How do you restore them? 

 The scriptures make it perfectly clear that there is a danger facing every child of God, and that is falling away (Heb. 3:12; 4:1; I Cor. 10:12 etc.). Knowing that there are Christians that turn their back on the Lord, we need to understand what the role of the faithful are when that happens. Since we know that those who fall away have a duty to return, let’s focus our attention on the responsibilities placed upon the faithful towards those who have departed.

We read in James 5:19-20, these words, “Brethren, if anyone among you wanders from the truth, and someone turns him back, let him know that he who turns a sinner from the error of his way will save a soul from death and cover a multitude of sins.” This text gives us plenty of insight as to the duties the faithful have towards the unfaithful.

The first thing that we glean from these inspired words is that Christians can know when another Christians turns his back on the Lord. I am not saying God’s people can read the thoughts of others. It’s just that this text implies that children of God can help their brothers and sisters in Christ because they can know when one has wanders away from the truth. How? Because the faithful know what the truth is. Therefore, when another does not abide in those truth, they are found out.

So what does one do when they see a member of the body of Christ not abiding in that truth? The worst thing we can do is ignore it. When the church at Corinth did that, they were rebuked (I Cor. 5:1-7).   To think, “It is none of my business” is not proper thinking. It is our business to be concerned for the spiritual welfare of our Christian family, and of course their physical needs too. Not only that, we have the ability to know when a member of the body of Christ is transgressing. If that were not true, then how could one fulfill their duty in helping to restore the fallen?

Getting back to how we help the fallen, Paul gives us some incite as to how we can help them, and he said be spiritual (Gal. 6:1). In other words, the ungodly can be helped by godly people. This is why Jesus said that one must remove the beam out of their own eye before they remove a speck from their brother’s eye (Matt. 7:1-4). It isn’t wrong to identify and try to help the fallen. The problem comes when one is playing the hypocrite while trying to do so.

Looking at the text in James 5 again, we need to see that we are told that those who have wandered away need to be told to turn back, else they will remain lost in their sins. That may sound harsh, but you cannot sugar coat the lost state of someone. They need to know what they have done was wrong and what they need to do to fix it. There are many examples of brethren doing this. Paul did it to Peter (Gal. 2:11-14); Peter did it to Simon (Acts 8:20-23); and Paul did it to the church at Corinth (I Cor. 5:1-7), etc.

No matter what a brother or sister has done, the goal is to bring them back. There need not be hatred towards them. Even when efforts to restore them are rejected and they are withdrawn from, they still need to be admonished as a brother and not as an enemy (II Thes. 3:15).  Of course, the step of delivering one to Satan, the withdrawing, happens after the wayward member refuses to meet and talk so as to get help. When that happens a church has no alternative other than to mark them (Matt. 18:15-17; Rom. 16:17-18).

The motivation to help a fallen member is easy to see. We don’t want to see anyone lost. Our desire is to help them get to heaven is our goal. It is out a love that we look out for one another. But the sad truth is, it isn’t always appreciated, but we must do the will of our Father.  

                                                                                                                                                                                                                  Chuck