We come, this morning, to the end of this letter from James. And it does
end, doesn’t it? It ends rather abruptly. But it ends on a theme that has
been a clear concern for this wise pastor. James has been concerned for the
people as the Church. Here, that concerns shows in terms of those who wander
away. I can’t help but think that most of you know of someone who has
wandered away. It is all too common – and very sad. So, it is apt for James
to end on this note. Let me encourage you to give your attention to what the
Spirit has to say this morning. It may make the difference between life and
death for someone you know.
Let’s start with this. What’s a wanderer? By that I mean to ask, what does
wandering from the truth look like? It can show in different ways. Sometimes
there is a very bold and forthright renouncing of the faith – but not
usually. All too often, wandering from the truth happens in quiet, subtle
stages. Imagine someone who is a devoted Christian. His life gives clear
evidence of a real zeal for the Gospel. But then there comes a time when
things seem to cool a bit. This is sometimes associated with a significant
change in life. This person enters a new situation. Maybe he gets married or
the first child shows up. Maybe there is a big change with the job. The zeal
now becomes muted as other things tend to take more time and energy. Then
this person seems to be less involved with others in the Church. He starts
missing the small group Bible study he was a faithful part of. Other events
of the Church become less important to him. Then, he doesn’t stick around
after worship to chat like he used to. In fact, it seems at times that he
bolts for the door. Now, in some cases, it doesn’t go any further than this.
But then in other cases it does. It gets worse. This once zealous Christian
gets erratic about being at worship. It’s very hit and miss. And then, he
just stops coming. Now, being physically absent isn’t the key. There are
many who have wandered from the truth even though they show up most Sundays.
Actually, it’s an issue of the heart. The body may be here, singing hymns of
praise to Jesus, but the heart is cold. He’s just going through the motions.
This is what James meant when he wrote about those who wander from the
truth.
Now, please notice something in James’ words. Notice the result of someone
wandering from the truth. He will die. James was not just talking about the
body. He was talking about the whole person, body and soul. He was talking
about eternal death. Our text is a striking reminder of the danger that we
all face. You may be the next person who wanders away from the truth. If you
do, and no one brings you back, you will suffer eternal death. It can
happen. That’s why James has written what he has. And so, I hope that you
see that the issues here are paramount. We are talking about life and death.
You need to see that the danger is real and that the stakes are high.
That leads to this. James’ point in writing these words is clear. Since the
danger is real, you have an obligation to act. You need to bring back those
who are wandering from the truth. This isn’t something that is limited to
pastors and elders. James makes no such limitation. It is something for all
within the Church to pursue. The danger is real, so we all must respond to
it.
It’s at this point that someone might raise point of grammar. ‘But this isn’
t a command. There are no imperatives. You can’t say that we are under any
obligation to act.’ First, there are plenty of places like this in Scripture
where the imperatives show up, and I’ll give you a couple in a minute. But
secondly, and this is why I included this thought, if someone pursues
Christian living based simply on a sense of duty, based on imperatives
alone, then that person will fail – and be unhappy to boot. The prime
motivation in the Christian life is not a sense of duty. The prime
motivation for any aspect of a Christian’s life is love. In this case, the
motivation to act by chasing down those who are wandering away is love for
that brother or sister. What good is obedience to duty without love? Now,
for those examples of imperatives. Let me offer two. ‘If your brother sins,
go …’ [Matthew 18:15] ‘Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression,
you who are spiritual shall restore him…’ [Galatians 6:1] The Scriptures are
filled with imperatives on this topic, and we need to obey them. But we obey
them in a spirit of love and not mere duty. We’ll come back to this in a
moment.
Let’s move on. The right question to ask at this point is, ‘How?’ ‘How do
you bring a wanderer back?’ Each situation is different. So, some ‘one size
fits all’ method is not the way to go. What you need are some principles of
action from Scriptures. You will need to be wise as you work with these
principles, keeping one eye on the Scriptures, to be sure understanding
principles correctly, and the other eye on the particulars of the situation,
making adjustments as you go. Some years ago I attended a seminar on
biblical counseling. It lasted two or three days and it was jam packed with
principles and examples from the Scriptures. At the end of the seminar the
people leading it passed out a card to each of us. We were told that on that
one card was printed a summary of the whole course. And the key was four
words: Love, Know, Speak, Do. ‘This’, we were told, ‘summarizes the practice
of real Christian counseling.’ Love, Know, Speak, Do. I think that these
four words will help when you need to bring back someone who has wandered
from the truth.
First, ‘Love’. Any motive in dealing with people that isn’t rooted in love
is just wrong. If you are going to restore a wandering soul, you must be
motivated by love. As a help, just remember this. Someday, you could be a
wandering soul. If you found yourself in that situation, what would you
want? You would want someone who is pursuing you because he or she really
cares about you. You would want that because someone motivated by something
else probably won’t succeed in overcoming the obstacles to your returning. I
once visited a Christian woman in her home just to see how she was doing.
Her husband, who had wandered from the truth to the point of no longer
attending worship, came into the kitchen where we were chatting and starting
talking with me. In the course of our conversation he brought up the topic
of getting him to return to the church. Sarcastically, he said to me, ‘You
can always make me your church’s project.’ He, evidently, had been in
churches where it had been a project of the church to get someone to return.
Who wants to be ‘a project’? Clearly, this man didn’t. It had the stench of
insincerity to him. Do you blame him? We all want to be loved – and not just
some project. If you are going to be able to restore someone to the truth
you will need to love that person first.
This leads to the next of the four words, ‘Know’. If you are going to really
help someone, you must have more than just a passing knowledge of him. You
will need to know him. We all have a great desire to know and be known. At
the same time, we all have a great fear of really being known lest, now
truly known, we will be rejected. When someone wanders from the truth, it’s
not because he wakes up one morning and says, ‘I don’t think I’ll go to
church anymore.’ In some way or other, his life has been twisted by sin. And
it is that sin, and his response to it, that bit by bit, has led to the
point of his wandering away. If you would restore such a person, you will
need to know about that sin. It is at this point that things just might
become very ugly. It is here that love is tested. ‘Will you love me once you
know my sin, once you get to see what kind of person I really am?’ All too
often, the answer that we hear, or at least that we think we will hear is,
‘No.’ If you would bring back a wanderer, you will need to love that person,
get to know that person, and then make it clear that you still love that
person. And, at times, that is very difficult, to the point that you may
want to give up. But it helps to remember that you are loved like that.
Jesus knows you, really knows you, disgusting sin and all, and He still
loves you. And He calls you to be like Him. That’s why He offers grace – so
that we can be like Him and love like He does.
Once love is established and tested then you’re ready for the next to words,
‘Speak’ ‘Do’. Now, and not before, is the time to work to solve the problem.
And you do that, first, by talking about how the Gospel relates to the
specifics of that person’s situation; ‘Speak’. Then you put the Gospel into
action. You ‘Do’ it. But this always follows the first two words, ‘Love’,
‘Know’. What you’ll find is that this isn’t linear – start at ‘Love’ move
through the steps to ‘Do’ and then stop. It’s cyclical. You ‘Love’, ‘Know’,
‘Speak’, ‘Do’ on one level and then you start all over again on a deeper
level.
All of this, of course, gets us back to the importance of relationships. The
Church is to be the place where relationships flourish. Jesus has set us
free from the stifling bondage of our sins. We are free to love each other.
Sin gets in the way, and will be in the way until the Last Day. But with the
grace of Jesus and by the power of the Spirit we can make great progress
against it. It is in this way that the Church shines and brings honor to her
God.
