Come Home: A Call Back to Faith - Hardcover

Macdonald, James; Groves, Abby

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0802457185 ISBN 13: 9780802457189

Publisher: Moody Publishers, 2013

Synopsis

The prodigal. The wanderer. The skeptic. The rebel.

Each of us knows someone who has walked away from God, and it is heartbreaking and bewildering. We wonder how to reach out to them and bring them back, but often it seems impossible. Maybe you yourself are the one who has walked away and sees little reason to return to faith and the church.

This book's invitation is this: Come home. It invites the departed to return and offers the promise of the gospel—that all wrongs and sins can be forgiven through Jesus. There is no expiration on the promise of forgiveness and the open arms of Christ, so no matter how long the wanderer has wandered, he or she is still welcome. All hurts can be healed, all brokenness mended. Just come home.

Whether you are a family member or friend of the prodigal, or whether you are that person, this book offers hope and an open invitation to return the safety of forgiveness and restoration in Jesus.

About this title

About the Author

JAMES MACDONALD is the founding and senior pastor of Harvest Bible Chapel in Rolling Meadows, Illinois. Pastor MacDonald has written many books, including Lord, Change My Attitude, When Life is Hard, and Gripped by the Greatness of God. Pastor MacDonald¿s teaching can be heard on Walk in the Word, a daily radio program heard on outlets across North America. Pastor MacDonald and his wife, Kathy, have three children and reside in the northwest suburbs of Chicago.

From the Back Cover

Wanderer. Prodigal. Skeptic.

You are one. You've been one. You know one. Their lives are filled with foolish choices and little regard for consequences. Bent on getting away from those who love them, they sometimes wander so far off the path they no longer know the way back. It's painful to watch and seems impossible to understand.

Whether you are the wanderer or your heart is breaking for one, Come Home is filled with the truth and direction you need.

Come Home is . . .

. . . an invitation to all wanderers—and those who love them.

. . . a call to greater awareness for the lost and hurting.

. . . a challenge to bring back those who are missing.

. . . the cry of Jesus' heart.

“My brothers, if anyone among you wanders from the truth and someone brings him back, 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.” James 5:19–20

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

COME HOME

A CALL BACK TO FAITH

By James MacDonald, Neil Wilson

Moody Publishers

Copyright © 2013 James MacDonald
All rights reserved.

ISBN: 978-0-8024-5718-9

Contents

Foreword...................................................................
9
Introduction...............................................................
13
Chapter One: Go Get the Wanderer...........................................
17
Chapter Two: Fearful Wanderer—Come Home!...................................
41
Chapter Three: Doubtful Wanderer—Come Home!................................
67
Chapter Four: Sensual Wanderer—Come Home!..................................
97
Chapter Five: Willful Wanderer—Come Home!..................................
127
Conclusion: Go Get the Wanderer............................................
157
Notes......................................................................
161

CHAPTER 1

GO GET THEWANDERER

There is nothing quite like seeing a verse in Scripture forthe first time! I mean, maybe you've read it a hundred times,but suddenly one day, God's voice reaches your heart fromthose words and you are rocked to the core. Until that moment,the words made sense—now they are a scalpel that cuts rightto the core. Such has been my experience recently with James5:19–20 as these statements have grabbed my heart:

My brothers, if anyone among you wanders from thetruth and someone brings him back, let him know thatwhoever brings back a sinner from his wandering willsave his soul from death and will cover a multitude ofsins.

Those forty words are the foundation for this chapter andthis book. Read the verses again, and let them sink in.

Before we look closely at this passage, let's take a culturalstep back. Does that word wanderer ring any bells for you? Wedon't use it in common language. But in 1961, Dion, one ofthose single-name artists, recorded a song called "The Wanderer."If you're from my generation you can probably hear thesong in your head. It got as high as #2 on the charts and isnow listed in Rolling Stone magazine's list of The 500 GreatestSongs of All Time at position 239. In many ways, that songcaptures the adventure and danger in a wanderer's life. His liferoams around and never settles down. His relationships aretemporary. He doesn't really connect with where he is, wherehe's been, or where he is going. He is lost, wondering vaguelyif there's something better, but caught in the not-so-merry-go-roundof wandering. Unfortunately, if you are a wanderer, orhave been one, it's hard to admit this is reality even in rarequiet moments of reflection.

There is a command expressed in the title of this chapter:"Go Get the Wanderer." From Jesus' parable of the shepherdwho goes after the one lost sheep, to James' sober call to action,the message is the same: "Go get the wanderer! Go get them!"I'm going to be repeating the command a few more times inthese pages.

I'm also going to try and motivate you to take action. Let'sstart with this reality—

The problem exists.

Men and women everywhere have a tendency to wander—evenin the church. Sheep wander, even in the flock of the GoodShepherd. That's why James includes the problem in his practicalletter to believers. The whole book of James is about growingup and going forward in your faith, getting to a place ofmaturity, and developing completeness as a disciple of Christ.Full-blown discipleship is what James is all about.

As he comes to the end of the book, James is talking aboutmaturity expressed in praying for the sick. But not just anyonewho is sick—praying specifically for the person who is sick becauseof sin. Is all sickness because of personal sin? No. Somepeople suffer sickness and hardship for the glory of God. WhenJesus' disciples noticed a man who had spent his whole lifeblind they asked, "'Who sinned, this man or his parents, thathe was born blind?' Jesus answered, 'It was not that thisman sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God mightbe displayed in him.'" They assumed only sin can explainsickness; Jesus knew better. Though it's not always because ofsin, sometimes sickness is caused by sin. If you realize you aresuffering because of your sin, you need to confess it and prayin faith. Ask others to pray for you. It's all there in James 5:16:"Confess your sins to one another and pray for one another,that you may be healed." He then gave the example of Elijahwho prayed for the healing of a land. Unbelievable. Mostbooks in the Bible close with a final greeting, "Say hi to so-and-soand keep in touch." Not this one. James ends his letter with acall to go get the people who have lost their way.

Let's take these two closing verses a phrase at a time. Theexpression, "My brothers," aims to get our attention: "Nowdon't miss this last thing!" The song "The Wanderer" we mentionedearlier laments the tendency of all human beings towander. However, James' real concern is not wandering people,but wandering Christians. He's calling on brothers to care forbrothers. He wants sisters to look out for sisters. He's thinkingabout people who embrace the truth and then wander awayfrom it. No doubt you're thinking of some who fit the wanderercategory. Or maybe you realize someone has you in mind.

So when dames reaches out and says, "My brothers," whathe's saying is, "Listen up! Go get the wanderers, my brothers,my sisters." Everyone's included in this. I wish we still used theword brethren; it seems kind of old-fashioned, but everyoneunderstood that brethren meant brothers and sisters. No one'soff the hook on this one. James is emphatic—"My brothers andsisters—family of God! Go get the wanderer!" Wandering wasa problem then, and it is now. Going astray is a reality we haveto deal with if we're really family; if we are truly brothers andsisters.

Notice James' next phrase, "My brothers, if anyone amongyou." Again, nonbelievers are not in view here. He's talkingabout people among us, folks who once were with us. These arefellow Christians you could probably think of right now. "Theyused to sit behind us in church. Where are they?" If you're typical,you probably sit in the same general location in the worshipcenter and come to the same service each week. You could probablyrun a little inventory of the people you sit near. "So whathappens if the people who used to sit beside me or near medisappear? I don't see them anymore. I haven't heard why sisterso-and-so is missing. Should I notify someone?" It's very importantthat you find out what happened to them.

Think for a moment about this phrase: "If anyone amongyou."

You may find yourself asking, "Well, who are we talkingabout exactly by the term wanderer? Can you give me someexamples?"

We surveyed 100 people and the Top Five Answers are on theboard to this question: Name a kind of person who wanders.(1) A prodigal wanderer.

This person's motto is, "You're not going to tell me! Nobodytells me what to do. I do what I want to do." Sometimes beinga prodigal is related to being young and rebellious. Sometimes,though, it has nothing to do with age. You could be in yoursixties, still be willful and stubborn, and say, "I want to do mything, my way." This is the prodigal wanderer. "I'm followingmy own path!"

(2) The pleasure-seeker.

This person isn't willful, just selfish.

"I want what I want."

"Why are you doing that?"

'"Cause I want to!"

"Yeah, well those choices are going to hurt you."

"Well, I don't care! I do what I want to do because it feelsgood now."

This is the person who has found a particularly temptingsin. The Bible says "the pleasures of sin" are for a season.They don't last. But this person says, "I'm going to enjoy myself.This makes me happy, and it's what I want to do. I'm having toomuch fun to worry about what's coming down the road." That'sthe profile of a pleasure-seeker. They're out there wandering.If you were to talk to them, they might be really nice about it.They're not willful like the prodigal, but their behavior is careless.You might ask, "Why don't you stop?"

"'Cause I don't want to, and I haven't heard a good reasonwhy I should."

(3) The wounded wanderer.

Now if you talk to a wounded wanderer, he or she has astory. "I used to go to church. I used to love God. I used to studymy Bible."

"What happened?"

Out comes the story, and it usually involves a person. Maybeit was a parent or a pastor or someone else who claimed to bein a place of spiritual authority. "People who I trusted failed me.They hurt, wounded, and disappointed me. I'm disillusionednow, so I'm not with God anymore." Though their pain is notbecause of God, but caused by the actions of another person orgroup, God may really be who they blame.

(4) The ashamed wanderer.

This person lives with a sense of shame over mistakes andsins of the past. What happened to them? Galatians 6:1 says,"If anyone is caught in any transgression ..." Sometimes sinseems to run you down and tackle you.

"I was going along, trying to live for God. But I've fallen,and I can't get up! I stumbled into something, and I can't goback to church. People know what happened to me! People realizewhat I did! I'm going to feel so ashamed. I can't face thosepeople!" Sound familiar?

Part of what makes our church wonderful is that it's filledwith people who understand life's detours. They know aboutshame and offer a very loving, safe place where broken peoplecan come. That's because they were once broken themselves!They say, "I was that person at one time in my life. I wasashamed to go to church." For many in our church, that's ourstory. And most of us know someone who is far from the Lordtoday because they just can't face God's people. Have we triedto reach them?

Here's the last identifiable group of people we need towatch for:

(5) The distracted wanderer.

"Why aren't you at church today?"

"Well, I don't know. I couldn't tell you how or when, butGod disappeared from my life."

Sometimes the distracted wanderers are even at church, butnot really there! The lights are on, but no one's home. Their attentionis somewhere else. The afternoon football game maynot start for hours, but they are into the pregame show in theirminds. Ask the distracted wanderer to come to church, and theysay, "Sure! Where are we going for lunch afterwards?" They'renot on task. They just don't get the point. They're not pluggedin. They can listen to someone pouring out his heart about lifewith God, and their response is, "Yeah, I'm not seeing it."

You may have been that person. Your story is one sentence:"I just didn't get it!" Or maybe you know and love someone likethat?

Now listen to me: Go get the wanderer! Track down thatperson. They're not going to come back without some help.

The problem of wanderers exists in the church. "My brothers,if anyone among you ..." Notice it's anyone. You justhave to stop and say, "This could be anyone." There are peoplewho God's Spirit is going to bring to your mind while you arereading this. Has it already happened? Has someone's face unexpectedlypopped into your mind? Guard yourself against thethought, "Oh, not him. Not her. They're too far gone. They'renot coming back! I'll start with an easier one!" But no one is beyondthe reach of God's grace. No one has gone so far that theyare out of God's sight.

When the text says anyone, you can't say, "They're too fargone."

When God's Word says anyone, you can't say, "It's too complicatedor too messy. I can't really get into that."

You can't make those excuses when God's Word says anyone.

James continues, "My brothers, if anyone among you ..."Now the big word: wanders. The NASB says "strays." The Greekterm actually is planetai from which we get our word planet. InNew Testament times they obviously didn't have Google Mapsor a GPS. Ancient people kept track of direction when theytraveled by using the sun and stars. Early on, they included theplanets as guides—problem! The planets changed location inthe sky, so there were not great results. "When I used to followthat planet, I would get to Indiana, but now I end up in Minnesota."Planet tracking wasn't super reliable. The idea that theplanets shifted—planetai—came to mean something moving,wandering. Here's a good definition: to wander is to proceedwithout a proper sense of direction. That's what wandering is—spinningout of orbit.

Planetai is the same Greek word used in Hebrews 11:38 regardingfaithful people who were wandering without homes(but not without purpose!). The same expression appears inMatthew 18:12 when Jesus talked about people who werewandering like sheep without a shepherd. Jesus reflected theshepherd's heart of deep compassion for the wandering sheep.

Now there's a little confusion here with the word wanders.I don't want to get into a complicated grammar lesson, but inthe original language of these verses, it's hard to tell whetherJames has a person in mind who just wandered off. "Whoa! I'mover here now. I didn't have any plan. I didn't expect to end upin this place. I just woke up one day and wasn't where I used tobe." That's one kind of wandering.

But another kind of wandering describes a person who wasdrawn away, a person who was taken by a wolf. Jesus talkedabout wolves in sheep's clothing. In Matthew 7:15 He said, "Bewareof false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothingbut inwardly are ravenous wolves." These lost sheep usedto believe the truth, but now they believe error. They used tolisten to what was right, but they started listening to what waswrong, and it drew them away. Someone came and got themand took them away.

Both things happen: people foolishly wander off, or negative,destructive relationships come along, get in someone'shead, and draw them away. So we have two wanderers inmind: the foolish "how-did-I-get-over-here?" wanderer, and theperson who's been led away by someone. Both are true.

Let's pause here for a few moments because the longestjourney begins with one step. While the remainder of thechapter focuses on the person who today may be far from thechurch, we must acknowledge that wandering begins with aninitial step.

Kathy and I like to watch some of those news magazine programs.Not long ago we saw a Dateline story of a one-year-oldCanadian girl named Erika. Somehow she wandered out of herhouse in the night while her parents were sleeping. She didn'trealize where her little steps were taking her and she spentthe entire night outside in an Edmonton winter. How cold isthat? When her mother found Erika, she appeared to be totallyfrozen. Her legs were stiff; her body was blue. All signs of lifeseemed to be gone. But there is a popular saying among rescueworkers: No one who's frozen is called dead; they're only deadwhen they're warm and dead. Erika was treated at Edmonton'sStollery Children's Health Center. God helped the doctors bringher back to life. To the amazement of all, there appeared to beno sign of brain damage. They gave her a clear prognosis; shewould soon be able to hop and skip and play like other girls herage. Sadly, the outcome of her amazing wanderer story isn'tseen often enough in those who wander from the faith.

Maybe as you're reading this chapter, you recognize a warningabout your situation. You haven't wandered off yet. You'vetaken one or two steps in the wrong direction. You're out on theice right now. You're thinking, "Look at me! I didn't go down! Ididn't fall through!"

Listen—take one or two more steps and the ice will shatter.I want you to realize this as we talk about going out and gettingthe wanderers, you don't have to be that person.

You don't have to crash through the ice, devastate your family,and bring that mess to the church in a basket where everyonehas to spend months piecing it all back together, becauseyou were too stupid or stubborn to listen. For everyone's sake,we hope you come back sooner rather than later!

You can wake up right now and get back to shore with therest of us. Stop being foolish and playing around with nonsensethat you know is going to trash you and the people you love!Don't do it! Come back! Maybe you've made a foolish decisionor allowed desire—a wrong desire—to begin to grow. You'replaying with the fire. "See? I'm not singed! I didn't get burned!!"Come back—right now! Receive this word as coming from theLord Himself. Don't wander off. Don't think you can beat theodds—you cannot!

"My brothers, if anyone among you wanders from thetruth and someone brings him back ..." Notice, from whatdo they wander? The Bible answers, the truth. This is not a termthat invites creative translation—it's straightforward.

Isn't it interesting? It doesn't say, "wanders from Jesus."Now, Jesus is the Truth. He said, "I am ... the truth." So inthat sense we could say he wandered from Jesus. It doesn't say,"wanders from the church," although the church is implied inthe context. The Bible calls it "the church of the living God, apillar and buttress of the truth." Yes, James does include theLord and the church in this passage. But at the center of it all—thecore—is what we believe. God has made some statementsand we believe them. When you wander, you are wanderingfrom the truth. You're wandering into error. How's that goingfor you, wanderer?

If you're ready to be honest, you would have to say, "Notgreat."

So it's time to come back. Yes, you come back to a place andto a people; certainly you come back to a Person—God. Youwill also come back to the truth itself. Jesus said in John 17:17,"Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth." This is verygood news because it's a frightening thing to be away from thetruth of God's Word. David said in Psalm 119:105, "Your wordis a lamp to my feet and a light to my path." Think of God'sWord as light in your life. People who have wandered from thetruth are not in the light; they are in darkness. If you were in alarge room that suddenly turned pitch black, you'd be calm fora moment or two. Then someone would scream. And, beforelong, it could get pretty crazy. It's not great to be in the darkness."Your word is a lamp ... a light to my path." God'sWord is light and direction. God's Word shows us where to go,tells us what to do, and helps us know what's right and wrong.It's guidance.

(Continues...)

Excerpted from COME HOME by James MacDonald, Neil Wilson. Copyright © 2013 James MacDonald. Excerpted by permission of Moody Publishers.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

Edition details

• Publisher: Moody Publishers
• Publication date: 2013
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0802457185
• ISBN 13: 9780802457189
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 168