Sacred Longing

Thank you. My name is Mark and I want to say good morning to all of you over in venue as well or joining us on Facebook live. We are glad that you are part of this morning's service today and we're in a series called "Every Day Sacred," a verse-by-verse study of the New Testament letter of James and today we arrive at the final two verses. Two verses that actually form just one sentence and yet it is a powder keg because it speaks to a painful reality that most of us have experienced.

It's when someone that you dearly love wanders away from God's truth. Sometimes in the news you hear someone with some notability, they announce that they are no longer a Christian or something like that. There's been a couple of those just this summer, one with a guy who's written a lot of worship songs, some of them that we've sung here, and it's always very, very sad but what is even more painful is when something like this strikes closer to home in your own family or with a dear friend, someone you know, someone you maybe you've sat next to in church for many, many years and it raises difficult questions because you know for time perhaps even a very long time from all appearances that person shared the same faith you do and yet now not so much.

Some will tell you well yeah I still believe in Jesus but their life tells a different story. Others maybe their way of living has changed very little and yet their view of Jesus, the significance of His church, that has shifted radically and it can play out in a myriad of different ways and in 30 minutes we're not going to be able to cover all of that but suffice it to say if you're here today someone that you deeply care about has wandered away from the Lord I am confident that that fills you with a very deep and abiding concern.

I've entitled this morning's message sacred longing because there is something very sacred about longing for someone who again has wandered away to return to Jesus to embrace the faith that we've been given. James does not close with a typical ending there's no final greetings there's no benediction that you see in so many other New Testament letters and I think it is because James shares this very same sacred longing.

Chapter 5 verses 19 and 20 he says this you can follow along as I read. "My dear or my brothers and sisters if anyone among you wanders from the truth and is brought back by another you should know that whoever brings back a sinner from wandering will save the sinner soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins." The end. There's no further development or explanation did he run out of ink or paper and yet if you think about it if we've been paying attention we realize that this has really been James's concern throughout the letter.

I was just kind of summarize this very quickly but chapter 1 he talks about how people who listen to God's Word but never actually do it are deceiving themselves so he urges them chapter 1 verse 21 to humbly accept the word planted in you interesting word use of words planted in you which can save you. Chapter 2 he writes "as the body without the Spirit is dead so faith without deeds is dead" and his point in this section is that true faith will always lead to a changed life and if your faith if it doesn't enliven if it doesn't inform your behavior he says your faith is dead.

Now this section of James is often misunderstood and so if you weren't with us when we covered this section I encourage you to go to our website and you can watch this for free it's called living faith and give you a fuller treatment of that but in chapter 3 you ever really want to know what's going on in your heart well he says pay attention to what's rolling off your tongue because out of the mouth those words come from deep into deep in our heart and so in verse 10 he says "out of the same mouth come praise and cursing my brothers and sisters this should not be" and James admits that we all kind of stumble and we're not perfect in this way but on balance a changed heart is increasingly humble it's it's sincere merciful peace-loving wise and these things will be reflected in our speech.

Chapter 4 James warns those who are in love with the things of the world and also those who are proud and arrogant he's kind of singling them out and he's calling them to repentance and he assures them he says come near to God and he will come near to you. So again he has his eye on folks that are in the church but he's got a deep concern for them and so finally chapter 5 he voices it again for people who might wander from the truth which is really not some you know narrow point of doctrine this is James kind of shorthand for the gospel for this the core of the Christian proclamation and these people again are within the scope of his audience he says they're they're among you and so it's not only that original audience but by extension it's it's anyone who has been exposed to who understands the basic proclamation of the Christian faith which has been summarized perhaps in no better place than in John 3:16 it's why it's so popular but just just so that we're all very clear here the central claim of Christianity is that God so loved the world a world where we have all wandered away from him but he loves us so much that he gave his one and only son Jesus of Nazareth who died on a cross on behalf of our sins so that we would be completely forgiven that the all of the punishment all of the guilt would fall upon him so that whoever believes in him placing their faith in what he's done their trust in that in his life his death his resurrection because of that as a result you will not perish but have eternal life this is the truth of the gospel and if you hear nothing else this morning hear this and I pray that you will embrace it if you never have before because this is God's gift to us it's his gift and yet not all receive it.

If you're taking notes this morning circle those words wanders and wandering James uses a word here that's in the language he's writing in that the Greek that he's writing in it appears 37 times in the New Testament and it has to do with being led astray deceived to be in error in one's thinking and perspective and in the ancient Greek translation of the Old Testament the word is used exactly the same way in fact a familiar example is in Isaiah 53:6 where it appears two times when it says we all like sheep have gone astray there it is each of us has turned us a second occasion to our own way in other words we've wandered.

Now how does sheep wander astray one step at a time right it's not that complicated they start nibbling here and then they nibble there and there and nibble and nibble and nibble and nibble and eventually they've left the flock a while ago I told a story about one day I'm driving out of my driveway stopped and looked see if there's car coming up the street there's no car coming up the street but there's this sheep a magnificent sheep trotting up the street I have to yield for it or something like that and this is kind of life in Corlitus and so right I see right behind the sheep there's one of my neighbors from down the street he's got this long leash in his hand he's chasing after the sheep he tends to wrap it around the sheep's neck but the sheep is having nothing to do with the leash and it's clear that it's far quicker than this neighbor of mine and so I think well that's not gonna work so I will bribe it.

So I parked my truck and I run to the house grab a carrot out of the fridge come back out and I dangle it in front of the sheep's face and the sheep looks at me like yeah buddy I like those about as much as you do and so as it turns out the sheep could not be bribed nor it could be forced into following us back to its home and sometimes when we're trying to persuade someone back to the truth of the gospel we respond in ways that aren't terribly successful either in fact allow me to mention four of them and by the way these responses don't really work but that does not keep us from trying them anyway and the first one I'm gonna camp out on this one the most this is anxiety anxiety it's where it begins you know we worry over the person who's wandering and it's totally understandable I mean this is not a welcome development in their lives it is not a good direction because after all James says in verse 20 whoever brings back a sinner from wandering will save the sinner soul from death and cover a multitude of sins.

Now on one hand that's hopeful that's motivating for us to be reaching out but on the other hand it's it's sobering because it raises the question in our minds well you know what if they don't turn around you know do they do they lose their salvation that's not really the issue that's being addressed in this passage and I'll tell you why first of all the through line of James as well as in the Gospels which which he refers to often is that there are some who who are appear to be a part of the Lord's flock and yet it turns out they aren't really that way in fact if you read Matthew 13 the entire chapter is about that issue with the sower and the seed or or the weed in the tares or the catch where some of the fish are in and some around this is a this is an abiding concern for the Lord he talks about it often and here his half brother James is doing the same thing.

Not only that but notice that that James says whoever brings back a sinner from wandering will save the sinner soul this is significant because in the New Testament you will never find the word sinner as a reference for someone who is truly saved who has been regenerated by the Holy Spirit in fact surprisingly in Christ we're called saints and it really comes down to where you draw your life ultimately if your life is is in your sin then scripture calls you a sinner but if your life is in Christ then amazingly you're called a saint by his word even though you struggle with sin but that's why we call his grace so amazing because he he overlooks that because of the blood of Jesus Christ and the finished work on the cross.

So here in verse 20 where it says that this bringing this person back will save their soul from death and cover a multitude of sin he's really describing that moment when they they truly come to faith for the first time even though maybe they've been around the church for a long time or something like that they are coming to faith in this moment which means their soul is being saved and their sins as as as many as they are are being fully covered that's the description of all of us who have come to faith in Christ your soul has been saved your your multitude of sins are covered in my case a great multitude has been covered up but again the sad fact is this that something with the human mind we're able to compartmentalize where where we might accept this as a you know propositionally give a mental assent to it go yeah I don't have a difficulty with that and yet even we sing songs and and and listen to sermons but it never for some reason there's a disconnect it never goes deeper it doesn't become personal or central to one's life.

Back in chapter 2 verse 19 James says ever so bluntly you believe that there is one God good even the demons believe that and shutter in a context he's saying okay congratulations you're not a pagan because again they were surrounded by pagans but he's saying you know it's one thing to know about God to even have a certain set of theological beliefs about God he's going you know what the demons have that they have a lot more they know more than you do but it is another thing to place your faith and your trust in God and specifically as he is revealed embodied in Jesus Christ.

I'll give you an example and not a terribly positive one Thomas Jefferson admired Jesus he read the New Testament he probably read it more than most of us he liked what Jesus had to say about ethical issues he liked the virtuous life that he he believed that Jesus lived but the miracle stuff you know him healing people giving sight to the blind commanding the wind and the way all that supernatural stuff Jefferson thought that was totally bogus it was irrational and so in response he literally cut those sections out of the New Testament.

I mean here's here's a picture of his actual Bible on screen if you go to the Smithsonian you can see this for yourself and truth be told you know he's not the only one who's ever you know picks and choose what they choose what they want to believe about Jesus right he just happens to be a little bit more honest about it and if I was his friend if I was living in that time you know I might I might be filled with a lot of worry for him go you know you know Tom I don't know that that's really the best approach to Scripture so maybe would you put down your razor blade or your scissors and and I just hear me I'm so worried about you would you you need to receive Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior and I think if I did that he'd probably be annoyed right even like mark worry about yourself because the truth is you're probably not going to be able to worry someone to Jesus you know okay I'll receive Jesus because I do I tired of seeing you worry it just doesn't work.

So next response that also is not terribly successful is anger why worry when you can just get mad right and I have to admit this is where I struggle most this is it's kind of my default response in situations like this in fact just recently I realized it was painfully clear that I needed to repent of anger that I was holding towards another person and it was because this person wasn't acting terribly Christ-like and so you could even say that it was a righteous anger problem is it wasn't helping it did not move the needle one bit and so I'd say Lord this is this is your deal I just have to let this go and perhaps there's someone in your life you know maybe you you raised them one way they're living another way or they're a friend there's someone you really love that they're going down a destructive path and it's so frustrating it can get aggravated because you see the pain and the problems that it's producing but you know your anger over that situation or perhaps even more so the people that are influencing their choices oh man it's understandable but it's probably not helpful.

And so anxiety anger those don't work third one not much better either because eventually we kind of this stuff kind of weighs on us and we respond with angst you know we're we're just sad over the situation I have a friend I know through Mount Herman her name is Liz hammer and this summer Liz did a seminar every week entitled our wandering ones and it's a discussion about one of her grown sons who has wandered away from the faith of his upbringing and his family and by the way Liz shares this completely with her son's permission and blessing but one of the things that Liz says and I credit her for some of my thoughts today but she makes an excellent point when she says despite this deep longing that I have and you can imagine a mother's heart for her son she just wants the best for him but she says despite of that I came to the realization that even in this season of life God still wants me to have joy he still wants me to have peace I mean after all joy and peace are not simply reserved for the times in life when everything's just going perfect right and so living in this perpetual state of angst that's not the answer either and neither is this fourth response which is apathy you know we just throw up our hands and just give up all hope for a wandering ones to every to ever to return and you know what that's really saying if you think about it when we kind of just you know say all right I'm just gonna I'm not gonna care anymore we're saying we already know how the story ends is what we're saying you know I've already drawn the final conclusion in this person's life but you know what you might agree with me last time I checked on this that type of knowledge is way above our pay grade you know what I'm saying.

And so if none of these responses actually work if they're not productive okay how are we called to respond you know help us out here Lord well this week James doesn't give us any type of like further words here and so I look to other passages of scripture and and the Lord brought me to four scriptures that you know it's not an exhaustive list it's not everything there is to say about it it's not a formula or ironclad guarantee but I think these are four things that if we apply you won't be sorry I don't think you can go wrong with any one of these and I encourage you to apply all four of them.

The first way we're called to respond when someone is wandering away from the Lord is to respond gently respond gently yet we woo people back to Jesus we do not boo them back to Jesus you know what I'm saying sometimes what passes for Christian radio or TV or even Sunday sermons really boils down to we're just booing these people you know you're a terrible person boo you're not making good choices boo oh you're running around with that group boo boo and it's like how persuasive is that in Galatians 6:1 it says brothers and sisters if someone is caught in a sin you who live by the Spirit should restore that person what let me hear you church gently.

Now to be clear here in Galatians Paul is talking about someone who has faltered in their faith been caught in a particular sin they're not necessarily outside the fold but the same principle allows it invite we're not really called the judge who's in and out of the fold anyway but he says respond with with gentleness don't clobber them love them and the word that that he uses their restore you see that word in Matthew 4 when Jesus sees James and John mending their nets that's the word restore they are mending them restoring them to full function it was also used as a medical term when when someone would set a bone or put it put it put your your bone back in joint and I don't know about you but you know whatever the doctor has to do to restore my health I'm like just do it gently okay please I mean do what you got to do but but don't hurt me any more than you have to and so we respond gently and secondly we respond humbly humbly as in there but but for the grace of God there go I that kind of humility and in Galatians 6 verse 1 continues but watch yourselves or you also may be tempted and it's so subtle because you know we begin with the best of intentions but when we're met with defensiveness or indifference or just flat-out rejection after a while eventually we can start to feel well maybe just a little bit superior you know why do you have to be so hard-headed I'm just trying to bring you to Jesus like I am so close to Valerie was telling a few of us in the office this last week funny story seems that whenever she's out in town someone might like recognize her for from the church but they don't know her name and so more than once someone has said to her hey you're that church lady look mommy it's the church lady so you should keep doing that just keep that up I think that's it's good all right where we watch yourself watch myself as Jesus says in Matthew 7 first take the log out of your own eye and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your neighbor's eye we respond gently humbly and third we respond prayerfully prayerfully you know when we bring our burden for someone else to the Lord in prayer we're not just bringing words we're bringing ourselves aren't we we're bringing our whole beings into that conversation again that's that's a sacred thing but I have found over the course of time that when I'm praying for someone who may be straying from the Lord the Lord doesn't allow me to just make it about them he always has a way of turning it back around and and I find myself feeling obligated to pray for myself in the same ways I'm praying for them you're with me here so it's like you know Lord please soften this person's heart oh and soften mine too or Lord even if you have to chase in this person you have to make them uncomfortable in order to motivate them to come back to you do the same in my life Lord for the things that I need to repent of as well.

David prays in Psalm 26 test me Oh Lord and try me examine my heart and my mind and this is really James in a nutshell he is calling us to examine our lives but with this issue of prayer you know most of us know that the lowest point in Peter's life was the the night that he denied Jesus three times the night that Jesus is arrested he's about to be crucified and here's this this beloved you know loyal disciples saying I never knew the man and again he's just it's just the bottom of the barrel in Peter's life but we know that story well one of the things that gets skipped over a lot is what Jesus says to Peter right before this all goes down and this is just I love this in Luke 22 Jesus says Simon Simon as he was also called Satan has asked to sift you as wheat but I have prayed for you Simon that your faith may not fail and when you have turned back strengthen your brothers.

I find this so personally encouraging and it is a sacred thing again to follow Jesus in prayer on behalf of other people praying that their faith will ultimately not fail praying that after they have wandered that they will return and in fact they will return with a with a love for Jesus that that inspires and strengthens other people and so when you're you're tempted to give up on that person or you're frustrated or you just kind of at your wits and pray pray for them as James reminds us the prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective do you believe that church pray for those wandering ones in your own life and along these lines the fourth way to to reach out to respond is expectantly in Luke 15 Jesus tells three stories that are really a window into his heart how he feels about those who have wandered away or are lost first there's the story of a shepherd who leaves 99 of a sheep to go and find rescue the one sheep right and then there's a story of a woman who loses a coin and she will not stop looking for it until she finds it the third story is about the so-called prodigal son and this young man he runs far far away from his father and yet every day even though this this young man he has plunged into the deep end of sin and selfish living every single day his father is scanning the horizon expecting that maybe today will be the day that I see my boy coming home.

And how do I know this if you know the story doesn't exactly tell it that way or does it because Jesus says when the son finally decides to return it says but while he was still a long way off his father saw him and was filled with compassion that dad was just looking where just the limits of his vision someday I'm gonna see my boy coming home that's God's heart on display that's how God feels about those who say you know thanks God but no thanks or yeah you know Jesus I tried that didn't really work for me the point is if God doesn't give up neither should his church neither should we.

This past May a woman named Amanda Eller got lost while hiking in a very remote area of Maui you may recall this story she was found alive after 17 days what made all the difference well watch this I'm just a girl that got lost in the woods and you guys like showed up hard they called her rescue a miracle on Monday they treated her like a hero I just have so much gratitude and thanks for like everybody showing up with the biggest hearts and the biggest generosity those volunteers kept showing up some climbing some repelling some flying drones even when police called off the search after just three days she just went through the 17 day survivor ordeal and she's looking unbelievable Ellers good friend Javier cantaloupes last saw her on Friday when he was part of the team that spotted her from the air and then rescued her from a jungle waterfall she's like you never gave up on me I was like I wasn't gonna search for you for the rest of my life these guys were not gonna give up on me thank God thank God indeed right they just wouldn't give up.

And as I say this I'm well aware that the person that you're thinking of that perhaps has wandered away it's quite possible they don't want to be found maybe they've made that abundantly clear which is why it's all the more important for us not to give up on them I included the message paraphrase of today's passage today because I think it just nails the heart of what James is saying in this text when it says my dear friends if you know people who have wandered off from God's truth don't write them off go after them get them back and you will have rescued precious lives from destruction and prevented an epidemic of wandering away from God.

Well in a moment I'm gonna invite all of us who have a burden for someone in our lives to bring that person before the Lord in prayer and we're gonna ask that God would do a remarkable work that he would do a miracle in their lives we're gonna have an opportunity to do that but before we do it's possible that in a group decides that the person that you've been thinking about the one who's been wandering away from the Lord isn't out there it's right here it's you because there's something that has driven a wedge between you and Jesus it's it's fear it's shame it's disappointment it's it's pain it's doubts about something an unresolved question or something like that it may even be you know the issue of control who who ultimately gets to have control over my life but whatever it is listen to me whatever it is it has been deceiving you it has been leading you astray it has been slowly convincing you the more you nibble on it that there's some kind of life for you out there away from Jesus but in truth there is no life outside of Jesus he is the author of life he is the source of life apart from him there are only dead ends and so I implore you to come back to Jesus.

Remember that lost sheep that I mentioned earlier this morning as it turned out the leash wasn't gonna make it come back the carrot wasn't gonna make it come back what made the difference was actually my neighbor Lisa who happened to know a thing or two about sheep because when she saw what was going on she came out of her house and she simply called it she says hey there sweetheart how are you and the sheep it just perks up like this like it's in its cast she casts a spell on it and it just trots right over to her side like they're best friends and I'm stunned by this holding my stupid carrot my hand it's just you're lost come with me and they just go walking down the road the sheep following her voice all the way home.

Is it possible you are hearing the voice of the Lord this morning if so it's time to come home it's time to come home so I'm gonna give you an opportunity to do that and if not for yourself then from a dear one for a dear one in your life who needs to hear the voice of the Lord this morning let's pray.

Heavenly Father we come before you as your people today as your church and Lord this is a this is a heavy subject lives are on the light souls and so Lord as your people we come before you and we agree with your heart for for these folks we know you love them more than we can even begin to imagine you love them so much you you gave them your son but for whatever reason that that hasn't lodged in their heart in a lasting way and and and church if you're thinking of someone right now that that you have a burden for I'm just gonna encourage you with our eyes closed but I'm just as a show of faith will you just put your hand up as if to say Lord Jesus I am I am holding this person up to you right now and I'm asking you to do a strong work in their life I'm asking you to to do a miracle I'm asking you that I will live to see the day when when like a man day Amanda's friends we can say let's celebrate we found her or like that the father of the prodigal son will say let's throw a party because my son who was lost has returned.

If that's you just Lord we hold these people before you when we ask that you would intervene in their lives you would you would soften your hearts even as we acknowledge our hearts need to be softened too and maybe if the person that needs to be held up to the Lord is you then I invite you to put your hand up as well as if to say Lord Jesus I will you take my hand will you lead me from this point forward I I admit I have wandered from you I have strayed I've been living in lies and yet Lord today I hear your voice I thank you died on the cross for me I thank you that my sins were nailed there with you upon you and that I can walk in freedom of your forgiveness and your grace and so I want to walk in that all the days in my life I want to follow you Lord from this point on.

If that's you just hold your hand up and Lord Jesus we hold ourselves up to you we hold our loved ones up to you we ask Lord again that you would work powerful powerfully in all of these situations we thank you that you hear us Lord and then we know your heart pray these things in the name of Jesus Christ and all God's people said.