Active Faith When Others Wander

Introduction

Finishing what has been a full six months, going verse by verse through the Book of James. And it has been a good time. As one church member commented to me this morning, it's also been difficult. James is a challenging book. It challenges us and confronts us with our spiritual lethargy and our willingness at times to just live in an apathetic state.

James is a book that is meant to spur us on to faithfulness, not to condemn us when we find ourselves in that state of spiritual lethargy and slowness and faith where we don't always want to put it into action. It's not meant to say, "if you find yourself there, shame on you." It's meant to say, "by the power and grace of God, get going in faithfulness."

And our final two verses of the Book of James point us all the more in that direction today. Turn your eyes if you would with me to James chapter 5, verses 19 and 20. If you need a Bible, we have some over to the side here, don't feel bad getting up to get one. This is on page 1,013 of our church's bibles. James chapter 5 verses 19 and 20. Follow along as I read.

"My brothers, if anyone among you wanders from the truth and someone brings him back, let him know that whoever brings a sinner from his wandering will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins."

Join me as we pray and ask God for his help this morning. Lord, as we come to these final verses in James, we pray that you again would be at work in us, in this room today, to shape and transform our lives so that they would be in accord with your word. Lord, if we have walked into church this morning tired, a bit slow, a bit hesitant even, Holy Spirit, enliven our hearts now. Make the truth of your word clear to us. Make it precious to us. Most of all, we pray that you would draw our eyes to Christ, our good and perfect Savior. Draw us to the one who is the good shepherd, who cares for our souls, who loves us, who speaks to us today by his word, by your word.

We praise you for your word. We praise you that it is true and living and active. So Lord, we expect you to work in us now. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.

James' Overall Message

As we arrive at these last verses in James that we just read, you see them on the page, and they're a different closing to a New Testament letter than we're used to at times. These are just some more instructions that James is giving us. Now, James is a very practical letter, so it's no surprise that he's telling us something that we can get doing and take our faith, the truth that we know, and apply it to our lives. There's no surprise there. That's the whole thrust of the Book of James.

But this isn't a typical goodbye that you'd find at one of the end of Paul's letters in the New Testament perhaps, or even John's letters in the New Testament. It's not a salutation, it's not a farewell, it's not even a benediction, where he's praising God for something at the end of his letter in closing. He just ends it with another instruction. That we would help the wayward and the wandering brother or sister in the church.

But he ends his letter this way for good reason, and it just fits with all that James has told us so far. Consider with me in a bit of review, the broader context of the Book of James. James's aim, if you go to chapter 1, verse 4, is that we would become steadfast, maturing Christians. He walks us through in an effort to be maturing Christians, suffering and trial in the opening of James. Reminds us that we're to be a praying people in suffering, that we're to be joyful in suffering, because God has good purposes for our faith in it. That we're to be humble in suffering. That we're to look to the ultimate and final reward in suffering. That we ought to be aware of temptation in suffering, and even the temptation to question God's goodness. Remembering that every good and perfect gift is from above.

He then moves on in chapter 1 and says, "Do not just be hearers of the word, but doers." Don't pick up your Bible and say, "Yeah, I agree with it, but don't ask me to live it." He says, a true hearer of the word who says they believe the Word of God and cherish the Word of God lives by it and has the word shape not just their beliefs, but their heart and their living.

He shows us how this impacts our relationships and how in the church there's to be no partiality. This is chapter 2. He tells us that we are to fulfill the law of Christ, the law of our Lord, which is, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." And that plays out in the local church as we do not falsely judge each other, but we love one another freely, not looking for anything in return or what you could give me by way of temporal value.

And then perhaps at the heart of the letter, in the second half of chapter 2, starting in verse 14 all the way through the end, he tells us, there is dead faith and there is alive faith. There is faith that has works that accompany it as fruit of that faith. Think of faith as the root and good works, sanctification in your life, as the fruit of the faith that God has worked in you and your trust in Christ and belief in the gospel. But he also tells us that if someone says they have faith, but does not have works, the fruit of faith, is that really true faith? Or is it betraying something else going on in someone's heart? Maybe they're paying lip service to the truth of God's Word and the gospel, but it's not really impacted their heart and it's not affected their lives. Faith shows itself.

It shows itself in chapter 3, in the way we speak and treat one another in our speech. We can build people up with our speech or we can tear people down. We can bless God, James says, with our speech, or we can curse man, made in the image of God. And he says, "These things ought not to be so."

James tells us that at the root of any spiritual sickness and sin in our lives is spiritual adultery. He shows us this in chapter 4, and shows us the remedy to all of our sin in chapter 4, verse 6, that God gives more grace. And therefore the Christian life is a continually humbling life before the Lord, drawing near to him, submitting ourselves to him, rather than ourselves or the ways of the world.

James tells us we ought to submit our future to God, that we ought to submit our wealth to God, and not treasure it, but treasure him. He returns back to the theme of suffering in chapter 5 and tells us we ought to be patient. All of these things, extremely practical matters, practical instructions.

And here at the end of chapter 5, he goes on, continuing with a theme of suffering and the practical nature of hardship in the Christian life. In verse 13, he said, "Are you suffering? Pray. Are you cheerful? Sing praise. Are you sick? Are you spiritually weak? Call the elders." All of it has been directed at, "What do you do with your faith?" But in these final verses, James says, "What do you do when someone else's faith is faltering and wandering to the point that they look like they've abandoned it? What do you do if you have active faith with someone who has what looks like it might be dead faith?"

They've said they're a believer, they've showed up in church, they've been here, they've participated, they've sung loudly, but they're committing themselves to something else now. Sin. They've wandered by way of their action away from the truth that they've professed. You who have active faith, what do you do with those who wander and are struggling and floundering and might look all but gone?

James tells us to go after them, and he shows us what active faith looks like when it goes after a wandering saint. What does it look like for your faith to be alive when someone else's is going the other direction?

Three Points for Active Faith

We're going to look at this passage in three points this morning. Three points, that when you have active faith and others are wandering, what does it look like? It looks like being connected to one another, caring intentionally, and being conduits of God's grace.

Look down at verse 19 and see number one, that if you're going to have active faith when others are wandering from the truth and wandering from their faith, it implies being connected to one another. Now, James isn't saying here, "Be connected to one another." He's assuming you're connected to one another. Look at verse 19. "My brothers, if anyone among you wanders from the truth." And all of James is assuming that you are living in a Christian community, that you're living in a community of faith, that you're living in the local church.

This is why he told us to pray for one another. This is why in verse 13 he said, "Is anyone among you suffering, among you sick?" He's assuming God's people gather and are around each other, that that's just a regular practice. And we need to understand that if we're going to be involved at the level of being able to help those who wander, we have to know them, we have to be near them. Our lives in the local church have to rub up against each other in order for us to practically care for one another and love each other well.

There's an assumption here that we're together, that we're connected, that there's relationship, that we know each other's lives, that we are invested in one another. And so, if anyone among you wanders from the truth and someone brings him back, it implies that you are aware at some level of the spiritual status of those around you in this room. That you have at least a finger on the pulse. I'm not just talking about pastors, I'm talking about church members. He doesn't say, "Elders, pastors, go bring the person back." He says, "anyone among you all," and "someone brings them back." This is a work for the whole church.

You should know what's going on in some people's lives in the church. How are they doing? How's their marriage? How's their work? How's their retirement? How's their health? How's their spiritual state? How's their heart and soul doing in the midst of it all? What are they thinking? What are they longing for? How are they trusting in God?

You should be having conversations with each other, before and after church, during the week, as I know many of you do, asking these kinds of questions. "How can I pray for you? What has God done in your life this week? How is the Lord shaping you in that situation you just told me about?" No one in the local church is a silo, is a lone ranger. The Christian life is interconnected, it's interdependent. You need the people in this room, and the people in this room need you. This passage of Scripture shows us that that is so true.

So, the assumption in these verses is that in order to care for one another, at a really serious level, but even at the most basic level, we're connected to one another in the local church.

Care with Intentionality

Number two, in being connected to one another, we care for each other. And this text shows us that if we have active faith and someone's wandering, we need to care with great intentionality. With great intentionality.

The person here in peril is described as wandering. This simply means that at some point, they were walking on the straight and narrow and they veered off. Are you guys familiar with I've referenced it before the book The Pilgrim's Progress by John Bunyan? It's a story about a character named Christian, it's an allegory is what it is, to the Christian life. And Christian gets saved and becomes a Christian, and he's set on the narrow path. He's warned that there's a broad path that leads to destruction, but there's a narrow path and it's filled with suffering and hardship, it's not going to be easy, but if you make it through you'll make it to the celestial city. And what you find along the way is that there's all sorts of things that draw Christian off the path. Sometimes it's just the shade of a tree nearby and he hops the fence and he leaves the safe boundary of God's will for his life. And there someone comes to tempt him or to pull him away or to deceive him. That's this picture.

This person was appearing to walk with the Lord and be part of the local church and be a faithful Christian, and their faith looked alive. And now something has happened, where the trajectory of their life is obviously no longer God's will. Now it's something different and we can see it and we can attest to it. It's clear. They've departed, maybe not in speech from what they said is true, but their actions betray that they have departed. They have wandered from the truth. The truth there doesn't describe a belief. The truth there is describing their lives that act in accord with the truth. It's not describing wandering from doctrinal truth. It's not that you have a difference opinion of opinion on what a certain passage of Scripture means, is that their lives are running in a different direction than where God's Word directs them.

This can be a quick wandering. And in a moment, it seems like someone's snatched up in the world and ensnared by the devil. It can also be very slow and gradual, where we inch towards the line of what's permissible and not permissible, and we get as close as we can until we jump in it and we're just swimming in it. It becomes clear you aren't where you should be. You aren't where you once were. You're off course.

Wandering from the truth also tells us that there is a reality in the Christian life, that the truth that saves us is the truth that transforms us. Second Corinthians 5:17 tells us, "If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. Behold, the old has gone and the new has come."

You and I are meant to have lives that live in step with the gospel, that live in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ that we have been called to and saved into. To live any other way is to live not in accord with our new nature. This kind of wandering can be so many different things too. For one person, it could just be the temptation and allure of worldly riches that James warns against at the beginning of chapter 5. For others, this isn't just spiritual adultery where we're tethering our heart to something and therefore abandoning the community of faith and God's will for our lives, but it's where we're actually committing real adultery. And we've tiptoed so far away from our spouse or our marriage, that now we're headlong into a relationship with someone else.

This could be telling one lie, getting comfortable with it, enjoying the thought that you got away with it, and telling another lie, so that people think something of you that's not true, so that you can cover your back, so that you can look good in others' eyes. And it snowballs and it snowballs until our life is caught in a web of lies and nothing we do is true anymore.

There are so many things that this could be. It's important, however, that we make clear that the one wandering from the truth is not just any sin someone commits. This person has a clear trajectory of their life. It's a clear path. It's sin that is cherished. It's sin that is unrepentant. It's sin that we're holding onto and and we're digging our heels in to keep ourselves there. It's a life that says, "I love this," not what is good and true and God-honoring.

Notice as well, it says, "If anyone among you wanders." Anyone in the church, but for the grace of God, can find themselves wandering in this way. Proverbs 4, verse 23, says that we should guard our hearts because out of it flow the springs of life. You and I need to be spiritually vigilant. We need to be aware of the realities of our hearts and what we love and what we're drawn to and what we want and make sure that Christ is at the top of the list.

If Christ is at the top of the list, if Christ is what you cherish, if Christ is your joy and your aim and your life, and you can say, "Yes, at the right hand of God, there are pleasures forevermore and nothing else can compare," then it will be hard to wander. People wander when they find themselves cherishing and loving and desiring and wanting other things than Christ himself, who has been given to us by God, who we've been united to in fellowship. "If anyone among you wanders" is a warning to us. Friends, we've all heard of pastors who wander. We've all seen normal church members over the course of a decade go from faithful and energized to the Lord, to departed and gone and distant. We've seen it enough to know, we need to be vigilant.

And we've seen it enough to know that it's so important that we care intentionally for our brothers and sisters in the church. Recently, my family and I, back in May, went camping at the beach. We started what I hope is a tradition last year, we went a couple times, we went this past May. This time we got to camp on the beach. So like our, you know, we parked the trailer and then right there's the sand. Now, we weren't super close to the water. You, you know, you walk about 50 feet and then you're at the water. But being on the beach and camping at the beach exposed me to a new reality that I didn't see the two times prior that we were camping. And this was how many times people need a lifeguard's help. It's surprising. There's a bit of a rip current near us that was pulling some swimmers out. Every single day, at some point, somebody was getting a lifeguard called and needed some help. They had been swimming in the water like everybody else. They had been playing in the waves. They said, "I'm going to swim out a little bit further. I'm going to, you know, boogie board, or I'm just going to swim for fun. This is nice. The beach is enjoyable. It's a beautiful day." And soon enough, what do you know? They look like they're struggling. You see that they're stuck in one spot, no matter which way they're trying to go. They're not sure what to do. And here comes the lifeguard. They drive up, and the lifeguard like stops. They get out of the car. They assess the situation. They get their binoculars out. Where's the person? And immediately they're off running. They grab their buoy or whatever they're taking with them and they go. And they've got one objective. They're not worried about if the water's cold and it's early in the morning. They're not worried about their comfort or if they're going to get stuck a bit. No, they go out, and their job is to bring a wandering person back. Their job is to say, "You've been off course and now you're stuck here. Let me drag you ashore." It's a bit comical at times, because sometimes people are like fighting the lifeguard. And you're like, "No, no, no, just take, take the floaty. They'll help you in. They'll pull you." They're a stronger swimmer than you. And, and people just don't get it. They're like, "No, no, no, you're here now, but I'll, I'll find my way in next to you," you know. "I'm not so sure I need your help."

The picture of a lifeguard is basically what this passage calls you and I to be. You and I are to care for one another in the church enough that when we see a brother or sister wandering, now we're talking about this big picture here of a life gone astray, but even when we see a brother or sister wandering in the smallest of ways, a harsh word spoken that you know is out of line, a lie that they told that you knew the truth of, something small, a small offense even. Friends, go after that and say, "Brother, sister, I saw it. I love you, so I'm going to mention it." And when you see it and it is so far gone like this, we don't care for ourselves in these situations. We jump into the cold and icy water, if we must, to go and rescue a brother or sister. Their soul is that important, the relationship is important enough, and we've grown to love them and commit ourselves to them in the local church. And so it should be natural and second nature for us, like it is for a lifeguard, "Boom! I see it, I go after it." This is what we do for each other.

"If anyone among you wanders from the truth, someone brings him back." Now, there are pastors and elders, shepherds in this church, whose job description is to oversee your souls. We better be going after you. But there better be a host of other people who care for you and are invested in you, who would go after you as well if you start to wander from the truth. I hope in this church, it's just a reality. And it causes people to wonder, "Should I really walk down this path? Because I know I'm going to have five people trailing after me, pulling at my heels, dragging me back to Christ." What a good thing, what a good thing to give someone pause. If we were the kind of church that would care for people so well and so intentionally and with such great love, we did the hard thing and we went after them.

We are all involved in this, and we should do it even if it costs us personally. There are going to be times where you go after a wandering brother or sister and they don't want it. It's the furthest thing that they could desire because they've committed themselves to this sin. They'll accuse you of things. They will call you names. They will say, "Well, if this is what it's going to be like, then our relationship is gone." You should risk personal loss and confrontation, and even harsh words spoken behind you, behind your back, that are not true, slander, for the sake of Christ and for the sake of their soul. It is absolutely worth it. Count the cost and follow after them.

I hope as you're hearing this care that we're supposed to have for one another and running after each other when we wander, that it reminds you of Jesus' words in Matthew 18. And if you would turn there, that'd probably be helpful. We're going to spend just a moment here in Matthew 18. James throughout his letter is constantly basically reiterating in his own personal way, teachings of Jesus. Shouldn't surprise us too much. He's Jesus's half-brother. He would have seen his ministry and heard all of his teaching and been present for it. And here, he just gives us a practical look at one piece of the Matthew 18 puzzle of what do you do when a brother sins against you.

Go to Matthew 18, verse 15. It says this, "If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone." So if a brother or sister offends you or sins against you in some way, your job, your responsibility to them and to the Lord is to go find them. Say, "Brother, sister, this is how you've sinned against me. This is how you wronged me. I want to make it known to you because I love you and I care for you."

Now, there are also instances where love covers a multitude of sins, and we bear with one another, and we have great forbearance and patience. Perhaps not every single little thing is worth bringing up. When it appears that it is, we should go and tell him their fault, between me and him alone. And look at verse 15, "If he listens to you, you've gained your brother." This is you went after a person. This is not even an instance where they're wandering far, but it's clear they've sinned. And when there's forgiveness and reconciliation, confession and then forgiveness and reconciliation, all of that which is costly, it strengthens fellowship in the local church. It unites us together. "You've gained your brother."

But what if they don't listen? What if they dig their heels in and they say, "No, that's not sin," when it clearly is? Or they say, "I actually just prefer this, even if you think that's true and right over there." "If he does not listen," verse 16, "take one or two others along with you, that every charge may be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses." We care for each other so much that if there is clear, outward, identifiable sin. Not fuzzy sin that I can't quite put my finger on or articulate, but clear sin. Something that someone else could say, "Oh, I see that. You don't have to convince me of it." Take others along with you, that they'd be able to establish this as well, in caring for this brother's soul. And you'd all be able to say, "Brother, this is sin. Christ calls you to live a different way, so come with us. Confess, repent, you'll receive forgiveness."

The assumption in verse 16 is that if he listens to the two or three of you, you've gained your brother. But what if he refuses to listen to even a group of you? What if someone refuses to listen to the pastors of the church who are chasing after them? Well, because we care for one another deeply, it says, verse 17, "If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church." Everybody who's a committed member of the local church should now know about this. It's obvious, it's outward, it's unrepentant. This is the obviously, clearly wayward saint. They're running headlong into sin. Tell it to the church. And if he refuses to listen to the church, you should no longer count them as a believer. You should count them as a Gentile, a tax collector. That's Jesus's way of saying, you can't count them as a brother or a sister any longer because the reality of their actions is undermining the stated nature of their faith that they professed with their lips, but they clearly don't live.

It goes right in hand with what James says. "If someone says he has faith, but does not have works, can that faith save him?" Not because we believe in works righteousness. We don't attain righteousness before God, but because when Christ saves us and gives us a new nature and puts a new heart within us, it will produce fruit, even if it's slow fruit, even if it's just a little bit of fruit. But it will be fruitful. Not the fruit of unrepentance, but the fruit of a contrite heart before the Lord and before others.

Conduits of God's Grace

But notice verse 17, there are moments when all of us here together have to run after a brother or sister. And we link arms and we say, "Go after them. Call them back." It has escalated to the point where their soul is in peril. And now all of us must chase after them. We must band together so that they would understand the severity of their sin so that they would be reconciled once again, not just to the church, but to God.

And verse, in Matthew 18, verse 15, it says if you've gained your brother, if he listens to you, if he repents, you've gained your brother. And here, there's a hopeful statement as well. "If anyone among you wanders from the truth and someone brings him back." There's hope here. James isn't saying, and Jesus isn't saying, that if somebody sins and their life starts to veer, that they're totally gone. He's saying, the grace of God can still be active in their lives and you can be the one who brings it to them. Because look at what verse 20 says. "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." That is strong language. And it shows us point three, not just that we should chase after each other, not just that we should be connected to one another in the local church and care with intentionality, but that together, we can be conduits of God's grace and work in each other's lives.

And so there is great hope when we chase after a brother or sister that they will not just be lost to their sin, but that the Lord will restore them and bring them back and use you to do that. Notice the strong language, "brings back a sinner." This is a term that's only used for the unregenerate for the most part in the rest of the New Testament. This person has gone so far that they don't look like a Christian anymore. But he says if anyone brings that person back from their wandering, "they'll save his soul from death." That's spiritual death that's being talked about there.

James is upping the ante here. He's helping us understand the reality that if someone persists in sin, it shows their faith is not true faith, and therefore it's no faith at all. But if you bring them back, if they really are just wandering, it's as if you've saved their soul from death. They were teetering on the edge of eternity. And to bring them back from their wandering ways and the sin that they've begun to love and cherish is such an act of God's grace. And notice here, and in Matthew 18, that it's God's desire, it's Christ's desire that you would be a conduit of his grace to other people.

If you have been poured into with the grace and mercy and forgiveness of Christ, if you have been made a new creation, you are meant to be an instrument by which the grace of God flows to other people and works powerfully in other people's lives. So much so that he can say, "You'll save his soul from death." But you know it's not you saving his soul, it's God who saves souls. It's God who opens blind eyes and dead hearts. And yet you can play such an instrumental part in it. And it's God's desire to use you as an instrument of mercy and grace in other people's lives.

It even says, not just that if you bring someone who's wandering back, that you'll save their soul from death, but that you'll cover a multitude of sins. That's the kind of language that's used of blood that covers sin, atonement almost, covering. You and I can participate in God's work in people's lives and offer them grace and forgiveness and remind them of the forgiveness of Christ that he freely gives. And you can extend it to them.

When a brother or sister comes back from their wandering, you can be the one who reminds them, as they're broken now and they see the brokenness of their sin and they're truly repentant, "Brother, sister, Romans 8:1 tells us, there's no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus." "Brother, sister, first John 1:7 through 9 says that if we confess our sin, he, God, is faithful and just to forgive us our sin and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Don't forget you have a great high priest who's entered into the holy of holies and made perfect atonement for your sin, sacrificed once for all, the blood of Christ covers you completely."

We have the joy and the opportunity to remind others of the grace of Christ, again, to such an extent that it doesn't say, "Let him know that whoever brings back a sinner, God covers a multitude of sins," but you're playing the part here. You're helping, you're pointing them to Christ and you're being a picture for them of Christ. So much so that it says, "You'll cover a multitude of sins." Isn't that such a privilege, to be able to interact with other people so that God's grace freely flows through you, and they receive it and it's from you and your words and your love and your action? But it would cause them to say, "Oh, the grace of God is so sweet." It would never cause them to say, "Oh, that person is so marvelous and wonderful. They're my Savior." No, you're used in such a way that you just magnify Christ, and his glory, and his goodness, and his kindness, and his forgiveness, and his steadfast love is just manifest through you.

That's one of the most joyful things we get to participate in in the Christian life, isn't it? Think of how fondly you think of an individual who the Lord used instrumentally to bring you to Christ. Think of the joy perhaps that you've had in others' lives, if you've been able to preach the gospel to them, and you've seen the Lord totally transform them. We're invited into the joyful redemptive work of Christ. We have the privilege of doing this in the local church, even when it's really difficult, even when it's costly, even when it hurts. This last verse is a reminder to us that it's totally worth it to do this work, to chase down the wandering sheep.

Conclusion

It is a glorious work that Christ has invited us into. James ends his letter this way on purpose. He doesn't end with a greeting. He ends with a press on. He ends with a continue on. Let your faith be so active that it sparks new action in other people's faith. Those who are wandering and look dead, your alive faith can, can be like a supercharger to them, like a spark that reignites their faith and draws them back and brings them in. James ends this way, not even to end on a dour note, because this could be a particularly sad or hard situation, but to spur us on towards more and more faithfulness, to strengthen us as a church, to build us up so that we would be a church marked by faith that is shown and adorned with good works that glorify God and cause others to praise him.

So church, as you reflect on six months in James, think to yourself, even if this has exposed faltering sin in myself, I want to press on. By the grace of God and the strength of the Spirit, I want to press on. Don't forget the Book of James. Let it inspire you and spur you on to live faithfully. Speak of it in the coming months with each other. May this Book of James and these words from God's Word reverberate in us and continually sanctify us so that we would be conduits of God's grace, to each other, but also to the community around us and anybody who would enter these doors.

Let's pray together. Lord, we thank you for your word. We pray now, Holy Spirit, that you would continue applying your word to us, that you'd preach it to our hearts this week, that you'd remind us of your truth in James over the coming months, so that your work would continue going out and continue bearing fruit in our hearts and in our lives and in this church community. Lord, by your word, bind us together in unity around your truth, and may unity in your truth continually build up great love and inspire us towards sacrificial service, and even courageous love towards each other. Lord, make us a church that has active faith so that we live it out, and those who enter these doors say, "The Lord is doing something here. I see the change and the difference that the gospel of Christ makes." And Lord, as we continually grow in faithfulness and you work in us, help us to rejoice in your work and have great joy in Christ. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.