SERMON TITLE: Restore the Wanderer
SCRIPTURE: James 5:19-20 (ESV)
SPEAKER: Josh Hanson
DATE: 6-28-26
Sermon Discussion Guide
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As always, it’s a joy to be with all of you this weekend at Gateway Church. And there’s one thing I want you to know — whether you’re worshiping with us for the first time or are joining us at our North Main Campus — I want you to know that God loves you and that I love you too.
Today, we’re finishing our series in the book of James. We’ve been learning from the younger brother of Jesus, who believed that his older brother was God. And — in his letter — James has taken some teachings from his older brother and has been showing us how to apply what Jesus taught to everyday life. Thus — when we listen to James — we’re learning what it means to be wise — for wisdom is taking God at his Word and applying it to our lives.
But before we get to our final passage, I want us to reflect on what we’ve learned from this book. James has taught us…
Which leads us to our passage for today. If you have your Bible, we’ll be in James chapter five — looking at verses nineteen and twenty. We’re in James chapter five — beginning in verse nineteen. There we read…
James 5:19–20 ESV
19 My brothers, if anyone among you wanders from the truth and someone brings him back, 20 let him know that whoever brings back a sinner from his wandering will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins.
James has taught us many important lessons throughout his letter. But — here — in his final words — I think he may have saved his most important lesson for last. For here, James teaches us how to restore those who are wandering — who are abandoning the faith. And I have five observations for us from his words of wisdom on restoring the wanderer.
For my first observation, we’ll go back to verse nineteen. There we read…
James 5:19 ESV
19 My brothers, if anyone among you wanders from the truth and someone brings him back,
My first observation is a truth we need to believe: We’re to treat the wanderer as a Christian until they prove otherwise. Meaning, we’re to believe that the wanderer is a Christian until they prove otherwise. I say this because James starts off our verses with the words “my brothers.” “My brothers” is another way of saying, “My fellow Christians.” And then he says, “If anyone among you.” So his sentence could be rearranged to say, “If anyone among you, my brothers,” does what? Wanders from the truth.
So those who are wandering — and we’ll get to what it means for someone to wander next — but those who are wandering, according to James, should be considered as fellow Christians. And we’re to treat them as such until they prove otherwise.
If you’ve been around Gateway for any amount of time, you’ve heard me say something along the lines of, “It’s easy to say ‘I’m a Christian.’ It doesn’t matter what you believe or how you live — ‘I’m a Christian’ is what most people think is all it means to be a Christian. But claiming to be a Christian and being one are not the same.”
This is the idea that James is getting at — because — I think that our default — when someone wanders — is either to think, “Well, I guess they never really believed to begin with.” Or to think that Christians can lose their salvation. The first may be true about the individual. The second is impossible for the true believer in Jesus.
Instead, when we see someone among us start to wander — again, we’re assuming here they’ve made a profession of faith — that they’re in the “my brothers and sisters” category — when we see someone start to wander, we’re to assume that they’re a follower of Jesus and treat them accordingly as we try to restore them.
That’s observation number one: Assume that they’re a follower of Jesus and treat them accordingly as you try to restore them.
Now we turn to my second observation. I’ll read both of our verses again.
James 5:19–20 ESV
19 My brothers, if anyone among you wanders from the truth and someone brings him back, 20 let him know that whoever brings back a sinner from his wandering will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins.
My second observation is this: We need to know how they’re wandering from the truth. We need to know how they’re wandering from the truth. There are two ways that people wander from the truth: Doctrinal wandering and behavioral wandering. Now, I know that behavior is tied to what someone believes, but I’m separating the two because there’s a distinction between them when it comes to recognizing how someone is wandering from the truth.
So what is doctrinal wandering? Doctrinal wandering is when someone starts to hold unorthodox views. Orthodox means right or correct doctrinal beliefs that Christians have held for two thousand years. Our Essentials of the Faith is an orthodox statement of faith — it aligns with historical church doctrine.
Orthodox doctrines include the belief that the Bible is divinely inspired, that Christ is fully God and fully man, that God is Trinitarian, that faith in Christ’s atoning sacrifice is necessary for salvation, and that Jesus will return — to name a few.
As you can probably tell by the word, unorthodox doctrines, which is one of the ways that people wander from the truth, unorthodox means not orthodox. These are theological doctrines that disagree with two thousand years of church beliefs. And there are many unorthodox views that have caused wandering in recent years, including same-sex marriage, transgenderism, and many beliefs about identity — whether sexual or political — that are causing people to wander from biblical truth in our day. In fact, we’re warned of this kind of wandering in Scripture.
2 Timothy 4:3–4 ESV
3 For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, 4 and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths.
Now — of course — people who are wandering from the truth — because of unorthodox views — don’t believe they’re wandering. They think they’ve become enlightened. That they’ve discovered the real truth. That orthodox views are old-fashioned, bigoted, or maybe even hateful and oppressive. But God’s Word is clear. It teaches correct and right doctrine regarding marriage, human sexuality, and identity, which are by no means all of the ways people are wandering from the truth in our age.
But doctrinal wandering is just one way that people wander from the truth. There’s also behavioral wandering. So what is behavioral wandering?
Behavioral wandering can be small things, like no longer worshiping regularly with a local church. It’s a slow drift. Something else comes up in life that becomes a higher priority than gathering with God’s people. Sports. Children’s activities. Sleeping in. After all, one thinks, “I can podcast sermons any time, so why do I need to gather with a local church?” Because God’s Word expects God’s people to gather together regularly — that’s why.
Similar behavioral slow drifts can happen with other steps in our discipleship process — worship is just one step — there’s also connect, serve, and go. Where someone was once actively involved in a Life Group, but it’s been years since they’ve been in one. Same for serving — you said you were just going to take a year off — and that was years ago. And going — well — who has time for something like that?
These are the death-by-a-thousand-cuts behaviors that lead people to wander from the truth. It’s not any one decision that shipwrecks your faith — that’s why it’s so easy to dismiss the concerns of others — “What’s the big deal? I’m just taking a break from Life Group.” But years later, you find that your faith is shipwrecked. As your pastor, let me lovingly warn you: This is a common pattern of how people, behaviorally, wander from the truth. I know you think you or your family is the exception — that you won’t wander completely away. And that’s the exact kind of spiritual independence that our Enemy uses to destroy us.
But there are other ways one can wander away from the truth behaviorally. For example…
1 Timothy 6:10 ESV
10 For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs.
And love for money isn’t the only way we wander from the faith — another way of saying the truth.
There’s…
Those types of behaviors that end marriages or land you in jail. And — again — don’t forget observation one — we’re talking about professing Christians doing these kinds of behaviors, which is shocking. It’s shocking to them. Shocking to their spouses and kids. Shocking to their church family. But Christians can sin in horrendous ways.
And I want you to know that we — Gateway — are not immune to such behavioral wandering. In fact, there are situations like the ones I just described that your elders are currently dealing with as we try to follow James’ advice and restore some wanderers who are part of our faith family.
My second observation is that we must know how they’re wandering from the truth. Are they wandering doctrinally or behaviorally?
Which leads to my third observation. But — first — our verses once again.
James 5:19–20 ESV
19 My brothers, if anyone among you wanders from the truth and someone brings him back, 20 let him know that whoever brings back a sinner from his wandering will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins.
My third observation is another truth we must believe: Believe that God uses his people to keep his people from wandering away from the truth. God uses his people to keep his people from wandering away from the truth. God wants to use you — and, more importantly, can use you — to keep your Gateway family members from wandering away from the truth.
Look at what the author of Hebrews says.
Hebrews 3:13–14 NLT
13 You must warn each other every day, while it is still “today,” so that none of you will be deceived by sin and hardened against God. 14 For if we are faithful to the end, trusting God just as firmly as when we first believed, we will share in all that belongs to Christ.
If we go back to the two ways people wander from the truth — doctrinally and behaviorally — we now come to two questions. And these two questions must be answered in order for God to use you to keep his people from wandering from the truth.
The first question is this: How do we — knowing that God uses his people to keep his people from wandering away from the truth — how do we keep people from wandering away from the truth doctrinally? Answer: By knowing sound — or true — doctrine as found in God’s Word.
There’s no getting around this: You are a theologian. A theologian is someone who has beliefs about God, humanity, sin, salvation, and so on. You’re a theologian. The question is: How biblical of a theologian are you? How biblically accurate are your beliefs? Can you distinguish true doctrine from false doctrine? Can you recognize heretical ideas, or will you be duped by them?
Again, there’s no getting around or out of this. Just like you need to be able to swim in order to be a lifeguard who rescues others who are drowning — to restore those who are wandering doctrinally — you’ve got to believe, know, and be able to defend sound doctrine. If you’ve never read my How to Make the Most of Your Devotional Time booklet, I talk in it about how part of my devotional time includes reading a small portion of a theology book. I’ve brought some examples with me of books I’ve worked through over the years. I read a small section each morning — sometimes it’s just a paragraph — it takes two to three minutes at most.
I do this to keep my doctrine sharp. To keep my beliefs grounded in Scripture so that — not only in my preaching — but also during the times when I meet with someone who’s wandering from the truth doctrinally — I’ll be able to — with God’s help — restore them with true doctrine. I’d highly recommend this practice because you’re never going to believe, know, and defend sound doctrine without doing some work. The word disciple — if you don’t know — means learner. So learning is a key part of what it means to be a follower of Jesus.
Now — as James has been teaching us — learned knowledge is not enough. For wisdom is not only knowing God’s Word but applying it to life. Some of the most biblically knowledgeable men and women have been some of the biggest fools because their knowledge never left their heads and reached their hearts. But — to answer our first question — how do we keep people from wandering away doctrinally? We must know sound doctrine.
Our second question is this: How do we — knowing that God uses his people to keep his people from wandering away from the truth — how do we keep people from wandering away behaviorally? Answer: By modeling lives of holiness, obedience, and repentance as we live according to God’s Word.
As Paul tells Timothy…
1 Timothy 4:12 ESV
12 Let no one despise you for your youth, but set the believers an example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity.
And to Titus…
Titus 2:7–8 ESV
7 Show yourself in all respects to be a model of good works, and in your teaching show integrity, dignity, 8 and sound speech that cannot be condemned, so that an opponent may be put to shame, having nothing evil to say about us.
And as Peter writes…
1 Peter 5:1–3 ESV
1 So I exhort the elders among you, as a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, as well as a partaker in the glory that is going to be revealed: 2 shepherd the flock of God that is among you, exercising oversight, not under compulsion, but willingly, as God would have you; not for shameful gain, but eagerly; 3 not domineering over those in your charge, but being examples to the flock.
Or as Paul says about himself…
1 Corinthians 11:1 ESV
1 Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ.
To which he expands to the Christians in Thessalonica with…
1 Thessalonians 1:6–7 ESV
6 And you became imitators of us and of the Lord, for you received the word in much affliction, with the joy of the Holy Spirit, 7 so that you became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and in Achaia.
Pastors are to set a godly example in their lives. Elders are to demonstrate a godly example through their lives. And all of you are to set a godly example for each other by the way you live by living lives of holiness, obedience, purity, love, faith, integrity, and repentance, so that you may help restore those who are wandering away from the truth behaviorally.
And now we come to my fourth observation. We’re in verse twenty.
James 5:20 ESV
20 Let him know that whoever brings back a sinner from his wandering will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins.
My fourth observation is this: We must know what’s at stake. We must know what’s at stake. What’s at stake? Eternal life and eternal death — that’s what’s at stake here. The wanderer is putting their eternity on the line.
Romans 6:23 ESV
23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Elsewhere we read…
Galatians 6:8 ESV
8 For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life.
And as we’re warned…
Romans 2:6–8 ESV
6 He (God) will render to each one according to his works: 7 to those who by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life; 8 but for those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, there will be wrath and fury.
And as Jesus himself said…
John 3:36 ESV
36 Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.
Though we’re to treat the wanderer as if they’re a follower of Jesus — ultimately — how they respond to our loving warning will reveal the condition of their heart. And please know that — if you’re ever the wanderer — or if you’re currently the wanderer — know that we’re concerned about your eternity because we love you. God’s people persevere to the end. They won’t do so perfectly, but there will be a Holy Spirit-fueled desire to live for God until your very last breath. We plead with you to receive God’s love through us and stop wandering away from the truth.
Now, my final observation. And this one may be the most uncomfortable to hear. I’ll read our two verses one last time.
James 5:19–20 ESV
19 My brothers, if anyone among you wanders from the truth and someone brings him back, 20 let him know that whoever brings back a sinner from his wandering will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins.
My final observation is this: God uses his people to save his people. God uses his people to save his people. When I first studied this passage, one of the questions I wrote down was this: What does “whoever brings back a sinner from his wandering will save his soul from death” mean? Doesn’t God do the saving?
Yes, God does the saving. But what James is emphasizing is that God uses his people as the means by which he saves. One person described it this way. A lumberjack uses an ax to cut down a tree. In this illustration, the wanderer is the tree. The lumberjack is God. And the ax is God’s people.
When a lumberjack uses an ax to cut down a tree, what cuts down the tree? The lumberjack or the ax? Both cut down the tree, right? The ax can’t cut down the tree on its own — and this is what may make some of us uncomfortable — but the lumberjack needs the ax to cut down the tree too.
Now — it’s not a perfect illustration — God is also in control of the weather and could use a storm to knock down the tree, but I hope you get the point: God has chosen to use his people to save others from eternal death. Just like a lumberjack uses an ax to cut down a tree, God uses his people to save others.
And this is so important, I want to make sure you hear me clearly: God uses his people to save others.
If we go back to James’ first words in our verses, how did he start verse nineteen? Did he say, “My fellow pastors?” No. Did he say, “My fellow church staff members?” No. He said, “My brothers.” Meaning “My fellow believers in Jesus.” Meaning you.
Do you realize that one reason God has saved you — if you believe in Jesus — is to use you to save others? Here in the US, we’ve made salvation out to be such an individual event — it’s about me going to heaven — that we miss God’s bigger purpose: He wants heaven to be filled with people who believed in Jesus because you were a mighty ax in God's saving hands.
What do you think about that? Do you believe that? Are you living like that? How might things need to change in your life for you to live like this?
As we finish our time in the book of James — though we’ve learned much about what it means to be wise, and what true faith is, the importance of our words, and much more — as I said at the beginning — I think James left his most important lesson for us until the end. He wants us to know that ultimate lesson that wisdom wants to teach us: That God uses his people — and desires to use you — to be the means by which his wandering children are brought back to him. So friends, my closing prayer for us will be this: May God use you to bring many back to him. Let’s pray.
Heavenly Father, the only God who saves — for your glory and for the eternal good of many people — may you use us as mighty axes in your saving hands. No matter our personality type or natural disposition, may your Holy Spirit, who lives in us, empower each of us to be vessels through which you save others.
Holy Spirit, we’ll admit that, in our eyes, there’s much you’ll need to overcome. Some of us are introverts and will need you to give us the confidence to talk to others about Jesus. Others of us have a natural disposition to be sourpusses, and we’ll need you to empower us with supernatural joy. Others of us have been such critics that people have learned to fear and avoid us, and Spirit, we’ll need you to transform us into encouragers. Spirit, we open our hands and our lives and say, “Sharpen us into axes you can use to save others.”
And, Jesus, we desire this because you are our great, good, kind, and merciful Savior, and we want others to experience your love. We want our parents, and siblings, and children, and grandchildren, and co-workers, and roommates, and others in our lives to receive your love. We want the world to know that God so loved the world that he gave you, his one and only Son, so that whoever believes in you might not perish but have eternal life.
Father, Son, and Spirit — use us, we ask to restore a world of wanderers. And we pray all of this in Jesus’ name. Amen.
Having learned what it means to be wise according to God’s Word, may you now go and apply all that wisdom has taught you to life. Amen.
God loves you. I love you. You are sent.
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