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James 5:19-20
19 My brothers, if anyone among you wanders from the truth and someone brings him back, 20 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.
(ESV)
Redeemer exists to celebrate and declare the gospel of God as we grow in knowing and following Jesus Christ.
Invite you to open your Bibles to James chapter 5. James chapter 5, this is our our last Sunday in the book of James. In a couple of weeks, we'll beginning we'll begin a study on the life of David or the gospel And one of the things I encourage you to do is, out on the tables out back there's actually a card, that just a little promotional card, I guess, about that series. And really I'd love for you to use it just as an excuse to invite your neighbor and to talk with them and to get to know them. And so feel free to take those and to hand those out.
Joel Brooks:James 5 chapter or verse 19. My brothers, if anyone 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. Pray with me. Lord, we ask that in this moment we would hear from you, that you would mind. Drop our defenses.
Joel Brooks:Or may your word go forth like a hammer shattering a rock. So God, in this moment, at this time, I pray that my words would fall to the ground and blow away and not be remembered anymore. But Lord, may your words remain and may they change us. And we pray this in the strong name of Jesus. Amen.
Joel Brooks:One of the privileges of my profession is I get to do a lot of weddings. I've done a lot of your weddings. I love it because I mean I've got the best seat in the house. I'm right there and I get to see these 2 people become 1. And if I've done your wedding, you might remember me talking to the bridesmaids and to the groomsmen the night before.
Joel Brooks:I typically pull them all aside and and I I say I just want to talk about a couple of things with you. Know that you weren't picked to be a bridesmaid or a groomsman just because you look really good in a dress or you're gonna look really good in a tux. That might be part of the reason, but that's not the main reason. The main reason is that you're called to be special witnesses to what's about to take place tomorrow. You are to witness the vows that this couple is going to make and it is up to you to hold them to these vows for life.
Joel Brooks:And so that means groomsmen if you hear that, you know, the groom is doing something stupid and he he's thinking about leaving or something like that. You go, you find him, and you say, I'm not gonna let it happen. Alright. I'm not gonna let it happen. Bridesmaids, you do the same thing.
Joel Brooks:They have you next to them up on stage so that you will hold them to their vows. And I've seen that work. I have seen couples who have been in trouble groomsmen fly from wherever they were to go and to intervene and say, Hey, I'm not letting you do it. I'm not I'm not letting you leave this woman. And I've seen it happen.
Joel Brooks:And I've also seen groomsmen fail and not do that. Years back, word reached Lauren, this is my wife, Lauren and I, that a dear friend of ours was possibly having an affair. This was hard news for us to believe because, I knew this woman. I knew her really well. I actually married this couple together, and I had a hard time believing that she would have an affair.
Joel Brooks:Well, as word reached us about this, once we got over the shock, I tried to gather the facts. And and so I just asked a couple of people real quick. I was like, dude, have you heard anything? And, they're like, oh, we've been talking about yeah. We we've talked about this for months.
Joel Brooks:Yeah. We, we really think that this stuff is going on. And, and I was shocked that nobody actually talked to them about it. But they were all talking to one another about it, And they were so concerned, but they were concerned behind this couple's back. And so my wife and I, we gathered another couple together.
Joel Brooks:We immediately prayed, and we sent my wife to go talk to this lady. And, so she called up and said, Hey, I'd like to get together with you. And the lady says, well, it's really not the, you know, great time busy. She goes, no, I need to get together with you now. It's like, oh, okay.
Joel Brooks:So they met at Chick Fil A and had possibly the most awkward conversation of my wife's life as she was very direct, and she asked those questions. That is what we need to do as believers to pursue those who've wandered, not talk about them, not feign some concern, but to actually go with the hope and the intent of bringing them back. This is what James is talking about here. He ends his letter with an exhortation to pursue those who've wandered from the truth. Now we've been studying James for a while and you just gotta you gotta love James.
Joel Brooks:I mean, he's consistent to the end. He, them, they end with a personal greeting, you know, kiss so and so, say hello to so and so, not James. He's just like, hey, pursue those who've wandered. And it, the letter just kind of ends. And it, the letter just kind of ends.
Joel Brooks:But he knows that Christ came to seek and to save the lost. And if Christ is our king and Christ's spirit is inside of us, then we will go to seek and to save that which is lost. It will it'll be in our DNA as a body. Now the phrase here wandered from the truth or bringing this person back. It can mean a couple of things.
Joel Brooks:It can either mean maybe just a Christian who's come into a pattern of sin, or it can mean somebody who's not a believer at all who has left. The person that comes to my mind in this in scripture is Demas. Maybe you've heard of him. He's mentioned just a few times in scripture in in Colossians 4. We read Luke, the beloved physician, greets you, Demas and It says, Demas and Luke, my fellow workers.
Joel Brooks:And so Demas is right next to Luke, I mean, in the position with Paul, and he's a fellow worker with Paul. And gone to Thesalonica. And so you have Demas who was once a strong active member of the church actually serving alongside of Paul and then something happened. He he wandered from the truth. He came in love with the world, and he left.
Joel Brooks:And you gotta ask him, was he ever a Christian? Was he was he not a Christian? And the reality is we we we don't we don't really know at this point. We just know that he's left Paul. But I think the situation is similar to a, to what was happening, in John's church, the apostle John.
Joel Brooks:And he wrote this in 1st John 2 19. He wrote this when a number of people were leaving the church. He said they went out from us, but they were not of us. For if they had been of us, they would have continued with us. But they went out that it might be plain to everyone that they are not of us.
Joel Brooks:And so John seems to think here that those who have left so to bring somebody back who's wandered, it could mean talking about somebody who, who's in sin, who's just left and you're bringing them back, or it could be somebody who doesn't know the Lord at all. And it could be somebody who somebody who doesn't know the Lord at all. It doesn't really matter. Because our job as believers is to find those who are acting like they're lost and to bring them in. And that's what James urges us to do.
Joel Brooks:Now, last week, when we looked at healing, James gave some very specific instructions concerning healing. He he said that if there's somebody who is too sick to make it to church, they're lying in bed, the elders should go to them, pray over them, raise them up, restore them. But here, he doesn't say, elders, I've got a job for you. Professional ministers, I've got a job for you. This is for the whole church.
Joel Brooks:Look at verse 19. He says, My brothers and by the way, if ever in scripture it says, My brothers, you can add sisters just like in English. Sometimes we say he and it's both. It's the same thing here. It's my brothers and my sisters.
Joel Brooks:If anyone 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. My brothers and my sisters, this is a task for every person in this room, not just for the professionals. So don't just call me up and say, hey. I'm, you know, I'm bringing somebody who doesn't know the Lord tonight at church. Can you be sure to talk with them?
Joel Brooks:And they'll I'd be happy to, but you know what? You should as well. James ends this letter here with 2 exhortations to the church that the church as a whole are supposed to do. If you remember last week, he he says we're to confess our sins to one another and we're to pray for one another that we might be healed. And this is what everybody here is supposed to be doing, confessing and praying for one another.
Joel Brooks:We don't go to a professional priest to confess and to pray. We go to one another to confess and to pray. A matter of fact, that is what the priesthood of believers means. When Martin Luther talked about the priesthood of believers, he wasn't talking about, teaching or preaching. We don't have to go to a professional anymore.
Joel Brooks:All of us are priests. And it's the same thing here for sharing our faith. You don't have to bring in a professional. This is your calling. It's a responsibility of every person in this room to be relentless, relentless in bringing people back to the faith.
Joel Brooks:Jesus gave a parable to teach the important of this. I have it in your worship guide in Luke 15. We read, now the tax collectors and sinners drawing near to hear him. And the Pharisees and the scribes grumbled saying, this man receives sinners and he eats with them. So he told them this parable.
Joel Brooks:What man of you having a 100 sheep if he has lost one of them, Does not leave the 99 in the open country and go after the one that is lost until he finds it. And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders rejoicing. And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors saying to them, saying to them, rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost. Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over 99 righteous persons who need no repentance. Now we've heard this story many a times, you know, we've seen the paintings, you know, with Jesus, you know, with the lamb over over his shoulders walking.
Joel Brooks:But we kind of forget how radical this story was in its day. I work out at the Jewish Community Center, which is just over the mountain by Trinity Hospital. I've been a member there for, I don't know, a little over 10 years. I work out just about every day. And a few years ago, I decided to position my locker next to a really old Jewish man who I'd kind of gotten to know, who was in the beginning stages of dementia.
Joel Brooks:And so for the last 4 years, I've had the same conversation almost every single day with this man. I thought it would be a way that I could just kind of show kindness to him and hope Also that if I just kept at it, maybe, maybe some of the gospel will sink in. But every day it's the same thing. It's, he does remember my name. He does remember I'm a pastor.
Joel Brooks:And he always asks, do you have family? I'm like, yes, I've got 3 girls. And he goes, 3 girls. You know, my my son has 3 girls. Always kid him that, you know, he lives in a sorority house.
Joel Brooks:That's great. Do your kids do the most funny things? Because mine say the most funny things. And so we this is every day, all right? We have this conversation.
Joel Brooks:And I I try to steer it in different directions. I try to interject different things, but but it's always gonna revolve around these same things. 2 days ago was different. It started off the same way. And then he, he just, he kind of went on a tangent.
Joel Brooks:He goes, you know, my gentile friend, we it's another one of the jokes that I get to say every day. He goes, you know, I love Gentiles too. And I say, well, I am circumcised, You know? And then we, you know, he laughs and I get to say it every day. But he says, you know, we have, we have a lot of Gentiles here at the Jewish Community Center and, and I love them all.
Joel Brooks:He goes, you know, one of my Gentile friends was telling me the other day, he's like, you know, I've been a member here for 20 years and not one person has ever tried to proselytize me. And he said, you know, isn't that great about our faith, the Jewish faith? It's like that that we don't feel like we have to tell others about what we believe. You know, if they want to come to God, that's fine. We're not gonna we're not gonna try to hold them out.
Joel Brooks:He goes, but but we're not gonna be actively out telling them what they need to believe. And he thought that was the most wonderful thing. That's a mindset that was very present in Jesus's day. That there was not there was not the need to go out and to try to evangelize people, to try to to share the people. No, you're you're born a Jew and and and if and if God wanted you to come in, he would bring you in.
Joel Brooks:And then Jesus gives this parable. And he says that, His and His and His and His and His. Jesus is always sharing his faith. I mean, they notice that about him. He's always eating and he's always sitting and and with all these sinners, the people that nobody really wants to talk to.
Joel Brooks:You know, you're kind of kind when you pass, but you don't really want to have them in your home. Jesus is always eating with them. And then Jesus explains why he does this when he asks the question, which one of you having a 100 sheep, if he is not if he has lost one of them, does not leave the 99 and go until he finds it. Now, honestly, I have no idea if that's a rhetorical question or not. Or not.
Joel Brooks:Because Jesus is addressing scribes and Pharisees, and he says, which one of you when you lose one of your 100 sheep, they're not shepherds. I mean, I don't know if this is rhetorical or not, if they would have been thinking, well, absolutely, we'd leave 99 and go after the one. A lot of them might have think, well, 99 percent is a pretty good ratio. We would just sit right here. But Jesus is saying, this isn't what the good shepherd does.
Joel Brooks:Good shepherd is gonna pursue the one who's lost. Puts the flock out in pasture and he's counting. I'm sure he's like 99. There's the temptation just to say, well, I'm sure I missed one because they all do look alike. And you're like, well, no, he counts again.
Joel Brooks:No, it's just 99. Alright. 1 is really lost. Do do I just I mean, it's just 1. Do I just sit here?
Joel Brooks:Do I just relax? I've already worked really hard. Can I just enjoy the fruits of my labor? 99% is pretty good. But the good shepherd says, no.
Joel Brooks:He's going to go. Once again, he's going to go and he's going to travel. It's going to be tired, dirty work. Sheep don't get lost in the open. It's probably, you know, in a ravine, in a ditch somewhere.
Joel Brooks:And so he's gonna go to the low, the dirty places to look around for the sheep. And then when he finds the sheep, the sheep obviously doesn't want to come. He's like, you know, here's sheep, here's sheep. Doesn't follow his voice. And, you know, do do you know how hard it is taking a a sheep through the wilderness who doesn't want to be held back home.
Joel Brooks:I have no idea, actually, but I'm imagining it's pretty hard. It's not easy work. Listen to me. This is what Jesus Christ has done for every one of us. He was in a very comfortable place, a place of a lot of luxury, a lot of wealth.
Joel Brooks:He had everything he needed or wanted, but then he noticed somebody's missing. And so he leaves his heavenly throne and he comes to us. He comes to us. He gets his hands dirty, he eats with us, spends time with us. And then he shoulders our burdens, he takes our burdens upon himself, he takes our sins upon himself, and he carries us home.
Joel Brooks:To do this with others is Christ like. It's what he has done for us. Jesus is telling these Pharisees here, you completely misunderstand God. He's not up there passively and stoically just kind of looking at us. He is pursuing us with everything in him.
Joel Brooks:Even at the expense of sending me to come and reach you. And when he finds the lost sheep, let me tell you, there is a party. God is not impassive or passive. He's not stoic. He rejoices.
Joel Brooks:Let me tell you what, if the spirit of Christ is in us, this is how we will respond to the lost. You'll go to the places you don't wanna go, to the dark places, the lonely places. You'll be with the people who really annoy you, who you don't want to spend time with, and you go to them, to the people who don't want to hear what you have to say. And you will relentlessly pursue them, and you'll bring them home. It's a joyful, and it's a difficult task.
Joel Brooks:And even as I'm looking around in this room, I can see some people here, which the only reason you are here is because somebody did that for you. They wouldn't let you go. So this is our calling. Don't ever for a moment hear me here. Don't ever for a moment think you're calling is, hey, I'm a Christian.
Joel Brooks:Now I just get to sit in the pasture, sit in the shade, eat, and just get fat and could care less about what happens around me. That is not your calling, and if you believe that is your calling, you will be a joyless Christian. Because the joy that we get, the rejoicing that happens in heaven, what I've heard called the wine of angels is the tears of repentance. That's what makes them married. That's what makes them cheerful.
Joel Brooks:And that's for us too. When we see people come to know the Lord, we get to be a part of that. James ends his letter in verse 20, saying this, 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. This save his soul from death, We don't know what the his soul who that's referring to. In Greek, it's ambiguous, and Greek is not dependent on word order like English is.
Joel Brooks:And so the his soul can either mean the wanderer or it can mean the one who went after the wanderer to bring them back. The saving his soul from death can either be the person's soul who is saved is the one who pursued the lost or it can be the lost who is brought in or it could be both, which is what I believe that James is purposely being ambiguous here because that his soul means both. And this is a very scriptural thought. You find in Ezekiel 3 when God tells, the people says or Ezekiel, you are to declare to them my word. You're to declare to the people my word.
Joel Brooks:And if you don't, their blood is on your hands. Ezekiel, you will save yourself by declaring this to the people. Paul picks up the very similar theme. He tells he tells Timothy in 1st Timothy 4, he says, Guard yourself and your preaching. And if you do so, you'll save both yourself and those who hear you.
Joel Brooks:And I think we can see this when we look at the story of the prodigal son which comes right after the story of the lost sheep. You have the lost sheep, then you have the lost coin, and then Jesus tells about the lost sons. And if you remember that story, you have the wanderer, the one who's wandered from the truth and is coming back. And the father sees him, you know, and runs to him and embraces him and puts a ring on his finger. And then there's the elder son and he says, Come on, you get to participate in this too, in the saving of your brother and the bringing him back home.
Joel Brooks:And his brother says, no. Absolutely not. I mean, you're gonna throw a party for the one who's wandered off. No way. And when No way.
Joel Brooks:And what we see in that parable is when your heart is reluctant, resisting to bring back the wandering sinner. It shows you don't understand the gospel at all. All this time you've been serving your father out of duty and not out of delight. You don't understand his heart and his heart has not changed you. And I think this is what James is saying here is like, if you understand who God is, if the gospel has changed your heart, this happens.
Joel Brooks:And if it's not, your soul is in peril. It's showing that you really don't understand the grace of Jesus Christ. We are to pursue those who have lost who are lost. We're now at the time of prayer right now to pray for those who are lost. Because I I would imagine is even as I'm looking around that there's for some of you, there is a certain person who's popped in your mind.
Joel Brooks:There's somebody you feel like you really need to talk to, to share Jesus with. So I wanna take time to pray before we partake in communion.