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Okay so we left off in James 5 at verse 14. The context is James has been railing on the rich, has now turned to the believers and counseled them to patience.
He goes on at verse 10 and continuing on this line of thought, says:
James 5.15
Meat
May 31st 2015
10 Take, my brethren, the prophets, who have spoken in the name of the Lord, for an example of suffering affliction, and of patience.
11 Behold, we count them happy which endure. Ye have heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord; that the Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy.
12 But above all things, my brethren, swear not, neither by heaven, neither by the earth, neither by any other oath: but let your yea be yea; and your nay, nay; lest ye fall into condemnation.
13 Is any among you afflicted? let him pray. Is any merry? let him sing psalms.
14 Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord:
15 And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him.
Okay back to verse 10. In the face of their trials and persecutions (which apparently was coming from whom James calls the rich) he says:
10 Take, my brethren, the prophets, who have spoken in the name of the Lord, for an example of suffering affliction, and of patience.
James is borrowing from an oft-repeated claim in the New Testament:
In Matthew 5:12 Jesus said:
Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so men persecuted the prophets who were before you.
Matthew 23:29-31, 37
“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for you build the tombs of the prophets and adorn the monuments of the righteous, saying, `If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we would not have taken part with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.’ Thus you witness against yourselves, that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets”…”O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, killing the prophets and stoning those who are sent to you! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you would not!”
Luke 11:47-48
Woe to you! for you build the tombs of the prophets whom your fathers killed. So you are witnesses and consent to the deeds of your fathers; for they killed them, and you build their tombs.
Acts 7:52
Which of the prophets did not your fathers persecute? And they killed those who announced beforehand the coming of the Righteous One, whom you have now betrayed and murdered,
We could take the time and go back and articulate (and sometimes hypothecate) the specific manner in which all the prophets suffered.
Because the New Testament says ALL the prophets suffered we can believe it but there are specific circumstances where their suffering is inferred.
For example, we have often heard that Noah was mocked for building the ark but this is determined by supposition rather than an outright statement to the fact – contrary to popular belief.
That being said a man who takes 120 years to build an ark and preaches the whole time to those around him must have been on the receiving end of mockery.
But then, we have a lot of examples of Old Testament prophets who certainly were persecuted and suffered for their stance for God in one way or another –
Abel
Job
Moses
Isaiah
And of course Isaiah, Jeremiah and Ezekiel
The point James is making is if you are going to be a representative of God on this fallen ground you will experience suffering.
A secondary point he is making here is that while suffering is expected for all who are His, patience and holding the tongue is also expected.
(verse 11 he gets a little deeper, saying)
11 Behold, we count them happy which endure. Ye have heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord; that the Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy.
The word that makes translators write:
“we count them happy,” only occurs one other time in the whole NT (Luke 1:48)
and in other words it means we “shall call them blessed.”
The sense seems to be that in the face of the way they endured suffering and persecution we speak of them – their patience – with commendation.
They have done what they ought to do, and their name is honored and blessed – which is why James is referring to them here in scripture.
And then he pulls out one of the greatest examples in scripture of human patience – Mr. Job.
James puts it this way:
“Ye have heard of the patience of Job.”
After Satan essentially wiped Job out – killing all his family (except his wife – tricky Satan) we read
Job 1:20 Then Job arose, and rent his mantle, and shaved his head, and fell down upon the ground, and worshipped,
21 And said, Naked came I out of my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return thither: the LORD gave, and the LORD hath taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD.
It’s really quite amazing this faith and trust and patience Job illustrated.
The book of Job was written, it seems, among other reasons, to show that true followers of God would bear any form of trial to which they could be subjected.
It’s also amazing the vast and varied trials believers are able to endure in His name – and those under which we break.
I have heard people say they are really angry at God for things as simple as not getting a job they wanted or having to struggle with an unpaid bill and I have met people who have lost almost everything in this life who, like Job, hold their tongue against God and others and patiently trust in Him and His ways.
All serve to amaze me.
After citing the prophets, James says:
“And have seen the end of the Lord.”
Because of the Greek word this line is debated among Greek scholars.
I side with Luther and others who believe that James is referring to the death of Jesus and the manner in which he comported Himself from the beginning of His passion to the end.
First of all His words were few.
Secondly, none of them were condemnatory.
“Father forgive them for they know NOT what they do.”
You want to be emancipated from the confines of evil thoughts and attitudes and words toward those who trouble and tempt you – adopt this line:
“Lord Jesus, forgive them for they know not what they do.”
It automatically eliminates jumping to conclusion about their behaviors and attitudes and assumes that they are operating under some form of delusion or misconception.
We are products, in many ways, of our genetic make-up, our DNA, our experiences, our interpretation of those experiences, and then our own prejudices, moods, and immediate circumstances – not to mention evil which abides in the flesh.
When we can stop in the face of insult or injury and simply say:
“Jesus forgive them for they know NOT what they do,” we find ourselves dying to the inclination to speak against them or worst.
We then see Jesus, whose end James says his readers knew, saying:
“Assuredly I say to you today you will be with me in paradise.”
Isn’t that amazing – He used some of His breath and the movements of his dehydrated tongue to encourage another.
But note – take careful note – what He did NOT do – He didn’t tell the other who railed against Him:
“And assuredly you will be in hell.”
I would have let that other thief have it – right in the kisser – knowing his destination. But not Jesus. He held His tongue, therefore controlling His whole person (as James taught earlier).
I doubt that there are many people who over the course of their life have felt the right to use their tongue and words more liberally than I have – especially from around 9 years of age until I hit my forties.
In my forties the Lord STARTED to labor in my weedy heart and removing this belief very very slowly.
Gosh how wrong I was. And I am truly ashamed at what my mouth was capable of doing. But I have seen how much good can be done when we resist employing the mouth – especially in the face of evil – and instead use it as a tool for good – for love, encouragement, kindness, etc.
Jesus then used His last words to do and cause good – “woman behold your son, behold you mother.”
He could have said:
“John, look around at this evil world. Look at these heathens who are putting me to death. Protect my mother from these idiots.”
Longsuffering. Patience. Goodness.
Next, at His end, He used his mouth to pray, to seek God, to question amidst His insufferable separation from God, why?
This was no accusation AGAINST God. It was a query – the type we all have when we wonder or allow ourselves to believe that God has abandoned us.
But like Job, Jesus did not cast a railing accusation against God for feeling abandoned – but He did use His tongue to ask why.
I do not think there is anything wrong – ever – with that question when it comes to God.
Why?
“Why are you allowing these men to do and say these things to me?”
“Why is there so much suffering in the world?”
“Why did my mother die when I was so young? Why do you let the evil who hate me so prosper?”
(beat)
I also think it is good to ask why of those who make our lives miserable.
“Why do you hate me? Why do you do or say these things to me?”
It’s a statement of humility that could, like the soft answer of proverb, turn away wrath.
The next statement was expressing a desire for a need – “I thirst.”
Jesus had no problem expressing or requesting a need like thirst. He did it with the woman at the well.
It was natural and real and true in both settings and not selfish to share.
He was open and honest.
Imagine the heart-warming statement of, “I’m thirsty,” coming from a child. I think this is an important insight because there have been times (over the course of Christian history) where we seek to become MORE holy or selfless or righteous through our demeanor than what God demands.
Self flaggelation
Vows of poverty
Asceticism
Thing like that.
I remember when I was on my LDS mission we were teaching a man who was really searching for truth but was a tad bit overzealous.
And one-day he invited us over to his trailer and served us milk and honey (mixed together – tastes like a sugary breakfast cereal by the way) believing that this practice was required of a disciple of Christ.
Paul warns in Colossians 2:18
“Let no man beguile you of your reward in a voluntary humility and worshipping of angels, intruding into those things which he hath not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind.”
Tyndale interprets this to say:
“Let no man make you shoot at a wrong mark, which, after his own imagination, walketh in the humbleness of angels.”
In the last moments Jesus said:
“It is finished. Father into your hands I commend my Spirit.”
Overall, James, having appealed to Jesus example at the end of his life, seems to be saying to the Saints living in His day but scattered abroad:
“Go forward. Do your work. Live your faith. Hold your tongues. Return good for evil, endure the castigations of the rich and oppressive. Let your speech be beneficial to the cause already suffered for in the hands of the prophets and now the Lord.”
James adds a somewhat cumbersome like to this verse. He has said:
“Ye have heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord;” (Then he adds) “that the Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy.”
“You have seen the end of the Lord that HE is very pitiful and of tender mercy.”
In other words, “you have seen what Jesus has gone through till the end and that He is very pitiful and of tender mercy.”
I am fairly certain that these believers were retaliating in kind against their persecutors – that things had gotten ugly and the believers had forgotten who their King was, and what the prophets who had gone before them and suffered were like too.
So I read the rest of verse 11 as him referring to the fact that even though Jesus was suffering immeasurably, He was “very pitiful” and of “tender mercy.”
Both words relate to compassion – extreme forms of compassion.
We could say that He exhibited compassion on his mother, and we could say He exhibited compassion on the thief who acknowledged Him but I think that there is a deeper application – amidst His suffering He exhibited great deep and abiding compassion on those who were killing Him.
The lesson, of course, was being taken by James and applied to them and their tenuous circumstance.
And of course it applies to all believers ever since.
Here’s the application and the reason we study the word verse by verse.
Romans 8:16-17 is really plain:
“The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:
And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.”
I don’t know any way to get around this passage other than to fully assume that it is true.
When we, as Sons and Daughters of Christ suffer with Him we produce the fruits He seeks – fruits of love.
They have to come forward in the presence of suffering and injustice and being maligned.
If we are producing love for those we love that is all fine and good but all people (whether they are His or not) do this.
I mean Saddam Huessain loved his children too.
The question is can or will or do we, as followers of the King of Peace, turn the other cheek – and in the case of what is happening here in James, use our tongues to do good OR return evil for evil?
Philippians 1:29 says:
“For unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake.”
James continues, saying:
12 But above all things, my brethren, swear not, neither by heaven, neither by the earth, neither by any other oath: but let your yea be yea; and your nay, nay; lest ye fall into condemnation.
Really an interesting statement.
The Jews were accustomed to swearing by various things – a comical and empty practice because it either assumes that the swearer is in control of things or, worse yet, it places the swearer in the place of speaking for God.
The way James presents it it sounds like the practice is abhorrent in the eyes of God.
With this being the case James appeals to Jesus own teaching in Matthew 5:33, where He too spoke on the topic. Listen closely to the tenor of His words:
33 Again, ye have heard that it hath been said by them of old time, Thou shalt not forswear thyself, but shalt perform unto the Lord thine oaths:
34 But I say unto you, Swear not at all; neither by heaven; for it is God’s throne:
35 Nor by the earth; for it is his footstool: neither by Jerusalem; for it is the city of the great King.
36 Neither shalt thou swear by thy head, because thou canst not make one hair white or black.
37 But let your communication be, Yea, yea; Nay, nay: for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil.
We have a tendency to think of taking of the name of God in vain as saying things like, “God” or “Jesus” or “Christ” inappropriately – especially when we tie the names to expressions of anger or vitriol.
And while such expressions are ugly and certainly hurt the ears of believers using them (while certainly improper and vulgar and disrespectful to God) is not what using the Lord’s name in vain really means in the Biblical sense.
The third commandment not only forbids all false oaths but stands against all common “swearing” where the name of God is used or where He is appealed to as a witness of the truth.
I believe that to use God’s name where He has not granted permission to use it is also a form of breaking the third commandment.
So really, ANYTIME we pray, advise, counsel, suggest things in the name of God we run the risk of breaking this command.
But there is an especial warning against warning or promising or swearing (as in making an oath) in God’s name relative to this topic.
James suggests that we avoid such oath making or swearing or promise-making in the name of God, adding:
12 But above all things, my brethren, swear not, neither by heaven, neither by the earth, neither by any other oath: but let your yea be yea; and your nay, nay; lest ye fall into condemnation.
Yes or no – as Jesus said any more is of evil.
This last part hearkens back to Exodus 20:7 where we read
“The Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.”
Again, a conflict as James appeals to the law, once again, and if we take his words seriously as Christians we have to assume that even under the covenant of Jesus blood we will not be held guiltless.
I have trouble with this on many levels – as Luther did as well, but at the same time understand what James appears to be trying to do.
We find resolution in the Greek.
The word that the King James translates into condemnation is hupokrisis – guess what word we get from this?
Hypocrisy.
So we could read the passage to say:
“But above all things, my brothers, don’t swear, neither by heaven, nor by the earth, nor by any other oath; but let your “yes” be “yes,” and your “no,” “no;” so that you don’t fall into hypocrisy.”
Now that makes some sense to me because we certainly can fall into hypocrisy as believers, can’t we, when we let our mouths run?
We claim to walk by faith but we can say the most faithless things.
We claim to love but speak unloving words.
We say we trust God, that God is in charge, that God is the judge and then we judge others and even suggesting their ultimate fate!
“But above all things, my brothers” – James says – “don’t swear, neither by heaven, nor by the earth, nor by any other oath; but let your “yes” be “yes,” and your “no,” “no;” so that you don’t fall into hypocrisy.”
Great advice.
At this point James again seems to shift gears but does offer suggestions on other ways to use our tongues as believers, saying:
13 Is any among you afflicted? let him pray. Is any merry? let him sing psalms.
In verse 12 he has been speaking (not literally) on how to communicate – make sure that when you affirm something you really affirm it, and when you disallow something you truly refuse it – “let your yes be yes and your no be no.”
However, or but if there are those who are sick or afflicted among you let them pray.
The Greek word is KAKOPATHEO and it means is anyone suffering difficulties or troubles?
Could be illness. Could be financial. Could be legal or any other trouble.
What to do?
Pray for them.
This passage and the example of Jesus serve as the reason we pray as a body for others.
I don’t know how prayer works or even if it works in the way we typically suggest.
I understand the passages that speak of prayer and its ability to move God and affect change but I also know the passages that clearly show our will is rarely going to be done but instead His.
To me the prayers we offer and on people’s behalf who are sufferings and that in the face of God’s will being done we will respond accordingly and they will find peace – that if things work out God is praised – and if they don’t He is praised.
All the magical formulas and other approaches to prayer remain uncertain to me.
But we will, and we do, pray. James says:
“for those who are afflicted.”
But this is just one passage. There are many other passages that speak to reasons we pray.
Bottom line, prayer is a conversation with God.
It might be oral or mental, occasional or constant, formal, public, private, shared or individual.
Exodus 32:11 says it is “beseeching the Lord.”
1st Samuel 1:15 describes it as “pouring out the soul before the Lord.”
2nd Chronicles 32:20 includes in it “crying to heaven”
Joh says it is “seeking unto God and making supplication.”
Psalms says prayer is “drawing near to God” (Ps 73:28); Ephesians describes is as the “bowing the knees.”
Prayer presupposes a belief in the existence and personality of God, in His ability and willingness to hold intercourse with us, and in the fact that He has personal control of all things and of all his creatures and all their actions and futures.
Hebrews 10:22 says that acceptable prayer must be sincere, offered with reverence and godly fear, with a humble sense of our own insignificance as creatures and of our own unworthiness and with unhesitating submission to the will of God.
Prayer must also be offered in the faith that God is, that He hears and answers prayers, and that He will (in some way or another) fulfil his word, which includes “Ask, and ye shall receive”
The New Testament tells us that prayer ought to be in the name of Christ – Mark 16:20 and 15:16; Ephesians 2:18 and 5:20; Colossians 3:17; and 1st Peter 2:5).
James here is speaking of what is known as “intercessory prayer” and this is spoken of throughout scripture.
By the way I personally believe that prayer (and I would suggest that scripture supports this) but prayer a sacrifice believers offer up to God on behalf of others and is therefore a deep expression of love for them.
Think about the Old Testament imagery of offering up a sacrifice to God – let’s say an animal or money or a life (like Samuel) when he was a child.
Every offering from has a personal price and therefore we refer to it as a “sacrifice.”
Today, in the name of Jesus and the cause of love, we continue to offer sacrifices up to God.
Love is a verb – an action.
So in the fallen modern world action is compartmentalized in time.
And as Ben Franklin so duly noted, “Time is the stuff life is made of.”
To give up time for someone or something is to give up life.
To give up LIFE is the greatest sacrifice a person can make.
So . . . what are things that require time that believers give to God and man.
We volunteer.
That is sacrificing our “life’s time” to the cause of something else.
We give money.
We have used our “life’s time” to earn and gather – our blood sweat and tears – which is represented by currencies and we gather the fruits of our hard earned labors and give it to another person or place in need.
Scripture calls the “praise of our lips” a “sacrifice unto God.” Why would that be? Because we take part of our “life-time” and we spend it praising Him.
A sacrifice of praise.
Service, like volunteerism, is the same principle – it is a giving of OUR LIFE TIME for the benefit of another.
There is something beautiful when we allow ourselves to serve or volunteer or give of our “life’s-time” to the cause and purpose of others.
It “feels” good in a way that transcends this earth and elevates us up into God’s realm.
Praise does the same thing.
And prayer can too.
Prayer falls in the same category as giving praise, giving money, giving time, giving service, giving love. Why? Because we are using our time, our thoughts, our attentions (which could be used to serve ourselves, our agendas, our empires, our creative endeavors or our desires) and we are focusing them on OTHERS – especially others who are in need.
So this is what James is suggesting.
Here’s the deal – listen carefully.
You want to really get out there and love beyond the self? Sacrifice for those who you don’t believe deserve or merit it.
Ut-oh. Now we’re talking tough stuff, aren’t we?
Praise God IN THE STORM – when He takes your child, when business is failing, when you didn’t get that promotion or contract or boyfriend to marry you.
Serve or volunteer someone who you don’t believe deserves it. Too much for you. Too liberal. What exactly do you think Jesus did . . . for you?
Give money to someone who you know is not going to use it the way they promised – but give it just because they asked.
And here’s the application – pray for those who despitefully use you, and abuse you, people who have hurt you, and continue to hurt you – pray from the heart for those who you know are out to harm you . . . and you will discover an otherworldly love for them that will liberate you from the reactions of your flesh.
And you will be free.
James tells them to pray for the afflicted. Of course. But scripture has a number of applications to prayer that go a long way in both sacrificing to God AND healing the human heart.
Lets stop here.
Q and A
