.

Amen and amen in this text He speaks of the power of a praying church. That's what I like for us to look at for the next several weeks. You know, the gift of speech is a marvelous blessing, isn't it? It is used if it is used to the glory of God it could be a such a positive thing as We've seen in James.

He has a great deal to say about the tongue doesn't he? I would say. And in this chapter is no exception if you look at it, he mentioned some of the The lowest uses of the tongue in the negative perspective.

Chapter 5 verse 9. Do not grumble. That means do not groan or complain against one another. Brethren, he's speaking to the church least you be judged. And then he says this behold the judges is standing at the door.

And in verse 12 as we looked at last Lord's Day. He says above all. My brethren again, he speaks to the church. Do not swear. Either by heaven or by earth or with any other oath. But let your yes be yes your no, no least you fall into judgment.

And we know that's talking about speaking truth. But he also named some of the highest uses of the tongue just not the lower uses. They are the proclamation of the Word of God. Now, where do you see this?

Look at verse 10 of this chapter. He says my brethren. Take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord as an example of suffering and patience and.

Also as.

In our text he speaks about praying and praising God. That's really what our text is speaking of praying and praising God in our text in verses 13 through 18. Now prayer is certainly no doubt the highest and the greatest of all privileges.

Especially to the Almighty God. I remember in Seminary this really changed me not only as a Professor said this and we had a class of prayer. That's unusual, isn't it? But this particular Bible College Decided to have a class of prayer and which is very unusual in seminary, but I thought wow, that's great.

I signed up for that right away. It's called intercessory prayer. I Learned so much probably more in that class in my English class than any other class and I say my English class because most of the time we We just didn't learn English.

We ended up worshiping most of the time and I recall Just spending so much time in the presence of God. It was so Wonderful. So that really brings a Sparks a great memory for me, but in the intercessory prayer class the professor and there will forget what he said.

He said.

Prayer is not necessarily just talking to God.

But.

Going to God and as a father to fellowship with.

So.

It's more than just talking to God, even though that is a part of it, but it's our fellowship with the father and.

That.

Changes the perspective all together. So prayer is fellowship with our father and it is the highest and the greatest Privilege that we have. It's a holy privilege, isn't it? And think of that that as God's children we can come freely and boldly to the throne of grace anytime anywhere and Share with the Almighty God who is our Heavenly Father and bring our burdens and our needs to him.

Matter of fact prayer is the very lifeblood. I like to say and power of the church and without it The church will be powerless. We have to pray. To be a powerful church and this is what's lacking today in the churches among us.

We need the power and I say this to redeeming grace. If we really want to see God do a work in our midst. Spend time with God in prayer in the secret place. Hide yourself. And then as God told Elijah go show yourself and I see two things here.

It's almost as in the book of Acts before evangelism was to take place. God says the Lord actually said tarry until you be endued with power from on high. So there was a tarrying. Before there was a going.

They and God knew this the Lord Jesus knew this for his church you have to have that power to evangelize.

Always.

Prayer and.

Power. And a lot of we just don't focus on the power. Actually where the power is is in the purity. If we want power with God there must first be purity with God. So that's where the power comes in. But in Acts 1 8.

But you shall receive power after that the Holy Spirit has come upon you and you shall be witnesses unto me. And then he says and.

To.

Jerusalem Judea and Samaria and other most parts of the earth. There there was the going but first there was the tearing. That's the same thing as God spoke to Elijah. Hide yourself. Then go show yourself.

We it's always that order always that order. So prayer is the very lifeblood in the power of the church. One of my favorite evangelists. I had the privilege of listening them to pray him preach years ago, and it was a transforming event an experience for me and many other Bible college students.

Leonard Ravenhill went home to be with the Lord in the early 90s, but he was born in 1907. He came to America to evangelize he was a great evangelist and. He has a classic book on revival and most of it is just it's incredible.

If you I would definitely say Say you bid to get this book. It's a great book and it's not hard to read. But in this book why revival. Terry's he puts it this way about prayer. No, man is greater than his prayer life.

The pastor who's the pastor who's not praying is playing the people who are not praying or straying. The pulpit can be a shop window to displays one's talents. The prayer closet allows no showing off.

Poverty stricken he says as the church is today in many things. She's most stricken here in the place of prayer. We have many org organizers, but few agonizers. Many players and payers. Few prayers many singers few clingers lots of pastors.

Few wrestlers.

Many fears few tears. Much fashion little passion. Many interferers few intercessors. Many writers but few fighters. Failing here. We fail everywhere in quote. That's well put and I love the way that he just Gives those bullet shots at us.

Just to wake us up. It's a walk a wake-up call. This is what we need to be doing. We need to be praying. Prayer grasped eternity. Well, here's a question I have for all of us. At redeeming grace Church.

Do we want and desire a deep spiritual lifeblood and power within? Our body or within our our self. Do we really desire a deep spiritual lifeblood and power? Beloved it starts with the intimate personal relationship with Almighty God our Heavenly Father.

We know him through this eternal word this is his mind and It's so important To know him in the word, but we communicate with him through prayer. I like what somebody said to CH Spurgeon once I love Spurgeon's wisdom.

Somebody came up and asked him What's more important pastor Spurgeon? The word or prayer. And in turn he asked him a question. What's more important to you breathing in or breathing out? That's wisdom.

Both is important in other words the Word of God and prayer. Go hand-in-hand hand-in-glove. You cannot separate the two. And if we really are to know God and as Paul said That I may know him in the power of his resurrection and in the fellowship of his sufferings to be conformed.

Until his death and the likeness of his death. We must abide in his word and abide in prayer. You cannot separate the two in knowing God.

Well.

Think of this we can fake a spiritual life in public prayer, right? Like the Pharisees did they love to pray standing in the corners of the market. But the one who knows us best cannot be fooled. We are before God and see in the secret what we are before God in the secret places is who we really are.

Now I want you to think of this seven times in this text in this section. James mentions prayer seven times. The mature Christian is a prayer is always prayerful in troubled times of his life instead of grumbling and instead of complaining About his lot in life or his situation or whatever may come or go.

He goes to God about it, that's what God's people do. We go to God in prayer. God hears the prayers of the righteous and he answers the prayers of the righteous. You see this all the way through the book of Psalms and Here he takes it to the Lord in prayer, right and This is a real mark of a truly spiritual Christian is to abide in prayer.

The text before us has been a battleground for various groups of use of interpretations of different Interpreters over the centuries. It's been a long time. It's been around a long time and this text before us has been so misused and so misinterpreted.

It boggles the imagination when I was doing a little study on this I just could not believe but let me just give you an example the Roman Catholics. They take from it the biblical support for the sacrament of what is called extreme unction.

That there is a particular Anointing just with the priest. With those that anoint the elders of the church Praise over the the people and you know, that's how they they operate and they anoint them with oil in the name of the Lord.

But that's called extreme unction. Also, we not only among the Roman Catholics. We also have among the charismatics. The faith healers have take this text and used it to teach that all sick Christians are guaranteed healing through prayer and through the prayer of faith and they're raised up and Others seek it and misinterpret it with different Annotations about healing and anointing of the sick with and anointing them with oil.

So this this passage raises a number of difficult interpretive questions. These are not original with me. I'd like to say this. I got this from John MacArthur. I'm gonna be quoting him a few times here.

But I thought this was very excellent in the beginning in the introduction of this this series on The power of a praying church. Here's some questions that he sets before us and it's always good to ask questions especially when we come to a text like this that is called so much debate and controversy within the church and As always as your pastor or anytime as a student of the Word of God and you are just the same when we study God's Word we want to get the right interpretation out of it.

Now R. C. Sproul said this is really one interpretation of Scripture. It can have thousands of applications. But there's one interpretation. Now we are to seek that one interpretation by the power and the help of the Holy Spirit.

But also we are to study to show ourselves approved unto God a Workman that needed not to be ashamed but rightly divide the word of truth. So that is really what counts we've got to rightly divide the word of truth.

Here's the questions that pastor John MacArthur that sets before us and if you can write these down I would encourage you to in shorthand. Because it would serve you well in this text about The power of a praying church and meeting specific needs in the body Number one.

He says what kind of suffering does James have in view in verse 13? What kind of suffering does James have in view in verse 13 number two? What type of sickness is in view in verse 14? Let me say this again what type of sickness is in view in verse 14.

Third.

Why are the prayers of the elders different from those of the other believers in verse 14 and 15? For the fourth what is the anointing with oil described in verse 14? Fifth does the prayer of faith in verse 15 always restore the sick.

Six. How does sickness relate to sin in verse 15?

Seventh.

What type of healing is in view in verse 16? Eighth what does James insert in? Illustration. Why does James. I'm sorry, why does James insert an Illustration about rain in verse 17 and 18. And ninth. Why does he use this illustration into the middle of the discussion of healing?

MacArthur goes on to say this. The key to answer these questions and properly interpreting the passage lies and understanding.

In.

It in its context. The Bible is not a random collection of verses That may be interpreted in isolation. To pray goes on to say to properly understand any passage one must interpret it in light of the paragraphs immediately proceeding and following it the chapter or section in it and.

The book.

Containing its context. Provides the flow of thought in which any given passage of Scripture exist to it nor context is. To sacrifice is so important to ignore context is to sacrifice a proper.

Interpretation.

It has well been said that a text with that a without a Context is a pretext. Let me say that again. It is well been said that a text without a context is a pretext In quote and I thought that's so good as we go into this study in this section to understand the true interpretation that which James gives.

With that in view.

What do we gather and see in this? What do we gather and see in this what James wrote his epistle number one? This is important. We've got to know the audience. Who's his audience? To Jewish believers.

These are Jewish Christians Who had been forced to flee from Palestine? By persecution that's recorded and you can read this in Acts chapter 8 verse 1 through 4. Now in James 1 1 at the introduction Almost a year and a half ago that we went through this He referred to these Jewish Christians as the twelve tribes Who are dispersed?

Scattered abroad. Now think of this being both Jewish and Christian brought about much persecution to these people from both sides and from the pagans and the culture in which they lived. And As we studied this knowing that truth of the audience That James is lovingly pastoring James opened his epistle with an exhortation to patiently to endure trials.

And you see this in chapter 1 verse 2 he gives them the exhortation When trials come he to encourage them to be what patient? to endure. And in in chapter 5 notice what he does. It's like a good writer.

He concludes almost with what he began with. He returned to the exact theme notice that the first six verses that's described in the persecution of his readers that were poor were suffering at the hands of.

Wicked.

Rich people. Even to the point of death we saw that in verse 6, right? He says you have condemned you have murdered the just. He does not resist you. And then in verse 11 notice what he says in verse 11.

Indeed we count them blessed who endure. Say the same thing from chapter 1 and then he talks about the patience and the perseverance of Job and seeing the end Intended by the Lord that the Lord is very compassionate and merciful.

Now they that this is a call to patient endurance under trials. That's the thing and It's a test to us Whether we have living faith or dead faith, and it should be a test to everybody. Now James exhorted those about that was about literally to Collapse under the pressure and the weight of afflictions and persecution and.

His.

Encouragement was to prop them up to to go on and not to give up and not to lose heart. He's a good pastor. He tells the truth. He's pointed. He's Frank in these five chapters. I don't know about you.

But there's there's much conviction especially chapter 3 about the untamable tongue. It's constantly a battle with us and When we see about the tongue, it's what comes from the heart. And then he goes into heavenly wisdom.

Versus demonic wisdom and he speaks about wisdom and in chapter 4 he talks about pride. That promotes strife. There's just just Knocks the pride between the eyes and that whole chapter. And then he talks about humility that God is the God of the humble and it goes on and on it.

But in view of the overall context of the epistle. Particularly chapter 5. It's not surprising. Is it that James mentioned suffering in verse 13? And we see this. Is anyone among you suffering? That's the first thing he says in this.

In verse started in the beginning of this section and he calls on those who are suffering under persecution in verse. And actually if you read it in context from verse 1 through 11, and what is he called them to do to pray?

To pray he's very pointed about it seems simple doesn't but prayer is a huge encouragement. Now since prayer taps into the very source of spiritual endurance. Think of the opposite. For a moment, would you?

It would have been surprising.

If in.

James's letter From from this for who is an apostle of Jesus Christ, by the way in his letter to those who are struggling and persecuted and afflicted if James had neglected to even mention prayer period.

Now think of that. What kind of an apostle would he be if he did not encourage them to pray? You know, I I know pastors and preachers can be hard on preachers in a sense, but I want to be careful what I say here, but I Don't think much of pastors that sit down and counsel me for two or three hours and do not pray with me.

You can give me all the head knowledge in the world. That's not what I need. The matter of fact a lot of times when I have said under counselors Pretty much what they already given me I've read or I knew already knew What I really need and you know what I'm talking about beloved.

I Needed somebody just to put his arms around me and I'm just don't want to pick on pastors, but maybe brothers and maybe your sisters and the Lord but Not picking on you I don't mean it by that but I'm talking about when you go to a sister to be encouraged or brother go to be encouraged.

Just put your arms around me and encourage me and pray with me. That means more to me than anything else. That's what we need to do. Prayer and that's what James encourages those who are suffering to do.

What did you say? Let him pray. Let him pray. You know a strong commitment to prayer is the very key to enduring suffering beloved and affliction. We must have a strong commitment to pray and without it.

Let me say this without it We will fail. We will fail the Lord now people say oh, hold on. I Know who I am and I can stand. I can go through this Without prayer, well when we say that We're in trouble because first of all Paul says that's prideful take heed least you think you stand you're gonna fall.

Because we're too weak. We cannot fight the spiritual battle Within our own power. We need the power of the Lord. So prayer is actually going to God and saying Lord. I'm too weak. I Cannot handle this.

This is bigger than me but you can and With God all things are possible. So actually it shows our dependence upon God, doesn't it? When we truly pray. And when we don't pray we're showing our dependence upon ourself so but when we pray we pray and would depend it on God Almighty to come and Help us because he is our help.

You know through Jesus Christ our Lord we can be victorious in this but verses 13 through 18 speaks about prayer. And by the way, he's mentioned every one of these verses in Prayer verse 13 the individual believer are called to pray in verse 13.

Notice in verse 14 and 15 the elders are called to pray. Verse 16 and congregations called to pray and so this section reflects James is compassionate pastoral care for the suffering flock that's scattered abroad and His main focus is on the casualties.

I love this when I was studying this as I never thought of it this way, but you looking at believers Jewish believers That have been really weighed down. The pastor James the Apostle comes alongside To help the casualties.

And then what a good pastor does the hurting the weary spiritual fatigued Persecuted weak. Worn out burned out. Weary does these words strike something to you? I've been there.

Defeated.

Beat down and Here comes the pastor. I Encourage you to pray pray. Lift up your eyes to heaven. God's your help. He doesn't give the answers himself. He doesn't say I'm going to supply counseling for you now.

I'm not against counseling. Okay, especially the right counseling. But the greatest counsel is taking it to the one who is the counselor The Almighty God the Prince of Peace. He is the great counselor.

And you know, I can't remember if it's Tozer's version That says is that you can you can get more on your knees in a few minutes than thousands of hours a Counseling time that's so true. And not to say that there is at a time for Christian counsel, I know that Multitude of counselors are safety.

I'm not going to fight against that but the greatest The greatest encouragement we can get is on our knees on our knees John MacArthur says is As the context and the content of this section makes clear.

The subject is not physical illness or healing. Instead its concern is with healing spiritual weakness spiritual weariness spiritual exhaustion spiritual depression through prayer as well as dealing with the suffering and the sin that accompanies it and then he goes on to say this to insert and discussion a Discussion here on the physical healing would be incongruous.

I hope I said that right. Nothing in the preceding or following context would prepare James's reader for that. But a section on how to help the casualties of persecution through prayer Fits perfectly into the flow of James's thought.

Specifically James discusses the relationship of prayer to comfort to restoration and to fellowship and to power. I love that and That's in quote what MacArthur says now? I'm gonna tell you this. I have five points, but we're just gonna hit one today.

Okay? We don't have to this is the introduction to this section. So as I was studying it, I said that we need to get the background to understand what James is really saying now the reason I do this as your pastor and a student of the Word of God, I Honestly, I mean this I tremble before God's Word because I know one day I'm gonna stand before the King of Kings and Lord of Lords and and My my yearning is to hear him say well done good and faithful servant.

But just not in the preaching that's laboring. Yes but the preaching of the word is very important because If I give you a misinterpretation I'm going to answer severely for it now there's like I said other interpretations that people may give and I'm not saying I'm the only one right but I Study and I glean from other godly men and commentaries.

I go to the verses of Scripture and I said Lord, I want to get the right interpretation here. So and what I'm saying is I'm going to give an account for it. So how important it is I would rather for us to take our time Not rather than rush through it and throw some thoughts down.

But we want to get the right meaning of it and by the way, I'm just a type of person. Can I illustrate this in a physical way? I? love steak and You guys know what I'm talking about and and one of the reasons a verse steak.

Versus some kind of appetizer steak I love to chew it and get the juice out of it and get the good out of it. The Word of God steak beloved and if we get the right interpretation out of it We can chew it up and we can meditate on it and it becomes so real to us.

It's life-changing, isn't it? And the Holy Spirit through the Word of God will change our lives in a practical way. So here in this section we we have Many thoughts so next Lord's Day. We'll be going to part two.

Like I said, I think there's gonna be about three parts in this. My first point is this and we're just gonna look at one point. Believers pray for themselves and suffering and if and those who are afflicted.

The suffering inflicted pray for themselves and this is where he starts verse 13. Our prayers should be personal. That's what he's saying. Our prayers should be personal. Is anyone among you suffering?

That's the question. The answer is let him.

Pray is.

Anyone cheerful. Second question back to back to that. The answer is let him sing psalms. Let him sing psalms. Let's just look at that because I believe. What what is he saying here will help us if we look into what the Word of God is really saying what he's saying here.

Everything else is gonna fall in context in the flow of thought. If we're personally suffering we should personally pray to God, right? And prayer to God is what really matters. If we are personally cheerful, we should praise God as An antidote to the suffering that James exhorts them to pray.

Why? Why. That's a good question. I like the wise don't you? David did this and David God God is it obligated to answer sometimes. God wouldn't answer. Sometimes he would if he chose to. But that's a good question.

David asked this question why a lot. Why. Well because God is the ultimate source of comfort. Isn't he who could comfort us more than God? But no one can he is our comfort. Paul describes him as the father of all mercies and the God of all comfort who comforts us and our afflictions in 2nd Corinthians 1 3 4.

The Apostle Peter in 1st Peter 5 7 says casting all your anxiety or you cares on him. Why. Because he cares for you? God is a caring God. He's not this force. That's Out in the universe. That's a distant.

He's here.

He's here among us. He's God with us.

And aren't you glad to know that? He's with us and.

Think of what Jonah said from the stomach of the great fish the great sea monster. The original Hebrew says when he even as is he? was disobedient. Being a disobedient prophet. And Jonah 2 7 he prays.

Hey, well, he says while I was fainting away. I remembered the Lord and my prayer came to you into your holy temple again. James says is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray or he must pray. Another translation says he must pray.

Suggest a continued pleading in the Greek. This is what he means. It's a continued pleading with God in prayer and it could be translated. Let him keep on praying. Don't you love that. Doesn't it remind you that Jesus spoke of persistence of prayer?

That men ought to always to pray and not to faint. I love that and the and that word faint means not to lose heart not to give up. And. The disciples came to Jesus and what did they ask him? Did they say Lord teach me to sing?

No. Did the disciples come to Jesus said Lord teach me to preach. No. Didn't say that teach me to be a counselor Lord. No.

No.

No, what did he say teach us to pray? Teach us to pray as John also taught his disciples. Shows you right there that John the Baptist was a teacher of prayer as well. Within Jesus gave the disciples the blueprint the pattern how that they should pray.

Well, Paul tells the believers to pray without ceasing, right? Why because like Spurgeon says because we sin without ceasing. That's that's very obvious and that's a very good counsel. You know, I love the hymn what a friend we have in Jesus.

I started to sing that today, but Lord Willie, we're gonna sing that next week. I thought it fits perfect and what is being said here, but listen to the words of this. Oh what peace we often forfeit. Oh.

What needless pain we bear all because we do not carry everything to God in prayer. Have we trials and temptations? Is there trouble anywhere? We should never be discouraged. Take it to the Lord in prayer.

Are we weak and heavy laden? Cumbered with a load of care. Precious Savior still I refuge take it to the Lord in prayer and to those. Think of that who managed to maintain a cheerful attitude in their sufferings.

What does he say? Sing praises sing psalms. That's what he's saying sing praises to God. Well, he speaks to both. Here those that who are afflicted. Suffering to those who are cheerful. Let's look at this very quickly.

You know, I love this because if you if you look at it says sing, let's look at this just sing psalms. It makes me think of the psalms. Sing psalms and I'm sure that's what he's referring to. Sing the psalms as 150 psalms the same.

All all every chapter and if you look at it, they're really prayers. Prayers ascending to God in a song in a song cheerful. Here the word cheerful in the Greek describes those in spirit having a joyful attitude joy.

Not.

Those who are physically well, no, he's talking about the suffering. That are joyful, you know, you could be suffering but be joyful at the same time. We see that in Scripture, don't we? Even the Apostles after they were beaten they went away rejoicing that they were beaten for Jesus sake the wounded broken spirits the whole.

Rejoicing spirits are both To pray and the one is to plead with God for comfort and the other is to sing praises to God.

Well, I.

Love the singing of the praises. The verb in which is now translated a psalm. Prayer and praise they go hand in glove. Don't think they're closely related praising and praying. Actually form a prayer if you notice in Philippians and so many verses.