James: Faith That Works Part 19

James 5:19–20 ESV

19 My brothers, if anyone among you wanders from the truth and someone brings him back, 20 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.

The problem we have is not that people are wondering into the church But that many are wondering away.

To add to this idea, James uses the word translated wander or stray from the Greek verb planao πλανάω which gives us our English word for planet.

These bodies around sun were called planets because mysteriosly they would wonder across the sky.

Robert Robinson, admitted the reality of this warning against wandering in his classic hymn he wrote in the late 1700’s;

O to grace how great a debtor,

Daily I’m constrained to be;

Let Thy grace, Lord, like a fetter,

Bind my wandering heart to Thee; Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it,

Prone to leave the God I love,

Here’s my heart, oh take and seal it,

Seal it for thy courts above.

Prone to wander . . . that’s the reality of James’

final appeal. Drifting is an ever present danger in the life of the disciple.

Mind your own business.

Hank Williams wrote,

If the wife and I are fussin', brother that's our right 'Cause me and that sweet woman's got a license to fight Why don't you mind your own business (Mind your own business) 'Cause if mind your business, then you won't be mindin' mine

I think this meme sums it up well…

Hay, I found your nose it was in my business again.

to confront someone over something personal, however gently and appropriately it is done. It is not really part of our culture—or, to be honest, our church culture—to involve ourselves in the personal affairs of others. It is thought to be meddling and a sign of self-righteousness.

Personal autonomy is the enemy to biblical community.

Biblical Christianity demands that we take a hands-on approach with each other.

James 5:19 ESV

19 My brothers, if anyone among you wanders from the truth and someone brings him back,

We have a biblical mandate to care for the spiritual condition of our church family.

We have a biblical example of one who reclaimed the people of God from the brokenness of sin.

Luke 15:4 ESV

4 “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?

When there is this kind of wandering in our churches—and there will be—we are to go on spiritual search-and-rescue missions. “If ... someone should bring that person back...” (v 19)—my brother or sister’s wandering is not just their problem; it is mine. We are to urge the wanderer to come back to wholehearted faith, loving God with their whole life. It might be someone close to us, or a member of a Bible-study group. It might be someone from church, and we’re conscious we’ve not seen them for a while. It might be an ungodly relationship they’re in, or the pursuit of ungodly priorities. Whatever it is, trying to “bring that person back” from such a departure from the truth is not easy.

We have a biblical motivation to restore the wonderer.

James 5:20 ESV

20 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.

James 1

Your spiritual condition is my business.