The Path to Perfection: Course Correction
James 5:19-20
We conclude our study in the letter from James. The author of this letter is Jesus’ half brother, James. The letter of James was written during a time when Christians were persecuted. James 1:1 reads, “James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes in the Dispersion.”
The “twelve tribes” probably refers to Jews. These were Jewish Christians dispersed during persecution. And as these Jewish Christians dispersed and moved into new communities, they faced enormous trials and temptations.
This series is titled The Path to Perfection. Perfection here is referring to a mature faith lived out in daily life. Amid trials and temptations.
If you have read this letter from James you would know the trials and temptations these Christians underwent. Persecution, poverty, oppression by the rich, suffering of all sorts and sickness. And they were tempted by the love of money, favoritism, speaking evil against one another and tempted to doubt God and to wander from the truth they were taught.
This morning we will be looking at the final two verses of this letter from James. He wraps up his letter in chapter 5 verses 19 and 20. Read text .
19 My brothers, if anyone among you wanders from the truth and someone brings him back, 20 let him know that whoever brings back a sinner from his wandering will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins.
Let me ask you a few questions. Have you ever seen another Christian do something wrong? What was it? Stealing. Gossiping. Lying.
Did you correct him or her? Why or why not?
Felt it was none of your business. Didn’t want to come across holier than thou. Everybody’s doing it.
James 5:19-20 tells us when we see another Christian wander from the truth we are to bring him or her back to the truth. That is what we are to do. I call this course correction. James also tells us why we are to course correct a wandering christian.
But James does not write to us the how to course correct. How do we bring a Christian brother or sister back who has wandered from the truth? I imagine there may be too many ways for James to write them all down.
Several years ago, I got a call from a young man who was struggling with viewing inappropriate content online. It would have been easy for me to quote him Bible verses. And then to pray for him and end the call.
Instead I asked him what triggered his temptation and eventual giving in. He said, “Sometimes it’s the abundance of sexual images in the media. But the times I give into the temptation is when I struggle with failure in other areas of life, feeling inadequate, depressed, angry or lonely.”
Then I asked him, “What is right about your viewing that stuff?”
He replied, “Nothing.”
I asked again, “What might possibly be right about your viewing that stuff?”
He said, “I don’t know.”
I said, “You view that stuff to soothe the emotional pains you feel. And seeking healing for emotional pain is right.”
Then we talked about what’s not right and what are better ways to dealing with emotional pains. He decided to learn to deal with the emotional pains rather than comfort himself with inappropriate content online.
More recently, another young man came to me with the same struggle. But as we talked I sensed the cause of his struggle went beyond comforting emotional pain. There were symptoms of mental illness or spiritual warfare. I encouraged him to seek professional help but he declined.
I share these two stories so you could see that two people wandering from the same truth of sexual purity taught in the Bible can have different causes and require different how to course correct. Furthermore, there is no guarantee of success just because we care enough to course correct our brothers or sisters in Christ.
James probably did not include the How to course correct. But James did call us to course correct and gave us four reasons why we should be involved. Let’s look together.
The first reason is that we are our brother’s keeper. Verse 19
John 1:12 reads, “ But to all who did receive [ Jesus Christ ], who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God,”
For the Christian, God is our heavenly father. Jesus is our elder brother. We are God’s children. Siblings, brothers and sisters in Christ.
When my younger daughter was born, I repeatedly taught my older daughter that you are to love, help, protect your little sister. God says something like that to more mature Christians. “Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted. Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.” ??Galatians? ?6:1-2? ?
In Galatians 6:1-2 there is a call and there is a caution. The call is to course correct a brother or sister in Christ who has wandered off from the truth. We could be so preoccupied and overwhelmed with our personal lives that we do not hear this call come from God. We are called out of our self centered lives to care about our brother or sister in Christ.
The caution warns us that what caused our brother or sister to wander has the potential to cause you or me to wander from the truth. If the temptation is too great for us to help, it’s OK to not help and not get pulled in to the same sin. This brings us to the second Reason for why we are to course correct.
Second, we all can potentially wander. Verse 19.
So any one of us could need someone to course correct us. And we need to be willing to course correct those who wander from the truth.
How are you doing? I’m doing fine. But some of us are dying inside.
You just made a fool of yourself in front of someone you care about. Your boss reprimanded you unjustly. There is so much yelling in your family.
You feel lonely, rejected, hopeless. You would do anything to comfort yourself. Even wandering from the truth.
The truth that God loves you. The truth that you are made in God’s image. The truth that God can bring good out of even the bad.
We are prone to wander. Prone to leave the God we love and the God who loves us. Even the Apostle Paul wandered. “For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate.” Romans? ?7:15? ?ESV??
Why do we need to course correct our brothers and sisters in Christ? Because we all can potentially wander. Even those who know and believe the truth.
Third, we need accountability to stay on track. Verse 19.
Instruction is not enough. James wrote five chapters of encouragements, commands and warnings. If instructions were enough, James would not need to write the last two verses of this letter.
To wander is sinful human. To be accountable helps us to stay on track. But we need to know the true value of accountability and want it. If we choose looking good over staying on track living in the truth, accountability will just be a game of pretend.
Over the past 20 years I have had mentors and coaches hold me accountable to staying on track in my ministry and life. We checked in every other week with what I agreed to do and when. And they help keep me accountable to my commitments. This accountability keeps me from making excuses and wandering from the truth.
In the church, we have mentoring relationships, small groups, and membership as opportunities for accountability. These are relationships where you can be truthful about your wandering.
At our recent YAM lunch, I asked the question, what do you need from your pastor? One person said, “I need my pastor not to be judgemental.” Another person answered, “I need my pastor to correct me when I am wrong.” These two answers sound like opposites. They are actually not. What they were asking for is accountability that is non-judgmental.
Jesus said to the woman caught in adultery, "I do not condemn you. Go and sin no more." That is non-judgmental course correction
Fourth, we are GPS (God's partner system). Verse 20.
Philippians 1:6 reminds us, “And I am sure of this, that [God] who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ."
Paul said that God who began a good work in you will not allow you to wander away. But if you do wander, God will bring you back. And James in verse 20 is saying that God will use other Christians.
John Piper said, “Imagine a lumberjack cutting down a tree with an ax. We could say that the lumberjack cut down the tree or the ax cut down the tree. Both would be true.”
Saving a person’s soul from death and covering a multitude of sins is God’s responsibility. But verse 20 reads that God does the work through the Christians. That is because Christians are tools in God’s hands.
Robert Robinson, the author of the hymn, Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing, was an English pastor who lived in the 18th century. Not only was he a gifted pastor and preacher he was also a highly gifted poet and hymn writer. However, after many years in the pastorate his faith began to drift. He left the ministry and finished up in France, indulging himself in sin.
One night he was riding in a carriage with a lady friend who had recently been converted to Christ. She was interested in his opinion on some poetry she was reading: Come thou Fount of every blessing, Tune my heart to sing thy grace, Streams of mercy never failing, Call for hymns of loudest praise.
When she looked up from her reading the lady noticed Robinson was crying.
“What do I think of it?” he asked in a broken voice. “I wrote it. But now I’ve drifted away from him and can’t find my way back.”
“But don’t you see” the woman said gently, “The way back is written right here in the third line of your poem: Streams of mercy never ceasing. Those streams are flowing even here in Paris tonight.”
That night Robinson recommitted his life to Christ.
We don't have to be a longtime christian to partner with God in course correcting a wandering christian. But we must be willing to be our brother’s keeper and provide as well as accept accountability. In so doing, we can take another step on the path to perfection.
