The text this morning is from the Epistle of James, the fifth chapter:
Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing praise. Is anyone among you sick? 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. And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working. Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed fervently that it might not rain, and for three years and six months it did not rain on the earth. Then he prayed again, and heaven gave rain, and the earth bore its fruit. My brothers, if anyone among you wanders from the truth and someone brings him back, let him know that whoever brings back a sinner from his wandering will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins.Thus far the text.
My dear friends in Christ,
James is heartily concerned with the end of time, when Jesus will return and raise all who believe in Him into eternal life. That’s everything that’s going on in this chapter. James closes out his letter by giving us instructions on how it is that we should prepare for that end. And we should, all of us, from the very youngest to the very eldest, be walking through this life to prepare for our end.
We pray in the Lord’s Prayer that our Lord would deliver us from evil, and we know that as we pray that prayer we are asking that our Lord would give to us a blessed death, a death in which we are confident that He will fulfill His promises and take us to be with Himself in heaven, waiting until the resurrection from the dead. This is what we should all desire. We should all desire such a blessed end, and we should use all that God has given us to prepare for that.
That’s what we do each and every week as we gather together. We prepare, each of us, for our deaths. This is practice for our deaths. It is only through the study of God’s Word, by hearing it, learning it, inwardly digesting it, that you know the promises of Christ. It is only in God’s Word that you find these and it is only through His Word that you find that our Lord is good and gracious and gives to you all that He has promised, the Holy Spirit, especially, who is preparing you to be with Christ and who delivers Christ to you even now. Every time we gather together and the Scriptures are read, whether in the readings appointed for each week, in the Scriptures we sing, in the Scriptures we pray, in the Scriptures that are spoken even through the sermon and the Creed, those precious Words from the Lord should be held so tightly to you as if they were a life preserver in the midst of a vast ocean.
James speaks of suffering. By this he means persecution. He speaks of cheerfulness, which is the fullness of the Christian life. He speaks of sickness, which is sickness that leads us unto death. In these, he gives us prime examples of how through each of them, we are centered in the Word of God that has been given to us to contemplate and upon which we should dwell. We pray. We sing. We look to the pastors given to the church to care for us in our moments of tribulation where we look forward to seeing our Lord’s face.
All of the Christian life is a preparation for that end. That is what God has always been telling us. From the prophets of the Old Testament to the Apostles of the New, each man, inspired by God to write holy words, gives to us those words of eternal life, the words that focus our eyes and hearts and minds and strength upon the cross of Christ, where the lifeblood of the God-man was poured out for the forgiveness of your sins. And when our eyes and hearts and minds and strength are focused on that cross, who we are comes into sharp relief.
I remember the first time I saw a Blu-ray movie being shown on a high-definition television. It was like I was seeing TV for the first time. I had never seen such color, such distinction, such sharpness. But, when I had to move on, the world seemed a little more dark and dismal. The colors weren’t as sharp as the TV. The definition of that TV made the rest of the world pale in comparison.
And when we look at the cross, we see the sharpness of reality. It all comes into focus. There we see the extent of our sin. We see the God of heaven, come down to earth, bearing the shame and the humiliation for our sins. We see how dark and dismal we are, how great of sinners we are; we have killed our Lord. But we also see the bright, shining face of the Son as He sits in glory upon that cross, for there we see, not only what sin has wrought, but we see what the sacrifice of the Son has bought. It has bought our salvation, it has bought our life. And by His resurrection from the dead, we then begin to be prepared by Christ through His Word and His Sacraments to die.
This is the sharp relief, both in our vision and in the comfort of our consciences, that is given to us by this cross of Jesus. This is why He tells us to pray; we pray for our blessed end. This is why we praise; we give thanks that such an end is even given to us. This is why we ask that we be taken care of as we prepare to die; it reminds us that when our eyes close to this vale of tears, that they shall open in utter joy at the sight of our Savior.
Indeed, all of these are ours and are given to us as pure gift from above. In fact, God tells us clearly to do such things. As the prophets of old have done, so we, too, offer to one another the clear gifts of God in Christ Jesus. Elijah was told by God, it was by God’s authority, that the heavens were shut up and they gave no rain. It was not by Elijah’s power, but by the very Word of God that told Elijah to prophesy to the heavens and they would stop. And it was by that same Word of God that told Elijah when to prophesy to them to open.
By this same Word of God, we then also have the power of God. We do not have the power to stop up the heavens by our cry of command. We cannot open them by the prayers of the righteous. They are stopped or opened by God Himself. But the prayer of the righteous person has great power, if, and this is a big if, God has given the authority to that person to do what they are praying for. And what authority has God given to His righteous people?
The authority to bind and forgive sins. The authority to deliver Christ’s washing of regeneration to His people. The authority to give the body and blood of Christ for the forgiveness of sins and the strengthening of faith. The authority to go to God in prayer, praise, and thanksgiving and even demand that God hold fast to His promises. This is authority that was given to the Son, and this authority the Son gave to His Church, His beloved bride. And here the Church works under such authority, giving out all the gifts of God.
Imagine Christmas morning. You’re eight years old and you see the presents stacked under the tree. You cannot wait to open them because you know there are gifts under there with your name on it. But imagine your parents came and told you that they’d be opening your presents and playing with them, sharing none of them with you. You can only sit and watch. That would be the biggest letdown you’ve ever experienced. This is what would happen if God had never given His gifts of forgiveness, life, and salvation for us to use.
But God in His righteousness does not withhold gifts from His children. Instead of having them all to Himself, it is as if your parents told you to open all the gifts, even the gifts with your siblings’ names on them, even the gifts with their names on them, so that you can enjoy them and they can watch your joy at each and every one of them, using the gifts as they were intended. Our Lord has given you His gifts and enjoys you working with them, loving them, holding onto them for dear life. Imagine His joy as He sees your sin-burdened conscience lifted away from you. Imagine His face as He watches you be washed clean in the waters of Baptism. Imagine His satisfaction as your are strengthened in the everlasting feast of the Altar.
You don’t have to imagine these things too hard, for the Scriptures make clear that this is our Lord’s disposition towards you. He loves when you use His gifts; He wants you to use them, receive them, love them all the time. And He is overjoyed then, when not only you benefit from them, but, for the sake of your neighbor, you continue to work these gifts for your neighbor’s benefit.
If anyone sins, bring them back. Preach to them the Holy Law, convicting them of their sins and killing them by the sword of God’s Word. And when they repent, preach to them the sweetest Gospel, the Word that brings life to God’s people. When this happens, we rejoice along with God that we have regained our brother.
So often, we fail to do this. So often we just let one another sin in whatever way they desire. “Well, that’s just their personality.” “Well, they’ve always been that way.” “Well, they’re really just going to do whatever they want to do.” Well, stop it. When we have sin that is not repented of, it hurts us as the body of Christ. It’s like a cancer. It starts off small enough, but it soon grows so large, that it is in danger of choking the life out of the body. Sin chokes the life out of the body of Christ. Sin damages us. And the only way to excise sin is not chemotherapy, it’s not radical surgery, it’s repentance and the forgiveness of sins. This comes only through the gift of God.
It’s by God’s command that the sin in our lives be taken away from us. It is by His gifts of Word and Sacrament that this is done. And it is His command that we exercise His gifts in such a way that we work to regain the erring brother. If you’re sitting here, with sin in your heart, sin you refuse to repent of, be fearful. That sin is most assuredly separating you from the forgiveness of Christ. You cannot receive His forgiveness if you refuse to repent, to confess your sins, to leave them behind. You cannot receive the absolution for these sins you intend to keep doing. Your heart is hardened against the cross of Christ.
But, if you have sin in your heart, and you desire to leave it at God’s Altar, you may. You may. You may confess this sin, to God, to me, to one another, and you will, you will receive the forgiveness of your sins. Should you fall back into it, confess it again. Confess it until you die, and every time you do, you will receive the forgiveness of your sins, the forgiveness that is found in Christ. For indeed, we are all praying for this, we are all praying for you to confess your sins, and the prayer of a righteous person avails much. Your repentance will lead to the forgiveness of all of your sins. It will bring you back from the desert of sin and into the oasis of forgiveness.
This is preparation for death. This is what is necessary for your death. This is what we, the Church, do. We use God’s gifts to prepare you for your death in Jesus Christ. After all, Jesus is coming back soon. Or you may even die today as you leave this place. There are no guarantees that you will see tomorrow. Yet, in Christ, there is every guarantee, there is every promise, that you shall inherit eternal life with Him. He has promised this to you through His gifts, His Word and Sacrament, so that all of us, from the very youngest to the very eldest, would walk through this life to prepare for our end.
Jesus will indeed deliver you from evil. He will give to you a blessed death. He will fulfill every promise He has made to you and will take you to be with Him in heaven to await the resurrection from the dead. We should all indeed desire this, and we will use all that God has given to us to prepare ourselves, and one another, for such a day. Let us begin anew, to prepare for death, and prepare each other, even today. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Now may the peace of God which passes all human understanding guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, our Lord! Amen.
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