PALM SUNDAY “Healing Revisited”

James 5:13-16

1. recently I picked up a book entitled Suffering and the Sovereignty of God. Edited by John Piper. Came from a conference by the same name.

2. Piper wrote this just after he discovered that he had prostrate cancer – I believe in God’s power to heal – by miracle and by medicine. I believe it is right and good to pray for both kinds of healing. God gets the glory. I believe in God’s power to heal by miracle and by medicine. I want to talk about the miracle part this morning.

3. I spoke on the miraculous last week. I shared 6 healing stories & Norm Beck shared his. 11 people asked for prayer following the service, seeking God for healing.

4. let us know, please let us know if God touched you.

5. healing is an appropriate topic for Palm Sunday. Palm Sunday foreshadows Jesus’ crucifixion on Friday. On that Friday Jesus died for our sins (Isaiah 53:5) – but he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him.

6. on that Friday Jesus also died for our healing (Isaiah 53:4-5) – surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows; and by his wounds we are healed.

7. James 5:13-16 addresses the healing part.

5:13 Is any one of you in trouble? He should pray. Is anyone happy? Let him sing songs of praise.
1. when trouble comes, pray. When good comes, sing songs of praise. In the 2 extremes of life – difficulty & happiness – God is our focus.

5:14 Is any one of you sick? He should call the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord
1. is any one of you sick? Look to God for your healing. Stay God-centered.

2. the sick person is to call for the elders. If you’re sick, if you have a need, if you’re depressed, call for the elders to come & pray for you. Any day. Any time.

3. they are to anoint you with oil. Oil was used for medicinal purposes in the ancient world. For example, those with fevers or aches were rubbed with oil.

4. Jesus taught his disciples to use oil – they (the disciples) went out and preached that people should repent. They drove out many demons and anointed many sick people with oil and healed them (Mark 6:13).

5. is healing found in the oil? No. Healing is found in the name of the Lord (5:14). Oil is a symbol of the healing power of God.

5:15 And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise him up. If he has sinned, he will be forgiven.
1. who offers the prayer? The elders. Who has faith that God can heal? The elders.

2. the elders are to pray with faith that God will bring healing. The faith of 1:6 – but when he asks he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind.
3. to the sick the elders bring oil, their faith & their prayers.

4. and who brings healing? The Lord…will make the sick person well. The Lord will raise him up.

5. make well translates the verb save, the Greek word for salvation. Salvation is a multi-colored thing. God intends to save us and make us whole – spiritually in salvation as well as physically, emotionally & mentally in healing. Isaiah 53.

5:16 Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.
1. James now brings sin into the picture – confess your sins to each other. This is a command in the present tense. James instructs us to confess our sins to each other AS A way of living the Christian life together. Admission to God & to each other.

2. is James teaching that sickness is a result of sin? I don’t think so. Outside of a couple of incidents, there is no one-to-one correspondence between sickness & sin in the New Testament. The primary cause of sickness is that we live in a sinful, fallen, fractured, evil, broken world.

3. To each another clearly urges open confession. Why are we so bad at this when we are so good at sinning? The answer is pride. We are full of pride.

4. Feb 6 Ash Wednesday & Feb 10 Sunday morning worship we publically confessed the sins we wrote down & left on the communion table on Feb 3. My response to this was a huge disconnect between what we portray ourselves to be & what we actually are.

5. some of you anonymously confessed your sin on the blog we set up for Lent: abortion; I can’t stop using porn; idolize and am obsessed with food, especially sweets; I resent someone in the church for a slight they gave my children a few years ago. I haven’t gotten he courage to make it right; critical, judging spirit; I drink alone, no one knows; adultery; battle with lust in my heart toward a married woman who I’m attracted to



6. when we bring our sin out into the light by confession we weaken its grip on us. We find out that we are not alone. We find soul mates who can pray for & with us in our battle against sin.

7. confession also has the potential to bring healing to the whole community. The more sin we bring out of the darkness into the light, the more holiness will mark our community life.

8. the prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective. Double confession to God & to each other builds righteous people. And holy, righteous people pray powerful prayers of healing.

9. what do I want you to hear this morning? The message of James (Bible) is that salvation covers both our bodies and our souls. The death of Jesus on the cross brings a salvation that is holistic. Jesus redeems all of us (body, soul, mind, spirit) not just part of us (souls). The message of James is that Jesus died for both our bodies and our souls.

Concluding comments
1. 1st we live in the tension between God heals some but not all. Paul left Trophimus sick in Miletus (2 Tim 4:20). Epaphrodiitus was ill and almost died (Phil 2:27). Paul told Timothy to drink a little wine for his stomach problems (1 Tim 5:23). Paul himself 1st preached to the Galatians because of being ill (Gal 4:13-14). Most likely some kind of eye aliment (4:15).

2. the fact that God heals some does not guarantee that he will heal all. And the fact that God doesn’t heal all does not mean he will not heal some.

3. we pray in faith for healing. We take our sin seriously. And we leave the results up to God’s sovereign will. When it comes to healing his perfect will includes both “yes” and “no.”

4. 2nd the Spirit gives to some the gift of healing, miracles, and faith (I Corinthians 12:9-10). The New Testament model of healing includes men & women who are Spirit-gifted for this ministry.

5. James points to the office of elders while Paul points to those gifted of the Spirit. Both are biblical & both are to be practiced.

6. 3rd in the near future we intend to launch CAC prayer teams of elders & people gifted by the Spirit. If you believe God is calling you to something like this contact me or mike higgs, one of our elders.

Music i listened to while sermonizing – chris tomlin; david crowder band; charlie hall; matt redman;

Books i read & studied while sermonizing – surprised by hope by n.t. wright; the shack by william p. young; galatians by scot mcknight; only one way: the message of galatians by john stott; galatians by leon morris; commentary on galatians by ff bruce; memoirs of an ordinary pastor by d.a. carson; letters and homilies for jewish Christians by ben witherington iii; for men only by shaunti & jeff feldhahn; james by r. kent hughes; finding spiritual direction by douglas webster;