We’re back at the same passage as last week. But this week we have a
different focus. This week we’re going to be considering verses 2, 3. ‘You
do not have, because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you
ask wrongly, to spend it on your pleasures.’ I’m going to be talking to you
about prayer. This is a critical area of every Christian’s life. It is at
the heart of his relationship with his God. And so, it is an area where we
all should always be open to and eager for improvement. I would encourage
you, then, to listen carefully and to ponder what I say to you. When the
sermon is over I hope that you would ask yourself the question, ‘What does
this have to say about my prayer life?’
Let’s start with that first sentence that I read. ‘You do not have because
you do not ask.’ James’ point here is clear. ‘You find yourselves lacking
because you haven’t prayed and asked your God for what you need. If you
would ask, you would have.’ Though James is his usual blunt self here, his
comments are very helpful. For one thing they are helpful for those who find
themselves tied up in theological knots over the topic of prayer. As you
know, there are those folks out there who will teach that praying doesn’t
really make any difference. God has already planned out everything that’s
going to happen and that plan is fixed. Praying isn’t going to change it. It
cannot be changed. So, when Scripture calls us to prayer, it’s not to change
God. It’s to change us, or so they say. Now, as you can imagine, one
consequence of this kind of teaching is that people don’t pray. At least,
they don’t pray with any passion or hope that their prayers are going to
make any real difference. They may go through the motions but their heart
really isn’t in it.
Now, what does James think of this whole train of thought, that prayer doesn
’t change what God will do? I suspect that if he ever heard this kind of
thinking that he would get this very puzzled look on his face. ‘What are you
talking about? Of course prayer makes a real difference! You do not have
because you do not ask. If you had asked, then you would have what you asked
for. But because you chose not to ask you haven’t received what you could
have.’ At this point, our friend with the theological knots would ask, ‘But
James how can that be? God’s plan is set.’ You’ll notice that James doesn’t
even consider the question. The reason for that is either that he is
theologically naïve or that he is a wise pastor. I’m opting for the second
choice. The Bible clearly teaches that God has planned out all that happens.
That is a very comforting fact when used wisely. But the Bible also clearly
teaches that your prayers matter. You can affect what happens in this world
by your prayers. James doesn’t try to fit those two truths together. The
Bible never promises that it will explain everything we would like to know.
It just promises to explain everything we need to know to be faithful
disciples. If there are loose ends, we should leave them loose.
In this teaching about prayer, the Spirit offers you great encouragement.
Your prayers matter. And why is that? It’s because your God promises to
listen to you. He promises to act in response to your prayers. So, let’s tie
this to something back in chapter one. ‘If any of you lacks wisdom, let him
ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given
him.’ [James 1:5] Does life at times seem to be a bit confusing? Are there
issues that you need to resolve but you’re not quite sure how? Ask God for
the understanding that you need so that you can sort it out. Ask Him for
some wisdom. If you ask for it, you will receive it. Bring to your Father
those problems that need to be sorted out. He will listen and act.
We live in a world that is awash with overwhelming needs. Can we be
optimistic and hopeful or should we just throw up our hands in frustration
and give up? There can be change. But if it is going to be real change that
lasts it will be change that starts with prayer. Your prayers can result in
that kind of change. If we would but ask we would see God act. Isn’t that
what James is saying?
There are others who have a different problem when it comes to prayer. These
folk don’t pray, but it’s not because they have theological problems or
doubts that prayer can work. In their case, they don’t pray because they don
’t think that they need to. They think that they can succeed on their own.
Yet, the facts stare back at them, if they would just take an honest look at
them. They have not because they ask not. They don’t have the joy of the
Spirit promised by the Gospel. They don’t have the peace of God in the face
of trouble. They don’t have the wisdom they need to handle life. And they do
not have a selfless love. And so, we have Christians who don’t look all that
different from their neighbors who have been able to hold on to a measure of
religiosity. They do not have because they do not ask. I hope that none of
you are in this category. I hope that all of you understand the need for
prayer and that you are working at your prayer lives. And I also hope that
you are encouraged by what James is saying. Your prayers do make a
difference.
Now, there may be some of you who are thinking, ‘Now wait a minute. I do
pray. I do ask. I’ve even prayed a lot about some things. But I have not
received them. Why not?’ James anticipates this. ‘You ask and do not
receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your pleasures.’ Two words
stand out here. The first is translated in the NKJV as ‘amiss’. ‘You ask
amiss…’ That doesn’t quite get at the point. It sounds a bit like you goofed
in what you asked for but that’s not the problem. The ESV, which I just read
to you, translates this as ‘wrongly’. ‘You ask wrongly…’ That’s a faithful
translation in that it points out that your doing something wrong here. But
the NASV brings out the point the best, even though it goes a little beyond
a strictly literal translation. ‘You ask with wrong motives…’ The problem
with these prayers is the motivation. These folk pray for the wrong reasons.
James gets specific by the end of the sentence. ‘You ask and do not receive,
because you ask with wrong motives, to spend it on your pleasures.’ This
word translated ‘pleasures’ is the word from which we get the English word,
‘hedonism’, the love of pleasure. That word covers a large territory. It
goes from the person who gives himself to all sorts of sexual immorality to
the person who always has seconds on desserts to the person runs from any
pain because his life motto is ‘I just don’t want to hurt’. All of these
situations have to do with some sort of enjoyment of pleasure, even if it’s
just the avoidance of pain. To one degree or another they are pursuing
hedonism.
For James, establishing the habit of prayer isn’t enough. He goes the next
step and forces us to ask ourselves, ‘Why do I pray for the things that I
do?’ If your goal is, in some sense, your pleasure, that you might feel good
about life or enjoy this or that, then there’s a problem. For James, it’s no
wonder that the prayers of such a person are not granted. Praying like that
is acting like the world. And that is the context of our two verses. James
is calling the church to which he is writing to be different from the world.
Remember how he tells them, ‘Whoever wishes to be a friend of the world
makes himself an enemy of God.’ So, he tells the church that they can be
worldly even in their prayers. He’s telling them that if the point of their
prayers is their own comfort or pleasure or ease, then they are acting just
like the world. As I mentioned last week, the solution for the problem of
worldliness is an eye that is single. The focus of your life needs to be the
honor of Christ and His kingdom. You need to be reminding yourself, ‘I’m not
here for me. I’m here for Christ’s sake.’ If someone has that focus, it will
show in his prayers. The motive behind his prayer requests will be, ‘Not my
will but Thine be done.’
So, two Christians could be praying for the same thing and yet with very
different motives. If that’s the case we may very well see two different
outcomes. Both might be asking for the joy of the Spirit, claiming the same
promises of Scripture when it comes to this. But the motive of the one might
be, ‘I want to feel happy’ while the motive of the other is, ‘I want my life
to be an example to others of what Jesus can do’. The motives make a very
large difference. We all need to be careful here. We can be worldly even
when we are praying for the right things.
I would encourage you to think about what the Spirit is saying this morning.
I would urge you to discuss it as families over lunch. This is a way to help
your kids with this. I think that it would be especially good for you
husbands and wives to discuss these things together. You husbands need to
take the lead here. The Spirit is telling you, ‘Your praying makes a
difference.’ But remember to consider the motives behind your prayers. Why
do you pray for the things on your prayer list? We all have more to learn
about prayer. As we continue to grow in this area we will see God do greater
and greater things.
