James 5:13 (ESV)

Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing praise.

By the time we get to this verse in James if feels like James is just jumping around from topic to topic trying to hit several disconnected issues. He warned the rich. He encouraged the poor to be patient. He challenged believers against becoming judgmental. Now he addresses praying for the sick, and will close with a quick statement about restoring a wandering brother. Our tendency is to treat these verses like proverbs, words of wisdom that are disconnected from the verses around them, but that would be a misunderstanding of what James is doing. James is coming back to the issue he started with.

In James 1:2 he wrote, “Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds.” Ten verses later he said, “Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him” (Jas 1:12 ESV). He started his letter talking about suffering and he ends talking about suffering. This is not a coincidence. This goes to the heart of James message. Often people will hear James and think, “Oh, that’s the book about obedience. ‘Faith without works is dead.’” But it is really a book about relationships within the Body of Christ. Those suffering are suffering at the hands of others. The discussion about obedience is centered on serving others. The issue of prayer is about praying for others. The idea of confession and healing is about ministry to others. James is a letter written to a dysfunctional group of believers that need to learn what it means to truly be the Body of Christ.

How is the Body of Christ supposed to function? If you are sick call for the elders. Pray for the sick. Confess your sins to one another. Bring back your wandering brother. James 1:3 says, “For you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness.” We are to count it joy when we fall into trials because the testing of our faith produces steadfastness. But, what if a brother, in the face of testing, does not remain steadfast? What if he/she but wanders from the truth? What if they don’t hold up under the pressure? Then we are to bring him/her back (Jas 5:19-20). Too often we blame them. We decry their failure. We pray for them, but what we don’t do is love them.

When James writes that we are to bring “back a sinner from his wandering” (Jas 5:20), he is not talking a about being the moral police. He is not talking about fixing each other. He is not talking about watching each other to make sure we don’t step out of line. That is divisive, not unifying. He is talking about how to really care for one another when things get tough and our faith falters. What if we really functioned that way as a church? What if we really did “rejoice with those who rejoice,” and “weep with those who weep” (Rom 12:15)? How might our churches look and feel differently? How might our testimony in the world look different? The world might even believe that we really are followers of Jesus.