James: A Letter from Jesus’ Brother
Suffering and Cheerfulness – James 5:13
Let’s turn to James 5. If you need a Bible, go ahead and raise your hand and we’ll bring one to you. James 5 is on page 1013 in the Bibles we are passing out.I’m glad to be back in the book of James this morning. Lord willing, we’ll take this week and the next two weeks to finish our series on the book of James.
And since it’s been a few weeks, let’s re-cap what’s going on in this book. The author of this book is James, Jesus’ brother. James scoffed at Jesus during Jesus’ earthly ministry. But in I Cor 15 we read that Jesus specially appeared to James after the resurrection – and James repented of his pride and unbelief and surrendered His life to Jesus as Lord, Savior, and Treasure.
And James ended up being one of the leaders of the church in Jerusalem. And just to give you a feel for his devotion, the 2nd century historian Hegesippus tells us that in 62 AD this James was brought before a court of scribes and Pharisees who demanded that he renounce Jesus or they would stone him to death. He refused to renounce his Lord, and right then and there, they killed him. That’s James.
So who did James write this letter to? He wrote it to a group of believers who fled persecution in Jerusalem at around the year 42 AD. They fled north, into Syria, and James got wind that they were struggling financially and spiritually. So he wrote this letter to encourage them
And now we are coming to the end of this letter. I was originally planning on covering vv.13-18 today – but the more I thought and prayed about it, I saw so much in v.13 that would benefit us, that I decided to devote a whole Sunday to this one verse.
Look at what James says in v.13 --
Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing praise.
James is talking to people who are suffering. So what kind of suffering does James have in mind? We know from the letter that his readers were suffering from poverty and persecution and temptation – so all those would be included in this word “suffering.”
But James is not just talking about outer struggles. He’s specially focusing on our inner struggles; on our heart-struggles. The reason I say that is because in v.13 he contrasts suffering with being cheerful. Read that verse again --
Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing praise.
So what James is targeting in this verse is those times when our hearts are the opposite of cheerful. When we’re feeling fearful, or hopeless, or discouraged. When we’re feeling out of sorts, or anxious, or insecure.
So – are any of you feeling discouraged? Maybe work is going poorly, or you’re not seeing fruit from your ministry, or you’re kids have regressed this past week. If you are feeling discouraged, then James would say you are suffering, and he’s talking to you in this verse.
Are any of you feeling anxious? Maybe there’s rumors of layoffs at work, or you’ve got a strange pain in your chest, or one of your children is doing something troubling. If you are feeling anxious, then James would say you are suffering, and he’s talking to you in this verse.
Are any of you feeling empty? Bored? Lifeless? Maybe nothing in your life is going well, maybe there’s nothing in your future that excites you, maybe you’ve been hoping for something that looks like it’s not going to happen. If you are feeling empty or bored or lifeless, then James would say you are suffering, and he’s talking to you in this verse.
So James is talking about what we should do at those times when we are feeling the opposite ofcheerful. But before we look at what James calls us to do to – let’s ask ourselves – what do we usually do when we are feeling the opposite of cheerful?
What do you usually do? Go shopping? See what’s on TV? Call a friend and complain? Go for a mountain bike ride? Move into self-pity? Rehearse all the people who’ve hurt you?
Think about this honestly. What do you usually do? Click on some porn? Head to Coldstone Creamery? Pick up a six-pack?
Or maybe you get mad at your kids? Throw yourself into your work? Head to the gym?
Have I left anything out? So are you in touch with what you usually do when you are feeling less than cheerful?
But now with that in mind, look again at what James tells us --
Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray.
James calls us to pray. But I would guess that most of us don’t pray. Most of us – when our hearts are the opposite of cheerful, don’t immediately turn to God and pray. But why not? Why don’t we pray? I thought of a couple of reasons.
Maybe you don’t believe there is a God. OK. I appreciate your honesty. And we are glad you are here. We do believe there is a God. And one of the reasons we believe there is a God is because 2,000 years ago Jesus Christ lived a life that can only be explained if He Himself was God. All the historical evidence points to the fact that Jesus said “be healed,” and a blind eye was restored. He said “come forth” and 3-days dead Lazarus rose from the dead and walked out of the tomb. He said “be still” and a howling Sea-of-Galilee storm stopped. And not only did Jesus live 2,000 years ago, but His followers know and experience Him today.
So let me encourage you to do some serious thinking about the life Jesus lived. His life demonstrates that there is a God – because He was God.
Another reason might that you believe there is a God, but you don’t believe God will do anything. Maybe you believe that God is just out there, maybe as some kind of force, or maybe as a personal God who doesn’t care, or who has chosen not to intervene in our affairs. Again, if that’s what you believe we’re glad you are here. And I would encourage you to look at Jesus. God came to earth in the person of Jesus – to show us what God is like -- and Jesus did amazing things for people when they asked him.
Or maybe you think you are too sinful to have God do anything for you. And you know what? You are. We are all so sinful that what we deserve is for God to punish us in Hell forever. But God loves you too much to let that stop Him. That’s why God sent Jesus.
But God sent Jesus who lived the perfectly good life we each should have lived, and on the Cross experienced the horrible punishment we each deserve. So, if we will bend our knee before Jesus, and receive Him into our lives as our Savior, as our Lord, as our heart-satisfying Treasure – Jesus’ perfectly good life will cover us, all our sins will be punished in Him, and we will be loved by God, embraced by God, cared for by God – and for the rest of our lives into eternity God will do wonderful things for us.
So – if you are trusting Jesus – you are not too sinful to have God do anything for you.
One other possibility. Maybe you think you are feeling too unspiritual to pray. But remember that we are supposed to pray “in Jesus’ name.” That’s not a cliché. That’s supposed to be a conscious reality. We come to God the Father not in our own name, not because of how spiritual we are feeling, not because of how good we’ve been. No, we come to God in Jesus’ name – because of His worth, His goodness, His death and resurrection.
So no matter how unspiritual you feel, if you will come to God the Father in Jesus’ name, asking God to change your heart, asking God to help you, He will embrace you, love you, and welcome your prayer.
So there is never any good reason not to pray.
So what will God do when we pray? James doesn’t say, because he knows that his readers are familiar with the Old Testament Scriptures – and the Old Testament Scriptures are full of verses which explain what God does when we pray. Let me show you one of them – Psalm 50:15, which is on page 473 in the Bibles we passed out.
Look at what God tells us –
And call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me.
This is a precious promise. I would encourage you to memorize this promise, and preach it to yourself every time you face trouble of any kind.
God promises that when we are in a day of trouble, if we will call upon Him – which means coming to Him in Jesus’ name, relying on Jesus, and asking God to help us – every time we do this God will deliver us. Every time. Every single time.
And when you read through the Bible, and read about men and women who are in days of trouble and who call upon God in Jesus’ name, you will see two main ways God delivers them – which are the two main ways God will deliver us.
Sometimes God will deliver us from our external troubles. Two weeks ago we read about Israel being attacked by enemy armies, and Jehoshaphat calling upon God, and God delivered them from these enemy armies. Last week we all prayed together for Paul Walton to get more painting jobs, and he told me that the next day, Monday, he got three calls about possible work.
I’ve had times when I’ve been completely stuck in sermon preparation, not knowing what a verse means or how to explain something, and I’ve stopped and prayed, and God has a brand new thought pop into my mind.
I remember time and time again when I was in real estate, facing impossible escrow or loan problems, and I’d pray and the escrow or loan problems would somehow get resolved.
So sometimes God delivers us from our external troubles. So why do I say “sometimes”? Because we also read in the Bible that sometimes God doesn’t. Paul didn’t get delivered from his thorn in the flesh. I had some escrow and loan problems that didn’t get resolved. So sometimes God delivers us from our external troubles.
But there’s something else that God does always. Always God will deliver us from our heart troubles. Always. This is promised throughout God’s Word, and I’ve listed some of these promises in your notes.
When we have heart-troubles, worry or fear or discouragement or boredom – if we will pray and seek God’s face – He will always deliver us. In Philippians 4:6-7 Paul promises that God will delivers us from worry and give us peace. In Philippians 4:13 Paul promises that when our hearts are quivering with weakness God will deliver us from that weakness and fill us with strength and assurance. In Psalm 34 David says that God will deliver us from every fear. In 2 Corinthians 1 Paul says that when we are broken-hearted and cry out to God He will always comfort us. And in Matthew 11 Jesus promises that when we are weary and come to Him, He will give us rest.
So God will always deliver us from our heart struggles.
But don’t misunderstand this. It’s not that all of a sudden for no reason you are feeling better. It’s that because you’ve prayed, God works in your heart to show you more of Himself. See, when we’ve got heart troubles – fear or insecurity or discouragement – the problem is that we’re not seeing God clearly. At that moment, we’re not trusting Jesus clearly.
But if we will pray and ask God to deliver us, He will work in our hearts so we see Him more clearly – we see His reality, His love, His mercy, His power, His wisdom – and as we see Him more clearly, our hearts will change and we will feel peace, and comfort, and strength. That’s why a crucial part of this prayer is opening our Bibles, or recalling memorized verses, so we can remind ourselves who God is. As we do that prayerfully, God will always deliver us from our heart troubles.
So that’s what God will do when we pray. He will sometimes deliver us from our external troubles. And He will always deliver us from our heart troubles.
But that’s not all James says in this verse. He also tells us what to do when we are cheerful. What should we do when we are cheerful? Say you just got the job. Or you just closed the sale. Or your little one just got potty trained. What should we do?
Or maybe your neighbor just prayed to trust Christ. Or the tests came back from the doctor and you are OK. Or you passed the class. What should we do?
Look again at v.13 --
Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing praise.
James calls us to sing praise to God.
Why? Because every time anything good happens to you – it’s a gift from God, purchased at the price of Jesus’ blood, and given freely to you even though you do not deserve it.
So every time something good happens and we are cheerful – it’s right for us to praise God. God ultimately gets the praise – because God is the one who ultimately did it. Did you get the job? It wasn’t ultimately you; it was God. God gave you the education and abilities and past successes and interview skills. So praise God.
Did you just close the sale? It wasn’t ultimately your personality or your product or negotiating skills; it was God. He gave you the personality and produce and negotiating skills, and He ultimately moved the heart of the person to close the sale.
Did your little one just graduate from diapers and pull-ups? It wasn’t ultimately your parenting or your genes or communication skills; it was God. He gave you the parenting and genes and communication skills; He worked in your little one. So praise God.
Whenever anything good happens to us – whenever we are cheerful – let’s praise God. Sing praise to Him. Sing thanks to Him. Put on a worship CD, sing one of the songs we do Sunday morning, or make up your own song of praise. But sing praises.
Now I would guess that every single one of us in this room is tending towards either heart-suffering or heart-cheer. So what I want to do now is lead us in a lab. You’ve heard the lecture; now it’s time for the lab.
What I want us to do is take some time right now to do this. If you are suffering in your heart with fear, or discouragement, or worry, or lifelessness – then pray. I put some Scriptures in your notes to help you. Pray in Jesus’ name. Pray and ask God to change your external troubles. And pray and ask God to change your heart troubles.
And if you are cheerful – then sing praises. Quietly, to yourself, sing thanks to God. See Him as the One who’s blessed you, in spite of who you are, because of Jesus. Praise Him. Thank Him. Honor Him. - - - - -
So -- how many felt some level of heart change? And how many had your joy increase as you praised.
So church, whenever we are suffering, let’s pray. And whenever we are cheerful, let’s sing praises.