Hebrews 4:14-16; James 5:14-16. This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on January 01, 2017.
As we approach 2017, we have much to be thankful for, and yet we have much to be in prayer about. The people of America are more and more turning away from Jesus and towards the answers of the world. Some who say they are following Jesus are trying to walk the fence of following the world and Jesus at the same time. When we look to the global scene, we see that the nations of the world seem primed for a great delusion.
It is important for Christians not to let these things wear down our desire to live for Christ. In fact, it is for such a time as this that we are here. One aspect of our duty to God is to be a people of prayer. Now when I say this I do not mean that we should treat prayer like a cosmic, Amazon, wish list. Though we can ask God for things, prayer is not about me getting everything that I want. Another danger is to treat prayer as some kind of impersonal power or force that we can learn to wield. We need to pray, but we also need to do so with proper understanding.
Prayer at its most elemental level is a child conversing with its father. We must recognize who we are to God and who He is to us. Though the world may look at Christians as weak, it really is a result of the commands we have from our Lord. We are not to fight as the world fights and neither do we fight against the same things that the world fights against. When Christians understand prayer as an amazing aspect of putting on the Armor of God, learning to wield the Sword of the Spirit, and walking in the Spirit, then we will find it to be one of our most powerful weapons against the devil and his plans. Let’s choose to be a people of prayer today!
In the book of Hebrews the apostle is demonstrating the greatness of Jesus and what that means for us as His followers. In Hebrews 4:14-16 we are given instruction on how the greatness of Christ opens the door for us to approach God’s throne. It is interesting that he refers to God’s throne as a place of grace. Earlier rabbis had recognized that God sometimes dispenses punishing judgments against people and nations, and at other times dispenses gifts of grace. In their minds they theorized that there were two different thrones. Your outcome depended upon which throne God was sitting on. Early Christianity received revelation that made it clear this was not true. In Jesus the Justice and Grace of God are satisfied in one place, one throne. Ultimately it is a throne of grace because that is God’s intent; He wants to give grace to those who come before Him. However, one must not be worthy of judgment to approach. In Jesus, Christians have their judgment covered by the work of Jesus Christ. We can walk into the fearful place of Justice and it is a safe place for us. Christians must resist the temptation to split the justice and grace of God. In fact it is common to focus on one to the detriment of the other. Some highlight the grace of God to the effect that He would never judge anybody. Others highlight the justice and righteousness of God to the effect that grace becomes non-existent. Ours is an even more amazing message. We can walk into the place that no man can walk, and the fearful judge will lovingly embrace us as His children.
This is why the apostle says that we should come “boldly,” or “with confidence.” The Greek word that is translated here has the idea of “freedom of speech.” When we enter into God’s presence through prayer, we do not have to measure our words, so as to avoid incurring the wrath of the Sovereign. Instead, we are free to speak our hearts and minds before a loving Father. Of course kids sometimes say dumb and even wrong things. However, we are in a loving, safe relationship with a Father who is committed to helping us grow and mature spiritually. Over time our prayer life will go from an infantile wish list to a far deeper intimate communication. The devil does not want Christians praying. Think of it as a kind of spiritual, First Amendment (AKA freedom of speech). The devil cannot overturn this right that we have as followers of Christ. So, how does he combat this? He needs only to convince us to shut up, to self-censure ourselves. He uses doubts and fears about God’s intent towards us, or even His existence, to get us to quit praying. He sometimes uses brute force to intimidate people from believing God (I quit because it only gets me hurt). He sometimes uses a seductive attack to get us so hungry for the things of this world that we never come to know God at all, and perhaps could walk away from Him. Christians every day say things like this as they continue in prayerlessness: “It does no good,” “I don’t have time,” “Something bad might happen,” or “That stuff isn’t real.” Satan has a vested interest in discouraging prayer in your life. But, Jesus gives us the confidence to talk with God.
Jesus is our high priest who properly mediates between us and God. More than this, Jesus has been a man and was tempted in every way. He knows how we feel and the difficulties we face. The Father is not looking for ways to disqualify you and push you away. He has gone to the cross in order to qualify you. So, don’t let the enemy put the idea in your mind that God can’t understand how difficult it is to trust God in this world. It was not easier for Jesus because he was God, it was actually harder. Why would I say that? I say that because all the things that discourage us in this world against faith would be harder for a “perfect” person. When someone does me wrong, I get angry and may blame God. But I am not a perfect person. Perhaps God has allowed it because it is a discipline for me that I deserve. It would be even harder for a perfect person to accept. Jesus accepted the plan of the cross, and it was not easy for Him. He knows how you feel. For your own sake, go to Him in prayer. No one cares for you like the Father in Heaven.
The apostle mentions two reasons to come to the Throne of Grace: to obtain mercy and to find grace to help in time of need. Let’s look at mercy first. Mercy is the remission and removal of what we deserve. Some of the things that we suffer in life are at least partly our own fault. It could seem spiritual to simply accept it and honor God by suffering. However, this is not our instruction from God. We are told to ask for mercy. It doesn’t matter what you have done or how bad you have messed things up. You can ask God for mercy. In fact, salvation is a matter of asking God for mercy. I do not deserve heaven. My sins deserve separation from God and His goodness forever. Yet, the prayer of repentance says, “God, I am sorry for following my sins. I renounce them and ask for your mercy.” Notice that it would be mercy for God to simply let us be his slaves. But He goes above and beyond this and makes us His children. Thus we can ask for mercy in our lives. If God still asks us to suffer a situation, then we can yield to his decision and honor Him by what we suffer.
Grace on the other hand is the receiving of that which we don’t deserve. We don’t merit it in any way, but God gives it anyways. Yes, it may seem spiritual to be content with what you have and not ask for anything. But that is not our instructions from God. We can ask for those things that we think we need and would be beneficial. Of course that will be a very different list as we mature from an infant spiritually to a mature believer. If God tells me, “No,” regarding something I ask for then I can yield to His decision and trust that I don’t need it as badly as I think. God in His sovereignty gives us things for which we did not ask. However, He also leaves room for things that we must ask for if we are to have them. Why? He does so because He wants us to mature and become like our Lord, Jesus.
So now let’s go to James 5:14-16. The main point I want to draw out of this is that a righteous person prays. If I am lacking in prayer then I might look at this area of righteousness. Being “righteous” in this passage cannot be talking about having our sins covered by Jesus. All Christians, spiritually infants or mature, stand before God covered with the righteousness of Jesus Christ. We are all technically, absolutely righteous. However, in this passage is the hypothetical case of a Christian who is sick because of sin in their life and need the prayer of a righteous man to deliver them. It is my belief that the word “righteous” here refers to the fact that this believer has no issues of sin that are between them and God. The righteous believer is not perfect and without sin. However, they are properly dealing with any areas of sin by first resisting temptation, and second quickly confessing sin if they fail. 1 John 1:9 says that if we confess our sin, that the Lord is faithful and just to forgive us and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. This verse has been called the Christian’s bar of soap. Many believers who are living a life of prayerlessness do so because they have areas of sin in their life that they are trying to hide. God in His mercy is working to bring us to maturity. When we are like Adam and Eve, hiding in the Garden full of shame, He comes out after us. So all Christian communities need mature, righteous individuals who are in a position to pray for and help other believers. In fact, even they need other mature believers around them. None of us can stand on our own. We need others who will pray with us, and at times for us.
James brings up the issue of sickness. He actually starts with a person who is simply sick. Most likely they have prayed for healing and nothing has happened. At some point they should ask the elders to pray for them. Let me just say that one thing is clear in this passage. A righteous person prays for healing when people are sick. There are some who believe that God does not heal any more. There are various reasons for believing this. But all of them are woefully lacking in the face of Scripture. It is patently not true. In their minds it is a mark of spiritual maturity to not ask for healing and suffer for Jesus. I do not want to deride this idea because sometimes God does ask us to suffer something for His glory. Yet, their default position is that there is no healing. We are instructed in this passage that if we are sick, we should call for the elders (presumably righteous believers) to pray for us. Of course God is not required to heal anybody. But it is not our job to determine whether God will heal someone. It is our “job” to simply be a child and come before the Father with a request. Then we trust His answer. Take note that if there is no immediate healing, it may not be a, “No.” It could just be a, “Not yet.” Still we operate in faith. We ask because we believe He can heal, and may do so. We wait in faith because we know that, as Sovereign, He gets to pick the time and way it is done. We accept His final answer because we know that our reward and inheritance are far much more than this world.
James adds another dimension to the hypothetical situation. He says that it is possible the sick person has sin in their life that is the reason for their sickness. Sin is not just an issue for the lost. It continues to be a daily issue for the believer. Unconfessed sin will always be a barrier between us and God. I am not saying that a Christian can lose their salvation. What I am saying is that sin affects our communication and relationship with the Father. It can even affect how He responds to our prayers. In 1 Peter 3:7, husbands are told to dwell with their wives in understanding and honor them. Peter then adds, “so that your prayers will not be hindered.” So even the sins of how we treat one another can become barriers to our prayers. Yes, God hears our prayers, but in a sense He is saying, “I want you to deal with this sin first, before I consider these other requests.” The requests are unable to be dealt with. Now confession is ultimately between man and God. But when our sin is against other people then God tells us to make it right with them first (if that is still possible). Even then, there are times when private sins become such a stronghold in our life and such a barrier between us and God that we need to confess to spiritually mature people. Confession has a way of breaking those chains and giving us an accountability partner. Notice that confession is not to a particular office in the church. Confession can be to any Christian, but it is most effect when to a spiritually mature believer, regardless of whether they have an official title or not. Thus a righteous person prays for forgiveness when people have sinned. In fact, they are more able to do so because they have been praying for their own forgiveness and keeping short accounts with God.
We will close with the last part of verse 16. “The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.” This phrase is a bit tricky to translate. There is one word that often is translated as “effectual, fervent.” This one word has the sense of that which is working, thus the word “effectual.” When we think of prayer working, we typically think of getting what we ask. However, the meaning is not so simple here. The emphasis is on the fact that prayer is something that is real and is accomplishing a real work when a righteous person prays. This interaction with God has more to do with God accepting the prayer than it does with Him giving us exactly what we ask for. The prayer of a righteous person is not hindered, but is getting through to God. God is not refusing to hear the prayer, until they deal with sin. He is hearing the prayer and giving it consideration. Such prayer is powerful because the One receiving it is able to do above and beyond anything we ask. A righteous person sometimes gets an answer from God that is essentially, “Not yet.” They may even get the answer, “No. My grace is enough for you.” This verse is reminding us how powerful the prayer of a righteous person can be. It is as powerful as the God to whom we pray, which is omnipotent. Much of a righteous person’s spiritual walk is in this relationship of prayer, and discovery of the heart of God. An immature child stomps their feet demanding exactly what they ask for. A mature person draws closer to the Father to discover what it is He is concerned about. May we be a people of prayer. But even more, may we pray those prayers as a righteous person who is maturing in their relationship with the Lord.