Believers are responsible to help restore spiritual wandering sinners to the truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

The beloved hymn, “Come, thou Fount of every blessing" by Robert Robinson (1735-1790), highlights one of the key truths from todays text (James 5:19-20). The truth that as God’s people we are prone to wander away from the God we love who is the fount of every blessing.

Perhaps all hymns are to some extent autobiographical in that they reveal something of the author’s spiritual experience. Such is the case with British Baptist hymn writer Robert Robinson, a young barber’s apprentice. The stanza, “Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it, prone to leave the God I love,” is thought to be particularly autobiographical, referring to Robinson’s early life, when his mother sent him to London to be an apprentice. It was during this time, according to hymnologist Kenneth Osbeck, that “he associated with a notorious gang of hoodlums and lived a debauched life” . So he wandered off, that is until he came under the preaching of the evangelist George Whitfield who came to town and preached from Matthew 3:7 “Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?” These words confronted Robinson with his sinful ways and his need to return to the God he loved.

After His turning from His sin to Jesus Christ, Robinson trained for the ministry and became a very powerful preacher among the Calvinistic Methodists and later planted a church. Finally he became the pastor of a Baptist church in Cambridge, England. There he preached to intellectuals even though he himself had little formal education, God used his preaching to bring about much fruit.

Unfortunately, at the end of Robinson’s life he began to wander again embracing Unitarian teachings (very similar to what we would call Jehovah Witnesses today and which denies the Triune God). His intellectual curiosities continued to lead him to wander deeper and deeper down that heretical path until he died at the age of 55. If only (and perhaps they did) someone in Robinsons life had heeded James words during his final years “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.”

Robinson’s life and the hymn “Come, thou Fount of every blessing" remind us that any of us can spiritually wander off at an point in our lives and that it is the responsibility of the church to call one another back to the Lord Jesus Christ.

James 5:19-20 reminds us that every disciple of Christ must be under the instruction and correction of the Lord Jesus Christ, which is administered to each one through the church. (see also :1 Cor 12:12- 27; 1 Thes 5:12-15; Heb 3:12-13; 10:24,25). This practice is commonly referred to as “church discipline” and is so essential that it has been called by some of the reformers as one of the chief marks of a true church (for more on this read this article from Ligonier ministries). Since the purposes of church discipline are always to lovingly restore a fallen brother or sister and to keep the church pure; we must take seriously mutual submission to one another (Eph 5:21) and to the eldership which the Lord has set over His church (1 Pet 5:5). This will result in the sanctification of each member individually and of the whole body of the church collectively.

If you would like to learn more about church discipline at UCC, both formative (for example bible teaching and instruction) and corrective (for example how we will seek to confront someone walking in disobedience to God’s Word), speak to a pastor or an elder.

(This post is adapted from the UCC membership booklet)

1. Why does James call the “wanderer” a “sinner?” (See verses 3:14 and 4:8) Can this term really describe a believer?

2. These verses presume that believers can sin and be in need of rescue.

• What must your relationships with other believers in the body look like in order to know that someone is a sinner in need of rescue from his/her wandering?

• In the sermon it was said that “UCC must be in this way an organic ministering community. A community where we accept the New Testament paradigm that we are saved not just for our own spiritual well-being, but we accept the moral responsibility for the well-being of the church family that God has placed in our lives”. How would you estimate UCC is doing with this? What suggestions do you have to improve?

3. Read Heb. 3:12-13, Gal. 6:1-2. These 2 passages along with James 5:19-20 help us to understand the love we must show each other in the body, as well as inform us of a part of what we know as church discipline (along with several other passages such as Prov. 27:5, Matt. 18:15-17, Rom. 16:17, 1 Cor. 5, 2 Cor. 7:9-11, Eph. 5:11, 1 Thess. 5:14, 2 Thess. 3:6, 14-15, 1 Tim 1:18- 20, 5:20, Tit. 3:10-11 Heb. 12:14-16, 2 John 9-11). Is church discipline a phrase you have heard much about? What kind of impression does the phrase give you? (See the post above for a bit more on church discipline at UCC)

• What types of activities will happen in our body life if these 3 passages are regularly obeyed?

• What actions do these passages demand of you today given the circumstances in your own life, and/or the circumstances you know about in the lives of others?

• How do the passages guide your understanding of your heart attitude as you obey James 5:19-20 & Gal. 6:1-2?

4. Many Christians avoid trying to restore a sinning believer because confrontation makes them uncomfortable.

• How can you know whether just to pray or when it is time to talk with a sinning person?

• Some use their own shortcomings as an excuse for not talking to another believer about their sin. Is this valid? How should it be addressed?

• Sometimes the bible does not specifically prohibit what another believer is doing but we sense it is still sinful and addressed indirectly as wrong (such as living together before marriage) - what should we do if this is the case? Other times, a fellow believer may not be doing something completely wrong/sinful for all but for them we sense it is (such as spending a lot of time with technology for one has been addicted to technology in the past), how should this be handled?

1. Spend a few moments reflecting silently or as a group:

• First, how you will individually respond if there comes a time when you are confronted by a fellow believer for living sinfully.

• Second, it there is anyone you need to reach out to and either re-establish a relationship with or talk to about sin in their life.

Close in prayer.