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Pray For One Another
James 5:13-20
It has been our
history in this country that the more things change the more they stay
the same. One of the things that happened last week at the funeral was
that my dad and his remaining brothers and sisters sat around talking
about being kids. They talked about their cousin Butch that my dad shot
with a B.B. Gun because he wouldn’t leave Bobby alone. And they talked
about the hundreds of dogs that wandered up to the house and became a
permanent fixture, and they even talked about running home from the bus
stop so that they could get the best seat in the house for Superman.
Like I said things haven’t changed much. I shot my cousin Chris with a
B.B. gun because he wouldn’t leave my brother alone, I wanted to keep
every dog that came along and Trista found a DVD of Superman Cartoons at
the Dollar Tree that Trafton and I are trying to wear out.
Superman, what a great show. There is action, drama, good verses the
evil, Superman was a great guy, a real hero. He was for my dad and now
he is for my son.
I got to thinking about other great comic book heroes that haven’t had
the staying power of Superman, I mean he’s still popular today, this
week you can even turn on the WB and see how Superman acted in High
School in the show Smallville. Why is it so popular?
I think because deep down inside everyone of us we want to be Superman.
One of the great things about Superman is that for most of the show he
was just plain old ordinary goofy looking Clark Kent. He wasn’t Superman
all the time. Sure the power was there for him when he needed it but for
the most part he just seemed ordinary. But you let him step into that
phone booth and he would come out ready and able to take on whatever
evil came around. Funny thing though, he never went to tackle all the
bad guys and evil until after he went to his little booth. He always
went there first.
Today we get to look at the End of James’ letter to the church and I
believe we will also get a glimpse on how we will be able to realize
that dream to be super. In his letter James has laid out some serious
and real challenges to the church. Some real life evils and sins to
fight against. James started his letter telling the church to ask God
for wisdom and now he closes the letter with a wonderful word of
encouragement.
Let’s read our text together. James 5:13-20
James says that our power, the power we find in prayer, is available to
every one of us. That power is not just for Superman but to every Clark
Kent here today.
Pray for one another. What an awesome opportunity.
Pray for one another. What a great responsibility.
Pray for one another. What a humbling experience.
Last week I gave you some homework. I asked you to pay a different
member of your family a complement every day in an effort to learn the
art of Appreciating One Another. I asked you to show appreciation to
your employees, boss, secretary, and your co-workers. I hope that you
continue that this week. Today I think that we will have an opportunity
to build on that. As we see in James’ letter there are three instances
that we are to pray for one another, and I hope that this week you not
only appreciate other people but pray for them as well.
First we need to pray for those who are suffering or enduring sickness.
James 5:13 Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray.
James 5:14-15 says: Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the
elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil
in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith will save the one who
is sick, and the Lord will raise him up.
Did you know that some doctors are now prescribing prayer for their
patients. Isn’t it ironic that the medical world sometimes seems to
believe in the healing power of prayer more than the church? They did a
survey of 250 family doctors, and you know 99 percent believed that a
patient’s spiritual beliefs contribute to healing. Eleven medical
schools, including Harvard and Johns Hopkins, offer courses in Prayer
and Healing.
I believe that we understand this part of the verse pretty well. As a
matter of fact most of the prayers that we offer on the behalf of others
fall into this category. After national tragedies like the attack on
America during 9-11 or as recent as Katrina or Rita, churches and the
individual members of those bodies have lifted people that we didn’t
even know up in prayer.
Two weeks ago at school campuses all across this nation young people
participated in See You At The poll, an ecumenical call for young people
to meet at the Flag pole on their school campuses to pray. Normally we
meet to pray for the young people on the campus to be safe and that they
will have the courage to show Christ’ love to their school. But this
year was different. This year we were asked to pray not only for our
schools but to spend time in prayer for those suffering from the recent
storms. We know what it is to pray for those who are suffering.
I have been called to the hospital for people I didn’t know, and didn’t
go to church to pray. People who didn’t know how to call upon the name
of God wanted someone to ask Him to give the family comfort, and peace
as they watched a loved one take their last breaths. We know how to pray
for those who are suffering.
Weekly we take time before our Bible classes and our worship to stop and
talk about those that are sick or struggling and pray for them. We put
their names in the Bulletin and on the Barnabas Sheet so that you can go
to your home and have a written reminder of those you are called to pray
for. We make every effort for you to know who is hurting because we
believe that we know how to pray for those who are suffering.
The question that we have to answer is not do we know how to pray for
those who are suffering but do we pray for those who are suffering?
You see James is not saying that we pray for a mass of people during a
church service. He is not instructing us to gather around a long metal
pole sticking out of the ground and pray for people we will never meet,
and he is not advocating that we go and roam the hospitals looking for
people that are crying so we can say a short prayer on their behalf. He
is not even saying that we need to have bulletins and WebPages of prayer
requests. Now while I believe that there is nothing wrong with saying
those types of prayers; I don’t believe that is at the heart of what
James is saying here.
When I am given the opportunity to pray for someone’s suffering I am
given the opportunity to empathize with them. You know what it means to
empathize with someone don’t you? It means to feel their pain, to feel
what they are feeling. Our call to pray for someone who is suffering
means that I am to pray in a way that I try to feel their struggle and
their pain. Sometimes that is easy, if you have had a similar experience
you remember all to well what you felt. You remember your personal
struggle, your remember the story of what happened to you. Pray for them
through your own story.
Sometimes it is a little harder because you have never undergone the
struggle. So when we pray we have to come to the best understanding that
we can. Ask yourself good questions like “What is the current struggle
doing with their relationship to God?” What is the current struggle
doing to their relationship to their family?” Then think and see is
there was a time that you felt alienated from God, or a time where you
struggled with your family. That’s the pain that I take before the
throne on your behalf.
Next James says that we are to pray when we have success.
James 5:13 Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing praise.
Praise, is a wonderful thing. James says in times of happiness sing
praises, offer thanks to the giver of all good gifts. Paul says in
Romans 12:15 that we are to rejoice with those who rejoice.
As easy as it is for us to offer up prayers when someone is suffering
why is it so hard to offer up prayers when things are right, during
times of rejoicing?
I think one reason for this is that we think if things are wrong then
God needs to help us out but when things are right boy aren’t we smart,
or strong, or powerful! You see anything that is good in my life must
have come from my hard work, dedication, and shrewd business plan.
That’s a glimpse into why it is so hard to be happy for someone else’s
good fortune. It’s an admittal that they worked harder; were more
dedicated, and had shrewder business practices. And we aren’t ready to
make that kind of concession.
This week I had to take a step back here for a little remedial learning.
Let me quickly remind you what Jesus says in Matthew 7:11 how much more
will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!
According to Christ good gifts come from the Father in heaven. They are
not a result of my goodness but a result of God’s goodness and His
desire to lavish those gifts upon His children. If that is the case then
the only reason that I could not pray a prayer of praise when something
good happens to my brother or sister is because of the evil in my own
heart.
So James exhortation for us to pray a prayer of thanksgiving shows the
content of our heart. If my heart is right with God then I am able to
rejoice when good things come your way, I am able to pray a prayer of
thanks on your behalf.
The second reason that this is so hard is because It is so easy to look
at the bad or evil things in our lives and communities. As a matter of
fact when I ask you to look at this piece of paper (hold up a sheet of
paper with black spots on it) we are naturally drawn to see the black
spots and forget about the white in the background. That is a great
representation of how we look at life. We are so conditioned to look at
the black dots that we forget about the blessings that God has so
abundantly poured out into our lives.
James uses this text to remind us to look for the blessings of God. To
look at them in our lives so that we can share those with others and to
look for them in the lives of others and rejoice.
What is it that makes you cheerful? What is it that makes you happy?
What is it that brings you a sense of joy? Those are the things that we
are to share with one another, those are the things that we together as
a family and individually need to say a prayer of thanksgiving about.
We received word Wednesday Evening that June’s test did not show any
other tumors, did you say a prayer of thanksgiving?
Families connected to this family lives were spared during Katrina, and
Rita, did you say a prayer of thanksgiving?
You were able to meet in this place today and lift your voice in song,
pray, hear this message from God’s word, will you say a prayer of
thanksgiving?
We have so much to be thankful for in our own lives and in the lives of
the members of this body, do we truly count our many blessings, naming
them one by one.
Finally we need to pray so we can confess.
James 5:16 Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one
another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has
great power as it is working
For most of us we don’t get real excited talking about confessions. The
very word brings images to our minds of a dark room and a bright light
in your eyes, while some big police officer bullies us to take the blame
for something.
But once again James tells us that we are to pray for one another, and
this time it is a prayer of confession. Now the way that this usually
works out is that we get to this part and we say, “James says that we
need to confess to one another so that we can pray about it. I believe
that we need to do just that so you go first.”
It is so easy to appear to be hyper-spiritual and to want to pray for
everyone else’s sins while keeping yours a secret. But what we have yet
to realize is that this three point plan for praying for one another has
built on itself.
We have talked about praying for someone who is sick and struggling and
it doesn’t take any type of relationship for that to happen. You can ask
me to pray for your first cousin’s nephew’s wife’s brother’s dad’s next
door neighbors best friend’s boss at work and I can do that with out
having any type of relationship with them.
Then we talked about praying a prayer of thanksgiving on someone’s
behalf and that requires two things. First that I know them, and second
that there is nothing in my life that would hinder my honest prayers for
their good will.
But now that we get to praying for each others sins well that brings us
to a completely different level of intimacy. Before I can trust you with
the sins in my life I have to trust you.
I have to trust that you love me and care enough about me to hold what I
tell you.
I have to trust that you will not use what I have told you to gain an
advantage on me or use it against me.
I have to trust that you care enough about me to want what is best for
me and even go the extra mile of holding me accountable for doing the
right thing.
And finally I have to trust that you want me to get right.
Unfortunately that type of trust is very rare in our churches today
because it is very rare in our world today. But we are not called to act
like the world. Let me read you Peterson’s paraphrase of what Paul says
in Romans 12:2 Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you
fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God.
You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants
from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you,
always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best
out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.
Did you get that? Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you
fit into it without even thinking… God brings the best out of you,
develops well-formed maturity in you.
God wants to live a life of maturity not a life like the world that
cruses through without thinking. Before we can honestly fulfill this
command to pray for one another we have to be mature enough to trust one
another, and that’s where the problem lies. Psychologists tell us that
the reason that we have trouble trusting others is because we know deep
down that we can’t be trusted. Maybe today before we even begin to try
to pray for one another we need to get ourselves right first.
You see like Clark Kent – the power is always there, always available
for the Christian. God has promised us that as long as we have breath we
have a chance to tap into His power. His power to heal the sick, sooth
the suffering, cleanse us of our sins. His power to make us what He
desires for us to be.
Today we get a great opportunity to pray for one another. If you are
sick or suffering I hope that you trust us enough to love you, and pray
for you. We want to help you carry that burden and show you how
important you are to this family.
If you have reason to rejoice I hope that you trust us enough to let us
bask in the blessings that God has given you. I hope that we understand
that when God blesses one member of this body that He blesses every
member of this body.
And if your relationship with God is not right today I hope that you can
trust us. Trust us to hold what you tell us, and to petition God on your
behalf.
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