Dennis Tuuri

# Sermon Transcript – Reformation Covenant Church

lives more and more framed according to those delightful characteristics we just read about. Today we are at the last two verses of the epistle of James. And so this is sort of like the capstone, the final deal. This is the final thing. There’s no greetings at the end of this epistle. What we have are verses 19 and 20. So we’ll be talking about reclamation in terms of James 5:19 and 20. Please stand for the Reading of God’s word.

Brethren, is any if any among you wanders from the truth and someone turns him back, let him know that he who turns a sinner from the error of his ways will save a soul from death and cover a multitude of sins. Let’s pray. Father, we thank you for these simple instructions that James closes this epistle with that we’ve been looking at the last few weeks simple but difficult. Bless us Lord God first with an understanding of this text and then secondly of the assumptions the text makes and third of the roadblocks that get in our way of us fulfilling this text.

And bless us Lord God that we might enter into the delightful work of reclamation of helping one another to come back to the path the way of truth rather than wander into apostasy. Thank you for this great privilege that you’ve given to us. Now bless us as we try to think about it, meditate upon it so that we may do it in Jesus’ name. Amen. Please be seated.

So, it is an interesting way to end. You know, most of all of Paul’s epistles have greetings and stuff at the end. The only other New Testament book that ends in the same way is 1 John 5:21, the last verse of 1 John says, “Little children, keep yourselves from idols.” Amen. It’s a nice summary statement at the end of that epistle too. And I think we can sort of see a connection here, right?

So what James has done is he’s taken us through a whole bunch of issues, quite practical issues and difficulties that they have in persecution and the sins they’re tempted to engage in and the loss of hope that their situation would tend to give them. And he’s restored hope in dramatic ways throughout these five chapters. And now as he gets to the end, he gives us I guess we can look at it as three basic kind of fundamental duties, obligations, privileges, things we’re supposed to do that will affect all this stuff he’s laid out. Okay? And those three things are confession, prayer, and now recovery of straying members of the church. So those are the three things.

And we talked about prayer and confession last week and memory talked about individual prayer, prayer with you and the elders at times and then prayer with one another. So prayer is an important discipline of the Christian church that is effective for getting us through the trials and difficulties and struggles that we have and we all have those certainly not to the degree that James’s hearers did do. Not most of us at least most of the time but we have those trials and tribulations and prayer is very significant.

Confession of sin is another very significant issue. Now, I wanted to mention that you know when when James says confess your sins to one another, right? So this means it’s important, but I and I indicated last week this certainly doesn’t mean confessing to the whole church. And I mentioned that our community groups are a vehicle for confession of sin and they should be. I don’t mean though to say that the community group itself is necessarily the first or even the most frequent place or time where you’re going to confess your sins to each other.

Most people will develop some trusted relationships with people. And when you’re caught in a trespass, when you’re in a situation where your sin is difficult to break free of, it is good to confess that sin to another brother or sister in the Lord, choosing the person carefully. And that can happen at community group. It is expected to happen to some degree, but it also will happen by people you directly choose right now.

This is a big deal and it’s a deal that I think in American churches at least it’s a hard thing to do because of our pride because of our isolation and plus of our rugged individualism. We can do it ourselves. All that sort of stuff. Confession of our sins to someone is a difficult thing.

So this Saturday there’s a sync meeting of community group leaders and I’ll be talking about something I mentioned last week. Dietrich Bonhoeffer in his book *Life Together*, the last chapter is on confession and communion. And I have copies of that today for the community group leaders. If you’re a CG leader or if you can get one for your CG leader, the copies are in my office on the corner of the table as you go into the office there of that chapter and I’ll be having Angie put it up as a PDF on the CG Leaders site as well.

And I want to talk about that and discuss that to some degree this coming Saturday at the sync meeting. And beyond that, I’m encouraging all the community groups to circulate copies of it, read it, perhaps make it part of your community group discussion time, something. But I want you to think about that at least.

One of the first subsections in that chapter is called breaking through to community. Breaking through to community. I think that’s what it’s called. And his point is that sin isolates us, right? Sin kind of breaks relationships. It always does. And so sin makes us more isolated. And so to break through out of that isolation and back into community, one of the first vital steps of that frequently is the confession of your sin to someone else within the community. You see that, right?

You break out of that isolation. Sin drives you more and more secretive, more and more controlling everything so people won’t find out and it makes it worse for us. And so very important discipline of the Christian life is prayer. And a second one is confession. And I think it’s significant enough for this church to think about and hear and practice that we’re going to try to make it a topic in the community groups at least to some extent.

So that’s confession. And today we come to the third aspect, the basic fundamental sort of stuff that we’re supposed to do. And so what we have here now is not confessing our sins to someone else when we’re caught, but it’s to see a brother or sister in the Lord who is caught in their particular trespass, transgression, or sin. And we have a positive obligation, a duty, a privilege, a joyful privilege to help them when they’re caught in sins.

So we’ve got prayer, relying upon the power of God. And then we’ve got confession when we’re caught in a trespass. And then we have reclamation, going to your brother or sister about their sin. When you can see that they’re caught in a particular trespass or a pattern of wandering away from the path or the way of Jesus Christ.

So here’s what we’re going to do. We’re going to look at the text briefly and just sort of understand it, make a few comments about it, and then secondly, the text assumes that you know how to do it. The text doesn’t really tell you how to do it. So, I’m going to make some comments based on a couple of other biblical texts and the Peacemaker book by Ken Sande in terms of practical stuff about how to do this. I mean, it’s great. We get to, you know, save a person from their sins. Well, how do we do it? So, we’ll talk about that.

And then third, we’ll talk about roadblocks to us doing this in our particular setting at this time and in this place and in this part of American history. There are some roadblocks to us doing this and we’ll talk about that and then finally as a final motivation we’ll look at the tremendous privilege that this is to do it. Okay.

So, first the text. So, open your Bibles or you know if you have them there or look at your phones or whatever you’re using or just listen real good and I’m going to suggest and I sort of read it this way that there’s a little bit of a chiasm here. And you know the thing that identifies this. Do you see where he says you’re wandering from the truth, someone turns him back, let him know that he who turns a sinner from the error of his ways. Okay, so we’ve got he’s wandering from the truth, you’re turning him back. And when you turn him back from the error of his ways. So there’s a doubling up in the center here of turning back, helping a person to turn back from their sins.

And so there’s a little bit of a structure here, I think, that’s significant. So I think that we could actually say that the first clause of verse 20 let him know okay that he who turns a sinner and right before that someone turns him back. So let him know seems to be in the center. So it seems like the center of what James is telling us is assuring us of the efficacy of this particular basic discipline of the Christian life, reclaiming other Christians, helping them to get unstuck from sins.

So there’s an assurance at the center that kind of drives us toward these actions. And you know, if you think about it, you know, if you don’t have any hope for doing it, all you’re going to do is get somebody ticked off at you, right? So we need that assurance at the center that this is a good thing that it actually can happen. It’s no guarantee, but it can happen. And then as the text develops, not only can it happen delightfully, you are said to be he who will save a soul from death and cover a multitude of sins.

Now that’s amazing. All right. So what is he saying? Brethren, if anyone among you, so this is a verse about the operations of the local church. This is directed to brethren and it addresses those among you right in your church. In other words, that are wandering from the way. So this you know a lot of some commentaries non-reformed ones primarily or the reformed guys who are more evangelical than reformed these days.

A lot of them make this into an evangelism text toward people outside of the body of Christ. It doesn’t work because the text clearly says. Why would they do that by the way? Do you know why? Because otherwise this is an astonishing verse. It’s astonishing because it says that you can wander away from the path, go apostate, and die spiritually. That’s what it says. It says if one of us helps another person who is stuck in a sin and recovers him and turns him back to the way of Christ, he saves his soul from death.

Do you hear me? He saves his soul from death. So what does that mean? Well, it can’t be we have eternal security. I prayed the prayer. I put the stake in the backyard someplace. I know I’m going to go to heaven because on that moment, at that time, in that place, I prayed that prayer and that was it. I got on the boat and you can’t get thrown off the boat.

Well, there’s a sense in which that’s somewhat true. Whom God elects, okay, as part of his decree, he as from God’s from that decretal perspective, he has decreed a set number of people to go to heaven. We would say to be saved eternally, but we don’t know who those are. And the Bible is filled, the New Testament and other places with warnings that we’re not to assume that everything’s cool with us.

This text is a shot across the bow or a nuclear bomb blowing up in front of you if you think somehow you can just do whatever you want to do and you’re going to end up with Jesus and the rest of people and the people of Christ in heaven. This text says, “No, this text says you can wander away from the way and the truth.” By the way, that’s another thing that’s interesting here, right? If you look at the connections, the doubling up, someone who turns him, excuse me, one who wanders from the truth and then matching that the error of his way, the truth and the way.

Okay. So the truth is a way that we’re to walk in. The truth is not some abstract doctrinal deal. It is something that must be done. So truth and way. And Jesus says, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.” And so this text says you can wander away from the way and the truth. You can get caught in sins and whatever they are and just sort of check out to a certain degree of your Christian perspective on the world.

Even though you’re sitting here in this pew. You can do this. Or you can get involved in sins that harden your heart. You stop hearing the Holy Spirit, right? Convicting you of sin, all that stuff. You can wander from the way and the truth and you lose life. This is what the text says. And this is the conclusion of James’s epistle. This is like the conclusion at the end. This is the big payoff in terms of how to make sure that you know you counted all joy when you encounter various trials.

There’s a warning here, right? People don’t like seeing the warning and so they say, “Well, must be about evangelism.” But no, the text clearly says that this involves people among you who wander from the truth. In other words, they were in the truth and they’re wandering away from that truth. They were in the way and now they’re wandering away from the way. Okay? They’re going a different way.

Now, that’s clearly the teaching of these verses and it’s important to see it. These are things that are in the truth in the church rather having to do with the way, the truth and the life. Now, who does it say to do this reclamation work? It says if anyone among you wanders from the truth and someone turns him back, who’s supposed to turn him back? Pastor, the elders. No, that’s not what it says. It says this is a general responsibility just as the general responsibility of prayer and the general responsibility of confessing our sins to others in the body of Christ.

This is a general responsibility that you are supposed to rescue a person who’s caught in their sin and who is in danger of hellfire who’s in danger of soul death. That’s what it says here. Okay. So, who is to do this work? You are. You and I. When we see things happening when we have relationship with someone and we see it going on. We’re supposed to do it. And notice that he’s not just saving your soul from dying or saving the person from dying.

It’s saving a soul from death. Saving a soul from death. So, we’re talking about the eternal consequences for someone’s soul, not just whether they’re going to die because they’re sinners and God wants to take them home before they do worse things. You’re saving their soul from death. And then so notice that you’re covering a multitude of sins. This is a significant part of the text. And this is something too that we tend to get a little wrong.

There’s a verse in Proverbs, I think it’s 10:12, that you know, hatred stirs up contention, but love covers a multitude of sins or something to that effect. And probably some of you know the verse. And it and the way we think of that frequently in the church is that we know that people are doing things wrong and we just cover it up. We don’t think about it. We help them to conceal it from other people. But this text along with others that I’ll read about later here at the communion table, I don’t think that’s not what’s going on at all.

What’s going on here is you’re covering his sins. You’re hiding his sins. You’re getting rid of his sins because the only place they can truly be hidden is under the forgiving blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. So the point is you’re doing something. You’re wandering from the way. I go to you. I talk to you about it. I recover you. And now you’re you’re not going to go. Your soul’s not going to die. And your sins will be covered under the blood of Jesus Christ because you will have confessed them.

Confessed your wandering from the way. Embrace Christ, the way, the truth, and the life again. So covering doesn’t mean, you know, papering over. It means hiding them so effectively that the Lord God will not count them anymore. And the only way such hiding can happen is under the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ.

So, so that’s what’s going on here. So, this is the basic meaning of the text. So, that’s nice stuff, right? We can help one another, not eternally die and get rid of the entrapping, the snaring sins that come upon us. That’s a good thing. How do you do it? Well, the text doesn’t tell us a lot. It assumes that we know certain things.

And let’s talk about some of those assumptions. So, we’ve looked at the text, the basic idea of it. Let’s talk about some of the assumptions that the text has within it. The how, in other words, and you know, we could look at previous statements in James epistle. We talked a couple of times now about James 4:11, where you’re not to slander or speak evil of another brother. Right? So, we know that this work is not a denunciatory work, right? You’re not supposed to, you know, slander doesn’t mean you’re making things up. It means you’re telling the truth, but you’re doing it in a way to hurt the other person. Okay? And so, we know from certain things within the epistle of James itself that the way we approach people is not that.

Okay? So, we know we don’t go to somebody, you know, in a slanderous, condemnatory way to hurt them. Obviously, right? So, we know that from James. This is reclamation of the person not condemnation right and that’s pretty obvious I think from earlier parts of the text but we want to talk about some principles gathered from other similar texts and of course one of the most important ones is Matthew 18:15-17 if your brother sins against you go and tell him his fault between you and him alone and you know the rest of the of the way that works out.

Now this is not really the same situation that James is talking about. What’s the difference? James is saying if you see somebody caught in a trespass, he’s deviating from the way, right? Seriously deviating. It’s not a sin against you. But still, Matthew informs us something about interpersonal dialogue that’s intended to reclaim a person. That’s the common subject of both verses. And what it tells us is go to him alone. We don’t like doing that, right? We don’t like doing that.

We would rather tell somebody else about his sin against us or generally, you know, and we we sort of cover it over. Well, I need to get advice. Well, I don’t really know. Is it a sin or not? So, we end up spreading matters. I think a very important principle that Ken Sande talks about in *Peacemakers* is when you’re trying to produce mediation and helping people with their sins and to be recovered, important principle is keep the circle as small as possible.

Keep the circle as small as possible. And so, you know, this is something I need to think about in here. The I think the elders, you know, need to be careful that we don’t end up talking to each other about things that really is not really proper to put into that broader circle when we’re dealing with somebody. And you and I, if we’re going to recover someone, we don’t want to talk to a lot of other people we want to talk to that person.

Okay. So, one of the ways you do this, one of the hows of doing this tremendous task, it’s such a delight, has such great rewards to it, difficult but delightful, is to keep the circle as small as possible.

Secondly, Ephesians 4:15 says to speak the truth in love. Right? So, again, same basic point I was making earlier. What this means is when you speak the truth, it should become evident is you have to work hard at getting the other person to see that you’re speaking the truth to them about a difficulty in their life in love, not in a condemnatory way, in a reclamation way. Right? Again, this is kind of, you know, an important part of how you go about doing this is to make sure as much as you can that they know you’re trying to reclaim them. You’re not trying to condemn them. Okay?

See, to speak the truth in love and there’s all kinds of applications that we’ll talk about in a couple of minutes.

1 Thessalonians 5:14 is an interesting verse. Now, we exhort you, brethren, warn those who are unruly, comfort the faint-hearted, uphold the weak, be patient with all. What does that tell us? Well, that says that we got to think a little bit about who we’re talking to. It’s not enough just to know they have a particular sin they’ve entered into. Is it a sin because they’re weak and faint-hearted or because they’re just bold in their sinning what sort of people are they.

And first verse explains I don’t think it’s exhaustive but what it’s saying is you have to adjust the method to the particular person and try to get it what’s going on in their hearts you know James has talked about that sin is the result of improper desires or desires for things that are improperly attained right so if we’re going to help people turn from a besetting sin that’s causing them to deviate and maybe even would cause them to go apostate, leave the faith and lead to eternal death., if we’re going to do that, we probably need to try to in the course of the conversation or thinking about them, the approach we’re going to use, think through what desires they have that have produced the kinds of problems they’re having.

Okay. So, anyway, there’s different methods, warning, exhorting, comforting, patience, etc.

Another very important text is Galatians 6:1 and 2. Brethren, if any man is overtaken in any trespass, you who are spiritual, restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness, considering yourself lest you also be tempted. Bear one another’s burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ. Okay. So, so we have important words here that help us to think through how we talk to somebody else when this is needed.

And the words are first of all, that a man is overtaken in a trespass. Okay? So, he’s caught. Again, this is the point I’ve been trying to make. If we’re caught in a sin, we need to confess that to someone so we can break out of that caughtness. This word is the word for catching a fish in a net. Okay? Or you know, you can imagine a fisherman who gets caught in his own net that he throws out and now he’s drowning in the sea, entangled in the net.

That’s the idea here. So, you know, if a person is overtaken in a trespass, we see then that what we’re trying to do not is to say, “That’s right. You’re a sinner and you’re, you know, you should be suffering. You should be drowning.” We want to say, “Hey, let me help you get out of that net. Let me try to think through ways to help you cut it out and get you released from the kind of overtakeness that is that you’re struggling with.”

So, the first word here overtaken is very important again for producing a proper attitude which will drive a proper set of words and attitudes reflected in actions and words as we go about doing this task. It’s a recognition that the other person is overtaken. Okay. And then secondly, you know what we’re supposed to do is restore such a one, right? It says to restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness. So, two things there. One’s the spirit of gentleness, which I just talked about. And we’ll talk a little bit more about that in a couple of minutes. Very practical advice, I think. But you’re to restore them.

Now, this word restore is also can be used about nets. And this is about mending nets. Okay? So, a net has holes in it. It’s worn out, and you got to fix it. It’s fixing the net. Or it’s the same word for building up people. This is what Paul did in the churches is he would restore, he would fortify them, he would build them up in the Lord Jesus Christ. Okay. So, the idea is again that what we’re involved in is reclamation work of people that are overtaken.

They’re caught. They’re stuck in a sin. And what we’re trying to do is not just get them to get clean with the sin. We’re to restore them to effectiveness for the kingdom. They’re supposed to be a good net again. They’re supposed to be empowered with the principles and truths that they have strength again in the Lord Jesus Christ for the various ministries and callings that they’re doing. So our goal is not just, you know, this one thing that maybe we need to talk to them about.

Our goal is to talk to them in a way that helps them to understand that from our perspective, we’re not condemning them. We’re acknowledging they’ve been caught in a trespass. There’s moral guilt if there’s sin involved, of course, but you know, the idea is that we’re to breathe grace, as Ken Sande says, right? We’re to see them as overtaken and we’re supposed to convince them that’s our attitude toward them right now.

If they’re boisterous and, you know, unruly, we have to rebuke them. But our attitude still is restoring them. And that’s the other deal. We have to make sure or do as best as we can in how we talk to them that they know we’re on their side. We want them to be effective members of the kingdom. We’re not trying to put them down, condemn them. We’re trying to reclaim them for the work of the Lord Jesus Christ.

And we’re to do that in a spirit of gentleness.

So now, okay, so let me sum up some practical phrases from Ken Sande’s book, *The Peacemakers*, that will maybe you could write down if you’re taking notes. First of all, remember the goal. Okay, so that’s what I’ve been talking about. The goal is to equip, to repair, to bring them back to effectiveness for the kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ. So if you’re ready to go talk to somebody about a sin that they’ve been caught in.

Remember the goal first and foremost, right? And then secondly, generally remember the method. The method is to be gracious. You know, politics, this is the problem with social justice. The definition or goal is different for the humanist than it is for the theist, for the Christian. And not only that, but the method to attain whatever the goal is different as well. We are Christians. Our goals and our methods are to be controlled by the Lord Jesus Christ.

So when we’re going to talk to somebody about a sin, a brother or sister in the church or maybe a friend outside of the church, but a Christian who’s part of another church, but primarily the obligation here is the local church. If we’re going to do that, remember the goal. We’re trying to repair them, make them effective for the kingdom, build them up, and remember the method. The method is graciousness, right?

Because sin brings conviction. Sin brings fear. Sin brings condemnation and guilt. So, usually if you’re talking to a member of a church here, for instance, this is what they’re going to be overwhelmed with. And the only hope we can bring them that it’s going to be okay, which is should be part of our goal is to talk to them about the gospel. The gospel is at the center of the reclamation effort. There’s nothing they can do to earn enough whatever with God that their sins will be covered or hidden.

That comes about from the blood of Jesus. So it’s very important that when we go to somebody in serious difficulties and that’s what the text sort of looks at that we do it remembering the goal and remembering the method. The method secondly so is graciousness but the method is also conversation right it means talking to people and it means talking to people to reclaim them in Matthew 18 you know which we know about that if a brother your brother sins against you go to him right before that those of you that know that your Bibles pretty well will remember that he was talking about the lost sheep, right?

And he would seek the lost sheep the one out of the hundred. And right after that, he talks about fairly soon after this, the person who was forgiven much wouldn’t forgive other people. So the point is there are buffers here around the idea of going and talking to people. That’s so difficult for us. The buffers are remember this is a gracious activity of God. You’re speaking grace to them by bringing them to their senses about sin and hopefully coming to repentance for those sins.

It’s really going to be more effective if when you talk to them, you center on God’s grace and forgiveness and upon the gospel ultimately. So, you know, sometimes you really do need to confront people, but that’s not normally what this process looks like. This process looks like you know your friend coming to you trying to help you.

Okay. Okay. Practical stuff. Then in addition to remembering the goal and remembering the means third prayer obviously this is a spiritual exercise. You know clearly the unspoken assumption of this text is that God is using you as his mouth to the other person to affect his spiritual reclamation and ultimately that’s impossible apart from the work of the Holy Spirit. You’re going to need wisdom. You’re going to need yourself calmed down. So prayer is the third thing I’d want to exhort you to.

You don’t want this to become a shouting match or a fight. In fact, you should absolutely steel yourself not to let that happen to keep calm no matter what the other person how their original responses might be. So goal method prayer, and then after your prayer, choose the right time and place. These are obvious things, but they’re not necessarily going to be remembered. You know, it’s probably not right after the agape with other people with earshot may not be the best time for you to go and talk to somebody, right?

So, you choose the right time and place. Your goal is not condemnation. It’s reclamation. So, you try to think of a good time and place that person might respond better in.

Secondly, in terms of all these practical stuff now talk in person don’t do it via email don’t do it via you know telephone even face to face we’re image bearers of God and while I can’t do this much you can see each other’s countenances right so you’re having a conversation you can sort of see how they’re responding to how you’re speaking I mean it’s just God’s way is to do things face to face. I praise God for the technology we can get a lot of stuff done via email Facebook telephone faxes, whatever.

Good. Great. But this task, please, please do this in person. Yeah, it’s more intimidating for you. Much easier to, you know, send off an electronic message of some sort. Painless, right? But you’re going to remember when you see the other person face to face that this is an image bearer of God. This is a person that perhaps you’ve probably known for a while. You’ve appreciated their work for the kingdom. It’s going to help you to remember the goal and the proper gracious method when you see them face to face and it’s going to help them as well to hear your love for them in the words you tell them.

That is not usually the case with electronic communication. So go face to face time and place. Go face to face. Go tentatively and repeatedly. When it says in Matthew 18, go you know if a brother sins against you go. You know the idea is that maybe you’re wrong. Maybe he isn’t really caught in a sin, right? You don’t know. And then if it doesn’t work out, bring somebody else, third party in to help mediate it.

So go tentatively. And then secondly, go repeatedly. This is very important. We don’t think about this typically. We think these things are one-offs, right? We go to them, we confront them, we tell them, they repent, and we move on. And if they don’t repent, then we excommunicate them. You know, we may not, but we may not have much to do with them. The word go in Matthew 18 indicates continuing action. Now, that makes a lot of sense, doesn’t it?

I mean, if you if somebody comes to me and says, “Well, I think you did this, this, and this.” Well, I don’t know. You know, it’s first time I’ve heard that, or maybe I know, and we can get right at it. But sometimes the person has to think about it, pray about it, reflect upon it. Be ready for a process, a set of dialogue, a series of dialogues between each other. So, go tentatively and go repeatedly be committed to a series of meetings.

Is it worth it to reclaim his soul from death to cover his sins under the blood of Jesus? That’s worth some time, right? So, so go repeatedly engage rather than declare. You know, you can go about discussing things with people in a way that engages them in the conversation, right? Rather than just declare it as sentences, you did this. This is bad. This blit, blit, blit. Right? That doesn’t it usually doesn’t elicit as good a response as if you engage them because they don’t see grace and they don’t see you’re really intending to repair them.

They think you’re just there to condemn them. So engage rather than declare. Bring hope as I mentioned earlier through the gospel. One of the if you’re dealing with people who are struggling greatly in the James text with people are on the verge of apostasy, you know, they’re losing hope. That’s why probably they’re in the situation therein. And so what you’ve got to do is bring hope and the only hope is through the gospel of Jesus.

And explicit reminders of the gospel of grace are important for these kind of conversations. Be quick to listen, right? This is what James tells us. Everybody should be quick to listen and slow to speak, right? And so, you know, we’re there to speak. We’re there to engage them in a conversation, but we should listen to them, right? We want dialogue. We want them to understand what we’re saying. And we want to understand what conditions in their life might have been part of what’s led up to this thing.

Not as excuses, but as things we want to help them with. If you’re going to repair the net, you sort of need to know which knots are broken, right? So, you know, go with an intent. Yes, to talk and begin a dialogue, but very importantly, be quick to listen. Listen means also about waiting. See, you say something, you wait for the other person, right? You don’t just dominate the conversation. It’s a dialogue.

I think the metaphor that I’ve used over the years is tennis. You hit the ball over the net and you wait and you listen and you wait some more. Let them hit it back. If they don’t hit it back, you know, maybe try to prime the pump a little bit by asking the question or making the statement again, but wait. Don’t be so quick to divulge what’s on your mind that you don’t hear their mind. You’re there to help them, right?

And if you’re going to help them, you need to kind of understand what’s going on in their head. Not just waiting for the other person to respond, but attending to what they say. Don’t cut them off as they start talking. Wait for them to finish. Give them glory. Wait for them to finish. And while they’re finishing, don’t just sit there and wait while you’re thinking of your next statement. Attend to what they’re saying.

You have time. We got a lot of time. You can think about what you’re going to say next after you fully heard the other person. You want to attend to what they’re saying. You want to ask clarifying questions, you know, so you listen. You wait for them to finish. You attend to what they’re saying, listening carefully, and then you ask clarifying questions or make clarifying statements to make sure you understand.

Understand what it is they’re saying to you about the particular difficulty or problem. Reflecting back to the other person, paraphrasing back to them, well, I think I hear you say this about why you’re not coming to church anymore or why you’re not going to community group or why you’re this, that, or the other thing or why it seems like you’re yelling at your wife a lot. I think this is what you’re telling me.

You paraphrase the thing back and talk to them about that. So there’s active communication. Agree with things they say that are right. So, you’re there to you know to talk to them about some sin, some difficult area, something they’re entrapped in, but there’s going to be other parts of what they say that you’re going to resonate with that are correct. Right? Agree with those things. It’s a way to give grace.

It’s a way to keep the goal reclamation, fixing their net, making them effective in mind and using the method which is graciousness. It’s a way to do that. Agree with the things that they say that are proper. And then as I said earlier, it helped them examine the desires of their heart. At this point in the conversation, you may be able to see how certain desires that may be perfectly met in other godly ways are being met through ungodly ways.

So if you can get to the desires that are driving, you know, their sin, you can help them to achieve, if they’re good and godly desires, them in a biblical way. So kind of look under the surface. Ask offer solutions and then ask for feedback on the solutions that you offer. Okay. So those are some practical how sort of things gleaned from these other verses in the scriptures and the wisdom literature about how we going about do how we go about doing this.

Roadblocks to doing this. One roadblock is obviously isolation. We’re not involved in each other’s life. Let me talk about another big roadblock. I was listening to this TED talk two weeks ago on leadership and this man had seen a video. There was a firefight in Afghanistan. A captain was carrying a wounded sergeant back and putting him in a medevac helicopter. Firefight was going on. He was going to go back up and he rescued several men.

Got the Congressional Medal of Honor for doing this. But and one of the medics had a camera on his head and they got video of the whole thing. And so this guy brings this wounded sergeant back who’s been shot in the neck and he puts him in the medevac helicopter and before he races back to rescue more men, he kisses the sergeant. He kisses the sergeant. And this is an example of loving leadership that is absolutely, you know, essential for winning warfare, winning battles.

The church is to be that kind of commitment and love to each other. We’re an effective fighting team in the Lord Jesus Christ for, you know, developing and manifesting his kingdom. And we’re supposed to have that kind of concern and love for each other even as we’re battling together.

Now, it’s interesting because why is that love evident there? Why is that, you know, camaraderie of a military platoon or whatever it was, why can they such great commitment to each other, such great love, such great unity together as they go into a firefight as evidenced by the man’s kissing of the sergeant. What how did they do that? That’s an interesting question to ponder. I think there’s multiple things we could talk about, but I just want to talk about one thing.

If you ask guys in combat why they did it, if you ask this guy, he’ll say the same thing that they all say, which is he would have done it. for me. He would have risked his life out of love for me to get me out of there. He would have risked his life for me. They are dependent upon each other. Do you know why? Because it’s really true that their lives depend on each other. It’s really true that if platoon cohesion breaks down in a firefight, you’re likely to get killed. You really are dependent upon the other person for your life.

Now, folks, this is a roadblock to us fulfilling or obeying this concluding text in James’s epistle. We don’t believe that our lives are on the line. We think we can entertain sin and become more nominal in a relationship to a church and then maybe even go to a church where nobody knows who we are. We’re not confessing our sin to anybody there and there’s certainly not knowing us well enough to talk about it. We think we can just do that and just kind of drift away from the way of commitment to a local body of Christ and everything’s cool because we believe in eternal security.

We believe in the perseverance of the saints. It’s one of the big five for us reformed folks. Oh, we can’t lose our salvation. We’re not going to die. You kidding? And if we can’t die, why do we need each other? I mean, we still need each other. But you know, you miss an important perspective on this. If you don’t understand this text says you can die, okay? You can’t lose any salvation that God has eternally decreed you to have.

But you sure can lose your position and you can you can you can be actually at the end of the day you can end up to be one of those people that never were Jesus said I never knew you. You came to church but I never knew you. Now if we don’t think we can die, we’re not going to give our lives for each other. And we’re not going to, you know, swallow our pride long enough to either speak to someone or to hear from someone about our sin.

So, so I think one of the big roadblocks to us in reformed circles and evangelical circles is this idea that we can’t lose our salvation. Now, now don’t misquote me as you leave here. Derry didn’t say you could lose your salvation if you’re eternally elect by the decree of God. That’s where you’re going to be in heaven. You can’t do anything about that. But covenantally, we don’t know one another. I don’t know.

I haven’t seen the list, the eternal list. Oh, I seen lists. But God says he can erase people off the list. Okay? Now, that’s not a matter of, you know, a loss of sovereignty for God. Whoever he sovereignly has elected, they’ll be in heaven. But from the covenantal perspective is where this text and most of the Bible is written. And from that perspective, God wants us to know that we can die in this firefight.

And we had better be committed to one another because of that truth.

Let me talk about another roadblock. Another roadblock is kindness. There was an article online. I mentioned this last week, I think, the kindness that kills the church. And this lady, I think it was a woman who wrote it. I’m not sure. And she has a couple of really good quotes from C.S. Lewis, *Problem of Pain*. And you know, kindness of course is a Christian virtue.

And it’s supposed to, you know, be seen in relationship to love for each other. But when kindness and love are kind of separated, kindness becomes what the writer or author calls niceness. And here’s what it looks like. So you come to church and you’re nice to each other. We dress nice and we smile at each other and say, “Hi, how you doing?” “Oh, great. How are you doing?” “Yeah, everything’s great.” “Yeah, it’s good.” Yeah, we’re nice to each other.

And we may know, and that’s what the text assumes. We know one of us is struggling. Do we call them? Do we talk to them? Do we love them. You see, what does love want? God loves you. That’s why he chastises you. God loves you. That’s why he sought you and continues to seek you when you stray. If we don’t love each other, we’re not going to do what James says here. And the very wonderful truth of loving kindness can be used by twisted sinners like you and I as a way to avoid lovingly going to one another graciously trying to repair each other seeking their benefit for the kingdom and seeking them to not become eternally lost.

Kindness stops us from going to each other and speaking plainly to each other. Right? So you know you know one problem we have in America is isolation. Another problem in our particular theological circles is not thinking that there’s a firefight going on and death is real. And the third thing that gets in our way is some sort of, you know, superficial kindness that really is more like this woman said, which is more like niceness.

And that niceness doesn’t care enough about each other to confront or doesn’t care about each other enough to come alongside and encourage. We got our, you know, in many churches, you people have their groups of people that they’re tight with, you know, but everybody else, well, I don’t know who are those most people, we don’t know. It’s not that big a deal. We’re nice to them, but do we love them enough to talk to them?

James says, you know, that isolation is a problem there, too. Right? So, at the beginning of James gospel, you personally, he counted all joy. How do you do it? By me moved to an understanding of your corporate obligations and responsibilities. And what are those corporate obligations? Confession, prayer, and reclamation. And he says, “That’s the deal. That’s what’s going to get you out of these thousand tribulations long term.

That’s what’s going to keep you steady in the midst of it is your actual love for each other, not a niceness that fails to speak plainly to one another or seek one another out to remove and snaring sin.

Now, look, I know it’s not fun. I do this a lot, but I’m paid to do it, right? I guess that’s one way to think of it. I mean, I do it because I love people, but you know, I I understand that for me it’s different than for you, but and I know what it’s like. I know what it’s like going and talking to people who are snared in sin. It is no fun. It is a series of conversations. And in those series of conversations, you’re going to get disappointed. You’re going to get sad. You’re going to get ticked at the other person. But you know what? Through all of that, you should love them and keep at it. They’re part of you if they’re part of this body. And I, you know, I know it’s a difficult task.

To do. But this task here in the at the end of James gospel, you know, is a task that is essential to surviving the sorts of things that church and any church goes through in the context of life and over a period of time.

Billy Graham has these secrets for leadership that have been published. Let me read one here. Tom Hurt from OC sent these to me, a few of them the other day. One’s called Leading in Love. He says, “It may seem a bit counterintuitive for leaders to embrace love. But love is foundational for change and leaders bring change. Martin Luther King Jr. said, ‘Whom you would change, you must first love.’ You know, so if you’re going to change somebody and recover them, you have to first love them. Love empathizes. Love expresses kindness. Love does not allow people to settle for less than their potential.

Love tells the truth. Love challenges norms. Love sees beyond the present action of others. Love is both firm and fair. Love withstands the assault of misunderstandings, miscommunication and misleading statements. Love is the difference maker. Who do you need to love? So love is firm and fair, right? Love is loving, kind, but it’s a kindness that doesn’t just say, “Well, I’ll be, you know, externally pleasant to them, but I don’t really care about their lives, right?

I don’t really care about their lives.” We’re to care about each other. And that caring is supposed to drive us to this action.

Let me conclude by talking about the great privilege of this particular task. It is a command to us. Okay, it’s a command. He says to do this, but it’s also a great privilege and a very high calling. As I said earlier, Jesus is the good shepherd who seeks the lost sheep. How does he do it?

Well, here and I think normally this is how he does it. He uses you. You are the mouth of the great shepherd speaking to one of the erring wandering sheep. You are fulfilling the role of Jesus in this narrative. You are seeking people because of God who seeks us and God is a seeking God and you are fulfilling your divine calling to be the mouthpiece of the Lord Jesus Christ when you go to a wandering sheep and try to reclaim him.

What higher privilege is there in life than to do something so closely tied to the character and action of our savior? I mean, that’s a that’s a wonderful piece of calling that God has placed upon us to be essentially the mouth of the Lord Jesus Christ in recovering of other Christians. And that’s what it says. Jesus saves, right? You save. That’s what it says. If you go to people in the way that the scriptures talk about who are wandering from their way, you save them.

You save them from their soul dying and you cover a multitude of sins. Yes, on the basis and foundation of Jesus and his work on the cross. But he, that is the sort of language, the high privilege we have of this task in fulfilling who we are in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Jeremiah 15:19 says this, “Therefore, thus says the Lord, if you return, then I will bring you back. You shall stand before me. If you take out the if you take out the precious from the vial, you shall be as my mouth. Let them return to you, but you must not return to them.” So he says that when you call sinners back. You are essentially the mouth of God to other people.

Daniel 12:3 says this, “Those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the firmament, and those who turn many to righteousness like the stars forever and ever.” You shine brightest when you do this work is I think what is going on in the book of Daniel.

We read a quote from John and he notice as we read this quote, he’s talking about the this privilege and the greatness of it, but he’s also talking about what I’ve talked about earlier that this is in the context of the church and people within the church dying eternally. So here’s what Calvin says. For James recommends to us the correction of our brethren from the effect produced that we may more assiduously attend to this duty.

Nothing is better or more desirable than to deliver a soul from eternal death. And this is what he does, who restores an erring brother to the right way. Therefore, a work so excellent ought by no means to be neglected, to give food to the hungry and drink to the thirsty. We see how much Christ values such acts, right? But the salvation of the soul is esteemed by him much more precious than the life of the body.

We must therefore take heed, lest souls perish through our sloth, whose salvation God puts in a manner in our hands. Not that we can bestow salvation on them, but that God by our ministry delivers and saves those who seem otherwise to be nigh destruction.

A high privilege, a great duty, an essential aspect of the Christian church. May the Lord God grant that as we leave the Epistle of James, we do so with renewed commitments to these three great communal truths that he’s talked about at the end of this text. Prayer, confession, and reclamation when each other when we stray from the truth.

Let’s pray. Lord God, we thank you for the very practical advice at the end of this epistle that helps us to understand how we go about doing the important work that’s laid out for us in it. Bless us, Lord God, as a congregation. I know you’re already doing that. I know your spirit’s at work affecting the sorts of conversations that we have talked about in today’s text and in today’s sermon.

We thank you for that. We thank you Lord God that you’re making us into a congregation who engage more frequently in prayer, confession, and reclamation. In Jesus name we pray. Amen.