Sermon Tone Analysis

Good Morning!

It is good to worship with you guys this morning.

Last week we covered James 5:13-18 and discussed James’s call to prayer.

We began by talking about how important authenticity and integrity are to the ministry of the church.

That is no surprise to anyone, but as we all know, those characteristics aren’t always shown by the church.

As we close out this study today, we are going to see just how important those characteristics are in the lives of everyone, not just believers.

James identifies three prayers in those verses.

Praying for ourselves, the prayer of the elders, and praying for others.

What we saw is that all three of these are on equal footing.

One is not greater than another, and all play a role in our communication with God.

As we have covered so many times and in many ways, God’s desire is for us to know Him.

Prayer is the way that happens.

I had some conversations regarding prayer after last week's message, and I thought it would be helpful to remind all of us that prayer is simply a conversation with God.

If you find it a struggle to pray, I want to remind you that you are not alone.

I have the NKJV version here because that is what most of us grew up learning.

Read this with me.

Look at it again in the NLT, which is closer to how we speak today.

This simple prayer is how Jesus taught his disciples to pray.

Pray doesn’t need to be extravagant or long.

It is simply a conversation with God.

Jesus covers just a few things when teaching the disciples to pray.

That God’s name would be kept holy.

That God’s kingdom would come soon.

Asking for the food required for the day.

Forgiveness for ourselves and for others.

Keep us from temptation.

I’ll tell you, there are times that I pray that is formal in this way, but there are probably more where I am speaking directly to God about whatever is going on in the moment.

Think about how you talk with a best friend.

There are times when you are formal; you say hello, shake hands/hug, and then begin speaking, but there are other times when you forgo all that and jump right into the conversation.

Prayer is just a relay of communication between you and God, and there is no “wrong” way.

You say what you are thinking or feeling.

I wanted to take the time this morning to walk through that because as James closes out this sermon or letter, he makes a plea to the church.

This plea is heartfelt, but it requires that we work in the power of the Holy Spirit to accomplish the task.

We cannot do that if we are unclear on what it means to pray.

This task requires that we are praying for one another because, without prayer and the leading of the Holy Spirit, we cannot accomplish what we are being asked to do.

Look at these verses with me.

As the church is learning what it means to be a follower of Christ, and as they are hashing out what they believe, there were undoubtedly some that were swayed in the wrong direction.

James ends his letter by urging the church to not give up on those brothers and sisters.

Jesus didn’t give up on us and we shouldn’t give up on others.

I had a friend call me last week.

He and his wife have had a bit of tough time recently and I asked him how it was going.

I loved his response.

He said, “Have you ever thought you understood something and no matter how many times someone tried to tell you differently you just couldn’t see it?”

I told him yes.

He didn’t say what, but he said that he understood something differently now and as a result his marriage is going great.

I explained to him that what he was describing is called learning.

He said, yeah, but I’m nearly thirty, I thought I was done with all that.

He couldn’t see it, but I rolled my eyes.

What my friend experienced is not all that different from what the church that James was writing to was going through.

There were some in the church who thought they understood something, but James is saying to the other church members that they had misunderstood.

Look at vs 19 again.

Some had strayed from the truth.

James doesn’t say that it was a deliberate stray or accidental, but either way, he tells the church to turn them back.

We are asked to bring brothers and sisters back into the fold.

James does not spell out for us what this “truth” is that he is describing, but we do know that, broadly speaking, he is referring to the truth of the Gospel of Jesus.

Something they had chosen to believe was incorrect, and that was significant enough for James to include it in his letter.

It is critical that the church has a proper understanding of the gospel.

What the mind thinks, and the mouth confesses, the body must do—anything less is worldly, sinful “double-mindedness” (1:8; 4:8).

We see twice in his letter that James addresses the idea of being double-minded.

James has been saying all through his letter that you cannot be double-minded, meaning you either believe the truth or you don’t.

You can’t pick and choose which parts of the gospel you want to be true and which parts you don’t.

If our theology isn’t correct and we are sharing it with others, we are walking in darkness because we are not practicing the truth.

We see this happening around us in the world.

There is a particular denomination right now that is splitting because of this very thing.

Many in leadership have chosen to believe and are teaching things that are contrary to scripture.

The result of that decision people are being led astray and others are walking away from the church.

This is what James would call going astray.

It’s easy to look at “those” people and point fingers, but we are all guilty of making mistakes.

The ones I’m talking about have garnered more attention recently.

The SBC is not without its missteps either and those decisions affect the ministry of all churches.

It is easy to obey the law when it fits into our morality or cultural expectations, but what about those things that live in the grey area?

Things that are technically sins but we as a society have silently agreed are okay.

When we start giving in to sin and temptation, it is a slippery slope.

James has already warned the church about how dangerous and easy it is to give into temptation.

There is not a person alive today who does not face temptation.

The difference is whether or not we give in to that temptation.

The point that the commentator was making is that what we choose to believe determines our actions.

If you or I do fall into temptation and decide to turn our backs on Jesus and the church, it is God’s plan for our brothers and sisters to call us back.

But what does it look like to turn someone back, and how does one go about it?

Look at this example from the book of Luke.

And, of course, we know how this story ends.

Peter does deny Christ, but Christ then restores him.

The result is the beginning of the church.

All of us are going to make mistakes, but God can redeem us if we turn back.

There is an important part of this process that we must not forget.

We move as the Holy Spirit leads.

I’ll be the first to admit that it is a bit daring to go to someone and tell them they have strayed away.

Whether they know it to be true or not, it is a bold statement.

It feels real judge-y.

So when, how, and who should respond when someone has strayed away?

In my experience, that duty is shifted to the pastor.

As we discussed last week, though, that is not historically how it is done.

Look at what Charles Spurgeon said about this.

The text gives us clear indications as to the persons who are to aim at the conversion of erring brethren.

It says, “If any of you do err from the truth, and one convert him.”

One what?

One minister?

No, any one among the brethren.

If the minister shall be the means of the restoration of a backslider, he is a happy man, and a good deed has been done; but there is nothing said here concerning preachers or pastors, not even a hint is given—it is left open to any one member of the church; and the plain inference, I think, is this—that every church member seeing his brother err from the truth, or err in practice, should set himself, in the power of the Holy Spirit, to this business of converting this special sinner from the error of his way.

This is the job of any member, not just the pastor.