Wednesday, August 26, 2015

Let Your Life Shine Like Stars


(Audio version; Music: "Where You Are" by: Mandi Mapes and "When A Heart Breaks" by: Ben Rector)










Introduction

            You know I’m guessing that the people of God in every generation believed their generation was the most depraved of all time. You can look back at the ancient civilizations of the Old Testament and find them described as faithless people, depraved, adulterous, immoral, sons of disobedience, and children of wrath to name but a few. One of the most profoundly depraved cultures from the Old Testament has given us a euphemistic benchmark for depravity—Sodom and Gomorrah. Nevertheless, every generation since then has witnessed its own unimaginable evil and depravity. In the first century, Nero invented new forms of brutality against Christians in order to wipe out their moral influence he feared would transform the depravity of his generation and culture. He used Christians as human torches to light Rome’s streets and his personal gardens at night just so he could maintain and perpetuate his power and control over a depraved culture and protect his own sinful desires. Let me just offer you a few examples of what sin and depravity has looked liked during a few other generations.

The 7th century gave birth to the evil of Islam. Columnist Mike Konrad, in an article written for American Thinker chronicles the historic brutality of Islam where he writes, “The enormity of the slaughters of the ‘religion of peace’ are so far beyond comprehension that even honest historians overlook the scale. When one looks beyond our myopic focus, Islam is the greatest killing machine in the history of mankind, bar none.” In his article, Konrad follows the bloody trail and dead bodies of Islam through the ages and concludes that Islam is responsible for the deaths of at least 250 million people![1]

            The 19th century witnessed the rise of Communism. Author, Robin Shepherd, in an article published by TheCommentator provides a rough estimate of those who have died at the hand of Communism. Shepherd concedes that it is difficult to ascertain the true number of deaths because, “Communist regimes went to great lengths to conceal their crimes, and one of the most oppressive of all, North Korea, still exists to this day.” Nevertheless, it is conservatively estimated that Communism is responsible for nearly 100 million deaths![2]

            And the 20th century gave us an example of evil and depravity nearest to our own generation—Nazism. Freya Petersen, in an article for the Global Post reveals that researchers for the US Holocaust Memorial Museum have catalogued more than 42,500 ghettos and labor camps operated by Hitler’s regime. I can attest to this because my mother and her family, who were Catholic Christians, were interned in one of those camps as she fled from her birthplace of Romania ahead of the Communist invasion advancing from the North. Many non-Jews, some of whom were Christians, died from disease and hunger in these lesser-known camps including some of my mother’s younger siblings. Some of these camps were known as killing centers where pregnant mothers were forced to have abortions and new-born babies were killed. Although the six million Jews who were exterminated is not in any way in dispute, researchers are finding that Nazism is responsible for as many as 20 million deaths from Russia to France![3]

            These are just a few examples of sin and depravity that originated from previous generations. Our own generation has watched these evils grow and converge to wage war against Christianity (and Judaism). However, I am convinced that there is a far greater danger that Christians are faced with in our day and age. And it is the same danger Christians have faced from the very beginning—becoming just like the sinful and depraved culture that surrounds us. This is a danger far more sinister and destructive than any weapon created by humanity that can kill the body because it’s a danger that strikes at the very heart of a Christian’s relationship with God. So how does a Christian fight the battle against a depraved culture that can be like a growing darkness that threatens to swallow every good thing in its path? Let Your Life Shine Like Stars!

Subject Text

Philippians 2:12-18

            12Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, 13for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose. 14Do everything without complaining or arguing, 15so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe 16as you hold out the word of life—in order that I may boast on the day of Christ that I did not run or labor for nothing. 17But even if I am being poured out like a drink offering on the sacrifice and service coming from your faith, I am glad and rejoice with all of you. 18So you too should be glad and rejoice with me.

Context

            Paul and his companions established the church in Philippi during his second missionary journey through the region. The primary purpose of this letter was to thank them for the gift he received from them while he was in a Roman prison. Paul, always the caring pastor, wanted to encourage the Philippian believers to continue being faithful exactly the way they had been to that point. Philippi is famous for one particular event. In 42 BCE Mark Antony and Octavian defeated Brutus and Cassius, the assassins of Julius Caesar, in a battle at Philippi. Later in 31 BCE when Octavian defeated Antony and Cleopatra at Actium, Octavian assumed the name Augustus (that would be the same Caesar Augustus referred to in Luke’s narrative of the birth of Jesus) and rebuilt the city of Philippi. He placed retired soldiers there to ensure loyalty to Rome and established it as a military outpost. The religious life of those in Philippi was marked by very syncretistic practices including the worship of Caesar, the Egyptian gods Isis and Serapis, as well as many other deities. Philippi like all the other cities in the Roman Empire was marked by sin, depravity and darkness. Paul was encouraging the Philippian church to resist the darkness of the culture around them with the message to Let Your Life Shine Like Stars.

Text Analysis

            12Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling,

            Don’t miss a very important principle that Paul is conveying implicitly in v. 12a. It is one thing to be obedient when you have someone in authority looking over your shoulder. It’s quite another to be obedient when you’re on your own. Your character is not revealed when people are watching. Your true character is revealed when no one is watching. You can pretend in public but all pretensions become unnecessarily burdensome in private so the real you is revealed. Paul wanted the Philippians to understand that their witness as followers of Christ became all the more powerful to a sinful and watching culture when they weren’t under his watchful eye. Paul is encouraging them to stay the long and difficult course of obedience at all times, whether he is there with them or not. “It is this ‘long obedience in the same direction’ which the mood of the world does so much to discourage.’ When the path of obedience to Christ becomes steep and dangerous, pleasure seekers look for an easier way. Religious tourists hunting for sensational entertainment, instantaneous enlightenment, and emotional excitement will jump on the newest rides and take quick shortcuts, but they will not be found with pilgrims on the long, hard road following the footsteps of Christ, who was obedient to death—even death on a cross. Paul’s call to unflagging, Christ-like obedience will not be popular in a world that so highly values going fast and having fun and so quickly rejects enduring pain and submitting to authority. But the essential characteristics of the wise who build their community on Christ is their consistent obedience to him.”[4] Christian character is forged in the crucible of long and often painful obedience to Christ and is most clearly seen in the lives of Christians when no one is watching.

            We have to be very careful how we read and understand v. 12b. Note that Paul didn’t say, “Work for your salvation with fear and trembling,” he said “Work out your salvation with fear and trembling.” It may seem like a minor detail but countless Christians slog through life wearing the shackles of the former without ever experiencing the freedom and joy of the latter. Remember that it is Paul who taught us that we are saved by grace and not by works (Eph 2:8-9). Instead, what Paul is saying here is that while Christians are saved when they put their faith in Christ, there is a component of their salvation that works itself out over the course of their lives. In other words, our salvation is a one-time event but also an on-going process of being obedient to Christ in all areas of our lives. “The phrase at first glance appears to contradict other Scripture which explains that salvation is a work of God by grace through faith. The word translated work (katergazomai) means to ‘bring about, produce, or create.’ A more contemporary meaning is one of bringing to completion or ‘to carry out the goal or carry to its ultimate conclusion.’ Paul was telling the Philippians to put into practice in their daily living what God had worked in them by the Spirit. They were not told to work for their salvation but to work out the salvation God had already given them. These believers were to work it out to the finish as they grew and developed their spiritual lives…The outworking of the new life in Christ requires obedience and faith from the believer. The purpose God desires for us to achieve is Christlikeness, ‘to be formed in the image of his Son’ (Rom 8:29).”[5]

13for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose.

            You know, there’s a reason that Jesus sent the Holy Spirit to reside in the hearts and minds of believers. Based on v. 13, it’s how God works in us to will and act according to His good purposes. I’m not sure how many Christians could even tell you what the Holy Spirit does in their lives even while He’s doing it. If you’re new to being a Christian or maybe haven’t thought about it much, the Holy Spirit is the Creator of the universe living in you and through you all without overwhelming you as a person uniquely created in His image. What that means is the Holy Spirit is constantly at work in you, if you allow Him, to transform you to look more and more like Christ every day. The key to that transformation is that you must ask Him and allow Him to do so. You see, it is no longer a loving relationship if God transforms you against your will. However, it is a beautiful relationship if you allow the Holy Spirit to transform you, even if it is ever so slowly, to will and act according to His good purpose. It can be a dramatic transformation as it was for the Christians in the Book of Acts who upon receiving the Holy Spirit began speaking in tongues other than their own. However, for most of us, the transformation is imperceptible in the moment. Nevertheless, we can look back over the years and see how a spirit of hatred and anger has been transformed into a spirit of love and gentleness; a spirit of bitterness and resentment has been transformed into a spirit of forgiveness; a spirit of harsh judgmentalism has been transformed into a spirit of mercy and grace; a spirit of greed has been transformed into a spirit of generosity. We don’t usually notice it, but it’s happening every day as we allow the Holy Spirit of God to work in and through us.

            “Not only does God empower their ‘doing,’ but also the ‘willing’ that lies behind the doing. This is fully in keeping with Paul’s understanding of Christian ethics, which has not to do with obedience to a set of rules that regulate conduct, but first of all with a ‘mind that is transformed’ by the Spirit. Such a mind is ‘conformed’ not to this age, but to the character of God, so that behavior is a reflection of God’s will, what is good and pleasing and perfect to him (Rom 12:1-2). The ‘doing of salvation’ for Paul therefore lies in the ‘willing,’ which means the radical transformation of life by the Spirit. The believer is not one who has been begrudgingly ‘caught by God,’ as it were, so that obedience is basically out of fear and trembling over what might happen if one were to do otherwise; rather, being Christ’s means to be ‘converted’ in the true sense of that word, to have one’s life invaded by God’s Holy Spirit, so that not simply new behavior is now effected, but a new desire toward God that prompts such behavior in the first place.”[6]

14Do everything without complaining or arguing, 15so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe 16as you hold out the word of life—in order that I may boast on the day of Christ that I did not run or labor for nothing.

            You know this person don’t you—the person that complains about absolutely everything; the person who seems to live for the opportunity to pick a fight with you or anyone else for that matter over anything and everything? I can almost see you smiling as the image of that person comes to your mind—a co-worker; a classmate; a neighbor; a family member; a friend. Let me ask you something, how much do you enjoy that person’s company? All joking aside, I want to ask you a really hard question, are you that person? I’m not casting stones but I want you to think about what a watching world thinks about your complaining or arguing. What does that tell them about what you say you believe? If you are being transformed into the likeness of Christ, what does it say about Christ? We live in a dark and cynical world filled with complaining and arguing and when we complain and argue we allow that darkness to envelop us so that no one can distinguish us for the sinful world around us. According to vv. 14-16, Paul wants the Philippians, and by extension all of us as well, to be different from the sinful culture around them. Paul says when we resist the urge to complain and argue, we set ourselves apart from the world and become blameless and pure. We become children of God surrounded by a depraved culture that stumbles through life in the darkness of their sins.

            When my girls were young, they weren’t always allowed to do the same things as their friends. They couldn’t dress the same, they couldn’t watch the same movies or listen to the same music. My wife and I did our best to keep them, and ourselves, from being polluted by a sinful culture. We were called weird, freaks, kooks, etc. However, while the world around us swirled in darkness, we knew exactly who we were and where we were going. And do you want to know something? Some people followed us out of the darkness. Do you know what’s different from darkness? Light! Paul says that when we don’t conform to behaving the way the world around us behaves; a world shrouded in darkness, we become like stars that shine in the universe. Think about that—when you are obedient to Christ, when you resist the desire to complain or the perceived need to argue, or refuse to conform to the trappings of the dark world around you, you Let Your Life Shine Like Stars.

            “Complaining and arguing are completely opposite to Christ’s attitude, which believers are to emulate. They also give people a bad impression of the church and no one should be able to speak a word of blame against believers. If all that people know about a church is that its members constantly argue, complain, and gossip, they get a bad impression of Christ and the gospel. Unbelievers then feel justified in criticizing the Christians. Probably more churches have split from causes related to arguing and complaining than from heresy.

            Instead, believers’ lives ought to be clean, meaning beyond reproach, incurring no justifiable criticism. This does not mean sinless perfection; instead, the church was to be beyond the criticism of the unbelieving world. Their lives also ought to be innocent. There ought to be nothing within the church that would weaken its strength or contaminate the truth. The church’s members then could be children of God in a dark world full of crooked and perverse people…the church of Philippi needed to fulfill its mission in the world, and it could best do so by being clean and innocent children of God right in the middle of the depraved culture. The contrast with their culture would be so stark that the believers would shine brightly. They bring the light of truth into the darkness of depravity, as stars light up the darkness of the night.”[7]

17But even if I am being poured out like a drink offering on the sacrifice and service coming from your faith, I am glad and rejoice with all of you. 18So you too should be glad and rejoice with me.

            It seems like vv. 17-18 veer off in a completely different direction but you have to remember that Paul is writing this letter from prison in Rome. Here’s what Paul is saying: ‘If I am put to death for preaching the gospel and your life of faith is the result of the gospel that preached to you, then it was worth it and I’m happy with that outcome. That was my purpose in preaching the gospel to you in the first place. I did what God sent me to do so you should be happy with me as well.’

“Paul’s focus of attention is upon the sacrificial service of the Philippians. Theirs is the main sacrifice offered to God. The apostle is willing that, if one thing remains to make that offering perfectly acceptable, his own life be sacrificed and credited to their account. But he describes that pouring out of his life in death by means of the modest drink offering. The converts themselves are the sacrifice, to which the missionary’s life may be added as a libation. The emphasis falls upon the [service and sacrifice] of the Philippians’ faith, not on the [sacrifice] of the apostle, however gladly he is prepared to offer it…

            There is thus every reason for mutual joy…The apostle considers it a privilege to ‘run’ and ‘labour’ for the gospel. Even if he is now called upon by God to make the supreme sacrifice, that is, to be pour out as a libation, he rejoices, for it will not only be evident that God has been willing to use him for the sake of the Philippians in the fulfillment of his apostolic struggle for the gospel, but also and specifically his sacrifice will complete their offering, making it perfectly acceptable to him. At the same time he rejoices with all of them…[Paul] is not only glad at the possibility of being poured out as a drink offering. He is also able to rejoice with all of them in their sacrificial service since it is an offering acceptable to God… As he is glad to be a libation poured out to God, so they should rejoice in this and thus share with him in his joy. They are already glad about their own sacrificial service. Let them now rejoice in his willingness to be that additional offering which completes their sacrifice.”[8]

Application

            Have you ever heard of Ashley Madison? Well maybe you know who that is now but I sure hope you didn’t know who that was a week ago. I certainly didn’t. Nevertheless, you probably know who it is after this week. Ashley Madison is a website for married people to connect discreetly with other married people in order to have an extra-marital affair! Are you kidding me! I am nearly 54 years-old and I’ve watched homosexuals try and cram their abhorrent sexuality down our throats and then demand that we recognize it as normal. I’ve watch Planned Parenthood help mothers murder their children and then profit of the sale of dead baby parts all in the name of women’s health and a woman’s right to choose. And now, I find out there is a website where, for a fee, married people who want to have an affair are matched up with other married people who also want to have an affair. So what is the rationale behind this depraved business model? “Sometimes divorce is not the best option.” Seriously? When divorce isn’t the best option, adultery is? Before you laugh it off as just some ridiculous business plan, we found out this week that they had at least 32 million members. How do we know that? Because someone hacked into their computer system and stole the personal information of at least 32 million members and released the names to the public. There were thousands of government employees on the list but our nation has come to expect that kind of behavior from politicians and government workers. However, there was one other name on the list that was disclosed and it was the name of a well-known and prominent evangelical Christian. Well as you can imagine, that was like red meat to the wolves in our media that salivate at every opportunity to publicize the failings of Christians.

            Considering the sheer magnitude of the number of members of Ashley Madison, I’m guessing that there’s more than one married Christian who is a member. Does that really surprise you? I may have been naïve about not knowing that there is a website that arranges for extra-marital affairs that include Christians, but I’m fully aware that people who profess to be Christians engage in essentially the same behavior as unbelievers. The divorce rate for Christians is at least the same if not slightly higher than the divorce rate for unbelievers. A few prominent Christian denominations have adopted homosexuality as an appropriate alternative lifestyle in contradiction to very clear biblical teaching. People claiming to be Christians are just as likely to be sexually active outside of marriage, addicted to pornography, to be greedy, to be hateful, and to be unforgiving as any unbeliever. A number of years ago, we attended a church with a charismatic pastor who was married and had four young children. After a number of years of attending, the pastor was suddenly asked to step down for personal reason. He was, thereafter, fired because he was having an affair with a church staff member. I learned shortly after he was removed that he started another church in the city and a number of people from the church we attended followed him there. Within a short time after starting that church, he was removed by the elders for once again having an affair with a staff member. In a very short period of time he was hired by another church as their lead pastor. His story became legend in the church community. A sad legend but a legend nonetheless. Unfortunately, his story was publicized in the local paper. The paper interviewed some of the people from the church he pastored at that time and they said that they loved and accepted him as their pastor because he was just like they were. He has since been removed as the pastor at that church for once again having an affair with someone from either the staff or the congregation. So let me ask you something: Do we really want our pastors and the Christians around us to be openly sinful so that they can be just like us? How does that make us better? How does that help an unbelieving world understand the message of the gospel? How do Christians help a depraved world groping around in the dark if they shroud themselves in the same darkness for fear of sticking out or having their own sins revealed? Unbelievers and some Christians risk eternal judgment because faithful Christians neglect their duty to always be obedient especially when no one is looking. Paul says that we are called to be blameless and pure, children of God who are to be without fault within a culture that is crooked, perverted, and depraved. You are wasting your time lamenting the fact that the culture is crooked, perverted, and depraved even if it is true. That proclamation, although necessary, doesn’t change the darkness the covers our generation nor does it help those who are lost in the darkness. The only thing that will vanquish that darkness is light. And that light is your life that is blameless and pure. A life as a child of God without fault. If you want to change the darkness of our generation and culture, Let Your Life Shine Like Stars.







[1] Mike Konrad, “The Greatest Murder Machine In History,” American Thinker, May 31, 2014, available from http://www.americanthinker.com/2014/05/the_greatest_murder_machine_in_history.html; Internet; Accessed August 10, 2014.
[2] Robin Shepherd, “The historical reality of communist oppression is being ignored. But the truth must not be buried,” TheCommentator, October 15, 2013, available from http://www.thecommentator.com/article/4230/so_how_many_did_communism_kill.html; Internet; accessed August 10, 2014.
[3] Freya Petersen, “Nazis may have killed up to 20 million people more in concentration camps than previously thought: study,” Global Post, March 4, 2013; available from http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/war/130303/nazis-concentration-camps-holocaust-death-toll-Hitlerpreviously.html; Internet; accessed August 10, 2014.
[4] G. Walter Hansen, The Letter to the Philippians—The Pillar New Testament Commentary, (Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eermans Publishing Co., 2009), pp. 171-172.
[5] Max Anders, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians & Colossians—Holman New Testament Commentary, (Nashville, TN: B&H Publishing Group, 1999), p. 235.
[6] Gordon D. Fee, Paul’s Letter to the Philippians—The New International Commentary of the New Testament, (Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1995), p. 238.
[7] Bruce Barton, Philip Comfort, Grant Osborne, Linda K. Taylor, and Dave Veerman, Life Application New Testament Commentary, (Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 2001), p. 852.
[8] Peter T. O’Brien, The Epistle to the Philippians—The New International Greek Testament Commentary, (Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1991), pp. 311-312.

Wednesday, August 19, 2015

Unanswered Prayers


(Audio version; Music: "The Hurt & The Healer" and "Bring The Rain" by: MercyMe)








Introduction

            I watched a movie the other night with my wife and daughter called God’s Not Dead. I know many of you who are reading this haven’t seen the movie and don’t have access to the movie. So this is going to be a spoiler alert—It’s a fairly low budget film from Hollywood’s perspective which has, unfortunately, become one of the trademarks for Christian films. Nevertheless, it was a pretty good film so if you do get a chance to see it, I think you’ll like it as long as you’re not expecting a cinematic masterpiece. There were various sub-plots throughout the film depicting different people either accepting Christ as their Savior or rejecting Him. However, the main plot revolved around a college philosophy professor who, not surprisingly was an atheist, and a freshman student who was a Christian. The professor proclaimed to His students that the idea of God was dead and that reason and intellect ruled supreme. The freshman student disagreed and that set the stage for a challenge by the professor to the student to prove to the class that God’s not dead. During the final climactic struggle of ideas between student and professor, the student confronted the professor regarding his obvious disdain for a God he didn’t even believe existed. When the student pressed the professor for an explanation of why he hated a God he didn’t even believe in, the professor confessed that he was at one point a Christian when he was young boy. He explained that his mother had become ill with cancer and although he prayed and prayed and prayed, his mother, whom he cherished, still died. It was at that point that he said he stopped believing in God. I won’t spoil the rest of the movie for those of you who want to see it but it does have a happy ending.

            It is no surprise that the film depicted an atheist that was once a Christian who at some point became disenchanted with the life of being a follower of Christ. This is actually common in real life as well—especially when it comes to Unanswered Prayers. I’ll be honest with you, this is where I empathize with atheists. In large part because I’ve prayed at the bedside of a number of very sick people, some of whom where my friends, and unfortunately most of them still died. I prayed, probably hundreds of times when I was growing up for God to get my dad to stop drinking and hitting me—nothing changed. How many times have you prayed for your child to stop the drugs just to find yourself delivering him or her to rehab for the umpteenth time? How long have you been praying for God to bless you with a child and still you are childless? How often have you prayed that your spouse would love you more than their work or their other distractions just to watch them put yet another “thing” ahead of you? How long have you prayed for something that for all intents and purposes seems perfectly reasonable yet you are left with only Unanswered Prayers? You’ve prayed for God to send you a spouse; You’ve prayed for God to heal someone you love; You’ve prayed for God to pave the way to get into graduate school; You’ve prayed for God to provide you with a new job or any job for that matter; You’ve prayed for God to help you overcome a particularly unrelenting sin in your life. And what do you get for all your fervent, sincere, and repeated prayers? Sometimes you get the answer you’re hoping for and life is great and being a follower is easy. However, most of the time, at least in my case, we’re left with Unanswered Prayers and that’s when being a follower of Christ is very difficult. That’s when we arrive at the same fork in the road where many atheists have stood and decided that the disappointment and pain from Unanswered Prayers is unacceptable and unbearable and they take the fork in the road that leads to a life of unbelief. For the rest of us who have taken the fork in the road that leads to a life of continued belief, we have to somehow come to terms with a life of Unanswered Prayers in the face of seemingly clear biblical support that God answers all prayers positively that are offered in faith.

Subject Text

James 5:13-20

            13Is any one of you in trouble? He should pray. Is anyone happy? Let him sing songs of praise. 14Is 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. 15And 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. 16Therefore 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. 17Elijah was a man just like us. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years. 18Again he prayed, and the heavens gave rain, and the earth produced its crops. 19My brothers, if one of you should wander from the truth and someone should bring him back, 20remember this: Whoever turns a sinner from the error of his way will save him from death and cover over a multitude of sins.

Context

            This letter was written by Jesus’ brother who was a leader of the Church in Jerusalem. Generally, the letter is intended to expose some hypocritical practices like playing favorites and to teach appropriate Christian behavior like putting what they heard and said they believed into action. Specifically, however, James was concerned about the persecution of a group of Christians who were once part of the Church in Jerusalem. James wanted them to remain unified and avoid internal disputes while striving to better their lot in life. Finally, James wanted them to be patient in their suffering and stand firm in their faith. James’ audience was clearly struggling with a number of issues that James is seeking to clarify including the place of prayer in their lives.

Text Analysis

            13Is any one of you in trouble? He should pray. Is anyone happy? Let him sing songs of praise.

            Just like we have a tendency to separate the sacred from the secular, we tend to turn to God when we’re broken and in trouble but forget about Him when we’re happy. What James is saying in v. 13, though, is that our lives can never be separated from God during any times—good or bad. Remember it is always about relationship with God. I imagine we’ve all had a friend at some point who comes to us only after they’ve messed up their lives or need something from us. How do you feel about that kind of friendship? It’s not very good is it? But we’ve also had that friend who is present and available for the good and bad parts of life—ours and theirs. Relationship with that person is usually rich and meaningful. A deep and meaningful relationship is the type of relationship God desires with us. However, that’s not possible if the only time we go to Him is when our lives are on fire and we need Him to put out the flames. God wants to know that we depend on Him to care for us but He also wants to be part of the celebration of our lives. Here’s what you need to understand about v. 13. James seems to set up a sharp distinction between prayer and praise. Prayer is associated with trouble and praise is associated with happiness. I will concede that the two may look and sound differently, but that’s as far as I’m willing to go based on the experience of my own life virtually every week. My life has often seen the two reversed where I pray during the times when my life seems to be working and I praise God during some of the darker hours of my life. I don’t think James is so much prescribing a formula as much as he is describing a principle of including God in all aspects of our lives in whatever form that might take. Grammatically, the word James uses for “pray” is intended to convey a continuous action not a singular even. In other words, James isn’t saying that we are to shoot up a quick prayer to God for our troubles as though we are checking it off our to-do list. Instead, it has a sense of abiding in God particularly during the difficulties of our lives.

“Christians pray both in times of trouble and in times of joy. In times of trouble Christians often fall victim to self-pity, anger, or morbid introspection. James directed Christians to pray rather than surrender to these wrong responses. Trouble includes physical and emotional stress arising from both ordinary trials and special spiritual difficulties. Sufferers must not stop their prayers after a quick prayer for help. They must live in an attitude of prayer. Happy describes a cheerful, elated mood. This is not a giddy, flippant outlook but a mood of cheer and optimism. Prosperity and pleasant experiences in life can cause a person to forsake God due to complacency or worldly contentment. Instead, life’s good times should lead us to sing songs of praise to God as the author of the blessings…This command does not demand the use of music but calls for the expression of words or thoughts to praise or thank God. Christians who face trouble often lose their awareness of the presence of God due to gloom. Christians who have elation tend to forget God in the joy of their good success. Both darkness and sunshine should lead believers to a consciousness of God.”[1]

14Is 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. 15And 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. 16Therefore 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.

            These are particularly troublesome verses from our Subject Text. On paper, James’ instruction in vv. 14-16 seems perfectly clear and without equivocation. But most, if not all of us, know that it usually doesn’t work in real life. And this is precisely the intersection where so many atheists relinquished their faith and now travel the road of unbelief. I’ll be honest with you, I’ve been at this intersection more than once in my life. A number of years ago, a very good friend of mine who was an elder of our church and still a young man, was diagnosed with a particularly heinous form of cancer. Many of us prayed for him—men and women far more righteous and godly than me. Other elders of the church prayed for him and anointed him with oil and do you know what happened to him after years of brutal treatments and equally brutal and invasive surgeries? He died and left behind a young wife and their young daughter as well as a grieving congregation. So what happened? We tend to make excuses to answer the questions surrounding these verses to avoid the uncomfortable situation that arises whenever the reality of life smashes into the immovable rock of God’s Word. So, without excuses, we need to take a hard look at these verses and see what they are and what they are not saying. James is saying that our prayers will open the door to miraculous healing. James is not saying that God will provide healing even if that healing is not according to His will just because a prayer for healing was offered in faith by someone righteous. It is important to remember the over-arching principle of the Bible—nothing occurs that God does not allow according to His will. Just because something doesn’t make sense to us, like the tragic death of a young man who was a devout man of God, a loving husband and father, and a faithful friend, doesn’t mean that it occurred outside of God’s sovereignty.

            I’m not making any excuse for what seems like a pretty simple teaching by James. If someone is sick and a righteous person prays for them and anoints them with oil, they’ll be healed. Simple right? Except it presumes that it is God’s will that all people should never be sick in this life. I want you to think about that for a minute. Does that conform to reality? Do Christians only die of old age? Obviously not. Are they doing something wrong? Do they not have the right people praying for them? Do they not deserve to be healed? Do they not have enough faith? Are they not righteous enough? Here’s the answer: They’re probably not doing something wrong. They probably have the right people praying for them. They probably deserve to be healed. They probably have enough faith. And if they are believers then they are righteous enough. What they probably don’t have is God’s consent to the longed-for healing. Even Paul said he asked God to remove a thorn from his side that caused him considerable anguish. But God didn’t see fit to remove Paul’s thorn because God determined that there was something more important than Paul’s comfort and relief. God determined to demonstrate His strength through Paul’s weakness.

            “Certain preachers and writers make a great deal of this call for faith, insisting that a believer simply needs to have enough faith in order to receive healing from the Lord. The devastating result of this line of thinking is that believers who are not healed when they pray must deal with a twofold burden: added to their remaining physical challenge is the assumption that they lack sufficient faith. But this way of looking at faith and its results is profoundly unbiblical. And, in James, at least, the prayer of faith that heals in v. 15 is offered not by the sufferer but by the elders (v. 14). Are the elders, therefore, at fault when their prayer for healing does not bring results in a reasonable amount of time? Would the healing have taken place if they had just believed?

            Answering such a question involves us in the finely nuanced broader issue of the relationship between God’s sovereignty and our prayers. But we can say this much. The faith exercised in prayer is faith in the God who sovereignly accomplishes his will. When we pray, our faith recognizes, explicitly or implicitly, the overruling providential purposes of God. We may at times be given insight into that will, enabling us to pray with absolute confidence in God’s plan to answer as we ask. But surely these cases are rare—more rare even than our subjective, emotional desires would lead us to suspect. A prayer for healing, then, must usually be qualified by a recognition that God’s will in the matter is supreme. And it is clear in the NT that God does not always will to heal the believer. Paul’s own prayer for his healing, offered three times, was not answered; God had a purpose in allowing the ‘thorn in the flesh,’ that ‘messenger of Satan,’ to remain (2 Cor 12:7-9). Note also Titus 3:20, where Paul mentions that ‘he left Tromphimus sick in Miletus.’ The faith with which we pray is always faith in the God whose will is supreme and best; only sometimes does this faith include assurance that a particular request is within that will. This is exactly the qualification that is needed to understand Jesus’ own promise: ‘You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it’ (John 14:14). To ask ‘in Jesus’ name’ means not simply to utter his name, but to take into account his will. Only those requests offered ‘in that will’ are granted. Prayer for healing offered in the confidence that God will answer that prayer does bring healing; but only when it is God’s will to heal will that faith, itself a gift of God, be present.”[2]

17Elijah was a man just like us. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years. 18Again he prayed, and the heavens gave rain, and the earth produced its crops.

            James invokes the Old Testament story of Elijah for his audience in vv. 17-18 to illustrate his point about the power of prayer. He’s saying that Elijah was just a regular person like anyone else. And when Elijah prayed “earnestly,” James is saying that Elijah prayed with the faith that God would grant his request for the rain to stop and then commence once again after three and a half years. We might take James’ illustration out of context but remember that James’ primary audience was Christian Jews who fled Jerusalem. It is highly unlikely that they took his words out of context. And if we take a closer look at James’ illustration it will serve to demonstrate that Elijah was only successful because he offered his prayers in accordance with God’s will. You’ll find the record of Elijah’s ministry begin in 1 Kings 17. Elijah was prophet of Israel and Judah during the reign of the evil King Ahab and his equally evil Queen Jezebel both who worshipped the pagan god Baal and led Israel into this evil as well. Those who worshipped Baal believed he had the power to bring rain and ensure a bountiful harvest. This is the context into which Elijah’s ministry is thrust. So Elijah prayed for the rain to end because he believed it was completely within the will of God for God to demonstrate exactly who it is that controls the rain—the God of Israel or the false-god Baal. You see, Elijah’s primary purpose was to turn Israel’s collective hearts and minds back to their first love; the one true God; the One who is sovereign over all of creation including the rain.

            “The Kings account of Elijah’s encounter with Ahab does not refer to Elijah’s prayer unless the phrase ‘whom I serve’ stands for his prayer indirectly. The kind of prayer Elijah prayed to stop the rain probably was like what he uttered at the end of the three-and-a-half-year drought. In 1 Kgs 18:1 the Lord informed Elijah that he would cause the rain to fall again for his people. Elijah, fulfilling the prophetic function of mediation, was led to the moment of prayer for rain that demonstrates the sole lordship of God…Elijah’s prayer included the following: ‘Answer me, O LORD, answer me, so these people will know that you, O LORD, are God, and that you are turning their hearts back again’ (1 Kgs 18:37). The repetition of this prayer expresses the earnestness of the prophet, along with the absolute confidence in the purposes of God for wayward Israel. And we note the intent of the prayer: not merely to demonstrate the power and truth of God but most of all to fulfill his purpose of converting Israel back to faithfulness…Elijah was an instrument of God’s lordship not over the regularities of seasonal rainfall but over the extraordinary regulation of the elements that are the Lord’s prerogative…

            The second prayer of Elijah reversed the famine-producing effects of the first prayer…God is always the ‘giver’ of that which is good, of grace, and even of trial that is meant to convert the sinner and the sinful people of God. God will not answer prayers to a false god but only the prayers of those who pray faithfully according to his word that saves and heals. This giving that saves and heals produced the needed crops after three and a half years of famine…James viewed Elijah as exemplifying any righteous believer whose prayer is heard by God. The prophet of God was given wisdom not only to endure his trials but also to mediate the word of God to his generation. Elijah knew the will of God concerning the signs of drought and rain; this knowledge was why he prayed so fervently. By applying Scripture believers can know and should do the will of God through their own fervent praying, whether it be a matter of planning their business affairs, persevering through suffering, searching for healing, or asking for forgiveness of sin.”[3]

19My brothers, if one of you should wander from the truth and someone should bring him back, 20remember this: Whoever turns a sinner from the error of his way will save him from death and cover over a multitude of sins.

            It’s hard to know how vv. 19-20 fit into the context of our Subject Text and I want you to be careful not to read anything into my explanation. It is possible that some of James’ audience believed that sin is the cause of illness in people. We can see this in the exchange between Jesus and the disciples when Jesus healed a man who was blind from birth (Jn 9:2-3). The disciples asked Jesus whose sin was responsible for the man’s blindness—his or his father’s. Jesus made it clear that the man’s blindness wasn’t the result of sin. We live in a broken world of sickness and death and every single person who has been sick, is sick now, or will be sick in the future, is also a sinner. However, we must be very, very careful trying to draw a straight line between sin and sickness. Here’s how far I’m willing to go in terms of a general principle with respect to the relationship between sin and sickness: According to the account of Adam and Eve from Genesis, the first sin; original sin, introduce brokenness into creation. Sin gave birth to all of humanity’s grief, suffering, sickness, pain, and death. So in that respect, all sickness is the result of sin in a general sense so it’s not necessary to insist that sickness is the result of any specific sin even though that could be true in some cases. There is, however, another type of sickness that afflicts all of us that falls specifically within the purview of vv. 19-20—spiritual sickness; spiritual sickness that is specifically the result of sin in our lives and separates us from God. If we read vv. 19-20 in that context then they fit perfectly in the overall context of sickness and healing. In this case, spiritual sickness is healed when a person confesses their sins and are forgiven and once again reconciled to God.

Here’s what I can say about these verses with certainty—James is talking about our duty to rescue our fellow Christians who, by their willful sins, have wandered away from what they once said they believed. James talks about turning the sinner away from the error of their sins. I hate to tell you this but that means we have a duty to confront them about their sins. This is the part where it gets really, really hard because there is such a fine line between tossing a rope around someone’s neck and strangling them with self-righteous judgment and tossing them a rope in order to pull them to the safety of being reconciled back to God.

            “The parable of the ‘lost sheep’ reminds the congregation that it is to be a community of people watching out for the sister and brother, a community in which members help one another stay on track, to continue to ‘walk in line with the truth of the Gospel,’ to borrow a phrase from Paul…Out of respect for another’s ‘privacy’ or ‘rights,’ or out of a philosophy of ‘minding one’s own business,’ or out of a post-modern sense of ‘tolerance’ and ‘diversity,’ many believers are reluctant to take up [the] challenge to identify the erring, go after the wanderers, and bring them back to the right way. That hesitancy has facilitated many affairs, divorces, acts of dishonesty and acts of abuse. Individuals facing powerful temptations of deep-rooted tendencies need the support, encouragement and commitment of their sisters and brother if they are to rise victorious over the powers that seek to make shipwreck of their faith.”[4]

Application

            On the night when Jesus was betrayed, He was in the Garden of Gethsemane praying. He was praying one of the most real prayers I’ve every heard, given His circumstances and what He knew was coming. He prayed, “Father, if there is another way, then could you please do this another way (Mt 26:36-46).” If you know or read the events that follow the night in the garden, then you know why Jesus was asking the Father if He could carry out his plan some other way. I say it’s one of the most real prayers I ever heard because it’s like so many of mine and I bet it’s like so many of yours too—prayers that are heard but remain unanswered. You pray for your marriage to work but it’s still broken and causes you so much pain and grief every day. You pray for a new job but you continue to have to labor in a job that dehumanizes and sucks the life out of you. You pray for a child of your own but you lose a little more hope with every pregnancy test that comes back negative. You pray for the safety of your family but Muslims are pressing in around you every day with their evil hatred for Christians. You pray and pray and pray but all you have to show for all your prayers is Unanswered Prayers. I suppose God could be answering the prayers with a “no” but that’s no better because then we’d be left with unanswered questions of why in place of Unanswered Prayers. Imagine if you had a sick child and you went to God to ask for healing and God simply said “no” and allowed your child to die. Do you really think that’s how God operates? Does God allow children who are sick to die? I’ve been to see the very sick babies my daughter cares for at Los Angeles Children’s Hospital and I know sick children do, in fact, die right in the midst of people praying for their healing. Did God say no to the prayers for healing? Sort of, I guess. But I think what He is really saying is, “someday I’ll grant you your request but for now I have a different plan. You might not like it or understand it but I need you to trust Me that I know what I’m doing.” Of course you don’t actually know what God is saying so you’re left to struggle with Unanswered Prayers as you stand and stare at the grave of your child.

            Do Unanswered Prayers ever make sense? Usually, Unanswered Prayers will only make sense in the life to come. However, sometimes we get a glimpse into God’s reason behind Unanswered Prayers in this life. Growing up in a home with an abusive alcoholic father, I prayed one of those very real prayers all the time. I prayed and I prayed and I prayed that the alcohol-fueled rage would stop, but it didn’t and all I was left with was Unanswered Prayers. However, now, looking back nearly 40 years, I can imagine God said, “someday I’ll grant you your request but for now I have a different plan. You might not like it or understand it but I need you to trust Me that I know what I’m doing.” After having the opportunity to speak into many lives who have had to endure similar pain and been able to offer them hope and encouragement, I can be thankful for Unanswered Prayers. Let’s go back even farther though to Jesus’ prayer in the garden. Jesus asked the Father to let the cup that awaited Him to pass. Imagine how hard that request was on the Father. Do you really think the Father’s answer was a plain and simple no? I doubt the answer was plain or simple. Nevertheless, the plan remained unchanged and regardless of how much Jesus wanted to avoid what was coming, He trusted that the Father’s plan was best. So He submitted His plea to the Father’s will and the Father’s will was for Jesus to be falsely accused, stand trial at a sham trial, be insulted, abused, and tortured and finally be nailed to a cross and die. But look at what happened as a result. Atonement was made for humanity’s sin as a result of Jesus’ death. And Jesus’ death made the resurrection possible. Jesus’ resurrection is the single most important event that resulted from the Unanswered Prayers back in the garden—because the resurrection marked the end of death as the end. So next time you’re struggling under the weight of your own Unanswered Prayers, try to remember that one of the most significant Unanswered Prayers in all of history made it possible for you to spend eternity with God.





[1] Thomas D. Lea, Hebrews & James—Holman New Testament Commentary, (Nashville, TN: B&H Publishing Group, 1999), p. 346.
[2] Douglas J. Moo, The Letter of James—The Pillar New Testament Commentary, (Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 2000), pp. 244-245.
[3] Kurt A. Richardson, James—The New American Commentary, (Nashville, TN: B&H Publishing Group, 1997), pp. 240-242.
[4] David A. deSilva, An Introduction to the New Testament: Contexts, Methods & Ministry Formation, (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2004), p. 296.