WEBVTT 00:00:06.400 --> 00:00:09.039 Thank you very much, worship team. 00:00:09.519 --> 00:00:10.640 Good morning. 00:00:11.759 --> 00:00:12.720 Nick, thank you. 00:00:12.880 --> 00:00:14.160 You uh you got it going. 00:00:14.240 --> 00:00:16.239 You said good morning and actually responded. 00:00:16.399 --> 00:00:17.519 That's great. 00:00:21.839 --> 00:00:27.039 I'd like to ask you to turn, if you would, please, to uh James chapter 5. 00:00:27.600 --> 00:00:28.960 James 5. 00:00:31.760 --> 00:00:38.399 This week we're going to be looking at verses 13 through roughly 16. 00:00:38.880 --> 00:00:47.600 It's part of a passage that we will continue with next week, in which we'll be looking at roughly verse 16 to verse 20. 00:00:47.840 --> 00:01:10.640 And at this point, James is bringing to a conclusion what he has been saying to us, or better yet, what God has been saying to us in this incredible and powerful and painful at times for us, if we're serious about it. 00:01:11.280 --> 00:01:18.319 Word of God for the first century believers, word of God for us today. 00:01:19.040 --> 00:01:20.799 So we're coming down to the end. 00:01:20.959 --> 00:01:24.400 Some of you thought we would never get to the end of the book of James. 00:01:24.640 --> 00:01:35.760 We haven't quite, but Lord willing, Deo volente, if the creek don't rise, by next week, and then we'll have a special sharing service. 00:01:35.920 --> 00:01:54.000 And then after that, as I've mentioned, I plan on a series of messages, six messages of a topical nature, a little different from what we normally do, in which we'll be exploring what the scripture says about a topic that you ought to be intensely interested in. 00:01:54.239 --> 00:01:58.000 It's what really happens when you die? 00:01:58.480 --> 00:01:59.760 Because you all will. 00:02:00.879 --> 00:02:02.239 Death rate is 100%. 00:02:03.040 --> 00:02:06.560 So do we really know what the scriptures teach us about that? 00:02:06.719 --> 00:02:12.800 So we're going to take some time, five or six weeks, to talk about that, and then we'll open up the book of Philippians. 00:02:12.960 --> 00:02:16.000 So, just so you know what's coming. 00:02:16.560 --> 00:02:26.560 As we have seen many times, actually, in the course of this book, James is talking to a group of believers who were in trouble. 00:02:27.599 --> 00:02:29.280 Troubles had come. 00:02:30.159 --> 00:02:33.120 They were believers of a Jewish background. 00:02:33.280 --> 00:02:37.680 They were Jewish background, believers in Jesus. 00:02:37.840 --> 00:02:50.639 They were Christians, fulfilled Christians, Messianic Christians, living in a society that was for them very difficult, experiencing great troubles. 00:02:51.120 --> 00:02:54.000 And he began the book talking about the troubles. 00:02:54.159 --> 00:02:58.240 Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds. 00:02:58.560 --> 00:03:02.560 When troubles come your way, count it all joy. 00:03:03.199 --> 00:03:09.599 And that kind of a way of thinking has permeated this book. 00:03:09.919 --> 00:03:13.360 Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial. 00:03:13.599 --> 00:03:18.000 Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial. 00:03:18.240 --> 00:03:22.479 Blessings in the midst of life's difficulties. 00:03:22.960 --> 00:03:28.159 That's this faith that works that James has been talking about. 00:03:28.240 --> 00:03:31.199 And he's been writing and saying so many different things. 00:03:31.360 --> 00:03:35.919 And he's been encouraging us and stimulating our faith. 00:03:36.080 --> 00:03:38.000 That's what the Word of God does. 00:03:38.240 --> 00:03:42.319 It stimulates our faith, it causes our hearts to respond. 00:03:42.479 --> 00:03:59.759 If our hearts are at all responsive to God, then as we hear God's word and as we see who God is and as we begin to see among us and within us what God is doing, our faith is generated, it's stimulated, it's encouraged. 00:04:00.000 --> 00:04:04.800 And a faith that works works in times of trouble. 00:04:05.039 --> 00:04:11.360 When troubles come your way, God wants our faith to work. 00:04:13.919 --> 00:04:25.519 Now in this particular passage, when troubles of various kinds come our way, he says, pray. 00:04:27.600 --> 00:04:32.560 When troubles come your way, pray. 00:04:34.560 --> 00:04:37.680 He says it in a whole bunch of different ways. 00:04:38.000 --> 00:04:40.800 He gives some practical illustrations of that. 00:04:41.040 --> 00:04:43.839 He gives some practical applications of that. 00:04:44.079 --> 00:04:52.160 But the point is, are you burdened and weary and heavy laden? 00:04:53.199 --> 00:04:57.279 Have you troubles everywhere, anywhere? 00:04:58.879 --> 00:05:01.120 Take it to the Lord in prayer. 00:05:01.920 --> 00:05:13.360 When troubles come, the believer is encouraged and helped by the power of God, by the word of God, by the people of God to pray. 00:05:14.720 --> 00:05:19.600 Now that's really all he says to us in these verses. 00:05:20.399 --> 00:05:23.360 Now he uses a bunch of words to make that point. 00:05:23.839 --> 00:05:31.279 But if we got that point, and if we got that point just by listening to James' words, then I could happily sit down. 00:05:34.000 --> 00:05:37.040 Whether it's happily for you or not, I'm not going to. 00:05:38.000 --> 00:05:43.600 What I want to do is have us think about, okay, are you in trouble? 00:05:44.480 --> 00:05:46.800 What's going on in your life? 00:05:47.439 --> 00:05:54.959 And James is talking not about being stuck in traffic and frustrated because you're in a traffic jam. 00:05:55.120 --> 00:05:59.839 Now he does, that faith does apply there, and we talked about that several weeks ago. 00:06:00.399 --> 00:06:08.879 But last week he was saying, we need resolute perseverance in times of extreme difficulty. 00:06:09.040 --> 00:06:20.399 And if you were here, you may remember that we we listened to the words of Winston Churchill in Britain's Darkest Hour, saying, never give up, never give up, never give up. 00:06:20.560 --> 00:06:24.240 And at a human level, that's a worthwhile thing to hear. 00:06:24.319 --> 00:06:32.800 But James takes it far much further and says, look at the example of those, look at the prophets. 00:06:33.279 --> 00:06:37.040 And to talk about the prophets was to talk about people who were in trouble. 00:06:37.360 --> 00:06:40.560 In the middle of the will of God, they were in trouble. 00:06:40.720 --> 00:06:42.720 That's what was known about the prophets. 00:06:43.199 --> 00:06:49.680 And James says, resolute perseverance in the midst of the troubles of your life. 00:06:50.160 --> 00:07:06.959 For these believers, it involved economic hardship, and I don't just mean that their 401k had plateaued and hadn't done anything in recent years, and their property values had gone down and they hadn't yet come up. 00:07:08.160 --> 00:07:11.439 Now those are problems, and I'm not belittling that at all. 00:07:11.600 --> 00:07:12.959 I'm right there with you. 00:07:13.199 --> 00:07:14.879 But we're talking about something. 00:07:15.199 --> 00:07:19.199 We're talking about, and we touched on some of these last week. 00:07:19.439 --> 00:07:25.839 There's a hole in your heart because there used to be a beloved partner who is not there anymore. 00:07:26.160 --> 00:07:30.079 And the house used to be filled with joy and now it's filled with silence. 00:07:31.040 --> 00:07:40.160 We're talking about the dreaded doctor's report that will forever change whatever length of time you have left in your life. 00:07:40.720 --> 00:07:45.199 We're talking about being in a situation where you're under attack. 00:07:45.519 --> 00:07:49.600 It may be spiritual attack, it may be there's somebody out to get you. 00:07:49.680 --> 00:07:53.839 And there are people in our midst where there's people that are out to get them. 00:07:55.439 --> 00:08:01.199 It's talking about when troubles, real troubles, come into our lives. 00:08:01.839 --> 00:08:06.720 And he's saying, when troubles come, pray. 00:08:08.399 --> 00:08:15.040 I want to ask the question what our first response is when life heads south? 00:08:15.360 --> 00:08:18.399 Because that's the situation they were in. 00:08:18.480 --> 00:08:23.120 And we're not going to appreciate what James is saying to us, what God is saying to us. 00:08:23.279 --> 00:08:32.080 If we don't start thinking, what happens, what's my first response when I find myself in troubles? 00:08:34.240 --> 00:08:38.399 We all have kind of a default pattern of response. 00:08:38.639 --> 00:08:40.720 We all have different personalities. 00:08:40.960 --> 00:08:46.960 We all have different default patterns of inappropriate response to life. 00:08:47.120 --> 00:09:11.679 We're living in a broken world, we have broken lives, we have a heart that has been transformed and will be one day fully transformed, and we're not all that we would be or should be or will be, but we see it and we want it, and yet when life happens, we don't always respond in the way that we most deeply desire to, do we? 00:09:11.840 --> 00:09:12.320 I don't. 00:09:12.559 --> 00:09:13.200 Do you? 00:09:15.679 --> 00:09:20.639 Now, the first response for some people when they're in trouble is to worry. 00:09:21.919 --> 00:09:23.840 I totally get that. 00:09:24.080 --> 00:09:30.559 I I am not a man who is by nature, that's not my first response, but boy, there are times. 00:09:30.720 --> 00:09:43.200 There have been times this year, in the past, where I'll wake up in the middle of the night and I'm just, I panicking might be too great, or maybe not. 00:09:43.519 --> 00:09:45.519 Sometimes that's our first response. 00:09:45.759 --> 00:09:50.480 Some people, when they're in times of trouble, they they get angry. 00:09:50.559 --> 00:09:53.200 That's probably more natural for me. 00:09:54.399 --> 00:10:02.399 Sometimes when people find themselves in incredibly difficult circumstances, uh they will turn to frenic activity. 00:10:02.879 --> 00:10:08.720 May not be alcoholics, or maybe, but they may be workaholics. 00:10:08.960 --> 00:10:12.240 Some people will turn to too much comfort food. 00:10:13.360 --> 00:10:17.120 Sure does taste good, gives a moment of relief. 00:10:17.519 --> 00:10:21.519 Some people will turn to and abuse drugs or alcohol or whatever. 00:10:21.679 --> 00:10:23.840 So what's our first response? 00:10:24.720 --> 00:10:36.240 Um and I guess what I want to suggest is God says to us, call upon me in the day of trouble. 00:10:36.559 --> 00:10:40.559 I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me. 00:10:40.960 --> 00:10:45.120 First response ought to be for us to pray, to call upon the Lord. 00:10:45.440 --> 00:10:50.559 We learned this at our mother's knee for some of you. 00:10:50.799 --> 00:10:53.200 I didn't learn it at my mother's knee. 00:10:57.519 --> 00:11:06.720 Trust and obey, for there's no other way to be happy in Jesus but to trust and obey, and a practical manifestation of faith is prayer. 00:11:10.480 --> 00:11:13.679 When trials come our way, pray. 00:11:13.840 --> 00:11:17.200 It should be the first resort, not the last resort. 00:11:17.279 --> 00:11:18.399 Have you ever noticed? 00:11:18.879 --> 00:11:34.480 Ever noticed times where you're in difficulty and you get all phrenic and activity and you come up with plans and everything, and then suddenly it's as though you've run out of all resources, you're not able to do anything, and so as a last resort, you turn to prayer. 00:11:34.720 --> 00:11:42.080 That's just a human, even among Christians, a very common, inappropriate, ineffective way. 00:11:42.320 --> 00:11:52.960 Not that we don't do things, but is our first response to trials and difficulty and life going south to pray? 00:11:53.200 --> 00:11:55.120 Or is it our last resort? 00:11:55.360 --> 00:12:05.200 And James, God, the Holy Spirit, exhorts and pleads and commands to us when trials come, pray. 00:12:10.240 --> 00:12:16.480 John Bunyan, author of Pilgrim's Progress, made an important statement at one point. 00:12:16.960 --> 00:12:24.879 You can do more than pray after you have prayed, but you cannot do more than pray until you have prayed. 00:12:26.000 --> 00:12:26.559 Wow. 00:12:26.879 --> 00:12:29.360 That's worth writing down and thinking about. 00:12:30.559 --> 00:12:34.559 You can do more than pray after you have prayed. 00:12:34.639 --> 00:12:40.000 And oftentimes there's more than simply praying that we need to do. 00:12:40.879 --> 00:12:47.360 But you cannot do more than pray until after you have prayed. 00:12:47.840 --> 00:12:49.279 Are you in trouble? 00:12:49.600 --> 00:12:50.320 Pray. 00:12:50.559 --> 00:13:03.039 Let's read this passage, and I want you to hear how many times, I'm just going to read 13 through 16 or 18 or whatever, and just listen, I'm going to emphasize the word prayer. 00:13:03.279 --> 00:13:05.519 Every single verse. 00:13:09.600 --> 00:13:14.720 If any one among you is suffering or in trouble, we'll come back to that. 00:13:14.960 --> 00:13:16.240 Let him pray. 00:13:16.960 --> 00:13:18.159 Is he cheerful? 00:13:18.320 --> 00:13:19.679 Is it well with his soul? 00:13:19.840 --> 00:13:21.360 Let him sing praises. 00:13:21.919 --> 00:13:23.600 Is anyone among you sick? 00:13:23.759 --> 00:13:30.080 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. 00:13:30.320 --> 00:13:33.279 The prayer of faith will save the one who is sick. 00:13:33.440 --> 00:13:34.879 The Lord will raise him up. 00:13:35.120 --> 00:13:40.080 Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray to one another that you may be healed. 00:13:40.240 --> 00:13:44.080 The prayer of a righteous person has great power in its working. 00:13:44.320 --> 00:13:48.799 Elijah was a man just like us, and he prayed fervently. 00:13:49.120 --> 00:13:51.360 And then he prayed again. 00:13:55.360 --> 00:14:08.080 It doesn't take a doctor's degree to get the picture that what James is saying to us is to take it to the Lord in prayer. 00:14:08.639 --> 00:14:12.159 That ought to be our first response, not our last response. 00:14:12.320 --> 00:14:18.480 Well, let's just let's just walk our way through as much of the text as we can with the time that we have. 00:14:19.120 --> 00:14:20.559 Verse 13. 00:14:21.440 --> 00:14:24.480 Is anyone among you suffering? 00:14:24.879 --> 00:14:25.519 Let him pray. 00:14:25.679 --> 00:14:26.960 Is anyone cheerful? 00:14:27.200 --> 00:14:28.639 Let him pray. 00:14:29.440 --> 00:14:35.279 Always keep on praying in all circumstances, bad or good. 00:14:36.159 --> 00:14:39.039 Prayer is mentioned in every verse. 00:14:39.279 --> 00:14:40.559 We just saw that. 00:14:40.879 --> 00:14:50.399 It's mentioned and exhorted and encouraged for every one of us and in every circumstance. 00:14:50.639 --> 00:14:53.519 So we already saw in every verse. 00:14:53.840 --> 00:14:58.080 Verse 13, is anyone among you in difficulties? 00:14:58.320 --> 00:14:59.279 Let him pray. 00:14:59.600 --> 00:15:06.639 Anyone, every one of us, when we're in times of trouble, God says, pray. 00:15:08.320 --> 00:15:13.840 He goes on and he said, Let the elders pray over the sick. 00:15:14.559 --> 00:15:20.639 Not everyone, but there's a time where the elders are to be called to pray. 00:15:21.039 --> 00:15:23.600 He talks about the whole body praying. 00:15:23.759 --> 00:15:28.480 Verse 16, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another. 00:15:29.120 --> 00:15:34.799 Every setting, every person, every group, every circumstance. 00:15:35.120 --> 00:15:44.159 When life goes south, pray, when it's times of great delight and joy, and you can say it is well with your soul, pray. 00:15:44.639 --> 00:15:49.919 Every one, every situation, every verse, pray. 00:15:50.159 --> 00:15:50.480 Okay. 00:15:54.000 --> 00:16:05.840 The interesting thing about this, and we don't know a lot about the Apostle James, leader of the church in Jerusalem. 00:16:05.919 --> 00:16:08.159 There's a lot that we don't know about him. 00:16:08.639 --> 00:16:20.320 The earliest records that tell us something about him are from, that we have, that are still in existence, come from Eusebius, an early church historian. 00:16:21.120 --> 00:16:30.480 And what he says is that James was not just a hearer of the word or a talker of the word, but a doer of the word. 00:16:30.799 --> 00:16:32.639 He walked his talk. 00:16:33.039 --> 00:16:37.600 And here is what is said about James by Eusebius. 00:16:38.080 --> 00:16:50.879 His knees, his knees grew hard like a camel's because of his constant worship of God, kneeling and asking forgiveness for the people. 00:16:51.679 --> 00:17:01.600 Now, the posture of prayer, there's many different postures, but one posture is kneeling, and that was very, very common, less common in our day. 00:17:02.080 --> 00:17:09.200 So much on your knees that your knees are calloused, is what he says of James. 00:17:09.680 --> 00:17:24.000 One writer comments: just as a laborer's hand testify to his occupation, a runner's feet to his training, James' callous knees testify to a life of serious prayer. 00:17:24.319 --> 00:17:26.880 He walked his talk on his knees. 00:17:27.119 --> 00:17:28.720 How are your knees doing? 00:17:29.039 --> 00:17:31.359 Ladies, let me see your knees. 00:17:32.160 --> 00:17:35.200 Gentlemen, those shorts. 00:17:35.359 --> 00:17:36.640 I see some shorts there. 00:17:36.720 --> 00:17:38.000 How are your knees doing? 00:17:38.240 --> 00:17:40.160 Wants to cover them up, huh? 00:17:40.480 --> 00:17:42.319 How are your knees doing? 00:17:42.480 --> 00:17:48.079 And I don't know whether Eusebius meant that literally or as a picture. 00:17:48.559 --> 00:17:56.799 But the reality is when our knees are calloused through prayer, our hearts are usually soft towards God. 00:17:59.119 --> 00:18:07.680 And when our knees are soft and prayerless, our hearts are often callous towards God. 00:18:08.480 --> 00:18:10.720 Really ought to be the other way around. 00:18:12.000 --> 00:18:14.079 How's it going with your knees? 00:18:14.480 --> 00:18:19.680 James was a man who did what he was talking about. 00:18:21.680 --> 00:18:27.279 Pray when we are in trouble, suffering misfortunes or afflicted. 00:18:27.440 --> 00:18:31.200 So verse 13, is anyone among you suffering? 00:18:31.440 --> 00:18:34.319 Is the way the ESV translates it. 00:18:34.559 --> 00:18:41.519 The NIV, in this case, a very good translation, says, are any of you in trouble? 00:18:42.559 --> 00:18:46.319 The old King James says, are any of you afflicted? 00:18:47.359 --> 00:18:57.279 Now, those are all good translations, but if we just hear our, if any of you are suffering, then we might think of it in a narrow sense. 00:18:57.519 --> 00:19:10.079 But what James is talking about here, and the words he uses in the text, are general terms that relate to misfortunes, troubles, and afflictions. 00:19:10.880 --> 00:19:20.079 And when we read this, we need to think of your troubles, my troubles, your afflictions, the difficulties that come to our lives. 00:19:20.319 --> 00:19:28.720 And it may or may not be physical suffering, it may or may not be persecution, as in many cases it was in the early readers. 00:19:28.880 --> 00:19:34.480 It includes all of that, but it's really talking about troubles or misfortunes. 00:19:34.799 --> 00:19:42.480 And since I'm kind of an ordinary stubborn guy, I've simply scratched out the word suffering in the ESV and have written troubles. 00:19:43.279 --> 00:19:47.599 It's better for me than constantly arguing with their translation. 00:19:49.680 --> 00:19:55.359 Oftentimes I scratch out things in the NIV and I write in what the ESV has. 00:19:56.000 --> 00:20:02.079 The point being here, all I really want to say is it's a broad term, what is used here. 00:20:03.759 --> 00:20:13.200 It's the same term that was used in just a few verses earlier in verse 10 when it was talking about the prophets and their suffering. 00:20:13.440 --> 00:20:14.960 Remember the prophets? 00:20:15.279 --> 00:20:23.680 Well, it was sometimes physical, sometimes persecution, sometimes it was rejection, sometimes it was despair. 00:20:24.160 --> 00:20:39.119 Jeremiah, the weeping prophet, prophets who at many points they were doing what God wanted them to do, and God wasn't doing what He thought they, what they thought He ought to do. 00:20:39.359 --> 00:20:41.519 They weren't getting a response. 00:20:41.920 --> 00:20:43.599 It's a broad term. 00:20:44.960 --> 00:20:48.240 And the prophets needed resilience, perseverance. 00:20:48.400 --> 00:20:50.559 Never give up, never give up, never give up. 00:20:50.720 --> 00:20:54.319 I have nothing to offer you but blood, toil, tears, and sweat. 00:20:55.200 --> 00:21:01.359 Resilient perseverance, steadfast resilience in times of troubles. 00:21:01.519 --> 00:21:03.200 That was last week's passage. 00:21:03.359 --> 00:21:10.480 This week's passage, the same idea, times of troubles, first response, prayer. 00:21:12.240 --> 00:21:24.480 It's the same word that we find in 2 Timothy 2.9, where Paul is in prison and is chained. 00:21:25.440 --> 00:21:26.880 He's bound. 00:21:27.920 --> 00:21:32.079 He can't do what he wants to do. 00:21:32.400 --> 00:21:34.000 It's the same word. 00:21:34.640 --> 00:21:37.119 Also translated there, suffering. 00:21:37.440 --> 00:21:45.440 And that is suffering, when you're stuck, when you're bound, when there's nothing you can do to change the circumstances you're in. 00:21:45.680 --> 00:21:56.079 But it's a broad term for that being in affliction, suffering misfortunes, when misfortunes come. 00:21:57.279 --> 00:21:59.599 Acts chapter 16, verse 25. 00:22:00.160 --> 00:22:02.240 Paul and Silas in prison. 00:22:02.640 --> 00:22:05.279 Same word, when they were in prison. 00:22:05.599 --> 00:22:07.200 Same word is used. 00:22:07.440 --> 00:22:20.240 And what we find in Acts chapter 16, 25, is that Paul and Silas were in prison, and in the middle of the night they were praying and singing songs of praise. 00:22:20.880 --> 00:22:25.359 In the middle of the night, and it impacted the soldiers around them. 00:22:25.680 --> 00:22:28.079 That's the suffering that they were experiencing. 00:22:28.240 --> 00:22:38.640 But when we're chained, and we can be chained in a wide variety of ways, pray and praise, for God is still on the throne. 00:22:39.359 --> 00:22:42.319 So, but this is talking about when we're in trouble. 00:22:42.559 --> 00:22:46.000 Our response is to keep on, is to be, to keep on praying. 00:22:46.319 --> 00:22:49.920 When all is well, ditto. 00:22:52.160 --> 00:22:52.720 The same thing. 00:22:52.960 --> 00:22:54.160 Lememchos. 00:22:54.960 --> 00:22:55.279 Okay? 00:22:55.599 --> 00:22:56.640 The same thing. 00:22:56.960 --> 00:22:57.359 Pray. 00:22:57.599 --> 00:23:01.440 When all goes well, we are to pray. 00:23:02.880 --> 00:23:07.680 The early Christians, one writer made this statement, it just caught my imagination. 00:23:07.839 --> 00:23:11.680 The early Christians were always ready to burst out in song. 00:23:12.799 --> 00:23:14.319 Isn't that beautiful? 00:23:14.559 --> 00:23:17.839 The early Christians did not have it easy. 00:23:18.160 --> 00:23:23.279 We have it easy in comparison, although there's things in our life that are far from easy. 00:23:23.440 --> 00:23:29.839 But the fact is, the early Christians were characterized by bursting out in song. 00:23:30.079 --> 00:23:40.640 It reminds me of the old 1950s musical where they're going along and everything's right, and all of a sudden, I'm singing in the rain, just singing in the rain. 00:23:41.039 --> 00:23:43.359 I've never done that before. 00:23:44.720 --> 00:23:48.079 For which you are profoundly happy. 00:23:49.440 --> 00:23:57.759 But is there something that was within us when things head south that causes us to burst out in song? 00:23:57.920 --> 00:24:06.240 Is there something within us when things go well that causes us to burst out in song and praise and thanksgiving? 00:24:08.799 --> 00:24:13.599 The uh sorry, I love the ESV. 00:24:14.240 --> 00:24:17.039 We have another problem with the translation here. 00:24:17.359 --> 00:24:19.279 Is anyone cheerful? 00:24:19.599 --> 00:24:21.119 Is anyone cheerful? 00:24:21.440 --> 00:24:22.799 He should pray. 00:24:23.680 --> 00:24:27.200 Honestly, my friends, that is an insipid translation. 00:24:28.720 --> 00:24:31.119 Sometimes it's translated happy. 00:24:31.359 --> 00:24:33.359 It's not a wrong translation. 00:24:33.440 --> 00:24:34.720 The word can mean that. 00:24:34.799 --> 00:24:38.240 But in this context, it doesn't just mean you've got a smile on your face. 00:24:38.400 --> 00:24:39.759 You're not just cheerful. 00:24:39.920 --> 00:24:43.920 When we hear the word cheerful, we think of happy circumstances. 00:24:44.559 --> 00:24:50.480 Well, we ought to be thankful and we ought to pray in happy circumstances, but that's not what this is talking about. 00:24:51.359 --> 00:25:05.200 This is talking about it being well with our souls, not just cheerful or happy, it being well with our soul despite the troubled circumstances we are in. 00:25:07.119 --> 00:25:12.079 One simple example of that is Acts chapter 27. 00:25:12.640 --> 00:25:14.240 It's an interesting story. 00:25:14.400 --> 00:25:27.680 It's a story of Paul on a ship being taken to prison and expecting death, and on that ship, at that time, a horrendous storm came. 00:25:28.480 --> 00:25:37.839 I've started reading about the uh the blizzards of uh 1997, uh the one that came in April. 00:25:38.160 --> 00:25:40.400 Horrible, horrible storm. 00:25:40.640 --> 00:25:46.480 I will never, after reading this book, never again say, gee, I haven't had a blizzard yet. 00:25:48.079 --> 00:25:50.079 Horrible, horrible storm. 00:25:50.400 --> 00:25:53.920 Professional sailors feared for their lives. 00:25:54.160 --> 00:25:58.079 Luke was with, was with Paul at this point. 00:25:58.240 --> 00:26:07.680 And in verse 20 of Acts chapter 27, it said, Luke says, all hope of our being saved was abandoned. 00:26:07.920 --> 00:26:10.319 They were in deep troubles. 00:26:11.279 --> 00:26:26.000 And what Paul says in verse 22 and 25, he says, so take heart, men, be encouraged. 00:26:26.400 --> 00:26:31.119 That's the same word that here we see translated as cheerful. 00:26:31.200 --> 00:26:34.160 It's not just being cheerful, it's being resolute. 00:26:34.400 --> 00:26:43.519 It's seeing things from God's perspective, and knowing that God is good and that he is with us and that he is good and does good. 00:26:43.759 --> 00:26:53.279 Good you are, and good you do, even when I don't feel it, even when those around me and something within my own heart abandons all hope as well. 00:26:54.640 --> 00:26:58.880 So take heart, for I have faith in God. 00:27:03.039 --> 00:27:13.519 All I want to say is don't get misled by the frothy happiness thought that that's when we are to pray. 00:27:13.839 --> 00:27:14.720 We should. 00:27:15.039 --> 00:27:18.400 But it's also talking about something far different. 00:27:18.559 --> 00:27:29.920 It's that it can truly be well with our souls when our lives are in utter pain and disaster. 00:27:30.240 --> 00:27:40.799 Pain, disaster, difficulties, trials, things that would lead us to despair are not in opposition to it being well with our souls. 00:27:40.960 --> 00:27:47.440 It doesn't have to be with the power of God, the reality of the Holy Spirit, the Word of God, the example of other people. 00:27:48.880 --> 00:27:55.200 In times of difficulties, it can be still well with us. 00:27:55.680 --> 00:28:03.440 And the basis for that is what I try to say once at least every week here. 00:28:03.680 --> 00:28:10.559 Today is Sunday, the 21st of July, and God is still on the throne. 00:28:11.039 --> 00:28:15.920 He was last week, he is today, he will be in the week ahead. 00:28:16.240 --> 00:28:19.279 That doesn't mean that your life is going well. 00:28:19.839 --> 00:28:21.119 Circumstances. 00:28:21.359 --> 00:28:24.079 It doesn't mean that you're not in trouble. 00:28:24.400 --> 00:29:12.000 It just means that in the midst of trouble, because we know and grow in our understanding of who God is, that we can say when all hell breaks loose, by your grace, by your sovereign goodness and grace, I take by faith that good you are and good you do, and I begin to experience, in addition to some of the anxiety and anger and frustration and despair, I begin to experience the reality of the goodness of God in the midst of my circumstances because He's here, He's involved, He cares, and even if I don't see it, I believe faith is the substance of things hoped for, the conviction of things unseen. 00:29:12.400 --> 00:29:14.799 We have faith when we don't see it. 00:29:18.079 --> 00:29:20.400 Sorry, I'm getting a little lathered up here. 00:29:25.680 --> 00:29:27.519 Up to a point, yeah. 00:29:28.640 --> 00:29:40.640 Um there's um what what we really find in verses uh 14 and 15 is a restoration of the weak and the weary. 00:29:41.680 --> 00:29:45.359 Um is anyone among you sick? 00:29:45.519 --> 00:29:55.519 Let him call the elders for the church, let him 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. 00:29:56.400 --> 00:29:57.039 All right. 00:29:57.920 --> 00:30:03.599 This is the the verse in this passage that attracts so much of our curiosity. 00:30:03.759 --> 00:30:06.079 What in the world does this mean? 00:30:06.240 --> 00:30:07.599 What are we supposed to do? 00:30:07.680 --> 00:30:17.039 This is there some magical rite of anointing someone with oil, and that will, by golly, absolutely change things if you only have enough faith. 00:30:17.279 --> 00:30:19.839 It's often the way it's understood. 00:30:20.880 --> 00:30:29.440 I'm gonna I want to take a couple of minutes and help you understand how I'm understanding this passage because it fits into the whole context. 00:30:29.759 --> 00:30:41.359 James is giving an illustration and an application of one specific situation in which prayer is to be what we do. 00:30:41.519 --> 00:30:43.039 It's an application. 00:30:43.200 --> 00:30:50.480 And I don't want to get sidetracked by the application without understanding what the passage is talking about. 00:30:51.279 --> 00:30:54.559 Observation, interpretation, then comes application. 00:30:54.720 --> 00:30:58.799 We don't rush to the Bible and ask ourselves, what does this mean to me? 00:30:58.960 --> 00:31:01.279 If we have no idea what it means. 00:31:01.519 --> 00:31:03.680 And if we don't even know what's in the text. 00:31:03.839 --> 00:31:05.680 So that's why we we go through. 00:31:05.920 --> 00:31:07.680 This is an application. 00:31:09.200 --> 00:31:13.279 The people to whom he was writing understood this. 00:31:13.440 --> 00:31:17.440 It's a it did not raise questions in their minds. 00:31:17.599 --> 00:31:19.359 They understood what this was. 00:31:19.519 --> 00:31:25.440 It was a reference, just like you're supposed to be honest, don't fudge on your taxes. 00:31:25.599 --> 00:31:25.920 Okay? 00:31:26.079 --> 00:31:28.319 You would understand exactly what that means. 00:31:28.480 --> 00:31:30.960 In this context, are you in difficulty? 00:31:31.119 --> 00:31:34.400 Are you weak and weary and heavy laden? 00:31:34.720 --> 00:31:36.880 Is there trauma in your life? 00:31:37.039 --> 00:31:44.559 Then call the elders, and the fervent and effectual prayer of a righteous man accomplishes a great deal. 00:31:45.039 --> 00:31:47.279 But that is an application. 00:31:48.319 --> 00:31:50.799 Um let's try to understand it. 00:31:50.960 --> 00:31:54.799 First of all, we're talking about the the weak and the weary. 00:31:55.200 --> 00:31:59.519 Um I'm using this term very intentionally. 00:32:00.240 --> 00:32:06.640 These in both verse 14 and 15, the word sick is used. 00:32:06.880 --> 00:32:07.200 Okay? 00:32:07.599 --> 00:32:13.279 And that immediately makes us think of hospitals, IVs, and medical conditions. 00:32:13.440 --> 00:32:14.319 It may be that. 00:32:14.480 --> 00:32:22.559 It can include that, but I want you to understand that what he's talking about is a different kind of sickness. 00:32:23.039 --> 00:32:52.000 The bottom line, and I hope to be able to get there, is we are to pray to God to sovereignly and graciously restore to wellness believers who are weak and weary, believers who are weak and weary physically, believers who are weak and weary emotionally, believers who are weak and weary relationally, believers who are weak and weary spiritually. 00:32:52.240 --> 00:32:56.400 It's not just talking here about physical illness. 00:32:56.960 --> 00:33:05.119 In fact, there are Bible scholars, trusted Bible scholars, who say this doesn't refer to physical healing whatsoever. 00:33:05.359 --> 00:33:06.720 I would beg to disagree. 00:33:06.799 --> 00:33:08.319 I think it's included in there. 00:33:08.559 --> 00:33:13.039 But the point is, broaden your concept out of sick. 00:33:13.200 --> 00:33:15.359 So let's just look at this. 00:33:18.000 --> 00:33:25.599 The idea of sick is to be the one, there's two words that are used, two different words, verse 14 and verse 15. 00:33:25.680 --> 00:33:31.039 The word in verse 14 is to be weak and to be without strength. 00:33:31.359 --> 00:33:34.559 To be weak and to be without strength. 00:33:35.039 --> 00:33:43.359 It was used in Philippians uh to refer to Epaphroditus, who was weak and without strength physically. 00:33:43.680 --> 00:33:50.480 Apaphroditus was sick and was at the point of death, and this term uh was used. 00:33:52.240 --> 00:33:54.079 And rightly so. 00:33:54.480 --> 00:34:00.000 Eighteen times in the New Testament, this word for sick refers to physical illnesses. 00:34:00.319 --> 00:34:13.280 But sixteen other times, the other times this is used in the New Testament, refers to a weakened or debilitated emotional or mental spiritual condition. 00:34:13.920 --> 00:34:18.800 It can be weak faith, sick faith, only it's translated there, weak. 00:34:18.960 --> 00:34:22.079 Okay, it's it's it's sick in that sense. 00:34:22.239 --> 00:34:23.840 It's not all that it should be. 00:34:23.920 --> 00:34:25.039 It's not well. 00:34:25.760 --> 00:34:27.199 But it's not a physical problem. 00:34:27.360 --> 00:34:29.440 Weak faith, a weak conscience. 00:34:29.599 --> 00:34:33.920 Uh, same expression is used that is used for here for sick. 00:34:34.079 --> 00:34:36.159 Just trying to get you to broaden your thinking out. 00:34:36.320 --> 00:34:40.159 It may not always specifically be a burst appendix. 00:34:40.880 --> 00:34:41.199 Okay. 00:34:42.239 --> 00:34:47.039 Um it was also used in uh 1 Corinthians passages. 00:34:47.119 --> 00:34:57.280 I'll just uh leave those there for you to look at, where Paul is talking about, and he he is just in those passages, he's talked about his trials and tribulations. 00:34:57.440 --> 00:35:03.920 He was uh he was scourged 39, 40 minus 1 times, just to the point of death. 00:35:04.079 --> 00:35:11.440 He was abandoned, he was shipwrecked, he was left alone, he was without food, he didn't have uh food, he didn't have enough sleep. 00:35:11.599 --> 00:35:19.039 And he goes and he was desperately burdened by the trials and the burdens of the churches that he was serving. 00:35:19.199 --> 00:35:19.519 Okay? 00:35:19.760 --> 00:35:22.800 He was weak and debilitated. 00:35:23.519 --> 00:35:34.559 And he says, When I am weak and debilitated, when I am weak, then the power of Christ, the strength of Christ, when I am weak, then he is strong. 00:35:34.800 --> 00:35:45.440 And he was content to be weak and debilitated, sick in this sense, because in that situation the power and the goodness of God shone forth. 00:35:47.679 --> 00:35:56.239 In verse 15, uh the word for sick can mean to be ill or to be weary, either one. 00:35:56.320 --> 00:35:58.960 It's not always translated sick. 00:35:59.360 --> 00:36:26.320 For example, in Hebrews 23, the writer of the Hebrews, uh, in fact, this word is only used twice in this passage and in the Hebrews 12 passage, says, consider Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, consider him so that you will not grow weary and lose heart, so that you will not be sick. 00:36:26.559 --> 00:36:28.480 Same word that is used here. 00:36:28.639 --> 00:36:28.960 Okay? 00:36:29.519 --> 00:36:35.039 So, enough of a Greek and grammar lesson at this point. 00:36:35.360 --> 00:36:43.119 What I want to say is it doesn't just mean uh when you are physically ill. 00:36:43.440 --> 00:37:06.719 But what he says, if any of you are weak and weary, weary rather, probably weary as well, um, 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. 00:37:06.880 --> 00:37:13.760 And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, is weak, is debilitated, and the Lord will raise him up. 00:37:16.320 --> 00:37:31.119 Um very, very briefly, let me say it's pretty clear there are situations in which believers should have the liberty to call the elders of the local church to pray with them. 00:37:31.360 --> 00:37:32.880 Now, what does this mean? 00:37:32.960 --> 00:37:33.679 How do you do it? 00:37:33.840 --> 00:37:36.400 How do we interpret this passage, real quick? 00:37:37.440 --> 00:37:38.880 Not that quick. 00:37:39.840 --> 00:37:46.400 This has been given many, many different interpretations, and there is a great deal of speculation. 00:37:46.559 --> 00:37:53.360 This is the only place in the Bible where it talks about anointing someone with oil that is sick. 00:37:53.519 --> 00:37:54.880 So, what in the world does that mean? 00:37:55.039 --> 00:37:57.679 It's led to the widest interpretations. 00:37:58.000 --> 00:38:07.039 In official uh Roman Catholic theology, this is the basis for extreme unction or the last rites. 00:38:07.199 --> 00:38:11.360 Okay, this is the biblical basis that they have for it. 00:38:11.599 --> 00:38:13.599 It's one of the interpretations. 00:38:13.679 --> 00:38:22.320 The way it's applied, many of you know, in the case of Roman Catholicism, according to the official teaching, it's one of the seven sacraments. 00:38:22.800 --> 00:38:29.599 And it doesn't, in the Roman Catholic Church, refer to physical healing whatsoever. 00:38:30.239 --> 00:38:41.440 What is understood by the last rites, it is given to someone, done with someone who is at the point of death, but the point is not to restore them to health. 00:38:41.599 --> 00:38:44.000 Quite the contrary, they're about to die. 00:38:44.239 --> 00:38:57.039 The purpose of that, according to Roman Catholic teaching, is spiritual healing and forgiveness of sin as the priest performs the rite with someone who is on the verge of death. 00:38:57.199 --> 00:39:06.559 The purpose is to re to get rid of any remnant, any remains of sin, and to encourage and strengthen the dying person's soul. 00:39:06.800 --> 00:39:08.960 That's their interpretation of that. 00:39:09.119 --> 00:39:14.079 The reason I bring it up is it has nothing to do with a prayer for the healing. 00:39:14.239 --> 00:39:19.519 Now, a priest may do that in a given case, but that's not what that sacrament is for. 00:39:19.760 --> 00:39:22.880