Of statues and kneeling...

The following is taken from a sermon I preached a few Wednesday nights ago to our church.  At the encouragement of some of our church members who found it helpful I have decided to post it to my blog.  I tried to edit it down while still including the Scripture references in full for ease of study.  Comments (even disagreeing ones) are welcome, but keep them civil, Biblical, and clean or they will be removed.

Much has been made in the news media of late concerning the Confederate statues in Dallas.  If you watch the news to see the protests and demonstrations it is clear that opinions run hot on both sides of the issue.  Being Christians doesn’t exempt us from having opinions and feelings on these things as well.  Obviously we are not OF the world in this or any other sense but we are IN the world.

In truth, the Christian opinion ought to be able to be the one that is readily sought by reasonable people BECAUSE it should always be the one that can be counted on to be founded upon and informed by rightly

interpreted Scripture.   Because we still battle our sinful flesh this is not always the case of course, but all things being perfect that is how it SHOULD be. But things aren’t that way and so we must endeavor to hold a Christian view on these matters and many many others.

I do not intend to tell you to be in favor of the statue removal any more than I intend to make a case for leaving them in place.  I do want you to help you separate yourself from either side of the history and instead look at the over-arching issue Biblically. 

Is there any problem inherently with these statues being in place?  Are they offensive?  Is their removal an attempt to re-write history?  I would say every one of those questions can be answered with a yes and a no depending on who you talk to about it.  Let’s get above the ground on the issue for a minute... try to see the forest in spite of the trees so to speak... What are some questions the Christian should ask themselves as they pray and study and come to a conclusion on this or any other issue in this world?

I’m going to suggest 3 and frankly, these can be used to help you make all sorts of decisions about everything from statues, to kneeling during anthems, to where you live, what car you drive, what job you chase after, etc...

1.) Does whatever view I choose help me glorify God and make Christ known?

1 Corinthians 10:31 - [31] So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. (ESV)

I think that has to be the starting question... I think it simply must be the starting point for the Christian on making any decision.  I don’t care if it is deciding how you feel about this or whom to vote for or what food to order at dinner tomorrow night...   Does it help me glorify God or not?  This has to be where the Christian starts because, as Paul says Galatians 6, our boast is Christ.  So in whatever we are doing we want to highlight the superiority and excellencies and majesty of Christ! 
I cannot begin my reasoning based on my experiences... my experiences aren’t invalid and irrelevant, but they cannot be the starting point or driving force behind my worldview on ANY issue... why is that?

Jeremiah 17:9 - [9] The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it? (ESV)

Proverbs 3:5-8 - [5] Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. [6] In all your ways acknowledge him,...

Look at the blessed result we find when we do this...

...and he will make straight your paths. [7] Be not wise in your own eyes; fear the LORD, and turn away from evil. [8] It will be healing to your flesh and refreshment to your bones. (ESV)

I can’t begin with or let my experiences drive my views BECAUSE my experiences are driven by my memories... I’ll give you a silly example... I won’t eat at Chipotle... why?  Because I once ate at one and I bit into a piece of chicken that was cold and still raw on the inside, as a result I was very sick for a day or so.  Now, my experience with that gives me a terrible feeling when I think of eating there again... I can’t do it.  I understand that that is a silly and trite example but that principle carries over into other more weighty matters too doesn’t it?

Doesn’t Matthew 6 point me to that same conclusion?  Matthew 6:33 - [33] But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. (ESV)

That’s a DIFFERENT question than, ‘how do I FEEL about it?’  Not seek first how I feel about something and decide based on that criterion. If you start with your emotions on the subject you are in severe danger of making an unbiblical choice.  I may feel a certain way about many things, but in Christ my emotions and my mind are to be in subjection to the Spirit’s guidance.  That’s the way that Christians are brought together in one accord concerning these things.  That’s how we are lead to know how to truly love one another... we submit to the same Holy Spirit.  He’s doing the same basic work of sanctification in all of us.

2.) How does my view help/hinder me from sharing the Gospel?

Paul said, 1 Corinthians 9:19-23 - [19] For though I am free from all, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win more of them. [20] To the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to win Jews. To those under the law I became as one under the law (though not being myself under the law) that I might win those under the law. [21] To those outside the law I became as one outside the law (not being outside the law of God but under the law of Christ) that I might win those outside the law. [22] To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some. [23] I do it all for the sake of the gospel, that I may share with them in its blessings. (ESV)

What did Paul mean by that?  To win Jews did he affirm ceremonial sacrifice as a propitiatory practice?  No.  He certainly confronted error and those who sought to distort the Gospel.  But He approached his ministry from the standpoint of what would help him best lost his fellow man. How could he best show them Christ?  Put yourself in proximity of a statue real quick.  You are a person who thinks they should be torn down.  They’re offensive... they are symbols of racism... the whole deal... you think they need to go.  So you go to exercise your 1st amendment rights and protest them... peacefully... the violent on both sides are an obviously sinful issue.  But you are doing it peacefully... just expressing your view... and once the rally concludes you are headed to your car and you strike up a conversation with someone who disagrees with you but they were there and they saw your behavior on display or your viewpoint on display... how will sharing the Gospel with them be affected by what you did there? That’s what Paul has in mind... in things that don’t pertain to Gospel clarity I am to put others first so that I gain an audience with that person to hopefully win them to Christ... do you see?  So if I go to Japan... and I am in a community that says... you need to wear this certain type of robe or it is culturally offensive to the people... well I’m not bound by any world law to do it... but if I am bound to the law of love as a Christian and I desire to win them... I’ll put on the robe. The flip side of that... you’re there demonstrating because you want the statues left alone... and you behave peacefully... when you leave... how will the view you hold affect witnessing to the lost person who disagrees?

You may be inclined to say, ‘well my view there shouldn’t bother them... that’s not about the Gospel...’ maybe it shouldn’t... but that isn’t the question we should ask... the question we ask is... is my particular view on this social issue a hill worth killing my witness to the lost in the other camp on?  Is it worth it to die, metaphorically, for this issue if it means my Christian witness will be damaged elsewhere. “Well that group doesn’t understand!” that’s a possibility... but that still isn’t your starting point as a Christian... How can I put myself last and others first? How can I model Christ to the lost?  No lost person is going to come to you and ask for the reason for the hope that lies within you because you demonstrated for or against a statue... but they just might if you responded to that and other issues in accordance with the love Christ has shown you.

3.) How does my conduct affect the “weaker brother” from Romans 14?

Let’s think about this... there are Christians lining up on both sides of the issue.   For whichever opinion on the issue is wrong... ok... whichever one is the wrong view... and I know a Christian who holds that wrong view... how can I reach them and love them as my “weaker brother,” as Romans 14 talks about, how can I reason with them and bring them to both affirm whatever is right and more importantly how can I help them grow in Christ?

In 1520 Martin Luther wrote a treatise called "The Freedom of the Christian." He began it with this paradox: A Christian is a perfectly free lord of all, subject to none. A Christian is a perfectly dutiful servant of all, subject to all.

Then he explained:

“These two theses seem to contradict each other . . . [But] both are Paul's own statements, who says in 1 Corinthians 9:19, "For though I am free from all men, I have made myself a slave to all," and in Romans 13:8, "Owe no one anything, except to love one another." Love, by its very nature, is ready to serve and be subject to him who is loved.”

Galatians 5:13, "You were called to freedom, brethren; only do not turn your freedom into an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another."

Use your liberty to love by serving. That's what Paul says he is doing here in verse 19: "Though I am free from all men, I have made myself a slave [or servant] to all." That's what Paul—and Jesus—mean by love.  Is it sinful to want the statues down?  Maybe, but not necessarily...  Is it sinful to want them to stay up?  Maybe, it could be, but not necessarily.

In your Christian freedom, but for love's sake, you try to overcome unnecessary, alienating differences that cut you off from unbelievers.  All the while you keep a vigilant watch over your heart to see if you are in the law of Christ.  Christ died to set us free. Free from the wrath of God, and free from the loveless limits of the law. Free for love and eternal life.  Are we using our freedom to make this good news plain? Or are we so culturally minded or are we so worldly that unbelievers don't know we have something radically different to offer than anything this world offers?  O may the Lord grant us to use our freedom to become the servants of all, that we might by all means save some! Examine yourself to see whether you are becoming more like Christ in your worldview or more like the world...

I’m not telling you to feel any certain way on this issue... you want the statues left alone?  Fine, make that case from Scriptural reasoning.  You want them removed?  Fine, make that case from scriptural reasoning. If you can’t do that, you need to take a long hard look at what you believe and why?

Personally, if it means giving me an avenue in to reach a lost person, I say take them down and quick!  At some point, the Christian has to decide that they are Christian first and that loving others is what God has called us to do.  In the eternal scheme of things, is a statue argument worth it?  In my estimation, I would say emphatically no.

When God LITERALLY puts the opportunity on your doorstep...

This past Saturday our neighborhood was visited by a local group of Jehovah's Witnesses.  I was excited because the last couple of times they had been through our community my family and I were not at home and so we only knew they had been there by the pamphlet left on the door.  But this day we were home.  I spent probably the better part of an hour speaking with a young man named Taylor.  We spent a very short amount of time in debate and I quickly tried to move to addressing his conscience.

All the while I'm praying in my mind, 'God please, please save this man.'  He was not at all receptive to the Gospel as one would obviously expect, he would not take a Gospel tract from me nor consent that he would even consider the claims I'd made in our conversation.

My heart was hurting for him, and then, seeing that he was making no progress in converting me, he was preparing to leave when he made a comment that sent my flesh raging but has since turned to sorrow and now conviction. (Hence the writing of this post)

Taylor said to me, "Sir, you seem fully convinced of the faith you hold." To which I replied, "I am, I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I've committed unto Him against that day."  Taylor smiled and somewhat smugly said, "Well I live in Duncanville and if you are truly convinced that what you have told me is true, then start knocking on door sharing your message until you find me."

With that he promised to return some time in the future to speak with me again.  I know not whether I will ever see Taylor again at my door or whether I will ever find him in town to speak to him about the true Gospel again.  I can, at this point, only continue to pray that whether I ever see him again or not that God will save him and I will one day see him in Heaven.

My flesh was sent raging by his comment... my immediate thought was... how dare he suggest such a thing to me... that I have prove something to him...  I was enraged and because God has graciously given me opportunities and strength to witness on the streets I wanted to launch into a barrage of boasting of what I had done and planned on doing and so on... I wanted to shout at him, 'You foolish man!  REPENT!'

As I said, that was my flesh speaking and not the Spirit.  But I said nothing.  I smiled and shook his hand, thanked him for the polite conversation and left him to his way.

Since Saturday I have lost much sleep thinking about his words.  The question I posed to myself has been, do I excuse away a lack of witnessing often simply because I do it on occasion?  Do I feel that what time I do spend in evangelism is a cause for boasting in myself?  I'm afraid it often is, or at the least it is a temptation.  My wise friend, Rick, once told me that the heart of a legalist beats in us all.  How true that is.

His comments quickly moved me to sorrow.  Here he is, this man who is pushing a false gospel that does not save (Galatians 1:6-10) and he is hitting the streets under the conviction that what he believes is true.  Yet here we are with the truth (John 14:6) and we scarcely speak of Christ with friends let along strangers.

Christians, are we failing in our calling to fulfill the Great Commission (Mark 16:15).  Where are we?  I realize that the Mormons and Jehovah's Witnesses have made "door knocking" much more difficult and I realize that many people do not want to be bothered at their home.  Fine, get on the streets in the public parks and plead with sinners to turn from sin and find forgiveness in Christ Jesus who has died for them!

I am not being the best steward of the commission to witness that I ought to be and so I am asking you to pray for me and in turn I would love to pray for you.  That God would increase our boldness and shake us to the core with a passion for sharing His Gospel with every person we come in contact with.

And so the conviction, I'm praying God present me with more opportunities to share the Gospel and that when that time comes that I will not shirk away but be emboldened by His Spirit to plead with sinners to repent and turn to Christ (Mark 1:15).

“If every one of your Christians would every day make known Christ to somebody, what a missionary organization we should be!” -- Charles Spurgeon

-- Find out more on the beliefs of a Jehovah's Witness.

The Imperative of our calling from Acts 4:12

 Acts 4:12 - And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.

I absolutely love that verse.  It becomes even more beautiful when you open it up to its broader context and read the first 3 chapters of the book of Acts.  As you see Peter's boldness before the one group whom we would have expected to have intimidated him.  He proclaims to the Sanhedrin there that it is Jesus who is the truth and the life and the way.  In Him and Him alone is salvation.

With verse 12 (among others) Peter slams the door to the universalist thought that all paths lead to God.  There is no other Name under heaven by which anyone is ever saved.  Only through Christ!  And Christ is defined as the Stone that the builders rejected, that God has made Him the cornerstone.

In other words, God has built His true church upon the Cornerstone of Jesus Christ.  The Biblical Christ is the only Christ in whom lies salvation.  We do not get to define who Christ is to us, He is who He is and who He is is revealed in Scripture.

However, because this is such an amazing Scripture that declares the Sovereignty of the Lord Jesus Christ unto salvation... I think we may overlook the imperative that is contained there as well.  There is an imperative in verse 12 as well.  Jesus isn’t just the Name by which we can be saved… He isn’t just the Name by which we should be saved… He is FAR more than that…

No, Jesus is the Name by which we MUST be saved.  People MUST be saved and that salvation only comes through Jesus Christ!  Solus Christus!  Through Christ alone!

We need, desperately, to see the urgency and imperative nature of the need for salvation that Peter makes clear in our text.

People must be saved.  It is the basic need of all mankind that they be reconciled to the God whom they've sinned against.  It is as necessary as oxygen is to the lungs, but sadly many many are dying every day without even so much as having heard of the Jesus who has died to save filthy rotten wretched sinful people.  No one is too sinful to be saved by the blood of Christ.  We are called to go and preach the Gospel.  God has ordained that through the foolishness of preaching (1 Corinthians 1:18) He makes His Word known to the lost and dying world, dead in their trespasses.

Let us see the necessity of salvation and be diligent to preach the Gospel in boldness no matter what persecution may come.  Further, let us seek to make persecution a means by which our trust in Christ grows stronger and the message of the Gospel is spread to every corner of the world.

Favorite Gospel Tract

I'm putting together this list to be of assistance to those who are just getting their feet wet in actively going out and sharing the Gospel.  

If you would assist me by doing the following: 

Post your favorite tract and a link to where it can be ordered from.  Please do not just put the source you prefer to get your tract supply from but specifically the tracts that you feel are most likely to be taken by the recipients.

I will send a copy of Mike Sarkissian's book "Before God: The Biblical Doctrine of Prayer" to the person whose favorite tract I purchase for an upcoming evangelism outreach.

Never lose hope!

I want to write to all those who have prayed for your unbelieving family members, friends, and acquaintances and yet it seems to have been to no avail because that person has still not repented and trusted in Christ.  I want to share with you a story of a mother in our church.  Her name is Jannette.  Jannette was raised Jewish and had been a practicing Jew until 20 years ago when God graciously saved her and her husband Ray. 

Since coming to Christ, Jannette and Ray have prayed for Jannette's daughter Gaye, (Ray's step-daughter), that God would save her as well.  After God saved Jannette, Gaye had become somewhat disillusioned and confused.  Her mother had now abandoned the Jewish practices that she had once held dear and Gaye did not understand how such a change could happen so quickly.  It would be fair to say that she even held a certain amount of anger about the whole situation.  In any case, she remained a Jew in belief and stopped practicing.

For 20 years Jannette has prayed and pleaded with God to save Gaye.  She has shared the Gospel innumerable times with her in hopes that she would be broken over her sin and cling to Christ.  Twenty years of trying, twenty years with no results.

Two months ago, Gaye came to see me in my office.  She was asking questions about Christ.  Coming from a Jewish background, whom she had been taught Christ was is not who the Bible teaches Him to be.  So I answered them as best I could and after we'd finished talking she left and I gave her a couple of materials to look over. 

I  heard nothing for 2 months.  She called me yesterday and told me that the previous night (Tuesday), as she sat in her apartment thinking about what I'd shared with her.  Considering the Law and how that is God's standard and how we've broken it.  And then also the good news of the Gospel.  

She said that God finally brought her to the end of herself and that she had confessed her sin to Him and begged God to forgive her!  She had trusted in Jesus Christ and as she shared with me about it through the tears she spoke of a joy unexplainable that she now had and how she could tell that a burden had been lifted from her. 

I'm choking back tears myself even recounting the story.  A couple of things I want to share with you, brethren, to encourage you in your witnessing be it to family, friends, or strangers.

1.) Don't be discouraged!  God is still God!  He does things in His own time according to His own will and in His own way!  Your job is NOT to convert someone, it's to share the Gospel.  The power of God converts sinful souls.  Your job is to faithfully proclaim it.

2.) The lack of response from the person you witness to does not necessarily mean that you've failed or that you are unsuccessful.  Gaye had been prayed for by many many people for many many years before God broke her heart and saved her. 

3.) No matter how hard someone's heart may appear to be to us, no one can sin so far that they are outside the saving reach of God's grace.  Ours is not to determine who we think 'might' or 'might not' be saved one day, ours is to simply trust the One who gave us the message that we proclaim.

Keep praying for the lost, keep seeking them out, and keep sharing the whole Gospel with them!  And trust that God will do what is good and right.  You may never know the impact you have on others.  Then again, God may grant you the unique blessing of being used by Him to bring someone to repentance and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Soli Deo Gloria,

j

Still true today...

One of the commentators I enjoy reading is J.F. Strombeck.  Ran across this quote from him the other day that rings all too true today.  Here's the crazy thing.  This quote is from 1940.  How sad that we still struggle with the same problem.

"There is an abundant life, widely advocated these days, but that is restricted entirely to the material and temporal.  A large part of the professing Christian church has, to an amazing extent, become concerned about the abundance of the material and temporal to the exclusion of the spiritual and eternal.  Moral reform, social uplift and economic problems have taken the place of the proclamation of a salvation that God freely offers to sin-cursed human race that is traveling at a terrific speed toward an everlasting separation from Him and all that flows from Him.  Even when the need for salvation is seen and faithfully presented, very often the temporal values derived therefrom, in the form of reformed lives and remade homes, are the most loudly acclaimed, while the spiritual and eternal values that come to the individual are in many, yes, very many, instances seldom mentioned and much less given their primary importance.  The present day emphasis upon lifting the human race out of its low state has largely become one of dealing with temporal values.  God's emphasis, on the other hand, as found in the Bible, is to deal with the problem of human sin and all its consequences on the basis of eternal values.  This is through Salvation.  Social welfare work and all moral reform, however good for the present, do not help men and women beyond the grace, and the grace is not the end of man.  He has an undying soul that goes on and on and on into eternity.  The salvation that God, and He alone, has accomplished through Jesus Christ provides for that undying soul of man and brings it into an unending infinitely glorious and blissful state."

Get out there Christian and PREACH THE GOSPEL!  Pastor, teach your flock to value the person and work of Jesus Christ.  Only through a right estimation of who He is and what He did that they will ever develop a passion for His name and the spreading of it.

2 Timothy 4:1-5 - I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by His appearing and His kingdom:  2 preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction.  3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires,  4 and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths.  5 But you, be sober in all things, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.

In anyone strays...thoughts on James 5:19-20

James 5:19 - My brethren, if any among you strays from the truth and one turns him back,

If someone strays from the truth.  Either from Christ, who is the Truth, by deserting Him, forsaking His ways, or embracing things that contradict God’s Word and clear Biblical teaching.

He opens is by presenting a scenario.  If anyone strays… So, if this happens… and then he says and one turns him back.  There are implications between those two phrases.  Let me give you an illustration to try and get your on the same page with me here if you already aren’t.  If you are in a busy hectic place…shopping, six flags, sea world… something like that.  If you are in one of those places with small children you keep up with them do you not?  You watch them intently.  And if you look up and one of them has wandered off.  They’ve gotten out of your sight or they haven’t come back from where you sent them and something happens to get you worried about them.  Do you sit calmly and wait for them to find their way back to you?

No, that would be absolutely ridiculous.  You go search for that child.  You are concerned for their well-being.  You don’t want them to get injured or abducted or assaulted.  You search for them and if you’ve been in that situation where you don’t know, if even for a split second, where your child is you don’t just wander around looking for them.  You scream and run and search and do everything you have to do to get that child back to you.  True?

‘If anyone among you strays’ and he has in mind here a straying or wandering away from a very specific thing.  That being… ‘the truth’.  If anyone strays from the truth, ‘and one turns him back’.  The implication is that there is a call to action.  To turn one back we have to pursue them.  He doesn’t make a case for waiting for them to wander back or hoping they do or anything else.  For us to turn them back means we go get them.

This is a call for Christians to pursue those who are straying right now.  We know who they are, each of us has folks in mind I’m sure.  We can think back to over the years and come up with folks who may fall into this category.  We are to go get those straying and not just invite them in and wait.  We don’t only invite them and wait.  We go to them with the message of the Gospel and reason with them to be reconciled to the God who gave them life.  And if they don’t come then we continue to pray and plead with God to break their sin-hardened hearts.

We labor towards bringing them back.  This is very evangelistic in nature.  Going after the ones who are professors of the faith but are giving less and less evidence of bring possessors of the faith.  Saving faith, that only comes from Jesus Christ, produces fruits.

Do you know those people?  I want you to be mentally making a list of those folks now and keep them on your heart for a minute here.  Do you know folks like that?  They used to talk about Honoring Christ but now they live in an overt sin giving little to no thought to God?  Those who, from all outward indications, have failed the test of whether they are in the faith?  I say outward signs because ultimately we can’t judge their heart.

We need to be concerned for those folks… why?  Above the fact that we are commanded to do it, we do it because it is the loving and merciful thing to do.

2 Peter 2:20 - For if, after they have escaped the defilements of the world by the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and are overcome, the last state has become worse for them than the first.

For those who know the truth and reject it, their judgment will be more harsh because they didn’t just die dead in their sins, they died having heard of the Redeemer who could spare them and they spit on Him rather than embracing Him as Lord.

You need to have compassion for the lost and straying.  If you don’t, then my friend you have never taken a long enough look at the cross of Christ.  You’ve never considered the depth of the interceding work done on your behalf by the Holy Spirit DAILY.

Have you not given thought to the mercy shown to you?  Don’t you desperately desire to see God pour out that same mercy on others around you?

There is an urgency folks.  An urgency to evangelize the lost and dying world.  We must!  How cold must a heart have grown to not care!?!  How ashamed of Christ must you be to not speak of Him?  It is the ultimate purpose of God!  To save souls and in doing so Glorify Himself!  Jesus came to seek and to save that which was lost. 

I want to ask you, have you ever marveled at your salvation?  Looked at sin and seen it for what it is.  Seen it as the creature, us, rebelling against the Creator God!  Coming from our desire to be independent of God and become like God.  Coming from our desire to steal the glory from the only One to whom it is due.

Have you marveled at His amazing Mercy and Grace?  Nothing can compare to His mercy.  Nothing can compare to His Grace, Nothing can compare to His Love!  Have you thought on those things?

James 5:20 - 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.

Seek and Save the Lost!

If you are in a busy hectic place…shopping, six flags, sea world… something like that.  If you are in one of those places with small children you keep up with them do you not?  You watch them intently.  And if you look up and one of them has wandered off.  They’ve gotten out of your sight or they haven’t come back from where you sent them and something happens to get you worried about them.  Do you sit calmly and wait for them to find their way back to you?

No, that would be absolutely ridiculous.  You go search for that child.  You are concerned for their well-being.  You don’t want them to get injured or abducted or assaulted.  You search for them and if you’ve been in that situation where you don’t know, if even for a split second, where your child is you don’t just wander around looking for them.  You scream and run and search and do everything you have to do to get that child back to you.  True?  Amen?

That’s where I intend on taking this message because that’s what I see here in James’ implications.  ‘If anyone among you strays’ and he has in mind here a straying or wandering away from a very specific thing.  If anyone has wandered away from ‘the truth’.  We’ll look at the truth a bit more in a moment.  But if anyone strays from the truth, ‘and one turns him back’.  The implication is that there is a call to action.  To turn one back we have to pursue them.  He doesn’t make a case for waiting for them to wander back or hoping they do or anything else.  For us to turn them back means we go get them and bring them back into the fold.

This is a call for Christians to pursue those who are straying right now.  We know who they are, each of us has folks in mind I’m sure.  We can think back to over the years and come up with folks who may fall into this category.  We are to go get those straying sheep and not just invite them back in and wait.  That would be like a parent realizing their child had wandered away and then they just stand in one place shouting and looking without taking a step towards finding them.  We don’t only invite them and wait.  We invite them and if they don’t come then we pray and seek other means to restore them that come from Scripture.

We labor towards bringing them back.  This is very evangelistic in nature.  Going after the ones who are professors of the faith but are giving less and less evidence of bring possessors of the faith.  Saving faith, remember, saving faith that only comes from Jesus Christ, produces fruits.

Do you know those people?  I want you to be mentally making a list of those folks now and keep them on your heart for a minute here.  Do you know folks like that?  They used to talk about Honoring Christ but now they live in an overt sin giving little to no thought to God?  Those who, from all outward indications, have failed the test of whether they are in the faith?  I say outward signs because ultimately we can’t judge their heart.

We need to be concerned for those folks… why?  Above the fact that we are commanded to do it, we do it because it is the loving and merciful thing to do.

2 Peter 2:20 - For if, after they have escaped the defilements of the world by the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and are overcome, the last state has become worse for them than the first.

For those who know the truth and reject it, their judgment will be more harsh because they didn’t just die dead in their sins, they died having heard of the Redeemer who could spare them and they spit on Him rather than embracing Him as Lord.

You need to have compassion for the lost and straying.  If you don’t, then my friend you have never taken a long enough look at the cross of Christ.  You’ve never considered the depth of the interceding work done on your behalf by the Holy Spirit DAILY.

Romans 8:26-27 - In the same way the Spirit also helps our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words;
 27 and He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.

We pray, but we don’t even know how to pray as we should, so instead the Spirit intercedes on our behalf with groanings too deep for words.  Have you not given thought to the mercy shown to you?  Don’t you desperately desire to see God pour out that same mercy on others around you?

There is an urgency folks.  An urgency to evangelize the lost and dying world.  We must!  How cold must a heart have grown to not care!?!  How ashamed of Christ must you be to not speak of Him?  It is the ultimate purpose of God!  To save souls and in doing so Glorify Himself!  Jesus came to seek and to save that which was lost. 

I want to ask you, have you ever marveled at your salvation?  Looked at sin and seen it for what it is.  Seen it as the creature, us, rebelling against the Creator God!  Coming from our desire to be independent of God and become like God.  Coming from our desire to steal the glory from the only One to whom it is due.

Have you marveled at His amazing Mercy and Grace?  Nothing can compare to His mercy.  Nothing can compare to His Grace, Nothing can compare to His Love!  Have you thought on those things!

When you see sin in that way, the awfulness of it becomes obvious.

Only the infinite love of God could conceive the thought of providing salvation, and at the high cost of the life of His Own Son, Jesus Christ!  But being in awe of God for your salvation becomes even greater when you remember that it doesn’t only restore the relationship with God that was lost through sin, but Scripture says that we are restored and we are now closed.  Not just forgiven but CLEARED of our sin debt!  We are now conformed to the very image of the Son of God!

Romans 8:29 - For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren;

We are now, because of Christ, those of us who are in Christ, are seen as Holy and blameless before God!  WOW!

Ephesians 1:3-4 - Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, 4 just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him.

Not because we don’t sin… Oh No!  That’s what is so much more amazing!  I’m not holy before God because I’ve obtained some state of perfection in this life.  The Holiness I’ve obtained came through that same Savior!  He imputed my sin to Himself and in return He imputed His righteousness to Me!  Those who have been saved have been called out of darkness into God’s marvelous light! 

1 Peter 2:9-10 - But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light;  10 for you once were not a people, but now you are the people of God; you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

You’ve been pulled from the grasp of death!  Don’t you have even the smallest desire to see others rescued as well?  James says that the one who turns a straying brother back will save his soul from death!  Not physical death, but spiritual death.

v20 - 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.

Since even one sin is enough to condemn a person to hell, James’ use of the word ‘multitude’ further illustrates the desperate situation of the sinner.

Those who do not heed the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Grace of God, and the Glory of His Power.

Would you sit idly by and watch someone walk off the edge of a cliff or die in a fire simply because you didn’t want to warn them?  Didn’t want to help?

You don’t do it because you want to judge them, you do it because you love them and if you are wrong and they are truly saved then they won’t get angry or offended.  A Christian, a true Christian, will appreciate your love and concern for them and they will use your words as an opportunity to examine themselves and be sure they haven’t slipped into some sin and become callous.  Listen, if you are approaching the situation with love and concern for them and you are bathing the whole thing in prayer and Scriptural exhortation, you don’t have to worry that you will push them away or turn them off to the Gospel.  Listen, if they aren’t saved, they are already turned off to the Gospel!  Do you realize that!  If they have never trusted in Christ they stand condemned already, they are dead in their sins already, enemies of God already… YOU can’t push them further…

We’ve got to see that they are in a desperate situation.  They are headed for eternal death and WE are the instruments that God has chosen to bring them back to Him!

You will be afraid, you will fight fear.  Your fear is a fear of man.  You need to pray and get others to pray for you.  Make war against that fear.  God will give you the words to speak.

The question isn’t ‘Do you care?’.  Of course we care.  The question is ‘Do you care enough’?

How much do you have to hate someone to not tell them about Jesus Christ and eternal life?  Do you care enough about them to warn them about God’s wrath and explain God’s offer of salvation?