How to Save a Life

The title: "How to Save a Life". I got that title from a song by the indie band called The Fray—you all know them, don't you? They were—was it—it was a song that they released around 20 years ago, and it made it into the series Grey's Anatomy, you saw that as well. Anyway, there you go, it's just the way my brain kind of works: How to Save a Life.

And the reason I chose that title is because that seems to be what James is talking about here. Look right at the end, verse 19 and 20. These are James' last words to us from his letter, the last words that we know of him, and he's really talking about how people are saved. Which is really interesting, because if you're of the view that James is really very practical and it's all about the things you do, the very last thing he says is he talks about saving—saving people from the consequences of sins, which is what we're going to return to at the very end of these few minutes together.

I want us to think firstly about prayer, because that seems to be the topic that he's talking about here, and in particular, it's called the "prayer of faith." So we're going to think about prayer just for a few moments. Charles Haddon Spurgeon, the famous Baptist preacher, illustrious preacher, he said, "I would rather teach one man to pray than ten men to preach."

In the National Church Life Survey, which we're going to be doing in a few weeks' time—the National Church Life Survey in 2019—they came to the conclusion that around one-third of Australians pray or meditate at least once a week. One-third! I've read this week in my research that more Americans pray in their cars than in a place of worship. Well, you think that makes sense because of the way they drive, right? That's actually very unfair, because some of the most courteous drivers I've ever met were in the US.

In fact, in parts of California, I'm told on good authority that if you step onto a pedestrian crossing and the person doesn't stop, they can be fined, and sometimes are quite high amounts. Whereas in Italy, I've discovered that pedestrian crossings are simply a guide. It is somewhat better to step out onto a pedestrian crossing, but it is by no means an assurance that the person will stop. Back to prayer. Young people—Gen Zed and Millennials—and people over 65 are more likely to pray than Gen X, apparently. Not quite sure why that is. And a high percentage, 85%, say they engage in a spiritual practice to connect with a higher power, whether prayer or meditation or mindfulness or reciting affirmations or spiritually based yoga. Prayer is the most common of the five practices, with 39% of US adults saying they practice meditation and 38% practicing mindfulness, which is all very interesting. But my question to you—the bigger question—is not so much whether you pray or how you pray, but who you pray to.

Now, if you read that passage, and it was read to us by Robin, have you ever found verse 15 troubling? Have a look at verse 15, or am I the only one? "And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise them up." Ever found that troubling? I found it deeply troubling, because it seems to say if you do it this way, then God will answer. If you do the prayer of faith properly, then God will answer. Have you ever wrestled with that verse? Because it is troubling. Because you read it and you say to yourself, "Who is God in this deal, anyway?" Seems like if you know the magic words to say to get what you ask for, then you'll get it. Is God then just like the genie in the bottle? You know, you give it a rub, out he comes, and whatever you ask, the genie must give you.

And then a little bit further on, there is the example of Elijah. Look at verse 17: "Elijah was a human being, even as we are. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years. Again he prayed, and the heavens gave rain, and the earth produced its crops." So it says here Elijah was a man of faith, no different to us, and he prayed and he prayed that it would not rain, and it did not rain, and then he prayed that it did rain, and it rained. By the end of October, the prediction is that 51% of New South Wales will be in drought. It seems like in the UK and in Europe, most of the UK and Europe is currently in drought. And people will pray, and sometimes the drought will break, or it might not break, or it might take a while to break, and it will break, and it will not break on farms where they pray and also farms where they don't pray. So does prayer really do anything?

My cause-and-effect mind says if I change the input and I don't get a commensurate output, well, maybe the input isn't doing anything. In addition, Christian people pray for healing from diseases and often there is no raising up. Sometimes there is and sometimes there isn't, and sometimes it happens through medical intervention, and so you say, "Is it the prayer, or is it the intervention?" I break a bone in my body—I go, I break my ankle or something like that, and you pray for me. Thank you for praying. I haven't done that, but if it happens and you pray for me, thank you for praying for me. But I don't just do that; I go to the doctor, I go to the hospital, and I have my fracture reduced, and I have a plaster put on. And the reality is most broken bones heal anyway, whether you intervene or you don't. They might not heal well, but they'll heal. So is it the prayer, or is it the intervention, or is it just getting better anyway?

And then there is the "name it and claim it" brigade, who say that you just name whatever you want, and if you believe it strongly enough, God will give it to you—who has to give it to you, because that seems to be what the verse says, doesn't it? "So, I'll go off my anti-depressants because to stay on them, well, if I'm staying on them, I'm not really believing, am I? I'm showing a lack of faith, so I've got to go off them to demonstrate I have the faith." But the reality of the results might be very, very different, you see. And so I'm left with the question of what is the prayer of faith and how do I access it?

And the worst thing in this situation is that if you have prayed to be healed and you haven't been healed, maybe it's because you don't believe enough. Didn't Jesus say, "Well, why—you only need the faith of a mustard seed"? So the implication is maybe I don't even have the faith of a mustard seed, maybe it's that small. Or there must be some problem in you—you're not the righteous person, or maybe you haven't followed the right patterns, or maybe it's the elders' problem who've been called to pray for you—maybe they're not righteous enough. Or maybe it's the oil—maybe we've used the wrong kind. What's the right kind of oil? See what sort of rabbit hole you can go down here. Well, let's spend a few moments just walking our way through this passage and trying to understand what it's saying, and hopefully we will have some light on this.

First thing I want to say is, I want to say: don't forget the God who was there. Some people have said to me last week the talk was the most memorable they've ever had. I don't think it was really anything to do with what I said; I think it was the way that Di schooled you on it beforehand and afterwards. But if you want to have one point to remember: don't forget the God who was there. Look at verse 13: "If anyone among you is in trouble, let them pray. If anyone happy, let them sing songs of praise."

Want a little rule for life? If anyone among you is in trouble, if you're in trouble, suffering in some kind of way, let them pray. If you're happy, sing songs of praise. How do you respond to the circumstances of life, in the ups and downs of life? Because at any given moment, we can be in trouble of some kind, or we can be happy for some reason.

Maybe you've woken up this morning and you're a bit down, maybe you're tired and can't work out why, a bit lonely, maybe a bit sad, a bit afraid. Or on the upswing: perhaps you're relieved because of some particular piece of news you've been given, or perhaps you're just delighted to be here and anticipating the delicious coffee and the view after church, and the conversations with your friends, and meeting new people. And if you are in trouble, the response is to worry, or to be irritable, or to blame someone else. But if anyone among you is suffering, James says: let them pray. That's the best thing you can do. Perhaps you're worried about a family member, perhaps you are concerned about geopolitics—you read the news and you just think the world is getting worse and worse and worse—perhaps you're anxious. So, if you're in trouble, focus on the problem? No, James says: just go to prayer, bring it before God.

And then: is anyone amongst you happy? Well, if you're happy, be pleased with yourself because you've got it all together? You should be proud of what you've achieved? No, no. He says, "Give praise to God, sing praise to God." If you're a believer, then thank God, show thankfulness to God. In the happy times, it's easy to forget God. So when you're happy, don't forget God, but give praise to God. In the ups and downs of life—in the downs of life, pray; in the ups of life, thank God.

Now, one of the downs of life is sickness. See, look what he says in verse 14: "Is anyone among you sick? Let them call the elders of the church to pray over them and anoint them with oil in the name of the Lord." If anyone's among you sick, let them call the elders of the church. It's not the rector, it's not the clergy who are part of the church, though they might be the elders; it is the senior, mature believers in the church family, and we have lots and lots of them, don't we? And I take it here it's a situation which is unusual—it's a situation where you are sometimes so unwell that you can't really pray yourself and you can't really praise yourself, so get the elders, that someone should come and pray for you. So in sickness, go to the doctor? Yes. In sickness, go to the hospital? Yes. But sometimes you also need focused support, and James is talking about call the elders, and they will pray for you. Seems to me they don't have to be present with you, though that can be helpful.

And then they will anoint—they can anoint with oil. Why oil? Again, I think this is just optional. Perhaps oil was thought to be medicinal, maybe it was symbolic. We know that in the Bible oil is often a symbol of blessing. Is it essential that it be oil or a special type of oil? No, it's not; it's symbolic. You might look at this and feel a little bit weirded out by it—it's just a little bit too close or a little bit too intimate, anointing with oil. I wonder whether there is something here about the healing therapies. You know, there's a lot of research around now that says that in our modern world, we have very little physical contact with each other—there's all sorts of reasons for that. But I wonder whether here the Bible is actually focusing on that physical contact. You remember Jesus could heal with a word—just a word—but often he would make contact with the person he was healing. I wonder whether there might be something in that. But the elders will call out to God, because we cast our cares on God. We don't pray generally or to anyone, but we pray in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's who we pray to—it's very personal.

And it says in verse 15: "The prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise them up. If they have sinned, they'll be forgiven." So we come to the prayer of faith. Is this a special kind of prayer? Well, no, prayer is just faith in God—it's trusting God. The prayer of faith is a prayer of trust in God. Trust in God who is sovereign over all things. James, I think, is being deliberately ambiguous here. See, is the sickness he's speaking about physical or spiritual? Yes. Yes, he's being deliberately ambiguous. See, it's clearly all about God's saving—one is saving on the physical level from sickness, and one is saving on the spiritual level from being lost. So, right to the very end of James's letter, he's balancing the physical and the spiritual, as he's been doing all the way through.

So remember Jesus in Mark Chapter 1—remember when we spent time in Mark's Gospel earlier in the year? He would be healing people, and then he would stop and he would say, "No, no, I've come to preach." And then he goes off to preach, and straight away he comes across a leper, and the leper says, "If you can make me well, would you do that?" And Jesus says, "Of course I will." And you might remember in Mark's Gospel, the woman and the girl who—they touch his cloak and he touches them, and they're healed. And he says these unusual words, "Your faith has saved you." So Jesus is mixing the two together as well. And you know, think about the feeding of the 5,000. He feeds them, he looks after their physical needs, and then he says, "You really need bread from heaven. You need someone to satisfy your spiritual needs, and I can do that as well." He's always mixing the physical and the spiritual, and James is doing the same thing here.

So it's totally legitimate to pray for a sick person, to ask for raising from the sick bed, but the prayer of faith says to God: "You know best. We would like this to happen, but you know best. We trust you." You can say, "Your will be done," because we can't see everything, we can't see the deeper issues. In trouble, we often think, "Get me out of this." When we are happy, we say, "Good for me." This prayer here is a prayer that the sick person will be well, and the word there for "well" is the same word for "saved", and that the person would be raised. They might be raised from their sick bed, but at least raised on the last day. In fact, I'm going to read to you verse 15 in an older translation, and it goes like this: "And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise them up; and if they have committed sins, they shall be forgiven." It's much more literal, and it's probably a better—a more correct—translation than we have here in the New International Version.

Pray that God would raise someone from their sick bed—that's a good prayer. Pray that God would raise someone from this world to the next—that is way more wonderful, that is eternally amazing. The righteous person—that is someone who's right with God because of Jesus—when they pray, their prayer is powerfully heard. That's what it means when he says, "The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective." The prayer of faith is saying to God, "We believe you, we trust you." And I don't want to get very, very morbid here, but the reality is we're all dying. Every single human being, the moment they're born, they're dying. And we sometimes think some are closer to the end than others, but we don't really know. We think we know, but we don't really. And every one of us needs to be saved and raised, because every one of us will meet God, every one of us will meet our Maker.

So you need the covering of sins. See what he's saying there, say, verse 20: "and save him from death and cover over a multitude of sins." We need that—every one of us needs that. That's our ultimate need. And the covering of sins that James speaks about here, the multitude, is done by Jesus in his death for us on the cross. That's the big issue. See, can you imagine fronting up to God in heaven unforgiven, and God saying to you perhaps, "Have you had your sins forgiven?" and you might say, "I didn't know I needed to do that," and he might say to you, "Why do you think I let my son die?" See, it's the big issue. You might say, "I thought there'd be another way." Why would God let his son die if there was another way? See, whether we face whatever sicknesses we face, whatever illnesses, whatever frailties we face, the ultimate issue is where we stand before God. That's the ultimate raising, is it not?

And now James—that's the way he finishes, that's the way he finishes his letter, with the desire that people be saved. He's urgent; it's a priority for him. And the question we should ask ourselves is: do we have the same urgency? Do we see it as the priority? And you know, it's appropriate, isn't it, that we think about this when we celebrate the Lord's Supper? Because if we do nothing else in the Lord's Supper, we walk through the realities of this forgiveness. And I'd invite you to consider that as you come to the Lord's Supper in a few more—a few minutes' time. It's a very appropriate way to, as it were, walk through this forgiveness.

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