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17.17 - James 5:13-20 - Living Life Together · Tabernacle Talk - A Bible Study Podcast with Pastor Bryon Self

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  Welcome to Tabernacle Talk. Tabernacle Talk is a Bible study
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  podcast from Tabernacle Baptist Church in Essex, MD.
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  We hope that this podcast will help you to know Christ, grow in
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  his Word, and show his love to others.
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  Let's dive right in. Welcome back to Tabernacle Talk.
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  Thank you for tuning back in. This is the final episode in the
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  book of James and I have loved getting a walk through this
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  portion of scripture with you. I hope it's been an
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  encouragement. I recorded several of these
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  episodes about a week and a half, two weeks ahead of time.
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  And so I, I am right now as the time of this this episode comes
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  out, I am currently in Dallas at the annual meeting of the
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  Southern Baptist Convention and representing Tabernacle and
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  getting to hear from missionaries and pastors and
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  church planters and a really, really looking forward to that
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  time together. So if you would say quick prayer
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  for me as I'm there, that the Lord would continue to guide and
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  to bless and that he would continue to help our cooperative
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  program together that's been around for 100 years now.
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  That it would continue to go forward and that the Kingdom of
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  God would be would be blessed and and moved and built as
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  Southern Baptist continue to work together for the faith of
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  the Gospel. James chapter 5, the end of this
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  book, James is writing to people that used to be a part of his
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  congregation. Now they're scattered all across
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  the Roman Empire, and he is writing to them to encourage
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  them not just to live their Christian lives, but to live
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  their Christian lives together. And so we're going to see that
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  in verses 13 through 20 in some really special ways.
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  If you are a part of our local congregation at Tabernacle, I
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  hope that these verses will be a, an encouragement to you.
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  And I hope that even as we've undergone some like structural
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  changes at Tabernacle from kind of a more committee church
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  council model of leadership to an elder LED model of
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  leadership. I hope that even as we read
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  through some of these verses, some of that might jump off the
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  page at you a little bit. And you'll see, Oh yeah, I, I
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  see it right there in the text. This, This is why some of these
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  changes have been made. Verse #13 James says this.
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  Is anyone among you suffering? This isn't speaking directly to
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  like, physical suffering. This is emotional or spiritual
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  suffering. It's a burden caused by perhaps
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  misfortune or poor choices. If anyone is suffering, it says
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  he should pray. Is anyone cheerful?
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  He should sing praises. Is anyone among you sick?
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  He should call for the elders of the church and they are to pray
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  over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord.
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  The prayer of faith will save the sick person and the Lord
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  will raise him up. If he has committed sins, he
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  will be forgiven. Therefore, confess your sins to
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  one another and pray for one another so that you may be
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  healed. The prayer of a righteous person
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  is very powerful in its effect. Elijah was a human being, as we
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  are, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and for
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  three years and six months it did not rain on the land.
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  Then he prayed again, and the sky gave rain, and the land
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  produced its fruit. My brothers and sisters, if any
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  among you strays from the truth and someone turns him back, let
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  that person know that whoever turns a Sinner from the error of
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  his way will save his soul from death and cover a multitude of
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  sins. All right, let's look at how we
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  are encouraged to live life together from this passage
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  within a local church number verse #13 we see first that our
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  emotions are meant to draw us to God.
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  Our emotions are meant to draw us to God.
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  He says here, both with suffering and with cheerfulness,
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  kind of the two different ways that you can live life.
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  If you have difficulties, you pray over those when you are
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  sad, when you are depressed, when you are anxious, when you
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  are regretful or remorseful, when you are uncertain.
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  All of those emotions that I would kind of file under
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  suffering, all of those emotions guide us towards prayer, that we
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  ask God to make us aware of what His will is, that we would
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  follow in it. That certainly we can pray for
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  God to change circumstances. There's nothing wrong there,
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  nothing prohibited in Scripture in that like God, would you
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  change this? Would you bring justice?
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  Would you give me wisdom? Even as we read at the very
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  beginning of the book, we can pray for all of those things,
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  but suffering is not meant to just make you wallow.
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  Suffering is not meant to make you be alone.
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  Suffering is meant to drive you to the feet of God, that you to
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  recognize you have a heavenly Father, you have a Lord and
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  Master, and so you go to Him and you find out what He wants you
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  to do within your suffering, within your situation.
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  When you're suffering, you pray. Then is anyone cheerful?
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  There's there's joy, there's happiness, there's excitement.
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  What should our response be with that?
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  We should sing praises. We've gone over this many, many
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  times in in books, one through 4 of Psalms.
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  God commands us to sing. Now for some of you that might
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  be you need to sing at the top of your lungs.
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  Frankly, I, I don't know everyone that's listening to
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  Tabernacle talk. There might be some of you that
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  God wants you to help out and serve in the ministry on like
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  that, that frontline that's a ensemble that's at the front of
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  the church. And God might have you be
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  someone that you sing once a month or you sing, you know
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  what? Once a once a season or
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  something. And God might have you to sing
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  praises and to encourage and uplift others in their praise of
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  the Lord. Your cheerfulness, your
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  happiness, your joy, your peace is not just meant to benefit
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  you. It's meant to lift up Jesus.
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  So when we suffer, we go to Jesus.
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  When we are cheery, when we are joyful, when we're happy, we
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  exalt Jesus and we lift him up. We let others know about how
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  good our God is, and that ought to be our response when good
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  things happen in our life. We point all the praise and all
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  the glory to Jesus and we don't just point others to him.
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  We go personally to him and we go like God, you are great and
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  your greatness is unsearchable. We can call him our Good
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  Shepherd, the one that guides us in every place where we ought to
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  be. We can thank him for his
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  provision and and sing about Gyra, the one that is enough and
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  that provides for us in every moment of our lives.
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  So that's verse 13. Our emotions are meant to drive
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  us to Jesus. Then verses kind of 14 through
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  18 is talking about prayer, and there's two things that are
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  mentioned here. The first is, is anyone among
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  you sick? Now, even from the context of
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  these verses, I'm still just within my mind.
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  I'm not 100% certain that this is not strictly talking about
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  the sickness of sin within our life.
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  And when a person has been overcome by sin and they are
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  asking for help and help is given to them, they're prayed
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  over, they confess their sins, there is accountability and
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  discipleship that happens. And that person is then restored
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  to a a place of a vibrant walk with the Lord as a result of
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  humility, help, prayer, and discipleship.
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  There is another aspect of this, though, that especially it
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  within church history would lend itself to say it can also be
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  physical sickness. Now verse #14 and 15 bereft of
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  the rest of Scripture can create a false dichotomy from which
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  people can be very hurt and harmed.
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  And so some churches have just never engaged with versus 1415
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  and never done the particular action prescribed because they
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  don't want people to misunderstand and thus be be
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  saddened or disheartened or embittered as a result of it.
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  But hopefully as, as we take just a couple of minutes to talk
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  about I, I think we'll see together what is and what is not
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  being said. So he says, is anyone among you
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  sick? He should call for the elders of
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  the church. These would be the leaders, the
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  the pastors, the overseers, if you got an old translation, the
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  bishops of the church, these are the ones that are in charge of
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  the local body of believers. So the sick person calls for
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  those godly men, they are to pray over him, anointing him
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  with oil in the name of the Lord.
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  Olive oil was considered kind of a cure all ointment in the
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  ancient world. But for James here, the real
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  healing power is in prayer. So there's almost a thing of,
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  yes, we're going to pray for him and we're going to have this
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  healing medication that is being given as well.
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  Scripture nowhere indicates that you should only seek
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  supernatural means of healing or living or, or or of sustenance.
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  Some people have looked at a verse like this and gone, OK,
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  well, I don't need to, you know, undergo any treatments for my
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  cancer. I can just pray and I'll be
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  totally fine. That is not the way that
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  Scripture lends itself at all. In fact, one of the individuals
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  that wrote large swaths of Scripture, the Gospel of Luke
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  and the Book of the Acts of the Holy Spirit or Acts of the
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  Apostles, was a physician. Luke was a physician, and so
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  certainly if God had a physician that was writing scripture, he
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  is not against physicians. And being a physician or going
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  to a physician is not something that should ever be looked down
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  on and not something that should be ignored or neglected.
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  Even here within prayer within the local church and people
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  praying over someone, it's accompanied with a medicinal
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  treatment of the time, namely olive oil.
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  So as this person is being prayed over by the leaders of
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  the church and they are anointed with oil, verse #15 says the the
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  prayer of faith will save the sick person.
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  Or as the New Living Translation puts it, such a prayer offered
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  in faith will heal the sick. That is, this is not a magic
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  remedy. If it was, if it was some
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  incantation that as long as you follow this you can always have
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  healing, then certainly, as we read in the end of Second
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  Timothy chapter 4, the apostle Paul would not have left
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  Trophimus sick in the city of myelitis.
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  Because if all he needed to do was get the elders of the church
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  together and have them anoint him with oil and pray over him,
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  then he would be healed. This is not a guarantee.
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  However, if there is, we can think back to James chapter one
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  that when we come to God and we ask for wisdom and we come in
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  faith and we come actually believing God and not doubting
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  and not having a double mind of well God could could do this or
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  he might not be able to do this. That person is not going to
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  receive anything from the Lord. But just because we genuinely
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  believe does not mean that God will grant our healing.
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  Why would that be? Because God might have something
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  better than your physical healing right now in mind.
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  He might know that the physical hardship that you are going
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  through it is drawing you towards Him.
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  It is leading you to a repudiation of your own
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  confidence in yourself, or a worship of 1000 different things
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  of of your health, of your time, that you would perhaps without
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  this difficulty you would fall to some temptation.
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  You would forget God. You would there's 1000 different
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  possibilities. I'm not God so I can't prescribe
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  for you. Hey, here's why God is allowing
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  this to take place in your life. But if you are going to God and
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  if together you and the elders of your church are like man, we
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  would love to see healing here. And healing does not happen.
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  That doesn't mean God is not good or that God is not working
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  in your behalf. In fact, it means God has
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  something better in mind than even the most, you know,
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  spiritual in your church. Realize that if God is saying no
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  to multiple of his children, then you know that he has
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  something else in store. And so in that moment we get to
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  choose. Am I going to worship and follow
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  a genie that always gives me what I want?
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  Or am I going to say, OK God, you're my Lord and so I'm going
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  to follow and believe you regardless of whether or not you
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  do what I ask because I realize you're in control of my life.
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  I'm not. So I want this.
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  But if you're telling me no, then I know it's for a reason
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  and I know that it's for my good, ultimate good, and for
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  your glory. You can also realize this life
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  is not the end. You are going to live for
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  eternity. And in 300 billion years, it
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  will not matter. Whatever physical illness you
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  have right now, it could. It could legitimately be the
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  most debilitating, awful thing that has ever affected anyone.
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  In 300 billion years from now, you'll be like, oh wait, did I
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  go through that? I didn't even realize I've just
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  been with the Lord and with all of his people in paradise for so
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  long. We, we will have no recognition
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  or remembrance of the hardships and pain that we went through.
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  Realize this is just the tiniest infinitesimal blip of of the
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  length of our existence. And so just because God doesn't
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  do something within the tiny blip of time that you want him
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  to does not mean that he is not good.
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  Realize he has given you all of eternity.
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  And so even if we have to go through some hardships and some
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  sufferings on the way to get to eternity, it will be worth it.
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  So the elders, they anoint this person verse 15, the prayer of
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  faith will save the sick person and if the Lord wills and the
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  Lord will raise him up if he has committed sins, he will be
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  forgiven when we confess our sins, He's faithful and just to
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  forgive us our sins. And what what a joy here that
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  there is, especially within the the context of this person with
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  the church elders having an openness and an honesty to say
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  like, Hey, here's some things that I'm struggling with.
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  And it very well could be that God is putting me under some
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  difficulty, some some sickness, some hardship right now to help
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  draw my attention to the fact that I have some sin in my life.
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  Not, not as a result, not as a punishment.
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  It's not, oh, you did this sin or you're holding on to this.
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  And so I'm going to curse you with blindness.
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  I'm going to curse you with leprosy or whatever.
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  That's not the way the Lord works.
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  But he might be using your trial to draw attention to some sin in
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  your life. Verse #16 Then James tells us.
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  Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one
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  another so that you may be healed again.
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  We can think back to Job, as we learned last episode, and Job's
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  friends that came and they were accusing him of being the reason
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  that all of his hardships were happening, even though that was
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  not the case. God told Job, OK, you need to
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  pray for your friends because they spoke very presumptuously
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  about me and my motives. And so as a result, you know
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  that they're going to experience judgement unless you pray for
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  their forgiveness. And Job did so, and his friends
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  were forgiven. And then God bless Job in
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  amazing ways. And so in a similar way, we're
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  to confess our sins to one another, verse 16 and pray for
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  one another so that we may be healed.
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  And it says the the prayer of a righteous person is very
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  powerful in its effect. Now there's a bad way to take
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  this. And certainly many of us would
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  would know about like confessional booths and we would
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  see, you know, people that say, OK, just a pastor can have sins
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  confessed to him and and he'll give you some, you know,
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  spiritual prescription and you will find forgiveness that way.
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  No, this is about within the local church that together,
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  whether that's in a small Group, A men's Group, A ladies group,
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  you know, a group of friends that pray together.
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  It can be variety of ways. But when we confess our sins to
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  one another, when we pray for each other, we find healing in
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  that soul. Healing in that that our sins
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  are not being kept hidden. They're brought out into the
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  light. Our sin is shamed and we reject
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  our sin personally and corporately within groups of
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  believers. So I want to encourage you.
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  That's not very popular in in American Christianity, but I am
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  solidly convinced that this is the Bible way.
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  Don't be afraid to tell another person, especially within your
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  local church, especially friends within your local church, to be
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  like, hey, I am struggling with this thing right now.
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  Like, man, I, I've been drinking more than I should and I, I
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  don't like what it's doing to me.
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  You can have a person that's like, hey, I, I, I've been
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  looking at some stuff that I shouldn't.
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  Would you, you know, keep me accountable?
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  Would you ask me next week? Like, hey, how's, how's it going
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  with that? Are you, are you staying on the
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  right path? It could be someone that's like.
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  Man, I am just flying off the handle versus, you know, my my
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  kids or versus my coworkers, and I just really need you to pray
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  for me that I would have some patience and that I wouldn't be
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  angry with this other person. And as we confess our sins to
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  one another and we pray for each other, we can find healing in
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  that. Do you have a sin that's just
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  been kicking your butt for a while?
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  Try confessing it to your brother or sister in the Lord,
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  and as you pray together and as you're honest with each other,
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  as you battle that, see what God can do to heal you.
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  And then as an example of how effective prayer can be, James
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  mentions the prophet Elijah and how Elijah prayed that there
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  would be no rain on the earth. And this was in the time of the
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  wicked king Ahab and his queen Jezebel.
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  And it says Elijah, just a regular human.
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  He prayed that it wouldn't rain in Israel.
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  For 3 1/2 years. It did not rain.
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  And he prayed again and it rained.
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  And so he says there is power and prayer and believe it.
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  God may not always do exactly what you want done when you want
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  it done, but realize that when you go knocking on heaven's
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  door, some things are going to happen.
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  And verse #19 and 20 then, if you will, gives the A, A, a
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  different outlook of the same scenario.
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  So I could go to someone else and say, hey, I'm struggling
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  with this sin. Would you pray with me?
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  Would you help keep me accountable?
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  That's one way to deal with sin in your life versus 19 and 20 is
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  the opposite side. So this is different than the
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  complaining, criticizing, judging that we read about in
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  chapter 4. This is actual love.
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  This is meaningful, constructive work within the body to pursue
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  holiness together as the people of God.
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  Some people think, OK, if you tell me that anything that I'm
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  doing is wrong is sinful, that you're just being legalistic,
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  you're judging whatever that is not how the Bible talks about
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  it. Now, if you go up to someone and
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  you're like, oh, listen, you're wearing, you know, a button up
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  shirt and church. Don't you?
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  Like this is a family. This isn't a business.
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  And and you would want to, you know, wear something nice in the
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  house or sorry, you would want to wear something comfy and real
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  when you're in the house with your mom and dad.
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  And so you need to take off that button up shirt and you just
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  need to put on a T-shirt, something like that where it's
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  extra, extra biblical. And I don't mean as in like
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  there's biblical and that's good and extra biblical and that's
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  really good. No, I mean, it is not found in
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  the Bible. When you have stuff like that,
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  that should never be the basis of why you're talking to someone
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  else. Now, if someone else, they are
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  lying, they're committing immorality, they are stealing.
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  They are like angry and wrathful with another person.
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  Maybe they're one of the ones that are judging or criticizing
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  or complaining like we read about in chapter 4 verses 1920.
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  If any, if any among you strays from the truth and someone turns
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  him back, let that person know that whoever turns a Sinner from
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  the error of his way will save his soul from death and cover a
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  multitude of sins. When you go to that person that
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  is struggling with legitimate sin, not just your pet,
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  whatever. When you're going to someone
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  that is struggling with legitimate sin in their life and
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  you helped turn them back, that they are now pursuing Jesus and
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  the love of God and the fruit of the Spirit instead of the sin
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  that they were pursuing. Like James says, let the person
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  that helped with the turning it around, let them know, yeah, you
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  saved that person's soul from destruction and you covered over
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  a multitude of things in that person's life that would have
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  gone horribly. You helped save them from the
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  wrong path. This encourages us speak into
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  the lives of each other. Sometimes someone will come to
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  us and be like, hey, I got a problem.
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  Other times we will see the problem in someone else's life
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  and the the aim should not be OK.
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  Well, I'll tell the elders, and the elders will deal with that
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  person's sin. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.
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  You go. You are equipped with the Spirit
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  of God and the Word of God. You go to that person, you try
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  and help that person and turn them back to the path of life.
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  Because the path of sin, the path that is not leading to
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  Jesus, that will destroy them. It'll destroy their
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  relationships. It will destroy everything that
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  they hold dear. And that is not the path that
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  God has for them. So you play a part and you can
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  help save someone's life in a manner of speaking, through
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  turning them back the right direction.
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  Now if they don't listen to you, then Matthew 18, then you can
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  tell the others and be like, hey, would you help me out as
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  we're trying to help this brother or sister out, that they
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  would turn from sin, repent and turn back to the Savior.
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  That is a great, wonderful, valuable thing to do.
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  So today we learn our emotions are meant to lead us to God.
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  We are to have belief in, in prayer, prayer for one another.
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  And we ought to confess our sins to each other, have an openness,
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  bring sin out into the light where it can be held accountable
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  and, and God can help to heal us from our sin.
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  And we ought to love each other that we pursue one another when
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  we are in sin. And we we can turn people away
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  from the path of death and destruction and sin back to the
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  path that Jesus has called us to walk on.
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  Well, thank you for journeying through the book of James with
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  me. And I will be with you next time
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  in the book of Joel in the Old Testament.