ArticleBlog | Preaching from James: Bringing back the wanderer
Preaching from James: Bringing back the wanderer
Author: Andy PeckPost Date: 15.03.25
The Letter of James is viewed by some as the ‘problem child’ of the New Testament. It does not share many family traits with so little about the gospel and the person of Jesus. It does not even resemble the other family members by suggesting that it is deeds, not faith, that saves.
But that cannot be right! If it’s God’s word to us, which it is, then it will share the family likeness better than we think. We have just failed to see it clearly. So, let us look more closely together and enjoy this wonderful part of God’s word. It is full of rich encouragement and challenge to living a gospel shaped life.
Others love the letter for its uncomplicated, practical nature. The advice it gives on behaviour is easy to understand and speaks directly to everyday life. You want to live a Christian life? This is how to do it.
A pastoral burden
There’s a lot more to James, however, than snippets of good advice. And what holds it together, anyway? James, Jesus’ half-brother, reveals his pastoral burden right at the end of his letter in 5:19-20. He writes to bring back those claiming to follow Christ, but who are wandering away from the gospel. And he wants others to help him for the result, without our loving, gospel intervention, is spiritual death.
What is the cause of our potential wandering? James coins a new term that appears in 1:8 and 4:8 – ‘double minded’. To help us, like all good preachers, he uses illustrations. First, in 1:6, he points to the waves that chop and change, come and go, constantly blown about. Then in 4:4, he describes the wanderer as ‘adulterous’ – with divided affections and loyalties. This cannot be sustained, for we are either a friend of God or of the world.
This seems to be the ‘melodic line’ that runs through the letter. It surfaces clearly in chapter 2 when, in verses 1-12, we have an example of double mindedness in the way we show favouritism. And again, in chapter 3, when the tongue reveals it is a problem we all share to some degree.
