{"id":207,"date":"2025-08-13T02:01:02","date_gmt":"2025-08-13T02:01:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/joc.lukegbrown.com\/?p=207"},"modified":"2025-08-13T02:01:02","modified_gmt":"2025-08-13T02:01:02","slug":"the-greater-work","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/joc.lukegbrown.com\/index.php\/2025\/08\/13\/the-greater-work\/","title":{"rendered":"The Greater Work"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"The Greater Work. James 5:13-20.\" width=\"880\" height=\"495\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/DyRwFcbqecI?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Sermon Excerpt from James 5:13\u201320<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>My heart\u2019s greatest desire is not JUST that we love God and our neighbor, or love to serve God by serving our neighbor. Nor is it ONLY that we are people of the Word, treasuring the Christ who is the Word and His glory above all things. Yes, my desire is that we are all of those things\u2014but my desire is also that we are a prayerful people who love to pray and live to pray.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>When reading our text this week, a quote came to mind that has stuck with me. It\u2019s from Oswald Chambers: \u201cPrayer does not fit us for the greater works. Prayer is the greater work.\u201d Chambers challenges the common view of prayer\u2014that it\u2019s simply a way to get something from God, whether physical or spiritual. But the truth he points to is this: prayer is not just a means to a greater gift or work. Prayer itself is the greater gift and the greater work from God.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If only we accepted and applied this truth, it would change how we live. If we approached God knowing that the ability to speak to Him is greater than anything we could hold or do, we would be more grateful, content, peaceful, patient, loving, and fruitful\u2014and therefore, God would be more glorified in our lives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Why do I believe this? Because the Bible tells me so. Just as the Bible tells me Jesus loves me enough to live the life I couldn\u2019t, die the death I deserved, and rise again to reign forever, it also tells me prayer is a greater way in which He works. And in this last passage, James tells us how.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h5 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Prayer Is Always Necessary for Our Good (vv. 13\u201315)<\/strong><\/h5>\n\n\n\n<p>James asks: \u201cIs 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\u2026and let them pray over him.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>His instruction is clear: pray in every circumstance. In suffering\u2014pray. In joy\u2014pray. In sickness or health, sorrow or rejoicing, richness or poverty\u2014pray.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Paul seemingly instructs us in the same direction: \u201cPray without ceasing\u201d (1 Thess. 5:16 18), \u201cContinue steadfastly in prayer\u201d (Col. 4:2), \u201cBe constant in prayer\u201d (Rom. 12:12), \u201cIn everything\u2026let your requests be made known to God\u201d (Phil. 4:6).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So, what do we have here? We have James who says \u201cpray in every circumstance,\u201d and Paul who says \u201cpray without ceasing\u201d. In reality, they are two sides of the same coin. Because, if you\u2019re praying in every circumstance, there will never be a season of life where you\u2019re not praying and the same is true vice versa. Therefore, to pray without ceasing IS TO pray in every circumstance and to pray in every circumstance IS TO pray without ceasing!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Why is this so important? Verse 15 says, \u201cAnd 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.\u201d James shifts from physical to spiritual\u2014\u201csave\u201d in the Greek means to save or keep; \u201craise up\u201d means to awaken or resurrect. However, neither means to heal. Therefore, James\u2019 focus is not primarily on the physical, but on the spiritual.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Now, that does not mean that the physical is to be disregarded. It\u2019s not. Because, in knowing that James\u2019 main focus is on the soul, we can then gather that the prayer of faith comes from a believing heart. Saving the sinner spiritually, forgiving their sin, and then pointing them to the physical resurrection when Christ returns. So, though God, through the prayer of faith that James mentions here, saves the soul by faith in Christ, it is rooted in the same truth that Christ will one day raise the body. Something else, the prayer of faith is NOT a one-time \u201csinner\u2019s prayer\u201d but a lifelong, persevering prayer of those Christ has saved, and it is the very song of praise and victory that they sing in all circumstances and through all seasons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Prayer is the greater work because it is always necessary. Romans 10:9 shows it\u2019s necessary at the start of the Christian life. And it\u2019s necessary after, because there is never a time or place when God is not needed. In persecution, you need His strength; in blessing, His praise; in failure, His mercy; in sorrow, His comfort. And we never have to wonder if He hears\u2014\u201cCast all your anxieties on Him, because He cares for you\u201d (1 Pet. 5:7). Out of all the great things you could do for God\u2019s kingdom, seek first to pray\u2014not only because you need to, but because He desires you to.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h5 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong><mark style=\"background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)\" class=\"has-inline-color has-white-color\">Prayer Is Always Working for Our Good (vv. 16\u201318)<\/mark><\/strong><\/h5>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cTherefore, 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\u201d (v. 16).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>James is not speaking here of Catholic confession, as though we must go through a person to receive forgiveness and justification of sin, because God alone forgives sin. Instead, James is talking about sanctification, being cleansed from sin in our daily walk. And if we\u2019re honest, we know this from experience: hidden sin rarely dies in secrecy. Yes, you may go to God a thousand times in private asking for forgiveness of the same, dark sin, but if you keep it locked away instead of putting it to death, it will inevitably return.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>That\u2019s why James tells us to confess to one another. When we humble ourselves and bring sin into the light with a fellow believer, asking them to bear the burden with us and pray for us, something powerful happens. God gives us fresh strength for the war to resist that sin and ultimately, by His Spirit, put it to death.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Therefore, beloved, the urge here is: Don\u2019t fight sin alone. God gave us one another for a reason: to carry each other\u2019s burdens, confess to each other, and pray for each other. And when we do, James says there is great power at work, not our power, but God\u2019s power working for our good.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Which, by the way, explains why you don\u2019t get everything you pray for. Sometimes you\u2019re not praying for what you truly need, and sometimes you\u2019re not even praying for your own good. James told us back in 4:3, \u201cYou ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions.\u201d And the grace in that fact is\u2014even then, God is still working in those selfish prayers for your good, <em>because<\/em> He doesn\u2019t grant them! Instead, He gives you what you need, even when what you need is not what you wanted. So, beloved, even in the seeming disappointments of unanswered prayers, brothers and sisters, praise God for His unseen provision! For He has provided for you in ways you could not see and has protected you from things you never even knew would have come had He given you what you wanted instead of what you needed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Paul also reminds us in Romans 8:26 28, that even in our weakness, when we do not know what to pray for as we should, the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. And the Father, who searches our hearts, takes those Spirit-led prayers and works all things together for our good. Even the prayers you\u2019re too weary to form are gathered up by God and turned into blessing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Though this would be enough, we\u2019re not left to figure out prayer on our own. Jesus Himself taught us both how not to pray and how to pray (Matt. 6:5\u201313). We\u2019re not to pray for show, piling up empty words, but to pray in secret to our Father who sees. The model He gave begins with worship\u2014\u201cHallowed be your name.\u201d It trusts God\u2019s provision\u2014\u201cGive us this day our daily bread.\u201d It seeks forgiveness\u2014\u201cForgive us our debts.\u201d And it asks for His help to walk in holiness\u2014\u201cLead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Do you pray like that? Do you desire to pray like that? I know I do! Because that is the kind of prayer God works in! A prayer that breathes life because it\u2019s alive in Him. It is the kind of prayer that has \u201cgreat power as it is working,\u201d not because of the one praying, but because of the One who hears, answers, and works in the prayer!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h5 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Prayer Always Glorifies Our God (vv. 19\u201320)<\/strong><\/h5>\n\n\n\n<p>James ends: \u201cIf anyone among you wanders from the truth and someone brings him back\u2026whoever brings back a sinner\u2026will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>God uses His people to restore wanderers, whether they\u2019ve strayed in belief or in behavior\u2014and that work begins with prayer. Now, no one\u2014not you, not me, not anyone else\u2014can convince anyone to leave their sin for Jesus Christ. Do you know the only one who can do that? The Risen Jesus Christ! Paul says to Timothy, \u201cThe Lord\u2019s servant must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, correcting his opponents with gentleness. God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth\u201d (2 Tim. 2:24\u201325).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So then, repentance does not rely on the sinner\u2019s dead and captured will, nor does it rely on the convincing arguments of you or me\u2014it relies solely on the grace and mercy of the God who softens hard hearts and awakens dead souls! (Rom. 9:16)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And THAT is a BLESSED FACT, beloved! It is a fact that should cause us not to worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow rests in the hands of the Sovereign God. And it is a fact that should compel us to work faithfully today, because today has been gifted to us by the hands of the Sovereign God, and He has gifted it to us with the purpose of glorifying Him!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>That is the very reason God has given us prayer and its power. It is not so we can use it to fulfill the desires of our sinful hearts, but so that we might see God transform our hearts to desire what He desires. Through prayer, our sinful desires are turned to righteous ones. Through prayer, God is glorified as we rely on His power instead of our own. And through prayer, Satan is humiliated, because every time God\u2019s weak people plead for His great strength instead of caving to temptation, it\u2019s a fresh reminder to the enemy that he cannot touch the glory of God in Christ!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Beloved, may we be a people of that kind of prayer\u2014because prayer is the greater work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Grace be with you.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Sermon Excerpt from James 5:13\u201320 My heart\u2019s greatest desire is not JUST that we love God and our neighbor, or<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/joc.lukegbrown.com\/index.php\/2025\/08\/13\/the-greater-work\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">The Greater Work<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-207","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-articles"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/joc.lukegbrown.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/207","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/joc.lukegbrown.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/joc.lukegbrown.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/joc.lukegbrown.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/joc.lukegbrown.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=207"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/joc.lukegbrown.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/207\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":208,"href":"https:\/\/joc.lukegbrown.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/207\/revisions\/208"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/joc.lukegbrown.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=207"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/joc.lukegbrown.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=207"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/joc.lukegbrown.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=207"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}