Pastors know there is no end to promises of the “next big thing” for the church. Media invitations and flashy video promotions promise that churches will be “radically changed” by implementing some new program or product. The offers are everywhere and the marketing is slick: “Do you want your church to be powerful and life-changing?” (Who doesn’t?!) “Purchase the special ‘Gold-Level’ package today to bring the most power to your congregation.”
But power is not something that can be bought (Acts 8:18-24!). A life-changing church is a church whose members pray. Prayer is the key to a dynamic, influential church. Here’s how James puts it in James 5:16-18:
16 Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.
17 Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain; and it did not rain on the land for three years and six months.
18 And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth produced its fruit.
Two Important Prayer Actions…
James teaches about the power of prayer in these verses. Specifically, he teaches about the power of two things: confession to one another and intercession for one another.
Confession To One Another
A biblical church is a church whose members regularly confess to one another. If we ask, “What specifically do they confess to one another?” the answer is—first part of verse 16— “Confess your trespasses to one another”—or as most of the modern translations read, “Confess your sins to one another.”
A biblical church is a congregation whose members are in the habit of regularly going to one another and saying something like, “Brother, I really need to apologize for what I said to you the other day. It was wrong and I was wrong to say it. I’m sorry. Will you forgive me?”
Or, “My sister in Christ, the other day I ignored you when you needed me. My behavior was wrong and I was wrong to do it. I’m sorry. Will you forgive me?”
Or “Friend, I have harbored some bitterness against you for something I have failed to talk to you about and, rather than talk to you about it, I’m afraid I have talked to others about it. It was wrong and I was wrong to do it. I’m sorry. Will you forgive me?”
This behavior is consistent with Jesus’ teaching in the Sermon on the Mount:
If you bring your gift to the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar, and go your way. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift (Matthew 5:23-24).
The point is: “Don’t attempt to come together for corporate worship when you are harboring ill feelings towards other members of the congregation.”
The point is: “Don’t attempt to come together for corporate worship when you are harboring ill feelings towards other members of the congregation.”
Think about this for just a moment: How many churches are there whose members gather weekly for worship (even online) and harbor feelings of ill will towards one another? Would not this unbiblical behavior be at least one reason why power is lacking? On what basis could we ever expect God to honor a church whose members are not regularly confessing their sins to one another?
“Confess…to one another.” The assumption is that the offense is against another individual. That individual then, the one with whom we are at odds, is the one to whom we are to go and confess. “Confess your trespasses to one another,” not to a priest, not to a pastor, not to a group of friends, not to anonymous followers on social media. We don’t discuss it among co-workers, our neighbors, our even our small groups. “Confess your trespasses to one another.”
A similar teaching is found in Matthew’s Gospel where Jesus provides explicit instruction for those occasions where you believe someone has sinned against you or offended you in some way. What do you do? Do you talk about it to others or do you go to that person directly? Jesus is clear: “If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone (Matthew 18:15).” Confess your trespasses to one another.
Indeed Jesus goes on to say what you are to do if the one who has sinned against you “will not hear” you. If your attempts to reconcile with your brother prove unsuccessful–perhaps because he refuses to talk or insists he did nothing wrong–Jesus says, “if he will not hear, take with you one or two more that ‘by the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established (Matthew 18:16).’”
Quoting from Deuteronomy 19:15, Jesus instructs believers to bring along one or two others to talk with the offender—but not before going privately first! This next step occurs only after prior attempts (perhaps more than one) to address the person individually have failed.
It is important to remember that the hopeful outcome of these attempts to meet with the one who has sinned against you is to “gain” or “win over” your brother, to be reconciled in a demonstration of beautiful, biblical unity.
In the rare occasion where an offending brother refuses to listen to the additional “two or three witnesses,” even after (we may suppose) several attempts are made, only then is the matter to be brought before the entire congregation (Matthew 18:17). And even at this point, hope remains for reconciliation, that the individual may “hear the church” and the matter be resolved.
If the still rarer occasion occurs where the individual refuses even to “hear the church,” only then is he to be regarded as “a heathen and a tax collector,” which is to say, no longer part of the church body.
It is unfortunate many churches err in one of two extremes: either ignoring these corrective measures entirely or, in their zeal to be “a pure church,” jump hastily to excommunicating members without taking the necessary intermediary steps, failing to extend to others the same loving forbearance our Lord has shown to us.
The fact that some have abused these biblical principles, however, is no reason to ignore them. A church becomes a powerful church when her members regularly confess their trespasses to one another and refuse to allow sinful behavior to go unchecked.
Remember: we are not to “air our dirty laundry” before others. At the first sign of conflict, we are to go to the individual directly and privately. Additionally, should we ever find ourselves “in the middle” of someone else’s problem with another brother, we must “get out of the middle.” If a person talks to us, sharing disdain for another brother, we will immediately encourage this individual to follow the biblical teaching, instructing him or her to talk directly to the individual. We help our friend understand how doing so honors the other individual, and we promise our prayers for reconciliation.
Remember: we are not to “air our dirty laundry” before others. At the first sign of conflict, we are to go to the individual directly and privately.
Do you know what a firewall is? The first time I learned about a firewall was back in my home church where a construction crew was adding an addition to the main structure. I noted that every so many feet there was a place in the addition, where a kind of wall protruded higher than the rest of the roof. It looked kind of funny to me and I couldn’t understand why the roof was not flat all the way across. I was told the protrusions in the structure were firewalls. In case a fire broke out in one of those sections, it was unlikely to pass beyond the wall of the next section. More firewalls meant better protection to the integrity of the structure.
James says, “Confess your trespasses to one another,” so that the offense in view is treated before it spreads to others. If you have a problem with another person, go to that person directly and talk about it and deal with it right there so that the problem does not spread beyond, doing damage to the rest of the church. Work together with your brother or sister so that the two of you become like a firewall, preventing the fire from spreading to others, protecting the integrity of the congregation.
Confessing our trespasses to one another is closely connected to prayer. Healthy confession to one another leads to healthy intercession for one another.
Intercession For One Another
A biblical church is a church whose members regularly pray for one another. If you have offended me and you come and make it right, I am now in a position not only to forgive you, but now to pray for you—and vice versa; If I have offended you and I come and ask for forgiveness, you are now in a position to pray for me.
The image of the firewall again is helpful: here are two people who say, “Let’s you and I work this out and pray about it together. Let’s be a firewall to make sure this doesn’t go beyond us. We will stand together.”
There is a suggestion in the text that our failure to confess to one another and pray for one another may lead to a sickness of some kind whether emotional, spiritual, or physical. James says at the end of verse 16: “Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed.”
The implication is that a Christian may suffer a sickness of some kind, perhaps emotional sickness as a result of harboring ill feelings toward another brother or sister. Or perhaps we are suffering a spiritual sickness; not growing in our faith or feeling distance from God. We may even suffer physical sickness because of unconfessed and unforgiven sin.
**Blessings For Praying Christians…
Beyond question, James’ teaching in this verse is powerful. Following his teaching makes for a powerful church. A church whose members pray may be assured of two wonderful truths that will bless their congregation.
God Works With Extraordinary Power
James writes, “The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.” The New Living translation puts it this way: “The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results.”
God works extraordinary power through the prayers of His people—but note: He works His power through the prayers of “a righteous person,” a person who endeavors to walk in personal holiness.
Lack of personal integrity, purity, and holiness is one reason why many people find their prayers seeming to go unanswered. This teaching is similar to Peter’s admonition to husbands in his first epistle: “Husbands…dwell with them [your wives] with understanding, giving honor to the wife…that your prayers may not be hindered (1 Peter 3:7).”
We can’t expect God to honor our prayers when we are not walking in holiness and righteousness. This does not mean we will be perfect; only Christ is perfect, but it does mean we will endeavor to walk in righteousness. We will, for example, follow James’ teaching about confessing our faults to one another.
If members walk in righteousness, including making certain they are at peace with others in the congregation, and if sin is lovingly confronted and corrected, then they are in a better position for God to work His extraordinary power through them. If it is the prayer of a righteous person that “avails much,” imagine how much more powerful the church will be when all members walk in righteousness!
God Works Through Ordinary People
It is not unusual for us to exclude ourselves from some of the principles and promises of God. We often assume that only spiritual “superstars” can expect their prayers to “avail much.” We may feel inferior, common, or “ordinary.”
It is not unusual for us to exclude ourselves from some of the principles and promises of God. We often assume that only spiritual “superstars” can expect their prayers to “avail much.” We may feel inferior, common, or “ordinary.”
If so, James’ words should encourage us. As an example of an ordinary human being through whom God worked, he recalls the Old Testament prophet Elijah. He says, “Elijah was a man with a nature like ours…” Did you catch that? Elijah was not superhuman. He had “a nature like ours;” no difference.
We may protest: “What?! Elijah was nothing like us! He’s the guy who stood boldly on Mount Carmel and called down fire from heaven in a mighty demonstration of God’s miraculous wonder-working power (1 Kings 18: 20-46)!”
To be sure, it is an amazing account of biblical history. Elijah basically tells wicked King Ahab: “Because you have led the people of Israel into idolatry, God is going to withhold the rains of heaven. You and all the land will experience three and a half years of drought!”
James reminds us in verse 18 that after the three and a half years of judgment, Elijah prayed and the rain fell. It really is an incredible story of God’s extraordinary power through the prayer of a righteous person. No rain falls until Elijah prays. That’s power!
So again, when James describes Elijah as, “a man with a nature like ours,” or a man just like us, our initial thought may be, “No he is not! He is one-of-a-kind!”
But Elijah really was just like us. Remember that Elijah’s vulnerability was exposed in the very next chapter (Exodus 19) where we read of his becoming so despondent that he was near death. King Ahab’s wicked wife Queen Jezebel threatened to have Elijah killed by the end of the next day. When Elijah got word of this, his “mountain top experience” crumbled to a “valley of despair.” Fleeing into the wilderness depressed, exhausted, and scared, he prayed that he might die. He said to the Lord, “It is enough! Now, Lord, take my life (1 Kings 19:4).”
Now we see that Elijah is indeed “a man with a nature like ours.” Who hasn’t experienced the capricious turns from the mountain top to the valley? Most of us are willing to admit to spiritual highs and lows.
Yes, Elijah was just like us. So James means to encourage us. In essence, he says: “Look, undoubtedly God works with extraordinary power. And God delights in working that extraordinary power through ordinary people, ordinary people like Elisha, and ordinary people like you.”
What About You?
- Is there someone with whom you are at odds? A brother or sister to whom you need to confess your trespasses? What will you do about it today?
- How is your prayer life? If it seems your prayers go unanswered, could it be you are not walking in righteousness?
- How do you feel about James’ describing Elijah as “a man with a nature like ours?”
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