The Power of Prayer Offered in Faith

Transcript

GR 1659
11/18/2012
The Power of Prayer Offered in Faith
James 5:13-15
Gil Rugh


We're in James 5 in your Bibles as we draw to the closing of this letter by James, the half-brother of the Lord. And what grace the Lord bestowed upon this one who rejected Him during His earthly life and ministry. James being the half-brother of Christ, you remember. Think of the remarkable circumstances as he was raised in that home with the One who was not only Son of man but was Son of God. Came to adulthood, observed the public ministry of Christ, was there to observe some of the works that Christ had done and remained an unbeliever until Christ in mercy appeared to him after His resurrection from the dead and transformed his life. And he became a leader in the church at Jerusalem. Now he is writing a letter to Jewish believers scattered outside the land of Israel.

Christianity provides a remarkable privilege to those who come to believe in Jesus Christ, a personal relationship with the living God. We've been talking about the sovereignty of God. And you stop and think of the awesomeness of God and His sovereignty and complete authority and control over all and yet we are privileged to enjoy an intimate relationship with Him. This is what Christ provided for us in His death and resurrection. One of the greatest privileges of this new relationship that we've entered into with God is the privilege of prayer, personal communion with God. I can come to God and talk to Him, I can bring my desires, my requests, my thanks to Him individually, directly. I don't have to come through someone else, you don't have to come through someone else, you don't have to come through me or one of the elders or other spiritual person. We can pray for one another but every believer has that same privilege of access into the very presence of God.

Just before James is the letter to the Hebrews, back up to Hebrews 4. This is also a letter written to Hebrew believers, Jewish believers. And in Hebrews 4:14, therefore since we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted or tested in all things as we are, yet without sin. The picture here that the Jewish believers would recognize, the high priest who through his action made possible access to God. Now Jesus Christ is the Hight Priest and He has provided for us a priesthood and every believer is what we call a believer priest. And because Jesus Christ is our High Priest who represents us in the very presence of God. Remember in the Old Testament system only the high priest could enter in to the Holy of Holies where the presence of God was manifested, and that only once a year. But we have a High Priest who continually represents us in the presence of God and makes possible our coming before the throne of God.

So Hebrews 4:16 says, therefore, let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace. For us it is a throne of grace, unmerited, unearned, undeserved favor and blessing. So that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. That sovereign God who controls all, who is sovereign over all tells me, come. Ask Me, tell Me what you need. I will give you the help that you ask for. How do you even grasp such a privilege, such an honor and come with confidence, not arrogance, not cockiness but confidence, assuredness that He will hear me. I am welcome in His presence to bring the desires of my heart before Him. What a contrast.

Take a moment, come back to Proverbs 28. And you see the contrast with the wicked, the contrast we have talked about, the blessing that is ours. The chapter opens up with verse 1, the wicked flee when no one is pursuing but the righteous are bold as a lion. God gives us the confident assurance, the wicked are filled with fears. Verse 4, those who forsake the law praise the wicked. See what happens, when you reject God's revelation you have no standards. You end up praising the wicked and end up rejecting the righteous.

Evil men do not understand justice, verse 5, contrasted with those who seek the Lord understand all things. Come down to verse 9, he who turns away his ear from listening to the law, that was the Word of God they had in their possession at that time, even his prayer is an abomination. The person who rejects the truth of God as He has revealed it, their prayer is an abomination to Him, something He hates. We sometimes think, they are religious, they pray, at least we can be glad for that. God says it is an offensive thing to Him for someone to reject His Word and then think they can come talk to Him. That's an abomination to Him, something that He hates.

So the contrast. We who by His grace have come to place our faith in the Savior that He has provided and now submit ourselves to His truth, we are welcome to come with confidence before His throne and receive from Him what we need, in contrast to those who have not placed their faith in the Savior He has provided, do not submit themselves to the truth that He has revealed. If they try to come in prayer, think of that with the many religious people around the world who pray. And that's an abomination, something hateful to God that they would do that.

So come back to James 5. As you might expect this is where James is going. He's talking about prayer in the section that we come into as we close out this book. James 5:13-18, every one of those verses uses the word prayer at least one time. You can go through as you read it and note that each of those verses at least once will refer to prayer. So that is the subject and the focal point of what he is talking about in verses 13-18. Sometimes in this section we fail to appreciate that what God is talking about is prayer, the importance of prayer. We get caught up in the issue about healing, anointing with oil, calling the elders. And we fail, those things have to be dealt with but really what he is talking about is prayer and the effectiveness of prayer and the importance of it, the power of it. Not because there is some kind of mystical power generated in prayer, it's because we come and ask the God who has all power for what we need. And He responds according to our requests.

James has been talking about difficult situations and circumstances and so he has exhorted them in verses 7ff. Verse 8, be patient, strengthen your hearts. Verse 9, do not complain. And then he encouraged them. Take the example of the prophets who endured and Job who was faithful in difficulty. Pressure sometimes drives us to do things that are contrary to the will of God, and taking an oath, swearing, as we noted. No, we ought to maintain the consistency of our character as God's people even under pressure and trial. So he's going to move into and talk about prayer. And that's the focal point. God is to be the focal point in all the situations and circumstances of life. The pressure of trials of one kind or another shouldn't cause us to become frustrated and lose patience, to complain, maybe to take an oath, swear when we shouldn't. Rather the proper thing is to turn to God.

So he picks up in verse 13, he's going to give the situation and then he is going to develop specific areas of it. Verse 13 he says, is anyone among you suffering? He gives a command, he must pray. The word here as he talks about suffering, whatever the trial, the heartache, the difficulty that a believer is going through. Anyone among you suffering, among you believers. He is talking to the brethren, remember, verse 12, above all my brethren. And he has referred to them as brethren in verse 7, verse 10, then again in verse 12. Is anyone among you, the believers I'm writing to, suffering? You must pray, turn to God in prayer. You must do that. It's a command given in the present tense. This should be our regular pattern under whatever kind of trial or difficulty we go through. It could be physical sickness, he's going to talk about that; it could be other kinds of trials that come up in the book. Just whatever. What should be our direction? I'm going to the throne of grace because trials produce a need in me. How do I handle this? What do I do? How do I get through it? We want to sometimes sit and put ourselves in knots. The first thing we ought to think of doing is I'm going to go in, close the door, get alone with God where I can get away from the distractions and I'm going to put it before Him. Lord, here is my situation. You need it but I need to tell you about it. And you know the pressure seems overwhelming to me, I don't know what to do. What do I do? I go to the Lord.

This takes us back to where James started in James 1. Come back to James 1:2, consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, joy in trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result so that you may be perfect, complete, lacking in nothing. But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God who gives to all generously and without reproach and it will be given him. We come to a throne of grace. I don't want to bother the Lord with this, I can work it out. God never says we should work it out. Come tell Me, I will give you the wisdom. It is supernatural. How do you explain it? Sometimes we wrestle with things and sometimes that's not bad as long as we are doing it before the Lord. That doesn't mean that sometimes you are awake at night, If we are awake at night with things on our minds, we ought to talk it over with the Lord. Sometimes we are just rolling it over in our minds and it is getting more and more difficult and it weighs on me more. I need to say, Lord, I want to talk it over with You. The Lord knows it all but I need to tell Him. You know what Peter will write, casting all your burdens on Him because He cares for you. You want to be casting all your cares on Him because He cares for you. Lord, I need Your wisdom, I need the grace of knowing how to do this, what to do and know that You will see me through.

Come back to James 5. Is any among you suffering? He must pray. Is any among you cheerful? And that would be in this context the opposite of suffering. You are at a time in your life where it seems it is trouble free, we might use that word. There are times when we go through and it seems like either personal things have come up, things in our family, things at work, situations that just press in upon us. There are other times when you look and say, things are smooth, there are no particular issues right now. What do we do then? Well, basically the same things with a different emphasis. You must sing praises, you give God praise. That's what he says. Another command. You'll note the same thing, in difficult times and in trouble free times we go to the Lord. That just becomes our automatic pattern, I have to take this to the Lord, I have to take this to the Lord, I have to take this to the Lord. Things are good, no particular issues, health is good, job is good, family seems to be doing well, things are good. Do I just forget about the Lord? No, I come to give Him praise for His blessings. We saw earlier in James 1, every good gift and every perfect act of giving comes down from the Father of lights with whom there is no shadow caused by turning. Oh God, you are so good, so gracious to bless me so much. So what do I do in difficult times? I go to the Lord. What do I do in good times? I go to the Lord. If I just develop that pattern of life, I'm going to the Lord in every situation. So that's what James is instructing. God is the center and focus of our lives.

Is any among you sick? So here is a particular kind of difficulty and trouble—sickness. You call the elders. Is any among you sick, then he must call for the elders of the church. They are to pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer offered in faith will restore the one who is sick and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, they will be forgiven him. Therefore confess your sins to one another and pray for one another so that you may be healed. The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much. Then he'll give the example of Elijah.

Sickness, this word sickness, and some of you have studied it, some of you use study Bibles with notes. The notes aren't inspired but when you go to commentaries and those notes you'll note there are different views here on the sickness. It's a word that is used sometimes of spiritual weakness and immaturity. So the translation sickness, sometimes it is translated weakness or be weak. So if you translated this, is any among you sick, is any among you weak. Now is the weakness spiritual weakness or is it physical weakness. The use of it for spiritual weakness or immaturity, come over to Romans 14, just to give you an example. I don't think that's the use of it in James but you see that it is used this way.

In Romans 14:1, now accept the one who is weak in faith. We don't translate it there sick in faith, but that's our word. But it's referring to someone who is less mature in his faith. Verse 2, one person has faith that he may eat all things; one who is weak, that word again, sick. But here obviously it is talking about spiritual immaturity, not physical sickness. So it's a word depending on the context that can mean either a spiritual weakness or immaturity or it can refer to physical weakness, sickness.

Come to 1 Corinthians, one other example of that kind of use, 1 Corinthians 8. And again a similar kind of context that is talking about Christian liberty and a strong or mature Christian and a weak or less mature Christian. So verse 11, through your knowledge he who is weak, there is our word used in James translated sick. But he is obviously talking about a less mature brother, a less mature Christian. So by sinning against the brethren and wounding their conscience when it is weak, not as strong, not as mature.

So that's one way this word can be used and some take it to mean that James is talking about calling the elders when you are going through a time of spiritual weakness and struggle, particular spiritual problem or battle. And there is truth in that, nothing wrong with calling spiritual people to pray with you when you are going through a difficult time spiritually, but I don't think that's what James is talking about.

Come over to John 4, just an example of how it is used just of physical sickness. John 4:46, I picked John, I think this word is used 34 times, if I remember correctly, in the New Testament. Here it is used of physical sickness. Verse 46, therefore He came to Cana of Galilee where He had made the water wine. And there was a royal official whose son was sick. There is our word. Weak was translated in Romans and 1 Corinthians when it talked about spiritual immaturity, but here it is talking about physical sickness. So he was sick. Down in verse 47, same thing. He heard Jesus had come out and asked him to heal his son for he was at the point of death. It is a physical sickness that could cause his death.

Come over to John 11, I've just taken these from John so we get the point, we don't need to go through a lot of other references. Verse 1, now a certain man was sick, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. And we now Lazarus has a physical illness because he's going to die from it. Used down in verse 4, when Jesus heard this He said, this sickness, this weakness. It's not going to end in death, it's for the glory of God. So there you see it is used in the context of physical illness. And that's the majority of uses in the New Testament but it can be used either way.

I think in James 5 he is talking about physical sickness. So come back to James 5. And I think that fits the overall context. We won't get through the rest of the chapter but I think when we have we will see that the overall chapter is focused on a physical sickness and it could result in death. So he says here in James 5, if any among you are sick, let him call for the elders of the church. And they are to pray over him. And again the instructions here are firm, he must call for the elders of the church. A command of what he is to do, call for the elders. Now strange. I'd say, call for a physician, but in one sense you say, what physical help can there be if you call the elders? You need physical help. But here there is a spiritual issue involved. You call for the elders of the church.

And just a couple of notes on this calling the elders and who the elders are. You'll note the sick person takes the initiative here. It's not the elders become aware of the sickness and they go see him. The command is given to the sick person, he must call the elders. He takes the initiative here. I think that becomes important in the context. He calls for the elders of the church, and just to note, in the New Testament when you talk about the church, you can be talking about what we call the corporate church—all believers everywhere. In Matthew 16:18 Jesus said, I will build My church. He's not just talking about a local church like the church at Corinth or the church at Philippi, He's talking about building His church. The church is referred to as the body of Christ in Ephesians 1:22. So it can refer to what we call the universal church—believers everywhere today. No matter where they are on the earth, no matter what nationality, what country they may be living, they are part of the church of Jesus Christ, the Bride of Christ, the Body of Christ. But the vast majority of the uses of the word church in the New Testament refer to local churches. And obviously that is what James is talking about here. Call for the elders, plural, of the church. And he's talking about an individual, local church.

As we find elders in Scripture, come back to Acts 14. There is always a plurality of elders in the context of an individual, local church. In Acts 14 we have the first indication of the appointment of elders in the church. Acts 14:23, we're on Paul's first missionary journey. And when they had appointed elders, plural, for them in every church, singular. That plurality of elders. We're not going to take the time to do a study of elders, you're aware that 1 Corinthians 3 gives the qualifications that a man must meet to be an elder. Titus 1 gives a similar list of qualifications of the elders. They are responsible for the church.

Come over to Acts 20. Just for our awareness there are three words used of the same position or office or role of elder. It can be called an elder, it can be called a pastor, it can be called an overseer or bishop. Those are the same office or role, position that we are talking about. You see this in Acts 20:17, Paul here, from Myletus he sent to Ephesus and called to him the elders of the church. So he calls for the elders, plural, of the church at Ephesus to come and meet with him at Myletus. He doesn't want to take the journey over to Ephesus and so they come to meet him there.

Then come down to verse 28. He instructs the elders, be on guard for yourselves and all the flock among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. So you see the elders are overseers, they have been made overseers. In my Bible it has a little #1 in front of overseers and in the margin it says or bishops because sometimes in English it was translated bishops. That's why we have an episcopal church or an episcopalian. It is governed by bishops. So you talk about the Episcopalian Church, where does that come from? Well the Greek word here is episcopos and it's just a compound word. You know scopus, scope, you are going to scope something out. That's the English word. So the episcopos are those who overseer, episcopos. So elders, that comes from the Greek word for, we get Presbyterian, presbyteros. And we just carry it over into English and we have presbyterian. Presbyterian churches are governed by elders.

So here you have the elders, it said they were made overseers. And their responsibility is to shepherd. There is our word to be a pastor, a shepherd, pastor the church of God. So the elders, the overseers, the pastors, we're talking about the same group of people. So an elder, an overseer would be a pastor, that role. And their responsibility is to lead and care for, protect, shepherd the church of God. The church doesn't belong to them, they are entrusted with the responsibility for the care of the church which belongs to God because He purchased it with His own blood. So there you see in Acts 20:17 the plurality of elders, the single church.

One other example, come to Philippians 1, and one of the reasons we took the time to do that. You come to Philippians, and he's writing to the church at Philippi. In Philippians 1, Paul and Timothy, bond servants of Christ Jesus. And he's writing to all the saints in Christ Jesus who are in Philippi, including the overseers and deacons. So he is writing to the believers at Philippi, the church there in Philippi, and he includes the overseers. I wanted you to see that overseers and elders and pastors referring to the same group of people because here he uses the word overseers. That would be the same as the elders. And then the deacons are separate. Of course in 1 Timothy 3 Paul also sets out the qualifications for a man to be a deacon in the church. So these are spiritual leaders. We saw in Acts 20 something of the responsibility and role of these men. They have the oversight of the church, they have the responsibility for caring for God's people, for teaching, for protecting them from false teachers and false doctrine and so on as Paul would have elaborated it there.

No James says, I want you to call for the elders of the church and they can pray for you when you're sick. So come back to James 1. The local church has an identity, you can identify the church at Corinth, the church at Ephesus and so on. In Revelation 2-3 Jesus addresses letters to different local churches, to the church at Laodicea, to the church at . . . That's an identifiable group of believers joined together as God's people in that place. We are the church. We are not the only church now; as the number of believers has grown we have multiple local churches in an area. But our local church has a group of elders that oversees it, that pastors it and so on. Sometimes we identify it with a building because that's the location. It's true the building is not the church but it becomes identified because the group of believers that comprise this local church meet at this location and this building site regularly. So we end up referring to the church in connection with the building. But we want to be careful that we keep in mind that the building is not sacred, it's just a meeting place. We could meet in a school or someplace else, we would still be the church. But I don't get all worked up, you shouldn't call that building the church. Well it's the building where this local church meets regularly. So as long as we understand that. In the presence of God the Holy Spirit of God . . .

Come back to 1 Corinthians 3:16, this is a little rabbit trail, but just a little one. Verse 16, do you not know that you, and that you there is a plural. In Greek like in some other languages you can have a plural you. In English the plural you and the singular you, you have to tell by the context. Years ago I used to pluralize you and say, you'uns. It wasn't good grammar, but if anybody wanted to know, you were talking about plural. In Greek you have a plural you and a singular you. So here it's plural. So he says, you are a temple of God and the Spirit of God dwells in you. And if any many destroys the temple of God, God will destroy him. For the temple of God is holy, that is what you are. He's addressing the church at Corinth and the church corporately is the place where the Spirit of God dwells. So this church corporately, the Spirit of God dwells in it.

Then you come over to 1 Corinthians 6 and he writes to the individual. Verse 19, do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God. You are not your own, you've been bought with a price. So you see the Spirit of God dwells in us both individually and it dwells in us corporately as God's people joined together.
Come back to James 5. Is any among you sick? He must call for the elders of the church and they are to pray over him. So the importance of prayer, given as a command. They must pray over him. So praying for this man. He has called for them to come, they pray for him. They also anoint him with oil. And again as you read some of the commentaries and some of your Bible notes they have notes on this as well. There are two different words for anointing, and I'm not going to go into that because I don't think it makes the difference here. And they get what kind of anointing this is based on the Greek word for anointing here and I have that information here. But I don't want to take the time to go through it. I don't think he is talking about a medicinal use of anointing. Some of the commentators say that. In other words call for the elders, and oil in biblical times, they didn't have all the medicinal products available. One of the things they would use was oil. And we may still use some of that on a sore area or something, but they would use it a little more broadly in medicinal uses. I don't think they called for the elders to administer particular medicinal help.

So when the elders come and pray and anoint him, I think the anointing has something to do with the praying more than some kind of physical action that is related to medicinal use of oil. Because the significant thing here is the command to pray, and then with it there will be anointing him with oil. But they are not two equal commands here. The command is that they are to pray, they must pray over him, anointing him or having anointed him with oil. That's subject to the praying. What does it mean, why would they be anointing him with oil?

We're not going to go through all the different kinds of uses of oil, some say it represents the Holy Spirit because the Holy Spirit can be represented with a symbol of oil. I would take it back to a use in the Old Testament. Remember James is very Jewish in his setting, he is the leader of the Jewish church, he is writing to Jewish believers. And so a very familiar use of oil. Come back to Psalm 45:6, your throne, oh God, is forever and ever, a scepter of righteousness is the scepter of your kingdom. You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness; therefore, God, your God has anointed you with the oil of joy above your fellows. And all your garments are fragrant with myrrh and the different spices and so on. So that oil of gladness, oil being representative of honor and joy and blessing used here.

Come over to Isaiah 61. Here you have this Messianic passage, the first part of it relating to the first coming of Christ. It starts out in verse 1, the Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me because the Lord has anointed Me to bring good news to the afflicted, He has sent Me to bind up the broken hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, freedom to prisoners, to proclaim the favorable year of the Lord. You draw a line under that because there are 2,000 years between the first coming of Christ and now down to where we are and then anticipation of the Second Coming. And then in that connection when Christ comes again, and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn, to grant those who mourn in Zion, giving them a garland instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, a mantle of praise, and so on. So that picture of oil as blessing and joy, honor. You come over to Hebrews 1. Some of you may have been thinking of this as we read these passages. Hebrews 1. Remember we read in Psalm 45, now here it is quoted an applied to Christ. Verse 9, you have loved righteousness and hated lawlessness; therefore, God your God has anointed you with the oil of gladness above your companions.

So I think a very simple use of oil here would picture the joy and happiness of the occasion that this sick individual has called for the elders to pray over him and they are going to pray and then anoint him with oil. There is something in the context here that is a cause of joy and gladness. Come back to James 5. They are anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. So this is not the power elders have. They are coming to pray because they are seeking God's intervention here, they are anointing him with oil indicative of the blessing that God will bring and the joy and gladness here of the situation.

Verse 15, and the prayer offered in faith will restore the one who is sick. The Lord will raise him up, and if he has committed sins, they will be forgiven him. Now when we were back in James 1 just a little bit ago, James 1:5, if any of you lacks wisdom let him ask of God who gives all generously without reproach, it will be given him. But he must ask in faith without any doubting. For the one who doubts is like the surf of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind. That man ought not expect that he will receive anything from the Lord, being a double minded man, unstable in all his ways. The prayer of the elders, back in James 5, is offered in faith. It's not in doubting. James 5:15, the prayer offered in faith will restore the one who is sick. It will be effective. Now what are we talking about here? And does this anybody who gets sick, you call the elders and you are guaranteed you are going to be healed. Obviously that is not the case.

That word to be restored in verse 15, you probably have a note in your margin as well, it's the word to be saved, the Greek word sozo. So sometimes refers to our spiritual salvation, sometimes it refers to physical restoration, the way I have been taking it here. It's going to be down in verse 20, let him know who turns a sinner from the error of his way will save his soul, there is our word, from death and will cover a multitude of sins. This is a word that is often used in the Gospels for physical restoration. We think of being saved in the spiritual sense, and it is often used that way, but it is often used in the physical sense.

Come back to Matthew 5. Again this is a common use of it in the Gospels. In Matthew 5 we are in the Sermon on the Mount and remember James draws much of his material from the teaching of Christ during His earthly ministry. Mark 5:22, one of the synagogue officials named Jairus came up and seeing Him fell at His feet. Verse 23, implored Him earnestly saying, my little daughter is at the point of death. Please come and lay your hands on her so that she will get saved. We have it translated get well, but you probably have a note for your margin, be saved. Obviously not talking about her spiritual salvation here, he's concerned that she is sick and he wants Jesus to heal her so that she will be restored from the physical illness and won't die.

Another lady who had the hemorrhage for 12 years, verse 25, verse 28, she thought, if I touch His garments I will be saved, get well we have it translated. But that is the word be saved, same word we are talking about in James. Used of physical healing and restoration. Down in verse 34, He said to her, daughter, your faith has saved you, made you well. Go in peace, be healed of your affliction. So just examples of this word, it can be used of spiritual salvation, it can be used of physical healing. I think James is using it of physical healing.

Come back to James 5. Then he says, the end of verse 15, if he has committed sins they will be forgiven him. This is a first indication that sin may have been involved in this situation. And I think as we move along in this context, we'll see more. I think that is the situation that the elders are called and the man takes the initiative. I mean, often we take the initiative to go to someone who is sick, but here the man who is sick takes the initiative which indicates that he is ready to deal with the situation. And I think that sin plays a key part here and that's why we won't get into it until our next study. But verse 16 will say, confess your sins to one another, pray for one another that you may be healed. In this context the importance of dealing with the sin and seeing it is resolved. If he has committed sins they will be forgiven him. That's the promise, the sins will be forgiven.

Therefore we confess our sins to one another. Not having to do with confessing to a priest or something, but acknowledging the sin so that God can work. Let me note it is not a guarantee here that a sickness of any kind in any situation, call for the elders, they'll pray for you and you can be sure. Pray for people who have died, other elders in our church have prayed. That would be true in other churches. There is no guarantee here.

Come back to 2 Timothy 4, we're not going to go on into the other verses here so you won't get the complete picture. But I want you to note that sickness, we're not guaranteed healing here. 2 Timothy 4, Paul is writing, Paul the apostle who had the gift of healing. So he wouldn't even need to call for the elders. But note what he says in verse 20, Erastus remained at Corinth but Trophimus I left sick at Miletus. Well, we saw in Acts 20 when Paul visited Miletus, he called for the elders of the church because he wanted to meet with them. If Trophimus is sick at Miletus, why doesn't he just call for the elders of the church at Ephesus and have them come pray over him and Trophimus could have gotten healed. Or why didn't Paul just heal him? You see the fact that Paul had the gift of healing, which I don't believe is any longer present, the fact that elders in certain circumstances and situations could be used of God through prayer and helping this individual deal with sin could bring healing doesn't guarantee healing in every situation. I think a specific situation is being dealt with here in James and as the context goes on it is physical problems, sickness that has come as a result of sin in the life.

Back up to 1 Timothy 5. Timothy is a very close companion of Paul. Paul referred to him as my son in the faith, and you know something of his love for Timothy and he wrote him a couple of letters that we have, 1 and 2 Timothy. In 1 Timothy 5:23 he says to Timothy, no longer drink water exclusively. We have the word exclusively in there because he's not telling him he can never drink water, but use a little wine for the sake of your stomach and your frequent ailments. Why didn't Paul just heal him? He's telling him with the water and everything, Timothy may have been trying to be meticulous, avoid any question about his conduct. So Paul encourages him, use wine for medicinal purposes.

I tried it once, I've shared with you. We were traveling, going to South America, one place in South America to another and I'm getting sick on the plane. So I said, drink a little wine for your stomach's sake. On the plane they had these little things so I said, I'll take one of those. Didn't help, I almost died at the next stop.

But for Timothy here, in your frequent ailments. Here is somebody so close to Paul, he could just say, in the name of Jesus I heal you from these frequent ailments. No, he's telling him, here is how to take care of yourself. Timothy, you have to pay attention and do some things that will help you maybe feel a little better.

Paul had his own trouble. Come back to 2 Corinthians 12. Paul is talking about the blessings that God bestowed upon him and all the revelation God has given to him. And he was caught up to the third heaven to see things that had not been revealed to others up to this point. Then verse 7, because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, for this reason, to keep me from exalting myself there was given me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to torment me, to keep me from exalting myself. And it's a thorn in the flesh so obviously some kind of physical problem, weakness, difficulty that Paul had. Concerning this I implored the Lord three times that it might leave me. He turned to the Lord and asked God to be gracious and heal him, deliver him. He has said to me, My grace is sufficient for you for power is perfected in weakness, there is our basic word we are talking about in James. We talked about it could be weakness, sickness. In weakness, My power is perfected in weakness. It's My will for you to be sick, to have this physical problem. It is a physical problem because it was in his physical body, his flesh. Most gladly therefore I will boast about my weaknesses so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. Therefore, I am well content with weaknesses, insults, distresses, persecutions, all other kinds of problems. For when I am weak then I am strong. It's an indication here, people go to a place James and think that you get spiritual people to pray then God has assured healing. He hasn't. And here we have an example. Paul certainly knew how to pray and his prayers were effective and God used him to heal to other people. He raised Eutychus after he had fallen out of the window and was picked up as a dead man. Paul restores him to health. And here he asks the Lord for mercy. We think, Lord, do it, make Paul's life a little easier, look how faithful he is. God says, no, My intention for you is to be sick.

Come over to Galatians 4:12, I beg of you, brethren, become as I am for I also have become as you are. You have done me no wrong. You know it was because of a bodily illness, verse 13, a weakness of the flesh as you have it in your margin there. There is that word, weakness, a weakness of the flesh, some kind of physical problem. So a bodily illness, but a weakness of the flesh in the physical body is what he is talking about. That I preach the Gospel to you the first time, on that first missionary journey. That which was a trial to you in my bodily condition you did not despise or loathe. So something about this physical condition made Paul's physical appearance something that you did not want to have to look at. So when Satan was given the opportunity to afflict Paul, he knew how to afflict Paul that would make his ministry even more difficult. God used it to keep Paul humble and not exalt himself because God was going to use him in a greater way than He used other people.

So what was a trial to you in my bodily condition you did not despise or loathe. You received me as an angel of God, as Christ Jesus Himself. Where then is that sense of blessing you had? Things have changed. You overlooked those things that could have been repulsive, caused you to loathe me. Now you have forgotten the blessing and now they are not happy with Paul anymore. For I bear you witness that if possible you would have plucked out your eyes and given them to me. And that's where some think that Paul's affliction had to do with the condition of the eyes and some think maybe a kind of running and so on that would have made it unsightly, something not nice to look at. We don't know for sure, but that's the only inkling. If it had to do with a leg problem, I don't know why they would have plucked out their eyes. So it may well have been an eye problem. Some people say it was just figurative speech, they would have done whatever necessary. But I think it may indicate what the physical area this problem was and the affliction God gave him. That would add to the burden. Paul had to travel, he had to confront people and then you have this that made your appearance something that people didn't want to have to look at and made his own travel difficult and added to the difficulty.

All of that to say it's not always God's will to heal, but in James 5 there is assurance in that particular context. So I think sin plays an issue there and we'll talk about that more as we move along. But we are reminded of the sovereign power of God over these situations. When it is His will, healing will take place; when it is not, we accept the will of God as Paul did and say, God, this is your will for me. I have sought You, I know You have the power to heal me, to raise me up, to cure me, but you choose not to. That means You want to use me in this condition and use me to the fullest.

Let's pray together. Thank you, Lord, for your Word. Thank you for your power. Thank you, Lord, for the privilege we have in prayer. How awesome it is that we come before you, the God who sits on the throne, ruling over all creation and You listen to us individually and personally. Our requests are received by You. You hear us and You answer according to what is best for us. You are an awesome God and how blessed we are to belong to You, to serve You. What a great privilege is given to us to come to You in prayer and know You hear us and answer. Bless us as we serve You through this week. Lord, as different ones of us face different situations, some will be in trouble and difficulty and suffering and trial, some will experience the joy of being free from those pressures. Lord, in it all may we find ourselves focused upon You, enjoying the privilege of communion with You. We pray in Christ's name, amen.