Our little congregation is being forced, through circumstances beyond our control, as they say in
I have reminded you many times of Gideon’s army – carved smaller and smaller and yet mighty in battle. We have explored what it means to live in the presence of Jesus and be citizens of the
Two issues have become clear to me.
The first is that I cannot seek to build a big church with big programs and big stories of success. It is my hope to that God will build here a people with a big heart – a heart of flesh tuned to the power and presence of a God who has taken up His dwelling place with us and within us.
The second issue that has become clear to me is that because of our small numbers, we are not able to hide our own faith behind people and programs. It is right out front here for all of us to see and to experience.
That is both a beautiful thing and a scary thing. In the background is the gnawing thought that our faith might not work. James 5:16 tells us that the “…fervent prayer of the righteous availeth much.” Sometimes it is easier and more comfortable to avail little! This verse puts the onus directly on the individual, doesn’t it? So often we are tempted to tell others what they must do – the “You’ve Got to’s…”
I also should like to dispose, once and for all, of the “You’ve got to’s…” It is the fervent prayer of the “righteous,” not the unrighteous or self-righteous that availeth much. There is no place among the “righteous” for the “You’ve got to’s…”
We talked a bit last week about the “You’ve got to’s…” “In order to get this or that, you’ve got to do this or that.” “In order to be happy, you’ve got to get in the Word.” “In order to be filled with joy, you’ve got to stay in prayer.” More to the point of where I am going this morning, “In order to be healed, you’ve got to have enough faith and there cannot be any sin in your life.”
To all of the above, I will offer the politically-correct response – “Malarkey!” in the place of a more poignant but less comfortable phrase.
We suddenly are faced with some daunting realities in our little congregation. There are loved ones here who have been diagnosed with very serious illnesses. I should like to consider this morning whether or not God, through those among us who are suffering from physical disease or emotional trauma, has presented us with an opportunity to decide whether or not we really are a church. The answer to that question will have nothing to do with whether or not God heals in our time or His. It has to do with testing the authenticity of our fellowship.
That is a scary thing. What if our prayers, our faith and our love aare not enough – don’t produce the results we want?
To begin, we must put those verses, James 5:14, 15, into context. We cannot read them and insist that in order for there to be healing in our congregation, we need elders, some kind of magical oil and enough faith on the part of ourselves or the person afflicted to make our dreams come true.
First of all, we have no elders here for any number of reasons or excuses. We can’t convene a hurry-up meeting and anoint some in order to follow the letter of the Gospel. That is both foolish and unnecessary. Secondly, there is no magical oil anywhere. Oil is a physical and spiritual symbol of God’s balm of healing over both our bodies and our souls. Finally, we cannot conjure up any more faith than what we have been given by God.
Jesus reminds us that faith no bigger than a mustard seed can remove the mountains of sin in our lives and the doubt we often feel about the power and presence of God. “Fervent faith” is not “frothing faith.” It is belief in and the application of what we have been given, just as our community of worship is belief in and the application of God’s ability to add to our numbers according to His desire and plan.
Here is what those verses in James say:
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.
The theme of the entire Book of James is to expose hypocrisy within the church and to teach right Christian behavior among congregations such as ours here at the NMMH. The purpose is to get rid of the “You’ve got to’s…” by shifting the focus from our neighbor’s faith and practice and toward our own deficiencies. James is telling us that it is not enough to talk the Christian faith. We must try it and live it. He writes about backing up genuine faith with good works – “faith without works is dead!” He writes about controlling our speech, seeking spiritual wisdom, turning away from evil desires, turning away from trusting in our own plans and possessions. He teaches patience; taking care not to make false promises; tapping into the power of prayer and faithfulness to each other and to God.
James has left us a how-to book on Christian living.
In the immediate context of the 5th chapter, we note that we are to be patient in suffering. What this tells us is that the Christian is not immune to suffering. He gives as an example the suffering of Job. The Apostle Paul makes it clear that suffering is often the lot of the Christian:
(Romans 5:1-5) Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance, perseverance character and character hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the HS, whom he has given.
Paul is telling us that because we have been justified by faith, we have peace no matter what our circumstances. Not only do we have peace, but we look forward in hope to the glory of God that is now just beyond our physical reach. Suffering, Paul tells us, is a natural condition of growth in Christ. Its disastrous effects, however, are moderated by the peace that faith comes to give and by the hope that is ours.
James is not writing about immediate deliverance from sickness. He is writing about the attitude of the church toward sickness and any number of other trials. He is addressing our attitudes within the church. “Is any in trouble? He should pray. Is anyone happy? He should sing. Is anyone sad? He should be quiet and contemplative, waiting patiently on the Lord. Is anyone broke? He should make adjustments and be thankful, giving praise to God for his circumstances. Is anyone sick? He should share his hurt with his family of believers, trusting God.”
This is about attitudes that confirm for us that the church is our family of God. Our long-range goal is to systematically wring out distrust so that we can dare to share both our joys and our sorrows without fear of rejection.
That immediately cuts out the “You’ve got to’s…” What is left are the “We’ve got to’s…”
We’ve got to decide as a congregation whether to take the risk of practicing the belief that God is in our midst or whether to decide that He is in the ozone out there somewhere. If God is in our midst, He is well aware of the joys and the sufferings of every one of us and has a plan for every one of us. If God has a plan for my life or your life, it is clearly our mission to take peace in the knowledge that God’s plan for your life and for mine is also part of His plan for our little church here. That is the chain of hope that stretches from the empty tomb to our own resurrections.
Let me make this very clear. It is not the arithmetic of our prayers – how many they are, nor how eloquent they may be nor how long a period they span nor how sweet our voices may be nor how orderly they may be that determines their effectiveness. It is God’s will and our righteousness endowed by God alone that come together to bring peace and sometimes even healing.
By the same token, it is not the faith of the sick person that triggers the healing. You will remember that beggar at the temple gate. He wanted money from Peter and John. Peter said to him, “Silver and gold have I none, but such as I have I give to you, in the name of Jesus of Nazareth, rise up and walk.” There was no faith on the part of the beggar. By the same token, Jesus had walked by that man any number of times, and there was no healing. There was healing only in God’s time and by virtue of a simple faith the size of a grain of mustardseed.
And yet, Peter and John went out on a limb for him. They didn’t tell him what he must do. They told him what they would offer for his benefit.
What we are pointed to in these passages of Scripture concerning faith is the life-changing power of Jesus Christ. Through the Holy Spirit and in the name of Jesus, that life-changing power is every bit as powerful today as it was 2,000 years ago.
While it is ours to claim, however, it is God’s to dispense in His time and according to His pleasure. Do we dare claim God’s will for any one of us? Or are we bound up in what we want to see happen and therefore would prefer to sit quietly on the sidelines rather than take a chance?
What if the healing does not come? Will we embarrass ourselves?
There are no guarantees. God is not a vending machine for healing. He does not operate on our timetable. Faith requires of us a very simple belief – that God does hear our prayers.
We have had healings in this congregation in the past. We saw the healing of anxiety in Lendall and Carol’s adoption of Madeline through very trying circumstances. We have seen a healing of Barbara and her mysterious malady. We have gone through trials within our little church and have come out on the other end with a new hope and stronger than ever. There have been a number of us who have been raised up from critical illnesses such as heart disease and cancer. Sometimes in our grief or in our insistence that God do something right now, we forget what He has already done and, in fact, is doing.
If God is present with us, His very presence insists that He hears and answers our prayers. Faith, then, is about submission to the sovereign grace and power of God and belief in His abiding presence with us. Faith is not complete, however, until it accepts that God’s plan for us remains shrouded in mystery and that no rain dance can invoke His intervention. He is God; we are not.
I believe that the 5th chapter of James is about three things – restoration, resurrection and reconciliation. Restoration comes from knowing that God will, both now and in the future, confirm our mustard seed of faith. We will be restored to the perfect image of God originally intended for His human creation.
Resurrection is the promise that, even though God may choose to permit decline and death instead of a miracle of healing, He does so in order that His glory be revealed. In fact, our Christian belief insists that death for the believer has been defeated in Jesus Christ.
Reconciliation is the process of being brought together as individuals in a community of worship. In fact, it is often illness, trial and suffering that draw us together. We are most open to seeking God and each other when we are broken.
There is much I could say about God’s abiding presence and His healing hand. I have experienced personally the task of having to believe in healing while failing to witness it happen. Had God answered prayer for healing in my family circumstances in the 1980’s, I would not be standing before you today. I would not be a chaplain at the Maine State Prison. Jonathan would never have been born. I would never have lived in
Everything that has happened in my life over the past 20 or so years has happened because God did not answer fervent prayers for healing here and now. I will have to say that the death of which I speak happened so that God might demonstrate His glory through these rather unusual and often bizarre circumstances that have intertwined my life with yours.
As a final note, I want to pass on an indictment of the modern faith movement that has given rise to charlatans and phonies.
Our God has, in fact, become too small. Our most pressing need is not deliverance from physical suffering or sickness but from spiritual malaise. Our obsession with pain-free living is a happiness theology that turns God into the Great Gargoyle in the Sky. It stands in the way of our willingness to submit, confess and take up our cross daily. What cross could it be that we insist be removed so that we might be pain free?
We have no obligation to demonstrate a powerful faith here at the NMMH so that people will flock to us to see miracles of healing. In fact, the day that happens will probably be the day I will leave you on your own. Our obligation is to seek how to become righteous. The definition given to righteousness is best summed up in the Gospels: “Seek first the
In the Garden, Jesus prayed, “Father, if it be possible, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but Thine be done.”
That is the prayer of faith, is it not? If the prayer of a righteous man availeth much, how much more righteous can you get than was Jesus? His faith stretched way beyond happiness theology of getting His answers now. Some say that at the cross Jesus took on Himself not only our sin but our sickness and therefore God intends for us to be sickness-free, a condition we can invoke right now if we follow the rules of prayer, anointing and faith.
I say again, “Malarkey!” Our sickness was indeed defeated at the cross, guaranteeing that we will be fully restored beyond the veil of this life. In the interim, Jesus calls us to the role of suffering servant by asking us to pick up our crosses daily and follow in His footsteps, with or without instant healing.
Finally, it is not our actions or special touch that brings spiritual or physical healing. It is the abiding presence of a sovereign Lord who answers the fervent prayers of the faithful in His timing and according to His plan.
I would say to anyone here this morning who needs healing of body and spirit, “If it be possible, Lord, remove this cup of suffering from our brother or sister. Nevertheless, not our will, but Thine be done.”
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