Final Exhortations | Sermon 07/17/2022

James 5:12-20

James is concluding his letter with a variety of carefully thought-out exhortations to these scattered Christians. He begins by reminding them of the law and Jesus’s rebuke against the Jew for swearing falsely with something lesser than God’s name so as to remove themselves from the binding of oaths. As followers of Christ we are to have honesty and integrity in what we say every time.

Then we see that the appropriate response to all that we through in life is communication to God through prayer and praise. A physically sick person is to request the elders of the church to prayer for them. We see that sometimes sickness and unconfessed sin can go hand in hand. Sickness is sometimes used to give God glory (Job 1, John 9) and other times is a result of sin (1 Cor. 11:30). Nevertheless, we see confession and prayer amongst one another can lead to both spiritual and physical healing when God wills it. Prayer is powerful. The prophet Elijah was considered almost a superhero to the Jews but James reminds us he had a nature just like us; if we pray with faith it can accomplish great things too.

James ends on one of his prominent themes. Do the words written in this letter and see to it that other do them as well. Because a true brother or sister is a doer and not just a hearer only.