A Call to Restoration

James 5:19 – 20

 

Growing up on a farm is fun, except for the work part. During corn season, which was a lot of work, I’d often cut through our corn fields to get somewhere on our property. If I did it often enough, I’d beat a path into the corn field, but it was more fun when the corn got taller than me and I had to rely on my sense of direction and wind my way through the field and see where I popped out at.

 

It’s October, and that means pumpkin patches and corn mazes are open all over the place, even little ole Hilmar has one now. I didn’t get out much growing up on a dairy farm, as my dad would say, “Cows are 24/7.” So, my first visit to an actual corn maze that I can recall was in October of 2006 with my lovely wife, a few years before she became my wife, to the corn maze at Del Osso Farms in Lathrop.

 

Corn mazes are fun and many places come up with cool designs for their mazes. They’re excellent places to just wander around aimlessly for hours and try to find your way to through to the exit. Wandering is a choice because corn maze operators typically give you a map to follow that if you can understand it, it gets you through it without issue.

 

It's funny how our walk through life as Christians can be compared to walking through a corn maze, with the best map in existence, God’s Word. Believers are handed a map and enter the narrow gate onto the path, but if they don’t use the map, they wind up wandering aimlessly and often in the wrong direction and they get lost.

 

But just because they’re wandering and lost doesn’t mean that they have to stay lost. Throughout his letter James demonstrated his concern with more than just orthodoxy, right belief and doctrine. He demonstrated his concern with orthopraxy, right practice and action from a right faith. As such, James wraps up his letter with one last exhortation to believers. Let’s read God’s Word together: James 5:19 – 20.

 

Throughout his letter, James has applied his concern for right practice and action to two major areas, the life of the individual believer and the life of the church. The admonitions and exhortations in his letter apply to both individuals and the church, but what about those who falter.

• Know the truth in order to recognize wandering from the truth.

 

Before anyone can recognize when someone has wandered from the truth, they have to be rooted in the truth themselves. Before being rooted in the truth, they have to know what truth really is, the definition of truth.

 

Jesus defined that quite succinctly. In the Gospel of John, as Jesus ended His teachings in the upper room during the Last Supper He prayed to the Father. In that prayer asked God to “Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth” (John 17:17). All truth comes from God, who has revealed His truth through His Word.

 

And so knowing the truth means knowing God’s Word. God’s Word in the Gospel of John tells us that Jesus is the Word, John 1:1, 14. And Jesus Himself, in that same night, said that He is the way, the truth, and the life (John 14:6). Knowing the truth means knowing Jesus Christ.

 

Believers must be grounded in God’s Word to know the Truth, to know Jesus Christ. I’m always amazed at how Scripture works. This is the power of the Holy Spirit, of God Himself breathing out Scripture. John likely wrote His gospel after James had written his letter, and there is no evidence that they knew each other’s writings. But they did know each other. Paul referred to Peter, this James, and John as “those esteemed pillars of the church” in Galatians 2:9.

 

Jesus is the Word of truth that God made us new through, He is the implanted word that saves us that James talked about in 1:18, 21. Apart from Christ, the individual believer and the church cannot know the truth. But with Christ, they not only know the truth but they demonstrate in their lives.

 

Persevering and enduring trials of various kinds, watching our speech, looking after widows and orphans, showing no partiality, demonstrating genuine faith through real action, putting the tongue in check, seeking wisdom from God rather than selfish ambition, choosing God over the world, demonstrating true humility, and responding properly to suffering are all demonstrations of knowing Jesus.

 

Understanding that right practice and action comes from right knowledge and belief is absolutely imperative to noticing when someone who is a part of the body of believers wanders from the truth, wanders from Jesus Christ.

 

A wandering brother or sister then is someone who stops practicing and acting rightly in accordance with a right knowledge and faith of Jesus Christ. But if as is written in James, that faith is proven by actions or deeds, then does that mean that the brother who wanders from practicing faith has actually abandoned the faith?

 

That can’t be discerned by our passage today or the greater context of James. Here’s the reality, a right faith leads to right actions. The absence of right actions calls into question the faith of the wandering believer. But since a person’s faith is truly between them and God, the rest of the body can only operate by what they see in their lives.

 

In John 10, Jesus says, “I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them of my Father’s hand. I and the Father are one” (John 10:28 – 30).

 

Anyone who truly believes and belongs to the Lord will not be lost, even if they wander in their practice of faith. But if they truly belonged to the Lord, why would they wander? The issue does come up questioning if those who abandon the faith were ever truly saved, if they ever truly knew the Truth, Jesus Christ. Either way, the church has a responsibility to act rightly towards the wandering brother.

 

• Bring back those who wander from the truth.

 

The response of those in the church when one of their own wanders is not dependent upon the reason why they wandered. Maybe their fellow believer has just backslidden, or maybe they’ve turned their back on what they used to believe because they never truly believed. Either way, go get them back.

 

Jesus came seek and save the lost, so whatever the reason some one wanders away from living out the truth of the gospel, the church has a mandate from Christ to go get them. Either to evangelize them, or to restore them, which is what James is focusing on in our passage today.

As a church body, the members of that body must trust the testimony of the other members of that body. A church cannot operate effectively when everyone is suspicious of one another, wondering if every member is truly saved. Believers take other believes at their word, and then they watch for the fruit of their professed faith in Christ.

 

The Apostle Paul makes the same exhortation in his letter to the Galatians. Paul wrote, “Brothers, if someone is caught in a sin, you who are spiritual should restore him gently. But watch yourself, or you also may be tempted” (Galatians 6:1). Believers are not commanded to go around looking for sin in everyone, but rather by knowing the truth they recognize it when it arises.

 

The goal of the recognition of sin is restoration. A body does not operate effectively when it’s missing a foot, or a hand, or an eye, or a mouth. When anyone in the church wanders from the truth, the body must seek them out to restore them into the body.

 

It’s like restoring an old car that’s missing parts that are essential to making it run. First, the person restoring the car has to have the right knowledge and understanding of the car and how it runs in order to recognize what’s missing and what they need to make it work. Then, they have to go out and actively find those parts and bring them to the car to install them and get the car running again.

 

That is what every genuine believer in the church must do when one of their own wanders away. Don’t wait for them to come back on their own. Yes, God can do whatever He wants. Yes, the Holy Spirit can convict and draw them back. But believers are not called to sit idly by and just wait for God to move. God moves through His children, through the believers that make up His church.

 

The importance of being part of the local church cannot be ignored, and James make this clear throughout his letter. The body must stand by fellow believers when suffering, when struggling with sin, by bearing each other’s burdens, and even when fellow believers wander away. This is the core of James’ final exhortation to the church, don’t wait, go get them back.

 

• Reap the rewards of restoration.

 

There’s a real benefit to the wandering believer when they’re brought back. James says the sinner who is brought back from wandering will have been saved from death and his sins covered. A life of sin is dangerous on this side of heaven, but it’s even more dangerous in light of eternity. So this saving that James talks about is both practical and eschatological.

 

Understand, that believers are powerless to save anyone, they can only point to the One who is mighty to save. But believers are tools in the hands of a mighty and merciful God who desires every one of His children to come to repentance and not perish. As tools in the redeemer’s hands, believers effect repentance and humility in the wandering brother or sister, which is necessary to submit to Jesus and experience salvation.

 

Here's the reality, an unrepentant brother who has wandered from the faith is demonstrating that perhaps they never were truly saved. So then, when a wandering brother is brought back into the body and is restored, then the rest of the body sees the fruit that is in keeping with repentance.

 

Whether they were saved in the moment of restoration, of being brought back to the body, or when they originally professed faith in Christ isn’t in view here. The reality of their restoration to the body is that they are indeed saved from death. Both on a practical level and eschatological level.

 

And with that saving action is the covering of not just one sin, but a multitude of sins. That is precisely what Jesus’ blood does for everyone who repents and believes. The sins of the not just the wandering believer, but of every believer are covered by the blood of Christ when they stand before God on the last day.

 

Sin, which James attacked often and so directly in his letter, is both a personal and a community problem. His desire is that believers deal with the threat of sin to their sanctification, both on an individual level and in the lives of others.

 

Truly, the benefit of restoring a believer back into the body is felt by the whole body. Like hearing the roar of a restored engine being brought back to life, there is something truly beautiful about the restoration of a wandering believer back into the body.

Like the restored car being able to operate properly and effectively, the church can continue operating effectively when a member of the body is restored back to where they belong. And it is a cause for great rejoicing.

 

Repentance and restoration are at the heart of Jesus’ three parables in Luke 15: The lost sheep, the lost coin, and the lost son. And on the surface Jesus is talking about seeking out the lost sinner, and bringing them to repentance and restoration. On a deeper level, Jesus is telling the Pharisees and the tax collectors that they are the lost sinners in need of repentance and restoration.

 

They were God’s people, chosen and set apart from among God’s people to lead the rest of God’s people. They were in desperate need of repentance and restoration, and yet they refused to acknowledge the Truth standing before them and speaking to them.

 

But Jesus’ point at the end in Luke 15:32 remains, “But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.” Rejoice and celebrate when a wandering brother is restored to the church, there should be a roar coming from the church that is much louder than a hot rod engine.

 

As a part of the body of believers, you must intentionally seek out those who wander from the faith and actively work to restore them to a right faith evident in a right practice.

 

Christ established His church on earth so that every sinner that repents and believes in Him has a place to call home, a family to belong to, regardless of their past and regardless of their current circumstances. Whenever a member of God’s family wanders away lost, the most natural thing the rest of the family can do is go find them and bring them home.

 

You are all part of this family here. We are a family of believers here. Can you imagine any one of us wandering away? You must be willing to seek them out and bring them back. That’s what families do.

 

Sinners are considered restored because they know that God will show them mercy. Sinners are considered restored because they know Him who is the Truth, Jesus Christ, who bore God’s wrath and justice so that they could experience God’s mercy.

This return, this restoration, to a right faith leads to a restoration of and return to a right practice within the church. It restores what was broken, the body is complete again and can function the way God intended it to.

 

Reality can be challenging though. You might try your hardest to bring a wandering brother or sister back to the church, but they’ve hardened their hearts. It might feel hopeless, but God brings hope.

 

There are no accidents in Scripture, remember God breathed it out. This final exhortation from James comes on the tail of the power of the prayer of faith. Yes, intentionally seeking out and bringing back the wandering brother involves real physical action. Like the command in the Great Commission, you must GO and try to bring them back.

 

But you must also continually bathe it in prayer. And if they refuse to repent and return, you still bathe it in prayer. God hears prayer, and He answers it according to His will, and it is His will that none of His children are lost. So pray and go, and pray some more.

 

Let’s pray.