What can you say about a generation that thinks God is dead and Elvis is alive!

The Yiddish word “chutzpah” seems right. It has no English equivalent, but it refers to one who has an attitude of incredible gall or presumption.

The classic example of a chutzpah is the young man who murders his parents and then asks the court to show mercy because he is an orphan. Now, if we are inclined to smile at that, it isn’t because we think murder is funny! We are amused at the ridiculousness of the situation.

Every generation has its set of values and priorities, yet as we look around our own we see it is not really that different to what God declares of Jeremiah’s day.

Some in our day place ‘wisdom’ (whether in terms of education, culture, scientism, mysticism, etc) at the top of the list. Others place ‘power’ there (personal or collective). To them it means everything, they spend their whole life pursuing and exercising it. Still others give their allegiance to ‘wealth’, the accumulation of things. And increasingly we see that for others it is more the doing of things – ie, experiences. They live for thrills, for travelling, trying new things, being at the cutting edge, etc. Though this could also be placed under the general heading of ‘power’ and even that of ‘wealth’.

What do you want to be remembered for? That seems to be a thought common to people as they get older, increasingly wanting to make their last days count.

It is now towards the end of Elijah’s life, and here we find his last recorded public act. There is still a private act to go, but as far as the wider world can see this is the last ting Elijah does, and it is clearly aimed by our inspired author to leave a clear imprint upon the public consciousness.

Yet the emphasis is not on Elijah making a memorable splash as he leaves this world, but on the sameness or constancy of his ministry. He finishes as he started his public ministry. There are a lot of parallels here to those first days, as indeed to the key moments of his public ministry.

James gathers all he has been saying on prayer to declare that prayer has great power, and that this is not the prerogative of a select few believers or ‘super saints’ but for all believers.

Of prayer James says that it “avails much”. There are two things we should notice here.

Firstly, these words are given the place of emphasis in the Greek sentence, that is at the beginning rather than at the end of the sentence. It is this that James is drawing our attention to; to the ‘much effect’ of prayer.

Secondly, this word “avails”, as Motyer points out, speaks of inherent strength or power to accomplish which makes a person or thing sufficient for the task. It is the same word we find in Jesus’ comment about salt which has “lost its strength” (Matt 5:13). In other words there is a power that is waiting to be unleashed; the power of prayer is very strong.

So far, as we have been considering prayer, James as stressed the Place of prayer, and has moved on to the Power of prayer using the real life example of illness. Here he gives us another, and more clear cut demonstration of the Power of prayer – that relating to forgiveness.

The former dealing with our physical situation, this one with our spiritual situation. The key to powerful praying in the matter of illness was a God-given conviction whilst engaging in prayer.

Last week we saw what God reveals about Himself in this chapter in terms of understanding His ways in evil days. We saw that God sees every detail of all the sinful deeds of people, even those done in the secret places, including the secret places of the heart; that God often permits the triumph of evil over good for a time, but only for a time; and that God is longsuffering and merciful, never delighting in judgement, though He does judge the unrepentant sinner with absolute fairness; that though the judgment of God grinds slowly it grows certainly. We also saw that God delights not in judgement but mercy.

These are things that both believer and unbeliever need to be aware of as they see what is happening about them. Without which understanding the sinner will become arrogant in the continuance and encouragement of sin, but the believer may become anxious and unsettled, even being tempted to turn away from God in resentment and the unbelief of bitterness.

‘Few passages in Scripture have been more extensively misinterpreted and misunderstood than these verses’ (Frank E. Gaebelin). We might add, and as a result more neglected by the church throughout the centuries. Yes we must approach cautiously, yet not with a sense of the impossibility of interpretation. They are written, so they are understandable with the Spirit’s help.

The first thing we must remember is that James is here dealing, not with healing, but with prayer. The letter written to persecuted Christians opened with a call to patiently endure trials (1:2ff) and clearly highlights the nee dot give attention to consistent Christian living even in difficult times. James, with compassionate pastoral care for his suffering flock, sees the importance and necessity of maintaining one’s prayer life. That is what is taking up his thoughts here – he is seeking to encourage us to prayer. As we saw last week, this is to characteristic of our whole life, regardless of present situations, and in a manner appropriate to the situation (ie sensitively not robotically).

As we look at the world with wrong often prevailing over right, where the godly are persecuted and some are even killed, don’t we at times wonder what is happening? Are we not tempted to ask ‘Where is God?’ If God is a righteous God why does He allow sin, why not stop it?

The world certainly throws that question at us as if it is the definitive proof against God’s existence or at least of His love and power to do anything.

This is the picture of world events that is brought into focus in 1 Kings 21, but it also brings into focus the way God works.

When you come to the concluding words of a speech or an important letter you tend to choose them carefully – wanting to assert the main point, or drive it home in some particular way.

Throughout James’ letter he has been continually emphasising the robust nature of the Christian Faith. That it is more than intellectual assent, but life-gripping and life-shaping truth. His letter has been, if you like, a call to godly seriousness and to serious godliness.

This is a message which modern Christianity – which seems to be more characterised by a petite politeness or at the other extreme by champagne froth and bubble – needs to hear.