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James walks with his people through every room of life. In chapter 1 he speaks of trials, wisdom, and temptation, and he calls us to be “doers of the word, and not hearers only” (1:22). In chapter 2 he watches how the poor are seated in the assembly. Then he says plainly, “faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead” (2:17). In chapter 3 he turns to the tongue, and to the wisdom that comes from above. In chapter 4 he exposes quarrels, pride, and our easy boasting about tomorrow. “What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes” (4:14). In the first verses of chapter 5 he warns the rich who held back the wages of their workers.

Here is something lovely. The letter begins and ends with the same word. In chapter 1, James writes, “the testing of your faith produces steadfastness” (1:3). He adds, “Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial” (1:12). Now, at the end, he says, “Behold, we consider those blessed who remained steadfast. You have heard of the steadfastness of Job” (5:11). James opens the door with steadfastness, and he closes it with steadfastness. Everything in between shows what steadfast faith looks like on an ordinary Tuesday.

One more thing. James has no farewell. There are no greetings to friends and no closing blessing, as we find in Paul’s letters. His last sentence is about a brother who wandered and was brought back. That is where James chose to stop. I don’t think that is an accident.

So we come to James 5:7-20 with three words: patience, prayer, and restoration.

1. Patience and the Coming Lord (vv. 7-12)

“Be patient, therefore, brothers, until the coming of the Lord” (v. 7). Notice the word “therefore.” James has just spoken about workers whose wages were kept back by fraud (5:4). What should those workers do? Take revenge? Give up on God? James says, wait. The Lord is coming. He will set things right.

Then he gives us a picture. “See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient about it, until it receives the early and the late rains” (v. 7). Moses spoke of the same rains. God promised Israel “the early rain and the later rain” (Deuteronomy 11:14). In that land the early rain comes in the fall, when the seed goes into the ground. The late rain comes in the spring, before the harvest. A farmer cannot make it rain. But he is not idle either. He plows, he sows, and he waits for what only God can send.

Some of you may be thinking, surely the Lord is coming soon. Look at the news. This past week, hundreds of thousands of people marched in the streets of France, and many of those protests turned violent. The war in Ukraine has not ended. Every year brings floods, fires, and earthquakes somewhere in the world. Aren’t these the signs of the times?

I believe they are. Jesus rebuked those who could read the sky but could not “interpret the signs of the times” (Matthew 16:3). He told us we would hear of “wars and rumors of wars.” But listen to what He said next. “See that you are not alarmed, for this must take place, but the end is not yet” (Matthew 24:6). And again, “All these are but the beginning of the birth pains” (Matthew 24:8).

Birth pains do not tell us the hour. They tell us that a birth is coming. James wrote “the coming of the Lord is at hand” almost two thousand years ago. John said, “it is the last hour” (1 John 2:18). We have been living in that last hour ever since. So the signs are not a calendar for us to decode. “It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority” (Acts 1:7). They are a call to be ready. When the headlines frighten us, Jesus says, “straighten up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near” (Luke 21:28).

Impatience is a hope problem. And when hope runs low, it leaks out sideways. “Do not grumble against one another, brothers, so that you may not be judged; behold, the Judge is standing at the door” (v. 9). Sounds familiar? A missionary family waits for a visa. A pastor waits for a church to turn around. Parents wait for a child to come home to the faith. The waiting is long. So we start to complain about one another. James reminds us that the Judge is standing at the door. He hears the grumbling in the house.

2.Prayer and the Praying Church (vv. 13-18)

“Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing praise” (v. 13). James does not save prayer for emergencies. In the hard season, pray. In the happy season, sing. Every season of life has a way back to God.

Then James speaks of sickness. “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” (v. 14). The word for “elders” is presbyteroi. Our name as Presbyterians comes from it. Here is what the elders do. They go to the sick. They pray. Shepherds belong at the bedside, not only in the pulpit.

Notice where the power is. The oil is applied “in the name of the Lord.” And the one who heals is the Lord. “the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up” (v. 15). God does heal. But Scripture is also honest with us. The apostle Paul once wrote, “I left Trophimus, who was ill, at Miletus” (2 Timothy 4:20). So we pray in faith, and we leave the answer with the Lord. Sometimes He raises His people up now. One day He will raise all His people up for good.

Then James widens the circle. “Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed” (v. 16). This is not only for the elders. It is for the whole church.

But the conclusions are another matter. IFS looks for healing in a compassionate Self within. Scripture points us outside ourselves. “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9). We confess to one another. But it is God who forgives. And it is safe to confess to one another because Christ has already carried what we confess.

“The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.” (James 5:16)

Who is this righteous person? We might think of a spiritual giant. James chooses Elijah, and then he says, “Elijah was a man with a nature like ours” (v. 17). Think of Elijah on Mount Carmel. “he bowed himself down on the earth and put his face between his knees” (1 Kings 18:42). Then think of Elijah one chapter later, sitting under a broom tree. “It is enough; now, O Lord, take away my life, for I am no better than my fathers” (1 Kings 19:4). That is the man whose prayer shut the sky and then opened it again. A nature like ours. Weary pastors and tired missionaries, take heart. The power was never in Elijah. It was in the God who heard him.

And there is a righteous One whose prayer never fails. Of Christ the Scripture says, “he always lives to make intercession for them” (Hebrews 7:25). Before we pray for one another, He is already praying for us.

3.Restoration and the Wandering Brother (vv. 19-20)

“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” (vv. 19-20).

Notice the words “among you.” The one who wanders is not an outsider. He sat in the assembly. He sang the hymns. Perhaps he served. Then, little by little, he drifted. Wandering is rarely one big jump. It is usually a slow walk away.

Notice also the word “someone.” James does not say the pastor, or the elders. He says someone. Anyone in the church can be the one who goes.

But how do we go? Paul writes, “Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted” (Galatians 6:1). Gentleness. And humility, because we could wander too.

Look at how God Himself goes after the wanderer. After Adam sinned, God did not open with a lecture. He asked a question. “Where are you?” (Genesis 3:9). After Peter denied Him three times, Jesus did not shame him. He asked, three times, “Do you love me?” (John 21:17). God knew the answers. He asked so that the wanderer could find his way back to the truth.

Jesus told us what kind of Shepherd He is. “What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the open country, and go after the one that is lost, until he finds it?” (Luke 15:4).

Now remember James himself. He once stood outside. He did not believe. And the risen Shepherd came looking for him (1 Corinthians 15:7). I think that is why James ends his letter here. He is not only giving us an instruction. He is telling us what was done for him.

Until the Lord Comes

We live between the first and second coming. James does not tell us when the Lord will come. He tells us how to live until He does. Wait with an established heart. Pray together, in every season. Go after the one who wanders.

The early church had a short prayer for this in-between time. Paul preserved it in Aramaic at the end of his first letter to the Corinthians: Maranatha, “Our Lord, come!” (1 Corinthians 16:22). The Bible closes with the same longing. “Surely I am coming soon.” Amen. Come, Lord Jesus! (Revelation 22:20).

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