James Part 12 - Saving the Wanderer

Andrew Grey concludes the preaching series on James with chapter 5v13-20. This is from Sunday 21st June 2026,

Transcript

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Almighty God, Heavenly Father, we come before you knowing that you are the great shepherd of the sheep. You have made your Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, into our righteous and skilful shepherd. And we pray that in the reading and the preaching of the Word, your Holy Spirit would indeed shepherd our souls this morning for our everlasting good and also for the glory of the Lord Jesus, in whose name we pray. Amen. Amen. So James chapter 5, verses 13 to 20. Let's listen to the true and living words of God. Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing praise. Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up, and if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working. Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed fervently that it might not rain, and for three years and six months it did not rain on the earth. Then he prayed again, and heaven gave rain, and the earth bore its fruit. My brothers, if any one among you wanders from the truth, and someone brings him back, 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. Well, thanks be to God for his word to us today. Have you ever lost something that is exceedingly valuable? Children, children, have you ever lost something that is very precious? Some of you know that I once lost my wedding ring. It's a horrible feeling. Now, question: what is most precious to God? So when God looks over his creation, over all that he has made, what is most precious to him? And the answer is the Church of Jesus Christ. That is, those men and women, boys and girls who were made in the image of God and for whom Christ died, joining them to his Son, the most dear and the most precious to him. So, what will the Lord do? What will God do when Christian people get lost? What will God do when Christian people stray? You might remember in the Gospels, Matthew 18, how the Lord Jesus once told a story, a parable about a shepherd and a sheep that strayed from the flock. And the shepherd searches to bring the sheep back. Now, the passage before us this morning, it does have its puzzles, and we have to proceed carefully with it. But what it is about is actually very clear. This passage is about a Christian who strays. So we see in verse 15, here is someone that needs to be saved and to be forgiven. Verse 16, there are sins that must be dealt with. Verse 20, very obviously, here is a sinner who has wandered and is in danger of the death of their souls. So behind this passage is the reality of what is sometimes called apostasy, not just normal sins, if you will, but a deep and a dangerous wandering away from the Lord and from his flock. So what will the Lord do to bring a straying sheep back into the fold of Jesus? And we are going to see here that the Lord will use any means necessary to bring a sheep back, to bring back the wanderer. And we will be challenged. How precious are we to each other? So if that is what God will do, what will we do when a brother or sister strays? Will we try to bring one another back? Now, when you sit down to do serious work, it is good to sharpen your pencil, I find. We have a marvellous electric pencil sharpener at home. So please mentally sharpen your brain. There are some tricky bits in God's word this morning. Please listen actively. And let's also ready our hearts to receive from God. The first big point for us, and hopefully this is familiar as we've made our way through the book of James this term. The Lord uses trials to make his children whole. What is it that God wants most for us? Is it that we be happy or successful or life be easy? No, that is not what he wants most for us, because that is not what is best for us. He wants us to be whole. Turn back a couple of pages, please, to James chapter 1. Remember those verses we started with. I'm going to read James 1, verses 2 to 4. Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. And remember that that word perfect, it literally means whole. Whole W-H-O-L-E. Not split into bits, not double-minded, not split souls. We are made in God's image. If Christians, we are redeemed by the Lord Jesus Christ. So twice over we exist to love God with all of our hearts. And out of that love, to love our neighbour as he wants us to. Yet we love other things too. And we feel this almighty tug of war in our hearts as Christian people. The Lord, though, wants to heal our hearts and unite them. So the tendency of the heart is to say, I love the Lord Jesus, and if we're Christian people, we do, but our hearts stray. I also love other things. Maybe on Sunday I love you, Lord, but on Thursday not so much. And it's that splitness of soul that the Lord addresses. And one of the chiefest tools in our Heavenly Father's hands are trials. Do you remember hard things, heavy things, like the weights on a bar at the gym? And as those weights press down upon us, they call us to be steadfast, literally to remain under and to push upwards, to grow muscle, continuing in faith and obedience, even when life hurts. And through that, so we become whole. Now the Bible is honest, that's not a pleasant experience. Trials, we read about that word trials, don't we? When we meet trials, that is not pleasant. Hebrews 12 really honestly acknowledges that. It talks about the father's discipline and says, it is not pleasant at the time. So, children, when you are disciplined by your father, it is not pleasant. And that is actually part of the point of discipline. It is, though, an act of fatherly love. Fathers who love their children discipline them. So this part of the Christian life, this reality, you know, all of our lives and experiences, they're in the father's hands, even the painful things, that is right at the heart of our passage today, at the end of the letter. Actually, this bit of James 5 and the bit at the beginning in chapter 1, they're rather like bookends. The beginning and the end. They kind of mirror each other. Suffering, prayer, and wholeness. Now, one question that the end of chapter 5 poses, which we have to address, is this. And here's the question: Might a Christian's suffering be sent by God because of their sin. Okay, so might a Christian's suffering be sent by God because of their sin? So it's not just our trials are a consequence of living in a world that's broken by sin. In that sense, all human suffering is a consequence of Adam's fall in the Garden of Eden. The question is more specific. Might a Christian's suffering be a direct judgment by God upon that person's sin? Now, I just want to, in about three minutes, give us a Bible overview of the discipline of God. So the answer to the question would be usually no. Just a few verses earlier on in chapter five, we're given real-live examples, examples to copy. Verse 11, Job. Job, explicitly we are told his suffering was not because of his sin. In all of his woes, he did not sin. He was a righteous sufferer. Verse 10, the prophets, they did not suffer because of their sin. They suffered because of their faithfulness. In the New Testament, in John 8, we read of a blind man, and Jesus was asked, Is that man blind because he sinned or his parents sinned? And Jesus says, No, neither. The Lord uses trials in the believer's life to shape us, to grow that steadfastness, to make us persevere in following Jesus. And he could think of it as formative discipline. The Lord is making disciples, that's what discipline is about, making disciples, followers of Jesus. And by daily trials, he shapes us, he forms us. So we're not talking here about a direct response by God to a person's specific sin. Now, why is it important to know this? There are actually a few different reasons, but one is this, it's a sad reason. You need to remember this when you encounter in the wider church, particularly in some Pentecostal and charismatic circles, the really tragically common teaching that a person is suffering or dying because there is some unconfessed sin in their life, or because they or their family do not have enough faith in Christ. And frankly, that is a really wicked thing to say, and I know some of us have been harmed by such foolishness. Think of the Apostle Paul. He tells us in 2 Corinthians 12 that three times he begged the Lord for a particular suffering to be removed from his life, and the Lord very simply said no, because it was the Lord's wise plan to magnify his grace, to magnify his power in the midst of Paul's weakness. So that's the first part of our answer. Might a Christian suffering be sent by God because of their sin? Usually, no. But the Bible also says sometimes, yes. Sometimes a Christian sickness is sent by God because of their sin. That is, the Lord forms disciples not only by formative discipline, shaping us, but also by what you might call corrective discipline, redirecting us painfully when we have gone seriously astray. We read about that in 1 Corinthians chapter 11. The Apostle Paul there was rebuking the church for the appalling way in which people who claimed to be Christians were treating each other. Weaker Christians were treated disgracefully by stronger Christians, even at the Lord's table, even at communion. And he says something that might seem shocking to our ears, 1 Corinthians 11 30, and that is why many of you are weak and ill, and some have died. That is one reason, by the way, that our ministers at communion we fence the Lord's table. So with that in mind, we come to our passage, James 5, 12 to 20, the end of the letter. One thing we get in these verses is a window into the church. A window into the church where God is at work to make his children whole. And I wonder if if I read, you got a feel for what life in the church involves. There's suffering, there's praying, there's sickness, the elders are at work, the whole church is at work, the whole church is doing things like confessing and praying and seeking to help one another get back on track with Jesus. It's actually an incredibly vibrant, active, real picture of the Church of Jesus Christ. I've tried to sum up today's passage as simply as I can in two words. Pray and pursue. I'm going to say much more about the first, not very much about the second. Pray and pursue. Pray that the Lord would make you whole. That's verses 13 to 18. Think about your day. Think about your week ahead, maybe your diary. God is in and over every single moment of your life. God is in and over every single moment of your life. I hope you believe that. And that means that everything is a matter of prayer. So if all we are and do, wherever we go, we are in the presence of and in the hands of a great and gracious God, therefore all we are and do, and wherever we go is a matter of prayer. And that's what James says here. So verse 13, your suffering, so pray. Ask him, talk to him, lament to him. Your sufferings are in the hands of your God and Father. Or you are joyful and happy. Well, therefore, we should sing praise. You know, those blessings, they come from God. So we we praise him. And by the way, those two things, you know, anguished prayer and joyful songs, they actually fit together, they belong in the same Christian soul. And then verse 14, that next question, is anyone among you sick? We come to this sickness of what James speaks. It too is a matter for prayer, and it is this that James spends most time on here. So, whatever this sickness is, we are in the hands of God as we experience whatever this is. And I want to try and show us from the passage that this sickness here is not like the suffering of Job or the Old Testament prophets or the blind man in John 8, but this is a special kind of sickness. And I think there are some clear clues in the passage that this is a sickness sent directly by God because of serious and unrepentant wandering. This might be one of those bits you need to put your head in the mental pencil sharpener and just sharpen your brain for a moment. Look at some of those clues with me. Verse 14. Notice, let him, that is, this person who is sick, let him not pray. That's interesting, isn't it? But instead call for the elders of the church. So here is a clue. This is not a situation of normal illness. My prayers as an elder of the church are not more powerful than your prayers. But this is a situation that does require the input of those called by God to shepherd the church under the good shepherd. So let the elders pray, anointing him with oil. Now, why anointing? This is not medicine, by the way, this is not medicinal oil. If you're sick, if you need a doctor, get a doctor. Don't get the elders. Almost certainly, this anointing with oil is a symbol of consecration, of being set apart as belonging to God. Like in the Old Testament, priests or objects in the temple, they were oiled, if you like, to show that they belonged to God. It's a physical symbol of something invisible and spiritual. Notice too how in this passage James mixes up the normal language of sin and sickness. So verse 15 he talks about a sick person being saved. He will save the one who is sick. In verse 16, he talks about someone who has sinned being healed. You see, sickness unsaved, sinner healed. So I think the situation here is something like this a person is very ill, and I think by implication, they have a very troubled conscience. They have a sense that they have sinned terribly, so let him call for the elders. And there is some kind of connection between their sickness and their sin. God has sent that sickness as a sign of judgment. He does not approve. Then, with the help of the elders, prayer, confession, repentance, recommitment, and that person is restored to fellowship with God and to health. And verse 16 tells us there is something here for the whole church to lean into. Confessing sins to one another, being honest with one another, as well as when necessary with the elders of the church. This is part of life in a normal and healthy church. It needn't be and shouldn't be done in a way that's intrusive or weird, but there is a normality to this. You know, a humbling of oneself and repenting and coming back to God in the company of and with the help of brothers and sisters. And in these very unusual circumstances where sin has been met by direct corrective discipline from God, and there's repentance, there is also a promise, a promise of forgiveness for the soul, and a promise of short-term healing of the body. The Lord will raise him up. Verse 15. Obviously, um, I cannot promise healing to a sick person. I do not have insight into a person's heart and sin and situation and what God is doing in that situation, but the Lord does. Each one of us, our lives, our times, our griefs, our woes, our sins, they are all under the sight and in the knowledge of Almighty God. And he does sometimes choose to heal miraculously. And these verses tell us and confirm other corners of the Bible that sometimes he connects forgiveness for the soul with short-term healing of the body. And I will raise him up. Now I say short-term healing of the body, and this is this is something really important to clock when we think about the business of miraculous healing. We are all going to die unless Christ returns first. Okay, that is a fact, isn't it? That is part of God's plan. We are all going to die unless Christ returns first. Think about Jesus' miracle of raising Lazarus from the grave. Lazarus died again. What about Jairus' daughter raised from the dead? Well, she died again. A healing by God, either miraculous or through normal human means. That is a wonderful thing. It's a mercy, but it's short term and it's temporary while we wait for the resurrection of the body. Worth putting it in perspective. So, don't miss the wood for the trees. What is the encouragement? The encouragement is to pray. Pray. But specifically, pray that the Lord would make me, that the Lord would make you, that the Lord would make us whole. You know, Lord, show me my sin. And if we are really ill, it is a good moment to reflect. You know, is there a sin that is gripping my life? And it may well be no, but it might be a yes. Things like bodily weakness, being just stopped in our tracks, coming face to face with death, should make us stop and think, where am I at with the Lord and with his people? And in that reflecting, this passage would say we actually need other Christians, the elders of the church, to help, to listen, to pray. So Lord, show me my sin, make my heart whole. And we're given an example to help us and to focus us in our praying. Pray like Elijah. Now, if we were to get in a time machine and zoom back to the Old Testament and to the days of Elijah, what would we find? Now, different eras, different periods in time, they have different characteristics. So if we if we stopped off in our time machine, if we stopped off in the Victorian era, say, we would uh we would build a picture of the Industrial Revolution and progress, maybe of stuff like workhouses, you know, Charles Dickens, maybe Victorian morality. We'd build up an atmosphere of what the Victorian era was like. Well, get back in the time machine, keep going back to the days of Elijah. The days in which Elijah the prophet ministered were days of double-mindedness. They were double-minded days with a capital D. It had all started to go wrong under King Solomon. Solomon, when he was old, his wives turned away his heart after other gods, and his heart was not wholly true to the Lord his God, like his as was the heart of his father David. You see, he sinned grievously, he took many wives, they were worshippers of other gods, pagan gods, and he joined in their worship too. God's response, he split the kingdom in two, the north Israel, the south Judah, and the northern kingdom copied Solomon at his worst, and it just descended into gross evil, idolatry, child sacrifice, immorality, in a bunch of people who claimed to belong to the Lord. And then along is sent Elijah. He was sent to preach against one particular evil king, Ahab, and his people who followed him. And Elijah's most cutting denunciation, it could come straight from the book of James, actually. He said this in 1 Kings 18. How long will you go limping between two opinions? How long will you go limping between two opinions? Will you worship the Lord? Or will you worship Baal, this evil Canaanite god? Make up your minds, people. They were literally double souls. The Lord hated it, he loved his people, and so he made the entire land sick. Corrective discipline, judgment. He sent a drought, and the land thirsted and hungered. And we don't have to speculate about why, because the Bible explicitly tells us this was the Lord's direct response to Ahab's apostasy and the nation's sin. And then there was a measure of repentance among the people. Elijah prays, he falls on his face before the Lord, and the land is healed. The famine ends. Now it's not a random example that James gives here. When he puts Elijah in front of us, and this particular remarkable moment of prayer and answered prayer, it's not random. It helps to show us James is talking about corrective discipline, and more than that, Elijah simply encourages us to pray. The Lord works in response to our prayers. It's a holy mystery, isn't it? But it's glorious. And Elijah is an example of praying for the Lord to bring wanderers back. I mean, that's what it was all about, wasn't it? God honouring his own name, which was being dragged through the mud and bringing wanderers back by whatever means. Now, what do we do with this word of God that's before us here? Some Christian people have consciences that are very easily troubled. Maybe they become very ill, and their first instinct is to think, I must have done something wrong, and that is why I am ill. And if that's you, probably you are not the person that James is talking about here. It's not that your sins are not significant, they are, but that's just not what James is talking about here. Sometimes it is just really helpful and important to talk about that with someone. What is before us here is, well, it's double-mindedness, isn't it? It's apostasy, it's idolatry like in Ahab's day, or gross sins that hurt the body of Christ. It's what was going on in 1 Corinthians 11. It's what we see actually elsewhere in James. Do you remember? Jealousy, selfish ambition, quarrels, fights, killing in the church. It's astonishing, isn't it? And the Lord hates such things. He hates them doubly in those who are his children. And in his power and wisdom and love, he may respond with direct judgment. And it is a fearful thing. And if we know that we are guilty of such sins, then we must repent and seek the help to repent. And the Lord knows that some people become so hardened in double-mindedness, idolatry, hurtful ways that only sickness will wake them up. And you notice this the coming back that the Lord loves, that he wants to see, this repenting, it is not something we are left to do on our own. It's something to involve the church's elders in. This is part of my hour shepherding. You know, I am troubled. I need to talk about something. Those are words we just love to hear. But it also says something about the climate of the whole church. Uh, David Gibson puts it like this Repentance is the family currency, and it should be in our hearts always and on our lips often. It's true, isn't it? Not always easy. Repentance is the family currency and should be in our hearts always and on our lips often. Pray that the Lord would make you whole. Now, last heading, very briefly, though not less importantly. I want to stress that this is not less important, I've just run out of time. There we go, truthfully. Second P pursue. Pursue that other Christians would become whole. And you see, in a sense, what we're being called to do is emulate the heart of our Heavenly Father here. So he desires our wholeness so much that he might hurt us. And so we pray to him. But also we should so desire one another's wholeness that we would do anything to draw a straying brother or sister back. And so James comes to this church in his letter, one last time he says, verse 19, My brothers, my brothers, he loves them. They are precious to God, and so they are precious to him. We have to be precious. We are precious to one another. Now, many of us, we will know what it is like to be lost. You can think of times in our lives when we have been willfully lost, willfully strayed very far from the Lord. And James wants to save his readers from death, for where that straying ends. It takes you to a cliff, and the cliff is eternal death. Now, a Christian shouldn't be able to wander from truth into error and sin without their minister and their elders coming after them. Actually, without other church members pursuing them. So this last couple of verses, they say to one another, they give us all a challenge actually. Would you go find a sinner? Would you go find a sinner and love them enough to tell them what they're doing is sinful and help them repent back to Christ and his ways. This assumes, doesn't it, that Christian people are not islands. Christian people are not islands. We're not even Christian islands. We are connected. We are in a family. There are elders who shepherd and pray. Every Christian is meant to be able to call for them. We're to be praying for each other. Trying to shepherd one another, actually, back onto Christ's way. We've all got a part to play in this search and rescue mission. Let's bow our heads. I'm going to pray. Almighty God, Heavenly Father, we ask that you would please do this word in us. Would you grant us a clear understanding with our heads? And we pray for the kind of heart that is in line with your heart. We pray for your Holy Spirit to grant us a desire and ability to repent and believe, and daily to keep on repenting and believing. When we stray, dear Lord, please would you draw us back? We know that our lives and times are in your hands, and we bless you for that, even as we acknowledge that you sometimes will very grievous and hard things for our good. We pray also, Heavenly Father, for a love for one another. We know that that is part and parcel of a whole heart, not just loving you, but also loving one another, that we might bear one another's burdens, not be shy or embarrassed to encourage, challenge, even rebuke as fellow wanderers who have been brought back in grace through our Lord Jesus. So we thank you for your church. We thank you that she is so precious. We thank you that the church is the arena in which your grace and your Holy Spirit are at work. And we ask for each one of us that we would play our part for Jesus' name's sake. Amen.