The Epistle of James - Godly Values
Part 40 - The Christian response to sickness
James 5v14-16
29th March 2019
Last time, we looked at the Christian response to trouble, focussing on:
James 5v13
Is any one of you in trouble? He should pray. Is anyone happy? Let him sing songs of praise.
This time, we'll consider the Christian response to sickness, as discussed in:
James 5v14-16
Is any one of you sick? He should call the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint
him with oil in the name of the Lord.
And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise him up. If
he has sinned, he will be forgiven.
Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed
The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.
Calling for the elders is not the only way to get healed, but it is the way James wants to talk about. I think it's likely that James is writing to people who've prayed about their own sickness and have done what they can. They'll have seen a doctor, and taken medicine, and rested, and they're still sick. What should a sick Christian do next? James's answer is clear - He should "call the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord".
It's quite remarkable how many good evangelical Christians, who think they believe all the Bible, ignore this clear instruction. Perhaps we don't want to bother the elders. Perhaps we think they're too busy to visit us. Perhaps we think they don't love us enough to visit us. Perhaps we don't think they really believe God would hear their prayers for us, anyway. But this what the Bible tells us to do.
Please, if you're sick, and you've prayed, and you've read books on Christian healing and tried to do what they say, and you've repented of everything you can think of, and you've gone to church every week and praised God's Holy Name, and your friends have prayed for you, and you're still sick, then call the elders.
James doesn't say the elders should offer to go and pray. It says the sick person should call for the elders. The initiative must lie with the person in trouble, not with the eldership. It's an act of faith to call for the elders.
Why the elders? Well, elders, if they are elders, are mature, godly, wise in the Scriptures, and full of faith, or you shouldn't have made them elders. And when you're sick, and struggling, and nothing seems work, maybe you need to lean on their faith and not just your own. They're supposed to be men of faith, so call for them.
We are the body of Christ. We are supposed to mix our faith together, and strengthen one another. And sometimes, when you find it difficult to believe that God will - or even can - heal you, it's valuable to hear the elders (or any brother or sister in Christ) say, "Well, we still believe that God heals". We strengthen one another by faith, and our elders are supposed to be men of faith, who will strengthen us, and who will pray in faith.
James says "the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well. The Lord will raise him up". So the faith that he's talking about is the faith of the elders, not the faith of the sick person. Sadly, a lot of charismatic Christian teachers will tell you that if you don't get well, it's your fault. But James says it's the elders' faith that makes you well, not yours.
However, we all have a problem with James's words, "The prayer offered in faith will make him well" because we all know that it doesn't always happen. At one point Paul had to ask Timothy to take some wine for his stomach problems" (1 Timothy 5v23). On another occasion, Paul had to leave Trophimus behind because he was sick (2 Timothy 4v20). Obviously Paul's prayers for his friends hadn't worked. Also, Paul prayed for healing for himself and he wasn't healed, as he describes in 2 Corinthians 12v7-10.
Prayer for healing doesn't always work, but it often does. And it must be the right thing to do. And it's God's prescribed way of addressing the problem.
Maybe your elders haven't got enough faith. Maybe they're not quite the men of faith you think they are. But I hope they'll gladly mix their faith with you, and pray for you as fervently and honestly as they can, and seek God to heal you.
And then James says, "If the person has sinned, he will be forgiven. Therefore, forgive your sins to each other, and pray for each other, so that you may be healed".
There are lots of reasons why sick Christians don't get healed, and this is one of them. If you're sick and you've prayed and prayed and prayed and not got healed, maybe the reason is that there's unconfessed sin in your life. Maybe that isn't the reason. We mustn't be too simplistic about this. Sin might or might not be the reason, but James thinks it's worth mentioning because sometimes it is. If you're sick, it's worth examining yourself and asking if there is something you need to confess.
And James tell us to confess to the elders that we've done something wrong. Evangelical Churches tend not to teach this very much. Perhaps that's partly because we're afraid of the Catholic practice of institutionalised confession, where everybody more-or-less has to confess to a person they call a "priest". We've thrown the baby out with the bath water. It's wrong to institutionalise confession, but it is good to confess.
Some of my readers will feel better, healthier, and closer to the God, the moment they go to an elder (or somebody else) and say, "I've sinned. Please pray for me", and tell the person what that sin is. It's a bit scary to do, but we're safe if we choose a faithful and good person to confess to. Some of us are struggling because we refuse to do that. We're harbouring sin. Perhaps we're embarrassed to admit it. But there is power in confession, and there is power in prayer.
There is much power in the prayer of the elders because, if a man is elected an elder in a church, and if he takes this responsibility seriously, and serves with a pure heart, God will anoint him with additional power and authority. The elders are responsible before God for the well-being of the church, and God will give them power and wisdom sufficient to discharge this responsibility. We must choose our elders with great care. "The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective."