Friday, November 18, 2011

Brethren, if any of you do err from the truth, and one convert him; Let him know, that he which converteth the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins. James 5:19-20

I think this is an incredibly interesting way to conclude this incredible book of the Bible.  This verse is specifically referring to the believer’s relationship with other believers.  The idea of “convert” here is not referring to converting from non-Christian to a Christian.  Rather, these verses are talking about helping a believer that has gotten into sin to get back to a right relationship with God.  How does this happen?

1.  Confrontation–  Sometimes we are called to confront others.  This is never fun, but we must hold each other accountable.  See Matthew 18.

2.  Counsel– Sometimes people will come to us to figure out what they need to do, or what they need to change.  Often this happens when people are in crisis.  They’ve gotten to the point in their lives where they are “feeling the heat”.  We’ve got to point them to the Bible and help them to see their situation from God’s perspective.

3.  Care– Both confrontation and counsel must be done with a care for the person involved.  Our motivation should be to love God and love them.  In so doing we could “save a soul from death, and …hide a multitude of sins.”

Application:  Today you and I are in one of two groups or possibly in both.  We are either in need of confrontation, counsel and care, or we ought to be confronting, counseling and caring.  Often times both are true.  Which one are you today?

We’re done with James…kind of.
And that concludes the book of James!  I’m so proud of all of you, especially those who finished the book with us.  I think it is so cool!  How does it feel to have finished this incredible book.

Of course, we’ve finished walking through the book, but we’re not finished trying to do what God taught us.  What was the most important thing you learned in the last 60 days of James?