James - Part 9 "Prone to Wander"

Would you stand one more time uh with me as I read James chapter five?

My brothers and sisters, if one of you should wander from the truth, and someone should bring that person back, remember this.

Whoever turns a sinner from the error of their way will save them from death and cover over a multitude of sins.

You may be seated.

If you have uh been a disciple for any length of time, um this scenario that James just described might feel a little familiar to you.

There's a song that I really love uh that comes up in my mind a lot, and it's been sung for like 200 years, and it's a real, the author is real raw and vulnerable in his singing about his relationship with God.

And at one point he says, I am prone to wander.

Lord, I feel it.

Prone to leave the God I love.

And that song just kind of it captures what I believe James is trying to talk about here, and in James's words, he's so full of mercy and compassion and encouragement, full of understanding on what it is to be a disciple and how sometimes it is a struggle to be one.

And he hits home on a common uh a common thing that takes place in church.

When one of us who walks through trials or we walk through temptation and it disrupts our faith, and then we wander from the way of Jesus.

Okay, so at the beginning of the summer, before uh right when our kids were let out of school, and before uh um before you may have gone on vacation, and and the this days were getting longer, and the the days were getting warmer too.

Were you thankful this morning?

I don't know if any of you got if you got up early enough to feel the coolness of the day.

It's like, ooh, autumn is coming.

Um this we started, we picked up this old letter and we began to study it together on Sunday mornings.

We've been in this for about like 10 weeks together.

This this book of James.

It was one of the oldest letters written to the church, the first church.

And and here we have this guy named James, and as we've learned, James, James at first did not, he he really was skeptical about who Jesus was.

He struggled with who Jesus was.

And he had an up-close experience with Jesus because he grew up in the exact same household as him.

He was a half-brother, they they shared the same mom, and he was not certain about who Jesus was.

Any of you have a uh a sibling, you just aren't sure about who they are.

Uh and he just didn't know about this guy.

And and then he has this radical encounter with a resurrected Jesus, and it transforms him.

He becomes uh what is written about him, he becomes a wise and peaceful leader in the Church of Jerusalem.

At one point, John chapter 7 describes uh the brothers and says uh, for even his own brothers did not believe in him.

John 7 · chapter mention

If you're new in the room, we we'll read the uh the words in yellow together.

And then he gets radically transformed.

And in this letter, James reminds the church of how they should live a life in Christ and how they must do it together.

That this discipleship is never meant to be done alone.

It's not meant to be like some maverick, independent kind of way.

It's meant to be done together in church community.

And so he writes to them how how uh what he believes Jesus is calling us to.

So if you think back on the last ten weeks, what are some things James addresses in this letter?

What did he address?

Okay, being double-minded.

What else?

What's that?

The quarrels among you?

Is that what you said?

The quarrels, okay.

What else does he talk about?

Come on.

Some of the things they were doing.

Uh do you remember that they were getting angry pretty easily, uh, which feels familiar today.

Uh like anger and be slow to speak and quick to listen.

And then he talked about the tongue.

Victoria taught on that a couple weeks ago, where the tongue is like a fire sometimes that will set ablaze everything around.

And so he just kind of walks through this.

And then he says, the reason we consider all these things is because of the royal law.

To love our neighbors as ourselves, uh, he says.

Oh.

Okay, being doers of the word and not what?

Not only hearers.

Okay, now, okay, it's starting to, yeah, you're remembering.

Uh, and then James finishes the letter with this sentence, these, this one sentence.

Have you ever watched a movie where the movie just ends abruptly?

It's usually independent movies that do that.

They just end abruptly, and you're like, you say out loud, wait, what?

That's it?

Where's the rest of the story?

James's letter ends that way.

It doesn't end like a lot of the other letters in the New Testament where there's kind of a conclusion and maybe some goodbyes and things like that.

James just ends his letter really abruptly.

And he ends it in a way that uh where he just encourages the church to keep going.

That's been his theme the whole time.

Like press on, keep going, persevere through trials and struggles.

And in this last sentence that he writes, he is saying, listen, I know some of you are gonna be tempted to wander away, and you're going to need to borrow the faith of those who are around you.

And those who are around you, you're gonna have to need to, you're gonna need to like lean over and like help these, some of the people who are wandering from the truth to help them and cheer them on.

Like, keep going, press on, don't give up.

And in these moments, they're gonna be really difficult for the person who's wandering and the person who's trying to help, there's gonna be a struggle.

It's gonna feel like this ER room, this triage of this urgency, let's keep going.

You can do this, you don't need to give up.

Let's read this again, James chapter 5.

James 5 · chapter mention

My brothers and sisters, if one of you should wander from the truth, and someone should bring that person back, remember this whoever turns a sinner from the error of their way will save them from death and cover over a multitude of sins.

And James is speaking to this, like this group of people he loves deeply.

These aren't strangers to him.

He calls them brothers and sisters, he calls them like this term of endearment within the church.

I love you.

Would you keep going?

And and he acknowledges that the humans will sometimes wander, and he and and this is what we should do.

They're gonna wander, and sometimes that's through trial, that's through things like a grieving loss, like you just lost somebody.

Sometimes it's through a chronic illness that will not be healed.

Sometimes it's through like church hurt, where there was an abuse in the church, or there's just the way people are treating each other, and and it just disrupts the faith, and you're like, I don't even know if I want to keep doing this anymore.

Or he says, it could be temptations, like you're you your mind gets set on something that's contrary to what God's will is for you, and you pay attention to that, and you start leaning towards that, and you start to walk away from your own faith.

And and James is gonna say, hey, church, you need to help in these situations.

So how are we to do that?

How does James call us to do that?

Does James encourage us to ignore the person and shun them until they finally get their act together and come back in?

No.

Nice, Evie, thank you.

That was a direct yes.

Uh uh and does he does he tell us to control them with our words?

Because we really like doing that, don't we?

I mean, don't we love to control other people with our words and try to convince them that this is the way?

Uh and and so he doesn't ask us to coerce people, and he doesn't necessarily chase people, say to chase people down over and over again.

And I'm sure some of you might be thinking of a story of maybe your own wandering.

At some point in your discipleship, you could kind of feel yourself wander.

Or maybe you've walked beside somebody who has wandered, somebody you love deeply.

Maybe somebody in the room right now is feeling like they're in the middle of it.

So Paul struggled with this with a good friend.

He experienced this uh, he in Paul's letters, the one of the first disciples, he wrote a lot to different people, and he would name people that he really loved, and he would name people that he would serve beside.

And at one point, Paul mentions this guy named Demas, and he says, This is Demas, this is my fellow worker, I really care for him.

And then in another letter, not too long afterwards, this listen, you can kind of feel Paul's heartache as he writes about Demas.

For Demas, because he loved this world, has deserted me and has gone.

For some reason, we don't know the story, we just know this part of it where Paul is telling us about his good friend Demas, who who maybe was walked away from his faith, walked away from his uh this church community, and we don't know what happens next.

There's not kind of a follow-up to the story.

We're stuck right in the middle of it.

I uh I reread uh this last week, I reread Madeline Lingell's A Wrinkle in Time.

Anybody read that ever in their life?

Nice.

Okay.

I read it when I was in fifth grade, I think.

And then I'm like, I just really want to read this again.

It's such a good story.

Uh she's a brilliant writer.

Um, and and what she writes about is she writes about this like great cosmic battle between uh this evil darkness and all of creation, and this uh this character Meg and her little brother, does anybody know her little brother's name?

Charles Wallace.

So she calls him, he's five years old, and she calls him Charles Wallace.

And so Meg and Charles Wallace are called to go onto this journey to help rescue their dad.

And they go out into the universe, and they it's kind of a science fiction story, and they go out, and at one point, her brother Charles Wallace gets caught up into this darkness, and she's standing before a shell of her brother, who is no longer acting like he used to.

He no longer talks like he used to.

And she's struggling with how do I rescue him?

And she kind of works through some different ways and she struggles a bit, and then she discovers that the only way that she can care for him, she can't control his outcome, uh what he does, she can't fight back the same way that the darkness was fighting her.

The only thing that she could do is to love him.

She concludes that this is the only way that she could ever rescue her brother from this darkness, was to love him well.

At one point she cries out, Charles, I love you.

My baby brother who always takes care of me, come back to me.

And then she says, Come home.

Some of the greatest writers throughout uh the last 2,000 years, when they're writing about Christianity, is they use this metaphor of coming home.

And this need for love to make that happen.

And this love can't be a source from ourselves, it's a love that's greater than us that we receive from Jesus when we begin to follow him.

And here she's calling out to her little brother, come home.

The Apostle Paul describes that coming home like in Galatians chapter 6, where she where he describes, brothers and sisters, if someone is caught in a sin, you who live by the Spirit should restore that person.

Galatians 6 · chapter mention

How?

Gently.

Sometimes the church messes that up.

I think they finish that out with harshly.

And so here Paul's like, no, this has to be done.

If you're going to restore anybody, you do it gently, and you do it in a posture of humility.

It says, watch yourselves, because you could also be in that same situation.

Carry each other's burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.

What's the law of Christ?

Love.

Love God and love your neighbor as yourself.

That would be on our minds whenever we're working together with others, especially in difficult situations like this.

That we would gently restore somebody who wanders from the truth of Jesus.

So does Jesus offer any advice on this?

Has he at any point uh offered advice to the deacon uh deacons, to the disciples, uh um in and how do we restore one another when we are falling when one of us falls?

He does.

Thankfully, he does.

So in Matthew chapter 18, Jesus, in this great chapter about forgiveness and restoration, he gives some advice or some instruction.

Matthew 18 · chapter mention

He says, if your brother or sister sins, go and point out their fault and tell everyone about it.

Yes, thank you, Evie, just between the two of you.

If they listen to you, you have won them over.

And this is not easy stuff.

Jesus goes on to say, If they will not listen, take one or two others along, so that every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.

If they still refuse to listen, tell it to the church, and if they refuse to listen even to the church, treat them as you would a pagan or a tax collector.

Okay, this is all done within the church community.

This isn't meant to be done like uh those without the community and within the community, this is done in a community of brothers and sisters who love each other.

And basically, Jesus saying, listen, go to that person and care for them in meekness and in gentleness and in humility.

He's discouraging us from like gossiping and slander.

I think gossip and slander sometimes does more harm than sexual sins that get the most spotlight in church.

And so gossiping, he's like, hey, hold off, like that that that uh uh be careful not to gossip or slander or talk badly.

Let's let's take care of this between one-on-one.

And if that doesn't work, get somebody else who wants to care for that person and restore that person, bring them along with you so you can sit together and seek restoration.

And if that doesn't work, then it it will be in a church community where you care for one another and you love this person towards reconciliation.

What's interesting on the end here is when Jesus says, hey, treat them like a pagan and or a tax collector.

Did you catch that?

If we're not careful, we will interpret that in a way that's grossly misinterpreted, like that could cause such damage.

Actually, have you seen how Jesus treats the pagan and the tax collector?

Well, let's look at one verse that shows what Jesus does with pagans and tax collectors in Matthew 9.

While Jesus was having dinner, he eats with them and spends time with them and welcomes them to the table and says, Keep coming back.

I welcome you to this table.

That's Jesus' posture towards many tax collectors and sinners.

And that's what Jesus is instructing the church to do to care for them even more, to welcome them even more.

In Luke 5, Jesus answered them because some of the uh uh religious people were upset that he was eaten with tax collectors and sinners.

And in Luke 5, it says Jesus answered them, it's not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick.

I've not come to call the righteous, but I have call come to call sinners to repentance.

Think about that beautiful story of the prodigal son.

It's a favorite of mine that Jesus tells.

Where the father gently lets the son go who wants to leave, anyways.

The father is heartbroken, of course, and we see that in the story.

But he doesn't coerce his son.

He honors his son's agency to go away.

And he he he eagerly waits for his return to come home.

In the story, uh you can kind of feel the father just waiting each day to look out and wait for his son's return.

And one day he sees his son on the horizon and he runs and he embraces, and then he throws a party that he came back.

The posture of a good father.

The young man genuinely asks, How can I have eternal life?

And to which Jesus replies, You shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you should not feel give false witness, honor your father and mother, and love your neighbor as yourself.

And the young man replies, I've done all of that.

What else can I do?

And Jesus, full of compassion, says, Ah, you gotta give up that idol of money and follow me.

And it says that the young man walks away sad.

That's an interesting story because you don't see Jesus chase him down.

But Jesus is always willing to welcome him back.

Which is kind of there's a tension there, there's a feeling of like, oh, Jesus Jesus knows the situation.

This young man was really wanting to, but then he walks away, and Jesus doesn't go cling to him and say, Come back.

He doesn't try to coerce him and make him come back.

He releases him and waits for his return.

Uh I shared a little bit of the story a couple years uh a couple months ago.

Uh got a call um from some good friends.

And it was a good friend who who had just uh um who'd been unfaithful to his wife and uh after 20 some years and it rocked the family and it rocked some of the friendship community.

And uh and so I heard many friends uh come around this guy and just like, no, don't do this.

Like your wife is being gracious and she wants you to return.

Don't do this, don't don't give up on your family.

And so he was vacillating back and forth over a period of a couple months, and uh, this isn't in this community, you wouldn't know this person.

And so so uh I I spoke to him for a little while, and it was almost like the sense of urgency.

Don't do this, he's in the middle of this decision, don't do this, this is not gonna be good for you.

And uh and he chose to leave his family.

We we we follow these uh kind of ways that Jesus instructs we do it in a gentle way, it was done in a very gentle way.

And sometimes it just doesn't play out like we hope.

At least not in the moment.

Did grace fail us in this moment?

I don't believe it did.

I think it's still at work.

Grace is at work in his children, in his family, in his wife, and those those around, like, and in the community that's trying to care for all of them and to to to to respond in a way that's uh loving and gracious.

Back in the garden when the the first humans are deceived by the evil one and they give in to temptation shortly after Adam and Eve hear God approaching and they hide among the trees.

Have you ever been there where a decision you make makes you want to hide?

You know what God's response is to our hiding?

To seek.

He calls out to Adam and Eve, where are you?

Have you ever played hide and seek with a toddler?

It is the best thing.

Uh, because sometimes when you're you're counting and you go and find them and their leg is sticking out from the behind the couch, or they're giggling behind the curtain, it's that kind of hiding.

Like, obviously, I know where they are, but I'm gonna keep on saying.

Where are you?

Adam and Eve, it feels like they're just like these two toddlers hiding in the leaves, and God is saying, Where are you?

What have you done?

What has happened?

Why aren't you walking with me in the coolness of the day?

God says.

And this is God's gentle and kind way of inviting them back into relationship with him.

It isn't God trying to control them or to coerce them.

It's about God's pursuing them in their isolation because of their shame.

And he knows this isolation is killing them, and he wants them to respond to his invitation, which they do, which is the great story of the whole book of the scripture.

This great story of God full of grace and mercy pursuing us over and over again.

It's this pursuit of our hearts, even when we start to kind of turn away from him.

God continues to pursue us.

I just love the humanity of scripture where it tells the raw, vulnerable stories of people messing up, people struggling, people making mistakes, and God's kindness and his steadfast love and response to it over and over again.

It's like David committing these egregious crimes, and God responds to his repentance.

It's like the Hebrew people over and over just keep turning from God and he keeps pursuing them over and over again.

Which is super refreshing in a culture that wants to cancel and never offer redemption.

That's the role of the church, to continue to tell the story of redemption and reconciliation, and to embody that story among one another.

I wonder if Jesus, uh, when he brings up the parable of that wandering sheep, I wonder if he has on his mind the garden when the two were hiding and God is seeking them.

Let's read that just one more time.

Matthew 18.

If a man owns a hundred sheep and one of them wanders away, will he not leave the ninety-nine on the hills and go to look for the one that wandered off?

And if he finds it truly, I tell you, he's happier about that one sheep than about the ninety-nine that wandered off.

In the same way, your father in heaven is not willing that any of these little ones should perish.

Jesus, God in the flesh, embodies the good shepherd.

He spends most of his time with the people who were considered unredeemable by the religious people.

He eats and drinks with sinners and the outcasts.

He offers peace and forgiveness to the accused and the adjudged, and he breaks through shame with his presence.

What a good father.

Maybe you're at the place of thanking God once again for just receiving you.

Maybe you're at a place where you are uncertain about this Father and if he is good because of trials that you've walked through.

Maybe you're at this place where you are wondering about this God and does this temptation, uh, is this temptation going to fulfill your satisf uh or satisfy you better than uh Jesus will?

Or maybe you're at a great spot and you're super content with your faith, and you're just thinking of somebody else that you have been praying for who has wandered from the faith.

One of the practices of the church is confession.

And uh, and then the other practice of the church is intercession.

And so we always want to give opportunity for us to practice confession and intercession.

And so, would you go into a posture of prayer with me?

I'll tell you, if you've experienced any kind of wandering like I have, everything within us uh uh uh just feels shameful and we want to hide.

And we forget that the good father is standing in the distance and saying, looking for us and wanting to sprint towards us when we turn our face towards him and embrace us and welcome us in and throw a party for us.

So if you're there, would you go to this good father?

And in continuing in a hard uh posture of prayer, let me just remind you of what the Psalm 32 passage that Rebecca read earlier.

Then I acknowledged my sin to you and did not cover up my iniquity.

I said, I will confess my transgressions to the Lord and listen to this great promise, and you forgave the guilt of my sin.

If someone is on your mind who you care deeply for, and they seem like they're wandering, would you bring them before the father yet again this morning?

Good, good father.

Remind us of your steadfast love.

Would you cover us?

Would you remind us that you are faithful and just to forgive us?

Thank you for your goodness.

In Jesus' name.

Amen.