All right, so I grew up in the church, so I was just all around
Christians like my whole life. And I remember a term or like a
phrase growing up, like backsliding Christian.
I don't really hear that word being used a lot anymore to talk
about people. But just when I was younger,
that was just a term that was thrown out a lot like, Oh, he's
a backsliding. Oh, that person backslid.
That's what you don't see in my church anymore.
And it was kind of like a big deal.
And it was kind of like AI don't know, like fodder for gossip to
like, Oh my gosh, did you hear like they're like drinking
again, They're cussing again, like, Oh my gosh, they're
backsliding. And I don't know, like I just
felt like being a backsliding Christian meant like something
really taboo and like untouchable.
And you had like, avoid them and stay away from them.
It's like really bad, right? Well, in today's passage, James
kind of addresses this, this idea of someone who's
backsliding. The phrase that he uses is stray
from the truth, truth being the word of God.
So he talks about people who stray and what we need to do
about it as a church. All right?
So he talks about how to prevent this from happening and also
when it does happen, what can the church do?
Is there anything that we should do or do we just let them be and
just whatever? Bye, bye.
You know, I don't know. Let's find out.
The question today is what should we do when someone
wanders away? What should we do when someone
wanders away? So we're going to read James
chapter 5, verses 15 through 20. OK, 15 through 20.
I'm going to just read the whole passage I can.
OK, All right. This is God's word.
The prayer of faith will save the sick person, and the Lord
will raise him up. If he has committed sins, he
will be forgiven. Therefore, confess your sins to
one another and pray for one another so that you may be
healed. The prayer of a righteous person
is very powerful in its effect. Elijah was a human being, as we
are, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and for
three years and six months it did not rain on the land.
Then he prayed again, and the sky gave rain, and the land
produced its fruit. My brothers and sisters, if any
among us raised from the truth, and someone turn turns him back,
let that person know that whoever turns a Sinner from the
air of his way will save his soul from death and cover a
multitude of sins. Amen.
So what should we do when someone wanders away?
We need to learn to recognize the signs of wandering, learn to
recognize the signs of wandering.
So I'm going to kind of start from the end of this passage
versus 19 through 20. That's where James mentions if
any among you strays from the truth and, you know, turning him
back, turning a thinner from the era of his way.
So when James talks about straying from the truth, some
people might think like, oh, this must be somebody who has
like turned away from God, like they've rejected God.
They're not Christian anymore. But that's not what James is
talking about. He's addressing Christians here,
brothers and sisters, if any among you right.
So these are Christians who have maybe started to drift away from
living more faithfully as believers, right?
You're not being hostile to God, you're not hating him and
blatantly like rebelling. It's just this kind of gradual
wandering that happens when we start neglecting certain
spiritual disciplines like spending time with God, prayer,
worship, coming to church, fellowship, all these things,
right? And I think this happens for
various reasons in our lives. And this is something that can
happen to all of us. Maybe it has happened to all of
us. We're all capable of drifting
away. It could be because of a sin
that we won't let go of. It could be disappointment or
hurt. I know people who've drifted
away because they were hurt by the church, by their leaders, or
they were unhappy with something that the church did or how
somebody acted in the church. And personally, for me, what
I've struggled with is life just getting busier.
I think a lot of us can relate to that, especially as you move
on in the stages of life, you know, you get married, you have
kids, you do, you just get busier.
And for me, when I became a parent, like, I like, it was a
battle to not drift away. I will be honest.
And if I'm being more honest, I did drift away.
And I feel like I'm still recovering from that.
And I just remember like, you know, you have a newborn baby,
life is crazy. You're not sleeping, you're
cranky, you're like fighting with your spouse more.
And then slowly, you know, but surely like I spend less time
with God. It's just too tiring.
I start praying less until that just became more normal, right?
And then another thing was I started listening to the voice
of the world more instead of God's truth.
I started like living by the truth of the world where like,
you know, the world's, oh, you got to do this, You got to do
that to be a good parent. And I always just felt like I
was failing, right? And the further I drifted from
God, the further I'm drifting from his grace, which is what I
really needed the most during that time, right?
I think another reason why we often, you know, drift away or
wander is maybe because we don't take it seriously enough.
Like, what's the big deal? Like God loves me still.
Oh, God's grace, you know, if I wander for a little bit, it's
fine. You know, I can always go back.
I don't know, I feel like that's kind of taking God's grace for
granted. And I think we need to start by
acknowledging what drifting away actually is.
It is actually sin. It's no worse than any other
sin. It's not like the worst than in
the world, but it is a sin. Because when you start living
this way, drifting away from God, you are choosing to live
the way you want to. You're making decisions based on
what you want to do, what's better for you, what's easier
for you, what's more comfortable for you.
Not what God's word is telling you to do.
You're choosing to be in control instead of letting God be in
control. That's what drifting away is
ultimately, right? And it is a sin.
And now it doesn't just happen overnight.
Like I said, it is a gradual process.
It kind of sneaks up on you. It's just a result of many, many
choices that get piled up on one on top of the other where
eventually you're just so used to just choosing what's easier
and what feels better in the short term.
You know, doing your devotionals or quiet time as some of you
guys might call it, it's, it's hard to do OK.
Just ask any Christian, unless you're like like that rare
person who's super disciplined in life.
I've only met like not even a handful of those people.
And like doing quiet time is just really hard.
And even if I'm being honest, sometimes I'd rather be like
doing something else. Like as a pastor, I'll just be
honest with you, OK? Like, you know, like doing
dishes. Like I don't really like doing
dishes, but if there's like a pile of dishes and it's gross,
then I just I want to deal with it right then and there, right?
But then let's say it's usually my devotional time.
I walk in the kitchen and just see that dirty sink and I'm
like, I have to do the dishes. God, I have to.
And then I start doing the dishes like for an hour and then
I'm tired and then I don't want to do anything after that.
OK, I mean, it satisfied this urging me to like get a clean
home, but then, you know, it was just good for the short term,
right? And for parents, it's so easy to
let our kids become the priority in our lives.
And the world will tell you like your kids are everything, but
the Bible says God is everything.
But, you know, like I, I know, I know the struggle.
Like they're always there. They always want something.
They're always needy. And you're just like, oh, OK,
fine. I'll just, I'll just, you know,
meet your needs instead of spending time with God.
I'll do what you want, not what God wants.
So it's, I understand it's very easy to fall into that.
But in the long run, these things don't bring lasting joy.
They don't bring lasting fruit in our lives.
Lasting joy, lasting fruit only happen when we are walking with
God and in community with his people.
Now I bet some of you can relate.
Maybe you guys experience drifting away during a difficult
season in life. Maybe you were struggling with
something, maybe even after, like I know this happens a lot
after a missions trip, people drift away, you know, missions
high and you come back and you're like, oh, like I miss
missions. And then you start drifting away
from God. So you show up to church flest
you pray less until that becomes your normal right now, what can
we do when we find ourselves in this situation?
Is there anything that we can do?
Of course, that's why James Rice's letter point to is we
have to remember why we need the church community, OK, We need
the church community. I know there's people out there
who feel like they can be the lone wolf Christian just like go
at it by themselves. But the Scripture is so clear,
like we need community, all these commands to do this.
And that is all in the context of the church.
And if you're already plugged in, great.
All right, Do your best by God's grace to stay there.
Stay plugged in. OK?
Community is one of the best defenses against straying from
the truth. And of course, we're talking
about a healthy church community, one that's really
striving to live out the gospel, live by God's words.
And there's two key things that James mentions in verse 16 that
a healthy church does, right? Things that the church does to
really help one another stay on track with God, right?
And that's it's confession and prayer, right?
So verse 16 says, therefore confess your sins to one another
and pray for one another so that you may be healed.
And like we learned last week, this healing is not always just
physical, but it is also spiritual.
That's why we confess our sins to experience spiritual healing.
So again, it says confess to one another, pray for one another.
Now, these are things that we can do on our own as well.
We confess and pray. But there is a specific type of
confession and prayer that happens in community, right?
It's mutual confession, mutual prayer.
That's the key here. So confessing mutual confession,
simply telling somebody at church about your sins,
something that you're struggling with, you know, and you don't
have to go into all the sort of details like you don't have to
be like, Oh my gosh, I did this and this is what happened.
And like, just lay out the whole thing.
Like you don't have to do that. If anything, that could be like
stumbling for others and don't do that unless like you feel
like it's actually going to be helpful.
But like just confess your sin what you did.
And that's enough in the Bible, when people confess their sins,
that's just, hey, I admit to God, I sinned, I did this and I
am sorry, God. And that's that.
God's not like you got to recall every little.
He doesn't do that. OK, Shame is not the goal here.
All right, So we confess our sins to one another.
Some trusted people. It could be your CG, which is
why, hey, CG, right? We have CG at our church, like
the main way to get plugged in. We do that so others can pray
for us, right? Praying for one another in the
in this passage happens because we're confessing sins to one
another and then others are praying for you.
And you know, that's what I really the goal of our CG
ministry is, is where you find a place to belong, to confess your
struggles and have these people around you who can really walk
with you and pray for you through your struggles, right?
It's kind of like having people who can keep an eye on you, not
like, in a creepy way, but like when you know, when you're sick,
like, it's nice to have somebody, like, watch out for
you. Like, if you're a parent with a
child who's really sick, you keep an eye on them to make sure
they don't get any worse, right? And if they do get worse, you
intervene. You take them to the doctor or
whatever. And we're all sick, OK?
Spiritually, we're sick. We're sinners.
We need brothers and sisters to keep an eye on us and to
intervene when you start wandering away.
OK, When you're isolated from community, it is so easy to
stray, right? When you're isolated, it's so
much easier to stray. I remember the first time I went
to missions in college, it was after my first year.
It was during the summer. And then that missions team was
awesome. It was like through a campus
ministry I was part of. It was really great.
But you spend so much time with them, training with them for
months, and then you basically spend like almost a month abroad
with them, overseas with them. And then like, you're with them
every day. They're like your family pretty
much. And then you come back from the
trip. And I was living on campus that
summer because I had a summer session to attend, and I felt so
lonely. I'm an introvert and usually I
like being by myself, But that summer I was like, something was
off. I felt really lonely, OK?
And I, I was just so isolated because even our campus
ministry, it wasn't that active during the summers and I was not
plugged into a church at that time.
All right, So I did go to a church on Sundays, but literally
I did not get involved at all in that church.
I didn't serve. I didn't talk to anybody else,
just see people from my campus ministry who were like, most of
them were gone during the summer.
And so I was very isolated, like, spiritually too, right?
So I spend less time with God because no one's around me,
like, hey, let's quiet time. Like, you know, no one's there
to keep me accountable. And I even start like, a
relationship, OK. And then that was like, even
worse, like, for my spiritual life, distracting me even more.
Bad idea. OK, Looking back, I wish I had
made more of an effort to get plugged into a church.
I really do. I think that would have helped
immensely during that time when I was very isolated.
So This is why, you know, community is so important
because that's where confession and prayer happen.
OK, So challenges, do whatever you guys can, right, To stay
connected to a community. And that means as individuals,
we have to do our part. And that part is to show up.
Are you going to show up, participate actively in the
community? Otherwise, like if someone only
comes out every so often, it's really hard to tell when they
start wandering away. Like they're already not coming
out that often. Wandering away means you've come
out not that often. So it's like, oh, it's just life
as usual for them, I guess. But if you're committed and
you've been coming out regularly and you're going through a
season of hardship and you start drifting, then it becomes very
noticeable, right? You just start coming out less,
you know, you just seem different.
If we know you and we see you often, like we'll notice when
you're wandering, right? So that's our individual
responsibility to show up, confess, so that others can pray
for you. All right.
Now, the community obviously has a responsibility to write as a
whole. We have a responsibility to
those who wander. And that's .3, which is we have
to take steps to restore the wanderer, OK?
Take steps to restore the wanderer, OK?
We've really got to pursue restoration as a community.
And so verses 19 to 20 is like James's conclusion of this
letter and he's really ending with this like, like, I guess
challenge the community to really reach out to those who
are straying from the truth. OK.
It's a little different from like people like Paul and they
and their letters, like this benediction, like, Oh my God
bless you. But James is like this
challenge, do this, pursue the wander, like go save them.
You know, it's like a big deal. Bring someone back into
fellowship, restoring them to the community.
We're not supposed to like shame them or cast them out as I've
seen some churches do with people who like backslide.
But we got to show love and grace and and truth to them,
right? And I feel like James is really
offering hope to those who, you know, they might be hearing this
letter that James wrote. And they're like, man, like I
failed in so many areas, like all these like commands and
instructions that James is giving, Like I'm really not
living up to it. But his conclusion is like, hey,
like, you can always come back. All right.
God has the heart to pursue you and to come to bring you back
into fellowship. And so he is giving us hope that
no matter what, no matter where you're at in your walk with God,
you can always come back, right? James says.
Like when someone brings a wanderer back, it's like saving
their soul. It's like covering a multitude
of sins. And that's because it's a really
big deal spiritually when someone's in community, because
it's in community that you can you receive correction when
you're like, you know, not aligned with God's Word.
You get reminded about God's love.
And like I said, people pray for you and help walk with you so
that you're reminded of the gospel day in and day out.
It really helps us stay true to God's words when we're in
community. I think as a community it really
means we have to have a right heart.
And I know having the right heart is hard.
Heart is hard, OK? That's hard to say.
But we have to have the heart of Jesus, OK?
We must have the heart of Jesus, the heart of Jesus where he was
willing to leave the 99 sheep behind to go after the one lost
sheep. OK, now the point of that, you
know, parable that he tells, it's not about neglecting the
99. Like the reasonable, like
logical person might be like, Oh my gosh, Jesus, like you just
have you, you still have 99 cheap.
Just take care of them. Like, who cares?
Like one lost sheep, Like you're going to spend all your energy
like going after the one, like just, you know, cut your losses.
It's, you know, take care of the 99.
But that's not the point of that parable.
The point is God's heart for the lost, for that one individual
soul that God really loves and cherishes and wants to bring
back. That's the point of that
parable, OK? It's not about neglecting them.
It's about him wanting that one to come back.
So that means every one of us here, wherever you're at, maybe
you've been wandering. Maybe you feel like you've
wandered so far. God still has this heart, the
heart of the shepherd. Who left the 99 to go after that
one lost sheep? He has that heart for you and
that's the heart that he wants his people, the church to have
as well for those who wander. So what does it look like to go
after that one lost sheep? You know, some practical things
that you can do is simply you can start by texting the person
that you feel like, oh, maybe they're not doing so well
spiritually. Where have they been?
Like, I don't know, let's, you know, send them a message or
give them a call and then maybe you could, you know, meet, meet
with them for coffee and then of course, pray for them, right?
I think prayer is really the most important thing.
I know, like, I'll pray for you. It gets like kind of overused
and people say it and they don't even mean it sometimes.
But real prayer when you pray, James says it is very powerful
in its effect. It is powerful and effective.
So the prayer of a righteous person is powerful and
effective. Now, who is this righteous
person? What does that mean?
Now, I think if you recall last week's passage, James talked
about elders like anointing and praying.
He's not talking about elders here.
He's talking about anyone, any Christian.
OK. And he talks about Elijah, like
why is Elijah being mentioned here?
It's because he's saying, yeah, Elijah is this famous prophet,
but he was a man just like us. His prayers were powerful not
because he was powerful, because the God that he was praying to
is powerful, right? The God that he had faith in was
powerful. That's why his prayers were so
effective. And the only thing was that he
was righteous, right? What does righteousness mean?
A commentator says this. The essence of biblical
righteousness is dependence upon God in all one's dealings.
To be righteous is to live a life centered upon the word of
God. Not sinlessness, right?
Not sinlessness, But mercy typifies this life.
So who is this describing? Any of you?
Like, if you're someone who depends on Jesus, you've put
your faith in him. You're a Christian, a follower
of Christ. You're a righteous person.
Your prayers are powerful and effective because of who you're
praying to, because of who you have faith in.
I know. I'm sure like there are those of
you who know people who have drifted away or who are
wandering. Maybe you yourself aren't that
season. And it's not because you know
the wanderer hates God. It's not like they stop
believing in him. But sometimes, yeah, life gets
busy, the motivation dies, and then we just lose the strings to
keep going on our own. When you see people drifting,
how do you normally respond? How do you normally react to
someone like that? So that I think the challenge
for us as SBMCI think, they tend to try to, like, keep our hands
out of people's business. Like, oh, like they're going
through something personal, private.
Let's just you know, I don't want to butt in by the Bibles
like, but in sometimes you should, but in OK, like if you
start noticing something and you're like, oh, I haven't seen
that person in a while. I wonder how they're doing.
Pay attention to that little voice.
That could be the Holy Spirit prompting you to act, prompting
you to reach out. Pay attention when you think
that wonder about somebody. OK, so challenge really is SPMC.
Listen to that voice and reach out.
And I'll be honest with you, like there are more times than I
can count where I've kind of just, oh, they're they're
choosing to go leave the church or not come out.
That's on them. And I'm just going to take care
of my own business because I have my own issues to contend
with. I'm trying not to drift away
myself. So I need people to reach out to
me. You know, like I've, I've done
that. I thought that OK, but God is he
was like rebuking me like Esther, you can't do that.
We are called each of us to reach out and to care for one
another, to keep each other accountable.
And I think in the announcements you guys heard about covenant
membership, right? Shameless plug.
OK, but that's why we have covenant membership.
That's the whole point. If you've been wondering like,
what is this covenant membership?
It sounds so like, I don't know, like this old term of covenant,
Covenant just means like a promise.
So, you know, you take this class and if you choose to
become an official member, a custom member, it just means
you're promising to keep one another accountable and to
commit to this church, right? So those are kind of two
keywords, accountability and commitment, right?
So accountability really is about just hey, like I'm going
to promise to do my best. Like if I see someone wandering
or having a hard time, I'm going to reach out to them now,
message them or meet up with them to not punish or shame
them, but to restore them, to help them heal, to bring them
back to God in the community. And commitment is about us,
right? Our responsibility to show up
and to share and to participate in the community life.
So we have our cover membership, but if not that we have our CGS
and even we have growth groups. There are many ways at least
that Archers that you can get plugged in and receive that
accountability and, you know, participate in community and as
a safeguard from wandering from God, right.
So church, let's be agents of God's grace to those who have
drifted away. Let's reach out to those who are
spiritually sick, who are in need of healing and in need of
restoration. So what should we do?
And someone wanders away. My main point is we need to
pursue the wanderer and restore them back to God and the church
community. Let's pray at this time.
Let's just spend a few moments to pray on our own.
Just reflect on the passage, reflect on the sermon, and
that's got to really reveal to you like, where are you at, you
know, in your relationship with God.
Maybe you are in a season of wandering.
Maybe pray that you would be able to come back, that you
would choose to come back. And maybe you are doing well.
But you know people who are wandering right now, pray for
the heart to reach out, the boldness to pursue them for the
sake of restoration. Let's pray that SPMC would be a
church where confession and prayer happen on a regular
basis. So let's pray.