SPEAKER_00: Hello, friends.
SPEAKER_00: This is Pastor Creighton.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you for tuning in to Newsong Church's Sermon Podcast.
SPEAKER_00: At Newsong Church, we want to see Jesus lifted high in Port Perry, Ontario, as we worship, grow, and serve.
SPEAKER_00: You can learn more about us and find contact info at newsongportperry.ca.
SPEAKER_01: Our second lesson this morning is found in James chapter 5, beginning at the seventh verse.
SPEAKER_01: Be patient, therefore, brothers, until the coming of the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient about it until it receives the early and the late rains.
SPEAKER_01: You also be patient.
SPEAKER_01: Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand.
SPEAKER_01: Do not grumble against one another, brothers, so that you may not be judged.
SPEAKER_01: Behold, the judge is standing at the door.
SPEAKER_01: As an example of suffering and patience, brothers, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: Behold, we consider those blessed who remained steadfast.
SPEAKER_01: You have heard of the steadfastness of Job, and you have seen the purpose of the Lord, how the Lord is compassionate and merciful.
SPEAKER_01: But above all, my brothers, do not swear, either by heaven or by earth or by any other oath, but let your yes be yes and your no be no, so that you may not fall under condemnation.
SPEAKER_01: Is anyone among you suffering?
SPEAKER_01: Let him pray.
SPEAKER_01: Is anyone cheerful?
SPEAKER_01: Let him sing praise.
SPEAKER_01: Is any one among you sick?
SPEAKER_01: 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.
SPEAKER_01: And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up, and if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven.
SPEAKER_01: Therefore, confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another that you may be healed.
SPEAKER_01: The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.
SPEAKER_01: Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed fervently that it might not rain, and for three years and six months it did not rain on the earth.
SPEAKER_01: Then he prayed again, and heaven gave rain, and the earth bore its fruit.
SPEAKER_01: My brothers, if any one among you wanders from the truth and someone brings him back, let him know that whoever brings back a sinner from his wandering will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins.
SPEAKER_01: The word of the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: Thanks be to God.
SPEAKER_00: The prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up.
SPEAKER_00: Let's pray.
SPEAKER_00: Holy and gracious God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: Increase our faith to wait well at this present time for the coming of our Lord Jesus, for the fulfilling of all your promises.
SPEAKER_00: Send forth your light and your truth.
SPEAKER_00: Let them lead us to your holy hill, to your dwelling.
SPEAKER_00: In Jesus' name we pray.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: Please be seated.
SPEAKER_00: What does it look like to follow Jesus in our suffering?
SPEAKER_00: A number of years ago, uh a fellow Anglican pastor was telling me a story, a story from his own experience and the difficult experience of his family.
SPEAKER_00: He had a young daughter who for many, many years was sick, you know, in and out of the hospital so frequently.
SPEAKER_00: They lived in a large city, but they were on first name basis with all of the uh staff in the emergency room, you know, in the large hospital nearby.
SPEAKER_00: His young daughter was in and out of the hospital frequently.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, I suspect that's a pain that only parents with sick children know.
SPEAKER_00: There's a special kind of suffering and forbearance there.
SPEAKER_00: So they walked this path and and, you know, as best they could, committed themselves to be faithful in prayer and in fasting and and in hope.
SPEAKER_00: And uh one day he gets this phone call out of the blue, and it's uh it's a phone call coming through the church office, and it's from uh the fellow on the other side of the phone introduces himself.
SPEAKER_00: He says, I'm a Pentecostal pastor, you know, and I live on the other side of the country, and I heard about your story, uh, and I heard about your daughter, and I heard about um well, I heard about your ministry, and I'd like to invite you to come out to my church and to preach on healing.
SPEAKER_00: And because my Anglican friend kind of didn't really that was one wasn't what he expected to hear, and I think just came out of the blue.
SPEAKER_00: He he just laughed out loud.
SPEAKER_00: And he laughed out loud and says, you know, you know I'm an Anglican, right?
SPEAKER_00: And the guy goes, Yeah, and he goes, I thought you were Pentecostal.
SPEAKER_00: Like, aren't you guys all about healing and you know, revival and that kind of ministry?
SPEAKER_00: And he goes, he goes, Yeah, we are.
SPEAKER_00: We we we believe, like you, that God heals and that God can show up in miraculous ways.
SPEAKER_00: He says, Pentecostals, we know how to pray for healing.
SPEAKER_00: He says, what we don't know how to do, what we don't know is what to do when God doesn't heal.
SPEAKER_00: What we don't know is how to follow Jesus in suffering.
SPEAKER_00: Now I say that, I share that story not to make Anglicanism look superior to any other denomination, Pentecostalism or otherwise.
SPEAKER_00: And I don't share that story to say we've got it all figured out here.
SPEAKER_00: I share that story because I think that's a question that resonates with every Christian in one way or another, isn't it?
SPEAKER_00: What do we do when God doesn't show up in the way that we want to relieve our suffering in the way that makes the most sense to us?
SPEAKER_00: It's so clear to us.
SPEAKER_00: What do we do to follow Jesus in our suffering?
SPEAKER_00: See, this is the kind of question, and it resonates so deeply, it's like we see the commercials, the televangelists who say, you know, for a simple down payment of$50, we'll send you blessed holy water, and that'll fix your problems.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, some of these commercials are so cheesy that you go, oh my goodness, who would do that?
SPEAKER_00: And yet it takes the pain of a sick child to go, if that's what makes the difference, sign me up.
SPEAKER_00: All kinds of rituals or remedies of one sort or the other, it's like, what do we do to follow Jesus in our suffering?
SPEAKER_00: This is the kind of question I think is in James' mind as he writes the conclusion of his letter here.
SPEAKER_00: That's where we are in James chapter 5 this morning.
SPEAKER_00: This is the conclusion of his letter, a letter that began with James instructing Christians to count it all joy when you encounter trials of various kinds.
SPEAKER_00: Because these trials are perfecting your character and God is using them for a greater good.
SPEAKER_00: That's a tall order.
SPEAKER_00: And this is how James wants to land the plane.
SPEAKER_00: He wants to talk about following Jesus in suffering, in the hardest times of life.
SPEAKER_00: And friends, there's no, like, this isn't a Rubik's cube that we can just kind of solve and be like, oh, I get it.
SPEAKER_00: I get why we suffer.
SPEAKER_00: I get why God allows suffering.
SPEAKER_00: It's like, no, James and and God's word, they're not, they're not treating this like a Rubik's Cube.
SPEAKER_00: That's a pretty cheap thing, I think.
SPEAKER_00: But instead, James wants to call us to follow Christ in the midst of suffering.
SPEAKER_00: And friends, I can't help but think if our faith can't speak to suffering, what right does it have to speak to our joy or our hope or our peace?
SPEAKER_00: What does it look like to follow Jesus in our suffering?
SPEAKER_00: I think James offers two answers here.
SPEAKER_00: What does it look like for us to follow Jesus in suffering?
SPEAKER_00: James suggests one, patience.
SPEAKER_00: And following Jesus in suffering looks like patience and trust.
SPEAKER_00: Patience and trust.
SPEAKER_00: Now that might sound trite, like a pat on the head, but I don't think James is saying these things because he's like, I don't know what else to say.
SPEAKER_00: I think James is saying, I don't know what else to say, other than patience and trust.
SPEAKER_00: These things direct our attention outside of ourselves and towards the God who has promised us to come again and that he is sufficient.
SPEAKER_00: Patience and trust is how we follow Jesus in the midst of our suffering.
SPEAKER_00: And maybe you're coming here this morning in the midst of a season of suffering.
SPEAKER_00: And I hope there's good news for you today in God's word.
SPEAKER_00: I suspect there is.
SPEAKER_00: Patience and trust.
SPEAKER_00: That's how we follow Jesus in our suffering.
SPEAKER_00: So if you have your bulletin, your order of service, your uh your Bible, please open up to James chapter 5, and we're gonna look at James 5, 7 to 18 in particular.
SPEAKER_00: We follow Jesus in our suffering through patience.
SPEAKER_00: Here's what James writes, verse 7.
SPEAKER_00: This is uh an imperative, this is a command.
SPEAKER_00: Be patient, therefore, brothers, and we understand that, brothers and sisters, until the coming of the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: And then James goes on to say, Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand.
SPEAKER_00: Be patient, establish your hearts.
SPEAKER_00: This is the same word, by the way, that Paul uses love is patient, love is kind.
SPEAKER_00: Patience is a sort of forbearance, uh, uh long-suffering, a perseverance.
SPEAKER_00: And to establish your heart is to make fast.
SPEAKER_00: It's a metaphor, it's like uh it's like you're you know, um, you know, it's like you're you're drilling deep into the ground to lay a foundation, a cornerstone for a building.
SPEAKER_00: It's like that isn't going to be immovable.
SPEAKER_00: It's going nowhere.
SPEAKER_00: Establish your heart.
SPEAKER_00: Set it in deep and solid.
SPEAKER_00: And this is the same word, interesting left, that shows up in Luke chapter 9, verse 51, when Luke says that towards the end of Jesus' ministry, he he set his face towards Jerusalem, which is to say, Jesus established his heart to go and suffer on our behalf.
SPEAKER_00: There is nothing that could sway him or persuade him otherwise.
SPEAKER_00: He was set on it.
SPEAKER_00: Be patient, establish your heart.
SPEAKER_00: I think for James, patience is not a passive thing.
SPEAKER_00: It can sound very passive, like we've got nothing better to do than sort of twiddle our thumbs and sit on our hands, but that's not what James has in mind.
SPEAKER_00: This kind of patience, this perseverance, this long-suffering, is an active commitment of our will.
SPEAKER_00: It is a decision to not give up based on God's, the surety of God's promise.
SPEAKER_00: I think we know what it's like to experience a sort of patience that's not passive.
SPEAKER_00: Christmas season always gets me thinking about Christmas as being a Christmas as a child.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe you remember some very fond memories of being a you know your childhood Christmases.
SPEAKER_00: This was the hardest time of year, I think, all year round, because the tree was up and the gifts were wrapped, and they were waiting there, just taunting me for weeks at a time.
SPEAKER_00: Do we remember that feeling?
SPEAKER_00: Gosh, it's just it's literally paper thin between me and that that present waiting for me, right?
SPEAKER_00: We know what it's like to be patient, but it's an active, longing, anticipatory kind of patience.
SPEAKER_00: It's not a sort of, oh, the tree's there, that's cool.
SPEAKER_00: It's uh, I'm set on that.
SPEAKER_00: And James himself uses an illustration to sort of give a sense of what this kind of patience is look like.
SPEAKER_00: He says, see how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient about it until it receives the early and late rains.
SPEAKER_00: I could picture my grandpa out, uh, he was uh he bailed hay and he he kept bees, and I can picture him out on his his hobby farm there, and maybe some of y'all I know grew up on farms.
SPEAKER_00: And you know, farming is not a there is a lot of patience involved in farming because there is just a lot outside your control.
SPEAKER_00: But it would be wrong to think that farmers are just sitting on their hands, aren't we?
SPEAKER_00: There's an active patience there.
SPEAKER_00: And that's the kind of patience that James is calling us for.
SPEAKER_00: But we might want to ask, well, if we're called to an anticipatory, kind of active sort of patience, well, what are we being patient for?
SPEAKER_00: If I'm patient for Christmas, it's like I'm I'm anticipating opening those gifts.
SPEAKER_00: The farmer is patient, anticipating anticipating the harvest.
SPEAKER_00: What are we anticipating?
SPEAKER_00: What are we waiting for?
SPEAKER_00: And James has an answer for us.
SPEAKER_00: Be patient, therefore, until the coming of the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: And he repeats again, establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand.
SPEAKER_00: What are we patient for in the midst of suffering?
SPEAKER_00: We're patient for the coming of the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: That glorious day when our Lord Jesus will come again to judge the living and the dead.
SPEAKER_00: Paul writes this in his letter to the Thessalonians.
SPEAKER_00: He says, The Lord Himself, Jesus, will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God.
SPEAKER_00: In other words, it's like we're not going to be left wondering what's going on here.
SPEAKER_00: The dead in Christ will rise first, and then we who are alive who are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: The Lord has promised he will return, and we'll meet him in celebration, as he does, as his people who've been waiting for him.
SPEAKER_00: This is the inauguration of his kingdom.
SPEAKER_00: And so, friends, we we have an expectant faith.
SPEAKER_00: We live by faith and not by sight, but we live by faith in such a way that we expect we will see these promises fulfilled.
SPEAKER_00: And that means on our very worst day, when suffering seems to engulf us, we have an unshakable hope.
SPEAKER_00: James understands the Lord will come again.
SPEAKER_00: Down in Texas, it was something that a Texans said all the time.
SPEAKER_00: The way we would just go, like, you know, it was just, come, Lord Jesus, all the time, wasn't it?
SPEAKER_00: And, you know, sometimes it just sort of seemed to be this nervous tick or something.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe it was.
SPEAKER_00: But at a certain point it just started to resonate.
SPEAKER_00: You know, you'd hear a difficult story, and we might say, Oh, I'm sorry.
SPEAKER_00: They would go, Come, Lord Jesus, and I just think that's a wonderful reflex.
SPEAKER_00: Because they know that the Lord's return will answer this suffering.
SPEAKER_00: We know that the Lord's return will do away with evil and oppression.
SPEAKER_00: So we wait in hope.
SPEAKER_00: With an active and not a passive patience, because the Lord has promised to come again.
SPEAKER_00: What is that active sort of patience that anticipates the Lord's return above all things?
SPEAKER_00: What does that look like?
SPEAKER_00: I think James has two suggestions.
SPEAKER_00: I want to touch on them really quickly.
SPEAKER_00: Here's how, here's what pa's what a godly sort of patience can look like.
SPEAKER_00: In both ways, I think James suggests words matter.
SPEAKER_00: When we are patiently waiting for the Lord's return in the midst of suffering, our words matter.
SPEAKER_00: First off, James says, don't grumble.
SPEAKER_00: Look at verse 9.
SPEAKER_00: Do not grumble against one another, brothers, so that you may not be judged.
SPEAKER_00: Behold, the judge is standing at the door.
SPEAKER_00: He concludes that by saying, Jesus' return is imminent.
SPEAKER_00: Don't grumble against one another.
SPEAKER_00: James has spent a huge chunk of his letter talking about the sort of divisive speech that can split apart a church family, and that's splitting apart this church family in Jerusalem.
SPEAKER_00: Don't grumble against one another.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe we picture the Israelites grumbling in the wilderness in the Old Testament.
SPEAKER_00: Living in this constant state of complacency and complaint.
SPEAKER_00: See, grumbling, I think James understands, is an expression of a hopeless heart.
SPEAKER_00: Grumbling is a sort of, takes a posture of this is all just futile.
SPEAKER_00: There's no point to all of this.
SPEAKER_00: And our words reflect a sort of hopeless disposition.
SPEAKER_00: But if we have a hope that our Lord will come again, that can change the words we use.
SPEAKER_00: It transforms this experience of suffering.
SPEAKER_00: And well, now we have a hope that's greater than this present moment we're experiencing.
SPEAKER_00: Instead, James says, look, look at the example of the prophets.
SPEAKER_00: Many of the prophets were hated and hunted and bereaved.
SPEAKER_00: Hosea had a marriage breakdown, and Daniel was exiled, and many were condemned quite publicly.
SPEAKER_00: And yet, James says we consider all of them blessed in verse 11.
SPEAKER_00: That doesn't sound like blessing to me.
SPEAKER_00: Does it sound like blessing to you?
SPEAKER_00: I mean, we read these stories and they inspire our faith, but we might, I mean, I certainly think for myself, gosh, I would not want to experience any of those things.
SPEAKER_00: Let the prophets have the suffering.
SPEAKER_00: Not for me, thank you.
SPEAKER_00: I think James is saying for those Christians who, not if we experience suffering, but when we experience suffering, we can nevertheless discover that God is at work in the midst of it.
SPEAKER_00: And we can count ourselves blessed, not by the suffering, but because of the work God is doing in and through it.
SPEAKER_00: And so the other example James cites is Job.
SPEAKER_00: And I won't rehearse the whole story of Job, but if you know it, you know that Job is perhaps the biblical example of suffering, apart from our Lord Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: In the midst of his suffering, Job questioned God and he questioned his his justice, but he never cursed God or condemned God.
SPEAKER_00: Instead, he held out hope that he will yet see his Redeemer, yet in my flesh will I see God.
SPEAKER_00: He held out hope that there is a greater answer to this suffering that he is experiencing presently.
SPEAKER_00: I think Job's example gives us permission to wrestle with God.
SPEAKER_00: I also think Job's example points out that there's a difference between lament and grumbling.
SPEAKER_00: Like I think we've got permission to, in the midst of suffering, to say, you know, that hurts.
SPEAKER_00: It's not grumbling to acknowledge what's reality.
SPEAKER_00: Grumbling, I think, comes from a heart that's abandoned hope.
SPEAKER_00: We wrestle with these things.
SPEAKER_00: But Job and the prophets point to a way to respond to suffering that is patient, understanding that the Lord is at work in and through it, and holding on to the promise that he will come again to answer the suffering that we experience presently.
SPEAKER_00: How do we follow Jesus in the midst of our suffering?
SPEAKER_00: We do it with patience.
SPEAKER_00: Because Jesus has promised to come again.
SPEAKER_00: Wait for the Lord, whose day is near.
SPEAKER_00: Wait for the Lord, be strong, take heart.
SPEAKER_00: Our suffering will be answered by God.
SPEAKER_00: How do we follow Jesus in our suffering?
SPEAKER_00: We suffer with patience.
SPEAKER_00: The second thing I think James wants to see is we suffer with trust.
SPEAKER_00: Speaking of suffering, James says, he goes on to verse 13 and 14, is anyone among you suffering?
SPEAKER_00: Let him pray.
SPEAKER_00: Is anyone cheerful?
SPEAKER_00: Let him sing praise.
SPEAKER_00: Is anyone among you sick?
SPEAKER_00: 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.
SPEAKER_00: I think James very quickly here covers the whole experience of human life, doesn't he?
SPEAKER_00: All of desolation, all of consolation.
SPEAKER_00: Are you suffering?
SPEAKER_00: Are you cheerful?
SPEAKER_00: Are you sick?
SPEAKER_00: All of life's experience is meant to be directed towards the Lord in trust.
SPEAKER_00: This is what uh reformer John Calvin has to say.
SPEAKER_00: Calvin says that there is no time.
SPEAKER_00: In which God does not invite us to Himself.
SPEAKER_00: Our presence of our time of suffering could be a time where God is calling us to trust in Him, in His plan, in His time, in a greater work that He wants to do.
SPEAKER_00: But again, it's not a sort of passive trust, it's an active trust, it's a commitment of the will.
SPEAKER_00: Are you suffering?
SPEAKER_00: Let Him pray, is what James says.
SPEAKER_00: Prayer is the foundational expression of a Christian's trust and dependence upon God.
SPEAKER_00: It says, God, I need you to do for me what I can't do for myself.
SPEAKER_00: Nevertheless, thy will, not mine, be done.
SPEAKER_00: That's the foundation of prayer and trust.
SPEAKER_00: And if you're cheerful, sing praise, is what James has to say.
SPEAKER_00: Exaltation is also an expression of trust.
SPEAKER_00: It says, God, your will is good and perfect and acceptable, and I am delighted by it.
SPEAKER_00: When we're on top of the world, we should be singing praise.
SPEAKER_00: When we're feeling like we are crushed under the weight of the world, we come to the Lord in prayer.
SPEAKER_00: Either way, we come to the Lord in trust.
SPEAKER_00: And if we're sick, we call the elders.
SPEAKER_00: The word here specifically is presbyteros or presbyter, or in our Anglican circles, we'd say priest, the pastors of the church, and let them pray over the sick and anoint them with oil in the name of the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: This anointing, I think, is a sign act of God's blessing and consecration.
SPEAKER_00: It's not something that's meant to be magical, but it is something that is a physical way of expressing the reality that God is at work to renew and restore us in Christ.
SPEAKER_00: To set apart someone or something when we use oil for consecration to the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: And so what we're saying is we're putting our trust into practice.
SPEAKER_00: We're externalizing our trust in such a way by doing this thing that you say, Lord, is good, by being anointed with oil.
SPEAKER_00: And because James says that this is something performed by the elders of the church, I can't help but think that this is a particular ministry reserved for pastors.
SPEAKER_00: This is meant to be something that is, it brings unity and it brings uh it brings care and compassion to the flock.
SPEAKER_00: But it doesn't mean that as fellow Christians, we're not supposed to be doing anything for the sake of those who are sick.
SPEAKER_00: James says, pray for one another in verse 16.
SPEAKER_00: We're journeying with one another in the midst of suffering in this way.
SPEAKER_00: Now pray for the sick, anoint with oil.
SPEAKER_00: None of this is to suggest that this is what we do instead of seeking medical treatment if we're sick.
SPEAKER_00: Let's be clear on that.
SPEAKER_00: Because I've heard it said sometimes that, you know, oh, I wouldn't go and get treatment.
SPEAKER_00: I wouldn't go get that kind of treatment, maybe.
SPEAKER_00: I need that that would be uh that would be a lack of faith in God's ability to show up and heal in a particular way.
SPEAKER_00: And I can't help but think that that's really misinformed.
SPEAKER_00: Every good gift, James says, is from God above.
SPEAKER_00: And that includes medicine.
SPEAKER_00: And that includes medical treatment.
SPEAKER_00: And so I think we avail ourselves of every good gift that God gives for our sake.
SPEAKER_00: But I think this reminds us that our seeking treatment for our bodies through medicine and seeking treatment for our souls through this uh spiritual anointing, the two are meant to be integrated with one another.
SPEAKER_00: We are physical and spiritual beings, aren't we?
SPEAKER_00: We're both and, not either or.
SPEAKER_00: This is about bringing healing to the whole person.
SPEAKER_00: Now, this is something that's so often I find underused.
SPEAKER_00: I get too few calls for anointing.
SPEAKER_00: And maybe that's just because you know this passage comes up once a year in our lectionary or something, or whatever else, but I suspect this is a neglected ministry, perhaps because, especially as Canadians, we just don't want to be an imposition.
SPEAKER_00: It's like I don't want to be an inconvenience to anyone.
SPEAKER_00: And I don't want to be the inconvenience to call the pastor and get him to come to the hospital.
SPEAKER_00: And I guess all I can say is be an imposition, brothers and sisters.
SPEAKER_00: I want to be there.
SPEAKER_00: And if I can pray for you and anoint you, it is my privilege to do so in the name of the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: Be an imposition.
SPEAKER_00: The other reason I wonder if we don't do it is because a certain degree of spiritual pride starts to seep in.
SPEAKER_00: It might say for a weaker Christian, sure, anointing might be a good idea, but I'm not sure I need it really.
SPEAKER_00: I think I'm covered, I think I'm good.
SPEAKER_00: And I guess all I can say is it takes humility and trust to say, I need this healing too.
SPEAKER_00: I need to depend on the Lord for every good gift, including that of healing.
SPEAKER_00: Be an imposition.
SPEAKER_00: Make the call.
SPEAKER_00: And then James says, confess your sins for healing, which is also a remarkable thing to say, I think.
SPEAKER_00: Confess your sins to one another, not necessarily to the pastor, but confess your sins to one another, and the pastor may be a part of that process, that you may be healed.
SPEAKER_00: Again, that's a remarkable thing to say, and I think it speaks to the integration of body and soul.
SPEAKER_00: We are physical and spiritual beings.
SPEAKER_00: And while not every sickness is directly correlated to a spiritual cause, I think sometimes there's more overlap there than we might otherwise think.
SPEAKER_00: I have a buddy who uh uh just kind of his call, his gifting is healing ministry.
SPEAKER_00: It's just the way the Lord has gifted him and the ministry he's entrusted him with.
SPEAKER_00: And I asked him about this once, and we were talking along these lines, and he says, you know, he says, you might picture healing ministry as like people leaving their crutches behind or getting out of wheelchairs, and like that happens.
SPEAKER_00: But he says, probably the number one thing people get healing from when I'm praying with them, when I'm working with them, they need healing from unforgiveness.
SPEAKER_00: There is resentment that's built up somewhere deep in their heart, and they are not releasing someone from it.
SPEAKER_00: And it is causing all sorts of afflictions, spiritual and physical.
SPEAKER_00: It's releasing that unforgiveness that brings healing.
SPEAKER_00: And that happens in the context of confession.
SPEAKER_00: It's a remarkable thing that happens being a spiritual and physical being like that.
SPEAKER_00: Again, not every illness is exactly a spiritual cause, but maybe our illnesses are an occasion for self-examination.
SPEAKER_00: Have I offended the Lord in some way?
SPEAKER_00: Have I are do I have amends to make?
SPEAKER_00: Elders can be a part of that process.
SPEAKER_00: Not necessarily, but I think that's part of the job of being a pastor.
SPEAKER_00: And all of this, James calls us to trust.
SPEAKER_00: If you're suffering, if you're cheerful, if you're sick, trust the Lord because he is sufficient.
SPEAKER_00: He is sufficient for your need, and he is sufficient for the present time.
SPEAKER_00: The prayer of a righteous person has great power in its working.
SPEAKER_00: The example he gives is Elijah.
SPEAKER_00: And the thing about Elijah is he's this towering Old Testament figure, and John the Baptist takes up the mantle of his ministry.
SPEAKER_00: We read that in the gospel reading.
SPEAKER_00: But the thing James wants us to know about Elijah is he was a man with a nature like ours, which is to say he's human just like us.
SPEAKER_00: He's one of God's creatures too.
SPEAKER_00: He doesn't belong to a special category of spiritual superstars.
SPEAKER_00: He, like you, depends on the Lord in trust and in patience.
SPEAKER_00: Do likewise.
SPEAKER_00: So the question is: do we believe that God is sufficient?
SPEAKER_00: Not just in the good times, but in the bad.
SPEAKER_00: Here's what one commentator has to say.
SPEAKER_00: Both in periods of suffering and trouble, in times of joy, prayer and praise alike acknowledge that God is sufficient.
SPEAKER_00: Whether as the source of supply and need, or the source of the gladness of our joy, God is our sufficiency.
SPEAKER_00: So, how do we follow Jesus in our suffering?
SPEAKER_00: We follow Jesus in patience because we believe He will come again and answer our present suffering.
SPEAKER_00: And we follow Jesus in trust because we believe that God is sufficient for the present moment.
SPEAKER_00: We can remember that Jesus himself is well acquainted with suffering.
SPEAKER_00: He was a man of great sorrows and acquainted with grief.
SPEAKER_00: This is the one who has promised us to return.
SPEAKER_00: He is sufficient for us.
SPEAKER_00: So my Anglican pastor friend was away at a convention when he gets another phone call from his wife, and she says, our daughter is in the hospital again, and it's looking pretty desperate.
SPEAKER_00: And so he gets together with another bunch of pastors at this conference.
SPEAKER_00: He says, My daughter needs prayer right now.
SPEAKER_00: They get together and they huddle and they pray.
SPEAKER_00: And then my friend gets this call, maybe I don't know, an hour later from his wife again.
SPEAKER_00: And she goes, I don't know what happened, but we were on our way to the hospital, and suddenly our daughter perks right up.
SPEAKER_00: And she says, Actually, I feel fine.
SPEAKER_00: I think I should go to school.
SPEAKER_00: So she says, I turn around and I drop her off at school.
SPEAKER_00: And then she spent, she's been in school for the last hour without an incident.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe we just keep praying.
SPEAKER_00: And so that's what they do.
SPEAKER_00: And that was the last time she had to visit the hospital because of this mysterious cause.
SPEAKER_00: God shows up and he heals, and we pray accordingly.
SPEAKER_00: We pray with faith.
SPEAKER_00: But this doesn't always work like this, does it?
SPEAKER_00: Maybe even in our own experience, we know that suffering isn't always relieved like that.
SPEAKER_00: We rejoice when it is, but what do we do in following Jesus in suffering?
SPEAKER_00: This was the topic, this was the key verse of my friend's sermon at that Pentecostal church.
SPEAKER_00: The prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up.
SPEAKER_00: See, in the midst of suffering, in cheerfulness and sickness, in Christ, we have a promise bound to us.
SPEAKER_00: We will be raised to new life on the last day by his Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: And my pastor friend, even in the darkest days, he said, What I knew is my daughter was going to be raised up on the last day.
SPEAKER_00: Come what may.
SPEAKER_00: Death will not have the final word over her, and in Christ it will not have the final word over us.
SPEAKER_00: He will raise us up.
SPEAKER_00: Healing in the present moment points us to that great day where the Lord will do the ultimate work of healing.
SPEAKER_00: So we pray for that.
SPEAKER_00: And as we journey, we follow Jesus in patience and in trust.
SPEAKER_00: Knowing the hope of Christ's cross and resurrection, we can be patient in every circumstance and we can trust him who is sufficient for us.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you for listening today.
SPEAKER_00: We worship a generous God who calls us to follow him in giving willfully, cheerfully, and sacrificially.
SPEAKER_00: Newsong Church's mission and ministry is 100% funded by the generous gifts of those worshiping and journeying with us.
SPEAKER_00: If you'd like to offer a gift towards Newsong's ministry, please visit Newsongportperry.ca slash giving for more information on how to do that.
SPEAKER_00: May God bless you and keep you today and every day.