James
5:19-20
(19) My brothers and sisters, if anyone among
you wanders from the truth and someone brings them back, (20) know that whoever brings back a sinner
from their wandering will save their soul from death and will cover a multitude
of sins.
Lord,
keep us close to you. Save us, and equip us to save others, for your love’s
sake. Bless us now as we think about your Word, your Word is truth.
Amen.
It
can be dangerous for a bush walker to wander away from the right path. Sometimes
the bush walker themselves can stumble back onto the path or find someone to
help. Sometimes they get found by a rescue team. Sometimes they can’t find their
way back to safety, and rescuers can’t find them in time. Their straying costs
them their life.
James
5:19 tells us how good it is, when a sinner can be brought back from their
wandering from the truth. James is talking about Christians who stray. We know
it happens. It can happen to any one of us.
In
today’s gospel reading, in Mark 9:42-50, Jesus himself talks about the
seriousness of sin. First of all, the seriousness of causing a young believer to
sin. Verse 42: “Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to
sin, it would be better for him if a great millstone were hung around his neck
and he were thrown into the sea.”
This
is strong language. Jesus goes on
to point out how serious it is to cause ourselves to sin, whether it’s with our
hands, our foot, or our eyes.
(43) And if your hand causes you to sin, cut
it off. It is better for you to enter life crippled than with two hands to go to
hell, to the unquenchable fire. (45)
And if your foot causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to
enter life lame than with two feet to be thrown into hell.
(47) And if your eye causes you to sin, tear
it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than with
two eyes to be thrown into hell,
(48) 'where their worm does not die and the
fire is not quenched.'
Jesus
is telling us that sin is so serious and the consequences are so serious, that
if it were possible to not sin through maiming ourselves, it would be worth it!
But remember a few weeks ago we these words from Jesus, in Mark
7:20-23
"It is what comes out of you that makes
you unclean. (21) For from the
inside, from your heart, come the evil ideas which lead you to do immoral
things, to rob, kill, (22) commit
adultery, be greedy, and do all sorts of evil things; deceit, indecency,
jealousy, slander, pride, and folly---
(23) all these evil things come from inside
you and make you unclean."
Jeremiah
17:9 says “The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can
understand it?” In the Authorised version it says, our humans hearts are
“desperately wicked.”
How
can we save ourselves? We can’t. But what is impossible for us, is not
impossible for God. He tells us in Isaiah 45 (21b-22a)
… there is no other god besides me, a
righteous God and a Savior; there is none besides me.
"Turn
to me and be saved, all the ends of the earth! For I am
God.”
Micah
7: 18,19 declares: “Who is a God like you, who pardons sin and forgives the
transgression of the remnant of his inheritance? You do not stay angry forever
but delight to show mercy. You will again have compassion on us; you will tread
our sins underfoot and hurl all our iniquities into the depths of the
sea.
In
Psalm 130:3,4 we hear the psalmist cry, “ If you, O LORD, kept a record of
sins, O Lord, who could stand? But
with you there is forgiveness; therefore you are feared.”
Our
sins come from sinful hearts which are turned away from God. But on the cross
Jesus took us up into himself: us, our sins, and our sinful hearts. He crucified
us in himself up there.
1
Peter 2:24-25 “He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might
die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed. For you were straying like sheep, but
have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your
souls.”
Galatians
2:20 “I have been crucified with Christ. It
is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in
the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for
me.”
The
good news is that we can be brought
back. We can be saved. Jesus came to seek and to save the lost. He is the
shepherd who goes out to find the one lost sheep, he makes a priority of the
lost sheep, the straying and lost person, leaving the 99, and when he brings the
lost one home, when a sinner is brought back to God, there is rejoicing in
heaven!
How
does it happen?
It
happens through confession and forgiveness.
James
5:16
“
Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you
may be healed.”
The best healing is the healing of our relationship with
God.
‘Confess
your sins to one another, and pray for one another.’
Does
this mean just going to a priest or pastor? No, any Christian can do this. We
are a “royal priesthood”, as 1 Peter 2:9 says. In the new covenant, there is
only one priest: Jesus Himself.
When
we confess our sins to each other, we, as fellow sinners, fellow strayers, speak
the peace we ourselves have received: “In Christ’s name, I tell you, your sins
are forgiven.”
Then
we pray, “Lord, please help my brother, my sister to receive a new heart. A
heart to know you, to trust you, to follow you. Please help them back to the
right path, the path you call them to follow. And help us encourage and support
each other, so that none of us ever wanders away again.”
Amen.
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