Introduction
Are you willing to fight for a wandering brother or sister, not by shaming them, but by lovingly helping them come back to Jesus? Here is the central teaching I want to press into your heart: because the gospel is full of restoring grace, God calls us to be a truth-anchored community that welcomes wanderers back and actively helps turn them back to the truth (James 5:19–20). There’s good news and bad news as we close our journey through James. The good news is that God will keep speaking to us through the rest of Scripture. The “bad news” is that this letter has been such a steady companion through real life, trials, pressure, and the hard work of applying Sunday truth on Monday streets. If we’re honest, none of us earned an A+ in application. And that’s exactly why James ends where he ends: with hope for strugglers, and a mission for restorers. James’ final words are short, but they’re a “whole gospel in one small package”:
“Brethren, if anyone 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 way will save a soul from death and cover a multitude of sins.” (James 5:19–20, NKJV)
This is a “welcome back” message, for me, for you, and for the empty seats.
Main Points
Are you willing to fight for a wandering brother or sister, not by shaming them, but by lovingly helping them come back to Jesus? Here is the central teaching I want to press into your heart: because the gospel is full of restoring grace, God calls us to be a truth-anchored community that welcomes wanderers back and actively helps turn them back to the truth (James 5:19–20).
There’s good news and bad news as we close our journey through James. The good news is that God will keep speaking to us through the rest of Scripture. The “bad news” is that this letter has been such a steady companion through real life, trials, pressure, and the hard work of applying Sunday truth on Monday streets. If we’re honest, none of us earned an A+ in application. And that’s exactly why James ends where he ends: with hope for strugglers, and a mission for restorers.
James’ final words are short, but they’re a “whole gospel in one small package”:
“Brethren, if anyone 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 way will save a soul from death and cover a multitude of sins.” (James 5:19–20, NKJV)
This is a “welcome back” message, for me, for you, and for the empty seats.
Welcome Back: Grace For Wanderers
I want you to hear this personally: if you’ve wandered, even this week, welcome back. James doesn’t end with a threat; he ends with a rescue plan. The gospel doesn’t grade you on last week’s failures as though the story is over. It says there is still grace, still forgiveness, still a path back.
The Bible’s own language helps us be honest: we’re “prone to wander.” Like sheep, we drift. Sometimes we don’t wake up planning rebellion; we just slowly slide, less prayer, less tenderness, more excuses, more cynicism, more self-protection. And then we wonder why we feel foggy and distant.
James refuses to let drifting be the final chapter. He tells us that when someone is turned back, a soul is saved from death and a multitude of sins is covered (James 5:20). That’s not minimizing sin; that’s magnifying mercy.
So before we talk about “going after” others, I want us to pause and thank God: we are here by grace because God sent people into our lives when we wandered. He convicted us. He pursued us. He restored us. This text is already our testimony.
A Community Unlike Cancel Culture
Now, this message is also for the people who aren’t in the room, which means, in God’s providence, you and I are hearing it for them.
We live in a cultural moment where the instinct is: “If you do anything wrong and I find out about it, even years later, you’re finished.” The world is often quicker to excommunicate than the church. And if we aren’t careful, that same spirit creeps into how we treat Christians who stumble, disappoint us, or fall into sin.
But the gospel creates a different kind of community. James envisions a people who say, “Yes, truth matters, and because truth matters, we restore those who have wandered from it.” The righteous person doesn’t pretend they never fall; the righteous person gets up. And in gospel community, the righteous also help others get up.
So I want to disciple you into this: don’t make your posture, “You’re out.” Make your posture, “There’s a way back.”
Truth, Not Tradition, Is The Center
James says the issue is wandering from the truth (James 5:19). That word matters. When we try to bring someone back, we must be clear about what we’re actually calling them back to.
It’s easy to confuse the goal:
- “Come back to our church culture.”
- “Come back to the way our family has always done things.”
- “Come back to the life I imagined you would live.”
But James does not say, “If anyone wanders from your preferred tradition.” He says, “wanders from the truth.”
I think of how people can cling to tradition as the real deal-breaker, like someone saying, “I can handle anything… but you must be in my tradition.” That’s a warning for us: if we lead with tradition instead of truth, we may actually push wanderers farther away.
So let’s be grounded and humble: Christians can differ in liturgy, geography, and expression. But what we cannot negotiate is this: either we are following Jesus in truth, or we are drifting toward sin and fog. Our aim in restoration is not to rebuild someone in our image, but to re-center them on Christ and His Word.
James’ Truth Anchor In The Fog
If wandering is drifting from truth, then part of restoration is re-anchoring someone in what James has already taught us, truth designed to hold in trials.
Let me give you a “highlight reel” of the truths James has pressed into us:
- Trials can produce joy and maturity when we see them through God’s purposes (James 1:2–4). When life hurts, we cling to God’s sovereignty and goodness, not our limited view.
- Ask God for wisdom instead of leaning on ourselves (James 1:5). The wisdom from above is what we need when the fog of suffering rolls in.
- Partiality is evil because God is impartial (James 2:1–9). A restoring community doesn’t reserve grace for certain “kinds” of people.
- Words reveal and direct the heart, the tongue is small but powerful (James 3:1–12). Restoration often includes repenting of how we speak: about God, about others, about our trial.
- God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble (James 4:6). Pride clings to “my plan”; humility submits to God’s plan.
- Wait patiently; the King is coming (James 5:7–11). We don’t avenge ourselves because God sees, God cares, and Jesus will set things right.
When you and I help someone return, we’re not merely pulling them back into religious activity. We’re helping them come back to reality, back to the truth that steadies faith in suffering and exposes the lies that sin sells.
How Turning Happens: The Holy Week Lesson
Now we have to ask: How does the “turn” actually happen? How does someone move from wandering to returning?
Holy Week is a case study. On Palm Sunday, people shout “Hosanna!” and wave branches. By Good Friday, many of the same voices shout, “Crucify Him.” That should sober us: people can wander quickly. Public enthusiasm is not the same as rooted discipleship.
And here’s another crucial lesson: the turn does not happen by force. Jesus Himself shows us this. Later in that same week, He laments over Jerusalem:
“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem… how often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing!” (Matthew 23:37)
Jesus wanted to gather them, but they were not willing. That tells us something essential for restoration: I can’t control the outcome. I can’t coerce repentance. I can’t argue someone into spiritual life. I can love, speak truth, pray, and pursue, but only God changes hearts.
This is especially important for parents. There is a season when you can “mother hen”, you set boundaries, you bring your children to church, you require apologies and forgiveness and sharing. But there comes a stage (often around early adolescence) when you must begin to open your hands and trust God as your children begin to make real choices. That transition is painful, and it’s where many of us learn what it means to pray like a prodigal’s father or mother: loving deeply, grieving honestly, and entrusting them to God.
Conclusion
James leaves us with a final discipleship vision: a church where wanderers are welcomed back and where believers take responsibility to help turn others back to the truth. Not with harshness, not with tradition-as-center, not with pride or partiality, but with gospel clarity and humble love.
So I’m asking you to do two things:
- Come back yourself, again and again. Don’t let shame keep you from the One who restores.
- Go after someone else, not as a judge, but as a rescuer. Think of the empty seat: a friend, a child, a sibling, a former small-group member, a coworker. Pray. Pursue. Speak truth gently. Stay patient. Trust God with the outcome.
This is how the “gospel on the ground” looks at the end of James: truth that restores, grace that covers, and a community that brings people home.
Father, thank You for Your Word and for the restoring mercy You have shown to us. Thank You that when we wander from the truth, You do not abandon us. You pursue us with conviction, kindness, and grace.
Lord Jesus, make us a church that reflects Your heart, steady in truth and rich in compassion. Guard us from pride, partiality, and the spirit of condemnation. Give us wisdom from above, humility to repent quickly, and patience to wait for You.
Holy Spirit, bring to mind those who have wandered. Put them on our hearts, not for gossip or frustration, but for prayer and loving action. Show us when to speak, what to say, and how to say it with gentleness. And would You, in Your power, turn sinners from the error of their ways, saving souls from death and covering a multitude of sins.
We entrust ourselves and our loved ones to You. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Conclusion
James leaves us with a final discipleship vision: a church where wanderers are welcomed back and where believers take responsibility to help turn others back to the truth. Not with harshness, not with tradition-as-center, not with pride or partiality, but with gospel clarity and humble love.
So I’m asking you to do two things:
- Come back yourself, again and again. Don’t let shame keep you from the One who restores.
- Go after someone else, not as a judge, but as a rescuer. Think of the empty seat: a friend, a child, a sibling, a former small-group member, a coworker. Pray. Pursue. Speak truth gently. Stay patient. Trust God with the outcome.
This is how the “gospel on the ground” looks at the end of James: truth that restores, grace that covers, and a community that brings people home.
Closing Prayer
Father, thank You for Your Word and for the restoring mercy You have shown to us. Thank You that when we wander from the truth, You do not abandon us. You pursue us with conviction, kindness, and grace.
Lord Jesus, make us a church that reflects Your heart, steady in truth and rich in compassion. Guard us from pride, partiality, and the spirit of condemnation. Give us wisdom from above, humility to repent quickly, and patience to wait for You.
Holy Spirit, bring to mind those who have wandered. Put them on our hearts, not for gossip or frustration, but for prayer and loving action. Show us when to speak, what to say, and how to say it with gentleness. And would You, in Your power, turn sinners from the error of their ways, saving souls from death and covering a multitude of sins.
We entrust ourselves and our loved ones to You. In Jesus’ name, amen.