The Wanderer James 5:18-20 Part 14

Read James 5:18-20

As we look at the final verses of the book of James, it is interesting to note that unlike a lot of the other letters in the New Testament, James does not end with a prayer or a blessing for the reader. Instead, he wants to pursue those who are wandering in their faith. He reminds us of his compassion when he once again calls the readers brothers; he’s reminding them that we are family in Christ and ought to be a living, loving community. As such, we ought to be worried when anyone wanders from the truth. 

What does wandering look like? James has been teaching us this throughout the whole book. He’s been trying to teach us about Christian living. When we wander from the truth it is often a slow, subtle drifting from what God has told us in His word, and a shifting viewpoint of who God is. When we start blaming others for our sin instead of accepting responsibility for our own thoughts and actions, we start thinking differently from what the Bible teaches us. When we do not tame our tongues, or we start believing the sinful ideologies of the world, our view of God will have to change because we don’t want to feel guilty about our sin. The world can easily distract us and so we start making small compromises in our beliefs. “I don’t really need to go to church for every service” can become, “I just really need to get this chore done today so I’ll just skip church today.” These small compromises can lead you to stop going altogether. Or maybe it starts with shifting the glory of an achievement from God to yourself. Taking on the ideology of our current society that says, “I did this,” or “I achieved this.” The world would have you believe that we should be focused on our own wants and desires and that everything is about “me!” John 4:1 says, “Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God.” When we stop testing the spirits we can easily fall away. Every time we act selfishly, or speak in ways that are hurtful and untrue, or when we stray from the life He has called us to live, we are wandering further and further from Him. It all comes down to our relationship with God. The privilege of prayer is also a responsibility to seek God in faith. We learned in the previous section how important prayer is to our relationship with our Heavenly Father. When we stop going to Him in prayer, we are not pursuing our relationship as we ought to, and we will start slipping. As Christians we are to be holy and distinctive, but the wanderer decides that certain laws don’t apply or matter; soon we are committing the sins that James has warned us against. We wander first in our minds and then in our actions. When we wander it is our individual and evil desires that cause us to wander. For example, we want something, so we make excuses for how we get it or for coveting. We slowly veer off the good path until we’re eventually on a different path altogether.

Because James knows how sneaky and subtle wandering can be, he tells us how to deal with it. Earlier, in verse 16, James told us to “confess our sins to one another and pray for one another.” Through our union with Christ, we are united with the church and its members and are thus responsible to and for each other. We need others in our lives to see it, recognize it, and call us back. We live in an age of individualism; it’s all about me, my desires and my wants. We can easily start coming to church for our own needs and wants, which means our priorities have shifted and are wrong. We go to church to serve Christ! Then, to serve one another. We need to care and love enough to notice what’s going on in each other’s lives. Cain asked, “Am I my brother’s keeper?” and the answer is yes! We need to cultivate relationships within the church community and find people we can trust to share our struggles and sinful actions with. Not so they can go pass it on in gossip, but with a view to serving each other. When we listen to others confessing and sharing with us, we do so with love and so that we can pray for them. So, look for someone who will take your struggles to God in prayer, and nowhere else. We can easily become wanderers ourselves. We are instruments of God’s restoration; our conversations need to get to the real stuff. Spouses ought to watch out for each other, parents ought to watch over their children, close friends also watch out for each other and elders watch over their members. Our lives ought to be characterized by service to one another. When we approach one another, it needs to be done appropriately. Galatians 6:1-2 says, “Brothers, if someone is caught in a sin, you who are spiritual should restore him gently. But watch yourself or you also may be tempted. Carry each other’s burdens and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.” When we call someone back from wandering it must be done gently, without conceit or being haughty. We do so with humility, knowing it could very easily be us. Matthew 22 teaches us to “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself.” When we are self-sacrificial, as Christ was, and live as He did, we will be benefited by communion with the church. Part of what it means to be brothers and sisters in Christ is tender, gentle, relentless and prayerful, spiritual restoration. Just like a shepherd gently leads the lost sheep back to the flock, so we are called to do with each other.

Verse 20 tells us how we ought to see the returned wanderer. Just like the father greeted his returning prodigal son, we, too, should greet the returned with open arms, covering them with “a cloak” of forgiveness. Jesus covered our sins with His blood, so we are fully forgiven. Restoration leads to forgiveness and God receives them with open arms. We have all been rescued in Jesus Christ and we are called to rescue each other. Billy Graham once said, “The ground is level at the foot of the cross.” We are forced to ask ourselves if we, too, are wandering. The consequences for wandering are scary. Wandering leads to sin, and sin leads to death!

James concludes the letter with this reminder that if we start doing the things he has warned us about, we can slip away from the truth of the gospel. If we slip into a life of sin, it can ultimately lead to death. Death is the result of sin, but the true believer is secure in knowing that we are children of God. Our lives are not our own; as God’s children we are called to serve Him and to serve one another and watch over each other in love. When we have the privilege of seeing someone restored, we know they are saved from death and their sin has been covered by Christ’s redeeming work on the cross. We are all different parts of one body and have a God-given responsibility to each other, which includes calling each other back when we wander. James ends with this warning as an expression of love. He wrote the whole book in love; not wanting the readers to slip away. If we truly believe God’s word we will show it by living it day by day; when our focus remains on God, then we can trust Romans 8:38-39 where it says, “For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

1. What are some small things we do that can lead to wandering?

2. How do we shift our viewpoint of God when trying to justify certain sins?

3. What causes us to wander?

4. What can we do to guard ourselves from wandering?

5. When someone is wandering, how should we approach them?

6. When someone has repented and is seeking restoration how should we deal with it?