HoHum:
I’ve enjoyed fishing over the years but I don’t do much fishing. Why? Not because it’s a bad thing to do. The main reason why I don’t fish much is because I believe I can use my time more wisely doing something for the Lord. Get a group of buddies together and go fishing, that seems like the best use of my time. To go fishing alone, while nothing wrong with that, what kind of witness will I be?
Everyone has their favorite thing to do in life, but what is the best of the best? Only one life, twill soon be past, only what’s done for Christ will last.
God desire is for all people to come to a knowledge of the truth of Christ. God wants all men to be saved and brought into a right relationship with Him.
WBTU:
One of the great things about the Great Commission is its great concern for follow up. “Go and make disciples.. baptized them” is only the beginning. Jesus Christ never encouraged the idea that once a person is baptized then the work is accomplished.
We can read of a missionary going to a remote region and preaching the gospel and many respond. That warms our hearts! However, how many times does that same missionary a week later leave and go to another remote region? What about “teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you?”
Follow up is more than teaching them to obey some of Christ’s commands. The new Christian is to learn “everything” Christ commanded. The task of follow up is not through until the baptized “obey” each instruction. Men like Peter, Paul, James or John can and do move to new fields to plant the gospel there, but a congregation must be established where new Christians can continue under the supervision of elders qualified to shepherd the flock.
This brings us to letters like James and Hebrews that especially relate to the evangelism of the Jews. Not exclusively to Jews because we get much from them today, but when written the target audience was Jewish Christians. These Christians were brought to faith in Jesus Christ, but now some drifting or falling away is beginning to occur. The importance of keeping the sheep in the fold is as basic as winning them to the fold in the first place. Have many leaving through the back door! Important because salvation is at stake. Once saved always saved is not taught in the Bible.
We have been following Paul’s letters in chronological order. He wrote letters from 49 AD to about 67 AD. Not sure when James wrote his letter, difficult to give an exact date. Some say 49 AD while others say 62-63 AD. That seems to be a good time frame. Had to be after 49 AD because the dispute about the issues Paul discusses in Galatians were resolved when Paul and Barnabas went to Jerusalem in 49 AD. Had to be before 63 AD because James the half brother of Jesus was martyred in that year. Best guess is that this letter was written 12 to 15 years after the founding of the church.
The author James is Jesus’ half brother, to whom Christ made a special resurrection appearance. “Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles,” 1 Corinthians 15:7, NIV. With his earlier doubts about Jesus removed (he did not believe in Jesus according to John 7:5), James became one of the “pillars” (Galatians 2:9) of the first Christian church at Jerusalem. The number of Christians, from Pentecost AD 30 on, kept growing from the original 3,000. The progress of the gospel was threatened at the stoning of Stephen. “On that day a great persecution broke out against the church at Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria.” “Those who had been scattered preached the word wherever they went.” Acts 8:1, 4
I believe this scattering referred to in Acts 8 is the same under consideration in James 1:1. Read
After many years of leaving Jerusalem, many of them had grown lax and were in need of “teaching, rebuking correcting and training in righteousness” (2 Timothy 3:15).
To hear this letter is to hear echoes of Jesus’ sermon on the Mount. Was James there? Good chance. This letter reflects more of Christ’s words than all the other NT letters. Some can identify 23 recollections of Jesus’ hillside message as told by Matthew (chapters 5-7). James’ style of teaching radiates the influence his half brother had on him. The work can correctly be title, “Common Sense Christianity.” Read 5 passages from the Beatitudes from the Sermon on the Mount and have someone read the cross reference in James
“Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. “Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me.” Matthew 5:10-11, NIV. Read James 1:2
“Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.” Matthew 5:7. Read James 2:13
“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God.” Matthew 5:9, NIV. Read James 3:18
“Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.” Matthew 5:4. Read James 4:9-10
“Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.” Matthew 5:12, NIV. Read James 5:10
James was nicknamed “Camel Knees” because he wore calluses on his knees praying. The letter of James can also be called, “The Amos of the NT,” since he shows such concern for justice and mercy. This book is evangelistic, not necessarily with the unchurched, but because of the appeal for living a life consistent with Christian principles. Either our salvation will change our sinful lives or our sinful lives will change our salvation. Samuel Morris said this: “The way a Christian lives, what he says, his character, his conduct, or his attitude toward other people have nothing whatever to do with the salvation of his soul....All the prayers a man may pray, all the Bibles he may read, all the churches he may belong to, all the services he may attend, all the sermons he may practice, all the debts he may pay, all the ordinances he may observe, all the laws he may keep, all the benevolent acts he may perform will not make his soul one whit safer; and all the sins he may commit from idolatry to murder will not make his soul in any more danger....The way a man lives has nothing whatever to do with the salvation of his soul...” (Quoted by J. Noel Meredith, ADL, p.281). James begs to differ.
James’ concern for the gospel and for the salvation of souls is summarized in the last two verses. Have someone read them.
Thesis: Let’s talk about the last 2 verses of James
For instances:
Wander from the truth (Vs. 19)
O to grace how great a debtor; Daily I’m constrained to be! Let Thy goodness, like a fetter, Bind my wandering heart to Thee. Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it, Prone to leave the God I love; Here’s my heart, O take and seal it, Seal it for Thy courts above.
These words were written by in 1758 by Robert Robinson, three years after his conversion to Christ at the age of 23. The reality of which Robinson spoke of in the third stanza of “Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing” tragically came true when he lapsed into a lifestyle of sin. It was during this time that the story is told of Robinson entering a stagecoach with a lady joyously humming this hymn. Turning to him, she asked if he knew the hymn that had ministered to her so much. Robinson replied: “Madam, I am the poor unhappy man who wrote that hymn many years ago, and I would give a thousand worlds, if I had them, to enjoy the feelings I had then.”
Why is it that we desperately need to live in the good of the gospel on a daily basis? It is because of this reality: “prone to wander Lord, I feel it; prone to leave the God I love.” “But if anyone does not have them, he is short-sighted and blind, and has forgotten that he has been cleansed from his past sins.” 2 Peter 1:9, NIV. How do one go from writing such powerful and soul-stirring words as in the hymn “Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing” only to later get to a place where one would “give a thousand worlds” to know and experience what they earlier had in the Lord? I would argue that it begins with assuming the gospel only to later forget it. This is why all the talk about living gospel-centered lives is so important.
Bring them back (Vs. 19)
Let’s go back to the Great Commission Matthew 28:18-20. Evangelism is what? Leading someone to know and accept Christ as their Savior. Yes, but is that all. No! “Teaching them to obey”. Easier to lead someone to Christ than to bring someone back to Christ and to the church once they have turned away. Why? Because people who turn away are hardened. Furthermore they don’t want us to disturb the way they live.
I heard a story about a guy who applied for a job as an usher at a theater in the mall. As a part of the interview process, the manager asked him, "What would you do in case a fire breaks out?"
The young guy answered, "Don’t worry about me. I can get out fine."
That’s exactly how many in today’s world respond to a lost and dying world around them. If we asked them "What would you do if Jesus came back tomorrow?" they would probably respond, "Oh, don’t worry about me. I’d be fine." But what is all to easy to forget is that we are an usher! It isn’t enough just to get out ourselves. We are responsible for helping others know the way. “Brothers, if someone is caught in a sin, you who are spiritual should restore him gently.” Galatians 6:1, NIV.
A young man once described going astray from God “like he was at sea in deep water, deep trouble, and all his friends were on the shoreline hurling biblical accusations at him about justice, penalty and wrong …but there was one Christian brother who actually swam out to get me and would not let me go. I fought him, but he pushed aside my fighting, grasped me, put a life jacket around me, and took me to shore. By the grace of God, he was the reason I was restored. He would not let me go” (Swindoll 195).
III. Remember the good (VS. 20)
Remember what? Remember the good we do by bringing people back to Christ and the church!
There isn’t anything better in life than bringing someone to Christ or back to Christ! In so doing, we are essentially saving their soul. Yes, only God can save a soul, but God uses us to get the job done!
A man was walking along a deserted beach at sunset. As he walked he could see a young boy in the distance, as he drew nearer he noticed that the boy kept bending down, picking something up and throwing it into the water. Time and again he kept hurling things into the ocean. As the man approached even closer, he was able to see that the boy was picking up starfish that had been washed up on the beach and, one at a time he was throwing them back into the water. The man asked the boy what he was doing, the boy replied,"I am throwing these washed up starfish back into the ocean, or else they will die through lack of oxygen. "But", said the man, "You can't possibly save them all, there are thousands on this beach, and this must be happening on hundreds of beaches along the coast. You can't possibly make a difference." The boy looked down, frowning for a moment; then bent down to pick up another starfish, smiling as he threw it back into the sea. He replied, "I made a huge difference to that one!"
Ray Boltz- Thank you for giving to the Lord I am a life that was changed Thank you for giving to the Lord I am so glad you gave
One by one they came Far as the eye could see Each life somehow touched By your generosity
Little things that you had done Sacrifices made Unnoticed on the earth In heaven now proclaimed
And I know up in heaven You're not supposed to cry But I am almost sure There were tears in your eyes
As Jesus took your hand And you stood before the Lord He said, "My child look around you Great is your reward"
How can we do this? Through the Word of God by teaching, warning, pleading, admonishing, and showing an interest in this wandering person.
““His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! ...Come and share your master’s happiness!’” Matthew 25:21, NIV.
IV. Cover the sins (Vs. 20)
This verse is not talking about literally “covering up” someone’s sins in the sense of hiding them from others. The meaning is that we are leading people to Christ or back to Christ. In doing so, we are keeping them from sining more in the future. And those sins of which they are guilty will be covered up or covered over with the blood of Christ!
The soul saved from death is the soul of the converted person, not the soul of the one who does the converting. How do I know? “Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins.” 1 Peter 4:8, NIV. Our love forgives sins? This cannot be. The love of Christ helps us to overlook their sins and continue to have fellowship. We cannot forgive sins, only God can forgive sins through the blood of Jesus Christ.
In this passage this is talking about the sins of the wandering person, not the sins of the one who turns him back. No extra merit, all are saved in the gospel way. The idea here is by bringing the person back to repentance their sins are forgiven through the blood of Jesus Christ.
