Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction:

Robert Robinson, author of the hymn “Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing,” lost the happy communion with the Savior he had once enjoyed, and in his declining years he wandered into the by-ways of sin.

As a result, he became deeply troubled in spirit.

Hoping to relieve his mind, he decided to travel.

In the course of his journeys, he became acquainted with a young woman on spiritual matters, and so she asked him what he thought of a hymn she had just been reading.

To his astonishment he found it to be none other than his own composition.

He tried to evade her question, but she continued to press him for a response.

Suddenly he began to weep.

With tears streaming down his cheeks, he said, “I am the man who wrote that hymn many years ago.

I’d give anything to experience again the joy I knew then.”

Although greatly surprised, she reassured him that the “streams of mercy” mentioned in his song still flowed.

Mr. Robinson was deeply touched.

Turning his “wandering heart” to the Lord, he was restored to full fellowship.

Ever since the late 18th century, Robert stood as a poster child within Christendom to the story of a backslidden believer.

The Apostle James has something to say about this at the very end of his epistle:

1920

In this abrupt conclusion, James returns to the themes of sin and forgiveness.

In so doing he reveals his pastoral heart for the church abroad.

Today’s passage is related to the previous verses from last week in that forgiveness follows confession.

James’s opponents in the church have arrogated to themselves the right to teach, and to teach a doctrine clearly not with the Jesus’ teachings, a tradition James knows.

David P. Nystrom

The passage is short—in fact, a single sentence.

But it should not be missed that in this one sentence James marshals no less than three significant theological ideas:

(1) Christians have the opportunity and the responsibility to care for one another through the task of loving doctrinal and moral correction.

The theme here is not evangelism, but the care and maintenance of the Christian community.

(2) The penalty for sin is death; James will not equivocate on this.

(3) In this process, the agent of reconciliation “covers” a multitude of sins.

All of us in Christ are called to make disciples and in the process, we are not to lose the ones we disciple, so James starts with:

I.

The faithfulness of a discipler (v.

19)

R. Ellsworth

R. Ellsworth

‘Brethren’ is one of the most prized words in the Christian vocabulary.

It reminds us of great privileges.

Christians have been freed from servitude to Satan and placed into the family of God.

Therefore, they have God as their Father, and they are brothers and sisters in Christ.

But even though they enjoy great spiritual privileges, Christian people are capable of wandering or straying.

They can and do backslide.

Backsliders do not lose their salvation.

How thankful we should be for that!

Backsliding means wandering from the truth (v.

19).

What is it to wander from the truth?

It means loosening our grip on the Word of God to the point that we do not hold as firmly as we once did to its teachings.

And that always leads to the loosening of the Bible’s grip on how we live.

“IF” This is a THIRD Class CONDITIONAL statement.

What does that mean?

It means true contingency, here it is contingent on two actions: (1) one believer strays and (2) another believer is willing to help.

So it is know as “the true ‘IF’”

“Anyone among you” The context is somewhat unclear about the spiritual state of the wanderer.

Is it a person who is a believer wandering away, or is it a person in their group who has not yet fully believed and is wandering away?

Notice how James calls just his readers “My brothers” but he doesn’t call the person wondering a brother--he just uses the word “anyone.”

While you could disagree if the wanderer is already saved, all theologians agree that those who move away from the faith are in serious trouble and need to repent.

The point of this verse is clear: we are to bring the wanderer back—not debate whether or not the person would be lost if we didn’t.

So, in keeping the main thing, the main thing—it doesn’t matter from our perspective whether the wandering person within our camp is genuinely saved for us to go attempt to restore that person to a right fellowship.

Believers need restoration and unbelievers need even more restoration!

However, in considering the whole book, the ‘anyone’ most likely refers to a believer who has fallen away from the faith by becoming involved with idolatry or heresy.

This then suggests that no one here is immune from wandering.

The ‘anyone’ could be any one of us.

I was somewhat surprised to recently have a conversation with a Northland graduate that attended here, at Grace—his home away from home--for years that now has wandered so far away, you wouldn’t believe he ever stepped foot in here.

It is sad, but now he wont talk to me because he became angry as I attempted to show him the error of his current ways.

“if” This is a THIRD CLASS CONDITIONAL contingent on two actions: (1) one believer strays and (2) another believer is willing to help.

So “the true ‘IF’”

To “wander” means a serious departure from the faith—otherwise known as “apostasy.”

Truth, as used here, does not refer to peripheral doctrinal concerns such as bluegrass hymns, but to the central truth of the Christian faith—namely, that Jesus is the Son of God, the Lord and Savior who died for our sins and rose again from the dead.

Choices and actions that lead us toward denying the lordship of the living Christ carry us away from the truth—this is the wandering we are addressing this morning.

James’s description of the backslider should make all of us heed the words of

Believers have a responsibility to fellow-believers who stray.

I love how James words this as an assumption that another believer will indeed go restore that wanderer!

This is the faithfulness that is expected from each one of us!

We are to be making disciples which includes chasing down wanderers.

What is the nature of that responsibility?

James says it is to turn them back.

There are obviously several reasons that those people are no longer here.

Some have left this earth and gone to be with the Lord.

Others have moved out of town.

Some are not here this morning because they are sick or on vacation.

Some have left for various reasons and are now active in another good Bible-teaching church here in town.

But there are some who have just kind of drifted away from the church totally.

I want you to think for a moment particularly about those people.

Who does God bring to your mind?

Take a moment and write down the names of those who God brings to your mind.

I’m going to ask you to pray about this some more this week and see who else God brings to your mind.

When you are done writing the names, put it aside and we’ll return to it at the end.

Believers have a responsibility to fellow-believers who stray.

What is the nature of that responsibility?

James says it is to turn them back.

It is to turn the sinner ‘from the error of his way’

When someone wanders away, the church or Christian community ought to try to bring him back again, but not for judgment.

The church accepts him/her back for repentance and restoration.

When a believer is aware of another believer’s wandering, that knowledge carries with it responsibility for action.

All these images portray a community where people care deeply for each other, and wanderers are not allowed to slip through the cracks unnoticed.

Many of us must admit that we have not thought much about this or maybe it is that we don’t want to think much about it as if ignorance could possibly excuse us.

When we see a Christian straying, we have a tendency to dismiss ourselves from responsibility by saying, ‘It’s none of my business,’ Or we think that our responsibility begins and ends with praying for the backslidden.

but that is wrong!

James would certainly have us to pray for them.

But that’s not all, he wants us also to confront them lovingly with their straying and tenderly call them back to the Lord.

So, are you willing to try to bring back someone who has wandered, or do we simply wash our hands of it while the person goes off into darkness, all the while blaming it on the pastor?

The word “brings (ESV) or “turns” (LEB) (Greek: ἐπιστρέφω epi-strephō) is translated ‘convert’ in KJV and some other versions.

This terminology has caused some to believe that this passage deals with winning the lost instead of reclaiming the backslidden.

But the Lord Jesus himself used the word ‘convert’ in the KJV in reference to a backslidden saint.

Jesus said to Simon Peter:’ (, KJV).