As we learned from our study in Job last fall, not all suffering is the result of sin. Job was called by God the most righteous man of his generation. And yet, God allowed Satan to attack him and his family. One of the great debates that Job engages in with his friends was over this seeming contradiction of faith and faithfulness, that God allows suffering on the righteous.
However, that being established, sometimes suffering is the result of sin. There are consequences to sin, and though we may be forgiven for the penalty of that sin, we may still have to endure suffering as a consequence of that sin. An example of that may be someone who sins by drunkenness, and while they were drunk got into a car and caused an accident. As a result of the damages and injuries they caused, they ended up in jail. They may be forgiven of that sin if they repent and confess it to the Lord, but God does not necessarily remove the consequences.
Or another example is that of King David. He not only cheated on his wives by having an affair with another woman, but he participated in killing the woman’s husband in order to cover up his sin. David was certainly a believer at that point in his life. And when he was confronted by Nathan the prophet about his sin, he confessed and repented of it before the Lord. But the Lord brought about certain consequences as a result of his sin. Not the least of which was that the child born of that adulterous relationship died. So in that case we see that sometimes suffering is caused by sin.
Now I say all that because last week we looked at the spiritual restoration of a believer who had suffered in some way to the point of despair and despondency. They were a believer, but they were at such a low point in their faith that they could hardly even pray any more. They were at the end of their rope. They were almost at a point of letting go, of going so deep into depression that they might not recover.
Remember James said that such people should go to the elders of the church who would pray for them so that they might be restored, delivered from this spiritual weakness, restored to spiritual health. But there was an interesting thing that James added to that. He said in vs15 “and the prayer offered in faith will restore the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up, and if he has committed sins, they will be forgiven him.”
Notice that, “if he has committed sins, they will be forgiven him.” He didn’t say because he has committed sins, but if. That shows that this man’s condition is not necessarily the result of sin. But on the other hand, it shows it’s possible that sin had contributed to his suffering. Not everyone who suffers is being punished for some sin. But some who suffer are suffering the consequences of their sin.
Now in these last two verses of James, he addresses that believer who has gone astray, who has fallen into sin, who is suffering the consequences of that drift into sin, and who needs to be rescued and reconciled and restored. So to that point he says in vs 19, “My brethren, if any among you strays from the truth and one turns him back, let him know that he who turns a sinner from the error of his way will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins.”
Some Bible teachers have used this verse as a proof text for evangelism, for the ministry we have been given to reach the lost with the gospel. And while that is our mission, and some elements found in these verses can apply to carrying out that mission, I don’t believe that is primarily what James is addressing here.
I think first of all, we need to remember the context of this letter. James is writing to Christians who are scattered abroad, who are believers, and who are suffering persecution and physical attacks and alienation because of their faith. And the context of the entire book as well as the immediate context of the section starting in vs 13 support that. So from the context we should assume that James is still addressing that situation in the church.
But even more to the point, notice James says this to believers in the church. He starts out by addressing “my brethren.” In every other case where we have found that address in this letter, it was evident that James was speaking to his fellow Christians. Christians are the brethren. The unsaved, the world is not your brethren. But it’s evident that he is speaking about Christians because he says, “My brethren, if any among you strays from the truth and one turns him back…” These people are among the brethren, they are the church, the saved.
So these verses are not about evangelism. They are about spiritual restoration of the wayward prodigal. You remember the story of the prodigal son. He was part of the family, but he went away from home and fell into sin, and experienced suffering as a result of that sin. So James is acknowledging that there will be some from among them who will wander away from the truth, who will fall back into the path of sin. It may be a brief time, or even season in their life, when they abandon the path of righteousness and stray into sin. And James indicates that they need to be rescued.
Jesus told a parable about such a rescue operation. He said in Luke 15:4-7 "What man among you, if he has a hundred sheep and has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the open pasture and go after the one which is lost until he finds it? 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, 'Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost!' I tell you that in the same way, there will be [more] joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.” The sheep was part of the fold, belonged to the Master, yet had gone astray and was in need of deliverance.
So on a similar note James ends this letter by encouraging the church to go after those that have strayed. He first describes the runaway and then he describes the rescue operation. And we will see two primary characters in this scene - the prodigal and the pursuer … and then there’s the prize.
First let’s take a closer look at the prodigal. So James says, “My brethren, if any among you strays from the truth…” He’s talking about a believer from among the church straying from the truth. An unbeliever doesn’t stray from the truth. He can’t stray from it because he has never known the truth.
2 Cor. 4:4 says the unbeliever is blinded to the truth. 1 Peter 2:8 says the unbeliever is offended by the truth. Romans 1:18 says he suppresses the truth. Rom. 1:25 says he would rather believe a lie than the truth. And 2 Thess. 2:10 says he did not receive the love of the truth so as to be saved. So a believer is the only one who can wander away from the truth, because the unsaved never had the truth. A prodigal then is someone who belongs to the family from which he’s wandered away.
Though he may wander away for a time or even a season, the indication is from the original text that he does not habitually live apart from the truth, but it is speaking of occasionally drifting away. So the prodigal is what we used to call a backslider. That term isn’t used so much today. I used to think as I was growing up in the church that it referred to someone who sat in the back of the church. But it actually means someone who was on the uphill path of following the truth, but who began to slide back down into sin.
The term that James uses for wander is from the Greek word planeo, which is where we get our word planet. These bodies around sun were called planets because they seemed to wander in the sky.
The fact is, you don’t have to do much to become backslidden. In fact, doing nothing is what causes your spiritual house to become disordered. Just like with your physical house, when you stop cutting the grass, stop fixing things that break, stop vacuuming, stop painting, and before you know it, your house is a mess. Those little things start to mount up.
Notice the thing which the prodigal drifts away from - the truth. The truth is the way of truth. It is doctrine of truth. It’s the gospel of truth. Heb 2:1 say, “For this reason we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away [from it.]”
The tempter is always going to try to seduce us away from the truth. To compromise the truth. To try to change the truth to something more palatable, something less offensive, something that is more accommodating to the ways of the world. Drifting from the truth is always connected at some point to a decision where you think “you don’t need to interpret that scripture so legalistically. You don’t need to be so rigid, so dogmatic. You don’t need to be fanatical. After all, you’re human. This is how God made you. There’s no harm in it. It’s not really a sin.” And so you begin to coast, until you realize after a time that you have actually drifted far away from where you started. If you are not moving forward, you are automatically drifting backward. The Christian life is either swimming against the current or being swept away by the current. You can’t tread water as a Christian.
I read a quote by D. A. Carson, a well known pastor and commentator who wrote, “We do not drift toward holiness. We do not drift toward godliness, prayer, obedience to Scripture, faith, and delight in the Lord. We drift toward compromise and call it tolerance; we drift toward disobedience and call it freedom; we drift toward superstition and call it faith; we drift toward prayerlessness and delude ourselves into thinking we have escaped legalism; we drift toward godlessness and convince ourselves we have been liberated.”
So as he comes to the conclusion of his letter, James gives us a warning that there will be some who will drift away, who will wander away from the truth, and give heed to seducing spirits who will try to convince them that you can still be ok if you don’t take it all so seriously. James warns that drifting is an ever present danger in the life of the disciple. So in response to that danger, he speaks to those who would rescue the drifter from that danger. He speaks to the pursuer.
Notice next in verse 19 the description of the pursuer is one who turns him back. Then notice verse. 20, he turns a sinner from the error of his way. In other words, they’re heading in the wrong direction and you turn them around. The word for turn can refer to the conversion of an unbeliever who turns to God for salvation. But it can also be used of restoration and fellowship which fits the context here since James is clearly writing to Christians about wayward believers from among them.
For example, the Lord Jesus used this word in Luke 22:32 when He told Peter that Peter would deny Him, “but I have prayed for you, that your faith may not fail; and you, when once you have turned again, strengthen your brothers." Jesus used the same word for Peter returning to his walk of obedience that James uses here for the prodigal who is turned back to the path.
So the pursuer in effect, performs an act of intervention, confronting him with the truth, confronting him with his sin, so that he turns around and heads once again in the right direction. That’s what Nathan the prophet did for David. It’s what Jesus did for Peter when He pursued him after His resurrection and gave Peter the opportunity for reconciliation.
I think to confront a prodigal and turn him back is an act of love. We often wonder how are we supposed to love one another. This is one way. You turn back someone who is drifting from the error of his ways. It’s like the love of a parent that reproves a child who misbehaves. Because the parent loves the child he disciplines them. Not because he hates the child, but because he knows this way is best for them and he loves them and wants what’s best for them. Proverbs 13:24 says “He who withholds his rod hates his son, But he who loves him disciplines him diligently.”
And likewise, God our Father disciplines us when we need it, because He loves us. Heb 12:6 says, “FOR THOSE WHOM THE LORD LOVES HE DISCIPLINES, AND HE SCOURGES EVERY SON WHOM HE RECEIVES.” That discipline may result in the prodigal suffering as a result of their sin. That may be the way God uses to turn them. To get them to see the error of their ways. And in like manner, God uses other believers to be the instrument by which the sinner is turned back. A Christian brother or sister is often the agent of restoration that God choses to use.
That means that we need to speak the truth in love to the one who is backsliding. Eph 4:14-16 says, “As a result, we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming; but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all [aspects] into Him who is the head, [even] Christ, from whom the whole body, being fitted and held together by what every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love.” Speaking the truth in love to the one who has been deceived, who has be tricked into believing the devil’s lies, who has drifted away from the truth, is the means that God uses to accomplish reconciliation and restoration.
Listen, we don’t turn back the prodigal by ignoring their sin. Or by accommodating their false doctrine. Or by trying not to offend them or say something awkward. No, we have to point out their error, point out their sin, and tell them that the way they are going leads to destruction. That’s the ministry of the pursuer. To say this is the wrong way, come and go this way.
James is not talking about a Christian losing their salvation and needs to be saved all over again as if someone who is born again can become unborn. But he is talking about the very real possibility of a Christian brother wandering away in disobedience that must be warned of wasting their lives. And that’s the loving thing to do. Actually, it’s unloving to allow your Christian friend to get off the track without a warning, without any rebuke, without you telling them you’re praying for them to return.
The church’s problem is not just that we have delinquent prodigals. The church’s problem is we have delinquent Christians. According to the scriptures, this is the ministry of the believers in the church. It isn’t just the job for the minister. It’s a ministry that you have been given, to love one another. And you need to understand that the stakes are high. So let’s look at the prize involved as the pursuer chases down the prodigal.
The prize is mentioned in vs 20, Let him know that “he who turns a sinner from the error of his way”, will accomplish two things: First, he will save the prodigal’s soul from death. The pursuer will save the prodigal’s soul from death. James could mean that literally—the sinning, unrepentant believer is brought to an early death. Remember, James has been speaking in the context of suffering. And sometimes the wanderer experiences the consequences of suffering because of his sin. I can’t help but think of someone who I have reached out to repeatedly and tried to help for almost 10 years now. This person I believe is a Christian. But they are a Christian that has wandered away from the truth and he cannot seem to turn around. He is unable to stay away from alcohol. And I am almost constantly expecting to one day find out this man has died in some way or another as a result of his drinking. I pray not, but I fully expect it to happen one day.
Such a man like that may be who James is referring to when he says he will save his soul from death. I think it’s possible that such a person, if they are really saved, will be disciplined by the Lord in a progressive way to the point that it could even lead to their physical death. Paul spoke of that in relation to a person living in sin in 1Cor. 5:5 saying, “ [I have decided] to deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of his flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.” Did you get that? God will allow Satan to destroy this person in the flesh, that his spirit will be saved. He is a Christian, that is living in sin, unrepentant, unwilling to listen, and as such God will allow him to be killed by Satan so that he would not continue to put a stumbling block in front of the church. But he will be saved in the day of judgment.
Paul also spoke in that regard concerning those who came to the Lord’s table, that is the Communion Table, unworthily. They had unrepentant sin in their lives. And Paul said that for that reason, some of them had become sick and even fallen asleep. Paul wasn’t referring to the common practice of Christians to fall asleep in church. But that refers to dying as a Christian. To die as a Christian is referred to as falling asleep.
So there is no question that God might bring about the death of an unrepentant believer. I am thankful though that it says in 2Peter 3:9 “The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.” I am thankful that Psalm 130:3 “If You, LORD, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand?” I am thankful that James said in chapter 2:13 that mercy triumphs over judgment. Because otherwise, I would be dead long ago. But we should not presume upon the mercy of God. We should not presume that because God didn’t strike us dead yesterday when we sinned, that if we continue to sin today that God will not strike us dead. God is patient, but when His patience runs out, or when our sinfulness becomes a stumbling block to others and drags them into sin, then we should not expect anything less than a sudden harsh judgment.
John could also be using the word for death as a metaphor for a deathlike existence.
In other words, even though the believer is saved, he lives in guilt and futility and purposelessness and bitterness. But when they are turned back by another brother or sister, their spirit is renewed, their life finds spiritual vitality, and they are rescued from the way of death.
Not only is there a rescue back from spiritual calamity, but secondly, there is a reconciliation back to spiritual communion. Notice again, He who turns a sinner from the error of his way will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins. The pursuer doesn’t help the prodigal sweep his sins under the rug and act like nothing has happened. It’s not hiding sin, it’s confessing it as sin. It’s repenting of your sin. And that results in being forgiven of your sins.
And when you confess your sins, and repent of your sins, and are forgiven of your sins, then your fellowship with the Lord is restored. Living in sin as a Christian doesn’t take away your salvation, but it takes away the joy of your salvation. It takes away your felllowship with the Lord and with other believers. Unrepentant sin quenches the power of the Holy Spirit in your life. But being cleansed of sin, produces power over sin through the Holy Spirit living in you. So that you might be free from sin. So that as Jesus said, “the truth shall make you free.”
The prize then is reconciliation with God, restoration of fellowship with God and with other believers, and the power to live in the Spirit and not give in to the flesh.
Perhaps someone here today is a prodigal son or daughter. You’ve drifted for days, weeks, months, maybe even years and maybe you’re wondering if it’s too late to return home. Maybe you think you’ve drifted too far away. The sins have now mounted up and the way back seems no longer possible. I have good news for you, that for those who repent of their sins, God will gladly forgive them. In the story of the prodigal son, while he was still a long ways off, the father saw his son returning, and ran to him, rejoicing. God will forgive, God will restore you.
I urge you to turn around . . . turn around like the prodigal son and come home and be restored to your Heavenly Father. 1 John 1:9 says, “If you will confess your sins, He will be faithful and just to forgive your sins and cleanse you from all unrighteousness.
And for those who are walking in the truth, I hope you will remember that you have a ministry, a rescue ministry to those who have wandered from the fold, who are out there suffering, hurting, as a result of their sin. I hope that you will speak the truth in love, and confront them and show them that they are on a path to destruction and lead them back to fellowship with the Lord. You have a ministry. I pray that you fulfill it.
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