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Faith Works - In Restoration

  • Writer: Paul Downie
    Paul Downie
  • Oct 5
  • 18 min read

James 5:19-20 NIV 

[19] My brothers and sisters, if one of you should wander from the truth and someone should bring that person back, [20] remember this: Whoever turns a sinner from the error of their way will save them from death and cover over a multitude of sins. 

Speaking as a parent, there is nothing more chilling than when a child goes missing and search parties are brought together to find them. I remember the dark days when serial killers were on the loose in some parts of England. Every missing child was met with a serious feeling of dread. The very thought that they could be another victim to a heartless psychopath was just top terrible to contemplate. 


It is always dangerous to wander off. 


And it still is. 


Nowadays parents of young children are even more wary when they are out with them in public, and we understand why. 


It is equally as dangerous to wander off spiritually. As it says in Proverbs: 


Proverbs 4:26-27 NIV 

[26] Give careful thought to the paths for your feet and be steadfast in all your ways. [27] Do not turn to the right or the left; keep your foot from evil. 

And as we saw in Galatians: 


Galatians 6:1-2 NIV 

[1] Brothers and sisters, if someone is caught in a sin, you who live by the Spirit should restore that person gently. But watch yourselves, or you also may be tempted. [2] Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.  

(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/gal.6.1-2.NIV)


Here we are at the end of James, exploring a similar theme. 


Jesus Himself was fully aware that many around Him would wander off: 


Mark 4:18-19 NIV 

[18] Still others, like seed sown among thorns, hear the word; [19] but the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things come in and choke the word, making it unfruitful.  

He actually experienced it up close and personal: 


John 6:66 NIV 

[66] From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him. 

(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/jhn.6.66.NIV)


Now, it’s here we come to a very controversial theological subject: is it possible for someone to lose their salvation? 


No, it is not (John 10:28). 


However, it is possible for someone to show, by their wandering, that their heart was never really set on Jesus in the first place, or that they need to confess and repent of sin and haven’t yet done so. 


Also, it is absolutely possible for a well-meaning believer to be hood-winked and tricked by the world or  the devil, tempted by their own uncrucified fleshly desires, into unseemly sinful acts. These are people who do not sin defiantly, but are lured away into sin by things that seem okay, but are absolutely not. 


They can even he doing these sins for many years until they realise they are in the wrong. 


These are like children whose curiosity gets the better of them and who wander into the woods, rather than those who blatantly ignore their parents’ commands not to go there. 


Either way, this is a nightmare scenario. It’s one we must understand, avoid and help others avoid. 


Let’s start, then, by looking at When We Wander. 

 

When We Wander 

James 5:19 NIV 

[19] My brothers and sisters, if one of you should wander from the truth and someone should bring that person back... 

(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/jas.5.19.NIV)


I'm sure many of us as children felt that dreadfully discombobulated feeling of having wandered from our parents in a supermarket or a crowded place and not been able to see them. We know the sheer terror of being somewhere we no longer recognise without the comfort of the familiar. It is a terrible feeling.  


We’ve also felt the opposite sensation. During a stopover in Malaysia in our way to the Philippines, we had let our daughter play on a massive playground not far from the Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur. It is a pretty safe area, but it was around six in the evening and the sun was already setting. We were quite busy with picture taking and didn’t notice that our daughter had told us that she was going to play in another part of the playground. Cue an enormous panic and that awful feeling of sinking dread as our spiralling emotions leapt to the worst possible outcome. 


Thankfully, after around fifteen to twenty minutes of frantic searching, we found her.

 

But here’s the question: how do we know when we are wandering, or have wandered, off? 

James gave us one single astonishing way. 


He said that we have wandered ‘from the truth’. 


But what could that mean? 


The Greek word for the truth means two things: objective truth (things that are absolutely true, such as the Gospel and gravity), and things that are subjectively true (things that are a standard of excellence). 


It doesn’t mean things that we think are true, but those that are demonstrably true. This is not a case of ‘this is your truth, here’s mine’. There is no shred of relativism here. 


James, yes, means the Gospel. But he doesn’t mean it from an intellectual sense. He doesn’t mean that we used to agree with Jesus but now we're questioning. That would only be a tiny part of his meaning. 


No, what is absolutely clear is that he means those who have strayed from the Gospel of transformative grace: who may believe in their minds that we are saved by grace through faith and not by our works, but have not yet made the leap in their minds to understand that we are saved to work. Or, they have cheapened God’s grace by using it as a licence to sin, which Paul was firm in saying we should not do (Romans 6:1-2). 


So, by way of a recap of all we have looked at, we have seen this progression: 

  • We are saved by grace through faith, not by our works 

  • This grace should lead us to work – to obey Jesus 

  • The work He wants us to do is to believe in Him 

  • This includes believing in Him when He told us to love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, strength and mind, and our neighbours as ourselves 


We wander when we forget this. We wander when we are hoodwinked by the world and the flesh into not loving God, our neighbours or ourselves. 


Along with the practical teaching in the other pastoral letters and the Gospels themselves, James has been full of teaching on how this principle should have been unpacked in his time and among his people. 


I’m sure you, just like me, are still stinging from some of James’ teaching. His application of basic Gospel principles to contemporary living in his day has had tough and uncompromising applications in our day.  


That can, and should, leave us feeling bruised and even broken, hurting from the realisation that we are far from who we should be. And that's not at all a nice feeling, but it’s not a wrong feeling. Remember: the Prodigal Son’s journey home began when he came to his senses and realised he was far from where he should have been (Luke 15:17-20). It’s far more alarming to find ourselves many miles from God and yet feel nothing at all. 


So what can we say from this? 


We know we have strayed when we find ourselves not obeying the command to love God, our neighbours and ourselves. The uncomfortable truth is that all of us have strayed at some point, and many of us may still be straying now. 


As Paul put it: 


Romans 3:22-24 NIV 

[22] This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, [23] for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, [24] and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.  

We have all felt that terrible, awful, discombobulating pang that tells us we are far from our Heavenly Father and need to be brought back home. That ought to give us an acute sense of compassion and understanding for whose who have read the last eleven posts in this series and are reeling because they have woken up to the deeply disturbing reality that they are not who or where they thought they were. 


So we have seen what it looks like when we are wandering – and, to be honest, in all likelihood we are doing a double-take because it looks a lot like where we are now. But we also see elsewhere How to Bring The Wanderer Home. 

 

How to Bring The Wanderer Home 

James 5:19-20 NIV 

[19] My brothers and sisters, if one of you should wander from the truth and someone should bring that person back, [20] remember this: Whoever turns a sinner from the error of their way will save them from death and cover over a multitude of sins. 

Galatians 6:1-2 NIV 

[1] Brothers and sisters, if someone is caught in a sin, you who live by the Spirit should restore that person gently. But watch yourselves, or you also may be tempted. [2] Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.  

(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/gal.6.1-2.NIV)


How do you feel when someone who calls themselves a Christian – leader or otherwise – is ‘outed’ as having committed a grave and serious sin? Are you shocked? Upset? Angry? Frustrated? 


A number of years ago, we were stunned to hear that a pastor my wife served under for years had been caught having an affair with a younger woman in his youth group That kind of event can destroy our faith, if our faith is in the man and not in God. It is shattering. 


When a Christian who is not a leader falls, the same weight of stone has fallen into the lake, even if it has fallen from a lesser height. The ripples might be smaller, but there are still ripples. There are still consequences from their sin.

 

We looked at this back at the end of Galatians, but it will do us a lot of good to recap it now so that we fully understand what James was saying. 


Firstly, we need to understand who is restored.  Restoration does not come, and should never come, to those who are sinning defiantly, see nothing wrong with their sin, and either resist calls to repent or openly react against them.  


These are cases where the church discipline in Scripture must apply (see Matthew 18:15-20, and 1 Corinthians 5 for an example). However, it must be done compassionately, with the intention to make them come to their senses and repent (1 Corinthians 5:4-5; 2 Corinthians 2:5-11), and never with the intention of putting them out for good.  


Restoration does come when we admit our sin, renounce it and repent of it. Restoration comes to those who wander off unwittingly, find themselves entrapped and embroiled, come to their senses and want to come home to God. 


I am going to be brutally honest here. There have been many sermons in my lifetime where the Word of God has stuck me like a bolt from a crossbow, I've felt like I was pinned to my seat and couldn’t move, and was battling to hold it together, because the sins of my heart had been uncovered and I was under deep conviction. 


But what do we do then? 


Restoration is there for those who repent. It is not there for those who resist. 


But it is there. So if we want to come home, we should. 


Paul provides the two ways in which this restoration should be carried out:  


Firstly, gently. The word also means ‘with a meek and humble spirit’. Not yelling or growling our profound disappointment and frustrations at them, or belittling them for being dumb enough to fall into the trap of the devil or the world. That is not gently.   


This also does not mean that we administer some form of harsh punishment on the proviso that ‘this will hurt me more than it will you’. No! That is vengeance! And vengeance is God’s business, not ours (Deuteronomy 32:35; Romans 12:19). 


Neither do they need to be constantly reminded of their own mistakes to be ‘taken down a peg or two’. That is not Christian thinking. Not at all. We are called to forgive (Luke 6:37), not to act as the designated driver at hard-drinking party who knows all the secrets and has the pictures to match. Someone who needs to be restored is likely feeling absolutely terrible about the sins they have committed. It’s our job to bring them to Jesus, not make them feel worse. 


We should restore them gently. As if they were fragile. Because, in all likelihood, they are. 


We should also restore them carefully, in case we fall to the same sins. 


This is especially true of the modern versions of age old sins. It is remarkably easy to access material that is so sinful it wouldn’t even have been sold in the top shelves of supermarket magazine counters. And yes, I know that the UK government has brought in age verification. I, for one, am in complete and full agreement with it. However, our tech savvy teens will find a way around it in seconds. 


Besides, influencer culture is one hundred percent based on FOMO (Fear of Missing Out), which is, in turn, based on covetousness. Just as sales have been for generations. 


Both the US and the UK have lively service and e-commerce sectors that depend entirely on people falling victims to this sin. Not to mention our thriving financial sectors, with their emphasis on cheap (and sometimes bad) debt. 


And then there’s social media, with its emphasis on having the ‘in’ look at all costs, on gathering those who are ‘out’ and confirming their rejection in bleak, self-affirming echo chambers.  


Not to mention the narcotics trade, people trafficking, the sex trade, addictions to drugs, gambling, sex, pornography, legal drugs such as alcohol, tobacco, nicotine. 


Sin is like crack cocaine. It’s ridiculously easy to find if you know where to look. The pressure to taste its dubious delights can be overwhelming. But one puff, one swig, one click, and very quickly you can be sucked into a highly dangerous, destructive world from which escape is very difficult. 


This is why restoring people from wandering off is such a difficult, pain-staking, sensitive and often thankless task.  


However, having seen when we wander and how we bring the wanderer home, James commended this activity to us as he talked about Why We Should Bring The Wanderer Home. 

 

Why We Should Bring The Wanderer Home 

James 5:19-20 NIV 

[19] My brothers and sisters, if one of you should wander from the truth and someone should bring that person back, [20] remember this: Whoever turns a sinner from the error of their way will save them from death and cover over a multitude of sins. 

I’d like to believe it’s due to compassion fatigue, but the harsh reality is that many in our countries do not understand why we should care about problems elsewhere. All of which, if course, is highly ironic, as migration brings other people’s problems to our doors in small boats, illicit border crossings and asylum claims. 


Perhaps when we see these verses, we ask ourselves ‘Why should we care? Why should we bother about people who have decided not to follow Jesus? They made their bed, let them lie in it!’ 


If that is our attitude, then let me tell you that we are not following Jesus, we do not have God’s heart on the matter and we are sinning. 


Do you need evidence of this? Look at the father’s response when the Prodigal Son, who had wasted his inheritance on raucous, wild living, comes through the door: 


Luke 15:20-24 NIV 

[20] So he got up and went to his father. “But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him. [21]  “The son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ [22]  “But the father said to his servants, ‘Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. [23] Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate. [24] For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ So they began to celebrate. 

God welcomes the wanderer home: 


Luke 15:7 NIV 

[7] I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.

(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/luk.15.7.NIV)


We therefore have two choices. Either we become enthusiastic and energetic in our desire to bring the lost home, or we continue in our ‘older brother’ ways that could lead to us missing our on a lifetime of blessing and joy (Luke 15:29-32). 


James gave us two brilliant reasons to become involved in this incredible ministry. 


Firstly, because we become involved in life-saving. Now, the word here used for ‘life’ really means ‘soul’. So what we are looking at here is something that doesn’t just fix their lives up for this life, but for all eternity. 


What an immense privilege! 


Maybe you think James is exaggerating. Maybe you think that the sins you, or other people, are involved in don't seem to be that bad. Maybe you think they are nothing more than a victimless crime. 


Take a look at what we saw in just our second study in James: 


James 1:13-15 NIV 

[13] When tempted, no one should say, “God is tempting me.” For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; [14] but each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed. [15] Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death. 

Do you see what James said? He said that if we remain on a path of succumbing to temptation, then one day it will lead to death: not just physical death, but spiritual death too. 


This is why those who lovingly warn us and try their best to put us on the right path are doing us an enormous favour – they are saving our lives! 


Proverbs 11:30 NIV 

[30] The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life, and the one who is wise saves lives. 

(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/pro.11.30.NIV)


And this is what we do when we warn a sinner and they repent. 


Secondly, because we are life-changing. 


And it’s here we find ourselves in very deep waters. Much damage has been done in Christendom through the misunderstanding and abuse of this verse. It says that love ‘covers over’a multitude of sins. It does not say that love ‘covers up’ a multitude of sins. 


Think about it: James has already commended the practice of confessing our sins to each other. Why would he now encourage the deceitful practice of pretending that it didn’t happen? .


John also echoed the need to confess: 


1 John 1:8-10 NIV 

[8] If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. [9] If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. [10] If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word is not in us. 

(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/1jn.1.8-10.NIV)


This is confession, not concealment. There us nothing Christian, or even remotely wise, about participating in the concealing of sin: 


Proverbs 28:13 NIV 

[13] Whoever conceals their sins does not prosper, but the one who confesses and renounces them finds mercy. 

(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/pro.28.13.NIV)


So what does it mean to cover over? 


I believe there are two pictures that help us.


The first of these is Noah: 


Genesis 9:20-23 NIV 

[20] Noah, a man of the soil, proceeded to plant a vineyard. [21] When he drank some of its wine, he became drunk and lay uncovered inside his tent. [22] Ham, the father of Canaan, saw his father naked and told his two brothers outside. [23] But Shem and Japheth took a garment and laid it across their shoulders; then they walked in backward and covered their father’s naked body. Their faces were turned the other way so that they would not see their father naked. 

Noah had did what ought not to be done. One of his sons allowed his shame to continue; the other two dealt with it and restored some dignity. 


The second relates to the atonement cover over the Ark of the Covenant (Exodus 25:17-22).


During the Feast of Atonement, sacrifices were made and blood was sprinkled on the atonement cover to make atonement for the sins the High Priest, his family and the people (Leviticus 16). They purified the sanctuary so that God’s presence would manifest itself above the atonement cover and between the cherubim (Exodus 25:22). 


This all sounds rather archaic, but, again, the idea here is not that sin should be covered up, ignored or made someone else’s problem, but that it should be dealt with: for Noah, by covering over his indignity; at the Day of Atonement, by the substitutionary death of an animal; at the cross, by Jesus’ death in our place and resurrection. 


It’s not about concealing a sin, it’s about dealing with the sinner and rehabilitating them in the most dignity-preserving way possible. 


All of our restorative actions should not be underpinned by a desire for punishment or vengeance, but by love. 


1 Peter 4:8 NIV 

[8] Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins.  

(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/1pe.4.8.NIV)


It’s love that longs for a Prodigal to come home. It’s love that restores them to the household. 

 

Conclusion 

James 5:19-20 NIV 

[19] My brothers and sisters, if one of you should wander from the truth and someone should bring that person back, [20] remember this: Whoever turns a sinner from the error of their way will save them from death and cover over a multitude of sins. 

Scotland is a beautiful country, when it’s not raining. However, there are mountain pathways from which you really cannot stray. If you do, you may damage the environment or face serious dangers from the landscape around you. 


In other countries it’s worse. In other countries the mountains are higher, the precipices are steeper. And in countries like Canada and Romania, there are bears. 


Plenty of reasons to stay on the path. 


James is a much misunderstood book. One of the greatest reformers, Martin Luther, even called it ‘an epistle of straw’, because he believed it could be perceived as contradicting the Gospel of salvation through grace alone. 


It doesn’t. 


Instead, James is sounding the alarm. He is making the church of his day aware that they are risking making a shipwreck of their faith (1 Timothy 1:16-20) by thinking that, because they were saved by grace through faith, their actions mattered less. They were, as Paul taught the Romans, using grace as an excuse to not take sin seriously (Romans 6:1-2).  


I fear we may well be doing the same thing in the western church.  


Our culture finds Christian teaching on their social mores and habits to be utterly unpalatable. I recently saw someone walking down the street in my town in a black t-shirt with a cross covered by a ‘No Entry’ sign and the words ‘Bad Religion’ written above it. He seemed to be part of a gender or sexual minority. 


He may be making, as he believed, a legitimate protest against a religion he did not believe in, but it was offensive. I have no idea whether he would be brave enough to make the same protest against Islam, where, in more conservative nations, people from his minority would not be forcibly converted, but would be killed. 


However, his t-shirt made the point. 


The problem is that we have swayed too far in the opposite direction. We have become people-pleasers. We have stopped speaking prophetically into people’s lives. Instead, under a thoroughly misguided ‘love’, we have affirmed everything and raised the alarm about nothing. 


We are watchmen who no longer sound the alarm (Ezekiel 3:16-21). 


Is it any wonder why our world seems so lost? 


The reason why James cuts so deep is that the Christian message from our pulpits and our writers has become so comforting and comfortable that we forget that it is there to preserve us and keep us from sin. 


As we go through James, it is impossible not to be challenged by his uncompromising words. I know I have been challenged – quite severely at times. It’s just that kind of a book. 


So I find it quite comforting that the book ends with a way back for those who suddenly wake up and realise they are on the wrong side of the tracks. Because we wander when we forget that we are on earth to glorify God by obeying Him, and obedience to Him is summed up in love for God, our neighbours and ourselves. We bring the wanderer home gently and carefully as they are someone precious, but also broken by sin.  And where do so, we save their lives. 


Going to the doctor for a medical check up can sometimes be a very unnerving experience. You dread their verdict in case they uncover something seriously wrong. 


James can feel like a spiritual check up. His disagnosis might sound hard and challenging.


However, the reason why he wrote it is that we who have come to believe in the Gospel of Ephesians 2:8-9 may also believe the necessity to put it into practice as stated in Ephesians 2:10. 


So no, we are not saved by our works, we are saved by faith. 


But if there are no works, is our faith truly alive? Can it save us? 


If we discover it cannot because we are not practicing what we believe, there is a way back.


We can be restored. 


The question is: do we want to be restored? 


Prayer 

Lord Jesus, thank You for the chastening message of the book of James. I know I am in the wrong. I confess my sin and ask You to forgive me. I renounce my sin. I want to be more like You and do the work You created me to do. Help me, I pray. Amen. 


Questions for contemplation

  • What did you find most challenging of all the studies in James? What will you do about it? 

  • Can a sinner who repents be restored? Why? How? 

  • How should you treat someone who is not honouring God by the way they live their life? How can you help them towards being restored? 

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