Hill Country Bible Church

Day Thirty One

Posted: Feb 23, 2010 by Tom Milner

Tom Milner

I am Tom Milner. I am a husband, father of two children, and a professor at the University of Texas. Since my childhood, I have been interested in and fascinated with the order and structure of the world we live in. That interest led me to study first mathematics, then physics and, finally, engineering. In trying to reconcile the forgiveness offered to us in Christ with observations of the exquisite order we see in the world around us, I continually grow deeper in a humble recognition of God’s unfathomable grace and righteousness expressed in the person of Jesus Christ.

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.

James 5:15b-16

God’s hand is always stretched out toward us—offering healing and life. To receive the blessings He offers we need only to recognize and confess our sins as James counsels.

Grace and righteousness are two dimensions of our life experiences that knowingly or not we can all relate to. It is a truly amazing thing that a blameless and unwaveringly just God can assign clean identities to corrupted people - grace given as the unrighteous are made righteous. When we really see the character of God and the broken world that has cast itself far from Him, the question becomes: how is this possible?

As we look at this passage, I'll take some liberties here and use the life of James to add some color to this concept. Being Jewish, James understood the significance of grace and righteousness. Widely believed to be Jesus’ half-brother, James might have faced with the grace-righteousness dichotomy in a deeply personal and unique way. Think of his emotions toward the end of Jesus' life: first, he must have felt the intense grief and public embarrassment (and by association his entire family) of the loss of his half-brother. The loss of a sibling in such an embarrassing and humiliating manner probably caused James intense grief. Second, James’ direct observation together with hundreds of others of his brother’s resurrected and eternal body stood in direct opposition to the grief and embarrassment he first felt. Whether James truly walked through these personal and emotional experiences or not, James went to his death bearing the testimony of his half brother as being the Christ - the Salvation of Israel and all the Nations. James experienced the point where the unyielding Law and God's powerful mercy met. He saw the fulfillment of both grace and righteousness in a person he knew well and, like us, probably spent his whole life trying to join the two dimensions in his heart and mind. None of us can deny that in the person of Christ, Grace and Righteousness are woven together in a wonderful and awesome display of God’s sovereign will.

So what is the practical meaning and significance of this passage for our lives? First, James is telling us to confess our sins to our fellow believers – this is not an option. Second, James is reminding us that the world is broken and we require healing, physical and, more importantly, spiritual. Sin can stand in the way of this healing, and God desires to remove all barriers to Himself. Third, James states with confidence that God will forgive – just as we can be confident that the sun will rise the next morning. Here, then, is grace! Fourth, James states that prayers of a righteous man are powerful and effective. In His grace, He then makes us righteous; and He is deeply pleased by the appeals of those whom He has healed.

The first step is possibly the most difficult – to confess our sins we must first recognize those sins. If you are like me, the simple act of recognizing my sin is a willful act. Fortunately, the Holy Spirit gently directs our attention to areas in our heart that represent sin before God. God is gracious to us even in this process: He takes great care with us as He reveals these areas, allowing only what we have the capacity to face at any given time and then giving us the ability to face it. He is with us and for us at every step.

Why does James instruct us to confess our sin not only to God but to our fellow believers? As a group of believers we are a body – confession brings healing not only to each one of us individually but to the body of believers. Finally, James counsels that the prayers of a righteous person are powerful. James recognizes the true and cosmic position of a Christ follower. As believers we can begin to not only know the character and nature of the creator of the universe but also commune and fellowship with Him.