Does God heal any Christian because they want to be healed in faith? What does it mean for Elders to pray in faith for the sick, anointing with oil?
Pray For One Another so that You May be Healed
James 5:13-18
Please turn to James 5:13. As you are turning there, I want to share with you that when I was a boy, I grew up in a military family. Consequently, my roots are spread out all over the world. As a blessing, my experiences have been varied. As a kind of curse, I seldom experienced consistency. When it came to my church experience, I was saved at around 10 years old in a mission church in Puerto Rico. For years, as my family moved around, we would be members of Southern Baptist churches. At one point, as a child, I experienced Pentecostalism in an Assemblies of God church. Later in my life, I attended what may typically be called Charismatic kinds of churches. If you are not aware, in Pentecostal and Charismatic circles, there is great emphasis placed on miracles. Things like speaking in unknown tongues are stressed. Something called having a word of knowledge, is promoted. It is the belief that God gives divine revelation in impressions, visions, and thoughts. There is also an emphasis placed upon miraculous healing. In my past, I read books on healing. I listened to teachings on healing. I even went to large meetings called, healing crusades. Once, I went through a class on divine healing. It was taught by a man by the name of John Wimber. Over twenty years ago I did a lot of that kind of thing. Today, I don't think that the Pentecostal and Charismatic doctrinal matrix is correct about gifts of healing, divine healers and all that kind of thing, but I do recognize (from God's word) that God heals, and God heals in various ways.
Over the years, I have prayed the prayer of faith for thousands of people to be healed. In my experience, I have seen people get healed instantly in amazingly miraculous demonstrations. I have also seen people not get healed after I prayed prayers of faith. And yes, I am familiar with the arguments that say that healing should always happen, like arguments based upon interpretations of Christ's specific commission to His 11 apostles. It is quoted as meaning that we, today, should be drinking poison, getting bit by snakes, should always be healed, and will do greater miracles than they did. I am familiar with the arguments that point out where Jesus sent out His 11 chosen apostles to preach Him to the lost sheep of the house of Israel in their generation, and how all those directives are supposed to be meant for us today in our generation. One teaching wrangled from that commission is that when we pray for people today, the people we pray for will always be healed when we have enough faith. Faith is said to be quantified as something that we generate by our own efforts. I also know that this belief about faith is wrong too. I have seen multitudes of people trying to claim, or pray, for healing based upon the false belief that it necessarily must happen. I have seen them do this with consistency, only to find that it doesn't work consistently, and often not at all. Instead of lack of faith, the reason the method does not work consistently is because it is a false doctrine that is based upon a faulty understanding of the commission to the primary apostles and secondary apostles, their ministry to their generation that ended in 70 AD, and God's will for the church throughout the ages. I'm not talking about dispensationalism. I'm talking about context, calling, ministry, and purpose, where even in that first generation we see Paul the apostle healing people in Acts 19:11-12 and then later on in his epistles we see faith filled Paul prescribing wine as medicine, and leaving people sick at other places without them being healed. The view that we must always be healed if we have enough faith is not Biblical. The view that we are modern apostles in the same calling and commission of the first generation apostles is not biblical. It is based upon a faulty hermeneutic, and, it does not recognize God's full revelation in Scripture--some of which we will look at this morning.
I have seen a lot of wrong doctrine being taught in this area, and I know that some of you have too. But I have also seen something else over the years that is just as extreme. It is just as wrong. I have seen Christians run to the other end of the spectrum and deny that God still heals. They deny whole portions of Scripture that should be recognized as applying to us because they do apply to us. Those who are obedient to the proper scriptures, see people healed and the healing is because God chose to do it according to His own sovereign will in connection with prayer. This is the basic substance of the passage we are learning from. Please read it with me now,
"13 Is anyone among you suffering? Then he must pray. Is anyone cheerful? He is to sing praises. 14 Is anyone among you sick? Then he must call for the elders of the church, and they are to pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord; 15 and the prayer offered in faith will restore [ESV--save] the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up, and if he has committed sins, they will be forgiven him. 16 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. 17 Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the earth for three years and six months. 18 Then he prayed again, and the sky poured rain and the earth produced its fruit." James 5
Prepare your hearts to learn from God's word this morning in this sermon that teaches us something of great importance. The title of the sermon is,
Pray For One Another so that You May be Healed
[prayer]
As we come into our passage, one of the first things we discover is that James asks if anyone is suffering. The Greek word here for suffering means to endure evils, hardship, troubles, and affliction. James mentions suffering a few verses earlier in verse 10. There, his reference is in respect to being persecuted for being a follower of God, and in respect to the Lord's dealings with us. James also does this in chapter one. There, James encourages the Christians to be patient. The principle is that when we go through the hard hits of life, we do so knowing that the testing of our faith produces endurance. James means the same thing in 5:10. We are encouraged to endure. We need to endure through suffering. It is important that we keep the language of 5:10 in mind as we look at what James says next,
"13 Is anyone among you suffering? Then he must pray." James 5:13
God wants us to endure suffering evils, hardships, troubles and afflictions. He wants us to do what we sometimes think we can not do. So, God tells us to endure through prayer. James says it is a must. God is telling you and me that we must pray to Him if we are suffering. Think about this because this is not merely an option. But, there are two specific times when the prayer lives of the saints begin to wane and we may act like it is just an option. One is when all is going well, like when we are not suffering. When all is going well, people don't pray as much. The other time is when all is going badly. When someone gets to the point of suffering where they give up, they sometimes give up on prayer. But, God wants us to give in to Him, and give our prayers up to Him when we suffer. But, there is actually a third thing that will keep Christians from prayer, and that third thing is acting like our prayers aren't really needed. The reasons for this are numerous. It might be because of something like the resolve of the be tough philosophy. It is where you are going to hold your chin up high, and your going to stand at the end of the day. If you are knocked down, you'll get back up. If it is going to be, then it is up to me. I'm the one who got where I am in my job. I'm the one who controls my marriage. I'm the one who wakes up each morning and decides to do what it takes to do what it takes, and so what happens is that, in a certain sense, God is temporarily put in a closet; prayer is not something that is relied upon. Why? Because it is faith in self reliance. The content of this kind of attitude amounts to a lack of faith in God, disobedience, and pride. It is a lack of faith in God accomplishing much (as James says) through our prayers. It is disobedience for us to ignore the plain teachings of scripture and decide not to pray when we are suffering. And, it really is pride. It is pride that is covered in a pretensive costume of fake humility when we think we can get through it on our own. Then there is where people think that their prayers aren't really needed because they don't think that God really cares much about their opinion. Again, this is lack of faith, disobedience, and pride. It is lack of faith to think that God does not care about the opinion of His children, but we are his children, and so He not only cares about us, but He says we must pray to Him. He is the one who placed us in Christ. He not only will listen to us, but He wants to listen to us because He dearly loves us. But it is not only lack of faith; it is also disobedience to the word. And finally again, it is pride. Someone might say,
How can it be pride? We are so unworthy. God is so smart. God is so in control, and so beyond us. Why should we think that we are important enough for Him to listen to us?
This is false humility. It slaps God in the face because it elevates us up to the point where we think we can question God's word. This is the problem of the one who acts like God doesn't want to listen to them. The fact is that our sinful flesh is full of pride. Our sinful flesh is not worthy of anything. So, in pride, we can be focused upon ourselves, when we should be focusing on the One who saved ourselves. We can fail to pray because we fail to truly believe that there is nothing in us that we can offer to God. We can fail to pray because we have not recognized the offering that makes us more than worthy to pray at all times in the Spirit. In the crucified and resurrected Christ, we can enter the throne room of God where we are seated at the right hand of the Father in Christ,
"5 even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ by grace you have been saved), 6 and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus," Ephesians 2:5-6
It is where Christ who is our perfection gets all the glory as our all in all. Christ is the one who is perpetually making intercession for us before the Father. Because of Christ alone, where He gets all the glory, pride, and exaltation, we can pray, and we must pray, interceding, petitioning, and beseeching God in real humbleness that accepts our privilege. Is anyone among us suffering at work, at home, at school, in the hospital--anywhere and in any way, then we must pray. Really folks, it is a huge privilege. The main thing is to just do it--pray. But by the same token, James says,
"Is anyone cheerful? He is to sing praises."
Praise songs should come from us, but James is focusing on the fact that singing praises should come from a cheerful heart. We praise God typically when we are cheerful about all that God is doing, and we recognize that it is good. But, just like prayer, this does not mean that praises should not to be sung when we are suffering. James says in chapter 1, to count it all joy when you encounter various trials knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. I know it is hard, but this kind of joy is based upon knowledge. It is cheerfulness knowing that whatever circumstance we are in, God is producing something good out of it. This kind of cheerfulness is what releases the singing of praises. So, we need to think about this in much the same way we think about the necessity of prayer. What I mean is that we may not like to sing praises to God. Years ago, I knew someone like this. They liked to show up to church after all the worship songs were done, because they didn't see a need for the praise time. They told me that they didn't get much out of it. But praise isn't for us to get. Our praise is given to God, for Him, out of our hearts to Him. We must be careful not to quit praising the Lord simply because we don't think we need to. James clearly says, if you are cheerful, then sing praises. He is not arguing. He is telling us to do what is expected of us, whether we like it or not. We find the same command in Ephesians, where Paul says to be being
"... filled with the Spirit, 19 speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord; 20 always giving thanks for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God, even the Father;" Ephesians 5:18-20
Being cheerful by counting it all joy when we encounter various trials, and being filled with the Spirit, go hand in hand biblically. The point is that according to God's revelation, we should be singing songs of praise to Him. It should be a pouring forth out of our joy in the Lord. Even if we can't sing, we can at least make melody with our hearts to the Lord. Then James says,
"14 Is anyone among you sick? Then he must call for the elders of the church, and they are to pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord; 15 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." James 5:14-15
At this point, I think about the words of one of the commentaries I have. It starts out,
"This is one of the most disputed portions of the Epistle, and perhaps of the entire New Testament. It brings us face to face with the place of healing in the life of the believer today."
I agree with this statement, but I do think it is interesting that so many commentaries will start out commenting on just about any passage out of James as, "one of the most disputed portions of the Epistle." Nevertheless, the way I am going to approach this is the way I usually approach these kinds of passages. I will present a series of considerations for all of us to ponder. Along with the considerations, I will present my view along with an overarching principle that I think is consistent and practical for us to glean.
A first consideration that I want us to think about as we look at this passage, is that because of the curse on this world through the sin of Adam and Eve, sickness exists. So, sickness is part of this cursed world. We get sick, and then we die. The fact that we die, is proof of the biggest sickness that we are all afflicted with. It is mortality. One comic has said,
I'm optimistic about death. The mortality rate of everyone in the last generation is 100 percent!
The only thing that can even remotely be considered a cure for mortality, is the resurrection to eternal life for Christians which is also 100%.
With that in mind, a second consideration is that there is both sickness, and affliction recorded in the Bible that is given by God as a matter of sin being in someone's life. It is also given by God as part of God's general dealings with us. We find sickness because of sin in 1 Corinthians 11. Many were weak and sick because they ate and drank judgment to themselves, not discerning the Lord's body in respect to the communion. There was also Saul of Tarsus. He was blinded by God while on the road to Damascus. God is the one who afflicted Saul. Later, Ananias laid hands on Saul and Saul's vision was restored. Not only did God demonstrate that he purposely afflicted Saul with the disease of blindness, but God also decided to give Saul his sight back. Then later on after Saul was operating deep into his ministry as Paul, God gave him a thorn in his flesh as an affliction, of which faith filled Paul prayed and prayed to be removed from him, but God just said, my grace is sufficient for you because my power is perfected in your weakness--weakness which came from God in afflicting Paul.
A third consideration we must recognize is that sickness came to people that the faith filled apostles knew, and yet those same people were not healed through prayer, or prescription of prayer. I want us all to notice the advice that faithful Paul gives to faithful Timothy. Paul says,
"No longer drink water exclusively, but use a little wine for the sake of your stomach and your frequent ailments." 1 Timothy 5:23
We notice that Timothy was instructed, but there is no mention of prayer (which was something the young overseer was probably already doing). Instead of prayer, we notice that Timothy was instructed to drink wine. Of course Timothy should pray, but Paul would already expect prayer from Timothy. So faith filled Paul, recognizing that God has decided not to heal Timothy, instructs Timothy to use a little wine. Pointing this fact out throws a wrench in the doctrinal machinery that wrongly asserts that healing is something that must necessarily happen for Christians just because we want it to, expect it to, pray for it to, or believe it is supposed to happen. But we notice that there is more in Paul's instruction, don't we? Paul tells Timothy to use wine as medicine for his stomach, and also for his frequent, ongoing, repeated, ailments. In other words, this is Paul's advice to Timothy to take medicine repeatedly, on a continuous basis, and for many maladies. We would be fools to say that Paul or Timothy didn't have enough faith to believe God for healing through prayer, especially in light of such passages as Acts 19, where,
"11 God was performing extraordinary miracles by the hands of Paul, 12 so that handkerchiefs or aprons were even carried from his body to the sick, and the diseases left them ..." Acts 19:11-12
But there is more to this consideration. There is 2 Timothy 4:20, where faith filled Paul proclaims without apology,
"I left Trophimus sick at Miletus." 2 Timothy 4:20
If we have a wrong view of healing, and we have a wrong view of our James 5 passage, then we might wrongly wonder why Paul did not pray the prayer of faith that must necessarily heal Trophimus. We would wonder why Paul did not simply send a handkerchief or an apron to Trophimus for his healing, or to Timothy for that matter. Further, concerning this consideration, we must also recognize that healing was a matter of more than just faith, prayer, and something to be expected. It was, and still is, a matter of God's special mercy. This is seen in the details of when Epaphroditus was healed. We read,
"26 because he [Epaphroditus] was longing for you all and was distressed because you had heard that he was sick. 27 For indeed he was sick to the point of death, but God had mercy on him, and not on him only but also on me, so that I would not have sorrow upon sorrow." Philippians 2:26-27
There are two reasons that Paul assures us are why God healed Epaphroditus. Clearly they are not because Paul thought that Christians are supposed to be healed as a matter of a doctrinal guarantee. Paul says that the two reasons are:
1) Because God had mercy on Epaphroditus,
and
2) because God had mercy on Paul so that Paul would not have sorrow upon sorrow.
If Epaphroditus was healed as a matter of claiming what is already His blessing, his right, and what was already his possession in Christ, then this healing was not a matter of mercy, but rather, a matter of covenant right and his faith in miracles. But, such is not the case, because such doctrines of covenant rights to be healed all the time just because we claim it, pray it, or believe it is going to happen, are false doctrines. And yet think about Epaphroditus' horrible condition. He was sick to the point of death. Who else do we know of in the Bible who was sick to the point of death? Jesus. When Jesus was in the garden of Gethsemane, He said,
"My soul is deeply grieved to the point of death; remain here and keep watch." Mark 14:34
Jesus prayed that the cup of His point of death grief experience would pass from Him. He paced back and forth at the edge of physical death. He prayed, and he prayed. At one point the affliction was so bad that He began to sweat blood. Finally, an angel came and strengthened Him. It was after Jesus prayed,
"42 saying, 'Father, if You are willing, remove this cup from Me; yet not My will, but Yours be done.' 43 Now an angel from heaven appeared to Him, strengthening Him." Luke 22:42-43
God had mercy on His Son in a special way, where God's will was done, and yet immediately afterward, God also willed that Christ must go on to experience some of the most horrible violence and pain that one can imagine. Nevertheless, God is always the one Who should get all the glory for healing, no matter how it comes about. In other words, if healing comes about because of the aid of angels, or the care of physicians, or medicine, then God is still the one who enables the healing process. In the Old Testament, one of the names for God was Yahweh-Ropheka. It means "Yahweh Who heals you." No healing occurs aside from the sovereign God of the universe. Jesus knows this, but Jesus even said that the sick need a physician in Matthew 19:12. Luke, who wrote the gospel of Luke, and Acts, was called the beloved physician by Paul in Colossians 4:14. The point is that physicians, food, drugs, wine, exercise, surgery, angels, and all these kinds of things are all instruments that God uses to heal.
Okay, going through all of these considerations leads us to recognize that James must not be saying that all people always get healed all the time just because they pray in faith, or just because they claim it. That is what we have just seen from God's word, isn't it? We are using the principle of Scripture interpreting Scripture, where we see that God heals some people, but we do not see that God heals all people. So with this principle in mind, let's look at various views of this passage:
/1/
One view is that James is only talking about healing in respect to sin. What is typically said is that James is speaking of a particular man who has committed some sort of sin, and then shortly afterward, he is stricken with illness. The man repents of his sin and confesses his sin to God, but since the sin has, in some way, involved the public testimony of the assembly, the man calls the elders and makes a full confession to them to bring forgiveness, unity, and restitution. They pray over the man, anointing the man with oil in the name of the Lord. This prayer of faith heals the sick man and the Lord raises the man up. This view states that this is a definite promise where
a) sickness is a direct result of sin,
and
b) where the sin is confessed and forsaken in the manner described,
then
c) the Lord will always heal.
It is said that the reference in verse 18 to the drought that Elijah prayed to occur, (verse 17) occurred because of Israel's sin, and the rain returning that Elijah prayed for (verse 18) came because Israel had repented of their sin by returning to the Lord. The prayer of faith is said to be a prayer that is according to God's word. The healing is a result of repentance in conjunction with the prayer. Since God promises to heal the man, the elders can pray for his recovery, fully expecting restoration. Okay, that is the sin and repentance view.
/2/
There is a another view. It is that someone who is sick calls the elders to pray over him and anoint him with oil. But, the oil is medicinal, rather than symbolic anointing oil. It is pointed out that oil was one of the most common medicines of biblical times as is seen in Isaiah 1:6, Luke 10:34 and so forth. It is claimed that the Greek word for anoint here is not a common one used for ceremonial anointing, (which is wrong, because it is commonly used as is seen in Matthew 6:17, and Mark 6:13 for anointing for healing; also 16:1, Luke 7:38, John 11:2, and 12:3) Nevertheless, with this in mind, it is said that it is evident that James prescribes prayer in belief that God really hears, answers, and heals, plus the application of medicinal oil by church elders. Along with the prayer offered in faith, it is said that God also uses the medicine to cure the malady. The statement that the Lord will raise the man up suggests that the man is in a sick bed, and so that is why he will be raised up. If there was any sin that he had along with his sickness, the man will be forgiven of that sin. It is pointed out that the conditional clausal statement, "and if" signifies that sin is not necessarily always the case with the sick individual;
"... and if he has committed sins, they will be forgiven him."
Of course, I must add that the fact that "and if" is there means that sin is not necessarily involved in each case. Further, we all commit sins, and we are forgiven in Christ, so this must mean sins in connection with the sickness, (though not all sickness).
/3/
Then there is a third view, which is John Piper's view. Piper sees this as reflective of gifts of healing. He does not think there is a gift of healing that certain people called faith healers have, but rather gifts of healing as is suggested in 1 Corinthians 12:9 and 28; and Galatians 3:5. God gifts certain people with healing according to His sovereign determination. This means that you may pray for one person with remarkable faith and see that person healed, but then pray for others with normal faith and not experience that same gift. What is in view is a kind of supernatural faith that is given as a gift to the one praying, and then because of this gift of this kind of faith, Piper says, there results the gift of healing. Piper also sees the particular people as bed ridden. This necessitates that the elders must be called to the scene of the sickness. The foundational pillar of Piper's view is that the prayer of faith is unique. John Piper says,
"(The Gift of Faith Is in View—the Sphere of Spiritual Gifts) The text does not teach that everyone the elders pray for will be healed. It teaches that if the elders pray 'the prayer of faith,' the sick person will be healed. This is stated so absolutely that it seems to me that a gift of faith is meant here which assures the elders the healing will be done. In other words, I think this phrase ('prayer of faith') puts us right back into the sphere of spiritual gifts rather than taking us out of that sphere. The elders seek God's gifting for faith so that they might pray 'the prayer of faith.' That gift is referred to in 1 Corinthians 12:9, 'To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. To one [this] ... to another faith by the same Spirit.' There is a faith that comes as a special gift to pray for something extraordinary."--Piper
Piper points out that 1 Corinthians 13:2 has Paul talking about,
"though I have all faith, so as to remove mountains ..."
Piper also points out that Jesus says in Mark 11:23-24, that,
"... whoever says to this mountain, 'Be taken up and cast into the sea,' and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says will come to pass, it will be done for him, Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received, and it will be yours."
With these teachings in mind Piper says that there is an unbroken line of Biblical teaching about a gift of faith, which is different than simply having a kind of basic faith. That gift of faith, and I quote Piper once again,
"... enables a person to pray a completely assured prayer because God has given extraordinary assurance. This is why the 'prayer of faith' in James 5:15 WILL heal the sick person. It is certain because this faith is God's special gift of assurance about what he intends to do."--Piper
Further, the person calls for the elders because they are the Shepherds ordained by God to care for the flock.
Okay, those are some the most popular views of what James means that are worthy of note. I actually like certain elements of each view, and I especially like the bulk of John Piper's view the most. Nevertheless, though I see a lot of merit in Piper's view, I do not think that the James text dictates the route that Piper takes. Now I'll tell you my view, and also what I think is consistent and practical for us to glean from the text. When James says,
"14 Is anyone among you sick? Then he must call for the elders of the church, and they are to pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord; 15 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." James 5:14-15
I believe that James is saying: Is anyone among you Israelite Christians, (James 1:1) of the synagogues, (James 2:2) sick? (and in a strong allusion, is typically sickness to a high degree that it seems, at least, as if the person could die in a bed ridden kind of condition). I think that is the essence of his question in his flow of thought. I think this by also adding the consideration of James' usage of the word for save that is used here in the Greek, which strongly suggests that the life of the person is saved, or restored. I will continue breaking down the passage, but there is another way I look at this that I am preaching. I look at this with an overarching principle in mind. As an overarching principle, I think that elders can be called by any Christian who is sick, and the sick Christian should be anointed with oil, as a kind of a ceremony, and not medicinally, (which is much the same manner the disciples did in their ministry work in Mark 6:13 with the same Greek word for anoint being used to describe their actions). This makes more sense to me than saying that the elders of the churches are to go around acting like physicians applying first aid, or continuous care medicine. If that theory is the case, then this is another one of my jobs as a pastor, which is an interpretation that the text does not necessitate, and more, is something that we have no indication of being the normative practice of elders throughout church history.
Further, since we have seen that biblically, the prayer offered in faith does not necessarily heal people (a fact that is unarguably demonstrated by the Scriptures I have already pointed out as a foundation), then James seems to me like he must be referring to the prayer offered in faith as the only kind of prayer that really means anything, in contrast to a prayer that is given that is not really believed, (not offered in faith, but merely superficially by someone who doubts God heals) which is a meaningless prayer. In other words, James point is the kind of prayer offered in real faith is what will (future tense, active voice, indicative mood) heal, because that kind of prayer is the only kind of prayer that will do anything, but yet only bring healing if it is God's ultimate will, which means that this does not mean that everyone prayed for with the prayer of faith must necessarily be healed. James does not say that all sick people must necessarily be healed who have a prayer of faith prayed for them. James says, that the prayer of faith is what will restore the one who is sick. Again, James is describing what will heal in contrast to what will not. At this point, I agree with Piper when he says,
"The text does not teach that everyone the elders pray for will be healed."--Piper
But I am narrowing my agreement with Piper to this one important point at this time because James is not describing an action of prayer that will heal everyone everywhere any time it is prayed. The same principle is found in such passages as John 16:23, where Jesus told His students,
"Truly, truly, I say to you, if you ask the Father for anything in My name, He will give it to you." John 16:23
Jesus is not telling the students that God will grant them their every single carnal desire like God is some sort of genie. It is as AW Pink states in commenting on this verse,
"The [anything] must be qualified ..."--AW pink
Later on, when the same John who recorded Christ's words in John 16:23, wrote 1 John, he explains what qualifies by saying,
"... if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. ..."
Back in John 16:23, Jesus is focusing upon the authority aspect of asking in His name. Such requests are the kind of requests, offered in faith, that insure that the students receive anything in contrast to asking in the name of another, which receives nothing. If it is anything according to God's will, then, and only then will He "give it to you."
Further, what James also means is that the prayer offered in lack of faith is meaningless to get healing from God. It will not heal. It can not heal. It does not heal. The prayer offered in normal faith that God chooses to answer with healing, in accordance with the rest of Scripture, is the kind of prayer that will restore, will raise up, and will bring forgiveness of any sins that may have contributed to the sickness, if such sins are what caused the sickness; unless it is a sin that must necessarily lead to death. If it is a sin that necessarily must lead to death, then no prayer of faith is going to do anything.
Further, if the prayer is against God's will that the person's time has come to die, then it will not do anything either, as is demonstrated in the rest of the Bible. To further understand this, let us look at the passage in this way,
Is anyone among you sick? Then he must call for the elders of the church, and they are to pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord; and the prayer offered in faith is the kind of prayer that will restore the one who is sick and the Lord will raise him up (because the Lord is the One who heals and not the prayer itself), and if the man has committed sins in respect to the affliction, they will be forgiven him, demonstrated in the fact that the Lord heals the man in spite of those sins.
Further, the passage is not saying this,
Is anyone among you sick? Then he must call for the elders of the church, and they are to pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord; and all prayers offered in faith must necessarily restore every single person who is prayed for who is sick, and the Lord must necessarily raise up all who are prayed for with the prayer of faith, and if they has committed sins, they will be forgiven.
The passage is not talking about everyone necessarily getting healed through prayers offered in faith. It is talking about certain kinds of prayers that will bring healing from the Lord, which is the prayer offered in faith kind. So, when I point to an overarching principle here, I am saying that we need to trust God completely when we pray to Him. Only prayers of faith will heal and lift up.
Now, let us consider the principle further; James uses the principle earlier in respect to whether we "will receive anything from the Lord." Let's call it the
Receive Anything from the Lord Principle.
Here is is how James stated the principle,
"6 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. 7 For that man ought not to expect that he will receive anything from the Lord, 8 being a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways." James 1:6-8
This principle is why those who do not believe God still heals, can not pray a prayer of faith that God does heal. To truly ask in real faith is to ask without doubting God in single-mindedness and stability. If elders, (or anyone else) superficially give lip service to a healing prayer request, then they are being hypocrites who do not believe God still heals, though they offered a prayer to Him. Keeping this in mind, we know that belief in God is not the issue. Their problem is that there is no reason for them to expect that the man will receive healing from the Lord, because, frankly, they don't believe it to begin with. I am also saying that this is an obvious ceremonial method that is taught by James. James clearly says to use this ceremony for prayer in respect to sickness. He says to call upon the elders, which are pastors, which are shepherds, which are overseers of the church. These men are expected to be single-minded men, who are stable in their ways, who believe God answers prayers, and that God heals. Next, they are to anoint the person with oil as they pray in faith, believing that God hears the prayer, believing that God still heals people miraculously, and believing that God will do it in accordance with our prayers--but only if He so desires to heal, and in respect to all of this, if there are any sins the sick person has committed in conjunction with why the malady exists, those particular sins will be forgiven in a certain way, which is in respect to the healing. I not only think the context demonstrates this when read from 13 through 18, but, everything I am preaching on this is the same kind of thing that John taught in 1 John 5:14-17, which I quoted from earlier. John says,
"14 This is the confidence which we have before Him, ...
[John is talking about the prayer offered in real normal faith, which is faith based on truth. John's language is, this is the confidence,]
that, if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us.
[No super-faith gift is needed like what Piper is talking about. This confidence is available to all Christians. We have the confidence, but the prayer has to be (a) Biblical, and (b) according to God's determination, which is referred to as God hearing us. Verse 14 here defines John's own idiomatic meaning of what he means when he says, God hears,]
15 And if we know that He hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests which we have asked from Him.
[John means that God hears us in a certain way. It is the way where we have those request if they are according to God's will. In other words, it is a "yes" answer. To know this is to know according to the common gift of faith that God gives all believers in respect to the truth, which is what John is teaching (the truth). John goes on,]
16 If anyone sees his brother committing sin not leading to death, he shall ask and God will for him give life to those who commit sin not leading to death.
[In other words, God hears this particular prayer, meaning He grants the request for it according to confidence and knowing (faith) that is according to the fullness of God's revelation. John goes on,]
There is a sin leading to death; I do not say that he should make request for this. All unrighteousness is sin, and there is sin not leading to death." 1 John 5:14-17
First:
God is not deaf. He hears all of our prayers, so what John means is that the prayer of faith that is heard has to be according to God's will to do what we request. That is the key. The prayer according to God's will is the one God idiomatically hears. Now, in respect to James, we can see a kind of parallel with 1 John 5:14; if God wants the person to be healed after being prayed for with the prayer of faith along with anointing with oil, then the person will be healed.
Second:
We know, as in, are assured that we have such requests granted when we ask God when it is truly according to His will, which coincides with 1 John 5:15. This is the prayer of common Bible based faith, plus it is prayer that lines up with what God wants as the outcome. It is asking in confidence according to God's will.
Third:
If we pray for someone who is sick and it seems that they may die, then they will be saved if it is according to God's will and if the sin must not necessarily lead to death. Otherwise, kaputt, which is a German theological term that means:
The prayer ain't gonna work!
So, what we take home with us on this is that we must have confidence in God. This is the theme of James--belief backed by believers behavior. Faith without works is dead faith. In a similar manner, a prayer without faith behind it is a dead prayer, even though we may call it a prayer, and act like it is a living prayer.
And so, saints, we must have confidence in God, and we must have confidence in prayer. This is just plain old common faith. Further, we must not look at this and think that God wasted His time explaining that we should call upon the elders to pray for us while anointing us with oil. It is a clear instruction of an action backed by faith, so we should put it into practice. In all ways, God gets all the glory, and that is the main consideration. James continues and says,
"16 Therefore, confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another so that you may be healed."
James takes it down to the doing side of things for all Christians. It is where all Christians everywhere should pray for each other to be healed. Because the illness may be because of a sin issue, we should confess our sins to one another. This does not mean that all sickness, infirmity, disease, and lack of healing is because of some sin we have done, or we have not confessed. This means that some sickness is a result of sin, and so we should confess whatever it is that has led to the sickness. Finally James bolsters the point with something that we all need to know along all these lines,
"The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much. 17 Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the earth for three years and six months. 18 Then he prayed again, and the sky poured rain and the earth produced its fruit." James 5:16-18
Essentially what James is doing, is pointing out how privileged you are to be someone who can see miraculous things occur because of God answering your prayers. God says our prayers can accomplish much. It does not say that our prayers will accomplish everything, and anything we want them to just because we want them to. God is not a genie serving us by granting us three wishes and more, just because we have faith. He is the Almighty God, and in faith, we are serving Him. But, the point is that you don't have to be a special person to see what can be accomplished through prayer. All Christians are of the legacy of Elijah, who was a man of God. As mere men, women, boys and girls, we have a nature that is not much of a big deal. Actually, Elijah was just a man too, but Elijah was a man of God. We need to see this. But, we are more than mere men and women. We are men and women of God in Christ the New Covenant. We have God's Holy Spirit as a seal. This is the reason why God hears us, and cares about what we say, and pray. So we pray as God's children going to our heavenly Father with our requests. The big point is that huge answers to prayers are in the reach of every Christian. Healing really does happen in connection to prayer. Forgiveness, and reconciliation really does happen in connection to prayer. So I urge you to pray. Pray for the healing of others. Pray for healing for yourself. Sing praises to God. Confess your sins to one another. This requires that we look at the people around us this morning as being better than we are as God tells us to do in Philippians. Let's humble ourselves. Pray if you are sick. Pray for others who are sick. If you are sick, send for the elders and ask them to pray the prayer of faith over you and anoint you with oil in confidence.
